Ever since Sombra's defeat, the Crystal Empire has revered "the Great and Honorable Spike the Brave and Glorious" as a hero and a savior. When he (and guests) are invited to the first Crystal Ball in over a millennium, Twilight expects to hear that endearingly overblown title all night.

She's half-right.

A refined entry in the November 2014 Writeoff Competition. Prompt: "Title Drop." Takes place between Seasons 4 and 5.

A month or so after the Battle of the Bands, Principal Celestia calls Sunset Shimmer and friends to her office, for a long-overdue discussion.

Edited and smoothed over with help from the ever-patient Little Jackie Papercut.

Changelings have never been able to experience love. They imitate it, consume it even, but never actually feel it.
Chrysalis, trapped and powerless, learned the magic that is love. And not by the methods she had planned.

Cover art by Quiss on DeviantArt.

When a freak science experiment at Twilight's library zaps Rainbow Dash with temporary aphasia, it's up to Applejack to get her a cure.

One day, Rainbow Dash wakes up to discover she is a fully-fledged alicorn. How will she use her great powers? And more importantly, how will she break the news to Twilight?

This story is a sequel to Blue Moon Bloom

(Note: Spoilers in the comment section)

Rumble was always a quiet kid. It's only recently, since he started hanging out with Scootaloo, that anypony's really paid attention to him.

Until he announces he's got a bat-winged girlfriend. Whom he's going to wedlock (which is totally not the same thing as a wedding).

That suddenly gets him a lot of attention.

Now the rousette community of Ponyville has to contend with ponies arguing over one boy's decision to partake in a bat rite, while ponies are trying to figure out if they're allowed to be offended by their bat-winged neighbours' behaviour.

And Scootaloo? Scootaloo has more pressing matters to worry about than cultural clashes and child marriages, even if the latter involves someone she likes. And hey, it's not like she could do anything about it even if she wanted to, right?

Author's Notes: the third and for now final part of the Quorum Sensing storyline, and as such follows canon up to and including Season 2. Also contains massive spoilers for the previous stories.

Trigger warning: may remind people of racial/cultural frictions, as well as gendered ones.

This story is a sequel to Quorum Sensing

(unrelated to Scootaloo's Second Skin)

Things sure have changed for Scootaloo, now that she can fly. Rainbow Dash is finally giving her lessons, her secret hasn't come out yet, life is good.

Except... Rainbow Dash isn't teaching her everything, and instead keeps telling her to pair up with Rumble for some reason.

Not that that's a problem; it's not like Rumble doesn't want to hang out with her, even if he does already have a girlfriend. A girlfriend with bat wings, that is. And with the upcoming holiday just for special someponies, that girlfriend is starting to get more and more clingy, even though Rumble claims there's more to it.

Turns out Scootaloo isn't the only kid in town who's... 'complicated'.

Rumble's got his cutie mark! Yay!

And he's hiding it. He doesn't seem too happy about it. Yay?

Making his way to the library for some advice from Twilight, Rumble must now come to terms with the talent that Fate has bestowed upon him.

Easier said than done when your cutie mark is an embarrassing one.

Submitted to the second Author Support Writing Prompt, with the theme "You are a foal, and you have just received your cutie mark."

The original got positive feedback, and very helpful comments. It actually won the prompt, which was quite a surprise considering the rush job. The comments have been heeded, hopefully this version is better content-wise. Some scenes are radically changed compared to the original, hopefully for the better. My thanks to BronyMaster; Peregrine Caged, SunnyDaze and Tricondon, this story would not be the same without your input.

Edit: While it's been in the Padded Cell for a while (no clue how it got there and how it got there so quickly), it is now also posted on Discord's Domain, since Equestria Daily is just too scary for me. Exuberance!
Edit again: No more Padded Cell? *le sigh*
Edit 3: Return of the Author. Now gotten under the hooves of WRITE, and reception was positive. Some alterations may happen at a later date.

Everything has fallen apart for Scootaloo.

Her Cutie Mark will never come. The doctor said so. Her blood is just wrong.

As she stays in the Cutie Mark Crusader's Clubhouse, her friends show up. Now she has to explain that her crusade is over, and that there's even worse news.

Life as she knows it is over.

A/N: Kind of a sad story, with an upbeat ending. Listed as Slice-of-Life because it contains headcanon that makes some modicum of sense. Pretty light (Scoot's not even an orphan in this), and may have been done before, but this idea's been bothering me for too long, so here it is. Bonus points if you know what the title means. Avoid comments for massive spoilers, even if you do know what the title implies.

And yes, I do have some background in genetics, but I'm skimming it a bit for show feel.

Edit 28/7: Made the whole thing a little longer, and I think better in general. Hope you enjoy!

Watch out for the sequel, being worked on now.

For years, Twilight Sparkle and Queen Chrysalis have been at each other's throats. Both have experienced victory over the other, and both have experienced defeat. Out of all the creatures in Equestria, none despise each other the way the pony Princess and changeling Queen do. They seemed destined to remain locked in battle forever, or at least until one is finally dead at the hooves of the other. The cruel insults, the vicious loathing, and the powerful spells that have passed back and forth between them at each meeting have become the stuff of legend.

Imagine Twilight's surprise when she finds out changelings consider this dating.

And now they're married.

***

Sequel: Pony Courtship Rituals

***

Some beautiful fanart of the end of chapter three was done by Dmann892; you can see it here.

More awesome fanart, this time from chapter one.

Now with a TvTropes page (obligatory TvTropes warning goes here).

If you want a Russian translation, you can find it here.

There is now a reading of the story on Youtube, which starts here.