Ponyfic Roundup 449

Read it Later story count: 94 (-3)

Words read this week: 14,294

The current Thousand Words Contest II's entry count has broken into three figures, just as it did last year – and with two and a half weeks still to go! I hope to add one of my own if I can only get it into some kind of shape before the deadline. Meanwhile, here's the first normal Wednesday Ponyfic Roundup for quite some while. Five stories to look at, which are:

I wander by Silent Whisper
Kaleidoscope by TheDriderPony
Cursed Be He That Moves My Bones by Lucky Dreams
Apples in the Mirror by Rune Soldier Dan
ALREADY?? by Level Dasher

★: 0 | ★★: 2 | ★★★: 0 | ★★★★: 3 | ★★★★★: 0
Note: I use a skewed rating system. A fic I enjoy an average amount scores two stars.

I wander by Silent Whisper
Other
G4 AU; Dark/Horror/Thriller; 2k words; Jun 2020; Everyone

Beneath the City, where the sunlight never touches, I wander. Will you wander with me?

This is a clever one, though to tell you exactly why would spoil the reveal. I saw it coming a little before the end, but certainly not from the start. The narrator tells the story in first person, and there's a creeping sense of discomfort the whole time. And how reliable is our narrator: for example, is the phrase "I'll show you where food is" as straightforward as it seems? Why are they beneath the City, too? Silent Whisper creates a highly atmospheric AU that is nevertheless distinctively Pony. And the last line? Simply perfect. This was apparently speedwritten in about an hour, but I can think of very few places where this showed. I am rather in awe. ★★★★

Kaleidoscope by TheDriderPony
Derpy and Other
G4; Dark/Comedy/Thriller; 2k words; Nov 2019; Everyone

Inspiration is a strange thing. There's no predicting where it comes from, nor where it can take you.

A +28/-32 thumbscore, you may be thinking. How? A little background is needed before the actual review. This story came from a good-faith but misguided Quills and Sofas challenge wherein participants had to write a story using the same title, cover image and shortdesc, and submit them all at the same time. Great fun for the authors I'm sure – but less so for outsiders who didn't understand what was happening, either readers looking for fics or for non-participating writers who saw their submissions shoved off the front page almost at once. However, nearly four years on I don't intend to take that aspect into account in this review.

So, to the story itself. In the aftermath of a ritual which had unintended consequences (don't they all?) Derpy is constantly trying to get away from the demon that pesters her at six o'clock every evening without fail. Exactly who this demon is... well, that would be telling, but there are clues here and there, and it's a fitting choice. I was pleased that I twigged before it was fully revealed. Later in the fic, a summoned pony speaks German. Like, all the time. Extensive untranslated foreign (even of a language I somewhat know) is a pet dislike of mine, so that hurts the fic a bit for me even though the actual situation is funny. Having the very last line be one of these was disappointing. A top-end two that I'm sure many will rate higher. ★★

Cursed Be He That Moves My Bones by Lucky Dreams
Sweetie Belle, OC and Rarity
G4; Slice of Life; 2k words; Apr 2016; Everyone

Staying overnight in the hospital is already bad enough without having to deal with ghosts...

If you've read any of Lucky Dreams' children's stories (and if not, start here) then you'll be right at home with Cursed Be He... Sweetie is haunted by a ghost that tries to scare her with blood-curdling words, but our hero simply responds with songs and love and openness. She brings the ghost out of her shell, so to speak. It's a fine story and enhanced by the author's wonderful way with words: "the medicine closet, where a pack of shadows had gathered to escape the moonlight" is just one example of many. Recommended, and happily so. ★★★★

Apples in the Mirror by Rune Soldier Dan
Applejack, Applejack (EqG), Pear Butter and Bright Mac
G4 EqG; Drama; 6k words; Apr 2023; Teen

In the human world, Applejack’s parents are alive. She has to meet them.

It's taken far too long for me to review another of RSD's stories, but this was a good choice. Pony!Twilight has discovered human!AJ's parents are alive, and now pony!AJ is going to meet them. Alone. What's fascinating here is how she reacts to seeing a live Pear and Bright, who are so similar but not her own. Her emotions are mixed-up and confused and moving and convincing, and I like the way that human!Applejack's inferiority in age is brought out in their dialogues. The ending adds another emotion, but that would be spoilery. Perhaps my only problem with this is the inevitable one that when you have two characters with the same name and at least similar behaviour and ways of speaking, you have to concentrate quite hard at times to keep them distinct. Nevertheless, the characterisation of "our" Applejack is such a highlight in this fic that I have no qualms in recommending it. ★★★★

ALREADY?? by Level Dasher
Spike, Mane Six and CMC
G4; Comedy/Slice of Life; 1k words; May 2018; Everyone

Spike’s wings have grown in nicely, and ALMOST everyone is thrilled for him.

I had to review something by the late lamented Level Dasher, and I chose this almost at random. It turns out to be a very quick-off-the-mark reaction fic to "Molt Down", in which a certain pony – whose identity it really shouldn't be hard to guess – has rather less unalloyed joy than the rest at Spike's new ability. A few things that feel more like S2 than S8 in tone (notably a couple of things Pinkie does). It's fairly amusing, but I'm not sure it has enough to be more than that in 2023. ★★

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Not a bad week, all in all; it's not that often I get three four-star fics in one post. Next time – again on Wednesday, woo-hoo – it'll be another standard Roundup, and here are the fics I'll be covering then:

The Lessons Left Unlearned by Donnys Boy
Stop Number Twelve by Casketbase77
Twilight Sort-Of Kills Her Friends by Mad Hattie
Perdition by Odd_Sarge
Solitude for the Modern Businessmare by Fahrenheit