Favorite Stories, FimFiction and Otherwise

[Gentian]

To say Friendship is Magic is popular, would be a bit of an understatement. One of the things which really sets its fandom apart from those of other popular franchises is the fecundity of its members. Sure, there is a lot of stuff out there which could most kindly be described as steamy turds, but there are also some real gems. The thing is, it can be hard to find the sewing needles among the piles of used hypodermics, so since search turned up nothing, I thought I would make this thread to give us all a place to post links to our favorite stories. Hopefully, this is the right place for it.

All you members with non-pony waifus shouldn't feel left out. It's my hope that you will share stories about yours too.



First, is my very favorite MLP fanfic: Xenophilia. I made PDFs of it so I would have a copy even if the site went down. I can't overstate how much I adore this one, and if you haven't read it yet, I highly encourage you to do so. It's a human-in-Equestria story, starring Rainbow Dash, Twilight, Lyra and the human, Lero. It has very in-depth world-building, and is so popular that other authors have set many stories in the same verse, so even when you finish it you can continue your enjoyment. I'll also include links to some of the others which I have enjoyed. It is a mature story, so if that bothers you, you've been warned...but you'll be missing out.

1. Xenophilia
2. The Xenophile's Guide to Equestria
3. Xenophilia: Side Stories
4. Shotglass Oneshots
5. Cultural Norms



Another enjoyable read is Arrow 18. This is also a human-in-Equestria story, but he arrives through technological, rather than supernatural means: a space mission sent to explore a star which moves in very unusual ways. This story has no sex in it at all, and features both illustrations and a soundtrack. It focuses on Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, and the human. Read the Mission Logs before Sparkle's Notes.

4. Arrow 18 Mission Logs
5. Arrow 18 Sparkle's Notes



Generally, I avoid dark stories. There's enough in the real world that I dislike it in my escapism. Nevertheless, this story was recommended to me while reading Background Pony, and I took a break from it to read this one since it's so short. It's by the same author, very dark, and if you're a fan of Starlight Glimmer, you may not like it. But it is well written, and actually made me feel bad for her despite her actions in the show. No humans or naughtiness.

6. Step Right In and Start Again



This is the story I'm currently reading. It's a long one, which is why I'm going to talk about it now, instead of waiting until I finish. Firstly, as of where I am-in the middle of part V-it is VERY well written. I'm loving it, even though parts are a bit absurd, and there have been a couple inconsistencies. I'm holding out hope they will be addressed further in. It's another story with no humans or sex so far, and focuses on Lyra Heartstrings, one of my personal favorite ponies. I'm really hoping she gets a happy ending, but considering the author, I'm hoping more than expecting.

7. Background Pony



So that's what I've got now. Please, go ahead and post your own recommendations so we'll all have enough to read!

[Kadae]

So that's what I've got now. Please, go ahead and post your own recommendations so we'll all have enough to read!

All righty, I'll post some stories as well.

Allegrezza

This is, in my opinion, the best romantic story that centres around Octavia and Vinyl that I've read thus far. I haven't read it since 2012, but I remember really loving it!

Octavia is a high-class pony. Fine alcohol is her wont, and uncouthness her intense chagrin. Such is her surprise to find herself lumbered with an insufferable oaf of a DJ pony. However, sometimes these situations work themselves into a satisfactory ultimatum all the same.

Mendacity

A Bon Bon and Lyra tale. The catch here is that Bon Bon isn't a pony and Lyra has no idea.

Bon Bon's voice is funny, and that's about all that anypony who meets her notices, as her marefriend Lyra soon steals the spotlight with her explosive personality, strange obsessions, and curious beliefs. And why not? Bon Bon is, after all, a perfectly ordinary, boring pony in every way but two: her voice, and the carefully kept secret that she isn't really a pony.

The Games We Play

I generally love mystery novels more so than novels of any other genre, so this story really suited my taste there. As well as that, it's also a pretty great tale of romance.

There's been another sighting of the mysterious Mare Do Well...but this time, all of Rainbow Dash's friends plead ignorance, insisting that they've put aside their costumes for good. Rainbow Dash is determined to uncover the masked mare's true identity before she's humiliated yet again, but this time around, the vigilante seems especially interested in her as well. Will Rainbow Dash be able to solve the mystery before the culprit takes the hoax too far? Or is she in danger of losing not only her mind, but her heart?

The Best Story Ever

Groundhog Day is one of my most favourite movies, and this takes the concepts from that movie and perfectly integrates them into a story about Prince Blueblood. This is my favourite fan fic.

Prince Blueblood thought the Grand Galloping Gala was over. He thought he could just go to sleep and put it behind him. He never expected to be reliving the same disaster of a day, over and over... and over.

7. Background Pony

I'd also recommend this one! Happy reading.

[Gentian]

This story was recommended by a couple users last night. Since we had just finished my umpteenth/Twi's first rereading of Xenophilia, we decided to give it a try, opening the first chapter this morning.

It's now almost 1am, and we wrapped up the final chapter. Yes, we binge read it in one day, and it was worth it! I'm a total sucker for romance, and happy endings, so freely admit my bias, but Twi enjoyed it too.

In this story, a stable portal between between Earth and Equestria has been opened, and we follow the adventures of a human whore pleasing ponies. Sure, that sounds like a crude clopfic, and while it is the latter, it's not just that. There's some unique characterizations, shared elements from other fanfics, an interesting take on Equestrian society, and like I said, Romance.

That's not to say it's perfect. There were several things I disliked about it, most notably, the protagonist was quite annoying at times, but since those problems are mostly subjective, I won't mention them further.

All in all, I'll give it a 2/3 hoof rating; definitely worth a read. In fact, we'll be starting on its sequel very soon.

Gentleman for Mares

[Gray]

http://www.fimfiction.net/story/100455/stardust Stardust is one of my favorites. And I, really like how they portray Twilight in the story. The version of Twilight that, I love is, close to that portrayal I think, I dunno. Itsa crossover with XCOM: Enemy Unknown. I never played the game, but I still had great fun reading it.

[EquestrianPenguin]

http://sys.4chan.org/derefer?url=http%3A...riverbang2

This is orginially a green text story but was alter in paste in to be in a story format. It's about an anon in equestria who is mute. He has difficulty getting everyone to understand him and is treated like he is of lesser intellect. I highly recommend this piece, you will get emotionally into it.

[Gentian]

I want to make a post regarding a story which I found, fell in love with, and recommended here. It was an incomplete tale, and usually I won't read those. I broke the rule this time because I was already several chapters in before I realized it was yellow-bannered, and was too enraptured with it to stop. Well, last month 2 more chapters were posted. I knew from the author's notes that they would be the end of the story, and a final, Q&A chapter would be forthcoming, and that would be the end of it, so I chose to wait until the Q&A was posted to read them. It was posted on April 1st, and last night, I finally got around to reading them.

I felt like crying.

This story, this beautiful, magnificent story which I had followed so long, and loved so much was given an absolutely terrible ending. The author is apparently a fan of Phoenix Wright, and chose to shoehorn him into the last 2 chapters, and I do mean shoehorn; he doesn't fit at all.

Prior to his appearance, the story was emotional, and engaging. It had an excellent plot, relatable characters, and superb dialogue. This author's masterfully crafted tale brought me to tears, literally, on more than one occasion, made my heart ache for this poor mare, Five Stars, and what she had been through. Made me want to hold her, and hug her, and give her some of the friendship and care she'd been denied for so long.

From that moment on, however, it changed. No longer emotional, it became farcical. No more well-crafted dialogue, in its place you had lines taken from a pulp-manga. Plot? What plot? Instead you have giant, garish, yellow and red "OBJECTION!!!!!!" stickers plastered all over the text. In fact, if I had read this on 4/1 I would have been sure it was an April-fools joke done in poor-taste. But alas, it is the "real" ending, and it seems, and I say this with no hint of exaggeration, as if the author simply grew bored of the story and wanted it over with.

The story in question is Five Stars Service, if you wish to read it - and I still maintain that up until chapter 26 it is well worth reading. However, like entering Dante's gates, all hope is lost from Chapter 26 onward. Click that link and scroll down, if you want to see what I mean. You don't even need to read, the "OBJECTION!!!!!!!!" stickers are impossible to miss.

In an attempt to interject a bit of humor, to avoid becomming depressed about this, below is a scene I think perfectly encapsulates what happened...Har, Har, Har.

Edit: And, of course, the time stamp didn't copy to the video. I meant it to start from 1:39.

[Gentian]

I found this last night, and laughed heartily. It's a short story, and unfortunately, it looks like the author has abandoned it, but is it ever funny.

Slut Pirate Anon

[Gentian]

Today I finished The God Empress of Ponykind. For those of you familiar with 40K the title will be a blazingly obvious sign of an MLP/40K crossover. It is, but not in the way you might imagine. In this story, Princess Celestia is, in fact, the God Emperor of Mankind, sent through the dimensions by Tzeentch, and it draws parallels between Nightmare Moon's story and the Horus Heresy, including giving a neat idea for the origin of Nightmare, the Shadowbolts, and a semi-plausible reason Celestia would choose to release Discord in the series.

There's quite a bit of gore, but most of it is in the first chapters, which are still in the human verse, so pony gore, while present is kept to a minimum. It does affect Twiight's great-great-great (X?) Grandmare though, so I can't give it a total pass.

The writing is good, but not great, the story is fun, and the characterization is surprisingly strong, and well thought-out. All in all, I give it a 7/10. Definitely worth a read, whetehr you're a fan of 40K or not (All hail the Emperor!).

Spoiler

She does look a lot better as a pony though

[Rares]

Question, is best Pony Primarch in it?

[Gentian]

Question, is best Pony Primarch in it?
*img snip*

None of the M6 appear, except Twi, and then only as a filly, as the story takes the form of Celybeans teaching filly-Twi a little about her life. Specifically, it follows his resurrection from the Golden Throne, fighting the Chaos Gods, arriving in Equestria, creating life, Luna, etc, then it's the story of Fighting Discord and Luna's rebellion; it's well before their time.

Spoiler

Poor Dawn Sparkle. At least Emps gets to make up with Horus.