So, I'm sure this has been asked before, and I know I've asked my friends this at various points, but, I want to get as many viewpoints on this as possible...

What draws you into a story (show, book, movie, comic, etc)? What's that *one thing* that has you coming back to that story for more, even when you've already experienced it?
Aside from the obvious like well written characters, the over-arching plot, and other things that every good story should have.

I'm not going to throw my two cents in, I don't want the ideas affecting what you put here. I want your opinion about the things that have you coming back to a particular story or series.
To give y'all an idea of what I mean; lightsabers and space wizards, beautiful character designs, cooky orks and their WAAAAAAAARG, the world-building of a cyber city, epic battles in (insert IP here), etc. Anything! What is it you return to your favorites stories for?

well written characters, the over-arching plot, and other things that every good story should have.

Sometimes not even that. There are stories that have objective flaws that are still some of my favourites. Even above objectively more competent ones. A story just has to connect with you. It needs something that just makes it click. Comedic timing, engaging chemistry, dialogue that flows well, etc.
For me it's always been the characters. If they feel realistic and in-character, I can forgive a lot of sins. I can put up with a glacial pacing, meandering plot, and even cliched premises if I get to enjoy the characters being themselves and interacting with each other.
There's this old shipfic I read close to ten years ago. Eyes on You. It's a great story, but I've read better since then. However, I always come back to that one due to how endearing it is.

I think it's how writers create their own characters and worlds using mlp universe, like my favorite versions of pinkie are the ones that go beyond the 'haha ​​I'm so random haha', I also really like those stories that take an underdeveloped character from the show and give them a personality,
Come to think of it, I favorite almost all the stories I read, I need to create a separate folder just for the ones that are really my favorites
Two things that make me pick up stories to read (or at least bookmark them for later) are their size, (because I like long stories, 100k for me is not enough, oneshots have to be very interesting to make me read them) and whether they are complete, If it's complete, I'm already considering it, if not I look if it was updated less than a year ago, I rarely read stories without an ending, they leave me with a feeling of sadness

I also enjoy the commentary section, whether reading or making them, creating and reading theories on how the story will progress, whether a character will do it or not, and even receiving a response from the authors on my ruminations on their stories makes the worlds of these stories seem more alive to me

A lot of times, it can change for me. Sure, having well written characters, the over-arching plot all help to make the story easier to read and stick to, but there are a few things that can keep me coming back to a story even if any of those elements are missing.

Full disclosure: Black-Soul is a reader and frequent commenter on my stories, so eventually, I got curious about what he did on this site. I found out that he did some writing of his own. I'm only pointing this out because I'm pretty much plugging his story to explain my answer to your question.

One that had enough tags that piqued my interest was Gray the Necromancer - The Beginning.. English is not his first language, so spelling errors, grammar, punctuation... Bless his heart, he tries, he really does. But more than anything else, it's a story that when you're reading it, you can feel how much fun he has writing it. Nothing is ever taken too seriously, and in my opinion, it always comes off as a story you can sit back and just enjoy the crazy ride it's meant to be while at the same time he overthinks all the background details to try and make the world he's created work.

His characters are not intricately deep, he does a good job of building connections between them and establishing their own motives and personalities. The plot is still developing, so we'll see where that goes. But what sells me on this more than anything is the fun factor.

For a completely different take, a story like Consequences of Unoriginality does something that I love, which is to take a concept and flip it on its head. This story, of course, is far more popular, as it's far more polished and has more depth to the main characters and a straightforward narrative as opposed to a "whose that lurking in the dark" plot. Regardless, what drew me in was the fact it took the trope of an OC character dropped into Equestria that was oversized black and red, overpowered, great at everything, could beat all the baddies, alicorn stallion that every pony loved and wanted to fuck because of it... But he hated what he was and how fake the admiration was and wanted to free himself from what he considered to be a curse.

For those who haven't read the story, it's not much of a spoiler, but the bulk of the story takes place after he loses his alicorn form and deals with the fallout of no longer being the uber-awesome-OP alicorn he once was. I loved the idea of taking an overused power fantasy that typically shows no thought being thought into it and then having real thought put behind it as to how it would actually impact someone and those around them.

Looking back, some parts of the story are better than others in it. A few over dramatics versus the undertones of well-thought-out trauma impacting characters subtly showing themselves. But, again, it's the concept that sold me.

I'm sure there are other things I could expand up, but I think I've written enough for now. I hope this helps with whatever you were looking to find.

Whatever helps me do a DreamyBull impression.