Shipping. Shipping the never before shipped!
After the end of Season Two, the mane six enjoy a cruise and along the way meet six unusual partners...!
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No OCs. The challenge is in shipping something not seen before, is it not?!
Don't bother checking the character list either. I won't spoil the identities there. Maybe when all the chapters are done and online. Maybe.

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...

“My daughter Celestia, look at me. I love you, and I wish the best for you in the eons of labor you have yet to endure. So heed my words. When we planted light upon the fields of Creation, Celestia, it was a divine thing. But there will come a time when our brilliance won't be enough. It will take a great, unknowable darkness to test the luminescence that we have bequeathed life. That is an abyss that we can never, ever follow our children down, no matter how much we love them.”

A Silver Medalist of the Ponychan /Fic/ Write-Off: "Cutting Ties"

The glamorous unicorn Opalescence is haunted by bizarre recurring dreams of a world in which she and her friends are all animals. But as vivid as these dreams are, surely they're just dreams, right? There couldn't actually be a parallel universe somewhere where they're little more than pets ... right?

Presenting one of the oldest and most well-known tales in Equestrian lore: the story of the mysterious origins of the royal sisters and of the time the sun refused to rise.

Based on the Japanese myth of Amaterasu.

There is a dark tale behind the 'Love Poison' that very few know.

A lovely Princess and a lovestruck Prince.

How did things go so horribly wrong?

DRAMATIC READING BY STATOOSE:
YOUTUBE

A letter from Celestia interrupts one of Pinkie's parties with disturbing news. Now friendships will be pushed to the limit as Twilight struggles to uncover which of her friends is not who, or even what, she appears to be.

(While not a romance, this does contain a shipped pair)

in Russian

Bon Bon's voice is funny, and that's about all that anypony who meets her notices, as her marefriend Lyra soon steals the spotlight with her explosive personality, strange obsessions, and curious beliefs. And why not? Bon Bon is, after all, a perfectly ordinary, boring pony in every way but two: her voice, and the carefully kept secret that she isn't really a pony.

(Edit:) Now with an annotated version, courtesy of the incomparable Shoggoth Lord!

Deep in the Royal Library is a book. A terrible book that is said to send whoever reads it mad. A book so dangerous that it has to be hidden away and secured with chains to prevent it from ever being opened.

A book which has just been accidently checked out by Spike on behalf of Twilight Sparkle.

The Star In Yellow is rising once more, and only Rainbow Dash and Spike can save Twilight before it's too late. Ideas live forever. Ponies do not.

This fic is loosely inspired by the 19th century story 'The King In Yellow'.

[NEW VERSION HERE]

With the help of forces beyond their control, six friends discover their true importance in Equestria’s timeline. With this new knowledge in hoof, they must try to figure out whom or what has crosshairs on their foreheads. The Elements of Harmony aren’t the only weapons of mass destruction in Equestria.