This story is a sequel to Cypress Zero

For hundreds of years, the post-scarcity world of Equestria has served as a launching point for the stars. Beyond their green earth, interstellar relays and starships power the colonization efforts of all species. And in just minutes, the digital messages of little ponies can cover distances once considered impossible.

It makes the arrival of a physical letter all the more meaningful.

Especially to the most isolated pony at the heart of the Equestrian Core Worlds.

An entry to the Science Fiction Contest II.
No prior reading of Cypress Zero is required. But both stories are stronger together.

Rainbow Dash's morning was pretty much ruined.
She tripped getting out of bed and landed flat on her face, giving herself an aching muzzle.
She forgot to buy her favorite brand of hay flakes at the store yesterday and had to eat plain toast for breakfast.
She found out she had to pull double-duty today and tomorrow on the weather patrol.
Oh, and she found a nearly-dead foal, broken and bleeding at the edge of Ponyville.

The rest of her day became a whirlpool of stress and worry but the colt woke up, thank Celestia.
Something's not right, though. Nopony can find his parents, he's not in the registers, and there's an unsettling look in his eye...

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YouTube reading by Fire Hearth

Chinese Translation by forgivenlove

Russian Translation by Likantrop

TV Tropes page, if you're interested in that sort of thing.

Speed Reader may only be a temporary product of a fusion spell brewed by Dash and Twilight, but she's still got the Wonderbolt Barracks to herself for a whole half hour before she splits again. Just long enough to tangle with someone whom her halves would most certainly kick to the curb if either of them were in control.

But they're not in control. Speed Reader is. She can read ponies like books, and Lightning Dust is after something in the archives. Something important.

Now with a written review!

This is an entry in the Snippet Series, an anthology of old oneshots that I (and my good buddy Str8aura) wrote based around interesting pics I found. New ones will be posted every Thursday for the foreseeable future.

Most work undertaken by princesses is fairly tedious, and a good chunk of it is paperwork and letters.

Celestia is interrupted while dealing with some of this.

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The Straight To The Point Studio version.
My version.

Twilight has noticed something. An anomaly. An illogicality. A discontinuity so stark that she must investigate.

Trixie just wants to make probably-legal fireworks in peace.

Set in early Season 7.

Pinkie has been dropped off in a strange house full of frightening creatures.
Worse still, they are talking about her like she's imaginary.
But Pinkie knows they're lying. She can't be imaginary, can she?

A crossover with Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends.
Winner of the Crossover contest in the Quills and Sofas Speedwriting Group

The guards are scared to say it.

Sunset Shimmer has returned to Canterlot.

And the Princess is furious...

Not in continuity with my other stories. Just something that popped into my head one day.

Spell Nexus (mentioned only) is from Past Sins, by Pen Stroke

After years of being the runt of the litter (despite having no siblings), Spike finally comes into his own and starts to grow up and mature. The result is a unique bit of magic all his own, or so the theory goes: He awakens one morning to find words hanging overhead that call him [The Gamer], along with powers that let him 'live life as though it were a game'.

How he decides to handle all of this, and where things go from there? That would be a spoiler, and you all know how we feel about spoilers around here...

Frequently asked questions will be answered from time to time, and those answers linked here for the curious:
The First FAQ

Twilight did her duty. She saved everypony she could, except herself. Now trapped by an evil cult, in more pain than she has even been in before, and dying on a sacrificial altar, she calls for help. The Nightmare answers.

Will Twilight become the next evil to threaten the world or will the Nightmare simply be glad to have some freedom? One thing is for certain, Twilight's life will never be the same again.

The Editors
Cander (CH 1-Current)
Yutah123 (CH 8-9)

Now with an excellent reading by StraightToThePointStudio (Currently only up to CH 30)

And we even have art!
[Warning Spoilers] Twilight's Nightmare Art