With the Rainbow Festival a resounding success, the Mane Six relish in a job well done. They have helped bring joy and smiles back to Hope Hollow, and they look forward to hearing about many more successful Rainbow Festivals to come.

However, one of the townsponies interests them. The designer pony Kerfuffle is missing the lower half of her left hind leg.

Why is that, they wonder?

Rated Highly Recommended by Present Perfect
Featured on EQD 05/07/2020

Rainbow Dash makes the mistake of showing Twilight her Daring Do fanfic, and gets lectured about the proper use of dashes.

This is followed by the worst pun in the universe.

Starlight has a problem. Twilight left on an ambassadorial mission to the zebras less than a week ago. Just this morning, a businesspony showed up on the doorstep of the Castle of Friendship and stole the Alicorn Amulet right out from under her nose.

Rainbow Dash has a solution. Steal the Amulet back. How hard could it possibly be, right? Okay, so the Amulet's being kept in one of the most secure vaults in Equestria. And it's surrounded by guards and bystanders. And there's no one in Ponyville who has much experience in heists or robberies or law-breaking of any kind. Oh, and said businesspony is planning on selling the powerful artifact of dark magic on the black market, putting the whole thing on a time crunch. And they don't even have the blueprints to the place. But other than that, it'll be easy!

Starlight has a problem. This is the closest thing to a solution she has.

This can only end well.

Takes place before the season 6 finale.

I have lived my entire life among the ice at the top of the world with my pod. I knew little of the world outside of the ways of We of the Sea, and as a filly, that suited me just fine. But one day, the steel whales came, and on their backs, they carried creatures not unlike myself, yet wholly different. For while I swam in the sea, they walked on the land and flew through the air. Yet they reminded me of my kind, so curious, so tragic, and so infinitely precious. Where they did not understand, they sought to learn with a foolish stubbornness. Where they wandered far from home, they extended their hooves in friendship.

Where they waged their wars, they fought with a violent savagery that was frightening to me.

As I held a dear friend close, the breath fleeing from his body, I only wanted to know one thing.

Why?

Cover art and inspiration by JhonnyRebel. Pre-reading provided by djthomp.

Featured on Equestria Daily!
And an awesome reading by Illya Leonov!
Another awesome reading by Scribbler!

Russian translation of this story can be found here, courtesy of NovemberDragon!

The stars will soon be right, releasing an ancient horror from its cage.

Twilight has something to say about that.

Has a reading done by StraightToThePointStudio.

After the events of the Canterlot Wedding, the Changelings regroup and plot a return. Upon their comeback, they successfully imprison every live equine in Equestria into cocoons within the span of a year. Nesting in the mountain next to Canterlot, the Changelings feed off of the thousands of ponies' love, claiming Equestria as their own.

Many years after their triumph, one pony escapes her cocoon prison through sheer luck, discovering Equestria to be a dark and barren wasteland of dead trees and no existing plant-life. Searching for any means of survival that she can find, the individual pony seeks a safe place to hide from the Changelings hot on her tail, knowing that if she gets captured again, they will put her back in her cocoon where she will be trapped for the rest of her life, dooming her kind forever.

Twilight is called on to be a political Emissary to the far northern kingdoms. Due to the attacks from Tirek and the others, the land borders have been altered. Several miles of land that was once considered to be a part of Equestria is now within the borders of their northern neighbors. It is ruled solely by a pony that is as unwavering as steel. Twilight is tasked with being an emissary to this kingdom and try to negotiate to have him withdraw his claim to the territory. Meeting him is going to change everything she knows about how an Overlord rules his ponies. She finds out just how politics works for him and how he treats his subjects. She reminds herself to keep an open mind and treat him as she would any other. She is not prepared for what she finds. A stallion that rules alone. One that is more complex than she realized. One that if offended could spell disaster for Equestria itself. Hunter Flame is about to make her realize that nothing is as simple as she thinks it is.

Story is loosely based off the Overlord Video Games By Triumph Studios

Cover art by https://www.fimfiction.net/user/228967/Little+Tigress

Featured on Front Page 3/9/2019! OMG! Thank you!
Featured on Front Page 3/18/2019
Featured: 6/4/2019
Featured: 5/16/2021
Featured: 9/4/2022

Adopted from infancy, Equestria is the only world Flash Skies has ever known and loved. A beautiful world filled with adventure, love, and awesome friends, life is good. But when you're the only member of your species in an alien world, eventually you want to find out where you came from and if there are others like you. With the help of his friends, he finds his way back to Earth, but will he like what he finds? He may discover more than he bargained for, and an enemy that's been waiting for him to come home.

"Alright what even is this? Why hasn't this been featured, and why are there so few upvotes? I almost passed it by and I expected to drop it immediately due to low quality. But, nope it’s the best human raised by equestrians I’ve read this far." -A Predatorial Horse

"This was a fantastic read that I just happened to come across randomly.
This is a unique approach that is a breath of fresh air. In a sea of mostly silly stories, you're creating something that seems more real than most. Thank you for your work on this take, and I will be looking forward to seeing this story through!" -Chillean

"GREAT STORY!
It's rare for me to come across a good human in Equestria story that feels organic and not forced.
Too bad it's over. Now I've gotta wait years for the sequel to be done before I can read it." -Mocha Star

"Upside to reading at work: quality entertainment while waiting for the day to end.
Downside to reading at work: when said quality entertainment legitimately makes me cry in empathy." -Striving for Harmony

A non-spoiler review to whet your appetite!

MADE IT TO POPULAR STORIES! UPDATE! MADE IT TO MAIN PAGE RECOMMENDED BOX!

"Okay everypony! Time to play Oubliettes and Ogres!" Twilight said, holding up the reference book like the ponies hadn't seen it multiple times before.

Pinkie Pie clapped her hooves. "Oh silly-filly, we can say 'Dungeons and Dragons' we're both owned by Hasbro!" She was ignored.

"Dungeons and Dragons, I mean, Oubliettes and Ogres? Don't you know that's Nightmare Moon's game?" The Doctor gasped sticking his head through the window.

Princess Luna pushed him out of the way and stuck her in the window and shouted, "Just because we were mad with jealous and bruised ego, does NOT mean all our hobbies at the time were themselves evil!"

Twilight Sparkle blinked and uncurled an ancient scroll examining it closely. "At least that explains the ancient 'Slay the Tyrant Sun' campaign module from the ancient first editions I found in the Castle of the Two Sisters."

Luna blushed.

This is a group-story/addventure/chain-story/round robin, fanfic 'story' of the Mane Six Plus Spike playing Dungeons and Dragons/Oubliettes and Ogres, with occasional guest players (like Trixie or Gilda), with Spike and Twilight rotating as Dungeon Master. It's intended to be an IN-CHARACTER comedy.

However, except for the opening set-up post, each post should be more self contained, if say (in joke) Twilight is fire balled by a Mimic in one post in a desert pyramid, the next post can have them sailing a ship encountering seaponies siren expies, each one containing a short joke, or an extension of a previous scene if that's what the poster wants. Time skips, flash backs, the ponies rotating different characters and campaigns, are all allowed (and ENCOURAGED) as long as the ponies stay in character (such as Pinkie Pie NOT fireballing a cabbage sales stallion and saying she thought he was a demon, thank you very much).

There are prototype rules and may change with time.

It's also intended to be an INDEPENDENT UNIVERSE from the Pony POV Series OR the Pinkie Pie Variety Show! So things aren't esoteric.

What's you post in the comments, it's then copy and pasted into the fic above, have fun.

Basic rule: EVERYONE IS IN CHARACTER!!!!

Cover image by SolanumEpidemic

TROPE PAGE LINK:
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Fanfic/PoniesAndDragons

Friar Jacques de Charrette was tired. The Templars, his first Order, were gone, massacred by a treacherous King. His old wars are over, as the Kingdoms of Europe tear each other apart for land and power. Now a Hospitaller priest, and an old man, Friar Jacques expects nothing more than to live out the rest of his days in peace. But Providence has other plans in store for Jacques, and when a distant land has need of his aid, the dutiful warrior priest will answer the call.

He just would have preferred that someone warn him about the magical talking ponies.

Perhaps an odd foray into Human in Equestria writing, but I enjoy being unconventional. We often see modern men flung into the medieval world. What about a medieval man being flung into modern Equestria? A 14th Century Supplement in Celestia's Court is a companion volume, with a list of character descriptions (first chapter), canonical vignettes, and non-canon comedy chapters which will be added as time goes on. It is not required reading, but you may find chapters useful for context or amusing for the lack of context.

General disclaimer: this story is a work of fiction. 'My Little Pony' is the property of Hasbro and its affiliates. References to historical figures are made, but these are subject to creative license, and resemblance between original characters and those of other works are coincidental. I will make an effort to note when a historical reference is made in case people want to check the source material (and to cite my own sources), but these will be relatively few in number.

My Little Pony and its contents are the property of Hasbro, Inc. and its affiliates. Please support the official release.

Cover art is Heor Corbray by Nordheimer - it is the property of Nordheimer and I own nothing of it; thanks to lordelliot for finding the original, since I couldn't remember where I found it.