The Best Damn Fics You've Ever Read.
- Thread starter Phearo
- Start date
- Discussion
I'll second Practical Mythology. lyricwritesprose writes some great Who fanfic. I was particularly taken with Practical Mythology, as you said because of the way it shows a Timelord from an outsiders view. However she wrote some other stuff that I really like, even if it might not fit on this list (Dragons of the Mind as it shows how creepy the Doctor can be while chessmastering his way around people is a Favourite. Another really good one I think just for setting a scene is 'They Say').
- Location
- Europe
I personally enjoyed SGXcom, although mileage may vary. It has a great grasp of the canon at least.
GuesssWho
To Assemble A Name From Scars
- Location
- People's Republic of Treacle Mine Road
- Pronouns
- She/Her
A good comedy fic: The Morning After, in which Loki modernizes Asgard. And introduces rhinos for some reason.
NemiTheNen
Perpetual Phone Poster
Oh, that's because it's a sidefic to one huge fic where he has a thing for Rhinos. See, they look like monsters, but they really aren't. It's a crossover with some BBC urb fantasy, housemates including a ghost, a were, and a vampire.
GuesssWho
To Assemble A Name From Scars
- Location
- People's Republic of Treacle Mine Road
- Pronouns
- She/Her
I have actually read those, although it's been awhile, but 'for some reason' sounded funnier and took less time to type
- Location
- UK
If there isn't one, someone should really start one. Finding anything on FFN is a pain.
- Location
- Europe
Cert from me, it's pretty great.
You probably want the General Recommendations and Updates thread. A lot of the recommendations people make in this thread should actually be posted there because the fics are incomplete, the fics are of controversal quality, etc.
- Location
- oregon, usa
- Pronouns
- He/Him
https://www.fanfiction.net/s/245417/1/XCOM-The-Unknown-Menace
By: Hobbes
This is my take on the story of the First Alien War (1999-2003), following the plot of UFO Defense. THE STORY IS COMPLETE - Warning: Some of the reviews contain major spoilers!
Rated: Fiction T - English - Sci-Fi/Adventure - Chapters: 36 - Words: 368,094 - Reviews: 113 - Favs: 132 - Follows: 52 - Updated: Dec 29, 2002 - Published: Apr 5, 2001 - Status: Complete - id: 245417
This is, of course, a 1990s X-COM story. I do think that this is the best X-COM piece that I have read yet.
Chloe Sullivan
Subdefective
- Location
- 1630 Revello Drive, Sunnydale CA
Pretty sure I recced it before. For the same reason at that.
Fics that also do well at capturing the alieness of a proper time war (instead of yet another bullshit battle of britain episode) include All this Season of Snow and Sins - CherryIce - Doctor Who [Archive of Our Own]
- Location
- US of A
GuesssWho
To Assemble A Name From Scars
- Location
- People's Republic of Treacle Mine Road
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Eh, what even is time anyway? We can always do it before.You actually have already seconded it.
Decim
On again, off again lurker.
- Location
- St. Louis, MO
XSGCOM has been brought up, and while I did (and still do) enjoy it. I don't think it's quite deserving of being on the front page. On the other hand, I do have one rec for the thread if you're still looking for XCOM. My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic does not seem like it would work with XCOM, but this glorious fic managed to do so.
Stardust by Arad
Synopsis: Isolated from her friends and taken prisoner in the middle of a war, Twilight must deal with the very real dangers of being percieved as an enemy as well as the nightmares of her arrival on 'Earth'. Can she overcome her own fears and the fears of her captors? Will the wayward unicorn's assistance be a boon or a curse to the 'humans?' Most importantly, will she ever find her way home?
"In short, it's a story of friendship and plasma rifles, with the emphasis on the friendship. The characters are well written, the XCOM setting is fleshed out very well, and the story is compelling. If you love XCOM, you'll love the story, but even if you've never heard of it, it's more than worth giving the first 3 chapters a read.
There's excellent action later on, but the real strength lies in the collision between the friendly and naive world of Twilight Sparkle and the desperate world of humans fighting a losing war for survival and willing to do anything to turn the tide."
--Arzoo
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I'll second 'Compelled To Play Again' and also derec the sequels. It's very, very good as an Illyria fic. Unfortunately, some of the best part of it is the Scoobies trying to cope a 'helpful' alien god and their characterization. Once every plot-relevant heroic character is more or less onside in the sequels things get a lot more boring.
elenchus
leftism is quantifiable
- Location
- Texas ;_;
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Derec Compelled to Play Again. The grammar is atrocious.
- Location
- Texas
MLP/WH40k Cross over -
Iron Hearts: Book 1 - Planetfall
An MLP/Warhammer 40K Crossover
The Iron Warriors 38th Company has landed in Equestria, entrenching themselves like a barbed hook. They hunt the aliens of the Tau Empire, intent on destruction and pillage.
A small squad is dispatched on a reconnaissance mission, only to find that there is intelligent life on this world besides the feuding space-farers.
Will these improbably adorable and friendly equine aliens turn the damned warriors of Chaos from their blood-soaked path, cleansing them of their dark legacy with the magic of friendship and harmony?
No.
No, that isn't happening.
EXPLOSIONS!!
--
This is a series that is only posted in one place and has criminally low readership because of it. But Goddamn, it is some of the funniest and most well done marriage between two fandoms that have no business being thrown together ever. It has 5 Books, all of them complete, with some side stories and even some post-series material. Overall the series and all the extra content clocks in at close to 1 million words or so.
However there is no need to read all of that. Give the first story a shot, if you have any interest in 40k or MLP at all you will enjoy it.. I never thought a crossover could do both the Forces of Chaos and colorful talking ponies justice at the same time, but somehow this masterpiece (IMO) truly epic series manages to pull it off.
Iron Hearts: Book 1 - Planetfall
An MLP/Warhammer 40K Crossover
The Iron Warriors 38th Company has landed in Equestria, entrenching themselves like a barbed hook. They hunt the aliens of the Tau Empire, intent on destruction and pillage.
A small squad is dispatched on a reconnaissance mission, only to find that there is intelligent life on this world besides the feuding space-farers.
Will these improbably adorable and friendly equine aliens turn the damned warriors of Chaos from their blood-soaked path, cleansing them of their dark legacy with the magic of friendship and harmony?
No.
No, that isn't happening.
EXPLOSIONS!!
--
This is a series that is only posted in one place and has criminally low readership because of it. But Goddamn, it is some of the funniest and most well done marriage between two fandoms that have no business being thrown together ever. It has 5 Books, all of them complete, with some side stories and even some post-series material. Overall the series and all the extra content clocks in at close to 1 million words or so.
However there is no need to read all of that. Give the first story a shot, if you have any interest in 40k or MLP at all you will enjoy it.
. I never thought a crossover could do both the Forces of Chaos and colorful talking ponies justice at the same time, but somehow this masterpiece (IMO) truly epic series manages to pull it off.
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- Location
- Hell
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Fuck the hell yes, seconded. I barely read ponyficks anymore, but I remember Stardust updates being like Christmass goddamn morning every time. Excellent fic, even if you dislike the pony aspect.
I'm not sure if I would name it the best I've ever read, since it's an original audio novel that I last listened to maybe 8-9 years ago, but Toothless by J.P. Moore is pretty good and I didn't see it listed in the ToC. It's essentially about a Templar who died fighting a zombie army that's commanded by a tree and he is revived into it's ranks.
I think it's been published since I listened to it, but there's probably still some free sources to listen to the original podcasts.
Edit to add an actual text story:
Strange that it isn't listed as a crossover on ff.net though.
I think it's been published since I listened to it, but there's probably still some free sources to listen to the original podcasts.
Edit to add an actual text story:
I read this a few years ago and I know barely anything about Dresden Files, but this was a pretty good read from what I can recall.
Strange that it isn't listed as a crossover on ff.net though.
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Anzer'ke
Anarchism Ho!
XSGCOM has been brought up, and while I did (and still do) enjoy it. I don't think it's quite deserving of being on the front page. On the other hand, I do have one rec for the thread if you're still looking for XCOM. My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic does not seem like it would work with XCOM, but this glorious fic managed to do so.
Stardust by Arad
Synopsis: Isolated from her friends and taken prisoner in the middle of a war, Twilight must deal with the very real dangers of being percieved as an enemy as well as the nightmares of her arrival on 'Earth'. Can she overcome her own fears and the fears of her captors? Will the wayward unicorn's assistance be a boon or a curse to the 'humans?' Most importantly, will she ever find her way home?
"In short, it's a story of friendship and plasma rifles, with the emphasis on the friendship. The characters are well written, the XCOM setting is fleshed out very well, and the story is compelling. If you love XCOM, you'll love the story, but even if you've never heard of it, it's more than worth giving the first 3 chapters a read.
There's excellent action later on, but the real strength lies in the collision between the friendly and naive world of Twilight Sparkle and the desperate world of humans fighting a losing war for survival and willing to do anything to turn the tide."
--Arzoo
Derecc'd without a moment's hesitation.
A lot of the OCs get tiresome, especially the one who keeps doing mean shit then crying about her sad backstory the few times she gets called on it. The climax is fucking terrible, showcasing the worst ways to raise the stakes and having a nonsensical sudden boost in the alien's power to try and keep them feeling like a threat when they no longer have any reason to be. Worst of all though, the entire thing is blatantly favourable to the XCOM side, to the point that even going in with an equal affection for both sides of the crossover it ended up ruining it for me.
I get that a lot of people struggle to both bring an element of realism and consequence to the powers of MLP and have them still face challenge and conflict, but enough fics have succeeded in doing so that I'm not willing to give people a pass for it. If 'The Best of All Possible Worlds' can pull it off while also doing everything else that fic set out to do, then Stardust has no excuse. Especially since it chose instead to use the tired and lazy route of 'we're instantly better at using this technology/power that the natives have had access to for their entire history'.
Dark Abstraction
Infrequent Participant
- Location
- United States
Then you shouldn't be reccing it here. There's a general recommendations thread for things you just want to mention to other people, this one's for the singularly best stuff you can think of.
Agree Rec for this story - its a unique viewpoint of events in a very meta style. But full de-rec for the sequel (it make me wonder how the hell the author managed to create the first one in the frist place).
- Location
- Hell
- Pronouns
- She/Her
1. You mean Vahlen, one of the characters that's not an OC? I literally finished rereading it an hour ago, and if you're complaining about her being 'mean' to Twilight, she is literally one of the most likely characters to remain xenophobic through the story. She is a mad scientist that does not consider aliens people, and gets her rocks off torturing them. The author including backstory to explain the emotionable trauma required for her to be so vicous is a necessity, and is handled decently. Yeah, when you read Stardust, you fucking hate her for being needlessly cruel, but that's her character!
2. There is no nonsensical boost in power. In cannon, the Ethereals are sandbagging and not using all the resources available to them. This is an issue with the source material the fic is faithful to.
3. Is this about how the entire thing takes place on XCOM Earth? That's the whole premise! It doesn't have much going on the MLP side because it doesn't take place in Equestria! This isn't an issue of poor writing or author bias, it's the storie's setting.
4. It's very clear that the ways in wich Pony magic and Ethereal psionics developed are vastly different. The Ethereals are clearly far superior to ponies in mental magic, programming, and transportation. They have spent their reign perfecting thier ability to command units, not as researchers into the realms of the arcane they have no clue exist. Pony magic developed all over the place, and is seemingly much simpler. In the places the Ethereals focus, they kick Twilights ass! A bottom-bitch field commander manages to everpower her mind with ease! And, what's the alternative? Ponies are just useless, and this turns in to a grimderp shitfest where everyone loses?
Edit: On top of all that, the main theme of the fic is about learning to trust others, the moral argument with how to treat Twilight, and loss of innocence. It's not really about the crunch of xcom vs pony vs ethereal
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Anzer'ke
Anarchism Ho!
No, I'm talking about the female soldier who acts like the quintessential 'it's just a prank bro' asshole throughout the story, does endless stupid risky shit that she never get's in trouble for, then complains about her sad backstory on the rare occasions she does get called on her behaviour.
Them abruptly being able to freeze Twilight was stupid bullshit. Stupid bullshit thrown in purely because the author had no other way to stop her curbstomping every obstacle.
That has absolutely nothing to do with what I complained about. How did you even reach that conclusion? You're not doing very well at guessing my thoughts so far. Seems like it would have been easier to just ask me for them.
Look. Fics which make the MLP side exist in a normal universe and retain their powers have to deal with them having multiple physical gods and obscenely powerful characters. Good fics handle this well and are all the better for it. Bad fics pull shit like Stardust's various asspulls in this area. Like having the small unit invasion aliens somehow a huge threat to the civilization that can throw suns at people. Or having XCOM spend all of a few months with Twilight and somehow have better magitech than her own people do. Or Discord being a human fanboy purely because it helps the story to move along the author's rails.
If Stardust had depowered MLP, or altered its setting to fit the needs to the fic, I'd have given this shit a pass. Instead it tried to have its cake and eat it.
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