Read it Later story count: 89 (nc)
And we're back! After a break last week, Ponyfic Roundup returns today. With the requisite four stories under review, at that. Rather than rambling on here as I usually do, I'll get straight on to the meat of the post. This week on PR, we have:
A New Age by SaddleSoapOpera
Twilight finds a book of puns by Troll
The Shippers Cometh by J-D
Arrival by Bicyclette
★: 1 | ★★: 1 | ★★★: 0 | ★★★★: 2 | ★★★★★: 0
Note: I use a skewed rating system. A fic I find average scores two stars.
Celestia, Luna, King Sombra, Discord and Star Swirl [plus several OCs]
Dark/Drama; 15k words; Mar–Oct 2016; Teen
Long, long ago, the Royal Pony Sisters Celestia and Luna defeated Discord, and almost everypony was relieved. Almost everypony.
SaddleSoapOpera's RCL-inducted fic covers a sweeping amount of history, but it does so from the very specific viewpoints of a hoof-ful of characters. It's in letter format, but in this case it's a collection of letters by multiple authors, ranging from Celestia to Star Swirl to the pegasi in the era of Commander Hurricane to young Lady Glory of House Galaxy. (Yes, Glory is indeed a G1 pony name...) I'm very pleased with the way the letters all have distinctive voices, and you can feel the ponies in question's emotions and prejudices coming through in their words. Long-ago Equestria was clearly a different place in various ways, and the attitudes shown at the rise of Celestia in particular are by no means uniformly positive. There are one or two slightly artificial-feeling crossings-out in those letters, but happily they're kept to a minimum. There isn't much about Discord's first reign, a bit of a shame as it's a period seriously under-covered in ponyfic, but what we do discover is really quite chilling about what Discord was like back then. Certain parts of the story, most notably where it deals with Star Swirl, have been overtaken by later-series show canon. As long as that doesn't bother you too much, though, this is a really quite impressive ride. ★★★★
Twilight finds a book of puns by Troll
Mane Six
Comedy/Random; 1k words; Jun 2021; Everyone
Twilight goes OCC and starts using puns
Yes, it says OCC, though I imagine the author meant to write OCD. For reasons which are (rather sketchily) explained in-story, Twilight reads a pun book and then feels the need to pun as many words as she possibly can. Her friends quickly find this annoying. Unfortunately, so did I. While there are a few nice puns, and the last line although well-worn is fine, Twilight doing forced puns grates on me as a reader too after a while. There's barely a story beyond the puns, and even as someone who likes the things I found this just too much. It's not a hopeless one-star fic, but I can't really justify a higher rating. ★
The Shippers Cometh by J-D
CMCs, Applejack, Spike and Other
Comedy/Random; 1k words; Apr 2016; Everyone
Apple Bloom finds herself the target of some unwanted pairing efforts
This one is bordering on the meta, so be aware of that. Apple Bloom is unhappy to discover that she has been shipped with Tender Taps, especially as she discovers it from what seems to be an official representative. Of what? Good question. Meanwhile, Spike is having similar issues, on which note it's interesting to see Aotrs Commander's Fimfiction comment that SpikeBloom was apparently a thing in the fandom's very early days. Back to this story, and while it's a single joke there are some nice lines from Applejack and if you can get into the meta-ness you might well find it quite funny. I only partly can, hence the rating. ★★
Arrival by Bicyclette
Capper, Twilight and Rarity
Drama; 3k words; Feb 2021; Teen
Capper contemplates a coin and waits. The Sovereign of Equestria is on her way to Klugetown. Justice will be done.
Something completely new to me now. Bicyclette mentions having found the implications of Kludgetown's description in the 2017 film somewhat messed up. You can see the point when you read this. After all, Capper tried to sell the ponies into slavery to pay off his debts, and he wasn't even the worst creature in town. Remember what was going on before they met Capper? Right. There are... consequences that flow from all that. We're some years on from the film now, in fact even some time after the end of S9. Meanwhile, Capper has been exchanging letters and coins (yes, coins) with Rarity all these years, and she has some interesting things to say to him. Even more interesting, though, is Twilight's role. Hard to say much without spoilers, but although she isn't on stage much she's extremely significant here. The more I think about this fic the more I think about it. I don't mean that it breaks enormously new ground: most of what's here has been said in other fiction in other ways. It just does it really well. Pulls off the trick of having substantial things to say (which most definitely aren't limited to Equestria) without feeling like a sermon. Even so, I suspect you'll feel unsettled at the end and imagining what would be in a sequel if there was one (there isn't). In this case, that is decidedly not a criticism. Quite a high four and well worth your time. ★★★★
Next time, I hope that stories reviewed will include RayneTheSkunk's Spike, Smolder and Ocellus Slice-of-Lifer Two and a Half Dragons.
People... don't ship SpikeBloom anymore? c.c
ReplyDeleteWhile I certainly have read some some SpikeBloom in my time (though the only one springing to mind right now is a fic The Descendant wrote where Apple Bloom is turned into a dragon and there's a ticking clock to turn her back), I always got the impression that Sweetie Belle was the most commonly used CMC to ship with Spike. Especially with many fics using Spike's unrequited crush on Rarity as a springboard for him moving on from that, something blossoming with Sweetie, them sharing a reverence of Rarity used as a starting point for them to realise they work well together, etc.
ReplyDeleteIn any case, both ships are far less common these days, even proportional to the fandom's diminished size. I suppose the implication of Spike and the CMC being effectively teenagers by the show's end, their personalities going in slightly different directions compared to the relative carte blanche afforded early on (and Spike/Gabby being a thing?) makes such pairings less obviously appealing.
Arrival
Ah, a Bicyclette fic. She's really known these days for running lots of contests with prizes, and while some of them, and many of the fics she writes herself, go a bit too far into fanfic weirdness for my liking (the contest to ship Sunset with herself… yeah), she's quite a talented writer, and I've really liked many of the less ship-y fics she's cooked up. I actually pre-read two entries she wrote for Pride Month last June myself. She's got writing chops from comedy to weepy drama and back again.
I apparently haven't read Arrival myself, and I thought I had (onto the list it goes), though I would most advocate for The 41-Second Goddess. Great comedy derived from paranoia, which is all I shall say on it. Others of hers I remember fondly include Mail Exchange, and the duology of Sisters and Home, two stories set in the Crystal Empire War AU (which is not the easiest sell for me). So there's your customary "Ghost Mike recommends fics he's already read/rated and thus won't be formally reviewing" dosage for the week!
the contest to ship Sunset with herself… yeah
DeleteTo be fair, I remember really enjoying Perfect for Me, and that's (kind of) Twilight/Twilight shipping...
Two really good fics, and I've already read and appreciated them! Still, definitely four-stars for each.
ReplyDeleteAs for the others... I'm going to quote from one of my favorite books.
"He who would pun, would pick a pocket."
Guess who went down a tremendous rabbit hole trying to find out who was the originator of that phrase? I didn't find a conclusive answer, sadly. Ah well.
Delete"Arrival" really worked for me, thanks for the recommendation! Another interesting crop as always.
ReplyDelete