Twilight goes downstairs for a midnight snack during a bout of insomnia and steps right over the edge of her own accepted reality into something inexplicable.

"Every normal pony must be tempted, at times, to spit on her hooves, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats.”

Over brunch, Twilight Sparkle lines out her plans to turn to a life of villainy. For the most part, her friends are all for it.

It makes sense in context, honest.

This story is a sequel to Celebration at Twilight's

Discord wants to enjoy the Summer Sun celebration with the rest of Ponyville.

Sure, everybody's already dead by the time he arrives, but it's not like that's going to stop him.

A day following his horrific attack on both Canterlot and Ponyville, Tirek returns to lay claim on what remains. Including the dead.

Because they're all dead, right? Like, seriously, there's no way they could've survived that, right?

Right?

Tales of the strange and uncanny, too short to stand alone.

Welcome to my nightmare. I hope I didn't scare you.

* * *

Thanks to GaryOak and Reia Hope for proofreading.

The Controller — [Dark] Seeking revenge, Adagio enters a partnership with a force she doesn't understand.
The Cutie Mark Crusaders Meet H.P. Fearcraft — [Comedy] The CMC ask an eccentric writer how he found his special talent. (Edited for publication.)
It Ain't Gonna Rain — [Tragedy] The world is ending, and Applejack has something important to tell Rainbow.
The Complete Microfictions of Horse Voice — [Various] Stories short enough to read between breaths.
Molly — [Grimdark/Meta] Molly does not have much to say these days. But someone has a lot to say to Molly.

Reviews:
Titanium Dragon

What if pony princesses were actually highly social carnivores?

What if a National Geographic team began following them around to film a documentary?

What if nopony saw anything unusual about this?

A metaphor about growing up. Or possibly a metaphor about living in a surveillance society. Or maybe just a very, very weird idea that needed to become a story.

Why do ponies dream? Why do we all seem to dream the same dreams?

What if we started to dream new things?

Discord said he wanted to make our dreams more interesting. Add some spice to our boring nocturnal lives. Nothing dangerous – just a bit of excitement to talk about in the mornings.

"Stop worrying so much, Twilight Sparkle," he said. "After all, dreams never hurt anypony."

How I wish he’d been right.

Gold Medalist in the Under the Sun Writeoff Event.

Now with Russian translation, courtesy of Cloud Ring! https://darkpony.space/the-archetypist-1/

This story is a prequel to Sol Invictus

Just keep walking. So long as the sun is on your right, you'll stay alive. Just keep walking.

Thank you to Zontan, Red Parade, Atom Smash, Drider, Grand Moff Pony, Exodd, Aurora Dawn, Vis-a-Viscera, YourUncleFuncle, Shaslan, and a special shout-out to Seer, who wrote a phenomenal sequel, Sol Invictus!

Tied for first place in the Sketch Contest for the Quills and Sofas Speedwriting Group. The prompt was a few YCH-style sketches, and we were to write something that the sketch could be used for as coverart. We're on Discord here if you'd like to join us.

Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash got to go to the Griffin Kingdom.

Rarity and Applejack got to go to Manehattan.

Stuck in Ponyville without any magical Friendship Quests to go on, Twilight can do little but try to unlock the secrets of the Cutie Map herself. Fluttershy tries to help.

It doesn't go well.

(Set in the same vague continuity as the rest of my fanfics- in particular, this takes place some time after I Am Trying to Break Your Heart)

The real reason Twilight and Moondancer had a sudden falling out.

Written for Telly Vision for Jinglemas 2021

It now has an audio reading!