Tag Archives: drama

Orbiting Kettle’s “A Good Filly”

13 Friday Jan 2017

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Today’s story might just get you looking over your shoulder.

good-fillyA Good Filly
[Drama] • 1,099 words

There are rules for surviving in the Crystal Empire. Shining Facet knows them well, and only hopes her daughter can learn quickly. After all, they say that things are different now — but sometimes it takes more than flugelhorns and crystal-berries to heal old wounds.

FROM THE CURATORS: Discussing this story during the nomination process, we were all amazed that we hadn’t featured Orbiting Kettle’s work before: “Clearly an oversight on our part,” Soge said.

About the story in question, Soge went on to call it “dark and messed up in the best possible way.” Present Perfect “was floored by how quickly and easily it slides us into the situation and the mindset of our protagonist,” with AugieDog adding, “the story quietly examines the invisible shackles of paranoia, and the first tiny flickers of hope appear in such a lovely and understated way.”

Our discussion got more personal than it usually does, too. Soge recalled family members “who suffered persecution under the previous military regime in Brazil,” while Chris, calling himself “a man who lives in a low-crime city in a very white state,” found himself thinking of people he knows “whose ‘what to do when you see the police’ lectures from their parents included things that were totally absent from mine: things like ‘hide before they see you,’ ‘don’t tell them your address, just say “around here,”‘ and ‘don’t tell them your real name.'”

That a story of not quite 1,100 words can touch so deeply upon so many worlds of experience while still fitting perfectly into events depicted in a cartoon about colorful talking ponies says a lot about both the source material and the author who put that story together. So read on for our interview where Orbiting Kettle discusses friends, cheese, the end of fear, and the hope of the future.
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Tigerhorse’s “Her Soldiers, We”

24 Saturday Dec 2016

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Today’s story will be there for you in the dark times.

her-soldiers-weHer Soldiers, We
[Adventure] [Drama] • 42,716 words

Vesperquines — batponies — have faithfully guarded Equestria’s night for a thousand years.  Apart from Celestia, they alone have kept the memory of Princess Luna alive in their hearts.  And they alone know of their failure, of how they were not the friends she needed when jealousy and despair gnawed at her.

They pray for a second chance.  They vow to do better.

And then, one night, miraculously, she returns.

But the princess whose memory they cherish is still lost to her mad fury.  And for a young recruit of the Night Guard, the nightmare has just begun.

FROM THE CURATORS: Depending on where you read this, it’s getting posted either before Christmas or Auld Lang Syne, so it’s fitting that this week’s feature touches on the redemptive power of tradition and loyalty.  “This is a story about what the batponies — ‘vesperquines,’ which I thought was a good name for them — were up to during Nightmare Moon’s return,” Chris said.  “Tigerhorse paints the dilemma of the two protagonists — how must they hew to their duty to Princess Luna, when she won’t even acknowledge that name? — in a pleasingly grey light.”  Bleak circumstances which highlight all the more their dedication, as Present Perfect noted: “The strength here is Nebula’s unwavering faith in her princess, her belief that friendship will push Nightmare Moon to do the right thing and stop the assault on Equestria.”

It was the powerful treatment of that central theme that garnered the most praise.  “I think that it hit some great emotional notes, and the concept itself is genius,” Soge said.  “It’s a non-cynical take on the fix-fic, patching over some of Nightmare Moon’s inconsistencies, while establishing some interesting worldbuilding.”  Chris concurred: “It’s a great example of how to write a serious story based on a children’s show.  Heck, it even works Pinklestia in in a heartwrenchingly dramatic manner, which is not a phrase I thought I’d ever type.”  That surprising breadth garnered a number of other compliments, such as Horizon’s comment: “That this expands the story of Nightmare Moon from Ponyville to Equestria is sweet, sweet cake. That it offers a plausible and heartwarming explanation for Shining Armor’s promotion to Captain of the Guard is the icing on top.”

Those elements won us over despite several curators’ concerns about length and pacing.  “This could have stood to be about half the size, but it did an excellent job of thoughtfully stitching together a lot of apparently unrelated canon,” Horizon said.  “It offered a behind-the-scenes take of a story which a great many authors have covered, and managed to keep it feeling fresh.” In the end, we thought, it did too much right to ignore.  “Could it be better? Undoubtedly,” Present Perfect said.  “But what’s here is one of the best batpony fics I’ve ever read, and believe you me, I’ve read a lot.”

Read on for our author interview, in which Tigerhorse discusses pink snow, holes in the sky, and edgy fruit bats.

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SaddlesoapOpera’s “A New Age”

26 Saturday Nov 2016

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Today’s story lets us hear some voices from Equestria’s past.

A New Age
[Dark] [Drama] • 14,963 words

In the closing days of the Pre-Classical Era, at the dawn of the rule of the Royal Pony Sisters, the devastation of Discord’s cruelty hits hard and leaves an open wound. As the young and inexperienced Princesses Celestia and Luna struggle to keep the peace, powerful figures in all three Pony tribes bridle at the upstart Alicorns who so quickly and easily claimed power…

FROM THE CURATORS: Epistolary stories present a number of unique problems to a writer, but sometimes confining the narrative to letters written by the characters is the best approach to take.  And when Soge praised this story for “managing to showcase a variety of points of view from a number of very distinctive characters, all of which have great voicing and believable motivations,” the rest of us had to agree.

“Absolutely necessary from a storytelling perspective,” Chris said, while Present Perfect called attention to “the variety of media… the stories told, the multiple crumbling tragedies” and called the whole piece “unspeakably awesome.”

“The characters are perfectly voiced throughout,” AugieDog noted with Chris calling them “sometimes petty, sometimes poignant, but invariably fascinating.” “The way that the author weaves in and out of show canon, while simultaneously doing a ton of world building was particularly masterful,” Soge concluded. “But what really clinched the nomination for me is how, from so many disparate parts, a full narrative emerges.”

Read on for our author interview, in which SaddlesoapOpera discusses fictional vacuums, plausible reliability, and the earthy aspects of earth ponies.
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Shrink Laureate’s “Left Behind”

04 Friday Nov 2016

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Loyal RCL readers will find a treat waiting for them in today’s story.

left-behindLeft Behind
[Drama] [Slice of Life] • 4,721 words

Fluttershy has been called away on an adventure. An adventure without Rainbow Dash.

FROM THE CURATORS: This story came to our attention via the Flutterdash group’s third writing contest, where it felt somewhat misplaced — “there isn’t even a [Romance] tag,” as Present Perfect pointed out.  But Left Behind turned our heads with the power of its writing.  “When writing gurus talk about ‘show, don’t tell,’ this is the sort of thing they mean,” AugieDog said.  “We’re presented with a series of scenes, some in the present and some in the past, that add up to create a picture of Dash’s feelings toward Fluttershy.”

Multiple curators remarked on the story’s slow yet compelling build.  “There’s a lot here that’s enjoyable in its very low-key-ness,” Chris said, and AugieDog agreed: “It’s almost aggressively low-key. … The author paints with an admirably light touch, implying things more often than stating them, and we’re pretty much left to decide for ourselves how deep Dash’s feelings run.  And that to me is a real plus in this sort of story.”  Even slice-of-life hater Horizon was won over: “This felt like the literary equivalent of a well-painted landscape,” he said.  “Its biggest strength is in the way it chooses tones and contrasts to create depth.  But all of the characters are also individually great, especially Spike, and their concerns are so real and wide-ranging that this piece is bursting with life.”

While the protagonist was the biggest of those highlights — “this is one of the most solid pieces of Rainbow Dash-centric character writing I’ve ever read; it exemplifies all her best qualities while explaining away the worst,” Present Perfect said — some of the side characters were scene-stealers. “This story introduced me to Zephda shipping, and now I am on that ship really hard,” Present Perfect added.  And ultimately, all of those characters contributed to the emotional power of the piece.  “I especially appreciate the unspoken sense of sacrifice that permeates the mane cast, watching their younger sisters develop into normal lives while their own emotional bonds seem stuck in Harmony’s amber,” Horizon said.  “That lends this whole thing an air of powerful melancholy.”

Read on for our author interview, in which Shrink Laureate discusses cuddly villains, conversational props, and adorably horrible cosmic-ray ships.
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Dafaddah’s “Pas de Deux”

09 Friday Sep 2016

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Today’s story explores the dance of love.

pas-de-deuxPas de Deux
[Drama] [Romance] [Slice of Life] • 3,734 words

Fancy Pants and Fleur Dis Lee were made for each-other: the perpetual playcolt and the sultry supermodel. Now, they’ve been going out for over a month. Has she fallen for this stallion? Is he finally ready to settle down? Can true love blossom in the high-pressure world of Canterlot’s social elite?

FROM THE CURATORS: A “pas de deux” is a dance for two people, and Pas de Deux is not only a study of the dance of intimacy between two ponies but also their social dance as they define themselves against the expectations that confine them.  What first caught our eye is that it’s “a good character study of two good characters,” as AugieDog put it, but this also breathes life into an often poorly explored relationship. “I’ve always found FleurPants shipping to be a weak explanation for why they hang around together, but this story shows their relationship is anything but weak,” Present Perfect said.

The same was true for the story’s portrayal of its protagonists.  Chris was impressed that they were so relatable despite (or perhaps because of) their upper-class background: “Their concerns are familiar,” he said.  “Here, we see a look at pretensions and the need to hide our true selves in the name of social demands, which is about as universal a conflict as there is — but at the same time, Fancy and Fleur’s richness keeps them far enough removed from reality to explore issues more frankly and directly than suspension of disbelief might otherwise allow.”  And AugieDog was impressed by how they became more than the sum of their parts: “In the stories I’ve read about Fleur, she always seems to be struggling against her inclinations … that’s always a powerful story to tell, and when you add Fancy Pants as the outsider on the inside who triggers this desire in her, you get two characters who see their own missing pieces in each other. I’m a sucker for that sort of thing.”

That was enhanced by the excellent framing of the story, which multiple curators praised. “Setting the scene with Fancy and Fleur before zooming out to resolve it was a good strategy,” Present Perfect said, and Horizon agreed: “Marriage counselors say there are three people in a marriage — the first partner, the second partner, and the two of them together.  This explicitly is structured to show how the relationship benefits all three of those, and it’s much stronger for the decision.”

Read on for our author interview, in which Dafaddah discusses Kirin mothers, vulnerable moments, and the pushing of ships.
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JohnPerry’s “The Wreck”

29 Friday Jul 2016

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Lose yourself in today’s story about a boat that’s more than it seems.

the-wreckThe Wreck
[Dark] [Drama] [Mystery] • 13,126 words

A.K. Yearling leads a quiet, peaceful life as a novelist living in Canterlot with her fiancé.

But recently, she has been haunted by dreams of a strange shipwreck, and she doesn’t know why.

FROM THE CURATORS: JohnPerry left the fandom (and the RCL) some time ago, but we weren’t going to let that stop us from featuring The Wreck, given the wide-ranging quality of its tale.  “It’s quite an amazing piece, given the intersection of dream, desire, adventure, writer’s block and mystery,” Present Perfect said, while Soge had nothing but praise: “Very creative, amazing imagery, great characterization, and a surreal plot which ties up in the best way possible.”

We had some difficulty, in fact, finding the most praiseworthy part of this tale of A.K. Yearling’s journey of self-discovery.  AugieDog thought it was the character deconstruction: “JP’s take on the idea that A.K. Yearling and Daring Do are the same pony is just plain perfectly realized,” he said, “exploring not only which of the two is the original and dominant personality but also which of them would honestly envy the other.”  Horizon appreciated the unfolding of the mystery: “The construction here is impressive.  For instance, there’s a part of the story which seemed subtly wrong to me until I realized that the wrongness had been foreshadowing an important reveal that caught me off guard.”  And Present Perfect appreciated the way it reforged canon: “It proves that Daring Don’t didn’t rob the fandom of its ability to interpret Daring Do to their heart’s content.”

What we agreed on was that — despite its strong opening — this story kept finding ways to up the stakes and close even stronger.  “The whole thing kicks into high gear in Chapter 4 and stays gripping till the end,” Horizon said, and Present Perfect added: “The way it unfolds is quite the experience, with a strong, relatable moral at the end.”

Read on for our author interview, in which JohnPerry discusses sympathetic actors, Steven Universe, and suffering feature boxes.
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Between Lines’ “Great and Powerful”

22 Friday Jul 2016

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Today’s story explores a side of Trixie we know all too well, and today’s story explores a side of Trixie we’ve never seen before.

great-and-powerfulGreat and Powerful
[Alternate Universe] [Drama] [Sad] • 3,470 words

With nowhere left to go, the Great and Powerful Trixie finds herself returning to Canterlot, the city she tried to get away from so long ago …

FROM THE CURATORS: Like Trixie herself, there’s a lot more to Great and Powerful than first impressions would indicate.  “This story looks like a typical ‘sad Trixie’ fic at first, as we see her morosely reflecting on her ill fortune and general misery in her old(er) age,” Chris said.  “But a bit less than halfway through, it throws a wrench into the works which caught me totally off guard.”  Present Perfect agreed: “I really want to call this just another Sad Trixie, but I can’t.”  It wasn’t only the twist which impressed us, but also its execution.  “This flows seamlessly between canon and what could easily be an AU, and ends up feeling larger than its word count,” Soge said.

Given our curators’ different approaches to fiction, however, what was most remarkable about this story was how much overlap there was in what we found praiseworthy.  “It makes good use of intentional repetition, and manages to be almost completely opaque about what actually happened without alienating the reader,” Chris said, and Soge echoed his appreciation of that: “There is something kinda vague, almost mystical in its presentation.”  Another point of agreement was the thoughtful use of MLP’s wider world.  “There are also a few really clever inclusions of minor bits of canon,” Chris said, which Present Perfect appreciated too: “I can’t be down on a story that turns ‘Trixie doesn’t trust wheels’ into an immediate, serious issue,” he said.  “And that salt and pepper metaphor! That’s not the kind of thing you ever see in fanfic.”

Neither was the overall tone of the piece, AugieDog thought.  “The word I want to use is ‘elegiac,’ but not in the modern English sense,” he said.  “In Classical Greek and Roman times, an elegy was more than just a funeral poem … it often dealt with endings, but they could be happy endings, sad endings, satyrical endings, et cetera.  Here, we get two endings, both of them happening at the same time and in the same place but both of them at least a universe apart from each other.  And they’re both wonderfully elegiac, the first in a poetic and sad way and the second in a ‘recalling a life well-lived’ way.”

Read on for our author interview, in which Between Lines discusses Arctic trips, Crackerjack boxes, and Slinky Jengas.
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Daedalus Aegle’s “Discourse on Fillies”

01 Friday Jul 2016

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Today’s story lays bare two characters united by redemption — with a side of tea.

discourse-on-filliesDiscourse on Fillies
[Drama] [Slice of Life] • 15,532 words

Diamond Tiara always knew that someday she’d be invited to dine with the Princess at the Royal Palace. She didn’t think it would happen like this.

But she’s going to sit there and be polite and smile and not be bothered by all the ways this is all wrong. Because that’s what good fillies do, and Diamond Tiara is a good filly now.

Right?

FROM THE CURATORS: This is one of those stories that was turning heads well before it reached our reading queue.  “Having seen no fewer than ten journals in a row signal boosting and praising this story, I knew it was only a matter of time before it ended up here,” Present Perfect noted, as AugieDog pointed out its heavily upvoted suggestion in our story recommendation thread.  And while not all of us appreciated the story equally, we found a story whose ideas were big enough to justify the acclaim.  “The author needs some special sort of commendation for giving us the idea of The Princess by Macavallo, then for making it be the book Diamond Tiara has based her entire life upon, then for making Machiavelli work in an Equestrian context,” AugieDog said.

However, what really turned our heads was the exemplary work on the story’s two main characters.  “This really excels at framing a child’s concerns about the world, but the big thing right is the interplay between Diamond Tiara and Luna, of the tribulations shared by the rich and actual royalty, and of how the scope of their differences varies exponentially,” Present Perfect said.  AugieDog agreed: “The way the author handles these two characters is what’s making me nominate it.”  Even the story’s critics found that powerful.  “I bounced off this story,” Soge said, “but the parallels between Tiara and Luna are interesting, and her view of the world, particularly her comparisons between the rich and the nobles in the context of MLP’s world, are nothing short of fascinating.”

Also held up for acclaim were the story’s heartfelt moments.  “This was angling for my upvote as early as the ‘Feelings are like muscles’ speech, and the little profundities just kept on coming,” Horizon said.  “The dig about uselessness and Luna’s response to it and the very adult handling of DT’s outburst (on both sides) was just amazing.  ‘Trying always counts’ was so on-point I think I accidentally stabbed myself with it.”  That was a consequence of the beautiful framing of the premise, Present Perfect argued: “Two characters in a state of reformation — ‘state’, because reform isn’t something you achieve and then go do something else after — trying to help one another? Brilliant, and a fantastic use of everything we learned in Crusaders of the Lost Mark.”  It all added up, as Horizon said, to a winner: “In between picking the right characters for the discussion, using them faithfully, and teaching me something about Earth history, this succeeds on multiple levels.”

Read on for our author interview, in which Daedalus Aegle discusses radiant inventors, muddy Machiavellis, and the missing directions of Norway.

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Ceffyl Dwr’s “True Bowmance”

17 Friday Jun 2016

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There’s plenty to enjoy about today’s story — but if you suddenly and mysteriously fall in love with its tale, it’s time to run away screaming.

true-bowmanceTrue Bowmance
[Comedy] [Drama] [Slice of Life] • 10,049 words

Coming from a proud family celebrated for their ability at helping ponies fall in love, Archer wants nothing more than to be able to carry on the Cupid tradition.  What helps is that her mother is one of the most successful Cupids to ever walk Equestria.

What helps less is that Archer is possibly the worst.

But that’s not going to stop her from trying.

FROM THE CURATORS: For a story whose main character so consistently fails to touch hearts, this certainly grabbed ours.  Soge, for example, praised the story’s emotional impact and construction: “This is a straight-up adorable, really heartwarming fic, and one I really enjoyed reading.  All the ponies are characterized very well, and are very believable in their actions, without that affecting negatively either the plot or the comedic timing.”  That humor, too, drew its own share of praise.  “The comedy in this story is consistent and engaging, a nice blend of puns, callbacks, and narrative observational humor,” Chris said, and AugieDog agreed: “This is just so appealingly goofy.”

On top of that, True Bowmance was stuffed with sharp ideas that fired up our imaginations.  “It never ceases to amaze me, the stories we can come up for for incidental characters,” Present Perfect said.  “Who comes up with ‘matchmaking earth pony magic’ for someone like Archer?  This is an excellent work of original, on-tone world-building.”  Chris was equally impressed with that for similar reasons: “On that note, isn’t ‘hereditary matchmakers’ just a perfectly Equestrian job?  I mean, it edges creepily up on suggesting that free will is an illusion, but stays firmly on the heartwarming side of that line.”

The cherry on top of this tale’s sundae of matchmaking failures, however, was the exemplary character work.  “Pinkie works wonderfully as both comic relief and moral support,” Present Perfect noted, while Soge enjoyed the main character’s portrayal: “It does the whole ‘oblivious youngster’ thing, a la early-seasons Cutie Mark Crusaders, very well.”  That led to a comment from AugieDog that sent shivers down all of our spines: “The only thing that would’ve made this better would’ve been the Cutie Mark Crusaders trying to help Archer out, but I find myself thinking the town might not have survived that particular meeting.”

Read on for our author interview, in which Ceffyl Dwr discusses kelpie brothers, Bonfleur, and genealogical invasions.
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Regidar’s “The Inadequacy”

03 Friday Jun 2016

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Prepare for today’s story to drag you through the doubts of impending parenthood.

the-inadequacyThe Inadequacy
[Drama] [Slice of Life] • 6,038 words

Princess Cadance is nearly ready to deliver Princess Flurry Heart into the world, and Shining should be the happiest stallion in the world. After all, he’s about to become a father — what stallion wouldn’t rejoice at this fact?

And yet … something’s eating away at him. Keeping him up nights. Driving him to speak with anypony that’ll listen. An anxiety. A fear. A doubt.

An inadequacy.

FROM THE CURATORS: When the Season 6 opener introduced us to Cadance and Shining Armor’s foal, it was inevitable that we would see a rush of stories examining their parenthood — but this one stood out for how squarely it hit the nail on the head.  “This is a fantastic, believable look into Shining Armor’s character and things he should rightfully feel doubtful about,” Present Perfect said.  Horizon also praised the way the story handled its characters: “It takes a lot for a story about the joys of parenting to burst through my shell, but the honesty and maturity on display here from everyone won me over.”  And AugieDog was similarly won over by that core maturity: “I’m a big fan of stories where characters come to realize that they’re in over their heads, then go out and find help to deal with the problem,” he said.  “And the situation here is both nicely specific to Shining Armor and nicely general to the experience of fatherhood.”

Augie wasn’t the only one who appreciated the way the story was structured around that search for perspective.  “Shining’s continued denial gives the supporting cast a chance to really shine — the scene with Night Light was particularly impressive — and winds up to a powerful ending that reinforces the story’s major themes,” Horizon said.  That ending, too, impressed multiple curators.  “I’m very pleased that he doesn’t magically get over his troubles by the end,” Present Perfect said.  “I love that he doesn’t even know who to talk to — starting off with that random private, then slowly going for better and better choices. Of course, the scene with Cadance ended up being the best, as it should be.”  And Chris agreed on both counts:  “There was a structure to what Shining Armor learned that made it feel like it needed to happen. … And the lack of a total, instantaneous, and-then-everything-was-perfect-style resolution is a big point in this fic’s favor.”

But ultimately, it was the core authenticity here that made this such an exemplary read — and such a powerful one.  “Shiny feels pleasantly human,” Chris said, and Horizon added: “The way that it explores his emotions just feels important.”

Read on for our author interview, in which Regidar discusses cave goblins, osmosis snippets, and the misreading of Dungeons & Dragons.
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