Ponyfic Roundup 289

Read it Later story count: 218 (nc)

And for a change, Ponyfic Roundup actually appears on the right day of the week. Go me. Anyway, I'm feeling quite cheerful right now, having actually managed to get a supermarket delivery slot within the next 47 years. What better way to celebrate than with another little collection of ponyfic reviews? I suppose with a large collection of ponyfic reviews, but you can't have everything. Here goes:

Flashes on the Horizon by Goblin Scribe
Under the Willow by Orbiting Kettle
A Perfectly Ordinary Day in Ponyville by The Equestrian Gentlecolt

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

Flashes on the Horizon by Goblin Scribe
Cheerilee, Mayor Mare, Derpy, Vinyl Scratch and Octavia
Slice of Life; 6k words; Jul 2013; Everyone

The final battle for the future of Equestria is fought. Miles away in Ponyville, Cheerilee and Mayor Mare watch the sky and wonder what's going on.

Something a bit different here, and not just because of its cast. That short description gives the clue: we don't actually get told what's going on. We can guess from what Cheerilee and company are seeing, and some of the descriptions are quite interesting. Characterisation is decent but not eye-catching. Where this story rather falls down is that there's little sense of real peril or suspense, considering it's supposed to be a "final battle" being fought far away. On the two/three boundary for me, but blips into the higher category for being interestingly different, even if it doesn't quite hit all its targets. ★★★

Under the Willow by Orbiting Kettle
CMCs [and a Diamond Dog]
Slice of Life; 2k words; Oct 2016; Everyone

Resting under a tree, dozing in the shadow, an old dog meet three young and curious fillies.

A nice vignette in which a Diamond Dog and the CMCs have a chat. It's mostly done in order for the fillies (and, vicariously, us) to learn about the DD perspective on life – and death. This is not a bad thing, as the author has clearly thought quite hard about the canine society and his (the DD's) worldview seems to fit together well. This reminds me very much of some of the fics I enjoyed reading in the old "Outside Insight" contest, though obviously it differs in not being a look at pony culture. I'd probably not have heard of this without PaulAsaran's review, and his assessment of "a nice, quiet slice-of-life piece with lots of creative worldbuilding" is pretty much mine as well. The spelling "Applebloom" is irritating, but there's little else to quibble at. Very much a top-end three. ★★★

A Perfectly Ordinary Day in Ponyville by The Equestrian Gentlecolt
Twilight
Comedy/Random/Slice of Life, 5k words; Jan 2012; Teen

Twilight Sparkle goes about business as usual in Ponyville.

Here's one that will mostly appeal to fans of early-fandom "Isn't Ponyville weird?" stories. Twilight wakes up one day with wings, which surprises her, this being January 2012 and all. As she makes her way around town, she runs into her friends in various circumstances. The fic is a strange mixture of the great (an in-story song that actually feels like a show one), the bad (a lot of LUS) and the just plain bizarre (a running subplot about humans brushing ponies' manes). Also, was "Twilight Alexandria Sparkle" a thing in the early days, like "Rainbow Miriam Dash"? Anyway, this fic shows its age so much it creaks (at the end, too), but it retains enough flashes of fun to still be worth a quick skim if you're in the mood. ★★

---

Next time on Ponyfic Roundup: stories reviewed should include darf's What You Can Imagine.