Everypony in Equestria loves Hearth's Warming! Right?

What if I told you that some ponies, maybe even some ponies very close to you, didn't actually celebrate it? Sure, she might celebrate Hearth's Warming the same way as everypony else in public, but what about in private?

Written as a gift for MrNumbers

Happy Holidays, no matter what you celebrate! Unless you celebrate the Ultrablack Necrosolstice, in which case I hope the bones of your friends and the bones of your enemies get all mixed up and confusing.

Shining Armor has become an alicorn for some reason, and with no explanation available ponies assume ascendancy is sexually transmitted. Much to Twilight's irritation.

No actual sexually explicit content here, but there are references and some minor bad language.

This was a request for a patron, and was veiwable earlier for said patrons. Head over here if you want a chance of getting a story like this for just 5$!

Brought to you by the donations for my mom! (Find out more about that here.)

Sandbar returns to the School of Friendship for his ten-year reunion.

The decade has been kind. From Yona to Ocellus, everyone is getting somewhere in life. But if time brings change, then no one has changed more than Gallus.

Cover Art was done by RedPalette. Many thanks to her and you can find this specific piece here.

Proofread by the handsome RoMS, whose stuff you must check out.

Livereading by WoodeIfNarrator14

Originally written for 2019's Everfree Northwest Iron Author.

Content Warning: Fic features a trans character venting about the trans experience.

Seeking to normalize cluster naps among the hive's excitable young, Thorax has invented a game. For five minutes he attempts to capture nymphs as they fly around the nursery hive. Upon capturing one, a swift hug and the phrase, 'squeeze the bug!' signals a countdown. The other nymphs have ten seconds to free their friend, lest Thorax get a point. Five points and Thorax wins.

Being a sentimental monarch is hard work, but tiring out little changelings so he can take naps with them - most especially with his favorite one of all - makes it all worthwhile for Thorax.

* Featured 11/19/19!
* Part of the Love Bug Continuity!
* A spiritual sequel of To Love as His Own.
* Cover artwork done by the awesome KamDrawings!
YouTube reading by Skijarama!

Celestia is a princess, elegant, regal, and certainly not secretly trying to mess with everyone around her for her own amusement...

Brought to you by watching Jordanis play Untitled Goose Game a bunch. Plus having Celestia be the goose instead of making Celestia deal with the goose was also his idea, and he edited it super well, so pretty much this is Jordanis' story, I just wrote bits of it.

Story is now complete!

Almost twenty years into her reign, Princess Twilight Sparkle encounters something truly miraculous, something she never thought she'd see again in all her years: A hole in her schedule.

Naturally, that's when Discord comes in to discuss the contents of his hairbrush.

Needless to say, spoilers for the finale. Ineligible entry in Imposing Sovereigns II, using the prompt "Twilight/The Old."

It was an average day in Carousel Boutique.

And then the monster came.

Edited by ROBCakeran53.
Original art and character by kianamai.

Special talents.
That thing that sets ponies apart from each other and gives them a path in life. The one thing that they excel at, broadcast to the world by their cutie mark.
The spectrum of special talents is as wide as the day is long and twice as varied as you think it is.
But, interesting talent or mundane, everypony needs a job to put food on the table and not every talent lends itself to one.

After all, not everyone can be blessed with specific high-demand talents like "growing plants" or "cleaning" or "flying". Even less often does a pony get a particularly nebulous concept or multi-faceted skill like "magic" or "partying" that can apply to any number of jobs.

Sometimes, no matter how good you are at what you do, it's just not something you can make a career out of.

But for those unlucky few, there's a group filled with other ponies who face the same problem that they do.

---

Editted and proofread by the wonderfully helpful NecroHorse!

It is a tale well known to all: Twilight Sparkle, immortal alicorn, forced to face the world without her friends. Time having separated them, never to meet again, leaving only one Princess all alone, the last to remember those happy times. Alone in her castle, mourning all she has lost.

...too bad certain ponies have no sense of the dramatic and are too inconsiderate to actually be dead.

Unicorns are historically superior to other races.

Twilight finds out why.

Edited by Aragon and R5h, uniquely inspired by KitsuneRisu.