On the night before Nightmare Night, Pinkie's week long visit to her sisters, Inkie and Blinkie, outside of Nowhere, Equestria is nearing a close. With their parents out of town, they have the farmhouse all to themselves, and Pinkie is ready for an epic farewell party. Yet at this time every year, spooky things tend to happen in Nowhere... when the fog rolls high in the eventide.

And is this the only reason Pinkie's sisters wish her to leave early?

~Meant to be spooky, not gross and gore-filled. No, you don't need to know anything about Courage the Cowardly Dog to enjoy this. Come yonder! Any 'crossover' characters are ponified - as in - having existed in Equestria since birth.

Recommended Listening: Dear Esther - The Whole God Damned Soundtrack

Error checked by mah numbah one hombre, -TGM-.

There is a secret in Equestria. A secret the newly crowned Princess Twilight Sparkle doesn’t dare to believe. Like puppeteers pulling on marionettes, they have influenced Equestria for better and worse since the fall of Discord. So far they have been benevolent, but their potential for evil is vast. What’s worse, she doesn’t know their name. She doesn’t know their mission. All she knows for certain is one thing.

That they all seem to be zebra.

What if things had gone a bit differently for Twilight Sparkle? What if she had settled down, gotten married, had a foal? What if that foal had been the death of her? What if that foal had gone on to help forge a new Equestria, a new paradise for all within? What if, after all this, her daughter, an Alicorn, had settled on a throne alongside Celestia, and began to make the world perfect?

What if you didn't want to be perfect? What if you ran, hid in any scrap of shadow you could find? What if you lived your life from the outside looking in, watching others prosper while you starved? What if you could do nothing but watch as others disappeared, never to be seen again?

And then, after all of that...what if they found you?

After Celestia humiliates her at a dinner, Luna storms off and ends up snooping around in her sister's room. There, she stumbles upon the journal Celestia kept immediately after the banishment of Nightmare Moon.

Cover art by bunnish on dA.
This story now has a reading by Craft Arts. Go check it out!
Featured on Equestria Daily on August 22, 2013.

When news of pony disappearances reaches Canterlot, Princess Celestia implores the girls to travel to the neighboring country of Saddellia, a kingdom of earth ponies ruled by a brutish king. Eagerly accepting this mission, they make the journey and, along the way, meet and save the crown prince of Saddellia, Prince Linden.

Things become difficult when the young heir becomes smitten with Rainbow Dash and royal trickery traps the two in a marriage betrothal. As the pegasus struggles with her growing feelings for Linden, she and her friends quickly learn that there are dark secrets being kept in Saddellia and they all must tread carefully if they are ever to go home again.

Diamond Tiara has always loved Dating Sims, but after playing one into the early morning, she discovers the innate ability to see choices. With this amazing ability, will Diamond Tiara be able to find her true love? Or will she just end up on a "bad ending"?

Idea a shameless rip off of Yukito's "Diamond Tiara Likes Anime".

This story is a sequel to Sweet Apple Anthology

Far in the West, out in the frontier, Babs Seed and Apple Bloom have found an adventurous, satisfying life. Business at their bar is booming and supporting Sweet Apple Acres, ending Applejack's economic woes (for the time being). Babs has reunited with her father and the savior of her foalhood, Turner. North of no-pony's land, Citrus, Libra, and Braeburn are thriving in Appleloosa, though tensions between the locals and an influx of emigrants threaten to shatter peace in the tiny town.

Far in the East, in the belly of the beast, the once-glorious city of Manehatten has collapsed into a haze of unimaginable chaos and depravity at the hooves of its King. A King whose chessboard is rapidly expanding and whose Knights march to conquer and annex in the name of their Master.

When East and West clash at last, who will be left standing?

Third installment in the alternate universe timeline started by Tangled Roots. Preceded by Sweet Apple Anthology and beginning from the first story's Epilogue.

Coverart by the awesome artist Lulubell.

Now with a TVTropes page! Thanks to vren55 for putting it up!

Rated Teen for strong violence, language, and darker elements. Sex tag is for implied sexual situations.

Crimson Brush opens her new store in the small town of Ponyville. Most ponies wouldn’t think there's anything unusual about a store that sells hairbrushes, but it doesn’t take long for some to find out that well-kept manes aren’t all Crimson is promising...

((Contains spanking and possibly explicit scenarios, but no actual sex.))

Note: As of 2013-06-19, chapters 1-6 have been edited and revamped by Triskelion. While the stories themselves are much the same, he has done wonderful work to fix mistakes, and make the stories a bit more engaging and insightful.

“I love how the use of spanking is more than a fetish and rather a conduit for ponies to get lacking discipline into their lives and feel better for it.” – J_Steelwing

My unicorn parents called me a worthless mud pony. They pushed me every day to overcome my lowly status. When I woke up one morning with my cutie mark, I thought they would love me. I couldn’t have been farther from the truth.

It was not destiny or enjoyment that led me to discover the cello and composing. My parents made that decision, deciding before I was born I would continue their family legacy of famous musicians.

They did not realize what that decision would cost them.

Special Thanks and Links:

Cover Art: Dreampaw. The inspiration for the story.
Dramatic reading of Act I-III by Malao567. June 2013
Reading with music by ObabScribbler. June 2014
Song: Hooks and Strings by Reverb Brony. May 2014

Style inspired by H.P. Lovecraft
TypeWriterError: Editor & Rating Board
Gage of Grandiloquence: Editor
The11thWonder: Pre-reader
Nharctic: Pre-reader
Breath of Plagues: My Pinch Editor.
ArgonMatrix: Bad Grammar Exterminator
Daemon of Decay: Advice, also inspired me to write fan fiction. Blame him!

You managed to uncover a dusty old journal of some nameless pony. Most of the leather bound book had been torched in the fire, it was burnt to a crisp. Only a few of the pages are legible...