Ambergris is a pony of few pleasures, and being called out for meaningless social events is not one of them. When he bows to duty and attends, however, he barely reaches the home of his host before he is faced with something worse than tedious conversation. Something far worse.

The dreaded cockatrice, a creature capable of turning others to stone with a simple glance, has just entered the home of his host. Now a mere nuisance of an evening has become a monstrous nightmare, but as Ambergris struggles to save the occupants of the house, he must also struggle against the pressures mounting in his own mind.

While hiding from her sister's latest attempt to smarten her up, Sweetie Belle joins Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo at Ponyville's local river to have fun in the cool water. Together, they come up with a silly story explaining the origin of the infamous "Beauty Curse", a blight Rarity apparently suffers from.

Two sisters were once the humblest of ponies. Both had potential for greatness. However, the youngest is the only one who ascends to the throne, and the eldest has to find her own way to follow her.

Cover Design courtesy of Novel-Idea.

Princess Celestia, forced to endure yet another tedious major event, reminisces over much better times.

When they were fillies, Applejack was a lone farmer and Pinkie Pie was a party animal, and that was the unlikely beginning of a rocky but fruitful friendship. Yet as both ponies will soon discover, there's a little play in the work and a little work in the play.

After his journey through Equestria, the one realm in the Big World where the ponies live, Seabreeze has become a figure of awe and respect among the other Breezies. Much to his annoyance: he just wants to spend some quality time with his family, and he has no desire whatsoever to get roped into so-called adventures. Or so he tells himself.

Once the next Forage begins, he naturally chooses to stay behind and so return to a normal life, free from excitement and terror and dangerous creatures. However, when an intruder rushes into the little village – and is, to everyone's surprise, successfully captured by the Breezies – poor Seabreeze is thrown into the midst of a mysterious and ancient conflict that just screams "ADVENTURE". Things only get worse from there...

Cover Design courtesy of Novel-Idea.

Written as part of National Pony Writing Month 2016.

Golden Harvest very much likes to think of herself as the sensible mare of the earth. She's certainly not one for breaking a perfectly good daily routine: give Dinky a hot meal, take care of the carrots, try to remember when she last had lunch...

Unfortunately, it's Nightmare Night coming up, and she's going through one of the least productive (and therefore least profitable) months of the year. So of course Derpy takes the chance to ask her for help with something she should've done last week. And yes, she does need it ready for tonight, and no, she has no idea how to actually go about it.

However, Derpy is a mare on a mission, a pony with a plan. And there's nothing more terrifying than that, even on Nightmare Night.

The day before Nightmare Moon's return, the Flower Trio venture into the Everfree to collect flowers...

On a day that changed everything, Star Swirl vanquished one last enemy and paid a terrible price for it. That price was his own life.

This is where the history books conclude his long and eventful story, but the truth is there was another price. One that was still being paid long after his demise, in the form of six ponies, each living one after another and each living through various times in Equestrian history.

In the grand circus of Equestria's national security, Ahuizotl is but a sideshow. He is little more than a fly buzzing around the armpit of the land, his jungle filled with dying temples and his once proud race almost completely forgotten.

However, he does have his uses.