Ponyfic Roundup 260

I am maintaining an undignified silence about the cricket.

The winner of the Fanfic Battle at BronyCon was, if I'm reading this right, Monochromatic's The Enchanted Library. Unfortunately, I haven't read it and am fairly unlikely ever to do so (a 340k-word AU fic? Yeah... not happening any time soon), so I can't say much about it. Mind you, clearly some good judges think it really is that good, so I'd better not rule it out entirely. Also, that BronyCon Bookstore? It made over $30,000.

Read it Later story count: 243 (-4)

Getting back to the much shorter stories I am a bit better at reading, today there are a grand total of four fics on the list. Though if you look down the list of authors this time, I'm sure you'll agree that what they lack in quantity they make up for in quality. Anyway, to the stories. These are they and they are these. Something something something cheese. Cough. Let's go:

Scootaloathe by FanOfMostEverything
Artistic License by Chris
This is a Stick-Up by Georg
Trust by Bad Horse

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

Scootaloathe by FanOfMostEverything
Scootaloo, Zipporwhill, Diamond Tiara and Other
Comedy/Slice of Life; 4k words; Feb 2014; Teen

Scootaloo plots the downfall of her antithesis and nemesis.

I picked this one up because it was a Scootafic, because the combination of her and Zipporwhill caught my eye, and because FOME writes good stuff and I hadn't read anything by him for ages. In brief, Scoot is annoyed because Zip can fly and has her cutie mark and is determined to destroy her, to the extent of teaming up with her usual nemesis, Diamond Tiara. It's pretty silly, but funny with it, which is always a plus. We also get some light shipping, Scootaloo's dad and tiara envy. You definitely need to adopt a mid-S4 mindset before reading, though. More serious downsides: a fourth-wall Pinkie bit that's just there, plus a seemingly random name that isn't explained at all until the end Author's Note, which I think crosses the line into "unfair on the reader". Those quibbles aside, this is light, fun reading if you're in the mood. ★★★

Artistic License by Chris
Celestia and Luna
Slice of Life; 3k words; Mar 2019; Everyone

When Princesses Celestia and Luna visit a public art gallery, they come upon a painting of Celestia, banished to the moon. They react to this in the only reasonable way: artistic criticism and analysis.

More meta here, though in this story it's both subtler and considerably more extensive. The short description above gives you the basics, but what we're really here for is the Royal Sisters dialogue, which is both satisfying in its own right, a sly lampooning of Pseud's Corner art criticism and an equally sly lampooning of our beloved fandom's own views on Celestia over the years. Perhaps a little bit wordy at times, and the ending wasn't quite as impactful as I'd hoped, but still a very clever little piece that's well worth your time. ★★★★

This is a Stick-Up by Georg
OCs
Comedy/Slice of Life; 5k words; Aug 2018; Everyone

Many years ago, Ponyville was even smaller than it is now. But not too small to experience its first bank robbery. In distinctly Ponyville style.

This one was inspired by Admiral Biscuit's Golden Prize (PR 238), a fic I liked a little less than most people seem to, so I put off reading Georg's story for a while. I shouldn't have. Moneybags, the bank robber, quickly finds his plan to rob Ponyville's Silver Standard Savings Bank thwarted by... well, by its being Ponyville. This is one of those fics that really wouldn't work in any other setting. There's some nice characterisation of all the significant OCs, plus some believable notes about the Ponyville of yore. The ending is one you may see coming, but it's fitting too. Also, the story uses the word "arbotecturist", which I love. I didn't find it massively memorable, but it's very solid slice-of-life Equestria stuff. ★★★

Trust by Bad Horse
Celestia and Trixie
Dark/Alternate Universe; 1k words; Oct 2012; Everyone

Celestia teaches Trixie a lesson about trust.

I'm not sure how many people have managed to avoid the last-line stinger of this fic... but if you have, then please keep it that way until you've read it. This is an old story and feels it, most obviously in its portrayal of S1-style antagonist Trixie. ("Magic Duel" appeared just two months after this fic.) There's also a small amount of surprisingly clunky LUS. We get some interesting things here: first, an angry Celestia, and one considerably more terrifying in her way than Daybreaker. (This is an AU story, so a little departure from show canon can be expected here and there.) One apparently throwaway line fairly early in her conversation with Trixie really made my eyes fly open. Then there's that ending – it's easy for it to slide by without being noticed, yet it completely changes the context of what's gone before, to the extent that you may feel the need to read this twice. Note that older Fimfiction comments and reviews may contain references to an alternative ending. This is not now available; Bad Horse doesn't feel it's good enough for publication. As such, I cannot take it into account here. As for what is available, it's excellent. The fic's age does slightly count against it in 2019, but only slightly. ★★★★

---

Next time on Ponyfic Roundup: stories reviewed should include horizon's The Last Dreams of Pony Island.