New Cover Art! See the full image here: https://www.deviantart.com/harwicks-art/art/Commission-What-My-Destiny-is-Telling-Me-969614816

Sunset Shimmer was a pony that always had her destiny in her control… but that was before. Now, trapped for months in a world where she no longer has magic, no longer has a plan and no longer even has her own body, she's lost. She found an unexpected lifeline, however, when she showed up at the Crumbles/Flanks residence, desperate for help, and formed a close bond with a human around her own age, Rarity.

Having lived together for several months, Rarity has grown to consider Sunset a sister, even as Sunset feels hesitant about the moniker. Shortly before the start of the school year, Rarity brings Sunset along on an annual camping trip, hosted by Applejack and Big Mac, hoping to better acquaint Sunset with her friends. But one morning, Rarity awakes to find Sunset, sleepless and distraught, struggling with concerns and fears she doesn't understand... as the specter of destiny continues to loom large in the former unicorn's mind.

And it's up to Rarity to provide some much-needed comfort.

Set in an alternate universe in which the timeline diverges after Sunset leaves Equestria. This story also deviates from the depiction of Sunset's past as portrayed in the comic The Fall of Sunset Shimmer. Chronologically, it takes place after the events of The Final Conversation, though reading that story is not a requirement.

Pre-read by The Sleepless Beholder and Ninjadeadbeard. Cover art by Harwick. Originally written for the Bean's Writing Group prompt "Let's Go Camping".

Featured on 8/23/22–8/26/22!

Minor Note: My stories generally treat Canterlot High School as a 7-12 school to justify the Cutie Mark Crusaders/Canterlot Movie Club being there in the main films. Keep that in mind if you notice some odd-looking age math in there; at the time of the story, Rarity and Sunset are about to start 9th grade (freshman year).

Equestria and the Crystal Empire have fallen to the Changeling Hegemony, led by the brutal Queen Chrysalis at the head of a mechanized horde of guns and tanks. Princess Cadance stayed in the Crystal Empire; Princess Twilight stayed in Equestria. Chrysalis rules the continent, only defied by Nova Griffonia, the poor Griffon colony in the north.

Across the ocean, the Griffonian Reich pledges to reclaim its lost territory, sundered by revolution a generation ago. While the Alicorn Sisters retreat to New Mareland, Princess Flurry Heart and Shining Armor turn to Aquileia, the Republic born out of the ashes of the Griffonian Reich. The Kaiser of the Reich is only a child, subject to a regent bent on war and conquest.

Flurry knows the Reich and Chrysalis have worked together.

She knows that war is coming to Aquileia.

She knows that Celestia and Luna abandoned her mother and Twilight Sparkle.

She knows that the world is on fire, and she is the last true Princess of Ponies.

She knows she will go home.

Cover Art by Opal Radiance, commissioned by Sunstreaker.
https://www.deviantart.com/opalradiance

Due to a common Apple family custom, Rainbow Dash wonders if Applejack wants to be "A Herd Thing". Several surprises follow.

(Or. Ponies discuss polyamory.)

My personal Apple family headcanon/interpretation ahead.

Twilight Sparkle has ruled Equestria for over a thousand years. From her throne atop the floating city of Concord, she enforces ruthless harmony over the handful of surviving settlements. But Twilight is afraid: Equestria's survival always hangs by a thread, as enemies more ancient than the Alicorns threaten to return and devour what she has built.

Twilight selects her star pupil, a young unicorn named Star Orchid, to travel down from the perfect city of Concord into the dangerous ruins beneath, so that she might locate these forces, and help Twilight to destroy them. Only when every threat to Equestria is finally dismantled will she be able to rest. Until then, there is much left to purify.

Edited by Two Bit and Sparktail. Cover by Zutcha

Updates Wednesdays.

This story was commissioned by TyrannisUmbra, with additional funds donated by my enabler, Two Bit. If you'd like one of your own, drop me a PM!

This story takes place in the same universe as Why We Dig. I'm not going to call it a sequel, since none of its characters will be aware of anything in that story, so you won't have to be either.

This story is a sequel to Ponyville Noire: Tails of Two Private Eyes

When reformed thief Daring Do and private detective Phillip Finder took down Silvertongue, the reigning king of Ponyville's underworld, they hoped that things would get better for their city, and for each other. And with the dawn of a new year, and the honest if harsh Cold Case as the new chief of the Ponyville Police Department, that hope seems fruitful.

But nature abhors a vacuum. The throne that Silvertongue vacated has been taken by his former associate: Zugzwang, a cold, bloodthirsty sociopath who harbors a chilling obsession with Phillip Finder. But not all meet his rule willingly: the griffon Whitestone declares war on Zugzwang and his allies, and Phillip and Daring are caught in the center. Amidst the chaos, the mysterious Scarlet Letter manipulates all three sides as part of an unknown plan.

Ponyville is burning all around them. With a few friends at their side, Phillip Finder and Daring Do fight to restore order, but they and the city might not survive without a few scars.

Updates weekly. Proofread by Eagle—Paladin of Shadows

The second major story of the Noireverse.

Sex and Gore tags for suggestive content and graphic description.

Click here to check out the theme music by the L-Train!

Long before an orange pegasus on a scooter, two mares met and kept meeting.

This is their story.

Written for Bean's Writing Group with the prompt "Someone is missing" and bonus "No dialogue."

Also written as an entry for the LoftyHoliday Contest.

A thank you to Thesmokinguy for proofreading before publishing and Mockingbirb for catching a late typo.

This story is a sequel to Ponyville Noire: Kriegspiel—Black, White, and Scarlet

Zugzwang is dead, Scarlet Letter is in prison, and Ponyville is safer than it has ever been before, the once invulnerable crime syndicates in fragmented disarray. But Daring Do and Phillip Finder still dream of the red sky and the empty black eyes; Trace's dying scream echoes in their ears when they try to sleep, and they feel Zugzwang's ghost haunting them.

But even as they struggle with their demons, more cases come to the doorstep of 221 Honeybee Bakery. And as hard as it is, Phillip and Daring cannot turn away from those in need. Dragons in Canterlot, changeling intrigue in their own hometown, murder in the Crystal Empire, and treasure hunts in the Aushaylian Outback: these new, fantastic cases will take the detectives on strange journeys across Equestria, introducing them to new allies and friends. And maybe they will find peace along the way.

The third story of the Noireverse, this smaller series is intended as a sort of coda to the previous story, Kriegspiel. As I prepare to plan out the next major story of the Ponyville Noire series, I decided to write a few shorter cases to keep the gears greased. The purpose of this story is primarily to introduce some new characters and locales to the Noireverse, but also to show Phillip and Daring dealing with the trauma of what they went through in the last story: all things I wasn't confident I could do well in the next big story, considering what I have planned for that.

I hope that you enjoy this work!

Featured on April 2, 2021! Thank you all!

Updates every Saturday. Edited by Eagle--Paladin of Shadows!

Click here to check out the theme music by The L-Train!

Flash Sentry has gone missing. Sunset is desperate to find out what’s happened, and contacts Twilight to ask about the Flash in her world, but it seems as though nobody else really cares.

Proofread by BezierBallad.

Ponyville is one of the largest cities in Equestria, a center for trade and finance, a melting pot of many races, tribes, and cultures. It is also a place where corruption is a way of life. Here, the cops that aren't on the take are forever chasing their own tails, citizens live in fear, and gangs battle for control of the streets.

Daring Do has just been released from prison after a year-long sentence for thievery, and no one is about to let her forget her place. Phillip Finder is a local private detective and the bane of the Ponyville Police Department. The new partners quickly find themselves at ground zero of a city-wide gang war; surrounded by dirty cops, mobsters, assassins, and bizarre crimes, they can only rely on each other and a few honest ponies for aid.

They're hardly heroes. Which means they may be exactly what Ponyville needs.

Updates every Wednesday. Proofread by Eagle—Paladin of Shadows

The first story of the Noireverse.

Sex and Gore tags for suggestive content and graphic descriptions.

Check out the theme music by The L-Train by clicking here!

Featured on 1/29/18! Thank you all so much! <3

A bit of background...

Three years ago, I introduced Phillip Finder in my first fanfiction, "The Pony in the Gray Trilby." Over the next many months, I kept writing and eventually turned my first work into a twenty-story series. I learned much and enjoyed the stories' moderate success, but unfortunately, I became dissatisfied with them over time. I realize that it's perhaps a bit of a cliche that many artists end up hating their own work, but for both Tchaikovsky and myself, it is the truth.

I initially planned to write this story as a prequel to the series, focusing on Phillip Finder and Daring Do. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that I wanted to improve upon my work, but felt as though I was being held back by the original series. While I am proud of my first stories for what I learned and gained through them, I decided that the best course of action for me, what would make me the happiest, would be to wipe the slate clean and start again from the basic foundations.

That's where this story comes in. A semi-reboot of the original series, the adventures contained herein, set in a vastly different alternate universe and replete with a mixture of reinterpreted and original characters, are the culmination of all the experience that I gained writing the original series. This is Phillip Finder and company as I meant them to be.

I hope that you enjoy reading this story as much as I enjoy writing it!