Her heart was broken. Her reputation in Ponyville was in ruins. A menace, they called her. Said she wasn't a real hero. Blamed her for the sudden disappearance of their real hero, Mare Do Well. She'd even been abandoned by her five best friends. Everything she thought she could count on was destroyed.

Bent on vengeance and driven by her raw emotions, Rainbow Dash becomes a villain that Ponyville won't soon forget. But she soon finds that not everything in Ponyville is quite what it seems.

Special thanks to DragonShadow, who pre-read and helped me revise this story. Thanks also to JofY, who gave suggestions for the second revision.

The comments are full of unmarked spoilers, so watch out.
Obviously, this contains massive spoilers for the season 2 episode "The Mysterious Mare Do Well," and one must have seen it before this story will make much sense.
Rated Teen for violence and some blood.

Filthy Rich has a problem. His daughter, Diamond Tiara, keeps breaking her promises to treat her classmates with more respect. In fact, she doesn't even seem to really understand what a promise is. Since punishing her does not seem to have much effect, Mr Rich is forced to consider a more creative parenting method. But how can he make such a spoiled, materialistic little filly as Diamond Tiara see the value of a promise?

With money, of course!

Now has a dramatic reading on Youtube! Kudos to DRWolf.

Comet takes his job too seriously. Angel doesn't take anything seriously.

Comet joined to protect kingdom and princess(es). Angel joined for adventure and danger.

Comet isn't interested in mares. Angel can't stop talking about stallions.

Comet is a pegasus. Angel is a bat pony.

Together, this unlikely duo goes through life as Royal Guards from basic training to fully fledged guardsponies. Who knows? Maybe they'll even start to get along.

Cover art by slawomiro.

After receiving her acceptance letter for Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns, young Applejack is excited to begin her studies, despite knowing nothing about magic. What she lacks in knowledge and skill, she makes up for with enthusiasm!

Alternate universe based on contrived coincidences and stupidity. Don't think about this one too hard.

6th place in the September 2014 Write-Off, "There is Magic in Everything."

A Diamond Dog king, feeling bold after gathering an army of 100,000 dogs, decides the best way to flex his new muscles would be to invade Equestria for past perceived slights. As such, he sends a letter to Princess Celestia with a declaration of war.

It goes about as well as you'd expect.

Equestria stands on the brink of ruin. A necromancer has raised an army of the dead and is poised to plunge the world into darkness. Monsters and brigands roam freely across the land, preying upon the innocent.

Only one hope remains. Armed with swords, spells, snacks, and a bag of dice, five heroes band together to defeat the forces of evil… if their rolls are good enough.

Welcome to gaming night in Ponyville.

Dramatic reading by Goombasa.

Cover image by Elosande used with permission.

Featured on Equestria Daily.
Review by PaulAsaran

An Evil Lord learns of a forbidden spell that will destroy the world. Naturally, he intends to cast it.

No problem! Princesses Celestia and Luna will just send Twilight Sparkle to go stop him. That usually does the trick. There's only one catch:

There are only thirty seconds left to stop him before the spell is completed.

Inspired by Half Minute Hero

It's the deliberately coldest autumn day in recorded Ponyville history and Rainbow Dash, who's setting up the last of the weather conditions, has the town pretty much to herself as every other pony huddles indoors, hiding from the chill. This would normally mean a morning where nopony takes a single glance at her and decides she's a talking map with nothing better to do than personally guide them wherever they need to go, no matter how many hours it takes. And in fact, nopony does.

Just one familiar, arrogant jerk of a teenage dragon who wants to know how he can get to a certain cave -- and believes Rainbow has nothing better to do than take him there...

(Part of the Triptych Continuum, which has its own TVTropes page and FIMFiction group. New members and trope edits welcome.)

Now with author Patreon and Ko-Fi pages.

Life's hard when you're small, especially if you're a breezie. The ponies keep trying to knock down your tree-home, steal all your fruit, and now they're about to bring back winter and doom your hive to a frozen fate.

Misty has had enough. She's going to leave her tree, stop the Summer Shutdown, and save the world.

After all, someone's got to do it.

Written for Equestria Daily's Outside Insight Summer Fanfic Contest