It's every young filly and colt's dream -- the moment they get their cutie mark. It is the instant they leave childhood behind.

For Firecracker, getting his cutie mark was a dream come true. Literally: he woke up, and there it was.

Now if only he could remember what his dream was about.

Leave it to Twilight Sparkle to create the greatest spell of the past century – and then want to destroy it.

It's too dangerous to use, she says. It's too tempting. It can't help you the way you think it can.

Well, Starlight Glimmer knows a thing or three about temptation. She'll prove to Twilight that this spell – this magnificent book – is too important to destroy. That it can help ponies.

She just has to survive using it, first.

Second place in the May 2018 WriteOff.

Cover art is "Reformed" by Okaces.

Twilight Sparkle is a happy pony. With the help of her friends she defeated Tirek. She has a shiny new castle, the kingdom is safe, and she knows the reason behind her ascension. What more could a young princess want?

She is happy, she tells herself as she digs through the ruins of her home. She is so happy she can barely smell the ashes any more.

But in those ashes she finds something unexpected: a small porcelain vase, and with it a decade's worth of unspoken questions. A mystery hiding beneath her hooves, waiting to be put to rest.

Winner of the November Writeoff event.

Twilight confronts the Tree of Harmony about the way it never sends her on Friendship Missions. The Tree explains itself. Kind of.

The original version of this story got 4th place in the Writeoff Association's 56th contest, "*Princess Not Included."

Today, you're watching your neighbor build a wall.

Maybe today, he'll be your friend.

And maybe today will last forever.

Written for the contest A Thousand Words.
An audio reading by Pony&Wolf Productions.

“A high-quality HiE... that elevates the genre.”
—PresentPerfect

A human living in Equestria owns a restaurant in Canterlot. Hearth's Warming is approaching. Demand is high.

Life is a series of challenges, and running a restaurant is undoubtedly a big one. Jean does his best as anyone can while dealing with other things that have come into his life as of late.

Rarity has an important question for her close friend, Twilight Sparkle.

Written for the Choices: Species Swap competition.

Pre-read, edited, and generally helped significantly by the awesome Gravelordnito.

Featured on 27/11/22, thank you! Thank you all!

Casketbase77 - Indisputably the best mood piece of this year’s batch of entries....This is neither a comfortable fic nor a feelgood fic.... Reflection is heavy on heartache, light on closure, and carried terrifically by Rarity's refusal to give up on a very troubled friend.

Edit: Now part of the Reflection-Verse Group

Edit: Now with an Audio Readthrough by Rainflicj3r

Somewhere in the storm, the van lost a window. No matter, the equipment is weatherproof and so are the pegasi.

Highway hypnosis can be cured by a trip to Starbucks. The weather ponies have never been, so what better opportunity?

Having a regular menu and deliveries of frozen, pre-diced vegetables once a week is boring. Going to the farmer's market every day after work and finding discounted food that will be otherwise thrown away, and then making a delicious dish out of it? That's a challenge that Parsnip can get behind.

There's no menu, and she sells out every day.

Inspired by this (YouTube link).
Pre-read by EileenSaysHi and AlwaysDressesInStyle

Featured on EquestriaDaily!

When Twilight receives one of the original journals of Starswirl the Bearded from Princess Luna, she can't wait to try the spells inside it, but the book's magic turns out to be a bit more than Twilight can handle, as her reckless experimentation leads to her accidentally bringing her reflection to life. At first, Twilight decides she quite likes the idea of having a copy around the library. But seeing herself from an outside perspective makes Twilight realize there are some parts of her personality she doesn't care for, forcing her to confront her issues.

Written in the same format as the show, save that it is longer and addresses somewhat sadder themes. No objectionable content or OC characters, focuses heavily on the mane cast.

Special thanks goes out to Pascoite and PavFeira, the two editors who somehow managed to withstand my childish scribbling long enough to make them readable. Couldn't have done it without you!