Celestia travels to a far corner of her kingdom to investigate a rumor about a colt with strange, illicit cutie marks. She meets Radish Root, a boy whose marks make him an anomaly in the fabric of Equestria, a mystery to himself, and an outcast among society.
When Radish joins the Royal Guard just prior to the return of Nightmare Moon, he finds his life being complicated by all the changes coming to Equestria. His marks will lead him into adventure, intrigue, and trouble... but will they ever lead him to answers?

Proofreader: Slavenger Karl
Cover Art Gallery
Table of original characters
A reader is translating this story into Spanish. Check it out here.

This story is a sequel to The waiting is the hardest part

Tricked into thinking that they each personally came up with the idea of a nice cozy night in, Twilight and Jack have a nice cozy night in, like they used to do x-many years ago and like they've clearly been wanting to do for however-long now but haven't been for reasons of mutual awkwardness.

Meanwhile, weather.

The Duke thought that having Prince DeSoutter packed off as envoy to Equestria would keep the aggravating boy safely out of the way and while it generally does, he does also come back every so often, often with things that the Duke really doesn't want to hear.

After 989 years on the moon, Nightmare Moon is eagerly awaiting her return to Equestria, take down her sister, and claim what should rightfully be hers.

However, one can only brood and plan for so long before things grow... stagnant.

And then, something catches her eye, coming towards her moon's surface at an alarming speed. Maybe this, whatever it is, will prove to aid her in her plans.

[Sex] tag for implications, nothing explicit (obviously it's rated T guys yeesh).

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Story was written for Jinglemas 2021 as a gift for PeerImagination. They wanted a Nightmare Moon and Human romance, and I hope I did good by ya! Apologies for the story length, but it got waaaay out of hand on me and I have a disease where if I'm writing something I'm liking then I tend to do more than I should.

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Cover art by Aquaticvibes, used without permission so if there are any issues feel free to yell at me.

Pre-read and edited by the wonderful Pascoite who helped a ton with the olden speech, and Fregz for putting up with the initial storyboarding that went out of control.

Top of the Box of Shame (M on) 12/26/2021, 12/27/2021 (Oh no not this shit again), 12/28/2021 (The third day), 12/29/2021 (YOU'RE KILLING ME, SMALLS!)

Phoenix came to Equestria two years ago through circumstances unknown. For two years, Phoenix had waited for Princess Celestia and her top scholars to answer one question: Will he be able to go home?

The answer finally came... And it was "No"

His new friends have, surprisingly, found he's taken the news quite well. Very well!... Maybe even too well. However, they never had a reason to doubt Phoenix wasn't doing as great as he said he was. That is, until he tells Twilight Sparkle he wants to explore his new home by walking from Ponyville to the Crystal Empire with no bits, the clothes on his back, and whatever he can fit into his small, makeshift backpack.

Lyra Heartstrings loves humans, so much so that she wrote a book about humans. Unfortunately for her, the rest of Equestria doesn't share her enthusiasm. They don't even believe the legendary creatures are real. Luckily for her, she's got the proof, and the proof's name is Archard.

This is a commission. If you'd like your own commission, feel free to PM me, or support me on patreon.
Cover art provided by Ramiras

The Lyra Laws is a companion to this story, which you should read, by Shinigamimirror