Ponyfic Roundup 473

Read it Later story count: 94 (-2)

Words read this week: 27,378

Happy New Year, everyone! I am personally very glad to see the back of at least the second half of 2023, since it's not been my favourite six months despite some bright spots. I won't ramble on about that sort of thing here (maybe in a Fimfiction blog post at some point soonish) and so instead I'll get to the main point. The stories! Not a huge word count this week, but it's the usual selection of five fics, and they are:

The 200 Words Contest by DeathToPonies
Ghost in the Strings by Koregazz
The Past Saw The Future by CoffeeBean
Three Nights by Bradel
Family Reunion by AnonymousPegasus

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

The 200 Words Contest by DeathToPonies
Pinkie Pie
G4; Comedy/Random/Slice of Life; 1k words; Dec 2019; Everyone

Twilight hosts a writing competition, challenging her friends to write five stories in five genres, each only 200 words each. Pinkie tries her best!

A non-scoring entry for the Thousand Words Contest II that nevertheless caught my eye. The meta-y fic includes a short piece for all five of the contest's categories, plus a little extra on top. Note that this one really needs to be read on the site, as each chapter has also meta-y Fimfiction-style¹ cover art that doesn't work well on phones (at least on mine). As to the whole thing? A mixed bag, but more good than bad. The Experimental chapter at the end feels the most interesting; the Homer Simpson comedy one appealed to me the least.² Pinkie fits the setup nicely, and though this isn't a work of genius it's still cleverly done and I enjoyed it. Top-end three. ★★★
¹ Not perfectly Fimfiction-style, though. One thing shown couldn't happen on Fimf. See if you can spot it...
² Though I am, slightly notoriously among my friends, not a big Simpsons fan anyway.

Ghost in the Strings by Koregazz
Octavia
G4; Random; 2k words; Nov 2012; Everyone

The truth of the matter, is the end is always the beginning

A [Random] tag on its own, plus a longdesc note that the author wrote it as "just a random bit to stave off complete boredom!" doesn't usually equal brilliance. And no, this isn't brilliant – but it's better than I'd been expecting. Perhaps a psychological drama of sorts, in which Octavia gives a performance while some kind of spirit (inside her?) is waiting to pounce should things go wrong. Not especially original, and not beautifully enough done to overcome that, but it does have its moments. ★★

The Past Saw The Future by CoffeeBean
Celestia and Flurry Heart
G4; Slice of Life; 5k words; Aug 2017; Everyone

And it was bright.

CoffeeBean is sadly another author no longer with us, having died at an early age in 2020. I never knew him, but a glance at his Fimfiction comments will show how many did. Anyway, it turns out I've never before featured him in Ponyfic Roundup. It's a story in which Celestia and Flurry (who is a foal but no longer an infant) talk about the future. Nothing action-packed, but that's part of its charm, as is the way Tia thinks of Twilight while she's interacting with Flurry. One small irritation regarding Luna,¹ but it doesn't harm the meat of the story. Pleasant and inoffensive, and that isn't meant as damning with faint praise. It's nice. (And nor is that.) A very solid three. ★★★
¹ Mentioned by several Fimfiction commenters, it stems from CB not having seen every episode.

Three Nights by Bradel
Cadance and Crystal Ponies
G4; Drama; 19k words; Feb 2014; Everyone

Beneath a moonless sky, a foal shivers, hungry and alone. In a snow-covered city, a young mare dreams of the things she left behind. On the coldest night of the year, Princess Cadance finds the family she thought that she had lost.

That foal is Cadance herself. After that short scene, we see another, set during her foalsitting days – but the meat of the story concerns her a few years after the return of the Crystal Empire. All these sections concern Hearth's Warming, a holiday little known among Crystal Ponies. A big theme is the loneliness Cadance feels despite the warmth of the season and all the ponies around her; there are reasons for this, reasons which are satisfyingly explained by the end. Not an action-packed rush, but it doesn't need to be. It's a lovely, bittersweet story which fits the season very well and has some excellent world-building about the Empire's recent past under Sombra; connected with this, the fic's OCs are pretty nicely drawn. A high four and well recommended. ★★★★

Family Reunion by AnonymousPegasus
Daring Do and Other
G4; Comedy/Random; 1k words; Jul 2012; Everyone

Daring Do returns, triumphant, from her latest treature hunt. Now, to face her family.

Daring is somewhat more nervous about that than she is when on her missions, though the comedic aspect is rather muted. The reveal of her relatives' identities is extremely easy to see coming – in fact, I'd guessed before even reading the fic – but it's still quite sweetly done. A simple and gentle story, probably better suited to those looking for warm slice-of-life than those wanting out-and-out hilarity. ★★

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Another standard edition next week, when I'll be writing about these five fics:

Observations by Tolerance
The Rose of Florentina by Sledge115
A Posey Day by Quoterific
On moving and standing still by Avellana
Far From The Tree by Aquaman