This is a thread to build a portfolio of quality fanfics. While you can simply post stories into the story folders, this thread is there for us to give our favourite fics a glowing recommendation. Post, read, converse and above all, have fun!

Rules

- No clop-fics. Stories with mature/sexual content are allowed, provided there is genuine substance to the story beyond merely being clop-fodder.
- No troll-fics (i.e. "So bad they're good") allowed.
- Any comments on recommendations/ general conversations must be separate from recommendation posts themselves.
- When posting a recommendation, please use the format demonstrated below.

EDIT TO RULES:
- I previously included a rule that fics beyond season 3 were to be discounted from recommendation. Looking at this now, I had a severe lack of foresight. I couldn't have anticipated the show going on for 9 whole seasons with completely different groups of people becoming fans and then drifting away from the show at various points that hadn't even existed back when this thread was first made. The rule made sense back then but doesn't anymore. As such, I agree with the new rule that fics set in any era may be recommended.
- I originally disallowed people from sharing their own stories as a way to prevent the thread from devolving into a stream of self-advertising with other great stories becoming buried. It's been 6 years since then and the thread is practically bare. As such, recommending your own stories is permitted provided they adhere to general rules, though still spare a thought for other authors whose works you hold in high regard.

Recommendation format

[Story title with embedded link to story]
[Author]
[Story cover art] (Optional)
[Season canon] (Explain at what point in the series canon the story takes place)
[Story genres]
[Complete/Incomplete]
[Story synopsis] (Copied and pasted from the story's page)
[Personal recommendation] (Explain why you like this story and give reasons for others to read it)

Unmarked

Written by Croswynd
Canon: Season 2 (Pre-Crystal Empire)
Adventure
Complete

Purpose. In Equestria, where purpose is defined by the mark on your flank, it is often taken for granted. Yet Novell has grown to adulthood without a single explanation of where he fits in. It's not until a chance meeting with a particular Professor that he gets the opportunity to explore the world and find out exactly where he belongs. Of course, adventuring has a host of its own problems, as this blank flank is about to find out!

Recommendation

It's difficult for me to describe my experience with Unmarked without gushing like a fanboy. Simply put, this is my favourite MLP fanfic to date. Arguably its most impressive feat is the large cast of memorable OCs. Each character is distinct and shows believable development throughout this story while also sticking firmly to their established character traits. Canon characters appear at events few and far between, but nothing is lost, the author's own characters carrying the story effortlessly.

The story itself starts off relatively slowly before thrusting the main character (Novell) into a globe-trotting adventure fraught with danger, excitement, action and plenty of surprises. I could delve into it further but I'd hate to risk ruining your potential discovery. This is a beautifully written fanfic that had me gripped from beginning to end. If you find any enjoyment in stories about unlikely heroes and epic quests, I wholeheartedly recommend it.

Duplicity
Lyra, humans and human Lyra. It is well written but not so popular.
Wings and disgusting abominations free

2632036
Friendship is a Quantum Infinite

By AngelicoreXX and ShotgunLobotomy
Set sometime in Season 2
Adventure, Comedy, Dark, Human.
Complete

On one of the most mundane of Mondays all year round, Ponyville is unexpectedly visited by a very familiar and yet very confused group of beloved friends from an alternate reality. What happens when "Twyla", a human teacher from Earth, comes face to face with herself in the form of Twilight Sparkle? Will the two facets of time-space fold upon one another or will these two almost identical groups of friends work together to overcome the strange set of circumstances that have followed these humans into Equestria?

Recommendation:
This is one of the first stories I read on this site from start to finish and I loved it. It a bit like Equestria Girls. only made before it and had a better premise. I like almost everything in. the humans, their interactions with the ponies, the villain(who I won't spoil) with a great character arch, and the comedy.
If there's a part i don't like is a long scene in Chapter 11 mainly because it drags. which is a shame because it has some of the funniest scenes with Celestia in it. Still, I love this story and I recommend it to anyone who is interested.

2637132

Hooray for a contribution, new member! Complete with cover art and everything!

Equestria Girls done well, you say? I'm one of the few who actually thought Equestria Girls had some potential, (but botched it royally) so I'm interested already. I'll give the story a read at some point. Thanks for adding your recommendation!

2632148

I don't mean to be a pain, but I'd prefer it if you could follow the format stipulated in the rules. Um, that is... if you don't mind...

2646932
Out of curiosity I'm not allowed to recommend fan games or mods (even ones set before season 4)on these forums.right

2648181

Eh... No. Fanfics only.

Tales from Mystika: A My Little Mages Book

By Yondy
AU
Dark, Adventure, Human
On hiatus

It's been three years since Princess Luna, the Nightwatcher has been returned to her throne and three years since Twilight Sparkle and the virtuous six have parted ways and gone back to their separate lives. But after a few years of peace, there are reports of a series of murders and break ins on the outskirts of the major cities of Mystika. As Twilight Sparkle investigates, she uncovers rumors that the Shadow Blade cult who did the bidding of The Nightmare back during the Dark Times, are back in force. And they have a plan.

inspired by the character re-imagining illustrated by Ryan McCarty
http://didj.deviantart.com/#/d4r821l

Recommendation
While It's not finished. It is a good start to an epic story. If you want a story where the humans are able to use magic and have a more fantasy setting(Unlike Equestria Girls) I don't have much to talk about, because it's not done, it's a great idea for a humanized world with a dark tone.One thing I do want to note it has my favorite version of the Nightmare.
Also Chrysalis is a necromancer. not a changeling.

2632036
Do we put the recommendations in the folders or do we just leave them here. It's just that we have 4 stories here already and not sorted into any files.

2787721

Good point. I guess it'd make sense to put them into the right folders. (I still have a few stories I plan to put here) My only thought was that some authors might not want their stories to be affiliated with such a group, but I guess if that's a real problem they can always remove it themselves.

Truth be told, when I started this thread part of me was expecting people to post a bunch of their stuff into the folders and that never really happened... And then after that it slipped my mind.

2787748
So we can put stories in now.

2787805

Yes.

Mass Effect 2 - DLC: The Equestrian Equation

By Loyal2Luna
After Season 2
Crossover, Adventure
Complete

Brought to you by Loyal2Luna, this new Downloadable Content for Mass Effect 2 brings the fight to Equestria.

Just about ready to embark on their mission to stop the Collectors from further abducting human colonies, Commander Shepard and the crew of the Normandy SR-2 are given a new priority, when the Illusive Man tasks them with investigating the mysterious disappearance of a Cerberus science team.

Soon, what begins as a simple search-and-rescue unveils a mystery millions of years in the making, and the Commander finds himself thrust into a situation he couldn't possibly have prepared himself for.

Join the Hero of the Citadel as he uncovers the secrets, combats the demons, and ultimately decides the fate of the impossible world known as "Equestria."

Recommendation
Do you like Mass Effect? Do you Like MLP? This is just a brilliant story. I don't want to spoiler anything beause i may ruin the story. It's that good. Plus during the the develpment of this fic, you get to vote on the next thing that happens, so everything that happened was voted by you. and there a sequeal.

2810922 I just want to reinforce that this is an excellent fic, as is its sequel, Mass Effect: Shades of Twilight.

I read the first one in its entirety before I signed up for FiMFiction, and the sequel is unfinished and I can't remember where I left off.

Well, I just ran into a story I want to recommend because it reads like something that would have been written in the early days of the fandom which isn't surprising since the author hasn't watched anything past season 2 and has been around since 2011.

https://www.fimfiction.net/story/399083/a-broken-mirror

This story basically mashes EQG and the season 2 finale together in a very interesting and creative way where Chrysalis throws Cadence and Twilight through the portal and breaks it in the process, forcing them to work with Sunset (and eventually the other EQG antagonists) to get home. There isn't much of it yet, but it's already crystal clear that the author is doing some very interesting things with Sunset's pre-movies personality and motivations as well as building a realistic historical relationship with Cadence who is also already more interesting than in canon in spite of there being only one really substantial conversation with her so far.

Edit: as of 1/6/2019 this story is officially canceled.

The Long Con

Y'all have probably seen this fic floating around the featured box. It's absolutely worth a read. It's definitely one of the better fix/clarification fics I've read in a long time. It manages to stick to canon while also giving us a lot of meat about Starlight Glimmer's motivations and actions, and does a great job contextualizing her "reformation" and her later deeds. Her inherent sociopathy is on full display here and it's glorious.

I'm astonished that the legions of Starlight Glimmer apologists haven't descended upon it yet and downvoted it into oblivion. This seems like exactly the sort of fic they'd target for "mischaracterizing the bestest pony" or something like that. I'm glad it's managed to avoid that fate for the time being, at least.

10/10 would recommend.

To help increase story sharing, I am permitting members to share their own stories if they are relevant to the above rules. Fics addressing issues from Season 4 and onward are permitted.

I think some of my own works would be relevant to this group's purpose.

The Lost Element

The story itself is not a fix fic upfront, but it does address, fix, or defy many problems in the show here and there along the way. This includes addressing the issue of the dragonlands' policy of parental abandonment of children from "Moltdown", giving Discord a proper sendoff instead of an unfitting "reformation", tactfully preventing the creation of Flurry Heart, and dealing with the concept of Starlight Glimmer with tactful and brutal realism.

Return of Humanity

The sequel to The Lost Element, it again does not function primarily as a fix fic, but addresses and prevent the events of Magical Mystery Cure (I wrote the first chapter early solely to address this problem) and will later address the infamous One Bad Apple and much later on will feature Tempest Shadow and a fitting crushing punishment for her actions that will set the stage for an arduous reformation process.

Before Time Began to Flow

As a prequel to The Lost Element, it doesn’t address much from the show, but it does provide a superior origin story and background for Tirek, Grogar, and Chrysalis, and retcons out the Tree of Harmony and the incomprehensible Pillars for a comprehensible origin of the Elements of Harmony.

Chrysalis Visits The Hague

A Equestria-Brought-To-Earth story that focuses on the shadier aspects of Equestrian society and history and the trial of Queen Chrysalis. Trust me, it's worth a read.

Takes place after The Canterlot Wedding.

6833201
For future reference:

To help increase story sharing, I am permitting members to share their own stories if they are relevant to the above rules. Fics addressing issues from Season 4 and onward are permitted.

Is it okay for stories to portray some of later material as positive or not problematic? My main body of work goes up to season five, but has an alternate handling of Starlight Glimmer. (Well, uh, most of season five? There were one or two minor, slice-of-life episodes I haven't seen.) Most of the headcanon and stuff that goes into it is from seasons two through four in particular (with season one being obvious). There's also Sunset Shimmer popping up quite a bit.

In general, it's all middle canon stuff with light inclusion of EqG here and there. I think a couple installments in particular would appeal to folks here.

And for some reading suggestions pulled from my favorites:

Friendship 101
BlazzingInferno
Pre-Canon; very early show feeling (but it has Minuette, Lyra, and Moondancer if I remember right)
Slice of Life/Fluff with Plot/Character Examination
Complete

A pony only gets one cute-ceañera. Twilight Velvet knows this, and she knows exactly how her friendless daughter wants to spend hers: nose-deep in a book, just like every other day. Twilight Velvet has other plans, all revolving around finding somepony to come to her daughter’s party, somepony to be her friend.

This has an interesting look at pre-show Twilight through the eyes of her mother and mentor. She's rightfully asocial and a well-written child character. Every character plays their part, and the overall feeling is like an early episode: charming slice of life with a nicely worked in moral.

Of Love, Snow and Shadows
Feather Book
Setting is vaguely post-S3
Romance/Positive
Complete

King Sombra has been reformed. After falling in love with the the former king, Princess Luna is looking forward to sharing their first Hearth's Warming together. But, Sombra has other ideas.

The holiday has brought up only bad memories and after a chance meeting with a filly those memories become all too real.

Can Luna show him the true meaning of Hearth's Warming? Or will Sombra let the past consume him?

This story manages to make a pre-established relationship workable and fun. Sombra is working towards reformation and is a big grouch. Luna wants to show him the magic of Hearth's Warming. It sounds like a cheesy holiday film plotline, but I really liked how organically it was written: it's about finding a way that you can fit in and enjoy things in your own way. The themes of redemption are handled in a way that it doesn't feel forced or unjustified.