This story is a sequel to Cadance's Musings

Twilight Sparkle, curiosity piqued, by Cadance's answer, begins asking questions.

She starts with Fluttershy.

"What is kindness?"

- Bonus Scene included!

Ponyville. That is where my fall from grace began. Twilight Sparkle and her insurmountable talent exposed me for the charlatan I was. After that inauspicious day, my shows were no longer a thunderous triumph of magic and trickery. They were a blighted sideshow—a mockery of the splendor they had once been.

In my desperation to retain the life I once held, I stooped lower and lower. I finally hit rock bottom on a remote rock farm. There, I assumed the life of some ordinary, mundane pony, hammering away at boulders until nothing but pebbles remained. It was beneath me, humiliating and degrading. The days dragged on, but my dignity fell no further. It was the bottom, the very bottom, where nothing could fall any lower.

If I had it to do over again, I would have clung to that humble bottom. I would have held on and never let go.

I made the worst mistake imaginable. In my desperate bid to claw my way back up to the graces I once knew, I put my faith in dark magic. While I may have found the bottom on that rock farm, that accursed amulet drug me even deeper, pulling me into the abyss of hell.

Thanks to RaylanKrios for pre-reading.

Submitted to Nonpareil Fiction's Early Autumn Contest.

"Pinkie Pie is a murderer. Secretly, of course. Disappearances, carefully hidden. Small, subtle stains in the basement.

"Red Velvet is her next victim. She is going to die, slowly, alone and hopeless in the dark."

"That's weird, Pinkie. Stop talking."

Caution: Contains gore. Lots of gore. Sensitive cupcakes may want to avoid this story.
Written for Rage Reviews' F*** This Prompt #10.

Seeing a single mother in Equestria, especially in a smaller town like Ponyville, isn't all that rare. After all, there are nearly ten mares to every stallion, so it's bound to happen to keep the population level. That being said, a single drunk mother is a good deal less common. However, Berry Punch (with a little help from her sister) is a perfectly fine mother. It just begs the question... where's Pinchy's dad?

Twilight and her friends are always the first to be sent in when danger arises, and Celestia always seems to be on the sidelines, but why? Twilight is determined to find out.
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Edited by MV

"Dear Princess Celestia, what do you think it would be like to kill somepony...?"

"Artificial Intelligence of the artificials. How perfect and godlike. Their emotions, their symmetry of thought. They are everything we cannot be, and we are everything they are not."-Prof. Olive Leaf Department of Artificial Life. Manehatten Institute of Technology.

They are in our world, they do our work, they live their short lives, they do what they are told, then die like all the rest. Most ponies aren't even aware how many artificials live in Equestria with them.

Twilight Sparkle is Celestia's chief officer in the hunting of artificials that have strayed from their desired programs. Now she has been given a new assignment of retiring five artificials living in Ponyville.

Applejack loves her life on the farm and is known throughout Ponyville for being an honest, hard-working earth pony. When she injures her leg applebucking and is forced to stay in bed for a few days, Applejack ignores the doctors advice and attempts to get back to working, not trusting in Granny Smith's capabilities to organize the running of Sweet Apple Acres only to find the Apples making sure she can't get out of the room. If she wants to return to harvesting apples and enjoying her regular life again, she needs a plan...
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My first story! Hope it's alright...this particular fic is set during season 2 in case you were wondering!
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Huge thanks to BluegrassBrooke for reading over the first two parts and offering great advice!

Twilight Sparkle asks "What is love?" Cadance answers...and her answer isn't what Twilight expects.

Also, bonus scene to get out of the deep psychological mood.

Finally, after years of begging, Celestia gives Twilight permission to access the Forbidden Wing of the Royal Library, a wing so secret even the other princesses can't access it. Twilight rushes to Canterlot, excited for the research potential.

Then she finds those books…

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