Wanted: Reading recommendations · 8:36am Sep 8th, 2015
I'm slowly starting to realize that my ponyfic pleasure reading has been dwindling. In between the RCL, the Writeoffs, and the list of authors I follow, most of my reading time these days is spoken for — I don't think I've loaded the site front page in months, except to track If You Can't Beat 'Em's progress through the Featurebox.
So let's start a discussion and swap some recs. What's the last good ponyfic you've read?
(Bonus points if it's from an author I'm not already following. Also, let's avoid Writeoff stories, since I'm already reading through those — and talking back and forth about Writeoff stories has its own discussion thread.)
A few recommendations to get you started:
* The Only Day by naturalbornderpy
This is a time-loop story ... but told from the perspective of a character outside the loop. Made some smart narrative decisions to make the premise work, and well characterized. (Thanks to hawthornbunny for this tip!)
* Cold As Starlight, by KwirkyJ.
I'm going to break my own rule and recommend a story that started life in the Writeoffs, because it's gotten almost zero attention despite making the finals, and I thought it was rather excellent. This is about Princess Luna accepting a duel to the death in a gryphon arena, but more importantly it's a strong character piece that pulls back the mask on best princess.
KwirkyJ, with only 8 followers right now (!), is an account to watch; not only did I enjoy Cold As Starlight, but they've also created the TAILS feedback system, an offshoot of my HORSE ratings that's designed to provide more holistic structural feedback. With both solid writing and analytical skills, I expect great things in their future.
It's kind of a challenge to recommend stories to you because so many good stories end up in RCL, and you've read those already. I was going to suggest The Celestia Code before I remembered that.
I read Rites of Ascension recently, by CvBrony. It gives the reader a promise very early on that Twilight will slowly grow into an alicorn and become more powerful over time, and it fosters a strong desire to see it happen. The story has tons and tons of problems, especially with pacing, and I almost gave up a couple times, but that promise kept me going. And the story delivers on it. Slowly, sure, but regularly, and it's ever so satisfying. Just as in The Celestia Code, flank-kicking Twilight is best Twilight. No wonder the story is so popular.
For something lighter and short, maybe Flutterspy, by Kavonde. It was featured on EQD though, so you might have read it already. The name alone is enough to make people want to read it. It's not perfect, and I was somewhat disappointed at the end, but the ride there was full of laughter on my end.
And, I can't say it's great or anything, but if you want something crazy, maybe you maybe could maybe read mine?
The last HR I gave out was, as noted, The Magician and the Detective.
If you're looking for something I haven't reviewed, Two Peas in a Pod is probably my favorite crackfic.
If you haven't read The Cost of Life, it is also quite excellent (and I really need to get around to reviewing those two stories).
I don't know if you read Those Who Live Forever, which was a story I recommended a while ago, but it is fairly obscure and quite good.
For When It Rains is the most obscure story (by views) that I would highly recommend that I haven't reviewed yet.
Well, the last story I recommended was Life Among the Living.
Sunset Shimmer and Adagio Dazzle Take Over the World was a bit of fun I preread. I think you'll enjoy it.
I have the ultimate solution.
1. Go to Search
2. Type in 'five nights' and use 'dark' as a filter
3. Read EVERY STORY THAT RESULTS.
4. Plot my death
Georg recently posted up a story called The One Who Got Away.
First thing I added to my "Really good stuff" folder in a while. I don't think it's part of any write-off either.
There is also FanOfMostEverything's Oversaturation.
Honestly, the flow of stories that both intrigue me at a glance and continue to look good as I read has slowed.
The last good ponyfic I read was In the Absence of Sunset Shimmer, by MyHobby. Technically it's an Equestria Girls fic, but there is some crossover with the pony world. One of the things that adds a lot of interest is that it takes place ten years after the events of the EQG movies; the characters are all grown up, some are married, some have kids, and overall there's a sense that all that magic stuff was left behind in their youths.
Then a former siren is murdered, and Sunset Shimmer finds herself having to deal with Equestria again, as an adult. There's a lot of interesting plot threads going on at the same time, and some fun fish-out-of-water stuff which I love. I don't want to be too specific. :)
I have since discovered that this story is part of a continuity, but I don't think it's the sequel to anything; it seems to stand on its own. Because of the time skip, a few things have changed in Equestria, but we learn those at the same time as the protagonists. Overall this is my second-favorite EQG story.
One you might try is An Extended Holiday
3377527 as one of Cv's editors, I can attest that soon, your mind will be freakin BLOWN!
The Last Pony on Earth was in the featured box quite a bit so maybe you've seen it. It was fairly good, though not without its problems, but for me it had the advantage of being a good meaty read with a relatively unusual premise for FimFiction and lots of practical buildingy fun details. The ending... vague, YMMV.
Past stand-outs for me: Subjunctive (so heavy and so good), In Their Highnesses' Clandestine Corps (silly, contains shipping), I was about to recommend Iridescent Iron Rat here until I double-checked whose post I was replying to, and... I think you should be able to browse my favourites list for more (unless it's marked private somehow but I don't think it is).
The Draconequus with the Dragon Tattoo by A M Shark just finished its run. It's both crossover and fluttercord done right.
Blue_Paladin already mentioned The One Who Got Away (and something of mine
,) but I also quite enjoyed xjuggernautx's Resolution. It's a fascinating spin on siren society.
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All of the Heart's Promise stories stand alone fairly well, so you don't need to read them in chronological order (and I personally think that in some ways, reading them out-of-order makes things more interesting). I'm not quite finished reading through the continuity yet, but I still feel confident in giving it a general recommendation.
Extant Heart's Promise stories:
Fahr Drill (short)
Lord Mayor Applejack (medium)
The Unmitigated Disaster (short, sequel to Fahr Drill)
Scootaloo Will Fly! (medium/long)
Nature In The Wild (short)
Daybreak (long, ongoing)
Lightning Struck Home (short/medium)
In The Absence Of Sunset Shimmer (medium/long)
An Equestrian Griffon (short)
A somewhat recent story that I really enjoyed was Twilight Sparkle of the Royal Guard by King of Beggars. It imagines an alternative universe where Shining Armor becomes Celestia's student and Twilight becomes a Royal Guard, and follows Twilight as she embarks upon a diplomatic mission with Cadance. The story starts out very slice of life, giving the reader a sense of Twilight's life as a royal guard, but once Twilight and Cadance depart Canterlot, the story becomes a very intense and dark adventure with some great world building. I'd definitely recommend this story if you're in the mood for a thriller or a longer adventure story.
If you're in the mood for a shorter (~4k), dark adventure story, I'd recommend What Doesn't Kill Us by ArgonMatrix. It was part of the OC Slamjam contest, so it features two original characters, but you don't need advance knowledge of the characters to enjoy the piece. Written as a series of journal entries as the main character Lilligold embarks upon an expedition to study a plant known as the phlume, the close, first person narration does an excellent at capturing the emotions of the character as she journeys up Mount Draggle (fans of gen 1 will recognize those references). Despite it's dark atmosphere, the story resolves in a way that stays true to the values and themes of MLP.
One I've been reading and enjoying a bunch recently is We Are What We Are, by Theigi. It's a siren story the deals both with them struggling to survive in the modern world and their backstory in Equestria, leading to a blend of both gritty urbanity and dark gothic fantasy that comes together really well. A bit on the long side, and currently ongoing, though updated regularly.
Also everything I've written, obviously.
Go read xjuggernaughtx's Resolution.
So you're why I have the greatest fit of notifications ever by a factor of
threesixeight... I don't know what to do!The reports of my ability may be greatly exaggerated, but are welcome reminders of confidence. Thank you -- I'll try to be at my best.
As for reading recommendations, have two, one being not so very recent. Both of these were added to my list of favourites, at a glance from authors whom you do not follow.
Pinkie Pie vs. The Soufflé by Estee
I liked this one enough and adequate time has elapsed that I read the thing aloud.
Winning and Why by 8686
An excerpt that self-admittedly described my reaction to this sublime, FiM episode-like work:
The last thing I read that was really good was, It's a Dangerous Business, Going Out Your Door by Jetfire2012.
There was also, Modern Medicine by GaPJaxie
I rather enjoy changeling stories so Of the Hive by Law Abiding Pony
And last one, a very good alt origin for equestria, Days of Wasp and Spider by Luna-tic Scientist
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3377747 He's already read that one, but I really appreciate your support! Thanks so much!
It's not a recent story, but I did read it recently. Not really a fan of the Xenophilia universe, but Xenophilia Advanced was super interesting to me. You know the standard HiE after a horrible accident trope? Well what if the human was severely brain damaged as a result? Now what if he only gets worse? What if, in the mean time, he and Twilight geek out over the differences in physics between worlds?
A pretty unique main character with some interesting world building going on, currently sitting at the top of my favourites list.
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Well, I feel dumb. :B
3377871 You know, whenever I think about someone suddenly becoming dumb, I think of this guy that I went to high school with named Eric. He was in most of the same advanced studies classes that I had, and he was always pretty astute, though kinda weird. Weird in a counterculture kind of way, not socially awkward. Since I was also counter-culture weird, we got along, but we typically didn't like the same things. He did introduce me to Mr. Bungle, though, so I owe him for that.
Anyway, I ended up having a college volleyball class with him several years down the road, and man, did he mess himself up somehow! I'm not sure if he OD'ed and fried his brain or if he was just constantly high or what, but we would be on the court and I'd have to tap him on the shoulder and remind him to rotate to his new position. Otherwise, he'd just stand there while the new person kinda looked around in confusion because this dude wouldn't move over for them. The ball would come and it would just whiz by him like he didn't even see it. Every once in a while, he would spaz out and whack the ball in some random direction.
I've never seen anyone get dumb like that. He went from being articulate and talented to one step above a vegetable. He didn't even seem to really be able to talk anymore. He'd mumble at me sometimes, but usually just stare at me vacantly, then finally go do what I told him to do. It was creepy and disappointing. That's what I think of when someone says that they feel dumb all of a sudden. I think, "Well, at least you're not Eric."
The moral of this story, PresentPerfect, is that you should go read The New Crop. It's better than Resolution.
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Well, I'm certainly feeling like that guy right now, but I know why that is, and it's temporary. :B
Other than writeoff stuff, before BronyCon I read Scoots2's Swear on Camembert, which is adorable. She's written a bunch of sequels, but I haven't gotten to those yet.
I also read Aquaman's Far From the Tree, but most people have probably read that one already (seeing as it's older and was pretty popular when it came out.)
An Ally called Preponderance
(You might have meant to include Obs' contests in your no writeoff stories filter, but this story deserves the plug regardless.) Disregard the pathetic view count and the human tag. This is my #2 favorite story in the fandom. Intense action coupled with stellar suspense and mystery, this one will have you reading well past bedtime, no matter how early you have to wake up tomorrow. If there is one single story from this list you must read, it is this one.
A Wake of Mist and Flame
You want a brilliant slice of life for what it means to be Princess Celestia's personal guard, all wrapped up in a beautifully full-circle story? Read this.
The Weak
World building porn and gritty action all in the same story? Yes, please!
Up There
The most chilling take on what Luna did while banished to the moon I've yet read. The descriptions are solid, and the imagination put into how dreams work is perfect at best, jaw-dropping at worst.
Here Comes the Rain Again
More Luna! Except here she's busy being awesome alongside Twilight in a post-apocalyptic-esque Equestria. Don't let that two-hyphen adjective worry you; this isn't some dumb, old FoE spinoff. No nuka cola or bottle caps here!
Sincerely, Your Former Roommate
And we'll wrap up my suggestions with one of the best utterly ridiculous stories I can't help but love. From start to finish, this'll surely have you rolling, if passive-aggressive comedy evokes even the tiniest tickle of your funny bone.
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Fun fact: The "Five Nights" + Dark tag search returns 110 results, which between them contain 64 Gore tags … and 15 Sex tags.
Also Super Trampoline's "Fluttershy, Why is There a Gila Monster in Your Broom Closet?"
And, if story ratings (and my reading) are anything to go by, nothing that list throws at me can be worse than this.
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I'm already tracking The Shipper! Though I notice that I missed the update for Chapter 2, so I've got that to look forward to.
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Already following both and can confirm for good stories.
I'd better get to posting my backlog then!
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If you're referring to this Subjunctive, this is the second time I've gotten a rec for it, which (by my internal rules) moves it to the top of my reading list. Thanks! And can confirm Clandestine Corps for awesome.
(Also, I won't rule out more Rat, it's just halfway down the priority list behind a bunch of written-but-unposted stories.)
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Queued up the others!
The Magician and the Detective confirmed for great. The pea story confirmed for cracky.
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Life Among the Living queued. The other one was pretty rough technically, but the twist was worth a smile. Certainly short enough to not waste my time. Thanks!
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Your last rec was a good one, so I'm gonna have to give this one a shot!
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Extended indeed — that's like 1.4 Fallout: Equestrias! What did you like about it?
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Queued! And given that Discord superfan alarajrogers is commenting approvingly on it, that's basically a second rec right there.
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All good stories. Especially yours.
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Thanks for the extensive links! Do you think In The Absence… is the best starting point, or are there other stories in the continuity you like better?
3377721
Those both sound great, and you write excellent summaries/recs. Thanks!
I'd have to recommend The Night is Passing, by Cynewulf. It has a long, slow burn that is starting to pay off, and the author has an interesting writing style.
I haven't finished Through the Well of Pirene yet, but at the 80% mark it is increasingly fascinating and impressive, and I thought I'd never say that about an HiE story.
Then there's The Star in Yellow, which is an incredible pseudo literary cross-over. It's good on it's own,[1] but it will be the subject of the next Rainbow Dash Presents parody, which ought to be a wonderful follow-up.
------------
[1] And done well before True Detective, I might add.
3378406 I'll warn you now, a lot of the chapters can be difficult to read, due to the need for editing.
That being said, the writers now have three editors on the team, and all the back chapters are being worked on to be cleaned up. (I am one of the editors) Another bonus is that this one updates every Monday, regular as clockwork.
This is a swashbuckling adventure of a rather grand scale (not just grand as in the size of the fic, but grand as in awesome as well.) The tale being told has a feel of believablity, and pulls you in.
If you can do longer fics, then Blue Angel is another I would recommend. With any luck, V-Pony will finally be getting some time away from work (over a year of 60+ hour weeks will kill most writers abilities) and start updating on a regular basis once again.
3378406 Glad to hear you enjoyed it! I'm sure you'll love the other one!
One story I'd be interested in seeing more people look at is The Age Of Wings And Steel (plus sequel); maybe it was just before my time, but I haven't seen anyone bring it up, not even to compare it to The Most Dangerous Game contest. It's been a while since I read it, so I don't know how well it still holds up, but I remember liking it enough to finish it in one sitting.
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+1 on Through The Well Of Pirene, and the sequel's looking good so far too. Haven't read The Star In Yellow yet myself, but for what it's worth, I've had it recommended a couple times.
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I don't know if In The Absence is the best one to start on, but it's a solid choice. It might be prudent to begin with something other than An Equestrian Griffon (about a character introduced in Lord Mayor Applejack telling his daughter a bedtime story), but otherwise I'd say pick whichever piques your interest the most. My personal favorites are In The Absence and Scootaloo Will Fly!, but they're not ahead by a particularly vast amount.
I'd have to second Twilight Sparkle of the Royal Guard and Subjunctive. Other than that most of the fics I've read recently have been either from Writeoff peeps (meaning you've probably already read them!) or are 1,000-wordish shipfics, which I'm not sure you're interested in. (Do you accept the beauty and grace of our good Lord SunLight?)
A few oddballs I've recently enjoyed:
White Out by the dobermans. Kind of creepy vibe, plus great characterization.
The Legend of the Scorpion Queen by cursedchords. Used to have a little better concept when it had a frame story around it in which Twilight was explaining the constellations, but still a nicely done fable.
Iron Hearts: Book 1 - Planetfall by SFAccountant. I only read the first couple chapters. I know nothing about Warhammer 40K, but I still found this accessible, and the comedy bits reliably landed.
Three out of Ten by TheBandBrony. A touching look at what depression has taken from a relationship.
The Weak by Wisdom Thumbs. Good action story with a dark feel, and it ties in a little interestingly with canon events from long ago.
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Cool! It's a story that's not getting near enough recognition or love imo. Be sure to let Shark know what you think of it when you do get to it.
The last really brilliant ponyfic I read was GroaningGreyAgony's Riverdream at Sunset: a Manuscript, but everyone and their dog has read that long since, so it's a pretty pointless recommendation. (On the off-chance that someone reading this hasn't, maybe because of its tags, then go and read it now. You can come back to this post afterwards.)
Before that, ambion's Temporary Measures (again, pretty well known). Hmm... last fic I read that I really liked with under 1,000 views, then. Damn, it was The Kindest Silence.
Clearly all the other fine people on this thread have much more interesting tastes in ponyfic than what I does!
I think the best I can do here is to mention two stories I liked with some reservations: SilentWanderer's Fluttershy's Garden and Beware The Carpenter's Celestia's Smartypants. The latter is apparently a side story of the same author's Limits of the Horizon, but according to the author I missed little by not having read that.
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Twist: the gila monster is Golden Freddie.
I'm re-reading:
Bob from Bottles' The Worst Baker in Equestria, and I swear, it's every bit as enjoyable as I remember it being and possibly even sillier than I remember. Just plain fun.
Mike
I rarely resist the opportunity to pimp Dromi's The Rise and Fall of the Dark Lord Sassaflash, so my apologies if I've already done so and forgotten. You really don't expect ponies and Lovecraft to play well together without one totally eclipsing the other, but Dromi pulls it off.
Looking through my recent ponyfic reviews, here's some stories I'd recommend. No clue if you've read them or not. Stories I enjoyed more than a little for one reason or another. Most of them pretty short. Huh. Suppose I could have just grabbed the most recent couple from my favorites shelf.
Baking is War, Sister by Einhander
NightmareJack by zaponator
Multi-Factor Authentication by Estee
Princesses Can’t Cook by Estee
Light the Sky on Fire by EquesTRON
The Dusk Guard: Rise by Viking ZX (not a recent one, obviously, but pretty much always included in lists of ponyfic recommendations I give)
Most of my absolute favorites (particularly the recent ones) are from people I'm 100% sure you're following, or are from the writeoff, or both, so I'm just going to wing it:
Not In Bluff Nor Bravado Nor Loneliness
Iron Will's relationship with ponies and other minotaurs is surprisingly complicated, and is told with a charming philosophical bent. It also contains one of my favorite written lines.
Just an Old Fool
Grand Galloping Gala regrets of a different sort.
Veni, Vidi, Verti
A changling story that doesn't end like one would expect.
Dear Idiot
Celestia's donut-fueled tirade to Blueblood
Dreamflow
An experimental but amazing look at Applejack's sudden trouble sleeping.
A Roll in the Hay
Big Mac aims to solve the farm's financial problems with the world's oldest profession. Not a single client wants what he expects.
Cranky Doodle Donkey's Bad Asssssss Day
The best Cranky voice I've read.
A Friend of a Friend
A simple but charming tale of Spike's struggle to figure out his place in the friend hierarchy.
The Wrong Fork
Rarity attends a fancy dinner, and learns something decidedly unexpected about Princess Celestia in the process.
Second Chances
The true meaning of Trixie's cutie mark is startlingly obvious.
Pinkie Pie Writes a Stern Letter
To quote the original prompt (which I supplied): Pinkie Pie likes all types of candy. All but one.
Reading Rainbow
Should be fimfic required reading. A story-within-a-story that would've been good enough to publish all on its own, made even better by its presentation through Twilight and Rainbow Dash
Tea Time
Celestia and Cadence have a frank chat over tea. Tea is never just tea.
To everyone posting here, thank you lots for all these yummy recommendations I'm shamelessly stealing for my own reading list too.
3378353 That Subjunctive, oh yes, that one. (Sorry, meant to link it.) And more Rat might just make my face explode twice. Whenever you're in the mood. I shan't nag.
3379027 I hadn't heard of these well-known fics, so thanks for including them even if you felt they might be obvious.
3378128 Did someone say worldbuilding porn? *squee*
3378730 Age of Wings and Steel is a fairly good yarn. Probably my main criticism of it was basically a personal niggle, in that I couldn't for the life of me see why the main character had to be a pegacorn, but at least it was handled with some skill so I wouldn't de-recommend it based on that.
3378537 Both of those, yes yes yes.
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All of Bob's stories are either good or great, and I definitely recommend reading through the whole list.
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In-story, you're probably right, though I'm not actually sure changing his race would make for a particularly noteworthy improvement. Out-of-story, of course, it's because the pegacorn-related concepts mentioned in the author's notes were among the big inspirations for the story, and because "alicorn OC" seemed like a better bad idea to try and redeem than most of the alternatives.
I never pass up an opportunity to recommend Starlight Over Detrot, which is what you get when you combine Chinatown, Dirty Harry, and My Little Pony. It really excels at developing its characters and setting, though I suppose it's had enough time to do all that since it's up over 750k words now.
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You stole my recommendation (Luna-tic's work)
Guess that's what I get for coming in late...
Chaotic Neutral is a fun little Discord story.
Have a look through this folder if you want stories worth reading. You have probably read a large majority of them, but doesn't hurt to look
3379874 Then I'm glad to have been of service!
And I'll echo your opening point: my poor old RiL list is about to put on some considerable weight, I suspect... anyway, a few more "I thought everyone knew these, but I guess some don't" recommendations:
PoweredByTea's Height is narrated by Rainbow Dash in a rather unusual style, but it does make sense in context. The story also has some absolutely wonderful Fluttershy/Rainbow friendshipping, the main reason I love it so much. The epilogue sharply divides opinions, but I enjoyed it; it's very short anyway.
The Descendant's The Railway Ponies: Highball is admittedly by a very well-known author, but I simply can't understand why it has under 1,400 views. Because it's OC-based, I suppose, but it's wonderful. Even more so if you have any interest in railways yourself. This is my absolute favourite of the 10-12 TD fics I've read.
Grey Heather's And We Are Not Yet Saved is a more conventional recommendation: the author has fewer than 60 followers and the fic has under 700 views. An "aftermath of the S2 finale" changeling fic, and a very short one (1.2k words) but it has a nicely done, rather restrained, Chrysalis and a cleverly ambiguous ending.
Brony Tom's The Name Game is almost three years old, but still holds up as a good example of how to do horror -- and CMC horror, at that -- without resorting to gore. Several twists, of which I only saw one coming before the last moment, and some atmospheric description.
I don't know if I'm going to be able to respond to everyone individually — I'm already clicking like mad just to get everything onto my RIL! — but let me offer a collective thank-you to everyone who has spoken up.
(I hope you're all taking a page from 3379874 and grabbing these for your own reading lists, too!)
Nobody has mentioned Just Stories yet. But I bet you already read that. I keep track of all the stories I've read in a bookshelf, and I would recommend almost all of them. Maybe don't look with Mature on though...
I'm going to keep this comment section bookmarked for story suggestions. This is gold.
I will not recommend one story, but many stories... Maybe you like one of those.
Oh, no. I'm too late. I was going to be fashionably late, but now you've posted up your next blog post, and so now I'm just regular late.
Anyway. I sifted through my favorites in search of stories that I thought were fantastic but also underappreciated. I was so excited, I even started to compose little blurbs in my head to best sell you on such wondrous tales as Conviction and Morally-Challenged Space Academician Twilight Sparkle.
...But then I checked your favorites library.
Now, I'm starting to feel like the kid who gets his first pokemon pack, opens his holofoil machamp, brings it to school, sees everyone's Mienshao, and is like, "What is this crap?" It's like I'm at the tail end of every good thing to come out of this fandom. I tell everyone about this cool new Fallout/pony crossover thing I've been reading, and they just chuckle and pat me on the back.
Anyway. I'm sure your RIL list is stuffed by now, but I'll toss out a few stories that you might not have gotten to yet. You... fanfic glutton, you.
Whisper Sun Silent Moon by RedSquirrel456
It seems weird to me that you wouldn't be familiar with Squirrel and his stories already, but I couldn't find it or its author in my (admittedly brief) search of your follows and favorites. If you've read it, good. If you haven't, do.
...No, you don't get a witty blurb. You wasted those on the stories you shouldn't have read before me.
Friendship is Optimal: Whatever Whatever Latin or Something by Chatoyance
I'm not familiar with Chatoyance and what little I know of The Conversion Bureau both baffles and frightens me, but I'm a huge Friendship is Optimal fan. I even strong-armed my father into promising to read it, though he put it off for months chattering "No time! No time!" until I finally caught him with a copy of Dune.
Judging from some of your favorites, though, I'd say that you are also a FiO fan, and so I thought you might like this morsel. It's been a while since I read it, but I seem to remember that it had both good characterization and writing, and a decent exploration of the ideas and ramifications behind uploading, transhumanism, etc. I'm not even a proponent of transhumanistic philosophy, and I enjoyed it.
p-theory by Balthasar999
I tend to look down upon... what's it called? Transformation stories? - with about all same excitement I do the anthro tag, or Twijack, or poetry. (Sorry, man. It's true.)
...But I love this story. In fact, I'm pretty sure there's some fellows with extremely poor English trying to hassle the author in the comments to finish the story for cash.
His other stuff is pretty good, too. Reading his stuff is like glimpsing the mind of a misunderstood genius who is really, really high.
Sort of like reading your stuff. ~ Sable
P.S. Was going to needle about Hard Reset, but then remembered my own readers' needlings, and decided to go eat ice cream and feel sorry for myself instead.