Title explanation: this ancient PMV
Advance warning that I'll be on holiday for the first full week of June, so there'll be a break in... well, everything, unless I can get a scheduled post or two written. At any rate, episode reviews, Text Review Roundup and Ponyfic Roundup will certainly have their usual schedules disrupted.
Read it Later story count: 333 (-3)
Another very busy week, but at least this time I got through more than three fics! Just. In fact, I made a special effort to read a fourth. Was it worth the effort? Well, let's see... here's today's selection:
A Mare's Tail by Southpaw
Is Derpy Sexy? by naturalbornderpy
Little Deceptions by Taranth
How an Actual Human Vs Ponies War Would Go by HonestAJ4President
★: 1 | ★★: 1 | ★★★: 1 | ★★★★: 1 | ★★★★★: 0
A Mare's Tail by Southpaw
Twilight and Trixie
Romance/Slice of Life; 3k words; Apr 2014; Teen (Sex)
Twilight Sparkle, in the library, with a magician. Romance novels may be involved.Twixie time! This is pure romantic fluff, and intentionally so. The writing style is, as the description may hint, very much in the romance novel mode. This means that, though the prose can be a little much at times, in this context it mostly seems to fit. There's some indication that Southpaw intended to add more chapters to this, but that never happened. No matter: it's still fluffy fun. Only a high two for me because I don't care much about the ship and some of the romance-novel-speak was too silly to take entirely seriously ("the azure unicorn's curvy, swaying flanks"), but this is a three-star story if you're a Twixie fan. ★★
Is Derpy Sexy? by naturalbornderpy
Twilight, Rarity, Rainbow Dash and Derpy
Slice of Life; 2k words; Mar 2018; Everyone
There are some questions that have baffled Equestrians for centuries. This is not one of them.This is not, in fact, a ridiculous comedy, which surprised me. It's light-hearted and did make me laugh several times, but it's actually more of a character piece. The dialogue is great (apart perhaps from Rarity saying "flipping") and there's a nice callback to an episode in S7. (New fic, yay!) The ending is clever, too. Maybe not the deepest examination of this burning issue in Equestria, but certainly a worthwhile way to spend a few minutes. Might be pushing its E rating a smidge, though. ★★★
Little Deceptions by Taranth
Celestia and OCs
Slice of Life; 6k words; Sep 2014; Everyone
Blank Slate is the greatest thief of his generation, ready to pull off the heist of a lifetime. But you have to get up pretty early in the morning to get one past the pony who defines when ‘early in the morning’ is…An RCL-inducted fic, so I had high hopes – which were fulfilled. The story of the heist is told partly as it happened, and partly from the perspective of Blank Slate (not the YouTuber... I assume) after he's been detained by the Royal Guard. (Not a spoiler; we find that out right at the start.) Plenty of talking-heads stuff, which is good talking-heads stuff but might put off some readers. There's a really interesting bit of world-building involving gems. Blank himself is not that captivating a character – probably realistic given what he does, but I did find my attention wandering occasionally. This was heading for a highish three-star rating, but the short second chapter is brilliant and is why I'm giving it a four. Yes, the wait is worth it. ★★★★
How an Actual Human Vs Ponies War Would Go by HonestAJ4President
Celestia, Shining Armor and OCs
Comedy/Human/Alternate Universe; 1k words; Sep 2014; Teen
This is how an actual human/pony war would go.Published the day before Little Deceptions, this story has an A/N at the start asking people not to take it seriously. Points for that, at least. The irony is that the story isn't stupid enough to be a successful comedy. The reason I read this was my wondering why it had 19,000 views and an enormous comments
Next time on Ponyfic Roundup: stories reviewed might include White Demure, which I've been meaning to read for I-don't-know-how-long now.
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