This, this is why I spend so much time in the archives, Twilight thought, holding a dusty old book close in her magic. Inside the book were a number of advanced spells, each one more interesting than the last in some sort of circular logic that Twilight could only assume went to infinity

Twilight galloped through the doors to her tower and leaped onto her favorite reading pillow on the balcony. She opened the book to the table of contents.

Oh my gosh! They’re all so interesting! Ooh, an age spell! That…might be a bit beyond me. But here right below it – a duplication spell!

Previous Episode: The Brief Reign of Princess Twily
Current Episode: Season Zero – Episode Two
Next Episode: Works Every Time

You remember Canterlot. You remember the taste of victory. Across a thousand years and a hundred lives, it was the greatest joy you had ever felt.

And then, in a flash of heat and unbearable light, it ended.

Now you are alone. The rest of your kind are dead or scattered, and you cannot hear their thoughts.

There is a void inside you. A gnawing, endless hunger you cannot escape. It is killing you.

You need love to survive, but there is none of that here. Not for you. You can only steal it from them, these ponies for whom we are hungry.

[My entry in and winner of the "Most Dangerous Game" contest."]

Crossing Guard works in Equestria's Immigration Department: among other things, he serves as the final check on whether a non-pony can take up residence in Canterlot. It's not a simple job, especially given the follow-ups when a new resident or citizen-in-waiting inevitably gets into trouble. But Gerald Gristle is an exceptionally calm applicant, Crossing's tired from a long day, and so he allows the griffon to begin the five-year process, with the announced food supply business set to open two weeks in.

Which is when Crossing finds out just what kind of food the griffon is supplying.

After all, carnivores and omnivores have to eat too...

(Part of the Triptych Continuum, which has its own TVTropes page and FIMFiction group -- but can be read as a stand-alone, and no knowledge of the other stories is required. New members and trope edits are welcome.)

Now with author Patreon and Ko-Fi pages.

Life's hard when you're small, especially if you're a breezie. The ponies keep trying to knock down your tree-home, steal all your fruit, and now they're about to bring back winter and doom your hive to a frozen fate.

Misty has had enough. She's going to leave her tree, stop the Summer Shutdown, and save the world.

After all, someone's got to do it.

Written for Equestria Daily's Outside Insight Summer Fanfic Contest

Lyra Heartstrings has always known that humans exist, even if none of the other ponies in her life have ever appreciated that fact. But aside from a few enigmatic ancient prophecies and a popular fantasy series, there haven't ever really been any authoritative sources on what humans were really like. Years of discouragement begin to take their toll on Lyra's faith in the strange and wondrous beings with their strange limbs and ways of sitting.

Until one day, when Lyra finds a strange device on the ground outside Ponyville, and it starts talking to her with short messages printed on its tiny screen. So instead of search for the device's proper owner, Lyra takes it home, hoping for the chance to talk to a real human.

Takes place ostensibly in the universe of My Little Apprentice, though very little connection with that story is expected. Familiarity with that story and its sequel are neither expected nor required.

Equestria is safe once again, and Twilight has found her destiny. Still, the beginning of this new chapter in her life comes at a high cost, and Twilight must come to terms with the bittersweet ending to her latest adventure.

Losing your home isn't something that you get over in a day—Spike doesn't think so, at least. But Twilight insists that she's not overly distraught by the destruction of the Golden Oak Library, and she says that she's simply ready to move on. Spike, on the other hand, can't let go of his old home quite so easily. Is Spike just blowing this whole thing out of proportion, or is there something Twilight isn't telling him?

Now in audio form, courtesy of Pinkie Pie!
Cover image generously created by StainlessKey.

It might seem like a simple spell. A truly basic working. All it does is change the color of something without altering a single other detail, and somepony just pranked Twilight with it. A minor joke, one with no real consequence. But it's still new magic, and so Twilight and Spike venture out to track the spell and caster across Ponyville.

You'd think a spell which merely changed colors wouldn't create so much trouble.

You'd really like to think that.

(Part of the Triptych Continuum, which has its own TVTropes page and FIMFiction group. New members and trope edits welcome.)

Now with author Patreon and Ko-Fi pages.

Dedicated to John M. Ford.

This story is a sequel to The Sun Burns Brightly

When you're the immortal ruler of an entire kingdom, the most important quality to possess is a passion for your work. No princess can rule her nation if she can't find it in herself to give her best effort every day and night. Luna knows this better than anypony, and puts her whole heart into everything she does.

But passion, unless tempered by restraint, has a way of biting one in the flank.

This story is a sequel to The Moon Glows Gently

When you're the immortal ruler of an entire kingdom, the most important quality to possess is self-control. No princess can rule her nation if her emotions rule her. Celestia knows this better than anypony, and mastered them long ago.

So long ago, she may have forgotten that a little bit of passion can come in handy now and again.