That's fair enough. I wrote this mostly to do something different with the "flightless scootaloo" trope" while avoiding the easy lapse into wish-fulfillment or sadporn and trying to do something different with my writing style. It does have a lot going on at once, and I suppose with all of that I sort of forget to really ground it in the MLP universe. That irritates me, since one of my biggest nitpicks with other people's stories is, as you said, the 'lack of pony'.

I hope you enjoy it despite the unfortunate post timing.

Author here. Thanks for the criticism. Honestly I was fairly surprised when RUN was accepted, since I thought it was exactly the kind of thing (experimental, weird, 'out-there') that EQD very much disliked. Apparently, I was wrong, but I agree that doesn't excuse the story from its flaws. As I said, the story was very much an experiment in both style and plot, and while some people may have enjoyed it, I acknowledge that there are those, like yourself, who didn't. If you could expand on your reasons why the story seemed boring or hard to follow, I'd love to hear them.

Also, gonna have to disagree with you on the 'point of reading a fanfic' thing. Fanfics, to me, are just stories set in predetermined universes, and the point of a story isn't always to be fun and entertaining. Of course there are plenty which do that, just as there are plenty of ponyfics that do the same, but there are also stories that inspire, or disturb, or provoke deep thought. Not to say that RUN does any of those things (I'm not that pretentious geez), but in my opinion, sticking to a fairly narrow definition of 'entertaining' does not a good story make.

Wow, glad you're excited for the update! :P

Author (Stereo_Sub) here! Glad you're interested in the story!

I'm obviously a bit biased, but I would encourage you to check it out if you enjoy adventure epics like LotR (or if you want a more ponyfic-specific example, Fallout: Equestria. Obviously I'm not implying the story is anywhere near the quality of either of those two (that's up to you do decide), but I would like to think it falls within the same vein. Exploration, battles, and meeting new and interesting characters is the main focus, all while an overarching quest ties everything together. I tried to blend traditional high-fantasy tropes together with something more modern and visceral.

The fic does contain some pre-shipped pairs (only two, and only one plays any really major role in the story), but it is not a romance story in any sense of the word. The shipping is there to add tension and interpersonal drama, not so I can bog all my readers down in the mushy stuff.

As for specific style, hm. I would say I have a very character-focused way of writing, particularly in this story. Vinyl Scratch (the main character who also serves as the narrator) as I've written her has a very distinct voice, and her way of speaking, thinking, and interacting with the world is in my opinion the strongest part of the story.

So, as a tl;dr:
First-person narrative with a strong character voice, lots of adventure and exploring a new world (a new dimension, actually), shipping but not romance, inspired by (but not too derivative of, or so I hope) classic high fantasy tropes.

Also, Vinyl can shoot lightning by channeling her music and Octavia gets a magic sword she wields with her tail. That's basically my trump card right there. :P

And just so you have proof I'm not some schmo impersonating the author (though why anyone would go through this much trouble to recommend a story is beyond me), here: http://i.imgur.com/XrrPQ5L.png

I hope you decide to check it out.

Oh hey I edited this. And now it's here. Neat.

Figures the one time I hit the header, the link is broken. Thanks for that. :)

Haha, yeah, I noticed that there was a significant lack of fics that featured Vi as the main character in a non-shippy situation, so I decided to get off my lazy ass and write one. (She is shipped in my story, but it's not the main focus of it). I hope you enjoy!

Author here! Glad everyone seems to like it so far, and expect a new chapter within the next week or so.

Writer of that story here. I'm really glad you liked it! Hopefully you'll be able to see it up on here some time soon!