It was an average day in Carousel Boutique.

And then the monster came.

Edited by ROBCakeran53.
Original art and character by kianamai.

Spike and Gabby have been dating for a few weeks, and everything is great! In their short time together, they’ve found that they click on so many more levels than they did as friends. There is never an awkward moment between them, and now that they’re on the third date, it’s time to take it to the next level: The kiss. 

The mere thought of it fills Spike with nerves, but not of the excited kind. Instead of anticipation, all he feels is dread. He wants to kiss her. He needs to kiss her. There’s just one little problem.

He doesn’t know how to kiss a beak.

Thanks to Jack of a Few Trades for editing and helping round out the ideas of this story.

Also, thanks to Not Enough Coffee for prereading this and giving his always awesome feedback.

Art by: yuyusunshine

Twilight is desperate for love—and that desperation dooms her chances for it.

Hence The Love Protocols. Rules set in place to stop her feelings from making a mistake. Desperate enough to nearly date anyone, she needs the rules in place from getting with the wrong pony—or messing things up with the right one. 

Spike assures Twilight she's not so shallow and that, given dating experience, her tastes would narrow. Yet she requests his aid in finding love at a bar. 

How will our wingman fare in helping Twilight find somepony to love?

[Cover by Maren]

As someone who has spent much of his time around authority figures, Spike knows well how difficult it can be for them to just relax. And this is something Smolder learns too, when the two of them receive Dragon Lord Ember for an afternoon.

Speed Reader may only be a temporary product of a fusion spell brewed by Dash and Twilight, but she's still got the Wonderbolt Barracks to herself for a whole half hour before she splits again. Just long enough to tangle with someone whom her halves would most certainly kick to the curb if either of them were in control.

But they're not in control. Speed Reader is. She can read ponies like books, and Lightning Dust is after something in the archives. Something important.

Now with a written review!

This is an entry in the Snippet Series, an anthology of old oneshots that I (and my good buddy Str8aura) wrote based around interesting pics I found. New ones will be posted every Thursday for the foreseeable future.

Ronald Lee is the systems administrator for one of the largest fan-made online games in the world. Though nothing new has been produced for MLP for decades now, fans old and young continue to flock to the online version of Equestria they're building together.

Of course he knew that the programs they wrote would grow more intelligent over time. With cheaper hardware and better AI, this was always expected, and a user experience allowing for content similar to the show to be produced in real time for every user was always tantalizingly close.

Then Starlight Glimmer started talking to him.

This story is a prequel to Synthesis, and doesn't require knowledge of that story. You may want to check it out when you're done here, however.

This story was commissioned by Two Bit, who also helped edit because he is an absolute mad lad. Sparktail helped too.

Cover by Zutcha

This story is a sequel to Leading Causes

Twilight Sparkle has more than a little anxiety about Spike's upbringing. In the wake of the Molt and the Sludge fiasco, those anxieties are clearer and stronger than ever. Like any good caretaker, she took advantage of an opportunity to learn more about dragons, including their needs and, most importantly, their vulnerabilities.

What started as a casual conversation about death for Smolder spiraled out of control into a full-fledged princess freakout, one that she is in the middle of. When it becomes clear that her teachers are completely hopeless when it comes to dragons, it's up to her to take Spike under her wing and teach him what they can't, one lesson at a time.

After a surprising number of requests for a sequel to "Leading Causes", I finally came up with something of a quasi-anthology of Smolder's lessons to Spike. While I do have a fair number of ideas, expect sizable gaps between updates.

Rated for academic descriptions (but no depictions) of death, and possible future scenes of hunting and fishing at a level slightly too mature for an E rating. Warning tags may be added later if I, or any commenters, feel they're needed.

Dragons are something of an enigma to Equestria. Those who do live within the borders are largely reclusive, either building their hoards or sleeping away the decades. So far as dragons who are active in everyday life in Ponyville go, Smolder represents a 100% increase in the population.

Twilight cannot let this opportunity slip her by. Enough time has passed for it to not be a diplomatic faux pas to sit Smolder down and grill her for much needed details on her species, not only for the sake of science, but for the benefit of the young dragon in her personal care. Naturally, the topic of death comes up.

Twilight handles that about as well as you might expect.

Discussion of death is largely academic and intended to be comedic but I've tagged it teen to be safe. No actual death or scenes of violence are shown so I didn't think the death tag itself was needed. It's also tagged for comedy as that was my intent, but only you can tell me if it's actually funny or not.

Now with sequel: Growing Up Dragon

This story is a sequel to Sunset Shimmer Hunts the Undead

Principal Celestia and a bunch of other middle-aged high school teachers hunt the undead.

So does her adoptive daughter, Sunset Shimmer, alongside a farmer, an ex-siren, a forgettable nobody, and a dark mistress of unholy mad science.

These are their ongoing stories.

(Ask the hunters anything, here!)

(This story almost entirely consists of reader-submitted chapters. All ideas welcome, submit them here!)

Tracy Maxwell is in a desperate situation: find somewhere to live, or lose the internship he needs to survive. After exhausting every property in the city, one last option appears the day before his deadline. Sure the agent selling the place is a little weird, and more than a little overeager to get the property signed off. At the worst, maybe there's a little mold in the bathroom somewhere, and he has to make do until the lease is up.

But then he steps inside and discovers things can be much worse. The property is in another universe, and while he's there he'll have to play by its rules. He's free to continue working his dream job, so long as he keeps to the contract. Even worse, he's got a roommate who has no intention of leaving him alone.

If he ever wants to escape, he'll have to read the Fine Print.

This story now has a hardcover! If you'd like one of your own, you can grab it here: https://starscribe.net/

This story is a commission by _Kenzu_!