Ponyfic Roundup 217: It Might as Well Rain Until September

Title explanation: 1962 Carole King song

Read it Later story count: 312 (-11)

I've actually managed to squeeze in some fic-reading that goes beyond three stories this week. Don't get too used to this, as it's not likely to happen every time, much as I'd like it to. I mean, I'll try, but every time I think I'm back on an even keel something comes along to capsize me once again. Still, for this PR the stories under the (rather blurry) microscope are:

No Tame Forest by PhantomFox
Bon Bon Bon Bon Bon Bon by shortskirtsandexplosions
The Brief Reign of Princess Twily by Forthwith
Zipporwhill's Secret by Alaborn
Fluttershy's Tail by Alexstrazsa

★: 0 | ★★: 2 | ★★★: 3 | ★★★★: 0 | ★★★★★: 0

No Tame Forest by PhantomFox
Rainbow Dash and Zecora
Adventure; 8k words; Apr 2012; Everyone

Zecora helps Dash recover in time to combat a large storm

If that author's name seems familiar, it's because they're the one who wrote early-fandom classic Sunny Skies All Day Long (PR 30). They haven't published ponyfic in six years now, which on the strength of No Tame Forest is a shame. Like many old fics, it has a fairly simple premise, but its main attraction is a Zecora written better than you normally find. Her rhyming is pretty good, and there's even a twist on it later on. Rainbow is a little dense at times (not understanding why a mirror is called for at one point, for example) but it's nice to see her weatherpony status being important to the plot, something we see little of today. A pleasant read that isn't too far off the tone of early-series episodes. ★★★

Bon Bon Bon Bon Bon Bon by shortskirtsandexplosions
Lyra and Bon Bon
Random; 8k words; Aug 2012; Teen

Bon Bon and Lyra play sweet music.

The long description (which isn't) adds "Do not read this", but expecting straightforwardness from this author is a fool's errand, so I read the fic anyway. It's very, very odd. There's a deeply unsettling atmosphere, which becomes weirder and more surreal as you progress but eventually resolves itself into something you think you understand – at which point you realise you're only three-quarters of the way through the fic, so you wait for another twist late on. You get one, but my goodness it split opinions judging by the Fimfiction comments, and I can understand why. I personally think having only the [Random] tag is a little unfair; I understand the need to avoid spoiling too much, but I don't think putting [Dark] on this would have been a bad thing. That would make sense from very early on. I don't take drugs and I don't get drunk. With this fic, that may actually be a minus. Three stars, but only because a "What the absolute bloody hay is going on?" rating doesn't exist. ★★★

The Brief Reign of Princess Twily by Forthwith
Twilight and Celestia
Comedy/Slice of Life; 3k words; Jul 2014; Everyone

Princess Celestia was quite clearly overworked lately. Twilight just had to find a way to help. Unfortunately, the only answer she found was a bit odd.

This one is set before the show begins, in "Season Zero". Not "Lesson Zero", though there are some similarities in the way Twilight makes a national crisis in order to usurp the throne. (She has good intentions, promise!) It's fun and silly and Twilight's character is fairly convincing given her age here. Shining Armor is pretty dully written, unfortunately, and a knowing reference to future canon events feels slightly forced. We do get some nice, old-fashioned cake-loving Celestia, though. This isn't really that memorable for a fic that at one point topped the Fimfiction ratings, but it's quite consistent low-key fluffy enjoyment. On the two/three-star boundary, but I'll push it over the line for Celestia's in-story moral. ★★★

Zipporwhill's Secret by Alaborn
Zipporwhill, CMC and Other
Comedy; 3k words; Feb 2014; Everyone

Flying like a hummingbird, talking a mile a minute.... Where does Zipporwhill get her energy? The Cutie Mark Crusaders are on the case!

Written barely a week after "Filli Vanilli" went out, this is almost more [Slice of Life] than [Comedy], although both elements are present. This is yet another fic in which Scootaloo is a brat, this time because she's jealous of Zip's flying ability. I guess for a story written during S4 I can accept it. Plus there's some interesting stuff about the Zipporwhill's family and the CMC have some decent lines. We find out the answer to the question in the title with a lot of the story left, which unfortunately makes the second half less than gripping. It also doesn't help that the very end reads like something from 2011. This is largely a one-joke fic, so much will depend on whether you like the one joke. ★★

Fluttershy's Tail by Alexstrazsa
Fluttershy and Rarity [and Angel]
Comedy/Slice of Life; 4k words; Apr 2013; Everyone

Fluttershy's tail always drags along the ground. She finds some strange and interesting things caught in there...

I got a fairly similar feel from this as from the previous fic: this is a fairly simple story that in truth only brought smiles in flashes. A few of the items Fluttershy finds caught in her tail are funny, though a couple are just strange and one really has no business in an E-rated fic. The ending is quite amusing as well, though I suspect there will be consequences later on. As the end A/N explains, the fic was written for a fairly specific prompt, so Alexstrazsa didn't have a huge amount of leeway. There's too much "the pegasus" stuff, too. Still, if you want something low-key and low-stakes, this might be worth a glance. ★★

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Next time on Ponyfic Roundup: I hope to turn the Spotlight on Thornquill's Carousel.