Pony Fanfiction Thread

Yeah, I kinda think the whole, "Uprooting and moving a public service building" is a bit of a bigger issue here than moving one's house. Especially since in smaller towns Libraries can serve dual purposes.

Can, but we've almost never actually sen Twilight's serving as anything other then her home, and the default base of operations for the mane 6. It rarely seems to even serve as a library.

Maybe not, but in a world where Reading seems to be such a common passtime It's preeeeety unlikely it never gets used unless everyone just owns all their books already. It's more than likely conservation of detail that we haven't seen anyone else in there.

Alright, I'm gonna cast my votes for the chest.

• Fallout Equestria
• Friendship is Optimal
• Harmony Theory
• Mort Takes a Holiday
• Arrow 18 Mission Logs
• Asylum
• Murky Number Seven
• Gilda Versus Knitting
• Keeping it Simple
• Without a Hive
• It Takes a Village
• Ninteen Neighty-Four
• Night's Favoured Child
• Quantum Castaways
• The Archer and the Smith
• The Heart Thief
• The Song of Syhlex
• A Horse Called Sunbutt
• Project Sunflower
• The Carnivore's Prayer

And here's my new nominations for the list.

• Through the Well of Pirene
• The Last Human: A Tale of the Pre-Classical Era
• The Moon's Apprentice
• Misunderstandings
• The Sweetie Chronicles: Fragments
• Paradise
• Just Passing Through
• Sharing the Night
• ARTICLE 2
• School of Hard Knocks
• The Monster Below
• First Contact is Magic
• Flashes on the Horizon
• Through the Eyes of Another Pony
• Gobbling and Other Traditional Pursuits
• The OC Support Group
• Rainbow Typhoon
• Austraeoh
• Veil of Thoughts
• Higher Flier
• Higher Flier: Mach Two
• The Moonstone Cup
• Interview With a Princess
• The Best Night Ever

I actually previously nominated Sweetie Chronicles, so you seconded it.

Seconding Austraeoh, Higher Flier, and The Best Night Ever.

Ohhh forgot about Moonstone Cup, that was awesome. Seconding.

Finally managed to get the next chapter of my fic up. As much as I love writing, sometimes it can be a huge pain in the ass.

Thirding The Best Night Ever.

I finally sat down and wrote some of AoH's next scene today. Granted, it's only 300 words, but it's a start.

@CDRW: Awesome!

@UL: When you say Higher Flier, do you include Mach Two as well?

Anyway, time for some more fun Treasure Chest stats. The updated author leaderboard:

1. Skywriter (17)
2. Sharaloth (14)
3. Cold in Gardez (10)
4. Estee / Phoenix_Dragon(9)
5. AestheticB / psychicscubadiver (7)

So, nothing has really changed since last time – just Skywriter and Sharaloth pulling farther ahead.

But let's look at how some other big-name writers are doing. The Descendant falls just short of the leaderboard, with 6 votes. Eakin (5 votes), Hoopy McGee (5 votes) and shortskirtsandexplosions (4 votes) have been moderately succesful so far. Only one story by Obselescence has been nominated; it has 2 votes. The same goes for Wanderer D. Chengar Qordath has one story in the waiting room. Other well-known writers, such as Aegis Shield and Pen Stroke, are entirely absent (and thank Celestia for that).

Fallout: Equestria is consistently the most popular story in the Chest. It's a story that seems to have divided the thread into three groups: those who love it; those who hate it; and those who haven't read it and wish both parties would just shut up about it already. At any rate, whenever it's brought up in here it produces longer and more heated discussions than any other story. So I suppose that it has earned its status.

I also want to shine a spotlight on The Demesne of the Reluctant Twilight Sparkle. This goofy comedy, with its first-person-present-tense narration, constant shipteasing, and... unorthodox take on Twilight as a character, is the dark horse (no pun intended) of the Treasure Chest. With five votes, it sits proudly near the top of the table, tied with the fandom classics Harmony Theory and Mort Takes a Holiday. Congratulations to MrNumbers!

Another stat: the most prolific voters so far.

1. Blissey (52)
2. Me (46)
3. CDRW (44)
4. Sereg (39)
5. UL (32)
6. Yami (28)

Some of the thread's most active posters have only cast one or two votes. Clever, Pannic, Meta and Santos, are any of the existing nominations to your liking? With your votes, the Chest could be an even better representation of the thread's opinions!

What's so bad about Aegis and Pen? I know no one wants to get into another FOE-esque slog over Past Sins, and then there's Tough Love which is just , but you make them sound Chatty-level.

I'm thinking about my votes.

In other news, setting a long, talky scene in a shared dreamscape gives me a unique advantage in writing. I can actually show events that happened before the story started, rather than just having the characters describe them.

Eh, I've read a few of Pen's stories (not Past Sins), and they are decent but, nothing amazing.

Nah, just the original. Mach Two is kind of boring (though funny) and hasn't been updated since 2012.

I intentionally restricted my votes to stories that 1. were complete and 2. I have read recently. While some of the nominees meet both those criteria, I did not think they warranted a positive vote.

I did consider nominating Where Have the Stars Gone?, but it has a very particular style and tone and is very hit-or-miss because of it. I liked it, but I would hesitate to call it unambiguously good.

I nominate Jukebox Hero for Ponies Listen To Human Music. It's essentially a story of someone finding their special talent.

We can recommend stuff for that fic?

@Yami: That was more of a lighthearted jab at some of the fandom's Acceptable Targets. As to why they're acceptable targets...

Pen Stroke doesn't seem to be such a bad guy, personality-wise. However, he is the author of Past Sins, which has a solid reputation as one of the most overrated stories on Fimfiction. Especially Nyx, the OC the story revolves around, gets a lot of flak. The barrage of uninspired "side stories" by other authors looking to cash in on the main story's popularity doesn't help either. Personally, when I read Past Sins, I had the feeling of "Christ, this is terrible, but why can't I put it down?!" all the way through. I think there may be more people who have a similar trauma from the story.

Bottom line: if you make something that's bad but popular, you will gain a substantial hatedom.

Aegis Shield is a different beast. Sadly, he no longer has an "About Me" on his user page, but back when he did, it told you pretty much all you needed to know. Look at the "Marital Status: Courting". Look at the FAQ which includes "How do I become a good writer like you?" Look at the pompous crap about Big Mac representing the epitome of manly masculinity. Look at his spectacular misinterpretation of Pinkie as a character.

And when you're done laughing, skim through his blog posts for a moment. Notice something odd? That's right – he consistently refers to real-life human beings, including himself, his family and his long-suffering girlfriend, as "mares" and "stallions". It's either really really sad or really really creepy; my money is on "both".

In short, Aegis Shield is a grade-A douchebag who deserves all the hate he gets. I'm not sure even the Chatty One touches on this level of repulsiveness.

So... is that why we haven't brought up anything done by Reality Check?

Could we maybe not turn the thread into a place to pontificate about how specific users suck? I'll admit I have insulted my fair share of terrible writers here, but I have since realized I get enough vitriol on the site itself.

edited 21st Aug '14 7:50:10 AM by CleverPun

Sorry, sorry. I don't normally do this, especially not in here, but something about Aegis really ticks me off.

At any rate I'll shut up about it now. Let's talk pony words again.

The Chatty One has written at length about how to cheat on the psych exam for gender reassignment surgery. I think it would be very hard to match that kind of repulsiveness.

edited 21st Aug '14 7:50:47 AM by Jinxmenow

Imma not pontificate- Imma just say that (1) Past Sins has probably cycled around from overrated at this point, and (2) I genuinely enjoyed the scope of the story and characters- and I've only read the early version (the surviving one after the MST'd one)! I also thought Let the Silence Sing was pretty good. (Not bothering to nominate either of them, though. I thought The Immortal Game was an epic story too, so what the bleep do I know? )

A minor headcanon I came up for Friendship is Optimal- Hanna, while Finnish, is actually of Swedish descent, and Hofvarpnir Studios was likewise made up of other Finland Swedes she associated with while in studying in Helsinki. Her full name is Hanna Askström.

edited 21st Aug '14 8:52:42 AM by SantosLHalper

Ah, those guys...

edited 21st Aug '14 8:45:44 AM by TheHandle

I finally got around to Double Rainbow and figured I could get it out of the way quickly....

My brain gave out for the day after chapter 11, but what the hay, I'm seconding it. It's worth checking out. Just let it soak in....