FimFiction Link - Short ID: 431602/twilight-takes-responsibility
Published: Feb '19
'Twilight Takes Responsibility' is a six thousand and three hundred-word oneshot. This time I don't feel I can put any laconic oneliners here.
I admit I likely would have never clicked on this story had it not been requested and if it wasn't T rated, but now that I'm done with it, I cannot say I regret it. The best way I could describe this fic is that it's "sophisticatedly raunchy." I know this requires some elaboration, so let's look at the prose: To not go into too many spoilery details, much of this fic is about various characters expressing their love to Twilight and "how good she was" and, despite the same thing being repeated numerous times, the author's prose is somehow capable of keeping it fresh until the very end. The wordplays and extremely clever usage of literary devices is an absolute delight to read. I often praise prose, but this fic definitely raised itself above many other stories I've read. I admit, I even learned some new words. I think my favorite line in the fic was this:
>"..." replied Twilight, nodding with a glassy smile.
The usage of ellipses with the very evocative image of a 'glassy' smile, especially knowing the context made me chuckle. And it is very much just one of the many examples found in the story, some others being even more elaborate.
Even though I have not read any of the M-rated stories of this author - we are talking about the same person who wrote FiMC, if it wasn't clear - it's easy to tell that they have experience in 'that' genre. The first scene where the "narrator" explains how Twilight is losing her inner battle against reading a particularly ominous book is phrased in a way that feels more perverse than the fact that the reason why she wants to read this book is to transmute herself into a stallion, even though there is absolutely nothing explicit happening. I admit this was actually my favorite part of the entire fic. While I appreciate the almost slapstick comedy in the later parts, I think this sort of humor is far more unique and impressive than the love-craze that follows.
I also have to say that the ending threw me in a loop. This isn't a jab towards the author, mind you, but the last scene came so unexpectedly that I had to re-read it two or three times to confirm I understood what just happened. I do like it, I think it nicely solves the issue of the story's humor collapsing under the far darker implications that concurrently build up during the fic, but it was just a very "hah you expected A, but it was actually B!" kind of resolution.
Overall: 8/10 I don't want to give away any more of the story, because I think it hits hardest if you read it blind. If the idea of Twilight swapping bits and "suffering" for it (in a comedic fashion) sounds funny to you, I can definitely recommend this story, even if you aren't otherwise interested in the topic of pony sex or find the idea of gender-swapping unappealing.