Ponyfic Roundup 346

Read it Later story count: 137 (-2) 

The weather continues warm. I say that not because it's interesting, but because it's the first time I've been able to say it (truthfully, at any rate) for about nine months. I've been doing plenty of reading, but to be honest a lot of it has been non-Pony. Yes, I do also read stories that are not about colourful equines. I apologise profusely if this breaks any of you out in a cold sweat. Anyway, here's today's little bunch:

First by Winston
Twilight Takes a DNA Test by Dewdrops on the Grass
I Am Waiting For A Bus by darf

★: 0 | ★★: 0 | ★★★: 3 | ★★★★: 0 | ★★★★★: 0
Note: I use a skewed rating system. A fic I find average scores two stars.

First by Winston
Twilight and Rainbow Dash
Sad; 11k words*; Oct 2015*; Everyone

After a startling revelation, Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash discuss painful past events and what the future holds. Featured on Equestria Daily!

*The asterisks are because this is a 2015 improvement on a 2014 improvement on a 2012 publication of a 2011 fic. The latest two are included in the upload, but not the original. I'm reviewing only the 2015 story, which is 11k words.
At some unspecified point in the future, Rainbow Dash has been back in Ponyville for just a few months after fighting in an unspecified war. She opens up to Twilight about how her feelings about death – and life – have been shaped by the experiences she had. Not a startlingly original premise, but the ideas it leads to here are fascinating. I'm a sucker for introspective Dash, though at times here I have to stretch a bit to be convinced it's her speaking. There's a lot of description in here, which reminded me a bit of Seashell (PR 20), possibly Winston's best known fic. Maybe that's what I found a little awkward: the fact that this very different story is written in a similar style. It works to the extent you realise Dash has been changed by her recent past, but I'm not sure I can quite buy that she's changed that much in how she speaks especially. Hence the rating: I liked this, but not without reservation. ★★★

Twilight Takes a DNA Test by Dewdrops on the Grass
Twilight
Comedy; 2k words; Feb 2021; Everyone

She really should've expected these results.

A lighter story now, and if you consider the cover art for a bit there's a chance you might see the reveal coming. That may or may not hurt the fic for you; in my case I was too dense to get the point anyway! Some nice late-series Twilight in here, especially in terms of her thoughts about some of her family (not just Shining). It's not a side-splitting slapstick kind of comedy, so don't go in expecting that, but it is amusing and it does open up all kinds of headcanon avenues. You have to respect a story that does that. ★★★

I Am Waiting For A Bus by darf
Ocellus, OC and Other
Sad/Sci-Fi/Slice of Life; 5k words; Apr 2020; Everyone

Ocellus waits for a bus beside a black hole. Several ponies stop to talk. In memoriam.

The last bit of that short description refers to CoffeeBean, who tragically died in his early twenties last year. I didn't know him, so it's hard to tell whether this fic is about him in any specific way – though there is one passage that feels as though it was so written. Anyway, this is one of those SoL fics where the (rest of the) short description is pretty much what happens. I'll admit that I didn't really grasp the point here, which probably says more about me than it does about darf. I appreciated Ocellus, and the SF setting added an extra dimension (not literally), plus the writing is just on that boundary between playful and melancholy. I feel like I ought to be more affected by this story than I actually was – but then I never knew CoffeeBean and I've never known darf as more than names on a website. Quite possibly those who have will find this remarkable – but I can't reasonably review it as anything other than a simple story, and on that score it was straightforwardly worthwhile. ★★★

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Next time, stories reviewed should include Wabbajack's romantic sex comedy A Lesson in Preening. (Fair warning: this is an M-rated story. See? I do review the things occasionally!)