Ponyfic Roundup 179: Starlight Glimmer Edition

Read it Later story count: 395 (-1)

For the first time in I don't know how long (because I'm too lazy to look it up), I'm doing a character-focused PR today, and it's the turn of a certain overpowered unicorn. Five stories, and there's certainly some interesting stuff within them. Here's the list:

I Have Many Forms, but This One is Mine by Raugos
Waiting by Silver Moon
Solving for Death by Majin Syeekoh
Same Apples, New Tricks by Bookish Delight
The Alicorn Curse by chillbook1

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

I Have Many Forms, but This One is Mine by Raugos
Starlight Glimmer and Changelings
Slice of Life; 4k words; Sep 2017; Everyone

Starlight has a conversation with Pharynx about the significance of a changeling’s true form.

A changeling fic from Raugos (best known for the excellent Integration – PR 24) is always going to be worth a look, and so it proves here. Set immediately after the events of "To Change a Changeling", this story gives us an interesting insight into Pharynx's mindset – and maybe his lack of wider experience, given he appears to confuse "brooding" with "broody" at one point! Crucially, Pharynx keeps some rough edges. ★★★

Waiting by Silver Moon
Starlight Glimmer and Twilight
Dark/Alternate Universe/Tragedy; 1k words; Nov 2015; Teen

Alone in the nothingness, a mare waits.

Yes, it's a "wasteland world" story, but this one isn't quite the one we see in the show; I guess it's an alternate alternate universe. :P What we're here for is to find out why the wasteland ended up as it did, and Starlight herself tells the story. In this universe, Starlight won. Oh, how she won. Things do get needlessly extreme once or twice, when the sheer horror of it all is better told by Glimmy's simple narration. That helps drag it down to a top-end two, but it's still something different from the other S5 finale fics, and that's worth something. ★★

Solving for Death by Majin Syeekoh
Starlight Glimmer and Celestia
Comedy/Dark/Alternate Universe; 3k words; Jan 2017; Teen

Starlight Glimmer accidentally killed Twilight Sparkle. It's a good thing she's Starlight Glimmer, then.

This RCL entry is a delicious black comedy in which Starlight is so wonderfully Starlight it almost hurts. Her confidence in her magical abilities and, more, her treatment of magic as a first resort, is wonderfully in evidence here. This makes her hilariously casual about what she's just done, to the extent of giving Princess Celestia a short lecture on the etymology of the word "manslaughter". I'm not entirely wild about something Celestia does, but she also gets to do something horrific yet brilliant in the cause of saving the day. Also, a small yet great role for Spike. Recommended. ★★★★

Same Apples, New Tricks by Bookish Delight
Starlight Glimmer and Applejack
Slice of Life; 3k words; May 2017; Everyone

Applejack and a newly redeemed Starlight Glimmer have their very first friendship outing.

Here's a simple "Starlight learning friendship" story, and how much you like it will depend to a considerable extent on how much you like those. It's largely dialogue, revolving around Applejack teaching Starlight how to buck apples. Glimmy, of course, reaches straight for her magic, giving AJ a chance to explain her own philosophy. Characterisation is pretty solid, too. Don't expect thrills and spills, just two ponies talking – but I rather like that, so ★★★.

The Alicorn Curse by chillbook1
Starlight Glimmer, Twilight, Mane Six and Discord
Comedy/Random/Slice of Life; 3k words; Mar 2016; Teen

Twilight figures out why Alicorns seem to be so useless

This is a silly little fic which tries – not very seriously – to explain why alicorns are so frequently hopeless when it comes to saving the world. Starlight plays a supporting role this time, rather than being the star – that place goes to Twilight. It's a nice idea, and there are some funny bits along the way, such as Discord's Batman turn, but it doesn't quite gel. I couldn't quite buy the reason why the curse was set up in the first place, and that leads to a rather weak ending. Gets a nod for mentioning custard, but it's still ★★.

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Next time on Ponyfic Roundup: back to a mish-mash of mash-mish