Twilight has been in love with Rainbow Dash for quite some time now, and plans to tell her on their next trip: A resort to Mount Everhoof. The disaster that follows may force her to confess earlier than planned... or take that secret to the grave.

Growing up in Skyros, Opaline has always felt like the odd one out. Though she is an alicorn, she is ostracized by the only two other alicorns she knows: Celestia and Luna. Still grieving over the recent loss of her parents and desperate for acceptance and friendship, Opaline tries to win the approval of the princesses, who only turn up their noses at her.

Soon, the innocence in Opaline’s heart gives way to a darkness that will change everything.

Sheila could say that, while she wasn't exactly satisfied with her life yet, she enjoyed it. She had nice friends to talk to, hobbies she enjoyed, and while she might have been conflicted about some things, she had a lifetime to think it over before she would emigrate. By then, everything would be as she wanted it, and there would be nothing left to worry about.

And then she was shot.

Now she and her friends find themselves navigating a position that's seemingly untenable, one with waters muddied by a dictatorial AI hellbent on providing satisfaction through friendship and ponies. With the line between what's genuine and what's not unclear, the position seems an unwinnable one. Someone will draw the short straw, and have to face a life that's unfulfilled. Any other path to satisfaction now forces it to be made from lies and deception.

Satisfaction may be a guarantee in the world of Equestria Online, but at what cost does satisfaction come?

Cover art by Madelinne. Her art is extremely good, and very wonderful, and I appreciate her allowing me to commission her for this story.

With great help by Starscribe, who's FiO stories inspired me to write this to begin with and who sat with me for hours to help me outline this story and give it its sense of direction.

This story is a sequel to Closing the Barn Door

Two vaults with two experiments. One set the ponies out on their own, forming a tribal group. One kept them close, creating a vault-dweller herd of ponies. But there's still one more to be seen. How were they treated and what did they form?

Let's bring this story to a close(?) with the ongoing adventures of our mane character, Buttercup, the robotic companion horse designed to serve at a child's side, even in the wasteland.

Have you ever just been having a regular day, then suddenly, BAM, you're dead? Well, no, of course you haven't. But what do you expect to happen after you die? If the answer was getting shoved into an overly pink copy of a pony princess, you'd be lying. Worse yet, she made me an alicorn just like her, which causes a whole new set of problems.

Unfortunately, she was adamant that I stay and become her twin sister. I ditched her immediately in my bumbling confusion and fear, and who could blame me? The last thing on my mind was being here! Ponies, princesses, and twin sisters? What kind of fantasy story was that? I was on the run, hiding from guard patrols, and fighting for my next meal. However, my own hubris caught up to me in the end, and her super powerful mother, Cadance, found me and made me see how stupid I was being. And Cadance, is an absolutely crazy powerful pony, with an even more powerful maternal instinct. So when it came down to her word against mine, she was really hard to convince, and she wasn't taking no for an answer.

(AKA, Super wholesome, fluffy, found family. And me having fun tugging on heartstrings.)
(Cover image by: me)

After a devastating Third World War, a planet nearly identical to Earth was discovered hiding on the other side of the sun. Desperate to bring hope back to a war-torn world, all nations united to send a manned mission to investigate the new planet. But when the old war pilot sent to explore it arrives, he will learn that there is more to this new world than anyone could have imagined, and that it holds some secrets that will change both worlds forever.

Edited By slateblu1

Sunset left the human world dozens of moons ago, and has embarked on a new journey through Zebrica.

Wait, what's she doing with mercenaries?

Cover art belongs to the artist

Written for the 2023 Equestria at War writing contest

Featured! 6/9/2023

Prequel Sunset at War out now!

Bald Ostrich, was once a human. Now he’s a pegasus, in a land that looks eerily like medieval Europe. Will he find a way home? Will he even survive past a week? How will becoming the consort of the Princess of Night go?

And why is the Day Princess so wary of him? Also some old guy with a Beard is a massive asshole. What a dick.

Now it has a sequel

Whilst waiting for Rarity to finish her shift at Nightmare Moon's castle, the Cutie Mark Crusaders listen to cutie mark stories from a strange assortment of ponies who happen upon them, including a vain femboy, a headstrong veteran, a shifty necromancer, and more!

Takes place in my New Lunar Millennium alternate universe. More information can be found here.

Proofread and edited by Izzy Incraft. Additional proofreading and editing by Ebonyglow.

Detailed content warnings per chapter included in author's notes.

Same continuity as The Queen of the Dark.

No pony deserves to be alone and forgotten.

Entry to the Thousand Words Story Contest.