Ponyfic Roundup 67: It's Wonderful to Be Here, It's Certainly a Thrill...

I'm currently reading Chengar Qordath's The Life and Times of a Winning Pony (which I'm surprised to see hardly anyone else has reviewed), and that should be a PR spotlight either next week or the one after. No spoilers, please! Right, back to today's task, which is the reviewing of the standard five pony fanfics. These are all short, and they're a mixture of stuff I've had on my RiL list for too long, things I came across semi-randomly and (in one case) the newest completed story I could find. Today's batch consists of:

Having a Ball by Cereal Velocity
Seeds of Future Past by Georg
This is Why There's Only One Draconequus by CelestialTremolo
Black-Tie Affair by Emylia Hawke
Twilight Sparkle Does Not Like Bees by Honey Mead

Having a Ball by Cereal Velocity
Rarity, Sweetie Belle and Twilight
Slice of Life; 3K words; Aug 2011; Everyone

Sometimes, getting your cutie mark doesn't mean you have all the answers.

The same author's Accolade rather bored me (PR 21), but I enjoyed this simple – and very old – fic a bit more. A cute little thing with a pleasant ending that made me smile, let down a little by a few really basic typos. ★★★

Seeds of Future Past by Georg
Celestia, Luna and Mane Six
Slice of Life; 7K words; Jul 2014; Everyone

Before Equestria. Before the Elements of Harmony. Before Celestia and Luna. Before Discord. There was a seed.

Georg's entry for the EqD "Outside Insight" contest last year. It's pretty much a retelling of the history of Equestria (yep, Discord's first rule and all) from the Tree of Harmony's point of view. Well enough written, but actually a bit on the dull side. ★★

This is Why There's Only One Draconequus by CelestialTromolo
OCs
Comedy/Random/Slice of Life; 2K words; Jul 2015; Everyone

Not all essences are created equal. The Spirit of Destruction is meeting his match with the ponies after a thousand years of being completely out of practice.

Not much to see from this new author, unfortunately. There are some interesting things that could be done with a draconequus devoted to something other than chaos, but this fic doesn't do them. Instead, it includes an excruciating meta scene about EqD, with a dig at (I assume) Equestria Girls thrown in. Also, "he threw the cab pony at the ground who grunted". ★

Black-Tie Affair by Emylia Hawke
OCs
Slice of Life; 4K words; May 2015; Everyone

Misty Moonrise just can't handle the chaos of a noisy crowd, but Lilypad aims to change that.

Another entry in EH's Misty Moonrise continuity, this is quite a pleasant read. It's probably not a story that's going to astound you with its emotional impact or astonishing writing, but it reads smoothly enough. This underwent a minor revision after I read it, but its rating would not have changed. ★★★

Twilight Sparkle Does Not Like Bees by Honey Mead
Twilight and Celestia
Slice of Life; 3K words; Jul 2013; Everyone

Celestia has an important lesson for Twilight that puts her in an uncomfortable place.

One of those stories in which Celestia imparts deep and meaningful wisdom to the newly ascended Twilight by being irritatingly obscure. Better than that makes it sound, with a few smiles thrown in, but unless you're better than me at working out allegorical stuff (or read the story's comments) it may well be a bit confusing. ★★