Ponyfic Roundup 269

Read it Later story count: 233 (-2)

Time for horsewords. Easing back into this feature with three quick-and-easy stories. Now that Friendship is Magic is over and done with as a continuing series, I have a few ideas for Ponyfic Roundup. I don't intend to change the format; I mean more that I may have a little more time for stuff along the lines of themed editions, like I used to do way back when. That's for another week, though. This week, I'm looking at these:

Prejudicial Procedure Problem by iisaw
My Roommate Is Not a Vampire by Ave Celestia
Yeah. by Pickleless

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

Prejudicial Procedure Problem by iisaw
Twilight, OC and Starlight Glimmer
Comedy; 1k words; Aug 2019; Everyone

Twilight needs to hire some staff members. Should be easy and non-controversial, right?

But of course it isn't, not least because only a small minority of the interviewees are male. This is Equestria (a "Mare-archy"), but even so. I'll admit I was slightly worried at first that this story was going to end up being some political mini-rant – which would have been odd for this writer, so I wasn't that worried. Happily, it isn't, and while the inclusion of a mule as a major character is nice, it's not the main point. Suffice to say you'll need to read right to the end to appreciate this one. ★★★

My Roommate Is Not a Vampire by Ave Celestia
Vinyl Scratch and Octavia
Romance/Comedy/Random/Slice of Life; 2k words; Jan 2016; Everyone

Short, silly Octascratch wherein Vinyl comes home to Octavia in an awesome vampire cape.

It's hard to argue with a short description like that. Many people have read and loved My Roommate is a Vampire (though I didn't; PR 63). Beyond the similarity of title, this story is unrelated, which is probably a good thing. It's really just a silly scene of Vinyl pretending to be a vampire as part of flirting with Octavia, and Octavia being uninterested in the first bit but more receptive to the second. (It stretches its E rating slightly, I feel.) It's amusing fluff, really. Nothing much to it, but if you like the premise then you'll probably have some fun. A top-end two as a result. ★★

Yeah. by Pickleless
Mane Six and Spike
Comedy/Random; 1k words; Dec 2014; Everyone

Yesterday was not a good day for the main six.

An (exactly) thousand-word experiment here, in which the only dialogue is the word "yeah", said with various shades of meaning. There is a premise to the fic, but we only find out in the last line and I'm not sure anyone is going to guess it from the events of the story itself. I started out finding the "yeah" thing fun, but by the end I thought it had outstayed its welcome, even in a tale as short as this one. A nice idea, but it didn't really do it for me. ★★

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Next time on Ponyfic Roundup: stories reviewed should include naturalbornderpy's The Only Day.