Twilight Sparkle just loves the new dress Rarity gave her for her birthday. So much so, in fact, that she's got to get her groove-thing on. She has to... dance.

Naturally, this leads to horrifying consequences. Including, but not limited to: winding up in the dance-future, rescuing a dance-topian society from its evil dancerlord, and dancing with the power of friendship.

The bugbear found me. I don’t know how. I don’t know who or what it’s working with, never mind what’s happening to me, but I’ll get to the bottom of this if it’s the last thing I do.

Forgive me, Lyra.

An Alpaca Prince from Alpacastan comes to stay with Twilight Sparkle for a few days while his father conducts trade agreements in Canterlot. The clash of cultures ignite while the Prince struggles with language and local culture, but the Princess of Friendship is there to help him. Right?

Lyra Heartstrings has always known that humans exist, even if none of the other ponies in her life have ever appreciated that fact. But aside from a few enigmatic ancient prophecies and a popular fantasy series, there haven't ever really been any authoritative sources on what humans were really like. Years of discouragement begin to take their toll on Lyra's faith in the strange and wondrous beings with their strange limbs and ways of sitting.

Until one day, when Lyra finds a strange device on the ground outside Ponyville, and it starts talking to her with short messages printed on its tiny screen. So instead of search for the device's proper owner, Lyra takes it home, hoping for the chance to talk to a real human.

Takes place ostensibly in the universe of My Little Apprentice, though very little connection with that story is expected. Familiarity with that story and its sequel are neither expected nor required.

There's another friendship crisis in another far away place, this time the land of the llamas, and Twilight's magical map once again calls on a heroic pony to solve it. But this time the map doesn't call Twilight or any of her friends, this time it calls somepony else entirely.

But Trixie's true reasons for accepting the map's call may not be wholly altruistic, and it turns out she's not nearly as over being upstaged by Twilight during their past encounters as she lets on.

May the gods have mercy on those poor llamas.

We've known each other for years. You were the only one who ever understood me. All those books we shared, all those nights studying together. Did it mean anything to you? Did you even think of me once before you threw me away?

And now you're back. Just leave me alone why don't you?

If there was something that broke Rarity's heart more than seeing her best friend getting stood up, it was seeing Twilight go back to the library with a matching broken heart.

Luckily for Twilight, Rarity would be damned if she let that happen.

Applejack is chosen as The Nightmare's new host.

It really isn't that big of a deal. Until it is.

The Millennial Summer Sun Celebration is only a few years away, but Rarity’s fashion career seems to be ending before she can begin it. Now, she has one last chance to find a place for her talent.

But as she works to create the boutique of her dreams, a forgotten piece of Ponyville’s past is waking up. Secret memories lie forgotten in dusty basements, unrighted wrongs scratch at locked doors, and Rarity finds herself caught up in a history that may be doomed to repeat itself.

For although she is the first to set hoof in the Old Town Hall in thirty years, she can’t help but feel that something inside was waiting for her.

A slow-burning, atmospheric horror.

Now with an audiobook by AShadowOfCygnus! Find Chapter 1 here!

Special thanks to Neighrator Pony, GutiuSerenade, and ObabScribbler for pre-reading and feedback!

Cover art by Amiki.

Bon Bon... er, Special Agent Sweetie Drops has come clean to her very best friend Lyra about her past, but there's one secret she's still keeping.

Written for the Writer's Training Grounds '15 #6.