It Is Recommendsday, My Dudes #120 · 7:14pm Jul 5th, 2023
One of the groups I'm part of (Time Action Glory Challenge) has a simple enough stated goal: helping all the character tags reach 100 stories. A part of that is tracking just where characters are in their story count - a list that was maintained since late 2016 by Impossible Numbers. In that time, the top tier - 10,000+ stories - has been occupied by only eight tags. Five (Original Character, Main 6, Other, Princess Celestia, Twilight Sparkle) reached it in 2013; Princess Luna got there in February of 2014; Rainbow Dash in December of 2015; and Spike in October of 2016.
Then on May 31st of 2023, Fluttershy joined them as she topped the 10,000 mark and became the first character to get there in seven years. (She will likely be the only one for a while: Pinkie Pie is the likely next but she's still about two and a half years out.)
So to celebrate, let's get some Fluttershy. She's earned it.
So first up is one that's just adorable: First Solo by SockPuppet.
The infamous flight camp has ended, and both Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy are heading home. But even though Fluttershy's been cleared to fly on her own - she isn't. She's still scared to, even with her certificate and Dash's encouragement. But her father's got a plan to give her a little confidence...
So this is one of the first one of Sock's stories I ever read - I don't remember if it was the first, but it's first three at most. And oh my lord the cute. Kill you with sweetness cute. Awkward filly Fluttershy is just so damn adorable I don't have words for it. Sock does a great job here of expressing her fear while not making it overwhelming and still making her, again, so damn cute.
It's a great one for Mr. and Mrs. Shy, too. Appropriately for the author, it drips with that parental care as they hatch a cunning little plan to help their daughter grow while still maintaining the deniability to (critically) make her think she did it all on her own. You can feel the parental love and it's got just a great warm vibe to it.
Also Zephyr Breeze is there too and he's a little stinker even at, like, three. ("That filly gotta rainbow butt," said Zephyr. "I like it.")
It isn't a long story. It isn't a complex story. But it's a very real story in how the parents help their daughter, and it's just so adorable that it's stuck with me as a favorite for years.
On the other end of things, we'll go to another favorite author of mine: Jade Ring and Jolene. Because I am always up for a Dolly reference.
Celestia (no longer Princess) has been retired for many years when Fluttershy comes to visit her. And after the usual pleasantries, the pegasus asks her a simple question: what is her history with Discord? Because, you see, he says Celestia's name in his sleep, and with the same tone he says Fluttershy's name. And the mortal pony has to wonder: is she just a brief side fling while the immortals are on break?
It's a great collision with canon and fanon here: prior to FlutterCord becoming basically canon, CelestsiaCord was probably the biggest of Discord's ships. And there's a fair bit to work with there, so I can see why it got the attention of a lot of writers. So seeing the two collide like this is pretty dang interesting.
But unlike most things involving Discord, there's no humor. It's handled quite seriously, and with that bit of dull ache Jade does so well. Fluttershy's worries are entirely understandable, and you can feel the worry from a character who's been timid and doubtful her whole life. And you get the, well, all the vibes from Celestia - motherly and wise, happy for both her friends, and just a little bit deceptive along the way. It's just the right mix of emotions for this story, avoiding overdoing any of the emotions and getting the balance dead on.
And damn yeah, that last line does so much.
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Oh yeah, that's a cool group. I'm not nearly committed enough to join myself, but I enjoy keeping up to date on their tracking effects.
I was struck enough by this to check for myself, thinking it surely couldn't be that slow, but lo and behold, you're right: Pinkie's 662 stories out but only managing 270 a year lately. Interestingly, Rarity is 250 stories behind Pinkie but averaging 360 a year, 90 more, so she will be right on Ponk's hooves at the 10K barrier. Both will likely still lose to the tag for the CMCs, which is only managing just shy of 200 a year now (side effect of them having their marks and more liable to be independent of the other in later-show-set/epilogue fics?) but at only 400 out will likely hold the lead just long enough to make it there in time.
…You may have someone in your comments just as liable to geeking out about statistics when it comes to Pony fanfic as yourself, my friend.
But you knew that already.
I've often being curious as to the balancing tag popularity of the Mane 7. Twilight being double or even triple any of the rest, easy to explain, main dramatic focal character and future leader of the nation. Dash being 15K over the 10/9K of the rest fits too: she's such a basket case with problems fanfic is tailor-made to address, on top of being the most-widely-shipped of the Mane 6 by far.
Applejack trailing slightly at the back fits: even for fanfic, there'd be enough times where her more in-control way of life wouldn't provide as much to work with. Pinkie being ahead of Rarity is a little odd, you'd think the former more more cartoon-y wouldn't translate as well to Ponyfic authors doing something with. As far as I can tell, it's largely DashPie being such a popular ship in the early years that dropped off.
Fluttershy being 3rd always felt odd to me, a case where while there's plenty of dramatic potential, it doesn't strike me as more than anyone else of the group. And while FlutterDash is a popular ship, no other one with her is, so it shouldn't benefit her more than anyone else; certainly not than Applejack who has AppleDash and RariJack. Discord fics might contribute a bit to it, given he's actually vying with Applejack (both are 8.5K with only five fics separating them).
As for poor Spike, he's deceptively strong: as a character tag, he's only 14 stories behind Dash and will actually overtake her sometime in the next year. But that is only because of the multitude of stories with a Main 6 tag that also tag him, but where he is overwhelmingly not any more important than the group (and often less). Proof comes in that, when the Mane 7 are searched with the Mane 6 tag muted, he trails behind all but Applejack (having 7.9K to her 7.7K). And even then, when you consider how many Twilight stories tag him for small roles (harder to statistically ascertain, alas), he's probably even further back.
On the other hand, he doesn't have a popular pairing to boost him, so that he keeps in the ballpark of the regular-popularity Mane 6 legitimately is no small feat.
Anyway: haven't read either of these stories, but being a SockPuppet one, the first has my attention. Good week for you!
Thanks again!
Time to write more Pinkie Pie then I guess.