When I joined the Herd in August 2011 there were only about 4 really iconic fanfics: Past Sins, On a Cross and Arrow, Cupcakes, and Fallout: Equestria. Since then, only one fic has been added to the list of legendary fics, and it’s one I loathe entirely: My Little Dashie. Where did all the good fic writers go? it seems like it's been forever since I read a really good, memorable fic.
What? There's (still) a growing number of great fanfic writers, and far more have popped up since those particularly stories. You're even missing a few from before those all became famous. You're not looking hard enough. However, I tend to focus on romance stories and disregard sad or dark toned stories, as well as any crossovers. Occasionally I'll read a famous story, but I won't read My Little Dashie because I don't like sad stuff. Device_Heretic is one author I can name (Composure, Romance Reports, Eternal). CoffeeGrunt of OctaScratch fame (Allegrezza). Gravekeeper another (The Ballad of Twilight Sparkle). SyrinKitty is a personal favorite (Common Sky, Fragments). And while Pen Stroke and Batty Gloom's legendary Past Sins is a big influence/inspiration for me, my number one favorite story is... "Spark" by AVeryStrange. There's plenty more for the other genres that I don't read. I feel like an anomaly as I read almost exclusively romance, but write dark fantasy adventure. Bonus: Rainbow Factory was lauded as a good horror story, but I considered it to be pretty terrible. Around the time I joined the fandom (well before writing), Slendermane was the most popular horror story on EQD and it had good reviews. I don't know anything about it or its author, but I'm sure you could dig it up if you're into that genre. Cupcakes was clever, but the version I read was horribly written with an agonizing number of grammar/spelling mistakes, but the humor (since it's a tongue-in-cheek story) was enjoyable. I'm not into gore, though.
The epic is not complete yet but I have become absolutely mesmerized by the series being written by HonerableService (AKA Johnson) on FimFiction. the second volume of the story is still being written (while the author is attending Military School so updates to the story are slow to come by). I started reading the series last night and could barely stand to put it down until I got to the last chapter he has written this afternoon. It's heavy stuff but boy is it good.
Have you ever read "Through The Eyes of Another Pony"? That's probably my favorite, it's so funny and suspenseful and all the other good things. It's still updating and such so it's still around.
That fic was awesome. And despite what anyone says, it was VERY well written; it had a cogent beginning, middle, and end, a consistent flow, no gratuitous swearing or anything like that, and the perfect balance of psychological trauma and physical pain. People get so obsessed over it's bad rep that they immediately jump on the bandwagon of calling it horribly written. Either way, I never said these were good fics; I said they were iconic fics, as in fics that have defined the brony fandom and spawned entire sub-branches of the fandom. As I said, My Little Dashie is a legendary fic even though, in my personal opinion, it was a horribly written abomination. As much as I hate it, I can't deny that it has a staggering number of fans and has spawned countless sequels, spinoffs, and pieces of artwork. That's one I haven't heard of. What's it about? There are a few kinds of fics I avoid like the plague, including War fics, HiE fics that aren't crossovers, and fics starring OCs (it's fine if they have some OCs sprinkled in, but not when the star of the show is an OC)
Well you may want to avoid this one, being it's a Non-crossover HiE starring an OC. It's semi-famous, I just liked it because I laughed so hard when I read it.
If by "consistent flow," you mean "suddenly, torture," then sure. That story was written to ruin Pinkie Dash shipping for the fandom because it was everywhere at the time. I don't know if someone kept updating it since I last read it, but it was hardly a well written story outside of its cleverness. As cool as sequels and spinoffs are, sometimes there;s just too damn many of them. How many 'alternate endings' are there to My Little Dashie or Cupcakes? :\ How many side stories to Fallout: Equestria? The issue with the first two is that it's pretty obvious were they generally go, while the latter sets the bar extremely high (FO:E in general set the bar for a good grimdark story very high). I remember another couple of popular stories, but I can't remember the authors (I probably listed them already). On a Cross and Arrow Kindness's Reward There's another OctaScratch story that might be related to Allegrezza, but not written by CoffeeGrunt, called "Two's Company, Three's A Crowd" by Lithe Kamitatsy. Can't say I read it, but it was popular and being updated around the time Allegrezza was.
