Pinkie Pie has a decent life, all things considered. Working at Sugarcube Corner, throwing parties, saving the world, making friends. She had a pretty good run. But when she comes face to face with the Grim Reaper and her own demise, she definitely doesn't want to let go. So she does the only thing she knows to do to avoid death itself, and challenges him to a game for her life.

But even if she wins, did she really escape death, or is she not out of his grasp yet?

The cover art was a commission courtesy of waxraven.

Twilight Sparkle broke time when she got her cutie mark. Now Twilight and Sparkle are sisters from another time. Twilight is hailed as the potentially greatest light magician of all time, and already has a reputation as a hero by the time she goes to Ponyville. This isn't her story, not primarily.

Sparkle is an orphan - her dark magic killed her parents. She lives with her brother in Canterlot's industrial sector because they can't afford anything better. She can't leave either. She's a natural dark mage; while Sparkle won't go mad like Sombra, her reputation is hardly any better. Worse, the law doesn't see her as a good pony.

The fact that the dead don't stay dead around her, or that Thorn - Spike's double - is an undead, soul-eating abomination, are other matters altogether.

(Also has some Slice-of-Life, but fimfiction tags won't let me put it with Adventure.)

Has an ask blog to go with it: Ask Sparkle and Thorn.
Also has a TvTropes page: Split Second Tropes.

Featured on EQD.

Cover art by Swirling Line.

Shortly after her coronation as the new Princess of Equestria, Twilight is visited by a creature she never expected to see in person. What's even more unexpected than the identity of this petitioner, though, is his reason for coming.

Maintenant en Français grâce à la traduction merveilleuse d'Acylius!
(Now available in French thanks to the wonderful work of Acylius!)

_{Partially inspired by the Imposing Sovereigns II contest under the prompt "Twilight/The Old."}

Now with an audio drama produced by truesailorcomet, as well as TVTropes page!

Princess Luna takes on a Night Apprentice, her counterpart to Princess Celestia's Faithful Student, Twilight Sparkle. Nova Shine, a wandering unicorn from Canterlot, is given the position for the first time in a thousand years. What neither of them know is that there exists a long and secret history between the positions of the Faithful Student, the Night Apprentice, and a mysterious shadow that seems to keep popping up in Nova's and Twilight's dreams. This shadow, whatever it is, and the dreams it appears in do not bode well, but the Princesses remain tight-lipped about these nightmares.

Nova and Twilight agree to investigate the nightmares themselves, and this mission occupies them for some time. But as they continue their search, their relationship starts to develop into something more than just fellow students. As if to make matters any more chaotic, Trixie Lulamoon arrives on Twilight's doorstep announcing that she, too, has been dealing with nightmare problems.

Finally, there's also the shadow itself. An ancient and dangerous enemy, it has lain dormant for the last thousand or so years. Why it chooses to reveal itself now is anyone's best guess, but unless Twilight and Nova can stop it, there's no telling what will happen to Equestria...

First featured under the old system on 25 November 2013, with occasional reappearances in the new system.
Featured again on 19 November 2022, on its 10th anniversary, and again on 19 November 2023 when the final chapter of the rewrite was published. Many thanks, everyone.

All of Equestria is united in celebration for the return of their beloved Princess Nightmare Moon. But when Celestia and everypony else recieve her she's skeletally starved, filthy, and very nearly dead. Meanwhile, while everypony's eye is turned, a lusty Blueblood pursues Twilight Sparkle, intent on adding her bloodline to his own so his family might step closer to godhood. (Alternate Universe, there never was a Princess Luna)

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

Princess Twilight Sparkle and her friends have faced endless troubles while ruling Equestria. There's never been a challenge they could not conquer.

But the end of the world has come, and nopony can stop it.

Contains narrative that jumps ahead into the future, several original characters, a despondent princess, probably some crying, and the magic of friendship.

A huge thank you goes out to Semillon, who beta read this story and provided some invaluable critiques.

This story is a sequel to The Philosophical Substitute: Discord

Warning: The following you're about to read contains philosophy in plain English. If you do not like this, you know where the exit button is.

Also, please remember that this is an anthology, in which each chapter is their own independent story.

After the events of "The Philosophical Substitute," Discord is now taking on as a full-on teacher in Twilight's School of Friendship. Even though his past students (the Young Six) have technically graduated his class, they still come to him time to time to ask him some of life's toughest questions. Eventually, even their teachers come to him for guidance.

What follows is an anthology series of what each character learns from the Ex-Lord of Chaos.

A special thanks to Azaclop for proofreading.

Lesson Plan (in no particular order):

Sandbar - On Fate and Free Will (Dealing with cutie marks? Do ponies have a choice in what they can or can’t be?) ✅

Smolder - On Life and Death (possibly afterlife? Cost of longevity?) ✅

Silverstream - Should Power Belong to the Few or Many? ✅

Yona - What’s the point of Spirituality? ✅

Gallus - On Envy and Jealousy. ✅

Ocellus - On Identity and the Self. ✅

Twilight - On Balance of Governing. ✅

Applejack - Why do nice people lie? Why does dishonesty exist?✅

Rainbow - On Bad Faith (Sartre) ✅

Rarity - What Luxury Couldn’t Buy (Epicurus? Diogenes?) ✅

Fluttershy - Why Others are Mean? ✅

Pinkie Pie - On Cheerful Sadness. ✅

Starlight - If worse comes to worse. ✅

? - Know thy Self. A Philosophical Mediation.✅

Twilight Sparkle has always been frustrated with Discord. His ability to do anything, with no more effort than a snap of his claw. It shouldn't be possible. His power had to come from somewhere.
Then, one day, Twilight lets slip how she feels. Surprisingly Discord agrees to explain it to her. To give her the secret to all of his powers. If she's willing to pay the price that knowing it all will bring.

Clover the Clever never asked for his life to get so complicated.  It was bad enough tricking a drunk Imperatrix Celestia, war goddess of the Three Tribes, out of her accidental coup against Queen Platinum.  But now the most dangerous pony in Equestria has returned to trade her claim on the sun for a chance to woo him.

On top of that, his erstwhile mentor Star Swirl the Bearded has saddled him with a mysterious magical necklace and a uniquely bleak and pointless prophecy: If he's brave enough, and if he's clever enough, he just might survive Celestia for long enough to break her heart.

Now with an audio reading by ScarlettBlade!

Recommended by PresentPerfect! "horizon gave me the story I needed rather than the one I wanted ... along the way we get some very strong lessons about love, and meditations on the value of a lifetime and what one pony can achieve on their own."

Featured on Equestria Daily!

First place, "Out of Time" Writeoff! (11/2015) At long last, expanded to novella size! The world-spanning, centuries-spanning romance as it was always meant to be told!

PRAISE FOR THE WRITEOFF VERSION:
"One of my favorite depictions of Celestia in a long time." –billymorph
"To the top of the ballot with it." –AugieDog
"There’s going to be a lot of tears shed when this one hits publish." –Georg
"You need to read Time Enough For Love. I literally swore out loud when my computer crashed when I was halfway through, and then I immediately whipped out my smartphone to finish it. And now I'm reading it again in a desperate attempt to figure out how it does its job so damn well." –Bachiavellian
"I can get behind some historical revisionism for such a brilliant story. The writing is second-to-none … I laughed, I cried, and I felt other things too." –Trick Question

Cover art by Nadnerb.