A nurse has seen it all. A combat medic has seen even more.

Princess Celestia sends her elite Household Battalion—"Celestia's Own"—south, far beyond the borders of Equestria, to break the slave trade and to free the oppressed. Medic Redheart, a young rookie among the Guard's hardened veterans, is with her Battalion every step of the way.

She's never told anypony her story. Until now.

A side story/prequel to my The Ponies in the Caves and A Story to Relate To, but reads independently.

This story is fantastic. There wasn't a single chapter that didn't give me chills or bring a tear to my eye. The way you describe the selflessness of the soldiers, and Redheart's unrelenting drive to save them, no matter the personal cost, was exemplary. I look forward to more of your work.

-SGTBRONY

Has a Black Company feel to it with the medic POV. Great story so far!

-Lerris

Cover art by Pabbles, by commission. Thanks!

With massive thanks to the folks in the Discord for comments and advice, and Totallynotabrony, Raleigh, Sledge115, and ChudoJogurt for detailed pre-reading, in whole or in part. Any remaining errors are fully my own.

Author's notes and commentary blog, with big spoilers.

When it comes to jobs, not everything lasts forever. Many positions that you find nowadays if you want to work at a government position are temporary. You would be lucky if your contract is extended or if you are brought on as a permanent employee.

Yet, not everyone is kept on and most of the time, employees are either transferred to another department or their contract isn't renewed. As they leave, they try to move on with their lives and try to find work elsewhere.

However, for one employee, moving on and saying goodbye to those he considers his friends is not that simple of a thing to do. Yet, his 'friends' show him that he doesn't have to be that way.

This... was an idea that had been spinning around in my head for sometime that I was unsure whether or not I should write, but finally decided to actually go through with it recently.

I wrote this as a way to test myself in other types of stories as well as an entry in Admiral Biscuit's Not-A-Contest. Yet, it's a bit of a different take on it.

Based on some... unfortunate circumstances that happened to me recently and I thought the best way to overcome what I have been dealing with is writing this. Apologies if it's... not up to my usual standard of quality

Hit Popular Stories List on 01/23/2020.
Thank you guys so much. This means a lot to me.

Sky Beak and Ocean Flow relax by the beach and engage in a conversation they've had many times before.

Gallus doesn't want to go home for summer. With a little gentle persuasion, he gets his friends on board to keep him out of Griffonstone, though none of them are quite sure how to do it; that is, until Silverstream hatches a scheme.

All he has to do is join the Hippogriff Navy. It's not the relaxing summer away from school that he hoped for, but hey, it promises to be interesting! Who knows what three months as a sailor could bring?

Adventure? Certainly.

Self-discovery? For sure.

A sea battle with a band of renegade pirates? Anything's possible.

Romance?

Pssh. Yeah, right.

Edited by a crew of scallywags who mean the world to me. In no particular order: MissyTheAngle, Freglz, Muggonny, Semillon, FamousLastWords

Special thanks to Pascoite for his assistance.

Cover art commissioned from the incomparable Marenlicious!

Curious about how the next chapter is coming along? Check my user page for regularly updated progress reports!

Following the banishment of Nightmare Moon, Equestria as a nation was thrown into turmoil, never to recover.

It collapsed completely not long thereafter.

Now, a thousand years later, it'll be up to the inhabitants that have taken its place to finish what it could not.

Honorable mention in the Choices: A Species Change Contest.

Featured 11/27/2022

On the morning of an important day, a father rises early to prepare breakfast for his family. His son joins him and asks a question he isn't prepared to answer.

Special thanks to Bean's Writing Group for the feedback and support!

ON A BLUSTERY WINTER'S NIGHT in the ancient Unicorn Kingdom, a storyteller tries to touch the heart of his inebriated queen and her court with a tale of love and loss that he himself believes is myth: The Tale of the Hippogriff.

OleGrayMane crams in more depth than most authors can in four times that length, creating a mythical story of manageable proportions—Thought Prism

It's a top notch adventure wrapped in a world building skin—TCC56

Proof/Pre-readers: BlueBook and Tigerose

Featured in 43 of the Best Griffon and Hippogriff Stories to Read! 14^th Aug 2020

Special thanks to my long time FIMFiction friends Burraku_Pansa and Cerulean Voice for their patience and kindness in all matters. I am forever in your debt.

Silverstream sorts through old pictures of herself. Gallus proceeds to be cute.

Winner of the 2023 Quills and Sofas Trans Speedwriting Contest.

In a world constantly embroiled by strife and violence, there is always some profit to be made on the side.

As an insurance investigator for defense company Crystalstar in Hippogriffia, Azerda Zamarata is responsible for investigating overseas cases for military assets, with some…corporate legal liberties. Seeing her home lost twice in one lifetime, the zebra only has her eyes for monetary gain – but with each case, she can only hope to make something of herself in a rapidly changing world.

Note: This story takes place in the Equestria at War universe, a mod for grand strategy war game Hearts of Iron 4. While the universe's lore helps supplement the story, you don't need to fully understand it for this fic. Feel free to check out the mod!

Seafoam Green is an artist, well-respected in the community and held in high regard among his peers. Unfortunately for the hippogriff, his talent catches the eye of Queen Calyso, who decides that he will create her official portrait. Little does he know that this is the beginning of a path which will change the course of fate on Mount Aris.

Written for the Ponyfest 2020 Iron Author competition with a time limit of two hours and three mystery prompts to work with. Their ranking system was a bit... convoluted, but it arguably took seventh place. The story has been slightly expanded and cleaned up for posting.