Two passengers on a train ride toward an uncertain future. One is a pony. The other only pretends to be.

Sex is tame and non-explicit. Don't be afraid to read.

Written expressly for Equestria Daily's Outside Insight Summer Fanfiction Contest.

Now with a dramatic reading by Illya Leonov!

Russian translation courtesy of Arsus.
Chinese translation courtesy of viczhn.
French translation courtesy of BroNie.

Inspired by the artwork of RubleGun and Raddjuret. Musical accompaniment by Patrick Poe.

Featured at Equestria Daily and the Royal Canterlot Library.

Reader Testimonials

"Vinyl + Octavia is one of the fandom's most cliché and mismatched pairs, and yet this is a real romance with genuine depth and emotion." - horizon
"Holy shit this is impressive. Like... Holy shit, man." - Skeeter The Lurker
"You have crafted something wonderful here, a true gem. You should be proud." - Illya Leonov
"Note that I hate this ship when I say this is far and away the best ScratchTavia I've ever read." - PresentPerfect
"Fuuuuck it's so good!" - Luminary

A flip of a coin. A twist of fate.

Twilight Sparkle, younger sister of Princess Celestia's personal student, Shining Armor, grew up listening to her brother's bygone dreams of joining the elite of the elite: The Royal Guard.

Now, fresh out of the Academy, this young mare is ready to prove herself equal to the deeds of the great soldiers she read about as a filly. Too bad the princess she ends up protecting isn't Celestia.

Night One

"Why is she standing out there? What does she want?"

Night Two

"There's something off about her...."

Night Three

"That's not Fluttershy..."

With Celestia out on vacation for a week, Cadance sees a fine opportunity to spend some time with her Auntie Luna, who's now in control of Equestria for that time. She's always known Luna to be a bit... different, but she never thought she'd find herself suspecting her Auntie Luna of trying to take over Equestria again. Is she simply over-thinking things, or is something truly the matter with Auntie?

Set mid Season 2.

Featured on: 1/30/17!
Also, this is now my 5th story to have 100 likes!
Also pt2, this story was featured in SA Review #104! Check it out here!

SPOILERS IN COMMENTS
Preread/Edited by MLPMatthew419 and Mocha Star

"My handsome little cherub, close your eyes.
Mommy's going to give you clear blue skies.
So you’ll laugh and dance and play in the air.
And sing the song of angels everywhere."

You'd think that being trapped in stone would mean that, if nothing else, I could get some peace and quiet. Unfortunately, it seems that Celestia has other ideas.

She has appointed these ponies... these 'Keepers', as she calls them, to keep me entertained during my incarceration.

Honestly? I'd prefer the boredom.

Cover art by matrosha123
Spanish Translation by SPANIARD KIWI found here

Big Mac is a strong stallion, no doubt about that, possibly even the strongest pony around.
However, that changes when he meets a filly by the name of Lily Longsocks, whose raw strength might even rival his own.
It is from this filly that Big Mac will learn where a stallion truly draws his strength.

Featured on Equestria Daily!
Proofread by Flutterpriest and ChappedPenguinLips.
Cover by tyuubatu

This story is a sequel to Keeping It Simple

Octavia has fought hard in her life for three things: her art, her career, and her new boyfriend. She never learned to stop fighting.

It's a mistake that might cost her two out of three of the things she's fought tooth and tail for. She's still figuring out which two.

Diamond Tiara knows all about work delegation: if you want something done, have other ponies do it for you. In the name of that goal, Silver Spoon studies for both and Diamond copies her friend's efforts. It works every time. Except that Cheerilee just forced Diamond to switch desks. And with finals a week away and no personal knowledge for most of the subjects, the only ponies she can now hope to copy from are Snips and Snails. Something which may get her sent all the way back to preschool. And there's no way Diamond is going to lower herself to doing her own work.

Which means the colts are going to be learning on her behalf.

No matter what she has to do to make that happen.

It's for the best cause ever, after all.

(Part of the Triptych Continuum, which has its own TVTropes page and FIMFiction group. New members and trope edits welcome.)

Now with author Patreon and Ko-Fi pages.

Cover art by GroaningGreyAgony

After Big Macintosh helps the Mane Six out of a jam, he finds his ordinary life of
peaceful routine thoroughly disrupted by the various misadventures those crazy
ponies always seem to get themselves into.

Artwork provided by the talented Zemious