Ponyfic Roundup 460: New Blood Contest winners, part 1

Read it Later story count: 94 (nc)

Words read this week: 26,255

Welcome to the first half of a two-part special edition of Ponyfic Roundup, in which I'll cover some of the stories entered for the New Blood Contest. This was open only to accounts created in 2020 or later, and 12 of the 29 entered fics ended up getting some kind of recognition. I shall be having a look at all of those over the next fortnight. Let's get going with the first half dozen!

The Champion by GrangeDisplay
Starry Nights Over Knossos by sirenc0re
Secret Garden by Discombobulated Soul
The Ponyville Files by LastToTheParty
Sisters' Moon by WaywardSon
Blood and Glamour by Mindscape

★: 0 | ★★: 2 | ★★★: 4 | ★★★★: 0 | ★★★★★: 0
Note: I use a skewed rating system. A fic I enjoy an average amount scores two stars.

Ponyfic Roundup 459

Read it Later story count: 94 (+4)

Words read this week: 35,752

Absolutely not to my surprise, my RiL list has grown this week. Even though I haven't added all the prizewinners in the New Blood and (second) Thousand Words Contests, I've found several more fics while wandering around links connected to those. I'm actually quite startled that I've kept the total as low as I have; it could have ended up going past 100!

Discord Message by False Door
Secret Admirer by Hotel_Chicken
Naval Gazing by Pascoite
The Sweet Spot by Piccolo Sky
Pegasus of Raphinae by Mica

★: 0 | ★★: 0 | ★★★: 5 | ★★★★: 0 | ★★★★★: 0
Note: I use a skewed rating system. A fic I enjoy an average amount scores two stars.

Thousand Words Contest II results are out!

Before I begin, though: for the first time in quite some while, there will be a short delay to Ponyfic Roundup this week. I've just been snowed under with stuff, some of it fun stuff to be sure, but stuff nevertheless. As such I don't think I can read all this week's fics by Wednesday without rushing, something which would be unfair to the authors. That being so, Ponyfic Roundup will appear on Friday this week.

All right, meta stuff out of the way. The "A Thousand Words Contest II" has been a tremendous success, with no fewer than 168 entries. Even allowing for the shortness of the fics, that is a quite staggering number for a ponyfic contest held four years after Friendship is Magic left the stage. (2022's inaugural edition saw 106 entries, itself a remarkable number.)

The winners and honourable mentionees are detailed in the official results post. I've only had time to skim down the list, but I'm already excited by some of the things I've seen. And to answer the obvious question: yes, I most certainly do intend to review all the stories name-checked!¹ You'll have to wait a bit, though, as New Blood Contest stories will be reviewed first.
¹ And a few more that didn't make the winners' circle, probably in standard Roundups.

I would have been quite staggered had Out of Light Cometh Darkness got anywhere, and indeed it didn't. It's actually had a pleasing reception from readers, but there is more than one clear weakness in the fic. I really wanted to do a horror story but I struggled somewhat with making it work. I don't regret the attempt, though, and it's a genre I may have another go at sometime.

If as we all hope the Thousand Words Contest returns for a third edition next year, I will definitely want to enter. It does depend a little on how it's set up, since there are certain types of ponyfic that interest me more than others. But it was satisfying to be part of so big an event in 2023, and I'd love to think they could get an even larger entry count next time around!

Many thanks are due to Bicyclette for running the contest and to the judges who ended up with a substantially larger workload than they probably anticipated! Also, of course, to everyone who took the time to write something to enter. It's benefited me, too: Out of Light... was my third published fic this year – the first time I've managed more than two in a year since my four in 2016.

Ponyfic Roundup 458

Read it Later story count: 90 (nc)

Words read this week: 34,034

A weather record set in the last week: for the first time since records began, a September in the UK saw 30 °C or more recorded somewhere each day for seven days straight. Things have since gone back to normal, though, with temperatures down to the upper teens and some rain around as well. Heh, it strikes me that I'm committing a cardinal sin of ponyfic by starting with a weather report! So let's get on to the actual stories:

Room by AstralMouse
Shadow Unto Crystal by enne
Coco Powder by PaulAsaran
A Strange Tea Party Indeed by Aray
Waffles by Ninjadeadbeard

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

My Little Repeats 147: "Rock Solid Friendship"

"And I know that my harp will go on..."

S7E04: "Rock Solid Friendship"

29 Apr 2017

My original rating: ★★★
IMDb score: 8.2

The one with "Land of Hope and Glory" (well, ish)

Thoughts: In 2017 I enjoyed this episode, especially the Maud/Starlight scenes, and as you'd expect from a Nick Confalone episode there was some funny dialogue too. However, Pinkie's portrayal really grated. Not much has changed this time around. I still like the chemistry between Maud and Starlight, and I'm a bit sad that didn't really go anywhere; I suppose Trixie took up all Glimmy's time. The backstory about Our Town is still a "whoa" moment. Pinkie is, yes, still really irritating and my least favourite part of the episode. That massive cavern is still pretty stupid. You know, some of these thoughts have been getting long recently, but this one? Not so much. Little has changed. Still a top-end three.

Choice quote: Maud: "It's a rock-based decision."

New rating: ★★★

Next on the list is "Fluttershy Leans In". I don't always get on with late-series Fluttershy episodes, and this was decidedly not a favourite the first time around. I'll be surprised if it makes a big jump upwards.

New Blood Contest results announced

I've been keeping half an eye on the New Blood Contest, a Fimfiction-based event reserved for accounts set up since 2020. And now the results are in. There were 33 submissions, of which 29 were valid entries – not at all bad for a contest with such a restrictive entry policy. Counting Honourable Mentions and Bonus Prizes, there were 12 stories which gained some kind of recognition. Given that all the fics were short, I think that should easily translate into a two-post special edition of Ponyfic Roundup in the near future!

Ponyfic Roundup 457

Read it Later story count: 90 (-1)

Words read this week: 34,865

I talked about weather last week, and I'm going to talk about weather this week. I said it was infuriating, and this time it's reacted by offering up some of the warmest, sunniest weather of what's been a rather mediocre extended summer apart from June. 27 °C (81 °F) as I type this at 5pm. Good weather for reading ponyfic in the garden, though! This time I'm reviewing:

Succession by archonix
Flower Wars by Shaslan
Princess Celestia's Private Library by Shrink Laureate
Fun & Games by False Door
Scootaloo, Formula One Driver by SockPuppet

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

Non-Pony: More His Dark Materials reread coming up on my Dreamwidth

Yes, I've finally got to the point where I have enough time to start on The Subtle Knife, book two of Philip Pullman's trilogy. I'm not going to go on about it here, but as with book one I'll be doing a chapter-by-chapter blog on my Dreamwidth. I hope to match the two-chapters-per-week pace of Northern Lights. Anyone interested can follow along by using the "hdm reread" tag I'm using for all such posts. Indeed, if you want to read back to my Northern Lights posts, you can use the tag for that too. As before, comments will be enabled even for non-Dreamwidth members.