Ponyfic Roundup 557

Read it Later story count: 91 (+1)

Words read this week: 11,840

I am back from Birmingham and the truly excellent 21st iteration of UK PonyCon, about which there will most certainly be posts in the coming days and weeks. I doubt I'll add updates every day or anything like, but you will get the full story from Friday to Monday! Now, here's the Ponyfic Roundup I postponed from last week, meaning that unusually you do get a PR just after a UKPC. The slate is:

Story Time With Equestria or How Twilight Turned Every Pony Bald by Mister E
Daring Do & The Rookie Editor by Naughty_Ranko
Sisterly Lies by Emerald Ray
Teaching the Values by Just A Random Pegasus
Scientific Progress Goes Crash by Drax

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

Sounds of 2016, nos. 10 to 6

I had a fantastic time at UK PonyCon. I'll be posting the usual multi-part con report in due course, but I wanted to get that out there first. Today, though, it's music time. We're almost at the sharp end of the Equestrian Trot 100 chart for 2016, so what will we find? Let's have a look...

Rule 1: Still available in the same or (1b) similar form direct from the/an original artist.
Rule 2: Available from a third party, with reason to believe the artist is fine with this.
Rule 3: So famous that it would be plain silly to leave it out.
Rule 4: Being unlisted is not, on its own, grounds for exclusion. 

We're into the top ten now, so Rule 3 applies across the board. Happily, though, it's not needed: all five of these songs qualify under Rule 1 in any case. Here's the list:

10: FritzyBeat ft. Sim Gretina – Neigh Anything
9: Sim Gretina – The Pony I Want to Be (remix)
8: Ink Rose & Baasik – Little Sunshine
7: TIX & The Pøssy Project – Ponyville 2016
6: Aoshi ft. Rina-chan – FluttERR

All right, for the penultimate time in this series, here we go!

Swapping around

 My workload (not all work, but you get the idea) has been heavy and UK PonyCon is imminent, so I'm going to swap around the weeks for Ponyfic Roundup. This week won't get one, but next Wednesday will. This is the opposite order from what I originally planned, but this one I can actually do!

Ponyfic Roundup 556

Read it Later story count: 90 (nc)

Words read this week: 9,998

I think it's only fair to say that I don't expect this "five very short stories" format for Ponyfic Roundup to change in the near future. With UK PonyCon rushing upon us at a rate of knots, that's increasingly going to take my time and attention until it's passed. (See last week's post about UKPC guests!) I'm probably going to take a week off PR in early October, just after the convention. After that... well, who knows? But today I have this:

Princess Celestia is in your bed. [sic] by ocalhoun
Trixie's night by Neutron Alchemist
A Letter to the Griffin Emperor on the Matter of War by Wages of Sin
Requiem by The Sumareian
Melt by ambion

★: 0 | ★★: 3 | ★★★: 2 | ★★★★: 0 | ★★★★★: 0
Note: I use a skewed rating system. A fic I enjoy an average amount scores two stars.

Sounds of 2016, nos. 15 to 11

We'll be into the top ten next time around! But for now, our look through the Equestrian Trot 100 chart from 2016 isn't quite there. As ever, here are the inclusion rules:

Rule 1: Still available in the same or (1b) similar form direct from the/an original artist.
Rule 2: Available from a third party, with reason to believe the artist is fine with this.
Rule 3: So famous that it would be plain silly to leave it out.
Rule 4: Being unlisted is not, on its own, grounds for exclusion. 

I had to skip one song last week. This week? Well... I don't! A pretty heavyweight line-up today, as you'll see:

15: Aviators – The Magic Inside (remix)
14: JoinedTheHerd – It's Gonna Work (remix)
13: Black Gryph0n & Michelle Creber – Here We Are
12: WoodenToaster – Prototype VIP
11: Michelle Creber & Black Gryph0n – Equality

Isn't that fascinating? Well, actually, it probably is if you're reading a post like this! So then... 

UK PonyCon announces Rebecca Shoichet!

Ponyfic Roundup is delayed again – but for a good reason this time! 

Some big news from UK PonyCon last night: none other than Rebecca Shoichet has been announced as a special guest. VA for Sunset Shimmer, Night Glider and Sugar Belle, not to mention singing voice for Twilight Sparkle, the reveal of her attendance has been extremely popular. I'm not surprised now that the staff who were in the know were finding it a real strain to keep things quiet until they were in a position to announce more!

Also in UKPC news, the weekend schedule is up! There's a lot going on considering the forced move to a smaller venue this year, and on a personal note I'm thrilled that Archer's Pub Quiz will be early enough in the evening that I can attend without having to sprint to the station for my train home at the end! :P Inevitably there are times when two events I'm interested in clash, but that's conventions for you! I'm really looking forward to the first weekend in October. :) 

Sounds of 2016, nos. 20 to 16

After a gap last week, which was largely because I was just ridiculously busy with other things, I'm back today with another look at what was making waves in the Pony music fandom nine years ago. As ever, I'm using the Equestrian Trot 100 chart, which runs from December 2015 to November 2016 – although if a song was popular then, it didn't have to have been released then to qualify. Inclusion rules first as ever:

Rule 1: Still available in the same or (1b) similar form direct from the/an original artist.
Rule 2: Available from a third party, with reason to believe the artist is fine with this.
Rule 3: So famous that it would be plain silly to leave it out.
Rule 4: Being unlisted is not, on its own, grounds for exclusion. 

Now here's the list of songs we're going to be covering today. And yes, I'm sorry to say there's a skip. We're not quite at the point where Rule 3 conquers all!

20: Saynonara Maxwell – Light of Your Cutie Mark (remix)
19: Aurelleah ft. ButterflyIdentity & Decibelle – Midnight Lament
18: Magpiepony ft. WildCardVA – Our Sweet Little Flurry
17: Aurelleah & Orange B – Under Our Spell (remix)
16: skipped

With all that out of the way, let's get on with the actual music...