What if pony princesses were actually highly social carnivores?

What if a National Geographic team began following them around to film a documentary?

What if nopony saw anything unusual about this?

A metaphor about growing up. Or possibly a metaphor about living in a surveillance society. Or maybe just a very, very weird idea that needed to become a story.

All Applejack wanted was to complete her chores so she could help Rarity and the girls with the Ponyville Days Festival. Maybe even get a little bit of advertisement for Sweet Apple Acres. Unfortunately, anything that involves Rarity will most likely include drama. Applejack soon finds herself hiding from a stalker, traveling writer with an obsessed crush on her and a jealous friend with a stereotypical view of her country life. At the same time, she has to try and keep her relationship with a certain rainbow haired pegasus a secret.

She should have stayed in the chicken coop.

Cover art: Confrontation by RainbowDerp98

The last time the Cutie Mark Crusaders worked on the school newspaper, they used gossip, rumors and innuendo to drive circulation through the roof. Their brief rise and rapid fall taught them a valuable lesson about truth and honesty in reporting. Apologies were made, hugs were exchanged, and everypony lived happily ever after.

For about three weeks, anyway. Now the Crusaders are back in the newspaper business, and it won't be lies that set the town on fire.

A short story about the triumph of enthusiasm over ability.

Written for the December Writeoff Event, Behind Closed Doors.

Equestria stands on the brink of ruin. A necromancer has raised an army of the dead and is poised to plunge the world into darkness. Monsters and brigands roam freely across the land, preying upon the innocent.

Only one hope remains. Armed with swords, spells, snacks, and a bag of dice, five heroes band together to defeat the forces of evil… if their rolls are good enough.

Welcome to gaming night in Ponyville.

Dramatic reading by Goombasa.

Cover image by Elosande used with permission.

Golden Harvest is not jealous. Sure, her neighbor Applejack has a life of adventure and glamor, friends who are national heroes and princesses, an appallingly lucrative share in the local fruit market, and firm, toned flanks. And sure, by contrast, Golden Harvest has been stuck with her snout in the same old muddy patch of carrots pretty much every day since she earned her cutie mark, her best friend is a dentist, and her idea for a 'Carrot Juice Season' never really gained much ground for some reason. But Golden Harvest is not jealous.

Not jealous at all.

She just wishes Applejack would stop being so distracting.

*

Pre-read by Midnight Herald and Communist Bob (no link).

When Canterlot pays the price for one of Twilight Sparkle's greatest mistakes, hundreds of refugees from the ruined city are stranded in Ponyville. Can the princesses maintain order in the overcrowded town, or will the combination of clashing cultures, Discord's antics, the machinations of a criminal mastermind, and outrageously bad luck send it spiraling into chaos?

Edited by ZealousHeretic.
Cover art by IJAB.

After finding a human lost within the Everfree Forest, and unable to find his owner, Ditzy decides to bring him home as a playmate for Dinky. Shenanigans ensue when Dinky learns that her new friend, Locke, can actually talk! But why can none of the adults seem to be able to hear him? Of course, that little fact won't stop her from having fun with her new friend!

This was written partly on a whim, and partly because Chainlinc3 wanted a side story to Your Human and You. Well, here you go, Chainlinc3, here you go...

Lyra explains to her friends what those things on the end of human forelegs are.

With predictable consequences.

As the newly coronated princess of Equestria, Twilight attempts to go back to the everyday life with her friends that she had grown used to.

...but being a alicorn princess living with her newly acquired royal retainers in the small town of Ponyville can lead to some... problems.

Pinkie Pie's 'cousin Horsey' comes to visit, but Twilight Sparkle is suspicious. Sometimes we wear masks to hide our true feelings... sometimes that can be taken literally.

Written for the May write-off competition, where the theme was "beneath the mask".