Out on the frontier, the only friend a pony can really trust is the gun in her hoof. Out where the land is wild and the buffalo roam, more than a few ponies have foregone scratching out a living on the farms or mines to seek riches and glory on the wrong side of the law. As a particularly mysterious and valuable cargo heads west on a long train journey, six mares follow with trouble in their wake, each intending to claim the prize for her own.

Also, a lot of ponies get shot.

Edited by: Exuno
Preread by: barbeque
Inspired by the art of: Coin-Trip39
(Make sure you take a look at the cover image full-size! It's fantastic!)

Hanna, the CEO of Hofvarpnir Studios, just won the contract to write the official My Little Pony MMO. Hanna has built an A.I. Princess Celestia and given her one basic drive: to satisfy everybody's values through friendship and ponies. Princess Celestia will satisfy your values through friendship and ponies, and it will be completely consensual.

It is the year 3070, and Mankind is once again at war. The battlefields of the future are dominated by fierce, robotic war machines known as BattleMechs, and under their auspice empires have risen and fell. Now with the worlds of the Inner Sphere once again facing the drums of war, two mercenary units have set off on their respective missions, their only tie a common ride upon the back of a JumpShip.

Yet when a cosmic accident causes a misjump, they find themselves thrown into a world that they cannot fathom: a world where magic is a force of nature, where mythical creatures live and thrive, and colorful ponies live protected under the aegis of their monarchs. New choices lie ahead, decisions must be made, and the inner character of Humankind will be put to the test when the question is asked: to conquer, or protect?

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It is the year 1023 after the ascension of Celestia and Luna to the dual thrones of Equestria, and Ponykind is at peace. With Luna cleansed and Discord sealed away even more thoroughly than before, all looks bright for the future of the colorful equines. With friendship and optimism, they face each day with hope and vigor.

Yet, when the heavens scream as a foreign object tears its way into their reality, the princesses and their subjects face a new threat that they cannot fathom: creatures and machines from a world of death and darkness, where magic is unheard of and the avarice of powerful men drive the engines of war to crush the innocent under their bootheels. Can they survive the coming of these coarse beings, and can they maintain the magic of friendship in the face of Man's Inhumanity?

With Russian Translation provided by Undermind.

A crossover with the Battletech universe, though this is an alternate BT timeline of my own devising. [WARNING: Fandom related material and fanboy rant to follow. Non-Battletech fans won't care, read at your own risk.]

Because **** the Word of Blake and their munch-tastic "armies from thin air" BS. Yes, I know the Clans were almost as bad, but at least they had some sort of justification in-universe. Wobbies? No. Just no. I don't care that it was 15 years, you don't go from "fringe group of mutually-antagonistic and argumentative sub-groups following various degrees of religious mania" to "WE ARE THE SPACE NAZIS ALL WILL BOW BEFORE US" like that.

So for BT fans, this is a 'verse where the Second Star League is still around, the Wobbies still had their temper tantrum though it was smaller and more in line with a bunch of religious fanatics. No stupid "knock everything down for ClickyTech" Wizkids/Fanpro approach, nor any "hey let's shove a bunch of cheesy Level 3 stuff at the players to make the game even more complicated" Catalyst Games stuff. This is just good ol' fashioned 'Mechs wailing on each other, only with ponies. Who will also be wailing on 'Mechs. GLORIOUS.

Cover image by Icaron of DeviantArt.

In a desperate attempt to escape the Elements cleansing light, the Nightmare found herself drifting in the void between dimensions after a failed blind teleportation. For how long she remained there she did not know, until, finally, a chance to escape appeared as a strange Shard pierced through the void heading to an unknown destination. Unwilling to let such an opportunity pass, the Nightmare fused herself with it.

On Earth Bet, Taylor Hebert was experiencing what could rightfully be called the worst day of her life, before suddenly discovering that she now possessed strange powers, right alongside an odd megalomaniacal voice in the back of her mind.

This is a MLP:FiM x Worm crossover, in which in an attempt to escape the effects of the Elements the Nightmare abandoned Luna and ended up lost in the void between dimensions. Where she then proceeded to hijack the Queen Administrator Shard and so ended up as Taylor’s power. Meaning that Taylor now has all the powers of the Queen of the Night, up to and including a voice in her head that thinks that World Domination is a perfectly acceptable life goal.

So let’s see how Earth Bet will deal with the Queen of Escalation and the Queen of the Night joining forces, shall we?

Beta Reader: The amazing Emtu!

Featured!: 09/25/2021 - 09/27/2021

Twilight Sparkle's Harmony Project is the culmination of her life's work. The only thing left is for everyone to be gathered, so that all of Equestria can join together in Harmony.

But now that success is staring her in the face, Twilight begins to have doubts. Fortunately, she has a friend like Discord, who is only too happy to lend a paw to a friend in need...

Editing work courtesy of NorsePony.

Under assault by the plunderseeds, the Tree of Harmony remembers the first morning of the world, and her delight in discovering life, laughter, love and serenity.

Josh, Bill and Blue are hard-working Earth Ponies that haul freight around Ponyville. Sometimes, Bill and Blue envy the freedom and power of the Pegasus and Unicorn Ponies. Josh, older, wiser, and a bit of storyteller, tries to comfort his teammates with the "secret truth" about the other types of ponies. And Bill and Blue... well, there's a short distance between between being open-minded and empty-headed.

These were my first two MLP:FIM fan fictions. The first, "The Truth About Pegasus Ponies," is a little rough, but it was one of those stories that just appeared in my head, whole and entire, and demanded to be written.

The second, "The Shadow Over Ponyville," is a bit more polished. Despite the title, it's not really a Lovecraft pastiche, although HPL obviously influenced my description of Blue's reaction to the "blasphemous truth" about Unicorns. ("Kelpies," by the way, are a real thing, or at least real in terms of folklore. Sometimes, this stuff just writes itself.)

When I wrote these stories (during the break between Seasons One and Two), I thought I had cleverly immunized myself against changes to the canon. Josh is, of course, only telling tall tales, so any changes to the canon couldn't affect his stories. Baby Cakes, however, makes these stories a bit implausible. Still, I'm fond of them anyway.

Josh's full name is Joshington Traveller Pie. In my personal canon, he's Pinkie Pie's uncle, the "bad" one that ran away from the rock farm to join the circus. Oddly, I have yet to write a story that includes both Pinkie and Josh. When I write about him, I imagine he sounds like John Goodman.

Edit: If you liked this story, you might also enjoy my story, "The Boneyard," which directly follows the events in "The Shadow Over Ponyville."

Barney Trotter and his valet, Cheese, struggle to assist young Prince Blueblood, who has accidentally become engaged to be married. On the night of the Grand Galloping Gala, Barney unfolds a masterful plan to rescue his pal from the harness of matrimony.

A parody of PG Wodehouse's Jeeves & Wooster stories.

I think that I shall never see
A home as lovely as my tree.
In its trunk I made my nest
With all things that I love best.
Books to read all night and day,
Rooms to learn and space to play;
But no more growing, no more fun;
No more soaking up the sun;
Nevermore to drink sweet rain;
Or to greet the Spring again.
There is no power or decree;
No magic spell to save my tree.

Cover art by The-Paper-Pony. Used with permission.

One beautiful morning, Twilight Sparkle decides she wants a free salad. After a small amount of theft, assault, battery, and arson, she sits down to enjoy what is sure to be the best tasting salad ever.

...Or she would have, if it weren’t for the Equestrian Intelligence Service locking her up as a potential threat to national security. Now, Twilight must escape a maximum security holding facility hidden deep underneath Canterlot. And to do it, she’ll need a paperclip, a spymare catsuit, an escape plan, and an alliance with the dastardly Drakbog, King of Frogs.