HELLO, COMMANDER.

In response to the Equine threat, this council of nations has chosen to activate the XCOM project.

We have located the alien's homeworld, known as 'Equestria'. Your mission is to travel there and murder everything you see. Your team has the best weapons, armour and training. Literally nothing can go wrong.

Operation: Exploding Face is underway!

Remember, we will be watching.

"We have to be brave now, Scootaloo," Dash said. "Just close your eyes, and it'll be all over by the time you open them again."

Let me tell you a story about the bad place.

Special thanks to Vimbert and Noble Jury.

In a world full of magic, mere words can pose a deadly threat. When simply reading a sign can instantly infect the unwary, and cases start to turn up all around Ponyville, Twilight Sparkle casts the only spell she can find that can give her the time she needs to find the cause of the plague. But then she has to figure out how to stop the epidemic... without being able to read.

Editing provided by Spabble
If you like this, try Rainbow Typhoon
Audiobook on YouTube and for download on SoundCloud
Spanish version translated by MIkimoco
Russian version

This story is a sequel to Fluttershy Discovers Animal Crackers

Following the horrific events of the Animal Cracker Incident, Pinkie makes gummy bears for Rainbow Dash. Will Fluttershy find out about them and just become even more traumatized?

Applejack left her childhood blanket in Appleloosa with Bloomberg, choosing to keep the memories rather than the physical object. She winds back up with it, although not on terms she would have liked.

Featured on Equestria Daily October 29th, 2012

The star system Omega Centauri was just another oddity on a map to scientists in the not too distant future. However when they found the star was orbiting an earth-sized, earth-like planet instead of a black hole as its motion had suggested, a mission was scrambled to investigate this most unusual of celestial behaviors.

Hamstrung by politics, and nearly crippled before it began, the 'Lone Ranger' mission was reduced to just one crew member and left to his own devices.

These are the logs of Arrow 18 and its lone commander. This information is classified TOP SECRET by the Global Space Agency.

Do NOT tell the princess.

It occurred one peaceful night. Half of Equestria awoke to the sound like a double-shot thunderclap. A percussion heard in the skies and rattling windows from Apploosa, to Canterlot, to Ponyville. Nopony knew what it was or what it heralded for the world as it drew a line across the nation.

For Twilight Sparkle, this isolated incident might have faded from memory after a time, if not for the strange rumors of a creature sitting on the hill on the outskirts of town.

These are her thoughts given written form. These are Sparkle's Notes.

Report EVERYTHING to the Princess.

The Shaper is a smith of unparalleled skill, her creations the most sought after in the fallen world. When a pony named Lyra comes to her with a unique commission she has to put all her skill to the test to craft a weapon of great power. For Lyra's goal is not an easy one, and it is not just any weapon that can kill a Dragon.

A story inspired by this and this image, as well as this challenge by CDRW (whose fic A Still More Glorious Dawn Awaits is quite good).

Though Scootaloo normally appears to be a happy and lively little filly, every once in a while she reacts in a way that catches other ponies attention. Especially the ponies she spends the most time with, Rainbow Dash and her friends, seems to take notice of these little things.

When she finally reacts in a way that cannot be ignored, it is up to Rainbow Dash to find out what terrible secret Scootaloo is really hiding.