3/14/24 Still Alive Edition

There's only one pony in Ponyville that the Mane Six have never met. Pinkie Pie has never thrown him a party, Applejack has never sold him a mug of cider, and Twilight has never seen him check out any books. And as far as that unicorn, Lapis Print, is concerned, that's exactly how it should be.

Lapis can't risk them knowing where he lives, what he does for a living, or even what his name is - if he gets his way, the Mane Six won't even know he exists, and nopony in Ponyville will miss him once he's gone.

It should be a piece of cake - after all, it's not like the biggest magical power in Equestria is about making sure everypony looks out for each other, right?

(Rated Teen for language - mental cursing mostly.)

After several jumps go wrong, Anon lands himself, er, herself into another land of colorful equines. This time stuck for an entire year before being able to continue on her quest of returning home.

Question remains, will Anon want to?

Proofread and edited by PseudoBob Delightus and Discombobulated Soul

Starts shortly before season one. More character tags will be added as they become relevant.
Includes a grumpy former human.
Dark tag for flashbacks.
Violence tag for flashbacks, mentions of past violence and the second chapter and tenth chapter
Will there be cake?
Maybe?
Maybe includes cake.

Celestia travels to a far corner of her kingdom to investigate a rumor about a colt with strange, illicit cutie marks. She meets Radish Root, a boy whose marks make him an anomaly in the fabric of Equestria, a mystery to himself, and an outcast among society.
When Radish joins the Royal Guard just prior to the return of Nightmare Moon, he finds his life being complicated by all the changes coming to Equestria. His marks will lead him into adventure, intrigue, and trouble... but will they ever lead him to answers?

Proofreader: Slavenger Karl
Cover Art Gallery
Table of original characters
A reader is translating this story into Spanish. Check it out here.

This story is a sequel to Gloria Celestia

A rumor here, a scandal there, and a peppering of negative publicity can easily provide all the ammunition necessary to take down some of the most powerful players of the Canterlot nobility. But when one party foul too far turns the entirety of the upper class against DJ Pon-3, Upper Crust leads an unrelenting blitz against her, and Vinyl Scratch's world begins to crumble all around her.

Unwilling to let an accident ruin the DJ's reputation on the callous whims of Canterlot's elite, Fancy Pants decides to make a risky investment into counter-culture and help Vinyl get back on her hooves. However, it's going to take more than the prestige of the Kingmaker of Canterlot to get this record spinning again, especially when real royal matters start spiraling out of control.

Edited by: TheAncientPolitzanian
Preread by: Alchemik and Jymbroni
Cover Art by: W. Viloria of Vintage Future Games
Takes place shortly after the events of The Crystal Empire - Part 2
Part of the Silent-verse AU of stories. While not necessary reading, be sure to check out the other stories in the universe:
Forbidden Melodies - Breaking the Silence
Gloria Celestia - The Origins of the Silence
A Peach is Worth a Thousand Problems - The Silly Spin-off for Fun!

Chapter 31 Preread by Wanderer D
Special Thanks to ShutterflyYay for their contributions to the original drafts.
Special Thanks to anonixar for helping ensure accuracy in French with this fiction.
Special Thanks to Stormfox from the Discord server for helping with the costuming research.
Special Thanks to BirdsBooksBrownies for finding many numerous typos

The problem with being an explorer in this day and age is that unexplored lands are few and far between. Almost everything's been charted, catalogued, analyzed, and what have you. But that's an almost; there are still those rare, blank spots in the maps, inexplicable, untouched by hooves, unsurveyed. One of those corners is Needle Vale in the far north. Supposedly cursed, yet everyone who's gone in has come back out. It has more stories about it than Celestia herself, yet every single adventuring group that's gone in has found nothing. Thanks to a nonstop snowstorm that's been blowing for centuries, no one's even been able to map it out.

Daring Do thinks there are too many stories about it to be a coincidence. Something is inside there. The source of the legends and of the snowstorm. And no one has a will quite as strong as Daring's (or so she tells herself). With a small team at her back, Daring makes a decision: she will go into Needle Vale, she will withstand the storm, and she will discover what’s going on in there.

But, as Daring is about to find out, there's a reason no one’s been able to pin down what's going on in that valley. Not everything that lies in the dark corners of the earth should be studied.

Loosely inspired by Annihilation. Has a dramatic reading done by Quinch.

Those are the rules of burglary, as far as Warded Lock is concerned. She follows them religiously. They’re good rules. They’ve served her well. She’s made a lot of money following those rules. She hasn’t been caught yet.

But one wealth-redistribution excursion yields a mere pittance in stolen loot. Lock knows there’s more valuables deeper in the house, where her rules say she’s not supposed to go. She could get to them, if only she was willing to bend those rules. So she does and goes deeper into the house than she ought.

Then Lock stumbles on a horrifying secret.

The job is instantly derailed.

And everything goes straight to Tartarus.

Has an audio drama created by My name is R.

"... at the forefront of our fandom’s writing scene ... Masterpiece." —PCaRG
"... really enjoyable ..." —City of Doors
"...worthy of high praise." —PaulAsaran
"Lots of wonderful world-building, great action, well-developed characters and an engaging story." —Hoopy McGee

Steel Song is a lot of things. Earth pony. Uncle. Professional bodyguard.

Retired.

So when he receives a mysterious package from Princess Luna a few weeks after the changeling invasion, he's understandably apprehensive. More-so when he presents himself before the Royal Diarchs to find that not only do they desire him to come out of retirement, but to take command of a most unusual position...

A position that may have more significance than any of them suspect. Because strange thefts are occurring on the Equestrian Railway, thefts that nopony can explain. Thefts that may have far more sinister intentions than their seemingly innocent nature may convey.

Intentions sinister enough to shift the balance of power in Equestria forever.

Book I of The Dusk Guard Saga.
Epic Fantasy
Has a collection of Side Stories as well, the first of which is here.
Now with a TV Tropes page!
"This is 100% Approved by Twilight's Library!"
Added to Twilight's Library 11/26/2013
Added to Canterlot's Finest 12/01/2013

It has been nearly a thousand years since Twilight Sparkle died. Celestia and Luna are gone. The Holy Equestrian Diarchy, ruled by a bigoted and brutal theocracy, has driven ponies apart and divided them along tribal lines. Unicorns are driven from society, feared and hated.

The lessons of friendship, painstakingly written down in the journal of friendship by Princess Twilight and her friends, have been warped and twisted to fit the Diarchy's hateful ideology. But to the average pony, this is the truth and reality of the world they live in, beset on all sides by enemies monstrous and magical.

Emberglow, a young pegasus mare, aspires to join the elite Knights, magically enhanced warriors dedicated to the holy Saints worshiped by the state religion. Can she uncover the lies and deceptions that have led the world to this bitter place?

Thanks to QueenChrysalisForever for prereading Chapters 1-24. Prereader for chapters 29-31 is MrRTS.
Prereading for chapter 34-? by Horsetorian
Additional pre-readers: bananachips/CommissarVulpin, Thought Prism, Chyre
Special thanks to my amazing editor, Cyonix
Cover Art by JodTheCod

Note on timing: I began writing this long before Season 9 aired, so none of those events happened as far as the narrative of this story is concerned.

Come join us on the Rekindled Embers Discord!

Edit: Featured 8/7/20! Yay and Thanks!