Discord hasn't been feeling himself lately. Rarity thinks that it might be a good idea to get his mind off of things by having him assist her with upcoming work for the Summer Sun Celebration. Being the good sport that he is, Big Mac helps Discord out.

As it turns out, the project is surprisingly fun.
It's also more than a little painful.

Rated "Highly Recommended" by Present Perfect.

Now featured on Equestria Daily!

Now part of the Royal Canterlot Library (11/24/17)

Thanks to Door Belle, Garnot, Solocitizen and GeneralLiberator for their help.

On a clear and cloudless night, a young girl starts for home somewhat later than usual. She knows her parents aren't worried. They know she can be trusted. They know what a good girl she is.

The streets are empty, the stores are all closed...

...and someone watches from the shadows as a girl walks home alone at midnight.

Before Twilight and her friends saved the Crystal Empire, its ruler had to watch it die. Long before she meets Shining Armor and Twilight, Cadence walks through her home for the last time.

Rainbow Dash is not afraid of monsters.

But maybe she should.

Live reading by Solar Pony

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Experimental fic, a mixture between words and pictures. Not your usual narrative.

Buried beneath the Dragon Lands, there is a city. It rots, and it bleeds.

And it breathes.

A writing exercise inspired by the magnificent Lost Cities, written by Cold in Gardez.

Enormous thanks to Undome Tinwe, without whom this story would probably not exist.

Audiobook by Illya Leonov!

Audiobook by Jman14102!

Shaping a loose collective of dragons into a formidable and regimented empire isn't the easiest task. But with the proper application of wit and willpower, she's started to chisel out edges in the previously dull kingdom, started to sculpt it into something powerful enough to stand the test of time.

Spike was only supposed to visit her as a diplomat, to help her hammer out a trade agreement between The New Dragon Empire and Equestria. But he's everything a dragon shouldn't be: conciliatory, spineless, peace-loving, friendly. He sees what she has to do - executions, browbeating, delegation - and balks, has the audacity to think he can help her.

And he's getting popular. Among them. They're supposed to hate him, but they're doing the opposite. And in a world where he's treated like royalty and could have been king, what room is there left for Ember? How's she supposed to govern when the mere presence of a foreigner is enough to shake the empire's principles to their roots?

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This story is designed to be able to be read as a stand-alone long story. Similarly, Flint. is designed to be read as a stand-alone short story. For fullest reading experience, however, read the two of them together; chronologically, the events of Steel. come literally right after the events of Flint.

I'm gonna be honest, I haven't done multi-chapter stuff in a while, and I might have bitten off more than I can chew here. I've got it all plotted out, in my head and on paper, but actually making good on my promises feels daunting at best. "Bear with me" applies until I've published everything, I guess, and I'll try to release chapters on a semi-regular basis until it's done (and add a tag when it starts actually cropping up in the story proper.)

All of my thanks to Flashgen for helping me with this.

The beach is a wonderful place. More than anything else, it's the getaway to end all getaways: a chance to drink in the sun and the surf and lose track of the outside world. And for two ponies looking to get away from different things, it's a nice little pocket of paradise. For a time, anyway.

It's a shame that paradise isn't perfect. It's a shame that paradise doesn't last forever.

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All of my thanks to Flashgen for going over this story for me. And while I can thank Alex Pall and Andrew Taggart for inspiration, it's more for the following quote than anything else:

Paris \`pa-res\ n
1. A sentimental yearning for a reality that isn't genuine
2. An irrecoverable condition for fantasy that evokes nostalgia or day dreams.

Here's to the lies that are beautiful, everyone.

Ruling an up-and-coming empire is largely an unpleasant task: there are disputes to be resolved, budgets to be balanced, infrastructure to maintain and policies to enact - and made sure they're followed through on. This isn't helped by the fact that, as a dragon, Princess Ember is supposed to perform these duties without complaint, clemency or compromise. It was thankless for her father and thankless for her, especially when they were supposed to perform duties above and beyond their normal tasks.

Ember really doesn't want to have to personally execute a traitor. But that's part of her job, part of what she's expected to do, part of how she's expected to show strength of character.

He. Must. Pay.

All of my thanks to Flashgen and Regidar for pre-reading the story.

Picture was created by bassybird, and will be deleted upon request.

The Grand Galloping Gala is thoroughly boring and stale. Fortunately, Rarity's awesome and cutthroat enough to make a legitimate impression this year, and all it took was ditching her normal frou-frou affectations and adopting the bad-girl attitude she always deserved to have.

Unfortunately, the change doesn't sit well with everypony. But what matters is how you feel on the inside, right?

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Yeah, this is Taylor Swift's fault. It's also Josh Haber's fault. I might as well blame unmitigated stupidity for enabling this sort of thing in multiple ways, and i also recommend blaming FlashGen for being a wonderful friend, and also for not telling me to not post this idea. Too late for that now, though.

Rated "Recommended" in a particularly nice way by Present Perfect. I'm glad you liked it, my guy.

Twilight Sparkle sends a series of letters to Princess Celestia after slaying a villain.