Well, would you look at that? For the first time in quite a few weeks, I actually have more than four stories in a PR! That's right: this time round, there are five. I'm hoping to get a themed edition or two done once I'm back on an even keel, but for now I hope you'll find this week's selection to be a reasonably varied bunch. Here's what you'll find reviewed after the break:
A Clever Pony by Drax99
Red Satin Sheets by Holy
My Brother, The Tooth by Georg
The Destruction of the Self by Cold in Gardez
Silence by ThatOneWriter
★: 0 | ★★: 2 | ★★★: 2 | ★★★★: 0 | ★★★★★: 1
A Clever Pony by Drax99
Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rarity, Apple Bloom, Spike, Celestia and Big Mac
Adventure/Comedy/Alternate Universe/Random/Sad; 10k words; Nov 2011; Everyone
Everyone does Humans in Equestria. What about a Pony in Equestria?Buttercup is a circus pony on Earth, and one who gratingly often tells us what a clever pony she is. One night, a freak storm opens a portal to another world – but Buttercup finds being a pony in Equestria hard going. There are very few MLP fics around which include real ponies – PatchworkPoltergeist's Somewhere Only We Know (PR 2) is probably the best known, though it's quite a bit heavier than this one. The unusual setup gives A Clever Pony interest straight away. It's fun seeing Rarity's horror at horseshoes held on with nails, or Buttercup's confusion at how Equestrian ponies' legs can possibly bend like that. You have to accept S1-level Lavender Unicorn Syndrome, some minor technical errors and one or two things that feel like pure fanservice. It's still something interesting and different, though, even after all these years. Just bear in mind all its genre tags. ★★★
Red Satin Sheets by Holy
Sunset Shimmer
Slice of Life; 3k words; Aug 2016; Mature (Sex)
Sunset's been away from her old room in the castle for way too long and decides to use it like she used to on all those lonely nights when she was Celestia's student.Given the rating and the fact that only one pony involved, it's unsurprising that this, written as "detailing practice" according to its author, is a masturbation fic. Those don't tend to hold much interest for me, but this one is pleasantly written and has some nice descriptive setup before the M rating kicks in a little short of halfway. At one point you could read Sunset's thoughts as suggesting she doesn't know humans have dildos, which would be weird, but it's not the only interpretation. One or two of the paragraphs are overlong, but on the whole it's a solid piece of descriptive work. A top-end two for me, but add a star if "taking matters into your own hooves" stories appeal to you. ★★
My Brother, The Tooth by Georg
Shining Armor, Twilight and Luna
Comedy; 1k words; Apr 2015; Everyone
Shining Armor is a tooth. Really. Princess Luna says so.This wasn't just published in April, it was published on the first of April. As you'd expect, it contains more than zero terrible jokes, but it also has a nice Greek mythology reference – albeit probably not one we'll ever see in the show. This isn't one to read if you're looking for anything other than a bite-sized bit of fun, but if that is what you want you'll probably enjoy it. Also, it contains the word "custard". I almost gave it a five for that alone. ★★★
The Destruction of the Self by Cold in Gardez
[no character tags given]
Slice of Life; 6k words; Jun 2015; Teen
Buckwheat would like to be a farmer. But what he wants isn't important, and that's alright with him.Clearly inspired by "The Cutie Map" given its age, this expanded Writeoff winner is, as you'd expect from this author, a great deal more interesting than a simple rehash of Starlight's village. In this village, ponies are assigned not only a different role each day – but a different family, too. (Mind you, do we know that wasn't the case in Our Town...?) There's a lot of sadness and tragedy in the story, but it's not, as such, a sad or tragic tale. You do get an explanation for why these ponies live in this village at this time – but there are enough details to convince you that it's clearly not the whole explanation. I guess it's a bit predictable that my first five-star rating in a while would go to a CiG fic, but he will insist on writing stuff like this. There's so much going on in this story that most of it doesn't fit in the words. ★★★★★
Silence by ThatOneWriter
Octavia
Slice of Life; 1k words; Jul 2014; Everyone
It's Octavia's first night alone. She can't sleep.Octavia has just left home for the first time, and she discovers that her new apartment at night is a remarkably quiet place. That's the problem. This is pure "slice-of-life scene" stuff, so don't expect any sudden shocks, but if you're into simple SoL it may hit the spot. I am to a fair extent, though this piece didn't really stick in my memory. As such, a high two-star rating seems appropriate. ★★
Next time on Ponyfic Roundup: stories. Definitely stories.
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