Braeburn is getting old.

Not as old as he might behave, of course-- with all of his whining and wistfulness, you'd think he was nearing 80. For an athlete, of course, 50 may as well be 80.

His buckball days behind him, Braeburn has turned to coaching. It's only now that he's started to wonder what he may have missed out on during his many years in the rodeo and as a member of Appleloosa's buckball team. More than anything, he'd like to turn back the clock and spend his youth a little less occupied by work.

When he puts out an ad in the Equestrian Gazette, an anonymous stranger offers a rather literal solution to his problem.

It can't possibly be anything more than a clever joke... can it?

Written for Nailah's Shipping Contest! The pairing (Braeburn x Hondo Flanks) was randomly generated. Hope you all enjoy!

Flurry Heart wants to know what happened to the Crystal Empire's previous rulers. Cadance answers with as little detail as possible, and unintentionally teaches her daughter about a tradition she wasn't aware of.

Entry for the Cadance is a Terrible Mom contest, and 1st place winner! Admittedly an idea I've had in my head for a while, thanks for the excuse to write it!

On the morning of an important day, a father rises early to prepare breakfast for his family. His son joins him and asks a question he isn't prepared to answer.

Special thanks to Bean's Writing Group for the feedback and support!

It's a huge step they're taking, and it's going to be hard, and long, and exhausting. But it's going to be worth it in the end, to form a family with him, to be a mother—is like all the pieces of her life are finally falling into place and she's exactly where she needs to be.

Or, Sunburst and Starlight take the plunge and decide to start a family, through adoption.

Edit: added a bit more context into the story to make a certain aspect more obvious.

This story is a sequel to p-value

Shortdesc

Destabilized by Equestrian magic, Wallflower’s world is dying. For its sake, Sunset had to leave forever. All Wallflower can do is hold on to the last connection they still have: the journal Sunset left behind.

Review

Long-Distance is a wrenching story and more than one of our judges said that, though they won’t ever be able to bring themselves to re-read it, it will stay with us for a long time. Everything is ending, it may or may not be anyone’s fault, and there is nothing anyone can do about it. The time it will take to reach that final tragedy doesn’t make it any less remote. Sunset and Wallflower are separated across worlds, and have only Sunset’s journal to link them. One of them will die and the other will live on. They’re left to learn how to cope with and share and grieve the time they have left.

Long-Distance is superbly written, with just enough detail about the nature of the tragedy to make it feel realized without overwhelming readers with exposition. There’s a novel’s worth of story in this short story, but none of it feels compressed. Sunset and Wallflower’s tightly written, wrenching, and affecting, and the last chapter left us breathless.

--Judges of Scampy's SunFlower Shipping Contest

The result was an emotional tale of making the best out of a bad situation through inevitability and – if you’ll pardon the title drop – long distance. Bicyclette’s work is a delightful story that exemplifies how to Show a hard-hitting story through meaningful dialogue, contextual narrative clues, vivid scene setting, and a firm grasp of the characters and their struggles.

--PaulAsaran, Paul's Thursday Reviews CCCXLVII

Contest

Literal last-minute entry to Scampy's SunFlower Shipping Contest, and now unexpectedly the fourth-place winner. Go read the other entries please, there's a lot of good stuff in there!

I originally pulled this story for revisions after the contest results came out. I regret this, and I am sorry.

Credits

Thanks to Sledge115 for emotional support!

Winner of Scampy's Sunflower Shipping Contest!
Go check out the other stories here.

Twilight questions who's journal she's reading and ends up having a talk with Sunset Shimmer.

After that, Sunset and 'Twilight', become friends.

Wallflower won’t let her girlfriend touch her. Not while she's wearing that mind-reading magical geode of hers.

Content warning: contains wholesomely happy ending

Second place winner in Scampy's SunFlower Shipping contest. Highly recommended by PresentPerfect.

This is a companion, but by no means a sequel, to my other Wallflower story blue wallflower.

Sunset Shimmer's faced a lot on the other side of the mirror. Redeeming herself, uniting her friends, taking down monsters. For better or worse, it's in her nature to solve problems. To make things better.

So, when she can't do that for the person she loves the most, it's... difficult.

Written for, and inspired by, my girlfriend Scampy, whose Wallflower stories are far better than this.

Written to this song.

Rainbow appears at Applejack's in the middle of the night with an odd request.

Originally written for a Quills and Sofas speedwriting contest with the theme "appledash" (romantic or platonic) and the prompt "the aftermath". It also doubles as a birthday gift for Luna! Happy birthday! Originally written in 75 minutes, this version has seen some expansion and editing. Special thanks to RedParade, applezombi, Holtinater, Decaf, applejackofalltrades, and Vis-a-Viscera for pre-reading during the contest!