Tag Archives: slice of life

TheJediMasterEd’s “Beneath Your Feet, What Treasures”

15 Friday May 2015

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Today’s story is a gem worth adding to your collection.

beneath-your-feetBeneath Your Feet, What Treasures
[Romance] [Sad] [Slice of Life] • 1,444 words

Spike has a hoard nopony knows about, something he’s been using to do a dragonish thing in a ponyish way.

But now it’s the other way ’round.

FROM THE CURATORS: It’s always a good sign when the first story an author posts on FIMFiction is a hidden gem — and so much the better if it’s a story about hidden gems, and what they mean to the dragon collecting them. “I was thoroughly impressed that the author found the specific rocks to use in the story,” Present Perfect said.  However, while “rocks are awesome” (as Chris said), there’s more here than a geology lesson. “I have a soft spot for fics which center around extended metaphors,” Chris added.

So what is behind the gleaming facets of Treasures?  “Everything about this story screams ‘Sparity,’ but thankfully, it isn’t that ship,” Present Perfect said.  “It’s a unique look at Spike and his crush on Rarity that doesn’t delve into any of the usual stumbling points.”  JohnPerry saw it from a slightly different angle: “I thoroughly enjoyed this exploration of a child’s fascination with keeping secrets — and the characterization of Spike is excellent here — but to scratch beneath that surface and find a reflection of an outside event so subtly woven in was an immensely rewarding experience.”  Horizon took yet another view: “What distinguishes it here is the twist, and the way that Spike’s ultimate reaction paints him as so alien to the ponies, yet so understandable.  He’s trying to reconcile two worlds. That’s pretty deep for a story about rock collecting.”

That we could so easily come up with different interpretations speaks well of Treasure’s depth. “There’s plenty of understated meaning here,” Horizon said. “It’s clearly in the ‘Twilight Sparkle Makes A Cup Of Tea‘ school of indirect storytelling.”  And ultimately, that adds up to a fic in which there’s a lot to like — even if it takes some effort to tease all of its facets out.  “I confess that I had to reread this one a couple of times to grasp the deeper meaning here, but wow was it worthwhile,” JohnPerry said.

Read on for our author interview, in which TheJediMasterEd discusses Spike vs. Spock, zwilnick hunting, and the give and take of life.
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Foehn’s “A Tale Told”

08 Friday May 2015

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They say blood is thicker than water, but today’s story is a novel look at a unicorn whose head is thicker still.

tale-toldA Tale Told
[Slice of Life] • 1,305 words

Sometimes, reality is best understood through fiction.

Other times, the two are harder to distinguish between.

Family is often such a complicated matter.

FROM THE CURATORS: In computing, the term “quine” means a program that will output its own code when you run it.  This intriguing little tale might be the literary equivalent: A story that tells itself.  “There’s really something unique to the layers here,” Horizon said, and Present Perfect agreed: “The literary technique is one we’ve seen before, yet the way it’s used is wholly novel, as far as I can tell.  It just adds so much to the story.”

The meat of that story is the emotional fallout from a moment of casual racism among the unicorn nobility — and we all found great finesse in Foehn’s handling of the topic.  “The story tells us a lot about our assumptions, both through the narrator and the father,” Chris said.  “I like how it doesn’t resort to overdramatics: in real life, such turning points are often defined by offhand comments rather than grand gestures.”  That subtlety didn’t mean it was lacking in impact, however.  “The exchange about the birds was quite strong, especially in a story this short,” Horizon said.

Ultimately, A Tale Told is not only a uniquely structured story, but also a unique look at one of the show’s more easily misunderstood villains.  “The ‘Blueblood as snob’ story is an easy one to screw up,” JohnPerry said. “Here, Blueblood is very deliberately underplayed … rather than getting caught up in trying to justify his actions in the show, it focuses more on the reality of living a life in that role.  It’s not so much a Prince Blueblood story, but rather a Prince Blueblood story.”

Read on for our author interview, in which Foehn discusses implied deserts, homeland accusations, and perfect girls.
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PatchworkPoltergeist’s “A Diamond and a Tether”

24 Friday Apr 2015

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Today’s story is a rich look at a pair of poor little rich girls.

diamond-tetherA Diamond and a Tether
[Drama] [Slice of Life] [Human] • 13,294 words

Heiress Lucy Burdock knows life has a way of surprising you.

For example, she wasn’t expecting a little pink pony for her birthday. She certainly didn’t expect it to start talking, either. It was cute at first, but it kinda feels more like taking care of a little kid than a pony. Lucy’s never really been great with kids … but she can make it work!

Can’t she?

FROM THE CURATORS: When The More Most Dangerous Game Contest challenged entrants to reinterpret fandom classics, this story stood out, placing second in a crowded field of 92 entries.  We were equally impressed, especially with the originality it brought to My Little Dashie’s core premise.  As JohnPerry explained: “A human is gifted with a pony in a box and tasked with raising it … then completely screws it up. And not in a way that seems sadistic or cruel, like many an MLD parody, but in a way that seems unsettling but still believable.”

We agreed that that premise wrung emotions out of unexpected places.  “It’s hard to make rich brats sympathetic, but it had me aching for the feelings of a self-absorbed trust fund kid — and without ever getting preachy, or dropping a ‘being rich doesn’t mean you’re happy!’ cudgel on the reader,” Chris said.  One aspect of that was the well-constructed characters, as Present Perfect noted.  “You’ve got a noteworthy human protagonist in spoiled, vain Lucy,” he said. “You’ve got the beleaguered housekeeper. And Diamond Tiara doesn’t exist just for Lucy’s narrative benefit. This is her story, and it presents a wholly engrossing backstory for her.”

While any reinterpretation of our fandom’s most-read story has large shoes to fill, we unanimously agreed that A Diamond and a Tether held up both inside and outside of Dashie’s context. “I think it’s a testament to the creativity of this fandom that this was written out of a prompt based on My Little Dashie, because it’s the polar opposite of that story in terms of tone or outcome,” JohnPerry said.  Present Perfect agreed: “It can stand alone without MLD, yet it does so many things that story did, only better.”

Read on for our author interview, in which PatchworkPoltergeist discusses floriography problems, ornithology comparisons, and unexpected gerbils.
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Newtaloo’s “A Fragile Heart”

17 Friday Apr 2015

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Often, the littlest detail can tell a story — and today’s feature teases out a compelling and emotional tale from one such frozen moment.

fragile-heartA Fragile Heart
[Sad] [Slice of Life] • 2,511 words

A short story about waiting, hay fries, and the dangers of space and silence in matters of the heart.

Takes place in the background of “Twilight Time”.

FROM THE CURATORS: To describe this as “a short and simple tale about a guy waiting in a restaurant,” as Horizon did in his nomination, is true but utterly misleading: it hit us so squarely in the feels that it went from nominee to feature in a record-shattering 39 minutes.

A Fragile Heart was exemplary in that it was “bitter, but not saccharine,” JohnPerry said.  “It’s the sort of sad story I really love: one that sells its emotions without resorting to hammering you over the head with them.”  Present Perfect agreed.  “Little things like the pause burning in the back of his throat really sell the emotion,” he said.  “There’s something to be said for being able to wring sadness out of a typo on the menu.”

Those emotions were in service of a beautifully nuanced portrayal of the protagonist’s troubled romance.  “Its look at the main character’s relationship in all its complexity — the good and the bad, the raw and the precious — balances the story between tragedy and closure,” Horizon said, while Present Perfect was more direct: “All the things he doesn’t say are heartwrenching.  I felt so bad for this guy.”

Another highlight of the story’s strong prose was a Pinkie Pie appearance that was “sweet but not cloying,” in Horizon’s words.  Present Perfect added that her appearance was “patently ridiculous in a perfectly Pinkie way. … In another story, it would pull you out of the sad feelings, but in this one, it just serves to show that, yeah, life goes on.”

Read on for our author interview, in which Newtaloo discusses ear math, sad fries, and bag gulls.
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TheBandBrony’s “Save The Records”

03 Friday Apr 2015

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Today’s story is a musical meditation on lost history.

save-the-recordsSave The Records
[Slice of Life] [Alternate Universe] • 2,771 words

The world ends, right? Of course it did. But who in the great struggle to survive the end of ponykind remembered to save the music?

A story build around a series of chord changes from the jazz standard “Blue and Sentimental” — in essence, an improvisation.

FROM THE CURATORS: As the description notes — and as readers will immediately notice — this story borrows its unique structure from a musical piece, and within that imaginative framework lies a tale we all agreed was rewarding.  “This is a dense story, even for those with a musical grounding, but it’s still got so much wonderful stuff going on,” said Chris, our resident classically trained musician.  “I could love it just for the passage about the last note Beethoofen ever heard, but that sort of poignancy is all over the place.”  Horizon was similarly impressed: “It’s got enough depth to soak in, but still has a lot to offer on the surface, which is all I can ask for.”

On that surface is a postapocalyptic retrospective of a part of our culture it’s easy to take for granted.  “Save The Records talks about the importance of music, and how easy it is to overlook, and does so in a style that evokes Kerouac,” Present Perfect said.  That unique textual style also drew JohnPerry in.  “The lyrical quality of the writing here practically demands that you read it aloud,” he said, “and it gets even better upon repeated reading.  There’s so many intriguing details packed into these words that each subsequent reading offers something new to be discovered.”

Ultimately, while we found Save The Records’ rich prose its most exemplary feature, it distinguished itself in multiple ways.  “Lord help us, Horizon and Present both liked it, it must be word porn,” Horizon said. “But it’s not just about the lyricism here.  It’s interspersed with meditations on a lot of thought-provoking topics, in as original a framework as you’ll find.”  Chris summed it up: “Save The Records is a thought-provoking, relentlessly clever, attentiveness-rewarding story.”

Read on for our author interview, in which TheBandBrony discusses paradiddles, runner’s highs, and apocalypse commodities.

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Thornwing’s “The Old Gray Mare”

27 Friday Mar 2015

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The shadow of royalty is long, and today’s story shines a light on one of the ponies who never expected to find herself there.

old-gray-mareThe Old Gray Mare
[Slice of Life] • 5,134 words

Ever since Twilight came to town, Mayor Mare’s position as leader of Ponyville has been slipping. With her destiny overshadowed by the new princess on the block, it’s time for the old gray mare to move on.

FROM THE CURATORS: “The Old Gray Mare is one of the best Mayor Mare fics I’ve ever read,” Present Perfect said, and broad agreement on that sentiment sent this story sailing through our selection process.

While the central characterization was certainly strong — “this story fleshes out a minor character in a believable and compelling way,” Chris said, and Present Perfect praised how it “balanced her emotional state between wistful longing and bitterness” — what made the story so exemplary was its look at the world around her.  “The slow build of seeing just what she’s meant for the town was really wonderful, especially given that she’s usually a bit of an empty suit where the show is concerned,” Bradel said.  Chris added, “The story shows some real thought about how Ponyville has developed, and what having a crew like the Mane Six around does to a community.”

It also wasn’t afraid to have its protagonist extrapolate those effects out to their logical conclusions, and act accordingly.  “While it did get a bit overly sentimental at times, I gotta hand it to this story for sticking to its guns,” JohnPerry said.  “I appreciate it when a story like this gives a character a weighty decision, and then has them carry it through.”  We all agreed on the impact that created.  “The mayor’s choices … made for much stronger writing, and a legitimate pay-off at the end,” Bradel said, and Present Perfect summed it up: “I found the ending intensely emotional without being manipulative.”

Read on for our author interview, in which Thornwing discusses posterity, joke prompts, and the definition of a town.
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GhostOfHeraclitus’ “Twilight Sparkle Makes A Cup Of Tea”

13 Friday Mar 2015

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Today’s story brews up some potent emotions.

Twilight Sparkle Makes A Cup Of Tea
[Sad] [Slice of Life] • 1,671 words

cup-of-teaEarly one morning, Twilight Sparkle gets up to make some tea.

Sometimes, a cup of tea is just a cup of tea. This is not one of those times.

FROM THE CURATORS: “Yeah, it’s another one of those fics,” Present Perfect said when he nominated the story. “A ‘Pony Does X’ that has no need for a more thought-provoking title, and a story where tea is just the be-all and end-all of everything.”  Appearances, of course, can be deceiving — and beneath the surface clichés lies a story that’s “quietly poignant, and dense in a way that’s a joy to unfold,” as Horizon put it.

A large part of what makes it exemplary is the measured way the story dribbles out. “It traipses along spilling its secrets without putting them together for the reader, and it left me feeling like I’d been tapped by the unknowable finger of God,” Present Perfect said, and Horizon added: “This is one of the finest pieces of indirect storytelling you’ll ever read.  Ghost has written a story that’s a pony-shaped hole.”  Chris, meanwhile, complimented the story’s balance between brevity and depth: “I believe that there’s no best length for stories, but that every specific story has a best length, and Ghost of Heraclitus found it here.”

Cup of Tea‘s other core strength is an authentic look at a pony out of her depth.  “This felt more like a scientific experiment than a hallowed tradition, but that’s because Twilight is approaching her daily ritual as a scientific experiment, one in which science can provide no answer,” JohnPerry said. “She’s grasping at something — the nostalgia of her youth and the memories of her mentor — and she wants to recapture it. And being Twilight, she attempts to do so the only way she knows how.”

While Twilight might be blindly flailing for answers, the clues are all there for us. “There’s something to be said for the ending,” Present Perfect said.  “It peters out like the last few drops poured from a teapot, as if to say, ‘You’ve got all the pieces, you figure them out.'”

Read on for our author interview, in which GhostOfHeraclitus discusses Twilight as confessor, the cut of genoas, and reading irresponsibly.

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Loganberry’s “It Doesn’t Matter Now”

27 Friday Feb 2015

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As today’s story reminds us, there are some things in life that are constants — like death, taxes, and Pinkie Pie showing up at the end of the universe.

doesnt-matter-nowIt Doesn’t Matter Now
[Random] [Slice of Life] • 1,334 words

The Spirit Pony is responsible for the End of All That Ever Was. It has always been so. This particular End looks like being a straightforward one – until a certain pink pony intervenes to prevent it happening. Pinkie has a very, very good reason for stopping the Spirit, too…

FROM THE CURATORS: This fun little eschatological romp (and how often do you get to use those words together?) is what it says on the tin: Pinkie Pie at the End of All That Ever Was, stopping the universe from ending because she’s got some unfinished business.  “It’s a fresh subversion of a theme that has been done to death with the show’s immortal princesses,” Horizon said, but we found depth beyond that. “It’s more a look into the power of Pinkie, something that goes beyond crass fourth-wall breakage while still giving her a magic of her own,” Present Perfect said.

One of its core strengths was that clever examination of a pony who is among the most difficult to write.  “I was impressed by the way Pinkie’s character is used in this story,” Present Perfect said.  “It benefits from letting her act in that situation as she does in all situations: like Pinkie.”  Chris was impressed, too: “It definitely speaks to the kind of dramatic whimsy Pinkie’s capable of.  She’s more than just a goof, after all — she takes her goofiness seriously.”

Add to that the strong writing which carried this to a UK of Equestria contest win, and this short little tale sailed through to an easy feature. “It plays with contrast and tone in clever ways,” Horizon said. “It’s got a cute and simple premise which might not carry a longer story, but it packs up enough gravitas to give the ending a satisfying impact.”

Read on for our author interview, in which Loganberry discusses wanderlust, tea, and Egg-Kings.

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Prak’s “The Life And Death Of April Fool”

30 Friday Jan 2015

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Today’s story offers a whimsical Equestrian take on an equally whimsical holiday.

life-and-deathThe Life And Death Of April Fool
[Comedy] [Slice of Life] • 2,132 words

Under a rock in the Everfree Forest, there lived a pony.

Once a year, she came out to play.

FROM THE CURATORS: While this fic’s title might make it sound like the sort of clickbait that floods in when a holiday rolls around, what’s inside is worth reading at any time of year.  “This one is goofy and whimsical, without ever getting random/stupid or dragging,” Chris said.  “The fun here is in the lighthearted, Equestria-esque surreality that pervades it.”

We all agreed it was exemplary light reading which offered several experiences without breaking its tone.  “The way the narrative switches back and forth between fairy tale, normal comedy fic, and almost nursery rhyme is kind of astounding,” Present Perfect said, and Bradel added: “it never feels off to me, which is almost a wonder.”  Even our doubters found things to be impressed by.  “I’m pretty clearly not the target audience here,” Horizon said, “but the mythology is great, and the ending redeems a lot.”

While it’s difficult to point to a single standout moment, the story earned its feature on the strength of its overall execution — and in how effortlessly pony it felt. “There’s some really clever jokes in here, and the tone is very fitting to the show,” JohnPerry said. “Something about this one just sucks you in by the power of its charm.”

Read on for our author interview, in which Prak discusses extra-dimensional yodeling, reader lobotomies, and the black humor this story almost had.
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Pineta’s “Breaking News and Weather”

23 Friday Jan 2015

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NEWSPAPER PASTICHE EARNS RCL FEATURE
“Superb!” “Tops!” Say Critics

breaking-newsBreaking News And Weather
[Comedy] [Slice of Life] • 4,134 words

Rainbow Dash’s first sonic rainboom makes headlines across Equestria. Every reporter is out to cover the story from their own angle. Sometimes they get it partly right.

She’s going down in history. Maybe.

FROM THE CURATORS: We’ve featured epistolatory stories before, but this is something a little different. “It’s literally a series of newspaper front pages from shortly after Rainbow Dash did her first sonic rainboom,” Chris said, “showing a few different perspectives on what happened, and what followed.  The manner of presentation and the quality of execution are something we should showcase.”  We all agreed on that first impression.  “It’s certainly tops as presentations go,” Present Perfect said, and JohnPerry chimed in: “The presentation is superb.”

But despite the visual-arts triumph of its construction, we’re a fanfiction review group, and what earned Breaking News And Weather its feature was the sharp construction of its prose.  “It’s full of subtle and not-so-subtle wit — like the one student in the school paper who disagreed about the rainbow — and a steady eye toward worldbuilding and internal consistency,” Horizon said.  “It says a lot with details, like the less-than-scrupulous fact-checking with ‘Mr Rainbow Dash.’  Even without the newspaper formatting, it holds together as well as anything else we’ve spotlighted.”  JohnPerry also appreciated its depth: “I admired that you get a wider sense of this world beyond the main story.  The Cloudsdale strike made for a surprisingly compelling sub-plot.”

Add to that a clever critique of the news industry’s foibles, and you have a winner.  “The meta references to real-world papers are excellent, and the little details carefully woven in really made this one shine,” JohnPerry said, and Horizon agreed: “There’s a lot of marvelous content in the meta. … As a former newspaper editor, I might be biased, but this is one of my favorite stories on the site.”

Read on for our author interview, in which Pineta discusses blackboard shots, double-edged swords, and getting out of the house.
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