Ponyfic Roundup 101: The Worst Thing in the World

The most worrying thing in the S6 opener? No, not that alicorn brat. Sunburst's comment about spells that can force people to pick up friendships where they left off. Someone clever, write a fic exploiting this.

If you haven't already done so (which is doubtful), I recommend going back and reading EQD's interview with M. A. Larson. As well as the usual silliness and "buy my book" section, he provides some details I haven't seen anywhere before. He robustly defends "Slice of Life" against the charge that it will confuse newcomers, but admits to making a significant error with "Magical Mystery Cure". There's also news that a potentially lovely scene in "Amending Fences" had to be cut for time. Go and read it!

Back to the wonderful world of ponyfic, and here are this week's stories. Seven this time around, and at least one for every star rating!

Memory's Wooded Path by Bluetree650
Dancing With Silver by ZOMG
I Want to Take the Wings off, but I Can't by JawJoe
Negotiations by Rated Ponystar
Love Letters by MysteriousStranger
The Library Club by Inky Swirl
Roaming by Skywriter

★: 2 | ★★: 1 | ★★★: 2 | ★★★★: 1 | ★★★★★: 1

Memory's Wooded Path by Bluetree650
OCs
Romance/Slice of Life; 1k words; Oct 2015; Everyone

Sometimes we all need to think about a problem. A little walk can help us make the right choice. So when an important decision comes up, Sapphire Stone does just that,

This first-person story, which consists of little more than an OC's thoughts as she walks, should probably have been included in PR 100, as it has a mere 20 views. It's a shame it missed out, as it deserves rather more eyeballs than that; I enjoyed it more than any of the fics I reviewed for the special edition. The fic is a little rough technically, but the story itself is sweet as well as short and is pleasingly playful with the reader's expectations. Worth a look if you have a few minutes to spare. ★★★

Dancing With Silver by ZOMG
Scootaloo and Silver Spoon
Romance; 17k words; Feb 2016; Everyone

Scootaloo wasn't quite sure what she expected when she found a letter from her "secret admirer" asking to meet her after school, but it wasn't an invitation to the school dance. Nor was it spending Hearts and Hooves Day with Silver Spoon.

This one surprised me, and in a good way. The fillies (who are aged up to near graduation) interact well, enough so that I can actually buy this pairing by the time we're done. As a Scoots fan, I was pleased by how she was written, and by ZOMG's not making her perfect; there's a mean-spirited thought about a contemporary, for example. Silver, meanwhile, manages to keep her poshness without becoming clichéd. There's one irritating scenelet that teeters on the edge of "Why, Miss Spoon, you're beautiful!" territory, but I liked this more than most shipfics I've read. Recommended. ★★★★

I Want to Take the Wings off, but I Can't by JawJoe
Twilight
Dark/Horror/Tragedy; 23k words; Dec 2014; Mature

Celestia, why don't I feel like 'me' any more?

The premise of this fic is simple: Twilight really, really doesn't like being an alicorn. This reminds me of the whole Twilicorn brouhaha, though it was written considerably later. It's worthy of all three of its tags – perhaps a [Gore] one, too – so be warned. For the most part, this is pretty gripping stuff, if bleak, and even the lengthy section set at the time of the S4 premiere is satisfyingly made slightly different from canon. The biggest problem is a scene with Twilight and Rainbow Dash: it depends on a misinterpretation that seems forced and so doesn't ring true. Unfortunately, it's a significant scene, and that drags this down from a four to a top-end three. Still worth a read if you're into darkfic. ★★★

Negotiations by Rated Ponystar
Twilight
Alternate Universe/Drama/Human; 5k words; Nov 2015; Teen

Equestria and Earth must negotiate peace talks after the former's defeat in war

Another very popular author whose writing I've never reviewed before. I didn't realise before selecting it that it was based on The Conversion Bureau stories, but I went ahead and read it anyway. It didn't work out, probably because I don't generally want nuclear wars between Earth and Equestria in my Pony and partly because some things were just plain silly. For example: which pony is an eeevil human sympathiser? Go on, have a guess. I may be being unfair in my star rating on account of my lack of TCB knowledge – but it didn't grab me. ★★

Love Letters by MysteriousStranger
Twilight and Fluttershy
Romance/Slice of Life; 2k words; Aug 2013; Everyone

Contest entry. Fluttershy has been receiving letters from a secret admirer.

This was an entry for a TwiShy contest, so I can't fault the pairing. The fic, however, I can. A typo in the long description isn't a promising start, and the author's admitted lack of an editor shows; there's a lot of LUS, for example. The story itself is disappointingly pedestrian, with not much spark between the ponies. PresentPerfect felt this suffered by comparison with Jot Jiggety Jog's Ribbons and Lace, but I haven't read that (yet!) and still came away unenthused. Unless you have a burning need to read every TwiShy story, I'd find it hard to recommend this one. ★

The Library Club by Inky Swirl
Spike, Mane Six, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle
Adventure/Comedy/Random/Romance; 11k words; Feb 2012; Teen (Sex)

Spike is getting worried about Twilight - she spends all her time on the computer. What's going on?

This is one weird story. The first half is a fair amount of fun, with Twilight and co doing strange things with computers (yes, computers) that they won't let Spike see. After that, though, it becomes a truly bizarre fic that is apparently trying to be a satire on bronies and even (in a vaguely meta sense) Fimfiction itself. I could live with that if it weren't for the frankly icky way in which Spike considers various mares' virtual sexual fantasies, even thinking about how he'd like to "share a bath" with one (not Rarity). Thankfully the story doesn't turn into foalcon, or whatever the dragon equivalent is, or it would have been DNF'd on the spot, but it's still pretty uncomfortable reading. The first half is a high two, but overall I can't recommend it. ★

Roaming by Skywriter
Twilight, Applejack and Others
Equestria Girls/Sad/Slice of Life; 2k words; Dec 2013; Teen

Clementine Apple (née Orange) receives an extremely long-distance phone call.

It's hard to say much about this deservedly Royal Guard-inducted fic without giving away the gimmick, which like all the best gimmicks is a "Why didn't I think of that?" moment. It's told from (EqG) Clementine's perspective, and as you'd expect from an Apple-related story, family is very much at its heart. As the tags hint, it's a bittersweet story, whose [Teen] rating seems a little conservative. Highly recommended. ★★★★★

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Next time on Ponyfic Roundup: Logan gives his shortest review ever.