While exploring the decrepit remains of the Castle of Friendship, Sunny Starscout and her friends discover a strange book that might have belonged to Princess Twilight Sparkle herself. The book's contents resemble a series of letters that were apparently sent back and forth between Twilight and an unknown party.

At some point, Twilight stopped responding.

Sing, o Muse, of impetuous Zagreus: Scourge of shades, son of Hades, Prince of the Underworld. Few tales are told of him and even fewer truths. But what follows, though wilder than the most outlandish Orphic fiction, is still as true as an oath sworn on the Styx. For the depths of his father's realm contain passages unplumbed by any, and gates to realms undreamt of by god or man.

But by pony, they are well known indeed.

A crossover between issue #82 of the main MLP comic and the game Hades. Cover synthesized from works by Pencils and Supergiant Games. Contains some game spoilers, including some several millennia old. Rated Teen solely to allow the content warning.

Prereading provided by Akouma, Bugsydor, Caliaponia, and SirNotAppearingInThisFic.

A web of lies can make for a heavy heart. When the pony you love turns out to have hidden their whole identity, what does that mean for a relationship?

For the Heartstrings family, Saint Paddy Wagon's Day is the most celebrated day of the year. They have long believed that the luck of the Neighlish flows through their veins, and that on Saint Paddy's Day anything is possible.

This year, Lyra decides to put that luck to the test.

Her target: local candy maker and longtime mare of her dreams.

Her tools: the indisputable luck this day will bring her and only the finest, corniest, holiday-appropriate, and most-guaranteed-to-woo pick-up lines around.

Bon Bon doesn't stand a chance.

Preread by Fahrenheit and Carabutt
Edited by auramane and Jondor
Cover by the amazingly talented Rossby Waves

To earth ponies, there is little more important than tradition. Foals grow up taught everything from family recipes, songs, dances, to folk tales passed down from generation to generation. Of these traditions, none is more valued than a proposal, an offer to entwine your life with somepony else's.

To Bon Bon, nothing is more important to her than Lyra, and nothing matters more than making sure that her proposal is perfect.

Now, if only perfection wasn't so elusive.

And if only it was as easy to grow flowers as every other earth pony makes it seem.

Preread by auramane, Melon Hunter, and Carabutt.

Cover art by Rossby Waves.

Starting over is never an easy thing to do. Lost, alone, and cold, sometimes a friendly smile and mug of cocoa are all that's needed to warm the heart.

And right now, Bon Bon is very cold.

Preread by Carabutt and Crystal Wishes.

Cover art by Rossby Waves.

Lyra always knew there was something more out there. She learned in her youth, when she became the victim of a bloodsucking horror that kept her enthralled to his twisted will, feeding on the blood of others to sustain itself. Until Bonnie came, and set her free with fire and bullets. After agonizing withdrawal, Lyra's body healed. But her soul was another matter entirely.

Now she tries to live a normal life, passing the day to day as a music tutor. But horrors still stalk her nightmares, lurking in every shadowy Canterlot alley.

As time passes, something deep in Lyra rebells at this vision of her world, where mankind are desperate prey always fleeing from dark things. Something is calling to her, a vision of a better world. Once her soul wakes to magic, it will never sleep again.

Unless someone puts her in the dirt, of course. Someone like her monster-hunting girlfriend.

Updates Saturdays.

This story is a tribute to the World of Darkness. Knowledge of its setting and characters is not necessary to read this--its lead character will have to learn everything right along with readers. But for the curious, I'm using 1st Edition Mage the Awakening, Hunter the Vigil, Changeling the Lost, Vampire the Masquerade, and Werewolf the Forsaken. It's primarily a mage story, but will include elements of the other books where appropriate.

This story started with the simple premise of wondering what Twilight and her unicorn friends would look like as a cabal of mages. But given how long I've been writing and how old the fandom is now, centering a story on Twilight felt too predictable at this point. I wanted to use one of the background characters as viewpoint instead. Everything else grew from that premise--making the changelings into changelings, some earth ponies into werewolves, etc.

Editing by Two Bit and Sparktail. Two Bit was also my enabler for this story. The cover was made by the fantastic Zen. I'm really happy with how this one came out.

Golden Harvest very much likes to think of herself as the sensible mare of the earth. She's certainly not one for breaking a perfectly good daily routine: give Dinky a hot meal, take care of the carrots, try to remember when she last had lunch...

Unfortunately, it's Nightmare Night coming up, and she's going through one of the least productive (and therefore least profitable) months of the year. So of course Derpy takes the chance to ask her for help with something she should've done last week. And yes, she does need it ready for tonight, and no, she has no idea how to actually go about it.

However, Derpy is a mare on a mission, a pony with a plan. And there's nothing more terrifying than that, even on Nightmare Night.

From the outside, she seems to be a very lucky girl. She has a loving family, lots of friends at school, a comfortable home to call her own.

In her head, things are different. Trapped in her own mind, surrounded by the ruins of her life, the only survivor of the death of her soul. She has no family, no friends, no home, nothing.

And one enemy.

Ruby Pinch is not alone. Ruby Pinch is never alone.

Desperation can make a pony do a lot of crazy things. Lie. Cheat. Steal. Pay a call on two ponies who were trying to kill her the last time she saw them.

Of course, she was trying to kill them, too, back then.

But that's all in the past! And now that their daughter Rarity is on Princess Twilight's new ruling council, set to become a leader in the Equestrian government once Princess Celestia and Princess Luna actually step down, well, everything'll be totally different and so much better, right?

As long as the truth doesn't come out, of course...

An entry in the Ancestral Tribute contest, this story was awarded 3rd place, and its title comes from David Mallett's song "Ambition."