Story Name: Trains, Tesseracts, and Alicorns
Link To Story: https://www.fimfiction.net/story/405505/trains-tesseracts-and-alicorns
Word Count: 5,970
Tags: [Adventure] [Slice of Life]
What It's About: Twilight Velvet has always had her doubts about Cadence, but one train ride can change things.
Why It's Awesome: This fic. uses Twilight Velvet as a way to show how Cadence is much more capable then some may think she is. This story addresses those that feel Cadence's role is a bit shallow, or she isn't as strong as the other Princesses own her own. In addition, the relationship between Mother and Daughter-in-Law is pulled off very well here, which is good since this is really the pics' selling point.
Oh, And Also:

Story Name: Terms of Forgiveness
Link To Story: https://www.fimfiction.net/story/403326/terms-of-forgiveness
Word Count: 20,419
Tags: [Romance] [Comedy] [Drama]
What It's About: Sunset takes Celestia for a day in her world. As Celestia learns about Sunset's life since they parted ways, she learns how Sunset has improved as a person and they work through their issues.
Why It's Awesome: Celestia is the best Mom. This fic. really shines in its simplicity. The relationship between Sunset and Celestia is an excellent take on a mother and daughter relationship, and Sunset herself goes through a bit of an arc when she realizes her feeling a for a certain purple CHS student. Plus, the comedy is on point as well.
Oh, And Also:

Story Name: More Than Trust and Less than Chaotic
Link To Story:
More Than Trust- https://www.fimfiction.net/story/188727/more-than-trust
Less Than Chaotic-https://www.fimfiction.net/story/189971/less-than-chaotic
Word Count: 9,416 and 18,426 respectively
Tags: [Romance]
What It's About: The first story revolves around Discord trying to figure out why Fluttershy had been avoiding him since the Season 4 finale. Once he finds out why, he makes a life changing choice. The second story deals with the fallout of this choice, but when his decision comes back to haunt him, Discord will have to, for the first time in his life, resist chaos in order to focus on what he finds to be more important.
Why It's Awesome: You can already guess what these two stories' main ship is, but I think TheTalentlessPony does a great job at showing us Discord's thought process. I could totally see him doing the things he does here in the show. Additionally, the emotional sentiment for this story deserves a plus. Discord's devotion to Fluttershy is just adorable to watch and really makes these stories for me.
Oh, And Also:

Story Name: The Monster We Made and Memoirs in Ink and Blood
Link To Story:
The Monster We Made- https://www.fimfiction.net/story/94846/the-monster-we-made
Memoirs of Ink and Blood- https://www.fimfiction.net/story/141957/memoirs-in-ink-and-blood
Word Count: 11,050 and 20,195
Tags: [Dark] [Sad] [Tragedy]
What It's About: The first story gives multiple perspectives of the same event, the seizing of the throne by Twilight Sparkle. The second story deals with the fallout of Twilight seizing the throne and the rotating perspectives of the ponies that lead the campaign to overthrow her.
Why It's Awesome: These two stories are truly amazing in their format. Each chapter is exactly 1,000 words. Only RARELY does it deviate from that format, only doing so whenever it's from the perspective of Twilight or Discord, which is still only 5 chapters out of about 30. For the first story, it never shows the same perspective twice, as it allows the reader to piece together how the event went down as it went on, ending with the one perspective that reveals everything, Twilight's. The epilogue chapter then sets up the second story, and from there we instead have rotating perspectives from Blueblood, Discord, Luna, Shining Armor, Trixie, and Twilight.
This isn't even mentioning the story's running theme of Godhood and how Twilight and the mortals of Equestrian interact with it. Just... it has to be read to be believed.
Oh, And Also:

Story Name: Operation TwiLuna
Link To Story: https://www.fimfiction.net/story/161649/operation-twiluna
Word Count: 10,936
Tags: [Romance] [Comedy]
What It's About: Discord calls Celestia and Cadence together to see if they want to help him get Twilight and Luna together after noticing signs of attraction from them previously. However, since they can't agree on a plan, they each agree to try their own methods. Will they succeed?
Why It's Awesome: This is just a really nice rom-com. Each attempt they make is hilarious in their own way, and the punchline at the story's conclusion (not including the epilogue) will have you in stitches. But yeah, the comedy is what makes this story, don't want to spoil it because if you spoil the joke there is no joke. And yeah, that's it. Read it. It's great.
Oh, And Also:

Story Name: Fate Fell Short
Link To Story: https://www.fimfiction.net/story/407517/fate-fell-short
Word Count: 11,508
Tags: [Romance] [Comedy] [Slice of Life]
What It's About: When Starlight doesn't show up to their regular girls night out spot, Trixie comes to discover Starlight's found a beau. Well, that won't do! So, Trixie decides to get back at Starlight for spending time with her guy over her by making her think Spike is her boyfriend. Let the comedy commence!
Why It's Awesome: Spike, as he is with every FamousLastWords story, is awesome, well written and a joy to read. Trixie and Starlight were both very well written as well, Trixie especially, but this fits selling point was it's ability to actually make me buy Trixie and Spike as a couple. FamousLastWords has this ability to ship Spike with characters we normally don't see him with and make them seem like they are the most obvious ships on the planet. The comedy is also well-done, and Starlight's boyfriend even gets some time to shine, and he's pretty fun too. Definitely one to check out.
Oh, And Also: This is a collaboration by FamousLastWords, the author of Blonde Moments and several other Spike Romance fics, and Curify.

Story Name: Faster
Link To Story: https://www.fimfiction.net/story/134178/faster
Word Count: 17,493
Tags: [Romance] [Dark] [Adventure] [Sad]
What It's About: With her final Wonderbolt tryout approaching, but her times having slowed, Rainbow Dash feels like her dream has gone out of her reach, but after an entity that also gave Celestia and Luna the power they have today offers to grant her one wish, she thinks her problems were over. Be Careful what you wish for.
Why It's Awesome: The is a great "BE Careful What You Wish For" story. The way things work out for Dash only for them to crash and burn around her is something to behold. Rainbow Dash is written really well here, and consider she's the main focus, that's the main thing. I don't what to spoil much, but This story really works because of its well-written take on Dash, its storyline and its "Be Careful What You Wish For" angle.
Oh, And Also: This story has an incomplete sequel "Stronger," that is a direct follow-up to this story, and is foreshadowed at the end of this one.

Story Name: My Kind of Crazy
Link To Story: https://www.fimfiction.net/story/407046/my-kind-of-crazy
Word Count: 28936
Tags: [Romance] [Comedy] [Slice of Life] [Equestria Girls]
What It's About: EQG Pinkie Pie meets a lonely Skystar on the beach, and uses all of her pinkieness to befriend the displaced ambassadors daughter. As they grow closer, they quickly find in each other a kindred spirit, in a whirlwind romance fueled by swing.
Why It's Awesome: This is easily the shining example of the SkyPie ship, and it doesn't even use a canon variant of the character. Which admittedly, isn't saying much because the shipfics starring this particular pairing can be counted on one hand. Still, this story goes above and beyond and stands out as a fantastic story in general. Novel Idea is a good writer, and this fic is an excellent showcase of his talents.

Pinkie stands out as the third person narrator, her unique mindset and constantly running narration is excellently captured. Skystar is adorable, and her human counterpart is fleshed out with a lot of depth that she didn't necessarily have in the movie. Both leading ladies have excellent chemistry together, which is key in a romance, and any scene when the two are interacting with each other is a delight to read.

Additionally, this story is an excellent example of Equestria Girls offers to fanfiction, and why I love it so much. Re-imagining Skystar as the daughter of an important diplomat, constantly bouncing from place to place and never staying long enough to make friends is a stroke of genius. Its a far cry from a underwater princess, but it makes sense and captures the spirit and same loneliness of her character in a way that feels totally natural and relateable. That EQG allows you to re-contextualize characters and situations like this, without having to come up with a bunch of whacky AU shenanigans that strech verisimilitude is one of its greatest strengths.

Novel probably has a lot of stories that could easily hold up to the RCL, but I'm nominating this one.

Full disclosure: Novel Idea is a good friend of mine, and we regularly collaborate and work together on stories. (Though I didn't help with this one.)

Story Name: Questions
Link To Story: https://www.fimfiction.net/story/408008/questions
Word Count: 1,851
Tags: [Slice of Life]
What It's About: Twilight and a Human OC talk about their fears that come with their new relationship.
Why It's Awesome: This story is a very well-written commentary on the fears of new couples. Twilight and Asclepius' (The Human) are both written very well and the author really sells the fact that they are a real couple with real fears about their new relationship. In addition, the fears they both talk about are very relatable and are handled in a very respectful way. It's like if the show actively tried to teach a lesson about romantic relationships.
Oh, And Also: This story has been featured for some time at the time of posting, and it has 361 thumbs up and only 17 thumbs down.

Story Name: Blonde Moments
Link To Story:https://www.fimfiction.net/story/169375/blonde-moments
Word Count: 113,742
Tags: [Romance] [Drama] [Slice of Life]
What It's About: Spike has been taking some time out of his week to read to the foal patients of Ponyville Hospital for a while now. However, on one particular day, he meets Derpy. And over the course of several interactions, their relationship begins to grow. Can it become something more than just friendship?
Why It's Awesome: So, I recommended this story several months back while it was still incomplete, but recently it just posted its final chapter. So I'm posting it again just in case. Now, about the story: It's one of the most organic romances I've read in a story. The progression with Derpy and Spike's relationship feels so natural and still stays true to their characters that I am honestly tempted to ship them within the show now. Starlight and Twilight, once they enter the story, are also very much in character and help Spike sort out his feelings in their own unique ways, but the real star of the show is Derpy and Spike's relationship. Every character in this story feels like they could be a real person. FamousLastWords does an amazing job of getting readers to connect to these characters, especially Spike, because once the feels start coming (and believe me, they come in spades), they really get ya. You'll see what I mean in the story, just make sure you have some tissues handy.
Oh, And Also: It was voted as one of the Top 500 fics on the entire site, only 8 months after it first appeared on the scene. https://www.fimfiction.net/blog/795690/top-500-and-im-speechless
Also Also: FamousLastWords posted a blogpost upon the story's completion that explained what inspired her to end the story the way she did, and I think it just adds to how amazing this story is. Here's a link: https://www.fimfiction.net/blog/810184/blonde-moments-is-done

Pearple Prose has a bunch of short, intensely emotional character pieces rather reminiscent of HoofBitingActionOverload's works, but in just ~2k words. I'm having a really hard time picking just one. In fact, I've already changed my mind twice about which one to pick while writing this post, so I'll just admit defeat and list all of them. In my defense, it's only 6k words total!

TFrom The Ashes

• MLP: FiM
• Dark
• Tragedy

One thousand years ago, history was changed. One thousand years ago, Nightmare Moon was killed. One thousand years ago, Equestria broke, and Celestia had to put it back together.

• Alt. Universe
• Celestia

Pearple Prose · 2.4k words  ·  147  4 · 3.1k views

What It's About: Celestia finds herself forced to kill Nightmare Moon. The story is about her dealing with it immediately after.

Why it's awesome: This story gets into Celestia's head so convincingly that it makes me wonder whether the author was writing this from experience, or is just that good at modeling characters.

TDust

• MLP: FiM
• Dark
• Slice of Life

Nightmare Moon wanders the moon, and finds only dust.

• Nightmare Moon

Pearple Prose · 2.1k words  ·  326  3 · 4.5k views

What It's About: The premise is Luna struggling with her inner darkness during her banishment. Actually a character piece focusing on Nightmare Moon.

Why it's awesome: It is a rather original story that subverts a number of common tropes, but I can't say more without spoiling it. The writing is gripping and visceral. Also, it makes the Nightmare somewhat understandable and relatable without necessarily making it any less evil.

ETowards the Sunrise

• MLP: FiM
• Slice of Life

Luna leaves Canterlot to find herself.

• Celestia
• Luna

Pearple Prose · 2k words  ·  166  6 · 2.8k views

What It's About: After returning from her banishment Luna realizes that Equestria has moved on without her and that there is no place for her in Canterlot.

Why it's awesome: This is a highly atmospheric piece, and I would have enjoyed reading it for the mood alone, but it also manages to pack very real drama in just 1,500 words. Also, I feel this scenario of Luna's return is a lot more realistic than the one in the show.

Story Name: Grief is the Price we Pay
Link To Story:https://www.fimfiction.net/story/353594/grief-is-the-price-we-pay
Word Count: 609,417 (Finally completed on May 19th, 2018)
Tags: [Drama] [Sad] [Slice of Life] [AU]
What It's About: After failing to convince Cadence, Shining, and Twilight that Thorax was good, Spike and Thorax are on the run. Now they have to lay low and avoid the Crystal and Royals Guards while still trying to prove that Changelings can be good and maintain their friendship.
Why It's Awesome: Where do I begin. For one, the concept ALONE is amazing. Spike and Thorax have an amazing relationship in this story, and even when it doesn't have a scene of the two dodging the authorities, there's still an underlying tension that never goes away. This story is also written very well from an emotional standpoint, one of the best I've ever read. This story ACTUALLY MADE ME CRY. No joke. This story really is mainly about Spike, as he's the one that goes through the most change, and the arc that he goes though is simply astounding (In regards to Thorax, the rest of the Mane Six, but Twilight especially.). Plus, there's some fan-created lore about the changeling race that really drives home hoax's motivations for why he left the hive in the first place. In addition, the ending, the ending also made choke up a bit. It just... amazes me how amazing this story is. You will laugh, you will "N'aww," you will ship (Seriously, the fic. created a new ship for me that I never thought was possible.), and you will cry in this emotionally charged, dare-I-say, masterpiece of AU fiction.
Oh, And Also: It has a tv tropes page!http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Fanfic/MLPGriefIsThePriceWePay(Be careful though, spoilers.)
Also Also: There was a blogpost that detailed instances of foreshadowing the writer used during dream sequences in the story, and its bloody brllient. SPOILERS though. (https://www.fimfiction.net/blog/818621/interpretations-of-grief)

Thanks for the continuing suggestions! We may not be the best at responding here, but we do keep track of fics being suggested.

6405424

That is actually an alt account for Aragón, who we featured not once, but twice =D.

6416258

This is one of my favourite fics on the site =D... but we featured Aquaman's "I am Demon" back in 2015.

6406022

We also featured Ponydora's "Que Sera, Sera" back in 2014.

6446220

And we featured naturalbornderpy back in 2016 with "Princess Celestia's Newest Arch Enemy"

6451532

Estee got in with "Five Hundred Little Murders" on 2013.

6451566

And Ceffyl with "True Bowmance" on 2016.

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6437427

Thanks for the suggestions!

Story Name: Trixie and Trix-sire
Link To Story: https://www.fimfiction.net/story/409097/trixie-and-trix-sire
Word Count: 3,372
Tags: [Slice of Life]
What It's About: After the events of "Grannies Gone Wild," Rainbow Dash goes to ask Trixie about a certain Stallion she saw there.
Why it's Awesome: People have been pointing out how one of the stage magicians in Las Pegasus looks a heck of a lot like Trixie, and begun speculating how Trixie could be the product of a one-night stand, and yada, yada, yada. Not only are those theories EXPERTLY subverted, and even criticized by Trixie in the story, but the story it also provides Trixie's backstory and shows the relationship she has with her father. Not only is her father a great character to read, but one can really see the bond he has with Trixie. Plus, it shows how Trixie ended up going from where she was in "Magic Duel" to "No Second Prances."
Oh, And Also: This story was written by the RCL's own FanOfMostEverything. Don't know if there's a rule about nominating curators, but I didn't see one when I double checked, so here ya go.

Story Name: An Inconvenient Dash
Link To Story: https://www.fimfiction.net/story/194589/an-inconvenient-dash
Word Count: 7,492
Tags: [Romance] [Comedy]
What It's About: When Rainbow Dash suddenly begins using the Princess of Friendship as a reading pillow, Twilight drives herself crazy trying to figure out Rainbow's motives for doing so.
Why it's Awesome: ssjgokillo does a great job at capturing the best characteristics of Twilight and Rainbow Dash's characters here. While the comedy isn't laugh out loud funny, it's certainly very amusing to see Twilight descend into her own little world, either trying to figure out Rainbow's motives, or fantasize about... things, since that's something we all know Twilight would do.
Oh, And Also: It has 1,132 thumbs up, and only 27 thumbs down.

Story Name: Dancing in the Moonlight
Link To Story: https://www.fimfiction.net/story/408578/dancing-in-the-moonlight
Word Count: 7,668
Tags: [Romance]
What It's About: Twilight and Spike, the latter now fully grown and serving as Guard to the Princess of Friendship, have an enlightening conversation on their way home to Ponyville after watching over Canterlot for the weekend.
Why it's Awesome: This story slowly builds to its conclusion in a very smooth way. We know what's coming, but the steps it takes to reach that point all make complete sense, both in terms of an upgrade in relationship status AND the characters of Twilight and Spike. The story takes its time to build how much Twilight and Spike's relationship, and how they have grown together over the course of their entire lives, and once the inevitable ending does come, it doesn't feel forced, but earned. Definitely one of the better TwiSpike one shots I've read.
Oh, And Also:

Story Name: Why Pinkie Pie Smiles
Link To Story: https://www.fimfiction.net/story/19256/why-pinkie-pie-smiles
Word Count: 4,649
Tags: [Sad]
What It's About: When a young Pinkie goes to visit her mother in the hospital, she meets Sunshine, a pegasus patient of the hospital that seems to be pretty down.
Why it's Awesome: *sniff* Sorry, this story just has me... *sniff* a bit choked up. Granted, I did listen to the dramatic reading by Dr. Wolf, which is amazing by the way, the sheer emotion from this story is palpable. It's an amazing tale that details why Pinkie is the way the way she is in the most heart wrenching way possible. It highlights the best aspects of what Pinkie will eventually become in the series, and shows why she's so determined to make people smile. Just.... read this *sniff*. I gotta go.
Oh, And Also: Dr. Wolf did a dramatic reading of this story, link here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAeqoIbA3VI

Story Name: Number One Assistant
Link To Story: https://www.fimfiction.net/story/395233/number-one-assistant
Word Count: 23,100
Tags: [Romance] [Sad] [Slice of Life]
What It's About: Spike looks back over the years at how Twilight managed to slip into a depressed state over not being able to get a special somepony like her friends have. In the process, Spike realizes his own feelings for Twilight and works to help her feel better.
Why it's Awesome: This story is from Spike's perspective, and he's written really well here. In addition, the story also builds slowly like another TwiSpike fic. I recommended, but this time, instead of building to the relationship, it slowly builds Twilight's depression in a very organic, realistic manner. It not only shows what Spike was going through at the time, but Twilight as well. Spike's love for Twilight is also extremely genuine, and the conversation they have at the end of the story simply solidifies it. Honestly, the bulk of the story builds up to that conversation, and just like another TwiSpike story I liked, the relationship that was cemented at the end didn't feel forced, but earned. The only difference here was that it earned it's relationship through building up Twilight's depression and Spike's guilt of not speaking up sooner.
Oh, And Also:

Story Name: Celestia Sleeps In with a Vengeance
Link To Story: https://www.fimfiction.net/story/132348/celestia-sleeps-in-with-a-vengeance
Word Count: 9,944
Tags: [Comedy]
What It's About: Celestia sleeps in for a change, and Equestria falls into chaos.
Why it's Awesome: Just the sheer detail the author puts into explaining what Celestia not raising the sun on time and what it could mean for the rest of Equestrian is amazing. It's a great piece of worldbuilding that solidifies Celestia's importance to Equestrian Society, but at the same time can serve as a satirization of Equestria's over dependence on the monarch, a pretty great double edged sword.
Oh, and Also: 623 thumbs up, only 9 thumbs down

Story Name: Beating Yourself Up Over It
Link To Story: https://www.fimfiction.net/story/406214/beating-yourself-up-over-it
Word Count: 9,646
Tags: [Comedy] [Slice of Life]
What It's About: After the Anon-A-Miss situation has been resolved, and everyone at CHS is back to being friends again, or at least the HuMane 7 are, the Mane Five of Equestrian aren't too pleased with their counterparts' handling of the situation after hearing about it second hood from Twilight. So, they do what any sane equine would do, illegally cross dimensions to give their counterparts apiece of their mind.
Why it's Awesome: The way the Mane Five either threaten or hurt their counterparts are as varied as they are funny, to an extent. At the same time, the story also briefly address their motivations for doing so, and while it doesn't excuse them of their actions, it's a least understandable. What makes this story stand out is how it handles the Anon-A-Miss trend. Instead of starting a completely new life for Sunset, the story instead has the situation end happily and then deals with the aftermath in a hilarious way, a fairly solid bucking of the trend that is not only funny, but also a look at how the Mane Five of both worlds are dealing with its consequences.
Oh, and Also:

Story Name: Life's a Dance
Link To Story: https://www.fimfiction.net/story/296842/lifes-a-dance
Word Count: 3,332
Tags: [Romance] [Slice of Life]
What It's About: Faced with ruling Equestria on her own for three whole days, Twilight reacts exactly the way she reacts with every huge task before her that involves her mentor.... freaks out. Luckily, Discord is there to help.
Why it's Awesome: Discord can be very philosophical when he wants to be. The way he helps Twilight work through her anxieties via metaphor is wonderful, and while their relationship at the end may not feel earned in terms of relationship, it plays well into the atmosphere Discord creates. Plus, it's a Discord story, so unexpected things, like Twicord, can happen. But seriously, Bluegrass Brooke writes a great story that serves as a lesson for how to deal with anxiety and has some Twicord in there to sweeten the deal.
Oh, and Also:

Story Name: The Narrative Cascade
Link To Story: https://www.fimfiction.net/story/398873/the-narrative-cascade
Word Count: 11,980
Tags: [Romance] [Adventure] [Comedy]
What It's About: When an experiment goes wrong, Twilight and Sunset must save Canterlot from..... romantic fan fiction.
Why it's Awesome: It's an amazing and spot-on satirization of romance fanfiction in the MLP fandom. This story is, like lots of other comedies, best to go into blind because I don't want to spoil the jokes.
Oh, and Also:

Story Name: Queen Chrysalis Snuggles Everything
Link To Story:https://www.fimfiction.net/story/410094/queen-chrysalis-snuggles-everything
Word Count: 5,192
Tags: [Comedy] [Random] [Slice of Life]
What It's About: Discord discords Queen Chrysalis and unleashes her upon Ponyville, and Snuggle related chaos ensues.
Why It's Awesome: It's not just the fact that Chrysalis is HILARIOUS while she's discorded, but the diverse reactions of the Mane Six and Spike to her snuggling is just a thing of beauty. I won't spoil it here, but... I'll just say it had me in stitches.
Oh, And Also:

Story Name: Hearts in the Right Places
Link To Story:https://www.fimfiction.net/story/406193/hearts-in-the-right-places
Word Count: 22,979
Tags: [Romance] [Slice of Life]
What It's About: Twilight leaves Starlight in charge of the Ponyville Hearts and Hooves Day festival. Only one problem, the unicorn hates Hearts and Hooves Day.
Why It's Awesome: The story makes a solid point about how Valentine's Day is kind of depressing day for single people, through Starlight's perspective. However, once the Romance part of the story kicks in, its hilarious to watch how Starlight is oblivious to Trixie's blatant advances. Ponibius did an excellent job with a Hearts and Hooves Day story right here.
Oh, And Also:

Story Name: I Am Not Gay
Link To Story:https://www.fimfiction.net/story/177714/i-am-not-gay
Word Count: 13,404
Tags: [Romance] [Dark] [Slice of Life]
What It's About: After experiencing a heated situation with her boyfriend Soarin' and not getting, shall we say, revved up, Rainbow Dash begins to question her sexuality and goes on a quest to figure out who she is, all the while worrying about how it would jeopardize her relationship with Soarin'.
Why It's Awesome: I actually learned a lot while reading this story, mostly about the different types of sexual orientations, and how they work. They are all very well integrated into the story and Rainbow Dash's journey to figure out who she is can be a very relatable one. Additionally, everyone assuming that RD is gay, and even RD becoming paranoid at the fact that she might be gay, are hilarious to read. Just excellent comedy.
Oh, And Also: Written by the same author that wrote "Bride of Discord."

Story Name: ...You Quit?!
Link To Story:https://www.fimfiction.net/story/400772/you-quit
Word Count: 1,498
Tags: [Random]
What It's About: Another ancient evil has returned. The Elements of Harmony go to combat it... only said ancient evil... isn't interested in doing evil.
Why It's Awesome: Just an excellent subversion of expectations type of story. It perfectly satirizes how MLP is able to reform villains with such ease. Most of the story is built on its comedy, so I won't spoil it here, but Jay David does a great job with this one-shot.
Oh, And Also: Jay David also writes the "Young Six" one-shot series. All very great stories as well.

Story Name: Starswirl and the Purple Terror
Link To Story: https://www.fimfiction.net/story/200070/starswirl-and-the-purple-terror
Word Count: 15,218
Tags: [Comedy] [Slice of Life]
What It's About: When Twilight figures out how to combine a teleportation spell with a time travel one, she does what any sane pony would do, go back in time and hang out with Starswirl the Bearded. Join Twilight and Starswirl as they study magic together while committing many time paradoxes along the way.
Why It's Awesome: Starswirl and Twilight are an amazing comedy duo in this story, but throw in a Pinkie Pie cameo, an immature Celestia, and Clover the Clever as a mischevious child next door, this story will have you in stitches. Also, this story explains the reason why Clover the Clever got her title, the origins of cake, and the birth of Discord, and you just have to see it to believe it, and the best part? In context of the story, they all make so much sense.
Oh, And Also: It has 865 thumbs up and 10 thumbs down.

Story Name: War Games Ponies Play
Link To Story: https://www.fimfiction.net/story/216311/war-games-ponies-play
Word Count: 12,875
Tags: [Comedy]
What It's About: It began with Twilight deciding to test the royal and Crystal guard on their effectiveness at working together without the Princesses, it ends with the CMC conquering Equestria.
Why It's Awesome: The comedy in this story is simply fantastic, from the CMC initially going from reluctant participants to vindictive toward the Guard to the Guard's incompetence. Not only is everyone that needs to be in character in character, but the way the author orchestrates character interactions to get the most laugh out of the reader as possible is simply a work of beauty. Highlights of the story are Rumble, Captain Silver Wing, and the CMC. Besides, after reading that summary, you really want to see how that happens, don't you?
Oh, And Also: It has 1,297 thumbs up, and only 31 thumbs down.

Story Name: The Sympathy Trilogy (Part 1: A Pony's Sympathy, Part 2: Deja Discord, Part 3: Dealing in Harmony)
Link To Story:
Part 1: https://www.fimfiction.net/story/42319/a-ponys-sympathy
Part 2: https://www.fimfiction.net/story/70613/deja-discord
Part 3: https://www.fimfiction.net/story/249798/dealing-in-harmony
Word Count: (Part 1: 33,346) (Part 2: 99,477) (Part 3: 84,999)
Tags: [Romance] [Drama] [Adventure] (Parts 1 and 3 are Romance and Drama, Part 2 is Romance and Adventure)
What It's About: After the events of the Season 2 premiere, Twilight goes into the Everfree, where she suspects Discord is hiding out, to find him, alone. This interaction causes the unicorn too see the good in the draconequus and sympathize with him, something he hasn't seen in a pony before. Through this Trilogy, Discord learns about friendship as he and Twilight grow together friends, and perhaps something more, but when the balance of reality is threatened, and Discord's history causing distrust in many ponies, can their relationship survive?
Why It's Awesome: The reason I recommend this as a trilogy is because the crux of it is Twilight and Discord's relationship, which builds over the course of the entire trilogy. Each story stands on its own extremely well. Each story has its own conflicts, but the one consistency (the reason I'm recommending these three stories) is Twilight and Discords arc, both individually, and as a couple, run through the entire trilogy. The relationship these two have with each other, that we SEE develop, is a thing of beauty. This is easily the best Twicord story (and yes, I consider this trilogy to be one story, like Lord of the Rings) I've ever read. In addition, we even get to see some amazing development from Celestia as well, as she has an arc that's introduced in the first story, touched on the second, but really comes to fruition in the third, as she begins to show why she truly hates Discord, beyond the "keeping the Harmony" hooey. Spike also forms a nice friendship with Discord that's built up in the second story that's notable as well. Finally, the lore this trilogy constructs for Equus as a plane of existence, it places Discord, Celestia, and Luna into something that's bigger than them, and also plays an important role in the story's conflict. Finally, Ckat_Myla does an AMAZING job writing these stories. She understands Discord, Twilight, and Celestia so well in this story and develops their characters and relationships In such an organic way, and through three stories no less, is nothing if not difficult to achieve. His/Her writing style is a joy to read as it seems to evolve WITH the story. The stakes get larger and larger, the writing gets better and better, and the story gets more and more interesting and emotional as it progresses. The Climax of the third story TRULY feels like the Climax to the whole trilogy. I can't gush about this trilogy enough. While all three stories stand on their own, they are all brought together by the an amazing character journey for both Twilight and Discord that makes it worthy for the RCL.
Oh, And Also: There's a currently unfinished Deleted Scene/Side Story fic. that shows things the author wanted to include in the trilogy, but ended up not including.

Story Name: Princess Day
Link To Story: https://www.fimfiction.net/story/411604/princess-day
Word Count: 2,173
Tags: [Dark] [Horror] [Sad]
What It's About: Daylily is a five-year old colt that's excited for Princess Day, the day where they all get to meet Princess Twilight Sparkle and find out when they'll get their cutie mark. It's a rite of passage for all the fillies and colts of Ponyville, but all is not as it seems.
Why It's Awesome: This story is told from Daylily's perspective, so it's up to the reader to figure out exactly what's going on. Because of this, the fact that Princess Day is actually more than the "Let's meet the Princess" kind of thing, doesn't dawn on the innocent mind of the Daylily, which makes this story even more sad and horrifying in terms of concept. We aren't outright told what Daylily is going through or why, as Daylily doesn't know or care, so its up to us to use what Daylily hears Twilight and Rarity say to fill in the banks, and it ain't a pretty picture. I can't say anymore without spoiling what Princess Day is, but that's really the most saddening/horrifying part of it. It truly needs to be read. Trust me, you'll both be sad, disturbed, and horrified all at the same time, and yet, you'll still be able to understand why it is the way it is.
Oh, And Also: This story has 181 thumbs up and only 12 thumbs down
Also Also: It got a dramatic reading

Story Name: Discord Punches Twilight in the Face
Link To Story: https://www.fimfiction.net/story/203317/discord-punches-twilight-in-the-face
Word Count: 18,291
Tags: [Comedy] [Drama] [Slice of Life]
What It's About: When Twilight steals Discord's diary OW! What the heck Discord?! Okay, okay, memoir, happy? Twilight steals Discord's memoir that depicts his reformation journey, but also his mysterious past, Discord goes on the prowl and vows to punch the thief in the face. Chaos ensues.
Why It's Awesome: This story indirectly does a nice job of showing just how much Discord has progressed since his reformation, as well as being extremely funny. I mean, it's Discord, what do you expect. Again, since it's a comedy I can't really say how good it is without spoiling the jokes, but give it a read, they had me in stitches.
Oh, And Also The story has 1,576 thumbs up and only 44 thumbs down

Story Name: Cleansed of Darkness
Link To Story: https://www.fimfiction.net/story/352146/cleansed-of-darkness
Word Count: 10,986
Tags: [Dark] [Drama]
What It's About: Starlight feels that meditating (a tactic Twilight suggested she use during her reformation), isn't working out for her in her room, she asks Twilight is she can use her meditation room as she's seen Twilight use it many times to great success. When Twilight vehemontly refuses, the student becomes suspicious of her teacher and what she finds in that room, while explaining a lot about how her teacher has grown into her role as a princess is also very disturbing.
Why It's Awesome: This story teaches a great philosophical lesson about choice and respecting the choices of others, though you of have to kinda look deeper into the situation to find how this story relates to real life. Starlight mid-reformation is a great time to have this story as well, as she uses the lessons Twilight is teaching her to deal with the situation before her. It's also an interesting to pose the question of which course of action, both having their downsides, is better? I won't say what it is, but I'm sure once you read the story, you'll pick up on it. Basically, this story is a very interesting, but also kind of disturbing tale.
Oh, And Also:

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Oh hey, it's the story where Fluttershy exclaims, "Oh, pickles!" Which I still remember four years on. :D

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Seriously? You STILL remember that? Dang. I just really liked how nervous everyone was when they saw how mad Discord was getting. They were like, "Well, we're bucked."

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Glad to see someone in the curator table has a soft spot for this story.