Ponyfic Roundup 117: We Hope it's Chips, it's Chips

I'm away for the week as this goes up, so if there are any particularly dreadful errors you'll have to put up with them for a bit. You should be used to that from me by now! This week on PR, I'm bringing you a small selection of fanfics written in the My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic universe. I know, it's astounding, isn't it? Rather a mixed bag this week, in terms of my enjoyment of the fics:

A Different Kind of Jealousy by Woolly
Fluttershy Doesn't Know by Julia
Confusion by BleedingEquine
MVP by totallynotabrony
Heat and Hot Water by Astrarian

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

A Different Kind of Jealousy by Woolly
Fluttershy and Discord
Slice of Life; 2k words; Feb 2016; Everyone

Discord finds out about Fluttershy's newest friend. He's not happy about it. It's the principle of the thing.

Given that this is set just after the S5 finale, you can probably guess who the new friend is – and, honestly, Discord has a point. Admittedly it's one that's been made a number of times by Pony fans, but it's a valid one all the same. The author gives us a fun, pretty believable Discord and although Fluttershy is largely there as somepony for Discord to bounce his complaints off, it's entertaining and worth a look. ★★★

Fluttershy Doesn't Know by Julia
Fluttershy and Derpy
Comedy/Slice of Life; 1k words; Feb 2015; Everyone

Fluttershy doesn't know. It turns out she just doesn't know what in this situation.

This story (by an Eris alt, no less) is bizarre, to say the least. It makes almost no sense, intentionally I think, and is full of memery, much of it now well into Old Meme territory. (There's even a "9+10=21" one, argh.) It's nice to see 'Shy and Derpy interacting, and the ending is a surprising twist, but I can't say I was satisfied by this. It just doesn't seem like a story. ★

Confusion by BleedingEquine
Rainbow Dash, Mane Six, Celestia, Luna and Spike
Comedy/Mystery/Slice of Life; 1k words; Jul 2016; Everyone

Rainbow Dash has been invited to a summer star gazing outdoor party with her friends.

The mystery is that she doesn't know what's going on. As it transpires, there's something special about the meteorite that lands nearby. That twist itself is potentially hilarious, but it's not done in a way I actually found funny. It doesn't help that Celestia, who makes a short but significant appearance, seems out of character. Add to that prose that really ought to be a good deal better from a writer with over 70 published stories and I can't recommend this. ★

MVP by totallynotabrony
Twilight and Celestia
Alternate Universe/Comedy; 2k words; Dec 2012; Everyone

Twilight finds the sports section of an ancient newspaper. The pony on the front page looks strangely familiar...

I suspect the fact that I have absolutely zero interest in American football (on which "hoofball" is clearly based) really hits my enjoyment of this story. Even allowing for that, though, it's all just so predictable. Even without looking at the cover art, you can see where the story's going from very early on. There are one or two nice touches (Twilight's spell has real potential, as Red Dwarf once demonstrated) but this is classed as [Comedy] yet I didn't even giggle. The writing's fine, but the story itself just bored me. Add a star if detailed descriptions of hoofball plays are your thing. ★

Heat and Hot Water by Astrarian
Applejack and Winona
Sad; 2k words; Sep 2015; Everyone

Applejack takes her time giving Winona a bath. This bath is different though. Or it isn't. Applejack hates it regardless.

A bittersweet story of AJ's love for her dog, and the thoughts that go through her head as she gives Winona a bath. There's a twist, which I think makes it a better story than the one I thought it was going to be. The author rightly doesn't give away everything, but lets what we see speak for itself. The prose is a little rough (ruff. Sorry) in places, and I suspect those who have dogs may find this hits home more than it did with me – but I appreciate the way the pony-dog bond is portrayed nevertheless. ★★★

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Next time on Ponyfic Roundup: Logan turns the Spotlight on iisaw's trilogy-closing adventure, The Twilight Enigma.