Some days, it feels like the sky itself is falling.
After the destruction of Applejack's prized tree Bloomberg, Braeburn find himself caught between allegiances to his friends, and to a helpless pony who appeared as if from nowhere. Not to mention the suspicious actions of the buffalo, and the recent string of earthquakes rocking the desert. Mixing classic wild western adventures with magic and fantasy, The Outlaw, The Star, and the Big, Big Sky tells a story of revenge, redemption, and how the best of intentions can lead to the destruction of the very ground upon which we all stand.

This story was originally started in 2011, shortly after finishing my first story, Macintosh. While Macintosh was a slower paced character study of the Big Mac himself, The Outlaw, The Star, and the Big, Big Sky aims to tell a story full of fairy tale adventure and deadly desperados. 6 Chapters were written, with an extra unfinished chapter recently uploaded, containing a flashback to Braeburn's childhood showing just how dangerous and bloody the untamed deserts can be.

12 years on, I'm hoping for any and all thoughts and feedback on this story. I would love to continue writing from where it was left off, but life is busy and I may not have the time. But if the interest is there, I would at least love to engage and discuss what could have been, and maybe make the time to finish it.
Thank you kindly, and watch out for shooting stars.

For now, this could be considered an alternate universe fic, though until it's finished it's hard to say how well it would fit in with established canon.

Cover art elements made with AI (Bing Copilot) then tweaked and photoshopped together by me.

This story is a sequel to What I Am

Much has changed since that fateful day when the remnants of the old Krin Empire attacked our two worlds.
They crashed so many ships onto Earth, destroyed our cities, killed millions, and collapsed several governments in an instant, all as a diversion from their true objective, which was the blatant mass abduction of the citizens of Equis. Lives lost, families broken, and cities burnt to the ground, all to fuel the Krin war machine and their mad quest for power and vengeance against the snakes that had wronged them.

However, that's not the end of the story, or our involvement in its unfolding. A darkness is growing in the depths of space, and even though the snakes have done their best to assure us that they will take care of it, there are so, so many on both of our planets that choose not to listen to them.

And how could I blame them? After all, every time I look in the mirror, I'm reminded of the horrors of the Krin Empire, and more importantly, the promise I made in that accursed tank that remains unfulfilled. They came for us, they struck first, and I'm not about to let that go unpunished.

Yeah, sure, it's hard for me to do it right now, since I'm just a diplomat to the people of Equis, and we don't exactly have a fleet outside of the few ships we commandeered from the krin, but trust me when I say that both of those are just temporary inconveniences.

After all, it's rather difficult to keep a monster like me behind a desk, especially not when there's a perfectly good war brewing throughout the galaxy, and that's not even counting the other humans and ponies that are all chomping at the bit, ready for some good, old-fashioned payback.

The only problem with that, though, is that, somehow, deep down, I feel like we've already lost. Call it a hunch, or a premonition, but something deep inside is telling me that we messed up when we let the general's ship get away. Maybe I'm just being paranoid, but somehow, I don't think so.

After all, I know better than anyone what the krin are capable of. We might be coming for them, but that doesn't mean the reverse isn't also true. They're coming for us, too.

The only question is: Who's going to be ready first?

Given that we've only just obtained (stolen) ships capable of spaceflight, I don't think it's going to be us...

This is the beginning of the next set of books in this series that I'm tentatively calling the Soul of the Milky Way.
The title up for change, as well as suggestion. Not only that, but the title of this story, as well as the set it belongs to is also up for change and suggestion, so feel free to leave them in the comments. If you're just starting with this one, please don't. I mean, you can if you want, but there's a lot here that you won't get if you haven't read the trilogy that predates this new set of books. They are, in order:

What I've Become
What I've Done
What I Am

They're quite good, if the feedback I've gotten is anything to go by, so if you haven't read these by now, please go and do that now. Don't worry, this story will still be here when you get back...

When Sam opened his eyes, ready to start his first morning as a college student, the last thing he expected was to find himself in an unfamiliar bedroom, in the equally unfamiliar form of Princess Celestia.

Now trapped in a body teeming with an enormous amount of power and an equally enormous set of responsibilities and worries, Sam needs to get to the bottom of things before Equestria's enemies realize Celestia is not herself and take the advantage.

Cover art is by Nauyaco

After a botched summoning spell, Twilight finds herself facing against a hideous monster full of shwibbly glib-a-kind. Now, she must stop this grotesque obibaglab before he shabblegabbles all her books.

Trixie and Spike brave the depths of the fast food industry.

Ponies don't fish.
But even when they do, they have the decency to do it with the appropriate gear.
Although, why would anyone buy gear if you can do without it?

Completely inspired by the artwork used as a cover (used with permission). Silly little thing I wanted to work on the side of other projects.
Featured from 13/01/2024 to 15/01/2024. Somehow. Thanks.

A bullied runaway foal, faced with a decision that could change his life forever, runs into a pair of helpful salesponies.

Together, they'll teach him that, like life, a name is only what you make of it.

Unicorn Quick Caper and his much larger Earth pony pal Mugger, have had it with constantly having their schemes thwarted by the savvy law enforcement of Manehatten.

So when they hear about a fair-sized hamlet out in the middle of nowhere, stuck right beside the Everfree Forest and the main city of Canterlot, they see this as the perfect opportunity to snag some quick bits from the unsuspecting rubes that travel between the Forest and the way to Canterlot.

What could be more simple?! Avoid those pesky, nosy Bearers, lie in wait along the Road, jump out and surprise anypony with enough bits! With Caper's brains and Mugger's muscle, they'd soon be rolling in cash! Profit!

After a long day of selling carrots, Carrot Top relaxes in her house with a carrot cake muffin without incident.

What you just read was a complete fabrication.

Note: There is a fic here for you to read, but it will be improved upon by me sometime. I can't promise when I will do so, but I can promise that I will.
(Big thanks to -TheStoryteller- for writing the semi-canon Chapter 2, and to TotalOverflow for giving me some very helpful criticism. Go check out those guys.)

Credit for Carrot Top's characterization goes to previous stories I've read about her by Blue Cultist, Meta Four, and Knight Breeze (as well as my own thoughts). I recommend the stories which include her by those authors wholeheartedly.

(Oh, and I have to mention the inspiration for the story itself, which was these excellent comics. The actual sources to the comics are linked in that blog post as well.)

Cover image from this Recipe Website.

Derpy explains her medical condition to her daughter.