Ponyfic Roundup 470

Read it Later story count: 97 (+1)

Words read this week: 32,813

After all the thousand-worders recently, this week we're in a little bit of a lull, after that and before the festive edition. (For details of what's coming next week, see the end of this post.) Today I'm going to follow my usual pattern when nothing else is happening: I'll be reviewing five stories which caught my eye for one reason or another. They are:

Barn room brawl by appletini
Cafeteria Control by Justice3442
Five Hundred Little Zombies by GroaningGreyAgony
Beyond a Boundary by The Cloptimist
Sunsplit by Masterweaver

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

Barn room brawl by appletini
Applejack and Other
G4; Dark/Sad/Tragedy; 1k words; Jul 2012; Teen

Applejack trapped inside Sweet Apple Acre's barn must fend off a relentless enemy and last the night

Despite the typo in the shortdesc (and a few too many in the fic itself) this story starts off promisingly. There's tension and mystery as we wait to find out who the enemy is and what has happened. The first is answered fairly quickly and not that surprisingly. Sadly the fic drops the ball later on, providing us with a really pretty unsatisfying ending. ★★

Cafeteria Control by Justice3442
Sunset Shimmer, Dazzlings and Mane Seven
G4 EqG; Adventure/Comedy/Random/Human; 22k words; Aug–Oct 2014; Teen

After the student body of Canterlot High is swayed by yet another surprise musical number during lunch, Sunset Shimmer muses the students are easily influenced by songs at this time. Pinkie quickly comes up with a song of her own.

Largely written when all we had of Rainbow Rocks were the previews, this entertaining story feels slightly odd now we know the movie's full story – but it nevertheless works quite well on its own merits. It's pretty much always at least mildly entertaining, and sometimes considerably funnier than that. The disconnect between what's here and what transpired in the actual film does occasionally become very noticeable – most notably in the lack of stuff about the Dazzlings being Sirens – but mostly the freewheeling, slightly absurd nature of the comedy pulls it through. Quite a high three and definitely fun; just don't worry too much about it jibing with post-previews canon. ★★★

Five Hundred Little Zombies by GroaningGreyAgony
Fluttershy, Angel and Flitter
G4; Comedy/Horror/Random; 1k words; Apr 2023; Everyone

Flitter thought she knew what it meant to be strong, after meeting Fluttershy. When the dead start to walk again, they're both going to need it.

This "technically approved"¹ parody of Estee's classic Five Hundred Little Murders (PR 121) came out on 1st April, because of course it did. You do need to have read the original first to get the most out of this – though don't go expecting something desperately deep. It's really just a bit of absurdity, as you'd expect from this kind of parody, though given the writer it's unsurprisingly well written absurdity. ★★★
¹ See the longdesc, though the comment there probably means more to people who know Estee personally, which I do not.²
² The number of US-based ponyfic writers who get to meet in person sometimes is always a source of envy for me!

Beyond a Boundary by The Cloptimist
Coriander Cumin, Royal Guard, OC and Other
G4; Romance/Slice of Life; 5k words; Dec 2023; Teen

Ponies! Cricket! Awakening M/M yearnings!

The chance of my ignoring a story written around cricket is close to zero, especially when it's the welcome return after more than two years of an author I've enjoyed fics by in the past. Spearhead and Blank Slate are practising to play in Canterlot's first cricket match (Coriander is the coach and plays a fine supporting role in the fic), but can they concentrate on the sport when personal feelings start to intrude? You don't actually have to know about cricket to like this, and the sporting details have been clearly been kept simple for non-aficionados.¹ That doesn't harm the story, since the relationship (but what sort...?) between Spearhead and Blank Slate is the key thing and that's pretty universal. After all, what do they know of cricket who only cricket know? As far as I can see, the downvotes for this are likely to be "because M/M" ones, which is depressing. It's a good story, which packs more than one emotional twist into quite a short space. Look, I'm obviously slightly biased the other way because it has cricket in it squee – but I can't see many people who can at least tolerate M/M relationships disliking this. ★★★★
¹ It's noticeable that the key moments involve catches rather than less easily grasped² modes of dismissal.
² If you're expecting me to be ashamed of that, you probably haven't been here very long.

Sunsplit by Masterweaver
Sunburst, Twilight and Sunset Shimmer
G4; Comedy/Random/Slice of Life; 2k words; Mar 2016; Teen

Twilight asks Sunburst a question.

That question being whether he ever knew Sunset Shimmer. Sunburst's highly defensive reply sets in train a funny slice of weirdness, and the actual answer makes a concerning amount of sense. Along the way, we hear about Sunburst's named beard (and the canon-related reason why Twilight accepts this). A fair amount of coloured text, but justified I think in this case. Anyway, it's funny. Really funny. The first in a series, and I'll surely read the next one at some point. ★★★★

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Next week it will be the Grand (okay, it's me, so not very grand) Hearth's Warming edition of Ponyfic Roundup! It's a while since I've had a themed edition that hasn't been related to a contest, so now seems as good a time as any. I'm going to indulge myself this time and pick out stories by authors whose fics have given me enjoyment in the past. The six (oh yes) stories on the slate will be:

A Holiday Errand by Pen Stroke
Yule in a Donut Shop by Rune Soldier Dan
The First Stitch by Carabas
How Lily Longsocks Spent Hearth’s Warming Eve on the Moon by Pascoite
In the Bleak Midwinter by Skywriter
Badvent Calendar by Estee