• Archaeology Event: Stories!


    Rarity is eating marshmallows up there. I am not even kidding when I say I performed her laugh when I saw this picture. It's so perfect that it nearly broke me.

    Okay, so this isn't really an event, per se. And yes, I did spell that right this time, for everypony who complained that I spelled it wrong last time. Per se. Bite me. Anyway, we've gotten a few requests over time to bring back the story archaeology posts. For those uninitiated, these posts were something that Seth did when the blog was still a baby where he would go back and dig up stories posted a while ago that may not have gotten as many views or comments as they probably deserved when they were published. Well, today I have five fics for you that the pre-readers have chosen that fit these general guidelines: they're all old, and they all have under twenty comments on them.

    It's time for a blast from the past, ponies. Enjoy these classic stories! Oh, and by the way, several of my fics did qualify for this post, but I didn't include them because I'm not an attention horse. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

    Doctor Whoof and the Gala of Terror
    One Problem Child
    Swayback Mountain
    Special Derplivery
    The Storyteller

    44 comments:

    1. No nominations/voting?

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    2. Wow, I forgot about these! I'm glad they're coming back!

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    3. Not at the moment. I'm gauging interest.

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    4. I like this idea, though I curse the fact that it will mean I have even more of a backlog than I already have.

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    5. The only one of those I read was Swayback.

      I liked it x3

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    6. Oh, yes, this is perfect for my PDF gallery. More please.

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    7. Rarity? Eating marshmallows?? CANNIBALISM!

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    8. I wish more HFPS would get on here, but then again most of his stuff was raped by the Gdocs purge...

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    9. Per se?

      Parsee!

      Ohgodnotthemoondon'tsendmetothemoon

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    10. This is a great idea, and now I know what I'm going to be doing today! :)

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    11. Waahaha!! More fanfics to read!

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    12. @Cereal Velocity You never spelled it wrong, those grammar ponies just don't know that there sometimes is more than one accepted way of spelling something!

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    13. Great idea. Fics can get lost so quickly on this site, especially once they've been completed. There are probably a bunch of stories worth my time that I don't know about because I'm too lazy to go through the archives myself. :P

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    14. @NinesTempest

      HFPS stopped writing his grimdark tales and moved on to, uhh, clopfiction under a different name. He's actually been very prolific, but I think you can understand why he hasn't been here more.


      Sad to see some of Squeak's old work didn't make it this round. Scooting Along and Pinkie's Party are two of my favorite old-underlooked fics.

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    15. @SlyWit
      Oh I'm well aware... I mean his older work could be more exposed here (I'd recommend his Dragon Wars one, but it was purged...)

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    16. Cereal Velocity and the pre-readers are credit to team.

      And this is why.

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    17. Swayback is definitely a good read. My weakness is Rarity x anything, though... Why isn't there more of her!?

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    18. Oh god, what happened to her horn?!

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    19. @SlyWit

      HFPS was one of my favorite authors, for his grimdark and everything else he wrote. When I found out that he now basically only does porn, I felt my heart sink. I saw the list of "backlogs" to his writing commissions. It's about twenty long, and all of them have various sexual positions listed after the short descriptions. It's such a waste of a talent.

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    20. @Anonymous

      Rarity x Rarity.

      What say you?


      @Anonymous

      HFPS was a great writer. I read some of his work, whatever was not too grimdark (Severing and Cupcakes are on my permanent DO NOT READ list). But I understand that there are people with tastes different than mine. At least he's pleasing a seemingly significant part of the fan community. I don't so much as consider it wasted talent as merely talent spent outside my purview. Oh, well! FiM has attracted more talented writers than I could possibly have time to read all of. For that, I am thankful.

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    21. @SlyWit
      >not reading severing

      you deprive yourself of one of the best fics in the fandom, sir.

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    22. oh my gawd LUL i traveled back in time and left a message on the "100,000 hits" post i told them we got to 20mil :3..shit did i step on a butterfly?

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    23. You may have spelled "per se" correctly, and while it does function properly within the context, did you intend it so?

      You may have meant it to mean "necessarily", but that is a common misconception (that I myself admit to having fallen to). It in actuality means "in and of itself."

      http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/per%20se

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    24. @SlyWit

      Oh, don't get me wrong. I enjoy cloppity action in the pants as much as the next brony. But I like to read things other than clop fiction. I was disappointed that this was the ONLY thing that HFPS is writing now. I mean seriously, he had a list of nearly two dozen requests, and it was ALL clop fics. Nothing requesting any light humor or grimdark or high adventure or ANYTHING but clop fics.

      I guess what I actually feel is more of a disappointment in the community, that we don't want to request anything different from such an obviously talented and original writer.

      And ... you made a mistake (which may or may not have been pointed out to you before). Don't compare Cupcakes to The Severing. Cupcakes was gore-porn and made to shock and disgust. The Severing was true grimdark that, while disturbing and often violent, was actually done very tastefully and well. I recommend it to any pony who can successfully compartmentalize the story into the realm of "Alternate Universe". If you CAN'T do that then, yes, it will ruin the characters for you when you watch the show.

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    25. @NinesTempest

      The bottom line for Severing is, for me, it's just not pony. I love FiM and MLP, but the reason why I love them is every episode is a ticket for non-ironic fun in a show that doesn't bath its humor in cynicism and sarcasm.

      Taking a grimdark approach simply ceases to be pony for me. A story about Twilight murdering her friends, no matter how good, is still subverting that ticket-to-funness that makes me love these confounding ponies. I'm not at all opposed to a grimdark story and often revel in sarcastic and cynical humor. Just not with ponies anymore than I'd eat chocolate on a steak dinner.

      There are plenty of fics for me to read and enjoy that are really good that do not give me the cognitive dissonance of pony murder.

      I'm all for people enjoying what they enjoy, these are simply my tastes when it comes to FiMfiction.

      @Anonymous
      People do request adventure and so on. HFPS rejects it. He's grown some weird cynical shell in regards to his old work. I don't understand it myself, but when he switched his name, it seemed to be a rejection and disapproval of his old styles.

      And it may be my mistake if I appeared to imply that Cupcakes and The Severing are on the same level to me. I reject reading both for similar but ultimately different reasons. One is meant to be physically shocking and grotesque, the other is emotionally shocking. I list them together not as they are similar, but to show the different kinds of stories I don't want to read ponies in.

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    26. @SlyWit

      Odd, the reason I liked severing so much is that the only way it could ever work is because of the show, and it's characters, and having seen them as such great friends in regular environments.

      The setting itself is also basically only possible in an FiM setting, so it still feels like pony. Just violent pony.

      I mean, sure, to each his own, but man, people who are worried about subject matter just bother me sometimes.

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    27. On the main page it looks like rarity is enjoying the show that Dashfire is putting on

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    28. Oh nostalgia, I remember when all these came out, now its time to acctualy read them!

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    29. @SlyWit

      >people request nonclop stories
      >HFPS rejects it
      >weird cynical shell
      >changed name and rejects old style

      NOW I'm sad.

      It is, however, strangely appropriate. HFPS has eliminated his old persona and refused his old writings. He metaphorically murdered his artistic himself. I have to wonder if he intended for his departure to be something of a "story" in itself. If so then, that was quite a feat all on it's own, but I'm most likely reading far too much into it. I'm gonna miss him.

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    30. @I'm Only Kidding

      Rarity has a magical invisibility aura around her head that periodically activates at random intervals and varying strengths.

      This also happened in "Best Night Ever" when prince jerk-wad refused to open the door for her, but that time it only effected her tiara.

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    31. HFPS actually has written one non-clop story since changing his name - a sequel to "Spike Dragon, Private Eye" called "Big Trouble, Little Dragon".

      It was a request from the guy who backed up and rescued all his work after the Gdocs purge.

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    32. Those last two are pretty awesome.

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    33. @Anonymous

      You wouldn't happen to know if the guy posted his works after he saved them from the google monster, would you?

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    34. Oh, hey, thanks for doing this post, Cereal V! I hope the rest of the staff does this from time to time, because I mostly visit EQ Daily to click the "Complete" tag and scan through a few interesting fics that catch my eye.

      Considering the raw volume of stories, it can be kinda hard to scroll through all I've read, so posts like this are a goldmine to a fan like me.

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    35. Lol, Swayback Mountain was the second fanfic I ever read... after the, ehem, unspeakable story. Was also my first foray into shipping, but it was so well written and had such amazing emotions that I didn't even notice that I was basically reading a parody of a movie I had scoffed at for years. You know ponies work when... Also, ButterScotchSundae. 'Nough said.

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    36. This would be a great thing to do like once a month! What an idea.

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    37. This is a cool idea. I really enjoy the fanfiction on here. I'm currently going through the archive to read EVERY story.

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    38. rarity is eating her horn, its made of marsmallow, or potato chips!!
      XD

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    39. @SlyWit

      Oh no ... As much as I was against HFPS writing only clop fic with his new persona, I looked him up on FIM-chan. I just read part of one of his clop fics. As much as I complained about them earlier ... I REALLY enjoy it. And I'm not even a third finished with it.

      Don't look at me. I'm too dirty now ... DON'T LOOK AT ME!!

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    40. I love these posts. I always miss a story or two if I don't keep up my reading every day.

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