Retirement. It was a tough subject for Spitfire. She knew she was about to retire soon, but she hadn' t notified Fleetfoot and Soarin of her decision. Unfortunately for Spitfire, Fleetfoot already knows and is more than apt to tell her all of her feelings on the matter. She's angry. She's anxious. She's upset.

She just wants Spitfire not to leave. Was it that hard to want something like this in life?

Apparently to Spitfire, there's more to this than meets the eye.

Written originally for a Speedwrite for Quills and Sofas' Spitfire Contest under both prompts Leave No One Behind and Finish Line, where it tied for 1st place. This is a revised expanded version of said fic that is now a submission to the 2024 Wonderbolts Sitewide Contest.

Pre-read by 6-D Pegasus.

Prince Blueblood is many things.

He's a Unicorn, He's royalty, He's a stallion, He's entitled, He's high-class, And most importantly he's not here right now.

If Blueblood isn't here right now, then who's that?

Well, That's Blueblood, the new Blueblood that is, a human in the body of Blueblood.

What will follow the actions of the new prince can be nothing short of disastrous.

Warning, this story contains Jokes, Magical Politics, a human-turned pony who doesn't know about MLP, Prince Blueblood doing Blueblood things, "Wine-Moms", and a very large sum of money.
You have been warned.

Featured for the first time two hours after being published :) 24/4/2023

Legend has it that on the longest day of the thousandth year, the stars will aid in her escape.

After one-thousand years of being bound in the celestial body, Nightmare Moon is free! Right alongside the poor sap that got bound with her.

Thrust into an unfamiliar world, with scars and memories that are now drastically out of place, this is the story of the former guard captain, Magic Barrier.

Do the words above sound familiar? If they do, then you've probably read my other story, A Pony Displaced. This tale isn't a sequel. It isn't a rewrite, though you might consider it a re-imagining of sorts. It is a tale of progression, one that I hope will show my development as a writer in both skill and quality. But more importantly, it is a story that offers exploration into one simple question. What if Magic Barrier had trotted down another path?

As always, thanks go out to everyone who helped me get to this point. In particular, thank you to Alticron, for editing, proofreading, co-writing, being my idea-wall, and arguably the single biggest reason this story saw the light the day, and thank you to Word Worthy, formerly Izanagi, who also edited, proofread, and threw ideas around with us. It wouldn't be possible without these two. In addition to those two I'd like to thank the newest member of the group Omnicron25 for his efforts in proofing/editing as well. Damn glad to have you on board mate.

Additional thanks to Wing for keeping me company late nights and for being a wordsmith when I needed one.

This story did not explode! What a relief and/or letdown.

Part of OPERATION CRACKFIC STORM 2024 ( group | stories ).

Thanks to Silk Rose for coming up with the idea, writing chapters 22 and 9, and developing the code; thanks also to Meadowsys for general code help.

Thanks to IrradiatedPirateBooty ( tumblr ) for the awesome character art.

And thanks to everyone in the comments who stuck around for the final countdown!

Updates Every Friday!

The Frostmane Territories is nothing like Equestria, and nothing seems to work the same way- it's wild, the seasons run on their own schedule, and the weather has a mind of it's own. Now an entire village has gone silent, and one pilot is tasked to get a doctor there to head off a looming disaster.

The terrain is fearsome, time is running out, and events past and present will challenge him when he has to make life-or-death decisions that will affect the lives of Ponies near and far. What will he do when the line between right and wrong is blurred?

Are there some mistakes you can never recover from?

As a general rule, leaving your future bride at the altar and abandoning your entire family to flee the city of Canterlot is a bad idea.

Then again, you never know just who you'll meet on the train to your new life.

Main Course is a successful chef and restaurant owner. Or he was, anyway, until a fire tore up his life's work and left him adrift. When he visits his sister in the rural backwater town of Ponyville, he discovers an abandoned building that's perfect for a quick fix-up so he can flip it for a profit. But the building comes with an unforeseen tenant, and when he lets her stick around he discovers that maybe, just maybe, there's something out there more important than wealth and fame.

Night Glider has lived in Starlight's old village for a long time and needs to get out... if only for the weekend. There's gotta be more to life, right? A greater purpose? Maybe she'll find it in Canterlot, if she's lucky.

Spike, who works at the Canterlot castle full-time, is comfortable in his daily routine of lounging about, doing what Twilight asks him and hanging out with his friends on the weekend. Why would he want anything to change when he knows exactly what to expect day after day... after day... after day. Okay, maybe he was too comfortable. Starlight was keen on making that change.

Maybe getting asked to be the official tour guide for the weekend for a mare looking for something new in life is just what the both of them need to learn a little more about themselves, what they want and what experiences life can offer?

It's only a weekend though. It's not like anything too crazy can happen, right?

Artwork by CaptainPudgeMuffin

A collab with the wonderful Soaring

Everypony has a story. Some tell of heroic feats and grand adventure. Others tell of villainy against the forces of Harmony. The story of an average guard, however, is one of obscurity. They live in the background, unnoticed but ever-present.

Silent Knight assumed his tale would be like that of his father's: join the Royal Guard and serve Equestria. He would be just another helmet and spear, part of the rank and file. And that was all he ever wanted.

However, when Captain Shining Armor asked for volunteers to form a House Guard for the recently returned Princess Luna, it was Silent's hooves that stepped forwards to set his new life in motion.

It wasn't Eric's fault he hit the alien with his truck. How was he supposed to see a dog-sized horse walking down the highway in the pouring rain? His life would've been simpler if he just left the animal like any other roadkill. But in his injured delirium, the horse spoke.

This accident soon ends with an intimate personal knowledge of just how dangerous magic can be. An ancient rises, tied to a mysterious tome the pegasus was protecting on the night of the accident. A malevolent force grows within those pages, whispering louder and louder about the cleansing flame. But without the spells inside that cursed tome, Eric's humanity will be gone forever.

He has no choice but to master the words of power contained within, before his life is turned to ashes around him

A commission for Muziki. Edited by Two Bit and Sparktail. Cover by Zutcha.

The various artistic works created for this story are credited to their artists within the chapter they appear.