Celestia watched the sunset.

Rainbow finds a trophy for a pony declared, "an honorary Wonderbolt". Curiosity getting the better of her, she asks about the pony.
She was greatly surprised to hear that, of all ponies, Derpy had gotten the honor, and respect, of the organization Rainbow idolized.

Written for The Wonderbolts Site Contest. I spent more time writing for the Sci-fi contest, with the goal of writing a one-shot for this one afterwards. In honor of it being a Speedwriting contest, I wrote it down over the course of two days and in under three hours total writing time. I hope you enjoy, and good luck to other contestants!

In the modern era, it has become common for foreigners to mock Equestria, seeing the pony nation as weak, naive, unwilling to commit to hard decisions. More belligerent neighbors often view the ponies as easy prey or targets, to have their magic stolen, to be devoured and pillaged, or conquered as a ready supply of slaves.

It was not always thus. In ages past, Equestria was a land of heroes and legends, of darkness and bloodshed. In time, the princesses learned to temper strength with mercy, power with forbearance, and righteous conviction with benevolence.

But now, a thousand years after the younger princess was banished to the moon, the long peace is drawing to a close. Forces both within and without Equestria awaken, seeing a nation weak and easily toppled. Seeing a people grown fat on peace and luxury, who have long forgotten the hardships of war and conflict, or the glory of bloodshed.

Woe betide to all who come to Equestria with ill intent. For in all these long years of peace, the Princess of the Sun has never forgotten the lessons of war, and her eyes watch over her beloved subjects with not only patience and understanding, but an implicit promise of protection.

The time will come soon, when those who would do Celestia's Little Ponies wrong will come to learn... That even an Empire of Mercy is still paved upon the bones of its enemies.

[...]
Alternate universe story based on two main principals: First, that Rainbow Dash is taken in as Celestia's student in addition to Twilight. Second, that the threats to Equestria are both larger in magnitude, but also countered by a more competent and militarized Equestria. Also, it will follow my headcanon that alicorn's are gender neutral.

It is also somewhat based on my love of story threads that are disconnected but still intersect. The continuity will not really have a single group of main characters (Though it will start with mostly Rainbow Dash and Celestia), but rather a number of different story threads playing out simultaneously across the world. I have plans for the Mane Six, Celestia, Luna, Spike, Starlight Glimmer, and Scootaloo at the least.

I will be posting every 28 days on saturday, at least for the time being. Story is in present tense, third person. Genre will kinda be all over the place, parts of the story will include the whole spectrum from war story to slice of life to drama to who knows what else.

Though it has been weeks since the Elements of Harmony have purged Nightmare Moon from her, Luna is wracked by guilt and depression. Though the Elements purged the nightmare, they cannot purge the feelings of guilt and self-loathing, nor can they heal the scars wrought by jealously, anger, rage and madness. Though everypony forgave her, Luna cannot forgive herself and seeks penance through suffering.
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My thought process on this follows, I tried to put myself in Luna's figurative shoes when coming up with this story and how would I cope.
The inspiration for this story come from the songs Hurt by Nine Inch Nails, Long Hard Road Out Of Hell by Marilyn Manson and my own personal struggles with mental illness and self harm.

This story contains thoughts and actions of self harm, depression, negative self talk and self loathing. Reader discretion is advised.

Spike heads out to ask Rarity to go to the carnival with him as good friends. As usual, things don't go they way he hoped. And not in a bad way.

Sometimes things can turn into something better, for reasons only another knows.

*If you are feeling generous you can buy me a Ko-Fi!!

Rarity asks Spike his opinion on her latest wear. This leads to them spending time together in each other's embrace. At the same time, Rarity reminiscence on how she fell in love with the purple drake.

*If you are feeling generous you can buy me a Ko-Fi!!

*Rated Teen for some sexual under-themes, but no actual sexual content*
**Cover art belongs to dubstepina, which also inspired this fic with her permission**

A young boy in the city dreams of seeing the stars through the smog. Far away, somepony hears his dreams.

Speedwrite on a whim after having a fleeting thought upon sending a friend a picture of the night sky I took while on vacation once. Well, if you can call about three, four, hours a speedwrite.

Anonymous the human has been summoned to Equestria just outside Ponyville, by a powerful unicorn who died in the process, when the spell he cast transferred all his energy, which included life energy.

With no way back, new powers and new friends. Anon tries to adjust to his new life but nothing is ever perfect.

This is set in season 7.

Warning: The following story you are about to read is currently unedited.

In 835, Princess Celestia made history by having her picture be taken by the newly made invention called the daguerreotype camera. However, a week before, she found herself engaged in a conversation with three art critics who worried that this invention might summon the death of painting as they knew it.

Viewers would like to know that all the following criticism in this story is based on actual historical beliefs of how photography was seen in the 19th century. Any similarities to the new genre of AI art is purely coincidental.

"In The Precocious Princeling's Guide to Diplomatic Relations, there are three rules for how a royal ought to conduct himself abroad.

1. A diplomat of Equestria must obey all local laws of the nation they are assigned to.
2. A diplomat of Equestria should advocate for the interests of Equestria to the best of their abilities.
3. Under no circumstance should a diplomat of Equestria get involved in the following: Political parties, popular uprisings, peasant revolutions, class solidarity movements, coups d'etat, or other attempts at regime change, violent or otherwise.

By the time I had finished my tenure in Saddle Arabia, I had broken all three."
-Prince Blueblood, First of His Name