Note: for the moment, at least, I will not be considering G5 stories. Nor will I be reading stories which place already-revealed G5 characters in a G4 setting. Maybe down the line, but for now I think that would be unfair on those trying to avoid spoilers.
Read it Later story count: 155 (-2)
Gosh, is it really March now? I remember last March, it was—actually, let's not go further down that road. Let's do this instead. G5 may be on the horizon, but there's still plenty of G4 ponyfic to be getting on with. Several hundred new fics a week still appear on Fimfiction even if you strip out the M-rated stuff. (I don't object to M-rated stuff as such, but I read so little of it that it's usually irrelevant to me.) After last week's break, here we go with another three stories:
Take the Dragons Bowling by Alaborn
Crowns and Mimosas by CoffeeMinion
The One Left Behind by dormagio
★: 0 | ★★: 1 | ★★★: 2 | ★★★★: 0 | ★★★★★: 0
Note: I use a skewed rating system. A fic I find average scores two stars.
Spike, Garble, Dragons, Ember and Twilight
Comedy/Slice of Life; 9k words; Dec 2020; Everyone
Dragon Lord Ember refuses to let her dragons be the only creatures in the world to go unreformed. So she orders her three worst dragons: Go to Equestria and make nice with the ponies. Now Spike is stuck trying to reform three belligerent dragons.
Set between Seasons Eight and Nine, this amusing fic gives Garble and a couple of his mates a bit more character than we've generally seen from the teenage dragons in the show. They're sent to Ponyville to do pony things, and Spike decides taking them to the bowling alley would be a good idea. Which it might have been, had its construction and dragons' general nature not collided. Thereafter this is a nice, easy-reading story with quite a satisfying conclusion and a nice little nod to something that we see in S9 of the show. Spike fans as well as dragon fans should get something out of this. Strong three. ★★★
Crowns and Mimosas by CoffeeMinion
Twilight and Celestia
Slice of Life; 1k words; Mar 2021; Teen (Narcotics)
The "Narcotics" tag is merely for mild alcohol references; I'm surprised it's used at all.Heavy is the head that wears the crown, and fruity is the drink she reaches for.
This very recent story was a last-minute replacement for a deleted story, and happily it's a solid one. It's a kind of fic we don't see too much of these days: Celestia and Twilight having a quiet chat about how Equestria works. There's a twist, though: this story is set after Twi has taken over as ruler, in the gap between "The Ending of the End" and "The Last Problem". If you've read tales like this in the past you won't be shocked by much of this, but it's pleasantly written and reassures us that Equestria is still in good hooves. ★★★
The One Left Behind by dormagio
Chrysalis, OC and Changelings
Adventure/Sad/Alternate Universe; 1k words; Mar 2013; Everyone
Quite an intriguing short description there, but the fic doesn't have the room to do it justice. Chrysalis and her husband Exos (was that a common AU thing back then?) discuss what to do, and that's about it. The story is competently written as far as it goes, but at the end of it all I didn't feel I'd learned a great deal. Probably best suited to readers who could use it as a spark for a deeper exploration of the idea. ★★The attack on Canterlot was never meant to succeed. How could you harvest love from those that hate you? The true purpose was to harvest magic. And what better way to get magic flying than start a war?
Next time on Ponyfic Roundup, stories reviewed should include Warren Hutch's FlutterMac comedy Windfall.
I don't think that was common, no. The premise of that fic is excellent, because it's quite right about the invasion, but yeah, 1k isn't anywhere near enough to explore a setup like that fully.
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