Ponyfic Roundup 176: All Bound for Morningtown

PSA: I am less likely to review your story if you're using a seasonal username at the time, as it's a real pain for a reviewer's record-keeping. (This is one reason I never change my own username.) Feel free to exploit this information as you wish. :P

Read it Later story count: 399 (+2)

Another three-short-fic week, something you probably won't be too surprised to see. What you may be surprised to see is the nature of a couple of the stories under review. Let's just say that in one case, I didn't want to wait any longer, and in the other, I was dared to review something of that nature. Name withheld to protect the guilty. :P My RiL list has expanded slightly, too, as was probably inevitable after several weeks of limited time to read and review. Anyway, today we have:

A White Hearth's Warming by Chris
Skintight Payback by Aspirant
A Tea Party by Maniac92

★: 0 | ★★: 2 | ★★★: 0 | ★★★★: 1 | ★★★★★: 0

A White Hearth's Warming by Chris
Celestia and Sunset Shimmer
Slice of Life; 2k words; Dec 2016; Everyone

A young Sunset Shimmer, spending her first Hearth’s Warming in Canterlot as Princess Celestia’s personal student, comes to the terrible realization that there’s not going to be any snow for the holiday. She decides to do something about it.

Chris isn't interested in and hasn't seen any of the official Equestria Girls films, which makes it impressive that Sunset's characterisation here doesn't jar. In fact, more than that, it actually gives her an extra dimension. I do like EqG, albeit not as much as FiM, and I think this probably benefits from being set earlier, before all the stuff we know happened to her in canon before and during the events of EqG 1. Celestia's characterisation is much closer to her current personality, and it works very nicely. The story is light and almost fluffy in places, but that knowledge of the broken relationship that lay ahead gives it quite an edge. It still feels Hearth's Warming-y, though. An impressive combination to pull off in a 2,000-word story. ★★★★

Skintight Payback by Aspirant
Rainbow Dash
Romance/2nd Person/Human; 4k words; Jul 2016; Mature (Sex)

Too-small compression shorts and running with ones' mate makes a mare in need of relief

Yeah, this is the dare story – how did you guess? My main problem here is that I'm not sexually attracted to Rainbow Dash, so being told I am by the story doesn't really work; this is the usual 2p problem. For those who can get past this, the story is actually... well, it's what you'd imagine. Told in present tense, the fic does at least spend some time on actual story (a race training session with you and Rainbow) before getting down to the clop. After that, though, it seems mostly to be there to tell the (male) reader how much Dash loves having sex with him. I guess it does what it's intended to do, even if I wasn't enthused about it myself, so ★★.

A Tea Party by Maniac92
Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle
Comedy/Slice of Life; 1k words; Dec 2012; Everyone

Rarity's tea party has a surprising guest.

Back to more wholesome fare now, and this very old story – which feels it in places, such as in its LUS – is a simple one-scene comedy in which Rainbow Dash is the not-very-well-disguised guest at Rarity's tea party. Which is a problem when Scoots comes along and asks what's up. This is all pretty insubstantial and it's mostly simple dialogue, but I did like Sweetie Belle's fillyish attempt at sophistication. ★★

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Next time on Ponyfic Roundup: I'll try to make it up to four stories. No promises, though!