Ponyfic Roundup 407

Read it Later story count: 92 (+2) 

The final Ponyfic Roundup of meteorological summer is upon us. Unless you're somewhere that has different seasons, or is in the Southern Hemisphere, in which case fill in your own appropriate phrase. Four more fics to consider today, and they're as follows:

Who We Are by kits
A Clean Break by Circumlocution
The Ones We Can't See by applejackofalltrades
Flat-Earth Fluttershy by Jinzhou

★: 0 | ★★: 1 | ★★★: 3 | ★★★★: 0 | ★★★★★: 0
Note: I use a skewed rating system. A fic I enjoy an average amount scores two stars.

Who We Are by kits
Mane Six
G4; Slice of Life; 17k words; Aug–Oct 2012; Everyone

A chilling letter from Celestia throws the girls' world upsidedown

It is some time after the events of the S2 finale, so the fact that the letter sent to Twilight basically says, "One of you girls is a changeling" is a big deal. A very big deal. We see most of this rather cleverly wrought fic in a third-person omniscient perspective, but every so often there's a small look inside the changeling's head. The key point is that we do not know who that is, any more than Twilight does. Indeed, even though Twi has a spell for unmasking changelings, she agonises about the implications of casting it – on the "pony" concerned, on her friends, on their friendships, on her. And since we're likewise in the dark, so do we, even as perhaps we suspect one or another pony of being the infiltrator. There's an additional factor in that PinkieDash is an established fact from the start; what if one of them is the one hiding a secret? This story holds up remarkably well considering everything that's changed (about changelings and otherwise) in canon since 2012. A little irritating LUS here and there, but by the standards of the era it's really not too bad. It's doubtless lost a little of its impact since its day, its message no longer feeling especially fresh, but although Chris had serious moral problems with it even in 2014, for me it largely holds up as a decent changeling story. ★★★

A Clean Break by Circumlocution
Soarin and Shining Armor
G4; Romance; 7k words; Jan 2015; Mature (Sex)

Cadence wasn't Shining's first love. Far from it. But it didn't matter. He'd moved on. Right?

The thing is, as we quickly find out, Shining was getting it on with Soarin while he was dating Cadance. As it turns out, this is not as big a problem as it might appear. What is a problem is that there seems to be unfinished business between the two stallions. This is really a fic of two halves. In the first, the two guys confront each other about their shared past. In the second... well, the only chapter is titled "Stuff happens, they bang, et cetera", so it's hardly a spoiler to say that's where the M rating comes in. The cloppy stuff is pretty well written and a good read, allowing for the fact that I'm not someone who's generally on the lookout for such material. It's probably close to being as appealing (to me) as explicit M/M sex could be, though. Cadance's own role in all this was a pleasant surprise: so many authors would have gone the predictable threesome route. Not here. I'm not sure I quite buy the premise, but I've read a whole lot worse. ★★★

The Ones We Can't See by applejackofalltrades
Applejack
G4; Slice of Life; 2k words; Jul 2022; Everyone

Applejack learns to speak to the thunder.

Here we have one of the many fics about AJ and her dead parents, but this is a take I've not seen before. The first scene takes place when her mum (only) is still around, and explains to AJ that thunderstorms are how dead family can still get in touch. (This isn't done in a mystical, literal way, which makes it more effective.) Then we fast forward to modern times, with AJ in the orchard during a storm, and we eavesdrop on her conversation. It's quiet (despite the thunder), touching and effective, and it's all brought to a nice and suitably simple conclusion, too. Quite a high three. ★★★

Flat-Earth Fluttershy by Jinzhou
Fluttershy and Twilight
G4; Comedy/Random/Slice of Life; 1k words; Jun 2020; Everyone

Fluttershy is a flat-earther. Twilight doesn't like that.

Flutters is at Twi's library and picks her up on the phrase "around the world" because, so sayeth 'Shy, the world is flat. It's a little too close for comfort at times to how real flat-earthers (and they still exist) dismiss scientific objections. Given this story's publication date, I just wonder if some of the anti-science prats tweeting about Covid at the time may have been an influence. Total guess! Anyway, this fic is stupid and short and generally fairly funny with it, which excuses most things. Not giving Fluttershy an apparently limited capacity to understand only mildly complex English vocabulary at one point, though. There is, unsurprisingly, a latish twist that puts 'Shy's behaviour into a new context. This will probably divide readers; I found it both amusing and irritating, given this is set as late as S4. As such, this goes at the top end of two-star territory, but it's still worth a look as an undemanding bit of silliness for your tea-break collection. ★★

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Next time, I'll have a themed edition! I'll be looking at the multi-author "song-stopping ponies" anthology Verse Averse: Tales of the Versebreakers. I've had this on my RiL list for ages, so it's high time I got on with reviewing it.