What makes a modern ponyfic classic?

Present Perfect recently put up a long and extremely positive assessment of mushroompone's The Head (a fic I read and raved about myself in PR 435). If you haven't already read it, drop whatever you're doing and get to it. Yes, it's Mature rated. Yes, it justifies that rating. Yes, it's disturbing. Yes, it has three warning tags. No, it's not gratuitous. Yes, it deserves all its fame.

(Mild and unnecessary sideline: it happens that this is one fic that refers to a female character – Starlight – as "headmaster", a usage which I noted on Fimfiction looks really odd to me as a Brit.)

Anyway, I think most people agree that The Head can be called a modern classic of ponyfic. But what else is? If we define "modern" as being published since the start of 2020, order them by view count and the top five are M-rated, which I find slightly uncomfortable. The next one, though rated Teen, is incomplete.

The most viewed modern complete, non-Mature story is Lynwood's What a Strange Little Colt. It has 34,000 views, a huge number for a fic first published in 2021, and yet I'd never even heard of it until I did this search. Look further down the list, and there are yet more M-rated and/or incomplete stories and a bunch of [Human]-tagged ones. Humans make really, really popular reading these days, it seems.

So, what about the stories I usually read, ie one-shots that aren't M-rated, don't feature the [Human] tag and are complete? There's Mare of Mystery's Quick! Distract Chrysalis!, but that's a second-person story and I very rarely read those either. Next comes errant's Twilight Sparkle Has a Type. That looks more to my taste,¹ and it has 16k views, but again I'd not heard of it until just now.
¹ Enough so that I've added it to my Read it Later list.

So, overall views aren't the defining factor. Okay, we knew that already. The Head has 5.8k views. Good by modern standards but not overwhelmingly so. mushroompone's story is widely accepted as a modern classic, in that the large majority of people who've read it have raved about it. That includes very accomplished writers such as Cold in Gardez, Aquaman, Daedalus Aegle and Aragon.

Anyway, back to my subject line here. In the comments to Present Perfect's post, Jarvy Jared made this suggestion for what constitutes a classic: "1) enough time passes and it's still talked about (which you cannot know ahead of the time), and 2) it's a story that, after you've read it, you have a feeling it's going to last a lot longer than most others."

So, with that in mind, what other ponyfics do you think qualify for the title "modern classic" – and if you feel like expanding on that, why do they?

What's your most prized non-plushie Pony possession?

As the subject line says! I'm simply curious. I'm excluding plushies because they tend to be chosen again and again when this kind of question is asked, and I'd like a little more variety. As usual with this type of post, I do intend to give my own answer in the near future – but not until I've seen a few of your replies! :P

Okay, what's the deal with "Carl Cornejo"?

I agree with Mr. Frog

The screenshot above was taken from Equestria Daily the other day, more specifically from the comments on the "What is the Best Pony Fan Theory You've Heard?" thread. And as you can see, Carl Cornejo has commented in the way he/they/it usually does. As Mr. Frog points out, this is CC's unvarying style of reply. Each and every time, whoever the reply is to, and on a huge range of posts.

What's going on? I have no more idea than Mr. Frog does, to be honest. This has gone on for years, and it's way, way, way past the point of being even remotely interesting or amusing. Yes, you can block a poster, but this kind of stuff is frankly at least borderline spam, and most of the time spammers are zapped pretty quickly. They come back, sure, but they're not left to go on and on and on first.

If Carl Cornejo is AI-generated, then the progress of AI in the years since he started commenting makes this kind of thing seem extremely old-fashioned and boring and I wish it was stopped. If he's a real person doing this, then it's less old-fashioned but equally boring and I wish he'd stop. While it's not a massive deal, for me at least it does make the EQD comments just a little bit tedious.

Okay folks, please recommend me some M-rated stories

Yes, this is indeed me asking that. I've read so little Mature-rated fic over the years that I'm sure there's plenty to be going on with. I do know about several of the M-rated longfic classics, such as Romance Reports and Salvation, and of course (one I've actually read!) Fallout: Equestria, so while I won't say no to more recommendations in that vein I think I'd be especially interested in short/mid-length fics. However, me being me, there are a few places I'd rather not go:

• Absolutely no foalcon or bestiality (by Equestrian standards if FiM, by our own standards if EqG)
  
• Incest is a near-red line... yes, I read Cadence in A Minor (PR 93), but I almost DNF'd it
  
• No necrophilia, no edgeplay, no scat/watersports
  
• I have no interest at all in "Twilight's bathroom is covered/spattered/etc with..." fics
  
• BDSM is okay unless it gets so harsh as to become edgeplay
• I dislike serious gore. FO:E is about my absolute limit there
  
• It's fine if a character is a murderer or something, if we don't see gore everywhere
  
• I'm okay with fics that have warning tags, even several.
  
• Fics can feature any combination of (adult) characters
• Added 17 Jan: I'm no great fan of futa
  

Now, this being Blogger rather than Fimfiction, you can link directly to M-rated stories if you want to. I'm also happy with recommendations along the lines of "[Name] writes pretty good [subject/fetish] stories which feature [whoever]". Although I won't necessarily reject a fic just because it has the [Porn] tag, I would certainly prefer actual stories. And finally? No, I'm not planning an M-rated edition of Ponyfic Roundup. Any I add will be few and scattered. Thanks!

Edited to add: If you don't want to comment publicly, PMs via Fimfiction will work too!

Fics on Equestrian (de?)colonialism that aren't too American?

I'm just curious as a reader here; this isn't really something I'm planning to write about. But... has anyone here read a good fic dealing with some analogue of colonialism in a specifically Equestrian context? I ask because although I have seen one or two dealing with the subject, from memory (it was a long time ago) they dealt with the issue in a pretty American way, and as a British guy that doesn't really resonate with me so much. Besides, the Equestrian government feels a little more Commonwealth than USA.

MLP canon does not seem especially helpful here. "Over a Barrel" exists but has well-worn problems and in any case is obviously very American indeed in inspiration. The Crystal Empire's name is interesting, but for the most part it is just a name as it's basically a city-state with a bit of snowy hinterland. Slavery has existed (eg Sombra's reign), but again that's not quite what I'm after. And I definitely don't want a "Bravehoof" type of story; that's exactly the kind of "Twitter history" I'm trying to avoid.

I'm struggling a bit to get my point across, so apologies, but basically something that has space for the complexities – in real-world terms, Ireland isn't Bermuda isn't India isn't Anguilla, just because they are or were all British.¹ I'm asking a lot here, I know. It would take a very fine writer to get the tone spot on. GhostOfHeraclitus springs to mind, but I don't think he covered this and in any case he's not been around for several years now. If you do know of any fics along these lines, I'd love to hear about them!
¹Simplified I know: eg I'm aware that European colonisation in India didn't actually end when Britain departed

Are there any character moments you refuse to accept as canon?

Filling in time a bit here before the next Ponyfic Roundup, so I'm going to take a classic approach of asking my readers to do all the work. Simple question, really, but one which came up in the EQD comments recently.

In Friendship is Magic itself, is there an example where you feel somepony* was so poorly written as to be in direct contradiction to their core character?
* Doesn't have to be an actual pony

To clarify this a bit, if someone is just being flanderised in a "Twilight freaks out all the time" way, that's not what I mean. I'm talking about something so egregious that you simply refuse to accept it as canon despite its inclusion in the show. If there's more than one, then pick the one that grates on you the most.

My choice? It won't come as a surprise to anyone who knows me, but it's Fluttershy cajoling predators to be vegetarian in "She Talks to Angel". I quite like that episode on the whole, but that particular scene is awful. It seems to me to fly in the face of everything Fluttershy's vocation represents. We see her feeding fish to otters in S1, in any case. It's dreadful and I just plain ignore it when writing Fluttershy.

What about you?

Ponyfic Confessions

This is just me being silly because it's hot (for England) and I don't have much else to write about. Yes, I am still going to watch that Jenny Nicholson video, but I've been kind of distracted by real-world events in this country lately. So, in the time-honoured fashion of journalists who've run out of ideas, I'm going to ask my readers to do my work for me and ask if they have anything they'd care to confess.

I have something, which I'm not proud of and which will eventually be fixed, but:

I've never read The Enchanted Library. Not one single solitary chapter.

This is the story by Monochromatic that basically everyone says is absolutely brilliant. The trouble is that it's 337,000 words long, and an Alternate Universe fic, and the first in a series that still isn't even close to finished seven years after it started. None of those things tend to heighten my motivation.¹ But even so, people rave about it so much that I really should have seen what all the fuss was about. I haven't, though.
¹ See also the Austraeoh saga, though I probably won't ever return to that as it didn't grab me enough

So, once you've all picked your jaws up off the floor, and/or finished throwing things at me, do any of you fine people have any ponyficcy shames that you'd like to confess? Keep 'em at least moderately SFW, if you would...

Which FiM episode do you consider overrated, and why?

Back in early March, I asked which episode people considered underrated. That post produced a pleasingly active comments section. I said at the time that at some point I'd ask the same question for overrated episodes. Here goes, then:

Which episode of Friendship is Magic do you think is overrated?

As before, you have very nearly a free hand in deciding what's meant by "overrated" in this context. Just bear in mind that it's not the same as "worst". I'm going to keep nearly the same rules as before, but there is one addition:

* Try to pick only one episode. I know it's tough. That's part of the fun!

* I mean full-length show episodes, not films or shorts. "Best Gift Ever" counts.

* Double-length premieres/finales count as one, so they're eligible.

* "The Last Problem" is not eligible. It's simply too darn easy a choice. :P 

You can interpret "overrated" however you want to. I very much don't want to give hard and fast rules here. You can pick an element that you think is overrated now, one that was overrated a lot in the past, whatever floats your boat. :)

Naturally it's only fair that I give my own reply too: "Magic Duel". I never much cared for Trixie, until she teamed up with Starlight several years down the road. I didn't find "Boast Busters" a classic either, but this was so uneven. Zecora's Jedi training was the highlight for me, that and a couple of one-liners (eg the "wheels" quote). Much of the rest... wasn't. I don't especially like the way M. A. Larson wrote Fluttershy, either. For me, it's a reasonable episode, but nothing like the classic some fans consider it.

So there's my answer. What's yours?

Which FiM episode do you consider underrated, and why?

Thanks to Mike Cartoon Karma for bringing up this subject in another forum. I like the idea and so will use it here! I'm going to tweak the criteria just a little for my purposes, so here we go:

Which episode of Friendship is Magic do you think is underrated?

I'm not going to define "underrated" too specifically, but I do generally mean by the fandom as a whole, not just by me or those who comment here. You can answer this pretty much how you like, but I'll add a few pointers:

* Try to pick only one episode. I know it's tough. That's part of the fun!

* I mean full-length show episodes, not films or shorts. "Best Gift Ever" counts.

* Double-length premieres/finales count as one, so they're eligible.

* Please stick to underrated here. Yes, I will ask the same about overrated eps at some point – but not today.

As for me? I'll stick to the answer I gave Mike when he asked elsewhere: "Flutter Brutter". When we asked people to rank S6 episodes on UK of Equestria shortly after that season finished, "Flutter Brutter" ended up way down, averaging something like 20th place. I thought then, and still think, that that was harsh.

It's not an outright classic, sure, but I think it's a decent episode with solid Fluttershy characterisation. I suspect many people rank "Flutter Brutter" poorly because they don't like Zephyr – but then you're not supposed to like Zephyr. That is not a writing failure. S6 isn't chock-full of brilliance, so I think this episode deserved better than 20th spot.

So there's my answer. What's yours?

Desert Island Ponyfic

It's over to you today. Not permanently, I hasten to add! I do intend to do some work on this blog still. :P However, I have a medical appointment on Wednesday; it's a routine one, but it does mean Ponyfic Roundup will be on Friday again this week. So, in the meantime, here's a question for you:

If you were marooned on a desert island for one year without internet access, but you could take with you FOUR ponyfics, what would you choose?

You cannot choose stories you wrote or had a significant hand in bringing to completion. (I'll leave what counts as "significant" to your conscience.)

The stories you pick must also be currently and publicly available, so that readers can give them a shot if they like.

Other than that, no special rules. If you want to take four million-word unfinished behemoths, you can. If you want to take four perfectly crafted shortfics, you can. If you want to make all your fics crossovers with some weird anime I've never heard of, you can. Your move!

What is the future for conventions?

I've seen Pony Life. I'll talk about it in a few days.

This is a subject I keep meaning to do a full musing/essay post on, but I never seem to have the time and the motivation simultaneously. I'll get there eventually, I'm sure! But for now, I'll just post the subject as an open question. When it's possible to have conventions in person again, whenever that may be, what will they be like? What might have to remain different in the longer term, and how might the online con experience feed through to physical events?

What merchandise is left to offer?

Since I can't think of much else to post and don't want to have two "Sounds of 2011" posts in a row, I'll throw open the virtual floor. What Pony merchandise would be worthwhile Hasbro making/licensing as FiM nears the end of its road? I phrased that question quite carefully, as I'm not asking "What do you, personally, want?" Generally that ends up with people suggesting beautiful and expensive collectibles – and ones that often don't make it outside the US, which is no help here!

No, I'm talking about stuff that could be sold in toy shops and supermarkets for a few quid. Personally, I'd like to see some more stationery. The range is much better than it was a few years ago, but it's still lacking. For example, I don't think I've ever seen an MLP-branded calculator, which seems a little odd given how ubiquitous they are. Years ago, Savers sold ponified tissue boxes, but for some odd reason they've not reappeared. And surely a little range of USB sticks with Pony theming could work. (Edit: as pointed out in the comments, there was the Mimobot range. Long since discontinued, though, and never very cheap.)
 
So, any thoughts in this regard?

What do you want – and not want – to see in S9?

I know, I know, everyone and their dog has asked this question already. I've done it myself in other places. Still, I have a rotten cough right now and I'm not up to writing a proper blog post this time. So: what would you be happy to see in Season 9 of FiM? Let's assume for the sake of argument that it is the last season we'll ever get. I suppose I'd better give my own wishes too, so:

I would most like to see a Fluttershy/Rainbow map episode. It's been too long a wait, and it's not as if we get that many eps starring those two anyway. Their friendship is interesting as the longest-standing of any pair of the Mane Six, and I'd like to see how their dynamics are written now compared with how they were in the truly excellent – but S2 – "Hurricane Fluttershy".

I would least like to see romantic entanglement for any of the Mane Six, at least beyond comedic stuff like we saw with Trenderhoof in "Simple Ways". I think it's absolutely fundamental to FiM that friendship remains paramount. It would be disastrous to change things to give the impression that, actually, friendship is nice and all, but once you mature you'll "step up" to romance.

For the S9 finale? Well, whether that's S9E26 or whether we get another post-season special, I'd like something that gives me a similar feel to "Best Gift Ever". I don't see any point in a super-battle – "Twilight's Kingdom" did that – and I'd like it to be largely a reminder of what drew many of us to Equestria in the first place. Put the Mane Six, Spike and Starlight at its heart, and ideally give Celestia (especially) a proper role too.

What about you?

Can anyone source this quote?

Update: Mystery solved! The quote is a genuine Pratchett one, and it comes from this interview he did with the Science Fiction Book Club in the late 1990s.

The other day, I was having one of my periodic bouts of reading around Fimfiction blogs. I like doing that from time to time, as I sometimes find some interesting stuff that way. Admittedly I also find some very boring posts – but hey, you're reading Louder Yay, so you should be used to that sort of thing.

This time, I was reading a blog by someone who I'll leave unnamed. That's partly because it's not relevant to my question, but also because they'd been involved in a nasty argument in a Fimfiction group and because context suggested they'd been through a very rough time in their personal life. Not things I want to get involved in.

It was a long blog about writing, and part of it was taken up by the author rejecting the existence of writer's block as a real condition. That's not the point I want to discuss here, though. This is the quote in question, which was attributed to Terry Pratchett:

There's no such thing as writer's block. That was invented by people in California who couldn't write.

Now, I've spent a fair amount of time Googling, both standard search and Books, and I've discovered two things. One, this line is quoted in many places. Two, it's quoted by people who don't provide any kind of source for it. This happens a lot on the internet especially – just the other week, a quote went the rounds on Twitter, also attributed to Pterry:

Satire is meant to ridicule power. If you are laughing at people who are hurting, it's not satire, it's bullying.

That one was investigated by a number of people and they could find no evidence that Pratchett had ever said it – yet it will probably now stick in many people's minds as "that cool Terry Pratchett quote about satire" or something. As with so much else, it makes me grateful that way back in middle school we had a timetabled class called "Study Skills" which covered checking sources. (This was in pre-internet days, I should say.)

So, back to the writer's block quote. As I said a minute ago, I'm not actually interested right now in whether people agree with it or not. However, is anyone reading this able to provide an actual source for Pratchett having said it – or, just as good, hard evidence that he didn't? Thanks!