Ponyfic Roundup 193: She's Got More Bottle than United Dairies

An apology first of all: I will not be reviewing horizon's Watch! Watch! as promised last week. At least, not yet. That's because I've since discovered that an epilogue will be added once the contest it was written for has finished. As long as that's not too long, I'll wait for that to happen before posting my review.

Read it Later story count: 345 (nc)

Because of that, as well as the fact that it keeps snowing in spite of being almost March, I only have three stories today. I hope that this doesn't presage a return to skinny PRs, but I'd better make no promises. Here's this week's little bunch:

Beautiful Rain by argonaut
Showdown at the Card Table by Bronyxy
Heart is Where the Home is by Skywriter

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

Beautiful Rain by argonaut
Button Mash
Dark/Sad/Tragedy; 1k words; Feb 2018; Teen (Suicide/Self-Harm, Narcotics)

Button Mash? Many would describe him a failure, a stain on society, or a waste of space. If he could describe himself, he'd say content.

This short piece concentrates on a very different Button from the kid we know from canon and most fanfics. Here, he's living with mental illness and the story looks at what that might mean from his perspective. The language is decidedly non-standard at times, but I think that's a deliberate decision. I don't really know how to rate this as it's not really like any other ponyfic I've read. I'll give it a three as although very short and its Button is hard for me to empathise with as he's beyond my experience, it's both uncomfortable and thought-provoking. ★★★

Showdown at the Card Table by Bronyxy
Bon-Bon
Mystery/Thriller/Drama; 1k words; Feb 2018; Everyone

Two adversaries, locked in an epic clash of wills over a game of cards. Special Agent Sweetie Drops had been drawn in to this game and the importance of victory could not be overstated, but there was only going to be one winner ...

A cute if fairly insubstantial scene which relies for some of its tension on the mystery of who Sweetie's opponent actually is. I have to admit that the reveal caught me by surprise. The ending is a little underwhelming and there are some punctuation errors, but it's an undemanding quick read. ★★

Heart is Where the Home is by Skywriter
[no character tags]
Slice of Life; 1k words; May 2014; Everyone

It's hard saying goodbye to your home of many years.

This is one of those stories that reviewers hate because it's hard to say much about it without spoiling it. It's barely 1,000 words long, after all. However, it was written just a few days after Twilight's tree was blown up by Tirek in the S4 finale. The first-person narration is cleverly handled, and I didn't see what was hidden in plain sight, though I suspect some readers might. This is a story that's rather of its time, and I'm fairly sure I'd have given it a higher rating than this top-end three had I read it in 2014. However, if you're prepared to put yourself in an end-of-S4 mindset, it should leave you satisfied. ★★★

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Next time on Ponyfic Roundup: stories reviewed will include Impossible Numbers' The Web Untangled. Unless something else comes up, in which case they won't.