Ponies all the way down · 4:42pm Nov 11th, 2017
This is still a thing, right? The thing where authors compare their story’s popularity rankings with their own personal rankings of them? Let’s pretend it’s still a thing.
Let’s start with the website rankings:
1. Apple Knots
2. Last Words
3. Sugar, Cubed
4. Friendship 101
5. Apple Boom
6. Friday Night Twilight
7. This Night
8. Water Pony
9. The Secrets We Keep
10. Idols
11. First Act
12. The Best of Tensions
13. Cleave
14. A Dragon’s Age
15. Til Sunday Do Us Part
16. Mail Call
17. Friday Night Twilight II
18. Disparity
19. Generous Gifts
20. Ascension
21. A First Date
22. Knowledge and Wisdom
23. The Worst of Mentions
24. Shell Game
25. Lightning
26. Proposal in C Major
27. A String Wedding
28. Club Vinyl
29. Dynamic Soarin’
The bolded stories are the ones that lack the romance tag 
Let it be known that I like all my stories, in most cases very much. The middle of the next list is somewhat fluid, and if given another hour or two or ten I’d probably shuffle those stories around some more and still not be completely satisfied with the arrangement. But I’ve already sunk an hour or two (or ten) into these rankings that I really should be sinking into my next story (which is almost ready!), so here you go. The numbers in parentheses show how far up or down each story moved compared to the website ranking:
1. Cleave (+12)
I could go on and on about this one, and if I ever get around to writing a proper afterward, I will. Suffice it to say that I consider it my best work in both concept and execution. It is almost precisely what I wanted it to be, particularly the opening scene. Also, Candy Heart gives me the creeps.
Fun fact: the grocery list in chapter two is alphabetical, because of Bon Bon wrote it so of course it’s alphabetical
2. Shell Game (+22)
I spent a long time thinking over what Fluttershy being in a healthy romantic relationship would look like, and what the rest of the world looks like through her eyes. It quickly became a lot more nuanced than her just being a spineless doormat.
This story’s odd pairing means it will never be widely read, which is a shame. I think it’s some of my best mane six character analysis (set in season one no less!), not to mention being all sorts of adorable.
3. Water Pony (+5)
This is perhaps the most personal story I’ve written, despite never having faced most of the crushing challenges the characters encounter. The story left its mark on me, and I know it’s done the same for others. Once at BabsCon, somebody said they wished my stories were two to three times longer than they are. I can accept that Water Pony might’ve benefited from lingering longer in places, but I do like how its overall brevity reflects life’s knack to change completely in an instant with no regard to reason or sense. I’ve started writing an afterward to this one three times at least.
4. The Secrets We Keep (+5)
Once again I paired up Spike and Rarity, as I’m wont to do. This story won a contest, and is my best take on what makes Spike tick, what Rarity’s priorities are, and how the two might intertwine. Their dynamic here is great, even if the story at times descends into drama that best befits its leading fashionista.
5. Apple Knots (-4)
Lotus was way too much fun to write. This story has topped the site rankings multiple times, and was featured by The Royal Canterlot Library. It has the same episode-like feel to me as Apple Boom, albeit at a smaller scale. I still think about what Lotus working over the rest of the mane six would look like.
6. Apple Boom (-1)
Best story title. The presentation here is unusual, but it seems to work for most readers just as well as it works for me. The scene with Pinkie and the Cakes is one of my favorite, which probably says far too much about my sense of humor…
7. Friendship 101 (-3)
One of my best writeoff stories, if I do say so myself. Like Water Pony, I can trace its genesis to a (much happier) news article. One could argue the stakes here aren’t very high, but Twilight Velvet would violently loudly disagree 
. Being a parent is hard, and so is being a child.
8. Generous Gifts (+11)
A cute little Spike and Rarity Hearths Warming special, and quite a good one at that. The gift-giving logic was a real headache to figure out, though. This was an important stepping stone to be able to write all the stories that followed, particularly The Secrets We Keep.
9. Sugar, Cubed (-6)
My railing against the “AJ is a brainless hick” meme, and the point at which I, thanks to a tremendous amount of pre-reader assistance, made it onto EqD for the first time. I think it still holds up, but my writing style has definitely changed since I wrote this. Reading it now feels a little strange, but the audio production by Scribbler et al. is all sorts of amazing.
12. 'Til Sunday Do Us Part (+3)
My biggest complaint here is that by playing up Rarity’s usual hangups for comedic effect, she comes off as overly selfish and perhaps undeserving of a happy ending. This isn’t a story for the reader who doesn’t already have a good grasp of (and love for) Rarity. I still laugh at the jokes, particularly the chapter titles.
10. The Best of Tensions (+2)
Easily one of the more bizarre things I’ve written. I think it succeeds brilliantly at what it sets out to do… which is largely just to mess with Rarity.
11. The Worst of Mentions (+12)
The sequel to The Best of Tensions, and like nearly all sequels not quite as good as the original. I like the comedic buildup, even if what it’s building up to is pretty obvious.
13. This Night (-6)
Upon its initial publication, the central concept here was much weaker than it now is. It’s still not the strongest story I’ve written, but has some nice conversations.
14. Last Words (-12)
As a writeoff entry, this was a failure. I pulled an all-nighter to finish what turned out to be two thirds of a story, and the missing bits were the ones that made the whole thing cohesive. In any case, after some very extensive cleanup and general wound-licking, I ended up with my second most popular story and an excellent reading by Dr. Wolf. I still wish Big Mac’s woeful errand had a few more stops, not to mention more evidence of how opening his mouth destabilized the Ponyville status quo
15. First Act (-4)
One of my early attempts at a more serious story than canon can give us. There are some good bits here, but your enjoyment depends on how you feel about tribalism in rural Equestria, particularly between foals. It’s probably just a reflection of the world I find myself living in now versus when I wrote this that makes me care for it less than some of my other stories.
16. Mail Call (0)
Rainbow Dash versus romance. I still really like the interactions between Thunderlane and Ditzy, but the overall pacing is rather quick. I wish the story had delved more into Rainbow’s view of things, but then again I don’t think I would’ve been able to do that as well as I would’ve liked at the time.
17. Idols (-7)
This is an interesting one to look back on; it feels kind of like an episode to me, but perhaps too much so. It’s cute, and the conversation between Spitfire and Scootaloo sheds some light on both of them. Things wrap up very quickly, and the story all-but demands a prequel or something to flesh some plot points out, which is kind of a letdown.
18. Friday Night Twilight (-12)
A five minute conversation between Twilight and a human, and one of my most popular early stories. The writing is kind of rough, partly for my unfamiliarity with writing in first person present tense. I didn’t intend or expect this story to be a big deal, but I can’t argue with results I guess.
19. Friday Night Twilight II (-2)
This is perhaps my strongest example of why prereaders are important. A lot of the story’s downvotes are due to the now-replaced original concluding chapter, which just wasn’t much of a conclusion. The show has steamrolled over most of my musings on things like Pinkie’s parents, and the writing feels downright stiff.
20. A Dragon’s Age (-6)
My attempt at a Spike-focused mini-epic was interesting, and rife with good ideas, but should’ve been a bit less mini and a bit more epic. Where it all ended up though, in regards to Spike and Celestia, is still something I’m proud of.
21. Club Vinyl (+7)
To close out my Octavia trilogy, I wrote a love letter to dance music that’s completely independent of the two stories that preceded it. The writing feels a bit dated, but I still have a soft spot for it.
22. Disparity (-4)
For such a simple story, plotting it out was surprisingly difficult. It’s been rewritten three times at least, and is so much better for it. It feels bittersweet to look back at a story featuring the Golden Oak Library
23. Knowledge and Wisdom (-1)
The first chapter was my first writeoff entry, and sparked a good deal of discussion around logic puzzles. Bradel generously agreed to edit the second draft, which included a brand new chapter that I suspected would ruffle feathers. Bradel agreed, and some readers do indeed hate that second chapter, some rather loudly. Oh well. It is what it is, and that’s what it shall remain.
24. Lightning (+1)
My first attempt at ponyfic. The concepts here are probably all cliché, but I’m okay with that. It’s my first attempt and ponyfic, and far from my last.
25. A String Wedding (+2)
The second act of my Octavia trilogy, and one of my rare attempts to write Pinkie at length, mostly just for the challenge of it. The pure scope of this one was a bit beyond what I could handle at the time. It was still a fun ride, though.
26. Proposal in C Major (0)
The start of my Octavia trilogy, born out of a desire to see her shipped with someone other than Vinyl. The writing isn’t my strongest, and it could really use a middle act…
27. A First Date (-6)
My first serious crack at Spike + Rarity. I think the limits of my then understanding of the characters showed, but it was a good learning experience.
28. Ascension (-8)
I wish I’d written this a year later than I did. I still like what I tried to do with the original prompt of “new alicorn princess” though.
29. Dynamic Soarin’ (0)
The concept here is nice, but the execution is lacking. I should’ve solicited some prereader help, which in those days was much more of a hassle to find.
And that’s that! A new story will be joining the ranks soon, and I very much hope everyone considers it worth the wait.
Was this ever a thing?
4723123
Supposedly, but probably not a very widespread thing
Thank you for the post - it was very interesting to compare your rating as an author to my own subjective rating of those stories as a reader and see the difference.
Cannot say for everyone but at least one your follower definitely thinks so.
Thank you for announce - looking forward to it.
I can't believe "Til Subday Do Us Part" is so low in the rankings. I hold it up as an example of a fanfic done right.
4723179
Haha, I'm glad you enjoyed it so much
Like I said, the list is pretty fluid, and Sunday's position is no exception. The only positions that I'd set in stone are perhaps the top three to five. Midway through compiling this post I thought about moving a couple stories around and decided it wasn't worth the effort required to redo all the formatting and numbering. Apple Knots was written in less time than it took to put this blog post together
Cool! I'm going to have to queue up Shell Game.