This story is a side story to Crystal's Wishes

On the surface, Velvet Step seems like a pretty straightforward mare. She is in the Canterlot Ballet, the dutiful daughter of Sunbeam and Pepper Ridge, and the very best of friends with Crystal Wishes, her fillyhood friend and current roommate.

However, Velvet has another side to her, one that not even Crystal knows about, and she is keen on keeping it that way.

This story is a sequel to Before the Storm: The Rise of Firefly

Three hundred years after Luna's banishment, an uneasy peace has collapsed and war erupts between the United Tribes of Equestria and the growing Gryphon Empire, who seek to supplant Princess Celestia as ruler of the heavens and claim the rich lands of the pony nation for their own. With the border defenses shattered, Canterlot endangered and the armed forces unable to stem the onslaught, who can stop the relentless Gryphon war machine as it overruns province after province, scoring victory after victory as it closes in on the Equestrian capital city?

In this time of peril, when the entire pony nation teeters on the brink of defeat, a champion will rise to lead the resistance to the gryphon invasion, becoming not just the commander of an elite force, but a symbol of Equestrian valor and fighting spirit. A born warrior and leader, the name of Firefly will be one day revered as not just the founder of the Wonderbolts, but as Equestria's greatest hero...

Taking place seven hundred years before present and canon to both the Gentlemanverse and Turnabout Storm novelization, this is the story of Rainbow Dash's ancestor, the founding of the Wonderbolts, and their role in the bloodiest conflict of Equestrian history. It is a multistory Magnum Opus consisting of several discrete stories, as described below:

Book 1: The War Begins

The Gryphon Empire invasion of Equestria launches at dawn with an all-out assault on the Equestrian Army and Aerial Corps border bases, accompanied by deep-strike raids against Cloudsdale and the Royal Guard training base of Fort Spur.

Will Princess Celestia unleash her enormous power to end the war quickly? Can Outpost Epsilon withstand the onslaught long enough for the much-maligned Royal Navy to reach them? And can the civilian populace of Cloudsdale resist a massive and determined air attack by the Imperial elite against its all-important weather factories and storm cloud production facilities?

Book 2: Rally and Recover

With the border defenses crushed and the remains of Outpost Epsilon evacuated, both sides lick their wounds, hastily reorganizing and preparing for the next Imperial offensive aimed deeper into Equestria.

Can missing Cloudsdale be located near the borders of Thestralslovakia? Will the once-disloyal and still-distrusted bat-ponies that live there side with Equestria or the Empire? What is the Imperial invasion plan? What role will the Changelings play in the conflict? And what will happen when a sixteen-year old gryphon cub faces off with the gryphon-hating pony named Thunderbolt; one of the most lethal and bloodthirsty beings to ever live...?

Book 3: Second Offensive

While the fate of Cloudsdale is negotiated and Firefly's forces prepare for additional action, the second Imperial offensive begins with an assault against the badly outnumbered Equestrian Army at Maresk two hundred miles inside Equestria, attempting to pocket and destroy the thousands of sorely-needed soldiers based there.

Can an out-of-favor earth pony Colonel rally his regiment to save the city and an entire Army Corps? Or will the city's soldiers and civilians alike face the fate of the border bases, becoming yet another crushing defeat in the Imperial drive on Canterlot?

• Writers: Denim_Blue and Firesight with occassional writing assists from Leo Archon and AJ_Aficionado
• Prereaders: AJ_Aficionado, SilentWoodFire, TheGoldCrow, Denim_Blue
• Guest Writers: AJ_Aficionado, Denim_Blue

Maps of Equestria and Equis: https://www.fimfiction.net/chapter/1105220

This story is a sequel to Stories in Stone, Luna's Royal Guard.

The Canterlot Royal Gardens: a complex prison housing some of the greatest threats Equestria has ever known, sealed in stone. But what happens when something goes wrong, and some of these threats are freed?
Twilight Sparkle and her friends are again called to defend Equestria from an attack that the Royal Sisters are unable, or too afraid, to deal with. But can six ponies raised in a time of peace be any match for creatures who knew nothing but war and conflict?
Perhaps the only hope Equestria may have lies in another set of the gardens residents: the Five Beasts of the Moon, Nightmare Moon's generals, the very ponies who helped her nearly destroy Equestria a thousand years ago.

[This is a direct sequel. Please read,
[ http://www.fimfiction.net/story/1918/stories-in-stone-lunas-royal-guard ]
before starting on this fic or you will be quite lost.]
Season 3 is not accounted for in this fic.
Tags: Action, Sad, Humor, Roller Coaster, Violence, Singing, Some Romance, 80's HBO late night sex scenes... also, nearly every pony is naked... like normal.

Tales in Stone is a compilation of short stories from the Stories in Stone universe. This is a open collection and any one who wishes to write a short story in the SiS verse is more than welcome to do so.

Primarily I would like the stories will focus on the backgrounds behind one of the countless statues in the Canterlot Royal Gardens. While primarily considered a prison, this has not always been the case and the Garden could contain nearly anything.

That is not to say it is required that a submitted story be about the Garden. Other figures in the SiS verse could be written for this.

I will be adding short stories of my own from time to time as well. Things that fit into the SiS continuity , but do not have a place in the series itself. This seems to be what goes here the most.

This is a compilation of a rather long story that starts with Stories in Stone, Luna's Royal Guard, and continues in SiS, Memories of Twilight, and SiS, Lost Empire.

Please have a look at the first two at least before checking this collection out as you may become a bit lost with some of the content.

Chapter 1: Petrified Wood. by TDR
Story of a much forgotten, though very important figure in Ponyville
Chapter 2: Of Anger and Agreements by White Wolf [ http://www.fimfiction.net/user/White+Wolf ]
Jer'rahd and Celestia still don't like each other. [ Tie in with SiS: LE]
Chapter 3: Pursuit by TDR
A love that burns half as long burns twice as bright, maybe more. [ Tie in with SiS : MoT ]
Chapter 4 Rose Tattoo
The start before the start. [ Prequel to SiS: LRG ]
Chapter 5 Centuries By TDR
Another Prequel to SiS: LRG , and a Prequel to Rose Tattoo as well.

Twilight discovers the true purpose for the Canterlot Royal gardens, much to Princess Celestia's annoyance. Knowing her student will seek answers with or without her permission, the Princess gives Twilight a new subject to study, the story of five of the garden's occupants, their connection to Nightmare Moon, and the dark days of the War of Night.

Warning: Comments are encouraged, but spoilers are present in the comments.

Fic is currently undergoing a very slow revision. Revised chapters will have a (R) in the title.
I've also added chapter numbers for a bit more ease of navigation. Mostly on my part.
This is a project that I will slowly be working on Bringing my first major story up to snuff. I shall also be fixing plot holes and clearing up some issues that certain parts have that may contradict the lore later on.
This will only be worked on sporadically unfortunately as I need to be in certain mind sets to do this.

Original story was posted in 2011.

Tags: Action, Historical, Sad, Humor, Roller Coaster, Violence, Singing, Some Romance

Part 2 is here.

http://www.fimfiction.net/story/71261/stories-in-stone-memories-of-twilight

WOOOT featured on Jan 5th 2015 at 2:47 am, 4 years after it's initial publishing!

This story is a sequel to Change

There are many changeling hives spread throughout a large portion of the world. Wherever love energy is going to be found the changelings will pursue it.

But now, one by one, they are disappearing.

Many hives located at the very outer edges of changeling inhabited lands are vanishing without a trace, Twilight Sparkle's family history has returned to haunt them all as something is hunting the changelings down. But how? And for what purpose? And more importantly, what does this mean for Queen Twilight Sparkle and the rest of the changeling race?

Edited by RC2101_Copey.
Cover Art was designed by Jesuka.
TVtropes Page: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Fanfic/ChangeQueenOfTheHive
Physical copy: https://www.fimfiction.net/blog/806366/change-queen-of-the-hive-physical-copy

(Featured on the first day, 6/11/2016. Awesome!)

A mother will do a lot for her child, even give them up if it meant them having a safer life growing up, despite the obvious pain that comes for the parent.

That pain is something Queen Chrysalis has gone through for eighteen years, but now the time is upon them, and she wants her daughter back. Even if that means invading Canterlot during a royal wedding.

Edited by RC2101_Copey
New cover art was created by the talented Jesuka
Now has a TVtropes page: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Fanfic/Change
Go watch the reading by Skijaramaz: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ecqtu_Djrw4

(Featured on 18/10/2015, the first day! Thank you!)

Change is now a printed book, information here: https://www.fimfiction.net/blog/732008/i-got-a-thing-change-is-now-a-physical-book