Read it Later story count: 125 (-7)
A little later than usual, but at least on the right day, here is a somewhat minimal edition of Ponyfic Roundup for you all. It's still too hot to do much beyond the essentials, but at least there's cooler weather on the horizon. When, this being England, it will rain. (Yes, I know much of England isn't actually all that wet. But I have to keep up appearances for an international audience.) Just the two fics to ponder today:
Moving On by Bad Horse
The First Winter Wrap Up by ChoppersTopHat
★: 0 | ★★: 0 | ★★★: 2 | ★★★★: 0 | ★★★★★: 0
Note: I use a skewed rating system. A fic I find average scores two stars.
Twilight, Luna and Pony Joe
Drama/Slice of Life/Alternate Universe; 9k words; Mar 2013; Everyone
Celestia has taken on a new private student, and Twilight must find something to be other than the Faithful Student. But how?
Set in an AU where Twilicorn never happened, this fic sees Twilight still working as a librarian, albeit now back in Canterlot and away from her Ponyville friends. She never became the great mage Celestia and Luna clearly intended her to be because... well, that's left hanging to a certain extent. Indeed, Twilight doesn't really know. Pony Joe, with far less pure intellect but far more experience of life, may be able to help in his own way. Although Joe was my favourite character here, Luna is interesting, too. A thought-provoking and rather sad story (despite the absence of that tag) that nearly convinced me. The "nearly" is because the one answer Joe is apparently hinting at may already be impossible due to the passage of time. There's also one particular line of Celestia's that strikes me as really rather harsh for her. I didn't warm to her as much as I do in most canon-universe fics. A very high three. (Also, probably irrelevant to the fic, but this song is now stuck in my head.) ★★★
The First Winter Wrap Up by ChoppersTopHat
Applejack, Apple Bloom and Celestia
Adventure/Slice of Life; 3k words; Nov 2012*; Everyone
Applejack tells her sister the surprising origin of the Winter Wrap Up, and of the "No Magic" Rule.
* The author states that this story was first written in December 2010. That makes it one of the oldest ponyfics still around, but more significantly means it pre-dates the canon backstories from "Hearth's Warming Eve" and "Family Appreciation Day". As such, this is basically AU now. It's still a pleasant little read, though, with Applejack's explanation as to why unicorn magic is banned at WWU but earth and pegasus magic is fine being reasonably convincing. I also like AJ's broad, welcoming definition of "family", which in its way rather foreshadows what we'd later see on screen in "Pinkie Apple Pie". This isn't likely to blow you away, but it's a good little read and offers an interesting alternative history for Ponyville. ★★★
Next time around, stories reviewed should include Timaeus's TwiDash shipfic Head in the Clouds.
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