Ponyfic Roundup 222: The Hooded Fang

Title explanation: Mordechai Richler children's book

Read it Later story count: 298 (nc)

Thanks to one story I was going to review being deleted before I got here, together with me being pretty much out of commission for a couple of days with a horrible cold, I have only four fics on the reviewing table today rather than the five I was hoping for. Oh well, still better than some weeks of PR! Without further ado, here's today's quartet:

Chuckling Over my Cheery-O's by chrumsum
I Didn't Sign Up For This by Cillerenda
The Royal Proposal by Everyday
Dance by Martian

★: 0 | ★★: 2 | ★★★: 2 | ★★★★: 0 | ★★★★★: 0
Note: I use a skewed rating system. A fic I find average scores two stars.

Chuckling Over my Cheery-O's by chrumsum
Pinkie Pie
Comedy; 4k words; Jul 2018; Everyone

Milk, breakfast cereal, and existential hell

"This is Present Perfect's fault," says the long description. It starts out being a simple fic about Pinkie realising she's run out of her favourite breakfast cereal and having to make do with the dreaded Cheery-O's. This then becomes a tale of existential horror in which Pinkie reveals herself (not for the first time) to be a very wise pony. Well, except for one thing: actual Cheerios are really nice, at least in my world. I'd choose them over Corn Flakes any day. Still, apart from a nagging sense that this is more the author being clever than it is actual comedy, it's an entertainingly different little read. ★★★

I Didn't Sign Up For This by Cillerenda
Applejack and Rarity
Drama/Slice of Life; 2k words; Sep 2018; Everyone

It's the night after Nightmare Moon's defeat and the second attempt at the celebration, and Applejack's done a lot of thinking.

Interesting to find a story written last month yet written from the perspective of the very beginning of the show's run. I enjoyed the look at AJ and Rarity before they'd rubbed some of the edges off each other (cf "Look Before You Sleep") and the continuity is solid – they correctly don't yet know about Dash's sonic rainboom. My main complaint is that it's very, very telly as it gets going, and that waffliness takes quite some while to subside. This would be a fairly easy three-star rating without that; as it is, it's a high-end two. Even so, it's nice to see authors still tackling S1-era themes. ★★

The Royal Proposal by Everyday
Pinkie Pie, Other [Yaks] and Mane Six
Comedy; 3k words; Jul 2015; Everyone

As the friendship celebration between the ponies and yaks begins to settle, Prince Rutherford shocks all in attendance by proposing to Pinkie Pie. Perhaps even more astonishing is the fact that she accepts.

This story by the author of the very enjoyable Cutie Mark Crisscross (PR 44) and Fluttershy's Sick Day (PR 146) was written less than a month after "Party Pooped" introduced the yaks, and it follows directly on from that episode. There are quite a lot of direct canon references, perhaps slightly too many. The story, which has a wonderful setup, is pretty heavy on yaks smashing things that aren't perfect, which made complete sense in 2015 but does come across as rather simplistic now we've seen more of their culture in canon. I don't understand why the yak king and queen are called Livingston and Allaway, but then I don't get the reason for Rutherford's name either. I'm pretty sure I would have enjoyed this more if I'd read it when it was written. ★★

Dance by Martian
Apple Bloom
Slice of Life; 2k words; Nov 2012; Everyone

Just because you can't, doesn't mean you shouldn't.

Apple Bloom is terrible at dancing – but she still likes to go out into the orchard and dance like there's nopony watching, because there isn't. Well, not usually... this simple, dialogue-free story starts rather slowly but ends up as a really heart-warming tale of family and love. It had a similar effect on me to Martian's Scootaloo story, Autumn's End (PR 140), and it receives the same score, though this one is higher in the three-star bracket than Autumn's End was. Certainly worth ten minutes of your time. ★★★

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Next time on Ponyfic Roundup: there will be no edition next week because of UK PonyCon this weekend. I'll be back with PR 223 on 24 October.