Wednesday 6 July 2016

Ponyfic Roundup 114: I am so lazy, don't want to wander

There are now very close to 100,000 stories on Fimfiction: 99,666 when I last looked. Many are incomplete or terrible or both, but nevertheless: wow. This week on Ponyfic Roundup, we're back up to five reviews. Yay and such. There's a reasonable mixture of stories in here, too. Unfortunately none of them are either brilliant or terrible, which does reduce the fun a bit, but I can only give my honest opinion here. Maybe I'll go looking for random stories again or something in the near future.

Reformed Roommate For Rent by RainbowBob
Diamond Tiara Hosts: TwiliCon 2015 by Yukito
Gradual Dissociation by TheCheshireCat
Rara, Rarara by Masterweaver
A Joke Too Far by ZOMG

★: 0 | ★★: 4 | ★★★: 1 | ★★★★: 0 | ★★★★★: 0

Reformed Roommate For Rent by RainbowBob
Tirek, Discord and Celestia
Comedy; 3k words; Jun 2014; Teen
Tartarus becomes so much worse when Tirek's new roommate is none other than Discord himself.
Tirek, grumbling away in the depths of his prison, is not at all happy to discover the new arrangements. It seems a bit odd that Tirek doesn't ask Discord straight out what the condition is before agreeing to it, but I'll let that slide. Celestia's character is a bit strange – reminiscent of her old "cake obsessive" fanon representation – but it fits the silliness here. The ending is a little less funny than I'd hoped, but this is an amusing quick read. ★★★

Diamond Tiara Hosts: TwiliCon 2015 by Yukito
Diamond Tiara, Silver Spoon, Twilight and CMC
[no genre tags given]; 2k words; Oct 2014; Everyone
Diamond Tiara hosts the first every [sic] convention centered around everypony's favourite princess!
The author of the very decent Diamond Tiara's New Diversion (PR 15) brings us another (pre-reformation) DT-centric tale. It's stuffed with fandom-related gags (BuckStarter, ball pits, etc) and is more a collection of jokes and small scenes than a real story. A bit thin, really, but one of those small fics that might amuse you if you're not too worried about anything beyond silliness. ★★

Gradual Dissociation by TheCheshireCat
Mane Six and OC
Dark/Slice of Life; 7k words; Jun 2015; Teen
Ever wanted to put yourself into somepony else`s shoes?
After being pleasantly surprised by this almost unknown writer's Filth (PR 81) a while back, I wanted to read their first (and only other) fic: this. The twist, only revealed at the very end, is a nice one and puts the apparently fandom-stereotypical narrative that comes before into a different context. Unfortunately, it really does drag on the way thanks to the author apparently wanting to give all the Mane Six a full scene. There are a few odd errors (female Angel?) and there's a bit of LUS. If it had been a bit tighter, this could have been a three, but it just takes so long to get where it's going. ★★

Rara, Rarara by Masterweaver
Rarity, Applejack and Other [Rara, of course!]
Slice of Life; 1k words; Nov 2015; Everyone
Rarity has to ask AJ about a habit she's seen. For where nicknames are concerned, AJ is quite keen!
Written barely a week after "The Mane Attraction" went out, this brief tale offers an explanation of Applejack's habit of shortening ponies' names. It's written in (rather uneven) verse, although laid out as a standard prose story. There is a reason for that, revealed right at the end, but the story feels very slight and doesn't really grab me. ★★

A Joke Too Far by ZOMG
Cadance, Celestia, Luna and Shining Armor
Comedy; 2k words; Jan 2015; Everyone
Cadance didn't know what to expect when her formerly banished Aunt Luna returned from her thousand year imprisonment in the moon. But, she's quite entertained by the hilarity.
Another silly story, and one that's really only there to provide a background for the central joke. It's quite a funny joke, and if you enjoy seeing the princesses being silly then you may well enjoy it. It's never going to win awards for Great Literature, but who cares? The real snag is that the accompanying cover art tells pretty much the same joke in a much snappier way. ★★

Next time on Ponyfic Roundup: Logan looks at a moderately lengthy story about pre-reformation Diamond Tiara, but which doesn't actually feature her much.

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