Pony Short Stories

Been a little lax on my resolution to write down what I thought about the stuff I’ve been reading. Doing pretty good on the reading new stuff, but starting to slide on the writing about it part. Several of the My Little Pony short stories I haven’t written anything about because there just wasn’t much to write about. I read them, I liked them, but they didn’t really leave any impression on me even right after finishing them. However, I’m trying to be better at keeping up with what I set out to do and late is better than never. So here is a post where I sum up what I think about the half-dozen or so short ponyfics I have on my have read list but haven’t posted about.

A Cup Of Joe by The Descendant
This is a longer story than most of the others in this. It’s not a full novel, but it’s longer than a short story. Call it a novelette? Who knows. On to what I noticed. It is a good example of how to do worldbuilding without resorting to exposition. Using just a word here, a phrase there, each one hinting at a whole world expanding beyond the tight focus of the story. Indicating whole social/cultural structures with just the right word choice. The mythology about what seems to be a afterlife, or that the cutie marks might be the result of a covenant between the pony races and the sister-goddesses.

I also really like the idea that Equestria has a normal army apart from the royal guard we see in the show. With the idea that to join the royal guard you have to be a normal guard that gets injured going above and beyond the normal line of duty. There wasn’t really a big battle scene, but even just a sentence of the pegasi being skirmishers and scouts inspired me to spent a few moments thinking about how all three types of ponies would work together in a military fashion.

The story also brings up the idea that there are spells that anypony can learn. Using the idea that there is magic different from each pony’s special talent. Which is supported by the fact that in the show there are books by famous mages and Twilight talks about spells and learning magic from ancient wizards.

In the end this is a well written story about loss, letting go of the past before you drown yourself in guilt, letting yourself start to heal from great loss. This didn’t push the same buttons in my brain as say, Eternal, but I wasn’t completely immune to the strong emotions present. Probably says a lot about me that I’m having more emotional reactions to My Little Pony fan fiction than most stories I buy that have been through the publishing industry machine. Also says quite a bit about mainstream books as well.
A Cup Of Joe by The Descendant

The Contest by Cold In Gardez
This one has a much lighter tone than the previous one, as well as being shorter. A straight up comedy piece that would make a perfect episode of the show.

This one is a perfect example of what I like best about MLP. To take some throw-away bit from a children’s cartoon and treat it like this big worldbuilding exercise just to see where it takes you. My Little Pony is great for this because it somehow manages to have the best of two worlds. On one hand it is cohesive and consistent enough that it does feel like there is a world beyond the edges of the episodes, but on the other hand it is so random and ‘whatever fills the needs of the episode’ that it really does feel like everything outside of the show is whitespace just waiting to be filled up with anything.

The author does a great job at capturing the personalities of the main characters from the show. I could practically hear their voices in my head when I read most of the dialogue. Keeping with the tone of the show this story is funny as heck. I was giggling out loud in several places as I read it, even when re-reading it. Which I’ve done like four times since I read it like a month ago.
The Contest by Cold In Gardez

Celestia’s Teeth by Abalidoth (?)
Another comedy. This one doesn’t hit the same ‘perfectly like show’ vibe for me, but I still enjoyed it immensely. This one pretty much springboards from that one moment where Princess Celestia pretends to drink from a cup that a pony is refilling after every individual sip. That’s the Celestia this story follows. Not exactly from that episode, but that humor angle of a princess a little tired of being treated as a immortal divine ruler. Not worldbuilding exactly, but the same thing as before when I mentioned taking a tiny piece of the show and using it as a springboard to see where your imagination wanders to.

Even in the humor of this pure comedy piece is a few touches on serious topics. The loneliness of a immortal ruler, how even Celestia wants some time to relax and just be normal, and how even with the best intentions your actions might hurt someone unintentionally. Plus the reverse friendship letter from Celestia to Twilight at the end  It is written just like the letters in the show.
Celestia’s Teeth by Abalidoth (?)

Had more to say about these stories than I thought. Not exactly my first impressions as I had hoped these posts would be, but deeper analysis is very rarely a bad thing. So guess it’s time for my first two-part post. Four more stories whenever I get around to finishing catching up on writing about short stories on my have-read list.