Read it Later story count: 92 (nc)
Words read this week: 24,995
Rarity the Anarchist by Blarghalt
All Things Being Equal by Obsidian Chitin
The Muse of Fire by Lets Do This
Pictures of Lily by cleverpun
Ponyville, Our Ponyville by Botched Lobotomy
★: 0 | ★★: 0 | ★★★: 4 | ★★★★: 1 | ★★★★★: 0
Note: I use a skewed rating system. A fic I enjoy an average amount scores two stars.
Rarity the Anarchist by Blarghalt
Rarity and Sweetie Belle
G4; Slice of Life; 2k words; Oct 2018; Everyone
Sweetie Belle discovers one of Rarity's long-held trade secrets. And she thought Discord was chaotic.
A cute little story in which Sweetie, investigating parts of the Boutique that perhaps she should not, discovers a basement room which looks like a bomb's hit it. This turns out to be Rarity's "Anarchy Room", where none of the rules (well, nearly none) apply and fashion disaster and creativity can blend. A simple idea and one that probably wouldn't sustain a much longer story, but said idea is one that fits Rarity to a tee, and it's nicely executed and solidly written. As such, a pretty comfortable three-star rating to start the week. ★★★
All Things Being Equal by Obsidian Chitin
Fluttershy, Twilight and Starlight
G4 AU; Drama; 4k words; Jan 2024; Everyone
It's been a year since Fluttershy left Ponyville. She's been enjoying her new life at a quaint little village, though there's a little matter she wants Twilight's help with.
In this AU, Fluttershy stayed in Our Town. Twilight's visit reveals that 'Shy's absence meant disaster as the other Manes couldn't use the Elements to defend against Tirek. Nevertheless, Twi hasn't come to Starlight's village only to berate Fluttershy. There's another matter to consider as well. A particularly interesting take on what the village's equality could mean, and an ending that if it doesn't give everyone what they wanted does feel believable in this universe. Another solid three. ★★★
The Muse of Fire by Lets Do This
Twilight, Pinkie, Rainbow Dash, Spike and Dragons
G4 AU; Adventure/Comedy; 14k words; Sep 2023; Everyone
Earth-pony Twilight and her friends discover a world of fire, which may offer clues to the past of all the worlds. That is, if they can manage to escape its dangerously powerful inhabitants...
For the background to this fic to make much sense, you need to have read the previous instalments in the series, which began with When Ponies Fly (PR 416). This story is the fourth in the sequence and I think something of an uptick over the previous instalment. As the title might suggest, there are strong echoes of "Gauntlet of Fire" here, with a society of dragons with a Dragon Lord (well, an absent one...) and another character who will probably remind you of a certain canon dragon. Arguably the parallels are too strong just occasionally and make parts of the story rather too predictable, which is a pity but not a dealbreaker. Both Twilight and Spike get fine and important roles here, though Rainbow and Pinkie move a little more to the margins as we go on. If it weren't for the predictability, this would have had a shot at a four; as it is, it's a top-end three. That's still above average, after all. ★★★
Pictures of Lily by cleverpun
Fluttershy, Twilight and Lily
G4; Romance/Comedy/Slice of Life; 3k words; Apr 2013; Everyone
After purchasing a pin-up calender, Fluttershy learns that crushes don't always turn out quite the way you pictured.
This fic is named after a 1967 The Who song, which made me like it before even reading it. Fluttershy can't stop looking at the photo of Lily in the charity calendar she's bought. It's not just her appearance, gorgeous as that is: it's her poise and style as well. Yup, she has a crush. But then Twilight appears, and seeing the, er, "haunch-heavy camerawork" in the calendar raises an eyebrow or two. Twi knows Lily, after all. Still, Flutters persuades Twilight to act wingmare for a restaurant date ('Shy hopes), and... well, that's enough spoilers. It's a story to make you smile and occasionally chuckle, rather than roar, but it accomplishes that well enough. I saw the ending coming, bt it was still amusing. I think this is another three-star fic this week! ★★★
Ponyville, Our Ponyville by Botched Lobotomy
Granny Smith, Mayor Mare, Caramel, Mrs Cake and Other
G4; Slice of Life; 1k words; Jun 2024; Everyone
A sculpture of Ponyville as it was.
I've read a couple of this author's experimental stories and not quite clicked with them. You could argue that this is also experimental, but this time I liked it a lot more. This isn't a conventional fic, but more a series of impressions – some more straightforward than others. There are stories we know here, but also glimpses and half-glimpses of things we might know or never did. Granny Smith is of course so bound up with the very existence of Ponyville that she is the perfect central character for this, even though her name is used only once, and is followed almost immediately by something startling. For whatever reason, this one did click with me. A lot. It's so short that there's no reason not to at least see whether it does the same for you. ★★★★
There's only one more sleep Ponyfic Roundup to Christmas, so I'll give it a seasonal spin. Five stories as usual, but with a Hearth's Warming touch. To be precise, as Thompson (or possibly Thomson) would say, these five:
The Forgiveness Festival by DegeTheMighty
Shouldering a Holiday Burden by Ghost Mike
Limestone Reluctantly Preserves the Pie Family Hearthswarming by Harmlesskitten13
Silent Night by Serina
The Family That Chooses You by SmokeTester
last week was one of the most successful slates in the history of Ponyfic Roundup.
ReplyDeleteCan you recall any instance of a higher rating average? I can't! Though it would only take 3 four-stars and 2 five-stars, this is true.
I too felt The Muse of Fire was a rebound from Pinkie Pegasus, mostly for facilitating an action-adventure and sense of exploration once again, even though it does so in a way that does make it harder yet again for more of that in the future. But otherwise, the highs in the mystery and awe of the series' first instalment, When Ponies Fly, remains out of reach.
I do wonder if that might be it for the series – not only has Lets Do This not written more in the fifteen months since the fic, they've only had one other fic period, and that was only two weeks after this, meaning they've been absent from the ponyfic writing game for 14 months now.
Otherwise, Botched Lobotomy's stories remain something I can only go for under the right conditions, but intriguing to see this experimental one clicked for you when most don't.
As for next week…
Shouldering a Holiday Burden by Ghost Mike
Aw, really? I mean, I'm pumped and grateful, bud, but did you have to go and pick my earliest story? I don't think it's bad, by any means – I'd be surprised if it got less than 3 stars from you, being honest – but with three newer Jinglemas stories to choose from, all with enough festive theming to them to still fit this seasonal roundup (the most recent of which I feel vies as being my best story), and all with lower traffic counts I'd rather see boosted than the 1.5K this one has, I am wincing a bit at seeing this old dinosaur* dug up. But, I'll keep a solid outlook. Knowing how much you value affable, engaging characterisation is one solid point in its favour going in, at least.
* Okay, four years, but you know.
Shouldering a Holiday Burden is on there partly because it's your oldest story. As you may remember from the FoME edition, I tend to find it interesting to look back like that. It's also on because it's been on my RiL list for years and I don't want to just drop it from consideration.
DeleteOf course, I don't intend to read that and then never read a story of yours again! As you know, I may take a while to reach my destinations, but I do generally get there!