Ponyfic Roundup 503

Read it Later story count: 95 (nc)

Words read this week: 23,196

The Thousand Words Contest III admins have been talking on Fimfiction about what they'll do regarding two entries that were posted on there but then unpublished by the site mods. I'll allow some time to let my thoughts settle, but my immediate reaction to their decision is that I'm not entirely keen on it. Their contest and their choice, of course, and the authors of the two relevant fics are both good, experienced writers. I have no dog in this fight anyway, as it affects the Experimental category for which I've never written. As I say, I'll leave writing more about this until later, certainly not before the contest results are published in a few days. Back to today's stories:

What's in a Name? by RB_
The Seeds of Grief by eemoo1o
Gobbling and Other Traditional Pursuits by LadyMoondancer
Final Regrets by ObeySaturnGod
The Clever One by Winston

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

What's in a Name? by RB_
Smolder and Young Six
G4; Slice of Life; 1k words; Oct 2023; Everyone

Silverstream learns an interesting fact about Smoulder's name. Naturally, she has to share! Smoulder isn't too thrilled.

Silverstream has overheard Ember talking to Twilight and using Smoulder's¹ full name, which is... quite something. Dragons think of themselves a bit differently from ponies (or even hippogriffs), after all. This gets Silverstream thinking about her name, especially in light of her own nature. This is a nice little slice of, well, life in which the students feel just right. You could imagine it being a sidenote to "The Hearth's Warming Club", for example. Not a big story, but it does its job well and then leaves the stage. A top-end three is a solid rating for a solid fic. ★★★
¹ Spelt as such in the story. About half the Fimfiction comments are about this...

The Seeds of Grief by eemoo1o
Granny Smith, Bright Mac, Pear Butter, Applejack and Apple Bloom
G4; Drama/Sad/Slice of Life; 8k words; Sep 2022; Teen (Death)

Granny Smith tries to keep everything together in apple-pie order, now that it isn’t.

Given those character tags, it's no secret why the [Death] warning tag is there. What's more important is that this is a really good look at Granny trying to cope with what's happened to Bright and Pear – not helped by the cold requirements of officialdom. The author beautifully captures the mix of determination and confusion, of love and loss, of anger and sweetness, that mark the aftermath of a harrowing sudden bereavement. There are so many little touches here, and although this isn't an easy read it's a beautifully bittersweet portrayal of grief in the Apple Family. I think this deserves a pretty high four. ★★★★

Gobbling and Other Traditional Pursuits by LadyMoondancer
Celestia, Luna, Nightmare Moon and Discord [and OCs]
G4; Adventure/Comedy; 11k words; Sep 2012–May 2013; Everyone

Nightmare Moon was once considered an "old pony's tale." But what exactly did those old s [sic]

("...old tales say about her?" is how the equivalent sentence in the longdesc ends.) Those genre tags are a little bit misleading, since what Gobbling... actually consists of is a little anthology of fairy tales. This is very much an old-fandom kind of thing, one we barely see these days – perhaps some of Lucky Dreams' stories come closest. There are tales of how a little filly outwitted Nightmare Moon, of a very interesting origin for earth ponies, and several more. Don't go expecting a "modern" style of ponyfic – and don't expect everything to be sweetness and light – but if you like your Grimm's Fairy Tales and your Just So Stories, this should be right up your street. I do, quite a lot, so this fic makes it into a high band. Recommended. ★★★★

Final Regrets by ObeySaturnGod
Twilight
G4; Dark/Tragedy; 2k words; Mar 2012; Teen (Death)

Twilight reflects on the last, tragic days of her life.

FoME said in the comments this was the darkest thing he'd read on the site. I doubt that still nolds, but it's definitely worthy of the genre tags. After a terrible catastrophe, Twilight is the only one left, and she writes her last journal entry. This gets across the forlorn atmosphere and Twi's own guilt – which may or may not be justified – but it probably seemed fresher twelve years ago, since there is a feeling of "seen it all before" nowadays. Maybe that's why I didn't quite get creeped out as much as I'd been hoping. The cover art is by a certain Imalou, who of course went on to play a significant role in the G5 movie's look. Upper two-star rating. ★★

The Clever One by Winston
Starlight
G4; Comedy/Drama; 1k words; Mar 2021; Everyone

Be careful what you wish for. You just might get it.

This is a fun spin on the old favourite in which a character finds a magic lamp but then discovers the genie (rendered as djinn, in this fic's case) gives them what they ask for, not what they thought or wanted to ask for. In this case, it's Starlight, the perfect pick as protagonist.¹ I really like how she thinks about what she tells the genie, and the way said djinn has her own personality that keeps Glimmy on her toes. It's a brief tale, but it's well written and it ends amusingly. Top-end three and a superior tea-break choice. ★★★
¹ The author says in an A/N that it was Twilight originally. I agree that the change worked.

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Next time, I'll be looking at the winners of the "Dialogue Only Contest". I'm currently not that likely to review the five hon menshes as well; I'll make a decision by the time PR 504 goes up. A low word count coming up for the second week running, then, but that's the way things go sometimes. There's a Spotlight review coming up soon that will rebalance things a bit, though don't go expecting a 300k word epic. Anyway, next time's slate is:

Unsent Letters, Unsung Failures by gloamish
Quasar by kleia
The Cuckoo's Lament by Jade Ring
One Planet, Slightly Used by FanOfMostEverything
The First in a Decade by taterforlife