In an alternate universe, where Equestria doesn't exist and neither does the magic, Sunset Shimmer and her friends are aspiring musicians in their marching band who work and practice to be the best musicians they can be.

AN: This is the first and probably only story I'm going to post on here just for fun. Any comments or likes would be appreciated.

Being seniors at Canterlot High has some advantages. For the fall semester, Sunset Shimmer, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Twilight Sparkle won't actually be at CHS. Instead, the girls made it into a competitive foreign exchange program, which is sending them to Tokyo for the semester! Having taken Japanese as their foreign language credits, the girls joined the exchange program to open themselves up to a broader world.

Among the many experiences the exchange program exposed the girls to is the newest and hottest technology, the NerveGear, which brings virtual reality to a whole new level. Sword Art Online, also known as SAO, is the premier game soon to be released for the NerveGear. With their new friend, Ota Natsuki, they scored limited copies and get to be some of the 10,000 players to first experience Aincrad, but SAO is more than a game.

The girls are trapped, along with the other 10,000 players, by Akihiko Kayaba, the developer of the NerveGear and SAO. To get out, they must conquer Aincrad, floor by floor, until they beat the final boss in the Ruby Palace at it's summit. Then they all will be freed, however, if you die in the game, you die in real life.

The girls must band together with their new friend and face Aincrad, not just for themselves, but for all of the other players who can't take on such a challenge. After all they have been through, beating demons and sirens, a game should be easy, right?

EQG: Sword Art Online - Ruby Palace is not a sequel to EQG:SAO - Aincrad and, likewise, Ruby Palace is not a "rewrite". I chose to follow SOA Canon in Aincrad, placing the girls inside those events. Ruby Palace is a full crossover and Alt-U between EQG and SAO.

The Vignette Arcs are not required reading to follow the story, but they are recommended. The Pilot Episodes are the official start of the story.

Special Thanks to my editor, Void Runner and my beta reader, Cotton Sweet.
Artwork - Wing banners and page breaks are by Drytil.

Sword Art Online is created by Reki Kawahara.
My Little Pony is owned by Hasbro.

Despite losing her voice due to a sore throat, Trixie has to go to school today. It shouldn’t affect her daily life much.

Huge thanks to PseudoBob Delightus for proofreading this fic!

Celestia loves her little sis - but family has a way of making it difficult sometimes when very bizarre secrets are unveiled.

Tonight is one of those nights.

There's not much to say about this stupid little thing. I was searching the archives for another greentext I wrote and stumbled back upon this one that I had forgotten about. It purely came about as a result of seeing the cover pic for the first time.

Said cover pic is by Tomatocoup

After a mirror portal field trip being conducted by Luna goes terribly wrong, Ocellus finds herself trapped in a strange palace far from home. That palace, once abandoned, is now infested with a hive of love-starved changelings intent on using her only way home as a means to invade her world.

Otherwise, Ocellus appears to be alone.

At first.

The story is inspired by, and a homage to, my favorite game of the last decade. However, this story is neither a crossover nor AU. This story is set after "The End of the End" (but before "The Last Problem"), and is purely a My Little Pony story. Warning: rudeness and intolerance are not allowed in the comments, but spoilers are. Exercise discretion. Remain polite and on-topic. And please enjoy the story!

It's been two years since the war began in the north. Two years of being pushed back, kilometer by kilometer, across Equestrian soil. The nation runs short of ponies fit to lead her masses, and casts her net ever wider in search of bodies for the furnaces of war.

Summer Meadows, the youngest daughter of a venerable unicorn house, is pulled from her officer training early and sent to the front to be a tank commander. She is, of course, excited at the prospect of serving her country and her princess at last, but there is one small problem: she doesn't know the first thing about being a tanker...

A tank crew ensemble story set in a world in which Equestria finds itself in a losing war with a power-hungry neighbor, using hardware loosely based on the Second World War. It combines two things I love: ponies and tanks, in a never-before-seen kind of pony war story.

Twilight has not slept in almost a week. Luna wants to know why. Twilight wants to go on another light seven mile run.

Spike just wants hot chocolate and Rarity.

Written for Jinglemas 2023, gifted to Ghost Mike based on the prompt of a non-romantic TwiLuna with recently returned resident of the moon and no-winged bookpone.

Art by Skyeypony.

Twilight has had a very eventful week: Fighting Tirek, getting her home blown up, defeating Tirek, and getting a nifty replacement home would already be pretty exciting on its own. But now she has been summoned to Canterlot by Celestia, who has some big news to tell her.

After long consideration and no small amount of pestering from Luna, Celestia is about to grant Twilight access to the files of the Equestrian Secret Service so that she and her friends can be better prepared for future threats to come.

What will Twilight learn in the depths of the archive? Surely nothing that could shake the very foundation of the friendships she so painstakingly built in her new home ...

Obligatory edit: Woohoo, featured on the front page . Thank you all so much for liking my story .

Many thanks to silent_user for proofreading and editing this story.

Written as an entry for BWG's 'New Blood' Contest. I would greatly appreciate some feedback from any of the judges.

If any of you would be interested in an epilogue, where I unveil some of the secrets or thoughts behind them, let me know in the comments.

In the beginning, there was hope. In the middle there was doubt. In the end, there was conflict. But, throughout it all, there were tears.

Thanks to Steady Gaze for proofreading and for making the cover.

Thanks to 6-D Pegasus for proofreading.

Entry into A Thousand Words Contest II.