Luna goes in search of what she wants. Instead, she finds what she needs.

Fourth place in the 60th Quills & Sofa's Speedwriting contest, 'Plain Jane'. The prompt was 'Second Glances'.

Nightmare Moon has been defeated, the long-lost Princess Luna has returned, and everyone is happy. Well, Princess Celestia is. The castle staff is still rather unnerved by everything the sudden disappearance of their monarch, and are still wary of this situation.

One guard is particularly unhappy with this new arrival. Which is why he's staying as close to her as possible.

Once upon a time, there were two friends who ran a farrier shop in Canterlot. The oldest fed the forge and used his earth pony magic to produce strong steel shoes, which the younger enchanted with his powerful unicorn magic. They worked together in harmony, creating beautiful shoes for all who visited until one day they met a young mare in their local bar. She was a mysterious creature, overstressed by her job in the palace and needing the company of two friends far more than she realized.

Until one night, when her sister returned during the Summer Sun Festival…

Created as a Collaborative work between Georg and Tek, who made all the good parts.
Editor: Snaproll

Cover art Horseshoe and Rose by public domain clipart, edited in Paint3D
Now featured on Equestria Daily

Hearth's Warming is never an easy time for Gallus, being the only one without a real family to go home to.

But this year, he just might discover a new friend to spend it with.

Spanish Translation

When Nightmare Moon’s rebellion tore across Equestria, leaving a trail of blood and horror in its wake, Princess Celestia knew that merely banishing her sister wouldn’t be enough. Her army was too powerful, and too bloodthirsty, to be left behind without a leader. When she finally turned the Elements of Harmony against her, she didn’t just banish Nightmare Moon. She banished thousands.

Now they’re in a race against time, to find a way to survive in an environment so alien that every aspect of it is trying to kill them. They face suffocation, freezing, boiling, starvation, radiation, meteorite impacts, low gravity… the list goes on.

Nightmare Moon thought she should be the ruler of all Equestria. Now, in a world nopony was ever meant to survive, her abilities will be put to the ultimate test.

This story now has a hardcover! If you'd like one of your own, you can grab it here: https://starscribe.net/

Editing by the indulgent and patient Two Bit and Sparktail. Coverart by Zutcha.

Note: I intend this story to be as faithful to our current scientific understanding of the moon, and I’ve consulted for help with the aspects outside my technical purview. That said, I fully expect to make decisions that some may see as mistakes, based on their own independent interpretations.

I am a storyteller first, and I realize it’s likely I’ll eventually make a mistake, or an arbitrary decision to simplify the storytelling over accuracy. I’m doing my best here, but this isn’t a NASA white paper. Set your expectations accordingly.

This story was commissioned by Canary in the Coal Mine on my Patreon, feel free to contact me if you’d like one of your own!

[Complete! With TVTropes apparently!]
Also, apparently, an animated trailer.

In a world of brass and steam, Twilight Sparkle had thought she had made a life-changing discovery with the invention of the telescope. For better or worse, she was correct.

Now her discovery has not only changed her life, but the lives of those she seeks out in her desperate attempt to contact the only other creature as lonely as Twilight herself.

It all would have been much simpler, but it had to be the one Twilight could only call The Mare on the Moon.

Decidedly not within walking distance, then.

[Featured on EQD before story was meant to be submitted. 4/03/2015]

[Editing team: Southpaw, Wolfvenom, Maskedferret, SwanSong and BluePaladin42, without whom this story would be a fraction of its current state.]
[Special thanks to Novel-Idea for the updated cover]

Twilight has a secret coltfriend who nobody knows about.  Not even her.

And he’s not too sure either.

Then Luna gets involved, and it only gets weirder.

Editors: Tek, Mitch H, Airy Words
Cover photo: Getty images

Ocellus has been decorating her dormroom as of late, and has heard of a Flea Market where she can pick up the bookcase she needs to complete her set. She's sure she'll get a good deal, but her friend Gallus is not so convinced.

Ocellus is about to learn one of the facts of life...

When haggling, Bring a Griffon.

EDIT: And hey! Thanks to SPANIARD KIWI for translating this fic into Spanish. You can find that translation here.

EDIT 2: Okay! Thanks to Disharmony Tree for translating this fic into Chinese! You can find that translation here!

The Job of the Royal Equestrian Courier Service is simple. Whatever the Princess needs sent anywhere, they deliver. Whatever she needs brought back, they retrieve. But sometimes the delivery is the least important part of the trip.

The elderly unicorn Zircon was a courier in the Royal Equestrian Courier Service, a position normally dominated by pegasi. Because of his age and ground-bound nature, he tends to draw jobs that fall between the cracks. Now he has been tasked by the Princess herself to travel to his old hometown of Ponyville while being overseen by a young black unicorn mare who has invited herself along for the trip. But this time his job is turning out to be less the delivery of a package, but the way in which it is delivered.

Can be read as a standalone, or as a second chapter to To Sleep, Perchance to Dream ‘Two Unicorns’ is my first MLP fanfic, and was written before ‘To Sleep,’ with recent edits thanks to MaskedFerret and Nyerguds. The Nocturne saga continues from here with Genealogy (or The Mating Habits of nocturnes pegasi, and various other stories along that line.

Effective communication is important in any friendship.

Unfortunately for Twilight, Tempest Shadow and Pharynx communicate almost exclusively in overwhelming force.