This story is a sequel to Lost Cities

Once upon a time there was a high tower at the edge of the world. The ponies who lived there thought it would last forever.

It did not. Neither did the great pegasus cloud fortresses, or the earth ponies's mighty metropolises, or even Everfree, home of the Sisters and the glorious capital from which they ruled an empire. Cities, it seems, are as mortal as ponies – they are born, they live, and someday they must die.

But the world goes on. The stories never end.

The changeling who impersonated Rarity during To Where and Back Again returns to Ponyville to say she's sorry.

A speedwriting exercise. Unedited.

“Tour America by Rail!” the sign said, and so Sweetsong does. Everything she needs for a journey fits into her saddlebags, and there are plenty of trains to choose from if she’s resourceful enough.

There’s nothing quite like having her hooves over the side of an empty gondola watching the world speed by, or looking at the stars overhead through the end bracing on a grain car. Sometimes box cars have their doors left open, and she knows how to jam them so they won’t close en route.

When she gets where the train takes her, she can live off the land or sing and play her guitar for money. When it’s time to move on? There’s always another train.

Pre-read by AlwaysDressesInStyle

No one alive today can say where she came from; simply that she has always been there.

And yet, few ponies have had a greater impact on Princess Celestia's life than Raven, her most faithful aide.

Inspired by and based off of a headcanon put forth by Heir-of-Rick, though perhaps a bit less insidious than what he had in mind. He very kindly provided an alternate version of his image for me to use as my cover image! Text added by me.

All comments and criticism very welcome!

Featured in the Royal Canterlot Library! Go there to read the interview for some behind-the-scenes info on this story!

Translations: Chinese, Spanish!

Twilight Sparkle is a bit underwhelmed with her ascension to alicornhood and, after a disastrous coronation ceremony, it becomes clear that something is missing.

It'd be a shame if somepony else got to it before she did.

Working at the front desk of a hotel has numbed Kaia to the variety of guests, at least until the ponies arrive.

Written for the Passports and Portals Not-A-Contest

Now with a reading by StraightToThePointStudio!

Finding one's ideal assemblage of beauty products is somewhat more complicated than discovering the perfect mate: after all, when it comes to love, a mare has but to locate one pony. It's taken years for Rarity to learn what works best for her: in some cases, the only things which work at all. Which means that having a crucial shampoo (her only shampoo!) taken out of the mix may create something of a minor issue.

Well, it's surely nothing which a proper lady can't deal with in dignity and grace. Also explosions.

She's still a Bearer. There's always explosions.

(Now with author Patreon and Ko-Fi pages.)

Cover art taken from assembled captures by SelenaEde.

Twilight Sparkle, the Solar Regent, was frustrated. She’d never had a chance against Nightmare Moon, and now she had to live with the consequences of her failure and the moon goddess on the throne beside her.

Shining Armor, Captain of the Royal Guard, was frustrated. His liege was gone. His marefriend was somewhere doing something. His sister was showing all the early warning signs of one of her infamous breakdowns. Worst of all, everypony was keeping secrets.

Sweetie Drops, Equestrian special agent, was frustrated. Work kept piling up, and there seemed to be more and more monsters to fight every day. She needed help.

Cadance, the Crystal Princess, was frustrated. Being somepony’s snack was beneath her, but needs must.

Tempest Shadow, wanderer, was frustrated. Why did life always insist on kicking her while she was down? If it wanted to maintain even the pretext of fairness, her next destination would be her last.

Luna, the Lunar Diarch, was delighted. Everything had gone perfectly since her return from exile.

Why do ponies dream? Why do we all seem to dream the same dreams?

What if we started to dream new things?

Discord said he wanted to make our dreams more interesting. Add some spice to our boring nocturnal lives. Nothing dangerous – just a bit of excitement to talk about in the mornings.

"Stop worrying so much, Twilight Sparkle," he said. "After all, dreams never hurt anypony."

How I wish he’d been right.

Gold Medalist in the Under the Sun Writeoff Event.

Now with Russian translation, courtesy of Cloud Ring! https://darkpony.space/the-archetypist-1/

It had been hard enough, being one of the first. With the walls dropped, leaving her nation, her herd, traveling to Japan and trying to exist among so many strangers... every day had been a challenge. But she'd tried. Day by day, hoofstep by hoofstep, she'd felt she was finding her place in the human world.

But now there are no humans. No other demis or liminals. Nothing to anchor her. She exists among tiny horses and the scent of their fear, or at least what little of it drifts into her cell.

For nopony can look at a centaur and see anything but a monster.

(Now with author Patreon and Ko-Fi pages -- and the TVTropes page just went live.)

Cover art by Harwick. Please contact him for commission rates & prints.

Trigger warning: character interpretation.