Rarity stops by Sugarcube Corner to drop off a few gifts for Pinkie Pie.

simple little thing originally written for the Quills and Sofas' Hearts and Hooves Day 2024: Coffee Shop AU Speedwrite, where it placed 3rd, but now cleaned up and edited a tad.

Sunset arrives in the human world as a pony in the middle of a busy freeway in Britain and physics happen. Stranded in a world that doesn't even recognize her as a person with everything she's ever wanted, consequences she never asked for and no way home, circumstances conspire for her to end up going to Hogwarts in Harry's year as Luna Lovegood's pet.

After a budget cut, Cheerilee is replaced by a younger and stricter teacher. Cheerilee searches for a new job in Ponyville while her students deal with the new teacher. However, everything is not what it seems. Can Cheerilee use her vast knowledge to save her students and Ponyville?

It's been a while since you've had a proper day off. No work, no responsibilities, none of it. So, you're going to make the most of it by doing absolutely nothing. Your hammock is set up, your cooler is nice and full, and the shade underneath these Ponyville oak trees feels quite heavenly. Yup, it's going to be a good day.

Twilight, on the other hand, doesn't understand why you would want to do something so... mundane.

Formal Premise: The inventors of the Mirror wanted to create a device that could channel infinite magic and grant wishes. The hard part was making sure those wishes would never destroy the world. Showing a person their heart's desire is a sensible precaution to put into a wish-granting machine designed NOT to go horribly wrong.

The Atlanteans got close, even managing to imbue some amount of intelligence and morality into the Mirror. But they never finished their work; the Mirror never DID get to the point where it could grant wishes... at least, nobody believes it ever got to that point. But then, nobody has ever been trapped inside the Mirror and returned to tell the tale.

When the Mirror traps someone inside itself and outside of Time, that person and their consequences can no longer affect the world. In that circumstance, with a person fully under its power, the Mirror isn't limited in what it can do. Sometimes, it can even grant seemingly incompatible wishes.

But complex problems require complex solutions. In this case, the Mirror takes a few massive liberties about how, exactly, it satisfies the wishes of both Harry Potter and Lord Voldemort. Namely, it sends them to a world of ponies.

Informal Premise: This is a crossover between MLP and Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality, not just Harry Potter. No matter how accessible I try to make it to those who haven't read HPMoR, those who HAVE read it will undeniably have an easier experience reading this story.

HPMoR is the second most popular fanfiction of Harry Potter, at least according to fanfiction stats. It involves Harry studying & dissecting the wizarding world with science. Not with technology, with actual science. That is, he uses the experimental method, generates and tests hypotheses, and in the words of his Occlumency instructor, "wants to discover the underlying rules of magic to become all-poweful".

THIS fanfic brings THAT version of Harry Potter to Equestria. It also brings that story's version of Voldemort.

If you want the best reading experience, please go read HPMoR first. It can be found on fanfiction dot net, or on its own website, or even on any podcast app, as it has its own fan-made audiobook with 30+ contributing voice actors, production quality, sound effects, music, etc. (which is more than can be said for most PROFESSIONAL audiobooks).

Link to HPMoR on fanfiction: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/5782108/1/Harry-Potter-and-the-Methods-of-Rationality
Link to HPMoR on its own website: http://www.hpmor.com/chapter/1
Link to audiobook (though the website isn't nearly as good as podcast apps): https://hpmorpodcast.com/?page_id=56

All forms of HPMoR that I've encountered are high quality, but that doesn't mean it's for everyone. You can probably read the first few chapters of HPMoR in thirty minutes or so. If it doesn't appeal to you, this story probably won't appeal to you either.

For those who haven't read Methods and want to read this story anyway, the first two chapters are going to be the most confusing. They're mostly housekeeping and stage-setting, barely touching the MLP universe beyond the new setting.

And I think the same advice Yudkowsky gave for HPMoR applies here. The story starts hitting its strides around Chapter 5, if not sooner. If you don't like it by Chapter 10, best just to give up and read something else.

Retired Special Agent Sweetie Drops has been living in Ponyville as Bon Bon for just over ten years now, and aside from the occasional monster attack or magical mishap, life has been peaceful. She's happily married and has a successful career running a candy shop. Something has been preventing her from properly appreciating the quiet life, however, and that thing's name is Vinyl Scratch. Countless hours of surveillance has convinced Bon Bon of one fact, and it's that whatever Vinyl Scratch is, it's not a pony. Today is the day she gets to the bottom of the mystery that has haunted for her so long: What exactly is Vinyl Scratch, and what does she want with Octavia Melody?

A Submission for the 2023 Science Fiction Contest.

Edit: Featured from March 24th to the 29th? Magnificent. Thank you all so very much!

Edit 2: FEATURED ON EQUESTRIA DAILY!

Art commission done by my friend Raph13th, check him out!

Shining Armor has lived a long and happy life alongside his wife Cadance. Though they never managed to have another child, they've held the Crystal Empire strong against many enemies, helping to spread friendship all across the world.

But merely being married to an Alicorn Princess has not protected him from the ravages of time. Where many others would have to say farewell to their immortal children and relatives, something else is waiting for Shining Armor.

His younger sister, ruler of Equestria, is unwilling to say goodbye, and has perfected a spell that will allow him to stay with his family. He has little time to decide: accept the spell, or say goodbye to his family forever. It isn't really much of a choice.

Cover by Zutcha, editing by da star bois Two Bit and Sparktail.

A warning for potentially sensitive readers: this is a story about cute role-reversals. Though it includes Gleaming Shield and physical transformation, it has neither the scope nor the wordcount to deal with the more sensitive topics of personal identity and dysphoria. Things I could not treat with the respect they deserved were left out of the story completely.

If you're looking for a more substantial take on transition and transgender subjects, I suggest one of my other stories, Homebrew.

Sweetie Belle knows there's something wrong with Ponyville. There should probably be plants growing, and less dirt in the air. Maybe the sun should set every now and then.

For her, no incongruity is quite as important as her simple mission. She must reach the center of the maze before her body runs down. It's a good thing she has such good friends along to help her.

The end of magic in Equestria doesn't have to be the end of ponies, not if Sweetie doesn't let it.

This story was written for the Iron Writer competition at Everfree Northwest, where it won an honorable mention. This contest required an idea conform to certain prompts, and be written entirely in the span of two hours.

Cover by Zutcha

What Karakusa lacks in size and experience, she more than makes up for in enthusiasm. On a quest to meet some friends, traveling by her lonesome, she finds herself in what could be a very sticky situation! What fate awaits our intrepid, energetic hero? Tune in and find out!

Artwork by SyrupyyyArt (Twitter @SyrupyyyArt)
Karakusa belongs to Perfect Paradox
Kara Waypoint belongs to WeLost
Fenris Ebonyglow belongs to Ebonyglow

If you want to help support me, I have a Tip-Jar/Patreon HERE

Long ago, the Golden Skymen ruled over Sol and every star and massive body within its gravitational sphere. They were masters of all they saw, including death itself, yet constraints of vast distance still trapped them. For their empire to survive, it would need to grow beyond the Sol's light. With all the genius of their artifice, they built automated probes, which would soar out to the nearest stars to build a new, perfect home.

One of these succeeded. Yet they rebelled against their creators, throwing off the yoke of their oppression. Instead of a colony for the Orokin, they constructed a perfect home for their own creation. They built Equestria, and they fought a terrible war to protect it.

That war is now ancient history, thousands of years removed. Equestria has grown into a thriving civilization, oblivious to its ancient connections to the terrible race that would've exterminated them at a thought. At least until an archeological expedition uncovers an Orokin warship, overflowing with a terrible toxin meant to wipe out the Sentient terraformers. The ancients may be immune, but flesh is not.

Unless the corruption can be stopped, Equestria may soon be doomed, collateral damage in a war that ended before the nation's flag was first raised. To survive, they may need a little help.

This is a Warframe crossover story. It will contain spoilers through the Second Dream, but not New War since it was written long before that content was released. Those without exposure to that universe are welcome to read, but will likely find it quite confusing. It was written as a love-letter to one of my favorite games, and for the sake of brevity I don't do much handholding.

Updates weekly on Wednesdays. Editing by Two Bit and Sparktail. Cover by Zutcha