A compendium of sketches of far corners of the multiverse. Ideas that were amusing enough to write down, but not quite meaty enough to build a full story on.

Marked "Complete" because each chapter is a standalone story, but I will be adding more stories as inspiration strikes. In spite of the "Teen" rating, most stories should have "Everyone" content; stories with actual "Teen" content will be marked with a [T].

Yak Attak: In which Ponyville is already home to a couple of immigrants from Yakyakistan. With them "helping" the mane six, the diplomatic visit with Prince Rutherford goes in a rather different direction.
That's my name ...: In which a cross-eyed pegasus breaks the census.
Dewey led a very interesting life, you see: A feghoot.
Veto: Two weeks after the attempted Changeling invasion, something surprising happens at the Equestrian Senate.
From Canterlot Boutique with Love: Another feghoot.
The Cutie Relapse: Starlight Glimmer and her teacher have an unpleasant but necessary meeting.
... don't wear it out.: Pinkie Pie takes a cliché very, very literally.
Change(ling)s and Forms: After Spike befriends Thorax, Twilight discovers that changelings are even better at blending in than anypony suspected.
Between a Spike and a Hard Place: AKA how "Princess Spike" should have ended.
When all you have is a spell book ...: Stupidlight Glimbutt gets a lot of mileage out of her new favorite spell. [Teen]
The Longest Line: Twilight Sparkle (not our Twilight, but a Twilight none the less) passes through water and fire to see a friend again. [Teen]
I Am the Night ... Glider: Night Glider never forgave Starlight Glimmer, and now she's back to get her revenge. (Available in two wildly different versions.)
Domains: Regarding Luna's Moon, Celestia's Sun, and the difficulties of being the Only Sane Alicorn in the kingdom.

One year ago, the immortal moon lich died.

One year ago, Twilight Sparkle the so-called human moved to Ponyville.

Rarity never believed that, of course. The "human" bit. After all, no human would willingly choose to live in a town of monsters, and no amount of magic or hunting orders or Plans with a capital "P" would ever change her mind on that—especially when said human was so constantly collected and calm.

But... if she wasn't human, what kind of monster could she be?

Written for the Raritwi-deprived Monochromatic, who so graciously let me cook for 1/4th of a year. Huge thanks to Swan Song for prereading, and to everyone I pestered for synonyms whenever the last of my braincells refused to word. Cover art by me!

A collection of silly Friendship Games shorts!

Why did Flash Sentry make bread for a cake-baking contest? What is Sunset Shimmer's special talent? Who's got a crush on whom? Who really won the Friendship Games? What did Twilight do after meeting herself? What's "stinky sugar"?

Find out the answers to these questions and more in these stories, which might have running gags but are otherwise unrelated to each other!

Extra tags will be included in chapter titles. Some stories without the [Romance] tag may involve comedic kissing~! One of these stories might actually be good! If Friendship Games lasts longer than 4 hours, consult your doctor.

"...has more of a chance than Project Horizons." -Loganberry

"...this is basically the judgment of Paris." -FanOfMostEverything

"“Stupid” humor is rarely my thing, but somehow PP always manages to thread the needle just right to keep me amused rather than annoyed." -PaulAsaran

Marble's life on the farm is simple and idyllic. She helps out Pa and Limestone, and in her spare time carves and sculpts rocks. She has it pretty great, she thinks. It cannot last.
Pa thinks it's high time she get married and settle down to focus on more important things, like family, and work. He doesn't see her sculptures as a way to make a living, and insists she visit the Pairing Stone for a match.
Reluctantly, she agrees.
She meets her suitors, but the Pairing Stone says all three of them are a good match. Marble thinks they're all equally unsuited. She refuses to marry any of them, and will go to great lengths to keep her freedom.

This is the story of a very ordinary pony's extraordinary day. Carrot Top and Derpy are good friends indeed, and sometimes friendship can lead to wonderful surprises. It can also lead to arguments, frustration, and general grumpiness, of course, and this story has all of those things as well. But mostly, this is a story about the day Carrot Top learned how to fly.

*****

Originally written for the Hearth's Warming Care Package contest. Many thanks to the contestants who commented on this story, to my EqD pre-reader, and especially to Sessalisk, for helping to polish this story to its present state. Cover art by the incomparable Elosande, used with permission.

Fanart here, courtesy of lalieri!

Audiobook here, courtesy of Deftfunk and Scribbler!

Now available in Spanish, courtesy of SPANIARD KIWI.

She remembers the swift wind and the rolling grasses and the thundering hooves on the plain, her ancestry, her birthright, her heritage... all gone.

The demons descended and enslaved her race, warped them and thwarted what she could become. She wanders now with ancient memories, the aftertaste of metal in her mouth and a skin-crawling itch where the saddle once rested on her back.

...Is that another herd in the distance?

This story is part of Nightmare Night in April. Art by GGA.

A thousand year absence from the world would be disorienting for anyone, but when your job is Head of State, understanding how society has changed during your interregnum is vital. Princess Luna, banished in the age of the longboat and the longbow, has returned just in time for the launch of the tablet computer. With the help of her sister, she undertakes to understand the history she's missed and the people she finds herself among, in order to resume the duties of her title.

This story takes the form of a series of conversations between Celestia and Luna that take place months and years apart. It is openly concerned with political ideas and how societies are organised, and not at all concerned with monsters and magic beyond the conceit of immortal monarchs. The Alternate Universe tag is there because I will be ignoring every single one of the thousand year catastrophes that occur in the show after the Nightmare Moon crisis, the retirement of the Princesses, probably the presence of any other Princesses, and anything else in the show I feel like ignoring, because I find them irrelevant to the themes I want to cover.

In short, if you wanted The Audience with ponies, I got you covered.

This story can be considered canon to my comic works such as The Sunjackers, and my other associated worldbuilding projects, and uses the same date system as them (ie. roughly matching our own, with the return of Nightmare Moon happening the same year as the episode aired, 2010). May also be your jam if you like Equestria At War, but not affiliated at all.

Equestria's history is full of wonders, both magical and mechanical. But only twice has it succeeded in implementing AI.

The latest iteration is an apple farmer whose resurrection is celebrated by everypony except herself. Because really, once every part has been replaced, what is left that can measure a mare?

An entry for the 2023 Sci-Fi Contest, where it nabbed a respectable fourth place. Yay, existential robot ponies!

[Complete] Celestia awakens to see an empty world, white sandstone stretching the horizon. She wanders the world as she builds it from her imagination, filling it with life, but as time passes, the world that she created begins to seem like little more than a lucid dream, conjured from the dust.

What is going on? What am I, where am I? Why do I walk through the dreams of abnormal horses? I was just a regular guy and now I'm walking through the dreams of sapient horses. My 'powers' rip me from this dimension to one that I'm never meant to set foot in.

Any sapient creature needs some kind of guidance, someone or something to look after. Something to stand by, a right and a wrong, everyone needs morals. I'm something of a symbol of guidance, I didn't ask to be but I grew into it. Ponies channel all their negative emotions into their dreams, all their hate, sorrow, heck even lust if they consider it bad.

I don't think I'm a god by any standards, I just picture myself as someone who helps. Dreams are powerful especially pony dreams, they have so much magic packed into them! Though dreams can get a bit freaky, trust me they get weird.

But why was I chosen, why am I so special? Is this some kind of joke or is it destiny? What purpose do I have here, why can't I just have a normal sleep? One dreamless night is all I ask for, helping someone out each night is kinda draining. Maybe this is all just a dream, or...maybe I'm dead.

Just, please, don't let the horse on the moon catch me.

Featured 2/12/19, even though it was for a short time it was still awesome, thanks guys!

Featured 2/21/19, featured again?! You guys don't know when to quit, but seriously I love you guys!