My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic - Page 554

Fallout Equestria -- Kkat
[Grimdark]
First off, I'd like to say that I am in no way biased towards FoE (you know, the same way as how none you cried while reading Circle of Friends). Anyways, this fic, is definitely one of the best of the fandom. You don't need to have played or even touched Fallout to understand it; my experience with Fallout is seeing my friend play 5 minutes of it and knowing a weapon called the Board of Education or something. It's action-packed from beginning to end, but still maintains an extremely engaging plot line. While this fic is listed as grimdark, there's actually very little gore that I can think of. If you need more encouragement, check out Midnight Shadow's description of FoE.
Word count: This fic is over 600K words, making it longer (and just as epic) as the LotR trilogy, so expect to be reading for a while if you start.
Description: + Show Spoiler +

Fallout Equestria: Heroes -- No One
[Grimdark], [Incomplete]
You can tell a FoE fic will be good when it gets its own post in EqD. In fact, those are the only ones that I look at. From what I know of Fallout, this one follows the New Vegas plotline. Of course, I don't know anything about Fallout, so feel free to enlighten me if I'm being stupid again.
Word count: Currently 218,356 words.
Description: + Show Spoiler +

Fallout Equestria: Project Horizons -- Somber
[Grimdark], [Incomplete]
Possibly my favorite fic. Somber has taken Kkat's legendary FoE, and added so much more to it. Everything that made the original great is right in this fic - and even more!
This fic is huge! It's at least ~30K words longer than the original.
Word count: >630K words.
Description: + Show Spoiler +

Fallout Equestria - Pink Eyes -- Mimezinga Po
[Grimdark]
I imagine that this author read FoE and thought: "What if I put in the most innocent character imaginable into post-apocalyptic Equestria and wrote a story about it?" Don't take it as seriously as other FoE fics, a lot of it is based on the perspectives of a foal. Regardless, this story was also very well done - and the ending was strong (as opposed to, unfortunately, The Games We Play). If you enjoyed Fallout Equestria, you'll probably like this one as well.
Word count: 134,537
Description: + Show Spoiler +

It's a Dangerous Business, Going Out Your Door -- Jetfire
I love adventure fics. Dangerous Business is one of the best of them. Unlike FoE, it maintains a close resemblance to the show, by that I mean less gore and death. The beginning was kind of slow for me, but it's definitely worth reading.
Word count: ~140K words.
Description: + Show Spoiler +

Past Sins -- Pen Stroke
Past Sins was the second fic that I have ever read, so I may be hazy on the details. When you have over 2300 ratings on EqD and you still have 6 stars, you're probably doing something right. The OP compares it to Harry Potter, which I disagree with since I didn't actually like HP all that much. Anyways, it's worth a read - even Gary took the time to read it.
Some people don't like Past Sins because it has a large amount of redundant prose, but it's a fic that you need to read to decide for yourself.
Word count: Didn't check, but it's ~500 pages, so it's quite large.
Description: + Show Spoiler +

Pony Psychology -- SaddlesoapOpera
[Shipping], [some Dark]
While this is more of a collection of short stories, I didn't feel like writing something for each individual story. Watch as the Mane 6 fight their inner demons, and do their best to understand what it truly means to be bearers of the Elements of Harmony. After that, you can look at some more stories involving the Princesses, Derpy, and Trixie. The entire collection has a sad tag, and Derpy's part has a dark tag if you want to avoid that.
Word count: The Mane 6 part has around ~25K words, when you include the 3 extra it reaches ~57K words.
Each individual short story has its own description, so you may want to see it for yourself. Basically, the Mane 6 go crazy.

The Games We Play -- AbsoluteAnonymous
[Shipping]
No other fic has kept me reading as long as this one. A story about Rainbow Dash (the best pony) and by AbsoluteAnonymous (my favorite fic author) probably helps, but it's still to date one of my favorite shipfics. Pretty much everyone is in character, the romance is solid, etc. In general, it did not disappoint. Also, once you finish reading, you can look at the Supplementary Materials, many of them are funny as hell, and others are just really well written.
Don't focus too much on the mystery aspect, you won't have much difficulty guessing who Mare-Do-Well is if you do. The ending may or may not be lackluster to you though.
Word count: 138,266
Description: + Show Spoiler +

Off The Edge Of The Map -- Daetrin
[Friendshipping]
It's a good adventure story. Also, FlutterDash is cute as hell, it'd be my OTP if PinkieDash wasn't so awesome.
Word count: ~34K words.
Description: + Show Spoiler +

Apotheosis -- Daetrin
[Shipping]
A continuation of Off The Edge Of The Map. You should probably read that before this. This time the shipping is TwiLuna, and one of the best of its kind in my opinion (I didn't actually like Common Sky that much). If you've read Off The Edge Of The Map, this should definitely be read as well.
Word count: Slightly longer than its prequel with ~42K words.
Description: + Show Spoiler +

Allegrezza -- CoffeeGrunt
[Shipping], [Comedy]
Most of my favorite ships are between the Mane 6, and I'm too young to drink, so Allegrezza wasn't as enjoyable for me as for, say, Raelcun. However, it was well-done and had a great finale.
Word count: 47,565
Description: + Show Spoiler +

Tales -- George Pollock, Jr.
Here's a medium-sized sadfic. Memoir-type fics are generally some of my favorites, and Tales was no exception. It's always sad to see the Mane 6 later in life, when they have grown or even departed. There are a ton of unanswered questions in this one, but that should be expected.
I do have one criticism for this piece, you can probably figure it out pretty easily.
Word count: ~18K words.
Description: + Show Spoiler +

Yours Truly -- Thanqol
[Shipping]
This one is just as good (or even better) than Tales in my opinion. The character interaction is extremely well done, and despite it being shipping, they are all pretty much in character. I'd say it's mostly an Applejack x Twilight, but there's tons of other things going on involving all the Mane 6. Off the top of my head I have no problems with this fic. It's not extremely long either, so you should definitely read it!
Word count: ~18K words.
Description: + Show Spoiler +

Not Unless You Mean It -- Donny's Boy
[Shipping]
When I look for shipping stories, I generally look at Donny's Boy and AbsoluteAnonymous' stories first, because they're usually really well written. This one wrapped up in an interesting way, be sure to check it out.
Word count: 21,035 words.
Description: + Show Spoiler +

Building Bridges -- Cloudy Skies
[Shipping]
I'll admit that during my first read, I didn't like this fic. It was only after reading this the second time to determine whether I should include it or not did I realize that I liked it. Anyways, it's a TwiDash fic, and I wanted to include at least one. This one does it the best without being excessively long (if you want one that's pretty long, try Flying High, Falling Hard and tell me how it is, I haven't read it).
Word count: ~16K words.
Description: + Show Spoiler +

The Fires of Friendship -- Ponydora Prancypants
[Friendshipping]
This story was written as a birthday present to WhiteDiamonds. It's cover art is pretty amazing, and the story itself is great. Features Rarity, Applejack, and the CMC. The history between Rarity and Applejack was even believable.
Word count: 9,908 words.
Description: + Show Spoiler +

Home Grown -- AbsoluteAnonymous
[Shipping]
Yup, another AbsoluteAnonymous fic, expect to see a lot of these. This time it's a RariJack, which also delves into what ponies believe about homosexuality. Or something. Just read it!
Word count: 8,512 words.
Description: + Show Spoiler +
Black and White -- Melionos
[Shipping]
I don't understand why this gets a shipping tag, but no sad tag. Regardless, it involves Lyra and Octavia and love triangles or something. Definitely worth reading.
Word count: ~8K words.
Description: + Show Spoiler +

Naked Singularity -- Cold in Gardez
[Comedy]
It's comedy, it's 6 star, and it's ponies. Even more, it's Twilight being adorkable. If those aren't good enough reasons to read this, then unfortunately it's your loss.
Word count: 10,524 words.
Description: + Show Spoiler +

Shipping Goggles -- AbsoluteAnonymous
[Comedy], [Shipping]
The same concept as Naked Singularity, but this time with Rarity. The description for this one so very well describes 90% of shipfics - basically, Sturgeon's Law.
Word count: 2,778 words.
Description: + Show Spoiler +

Moonspire Run -- TitanRising
Has Rainbow Dash and Spitfire, but no shipping! Instead you get a fun adventure fic that is relatively short (relative to stuff like Dangerous Business, it's still medium length).
Word count: ~14K words
Description: + Show Spoiler +

Blue Steel Railway -- writer
This one earned second place in Fimfiction's February Write-Off. It gives great characterization to Applejack, who honestly never gets enough. The 'twist', if you could call it that, was well executed. This was my favorite of the Top 3 for the Write-Off (you can find #1 Melting Away and #3 Pinkie Pie vs. in their respective links).
Word count: 11,448 words.
Description: + Show Spoiler +

A Broken Bond -- Rated PonyStar
Here's a CMC story for you. I don't tend to read many of these, but this one was pretty decent. Even better, Scootaloo isn't an orphan in this one!
Word count: ~25K words.
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Our True Colors -- Donny's Boy
Alright well, this one has orphan Scootaloo. I apologize to anyone who finds that distasteful. To make up for it, this story includes Pinkie Pie! An odd pairing for sure, I can't think of any moment these two had screen time together.
Word count: 14,118 words.
Description: + Show Spoiler +

My Maker -- Josh Meihaus
This story is definitely one of the saddest ones I read, though that could be because I'm rather stupid (actually, it's quite likely that it's because I'm stupid). Whatever the case, you should try reading this Twilight and Smarty Pants story.
Word count: 7,812 words.
Description: + Show Spoiler +

Ambition -- AbsoluteAnonymous
Another unlikely pairing: Rarity and Pinkie Pie. Perhaps I haven't read many fanfics, but I hardly ever see these two together. It's by AA, so you can already guess my opinion on it.
Word count: 4,714 words.
Description: + Show Spoiler +

A Clear, Sweet Tone -- AbsoluteAnonymous
A continuation of Ambition. Check it out if you've read its prequel.
Word count: 4,957 words.
Description: + Show Spoiler +

Immortal -- RatherHomely
Here's a sadfic involving Celestia. I could go into an in-depth discussion about the downsides of immortality, but I think that that would be beating a dead horse.
Word count: 2,838 words.
Description: + Show Spoiler +

The Light Goes Out -- AbsoluteAnonymous
Behold, AA's newest creation. It's basically the same story as Immortal, just with Twilight Sparkle now.
Word count: 3,014 words.
Description: + Show Spoiler +

My Little Dashie -- ROBCakeran53
[Human]
Any list of good fics without My Little Dashie is an awful list. I don't want to make an awful list, so here you go! If you don't cry after reading this, I think you may be doing something wrong.
Word count: 12,524 words.
Description: + Show Spoiler +

Dreaming with Ponies -- ROBCakeran53
Written by the author of My Little Dashie, inspired by this awesome song. This revolves around Twilight's life after her 5 friends have departed. Not as sad as My Little Dashie, but still pretty good.
Word count: 4,732 words.
Description: + Show Spoiler +

Circle of Friends -- Kiyyik
I'm going to take a book out of the OP for this one: if you don't cry after reading this, you are a heartless rock (also, join the club). If you read this, you definitely need to listen to this song at the same time.
Word count: This one is extremely short, being only ~1.5K words.
Description: + Show Spoiler +

Blood, Sweat, and Tears -- Somber
I like Somber just as much as I like AA. This fic involving Applejack was extremely well-done. It's interesting what authors do with Applejack's parents (or lack thereof).
Word count: ~9K words.
Description: + Show Spoiler +

Simply Rarity -- Somber
Fics involving Rarity always seem to be about how she starts with not a penny to her name. Either way, this journal-type fic was great. This one be sad.
Word count: ~8.5K words.
Description: + Show Spoiler +

What's Eating Rainbow Dash -- Somber
People really disliked the Mare-Do-Well episodes, this one explains the problems of it perfectly. More sad by the way.
Word count: ~9.5K words.
Description: + Show Spoiler +

Pinkie Pie, and Nothing More -- Present Perfect
Somber doesn't have a Pinkie Pie story, but Present Perfect did this one pretty damn well.
Word count: ~2.5K words.
Description: + Show Spoiler +

Bubbles -- ???
Here's a sad Derpy fic. It's awesome, so you should read it.
Word count: ~2.5K words.
Description: The origin story of little Derpy's cutie mark.

Memorial -- Buxton
Another sad Derpy fic. Not as good as Bubbles in my opinion, but it's still really good.
Word count: ~1.5K words.
Description: + Show Spoiler +

Heart of Gold, Feathers of Steel -- Nicknack
This one's a Gilda sadfic. It replays her episode with her point of view. That episode did end kind of suddenly.
Word count: ~32.5K words.
Description: + Show Spoiler +

Heart of Gold, Feathers of Steel -- Nicknack
[Shipping], [Incomplete]
A sequel to Heart of Gold, this one was almost as great for me as TGWP. I could say that it's even better, because it's not over yet.
Word count: ~110K words.
Description: + Show Spoiler +

White Box -- Chromosome
Word of warning: this fic can be kind of confusing. I'd say it's more thematic than most fanfics, where the events are less important than how the characters react/whatever. The black background with white font also greatly contributed to the story. Anyways, I liked this story. It's pretty short, but the message it displays is great.
The criticism for this one is the same I have for Tales, but this one is done far more obviously.
Word count: ~8K words.
Description: + Show Spoiler +

Here are some fics that I have not had the privilege to read, but look extremely promising.
+ Show Spoiler +

...That took far longer than I thought it would be. I didn't even write anything interesting! Well anyways, if you read (or skimmed, or whatever) through this, thanks for checking it out!