Twilight had never really seen fog before. The weather team in Ponyville had always checked the skies and made sure nothing disastrous ever happened. But one day, Twilight wakes up to discover that a omnious fog has enveloped Ponyville, obscuring everything. Worried, she becomes determined to find out the cause behind it.

But what she will discover will be nothing like she imagined...

After Applejack tells Apple Bloom and Scootaloo not to see the hottest movie in Equestria, the two fillies take it upon themselves to sneak off and see it anyway. With a clever lie, their night is practically assured to go off without a hitch.

The only thing they hadn't accounted for was the movie theater itself...

EQDaily featured! - 4/8/12

Disaster has struck three little ponies. Sweetie Belle has a terrible case of hiccups and it's up to her friends to find somepony to help before their fellow Crusader finds herself with a cutiemark for hiccuping... then they'd never stop!

Image is by Fongsaunder, check out his gallery here: http://fongsaunder.deviantart.com/gallery/

Strange nightmares are plaguing the ponies of Equestria.

Somepony must help ponies to face their deepest fears, but unless Princess Luna is able to discover who—or what—is responsible, the nightmares may never end.

Scootaloo is ready to prove that she can be as fearless as her big sister, Rainbow Dash, even if it means never having a peaceful night's sleep again.

Twilight sends Spike shopping at the market. He returns with a strange furry fruit. Overcome with curiosity, Twilight tries it.
The original Twilight Eats a Peach story. Accept no substitutes!

Mood Wings - Observations on Pegasus Body Language.

When Twilight Sparkle finds this book, she discovers an entirely new field of research. The secrets of pegasus wings lie before her, and she insists on making her own observations on the matter.

How?

Field research, of course.

There comes a time when the light must go out; but how do you know if you've burned brightly enough?

Equestria stands on the brink of ruin. A necromancer has raised an army of the dead and is poised to plunge the world into darkness. Monsters and brigands roam freely across the land, preying upon the innocent.

Only one hope remains. Armed with swords, spells, snacks, and a bag of dice, five heroes band together to defeat the forces of evil… if their rolls are good enough.

Welcome to gaming night in Ponyville.

Dramatic reading by Goombasa.

Cover image by Elosande used with permission.

It's been a couple of weeks and way more than a couple of games since Pinkie Pie introduced the Mane Six to the joys of playing the classic real-time strategy title, Age of Empires II. Unanswered questions surround this mysterious game: where did it come from? Who made it? Why is there so much killing?

Never mind all that - Twilight Sparkle and her friends have a game to play!

NOTE: Though I've tried to make the story more about the relationships between the four gamers (no Rarity or Fluttershy, sorry!) than about the game itself, some rudimentary knowledge about Age of Empires II is required if you want to understand what is going on. I wrote this as a short-ish story so I'm not really going to go into technical details much.

=====INFO AFTER BREAK=====
References consulted while writing story:
ZeroEmpires (Commentary on Competitive AoE II matches)
wikiHow (5 Ways to Make Your Economy Boom in Age of Empires II)
Wikipedia (for info on Byzantines, Moon & Vikings)
Luttwak, E. "The Grand Strategy of the Byzantine Empire" (Harvard University Press, USA), 2009 (Byzantine military strategy)

Youtube links:
Prologue - PakAttack95 (Youtube Channel)
Main Menu and Victory Music - mikec1000 Civilization Themes

Cover Image:
Wikipedia
Age of Empires II
Cutie Mark Vectors by Hawk9mm (deviantART page)

June 1st, 8:03 P.M.

One of Equestria's most feared creatures ventures into the home of Princess Twilight Sparkle. The stage is set for one of the greatest battles known to ponykind. Only one will survive this epic clash of wits.