Ad Astra Per Aspera: To the stars with difficulties.
Ad Astra Per Derpy Aspera: To the stars with Derpy difficulties.

Lightning Dust strands herself on her way to the red planet. With no way to move her rocket, she'll die unless Equestria's Best and Brightest find a way to bring her home despite cloak-and-dagger sabotage, snobbery, limited resources, and bureaucratic incompetence.

Content Note:
Death - Mentioned in the Prologue and Chapter 5. Chapters 7, 9, 10 (spoiler): Touched on: miscarriage.
Narcotics - Chapter 14 - Performance enhancers and blood doping discussed.
Sex - Inappropriate government-required questions in Dossier chapters; Ch. 11- a slightly saucy section.

Show Era: After Season 9.
Cover Art: The background Mars is by Kevin Gill with license to only the background Mars cover art at this link. The pony interposed on Mars is by owlicious, who also combined the two images.
Special Thanks: to owlicious for edits from the start through the end.

After being kicked out of the Wonderbolts for her destructive decisions, Lightning Dust enjoys her life as a stunt pony. Founding the Washouts a few years later, she continues to live out her flying dreams.

However, she is soon issued a warrant by the Wonderbolts for failing to show up for questioning regarding the activities of her stunt group. At any time, she can be found, arrested, and taken to the Wonderbolts headquarters where she will be questioned.

Needless to say, she is not about to willingly expose her plans and dreams to anyone, especially to those who took them away from her in the first place. She tries to escape her dire situation by laying low and hopefully being forgotten about; however, multiple run-ins with the Wonderbolts stunt her chances at eluding them.

This story is a sequel to You Think I Could Make It?

Months after her sudden encounter with Anon in the bar, Lightning Dust meets with him to ask him for his help. Anon provides all the help that he can, but he's unsure if he can really be of use. However, he does have a plan, one that Lightning Dust is dead set on setting in motion.

She just hopes that his plan will work. She’s got nothing left to lose but herself.

Inspired by Thrown's Guilt and Kardashev's Beyond Sun and Moon/Torchpassing.

Art by DragonAtaxia.

This story is a sequel to Salmon Run

When the sky turns from clear to ash

And the sun fades to a distant memory

Will the birds appear in the morning?

A sequel to the story Salmon Run by my outstanding friend Mushroom. It is advised to read that story before this one, although they can realistically be read in any order. But you should still read it (it's very good).

Written in about an hour with permission from the original author as part of the Quills and Sofas Nostalgia Contest speedwrite.

This story is a sequel to Scattered Pages - Fire and Lightning

After the events of her own Scattered Pages adventure, Lightning Dust is left in Pinegrove with a lot on her mind, and without the release of flight to distract her from all her thoughts. Stuck in town with nothing to occupy her, and a long road to physical and mental recovery ahead, Lightning finds herself at a loss for what to do next. At the encouragement of her grandmother, and remembering Spitfire's request before she flew off, Dust decides to try and write the Captain a letter.

To her surprise, Spitfire writes her back. The two begin to kindle a friendship that will change both their personal lives for the better.

Friendship, and maybe eventually a little something more.

This story is a follow up to my Ciderfest story, 'Fire and Lightning'! It won't be 100% necessary to read to understand the story, but it will help provide a little context to everything.

Featured 01/28! Thank you all so so much <3

Captain Anonymous has witnessed the beginning of the end. With the destruction of the second Death Star and Death Squadron, Anonymous was left with an ultimatum and made the decision that would forever change him: Retreat.

Saving what he can, he plans to secure a seat of power in the changing galaxy and restore what has been lost. As Anonymous builds alliances and fights to ensure his goal is achieved, he will fend off the New Republic, opportunistic Imperials, and his past. 

This story is from my days on the Star Wars generals threads on the /mlp/ board and I was nostalgic enough to take a crack at it again with an overhaul. Largely inspired by the old stories from Star Wars Legends, but I do have a healthy mix of the current canon.

Wind Rider helps Lightning Dust reform the Washouts under a new name.

This choose-your-own-adventure was written as part of Ponyville CiderFest's Interactive Storytelling Experience. Please note that the hero ending is all new exclusive content and wasn't part of the original app (nor is it in my compilation).

More stories from PVCF's 2023 Interactive Storytelling Experience can be found here.

Thank you to the entire Ponyville CiderFest Interactive Storytelling team (Vivid Syntax, Nyronus, Sonicsuns, Note Worthy, SteelTheWarrior, Snowday, Aria E. Diamond, SoloBrony, Skywriter, Ellwyn, Ghost Note, Overlord Pony, RQK, Shade Hunter, Shottsy, Celestilune).

Special thanks to Admiral Biscuit for pre-reading and for being the liaison on this with the PVCF staff.

Lightning Dust is upset that she didn't make the Wonderbolts. Anon is upset he is unable to get back home.

The two unexpectedly meet in Cloudsdale in the middle of the night. This is their story.

Inspired by Amenra's A Solitary Reign, particularly the closing three minutes.

Art by rrd-artist.

Pre-read by Rikkity (again).

Ever since the Book of All Stories was revealed, countless groups have raced to obtain the mythical magic of the pages. Spitfire, on orders from Princess Celestia and a tip from Discord, heads off into the White Tail Woods in search of one such page. After stopping at the village of Pinegrove along the woods' border, she's surprised to cross paths with none other than Lightning Dust. The two realize they are searching after the same prize, and a race to the finish ensues: one under orders to return the page, the other desperate to change her past.

My contribution to the Ponyville Ciderfest "Scattered Pages" book! For those who were unable to get the physical copy, we wanted to make sure we could share our love and passion with everyone. Everything we did is for the community, because of the community, and we hope you enjoy <3

Art: @IRUSU_kun

Fiddlesticks watched the two ponies in the gif embrace over and over again, and wondered how that would feel. How anything that Twilight Sparkle experienced would feel.

The story of a smart house and the digital souls within it.