In no particular order, I present my top five pony stories of all time. Allegrezza: One of the best slice-of-life stories, with romance involving everyone's favorite musical pairing. Background Pony: A chilling tale of things lost, and of those that we may not even remember losing. And now that it has concluded at a whopping 430k something words... read this story. Please. If you ignore everything else here (but I hope you don't!), that's fine if you please read this. It is a masterpiece, and in my opinion THE BEST PONY FIC that has ever been written. It gets the highest of recommendations, but god damn is it bittersweet. This and The Things We Leave Behind are the only stories to actually make me cry and have tears running down my face. The Powers of Harmony: This story is one of the best adventure type stories I've ever read. It's incredibly interesting, and one of the few capable of attracting my undivided attention. The Powers of Harmony is an incredibly apt title, and that is precisely what this story is about, and it does it in an incredibly unique way. If you're a fan of adventure stores even in the slightest, please give it a read. The Things We Leave Behind: Easily the best pure sad fic I have ever read. Tears were shed, many tears. The Best Night Ever: Groundhog Day with ponies featuring Blueblood and the Grand Galloping Gala. Incredibly amusing and well written.

The other very good fics that didn't quite make it into my top five, but damn are they still good. It Takes a Village: Spike grows up. A great depiction of the emotional turmoil he experiences while doing so. The Jewellery Box: A fic taking place in the future, revolving around Spike and the Elements. it really deserves more attention, it's very very good. Beating the Heat: Comedy with an emphasis on vague adult humor done quite well. A great read if you want to laugh. The Heart of a Dragon: Spike romance with Rarity/Celestia. I cried a few tears at the ending, wonderfully well written. Ribbons and Lace: Rarity and Fluttershy (mature)shipping with some of the best character interaction and portrayal I've read. And no, it isn't straight clop, it has a great story behind it. I absolutely love this fic to death.

The other very good fics that didn't quite make it into my top five, but damn are they still good. Home Is Where The Harp Is: The message and the delivery are absolutely phenomenal. The best one-shot I have ever seen on this site. The prose easily evokes imagery and it's overall just amazing. Seriously, give this a read. On Wings of Change: Alicorn Twilight that focuses largely on not Twilight, surprisingly. Well written and a good read. Paradise: Equestria creation story. Celestia and Luna must travel through an untamed land, and rise to become the princesses we know today. Excellent creativity is put into this. Loss: When tragedy strikes one of the main 6, how will the rest react? Great insight into the emotional trauma of losing a friend, and what I feel are accurate reactions to it. White Box: A psychological journey of one poor pony condemned by his talent. Very well done.

Yeah, yeah, there's too many good stories on here. On a Cross and Arrow: Rule 63 ponies yay! Honestly though, this is a good representation of what the main 6 would likely do upon meeting their male counterparts. It also has some good humor laced in as well! Project: Sunflower: While it might look like a TCB fic at first glance, rest assured that it deviates from that very quickly, putting its own twist on the HiE genre. A very good story showing how ponies and humans aren't very different at all. Xenophilia: Normally I'll avoid clop stories... but this is just too good to pass up. An exploration into mature social interactions between ponies and a lone human, and it's done incredibly well. Quantum Castaways: It's hard to place this one in a type of story. It's a human and Twilight story, but under very unique circumstances. A story of survival and friendship against all odds, give this a read if you like adventure-esque stories. Actually, give this a read anyway, because it's incredibly good. Vinyl and Octavia: University Days: Ah, our lovable musical pair is back! More awkward romance and other college activities amidst a large amount of comedy is to be found here

These may not be the best stories there are, but they amused, entertained, or otherwise fascinated me, and seem to be largely overlooked by the community. Fillystata: Don't read this if you hate dark or tragic stories. Because this is DARK. It's one of the first fics I ever read, and remains one of my favorite Dark/Tragedy fics of all time. Note that it has 5 stars on EqD, and the dislikes likely stem from people that don't like dark fics. Mare in the Mirror: Sequel to Fillystata. Just as dark and tragic as the first, although in different ways. I highly recommend, if you like dark fics, to give these two a chance. Ergodic: Incredibly amusing, and it was written under pain medication. Rarity vs Additional Pylons: Ever played Starcraft? If you have, then you no doubt have raged at the announcer saying "You must construct additional pylons!" Well, Rarity's here for you, and she tells it like it is. Five Should Be Enough: Sad and tragic. While time may be unchangeable, it certainly isn't going to stop AJ from trying. Another excellent fic that made me incredibly depressed after reading it.

A Different Viewpoint of Equestria: It starts off kinda cliche, but quickly deviates from that. The author offers many insightful viewpoints into possible Equestrian history, and it's overall just interesting to read. Through The Eyes of Another Pony: Annnnd cue the comedy. TTEoAP is almost all comedy, and good comedy too. It does get serious somewhere in the middle, but the amount of laughs I had during it is too high to count. This on FiMFiction is a rewrite in progress, and you can find the original on EqD/GDocs. Arrow 18 Mission Logs: Lone Ranger: One of the most unique HiEs to date. I was tentative at first, but this offers a rather realistic view (or as close as you can get while talking about MLP) of what it might really be like if a human went to Equestria. ARTICLE 2: A much more serious take on the HiE genre, following a lone soldier's plight as he winds up alone after the loss of his comrades. Again, very well written. Thunderstruck: The Curious Odyssey of Shaun Davis: You know when someone's niche is making fun of other things? That's what this story does best. It constantly pokes fun at the main character, and many cliches, and is overall just brimming with humor.