Birds Of A Feather

[Link to story here]

So I'm just going to go ahead an throw the concept of this story right at you guys: Pipsqueak x Featherweight. I'm going to go ahead and get that out of the way, because if you're not okay with the idea of two young colts kissing, then this isn't the story for you.

Personally, I'm not into guys, but if there's a story, TV show, movie, etc. that shows two likable characters of the same gender in a relationship, I'll buy it. So how does this story fare? Find out after the break.

(By the way, its a "jump break" according to Blogger and not a "page break", so I just wanted to clear that up. The breaks here don't even really work like page breaks, actually, but I've been calling them page breaks because I knew what a page break was before I knew what a jump break was and was apparently too lazy to properly read or correct myself. Anywho...)

I'm gonna go ahead and list the positives for this story first, because I actually do think this is a fair read, and I don't want anyone claiming or implying that I'm some sort of a homophobe regardless of anything I've said before this sentence right now. I might be acting a bit too cautious, but then again this is a story about two young boys falling in love, and that is a bit of a tall order to drink for some people anyway.

With that said, I think this story treats its subject matter in a respectful way. Its not a downright religious-like praise for homosexuality and it doesn't cater to stereotypes. This is because almost every character in this story stays true to their canon personalities. I say almost every character, because...well I'll explain later. Back to my original point, "gay", "lesbian", and "faghag" aren't personality traits for those of you that were wondering, and gay people act like totally normal people in real life. So for that to be implied in this fanfic is a very welcoming thing to do. This isn't new or totally unique to the shipfics and other stories that I've read, but its nice to have.

There's also very few grammar and syntax mistakes in this story, and even if you spot one, like I've trained myself to do whenever I read anything, it doesn't take away from the story. Its only minor things like spelling Applejack as Apple Jack and Applebloom as Apple Bloom. Why do people put a space in their names, anyway? I've even noticed this in otherwise well-written fanfics, which is odd to me. Let's get back on topic, though.

Despite each chapter being less than 2,000 words long, and if you think that's a huge amount of words then you probably don't read fanfiction, there is also plenty enough detail and fluff to go around in this story. It goes into enough depth to show how each character reacts to their environment, and to each other, in a way that's not rushed or just plain bland. I know I've said this before, but if there's one thing I hate, its blandness. Bland characters, bland writing, bland action, bland conflict, bland anything. Suffice to say, there's no blandness to be found in this story.

And here's where I talk about one of the less-than-stellar things about this story: Applebloom. Why Applebloom? I'll let the story tell you:

Scootaloo groaned. "Do I really have to show you? Remember the time that one worker on her farm turned out to have a huge crush on her brother and she set his house on fire?"

That's right, she's been turned into a homo-basher. Its because she lives on a farm and was taught that gays ain't natural from good ol' Granny Smith herself.

The face of homophobia, ladies and gents.

To me, this seems a bit out-there. I mean, I know Granny is really, really old and she's from a "farmer's" background, which implies old-fashioned beliefs that "rednecks" would have, but having a character like Applebloom, who's been bullied for being different (namely a "blank-flank"), would suddenly have a history of abhorring same-gender couples, strikes me as just a bit odd. I don't hate it outright, but its just kinda sloppy to give her that bit of character development.

Speaking of character development, Cupid was having a busy day in this story. I say this because almost every character character in this story is shipped with each other. I won't go into which ones in particular, outside of the obvious two colts that share feelings for each other, because of spoilers. On top of that, the build-up for these ships is not executed as well as it should be, namely because all four chapters of this story are, again, under 2000 words in length. I'd hate to go into another rant, so I'll keep it short by saying that there is a reason FiMFiction forces authors to have their stories be at the very least 1000 words long. Seriously, there's not real limit to how much you can write, so go nuts for Celestia's sake!

Aside from the development of relationships between the more important characters, the pacing overall needs work. This whole story takes place over the course of twenty-four hours, and I feel like the author could've done more with these characters. I've seen movies that have plots that take place over the course of less than twenty-four hours that have great amounts of character development, especially in romantic situations.

I'm not here to put down this story, because this a very nice read and I think you should read it, but it does need to lengthen up in order for this to become a really great story. There's also a sequel to this story, so look forward to that.

~30kbpm~

[Source of Granny Smith pic here]