“For want of a nail, the shoe was lost. For want of a shoe, a messenger lost. For want of a messenger, the message was lost. For want of a message, the battle was lost. For want of a battle, the kingdom was lost.”

“All for want of a horseshoe’s nail."

Like many other timelines, the Sonic Rainboom fails to occur. But, Harmony is tenacious. Even without what seems to be a key event, it will have it's bearers. Just perhaps taking a long, winding shortcut around to reach them.

An alternate timeline story inspired by A Minor Variation by notMurphy where the Mane 6 have their elements shuffled. Different events lead to different ponies, so OC tag is here because of how wildly different these Mane 6 ended up.

Cover made by Me.

After Twilight Sparkle’s library was destroyed, she needed to list everything she lost in the battle for compensation. And the pony handling her file has a few…. Actually, a lot of questions.

Twilight's been having weird, unfamiliar urges ever since she became an alicorn. Like an intense desire to grow flowers, or the fact she can't stop chewing on her wings when she's distracted. As it turns out, you can't just suddenly inherit the magic of all three pony tribes without getting the instincts to match, and instincts can be a powerful thing. Doubly so when you're not used to them, and especially when they're telling you that your best friend with the gorgeous wings would make the perfect partner to share a nest with.

Wait, what was that last part?

Originally this was supposed to be a birthday gift for Celysus, but I fell in love with the idea so it's gonna be a full fic now. You can't stop me.

(Rated teen for mildly suggestive flirting)

Prophesy says that Twilight Sparkle will not outlive her friends.

To preserve the Princess, her friends must survive.

They may not be immortal - but one year can become a thousand at the speed of light.

An entry for Science Fiction Contest II, where it took a Committee Prize!

Additional tags for spoiler purposes: My Little Pony: A New Generation ; Mane 5

Featured 3/23/2023 - 3/28/2023!

And featured on Equestria Daily on 4/4/2023!

Thanks to my pre-readers: The Sleepless Beholder, Dewdrops on the Grass, daOtterGuy, and Avery Day.

After being separated from the darker, uninhibited versions of themselves, Celestia and Luna set out to reform them. After months of work, training, and discussions to set the pair on a better path, the sisters host both Nightmare Moon and Daybreaker together in a private, casual dinner to see how well the two have been listening.

It goes less than smoothly...

-----

Stupid little greentext thought up while absolutely smashed on a weekday morning before bed, now converted to prose. Teen rating is for minor sexual allusions, but nothing explicit.

Cover art is a prior work by SilentWulv. The original image is here

Rob the earth pony has not had an easy life. Alongside his crippling social anxiety, dead-end job, and general poor looks, he also suffers from a severe aversion to a certain facet of songwriting. Sure is a good thing his fellow citizens of Maretime Bay aren't prone to bursting into spontaneous musical numbers!

... Is that an electric guitar I hear on the horizon?

A surreal (horror?) comedy about xenophobic radicalization.

Warning: Contains excessive and potentially traumatic quantities of rhymes! Caution is advised!

Proofread by PoisonClaw and Max Bet.

What if the "Mane 6" weren't ponies at all? An intrepid group of pony adventurers finds out firsthand.

***

Another *family friendly* Ogres & Oubliettes inspired short featuring the Main 6 as monsters from classic fantasy & myth.

It's been about a month since Spike went through his molt, and both he and Twilight are still getting used to his newly sprouted wings. Needless to say, the development has brought on quite a few changes; some deliberate, others... not so much.

Of course, with new circumstances come new opportunities. Spike's wings let him fly, obviously, but there's one thing in particular he'd like to learn to do with them. And the lesson starts with one simple question for Twilight:

"Could you teach me how to give a wing-hug?"

Written by TheAncientPolitzanian
Inspired by Heir-of-Rick
Proofread by Falkenlied and Rego
Cover Art: Fireworks by dSana

It's been many years since Twilight took the throne as Equestria's sole ruler. Running a country is hard, especially now, but she has little choice in the matter. The trip to the wasteland was required though, her friend went not too long ago in order to investigate.

Hopefully she'll reunite with them so they can go back to taking care of Equestria, after all, who else will?

Written for the 3rd Annual Cozy Glow Short Story Contest. And was written in a single evening, with editing done later.

This is a spoiler of sorts, but the prompt used was: Cozy Glow vs Twilight Sparkle.

Cover art by: Artistincproductions, I'd link their DA but it seems to be deactivated.

Special thanks to Perfectly Insane for pre-reading and helping!

Fluttershy lives a peaceful life with her geese, taking them every night to graze in the meadows above the palace, hurrying home before the forbidden sun rises. She tries not to look at the statues of the fallen princess with her sun cutie mark, broken and half-buried in the undergrowth. She tries not to look at the Midnight Spire as it rises before her, dark and terrible.

Trigger Warning: and please take these seriously, as this story gets dark - blood, injury, violence, elements of abusive relationships, and even some slight suggestions of non-consent. These aren't used gratuitously and are treated with the appropriate horror by the main character. Please do not read if any of this will be triggering to you. This is an exploration of what the Nightmare Moon AU would be like for poor Fluttershy, and is correspondingly dark.

This story is the first of four. The second is The Sorcerer and the Seneschal, with the others coming soon.

This was originally written as a christmas present for Zontan and if you like the tone of it I suggest you read his Shadow Within.