Ponyfic Roundup 419

Read it Later story count: 91 (-4)

It's finally getting colder here. I've been wearing my winter coat for the first time in many months, and today I even put on a thin pair of gloves. It's not that cold (as I type it's just over five degrees) but after a very mild earlier autumn it's still a minor shock to the system. With heating costs here now outstripping the budgets of many small countries, it's good to snuggle up with a bit of escapist equine literature. This week, I'm looking at four stories. I bet you're shocked, aren't you?

Queen of Clubs by horizon
Don't Look Back in Anger by Super Trampoline
No sugarcube to you by TheValdetiosi
Am I Senna? by Apple Lauda

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

Queen of Clubs by horizon
Sombra, Luna, Changelings and OC
G4; Romance/Dark/Tragedy; 11k words; Jan 2018; Teen (Sex, Violence)

Drying Paint has fallen head-over-hooves in love with a delinquent young alicorn, Luna, who just transferred to his school. He's about to find out where she goes on the weekends ... and the danger of the darkness that awaits him there.

This story has been described by horizon himself as "[l]iterally the story of how gothic clubbing destroyed the Crystal Empire" – and it's hard to do better than that. Since this is a canon-compliant fic, we already know where Sombra and Luna will end up centuries hence, so the [Tragedy] tag is perhaps a given. The journey there is a fascinating one, however. Fascinating world-building here, including an interesting look at changelings from long before "A Canterlot Wedding" came about. ("Loveless" is a name horizon plays with excellently.) The fic is grounded in much more ordinary school stuff, though, including bullying and teenage crushes. Meanwhile, we see the seeds of Luna's future rift with Celestia, but here it's a side of younger Luna that is not at all the common one. (Okay, the "going to gothic clubs with skulls on the walls" bit might be.) As to whether Luna's words or actions had anything to do with Sombra's embitterment... well, spoilers. But this is both really good and really interestingly different, and that's a combination I can get right behind. An easy recommendation. ★★★★

Don't Look Back in Anger by Super Trampoline
Sunset Shimmer and Flash Sentry
G4 EqG; Romance/Slice of Life; 1k words; Sep 2017; Teen (Narcotics)

So Celly can wait; she know's it's too late, as we're walking on by.

Hey now! By Super Trampoline's standards, this is a fairly straightforward fic, but basing it (loosely) on Oasis's excellent song is an intriguing idea. Sunset and Flash are on Earth – ours, not the CHS version, it seems – and for the Britpop angle they're in the UK. The fic is apparently inspired by the Britpop era rather than being actually set in the 1990s, but that doesn't really matter. It's all about the relationship between the two stars. This is pleasantly written and, although Flash doesn't get a lot to say as it's largely Sunset's story, the narrative is smoothly told. I liked Sunset's thoughts about how Celestia forgave her when they finally met again, and how that seems to rather annoy her. The British setting doesn't really convince, however: "molly" is a mainly American name for MDMA that's less used in the UK. "Mandy" would be more convincing, though for general readers "ecstasy" or "Es" would do it. (I'll let the Shamen point this out.) Also, beyond the M25 isn't necessarily rural (Slough!) and then there's the whole idea of the "London countryside". Er, what?¹ I actually think the fic might have worked better set somewhere that wasn't London. A few odd typos, too, in particular "Suade". However, points for ignoring that awful dirge "Wonderwall". Some might say that was an excellent decision in the end.² A top-end two that wouldn't have needed much alteration to make the threes. ★★
¹ Okay, strictly speaking there is countryside within the boundaries of Greater London, but precious little
² Talking of the end, there's a weird but surprisingly amusing "Sovietisation" of the fic by Fiddlebottoms as an endnote.

No sugarcube to you by TheValdetiosi
Applejack, Caramel, Big Mac, Pinkie Pie and Rarity
G4; Romance/Sad/Tragedy; 1k words; May 2012; Teen (Sex)

Caramel started to think, if Applejack isn't the right mare he wants.

I can't remember whether this ship (Carajack? Applemel?) was popular in the early days of the fandom, but I don't see why not. In this fic, Caramel has been working at Sweet Apple Acres for a month and a thoughtless throwaway comment by Pinkie (in full early-S1 hyperdrive mode) sets him to wondering whether Applejack is into him any more. A reasonable setup, but it falls down on the execution. At no time does Caramel actually talk to AJ about this, he just pines and cries and comes to the conclusion that she doesn't like him. Also, the English is rather broken at times, to the extent that I wonder whether the author has English as their first language. (Example: "The newest model were having an auto-hammering.") Unless you're such a big fan of this ship that you want to read everything about it, I'd probably give this one a miss. ★

Am I Senna? by AppleLauda
OC [self-insert] and Twilight
G4; Slice of Life; 1k words; Feb 2022; Everyone

AppleLauda noticed that something in his driving style, which looks similar to a famous Brazilian F1 driver

"Story based on true events", so sayeth the longdesc. AppleLauda performs very well at a sim racing game, and when he also mentions the feelings he had at seeing the Brazilian flag for the first time, his friends Twilight and Starlight start to believe that he may be the reincarnation of Ayrton Senna. If you're an F1 fan, you might think that AppleLauda's name was relevant, but it's never brought up in-fic. In truth, this story doesn't really go anywhere. Yes, the real-life references are accurate, which is good. But there's way too much unnecessary detail of the "through Eau Rouge and Raidillion" type that won't mean anything to non-aficionados. Mind you, this is definitely the first fic I've ever read which contains the sentence "Starlight opens a portal that brings them to Ayrton Senna's grave." Even for someone who liked Senna's era of F1, though, this is a fic that seems mostly to exist for the author to fanboy over Senna and maybe also vicariously boast about their skill at sim racing. AppleLauda (the real one) has written a bunch of other racing-themed stories, but slowing down and paying some attention to story construction, characterisation and capitalisation would probably pay more dividends than approaching everything at eleven tenths. ★

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Next week, I hope that stories reviewed will include WovenTales' tragic drama The Last Year of Starswirl the Bearded.