Ponyfic Roundup 233: Water, Water Everywhere

Well, in one of today's fics, at least. There's a lot of stressful stuff going on in the real world at the moment, and it's also raining outside as I type this, so I think it's time for us to get away from that for a bit. Instead, we're off to the magical land of Equestria once again.

Read it Later story count: 285 (+1)

Only the three fics this week, though in my defence one of them is (a bit) longer than the average for these posts. Today's trio are:

On the Care and Construction of Bridges by Ebon Mane
The One Who Got Away by Georg
Tell Me Sweet Apple Lies by Cinder Vel

★: 1 | ★★: 0 | ★★★: 1 | ★★★★: 1 | ★★★★★: 0
Note: I use a skewed rating system. A fic I find average scores two stars.

On the Care and Construction of Bridges by Ebon Mane
Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity and Twilight
Slice of Life; 4k words; May 2014; Everyone

Rainbow Dash is an unlikely matchmaker, but she's also not a pony that leaves her friends hanging. When she sees the feelings Applejack and Rarity have for each other, she tries to get them together. Dash fails, but gains something nonetheless.

I have a soft spot for stories in which Rainbow is more astute than some may think, and here's one. Note the lack of a [Romance] tag; that should be a clue that this fic isn't going to follow the well-worn path of so many shipfics. Not much I can say without spoiling it – though there is a clue in its title – but there's one character (I assume deliberately) not mentioned in the character tags. A clever little piece and well worth a look; gets into the fours for its originality. ★★★★

The One Who Got Away by Georg
OCs and Celestia
Romance/Slice of Life; 23k words; Aug–Sep 2015; Everyone

Equestria’s newest baron has just discovered that his new barony is entirely underwater, his new castle is a broken-down old riverboat, and his new subjects are… seaponies. Welcome to the Barony of Fen.

This is a barony-in-Equestria fic. No, I'm not sorry at all. The characters are nice, especially Gaberdine, the new baron himself; his seneschal,¹ Sen; and a young seapony (oh yes!) filly, Ripple. I also enjoyed the way Gaberdine gradually accustomed himself to a simpler life away from Canterlot. This fic does have the [Romance] tag, though it's quite some way into the story before that becomes relevant. Once it does, the progression is not exactly startling, and there is one groan-inducing cliché. I'm also not a huge fan of the chapter epigraphs – I mean, "I sing of arms and the pony"? There's a commentary chapter at the end, including some comments from various ponyfic bigwigs. It's... fairly amusing. Still, the whole thing is a very pleasant and fairly undemanding read; there are dark shadows lurking in the background, but they largely stay there throughout.There is a (much longer) sequel; I enjoyed this fic enough that I'll doubtless get to it at some point. ★★★
¹Fun fact: the Channel Island of Sark has, to this day, a Court of the Seneschal.

Tell Me Sweet Apple Lies by Cinder Vel
Applejack, Berry Punch and Carrot Top
Comedy; 2k words; Mar 2017; Teen

Sweet Apple Acres, the home of the Apple family but also a home of apple secrets. For as long as anypony could remember, apples have been fresh and ready for harvest. Neither the cold of winter or heat of summer would prevent apples from being ripe.

The title of this one (the author's debut tale) is presumably a Fleetwood Mac reference. That made it irresistible, and there's a potentially fun setup here involving spying ponies hiding in bushes and the Apple Family's remarkable apple-harvesting abilities. This could have been a very silly, very funny slapstick comedy. Unfortunately, it's neither: it just rolls along for a bit, then rather abruptly it stops. Berry Punch's accent will be Marmite; it didn't work for me, though. There's another potentially interesting event right at the end, but it's badly let down by the bizarre decision for the story's final sentence to be in a relatively little-known (human) foreign language. Nor is the fic well proofread – there are a lot of missing articles ("a"/"the") and question marks, especially in the many longer sentences. This story betrays its author's inexperience at the time. ★

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Next time on Ponyfic Roundup: stories reviewed should include thesecret1's The Awfully Repetitive Vengeance of Ahuizotl the Terrible-ish. Which is going to play merry hell with my formatting, I can tell you.