Ponyfic Roundup 262

I'm really enjoying reading Cold in Gardez's Completely Safe Stories, and eventually I'll have at least a short review of the book up here. Not of the fics themselves, but of the whole package. I keep thinking it might be nice to make a list of available physical ponyfic, a list aimed at British fans – ie with UK postage costs! – but it's often hard to tell which books/editions are limited and which aren't, and that's one of several factors putting me off. Anyway...

Read it Later story count: 233 (-11)

An apology now: I do not, in fact, have the review of Bob from Bottles' An Imaginative Performance I trailed last time. That's because I stupidly forgot to check before writing that trailer that BfB's account was still up, and I read the whole fic before looking. In fact, the account has been nuked, and that's taken An Imaginative Performance with it. (FWIW, it would have scored a high two.) So, three fics only this time:

A Candle in the Sky by Lucky Dreams
Suspiciously Similar by TheAncientPolitzanian
In the Service of the Princess of Friendship by bookplayer

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

A Candle in the Sky by Lucky Dreams
Apple Bloom and Granny Smith
Adventure; 3k words; Dec 2015; Everyone

Apple Bloom spends one last night with Granny Smith.

Another wondrous and quietly deeply moving piece from Lucky Dreams. It's a fantasy within a fantasy, set in a dream world where Apple Bloom learns to come to terms with the obviously imminent loss of her beloved grandmother. Granny herself is younger in this dream, with extraordinary powers – one of which is referenced by the title. It's so much more than just a "learn to move on" fic, though, as there's the magic and beauty I've come to expect from this author. I wondered a bit about the lack of a [Sad] tag... but there's a fair case for saying this story isn't sad but actually uplifting. Perhaps because I mostly saw where it was going, this didn't quite blow me away as much as The Starlit Promise (PR 256) did, but that's a very tough ask; it's a very fine fic nevertheless. ★★★★

Suspiciously Similar by TheAncientPolitzanian
Applejack, Torque Wrench and Other
Random/Slice of Life; 3k words; Aug 2019; Everyone

While trotting through Hope Hollow, Applejack (literally) bumps into a stallion with an oddly familiar face...

Another Rainbow Roadtrip-inspired story, this time based on the blatant Big Mac recolour that a lot of people noticed. This feels like a much older story, perhaps one of those that used to have fun with the way early FiM would recycle background ponies by the dozen in crowd scenes. There's some mild amusement to be had with the way Applejack and this stallion react to each other, and his being nicknamed "Whopper" was a funny touch. However, the fic suffers by the way it was stretched to 2,500 words to meet a contest requirement. It shows, I'm afraid. AJ also has the odd bit of very un-AJ dialogue. ("Correctamundo"?!) An easy, if rather forgettable, read. ★★

In the Service of the Princess of Friendship by bookplayer
Twilight and Applejack
Slice of Life; 2k words; Jun 2015; Everyone

Twilight knows what her role is. But her friends have roles to play too... maybe one too many.

Published halfway through S5, this little fic is a window on a time when the Castle of Friendship was still new and unsettling and the ramifications of S4's events were still being played out. This is a two-hoofer conversation piece without any action to speak of, so it's vital the characters are well written – which they are, Applejack especially. Despite the story's brevity, I was drawn into the question of what AJ's final decision would be. Not much really happens here, and the setting does feel slightly anachronistic to me reading in 2019, but it's still solid stuff – and unlike many bookplayer fics, devoid of romance. A top-end three. ★★★

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Next time on Ponyfic Roundup: stories reviewed should include Fairy Tail's An Old World for Fluttershy.