Ponyfic Roundup 362

Read it Later story count: 103 (-4) 

Back to three fics this week – as I suspected last time, I did not in fact have the time to read four. The weather in that scary place called Real Life World has taken a turn for the worse, though – we crawled up to 15 °C today and it rained most of the afternoon – and so it's possible I may be spending a bit more of my spare time indoors reading ponyfic in the near future. You know me better than to expect me to promise that, of course! Today's trio:

What is Missing, What is Lost by PaulAsaran
Joy, Love, Heartbreak by 1-oh-first
A Final Goodbye by The Orange Nebula

★: 0 | ★★: 2 | ★★★: 1 | ★★★★: 0 | ★★★★★: 0
Note: I use a skewed rating system. A fic I find average scores two stars.

What is Missing, What is Lost by PaulAsaran
Twilight and Celestia
Drama/Sad; 11k words; Nov 2015; Teen

For years, Twilight felt that something was off within her. With the emptiness more pronounced than ever, she decides to confide in Celestia. What the princess reveals, however, will test their relationship to its limits.

This was written for a "There is a seventh element" prompt, and indeed that plays a very significant part. However, the fic is also an exploration of what happens when Twilight's hero-worship of Celestia is hit by a revelation that the Sun Princess's past is not everything it had seemed. That was my biggest hurdle to clear here: the fic dances on the lip of becoming a "look, edgy Tyrantlestia!" story. I don't think it falls in, but maybe it stumbles a few times, in that the extent of Tia's deeds is arguably excessive even given the justification in-story. Hard to say more than that without spoilers. I find Twilight's own struggles and the world-building with the seventh element quite satisfying, though. A top-end three that may be a four for those who don't share my difficulties with how Celestia is shown. ★★★

Joy, Love, Heartbreak by 1-oh-first
Big Mac, Rarity and Applejack
Romance/Sad; 1k words; Dec 2013; Everyone

Big Macintosh reflects on some of the joy and pain he experienced in the past year, with a little help from a liquid friend.

Although this story was released on Christmas Day, it's not a standard Hearth's Warming tale. Instead, Big Mac is drowning his sorrows after breaking up with Rarity. Although RariMac isn't the rarest pairing, it's not the commonest ship either. There's nothing too jarring in the characterisation, although you do need to be on board with overdramatic Rarity, and I suspect her rejection of Mac will strain some readers' belief. This feels like a story that could work a lot better as a longer, quieter, sadder tale. It's rather too rushed as it is. ★★

A Final Goodbye by The Orange Nebula
Sweetie Belle, Other [Button Mash] and CMCs
Romance/Sad/Slice of Life; 1k words; Mar 2014; Everyone

One of Sweetie Belle's closest friends, Button Mash, is leaving Ponyville behind, heading for a new home. But Sweetie wont let him go just yet, not with out one last Goodbye.

ButtonBelle (or SweetieMash, if you prefer) has faded from view a bit, but back in 2014 it was a very popular ship. In this fic, Button and his mother are moving to Manehattan, much to the colt's sadness. Sweetie sneaks into his house one night to tell him just how much he means to him. There's some fluffy cuteness there, but there's not much to this fic, and the Minecraft nod (even if a clear reference to "Don't Mine at Night") feels a bit weird in a canon-set story. Rather too many little technical errors, too. Pretty much what you'd expect from a simple semi-shipfic with these two. ★★

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Next time around, stories reviewed should include Obselescence's Fluttershy and Discord slice-of-life fic Figments.