This story is a sequel to Days of Wasp and Spider

Believed dead by their creators, the ponies that will become Celestia and Luna have broken their mental conditioning and escaped into the wilderness. Here they plan the revolution that will free all ponykind, knowing that it is only a matter of time before their ruse is discovered.

Back in their underground arcologies, the ponies' erstwhile masters deal with the consequences of the escape, all the while unaware that something lurking at the bottom of space-time wants them all dead.

A Soot-Covered World, book 2.
Canon species only/no humans.
This story has nothing to do with the Holocaust.
Art by InLucidReverie, used with permission.

Most pirates that stalk the Seven Streams prefer to live only in the shadows, skulking through the skies as daylight dies and striking with brutal efficiency at any helpless merchant vessel in range.

Most pirates that the Royal Equestrian Aeronautical Navy hounds after are ragged, ruthless cutthroats who'd just as soon sell their grandmothers for a chestful of bits and a bottle of rum.

Most pirates that you hear about in stories would flee in terror at the sight of the RES Corona, the -world-famous warship helmed by the most dangerous and determined sky captain ever to fly under the Equestrian flag.

This story is not about most pirates.

P.S. Big ups to Chromosome and CouchCrusader for the editing help. Appreciate it as always, gents.
P.P.S. nitstits, go home.

Twilight has always been the best there is at magic. She's won dozens of scholarly competitions and tests of skill in Canterlot. But when it comes to the more violent uses for magic, she is essentially clueless.

When she meets a strange unicorn in a seedy bar, he introduces her to a little known sport that will test her knowledge of magic in different ways. That is, of course, if Twilight can't resist its primal lure.

Have you ever felt like the Universe was out to get you? Well, pat yourself on the back, because you're absolutely right. The Universe is a huge jerk, and its favorite pastime is frying planets with supernovas the moment so much as an amoeba crawls out of the primordial soup.

Given its track record, what will happen when the Universe stumbles across a certain planet inhabited by magical technicolor ponies? The biggest party ever, if Pinkie Pie has anything to say about it!

(Featured on Equestria Daily)

Once upon a time, in the magical land of Equestria...

One week ago, Twilight Sparkle was crowned the fourth Princess of Equestria. Tonight, Ponyville hosts the 1003rd Summer Sun Celebration, and Princess Celestia and Princess Luna want a vacation. With two fine young princesses like Cadance and Twilight to take over for them, nothing could possibly go wrong.

(Title image hacked together from vectors by sakatagintoki117 and Chrome-MMVII.)

Princess Celestia, tired of the constant pressure that ruling a nation puts on her, decides to take a day off and let Luna take her responsibilities for a day, something the younger alicorn is more than happy to do. She disguises herself as a pink maned pegasus pony named Sunny Skies and decides to go walking around Canterlot without any supervision. Unfortunately for her, not all parts of Canterlot are as safe as the palace, and she finds herself at the wrong end of a gang of muggers, who decide to kidnap her for a ransom when they see how much money she has on her.

Luna freaks out.

Celestia thinks it's hilarious.

Find this story and more in a print copy! Just click these words here!

Featured on Equestria Daily 8/15/13

Go here for the French translation!

[img]http://i.imgur.com/CUBPvKI.png[/img]

Edited wonderfully by sqarishoctagon and Cloud Hop

Updated cover art by Dominatore

Ponies these days are nuzzling younger than ever. Talk to your foals about the dangers of unprotected tummy rubs.

A Los Pegasus charity commission for Pav Feira. He... he gave me the prompt. I had no choice. Forgive me.

[Complete] Celestia awakens to see an empty world, white sandstone stretching the horizon. She wanders the world as she builds it from her imagination, filling it with life, but as time passes, the world that she created begins to seem like little more than a lucid dream, conjured from the dust.

NEW PRINCESS ATTACKS GRIFFONSTAN IMPORTS

The Equestria Daily can exclusively report that newly crowned Princess Twilight Sparkle became embroiled in an argument with the Griffonstani trade minister about the inferior quality of griffon quills, alleging that "they just don't hold ink as well as pegasus quills". Import markets tumbled overnight, threatening the solvency of numerous Equestrian quill merchants. Princess Sparkle could not be reached for comment.

(When you're done, bookplayer has a fun "Let's Read" commentary version!)
(Also, GhostOfHeraclitus wrote a prequel from the perspective of Dr. Spinning Top!)
(Also also, now available in Spanish thanks to Spaniard-Kiwi!)

Princess Celestia always knew that Twilight Sparkle was destined for great things, but she never revealed the source of that knowledge, not even to those closest to her. When the day of Twilight's true destiny finally arrives, can Celestia fulfill an ancient promise to save Equestia's past, present, and future, even it means saying goodbye to Twilight forever? How can Celestia refuse her mother's last wish?

Art by the inimitable Harwick