My Finished Favorites (100-76) · 2:11am Dec 5th, 2015
Recently, I hit 100 books in my Finished Favorites library! To celebrate, I'd like to go back through all of my stories and share with you why I liked them. These go all the way back to... what, early 2012? So you new bronies can check out all the old fics that I know and love.
Now, these aren't my most favorite stories of all. Those would be the Grand High Classics (I know it's a silly name, shut up). I might go do those once I'm done with these, or maybe if I hit 100 of those or something. But enough talk! Let's go through the earliest 25 on my Finished Favorites list.
TL;DR: Definitely read Twilight's List, The Prince and the Workhorse, Hostile Takeover, At Home on the Range, Scootaling, and The Other Side.
100. The Cutie Mark Crusaders Make Good With Words and Prose and Stuff
...Huh. I don't even remember this story. Well, it's kind of goofy, and it's a bunch of self-referential humor, so... there you go.
99. Twilight's List
An adorable little TwiDash fic. It's about how Twilight wants to experience dating, so she asks Rainbow to go on a date with her. Yeah, yeah, cliche scenario, but c'mon, this was one of the first couple of fics I read.
98. Envy and Arrogance
It's been a while since I've read this. I don't quite remember what it was about, but there was time travel in it, and evil twins of the characters, and some of the mane 6 died... It was really the first grimdark fic I read (other than "Cupcakes," obvs).
97. The Prince and the Workhorse
Aaah, "The Prince and the Workhorse!" This story was great. It's about how Big MacIntosh and Prince Blueblood put on magic golden horseshoes and swap bodies. Pretty classic "Freaky Friday" scenario.
96. To Be a Better Stallion
This is, no joke, yet another story about Blueblood and Big Mac. However, here they didn't swap bodies. Prince Blueblood essentially gets "exiled" to Ponyville and has to live out the life of a farmpony to earn his keep. And throughout it, he learns to be a better stallion, just as the title implies. I think there's even a really sweet scene where Rarity forgives him for his antics at the Gala.
95. Moonbeam
...Yet another story I don't quite remember. Apparently, Luna turns herself into an earth pony, a la "Sunny Skies All Day Long," but she's stuck in it for the time being. I'm trying to skim it and see what happens, but it's not too groundbreaking, really. Still, go ahead and check it out if you're curious.
94. Strange Bedfillies (or: Nopony Loves Twilight Sparkle)
Another silly fic. Spoilers: It's Pinkie Pie. (Those aren't really spoilers. That's revealed in the first sentence.) Don't have much to say about it other than that. It's goofy, kind of light-hearted. It's actually a sequel to a story that's either in my other list or I didn't favorite it 'cuz I don't like it as much.
93. Triple X
Oh, lordy, "Triple X." I'd forgotten this fic exists. This was basically my first "mature" fic. I say mature, but it was basically as puerile as it gets. All sex and drugs and swearing and whatnot. I'm pretty sure it's either not set in Ponyville or in the least-canonical Ponyville I've ever read. Still, though, I'm a bit nostalgic for it, so it gets a pass.
92. The Dragon Who Would Be Pony
Speaking of atrocious fics that I let pass due to nostalgia, this fic. It's a pretty basic story about Spike becoming a pony to... win Rarity's heart I think. Anyway, it's poorly written, makes no sense, and ends with Spike becoming the Element of Heart or something ridiculous like that. Don't read this unless you really like pony!Spike fics.
91. Thrown Abroad
A fairly decent changeling fic, but it's notable in that it's the sequel to "My Little Changeling: Friendship is Weird." Personally, I like "Thrown Abroad" better, but MLC is probably more well-known. The main character is Sunny, who is a changeling, but kind of a moron in how nice he is. Basically (spoilers), he ends up eating no love at all because he doesn't want to hurt anyone.
90. Hostile Takeover
Awww, this fic! It's an adorable story about Fluttershy teaming up with Trixie to help her win a magic competition. I seem to remember it being super-cute and so nice to read. You've gotta check this one out. There was this other Flutters-Trixie fic I read that was really good. I think was on DeviantArt, and it was called "Kindness is its Own Reward." It might show up on this list later.
89. Unexpected Changeling
Dangit, I don't remember this one, either. It's apparently about a guy who gets born in to the body of a baby changeling. I think I remember Twilight taking care of him... or something. ...Oh lord, as I'm skimming it, it's terrible. Don't read this. :P (Seriously, past A.P., why did you favorite this?)
88. Rolling in Beaches
Yep, it's named after a terrible pun. It's also... apparently a sequel to a story I never read, and it has sequels that I never read? What even, past A.P.? Well, anyway. This one is about seaponies. I think there was like this missing pearl, and they had to go swim to the bottom of the ocean to get it. I don't really remember, and I don't really care. Pretty sure it wasn't that good anyway.
87. Everypony Loves Rainbow
What you see is what you get, basically. It's a silly romance/sex comedy thingy about everyone trying to get into Rainbow's non-existent pants. That was apparently my type of humor three years ago. :P
86. At Home on the Range
The picture for this story is a Big Mac-Dash shipping image, so at first I thought I didn't recognize it, but when I read the chapter titles, it started coming back to me! This fic is great! It's about Rainbow Dash helping Big Mac bring a bunch of crops through the desert. And they get in a bunch of trouble throughout, but through it all, they start to fall in love, and... anyway, seriously, check it out. (Also, there was a sequel, but I didn't read it.)
85. Twilight's Birthday
Nope, don't remember this one. Looks like pretty generic TwiLuna stuff. Not much to say other than that.
84. Scootaling
Awww, Scootaling! I loved this fic. It's part of the pantheon of "main character is secretly a changeling," right up there with "main character is secretly a robot," which I'm pretty sure will pop up in this series... for Scootaloo again, too. :P But yeah, this is a really cute fic about Scootaloo revealing she's a changeling to her friends. She 'll never get her cutie mark, she'll never be able to fly like a pegasus... will they accept her for what she really is? (Spoilers: yes, they will.)
83. A Fact for Twilight
It's a... TwiJack story, by the looks of it. It's only 5K words, so I'm sure I blitzed right through it and faved without a second thought. Doing a quick skim again, it's apparently about Twilight doing research to decide if she wants to date Applejack or not. Pretty straightforward. Check it out.
82. Past Sins
Yup, Past Sins is on here. Why is it on this list and not my "Grand High Classics" list? Well, while I do think it's a wonderful story about the struggles of a reborn Night Mare Moon to define her new personality, I... kinda have to agree with the haters that Nyx is a massive Mary Sue. Again, it's still a great story, but it'll come down to whether you can stand reading about Nyx or not.
81. An Earth Pony's Guide to Magic
This one is about a descendant of Starswirl the Bearded who wants to figure out how to... get turned into a unicorn, I think? Learn how to use unicorn magic? I don't quite remember. All I remember is she calls everypony by their full names, like calling Applejack "Applejack Apple," which sounds really dumb, but whatever. So... awkward nerd comedy, mixed with trans-speciesism? Kinda hard to explain; check it out.
80. Order and Chaos
A Discord origin story. I'm... pretty sure I skimmed it the first time I read it. Spoilers: he was an alicorn who got a little too ambitious for his non-existent boots and decided to become evil. Again, skimmed it, so take that what you will.
79. Mortality Report
"Princess Celestia writes a report to her teacher on what she has learned about mortality." Pretty common story premise, so let's see what sets this one apart. ...It's sad, I'll give it that. It's pretty well what the description says. Celestia is sending a letter to another immortal to explain what Celestia sees in the mortality of those around her. It's worth checking out, although it doesn't exactly have a plot, per se.
78. The Sweetest Gem
The first in a trilogy of Spike-Sweetie Belle shipfics. This one is pretty decent, "The Gemmed Satyr" is pretty okay (though it's no "Green"), and "The Trotzamore Strategem" turned me off of the series. It's... not very good, is what I'm saying. Anyway, "The Sweetest Gem" is reasonably cute, so go check it out!
77. A Mug of Hard Cider
This one is yet another sequel, but this time, I think I actually know why I liked this one but not "A Drop of Moonshine." That fic is nice, but it's kind of... insular, I guess? I like the shipping aspect of "A Mug of Hard Cider" more. It's got Rainbow Dash and Applejack in it, so it's got that going for it. Oh, and it's by Pen Stroke, the same guy who wrote "Past Sins," so make of that what you will.
76. The Other Side
Yessss... "The Other Side" is fantastic; it's a wonder I didn't put it in my GHC list. It's inspired by "On a Cross and Arrow," which yes, is in my GHC list. In fact, it's quite similar to the sequel, "On a Whisper of Wind." IIRC, this is the one where Apple Bloom develops a crush on the r63 version of Diamond Tiara. Seriously, I love this fic. Go read it!
Just 100?
I've done the same: Looked back at my favorites and think, "What the hell, past me? Why did you like this?" or "What was that one about again? I don't even remember any of it."
Funny how many of the stories we enjoy don't leave an impact on us.
3593592
Well, those and my 78 current Grand High Classics. Also, I used to get all my reading from Equestria Daily, so any of the fics I read from there are lost to time. There were a couple fics I read religiously that started dropping in quality, so I gave up on them. Lastly, any fics I read that never ended up getting completed are in my Dead or Hiatus'd Favorites library.