This story is a sequel to Rise of the Phoenix Empress

It has been nearly nine hundred years since Sunbeam Sparkle claimed the throne of Equestria after Celestia’s abdication. In that time, she has forged Equestria into a powerful centralized empire that spans most of the known world. Even the distant griffons and zebras pay reluctant homage to the Phoenix Empress.

In this series of connected one-shots, we’ll be taking a look at life the new Equestria Sunbeam Sparkle has forged, through the eyes of its inhabitants.

Study Buddies: Sunset Shimmer and Twilight Sparkle are the Empress’ co-students. They also rather dislike each other, mostly due to Sunset’s less than friendly attitude. Can they find a way to work together to fulfill the Empress’ high expectations, or will they just end up trying to kill each other?

Hey there. Name's Discord. I'm the janitor at a high school. I clean up after bratty teenagers and the odd drama queen or two that turns into a demon and wrecks up the school. Ain't my job grand?

Birthday gift to my bro Skeeter The Lurker, a really rad dude everyone should check out!

Awesome art from the greatly talented ManiacPaint, who you should definitely check out for more good art!

Discord, being the curious Spirit of Chaos he is, decides to bring in Jesus to explain what exactly Easter means. The answer is more surprising than you'd think.

Yes, a story about Jesus, chill out and roll with it.

Everyone knows that at some point, they are going to die. Nobody, however, likes to think about it. When we do though, we tend to get a little depressed.

Spanish Translation by Yanik

Thanks to Time Paradox for help with editing.
Cover image from Mandydax.

Cloud Goat might just have the wildest life of any goat in Goatville. Marvel at the insanity that is her life, and laugh at the suffering of her poor beleaguered best friend, Blossom Goat. Or at least, you would do that if this weren't a story about goats. Sadly, goats just aren't very interesting. Also, the title is a lie. Goats do not win at anything. Ever.

It's a stupid April Fool's prank story. About goats. You were warned.

(NOTE: This is not a ship-fic. No romance here, just somepony trying to cheer up her friend. Move along. Nothing to see here...)

Based on the scene at the very end of "The Last Roundup": Pinkie Pie and Rarity are left stranded in the Badlands, their long and agonizing journey home requiring them to spend a night alone in the desert. It is here that the latter discovers a painful secret hidden beneath her friend's constant cheerful demeanor.

Despite not being the one famous for bringing a smile to everypony's face wherever she goes, the exhausted (and most unacceptably filthy) fashionista does everything in her power to make her happy again...

(Now with a sequel: link)

(Submission for Equestrian Harmonics' second group contest, prompt #1)

(Featured on EQD and added to Twilight's Library)

(A million thanks to Pre-reader 63.546 from EQD for helping me turn this story into something decent!)

Princess Twilight Sparkle is perfectly happy with her perfectly ordinary life in Ponyville. Every library book is properly shelved in its appropriate place, and her life continues on exactly according to her meticulously planned out schedule.

Then she gets a bodyguard.

Now she has to find some way to fit this new pony into her life on short notice. It won’t be an easy thing to adjust to—especially since Captain Storm Kicker’s presence makes it that much harder for her to go on living like the same old Twilight Sparkle she was before she became a princess.

Applejack's love for her farm and her family define her. They're the two things in her life which keep her going: the only motivation she needs to get out of bed every morning. Her brother, her sister, their grandmother, and—and the three of them, keeping their family orchard going strong together. It’s the life she always wanted.

But Sweet Apple Acres has taken a hit in recent years. It’s hard to ignore how, so recently, the four of them used to be the five of them, or how the farm’s account is running as dry as the fields themselves.

But it’s just a phase; a bad one, but they come and they go, like the seasons themselves. Applejack knows it’s just a matter of persevering, and staying the course. Better days are just around the corner.

After the events of "Filli Vanilli," Pinkie Pie approaches Fluttershy with apologies. But when Fluttershy probes into just why and for what Pinkie is apologizing, Pinkie finds out that there are quite a few friendship lessons she has still to learn.

Sunbeam Sparkle is not a good pony. She might not be pure evil, but she is ruthless, ambitious, and so power-hungry that she would even aspire to usurp Celestia's throne. Worse, she succeeds in manipulating Celestia into not only surrendering rule over Equestria, but her immortality as well.

It is often said that power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. In most cases that’s true. Many good ponies have begun with good intentions, but slowly lost their way. However, this is not always the case. A rare few virtuous ponies have the character and strength of will to resist temptation, and are never corrupted by their authority.

Even rarer, there comes a time when gaining power makes a pony better than they were before. This is one such story.