For people unsure of what this is about, here's a reminder: We select a fanfic, give everbody time to read it (two weeks), and talk/discuss about it.

The Rules:
There will be spoilers in the discussion. Read at your own risk if you haven't finished it.
Both positive and negative opinions are fine, people who didn't like the fic will probably provide some of the best discussion. That being said, be prepared to defend your points. If you didn't like the characterization or found the plot unbelieveable, tell us why or give us examples.
Any aspect of the fic is up for discussion, not just the romance. If there's a side plot or character that you'd like to rant or rave about, go right ahead!
Only this fic is up for discussion. Try not to drag other fics into it, including sequels. Also, don't spoil any sequels there might be, other people might not have read them.

The fic selected for the second Fic Club is Pillow Thoughts by Will P. Sherman - 24936 words - Romance, Comedy, Adventure, Slice of Life
Slumber parties can be a blast... but they can also lead to awkward situations.

It's been a while since I read the story, but I do remember giving up about halfway through for some reason. I'll give it another go for discussion purposes.

Ooh. Time to read this again!

Also:

give everbody time to read it

When would that be?

1076666
Let's say two weeks

Well lookie there, the first fanfic I ever read.
Not even kidding; I kind of fell victim to the stereotypical belief that a fanfic (in general terms) was a poorly written excuse to put one's self into an existing universe and become Mr. Awesome.
But, as a novice brony, I decided, what the heck -- the show surprised me, maybe this will, too.
Considering I'm here now, I think we know how that turned out.

So yes, I really liked this fic. Sequel not as much -- kinda lost me, actually -- but the first will always hold a special place in my heart. If i hadn't decided to read it on Deviantart, I literally wouldn't be here right now.

Normally, I'd say no to more things to read
but this one is in my read later list anyways.

Ah, this fic actually sparked a friendship between me and the author, and kinda helped change my life for the better. It's....a long story, and it wasn't the FIC that did it, mind you....er, anyways....

Hmm, interesting. I haven't talked to him in a while. Haven't read the fic in a while, either. Just know that the current fic, Comfortable, that I'm following right now kind of reminds me of this fic ^_^;

1077319
Now that you mention it, it does.
Anyway, I'll have to reread this myself too >_> I can remember the main points though. Fluffy orange cloud. Eheheh.

Two weeks puts the discussion date at 6/20, which for me is right in the middle of a three day boot camp for CPPMs. That said, I'll contribute even if I'm late to the party.

1077325
I think that's a "due by" date - anyone is free to offer feedback beforehand.

1077378
Fair enough, and if that's the case I'll make the best of it. I was going off the last (first) fic discussion thread, which I believe requested a two week initial grace period so everyone could read, or re-read, the selected story.

1077378
Well, official discussing will comence in two weeks but it doesn't all have to happen on that day. He's free to offer his insights later or I could move the date a bit

1077437
It's fine. Keep the date. I only mentioned it because I was part of the last discussion thread, and I wanted to let you know I'd be willing to participate even though I might not get around to posting anything until after the boot camp concludes.

Almost a week later than originally anticipated, I'll kick of this thread

Long story short: I really like this story. It's a lovely mix of humor (fluffy orange cloud anyone?), a tiny slice of adventure wrapped in an enigma. The first few chapters still have a few mistakes but they are overlookable, the quality of the later chapters seems top notch.

One problem I encountered on my first (and second) time reading this was that I had no idea what the potion did for AJ and Dash. I always thought that the potion changed their wish into having somepony special into having eachother as their special somepony. Of course, I was distraught over this since that would mean, as soon as the potion 'fully' wore off, their relationship would be non-existant.

I contacted the author about it and he cleared up that the potion takes away all the second-guessing, all the outside factors and the stress and lets the pony act upon their biggest wish. He explained that Rainbow and AJ already had feeling for eachother, but they were hidden deep under the surface. The potion just sped things up a bit.

So that's basically my only qualm with it. The explanation around the potion could've been more elaborated on for laypony's like me.

Final verdict: 9/10 would read again (for the 4th time)

Man, it's been way too long since I read fluffy AppleDash like this. I finished reading it yesterday (technically today), after not being able to put it down until every last word had been read
The twist with the potion was an interesting one, though I also had some problems understanding exactly what happened – though it all cleared up for me in the end.
So yeah, overall, I really liked it. Brings back some nice memories, too (AppleDash like this was how I first got into fanfiction).
However, I'm going to be all critical and say 8/10 for my final score. While I enjoyed it, I feel like it lacked that little extra something. It just... failed to draw me in properly until about halfways.
Good story, would recommend to anyone even remotely interested in AppleDash.

On an unrelated note, am I the only fellow here that simply cannot re-read stories? Even the best of the best – I just can't enjoy a story if I recognize everything in it. Guess I'm easily bored

This was possibly the first AppleDash fic I ever read, so I have to admit, I have a bit of a soft spot for it.

I've always been a huge fan of fluffy stories for reasons I can't explain, so it drew me in immediately. I can't say I really understood the potion thing the first time around, but after re-reading that chapter a couple (eight) times, I finally got it

I'd be critical and give it an 8, but considering how many AppleDash-y doors it opened for me and the fact that I love the sequel so much, it's a solid 9/10

1180324
Personally, I can only re-read a story if I haven't read it in a few months. Otherwise, I tend to skim through everything but the dialogue

Pillow Thoughts... Pillow Thoughts, Pillow Thoughts... This one brought me way back, just as To Fix You did, it being one of the very first fanfics I read. Being one of the first, the tropes it has can't be counted against it, so with that in mind, I quite enjoyed a re-read of it.

I loved the spin on the potion. It wasn't something obvious or overdone, it was a small change in events that didn't get discovered for a while, and only because they were looking for it. Subtlety made that work for this fic, I think.

The fluffy orange cloud shall forever be remembered.

I didn't really think much of this, to be entirely honest. The big problems:

1) Meandering. There is a lot of wasted verbiage in the story. It is overly long for what it is, and many sections of it just feel repetitive.

2) Pacing. Related to the above, there's just a lot of wasted space, and many events take too long to unfold.

3) The characters acting dumb. None of the ponies are stupid enough for this plot to work, and it felt very contrived. It was obvious what was going on from very early, and it would have been obvious to the characters as well. Again, dragging out the story for no reason.

4) Contrivance. The making out while they were in bed thing was just meh, and really, for the purposes of the story, it would have worked just as well for Rainbow Dash to be snuggled up with Applejack and having her wake up to it without some retarded, completely unecessary to the plot magic involved.

All right!

Fluffy orange cloud time!

Well, I made it all the way through this time.

It was... nice. 7/10

The first time I tried to read it, I dropped it a few paragraphs into chapter 6. A combination of the grammar errors and meandering plot.

Ignoring the grammar issues (since I realize the writer is not a native English speaker and this was published in the early days of the fandom), I still think the plot is a bit thin. It kind of wanders through a bunch of situations that don't have a lot to do with each other, so it's hard to follow. Some points get a nice build up, but others just get dropped on you with no real explanation. The word choice for Dash is sometimes a little too Twilight-esque and both Twi and Dash's characterization feel a bit shaky at times (Twi more so, as Dash kind of has an excuse).

There were a couple of clever points (Twilight as a red herring in trying to get them together, for instance), and I did like AJ being unintentionally hard on Dash once she invited her to the farm. That seems like something that AJ would do without realizing it, though I'm not sure if Dash would roll over and take it the way she did (maybe if she was completely head over hooves in love... maybe). The potion thing tied everything up neatly and made me wish I'd made it that far the first time through.

Bottom line, I've read a lot better, but I've also read a lot worse, and I can understand people having a soft spot for the story since there wasn't much written at all that far back.

I read this one when it was announced, so that was like... about two-three weeks ago. To be completely honest, it wasn't terrible or anything, but judging by the fact I simply cannot remember anything about it at this point, it wasn't outstanding in any way either.

(was this the fic that used 'Ah' etc all the time? If so then I guess I do remember something about it after all)