My Favorites: A Retrospective

My 21 followers are getting something great today.

I don’t know, but you may have noticed that my favorites are a little different, I only favor the best of the best.

So, what constitutes the best of the best? Well, I’m here to organize my favorites from least to greatest, and how they’ve affected me and/or why they are my favorites.

Disclaimer: I will act like you have read some of these, just warning you. SPOILERS AHEAD!

16: The Vinyl Scratch Tapes- Corey_

One of the first fanfics I read, and my least favorite of my favorites, sadly. I saved it because the characters play off each other well, and I found the second part to be a super great Dramedy, but I wouldn’t know now. When I loaded it onto my Overdrive, Part 2 accidentally resulted in an exception error, so is it as good as I remember? We may never know.

15: Pegasus Device- AuroraDawn

Rainbow Factory is a great, though outdated, fanfic. Pegasus Device, however, is almost 3 times as good as the original. It’s a wizard at nailing tone, and you can clearly see each employee and the way the Rainbow Factory has affected their psyche. Each character is fun to read, and some just have great, fun names, like Dr. Hide Atmosphere. Sure, Gentle’s a bit of a Villain-Sue, but it’s a 2014 fanfic, and she lost anyways. I especially love how Dr. Hide, at the end, doesn’t admit he’s right, nor wrong. He got trapped in the middle for morality, and I appreciate that in a fic like this.

14: Brotherly Bonding Time- Sketcha-holic

This story is rather simple, Cheese Sandwich and his headcanon OC brother travel the world, throwing parties and such. It’s going to rather boring, isn’t it? Well, while not boring, it certainly pales in comparison to when you get hit with a sledgehammer several times in succession as things start going from bad to worse. It’s incomplete, and right now, almost everything is going wrong. It’s a very deep story, and I, for one, was disappointed when it called upon me to read my tracking stories. I really just wanted to sit back and read Brotherly Bonding Time.

13: The Nightmare Before Nightmare Night- Deleted Account

Funny, deep, and a hodgepodge of musical references, what’s there not to like? This story made me roll on the floor laughing at some points, and I, a musician myself, can appreciate a little nod to The Doors, or Ain’t No Rest For The Wicked. Speaking of which, this fanfic actually got me into some new music, songs like Friends on the Other Side, or Ain’t No Rest For The Wicked. Anyways, I don’t know how long the comedy will last, but I love this story for what it is.

12: Mythbuckers- AuroraDawn

One of my favorite authors pastiching one of my my favorite shows. This story is laugh-out-loud hilarious nearly all the way through. Though I think AuroraDawn has been vindicated by history a little at this point, it was supposed to be a comment-driven story, something I can get behind. Unfortunately, the life this story had was abruptly cut off, making this so low on the list. However, it’s amazing while it lasts.

11: Syncopation- Terrasora

We’re getting into the real good stuff now. Syncopation is a general OctaScratch fanfic, but to me, it’s so much more. It not only made me more accepting of same-sex relationships (seems a little backwards, doesn’t it?), but it’s another music-based story I couldn’t appreciate until recently. Back when I favorited this (right when I got an account), I didn’t know what an upright bass was, I didn’t have a freakin’ clue about the difference between a Rickenbacker bass and anything up to an acoustic bass, but I learned. Of course, why is it one of my favorites? Well, it’s a little bit of a deconstruction of your average OctaScratch fanfic, I still remember Vinyl’s meltdown in that story to today.

10: Austraeoh- Imploding Colon

Step back for a second, imagine yourself in a world. All of your friends have been killed by Discord, you absorbed his sprit, and the only way to revive your friends is to take a nigh-impossible trip across the world. You probably couldn’t do that, but Rainbow Dash doesn’t take no for an answer. A simple 4 word description creates an entire world,”Rainbow Dash flies East,” simple words, amazing execution. The tone is nailed in this story, and it probably has something to do with my affinity for traveling alone and the meditative-like qualities I believe nature to have. I couldn’t recount the joy this fic brings, and I really hope to finish the rest of series with it someday.

9: Patience, She Said- TheMessenger

Alright, it’s getting to the point where it’s a little hard to choose. Honestly, I almost teared up just writing that title. It’s one of those stories where everything works, you get explanations, you get timeframes, you get a very deep life lesson about waiting. It’s the only fanfic I know of where Spike dies, and Fallout: Equestria doesn’t count. It's a crazy timeframe, too, 10,000 years, I believe. If there’s one thing I examine in modern society and I’d want my stories to be written about it, it’s how everyone, and the world, adheres to a routine. However, if there’s a second thing, it’d be waiting. A story like this allures me, and I like the way it presents everything in a forward way.

8: On The Wing of Friendship- Deathscar

A short story, but one that you should read, right now. We’re getting into the top ten, what I’d consider some of the best stuff this community has done. Personally, I’d like to thank Seattle's Angels for this outstanding recommendation. It’s the King Sombra alt. timeline, masterfully written, and incredibly deep, too. You know the Rainbow Dash with a prosthetic wing? I believe she’s talking to King Sombra!Fluttershy, it’s been a while since I read this, but I believe it’s about how war is painful. It’s especially about how war never changes, we’ll still fight for the things we love.

7: The Lovenote- Deleted Account

This story is tremendously short. It’s just over 1000 words long, and it’s a letter from Soarin to Rainbow Dash. I ship SoarinDash so hard, and this story is an emotional roller coaster, it follows the plot thread of how all Soarin wanted to do, the last time he saw Rainbow Dash 4 years ago, was to say goodbye. It’s sad, it’s happy, it’s reminiscent, it’s the definition of a bipolar fic. The ending is especially sweet, too. I highly suggest you give it a read.

6: Light The Sky on Fire- EquesTRON

If there’s one thing I like more than well written OctaScratch fics, it’s Scootalove fics. This story is 10,000 words of Twilight and Rainbow Dash helping Scootaloo to fly. While I don’t want Scootaloo to fly in the show, that’s what fanfics are for. It’s been a while, but I enjoyed this story way back when I read it. It warms my heart to see Rainbow Dash valiantly helping Scootaloo in such dire conditions. All in all, it’s one of the best Scootalove fanfics I’ve read, it might’ve even made me cry.

5: Tiny Wings- DeadParrot222

This is Scootalove fanfic of the highest degree. Scootaloo is diagnosed with ‘Dwarven Wing Syndrome,’ and it’s up to Rainbow Dash to pull her out of her funk. It’s another one I don’t remember too well, but I recall it being sad, and I certainly felt that. It’s such a great mentor-student relationship that I can appreciate.

4: Bitter/Sweet- Estee

These last 4 stories are stories I put on a pedestal above all the other ones. We’ve got a right trifecta here, we’ve got a funny story, a deep story, and a sad story, and one that’s a little of all three. Bitter/Sweet is one of those stories you never forget, we’ve got 1000-year book ends, a deep story that tells you another story within it. I realize that Estee is a rather big author on FiMFiction, so, I might be saying things that have already been said about her for a long time. I don’t care, this story is brilliant. Luna makes an appearance, and she listens to the main character tell that story about Worthy Chocolates. Another thing I love about this story, main character comes last, I don’t remember her name, I don’t need to remember her name, the story is all the talking that needs done. It’s a brilliant story from beginning to end, and one worthy of all the praise I give it.

3: Fallout: Equestria- Kkat

Big surprise! I get this story might be liked to the point of overration, but I don’t think it’s overrated one bit. This story is deep, it’s funny, and it’s sad. If there’s one way to win my graces on a fanfic, it’s making a sad story make me cry. That’s a tough task, as my heart is cold and dead, but this story warmed it, I will always cite The Virtue of LittlePip as one of the greatest things I’ve read. This story has a wonderful way of counterbalancing everything with everything else, the jokes come at opportune moments, and might have something to do with my affinity of dark comedy and other comedy, let’s leave it at that. The story gets really deep at the end, it gets sad then, too. The ending is also something I can get behind here, it ends with the opening lines of the story, and the epilogue ends with Fallout: Equestria being put on the screen like some modern blockbuster. It’s a great read at the start, and it only gets better from there. Last, but not least, this story singlehandedly restored my love of reading, I binged the last few chapters in a couple hours, and since then, I’ve come back around to reading in my spare time, that’s how good this story was.

2: The Inn At The End of Equestria- Nobodyslament

What could be better than Fallout: Equestria you say? Why, this story right here! It started out as a fanfic he’d write when his editors were busy, and now it’s his 3rd-biggest story on his profile. This story is so great because you can obviously tell the writer is skilled, the jokes land, the homey tone is nailed, and so many things fall into place. He stays true to his roots, and always has one or two changelings helping him out in the kitchen. It’s still going on, albeit updating at a pace much too slow for me. For the record, this is interchangeable with Fallout: Equestria, but I prefer this one a little more. It’s shorter, but not too short, it’s constantly funny, and all in all, it’s an HIE done right. He’s not a violent warmonger, he’s a bartender who just wants to have a chat. The energy this story has is so infectious that I want to read it over and over again without stopping. Not even my favorite fanfic can do that.

Speaking of favorite fanfic, here it is!

1: Tangled Up In Blues- TheDescendant

I’m gonna start out by saying this, this story is almost perfect. The only complaint I have? The tenses are mixed. If I used my album rating scale, this would get a 9.7/10, and I’m not even kidding. This story follows Blues, his ups, downs, and in-betweens, and how his relationships sealed the deal. Speaking of which, his relationships, hoo boy. Moody Blues is such a great mentor character with an added bonus of being literally anybody you want him to be. Blues is a great character with so much going wrong, yet coming out on top in the end. This story didn’t make me cry once, but twice on my most recent read-through of it. The way Blues is motivated, the way he writes his thoughts in his head, just seems so natural to me. I won’t spoil this story, because I think you’d best read for yourself. It’s sad, and probably the first or second fanfic I read, and I can certainly say it’s not nostalgia goggles, because it was even better take two. This is the greatest fanfic in my mind, I put it on a large pedestal, above all else, simply because I want to take the ride of that little Bluespony, and Moody Blues and Blues’ relationship will always be the best thing I’ve seen. It’s so good, I used it for inspiration in my most popular story. This story made me feel in so many different ways, it deserves to be #1.

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This is for my followers, and I know I don’t have too many, but I wanted to share this somewhere. It didn’t seem to fit on the WoF Wikia, so here’s all 16 of my favorites, ordered from my least favorite to my favorite. Now, you might know what I consider that ‘best of the best’, and all of these stories are great, so if any of the authors see this, just because it’s last on my list, that does not it’s bad. It was good enough to be considered unique, and quite literally, one of my favorites.

Hoping your fanfics are great and wonderful...
-SAB.