Ponyfic Roundup 477

Read it Later story count: 98 (+3)

Words read this week: 30,409

It's blustery and grey outside in a rather typical early February sort of way as I write these words, so it's definitely a good day to be indoors and writing about MLP fanfiction. This week I'm back to the core Ponyfic Roundup approach: picking five short stories that look as if I might find them interesting and, well, reviewing them. Here goes...

A Story About You by CrispySparrow
Assassination Manifestation by TCC56
Lack of Faith by Tennis Match Fan
Stopping Distances by Mica
Daring Do: The Opera by AlexTFish

★: 0 | ★★: 1 | ★★★: 3 | ★★★★: 1 | ★★★★★: 0
Note: I use a skewed rating system. A fic I enjoy an average amount scores two stars.

A Story About You by CrispySparrow
[no character tags]
G4 AU; Dark; 2k words; Jun 2016; Teen

This is a Story about You.

Apparently this fic's literary device is inspired by a Welcome to Night Vale episode, but you don't need to know that. In spite of the shortdesc, it's a first-person narrative, albeit directed at "you", who in this case is actually Twilight Sparkle. It's quite effectively creepy, assisted by the fear of the unknown that helps with a fic of this kind. The A/N at the end is suitably disconcerting, too. My chief reservation is that this is perhaps too vague for my preference, though those who enjoy being confused more than I do might well love it. Give it a whirl, at least. Even for me, a high three. ★★★

Assassination Manifestation by TCC56
Rarity, Celestia and Blueblood
G4; Comedy; 6k words; Apr 2023; Teen (Violence, Death)

Princess Celestia needs to have Blueblood assassinated. For reasons. Rarity seems like a good choice to do that, right?

This is a good deal of fun, especially for a fic that's mostly about murders – or at least planning murders. For reasons that slightly blindsided me but which do make a twisted kind of sense in context, Celestia keeps trying to have Blueblood murdered. He's still alive, though. This time she's employing Rarity as her hitmare. It helps a lot that Blueblood isn't irredeemably awful in every way, as a brief encounter with Derpy shows. Even a passing Friendship is Witchcraft reference, something I appreciate. The whole setup is pretty silly, and what actually happens to Blueblood in the end is a bit of an "Oh, come on" moment, but this is stupid fun. That's a compliment. Top-end three. ★★★

Lack of Faith by Tennis Match Fan
Scootaloo, Rainbow Dash, OC and Other
G4; Slice of Life; 10k words; May–Jul 2017; Everyone

After forming a bond with Rainbow Dash's parents, Scootaloo details several aspects of her childhood to Rainbow Dash, who is curious to learn more. This prompts Rainbow to confront Scootaloo's parents, with unexpected results for everypony.

Now she knows Rainbow Dash's mum and dad, Scootaloo has as close as she can get to the loving parents she never had. As the shortdesc says, once Scoot has poured our her heart about just how unpleasant her birth parents were – the fic does lay this on a bit thick – Dash doesn't want to let it go. I like the cuteness of the Scootaloo/Rainbow sisterhood, and there's the odd bit of appealing world-building, eg what Cloudsdale buildings have instead of elevators.¹ However, the overdone parts dealing with Scoot's parents and the lack of much real spark elsewhere keep this to a solid two-star rating. ★★
¹ "Airlevators", open shafts that pegasi can fly up and down quickly.

Stopping Distances by Mica
Zipp, Hitch and Izzy
G5; Romance/Comedy/Slice of Life; 2k words; Dec 2022; Teen (Profanity)

After Zipp’s extremely rough landing of the Marestream in Maretime Bay, Sheriff Hitch is required per the bylaws to give Zipp remedial driving lessons.

This fic follows on from the Tell Your Tale episode "Under the Mistytoe". Zipp is stuck in remedial driving instruction and is bored out of her mind. Mind you, swearing in front of the sheriff might not be the best idea. As you might guess from the [Romance] tag, as things go on a certain amount of shippy tension builds between them, though it's kept nicely restrained. Good character work helps this short, silly, amusing tale. ★★★

Daring Do: The Opera by AlexTFish
Diamond Tiara, Autumn Blaze and CMC
G4; Mystery/Slice of Life; 10k words; Feb 2019; Everyone

Diamond Tiara is excited to have a starring role in Autumn Blaze's new opera. She knows the Opera House isn't haunted, but if it were, she'd be ready to give any Opera Spirit a stern talking-to.

The unusual mix of tags here is because of what AlexTFish drew in the "Season 9 Bingo" challenge. The author makes it work well, so well in fact that not only did this fic gain him the runner-up spot in said contest but it also made the RCL. Its core is an excellent character study of post-reformation Diamond Tiara; it's one of those fics that makes me shake my fist once again at Hasbro for jettisoning her from the show once she changed. Autumn Blaze is captured well, too, and the mystery element is nicely and cleverly used. I'm not sure I can quite believe that Ponyville would ever have had an opera house, but so much else is right with this story that I'll go with it. Besides, the fic also ambushes you with a gloriously terrible pun at one point. Easily recommended. ★★★★

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Next week, it's time for something I promised you all a few weeks ago: a silly edition! And you know what, I mean that quite literally. Here's the quintet that will be under my shaky gaze next time out:

Silly Little Filly by EnderBlaze
Silly Assumptions by Owlor
On the Very Silly Origins of Alicorns by GroaningGreyAgony
Silly Little Things by ForgottenExistance [sic]
Silly Filly by ValenceBond