Hello! It's that time of the month again. Here you'll find each of our readers' pick for the best story they've read this month. If you read any stories we've added to this group, give these a shot. They are the ones that stood out to us.

There are a lot of layers to this story. The setting itself—not where, but when this story takes place—is never definitively established, and that works out to the story’s benefit. The Twilight Sparkle presented in this story feels a bit displaced as well, and that serves as motivation for both her actions in the story and her reasons for creating this holiday in the first place.

In the end, this is a character driven piece. The story is centered on Twilight’s day and the same decision she makes on it year after year. While questions could be raised about the philosophy behind this decision, about how healthy it is, Twilight has answered them to herself time and time again.

Wow, spotlight time already? Well, out of all the stories I have read this month (and sadly I didn't read near as many as I wanted to) this is the one that stood the most to me.

The depth of this fiction is one of the things that had caught my attention to this story. This story might be considered dark by some, but it is nothing you won't see outside of a fantasy novel. I highly recommend this story. It's actually a sequel to another story, so I would heavily suggest reading it first to understand a lot of what is going on in this story.

Well, the end of the month kinda snuck up on me, mainly because I've been sick for the past... oh geez, most of the month, actually. Yeah, that and dealing with playoffs, work, and school made it a bit of a whirlwind for me. So, while I didn't get quite as much reading done as I'd like to this month, I did find some pretty good stories. It was a tough choice for my spotlight, but in the end I went ahead and gave it to this one:

Thunder Struck by MerlosTheMad

Merlos took the Sweetie Bot concept, made it more adorable than it already was (I didn't think it possible either, don't worry), and ran with it in this one. It's part of the Madverse, which is his series of pony on Earth fics that features one of the ponies finding his or her way to our world through rather mysterious means, all involving a sort of odd, purple hued lightning. In this fic, Sweetie doesn't start out as the Sweetie Belle we know and love. Rather, she is a robot based on the character from MLP, complete with voice box and adorable, whining tone when she calls for her creator. But, something goes wrong one night, and this little robot suddenly becomes more than just your average machine: she begins to ask questions, just like a little foal. From there, it's just plain fun, really. The only complaint I have is Merlos's bloody update times! If you're reading this, WRITE THE NEXT CHAPTER, DAMN YOU!

Ahem. Well, there's my pick. Have a good one!

i love everything about this story. it’s been lambasted by some for pretentiousness or inaccessibility, even by some people I know (i’m sorry space, but i had to put this here). whether or not this story is trying to say anything or not, or whether it even means anything is certainly up to debate, but to me, nothing this month even came close to this in how enjoyable it was to read. twilight’s stream of consciousness is a delight, and while some word choices are odd, and sometimes don’t even really make sense, at least to me:

Twilight Sparkle raised both hooves to both eyes and rubbed both with both sighs

none of this detracts from how enjoyable it was. some may disagree, but to me, a piece of art doesn’t have to be trying to say something deep or meaningful to be great. this story has its detractors and people who rate it as pretentious trash, modernist bullshit, or other such slurs, but to me, it is a brilliant story that i don’t doubt i will always enjoy. this story is definitely not for everyone. but for those who like it, or are fans of other modernist writers such as joyce, you will really like it.

February is a short month, and I think that shows with how many stories were added over the last 28 days as opposed to January (unless you're looking at what Meridian Prime added). For me, there was a lot of university work to deal with, which will probably be a trend going into mid-April. For now though, this is me top pick for February, 2015.

bookplayer is one of my favourite writers on this website for both her stories and for her blogs on the many facets of writing a good story. Dubious Enchantment is a bit of a step away from her regular shipping fanfare, and it is quite possibly one of the better stories that she's written. The story follows Twilight Sparkle and co. trying to get a refund for items purchased at a mysterious shop that disappears every night. The items bought, of course, are cursed or as the shop proprietor would argue "dubiously enchanted."

I don't want to say too much more about the story, but I can talk a bit about the characters and the writing. The characters felt very real, and bookplayer's take on each of the cursed items was delightful to read. The prose felt very Terry Pratchett or Neil Gaiman to me—which is fantastic because I adore both of those authors—and it deserving of that comedy tag. There is a little bit of light TwiJack shipping, which is only the cherry on top for me. Even if you're not a fan of shipping or TwiJack in general though, please don't let that dissuade you from reading this story.

I have realised that Spotlight time is something I am going to come to hate, simply because I can't pick which damn fic to spotlight. Blargh. Suffice to say, this story had to battle past a lot of other extremely good contenders to make its place - if you want to see what those other contenders might have included, go check out my blog! Subtle self-promotion is subtle.

Too Much Love Will Kill You
by A Hoof-ful of Dust

A Hoof-ful of Dust is a truly fantastic writer, and if this is the first you've heard of them you really shouldn't stop at just this story. However, this one in particular I am spotlighting because it was so perfectly written. And I don't mean that as hyperbole - there are no wasted words here, and the prose flows like poetry. Even if you don't lose yourself in the way that Hoof-ful weaves words, the story told here is a compelling and interesting one, and surprisingly hard to predict. I don't want to give away any more of this story because doing so would destroy the experience of reading it. So do yourself a favour, and treat your eyes and brain to this story.

Geeeeeeeez, this month flew by way too fast. It's already a few days past time to choose a spotlight, and I've read approximately negative two fics so far. My RL must've doubled in size though, so there should be a lot more next month. Probably. Hopefully. Anywho, on with the spotlighting!

This will probably be both the first and the last time that I ever recommend a fic that's on hiatus. And frankly, I think it's best that way. This is a story that never could end, really. I mean, while I can imagine a nice story arc about Golden Harvest becoming aware of her role in the set of the show and breaking free from it, I think that would diminish what this fic really has going for it. I'll let past me from my bookshelf thread thingy do the talking: "Really, it's not a story that will ever be complete—it's just a constant loop of... well... just read it. I'm not quite sure how to explain it, to be honest. If existential horror type stuff is your thing, though, then this'll definitely be right up your alley. I personally love it to pieces, and not just because of Carrot Top."

What? Late? Idon'tknowwhatonearthyou'retalkingabout. *cough*

I wasn't sure which one I wanted to highlight, actually, and when I get that way, I procrastinate. Read them all! But start with this one:

I kind of glossed over this one in my blurb before, but there's a lot that this one does well. Rainbow is spot-on, and really shines in a way I haven't seen much in fan fiction. She seems to be a really hard character to give depth to--goodness knows I've had enough difficulty--but here, she feels like a fully fleshed-out character. I don't know if there is a definitive "Rainbow Dash voice", but I think it'd sound like this one.

Unfortunately, best pone ends up being upstaged by her fillyhood friend, but Fluttershy still plays an important role here. PoweredbyTea doesn't make Fluttershy stand out as much, but she's still well within character and not featuring her makes sense. Kinda. She still should have gotten the spotlight more. :P

Ultimately, the best thing about this story is that it feels like it was an unaired episode turned into prose. The general structure of the story, the characterizations, and even the resolution and the moral all feel like something from Season 2. Y'know, the season where everything really started rolling? Yeah, that one.

One last note: At the risk of ruining this spotlight, I feel like I Chose You and Nothing to Say are also deserving of mention and very nearly got the spotlight instead, so go read those as well!