Two passengers on a train ride toward an uncertain future. One is a pony. The other only pretends to be.

Sex is tame and non-explicit. Don't be afraid to read.

Written expressly for Equestria Daily's Outside Insight Summer Fanfiction Contest.

Now with a dramatic reading by Illya Leonov!

Russian translation courtesy of Arsus.
Chinese translation courtesy of viczhn.
French translation courtesy of BroNie.

Inspired by the artwork of RubleGun and Raddjuret. Musical accompaniment by Patrick Poe.

Featured at Equestria Daily and the Royal Canterlot Library.

Reader Testimonials

"Vinyl + Octavia is one of the fandom's most cliché and mismatched pairs, and yet this is a real romance with genuine depth and emotion." - horizon
"Holy shit this is impressive. Like... Holy shit, man." - Skeeter The Lurker
"You have crafted something wonderful here, a true gem. You should be proud." - Illya Leonov
"Note that I hate this ship when I say this is far and away the best ScratchTavia I've ever read." - PresentPerfect
"Fuuuuck it's so good!" - Luminary

This story is a sequel to The Open Road

Morning Glisten isn't really a good filly. She fights with other foals, and she doesn't really trust adults. Nopony would want to adopt somepony like her. So when Princesses Sunset, Fluttershy, and Twilight take an interest in her, she'll need to become someone else to win their love.

A story set in the Who We Become series.

Want to read this story but don't know everything that happened before it? You can brush up with a summary here!

This story wouldn’t be what it is without workshopping help from Wendy Gowak and Sapphire.
Proofread by Gowak, Sapphire, Moonlight, Krixwell, Eddie Grammar, Mind Jack, and w_brown7.
Cover art by Pasu-Chan.

There once was a story about the beautiful dark alicorn who moved the moon. In the tranquil countryside, a young boy listened to the story, looked at the stars, and imagined. He grew up and fell in love with the ruler of the night … and she loved him, too.

It was perfect, except for one nagging doubt in the back of the quiet boy's head: she was a character from a children's story.

Winner of the Writeoff Association's "Written In The Stars" competition! ** Featured on Equestria Daily ** Featured by The Royal Guard (twice! )

Rated ★★★★★ by Louder Yay! "This is, perhaps, a Lucky Dreams story for grown-ups. ... Plenty of magic and friendship here, but also sadness and loss ... a clear classic."

Highly Recommended by Present Perfect! "An excellently written story about an emotional encounter between the titular characters … yet a good bit more than that. If you like reading, you will like reading this."

Recommended by Titanium Dragon! "This story had an excellent style to it, a sort of fairy-tale-like quality … really, this is a work of original fiction which pokes at MLP in only the barest of ways. But that doesn't mean it isn't relevant to your interests."

Art: Assembled by me. Luna vector by azur-wing.

Worthless, weak, ugly—as far as Twilight is concerned, that's all she'll ever be. Even three months into their relationship, Twilight still refuses to believe that an absolute goddess like Sunset could ever love a loser like her. And it doesn't help that Twilight spends every night being tormented by nightmares of Midnight Sparkle, the one being who hates Twilight more than she hates herself.

Twilight can only remember a single moment in her life when she felt strong: the five minutes that she spent as Midnight Sparkle. The five minutes she spent with magic.

Now, tortured by fear, anxiety, and never-ending nightmares, Twilight knows the only way to win Sunset's love is to make herself stronger—even if that means resurrecting the demon inside of her.

Originally written for the January 2016 Writeoff, "Look, I Can Explain...", where it made finals.

Thanks to Horizon, Bookplayer, and FanOfMostEverything for offering advice on the original. Thanks to Quill Scratch, Oroboro, Monokeras, Lise Eclaire, Monarch Dodora, Majin Syeekoh, PegasusMesa, Reneigh Haycart, and Hazeyhooves for helping me brainstorm certain parts. Preread by Pascoite.

Art by Ta-Na!

Twilight Sparkle is not a risk-taker. She prefers the same old books in the same old library drinking the same old tea with the same old ponies. And that's okay!
On one fateful night, however, Rainbow Dash drags Twilight out on an adventure! Her very first rave.
It turns out Twilight isn't the only one hiding in a corner at these things.

This fiction was written as part of a challenge to write a fic in 30 days: one chapter per day, 2k words per chapter (you can learn more about it here!). However, this fiction will still be undergoing edits now that the challenge has ended. It currently has many many typos and errors, as it is literally unedited and was largely typed on a cell phone with gratuitous autocorrect--no need to point this out to me, I am very aware!

The original version is being preserved in Google Docs. I'll likely be posting the links to the original docs in a blog post sometime soon!

This story is a sequel to Playing House

Life for a band on tour always brings fresh challenges. Fluttershy is ready to meet them, having grown confident as a band manager in the past two years. It’s just about the only thing she’s good at, after all.

If you want to read this story but you haven’t read any of the stories leading up to it, I wrote a summary of the events important to this story in the comments here.

A story set in the Who We Become series.

Content warning: The narcotics tag is included for heavy alcohol use, not hard drugs.
This story wouldn’t be what it is without Wendy Gowak, who workshopped the chapter by chapter outline with me.
Thanks go out to Gowak, Moonlight, TeamSpen210, Krixwell, and Sapphire for proofreading.
Cover art by Pasu-Chan and Adgerelli.

It's been three weeks since Octavia's smash hit, I am Octavia, and while the cellist's career is on a high note, that's about the only thing that is. Vinyl and Octavia are a complete wreck without each other, but repairing such damage to a relationship isn't easy, nor is it always possible. This is my answer (even though I know it's already been done here) to the question on everypony's mind:

Will Vinyl and Octavia be friends again?

NOTE: If you haven't listened to EileMonty's amazing song, do so before reading this.

It's just another normal week of Vinyl Scratch attending school with the most beautiful creature on the the face of the earth.

Newly-together couple Vinyl Scratch and Octavia have just spent the night out on the town. Vinyl blasted their favourite nightclub with major wubbage while Octavia discovered a new drink at the bar. Now Vinyl has to escort home a marefriend more drunk than she's ever been, and in her intoxicated state, Octavia says just a little bit too much.

Cover art courtesy of KristySK on DeviantArt.

Reading by ObabScribbler and TheLostNarrator
Reading by Astro Brony

UPDATE 09/09/2023: Edited story to fit better with my current writing standard. Original unedited story here!

This story is a sequel to Scotchtavia

After a heavy night of drinking, most of which she can’t remember, Octavia awakens to a monstrous hangover. But even this isn’t enough to distract her from the obvious fact that Vinyl is acting… different. Kinder, sweeter, and much more considerate. Something happened last night, something that has clearly had a huge effect on Vinyl. But what could it possibly be?

Cover art courtesy of iJab on DeviantArt.

Reading by Astro Brony

UPDATE 09/09/2023: Edited story to fit better with my current writing standard. Original unedited story here!