Ponyfic Roundup 443

Read it Later story count: 91 (-1)

Words read this week: 23,276

Another Bank Holiday coming up this weekend. Hey ho. It looks like being reasonable (though not amazing) weather, at least. As trailed last week, a very low total word count for this Roundup. Still, as we all know, "small but perfectly formed" is a thing, as indeed is its opposite. Let's see whether there are any gleaming little nuggets that can be discovered this time, shall we?

A Real Pegasus by astrolatryy
How The Mighty Fall by ReaderReads
Storm Siren by Undome Tinwe
Symbiosis by Silent Whisper
"Happy Hearth's Warming Eve, Squirt" by gmen15

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

A Real Pegasus by astrolatryy
Sunny and Cozy Glow
G4/G5; Romance; 7k words; May 2022; Teen

Today, Sunny's father comes home with a statue of a pegasus frozen in fright.

Written for a rare pairings contest, this is an original take on the "Sunny learns about G4" idea. Argyle goes out on research trips and on one occasion, he brings back a statue of a filly. Sunny is entranced by the fact that said filly has wings. Eventually, though, she realises that the statue is communicating with her. The interactions between the wide-eyed Sunny and someone we, but not she, know the dangers of, make up a lot of the story. They're interestingly handled and Cozy's chess ability (see her cutie mark) provides a way for she and Sunny to bond. There's also a real emotional whammy at one point for Sunny. The ending is just a tad on the predictable side (perhaps expected given what the fic was written for) but otherwise this is delightful. ★★★★

How The Mighty Fall by ReaderReads
Twilight and Celestia
G4; Sad/Slice of Life; 3k words; Jul 2019; Everyone

"Celestia, I - don't understand. What's going on?" Twilight asked, voice shaking with anticipation of the answer. Celestia opened her eyes, irises flicking back and forth between raging orange and peaceful violet. "I have fallen," she replied.

Here we have a fairly dialogue-heavy fic (which I'm okay with) that deals with the seemingly perfect Celestia being anything but, especially when it comes to believing that friendship is magic. Or, more importantly here, her resistance to the increasing internal pressures from Daybreaker. Twilight's presence allows Tia to explain what's happening, but mostly this is a Celestia v Celestia tale, and quite a dramatic one at that. A mention of "the Nyx" threw me briefly until I remembered it was a comics reference. But although this is another fic whose ending is a little predictable, it's a good read. A solid three. ★★★

Storm Siren by Undome Tinwe
Zipp, Lightning Dust and Fiddlesticks
G4/G5; Romance/Adventure/Drama; 4k words; May 2022; Everyone

Zipp braves a magical storm to save Maretime Bay, and meets two mares from a time lost to history.

Described by the author as "A tribute (?) of sorts" to The Red Parade's excellent never forever (PR 303), which involves the same (G4) pair, although you don't need to have read that to enjoy this. Here, a little post-G5 Unity, a vast storm threatens to destroy everything. Zipp and her friends decide she will take a quite possibly sacrificial flight into said storm – but, once there, she finds Lightning and Fiddlesticks, who have a dramatic and frightening story of why the storm exists. This is a nice way to have the gens meet, in a place strange to ponies of both. I really like the dialogue in this story, which feels right all round. A nice touch of humour to round off the fic, and adding that to the originality and interest of the concept pushes this up to a four and a recommendation. ★★★★

Symbiosis by Silent Whisper
Rarity, Rainbow Dash and Roseluck
G4; Dark/Sci-Fi; 3k words; May 2021; Teen (Death)

Just keep walking. So long as the sun is on your right, you'll stay alive. Just keep walking.

An eerie sci-fi short now, in which after the desperate Eternal Night, the only ponies left are those which became mutually dependent with plants – to the extent of sharing bodies. Symbiosisi is set long afterwards, on what seems to be a generation ship that revolves, meaning to keep up with the sunlight the ponies must walk and walk and walk. Ponies walking at different speeds meet others along the way, so Rarity and Dash fall into conversation – Rainbow provides useful though not overbearing exposition as she tries to make sense of everything and asks some awkward questions (where do their nutrients come from?), while encountering Roseluck brings home the harshness of the situation. A strange, disturbing fic which perhaps you can pick a few holes in (see BanditRingtail's spoilery comment) but which still haunts, hence a top-end three. There's a sequel, which I expect to get to at some point. ★★★

"Happy Hearth's Warming Eve, Squirt" by gmen15
Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash
G4; Sad/Slice of Life; 6k words; Dec 2012; Everyone

Rainbow Dash takes Scootaloo in on Hearth's Warming Eve.

Yeah, so it's May. And? Anyway, "homeless Scootaloo" fics were once all the rage. This isn't one, not quite: instead she lives with her neglectful, alcoholic mother. Rainbow comes across her walking alone at night and stops to see what's up. I like how the author draws a gentle parallel with Rainbow's loneliness (though fair warning: this story has been well overtaken by canon) and there's the requisite seasonal feelsiness. Sadly it's just too clunky to let you wallow in that: "the cyan pegasus bragged in her typical 'show-off' way" is representative. There's also a big question mark about what Dash does (or, rather, doesn't do) when she takes Scootaloo home. If you're in a very undemanding mood and are a sucker for Scootalove, this may have something for you, so it sneaks into the twos. That's the best I can say for it. ★★

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Another satisfying week, on the whole. Next time, it will be Ponyfic Roundup four hundred and forty-four. To mark this auspicious occasion, I've chosen a slate of fics with appropriate titles. Since they're all pretty short, you'll be getting no fewer than seven of them! To wit:

Four Truths by Decaf
Four to the Floor by Cardinal Dan Productions
Four Little Words by chillbook1
All Four Love by Scribbley Wibbley
Four Friends Play A Board Game by GeodesicDragon
Four Dresses of Love by elmago02
Four of One by Divide