Saw Austraeoh being discussed on /mlp/. The absurdly long fic series from Shortskirtsandexplosions Imploding Colon. I tried reading it waaaaaaaay back and got only partly through before either distraction or losing interest. I remember some city with some half alicorn daughter of Celestia and nothing else past that point. Just the first line from pic related perfectly captures my feelings of that beast of a fic:
> There's something great, terrible, and truly melancholic about starting this fic. Every time I look at the series, I'm filled with a sort of awe and sadness for it. For how great a work it is, for everything it represents and all the mysticism surrounding it, and for the fact that it will, inevitably, never be fully completed. Skirts has moved on, for better or worse, and I honestly don't know how much writing quality he's got left in him, nor how many actual days. And reading through this, looking at the comments, I am really, truly tempted to just take the plunge and do the whole series, right away. We will in time, of course. Still, it calls to me, and saddens me, and haunts me in a way few thing can. But enough about me and about that. For now, we're flying east.

Personally, I don't think I would like Austraeoh, the sprawling endless nature that I imagine probably doesn't reveal a lot of what happened hundreads of thousands of words later. The ships, the anime feel at times (don't always hate that but isn't my main cup of tea). Yet, just it feels like a cultural artifact that deserves some sort attention and analysis/diving into.  It has a hauntingness to it. I can remember all those years ago when it was just that single fic updating and gradually noticing it's word count go up.  

Anyway, just some random thoughts for now on a fic I might read someday but is daunting and probably a disappointment in lack of closure. For a possible laugh: >>/10439/

 >>/10722/
> 2013

Protip, chronic sleep exhaustion isn't good for noticing things at times!