Ponies (short story)

2010 short story by Kij Johnson

"Ponies" is a 2010 fantasy story by American writer Kij Johnson. It was first published on Tor.com.

## Plot summary

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Barbara, like all little girls, has a magic talking pony with wings and a horn. She and her pony, Sunny, are invited to a "cutting-out party" by a group of girls called TheOtherGirls and their leader, TopGirl, where she must remove two of Sunny's special features. Sunny is enthusiastic about the party at first, although admits that she will miss flying and having a horn, as she is keeping her voice. Barbara cuts away the horn and wings of Sunny, but TopGirl tells her that in order for Sunny to be accepted by the rest of the ponies, she must also take out her voice. Barbara is initially reluctant, but when Sunny realizes that Barbara intends to remove her voice, she attempts to flee and is pursued by the other ponies. Sunny can't defend herself without her horn, or fly away without her wings, so the ponies kill Sunny. TheOtherGirls leave to continue playing party games, and TopGirl tells Barbara that she is unwelcome because she doesn't have a pony.

## Reception

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"Ponies" won the 2010 Nebula Award for Best Short Story,[1] (tied with "How Interesting: A Tiny Man" by Harlan Ellison), and was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Short Story[2] and the World Fantasy Award for Best Short Story.[3]

Strange Horizons called the story a "grotesque".[4]Lois Tilton considered the story to be "Highly Unsubtle."[5] Chad Orzel described the story as "just dreadful", based on a central idea that was "preposterously contrived" and "a gigantic and unsubtle literalized metaphor", and with "essentially no plot."[6]

## References

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1. ^ Nebula Award Winners, at Science Fiction Writers of America; retrieved April 3, 2014
2. ^ 2011 Hugo Finalists, by Patrick Nielsen Hayden, at Tor.com; published April 24, 2011; retrieved April 3, 2014
3. ^ 2011 World Fantasy Award Winners & Nominees Archived 2013-01-12 at the Wayback Machine, at WorldFantasy.org; retrieved April 3, 2014
4. ^ At the Mouth of the River of Bees by Kij Johnson, reviewed by Dan Hartland, at Strange Horizons; published October 3 2012; retrieved April 30, 2019
5. ^ Lois Tilton Reviews Short Fiction, by Lois Tilton, at Locus Online; published 30 November 2010; retrieved June 9, 2015
6. ^ Short Story Club: “Ponies,” by Kij Johnson, by Chad Orzel, at ScienceBlogs; published May 28, 2011; retrieved June 9, 2015

## External links

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* Text of the story at Reactor

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Nebula Award for Best Short Story

1966–1980|

* ""Repent, Harlequin!" Said the Ticktockman" by Harlan Ellison (1966)
* "The Secret Place" by Richard McKenna (1967)
* "Aye, and Gomorrah" by Samuel R. Delany (1968)
* "The Planners" by Kate Wilhelm (1969)
* "Passengers" by Robert Silverberg (1970)
* "Good News from the Vatican" by Robert Silverberg (1972)
* "When It Changed" by Joanna Russ (1973)
* "Love Is the Plan the Plan Is Death" by James Tiptree Jr. (1974)
* "The Day Before the Revolution" by Ursula K. Le Guin (1975)
* "Catch That Zeppelin!" by Fritz Leiber (1976)
* "A Crowd of Shadows" by Charles L. Grant (1977)
* "Jeffty Is Five" by Harlan Ellison (1978)
* "Stone" by Edward Bryant (1979)
* "giANTS" by Edward Bryant (1980)

1981–2000|

* "Grotto of the Dancing Deer" by Clifford D. Simak (1981)
* "The Bone Flute" by Lisa Tuttle (refused, 1982)
* "A Letter from the Clearys" by Connie Willis (1983)
* "The Peacemaker" by Gardner Dozois (1984)
* "Morning Child" by Gardner Dozois (1985)
* "Out of All Them Bright Stars" by Nancy Kress (1986)
* "Tangents" by Greg Bear (1987)
* "Forever Yours, Anna" by Kate Wilhelm (1988)
* "Bible Stories for Adults, No. 17: The Deluge" by James K. Morrow (1989)
* "Ripples in the Dirac Sea" by Geoffrey A. Landis (1990)
* "Bears Discover Fire" by Terry Bisson (1991)
* "Ma Qui" by Alan Brennert (1992)
* "Even the Queen" by Connie Willis (1993)
* "Graves" by Joe Haldeman (1994)
* "A Defense of the Social Contracts" by Martha Soukup (1995)
* "Death and the Librarian" by Esther Friesner (1996)
* "A Birthday" by Esther Friesner (1997)
* "Sister Emily's Lightship" by Jane Yolen (1998)
* "Thirteen Ways to Water" by Bruce Holland Rogers (1999)
* "The Cost of Doing Business" by Leslie What (2000)

2001–2020|

* "macs" by Terry Bisson (2001)
* "The Cure for Everything" by Severna Park (2002)
* "Creature" by Carol Emshwiller (2003)
* "What I Didn't See" by Karen Joy Fowler (2004)
* "Coming to Terms" by Eileen Gunn (2005)
* "I Live With You" by Carol Emshwiller (2006)
* "Echo" by Elizabeth Hand (2007)
* "Always" by Karen Joy Fowler (2008)
* "Trophy Wives" by Nina Kiriki Hoffman (2009)
* "Spar" by Kij Johnson (2010)
* "How Interesting: A Tiny Man" by Harlan Ellison / "Ponies" by Kij Johnson (2011)
* "The Paper Menagerie" by Ken Liu (2012)
* "Immersion" by Aliette de Bodard (2013)
* "If You Were a Dinosaur, My Love" by Rachel Swirsky (2014)
* "Jackalope Wives" by Ursula Vernon (2015)
* "Hungry Daughters of Starving Mothers" by Alyssa Wong (2016)
* "Seasons of Glass and Iron" by Amal El-Mohtar (2017)
* "Welcome to Your Authentic Indian Experience™" by Rebecca Roanhorse (2018)
* "The Secret Lives of the Nine Negro Teeth of George Washington" by P. Djèlí Clark (2019)
* "Give the Family My Love" by A. T. Greenblatt (2020)

2021–present|

* "Open House on Haunted Hill" by John Wiswell (2021)
* "Where Oaken Hearts Do Gather" by Sarah Pinsker (2022)
* "Rabbit Test" by Samantha Mills (2023)
* "Tantie Merle and the Farmhand 4200" by R. S. A. Garcia (2024)

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