Princess Celestia's reign as the sole ruler of Equestria has been a long one, and, for the most part, it has been a good one, as well. Even so, the specter of Nightmare Moon's inevitable return has been weighing on her mind. Although the looming deadline is still years away, Celestia can't seem to keep from dwelling on things to come, to the point where any change from the norm seems like it would be a welcome distraction. All that changes, however, when a young archaeology student arrives in her throne room with distressing news about recent events in Vanhoover. Her sister, it seems, is not the only imminent threat.

Image by Page Turner.

Celestia has always been more interested in the future than the past. She does not dwell on mistakes – hers, or others'.

But sometimes memories lurk in the oddest of places, and when they strike not even a god can resist their gravity.

A short story written for the recent Writeoff competition.

A note written in an unknown language. An escaped Nightmare bearing gifts. A young colt afraid of the dark. A pegasus in search of a predator.

It's that season. A collection of short stories celebrating that weird, creepy, beautiful holiday we call Halloween Nightmare Night.

Includes Marginalia, winner of the spookest October Writeoff in Writeoff history.

Twilight is approached by Applejack with a strange request - to join her that night for a run, but all is not as it seems. Why is Applejack so nervous? What could this be about?

How do you kill a pegasus's soul? Put her in charge of the town's weather, then only let her schedule sunny days and gentle evening showers. Not thunderstorms, not blizzards, certainly not hail or tornadoes.

Nothing fun, in other words. Celestia forbid the weather team make some real weather, the kind Rainbow Dash dreams about. The farmers would never stand for that.

Well, screw the farmers. Screw the fashionistas and screw the library princess too if she complains. Rainbow Dash has a dream and she's going to share it with the world, whether the world wants it or not.

A story dedicated to anyone who's ever been passionate about something.

After Pony Magazine declares Twilight Sparkle to be the most eligible bachelorette in all of Equestria, Twilight finds herself buried under a veritable mountain of bouquets and love letters from all corners of the country. Enlisting her friends to separate the chaff from the wheat, each of them try to find a letter from an admirer who might be worthy of Twilight.

But the others are skeptical of Rainbow Dash's choice - a hastily written poem that came with a messy bouquet that somepony hoof-picked and threw together at the last minute. There's no way something like that could have come from a pony worthy of Twilight's love, right?

There is now a Spanish translation of this story, courtesy of Spaniard Kiwi

Celestia searches a ruined city for supplies after the end of the world.

Rainbow Dash seems to be losing her mind, forgetting entire encounters and continually saying things that don't make any sense. Scootaloo gets to see Dash twice as much as she'd ever expected. Twilight Sparkle slips into full on-hermit mode. Applejack just wants answers... and to be with Rainbow Dash.

There's a double rainbow. What does it mean? It's so bright, so vivid....

If there's something Daring Do hates, it's fancy Hearth's Warming parties.
If there's something Daring Do loves, it's saving the world.

Combine the two, watch how long she lasts.

As seen on EQD.

Originally written as the Secret Santa gift to Razalon The Lizardman.

Edited by Octavia Harmony and Themaskedferret.

It was supposed to be an easy delve. In, explore, and out.

Instead Daring Do finds herself wandering through an endless corridor, wishing for nothing more than to see the sky once more. And when she reaches the end of the maze, she discovers something waiting for her that hasn't felt the sun for a long, long time. Something very lonely.

And hungry.