Wednesday 13 April 2016

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. ★

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

14 comments:

  1. Shit

    SHIT

    Now that I'm balls-deep in Project Horizons again, this is precisely the kind of faffing that I want/don't need to do. You are a terrible influence. D:

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well, as a noted reviewer yourself, you could always do The Chase instead as suggested below. :P

      Delete
  2. I'll be looking forward to that review of The Chase. That's what noted reviewers do, after all.

    Also, I'm not sure that I've ever seen a story that is as instant a turnoff as that Cupcakes story. The title and author's name are both huge, flashing, beeping, pulsating warning signs.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. "It's about Russi... er, horses." There you go!

      Also, I'm not sure that I've ever seen a story that is as instant a turnoff as that Cupcakes story.

      Believe me, it gets worse from there on in. It's probably my second least favourite ponyfic ever, just ahead of The Canterlot Conference.

      Delete
    2. PresentPerfect, you should review The Canterlot Conference. We need a second opinion on this matter. It's seriously worse than this Cupcakes rip-off?

      Delete
    3. Technically, no. Conceptually...

      Delete
    4. Juggy, why do you do this to me :C

      Delete
    5. It's good for you, PP. It'll put hair on your chest.

      Delete
  3. Oh dear, looks like most of these sucked.

    I'd never read that Cupcakes story; I freaking hate the concept of it...I've even seen some people do some MLP G1 art of it, though it's probably just for fun.

    Also the author of it, who's 12, apparently can't take criticism.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's not a bad result for a random pick, given that a lot of fanfics aren't actually very good. :P

      And don't bother reading that story. It's utterly worthless.

      Delete
    2. I glimpsed at it, and when I found out what happened to Pumpkin and Pound Cake in there, I reported it to FiMFiction. It was really sick.

      Delete
    3. I doubt it's against Fimfiction rules, so I expect it'll stay up. It's horrible, but "being horrible" is not against the rules.

      Delete
    4. That's messed up IMO...

      I don't think anyone else is gonna like it though.

      Delete