Fandom Classics Part 212: A True, True Friend?

To read the story, click the image or follow this link.

So, I made mint juleps last Saturday, because you're supposed to drink mint juleps for the Kentucky Derby.  And they were great, and that was all fine as far as it went.  But to make them, I first had to make simple syrup (i.e. I boiled some sugar water), and you need, like, a tablespoon of simple syrup for mint julips, and my friends and I aren't exactly heavy drinkers, and now I've got a cup and a half of simple syrup in my fridge and nothing to do with it.

If you have any suggestions for what to do with a bunch of sugar water, I'd love to hear them.  But if not, you can just shrug your shoulders and move on to my review of Blazewing's A True, True Friend?, below the break.

Mini-Reviews Round 184

I try to occasionally look through the "new stories" list on the FiMFic main page; it's not the best way to find great stories in terms of raw numbers, but it is a good way to catch new authors who haven't had a chance to get eyes on their works yet.  That said, there are the usual pitfalls with this method of story searching: barely-coherent writing, weird fetishes... and stories with totally opaque descriptions.  Take this short description, which I came across this afternoon:

Rainbow Dash thinks that Paladins is a rip-off of Overwatch. Sunset Shimmer begs to differ.

I don't know what Overwatch is/are, nor how paladins could be said to be a ripoff of anything, but I'll assume this statement makes sense if only I had some key bit of background or cultural insight.  Then there's stuff like this one:

Giratina goes to Equestria

Where it's obvious the author expects me to know who "Giratina" is... except, of course, I don't.  Which isn't the author's fault (if anything, it's nice that they're so up-front about who is(n't) the target audience)--but yeah, obviously I'm not going to read a story where the premise leaves me floundering like that.

But here are some older stories that I did read, all of which were fundamentally comprehensible to me!  Head down below to see what I thought of 'em.

Odds and Ends

It's been a while since I've done a "bit of this, bit of that" post, but today I have several things that don't really tie together, but which I want to throw out to y'all.  Some reading stuff, some writing stuff, and some episode stuff!

Fandom Classics Part 211: Winds of Change

To read the story, click the image or follow this link.

This afternoon, I watched my cat stare down a spot on the wall, eventually pounce at it, then try to run away from it full-speed, only to barrel headfirst into the leg of my dining-room table.  This is not the first time he's smacked his face at high speeds.  I think he's permanently concussed.

But you didn't come here to hear about my cat's self-inflicted injuries; you came here for fanfic reviews!  So go get some below the break, as I look at Masterweaver's Winds of Change.

Change a Title by One Letter

Perhaps some of you (heck, perhaps all of you) are aware of the "change one letter" challenge/joke/meme that's been floating around for... oh, years, probably.  The gist is this: you alter, add, or remove a single letter to/from a title, and summarize the plot of your newly created work.  Good fun.

So I decided to do a few pony ones, mostly based on stories I've reviewed recently (so as not to leave y'all wondering what the reference is).  With any luck, maybe a few of them are even funny!  See for yourself, below the break.

Mini-Reviews Round 183

Due to my internet connection having been wonky most of the weekend, I still haven't seen the newest episode (or the newest two, I guess, since Canada has wonderful taste in sports but terrible ideas about TV scheduling).  I'm not optimistic, though; two of the past three episodes have featured Carrot Top, and a more typical ratio in the past couple of seasons has been, like, 1:4.  I'll find out soon enough, I suppose.

Until then, let's review some fanfics!  A trollfic-themed set, because I don't normally read them, so I might as well get several out of the way all at once :P  Check it out, below.