Ponyfic Roundup 211: Why you gotta ruin everything with questions?

Title explanation: lyric from "Picture Perfect Pony"

I read the Community Soapbox feature on Equestria Daily from time to time (and one of these days I may finally get around to submitting another one). One of last night's was about Twilight stealing the pearl in the movie. What interested me was that opinion in the comments was heavily skewed towards "It was wrong, but understandable given Twi's desperation" rather than "It was a stupid plot point". I agree, but I actually expected more of an even split.

Read it Later story count: 323 (-3)

I'm back up to five stories this week! The hot weather has relented slightly (though we've still had very little rain) and so it's been a bit easier to concentrate. A seriously mixed bag of characters, settings and genres to deal with here. The five fics under review this time around are as follows:

Pranks for Nothing by Baal Bunny
The Doom that Came to Tambelon by MagnetBolt
Spreading Your Wings and Hers by Crowley
Childhood's Legacy by Queen of Fools
The Incandescent Brilliance by KitsuneRisu

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

Pranks for Nothing by Baal Bunny
Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash and Twilight
Slice of Life; 6k words; Feb 2015; Everyone

Fluttershy's trying to have a regular day, but her friends and the universe just aren't cooperating.

This is set just after "Griffon the Brush Off" and is almost an unofficial sequel, since it concerns how Fluttershy is affected by one of Rainbow's pranks. In this case it's aimed at Twilight, but 'Shy gets drawn in and isn't at all comfortable with it. I appreciated the characterisation here, which is convincingly early-S1, though that does mean Flutters is still in frustratingly scaredy-pony mode. It doesn't feel like "What About Discord?" (thank Celestia) and Dash gets a little character development during the story, which is pleasing. There's also a nice way around the "letter to Celestia" thing. I can't enjoy it as much as it probably deserves because Fluttershy is pretty upset for large swathes of it and I badly feel for her. A very high three anyway, so you can add a star if that doesn't get you as much as it does me. ★★★

The Doom that Came to Tambelon by MagnetBolt
Trixie, Starlight Glimmer, Flurry Heart and Tempest Shadow
Adventure/Comedy; 4k words; Feb 2018; Teen

All Starlight Glimmer has to do is foalsit Flurry Heart for one night. What could go wrong?

Oh, this story is just a whole lot of fun. G1 villain Grogar is back, but he's finding things a little harder than he used to. This is partly to do with the fact that several of his foes here have inside knowledge of evil methods – and the other one is a super-powerful baby. The dialogue is what gives this one its snap, and there are quite a few genuine laugh-out-loud moments. Don't look too deep into the rather ridiculous plot, just buckle up and enjoy the ride. A few small technical errors are very mildly distracting, but they really don't stop it being a fun, fun story. ★★★★

Spreading Your Wings and Hers by Crowley
Rainbow Dash and OC
Romance/Second Person; 4k words; Dec 2011–Jan 2012; Mature (Sex)

Rainbow Dash keeps putting herself in danger. One night, you confess your love for her.

Reading a second-person clopfic from more than six years ago might be considered to count as living dangerously. Unfortunately, so it proves. "You" are a Wonderbolt rookie being trained by Rainbow Dash, starting out with a highly dangerous game of Freefall Chicken – which seems more in keeping with her immature early-S1 self than what she'd have to have become by the time she was a 'Bolt, but okay. With barely any time to breathe: you realise you love her, Dash invites you to her house, you have sex within minutes and there's a totally unbelievable epilogue. The actual clop scene isn't too bad (as long as the reader is male!) and I assume that this fic was written to serve a purpose that doesn't require much actual plot. As a story, though, its breakneck pace and silly ending left me cold. ★

Childhood's Legacy by Queen of Fools
Other [Megan]
Sad/Tragedy/Crossover/Second Person/Human/Alternate Universe; 2k words; Jan 2016; Teen

G1 MLP / G4 MLP CROSSOVER. Megan Williams is a hard worker, an accomplished writer, and a thriving member of society. So why does she feel so empty. Are the adventures of her childhood over? Or is this the beginning of a new generation of harmony?

This Megan really lived "Rescue at Midnight Castle", but the other G1 stories were her own creations, which is an interesting twist to start off with. The bulk of the story is thus not all that Pony, being simply the musings of a grown-up human, in the human world, who misses her lost childhood. Nothing much wrong with it, but simply having a canon character doesn't make it ponyfic, not really. On the other hand, it does get more interesting later on – okay, the ending is rather predictable, but it's still sweet, or at least I found it so. As someone with a gradually increasing interest in G1, I wish this had stuck in my memory a little more. ★★

The Incandescent Brilliance by KitsuneRisu
Trixie, OC and Twilight
Tragedy; 8k words; Apr 2014; Everyone

An accident occurs, leaving two ponies trapped in a room with nothing to do but wait in an eternal field of stars.

You don't get much E-rated tragedy, but here's one such fic (which would doubtless have the [Sci-Fi] tag too if released now). Professor Trixie Lulamoon and her OC colleague (Russet – who has an interesting background) are the two unfortunate ponies awaiting their quiet doom, and the story focuses on their dialogue. It's very interesting dialogue, but the make-or-break for many readers will be whether they can believe in this Trixie: she's three decades older and has changed a lot – so much so that she feels uncomfortably close to being an OC at times. The ending of this fic is undoubtedly the best part, both peaceful and deeply moving. That made it worthwhile for me, but I just couldn't connect enough with Trixie's new personality to take it from "like" to "love". Three stars it is, then. ★★★

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Next time on Ponyfic Roundup: stories reviewed should include The Descendant's The Talk.