Read it Later story count: 87 (-2)
There were ten Bronze Medallists in the Thousand Words Contest, two in each of the five categories, so I split them into two for the purposes of Ponyfic Roundup. Today it's on to the second lot. I suspect one of my ratings this week will divide opinions, and perhaps rightly so, but I do at least try to explain why I've given it the number of stars I have.
Do You Remember? by The Sleepless Beholder
Of Rocks and Gems by Snow Quill
A Broken Crown by Dashie04
4:37 AM by Kris Overstreet
It Ur Flt Trixie (It's Your Fault Trixie) by Sparkling Twilight
★: 0 | ★★: 1 | ★★★: 3 | ★★★★: 1 | ★★★★★: 0
Note: I use a skewed rating system. A fic I enjoy an average amount scores two stars.
Do You Remember? by The Sleepless Beholder
Sunset Shimmer and Wallflower Blush
G4 EqG AU; Drama/Sad/Tragedy; 1k words; May 2022; Teen (Death)
Sunset wonders just how much Wallflower remembers of her.
The second Bronze Medallist to star Wallflower, after The Red Parade's Per My Last Email (PR 402). Do You Remember? is in the Angst category, and is inspired by the events of "Forgotten Friendship" (which you'll need to have seen to appreciate a crucial irony here). By the time of this fic, war has overtaken the world, although we're never told the causes and get only glimpses – including a real oof moment involving an animal we know, and a notable cameo from Rainbow Dash. It's not a happy tale, but the emotions are appropriate for the setting. Quite haunting and solidly written, though AU EqG war is possibly not the most appealing setup for me personally. Still well worthy of a three, though. ★★★
Of Rocks and Gems by Snow Quill
Rarity and Maud
G4 AU; Romance/Slice of Life; 1k words; Mar 2022; Everyone
A quiet evening has a rock considering a gem.
RariMaud is an uncommon ship, but the author does a good job of making it work in this Fluff fic. After all, what are the gems Rarity loves so much but beautiful rocks? My notes for this one contain the phrase "quietly cute", and I stand by that here. I enjoyed the incorporation of a little of Maud's poetry into the story, and the characterisation of both ponies is really very nice. This gently, unobtrusively took a ship I'd barely even considered and made me see how obvious it truly was. Excellent work. ★★★★
A Broken Crown by Dashie04
OCs and Twilight
G4 AU; Dark/Slice of Life/Tragedy; 1k words; Apr 2022; Teen (Death)
A dreary forest.
Written entirely as a dialogue between two unnamed OCs, this Grim fic isn't gory but it is instead bleak and sad. The OCs are burying Twilight, and it quickly becomes clear they were responsible – and that it was a hit job. As the conversation rolls on, we gradually uncover more of the gloomy background, filling in our blanks about what Equestria must have become. If you're into G4-G5 connections, this will probably have extra resonance, but I think it works as a pure G4 AU fic too. Arguably the dialogue verges a little on overly expositionary on occasion, despite leaving so many questions, but the world-building is very interesting and so a high three for me. ★★★
4:37 AM by Kris Overstreet
Starlight Glimmer
G4; Comedy; 1k words; May 2022; Everyone
Forty-three ponies, seventeen cows, eleven pigs, three goats... and one rooster. In one castle.
Twilight's placed them there to shelter them from the evil that the Mane Six are off fighting. However, nopony's told the urban Twilight about roosters, so Starlight is in for a shock. Yes, this is in Humo(u)r, and I particularly like how the author has fun with canon's inconsistencies on how sentient/sapient Equestrian livestock is. This is just fun, from Glimmy's inability to think of asking AJ (not in the story, but inferred by me) right through to the obvious but still funny final line. Light-hearted and entertaining. ★★★
It Ur Flt Trixie (It's Your Fault Trixie) by Sparkling Twilight
Twilight, Trixie and Starlight Glimmer
G4; Adventure/Comedy/Mystery; 1k words; May 2022; Teen (Profanity)
Trixie gets her friend and frenemy stuck with her in a miniature poem containing very few available letters. A/K/A "Trixie Ruins Haycartes Method"
Experimental – and how. Tremendously original, but often brain-meltingly so: this is a fic where "_! Fe ufe _!" (yes, in purple) is a relatively simple line. Lots of footnotes, which help but are a right pain when reading on a portable device as I was.¹ Importantly, this is a real story and not just a writing exercise, and once you've worked out what the hay is going on everypony is nicely in character. This is one of those fics where I feel unfair rating it as I have, but a top-end two stars fits for how much I enjoyed this as a story – I found it just too hard going. If I'd been rating it as a clever, canon-compatible puzzle, it would have rated four at a minimum, so if that appeals this one is still recommended despite the two. If I did Present Perfect-style ratings this would be "Recommended if you like a challenge". ★★
¹ They're all at the end, not iisaw-style after each paragraph
Next time, onwards and upwards as I take a look at the contest's five Silver Medallists.
AU EqG war? Sign me up! :D
ReplyDeleteAlso here for experimental garbage.
I mean, it's a good story. It's just not usually my kind of setup.
Delete"Garbage" is very far from how I feel about Sparkling Twilight's story. I think it's very impressive. I'm just not clever enough to really enjoy it. If you remember GroaningGreyAgony's Pinkamena's Wake, that gave me similar problems, though looking back (PR 145) I didn't find it as hard as this -- or as its inspiration!
That last one does present an interesting conundrum, and things like that have come up in writeoffs before. If it makes you feel any better, this is about how those kinds of things tend to go there as well. I remember only one in particular, but the consensus was that it was a clever puzzle and an okay story, the problem being that they don't work in tandem: the puzzle distracts from the story instead of enhancing it.
ReplyDeleteMaybe that's why I was so impressed with The Last Dreams of Pony Island. It was a puzzle that did manage to burn its characters into my mind.
Delete