Hollow Shades is a small farming and lumberjacking community, a tiny bubble of Equestria smack in the middle of the Everfree Forest. Things have been hard-going since the lumber mill was closed down by its aristocratic owner, and the town is slowly dying. The fate of the town weighs heavily even on the town's youth, with young filly Corn Crib of the Harvests being intimately aware of the fact things aren't going well for her family and friends. And then, a ray of hope comes into her life when she encounters a most unusual figure on the road nearby; a talking scarecrow, one that claims to be Lord Barleycorn, the King of Autumn, who promises to help her however he can. Can the two of them succeed in breathing life back into Hollow Shades?

This is a lighthearted story that contains lots of OCs and an original setting. The mane six will appear, but not until later chapters.

First time featured was May 23, 2014! I can't believe it! Thank you everyone! =3
Now with its own TVTropes page!
Picture was made by my friend Escopeto. He did a fantastic job of representing my story.

||ON HIATUS||

The Multiverse. An immense and diverse place, home to countless Planes of existence, each a universe all their own. One organization tries its hardest to keep these Planes in line, and govern the nigh infinite souls that occupy them. But even with a galaxy's worth of agents and the power of the Prime Material Plane at their disposal, something occasionally slips their radar.

Sam is one of those things. An unassuming, twenty-something who one day finds himself stranded in another world. Luckily for him, the inhabitants of Equestria take friendship very seriously. The Elements of Harmony take it upon themselves to befriend and welcome him to Equestria. It certainly doesn't hurt that he's the first and only human ever seen on their planet.

However, all good things must come to an end. Equestria finds itself under attack, both by unknown creatures and beings similar to the country's newest inhabitant. Sam and the Elements must find a way to beat them back, but first they need to figure out who in the Nine Hells this new enemy is.

So begins my first HiE, let alone my first story to be published here. I hope it will be my longest piece to date (even if I never submitted most of my others). I have a long way to go before I can be a professional writer, but that's what this is all about, isn't it? Exercising our writing muscles in a place where some may find enjoyment in our attempts to improve ourselves. So please, lay into me. Tell me what I'm doing wrong, I implore you. It is the only way I will grow as a writer. And, if I can set aside my stubborn pride long enough to learn something, perhaps I will do just that.

Early chapters proofread by the wonderful McStuffins.

Shattered Skies has lived quite some time. He had done well for himself over the past few thousand years; staying out of the public eye and remaining generally uninvolved from pony society while he tended his forests.

Who wouldn't want that, right?

His job came with excellent security and fringe benefits, but after he was betrayed by a princess he trusted, all he wants to do is to live a normal life even if the world tells him otherwise.

Oc disclaimer: The original characters that appear in the story that are not my own have been obtained from the original owners via written permission.

After the Friendship Games, Sunset feels it's time to return home.

Only when she gets there, Twilight's castle is nowhere to be found, Cadance just got her horn, and Princess Celestia is still calling the bacon-haired pony her prized student rather than a failed one. And just reliving her past isn't on the table thanks to a pair of wings Sunset seems to have sprouted upon her return to Equestria.

With Sunset being back before she's supposed to, will the world stay as harmonious and on track, or will everything go down in flames as Sunset has to deal with allegations that she's really a changeling in disguise, a nerdy stallion with blue hair that wants to be her coltfriend, a pretty pink princess in need of remedial magic lessons, and an annoying purple pre-teen pony that will absolutely not go to bed without first being read Starswirl's Complete Mystical Mysteries Compendium?

Only time will tell

To be inserted into Equestria, it's a dream come true for anybrony!

Meet the ponies!

Have super awesome magical adventures!

Use foreknowledge to avoid all those silly pratfall moments without screwing things up and causing irreparable harm to the Mane 6...uh...hopefully!

And all for the low cost of possessing Princess Luna, denying her any real freedom or the ability to move on with her life since she's in your head and you're walking around as Nightmare Moon!

Yeah...there had to be a catch in there somewhere, didn't there?

"Crystal Synergy used to be a middle-aged brony before she abruptly appeared as a young filly at the spot where lightning had struck the ground out of the clear blue sky, roughly two years before the Sonic Rainboom. She only wants to help. What could possibly go wrong?"

"I can't believe you just said that, Pinkie..."

Crystal has lived ten years with fading memories about My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic canon and fanon, the first two of which were spent unable to make any but the most illegible notes as she tried to keep them separated in her head. Not helping matters is the fact that while things mostly seem to be lining up with what she thinks is canon, there is a difference between events as presented in the thirty-minute blocks of a show aimed at a younger demographic (and intended to help sell toys) and living in that setting as a real world with a dynamic history. And she's not quite sure which version of Equestria she's actually in, but things seem to be just enough like what Crystal Synergy believes to be canon that she thinks she has a fair idea of what may happen, and how to help navigate or circumvent some of the more worrying problems looming on the horizon.

A little foreknowledge couldn't hurt, right?

A little foreknowledge can prove to be a very dangerous thing indeed. Especially when you aren't sure which bits of foreknowledge are actually true. And just ignoring the foreknowledge doesn't help either, because some of it is true...

A bit of a grab bag of categories: AU and Human should be self explanatory, but Random was selected because the story fluctuates between serious and silly, adventure and slice-of-life, and black-and-white values vs. blue-and-orange values.

[img]https://i.postimg.cc/sDLsnphg/Princess-Columbia-s-List-Badge.png[/img] Featured on Princess Columbia's List on 9/25/2019

Dreams can take strange turns, but lucid dreams are not supposed to. That’s the whole point, to change the dreamworld through lucidity. However, when he tried messing around with his own subconscious, William signed up for far more than he ever thought he was going to.

Now, Reality seems to be following arbitrary rules, cartoon logic and the fact that he cannot change back from his ridiculous alicorn form is just vanilla icing on the bizarre cake.

And unbeknownst to him, a certain Princess is infuriated by the intrusion in her domain.
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That awesome piece of coverart was drawn by the equally awesome mix-up, that you can also find on his dA account here.

(Gore tag is only for one short scene in ch2 due to description of blood in T story)
(It tickles me every time people erroneously think this is a self-insert)

Tobias has lived in Ponyville for almost two years now. He's been holding onto his secret, even though his friends keep worrying more about him every day. He focuses on the different jobs he does around town, trying to get by one week at a time.

He's become a welcome resident of the town, even if a few ponies still shout insults now and then because of his appearance.

Not a single one of them knows he's only been a diamond dog for two years and he's been trying to find a way home.

~~~~

What the crap am I doing in the feature box?!

That's like

And the top of the feature box the day after?!

I'm kind of glad I intended this to only be five or less chapters.

Second chapter given a great boost by feedback and proofreading with the help of:
FreedomFiend
Timetraveling Pony
m2pt5

Third chapter editing and feedback help from:
FreedomFiend
JimboTex

From one barren wasteland to another, less barren wasteland, an Australian Information Technology worker finds himself stuck in the snow with nowhere to go. Armed with nothing but a cheap tool set and a three metre Ethernet cable, he must find a way to survive his new location. At least it can't get any worse... right?

Oh of course it can, it's a HIE.

Warning: Contains Australian, Changelings (of course), snow, occasional IT speak, less-than-stellar HIE satire, and shoddy humour not fit for a backyard comedy club.

"We wear the mask that grins and lies, It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes."
— Paul Laurence Dunbar

It started as a normal Equestrian morning, but doesn't it always? The princesses are frightened, and in Ponyville, a creature from a forgotten race walks into town. His kind hasn't been seen in over a thousand years, but even then he's still far from what he appears to be.

Arc 1: The First Day

Author's Note: Hey guys! This is my first story, so constructive criticism is more than welcome. I'll take this moment to say that I own nothing but my main character, the plot, and a few surprises which will appear later. All other characters and linked music are NOT mine. A word on music. At times I might offer two links to a song. The first is the OFFICIAL version, the second is the closest approximation to how I feel it is sung in the story. Just warning you, because I know some people hate covers. This story is rated teen for occasional language, implied sex, and gruesome imagery (mostly late in the story and in flashbacks). Now with technical out of the way, I wish you all happy reading, and I hope you have fun.

Edit: Bug the writer! He writes faster when you do.