Ponyfic Roundup 506

Read it Later story count: 94 (nc)

Words read this week: 8,000

With the Paralympics over, I now have time to read more ponyfic again. A very low weekly word count nevertheless, but there's a good reason for that. Today I set out on the long road that will be reviewing all 46 recognised fics in the Thousand Words Contest III. As I've already mentioned, I'll be covering them at a slower pace than I have done in the past, with non-contest PRs between. First, it's the turn of the eight Hono(u)rable Mentions. These are as follows:

It's Time To D-D-D-Duel by D-20
The Royal Snitting Room by gloamish
In Darkness, a Light by Pascoite
Heavy Things by Pascoite
A Fall, Unnoticed by Not That Anon
You Were My First (Snatch and Grab) by RedHoodie21
The Cake Job by GeodesicDragon
Click! by marmalado

★: 0 | ★★: 1 | ★★★: 5 | ★★★★: 2 | ★★★★★: 0
Note: I use a skewed rating system. A fic I enjoy an average amount scores two stars.

It's Time To D-D-D-Duel by D-20
Spike, Smolder and Other
G4; Slice of Life; 1k words; Jul 2024; Teen

Sometimes the best strategy is no strategy.

Perhaps inspired somewhat by "Dungeons & Discords", this is a story in which fun is had by the mixing of game mechanics and wild fantasy. I like the choice of characters, and the game has some nice MLP touches such as Chrysalis's magic-repelling throne. I didn't quite get into the story, though, partly because I don't have much interest in this kind of game (apparently Yu-Gi-Oh! was a major influence) and partly because the writing is a bit awkward at times. ("The petite brown dragoness noticed her slumbering cohort and blushed a bright pink hue.") A two for me, but perhaps a three if you're more into trading card games. ★★

The Royal Snitting Room by gloamish
Celestia and Luna
G4; Drama/Slice of Life; 1k words; Jul 2024; Everyone

The Royal Sitting Room is a distinguished setting in which Princess Celestia takes tea with her most esteemed guests, and it serves as excellent stress relief. After the court session Princess Luna just had, she needs... the other stress relief room.

gloamish scored with all their five entries, so this was considered the least of them. I suspect that's partly because it's very easy to guess what said room is for. That doesn't diminish the fun and the easy, natural interactions between the Royal Sisters. There is some emotion, for example in Luna's frustration at trying to get her subjects to love her, but for the most part this can be summed up as cute fun. ★★★

In Darkness, a Light by Pascoite
Luna and OC
G4; Drama/Second Person; 1k words; Jul 2024; Everyone

When Princess Celestia had no student to thwart Nightmare Moon’s return, the Nightmare rose to power again. Centuries later, a relic of her reign remains, if ponies might learn from it.

Yeah, that's a [Second Person] tag – but then this was entered in the Experimental category. It's straightforward to read for an experimental fic,¹ though it really needs a larger screen and not a phone for the formatting to appear properly. Straightforward, but not easy. There's a lot of white space, about which I will say no more, and coloured text is used both judiciously and a lot. There isn't an [Alternate Universe] tag, but a little thought reveals why. I was still left confused about one or two things until I read the Fimfiction comments, hence why I cap my score at a top-end three, but it's certainly interesting and worryingly plausible. ★★★
¹ I only had to stop to check the meaning of "docent", which isn't really used in Britain.

Heavy Things by Pascoite
Dinky and Other [Lily Longsocks]
G4; Slice of Life; 1k words; Jul 2024; Everyone

Dinky Hooves and Lily Longsocks have a hard time socializing with other ponies. All they needed was each other.

Here we have one of Pascoite's fairly numerous adorable children's stories. There's rhyming, alliteration, bonding between outcasts, knowledgeable Dinky, a gratuitous mineral reference, I expect you get the idea by now. It's hard to pick out one thing that makes this fic special, because it's all so nice. I hope it gives you the warm feeling it did me. I'm a sucker for this kind of story told well, so recommended. ★★★★

A Fall, Unnoticed by Not That Anon
Celestia and Luna
G4; Drama/Tragedy; 1k words; Jul 2024; Everyone

Princess Luna falls. Nopony is there to catch her.

The author tells us that this piece is inspired by TS Eliot's poem The Waste Land, which made my heart sink a bit as I'm just not someone who really "gets" that kind of modernist poetry. It's something that seems ever harder to find these days, a different take on Luna's rebellion and its consequences. I like the unusual chapter structure, which seems earned rather than being "look, I'm being experimental!" and the ending is fitting. I just feel I'm missing something deeper. ★★★

You Were My First (Snatch and Grab) by RedHoodie21
Twilight and Sunset
G4; Romance/Comedy/Second Person/Human; 1k words; Jul 2024; Everyone

A collection of Haylist Missed Connections

Apparently "inspired by several craiglist missed connections post" [sic], this interesting entry is fortunately not simply a bunch of very short small ads. It's another look at just what Sunset had to do to survive in HumanWorld after she ran from Equestria, and the unusual way she might have formed a (kind of) connection with Twilight. The lack of conventional shippery works in its favour, I think. A high three, even if the end A/N dilutes what might have been a nice little Easter egg.¹ ★★★
¹ Mix your metaphors thoroughly, then add diluted egg...

The Cake Job by GeodesicDragon
Pinkie Pie, Applejack and Other
G4 AU; Comedy/Random; 1k words; Jul 2024; Everyone

Pinkie Pie bakes a celebration cake, but then somepony steals it. This sets off a series of events that lead to an unexpected twist.

Alternate Universe? Well, not very – the tag is there simply because the ponies use cars. Otherwise, it's very Pony and a lot of fun. An apparent mafia-type stallion steals the cake Pinkie Pie has baked, leading to the pink one giving chase. And we know who tends to come out on top when that happens. The reveal is great, all the more so since what happens has been hidden in plain sight. An easy three. ★★★

Click! by marmalado
OC
G4; Dark/Horror; 1k words; Jun 2024; Teen

A filly can change her surroundings by pointing at things and making them disappear. But it doesn't work all the time.

I end this edition with the only horror story in the Honourable Mentions. My two favourite fics this week are about fillies, but this one is very different in feel from Heavy Things. You wonder what's so horrific at first – perhaps the filly's "click to make it disappear" magic gets reversed sometimes, or perhaps she can't bring ponies back? But no. Only late on does it become clear that what's happening is something less magical and less light-hearted, though there are clues in the text. The lack of any kind of content warnings is necessary for the story's effectiveness, so be warned. ★★★★

---

Some interesting reads in there, and I'm looking forward to getting to the prizewinners before too long. Next week, though, I'll be having a regular edition of the Roundup and simply reading five short stories (okay, four short and one medium length) that have caught my eye in reasonably recent times. The slate will be as follows:

Tea Decisions by PsychicKid
Kindness's Reward by AVeryStrange
A Story to Relate To by SockPuppet
A Changeling Path by TCC56
Written in Synthetic Blood by Shaslan