A pony only gets one cute-ceañera. Twilight Velvet knows this, and she knows exactly how her friendless daughter wants to spend hers: nose-deep in a book, just like every other day. Twilight Velvet has other plans, all revolving around finding somepony to come to her daughter’s party, somepony to be her friend.

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The original version of this story took 6th place in The Writeoff Association's December 2016 contest, “Has That Always Been There?“

Rarity takes her friends to a Prench restaurant in Canterlot for breakfast and orders one of her favorite dishes, crêpes sucrées. Applejack is skeptical of the food - crêpes are just a thin layer of cooked sweet dough, nothing more than an excuse to eat whipped cream and sugar without consuming anything of substance. The debate over the nature of crêpes as food leads the pair to a bet, Applejack allowing the unicorn to give her a makeover and show her off, the unicorn going a day without her precious makeup and fake eyelashes.

But do the pair have ulterior motives for wanting to see each other in a new way?

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

Being an alicorn is wonderful... except when it isn't. There are plenty of things that put a damper on limitless vistas of possibility afforded by such a long life: Court, mortal needs and expectations, the occasional decade of ennui.

And the dreams, of course. Agelessness comes with its own special kind of dreaming. Celestia finds that her own "Inner Court" is a bit too literal, and it--and she--are troubled at the prospect of a near-immortal Twilight Sparkle.

If only she could articulate exactly why that was.

art by spectralunicorn

Part of the Monophysite Quartet, which also includes Celestia Isn't Real, Have You Considered My Servant, Twilight?, and The Esoteric Rites of Darkness. All four stories have a common origin point in an old story idea I called "Monophysite" and touch on who or what Celestia really is in some way. They are otherwise unrelated.

Twilight confronts the Tree of Harmony about the way it never sends her on Friendship Missions. The Tree explains itself. Kind of.

The original version of this story got 4th place in the Writeoff Association's 56th contest, "*Princess Not Included."

Rainbow Dash comes to Fluttershy for help with her next big prank. Fluttershy agrees reluctantly, but as their masquerade begins, she finds herself actually enjoying it. Then the Cutie Map calls the two of them to Cloudsdale, and things take a turn for the peculiar.

This story was inspired by a bit of discussion with my fellow curators at the Royal Canterlot Library and was the "runner-up" in The 3rd Flutterdash Group Story Contest. The cover features artwork from EmilyVans and RDbrony16.

After the whole "casting mind control magic on her friends" incident, Starlight spends a sleepless night staring out her bedroom window and wondering how she can ever manage to apologize to them. And to the rest of Equestria for everything else she's managed to foul up over the years, too, now that she thinks about it...

My entry in the October 2016 Writeoff, "The Darkest Hour," this story came in 10th place.

If there was something that broke Rarity's heart more than seeing her best friend getting stood up, it was seeing Twilight go back to the library with a matching broken heart.

Luckily for Twilight, Rarity would be damned if she let that happen.

Princess Rarity had everything planned for her beloved bodyguard's birthday. It would start with a lovely trip to Trottingham, continue into an entire day in Equestria's oldest library, and culminate into a wonderfully romantic moment in the Ethereal Gardens. It would be Twilight's best birthday yet!

...If only things actually went according to plan.

Part of the Bodyguard!AU Series, based on Earthsong9405's AU where Twilight is the bodyguard to a "Princess/Queen Rarity". Prior knowledge of the AU is not necessary to read the story.

This story is a sequel to A Meeting by Moonlight

Late Season 3, immediately after A Meeting by Moonlight.

After her emotional revelations to Twilight Sparkle, Princess Luna returns to Canterlot uncertain of her feelings, her place in the world, and even her identity. Does she love Twilight Sparkle as a friend, or want her as a lover? Does Luna, herself, really have any place in a world that has changed again and again out of all recognition during her long life in this incarnation alone, let alone compared to the Age of Wonders?

Is she Princess Luna? Nightmare Moon? Moondreamer? The pitiless Cosmic Principle, to whom little ponies are nothing more than worms crawling the face of an unimportant speck in spacetime? Who is she really, and what does she really want?

Her big sister tries to help her feel a bit less adrift.

Applejack stumbles upon Rainbow Dash while she's fitting a wedding dress for Rarity.