Ponyfic Roundup 317

Read it Later story count: 182 (-1) 

Back down to two fics this time, though it's not for want of trying: one story had to be dropped because its author nuked their account. They'd only recently published the fic in question, too. This seems to be happening a little more these days than it used to, though I won't speculate on the reasons. Anyway, the two I can cover are:

What is Left by OnionPie
Stormriders by Penalt

★: 0 | ★★: 1 | ★★★: 0 | ★★★★: 1 | ★★★★★: 0
Note: I use a skewed rating system. A fic I find average scores two stars.

Another little bit of rescheduling

This is happening a bit more often than I'd like, but once again I'm going to have to delay Ponyfic Roundup slightly. It's remarkable how many things can crowd in on you even when you're spending most of your time at home! Anyway, PR 317 will now be with you on Friday. I hope to return to the usual Wednesday slot for PR 318.

There. Wasn't that interesting?

Oh, all right. Have it your way.

My Little Repeats 55: "Too Many Pinkie Pies"

This extraordinary (even for Pinkie) G3 moment was sadly spoiled by a pre-season trailer, but still

S3E03: "Too Many Pinkie Pies"
Written by Dave Polsky
17 Nov 2012

My original rating: N/A
IMDb score: 8.6

The one with frog-oranges

Thoughts: "Fun! Fun! Fun! Fun!" If you were anywhere near a Pony convention for about a year after this episode came out, you'll have had enough of that to last a lifetime! Anyway, this, Dave Polsky's first writing credit since S1, is an ep I've never really loved as much as a big chunk of the fandom seems to. While it is, well, fun I don't really get invested in it emotionally. Odd, considering there's an existential threat to Pinkie's very existence – Twilight is zapping pink horses with gay abandon. Somewhat worrying when the episode opens with her magic shown to be still very much imperfect. My real complaint, though, is how thick Twi is when she and Spike are trying to work out who the real Pinkie is. It's obvious the only one who actually has emotions beyond hyper-ness is the real one, yet Twilight can't see that. On a more superficial level, it is enjoyable to see so many Pinkies animated, especially given the entertaining little unique touches each one has. The Mirror Pool legend is also fairly interesting, though unfortunately we only ever encounter it once again (in S7's "Uncommon Bond"). The "convenient secret compartment" thing irritates me a bit, though. Really, the whole episode just doesn't click that much with me. As such, I'm going to break with IMDb opinion here; I really don't think this is a classic or even a near-classic. A moderate three-star rating, but no more than that. Amusingly, this entertaining ponyfic appeared some months before the episode. Pure coincidence of course, but a fun one.

Choice quote: Fluttershy: "I can promise to not do anything fun at all if that would help."

New rating: ★★★

Next up is "One Bad Apple", which I've never held in especially high regard among CMC episodes, except for its song. It also contains an apparent joke that nobody seems to understand...

Ponyfic Roundup 316

Read it Later story count: 183 (nc) 

Hey, would you look at that? I'm back up to three fics this week! Life outside the world of Pony continues much as it has done for many months now. Pretty dismal, in all honesty. Certainly lonely. However, ponyfic has been doing its usual thing of giving me at least brief moments of escape. Here are this week's three fics:

On Wings of Love by ocalhoun
Vengeance by Shaslan
Open to All by Casketbase77

★: 0 | ★★: 2 | ★★★: 1 | ★★★★: 0 | ★★★★★: 0
Note: I use a skewed rating system. A fic I find average scores two stars.

Sounds of 2013, nos. 19 to 15

At long last, it's back! Into the top 20 we go, and with any luck this series might be finished by the end of 2020. As always, I'll be deciding whether to include a track by using several criteria. A refresher of the rules follows:

Rule 1: Still available in the same or (1b) similar form direct from the artist
Rule 2: Available from a third party, with reason to believe the artist is fine with this
Rule 3: So famous that it would be plain silly to leave it out
Rule 4: Being unlisted is not, on its own, grounds for exclusion

This will be the last week with five songs, as I like to up the tension by slowing down towards the top of the chart! No skipping required today, I'm pleased to say.

19: Chief Doggingfood – Summer Sun Celebration
18: dBPony – Daddy Discord
17: Poni1Kenobi (feat. HardCopy and ShadyVox) – Button's Mom
16: dBPony – Wonderbolt
15: ShadyVox – Don't Mine at Night

As ever, there are YouTube embeds of the featured songs after the break, along with a few details about each one.

"Sounds of 2013" will return this weekend

I am indeed aware of the fact that it's been a long time since I did my last "Sounds of 2013" post. You may or may not be pleased to know that I intend to do something about this in the next few days. We're into the top 20 now, so it would be good to finish off at number one before the end of the year.

Everfree Radio didn't do a Top 100 poll in 2014 as far as I can tell. The nearest equivalent is probably the Equestrian Trot 100. I'm undecided at the moment as to whether to go for a "Sounds of 2014", but we'll see. It's not as if Pony music suddenly disappeared when 2013 was over!

Ponyfic Roundup 315

Things are going from bad to worse in the real world, with post-con blues for some of us on top of that, so how about we take another trip to the magical land of Equestria?

Read it Later story count: 183 (-4) 

Largely because of UK PonyCONLINE and its associated time-sinking, this is going to be another minimal edition of Ponyfic Roundup. Today's two fics are:

Oxygen Factory by Liquid Truth
Never Stop Smiling by DustyPwny

★: 0 | ★★: 1 | ★★★: 1 | ★★★★: 0 | ★★★★★: 0
Note: I use a skewed rating system. A fic I find average scores two stars.

My Little Repeats 54: "The Crystal Empire, part 2"

My PC has rather mangled this screenshot, but it does look gorgeous in the episode!

S3E02: "The Crystal Empire, part 2"
Written by Meghan McCarthy
10 Nov 2012

My original rating: N/A
IMDb score: 8.3

The one with Knight Rainbow Dash

Thoughts: Let me say here and now, I liked this more than I remembered liking it. Oh, I'm not going to say it's a classic – although quite a scary villain, Sombra's still not got much if any depth to his character. It's interesting seeing him "die" on screen, though of course we did eventually – if quite briefly! – see him return in S9. To be honest the excitement didn't really need Twilight's test coming back at the end. (Of course, we need it to for the sake of the season finale, but we didn't know that then!) And this is exciting. It's mostly about Twilight and Spike, though AJ and Rarity in particular have their double act going nicely. (Dash is a tad mean to Flutters, and Pinkie doesn't do much.) Twilight's race against time to find the Crystal Heart, with Spike desperately wanting to help but not being allowed to, does build things up quite nicely. It does bring in one of my irritations, though: there is no way Celestia would prioritise the strict rules of the test over saving the Crystal Empire, and Spike would surely have reminded Twi of that. The crystal ponies' animation late on is dazzling, and the song though not amazing is solid. All in all, I think this is another high three-star episode. That's a bit higher than I would have rated it not so long ago.

Choice quote: Twilight: "Stairs. Lots and lots of stairs." (I say this a lot, including outside the fandom. It's a nice stealth phrase.)

New rating: ★★★

Next up is "Too Many Pinkie Pies", Dave Polsky's return to writing duties. I remember finding it fairly fun, but not being as enthused about it as much of the fandom.

"I panic bought a bread costume"

That would be Bexi, events staff at UK PonyCONLINE. And yes, it means exactly what it sounds like. She bought a costume and dressed up as bread for the Sunday opening ceremony. Conventions, eh? Anyway, this was a huge success, and the nearest thing in feel to an in-person convention I've experienced out of any of the online cons I've attended this year – and those run into double figures.

Admittedly UK PonyCon in all its forms is very special to me, not least because of the friendship associated with it, so I am biased. But nevertheless it was a wonderful weekend all round. The RDA charity fund-raising has reached £1,197 and so has beaten the first UKPCO's total from June, with more income to be added from various merch sales and the like.

And some of that merch income was from me! It was made clear in the closing ceremony that UK PonyCon will return next year, which is excellent to hear. Whether it's the hoped-for in-person event in May or another online con isn't something we'll know for sure for a few months yet, but either way I hope to be there again. Having this one over the tenth anniversary of FiM made it special, too.

This is where the magic happens, after all.

UK PonyCONLINE returns this weekend

Head to the official website for details, including the schedule. Make sure you refresh your browser cache if you've been there before, as otherwise it can show an old version of the site. I shall most certainly be attending, as I had a fine time at the one-day version of this back in June. The question, as ever with cons, is how much money I can afford to spend on merch! :P

Edit: it has correctly been pointed out to me that, this being a convention, the amount of money I can afford to spend and the amount of money I actually do spend are not necessarily that closely related...

Ponyfic Roundup 314: Spotlight on Drifting Down the Lazy River

Read it Later story count: 187 (-1) 

A week late, but at last here is another Spotlight edition of Ponyfic Roundup! I can't even remember when I last did one of these, though with luck the wait before the next one won't be quite so absurd. Off we go:

Drifting Down the Lazy River by Georg
OC, Seaponies, Celestia and Luna
Romance/Adventure; 99k words; Feb 2017; Everyone

A frustrated young orphan with a talent for painting attempts to run away from his rural village and escape to Baltimare on a raft, only to find out that the river Fen holds an unexpected answer to his problem: Seaponies

This is the sequel to The One Who Got Away (PR 233), and it definitely helps to have read the original although I'd suggest it's not strictly necessary. This fic, which has significant and deliberate echoes of Huckleberry Finn, is both longer and better than the first. Our hero this time is not Baron Gaberdine, though both he and young seapony Ripple are major supporting characters. It's an orphan named Turpentine who is deeply set on being an artist. His devotion to that shines through all the way through the fic, and though very occasionally I wondered whether he was sounding a bit adult for a ten-year-old colt, Turpentine's unhappy foalhood has reasonably made him old beyond his years in some ways. I was pleased to see that his orphanage wasn't a place of terror and misery, which makes a change in fiction! PaulAsaran says, "The pacing is perfect, the plot moves from point to point with enviable smoothness, the characters are endearing," and I can't improve on that summary. Recommended! ★★★★

There's a bit more comment – spoilery comment! – after the break.