Sometimes the perfect hiding spot isn't always so perfect.

Cover done by IrradiatedPirateBooty.

Thanks to PseudoBob Delightus for proofreading.

Thanks to Mockingbirb for partial proofreading.

Thanks to Scriblits Talo for pre-reading.

Thanks to MorganaTheNotCat for pre-reading.

Thanks to Visharo for pre-reading.

Thanks to Forcalor for pre-reading.

Thanks to Nebbie for pre-reading.

Being from a completely different world means often being asked questions about that world. Rainbow asks a question she ends up slightly regretting.
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Wait, I got featured? What does that even mean?

Crime was easy before Princess Twilight and the First Five ushered in a golden age of Harmony. Back then, any idiot could plan a robbery, just like any rat could sneak through the cracks in wooden granary walls. But now that everything is cloudstone and clearsteel, with magical countermeasures over the few remaining holes, it takes a different breed of rat to survive.

"Slippery" Jimmy the Grey is one of the rare few ponies who can still slip through the cracks — even with the legendary Rainbow Corps on his tail. Now he's got a billion-bit heist planned in the gleaming skyscrapers of Cloudsdale. If only he hadn't made the mistake of stealing from a dragon …

Now with a reading by Illya Leonov and Scribbler!

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This is a crossover with Harry Harrison's Stainless Steel Rat novels, but it assumes no knowledge of the series.

Winner of February's Writeoff Association competition! * Featured by Equestria Daily! * Featured by Seattle's Angels!

REVIEWS: "Highly Recommended" by Titanium Dragon; "Recommended" by Present Perfect; rated "Why Haven't You Read This Yet?" by PaulAsaran

WORD OF MOUTH:
"The Iridescent Iron Rat was not only my favorite story from the most recent writeoff... it's my favorite story of anything I've read in months." —Sharp Spark

"What a ride it is. This story is made of awesome moments." —Casca, Seattle's Angels

"[A]stounding on so many levels. … If there’s one story from this round you have to pick, make it this one." —Corejo, Seattle's Angels

"Absolutely beautifully done. It fits the style and feel of the books to a perfect T." —Themaskedferret

Yesterday, Dinky Hooves learned a new word. Today, she's going to share that new word with her two best friends at school.

Fluttershy really should've watched her mouth a little more.

[Based on you-all-know-which scene from S6E11: "Flutter Brutter". Thanks to Tayman and themaskedferret for pre-reading.]

For thousands of years, the moon has waged endless war on innocent beaches. Every day the tides wash away countless sand castles, crushing the dreams of foals all across Equestria. Somepony needs to stop the moon's heinous crimes—and, at last, it looks like somepony will.

After her sand palace is washed away by the ocean, Dinky Hooves takes it upon herself to do something that should have been done centuries ago: destroy the moon.

Now with a reading by Teksune Studios!

Originally written for the Writeoff Association's February Contest, "Look, I Can Explain..."
Thanks to Foehn, Quill Scratch, Murmurpunk, Horizon, and Oroboro for helping out in various ways.
Dinky vector by ZuTheSkunk. Silhouetted Luna vector by NightFlyer22. Moon photo by NASA.

The plan, he thought, was perfect. Instead of returning to the mortal world as a shade of his former self, King Sombra would transmute his soul into the body of his greatest foe, using her influence and power to destroy Equestria from the inside and take vengeance on the Princesses that stole his beloved empire.

There's just one problem: after her fight with Tirek, Twilight Sparkle changed her address. This turns out to be a much bigger problem than Sombra thought. A Dinky-Doo-sized problem, to be precise.

5th-place finalist in the More Most Dangerous Game contest.

Cover art crudely Photoshopped by me from this and this. I am art and so can you.

Reading by Neighrator Pony

The release of Equestria Online and the incredible capabilities of its central Celestia AI led to ferocious debates among ethicists, computer science experts, every religious community on the globe, and more besides.

In hindsight, I probably should've been paying more attention to the news. In my defense, I was reading a lot of fan fiction at the time.

An entry in the Friendship is Optimal contest. Names have been changed to protect the variably innocent.

Cover image by Chatoyance, used with permission. Prereading provided by Speckle.

While on a trip to Canterlot to do some research, Twilight happens upon a dust-covered book titled Insane Edicts: A Legal History of Equestria. Sure, the book seem innocuous enough, but when she opens it up she discovers that Celestia is far more eccentric than she'd like to believe.

OR:

How Starlight Glimmer and Trixie Ruined Saved Hearth's Warming Eve.

After a re-gifting mixup, Twilight Sparkle's life is in Starlight & Trixie's hooves! Can the two of them save Hearth's Warming Eve? Perhaps more importantly, can they do it without anypony noticing?

Ponyville is probably doomed.

Unicorns are historically superior to other races.

Twilight finds out why.

Edited by Aragon and R5h, uniquely inspired by KitsuneRisu.