Equestria has fallen, and life for the ponies and those who they had protected becomes one of hardship as the land loses its magic.

Yet, there are rumors of a vicious pirate, the Purple Mare, and all she is doing to liberate the land. Outside the city of Port-au-Prance that mare, Twilight, waits as a familiar ship approaches...

Inspired by an image by KNA.

*Resubmitted following revisions.*

After a strange set of circumstances involving baby beavers, a field trip from Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns, and an "epic rain cloud" leave Sweet Apple Acres adrift Applejack writes to Mayor Mare asking for some understanding, some sympathy...and a bailout.

As things go from bad to worse around the farm a young republic is tested and Caramel finds himself in an usual position...all while Applejack informs the mayor of her attempts to save the farm.

Pony Joe awakens before the dawn each morning, readies himself for his day, and then walks through Canterlot's cold and silent streets to his doughnut shop.

Life has become pretty mundane for Joe, but as he serves his customers and chats with his regulars he realizes that he has come to rely on that repetition...he relies on it to keep from remembering.

As a casual utterance by a new customer sends Joe into a spiral of haunting memories we learn about his life...and what he must give up if he wishes to move beyond his past.

After his defeat at the hooves of the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony the stony figure of Discord was dragged far, far, far out of Ponyville where the good ponies could eventually forget the name of their tormentor...

...again.

But, it seems, as the months have passed some creature in Ponyville has not been able to put aside what had happened. Now, that creature approaches, and it seems as though he'd like a word with the immortal spirit of chaos...

During a day at the fair Spike wins a prize at a carnival game! As he enjoys all that the fair offers his mind continues to return to the token...and what a fair marking the turning point between summer and autumn means for him and the ponies he loves.

As she prepares to lift the sun to its apex, to usher in the solstice and bring the Summer Sun Celebration to its climax once more, Princess Celestia embraces the vision of the Equestrian summer that it places before her.

In the vision the summer she is birthing plays out around her, and as a happy phantom she walks through the summer stories of the lives of Twilight, Spike, the other bearers of the Elements of Harmony, their families and loved ones, and even her own sister, Luna. As she does so, she thinks on this world, her role in it...and the gift she's given it.

"Oh," sings Pinkie Pie, "Today's a day of laughs, a day of jokes...a day for pranking lots of folks!"

Yet an plea from Applejack keeps Pinkie from helping Rainbow Dash with their planned prank. As a conspiracy is revealed Pinkie Pie's friends try their best to put one over on the greatest prankster in Equestria...but will Dash spoil it?

Whilst enjoying the company of Twilight Sparkle and her friends in the doughnut shop immediately following the events of The Best Night Ever a disappointed Princess Celestia send a letter off to Prince Blueblood explaining the implications of his failure of the "Rarity Test", among other things...

"They take da' pain out, make it somethin' good, somethin' good. Wear yer' blues well, colt, you gonna earn every drop of em'. Yer' gonna be tangled up in blues," the old stallion told Blues, presenting him with the saxophone.

Blues himself tells us of his life after that day and as he explores what it means to be "painted blue"; to hope, to fear, to love, to lose. He tells us as he learns what really makes a stallion a stallion, what it's like to leave something you love behind, and what risks one must face in life or risk becoming nothing at all.

All of this, Blues tells us, takes place against the background of critical moments in his life and as he travels the scope of Equestria from Manehattan to Ponyville and Appleoosa. All the while the songs he learns from his pain mingle with the one his mentor, Moody Blues, revealed within him...something unbelievable the old pony did to bring it forth.

How did Fluttershy acquire her "Freaky knowledge ah' sewin'!" as Applejack called it? The answer is simple, Rarity taught her! Yet a winter full of struggle takes its toll on the two and brings their friendship to the breaking point.