Now there's a milestone: this is the first time since I started keeping score that the number of my RiL list entries has been lower than the number of its contemporary Ponyfic Roundup edition. Although my list has shrunk by four, I have only the three fics to review this week, but they are a moderately mixed bag. Here's the list:
Berry Bitters and Apple Sours by King of Beggars
An Ordinary Day by alt-tap
The Flirt by Sir Hat
★: 1 | ★★: 1 | ★★★: 0 | ★★★★: 1 | ★★★★★: 0
Berry Bitters and Apple Sours by King of Beggars
Big Mac and Berry Punch
Romance/Slice of Life; 13k words; Jun 2014; Teen
Big Mac is home alone for a few weeks and he plans to take full advantage of it, but as he checks on the family orchard he discovers a pest with plans of her own.Here's one by the author of brief comic fic The Bet (PR 19). This one is a rather different kettle of fish. It's a shipfic starring a pairing I've never seen before – though I may just have led a sheltered life! Berry Punch (who is presented as a heavy drinker, but not actually drunk) is interested in Big McIntosh and isn't shy about letting him know it. Mac, of course, is shy and initially finds Berry's attention a bit much. Things proceed from there in a fairly standard shipfic manner, though there are some nice little touches of world-building headcanon along the way, plus a couple of fine placename horse puns. The blog post mentioned in the final A/N isn't linked, but it's this one. (It's spoilery!) A high two for me, but I suspect probably a bit higher for those who love slightly suggestive shipfics involving Big Mac (or Berry Punch). ★★
An Ordinary Day by alt-tap
Fluttershy and Mane Six
Slice of Life; 5k words; Feb 2016; Everyone
Today is a special day to her, just like every other day.In this story, we follow Fluttershy through, well, an ordinary day. That's it. So why have I rated it so highly? Because it's an absolute joy to read. The language is often beautiful and lyrical: "She is not a strong flyer, and the sky knows, so it helps her along with gentle wind and warm currents." It's full of quiet undercurrents, not least about 'Shy's feelings regarding Rainbow Dash. There's even a major twist halfway through that mostly works smoothly. On the downside, there are a few too many basic technical errors (including, at one point, "Pinky Pie") and some may find it a little lacking in incident. For me, though, that's part of its charm. Recommended, especially for Fluttershy fans. ★★★★
The Flirt by Sir Hat
OC and Rarity
Romance/Comedy/Human; 5k words; Mar 2014; Teen
The only human in Equestria has an awkward time in a bar. Mostly due to the massive language barrier.A very strange story that's essentially one joke – what if Equestrian ponies just neighed and whinnied? – stretched to breaking point. Human (as he's generally called) can be understood by ponies, but thanks to Rainbow Dash breaking the translator Twilight made, it doesn't work the other way. I'd like to say that "hilarious hijinks ensue", but really they don't. There's a too-niche joke about Nebraska early on, and in one chapter Human "speaks" almost everything in Morse Code, which I quickly lost the will to look up. The fic should certainly have a [Random] tag, too. I think I might find this pretty funny as a 300-word flashfic, but at this length it badly overstays its welcome. ★
Next time on Ponyfic Roundup: stories reviewed will include Lucky Dreams' The Starlit Promise.
Oof, the rare one-star! I feel like I might have more patience for that one, though, so I'll still give it a try someday. :)
ReplyDeleteI think that's the first one star review I've seen you give!
ReplyDelete(Which makes sense, if you're just working through your Read it Later list, because I guess you've got a pretty finely tuned crap sensor by now and you don't often shortlist things you're going to end up loathing? Like, I can imagine some reviewers adding a story to RiL because it's obviously going to be a car crash and panning things is often a lot of fun - but with both the setup and just what I've seen of you as a reviewer in general, I feel like the one-star stories are going to be not so much 'garbage' as simply 'disappointing'.)
An Ordinary Day sounds lovely! The *show itself* managed to put Pinky Pie on screen once, so I'll forgive that one ;)