Ponyfic Roundup 468: Thousand Word Contest II winners, part 3 of 4

Read it Later story count: 97 (nc)

Words read this week: 12,000

This is being published just a tad later than I'd intended, so I hope you didn't suffer too much from being kept on tenterhooks! We're getting ever higher into the batch of successful stories from the Thousand Words Contest II, and in this penultimate part I'll complete my reviews of the Judge's Prize fics and also cover the Bronze Medallists. That means twelve – count 'em – stories on the slate, so let's waste no more time:

Judge's Prize fics

The Pact by Unimpressive Chaos Lord
The Trees of Harmony by Reviewfilly
Cherry Pits by The Red Parade
Hall of Mirrors by RB_
Magic is Most Imminent by heartlessons

Bronze Medallists

The Swing by metronome
I Can't Ask Fluttershy Out by SparklingTwilight
Hop-Frog Afternoon by Pascoite
Through Time, With Love by daOtterGuy
Medusa by NorrisThePony
An Unroyal Wedding by Shrink Laureate
Frag/ment/ed by Dashie04

★: 0 | ★★: 1 | ★★★: 7 | ★★★★: 4 | ★★★★★: 0
Note: I use a skewed rating system. A fic I enjoy an average amount scores two stars.

The Pact by Unimpressive Chaos Lord
Other
G1; Drama/Tragedy; 1k words; Jun 2023; Teen

Desperation can tarnish the noblest intentions, especially when dealing with forces beyond our understanding. And as incomprehensible as they are, so is their price.

I went back and forth a bit about whether to redact the gen marker on this, but I don't think it especially harms the story. After all, exactly what's going on is sufficient mystery anyway. I like the idea and the characters involved, but it's harmed a bit by being wordy and lacking somewhat in, well, drama. Highish two. ★★

The Trees of Harmony by Reviewfilly
Applejack and Mane Six
G4; Sad/Slice of Life; 1k words; Jun 2023; Everyone

Five trees stand at the end of Applejack's orchard. Today, she has to visit them.

There have been hundreds of "she's the last Mane Sixer alive" stories, but they tend to focus on Twilight. This doesn't. Instead, AJ is the only Bearer left. She visits each tree in turn, something that could easily drag horribly but doesn't, thanks to the subtly different ways in which they respond. An ending that hits the feels, too. Top-end three. ★★★

Cherry Pits by The Red Parade
Big Mac
G4; Dark/Horror; 1k words; Jul 2023; Teen

It's been two years and I'm still alone.

Another example of this author's tendency to the opaque. That's not always or altogether a bad thing in horror: the sense of dread here is heightened by the uncertainty about Big Mac's experience, and the fic absolutely succeeds in being highly disconcerting. The snag is that it's all so mysterious that I think many readers may decide to give up and move on. My rating is a blend of four for the excellent atmosphere and two for the frustratingly obscure meaning. ★★★

Hall of Mirrors by RB_
Pinkie Pie
G4 EqG; Horror; 1k words; Jun 2023; Teen

Sometimes, Pinkie sees things that aren't there. Sometimes, those things are there. Sometimes, they see her back.

Mirrors are inherently creepy when you think about it, so there's no surprise they're so common in horror stories. This is a significantly damaged Pinkie, as we're to discover quietly and unobtrusively, which makes the radar wonder how reliable a narrator she is. The ending just makes it the more disturbing. Quite memorable. ★★★★

Magic is Most Imminent by heartlessons
Cheerilee and OC
G4 EqG; Comedy/Slice of Life; 1k words; Jun 2023; Teen

Not everything can be planned for. Cheerilee does her best.

This is a neat twist on a journal- or letter-based story, being instead first a collection of notes left by Cheerilee for a substitute teacher,¹ and second that teacher's responses. It's a cute idea, pretty nicely realised with a fun twist quietly popping up in passing at the end. Top-end three, I think. ★★★
¹ Supply teacher in the UK, though the American term is becoming ever more common.

The Swing by metronome
Applejack and Big Mac 
G4; Drama/Slice of Life ; 1k words; Jun 2023; Everyone

As her dad's birthday draws near, Applejack can't even reminisce right.

Bright Mac would have been 40, and the knowledge weighs heavy on AJ's mind. One memory that's particularly important to her is the old swing she was pushed on as a young fully... but Big Mac doesn't remember it. A heartbreaking story of what memory can do when it comes into contact with love. It certainly hit me heavily in the feels. ★★★★

I Can't Ask Fluttershy Out by SparklingTwilight
Fluttershy
G4; Romance/Drama/Sad/Human; 1k words; Jun 2023; Everyone

Fluttershy's human counterpart wants a date with the kind mare but success is elusive.

Note the tags here: this is not a story about pony Fluttershy falling for EqG Fluttershy. Instead, it's a human of our own type, one who sees see many parallels. This is an Earth with ponies, which inevitably makes a reader think of Admiral Biscuit's work, and that's not a bad thing. I do find the ponies' utter repulsed incomprehension at humans eating meat a bit hard to swallow, but when the focus is on the human's feelings for and about 'Shy it's quite gripping at times. High three. ★★★

Hop-Frog Afternoon by Pascoite
Fluttershy and Dinky
G4; Slice of Life; 1k words; Jul 2023

Dinky follows in her mother’s hoofsteps: just a little bit different. So naturally when she finds an interesting frog in the forest, the correct answer is to see where it takes her.

Readers of Pascoite's classic Dinkin' Donuts (PR 424) will smile at this story's title. The shortdesc gives you a good idea, but honestly, although I wasn't initially a massive fan of a frog name (not often I get to write that!) a companion name put the smile firmly back. it's a really sweet little fic, and not only because a certain yellow mare features, and though it's not quite in the same class as the story mentioned above (so yeah, the 3-4-5 star progression for me reviews of Pascoite fics is finally broken) I do think it's likely to make most readers feel warm inside.  ★★★★

Through Time, With Love by daOtterGuy
Braeburn and Soarin
G4; Romance/Slice of Life; 1k words; Jul 2023; Everyone

Soarin and Braeburn find each other over several lifetimes.

In fact, most of this fic doesn't contain either of the tagged characters. Well... it does and it doesn't. Hard to say too much without spoiling the details, but the idea that the duration of love isn't limited by anything as simple as death is strong. Gender is lightly played with, and the ending is satisfying. This has quite a few downvotes; it certainly won't be getting one from me. I'd maybe have liked a slightly longer version than this contest allowed, but still quite an impressive amount of emotion in such a brief space. ★★★

Medusa by NorrisThePony
Seaponies and OC
G4; Horror/Sad; 1k words; Jun 2023; Teen (Gore)

Medusa is like every other seapony. She's just a little ill, right now.

Medusa is inspired by something in real-life nature, which I won't spoil but which is mentioned in the end A/N. The point here being that the ocean has some very strange and disturbing things, and so the seaponies' world is unlikely to be much different in that regard. Some great misdirection here, though I won't spoil in what way. Body horror, feels and a clever (and, again, disturbing) parallel with our world's Medusa story, as the author notes in the Fimfiction comments. Probably my favourite fic this week. ★★★★

An Unroyal Wedding by Shrink Laureate
Lyra and Bon-Bon
G4; Romance/Comedy; 1k words; Jun 2023; Everyone

Lyra and Bon Bon are getting married. Lyra is definitely not a princess.

Quite the genre shift from the last fic! This one is light and silly. Very silly, with a story turning on how names can be mistaken for... other things. I smiled throughout and laughed heartily at a little Blueblood joke. Nothing terribly deep here, just a thousand words of amusing interplay. This is quite high in the three-star band. ★★★

Frag/ment/ed by Dashie04
OC
G4; Drama/Slice of Life; 1k words; Jul 2023; Teen (Narcotics)

I am not who I think I am...

Here's three Bronze winner for the Experimental category, and as you'd expect it's somewhat odd. Seven 100-word chapters are followed by one of 300 words. As for the story itself: it has unusual formatting, but it captures the feeling of uncertainty in someone struggling with something important, in this case thoughts about their gender. I can't claim to know what that's like, but the fic is thoughtful and sympathetic without being cloying. A good balance to strike. Don't fear the downvotes: I strongly suspect they're mostly down to the subject, not the quality of the story. Top-end three. ★★★

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Next time, it'll be the final Thousand Words Contest II edition – although I certainly won't rule out reading some of the non-winning stories as part of regular Roundups in the future. Next week, however, it will be the ten Silver and Gold Medallists under the spotlight. Three of the five Gold stories are by the same person, which is amazing. The list, then:

Silver Medallists

Her Mothers' Daughter, Unfortunately by TheDriderPony
For a Love of the Arts by The Red Parade
Compound Fracture by Equimorto
What Are You Doing, Stepfish? by TheDriderPony
D E A T H w i s h / meso, strato, tropo by The Red Parade

Gold Medallists

Don't Go Through. You Can't Stop Me. by daOtterGuy
The Woodcutter and the King of the Forest by TheInfamousFly
Bury It by daOtterGuy
Orinthomancy by daOtterGuy
Please don't do this by Kodeake