A mysterious machine appears in Ponyville. At first, it's a curiosity. After its purpose is discovered, however, it quickly becomes a menace and Twilight must figure out a way to destroy it before peaceful Ponyville is torn apart at the seams.

A crossover with Machine of Death intended for readers unfamiliar with the novel.

Published on EQD September 15, 2012. Cover art rendered by Alexstrazsa.

Audiobook by Scribbler!

Pony Joe awakens before the dawn each morning, readies himself for his day, and then walks through Canterlot's cold and silent streets to his doughnut shop.

Life has become pretty mundane for Joe, but as he serves his customers and chats with his regulars he realizes that he has come to rely on that repetition...he relies on it to keep from remembering.

As a casual utterance by a new customer sends Joe into a spiral of haunting memories we learn about his life...and what he must give up if he wishes to move beyond his past.

A snapshot of the millennial lives of a young Celestia and Luna, as they prepare to do battle with Discord and fight to keep the Harmony they have only so recently mastered, and learn lessons they will struggle with all their days. In a journey that has no end, what matters most is who walks beside you.

Romance, palace intrigue, and swashbuckling adventure await our six heroines when Princess Luna summons the Elements of Harmony to Canterlot.

I started writing this story in the middle of March 2011 and submitted the last chapter and the epilogue to EqD 3 1/2 months later on July 4th. The basic idea for it, though, had come to me after watching the first two episodes on YouTube at the beginning of that February, but it took me a month to discover there were places on the net to which a person could send fanfiction and have it posted. I don't get out much, y'see...

The discerning reader may, therefore, find a bit of canon-fodder here and there, and for all that I've thought about diving back in and changing a few things to make the story line up better with Season 2, I'm not gonna. For better or for worse, this story's done, and I hope to use what I learned while writing it and from the comments it's gotten--and the comments I reckon it'll get here--to make my next story better.

Mike

Based on the lazy Hasbro recolour of Twilight Sparkle. One dark and stormy night, Twilight Sparkle is visited by a strange pony. But this pony knows a lot about Twilight Sparkle; in fact, she might just be Twilight's number one fan. And that couldn't be a bad thing, right?

In a dark place named Tartarus, a subterranean hellscape between worlds, humans and ponies are paired together at random to survive a gauntlet of horrible monstrocities while the future of their realms hang in the balance.

Now, are you buying that? Good. Cuz I'm friggin' tired of having to explain it all on top of dragging this annoying-ass unicorn around the effing corridors of purgatory along with me. You'd think the damn, burning yahoos who run this place would give us rest stops to drown ourselves in beer or something. Friggin' A.

Oh, and some ponies and humans spill blood together and stuff. I dunno. Stop playing BattleDuty: Future Football and read this, or whatever. Like I give a crap...

Ever since Bon-Bon left for a new life in Manehatten, Lyra's life has lost its focus. She gets up, she goes to work, she eats, she goes to sleep. One day she knows she's going build up the courage to tell Bon-Bon how she really feels about her and they can live happily ever after.

That day will never come. Something terrible is happening in Equestria. Something that could be the end of the world. The Smooze has arrived and no-one can stop it, not even Twilight Sparkle. What hope then does Lyra have?

Can a utopian paradise that preaches love and tolerance really make ponies happy? Does contentment really lie in free universal healthcare and open government?

Twilight Sparkle is determined to resist this happy world on a matter of principle, and finds herself sneaking off with a mare called Trixie to hate and loathe each other in secret.

Will their hate-nest go undetected? Or will they be forced to face the dangers of the Ministry of Love and the mysterious Room 101?

Much to her surprise, Pinkie Pie has discovered that the pen is a mighty tool, indeed. When she first tried her hoof at writing, she had no idea what the consequences might be. Now, more is at stake than she ever could have imagined.

Now on Equestria Daily!

Revised version of the third-place winner in /fic/ write-off #3 here and here.

"Author, author!" is often shouted by appreciative audiences at the premiere of a musical or play when the writer is known to be in attendance and they wish him to take a bow with the cast.

The gryphons were not always monsters. That came later.

In the earliest days, they were our friends. They flew alongside pegasi. They shared the land with earth ponies. They studied beside unicorns. There was no fear between us. That came later too.

Time drew our people apart, but it was not time that made them monsters. They made that choice themselves; they chose their fate. And it was the greatest gryphon who sealed it.

He was born, many years ago, on a mountain far to the north...