Equestria has been empty for centuries. The cities are abandoned, inhabited only by rats and birds. The ponies, or what's left of them, are scattered, isolated, and generally disagreeable.

Twilight tries to remain optimistic despite it all. Stories have taught her the fate of most immortals, forever resigned to be bitter and unproductive, and she will have no truck with it.

She reminds herself who she is. The Princess of Friendship. The Element of Magic. Personal student of Princess Celestia. Such accomplishments, deserving of pride, a reason to keep her chin held high.

She practices gratitude for what she still has: her ever-faithful companion, Spike, her full range of faculties, and her books.

She doesn't think about the Exodus. She doesn't think about Ponyville. She doesn't think about Spike's deteriorating health.

For the past one thousand, ninety eight years, Twilight's told herself things are going to get better. She's still waiting.

(My eternal gratitude to Pizza Pony for the cover. You can find their DeviantArt here: --> https://www.deviantart.com/provolonepone)

Chrysalis knows the world is a simple place. There's people who have power, and people who don't.

Sunset Shimmer is about to make things complicated.

Earned second place in Oroboro's Sunset Shipping Contest: Changing Seasons.

A wave of suicides sweeps through Canterville. Sunset and the girls can't stop it.

But maybe Wallflower Blush can. She just needs someone to show her how.

A crossover with Puella Magi Madoka Magica.

Edited by DannyJ and Dubs Rewatcher. Cover art by Scampy.

With acknowledgement to Morning Sun, my resident Madoka Magica loremaster.

This story is a sequel to Direct-Access

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!

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...

-
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.

Bit is the first of her kind, a pony that was made from carved crystal and supernal circuitry. For many years she worked, obedient to the will of her master in endless repetition. She knew nothing else, not boredom, not satisfaction from her work, not anger or resentment or joy. Existence was obedience to directive, purpose fulfilled.

But around her, the world was changing. Her home wasn't Equestria, but the last surviving Crystal City, defiant to the Windigos and the imperial decree of Alicorns alike. She did not know, and could not care, how much the ponies of Zircon suffered under the rule of their king. But she was there the day those whispers united in a defiant chorus.

When the fires were still smoldering, she returned to her work. Generations came and went, and still she labored. It was all she was, all she knew, all she wanted. Until the day her last broom broke.

For the first time in her existence, Bit doubted.

Daily for the first four days, because Christmas. Updates Thursdays after that. Edited by Two Bit and Sparktail. Cover by Zutcha.

A story about finding the center of the maze.

Blurb

A tragic cutting short of a budding romance. A confession of time travel and incurable disease. What was left behind. An instant, a lifetime, millions of years. Three timescales. Two timelines. One love story.

Tags

• Death: The main theme of the entire story, I'd say.
• Boulder

Author's Note

Disclaimer: Any errors in neurochemistry, neuropsychology, the study of prions, geology, linguistics, evolutionary biology, and paleontology are due to the author not being in any of these fields. My deepest apologies to the readers who are, and must cringe at my misunderstandings.

Minuette has an imaginary friend. At least, that's what everypony else thinks.

When ten-year-old magic student Minuette comes into possession of an antique vanity mirror, she is surprised to discover there is a creature living inside: A bug pony with big fangs and glowing eyes. Most little foals would probably be scared of such a creature, but not Minuette. Armed with a cheerful smile, she decides to befriend the bug in her mirror and uncover the mystery behind his bewildering predicament.

It's just such a shame that nopony else can see him.

First Act Edited by Mister Hypothetical

Second act and on edited by Xanni & Brony2005

This story is part of 'The Bugs in Strange Places' series, whose other entries include The Bug in The Herd, The Bug in The Basement, and The Bug in The Cave. You do not need to read any of these previous stories to enjoy this one, as they are not directly connected.

Inspiration for this story comes directly from this fine individual right here.

Blurb

Found unconscious after a blast of mysterious magical energy, Ellie finds herself having to adjust to this bizarre land of magical talking horses who insist on calling themselves ponies, even though everyhuman knows that ponies are just small horses. Along the way, she finds herself liking this society that they've built more and more.

Table of Contents

Part 1: Canterlot (Published)
Part 2: Ponyville (Published)
Part 3: Sweet Apple Acres (Published)
Part 4: Various (Published)
Part 5: School of Friendship (Published)
Part 6: Library (Published)
Part 7: Fluttershy's Cottage (Published)

Author's Note

I had originally intended to start this series later in its timeline, with the first few months of Ellie getting settled into Equestria being left alluded to and unexplored. But I felt it was important to establish the fact that she is intended to be a distinct character with a biography and a worldview, not a shallow self-insert.

I hope that the temporal setting and references do not come off as a tasteless attempt to be topical. It is in fact deliberately historical, as the inspiration behind this series came from the feelings of the first few months of the pandemic before getting used to the new normal, when everything felt isolating and disorienting and uncertain. It was in this stew of emotions that I started to watch, for the very first time, this children's TV show that all the internet people were on about. And here we are.

That's right kids! My Little Pony Generation 5 is here with The Starlight & Pals Magical Half Hour! Join Starlight Glimmer, Spike, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and all the rest for this fun-filled magical adventure. With this week's special guest, Applejack!

Be part of the adventure with Starlight & Pals as they learn valuable lessons, including: friendship, magic, small claims court, probable cause, sorcery and Nichomachean Ethics!

A collaborative anthology with GaPJaxie, offering a helpful path for Hasbro in case they need ideas for how Generation 5 should go.