This thread is dedicated to those stories that show amazing potential and would be goodfic if it weren't for that one glaring flaw.

To kick it off, I present to you "Lunacy is expected." [sic] by Caleb Serusa, a fic I found while browsing 4chan. (Yes, I in fact do still browse the internet's reeking cesspool.) Warning for NSFW.

It's an amazing alternate universe ("What would happen if Luna had cracked while on the moon?") that for some reason isn't tagged Alternate Universe. That relatively minor quip aside, it manages to avoid the common "Oh, this changed, but everything that should've changed with it stayed the same" pitfall that alternate universes have. What doesn't need to change (i.e. the Mane Six's characterizations) is left almost completely untouched (what is messed up would've been fixed by the fixing of the glaring flaw.) It also ended up being an amazing read- I found myself pulling an all-nighter because of it. (Geddit? All-nighter? Luna fic? Bah, hard audience.)

That brings me to the glaring flaw. HE DIDN'T USE A [EXPLETIVE REDACTED] BETAREADER. There's SPaG mistakes all over the place. "A frequent one, Anonymouse said, happens to be where he forgets to close off and reopen a quote around where he tells us the identity of the speaker." At least once, he references Rainbow Dash calling Twilight a "nerd" instead of an "egghead." He calls Filly (one of Luna's four alternate personalities, because in this alt universe, she has DID) a "young mare" in the first chapter before he reveals the personality's name, something a beta would've caught. He somehow manages to make the story (still unfinished btw) gripping enough to keep you hooked despite the glaring flaws, but it still comes out looking unpolished.

Do you have any similar tales of almost-thereness?