It's been a year since a tragic accident took Applejack's parents. A year, and she still doesn't know what to do with herself. Encouraged by friends and family, she decides to spend the summer vacation at Fluttershy's beach house on Splendora Island. She's not sure if it's helping.

Then, one night, she finds something injured on the beach. No, not something. Someone.

What starts as good intentions steadily grows into something else. Whether that something else is good for Applejack is another matter entirely.

Have questions regarding the story? Visit the Q&A blog!

Now with a TVTropes page.

"PaulAsaran’s attention to detail and use of repetition, flashback, and expression to create an unforgettable story is something I’m still trying to get a handle on in my own work." — leeroy_glBZ

"Impressed every step of the way. Thoroughly good writing." — Shrink Laureate

Inspired 100% by the cover art. The idea jumped into my skull and refused to leave until it was written out.

Props to my wonderful pre-readers: SorenPixels, NaiadSagaIotaOar, and Wanderer D!

Cover art used with permission from LooknamTCN, verily one of the best RariJack artists ever. Check out their immensely enjoyable Tumblr.

Quiet mornings before school starts can be lonely, but peaceful. For some people, they're a good time to just breathe and prepare themselves for the day ahead. Fluttershy and Adagio Dazzle find themselves doing this in the same place at the same time, in their own ways.

Based on a picture that was a little too big to be the cover art, but cute enough to inspire some shipping anyway.

Now comes with actual cover art courtesy of SkycatcherEquestria!

Comments may contain spoilers!

Now comes with Trope page!

Okay, I don't know if anyone can hear this, or read this, or whatever, but I'm trying my best to use Pinkie Pie's legendary fourth-wall-breaking powers to try and get a message out.

If you can hear this, I need help. I'm in Equestria, and man, this is strange. But I'm also stuck in Pinkie Pie's body, for some reason.

Yes, it's just as weird as it sounds. And now, I need your help... because all the ponies in this town think I'm crazy!

A man comes across a filly, however she's not one of the Mane Six.

Sometimes life plays games with you. Everything you felt was important to you is taken and your past seems to have more stark moments of things you'd rather forget. Living alone and battling your own demons seems to be the only thing you have to look forward to. However, one night while walking home in the middle of a freak late summer storm in the middle of the night, something happened. Something terrifying. Something wonderful. Something unexpected.

It's an old trope, not a fresh idea, but this is a story about me and My Little Chryssie...

Cover art by ZuTheSkunk. Check out dat artwork! A special thanks goes out to this artist who so graciously allowed me to use his work.

MLP:FiM is owned by Hasbro
MLP:FiM was created by Lauren Faust
OCs are mine unless specified.

The Crystal War. A battle so long and brutal that it has shaped an entire era of righteous bloodshed. Ponies don't have slumber parties, or read bedtime stories to their foals, or even so much as smile. And when they do smile, it's the kind of smile that would keep ponies of a more peaceful era awake for days.

The madness of Sombra and his slave army claims lives every day. Soldiers in service to Celestia fight tirelessly to hold onto even a shred of what Equestria used to be. Its citizens do everything they can to feed the bloody machine, from canning food to holding funerals.

And at the heart of it all, there stand three mighty warriors. They have lost a great deal to this war, though none of them know just how much. What they do know is that they made promises back home, and they are not in the habit of breaking promises. No matter the cost.

This is the story of Iron Wing and the Demolition Crew.

Rainbow Dash was the Iron Wing. She was a war hero, the Slayer of Shadows, the Liberator of the Crystal Empire, the Wrath of Celestia. And depending on who you ask, she still is.

But the war is over. There's little need for a pony like her in peacetime. So she keeps telling herself that she needs to adjust, that she needs to find a new role to fill in the world that she saved. But Equestria seems content to let her remain what she has become, even though they have no need of a warrior.

"This isn't how it's supposed to be", is something she keeps telling herself. But every time she says it, the only thing she can reply is, "so what should it be?"

One whole year after the close of the war, and Rainbow Dash still doesn't have the answer.

Art by NCMares.