Ponyfic Roundup 538

Read it Later story count: 92 (+2)

Words read this week: 18,252

The hot weather has gone now, although it's still pleasant enough. Not a lot going on in terms of small-scale domestic stuff. People are preparing for tomorrow's VE Day 80 celebrations, but those are mostly of the fairly low-key "put a few Union Flags¹ up" kind. As far as ponyfic goes: as trailed last time, only having five days instead of seven to read this week's stories (and write up their reviews) has meant I couldn't risk having a high word count. I hope that the lack of words will not mean a lack of interest!

¹ The common modern insistence that "Union Jack" is only correct when it's flown from a ship's jackstaff is pretty footling. The term "jack" as applied to flags predates the use of jackstaffs by over a century, as the Flag Institute points out.

Wrong Turn by saarni
Reflection by Moproblems Moharmoney
Fixer-Upper by hoofbeatsoftime
Spike Destroys (Creates) Everything by Surry
The Wealth of the World by very trustworthy rodent

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

Wrong Turn by saarni
Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie
G4; Sad/Slice of Life; 2k words; Aug 2019; Teen

Pinkie Pie, lost and alone in an unfamiliar town, takes a wrong turn into a whole lot of trouble. Is she about to have a very bad night or will there be a ray of hope?

Pinkie's arrived in Canterlot, but she's surprised to find it's not all castles and beauty. In one of the meaner backstreets she's menaced by strangers in a way similar to that experienced by many lone female travellers in our own world. How Equestrian that is... well, that's an interesting question, but I think the scene works here. Things look like taking a very dark turn indeed for a while, and even the arrival of a brash pegasus (not then known to Pinkie) doesn't automatically solve everything. The ending is a bit too simple and neat, albeit this being pre-canon we know that the two will become friends; and though after the worrying opening readers may like that, I'd have preferred less of a diminuendo. High two. ★★

Reflection by Moproblems Moharmoney
Twilight, Rarity and Diamond Dogs
G4 AU; Dark/Drama/Slice of Life; 5k words; Nov 2022; Teen

Rarity has an important question for her close friend, Twilight Sparkle.

In this universe, though, Twilight isn't a pony; she's a diamond dog. This is revealed dramatically near the start of the fic, but since the cover art gives it away I see no reason not to mention it here. The author makes this unlikely setup work, partly through some excellent sprinkling of worldbuilding (ponies' attitudes to DD!Twi's leather clothing are interesting) but even more with a great portrayal of Rarity. Her friend is deeply troubled, but Rarity's generosity is put to full use. Don't expect everything to be neatly fixed show-style – indeed, this story led to a small universe – but to borrow Casketbase77's comment, it's a very fine mood piece. Recommended to all, but particularly strongly so for Rarity fans. ★★★★

Fixer-Upper by hoofbeatsoftime
Rainbow Dash and Applejack
G4; Romance/Slice of Life; 2k words; Jul 2023; Everyone

Rainbow Dash and Applejack get moved into their new house and, subsequently, their new lives.

Yes, this is a shipfic – but it doesn't hit all the same notes as usual, even when something happens later on that makes you almost certain it will. As the longdesc states, Rainbow doesn't even know why she wants to move in with AJ. Still, as that title suggests, the house they've acquired is going to need some work, and we follow them through some of that. A nice little character piece that uses present tense narration to good effect. Nothing earth-shattering here, but a perfectly pleasant and enjoyable bit of fluff, and just enough avoidance of cliché for a low-end three. ★★★

Spike Destroys (Creates) Everything by Surry
Spike and Twilight
G4; Comedy/Random/Slice of Life; 1k words; Apr 2014; Everyone

Spike tries to write a bad self-insert fiction.

That shortdesc, and Twilight's advice on improving it, pretty much make up the entire story. It's gently amusing at times, and I like the clear bond between the two principals. There just isn't much to it, though. I will admit to a chuckle at the mildly meta ending, but it could probably have done with being expanded just a bit. As a Fimfiction commenter notes, it feels like it was cut off before its time. On the other hand, being so short means you won't lose much by giving it a look. ★★

The Wealth of the World by very trustworthy rodent
OCs
G4; Dark; 8k words; Sep 2015; Teen

The reformers' movement of nineteenth century Equestria takes a turn for the radical when a group of like-minded isolationists found their own liberated community on an empty island.

Sounds dense, and when I say that the story is inspired by Nathaniel Hawthorne's 1844 story Earth's Holocaust (Gutenberg link) it may sound even denser. But even to me as someone only sketchily familiar with that tale, The Wealth of the World was fascinating. It's told in the familiar "I am setting down a record of these events" style so familiar to Victorian literature itself, and that works well. The characters are interesting and varied, and although you can easily see coming the general way that determined idealism spirals into fundamentalism and violence, each stage of that feels logical to the story. I have two reservations. The lesser of the two is that the setup involves Celestia being really somewhat unfeeling towards ponies over a taxation petition. This isn't AU, so I'm not sure where that comes from. More significantly, The Wealth of the World really doesn't feel especially Pony. I'm not the first to note this – here's Skywriter, for example – but in spite of a spirited defence by the author in both the story's own comments and this comment in the original Write-Off thread, I think the criticism remains valid. This is partly personal preference, but I tend to enjoy stories which couldn't so easily have the serial numbers filed off to become human original fiction. It's still a very readable story if you don't mind the prose style, and short enough that there's little risk in reading it to see whether you do. After some thought, a lowish four-star rating. Recommended with the aforementioned reservations. ★★★★ 

---

A rather better experience than I had last time around, so indeed the low word count did not end up meaning a dull slate for me. I'm currently in the final stages of selecting a story to be my next Spotlight Review, so you can expect that pretty soon now, probably this month. Next week, though, it'll be the usual mixed bag of five fics, although this time there's a mid-length story in with the four shorts. The tales under review will be:

The Scars of the Past by Lil Penpusher
Hobby Horse by a kobold
The Tower of the Fallen Star by Raleigh
All Our Villains are Horny by billymorph
Night of the Living Plushies by Moonlight Bloom