Pony Stories 224

Well, still working at two long non-pony books. One fiction, one non-fiction. Mote in God’s Eye and Dungeons & Dragons & Philosophy, respectively. With some pony short stories around the edges just to keep from feeling the withdrawal shakes. I’m 50k words into Mote and not a single horse pun!

Anyway, hitting target saturation on the number of potential pony fanfics to read. So tossing it out there. Anyone got a particular story they want me to test-read for them? A particular story that might look good, but you either don’t have the time or are too cautious to read it yourself. Toss a fanfic title my direction and I’ll be happy to check it out for you.

Diamond Tiara Gets Filthy by The Elusive Badgerpony

Well-written porn. The mix of equine and human terminology was a bit confusing. Guessing the story has anthro versions of the characters, but it was odd. The prose is flowery and a bit overwrought, but it works. It reads like our perspective character using fancy and flowery language to hide and/or justify what is going on. As for how predatory Diamond Tiara is being towards her father, I couldn’t help but notice that it is a first-person perspective so all we get is his perceptions of the event. Everything we hear about her actions, motives, emotions, tactics, are all his thought and guessing about the situation. Sure, that can’t cover all of it, but some of the early parts of the story really did feel somewhat like, as I mentioned not two lines ago, he is trying to justify his own actions as those of a victim. Her actions in the second half of the story shows that she isn’t exactly a victim either, but the perspective choice and flowery language did get me thinking about, well, perception and the lies we sometimes tell ourselves about the things we want that we shouldn’t have.

We Who with Songs Beguile by Loganberry

I’d heard good things about this story. Turns out it totally deserves the praise. A wonderful look at ponies from an outside viewpoint. Not to mention a wonderful example of how to worldbuild without using exposition. Every phrase, every name, each choice of words in general paints some of the world the birds are living in. A different, but recognizable world that the ponies also inhabit. Highly recommended.

Just a Puddle by Anon3mous1

This is an effective short story. Somewhat predictable. In the broad strokes if not the precise details. With just a bit of ambiguity to keep things firmly in the dark genre tag. It’s a brief glimpse at the same themes as the much longer story I Forgot I Was There by GaPJaxie.