Ponyfic Roundup 29

In honour of Bonfire Night, I present... a completely non-special edition of Ponyfic Roundup. :P It's back to the usual format after the slew of EqD contest entries I reviewed last week. Since I do this in large part for myself (which is a good job, looking at my blog's recently-diminished view and comment count!) I'm once again confining myself to short stories. No real standouts this week, but that's just the way it goes sometimes.

Pick of the fics

Our Weary Daughter, Rest by HoofBitingActionOverload
Applejack
Adventure; 2K words; Jul 2014; Everyone
Applejack is travelling – utterly alone – along a forgotten, dusty road. Why is she doing it? Where are her friends and family? What, indeed, is her final destination to be? The writing is good enough that the answers to these questions do slowly become clear as you read. One or two minor typos apart, it's nicely proofread, too. An interesting stylistic touch is that there is no dialogue whatsoever: it's all description. I can't say this moved me quite as deeply as it clearly has others, but it was still worthwhile. 7.5/10

Other stories

Clock is Ticking by InfantHorizon
Twilight and Rainbow Dash
Tragedy/Sad/Dark; 4K words; Aug 2014; Mature (Gore)
Yes, it's a gorefic. Not usually my sort of thing at all, but I thought I'd give it a go after the author made major revisions to their (apparently terrible) initial version. Twilight wakes in a dark room, accompanied only by a ticking clock. Turns out the pony responsible for her torture is a diseased Rainbow Dash. The science doesn't make a whole lot of sense and I had serious problems with the characterisation, but the writing is smoother than usual for this sort of story. Even the gore quotient is manageable until about the three-quarter mark. In the end, though, it still reads like a gorefic first and a ponyfic second, and I can't really enjoy that. 3/10

Sprinkles by Corejo
Pinkie Pie and Twilight
Comedy/Slice of Life; 3K words; Nov 2012; Everyone
A cute little fic by the author of Reading Rainbow (PR 23). Pinkie decides to teach Twilight how to bake, and Twi is confident she can do it. Thanks to book learning, naturally. Er... no. But Pinkie does end up teaching her friend something even more important. Not a particularly deep or meaningful story, but it's rather heartwarming and just right if you want something short and undemanding. 7/10

Styx Enterprises by JLB
Diamond Tiara and Others
Dark/Comedy; 3K words; Oct 2014; Teen
Filthy Rich has a problem with his latest contract deal. He also has a problem – as usual – with his wayward daughter. However, it's the identity of the two visitors that really matters here. Quite an interesting black comedy, albeit nothing all that original in terms of its subject matter. The prose is a bit choppy and rambly at times, though, and a certain amount of tense-mixing is present even after revision. 5.5/10

Twilight the Book Worm by Derpator
Twilight and Rarity
Random; 2K words; Aug 2014; Everyone
Rarity goes to get a book from the library... but Twilight, in an effort to get even closer to her beloved volumes, has transformed herself into a book worm. Yes, I know, it does sound almost like a Blueshift story... but unfortunately the quality of this one doesn't quite match up. It's quite fun, but there are too many unconvincing bits: for example, would Rarity be caught dead with a book called Fabrics 101 or Twilight simply give away Owlowiscious? The ending is abrupt, too. 5/10