I have lived my entire life among the ice at the top of the world with my pod. I knew little of the world outside of the ways of We of the Sea, and as a filly, that suited me just fine. But one day, the steel whales came, and on their backs, they carried creatures not unlike myself, yet wholly different. For while I swam in the sea, they walked on the land and flew through the air. Yet they reminded me of my kind, so curious, so tragic, and so infinitely precious. Where they did not understand, they sought to learn with a foolish stubbornness. Where they wandered far from home, they extended their hooves in friendship.

Where they waged their wars, they fought with a violent savagery that was frightening to me.

As I held a dear friend close, the breath fleeing from his body, I only wanted to know one thing.

Why?

Cover art and inspiration by JhonnyRebel. Pre-reading provided by djthomp.

Featured on Equestria Daily!
And an awesome reading by Illya Leonov!
Another awesome reading by Scribbler!

Russian translation of this story can be found here, courtesy of NovemberDragon!

This story is a sequel to What I've Done

This is the third book in The Humanity Within Trilogy. If you haven't read the other two books first, go back and do that now. Don't worry, this will still be here when you get back...

Also, if you've already finished this trilogy, you should be happy to know that the next book in the series, A Darkened Sky, is out right now! Go read it, follow it, and all that stuff!

I don't know what to believe anymore. I was sure they were all monsters, all demons bent on destroying any peace I and my new friends might find in this life.

I was wrong.

Instead of burning this world down around me, their weapons are pointed away from the planet, not towards it.

As if that conundrum wasn't perplexing enough, I also have to deal with finding my own place in this odd, yet familiar society. But how does one simply go back to being normal? Especially knowing that the real monsters that caused this mess in the first place could be just around the corner?

After all, it's not like I'll ever see my home planet again. They may not be here to hurt me or my friends, but I still don't trust these 'friendly' aliens to get me a ride home...

This story is a side story to Crystal's Wishes

While most of their days are spent being Mom and Dad to their young foal Red Velvet, there is one day out of the year that Sunbeam and Pepper Ridge reserve to be just wife and husband: Hearts and Hooves Day. It's their special day when they can stay in bed, gaze into each other's eyes, and enjoy a kind of romance that only other married couples can understand.

Vinyl Scratch likes electronics and being loud. So, she joins the Marine Corps to fly the EA-6B Prowler.

It makes sense to her.

Concept by arcanelexicon (art)

Petunia Paleo makes a discovery in the Badlands which turns Equestrian Paleontology on its ear: the largest intact coprolite known to ponykind.

Now with a reading (and commentary!) by The Barcast/Writer's Workshop.

When Fluttershy finds a human in her backyard trying to eat one of her chickens, she and a majority of the residents of Ponyville only want this dangerous creature as far away from their town as possible.

After a less than stellar first impression, Derpy Hooves and the human struggle to quell the rumors surrounding his diet, and convince the townsfolk that he's harmless.

Will the human be able to make himself meek enough to coexist? Or will he be driven out of town with torches and pitchforks?

Each chapter is told from the perspective of a different pony.

You learn more by listening than by talking.

And you learn a lot more by listening to ponies.

This story is a sequel to Honey Pie

Pinkie Pie and Sweetcake ought to be able to live happily ever after. After all, he helped save Ponyville, and Celestia herself publicly acknowledged him as her subject, despite the fact that he's a changeling. The ponies of Ponyville should welcome him with open arms. It turns out, however, that the fact that some of them don't is going to be the least of his problems.

Cover art by dreamingnoctis.

The changelings are banished, the day is saved! Yet a victory for one must be a defeat for another, and this particular victory has left one changeling stranded in Canterlot, alone and broken. A certain pink party pony is also alone in the Canterlot night, hiding her depression from her friends. She cannot, however, hide her feelings from a changeling. What will become of this unlikely pair?

As featured in Twilight's Library.

Cover picture by Ruirik

There are rules for surviving in the Crystal Empire. Shining Facet knows them well, and only hopes her daughter can learn quickly. After all, they say that things are different now—but sometimes it takes more than flugelhorns and crystal-berries to heal old wounds.

Placed 2nd at the Write-Off round The Morning After

Edited by Dubs Rewatcher