When Shining Armor was in high school, he was given an assignment to take care of a bag of flour decorated like an infant filly. By the end of the week, "Floury Armor" was a prize-winning batch of muffins and the yearbook committee had unanimously voted him "Most Likely to Appear in a Future Villain's Tragic Backstory." This really should have been a red flag, but for some reason the Queen Bee of the school still married him anyway.

When Shining Armor found out that his wife was pregnant, he was quick to introduce the Crystal Empire to the idea of a gender reveal party. Luckily, that quarter of the city had been due for extensive renovation anyway and his explosion-proof wife appreciated the sentiment.

Now, when his daughter is turning into a pony he no longer recognizes (and he can't even blame the changelings this time), it's up to him and his self-proclaimed stellar parenting skills to save her from herself.

My entry for the Shining Armor is a terrible dad competition.

Proofreading and pre-reading very helpfully contributed by Light Striker, GreyTheGriffon, RB, Pneu, and Scream Queen

The Mane 6 catch what they all think is a simple stomach bug, but things are not as they seem. Overnight, 6 dark trees sprout in and around Ponyville, sending the citizens into a panic, and no body can seem to find any of the Bearers of the Elements. Just to make things worse, soon after a variety of weird changeling subspecies start popping out of the odd trees, only making the panic worse!

And yet, these Changelings seem not to be aggressive? It's still very worrying though, let alone how they all keep talking about their Queens. Hopefully the princesses can handle this!

Tanya Degurechaff gets tossed into Equestria and transformed into a Changeling Queen. It's a nice retirement from modern warfare as an aerial mage. Then Queen Chrysalis attacks and forces her out of retirement. Historians refer to this as 'a bit of an oopsie.'

It's important for a princess to learn to defend herself. It's important for a father to make sure their daughter is happy. It's important for a guard to survive cataclysmic events.

Written for the Shining Armor is a Terrible Dad 2024 Competition

Special thanks to EileenSaysHi for editing and giving some extra ideas.

My name is Comet Tail, and I have died many times.

Marianne Evergold is a kind-hearted girl with strange tastes, for she's the only person she knows whose favorite character is... Diamond Tiara. Snotty, bratty, childish, and vain? Perhaps. But she adored her all the same. The confidence with which Tiara carried herself was something she never had. In her eyes, Tiara was truly graceful and picturesque. And while she understood that drama needed a conspirator and Tiara was just the natural calling card for the show's writers, she never liked the idea that she was truly evil. So when the show ended its last season with her being turned to stone for her years of villainy and almost bringing Equestria to ruin... Mary could not accept it.

The only thing she could never understand was... why did they never give her a proper redemption? It always felt like they would. Yet they never did. And if by some miracle they ever did, she would never get to see it.

For she finds she awakes one day in the lands of the colorful Equestria. Far from home. So very far from friends. And so, so very far from family.

And in the horseshoes of Diamond Tiara herself, no less.

But at least she has a goal now. To save Tiara from that fate. Already with a history of bad blood halfway into the show, it would be no easy feat to redeem her as no one would allow her the opportunity after many years of treachery. But Mary vowed to never give up on Diamond Tiara and would keep to her promise come what may.

All while Tiara herself sat back silently in her mind, sealed from being able to take control of her own body again and watching it all unfold.

The cover art was drawn by DamayantiArts for this story. Consider supporting her work if you like it.

One year ago, the immortal moon lich died.

One year ago, Twilight Sparkle the so-called human moved to Ponyville.

Rarity never believed that, of course. The "human" bit. After all, no human would willingly choose to live in a town of monsters, and no amount of magic or hunting orders or Plans with a capital "P" would ever change her mind on that—especially when said human was so constantly collected and calm.

But... if she wasn't human, what kind of monster could she be?

Written for the Raritwi-deprived Monochromatic, who so graciously let me cook for 1/4th of a year. Huge thanks to Swan Song for prereading, and to everyone I pestered for synonyms whenever the last of my braincells refused to word. Cover art by me!

Everyone has to sleep eventually—everyone, which means that at some point Sunset's new roommate is going to have to stop messing around with her computer and go to bed. But somehow the one-and-only Twilight Sparkle doesn't need to obey the laws of the universe, and therefore she might just be the one-and-only person who never sleeps.

Written as a study on narrative and preconception. Recommended by TCC56. Reviewed by PaulAsaran. Cover art by localsya. Interior art by me!

Magic isn’t real. Twilight Sparkle abandoned that fantasy in her childhood, along with nonsense like pony princesses and myths of a monster in the moon. The only thing worth believing in is that which can be proved—scientifically, of course.

But then a series of un-scientific phenomena starts happening at Canterlot High. The magic-obsessed transfer student won’t leave her alone, a vivid nightmare haunts her dreams with increasing intensity, and her benevolent mentor-slash-principal is clearly hiding something big. Everywhere she turns there’s talk and sight of magic; rumours of a thousand-year old prophecy and a monster returning to seek revenge. And worst of all? Twilight finds herself almost willing to believe it.

Almost. Good thing she’s smart enough not to, right?

An EQG-adjacent retelling of the season one opener. Sciset. Animated trailer. Reviewed by PaulAsaran. Art by me!

While exploring the decrepit remains of the Castle of Friendship, Sunny Starscout and her friends discover a strange book that might have belonged to Princess Twilight Sparkle herself. The book's contents resemble a series of letters that were apparently sent back and forth between Twilight and an unknown party.

At some point, Twilight stopped responding.