Ponyfic Roundup 102: Have you ever Wondered Whose OC you are?

Noted reviewer Loganberry (© xjuggernaughtx) is back with more rambling. I decided to do a gimmicky edition of PR this week: I picked some random story numbers from Random.org, weeded out sequels, unfinished stories etc and read the rest. The results were... variable, though thanks to some good fortune regarding the numbers the computer spat out, things didn't go quite as badly as they did for the PR 100 special. I was surprised to get only one Mature-rated story, too. Here's today's set of seven fics:

Light Away the Fear by FictionFreek
Pinkamena Diane Pie Cupcakes with Scootaloo by cupcakespinkiepie090
Gummy saves Equestria by crimsongraph
Daring Do and the Dance by Georg
Twily's Alone Time by Zubric
Love is Power I: Singing from the Heart by ThaStrangr
Just for Decoration by PhotonTH

★: 2 | ★★: 3 | ★★★: 1 | ★★★★: 1 | ★★★★★: 0

Light Away the Fear by FictionFreek
Rarity and OC
Slice of Life; 3k words; Feb 2014; Everyone

Claire wasn't always as she was now, strong, independent, and on top of them all, fearless. No there was once a time where she did have fears and they terrified her. But one night, with the help of her mother she found the light to banish them a [sic]

This gentle SoL fic has over 7,000 views, but I'd never heard of it. Some readers may be put off by the premise – (adult) Spike and Rarity have a young daughter called Claire – but if you can deal with that, and a fair amount of wordiness, this is worth a look. I warmed to it as I went along, and Claire's experience rings reasonably true. Incidentally, one review of this is in a truly strange pseudo-meta-story called The Critique. ★★★

Pinkamena Diane Pie Cupcakes with Scootaloo by cupcakespinkiepie090
Pinkie Pie and Scootaloo
Dark/Sad/Tragedy; 1k words; Aug 2012; Mature (Gore)

Pinkie turns Scootaloo into cupcakes.

No. ★

Gummy saves Equestria by crimsongraph
Gummy, Celestia and Opalescence
Comedy/Random; 2k words; Aug 2012; Teen

A ancient evil is on the horizon, the elements of harmony have failed, and Equestria relies on Gummy

Written years before "Slice of Life" went out, this is a very different take on Gummy's character. The idea of making him an almost Daring Do-esque adventurer is potentially great, but I don't think it comes off here. His heroism is turned up not just to 11, but to 12 and 13 too, and the GummyLestia angle is weird without really being funny. The final reveal is a disappointment, too. ★★

Daring Do and the Dance by Georg
Daring Do [and the OC narrator]
Adventure/Romance; 2k words; Dec 2013; Everyone

The story of a disposable minion of Ahuizotl as he tells of his forbidden love for Daring Do. Not the book, the pony.

It was a bit of a surprise to see this turn up randomly, but who's complaining? This is the actually rather endearing story of how Ahuizotl's "Disposable Minion #3" fell in love with his boss's nemesis. It's funny, it has very good characterisation and it really does make you empathise with the narrator. I think this should probably be rated [Teen], especially if you take the music linked in the description into account, but that's a minor quibble. This one is recommended. ★★★★

Twily's Alone Time by Zubric
Twilight
Slice of Life; 1k words; Jun 2015; Teen

Twilight had a very stressful day and picks the perfect way to help her unwind before bed.

I was expecting this to happen more often with a randomly-chosen slate: turning up fics catering for specialist audiences I wasn't part of. A decade in the furry fandom means that I know AB/DL means Adult Baby/Diaper Lover, a form of age-play, but I'm pretty sure I've never read such a ponyfic before. This one is more fluffy than fetishistic – the diaper is used but not used, if you see what I mean – and goes for the "innocence of foalhood" approach with (adult – that's the point) Twilight using the comforts of infancy to help her get to sleep. There's not really much to it for the general reader, hence the two-star rating, but it does have a certain cuteness. ★★

Love is Power I: Singing from the Heart by ThaStrangr
Fluttershy and Mane Six
Genres; 12k words; Aug–Dec 2013; Teen

Fluttershy has been in love with one of her closest friends for some time now, but has been too scared to confess. Will the upcoming Ponyville talent show provide her the opportunity she has been looking for?

One of the oldest setups in the book, but the details aren't handled quite as predictably as I expected. It does have one feature many will dislike: the inclusion of Nyx as a supporting character. It's all fairly by-the-numbers, but there's not too much that's really jarring. The narrative delay in naming Fluttershy's crush really does feel forced, though. There's some LUS and a little tense-shifting, as well as the occasional unexplained reference to what I assume are other fics: who is "Obscurity"? Pretty much exactly the sort of story you'd expect from its description. ★★

Just for Decoration by PhotonTH
Pinkie Pie, Celestia and Other [actually OC]
Comedy/Human/Random; 3k words; Nov 2012; Everyone

If you ever wanted a life sized sticker of your favorite pony; this is the fanfic for you.

Oh, joy: a Brony in Equestria story. Written in second person. Featuring Trollestia. And a Cupcakes reference. And a Molestia reference. With a music video embedded in the middle. And with an incorrect semicolon in the description. Yeah, I think we're done here. ★

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Next time on Ponyfic Roundup: Logan reads fics he's actually chosen. Will the results be any better?