Ponyfic Roundup 252

Read it Later story count: 254 (+3)

My RiL list has grown this week, more so than it has for a long time. Curse those recommendations from friends and other reviewers! Anyway, I actually managed to read the story I trailed last week, so yay for that. I even managed to read some other stuff as well, so double yay. (Can you do that? Can you yay twice?) Today's selection of equine entertainment is as follows:

The Motion of the Stars by Carabas
Just an Old Fool by Minds Eye
"Daleks Have No Concept of Friendship!" by RainbowDoubleDash
Continue? by naturalbornderpy

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

The Motion of the Stars by Carabas
Rarity and Sweetie Belle
Dark/Adventure/Sad; 14k words; Jan 2015; Teen (Gore)

Once upon a time, Equestria burned in the fires of war. Now it falls to two sisters to reclaim what they can.

This fic was an entrant for the More Most Dangerous Game contest, and it came in third. Carabas chose to take the premise of Fallout: Equestria, so we're in a post-apocalyptic wasteland of a world. A wounded Rarity and grown-up Sweetie are among the few survivors of the disaster, and they live just outside the completely blasted zone. Rarity desperately searches for a way to bring back the Sun and Moon, making occasional dangerous trips to the abandoned Canterlot to scavenge books from Celestia's library. It's a really fascinating reinterpretation, and one which feels all too plausible – especially given some of the things we saw in the S5 finale, which post-dates this fic. The sisters' relationship is excellently treated, and there's a real sense of both menace and hope. A lot is left unexplained, and there's a significant amount of Carabas's own world-building from other stories; the Capricious Crown is present here, for example. I have mixed feelings about that as I think you do miss a little if you've never read any of those, but it's a minor problem. This is still a very worthwhile read. ★★★★

Just an Old Fool by Minds Eye
Fluttershy and Other [Greenhooves]
Slice of Life; 2k words; Dec 2014; Everyone

The Royal Gardener shares a dance with a Gala guest.

It's no secret that Fluttershy is the guest in question, as this story takes its inspiration from the scenes involving her and Greenhooves back in Season 1's "The Best Night Ever". The gardener makes a choice he didn't (not on-screen, at least) in the show, and this feeds into the second half of the story, where Greenhooves draws on his experience to give advice to another. There's nothing huge or flashy here, and I'm sure it will appeal most to SoL fans who enjoy seeing very minor characters given a little more life. ★★★

"Daleks Have No Concept of Friendship!" by RainbowDoubleDash
OC, Doctor Hooves, Minuette, Twilight and Spike
Comedy/Slice of Life/Crossover; 38k words; Nov 2013–May 2019; Teen

A dalek appears in Equestria - not just any dalek, but the one that had been corrupted by Rose Tyler's DNA. It has a choice of life as a pony, or dying, and finds that it cannot bear to die a second time. Thus begins a strange adventure...

I don't review many crossovers, but this one (by the author best known for creating the Lunaverse) was recommended to me and was rather irresistible. As the opening A/N says, you really need to have at least a passing familiarity with the Doctor Who episode "Dalek" (and preferably with the show as a whole) to get the most out of this, though it's probably not absolutely necessary. Considering it took five and a half years to finish, it didn't work out badly! You can see the join, though: the earlier chapters are heavy on comedy ("Daleks do not have cats [...] nor Fluttershies"), despite one remarkably dark comment from Celestia, while the later ones are more inclined to SF and at times border on adventure. The story is written from the point of view of the dalek corrupted by Rose, which I'm pretty sure is a unique thing in ponyfic, and its this creature's progress that is at the heart of the fic. The word "rel" (a short unit of time) is massively overused and this really grates by the end, but if you can cope with that and the "fic of two halves" feel then this is a pretty decent read. ★★★

Continue? by naturalbornderpy
Twilight, Celestia and Luna
Comedy/Random; 5k words; Apr 2018; Teen

Following her tragic death by yet another villain of the week, Twilight Sparkle finds herself facing something all alicorns eventually uncover. The continue screen.

This is a little less stupid than the [Comedy]/[Random] genre pairing might make you think. It starts out as plain silliness, with Twilight encountering several staples of old-fashioned video games. The first chapter ends with an absolutely hideous joke; points for that. There's some stealth profundity in here too, though, not least the question of how a pony with the option of a "Continue screen" might change her approach to life as a result. A bonus chapter shows us what happens when somepony faced with "Continue Y/N?" doesn't choose the "Y" option. This goes the other way, starting out profound and getting stupider, and I don't think it's quite as strong. Still, there's depth in here for those who want to look for it, and some fun gaming references for those who don't. ★★★

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Next time on Ponyfic Roundup: stories reviewed should include The Albinocorn's Firebird Dahlia. It's waited long enough!