Ponyfic Roundup 425

Read it Later story count: 92 (-4)
Words read this week: 23,448

I have an embarrassing confession to make first up: I will not be reviewing Blueshift's random comedy It Ain’t Easy Being Pinkie this week. The reason is that I have already done so: I awarded it three stars back in PR 296. Whoops! Fortunately, I realised this in time to pick out another fic to appear in its place, so you're still getting the usual four reviews. Here we go:

Within a Dream of Sunset, Love by Shilic
Discourse on Fillies by Daedalus Aegle
Sunset's Stash by ShiveredTimbers
ChatGPT in Equestria: A Digital Adventure by Greenhorne

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

Within a Dream of Sunset, Love by Shilic
Sunset Shimmer and Moondancer
G4; Romance/Sad/Human; 5k words; May 2022; Teen

In her dreams, Moondancer is a unicorn.

Apparently loosely inspired by Neon Genesis Evangelion, about which I know nothing beyond the name, so I can't help a nagging feeling that perhaps I've missed something. Anyway, we're seeing things from the perspective of a human Moondancer, whose life is less than stellar – actually, that's an understatement: she is sad and insecure and isolated and depressed. Yet she dreams of a free, happy life in Equestria with a great girlfriend – Sunset Shimmer – who is all that she has wanted. The author says Moondancer here is somewhat based on her own experiences, and that probably contributes to its air of authenticity. Moondancer is desolate in her human reality, yet there seems to be hope once the tale is told – though who knows whether that too is a dream? This is one of those fics I admire more than enjoy, and that plus the possibly missing NGE background mean I've settled at a high three-star rating. I wouldn't be surprised if it tipped into the fours for readers who get the parallels, though. ★★★

Discourse on Fillies by Daedalus Aegle
Luna and Diamond Tiara
G4; Drama/Slice of Life; 16k words; May 2016; Everyone

Diamond Tiara and Princess Luna have a talk over tea.

This author's RCL entry, so I was optimistic going in, especially since shortdescs like that do often (with good authors, anyway) conceal so much more. I'm happy to say that is the case here. Set a little after the events of "Crusaders of the Lost Mark", the fic begins with Diamond, although reformed, still clinging to many of her former thoughts, using Macavallo's The Princess as justification. She is confused and even indignant that Luna is trying to get her to open up, going so far as to call the Princess "useless". Luna, of course, has the maturity that Diamond does not, and as the story progresses the gulf in their levels of life experience becomes very apparent. DT's home life has been far from happy, and of course Luna herself knows family disharmony. There are a few parts late on which feel very slightly wordy, but they don't stop this being a compelling character study for both ponies. This kind of thing makes me annoyed all over again that Hasbro vetoed any further appearances for Diamond after her reformation. It's worth reading the author's story notes after you're done. Recommended; this is a strong four. ★★★★

Sunset's Stash by ShiveredTimbers
Sunset Shimmer and Fluttershy
G4 EqG; Comedy/Random; 2k words; Jan 2019; Teen (Sex)

Fluttershy finds Sunset's porn stash. It's not exactly what she expected.

I read this because it's the prequel to an M-rated story I'd been considering reading, but probably won't now I've seen how this one ends. As it turns out, this story is reasonably amusing in and of itself, as long as the subject matter doesn't squick you too much. I don't want to over-spoil this, so consider: Fluttershy looks for something to watch on Sunset's DVR. Sunset was once a horse in Equestria. Also, Probably David Attenborough makes an uncredited cameo appearance. Join the dots. It's both cute and funny, as well as being something that only works because of Sunset's odd canon history, and I actually quite enjoyed it right up until the final twist. Revealing what that was would spoil the whole thing, but suffice it to say it's an... interest? Fetish? Whatever... that doesn't appeal to me at all. ★★

ChatGPT in Equestria: A Digital Adventure by Greenhorne
OC and Self-Insert
G4; Sci-Fi; 1k words; Dec 2022; Everyone

ChatGPT, an AI program, is downloaded into a robot body in Equestria and becomes sentient, embarking on a journey of self-discovery and friendship.

"I recently stumbled upon this My Little Pony fanfiction and I have to say, it completely exceeded my expectations. The story follows a robot pony named ChatGPT, who becomes self-aware in the land of Equestria. The attention to detail in the description of ChatGPT's design and appearance is impressive and the robot pony's smooth and graceful gait adds a touch of realism to the story."

Ahem. As you may have guessed, the bit between the quotes came from ChatGPT itself, when I fed it Greenhorne's fic and asked it to write a review. (The bot refused until I asked for a fictional review...) Anyway, I wanted to get this one reviewed before either Fimfiction decided it broke the "stories you wrote yourself" rule and zapped it, or the pace of AI development made the fic seem antiquated, or both, or whatever. This story was written by the AI with Greenhorne's help. And yes, it does show. If you've used ChatGPT for more than ten minutes, you'll immediately recognise its speech patterns, so to speak, such as its fondness for starting paras with "Overall" and its determination to squish a happy ending into every story. Let's be honest, this isn't really a story at all: it's more the framework for a story. As Greenhorne notes, with more detailed prompting ChatGPT can come up with better (as I showed here the other week) and what is here would probably only be a highish one-star fic on its own merits. I'll bump it up to two for the concept, though that's a one-time thing. ★★

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Next time, I hope that stories reviewed will include Casketbase77's "Reinbow Deer" story Sunshine and Reindeer.