So, I'm really bad about keeping up with submission folders in any of my groups. But when I do go through the things in our incoming folder, I'll comment on them and hopefully give some people reason to read or avoid the fic, as well as explain why I accepted or rejected it. If I wind up pulling a story from the other folders, that will get a mention here as well.

Bad Dragon Clop Collaboration (no link due to mature content)
by Bad Dragon

While I don't have any rules against clop being in this group, I think the requirement that Pinkie be a well-rounded character is going to limit this to well-done clop with a proper plot. This really isn't that. Of the three chapters up so far, the first is, frankly, just badly done; the second is blatant trollfic; and the third is mindless clop with a very OOC Pinkie. And that third chapter is the only one that involves her at all. Rejecting this.

Flash Sentry Is Not a Hero
by Bad Dragon

If you really want to read a fic where Flash Sentry acts like a robot and is very bad at his job, this might be for you. Particularly if you don't mind awkward writing that sounds like English isn't the author's first language. But Pinkie's entire role here is getting bored and blowing up a balloon. Removing it.

MMMystery on The Friendship Express, Ending P
by SuperPinkBrony12

It could definitely use a spelling and grammar check, and Pinkie was a bit too subdued the entire time, but it wasn't anything too severe. Accepted.

Pinkie Pie: The Amazing Spider Mare
by SuperPinkBrony12
The narrative is extremely telly, and loaded with exposition, plus all the characters are kind of flat, when they're actually in-character. Pinkie frequently seems rather OOC, and Macintosh is about as far from his canon personality as possible. But more importantly, this never feels like the story or Pinkie getting Spider-Man powers. It just feels like the standard Spider-Man backstory, but with the names changed to ponies. Rejecting.

Mothers Don't Need Manuals The Sequel (no link due to mature content)
by SuperPinkBrony12
First things, this is Adult Foal. Various characters care for (adult) Fluttershy as though she were an infant. Diapers and all. Pinkie has a full chapter dedicated to her, and while this is far from anything I personally enjoy (ageplay is not a thing for me), it does feature a more rounded Pinkie in an abnormal situation. Characters still felt a bit flat, though not terribly so. Accepted.

I’m trying to go back through and make sure that stories added before I started moderating submissions actually conform to the standards I’ve expressed for them here. I’ll be doing my typical commentary on each one (skipping my own, obviously).

Pinkie Pie’s Last Nightmare Night
by Admiral Biscuit
This one basically goes to show that even in a silly, comedic piece, Pinkie can still be written without resorting to randomness and fourth wall gags. Keeping and recommending.

The Games We Play
by AbsoluteAnonymous
Is it even spoilers anymore? Or does its presence in this group give it all away, anyway? Oh well, just in case… One of the oldest “Pinkie hides her issues” stories out there, and still one of the best. I also rank it among the best RainbowPie, as well. I’d actually say that it makes Pinkie’s issues too severe, but the way it presents them, as a result of her repressing everything to keep others from worrying about her, makes them feel more believable. Keeping and recommending.

Pinkie Watches Paint Dry
by AbsoluteAnonymous
Proof that you can write a dramatic piece about virtually anything, and yes, this predates the episode Too Many Pinkie Pies. This being entirely a introspective character piece by an uncharacteristically sentimental Pinkie, it at first seems as though it would be OOC. But then the sheer absurdity of the thought process starts to sink in. The bizarre curves in the logic. And it becomes clear that only Pinkie could have an existential crisis like this. Keeping.

Lost and Blind
by Rambling Puppet

You may notice that Pinkie Pie is acting a little more mature in this story, that's because I'm dismissing the popular idea that she's random for the sake of being random. She's a central character for this story, and if I had her behave extremely cartoonish this fic would devolve very quickly into a comedy, and this isn't meant to be a very funny story. Heartwarming maybe, but not something worthy of the Random or Comedy tags.

Author’s own words, from the opening author’s notes in Chapter Two. Pinkie is still Pinkie. She’s a motormouth, endlessly optimistic, always trying to help, and prone to going off on strange tangents. But she’s never obnoxious or overwhelming. The human OC is kind of bland beyond his disability, but I’m definitely going to be reading the rest of this once I get some other projects cleared out. It’s pretty much exactly what I’m looking for in this group, unless it somehow manages to disappoint me greatly in later chapters, but I hardly expect that to happen. Keeping, and recommended for any fans of Pinkie or HIE.

Equestria Girls: The Looking Glass World of Cheese and Pie
by scoots2
This one doesn’t hold my interest as much as Lost and Blind did, but it still approaches Pinkie in a mature and balanced way. While she’s still a friendly talkative loon, we see some unusual flaw coming to the fore. Namely, the opportunity to meet a new friend is being forgotten in the face of a perceived slight to her capabilities. I’m only reading the first chapter, but it looks good to me so far. Keeping.

I submitted Petriculture. Try talking about that one without spoilers, I dare you. XD
(Also Inscape, the second story in the Petriculture cycle, which also has a large role for Pinkie.)

Ghost of a Rose
by Lambent Dream

A lot of the levity behind Pinkie's character is gone in this one, though she still manages to feel like herself. It's always nice to see more to her character than the typical "manic goofball" most people write her as, even though her role takes a backseat to Roseluck's. Beyond Pinkie, the story itself is well-written and full of twists and turns. Unfortunately, I can't say much more than that without spoilers. If you have the time, do yourself a favor and give this one a look. Keeping and recommending.

scoots2’s CheesePie Trilogy
Goodbye, Boneless
Good Morning, Beautiful
Say Goodnight, Pinkie
all by scoots2
I’m grouping these together because they could all easily be one fic. Also, there might be more to them than these, and I’m pretty sure scoots2 has mentioned a couple other stories that serve as background for these, but these are what were submitted at the time. I don’t personally care much for CheesePie (TwiPie all the way), the writing tends towards being rushed and telly, and they’re really mostly just Cheese Sandwich talking about Pinkie. However, I think they do capture the characters well, with Cheese clearly being much more introverted and serious than Pinkie (who’s slightly childish, but not as random as most lazy writing makes her), while still being a party pony. The idea that “party ponies” have their own sort of magic (which reminds me greatly of D&D bards) is also interesting, if a bit strange. All in all, they’re worth the read. Keeping.

Great Expectations
by scoots2
Another CheesePie fic from scoots2. I separated this one out because scoots2 said it wasn’t necessarily in-canon with their others. However, it’s very similar to those stories, and a lot of the same could be said for it. And on top of those, I liked the “farm girl” idea about Pinkie being an early-to-rise workaholic, and the story does a very good job of hinting at what’s going on with her without spelling it out until the end. Keeping.

First Steps
by Steel Resolve
Some of the best Pinkie Pie romance I’ve seen. It’s RariPie, which feels strange at first, but the relationship between them is convincing and develops naturally. Pinkie isn’t incredibly random or hyper, but still has a certain naivete to her, as well as a very strange sort of logic to her behavior. There’s also a lot of character drama, particularly centered around Rarity’s relationship with Fluttershy, and the rest of the group’s tendency to exclude Pinkie from serious matters. Keeping and highly recommended.

What My Dark Half is Telling Me
by Eskerata
I reviewed this for PCaRG a while ago, and it takes a rather tired concept and makes good use of it. Pinkie Pie is upset after Applejack reacts harshly to her misguided attempts to help out, and finds herself talking to her dark side, Pinkamena, in her head. However, as the story progresses, it becomes clear that the purpose isn’t just to drive Pinkie crazy or dwell on some ill-conceived “evil” version of her. Instead, it’s an affirmation of what Pinkie represents, and a rejection of her former isolation and despair. Keeping.

There Will Never Be a Last Laugh
by Pascoite
Pinkie is dying in her old age, and the Princesses have one final gift for her: the chance to see her old friends once more, and to see what will become of the Element of Laughter. Any more than that is giving too much away, so just know it’s a very touching story, and another one I rank among Pinkie’s best. Keeping and highly recommended.

The Tragedy of Pinkie
by Kajio
Pinkie Pie wakes up alone — completely alone, and has to cope with her now-empty world. The story could possibly spend more time exploring Pinkie’s situation, and Pinkie could sound a bit more silly and energetic for once, but all in all, it’s an interesting look at her reactions to such a bizarre event. Keeping.

I'll be wrapping up the previously-added reviews next time with the Slice of Life and Tragedy folders, then we'll be getting back to the new submissions.

4002876
I've heard of Petriculture as one of the key Pinkie Pie fics out there, before. Like it is to Pinkie what FO:E is to crossovers, or Past Sins is to OCs. Like most of these well-known fics, though, I haven't actually read it yet. But, I'll get to it when I get to it, as I'm trying to generally work from old to new in the submissions folder.

4008243

First Steps
by Steel Resolve
Some of the best Pinkie Pie romance I’ve seen. It’s RariPie, which feels strange at first, but the relationship between them is convincing and develops naturally. Pinkie isn’t incredibly random or hyper, but still has a certain naivete to her, as well as a very strange sort of logic to her behavior. There’s also a lot of character drama, particularly centered around Rarity’s relationship with Fluttershy, and the rest of the group’s tendency to exclude Pinkie from serious matters. Keeping and highly recommended.

Aww, thanks! I write Pinkie for First Steps, and I'm glad you liked her so much in it. Of all the Pinkie that I've written, that story is my very favorite.

The Brightest Timeline
by protractror

Twilight tell Pinkie about theoretical physics, and Pinkie has an existential crisis. This is, essentially, a serious look at what Laughter is about, and it focuses on a very important point that sometimes gets overlooked: Pinkie places the happiness of others over her own. So when she finds out that there might be many Pinkies out there whose lives are nowhere near as happy as her own, she doesn’t take it well. Keeping and recommended.

Adventures in Cake Sitting
by JMac

So, this one was put into Slice of Life, though it’s tagged Adventure and Comedy. It’s basically about an OC filly who acts like the magical lesbian spawn of Twilight and Maud. While Pinkie is cast in the role of “mature adult” early in the fic, she only gets to do that for the first half of the first chapter. After that, she falls ill, and in her fever is being Typical Random Pinkie. After that, the story really belongs to the OC. It’s pretty good, for an OC story, though Quizzical can get a bit eye-rolling at times (magical prodigy, nearly as good at teleportation as Twilight, invents her own spells…), but it’s not really a Pinkie Pie story. Worth a look, but not keeping it.

A Little Visit
by Sketcha-Holic

Not much to say, here. It’s a very short glimpse of life with the Pie family, and nothing more. It’s right on the line as far as my requirements that Pinkie plays a role and is characterized properly go, but I’ll go ahead and keep it, mostly because it’s just too short to do much more with her.

That’s All
by Archmage Ludicrous

I remember reading this one before. It’s a brief look into the mind of Pinkie. It really stands out for retaining all her randomness and silliness, but using her POV to show the logic behind it all. It also has a nice moment of Pinkie finding other ponies just as peculiar as they find her. Keeping, despite its excessive use of Apple Accent.

More Than Her Mane
by Westphalian_Musketeer

This and First Steps were the primary impetus behind the formation of this entire group. It’s a total deconstruction of “flat mane = crazy” Pinkie, and even features a nod or two to Cupcakes to drive the point home. It even has Spike playing a major role as the Only Sane One, and ends with a letter to Celestia. Frankly, if Hasbro were willing to reference the fandom and make some meta-jokes at their own expense, this could have easily been a S2 or S3 episode. Keeping and recommending.

Princess of Friendship
by Bad Dragon

Rather like Adventures In Cake Sitting, this story may feature Pinkie Pie, but it’s hardly about her. This is thoroughly Twilight’s story. Pinkie, for her part, starts out as Typical Random Pinkie, until she understands their situation. And then she’s just as flatly depressed as she was previously flatly cheerful. Removing this.

And those are all of the previously-submitted stories. Now we can get on with doing the new submissions.

4009256
You're welcome. I'm still looking forward to future chapters of that one.

4011921 Steel Resolve and I are 95% done with the next chapter, so it shouldn't be too much longer.

4008243 Glad you enjoyed it. Steps is a story I often just think of being just for x and myself, a vanity project in the truest sense. But I love that others enjoy it.

Wow, I haven’t done any of these in ages. I’m a terrible admin, and I should really find some more people to go through this stuff.

Fighting is Magic: Story Mode (Mane Six Edition)
by SuperPinkBrony12

I only read the chapters focused on Pinkie, and even then I could only get through about half of them. All the characters are very flat, including Pinkie. Really, at any given point, nearly any line of dialogue could have been spoken by anyone and it wouldn’t have made much difference, because they all sounded so much alike. Rejecting.

My Little Pony Friendship is Magic What If?
by SuperPinkBrony12

I feel bad shooting down two in a row from the same person like this, but I tried reading one of the Pinkie-focused chapters, and I’d be reviewing this poorly on grammar and formatting issues alone. Pinkie is written basically exactly as she is on the show, so it doesn’t exactly bring anything new to the table, and since it’s just episode rewrites, it’s not exactly Pinkie-centric, either. Finally, the rewrites don’t seem to change much, instead feeling like a weakly-written series of episode transcripts. And even when something is added or changed, it more often than not just introduces plot holes that weren’t present in the original. Rejecting.

Her Own Pony
by Jorofrarie

I’ve just read the first four chapters, but I think I’ll be coming back to finish this. It’s very similar to an idea of my own, but where it seems Jorofrarie is focused on the beginning of the story, mine was more focused on the end. Either way, the entire story is about what Pinkie is, and what the mirror clones were, and definitely seems worth the read. Keeping.

Gonna stop with those for now, but I’ll try to make this a regular thing again.

4860577
Since I'm fairly certain I was the one who submitted it, I'm glad to see that "Her Own Pony" was accepted. It's been a while since I read it...