Ponyfic Roundup Extra: Outside Insight entries: top ten and final thoughts

Frankly, my first thought is one of admiration crossed with "What were they thinking?" for those who slogged through all 100+ stories that were entered into this competition. The 22 tales that I read were quite enough for me, and those were the good entries! Anyway, although this certainly isn't something I'd like to do very often, I did find some very enjoyable fics in my four-week journey. So here, after a little consideration to break some ties, is my personal top ten:

1. Moonlight Palaver by Carabas
2. Queen of Queens by JawJoe
3. Changeling: The Movie by Obselescence
4. Rise by Blueshift
5. Veni, Vidi, Verti by thesecret1
6. Cranky Doodle Donkey's Bad Asssssss Day by Einhander
7. An Outsider's Perspective by Kavonde
8. The Last Trumpet's Call by Cold in Gardez
9. I Am Demon by Aquaman
10. Pride by InquisitorM

Let me stress that this is a top 10 based on enjoyability, not strict adherence to the contest prompt. A few of those fics, including the winner, sailed quite close to the wind in terms of keeping to that prompt, and might have scored lower had I been focusing on that criterion. But Moonlight Palaver wins by virtue of being immensely enjoyable all round. I don't think it necessarily has the broadest appeal, but I liked its style and that's what matters around here.

Someone's bound to ask, so... where would I have placed my own We Who with Songs Beguile, had it been written by someone else? I'm not much good at rating my own stories, but I like to think it would have got good marks for originality of POV species choice, narrative voice, avian vocabulary and general enjoyability. However, it would have lost out in terms of its limited complexity and depth, as well as one embarrassing typo that went unspotted for weeks. ("Pink-Yellow" instead of "Yellow-Pink": significant in context.)

All that being so, I think WWwSB might have crept into the lower reaches of my top ten, though it would have struggled to have got any higher than that. Actually, I think I'm justified in feeling a little bit disappointed that it wasn't one of the 15 stories with some sort of mention in the actual contest's results. It did follow the prompt considerably better than some fics here, after all. There! For those of you who've stuck with me all this way, a little controversy right at the end!

Ponyfic Roundup 28: Outside Insight finalists, 4/4

And that's the lot! Here are my reviews of the final six entrants for the EqD "Outside Insight" contest. Three excellent fics and three okay-to-good fics this time. I'll be making a special extra post tomorrow giving some final thoughts – and my top ten. There are several draws in terms of ranking scores, so I'll need to think a little about tie-breaking, hence the slight delay. Next week, it'll be back to the usual format for Ponyfic Roundup, with a wider variety of fics.

Pick of the fics

Moonlight Palaver by Carabas
Celestia and OCs
Comedy/Slice of Life; 7K words; Aug 2014; Everyone
Pushing it a bit in pure contest-prompt terms but as a story in its own right, which is how I'm rating here, I loved it. The sun doesn't rise one day (it's set at Nightmare Moon time) and the various other nations of the region meet up to discuss what to do. For which, read "bicker at each other". The characters are a great deal of fun (especially the Tyrant and the Crown) and the story rolls along at a nice pace. Even has a Colossal Cave reference slipped in. Should have an OC tag, though. 9/10

Other stories

Changeling: The Movie by Obselescence
Chrysalis, Changelings and Twilight
Comedy; 9K words; Aug 2014; Everyone
Chrysalis decides to make a documentary about ponies to assist in future invasion plans. This is pretty much the sort of thing I might write if I were a  better writer. It's very funny and I love Chrysalis's snarkiness. Unsurprisingly, then, it scores well: it came within a whisker of winning Pick this week, but a slightly predictable ending just cost it top spot. The relationship (such as it is) between Chrysalis and Twilight is undoubtedly the highlight. 8.5/10

Cranky Doodle Donkey's Bad Asssssss Day by Einhander
Cranky Doodle Donkey, Matilda, Pinkie Pie and Caramel
Romance/Dark/Comedy; 9K words; Aug 2014; Everyone
Ooh, interesting combination of genre tags! Cranky tells us, in his own inimitable style, how he wound up in jail for running over Pinkie Pie. On Hearts and Hooves Day, too. That narration is the best thing about this one: Cranky's tone is utterly believable and his complex relationship with Pinkie generally works well. The party pony herself is... well, she's Pinkie. A few mis-steps (since when did Ponyville have cops?) and it could do with a little editing, but the heartwarming ending got to this old softy. As such, 8/10.

Her Scarf Fluttered in the Absence of Wind by ArgonMatrix
Cadance and OC
Slice of Life; 5K words; Aug 2014; Everyone
A pre-ascension Cadance falls into a dragon's lair. The dragon is not inclined to help her out. I had a lot of trouble scoring this one: it all makes sense and I liked the parallels between Cadance and the dragon. It didn't move me quite as much as I'd have expected, though. Another story that teeters on the edge of compliance to the prompt. 7/10

Sylphidine by RazgrizS57
OCs
Slice of Life; 5K words; Aug 2014; Everyone
I'm a simple soul, and sometimes stories just confuse me. This tale of an air elemental's perception of the equine world was one such, at least for the first few pages. Things do get a little clearer after a bit, but for a short story I think that took slightly too long. From a contest perspective, maybe also too much bordering on pony POV when Twilight talks to Spike. (Only printing one half of the conversation doesn't get you out of that one!) Technically fine, but I found it a bit of a slog to get through. 5/10

Veni, Vidi, Verti by thesecret1
Changelings and Rainbow Dash
Adventure; 13K words; Aug 2014; Teen
Ah, a changeling story not from Chrysalis's POV! Here, we follow Crypsis on her mission to infiltrate Ponyville. Lots of quite detailed description in the first half, which some readers won't like (I do) but later on, things broaden out quite a lot. A take on how the hive mind works that I haven't seen before, and an interesting stallion OC. The ending is also interesting and one you might not see coming. 8.5/10

Comic review: MLP Friends Forever #10: Fluttershy and Iron Will

This is an incredible cover. Geddit? No? Oh, never mind

It's comic review time again! This month, Friends Forever features a combination we haven't seen since "Putting Your Hoof Down" back in S2 of the show itself: Best Pony with Best Minotaur. What could possibly go wrong? Christina Rice, who wrote last month's pretty good Granny/FlimFlam issue, has the writing job once again, while stalwart Agnes Garbowska brings her distinctive artistic style to the table. (You see? I can write pointless advertorialese no problem.)

While I'm on a run of talking about fanfic...

...I might as well make a post I've been thinking about for ages: namely, how I choose the stories I read for Ponyfic Roundup. Obviously the current run are all taken from the "Outside Insight" contest finalists, but I usually prefer to cull my fics from a much wider range of sources. They need to be complete, but what else? Well, fulfilling these criteria, although they're (mostly) not absolutes, helps a fic to find its way up my list:

1. On FimFiction. FanFiction is horrible and Google Docs is clunky.
2. Under 10,000 words. Under 5,000 words is better still.
3. Not clop. At least, not all clop and not clop for clop's sake.
4. Not foalcon. This one is the only non-negotiable criterion.
5. Not a trollfic. I find almost all of those boring beyond belief.
6. By an author who isn't too Horse Famous already.
7. Written in reasonably comprehensible English.
8. Not a crossover. Yeah, I read "Fallout: Equestria". Lump it.
9. Readable on a black-and-white, text-only e-reader.
10. In the canon Friendship is Magic universe.
11. Not a gorefest. The [Gore] tag covers a multitude of sins.
12. Features Fluttershy. Or, to a lesser extent, Scootaloo.

I probably could have thought of some more had I not dashed this list off in five minutes, but it gives a reasonable idea. Note that this is just how I choose fics in the first place: actually rating them is another matter. That's very simple: I award marks on how much I enjoyed a story. MLP means escapism for me, so give me a light, fun romp over a savage allegory on the eternal nature of human suffering any day. Well, most days.

New story by me: "It Doesn't Matter Now"

"If you are sad or blue..."

I do now have the Fluttershy/Iron Will Friends Forever comic, so a review of that will be along during the next few days. Meanwhile, here's a little something I knocked up for a UK of Equestria writing contest (this one had a free prompt). It's short even by my standards at barely 1,300 words, but I think it turned out okay given that I had to write it in a couple of hours.

It Doesn't Matter Now by Loganberry
Pinkie Pie and OC
Random; 1K words; Oct 2014; Everyone
The Spirit Pony is responsible for the End of All That Ever Was. It has always been so. This job looks like being a particularly clean one – until a certain pink pony intervenes to prevent it happening. Pinkie has a very, very good reason for stopping the Spirit, too...

Ponyfic Roundup 27: Outside Insight finalists, 3/4

I wonder why so many people capitalise every word in their story titles? I was always taught not to do that. (That's why my fic's title is We Who with Songs Beguile.) Anyway, we're back with the Equestria Daily "Outside Insight" finalists, and there are another five stories to consider this week. Like last time, there wasn't one story that stood head and shoulders above the rest, but this week's winner triumphed on the simple basis that it was the fic I enjoyed the most.

Pick of the fics

An Outsider's Perspective by Kavonde
OC and Mane Six
Comedy/Slice of Life; 5K words; Jul 2014; Everyone
I'm perhaps not quite as much of a Lovecraft fan as quite a few of my fellow ponyficcers seem to be – but this story is just too enjoyable to pass up. It really is an alien POV, that of an eldritch abomination with eyes and tentacles to spare who just happens to be the being that will bring about the end of all things. And, of course, winds up in Ponyville. It's quite ridiculous: maybe not as much about ponies as some other fics, but as I said, too much fun to say no to. A comedy that's actually funny! Also, I'm impressed at the author's willpower in not allowing Pinkie Pie to dominate proceedings. 8/10

Other stories

Gazebo by NotARealPonydotcom
OC and Changelings
Romance; 6K words; Aug 2014; Everyone
Two ponies shelter from the rain in a gazebo. Except that one of them is a changeling. They talk a lot. Things happen. But not many. This is a Romance, and that in itself was a nice change of pace, but I didn't really buy the changeling-integration background or (rather more crucially) the budding relationship itself. A little nugget of moderately imaginative mythology is spoiled by a truly horrible name-drop. Believe me, you'll groan too when you get to it. Also, Manehattan: that spelling is canon now, so lump it. Otherwise technically fine: it just didn't move me. 5.5/10

Hello, My Name Is by LoyalLiar
Changelings, Chrysalis and Luna
Comedy; 6K words; Aug 2014; Teen
It's always fun to read an entry that has a sarcastic protagonist constantly complaining about ponies' shortcomings. (Hey, why do you think I wrote mine that way?) It's another changeling story – this time, he's disguised as Luna's banker (sort of) in the run-up to that attempted invasion of Canterlot – but it generally works well. An early reference involving the bank's name is poor: much too forced. And "scowling at high society over a discrete flask"? But most of the rest is great. Another genuinely funny comedy, and that's worth a lot. 7.5/10

Not In Bluff Nor Bravado Nor Loneliness by Vivid Syntax
Iron Will and OCs
Slice of Life; 7K words; Aug 2014; Everyone
Iron Will is among the antagonists I actually rather like, so I was pleased to see this: it's pretty much the minotaur's life story, from his days as a bullied weakling at school, to how he began his adult career and beyond. Yes, we do get a little bit of "Putting Your Hoof Down", but it's kept refreshingly short. Some nice interaction with actual ponies (one in particular) helped this to hold my attention. A few annoying typos ("their" for "they're" twice being the worst) but all in all, I enjoyed this one. 7.5/10

That Orange Colt With The Bare Wings by BlndDog [sic]
Diamond Dogs and OC
Dark/Slice of Life; 6K words; Aug 2014; Teen (Gore)
A grumbling diamond dog is dumped with a captured young pony to raise and train for heavy mine work. This story does well on the "alien perspective" factor: to ponies (and us) the colt's fate is horrifying, yet the otherwise fairly sympathetic central character pretty much ignores that aspect. A lot is left unexplained, which sometimes works nicely in the fic's claustrophobic underground setting – but I did find the ending rather unsatisfying. Another story that would have benefited from a good proofread to catch small typos. 6.5/10

My Little Pony feature film in the works for 2017!

I don't really think I need to add any more than that! Well, apart from a link to the Variety article that broke the story.

No, really. That's all you get. Honestly, isn't the news enough on its own without my posting a pointless load of babble to go with it? ;)