Tell me more of what lies beyond here.

Written as a gift for garatheauthor. Edited and preread by The Red Parade and Snow Quill.

Fluttershy lives a peaceful life with her geese, taking them every night to graze in the meadows above the palace, hurrying home before the forbidden sun rises. She tries not to look at the statues of the fallen princess with her sun cutie mark, broken and half-buried in the undergrowth. She tries not to look at the Midnight Spire as it rises before her, dark and terrible.

Trigger Warning: and please take these seriously, as this story gets dark - blood, injury, violence, elements of abusive relationships, and even some slight suggestions of non-consent. These aren't used gratuitously and are treated with the appropriate horror by the main character. Please do not read if any of this will be triggering to you. This is an exploration of what the Nightmare Moon AU would be like for poor Fluttershy, and is correspondingly dark.

This story is the first of four. The second is The Sorcerer and the Seneschal, with the others coming soon.

This was originally written as a christmas present for Zontan and if you like the tone of it I suggest you read his Shadow Within.

You remember Canterlot. You remember the taste of victory. Across a thousand years and a hundred lives, it was the greatest joy you had ever felt.

And then, in a flash of heat and unbearable light, it ended.

Now you are alone. The rest of your kind are dead or scattered, and you cannot hear their thoughts.

There is a void inside you. A gnawing, endless hunger you cannot escape. It is killing you.

You need love to survive, but there is none of that here. Not for you. You can only steal it from them, these ponies for whom we are hungry.

[My entry in and winner of the "Most Dangerous Game" contest."]

Octavia muses on life and love.

Now with a live reading! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrAgWnKIkbk

Applejack tells her family about her new relationship. It doesn't go well.

Featured!

Now with a reading: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAwUbOgtPSc
And a second reading! : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L--qEC39aA0

Rated Highly Recommended by PresentPerfect!

This story is a sequel to Anchor Foal: A Romantic Cringe Comedy

It's been over a year and when it comes to the little routines of labor and love, Fleur still hasn't managed to fully adjust. She needs to find some means of making it all last. And one thing she can definitely try to do is screen out anything which threatens to make her mate unhappy. Such as, just by way of very unwelcome example, the brother. Because Zephyr wants to be part of Fluttershy's life. He claims to have changed. But Fleur doesn't know whether change is truly possible.

Or if she's really changed at all.

(Now with author Patreon and Ko-Fi pages.)

The Long Patrol is an extension of the crown. It brings the rule of law and the princess's banner to the far reaches of the kingdom, the places where harmony fades and the wild chaos of nature still reigns.

In times past, all the tribes took part in the patrol. Today, it is mostly pegasi and a few gryphons. The distances they travel are simply too vast for anyone without wings.

Like most gryphons who join, I wanted to get away from my kind. I dreamed of the adventures I would have and the friends I would make. I certainly got those.

I just wish the price weren't so high.

[My entry for the EqD Summer "Outsider Insight" contest.]

Years ago, Princess Twilight Sparkle of Equestria helped show a group of humans the magic of friendship, and they've never forgotten how much it meant to them. Since then, Twilight has continued to return to visit her friends in their world, and even as her coronation looms large on the horizon, they'd been confident things would work out.

But when a serious malfunction renders the device keeping the portal open useless and seemingly irreparable, Princess Twilight is left struggling to come up with a solution, or even answers. As the possibility that they might never see their old friend in person again grows, the Rainbooms decide to send a series of letters to the Princess, expressing their personal gratitude for the influence she's had in their lives, well-wishes for her rule in Equestria and cautious optimism for the future.

Cover art by D+CON! Used with permission.

Written for Bicyclette's The Twilight Files contest. See the other entries here! Pre-read by The Sleepless Beholder. The chapter "Letter 1: Rarity" ties in with the Bean's Writing Group prompt "An Artistic Touch", while "Letter 7: Fluttershy" ties in with "Someone is Missing".

Featured on 7/19/22 to 7/23/22!

Note this story only considers animated media as canon, and deviates from the depiction of events seen in literary or comic media like The Fall of Sunset Shimmer and Twilight's Sparkly Sleepover Surprise.

No one makes it through life unchallenged. For every person there comes a time when the world hurts them, betrays them, or calls on them for something great. It is in those dire moments that six mares will learn just what they are made of.

Sometimes the best medicine isn't for the body. It is for the soul.

[Second place finisher in the March Writeoff competition.]

Fluttershy's kindness to all creatures is legendary in Ponyville. When a freak storm blows in from the Everfree Forest, however, she and her friends discover the limits of compassion, and the dangers of living with your heart wide open to the world.