If there's something Daring Do hates, it's fancy Hearth's Warming parties.
If there's something Daring Do loves, it's saving the world.

Combine the two, watch how long she lasts.

As seen on EQD.

Originally written as the Secret Santa gift to Razalon The Lizardman.

Edited by Octavia Harmony and Themaskedferret.

Sunset Shimmer, the Magus of Freeport, has always been of two minds regarding Strumming Heartstrings. The Equestrian spy is irritating, difficult to work with, and does a lot of things Sunset doesn't approve of. However, when an old enemy leaves Strumming on death's door, Sunset will have to decide how far she's willing to go to bring her attackers to justice.

This story is a sequel to Oncoming Storm: Family Matters

Cloud Kicker's slowly been figuring out how to use the new magical powers she acquired from her girlfriend Rainbow Dash. Even if it was a bit of a shock at first, it's magic! Who wouldn't be excited to have it? It certainly makes life at CHS more interesting.

However, just because she has magic powers doesn't mean she can control them, and when Cloud's magic goes haywire it quickly becomes apparent that she needs more help than what Sunset can offer on her own. Finding a solution means taking a trip to the magical land of Equestria, but Cloud might not like what she finds when she goes through the looking glass.

Twilight Sparkle, a ward of the crown ever since she accidentally turned her parents into plants, is dispatched by Queen Celestia to the small hamlet of Ponyville; the Unicorn has expressed fear that an eldritch Alicorn of the past will arise there. And when Twilight Sparkle fails to defeat the fiendish NightMare Moon in the two Queens' former palace of Concordia Arbos, the planet is plunged into night on one side and day on the other. With only shards of rock to her name and a band of ponies at her side, she sallies forth to bring back the Sun. She will traverse field and mountain, desert and labyrinth if she needs to. Will she be able to solve the mystery of the Elements of Harmony? Who was NightMare Moon, and what evils come to Equestria apart from her everlasting night? And why does Queen Celestia believe that making friends takes priority over everything else for Twilight...?

Can be found on TV Tropes.
Has a YouTube reading by our own Alchemystudent.

The Elements of Friendship, Book I: Harmony
The Elements of Friendship, Book IS [interlude one-point-five]: Bonds
The Elements of Friendship, Book II: Chaoskampf
The Elements of Friendship, Book IIS [interlude two-point-five]
The Elements of Friendship, Book III
The Elements of Friendship, Book IIIS [interlude three-point-five]
The Elements of Friendship, Book IIII

Who is Fluttershy?

A young prodigy training to hunt the monsters that plague her world. She's wanted nothing else her entire life, and now that dream may be threatened...

The world has been dying for as long as the Enchantress can remember, reduced to little more than a desolate expanse of sand. And yet, she keeps walking, for she knows she is the last hope of the world.

When mares from extremely different worlds arrive in her desert, the Enchantress is forced to reexamine everything she thought to be true. There will be stories of monsters, books, ghosts, gods, stars, machines, and ponies who have not lived most of their life in a world approaching the end. They must come to terms with their vastly different experiences in a tangle of alternate worlds no one is prepared for.

The multiverse is a big place, and this small corner of existence has just received some unwanted attention.

Cover drawn by Little Duke!

-GM, master of ashes.

This story is a sequel to Northern Venture

When Sunset Shimmer's father shows up in Freeport chasing the infamous warlock Steel Rose, the last thing she wants is to get involved. She's still recovering from the madness in Northmarch and her battle against the dragon Blackfyre, and her father's obsession with capturing Steel Rose drove him to effectively abandon his family.

However, as the magus of Freeport Sunset can't ignore a dangerous warlock running loose in her city's streets just because of personal baggage. Once she finds herself reluctantly dragged into her father's obsession, she discovers there's far more going on than she's been told.

Crime was easy before Princess Twilight and the First Five ushered in a golden age of Harmony. Back then, any idiot could plan a robbery, just like any rat could sneak through the cracks in wooden granary walls. But now that everything is cloudstone and clearsteel, with magical countermeasures over the few remaining holes, it takes a different breed of rat to survive.

"Slippery" Jimmy the Grey is one of the rare few ponies who can still slip through the cracks — even with the legendary Rainbow Corps on his tail. Now he's got a billion-bit heist planned in the gleaming skyscrapers of Cloudsdale. If only he hadn't made the mistake of stealing from a dragon …

Now with a reading by Illya Leonov and Scribbler!

* * *

This is a crossover with Harry Harrison's Stainless Steel Rat novels, but it assumes no knowledge of the series.

Winner of February's Writeoff Association competition! * Featured by Equestria Daily! * Featured by Seattle's Angels!

REVIEWS: "Highly Recommended" by Titanium Dragon; "Recommended" by Present Perfect; rated "Why Haven't You Read This Yet?" by PaulAsaran

WORD OF MOUTH:
"The Iridescent Iron Rat was not only my favorite story from the most recent writeoff... it's my favorite story of anything I've read in months." —Sharp Spark

"What a ride it is. This story is made of awesome moments." —Casca, Seattle's Angels

"[A]stounding on so many levels. … If there’s one story from this round you have to pick, make it this one." —Corejo, Seattle's Angels

"Absolutely beautifully done. It fits the style and feel of the books to a perfect T." —Themaskedferret

This story is a sequel to The Midnight Filly

Almost one thousand years ago, the Elements of Harmony chose new Bearers to protect Equestria after the attack of Nightmare Moon. Since then, whenever one Bearer died or retired there would always be a new pony to take up the role. Now, for the first time, all the Bearers are retiring at once, and six mares have been selected to replace them.

A farmer with a questionable tax history.
A Critter Ambassador who is scared of her own shadow.
The town prankster who clearly can't focus.
A greedy business owner who yells at her own sister.
A lazy weather coordinator with an oversized ego.
And a young alicorn who gained that status under poor circumstances and can't empathize with others.

Needless to say, Equestria is skeptical, but it's not like the end of the world is coming in a few months...

Inspired by an old blog post by RealityCheck.

Beta read by MyHobby, Crack-Fic Kai, and Pureheart 352❤.

Edit: Featured on 8/16/2019!

Puzzle Piece is the premier information broker in the infamous nation of Freeport, leading one of the most powerful and wealthy organizations in the islands. However, after months of absence from Freeport, he returns to find everything he built in shambles and his lieutenants fighting over the remnants. With chaos reigning in the streets, the Council tells him to get his house in order or see his life’s work swept away. Unfortunately for Puzzle, there are forces in Freeport that don’t want to see him succeed. Nobody can be trusted, nothing is safe—not even his deepest secrets.

A chronological sequel to Northern Venture.