Ponyfic Roundup 563

Read it Later story count: 91 (nc)

Words read this week: 11,397

Welcome to the final Ponyfic Roundup before Hearth's Warming/Christmas/Wishentime! As usual, I have five short stories to look at this week. I hope everyone has the best Christmas they can have, so let's see whether any of this time's fics really grabbed me. Here's the run-down:

Caught by Apple by Borsuq
Wedding Night by paxtofetter
Skies Over Equestria by xScootalooGamer
Part of a balanced breakfast by Hesitant Brony
Airship Down by The Lunar Samurai

★: 1 | ★★: 4 | ★★★: 0 | ★★★★: 0 | ★★★★★: 0
Note: I use a skewed rating system. A fic I enjoy an average amount scores two stars.

Ponyfic Roundup 562

Read it Later story count: 91 (+1)

Words read this week: 10,335

Back to the more common format of five short stories this week. The total word count is very low, which is fortunate as I've had a lot going on. Nothing especially thrilling, just time-consuming! Anyway, here's today's list:

Hey Jealousy by Ruirik
Luna takes a shower by LittleAngelStocking
Trixie defeats the entire Legion of Doom in a Waffle House. [sic] by TheMajorTechie
A Break in Apple Bucking Season by RenaissanceBrony
Diary of a Time Looper by Kodeake

★: 0 | ★★: 1 | ★★★: 4 | ★★★★: 0 | ★★★★★: 0
Note: I use a skewed rating system. A fic I enjoy an average amount scores two stars.

UK PonyCon report, part seven: The merch haul

As usual, click to see this at a larger size

I remember a friend a while back expressing the hope that this year's UK PonyCon report wouldn't take until December to get finished. At the time, we both found that an amusing joke – but Blogger had other ideas! Still, here we are at last. I usually prefer to take my merch photo outdoors, but the British weather had other ideas, so I had to do it on a small table in several goes. Here's the rather short key this year:

1: A4 sketch of Chrysalis and Flufflepuff in Sailor Moon style, 2014 picture by JowyB that I pulled in his £5 sketch lucky dip.
2: Sunny Starscout Pez dispenser, picked up from the freebies table.
3: Izzy and Sprout print by Imalou. Everyone seemed to love this.
4: My Bronze Sponsor badge and sponsor lanyard.
5: Unsigned A4 print of Sunset Shimmer, also by Jowy; this was the image Rebecca Shoichet had piles of to sign during her autograph sessions.
6: "Britannia's Adventures" postcard.
7: Badge showing Britannia exploring, provided in my sponsor pack.
8: Fluttershy and Scootaloo trading cards by Kayou.
9: UKPC 2025 T-shirt by Avui. It's a lighter and less "muddy" green in real life.
10: Sticker sheet, provided in my sponsor pack.
11: UKPC 2025 Con Book.

Despite the smaller venue, the Sunday hotel evacuation and so on, UK PonyCon 2025 was very enjoyable indeed. Pleasingly productive in terms of the con's long-running good cause, too, with the auction alone raising £7,575 for the RDA. I haven't seen a figure for the total amount raised for charity, but it's perfectly possible that I missed it given everything that's been going on this year.

Wheels are apparently already turning behind the scenes in terms of seeking out a venue for UK PonyCon 2026. All I can say there is: thank you, and roll on next year! 

Ponyfic Roundup 561: Spotlight on Discordant

Read it Later story count: 90 (nc)

Words read this week: 42,596

It's been a ridiculously long time, and I apologise to ezra09 on the off-chance that they're still around (last Fimfiction login: March 2024) but finally Ponyfic Roundup is up and running again! As you may remember me saying a billion years ago or so, it's Spotlight time, even if the story is only just over my rough 40k-word lower length limit for such fics. Enough babbling; off we go!

Discordant by ezra09
Scootaloo, Discord, Mane Six and CMCs
G4; Adventure; 43k words; Apr–Aug 2012; Everyone

When Discord finds a crack in his prison he begins whispering to a lonely Scootaloo.

As that publication date will tell you, this is pre-reformation Discord The fic is set in late S2, and Discord is very much at his manipulative best (or worst) here. In fact, the chief joy of this story is the well above average characterisation of the draconequus. There's a nicely restrained undercurrent of his playful needling of Chrysalis, too – Cadance's wedding is within the story's chronology. You have to accept pre-"Sleepless in Ponyville" Scootaloo, orphan and all, but it's not hammered home too much with one or two exceptions. There are some parallels with "The Return of Harmony", but this Discord is clever enough not to try the same thing again. A good, readable story that, while it shows its age, is still recommended particularly for Scootafans. Top-end three. ★★★

As you'd expect, beyond here thou shalt find spoilers galore!

Logan returns!

Well, that took longer than I'd expected – or indeed hoped – but it seems that we're up and running again! So, first up: Ponyfic Roundup will be back on Friday. And barring any further messing about from the Blogger side of things, that is a firm date. I'll also be bringing you the long-delayed final part of my UK PonyCon 2025 roundup, which is simply the smallish merch haul I acquired this time. And then, if you're really lucky, you may even be getting the "Best Gift Ever" rewatch as well! Truly, the Hearth's Warming season brings good cheer. :D