The Princesses' birthday celebration is here again, and Mayor Mare needs a scapegoat—er, trusted citizen—to handle Ponyville's gift. Certainly, deciding what to get for an ancient ruler who's seen everything will be a piece of cake. Hm, cake. Maybe that's not such a bad idea.

Third-place winner in The Write-Off Association's contest "Lonely Happiness."

Featured on Equestria Daily!

Sometimes, all we need are a few stats to shed some light on a subject.

After the defeat of Tirek, Equestria is safe once more, but Luna can sense that her sister is troubled. When Celestia retreats to the starry realm of ascension in order to look upon the past, Luna joins her to discover what is bothering her.

There is now a Spanish translation of this story, courtesy of Spaniard Kiwi

"It's called 'Shh'," said Fluttershy. "It's a game about who can be quiet the longest. Sound fun? I'm the world champion."

Fluttershy is not a pony who makes things up. She really is the world champion of "Shh," or The Quiet Game. And now it's time for her to defend her crown, with Twilight Sparkle and Rarity along for the ride.

During a lull in the conversation at an upper class charity dinner, Rarity takes a moment to contemplate some commonly held assumptions made of Princess Celestia. Specifically, her table manners.

My name is Twilight Sparkle, and 350 years ago, Sweetie Belle and I vanished without a trace.
Now here we are, in the future.
Equestria has become a utopia, with everypony living in peace and harmony.
Everything is perfect. All a pony could ever want, and more.
My name is Twilight Sparkle, and I want to go home.

Editing provided by Stereo_Sub and JustAnotherTimeLord.

Cover art courtesy of Geomancing.

Reading by lieilengi

Spanish translation by Spaniard Kiwi

Prince Blueblood thought the Grand Galloping Gala was over. He thought he could just go to sleep and put it behind him. He never expected to be reliving the same disaster of a day, over and over... and over.

TV tropes page here:
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/FanFic/TheBestNightEver

Thanks to all the people who wrote the page and all the people who gave me a little wakeup call and comment to become aware of that fact! You can't see it, but you guys put a real smile on my face tonight.

Also, recently, extra thanks to RD Dash for giving TBNE a thorough editing. I've updated the fic accordingly (7.11.12)

It takes a lot to get on Pinkie Pie's bad side, but what the Filly Wonka Candy Company, Incorporated has done is just plain inexcusable. It's time for extreme measures - Pinkie Pie style! Which means that, for Spike, it's time for a great big headache.

A short story based on a prompt from BlazzingInferno. Thanks, dude!

Twilight Sparkle is working hard on the secrets of the Box from the Tree of Harmony when Princess Celestia sends her a break in the form of candy and a riddle. Soon, she and her pony friends are wrapped up in a fabulous journey to solve the riddle before time runs out...

This is a story in no way as serious as it sounds above.

Featured on Equestria Daily
Review by PaulAsaran

Grace, beauty, elegance.

Princess Luna embodies all of these traits as she faithfully attends to her royal duties. Yet sometimes, with the repetition of raising the moon each night and the tedium of hearing endless appeals for various favors and assistance, a princess just wants to have a little fun.

Enter Pinkie Pie, who knows just what Luna needs.

Thanks to Brumby_Run for the story idea.