After eighty years Pathfinder has seen it all, and tried to drink most of it away. When an eager young guard comes with questions for him, he is forced to relive some of his hardest memories. Memories of Home. Memories of Loss. Memories of wind and stone.

Note: 2/10/2020: Updates every Monday.

Part of the Price of Loyalty Universe.

Pre-reading and Editing: LoyalLiar, The24thPegasus, and SolidFire.
Cover art by me.

This story is a sequel to Before the Storm: The Rise of Firefly

Three hundred years after Luna's banishment, an uneasy peace has collapsed and war erupts between the United Tribes of Equestria and the growing Gryphon Empire, who seek to supplant Princess Celestia as ruler of the heavens and claim the rich lands of the pony nation for their own. With the border defenses shattered, Canterlot endangered and the armed forces unable to stem the onslaught, who can stop the relentless Gryphon war machine as it overruns province after province, scoring victory after victory as it closes in on the Equestrian capital city?

In this time of peril, when the entire pony nation teeters on the brink of defeat, a champion will rise to lead the resistance to the gryphon invasion, becoming not just the commander of an elite force, but a symbol of Equestrian valor and fighting spirit. A born warrior and leader, the name of Firefly will be one day revered as not just the founder of the Wonderbolts, but as Equestria's greatest hero...

Taking place seven hundred years before present and canon to both the Gentlemanverse and Turnabout Storm novelization, this is the story of Rainbow Dash's ancestor, the founding of the Wonderbolts, and their role in the bloodiest conflict of Equestrian history. It is a multistory Magnum Opus consisting of several discrete stories, as described below:

Book 1: The War Begins

The Gryphon Empire invasion of Equestria launches at dawn with an all-out assault on the Equestrian Army and Aerial Corps border bases, accompanied by deep-strike raids against Cloudsdale and the Royal Guard training base of Fort Spur.

Will Princess Celestia unleash her enormous power to end the war quickly? Can Outpost Epsilon withstand the onslaught long enough for the much-maligned Royal Navy to reach them? And can the civilian populace of Cloudsdale resist a massive and determined air attack by the Imperial elite against its all-important weather factories and storm cloud production facilities?

Book 2: Rally and Recover

With the border defenses crushed and the remains of Outpost Epsilon evacuated, both sides lick their wounds, hastily reorganizing and preparing for the next Imperial offensive aimed deeper into Equestria.

Can missing Cloudsdale be located near the borders of Thestralslovakia? Will the once-disloyal and still-distrusted bat-ponies that live there side with Equestria or the Empire? What is the Imperial invasion plan? What role will the Changelings play in the conflict? And what will happen when a sixteen-year old gryphon cub faces off with the gryphon-hating pony named Thunderbolt; one of the most lethal and bloodthirsty beings to ever live...?

Book 3: Second Offensive

While the fate of Cloudsdale is negotiated and Firefly's forces prepare for additional action, the second Imperial offensive begins with an assault against the badly outnumbered Equestrian Army at Maresk two hundred miles inside Equestria, attempting to pocket and destroy the thousands of sorely-needed soldiers based there.

Can an out-of-favor earth pony Colonel rally his regiment to save the city and an entire Army Corps? Or will the city's soldiers and civilians alike face the fate of the border bases, becoming yet another crushing defeat in the Imperial drive on Canterlot?

• Writers: Denim_Blue and Firesight with occassional writing assists from Leo Archon and AJ_Aficionado
• Prereaders: AJ_Aficionado, SilentWoodFire, TheGoldCrow, Denim_Blue
• Guest Writers: AJ_Aficionado, Denim_Blue

Maps of Equestria and Equis: https://www.fimfiction.net/chapter/1105220

This story is a sequel to Good Trooper Gilda

Gilda has been a fugitive, a refugee, a prisoner of war, and a bat-hen to Equestria's fussiest unicorn. But it wasn't until she took 'the Princess's bit', that she began to know something about what it meant to be responsible for the welfare of others, even if the others in question happened to be the pack of imbeciles, blackguards, con-ponies, and bat-ponies who had been fool enough to answer her captain's call to the standard.

A crystalline standard which had not been seen in the living world for over a thousand years.

And although Captain Gleaming Shield and her motley band of raw recruits and shifty bat-ponies aimed to do nothing more exotic and dangerous than put a foreign princess on her proper throne, there are other things stirring in the shadows.

Like calls to like, and the revival of ancient battle-colors may lead to the revival of other, darker memories upon which the rays of Celestia's sun lay lightly and infrequently.

This story is a sequel to Fire & Rain

To say that the Wonderbolt's last trip to Manehatten was eventful would be an understatement. Spitfire broke her wing, met Rainbow Dash, dated Rainbow Dash, and a planned thunderstorm went out of control landing many ponies in the hospital. Now with Spitfire getting "promoted" to command of the Wonderbolt's Academy and Rainbow Dash on the mend from her own injuries, the two will learn just how much life can still throw at them.

Meanwhile, Soarin and Rapidfire must come to grips with their new roles as leaders of the Wonderbolts. Soarin doesn't know if he's up to the task, and Rapidfire doesn't know if he even wants to stay. All these trials and more await them further on up the road...

Pre-reading and Editing: LoyalLiar, The24thPegasus, SolidFire, Sorren, and Skeeter The Lurker.
I do my own cover art.

Captain Iron 'Riot' Venture; Soldier, Storm Trooper, Murderer, Father. After the bloody conclusion to the War for Hoofington, Riot finds himself discharged and hurled back to civilian life. Except, this time, he can't go back to the military. He can't bide his time until he's back in the field. He has to live, breath, and suffer like everypony else.

To top all that, Ponyville is about as far from war as one could get, to the point where the staples of war; things like firearms, artillery fire, brutal murder, and mass graves simply don't exist. Somepony from that world of constant fear of death and mortal anguish would be considered 'dangerous' to the general populace. Somepony could cause some serious damage if they were to snap. Somepony like Captain Iron 'Riot' Venture, Retired.

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Props to Drunkenfist and Saivost Rast for their awesome work and support! Image deds go to http://gordonfreeguy.deviantart.com/
Go give him likes! DO IT! DO IT NOW!

Disclaimer: I, in no way, take any credit for this story. This is an approved repost of a user who wishes to remain anonymous. Those who know this story will know the user.

Spitfire and Rainbow Dash, an example of young love at its finest, are thrust rather abruptly into the middle of a different family's problems. How will they make it through? Only time will tell this family of mares.

This story is a sequel to Good Trooper Gilda

Commodore Grosvenor and his crew of gryphons and ponies prepare to launch a surprise night-time attack on Mount Aris.

A standalone story, inspired by Good Trooper Gilda and The Princess's Bit and set somewhere in that story's history. Many thanks to MitchH and Oliver for editing.

Magnificent action vignette, conveying the chaos of the battlefield while still being an engaging read.

— FanOfMostEverything

The Crusaders sometimes form conclusions and make decisions based on impulsivity and gut feelings rather than rational thought. So, when they meet Ponyville’s newest, specialty flower vendor—a young, quiet mare from Alemaneia named Schneeblume—Scootaloo immediately begins to suspect something… that behind her quiet exterior, that bright smile, and those kind eyes, she's hiding something sinister.

Well, technically, she is... but perhaps not in the manner they expected.

In the end, the three quickly-growing fillies may find that their cutie marks and their penchant for helping ponies may come in a different fashion than they're used to.

Cover art done by the incredibly talented G_Hyze. This is the crop of a full picture I commissioned; said picture is presented in the story and sourced to his DeviantArt.

Captain Galen and his for-hire crew were well known for taking odd and dangerous jobs. Be it mapping dangerous areas to taking emergency distress calls, the crew had seen it all. After a solid two weeks of back to back work, the crew looked forward to dropping off a captured criminal and getting some rest. An urgent request interrupts their plans however, and they are tasked with kidnapping a Princess to keep her out of murderous claws.

But all is not what it seems, and before the dust settles relationships will be forged and tested as the foundations of kingdoms are shaken to their roots. What started as a odd yet straightforward two-week job now has no end in sight, and there are no safe harbors from the storms of war that loom on the horizon.

Highly recommended reading for continuity hints and therefore spoilers for (Gallus and Silverstream Adventure): Stream of Silver, Heart of Gold & Prison of Ice with Silver Keys
(In the description of the first chapter, the key points will be summarized for those who don't wish to read the other stories)

Other Spoilers: Seasons 1-8, MLP Movie, the comic 'The Stormy Road To Canterlot' (And others), and chapter book 'Beyond Equestria: Fluttershy Balances the Scales
Tag Info: Violence/Death/Gore tags for plenty of fight scenes both large and small.

Gilda only wanted the humble things in life. Cheap rent, copious bits, the respect of her peers, the occasional juicy field-mouse.

Being captured by the Equestrians and dragooned into the Territorials wasn't quite what she'd dreamed of, but at least the rent was free.

And the rats were nice and plump.