As the centuries pass, cutie marks come and go. Some are common: the healing cross, the basic compass rose, the courier bag. Others are extinct: no more mercenary companies, no more mercenary marks. A few are incredibly scarce, coming along once a generation or less: the mark for luck falls into that category. A number only manifest when the call for them arrives: train tracks didn't appear until it was railroading time. But for the most part, ponies take their mark with its associated talent and magic as a blessing in their lives -- no matter what that mark turns out to be. And they accept it as they accept themselves.

Luna, in her first truly open palace session dealing with the public, is about to meet the exception: Joyous Release, a pony who wants nothing more than to be rid of her mark forever -- and every bit of the talent which comes with it.

But marks are permanent...

(This story takes place shortly after A Total Eclipse Of The Fun.)

Cover art by Harwick.

Part of the Triptych Continuum, which has its own TVTropes page and FIMFiction group. New members and trope edits welcome.

Now with author Patreon and Ko-Fi pages.

After finding Discord hiding out in his closet, Twilight Sparkle soon learns the most horrible of truths about herself and the world surrounding her.

And then she learns another truth.

And another. And another. And...

So it's finally happened. After being kicked in the shin by Celestia, Discord is officially dying. Now Celestia wants to know if he has any last requests before he goes.

What a silly, silly thing of her to ask.

At home, aware that her sister is out there—beyond her grasp and beyond her ability to help—Rarity waits and despairs despite the support of her friends. And then... one day... Sweetie returns home.

Note: This is a side story to The Sweetie Chronicles: Fragments. It is not intended to be read on its own. (I mean, no one will stop you, but you will be confused.)

The law exists to protect Equestrian citizens, and must be enacted in a fair and even manner. Prince Blueblood knows this; he's accepted punishment for his numerous minor disturbances of the Equestrian legal system, without ever trying to slip out of it.

Fluttershy is in violation the law. Ergo, she must be brought to justice. That's just logic.

Now if only he can get the captain of the guard and his annoyingly lackidasial aunt to cooperate...

Made for the eighth FTP competition. Cover art by hwaho.

King Sombra’s dark influence was obliterated by the Crystal Heart, and the villain is well and truly dead. But when he attempts to steal the afterlife of an innocent victim, a human spirit is left hurtling towards Equestria, where this unfortunate soul is revived into the only vessel available: the reconstituted body of King Sombra himself.

Thus, a cheerfully oblivious alien is crammed into the form of the most evil and malicious being Equestria has ever known. Not that Shining Armor and Cadence know this, of course. As far as they are concerned, the King is back and he’s lost his fricking mind.

Click here for the TV Tropes page!

Spike is going to get a kiss from Rarity this year, he just knows it – and the mistletoe he just put over the front door is going to help him do just that. But when Twilight lets Rarity into the castle in his place, Rarity believes that Twilight is trying to get a kiss from one of her friends. Too bad Twilight has no idea what Rarity is talking about.

And when Spike answers the door after Sweetie Belle shows up to join her big sister for the Hearth Warming party, he finds his trap backfiring as he gets a kiss from the wrong unicorn.

Now Rarity is pestering Twilight about her love life and Spike can’t get away from the Cutie Mark Crusaders.

Where did it all go wrong?

When the Cutie Mark Crusaders dig up an ancient magical artifact, they unleash a spell on the town that allows everypony to see a "lie meter" floating above each other's heads. While attempting to solve the mystery, Twilight Sparkle has to analyze the tenuous balance between friendship and honesty. She doesn't like what she finds.

Based on a story idea conceived by theworstwriter
Written and posted with his permission

Discord feels Fluttershy needs to be a little more assertive when it comes to expressing her own views and maintaining her beliefs against the weight of other arguments, especially when those counter-debates turn... well, personal. Fluttershy doesn't want to risk it.

So Discord mentions a simple fact: two plus two equals five.

Fluttershy naturally disagrees.

It gets worse from there.

(A stand-alone, no prior-reading-necessary part of the Triptych Continuum, which has its own TVTropes page (with new Recap section) and FIMFiction group: new members and trope edits are welcome.)

Now with author Patreon and Ko-Fi pages.

Discord's the only creature in Equestria who can recognize the human for what he is -- not the long-lost Seventh Element that never actually existed and couldn't have existed before the human arrived, but a meta-reality warper, an entity far more powerful than Discord with the power to warp the minds of all around him and the very rules of magic to make sure that he's always the Big Hero. And the role the human's assigned to Discord is the Villain to beat down or kill.

Pre-reform Discord's fine with being the villain. But on his own terms. Not dancing on some alien interloper's puppet strings.

Without friendship, or even allies, Discord's going to have to find a way to defeat a creature who can alter fate itself and who can even mind-control him. Or he may just end up worse than dead.

Art by Tenchi-Outsuno. Progress Bar at my writing journal.

Trigger warnings: Mind control (magically induced love, magically induced friendship, magically induced stupidity, Discord being Discord), noncon/dubcon (magically induced love, other forms of highly dubious consent), rape (female on male), violence/gore (mostly against Discord), literally everything in chapters 19-21, humans not being presented as unilaterally wonderful and superior to ponies and/or draconequui.