Read it Later story count: 291 (+1)
Nothing interesting to say here (When does that ever stop you? —Ed) so I'll just mention that I have three fics for you this week. They are:
When Suddenly a Manticore... by DannyJ
MLP The Movie: The Significantly Shorter Version by PonyAmorous
Extra Sprinkles by Minds Eye
★: 0 | ★★: 1 | ★★★: 2 | ★★★★: 0 | ★★★★★: 0
Note: I use a skewed rating system. A fic I find average scores two stars.
When Suddenly a Manticore... by DannyJ
Twilight, OC and Other
Comedy/Random; 7k words; Dec 2012; Teen (Death, Profanity)
So what is the deal with all these humans who go to the Everfree Forest and fight manticores anyway? Well sit down, kids, and let grandpa tell you the whole story.This is an odd one. It's got a lot of meta, so be warned: it's sort of a bronies-in-Equestria story, but not in the usual run of them. They end up trapped in a camp in the Everfree, because the manticores, apart from being a deadly threat, won't let them leave. There's some amusingly bizarre world-building (one bit about languages, for example) and a nice little reference to an early show episode. The manticores have some actual character, too. That's balanced out by an extended joke about people's names that I found not only unfunny but baffling. Maybe it's a 2012-vintage fandom/ponyfic reference that no longer resonates. The ending of the story is a one-liner that will divide audiences; I didn't like it at all. It's not helped by being followed by one of those annoying defensive A/N lines: "First person who can't take a joke and gets genuinely mad over my stupid comedy loses the game." I'm not mad about this fic. I just didn't laugh much. ★★
MLP The Movie: The Significantly Shorter Version by PonyAmorous
Twilight and Other
Comedy/Alternate Universe; 2k words; Oct 2017; Everyone
How things actually would have gone down during the invasion of Canterlot.Like the previous story, this is something some people will dislike from the very concept – in this case, that means fix-fic. There's an early wobble with an ill-judged Sentence of Long Words (maybe deliberate, but it still feels out of place), but after that we're in for a fun ride. Now that Canterlot and its princesses are prepared for defending their city, Tempest Shadow (for it is she!) rapidly finds herself in way, way over her head. It's nothing terribly original as a concept, but I was tickled by Twilight pointing out that being Princess of Friendship is basically equivalent to being Princess of Magic and it wasn't her fault if Tempest hadn't read Twi's dissertation. The last line is so weak, little more than "here's a song title I want to shoe-horn in" that I have to assume it's just a reference I don't get. Up to that point, though, I had a pretty good time, and fix-fic or not that's something worth having. ★★★
Extra Sprinkles by Minds Eye
Pony Joe, Twilight and Spike
Slice of Life; 3k words; Mar 2015; Everyone
Donut Joe calms an angry dragon and a distraught unicorn.In this RCL-inducted fic, we're back in the era of filly Twilight as a student of Celestia. First, though, it's all about Joe running his father's bakery for the first time. He's less than happy when a dragon appears in the store, but when Twilight follows Joe gradually realises what's up. This is some pretty solid SoL, with some pretty nice character interactions and nice world-building. Also donuts, which never hurts. Perhaps the best thing is the surprisingly convincing explanation for why Donut/Pony Joe has had two canon names. There's nothing really deep here – I think "pleasant" would be how I'd describe the read – but there doesn't really need to be. Quite a high three and certainly worth a look for SoL and/or Joe fans. ★★★
Next time on Ponyfic Roundup: stories reviewed should include Obselescence's More Than You Know.
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