Ponyfic Roundup 185: Cold Mince Pies

Read it Later story count: 374 (-6)

Off we go with the final Ponyfic Roundup of 2017. It's been a bit of an up-and-down year, with rather more downs than ups in the last few months, but I'm optimistic that 2018 might see me get back to reading (and writing about) a little more ponyfic than I have done lately. Three stories in the mix this time, and they are:

Forest Trees and Morning Tea by PonyThunder
Hyperion by Meridian Prime
Fifty Shades of Brad by D G D Davidson

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

Forest Trees and Morning Tea by PonyThunder
Fluttershy
Slice of Life; 1k words; Nov 2016; Everyone

Fluttershy enjoys a calm, uneventful morning in the setting of her quaint, cozy cottage and the surrounding forest.

As its description suggests, this story is in the fairly popular subgenre of "what ponies do when they're not having adventures". Nothing special or startling happens, but that's the point: this is a window into Fluttershy's everyday world. It's not going to be to everyone's taste, but if you're comfortable just immersing yourself in a warm, soothing bath of Flutterroutine, this is likely to fit the bill. Gets a three from me because I'm pretty much exactly its target audience. ★★★

Hyperion by Meridian Prime
Celestia and Luna
Slice of Life; 1k words; Sep 2014; Everyone

Celestia admires Luna. But she does not envy her. The night turns to day once again, and Celestia remembers, and reflects.

This fic gets off on the right hoof by being introspective Celestia without being teeth-grindingly annoying angsty Celestia. The core of this story, which is set a little after Luna's return, is an interesting take on Tia's job of raising the Sun. Nothing terribly startling, but it's executed well – all the more so given that this was the author's first ever prose publication. ★★★

Fifty Shades of Brad by D G D Davidson
Twilight and Flash Sentry
Slice of Life/Human; 1k words; Aug 2014; Teen

Twilight Sparkle has made a strange deal with Brad: he ties her up, and she does everything he tells her to.

The tags that aren't there tell you that the description is deliberately misleading. The straightforward bit is that this Twilight is a horse, and Brad (=Flash, for those of you new to the fandom) is Twilight's owner. If that was all, this would probably be a two-star story at most. Keep reading, though, and something rather startling emerges, which could itself have been the jumping-off point for other stories. (I don't think it was.) Perhaps a little too clever for its own good, but clever nevertheless. ★★★

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Next time on Ponyfic Roundup: there won't be a PR next week, so expect the next one when the bell tolls one on 10th January. Happy New Year!