Ponyfic Roundup 257

Read it Later story count: 248 (-2)

Be warned: now I know there's at least one fellow cricket fan (The Cloptimist) around these parts, there may well be further references to the sport on the blog. Especially with the Ashes coming up. I don't think there are any in today's Ponyfic Roundup reviews, though. I suppose I may have put one in there without knowing, so do let me know if so. Okay, four fics to look at this time, and they are:

Dreaming with Ponies by ROBCakeran53
Fire Burns Both Ways by Impossible Numbers
Rewashed by DrakeyC
Luna's Coffee by Freedom

★: 0 | ★★: 2 | ★★★: 1 | ★★★★: 1 | ★★★★★: 0

Dreaming with Ponies by ROBCakeran53
Mane Six
Sad/Slice of Life; 5k words; Mar 2012; Everyone

They say you reap what you sow. As the world turns, one mare finally sees the reward of holding on.

The mare in question is Twilight, who it's clear from the start is coming to the end of her long life: she has not only foals but grandfoals now. You probably won't see the identity of Twi's partner coming, either. Whatever Lauren Faust might have said, in this story Twi has outlived her friends. Still, she's seeing the other Mane Sixers in her dreams, and it's heavily trailed that this is going to be important. (It is.) Many of the standard elements of a "passing of the generations" story are here, right down to the passing on of the... well, Elements. (This is a 2012 fic, remember.) The story thankfully doesn't push the "Look! Sad!" buttons too hard, though we do get the dreaded single tear at one point. One character is inexplicably named Trisha, too – but the biggest fault is a really rather cringy tie-in with the show's theme song, inspired by PhillyPu's piano cover. That takes away from what would otherwise be quite a touching piece. Drops a star as a result, so give it a three if it doesn't bother you. ★★

Fire Burns Both Ways by Impossible Numbers
Sugar Belle, Double Diamond, Celestia and OC
Adventure/Drama; 8k words; Jun 2018; Everyone

After being freed from Starlight's control, Double Diamond and Sugar Belle struggle to shake off her influence. Then they start to wonder: are there other villages in the desert – and other ponies – who need their help too?

What I like most about this intriguing fic is the way it gives some depth to Double Diamond's former role in Our Town, that of Starlight's enforcer. He wrestles with his feelings throughout the story, and his characterisation is very satisfying. Sugar Belle is a little blander, as indeed she is in canon, though there are occasional hints of a more eventful early life. There's also an increasingly startling journal found in a pool in the cutie mark vault seen in the S5 premiere, plus a mythological creature that I've seen in ponyfic occasionally before, but not quite like this. But this is really a story about how some things can appear quite different if you'll only go and look at them from another perspective. It's quite a deep tale for one so short, and I found reading it twice helped me see what was happening. All I'll say here is: think about those journal extracts as you read them. ★★★★

Rewashed by DrakeyC
Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo and Lightning Dust
Slice of Life/Alternate Universe; 2k words; Aug 2018; Everyone

A fixfic for the end of "The Washouts"

This "unashamed fixfic" was written even before the episode had its US premiere (though it had aired in Australia). DrakeyC loved the episode until the last few minutes, and so set out to write something better. I wasn't hugely fond of the canon ending either, so does this fixfic succeed? Well, yes and no. It does give the principal characters a perhaps more satisfying resolution to their friendships/rivalries. Nor do I mind the still-unattractive way Lightning Dust is written, as I think it works well for her character. What did irk me was how talky it was. This is a single-scene fic, intended as the big, exciting climax to an episode full of spectacle and danger, and yet the ponies spend way too much time on chit-chat. That slows the pace in places I was impatient for the story to keep moving fast. ★★★

Luna's Coffee by Freedom
Luna
Slice of Life; 1k words; Oct 2014; Teen

Luna's musings... with some coffee.

There used to be a lot of fics back in the ago involving Celestia and tea, so here's an oldish one involving Luna and coffee. It's in an unusual format: we get a paragraph of musing followed by "Luna loves/hates X", then more musing, and so on. I enjoyed several of these, which for the most part fitted quite well with Luna's character. This format changes later in the story, though annoyingly much of the last part is simply a rather tedious reverse-order recap of what we've already read. There's also a chunk of "butts are really amusing" that's completely out of place with the fic's generally reflective tone, plus a Spongebob reference that isn't likely to pass smoothly by those who don't get it. This doesn't quite live up to its potential. ★★

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Next time on Ponyfic Roundup: stories reviewed should include iisaw's The Quest.