Ponyfic Roundup 106: Hungry Horse

So, we will indeed have a mid-season hiatus again. At least, so EQD tell us. For some reason they don't actually print/link to the press release, but I'm sure they're correct. This has several possible implications, so I'll save those for a dedicated post in the near future.

In case anyone's wondering, Hungry Horse is a UK pub/restaurant chain, a bit like Wetherspoons but slightly more expensive and with slightly better food, though sometimes rather slow service. I went to a meet the other day and had a decent gammon steak and pint of cider at such a place. As for today's ponyfic, there are six stories under the microscope, and as those of you who read last week's teaser will know, these include something quite special. Off we go!

Nopony Expects the Spanish Inquisition by BrownDog77
Promises by Alexandrite Ward
The Old Gray Mare by Thornwing
How does it move? by PoniNinja
Something Like Laughter by Dubs Rewatcher
Rarity Cleans her Room by ThatOneYellowPony

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

Nopony Expects the Spanish Inquisition by BrownDog77
Twilight, Rarity, Applejack, Spike and Granny Smith
Comedy/Crossover/Random; 11k words; Jun 2013; Teen

The Spanish Inquisition from Monty Python's Flying Circus in Equestria. 'Nuff Said.

I'm amazed that, barring one video assessment, I'm the first person to review this, the author's only story. It's a pretty straight transfer as far as the Inquisitors and their dialogue go – they're still Spanish, for a start – but the fun here is in how the ponies react to all the silliness. You do need to know all the original sketches pretty well to get the full effect; just knowledge of the punchline won't be enough. There are problems: the narrator is irritatingly intrusive on occasion and there are several other pop culture references which just get in the way. ("Apples and apple accessories", anyone?) This is uneven stuff and you'll have to be quite forgiving, but if you're in a silly enough mood you might give it a chance. ★★

Promises by Alexandrite Ward
Fluttershy and Discord
Romance; 1k words; Jan 2014; Everyone

Fluttershy refuses to leave. She promised him, after all

This utterly blindsided me. It is far and away the best FlutterCord [Romance] story I have read. Admittedly, many such fics are absolute tripe, but this one is genuinely excellent – and quite beautifully written, too. Even if you despise the pairing, you'll probably get something out of the quality of the prose. This is the story I hinted last time that I was considering a five-star rating for – and by utterly confounding my expectations and proving a very satisfying read, I think it deserves to get one. If you only ever read one FlutterCord shipfic, make it this thousand-word gem. ★★★★★

The Old Gray Mare by Thornwing
Mayor Mare and Twilight
Slice of Life; 5k words; Feb 2015; Everyone

Mayor Mare comes to terms with her diminishing role in small town government.

Here's another RCL-inducted tale, this time by the author of the excellent A Spoonful of Sugar (PR 47). The concept of Mayor Mare feeling increasingly supplanted by Princess Twilight is an interesting one, and I like the quiet way the history of Ponyville is shown to be closely bound up with that of MM. I'm less fond of the way the story sometimes teeters on the brink of It's a Wonderful Life-style sentimentality and while the ending is probably the right one, it's also a little unexciting. Maybe I was expecting too much having read some glowing opinions elsewhere, but I was a tiny bit underwhelmed. Still very much worth reading, though, and there aren't exactly vast crowds of other good Mayor Mare fics out there. ★★★

How does it move? by PoniNinja
Twilight, Celestia and Discord
Comedy; 1k words; Oct 2013; Teen

Twilight asks a very important question.

The "it" in this case is the sun, and Celestia isn't at all comfortable with Twilight's question. A potentially amusing premise, but the narrator is annoying and Celestia is so out of character she might as well be an OC. This is really more [Random] than [Comedy], but it's not very good as either. The A/N at the end admits the story isn't good and gives us a "Safety Dance" video to make up for it. That's almost worth a second star for sheer cheek. Almost. ★

Something Like Laughter by Dubs Rewatcher
Trixie and Twilight
Dark/Drama/Slice of Life; 4k words; May 2015; Teen

It's been six months since Tirek was defeated, and Trixie is fine. Trixie isn't scared. She's not lonely, or sad, or even worried. She is, however, unable to sleep. And yet the nightmares won't stop coming.

Given its Royal Guard status, I was expecting plenty from this fic, and I got it. It's an unusual and remarkably moving Trixie-POV story, which isn't a barrel of laughs but does take a clear-eyed look at what Tirek's assault has done to the poor unicorn. The chapter structure is very unusual, with a full-length first one followed by two of just a few hundred words each; I see the idea, but it doesn't really work for me. The fic was inspired by a song by Reese Roper, who I don't know at all, so I'll inevitably have missed some references. One unusual punctuation choice, but it's justified well enough by the author in the Fimf comments. A little depressing for me to love it unreservedly, but very well written. Just make sure you hold your attention right to the end. ★★★★

Rarity Cleans her Room by ThatOneYellowPony
Rarity, Fluttershy and Sweetie Belle
Comedy/Slice of Life; 3k words; Jan 2013; Everyone

Sweetie Belle is surprised to find her big sister Rarity back in her old house, and quickly flees when she discovers that Rarity and her buddy Fluttershy have decided to clean her big sister's old mess of a room.

This fic gets off on the wrong hoof by having Rarity think of cutie marks as "butt stamps", and it doesn't do itself any favours with "the shy yellow pony known as Fluttershy" a little further on. Wade through the distracting prose, though, and you'll get to a really cute scene involving the two adult characters. This is genuinely adorable; it's just a shame the rest of the story doesn't match up to it. ★★

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Next time on Ponyfic Roundup: Logan reads a story more than 30k words long for a change.