Ponyfic Roundup 133: Fruit Edition

Read it Later story count: 490 (-4)

Yes, that's right: fruit. I was originally going to make this one of my mixed bag roundups, but the idea for making it fruit-themed came to me while I was eating a rather nice apple. Appropriately enough. There are five stories in this week's roundup, all of which contribute to your five a day. So make sure you read all of them, then you'll be safe from scurvy until nightfall! :D Not the best week I've ever had with PR, as you'll see, but there's still some interest here.

Apples by Quid Pro Quo
Twilight Eats a Peach by Admiral Biscuit
Lemon Juice by Wing Dancer
Chocolate Covered Grapes by Callisto
Curse of the Yellow Fruit by Berry Delight

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

Apples by Quid Pro Quo
Mane Six and Other [actually OC]
Human/Sad; 2k words; Oct 2012; Teen

A man watches a episode of MLP as the world burns...

He's in a fallout shelter, you see. Yes, it's post-apocalypse time, and indeed bombs are still raining all around, but instead of Sparkle~Cola we have The Hub. Ah, the memories. And it's showing "The Best Night Ever". Yes, yes, very ironic. This isn't far from being a grimdark MST3K, to be honest: the human narrator spends most of his time commenting on the action in the show. The ending is grim but predictable; little else actually happens, apart from the continuing nuclear armageddon. ★

Twilight Eats a Peach by Admiral Biscuit
Twilight, Spike and OC
Random/Slice of Life; 1k words; Dec 2013; Everyone

Twilight Sparkle eats a peach.

This was the originator of one of those bizarre crazes that Fimfiction used to (and to a certain extent, still does) convulse itself with from time to time. After reading it, I'm still none the wiser as to why this story set off said craze. It's about as standard a "Pony Does X" story as you can get, pleasantly enough told but without anything too memorable. In any case, I find it hard to credit that Twilight wouldn't know what a peach was. ★★

Lemon Juice by Wing Dancer
no character tags! [OCs, though]
Sad; 1k words; Jun 2012; Teen

A short story about life and its lemons, from the perspective of a young foal colt

"Foal colt"? You mean like you'd say "child boy"? Anyway... this first-person short doesn't have much substance to it, other than some deceptively gentle reminiscing. I can't quite get over ponies named things like Beatrice and Michael, and although I didn't quite see the pretty downbeat ending coming, there's not much actual spark here. ★★

Chocolate Covered Grapes by Callisto
Rainbow Dash, Applejack and Mane Six
Romance/Sad/Slice of Life; 45k words; Jan 2013; Teen

After an incident between Applejack and Rainbow Dash, the two are finding it hard to communicate with each other. However, a trip suggested by a friend might bring their problems to light.

AppleDash time, and you know where this story is going from the very start. The question is whether the journey is worth it, and there the answers are mixed. I like the reason for the trip the two take, which fits Equestria quite well, and there's a moderately interesting take on Rainbow Dash's upbringing. On the downside, the pacing is uneven and there's a lot of LUS – in particular, the frequent use of "the mare" without further qualification in AJ/RD scenes, which is less than helpful! Oh, and the grapes of the title do make an appearance. Right on the two/three boundary for me, with a nice last line just pushing it into the higher category. ★★★

Curse of the Yellow Fruit by Berry Delight
Celestia and Luna
Comedy/Random; 1k words; May 2016; Everyone

The Princesses of the Sun and Moon can't stand the sight of a certain fruit. Why? It all started with a dream....

This is the debut fic from the author of the potentially interesting but in the end frustrating Time Waits for Nopony (PR 110). Again, there's an intriguing idea, this time Celestia and Luna spending time together in their dreams to avoid being disturbed by the daily grind of princessing. But it's barely developed and is only there to set up the joke. Which is... well, it may be mildly amusing if you're long enough in the tooth to remember Celestia being associated with bananas at every opportunity. Written pleasantly enough, but not especially memorable or funny. ★★

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Next time on Ponyfic Roundup: Amethyst Star gets a turn in the spotlight!