Tag Archives: crossover

MrPeaches’ “Wonka Vs. Applejack”

18 Friday Jan 2019

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Today’s story goes down better than a Scrumpdiddlyumptious Bar.

Wonka Vs. Applejack
[Adventure] [Comedy] [Crossover] • 14,202 words

Zap Apple season’s in full swing on Sweet Apple Acres when a most peculiar visitor arrives — Willy Wonka, world-famous candymaker! Thinking that the apple will be the perfect ingredient for a new line of candy, Wonka tries to convince a hesitant Applejack to part with some! But with Wonka things are never quite straightforward; when interdimensional magical mechanics and a legendary tree enter into the picture, our heroes might have been safer battling Hornswogglers, Snozzwangers and rotten Vermicious Knids!

FROM THE CURATORS: There’s no getting around it: this story came completely out of left field (or perhaps fell from the sky in a Great Glass Elevator). “I was extraordinarily skeptical of this story when it was recommended to me,” RBDash47 said in his nomination, “and delighted to find I had a great time with it.” “Wow,” Horizon said. “At the beginning of this story I was wondering if I’d make it through to the end. By the end of Chapter 5 I had favorited it.” FanOfMostEverything couldn’t resist either: “It took a while for me to warm up to this fic, but once I had, it was melt-in-your-mouth good.”

Everyone agreed that the author presented their audience with a pitch-perfect Willy Wonka. Present Perfect was “absolutely in love with this piece the moment Wonka showed up. It’s truly a triumph of character voicing.” RBDash47 was just as impressed at how “the author succeeded in capturing some essence of Wonka, some spirit of the mad chocolatier, and did a passable job of blending both the movie’s and the books’ interpretations of the character and the Elevator.”

Even better, this larger-than-life candymaker turned out to be a perfect fit for the magical land of Equestria. Horizon felt the author truly nailed the crossover: “It’s got such a gorgeous understanding of the themes and tones of both of its sources. (It’s an E-rated adventure! How often do you see those?) And the way it meshes pony canon, Dahl canon, and original whimsy is stellar.” FanOfMostEverything enjoyed how “the pastel deathworld of Equestria and Wonka’s OSHA-violating whimsy combined in a magnificent blend of wonder, mortal peril, and candy (which, since it’s Wonka, is itself a blend of those first two).” RBDash47 isn’t usually a fan of HiE, but thought “this might be the first ‘human in Equestria’ fic I’ve ever read where not only is the human’s presence not jarring, it feels right.” Present Perfect agreed that “it felt like Willy Wonka was honestly meant to be here and have this adventure.”

In the end, AugieDog summarized the curators’ feelings as effortlessly as the author captured their imaginations: “Unlike your average chocolate Easter bunny, this is solid fun from top to bottom.”

Read on for our author interview, in which MrPeaches discusses big brothers, everyday adventures, and riding bulls. Continue reading →

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Dromicosuchus’ “The Rise and Fall of the Dark Lord Sassaflash”

06 Friday Apr 2018

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There is much Love in the craft of today’s story.

The Rise and Fall of the Dark Lord Sassaflash
[Dark] [Adventure] [Crossover] • 116,239 words

Wanted: Porter, assistant, jack-of-all-trades, minion. Applicants should be strong, loyal, pain tolerant, cold tolerant, unambitious. Must be capable of following simple instructions. Ideal applicant should be of low to average intelligence and mildly deformed, but exceptions will be made for extraordinary candidates, with extraordinariness to be determined by employer. Must be willing to begin work immediately.

Remuneration will be in the form of room, board, and insight into the true nature of the cosmos. Extremely generous bonuses up to and including subcontinents may be awarded if merited and if circumstances permit. Interviews for the position to be conducted at 108 Haybale Lane at 10:00 AM sharp on 4/7. Applicants are expected to be punctual.

—The Dark Lord Sassaflash

FROM THE CURATORS: “This story does just about everything right,” AugieDog said, “but I want to feature this just for the opportunity to write ‘Nyarlathotep is Best Pony.'”  And while the Outer God was a memorable character in a work jam-packed with them, our reactions more closely mirrored Augie’s first statement.  “A truly fantastic read,” FanOfMostEverything said in his nomination, and Horizon echoed that sentiment upon assigning this a top score: “Oh my yes.  One of the best things I’ve read in recent memory.  This is the sort of story that makes me happy I read fanfic.”

At the heart of those glowing reviews was an unusual yet sublime fusion of ideas.  “What the author’s Mendacity does for fae folklore, this does for the Cthulhu Mythos, seamlessly integrating it into Equestria and making you wonder how we never noticed it until now,” FanOfMostEverything said.  And it did so with a remarkable adherence to pony themes.  “We’ve already featured At The Mountains of Discord, which was an excellent Lovecraft tale that happens to be about ponies, and I think this is near the other end of the spectrum: this is a fantastic pony story that happens to be about Lovecraft,” Horizon said.  “It’s fundamentally hopeful and redemptive in a way that keeps MLP firmly at its core.”  That caused AugieDog to note: “The story also made me realize just how Lovecraftian some of the canon bits of Equestria are: the crawling chaos of Discord; the parasprites as sort of ‘rats in the walls’; just the Everfree forest in general, really, or the way a dragon can show up to take a nap and doom the entire realm. And, well, Swamp Fever, anyone?”

Magnificent character work was one of the factors bringing those ideas to life. “Sassaflash and the Mule are perfect together, and I love how Sassaflash pretty much speaks the way Lovecraft writes,” AugieDog said.  “The world-building is wonderful throughout — I was especially impressed by the way the author made the not-yet-reappeared Crystal Empire so vital to the story.”  FanOfMostEverything agreed: “Sassaflash makes for a fascinating protagonist, utterly driven by her quest but not immune to the magic of friendship even at her most obsessed.”  And the story around them was consistently exemplary, Horizon said: “This just kept surprising and delighting me around every corner. Even the screaming left turn of the story’s final arc, which in the hands of most authors would have faceplanted into confusion and plot holes, is seamless and brilliant.”

Read on for our author interview, in which Dromicosuchus discusses dream Jives, Marx sprays, and Skyrim inspirations.
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BillyColt’s “I Have a Hat”

28 Friday Oct 2016

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Today’s story might just prove to be magical reading.

I Have a Hat
[Alternate Universe] [Crossover] • 8,935 words

Upstart is excited. His mother has hired a unicorn for a party. It will be so delightful to see a unicorn performing magic. It’s sure to be fun for the whole household!

Of course, it’s just a little fun. She’s not really a unicorn. After all, unicorns don’t exist.

FROM THE CURATORS: “An Equestria where magic has ceased to be a factor in ponies’ lives is a fascinating AU right from the start,” AugieDog said, and all of us reading this Victorian-flavored tale — a pony take on G.K. Chesterton’s play Magic — found ourselves swept up in its enchantments.  “This offers a thoughtful bit of commentary on the role of magic in our lives,” Chris said, “and its Equestrian mooring is a surprisingly necessary lens through which to see our own human mythologies.”  As Present Perfect put it, “it turns out there’s nothing to make the reader tremble in awe at the knowledge magic exists quite like taking magic away in the first place.”

And while the power of that theme might have sealed this story’s feature, there was plenty more to like here — such as I Have a Hat‘s tonal balance and character work.  “There’s a noble tragedy that suffuses the entire story, even as its surface content remains light and slice-of-life,” Chris said about the former, while AugieDog praised the latter: “The characters, all OCs, are fully-formed and well-detailed.” Horizon appreciated those both: “The subtle power plays among the various inhabitants of the house were just as fascinating as the bigger, flashier A-plot, and watching the visitors navigate those tensions really helped ground both halves of the story into a more unified whole.”

But our commentary kept turning back to this story’s well-realized setting, perched at a carefully calibrated distance between our lives and the show.  “It was a brilliant choice, I think, to set this in a pseudo-Victorian era,” Horizon said. “I’m reminded of L.P. Hartley’s quote ‘The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there’ — both in the contrast between the setting’s past and present, and the contrast between the setting’s present day and our own.”  Chris appreciated how that also contributed to the mood of the story: “The mix of 1800s-ish setting and moors with a somewhat more modern writing style gives the piece an appropriately uncertain, ethereal air.”  But, like any good magician, most impressive of all was how seamless the presentation was.  “Justifying an AU an like this is always a challenge,” Present Perfect said, “but this one rises to it effortlessly.”

Read on for our author interview, in which BillyColt discusses branding arcs, unplayed cards, and toyline invitations.
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Glimmervoid’s “At the Mountains of Discord”

14 Friday Oct 2016

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Today’s story delves into Secrets Ponies Weren’t Meant To Know.

mountains-of-discordAt the Mountains of Discord
[Adventure] [Crossover] [Dark] • 40,699 words

North of bountiful Equestria and beyond the Crystal Empire lies an icy land of cryptic mystery. Its inner reaches have never been explored, but a Canterlot University expedition is set to change this. The plan is simple: penetrate the unknown depths of the Uncharted North and discover its most hidden secrets.

It’s a noble undertaking, but a dark cloud looms on the horizon. Princess Luna’s dreams have revealed a great but shadowy threat. To minimise the danger, Princess Celestia requests that her most loyal student, Twilight Sparkle, join the expedition and keep everypony safe. With the aid of her number one assistant, Spike, and mailmare Derpy Hooves, Twilight will attempt to do exactly that.

FROM THE CURATORS: “Somehow, Lovecraft crossovers seem to become a small but integral part of every fandom,” Chris said when introducing this story to us.  “I never was particularly enamored of Lovecraft’s writing … this, however, is very nice.”  It didn’t take long for us to agree.  “I was pretty much sold on this one by the end of the first chapter,” Horizon said. “Strong worldbuilding is so crucial to an adventure that shows us the world beyond Equestria, and this has that in spades — not just in translating Lovecraft to Equestria, but in all the original material that reconciles and expands the two.”

That was best exemplified by this story’s attention to detail, Horizon said: “‘The Stormwalds.’ ‘Svalbarding.’ ‘Aeolipyle’ as the airship name — it was the word used to describe the Greek world’s first steam engine, and Aeolus was the god of the wind. Oh, man, so much care has gone into this.” But it wasn’t just the mythology that drew us in.  “Even beyond that, it’s the hints of essential Equestrianity,” Chris said, “from big stuff like the use of magic to tiny asides like ‘feathers sounded against coat, that uniquely pegasus sound that spoke to their dual natures’ to everything about Derpy in this story.”  And while the Lovecraftian prose was a challenge for some of us, AugieDog thought it fit the story well: “It’s got a great narrative voice, the way it mixes the Twilight we know from the show with those hapless first-person narrators who inhabit most of Lovecraft’s stuff.”

That mixing, in fact, was what we unanimously agreed to be the biggest strength.  “This shines when it expands beyond its inspiration, and makes itself its own,” Chris said. “This is no mere ponification, and the way this story uses the Elder Ones, and how it reveals more about them and their creations, is deliciously enticing.” Horizon agreed: “Its commentary on the relationship between ponies and Elder Ones is really remarkable — and it does some fascinating things as a fusion of two messages about the nature of reality that by all rights should be incompatible.” In summary, as AugieDog put it, that fusion was exemplary: “That the author manages to combine Lovecraft and Pony without either completely destroying the other is just this side of sorcery.”

Read on for our author interview, in which Glimmervoid discusses occult computers, Roman sacrifices, and the flowing rivers of fandom.

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Oroboro’s “Starlight Glimmer and Sunset Shimmer Are Dead”

23 Friday Sep 2016

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I’m stuck inside today’s story, trying to find a way out.  (Please send help.)

starlight-sunset-are-deadStarlight Glimmer and Sunset Shimmer Are Dead
[Comedy] [Crossover] [Random] • 3,837 words

Two magical prodigies cast in Twilight’s shadow stumble about in somepony else’s story and try to find meaning in their lives.

An affectionate parody of Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. Which is in itself an absurdist and existentialist parody of Hamlet.

FROM THE CURATORS: With many of our featured authors, we face a difficult choice of which of their RCL-quality stories to spotlight — and in this case, we decided that good things come in small packages.  “I’ve been trying for months now to work up a pitch for either of Oroboro’s 100,000+ word epics, The Heart of an Author or Fractured Sunlight, but this story displays all the author’s positives without making anyone take a week off to read it,” AugieDog said.

Chief among those positives was Oroboro’s way with words.  “My favorite part of this is how the dialogue changes when it stops being ‘their story’,” Present Perfect said.  “Everyone talks like an overblown stage actor; it’s quirky and marvelous and just a fascinating way to show what’s going on.”  That deft touch extended from the small touches to some larger ones.  “This story certainly chooses its fourth-wall breaks well, and every one of them got a grin out of me,” Horizon said.  “The narrator judging the story with ‘Then she galloped off to save her marefriend or whatever’ was a great blend of subtle and satirical.  And I love that it effortlessly shifts back and forth from that sort of hilarity to sober discussions of stories and our role in them.”

Our biggest debate was over how authentic this was to the source that it drew from.  “This does just enough to distinguish itself from R&GAD to be a fresh take on the subject,” Chris said, “but I don’t think this makes any cogent statement about secondary realities or fictional existence the same way the source material does.”  To AugieDog, however, that was a positive: “This takes the idea of the existential metadrama and makes it absolutely Pony,” he said.  “Yes, Starlight and Sunset come to realize that the story they’re in isn’t about them at all, but their reactions to this state of affairs are nicely free of angst, and the ending gives the two more leeway than Rosencrantz and Guildenstern get in the last scene of their play.” And Horizon thought this was best evaluated as its own story rather than as a statement on Stoppard’s play: “Whether or not this is meaningful in the meta, it’s profound in the small and does make a statement in the large.  Like any good crossover, it stakes out ground of its own in between its two sources.”

Read on for our author interview, in which Oroboro discusses normal speaking voices, great lunches, and Japanese-accented orcs.
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Arad’s “Stardust”

10 Friday Jun 2016

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Today’s story shows us what stars do: they shine.

stardustStardust
[Crossover] [Dark] [Human] • 216,600 words

Isolated from her friends and taken prisoner in the middle of a war, Twilight must deal with the very real dangers of being perceived as an enemy as well as the nightmares of her arrival on ‘Earth’.  Can she overcome her own fears and the fears of her captors?  Will the wayward unicorn’s assistance be a boon or a curse to the ‘humans?’  Most importantly, will she ever find her way home?

FROM THE CURATORS: Lengthy stories like this sometimes languish in our queue for a while, as we all try to make time to read them around our jobs and other hobbies, but Stardust sailed through, from nomination to approval, in less than a week.  “I was looking for something of doorstop length to sink into this weekend,” commented Augiedog, “and this one did the trick quite nicely.”  Chris also noted how easy it was to devour, saying, “This is a story that does an excellent job of holding the reader’s interest, despite its length and wide-ranging plot.”

Although this is a video game crossover, we all agreed that it did an excellent job of being accessible.  “I think that familiarity with the source material isn’t really necessary,” said Soge in his nomination, and the rest of us were quick to confirm as much.  “As someone with only the vaguest of ideas what XCOM is,” said Chris, “I can attest from personal experience that this holds up well even for the non-gamers among us.”  Augie, meanwhile, noted that he couldn’t tell which of “the humans here comes from the game or from the author’s imagination.”

But of course, this is a story about ponies, and especially about Twilight Sparkle.  “Twilight’s characterization remains solid throughout, slowly adapting to her new environment and her experience,” said Soge.  Chris agreed, noting that “her curiosity, naivete, and general desire to be helpful are all key story elements, and all fit her character well.”  And we found elements of the show to appreciate even beyond the main character, with Augie noting that “the story also contains one of the best renditions of Discord I’ve ever read,” and Chris praising its tone, calling it “a long-form story that uses interspecies war as a backdrop, but friendship and basic human decency as its raison d’etre.”

Read on for our author interview, in which Arad discusses plotbugs, whim purchases, and weaponized unicorns.
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CyborgSamurai’s “Can’t Choose Your Family”

15 Friday Apr 2016

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Make the choice to read today’s story, and you’ll be rewarded with an intriguing romp through Norse mythology.

cant-choose-your-familyCan’t Choose Your Family
[Crossover] [Slice of Life] • 3,937 words

It’s been five thousand years since the Summit of the Gods was last hosted in Equestria, and after dropping off Discord in Ponyville, Celestia returns to Canterlot Castle to meet with the entire Norse Pantheon. Before she can arrive, though, she’s stopped by a guard with a strange message, sent on the behalf of a mysterious figure from her past.

FROM THE CURATORS: This story’s cover art and description suggest the central family tie of the story — but it takes a deeper reading to realize just how cleverly the idea is constructed.  “The story’s labeled ‘Crossover’ because it posits that Celestia and Luna are the daughters of Sleipnir, Odin’s eight-legged horse in Norse mythology — which means, of course, that their grandmother is Loki,” AugieDog said in his nomination.  “It’s an idea that I just plain find appealing.”  The rest of us were equally taken with those ideas.  “The big draw here is the mythology, and what sells that is the solid characterization,” Horizon said.

Singled out for the greatest praise was the Norse deity who pays Celestia a visit. “There was clearly a lot of thought that went into Loki’s character, from ‘his’ flexible definition of gender to his unconventional sense of loyalty and understanding of betrayal,” Chris said.  Present Perfect agreed: “The way Loki is written has a certain je ne sais quoi. There’s an equal measure of ‘otherworldly god’ and ‘concerned grandmother’ there, very difficult to pull off well.”  But, as AugieDog noted, the Equestrian characters are given equally thoughtful depth.  “The story is a very nice character study of Celestia,” he said, “focusing on the choices she’s made concerning Equestria, in light of the constant sideways glances she and Luna get from the other Aesir due to their heritage.”

And while there was plenty to impress us in the character work alone, this story was also full of little surprises to enrich our reading experience.  “There’s a good deal in here that I’ve never seen before — most notably Discord’s relationship to Celestia,” Present Perfect said.  Horizon agreed: “From how Discord fits into the picture to the identity of Celestia and Luna’s mothers, this is full of surprising ideas that click into place like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle.”  All told, as Present Perfect said, this is a story carried by the solid execution of its ideas: “Anyone interested in mythology weaving will no doubt enjoy the way in which the Norse mythos has been applied to Equestria.”

Read on for our author interview, in which CyborgSamurai discusses dangerous shoulds, replacement hips, and sociopathic shattered shapeshifters.

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GroaningGreyAgony’s “Riverdream At Sunset: A Manuscript”

22 Friday May 2015

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Drift away on the currents of today’s story to see Equestria as you’ve never seen it before.

riverdream-at-sunsetRiverdream At Sunset: A Manuscript
[Crossover] [Adventure] [Human] • 7,768 words

A forgotten manuscript reveals an odd journey purportedly undertaken by Lord Dunsany, a Promethean explorer of the Lands of Dream. While the manuscript has yet to be authenticated, its contents are interesting enough to merit my posting them here.

FROM THE CURATORS: “At heart, this is just a human-in-Equestria story,” Horizon’s nomination began, but it was immediately obvious to all of us that there was much more going on.  “It’s HiE with class,” JohnPerry said, while Chris marveled: “This is in many ways ‘just’ an HiE story underneath all the trappings, but that doesn’t deter me from praising it.  First off, those trappings are really, really brilliant.”

That’s because the particular human visiting Equestria is one of the fathers of fantasy literature, and this fic is a marvelous homage to his style. “GroaningGreyAgony perfectly captures the way Dunsany meshed dense Victorian style, with its penchant for untranslated tidbits, flowery descriptions, and all the rest, with a nevertheless clear and readable narrative voice,” Chris said.  Horizon agreed: “The language here is unreal.  Pseudo-Victorian, quaint yet inviting, full of casual Greek that’s all clear in context (and all in the glossary if it isn’t), and bursting at the seams with worldbuilding of both the Equestrian and Earthy varieties.”  Present Perfect, too, fell in love with the language.  “There are just so many wonderful passages in this,” he said. “Like ‘We are glad of a fire, but we do not love it.'”

What we did love was basically everything about this story.  “Besides giving us what has to be the coolest origin story for Celestia I’ve ever read, you’ve got a protagonist who’s fun to follow,” JohnPerry said.  “Great framing story. Great creation myth.  The world-building is fantastic,” Present Perfect added.  Finally, there was a solid message in the story’s framing and presentation.  “It’s not just a story about going to Equestria, it’s a story about humanity willfully losing touch with the ways and traditions of our ancestors,” Chris said.  “Those Greek mythology callouts aren’t just to show how smart the author is, nor are they even ‘just’ because that’s how Dunsany wrote: they’re the girders which support the story’s message.”

It’s no wonder that Riverdream At Sunset sailed through our selection process with rare top scores from multiple curators.  “At heart, this is ‘just’ a Human in Equestria story,” Horizon said, “but I’ve never read another one like it.”

Read on for our author interview, in which GroaningGreyAgony discusses cat downloading, illusion shattering, and Faribalisteenism.
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Bad Horse’s “The Magician And The Detective”

24 Friday Jan 2014

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Today’s story presents a uniquely Equestrian interpretation of a singularly brilliant sleuth — and there’s more at stake here than a mystery to solve.

magician-detectiveThe Magician And The Detective
[Romance] [Sad] [Crossover] [Adventure] • 14,685 words

To Holmes, she is always the mare.  In his eyes she eclipses the whole of her sex, and fills him with admiration and loathing.  Whether she in fact stole the Starry Night was ultimately beside the point.  What mattered to Holmes was that he had been matched at his own game, by a mare; that it had not been altogether unpleasant; and that she had caused him, however briefly, to turn his keen and unflinching gaze upon himself.

FROM THE CURATORS: “If this were just one of Doyle’s Holmes stories, it’d ‘just’ be good,” Chris said — but this story goes well beyond that, and impressed us enough for a rare unanimous approval.

Beyond the mystery, there’s also a deep deconstruction of both MLP’s and Doyle’s characters, which brings them to life in a way few stories manage.  “It’s got so much to say about its characters I think in some ways I’m still processing it,” Horizon said.  Chris added, “The interpretation of Trixie really sells it for me.  She deftly walks the line between sympathetic and antagonistic.”

The twists of the final chapters also spurred high praise.  “The phrase Tour de Force gets tossed around far too often, but I’d absolutely describe this fic’s end as such,” Chris said.

Read on for our interview, in which Bad Horse discusses interactive literature, Sherlock Holmes’ class consciousness, and a writing tip well worth repeating.
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Twilight Snarkle’s “Order From Chaos”

01 Friday Nov 2013

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Today’s story is about the transformative power of friendship, in the finest tradition of MLP:FiM … even though its protagonist is the villain of the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise.

order_from_chaosOrder From Chaos
[Crossover] • 10,416 words

A handful of pages recount a remarkable journey to Equestria by someone who sought only a little peace.

FROM THE CURATORS: It’s tricky to write a Crossover story that appeals to readers outside your secondary fanbase. A major factor behind Order from Chaos’ feature is that it’s powerful even without any Sonic knowledge. “I don’t know Sonic from a hole in the ground,” Benman said, “[and] this story hit me extremely hard. … There’s a naked sincerity to this that makes me think of season 1, or Buffy, or the first Harry Potter book.”

And while the story’s about a psychological journey, the physical journey’s also a treat to read. “This does a lot of things right that [Human in Equestria] stories don’t often do right: cautious exploration, language barriers, balancing magic and foreign technology, day 32’s shift in writing style,” Horizon said.

Read on for our author interview, in which Twilight Snarkle battles plot bunnies and discusses how to draw out emotional depth from quiet, analytical characters.
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