Few would suspect that Pinkie Pie would be good at chess. A game as nuanced and subtle as chess requires concentration, strategy, and forethought. None of which Pinkie Pie possesses.

Right?

One early morning Twilight is woken up by the sound of somepony knocking on her door. To her surprise she finds Rainbow Dash on the other side, only the mare seems off. Disgruntled and panicked, the more she talks, the more Twilight is convinced there's something wrong. What happened to her?

Cover art generously provided by the wonderful Angelic Flight over on DA. Go give her some love.

!!WARNING!!
Spoilers in Comments. Read before the story at your own risk.

EDIT: Now with a Youtube reading! Link
EDIT: Now with TWO Youtube readings! Link #2

A human stays among ponies, mystifying them with his odd traditions and customs. It will be five years before Celestia and Twilight can send him back to his homeworld. Until then, Twilight wants to study him and have him experience pony culture. These are their stories.

In the midst of doing a favor for Ember in the dragon lands, Spike tells Rarity about his not-so-secret feelings. Rarity responds with a secret of her own, one that she's guarded for most of her life. They picked the wrong day, and the wrong kingdom, for a quiet heart-to-heart.

Winner of Steadfast Hoof's sparity contest
Featured on Equestria Daily
Pre-read by mrk
Cover art drawn by Pia-sama and designed by Novel Idea

I have no idea how long I've been here, this gap between the seconds. It could be minutes, days, ages, I can't tell. I can never tell.

Maybe that's for the best.

The sun never rises, but it never sets. The clock never ticks, and I never rest. I never hunger, nor thirst. I certainly never tire.

It makes it much harder to tell the time I spend here...

Yet it never feels like none at all...

When Fluttershy finds a human in her backyard trying to eat one of her chickens, she and a majority of the residents of Ponyville only want this dangerous creature as far away from their town as possible.

After a less than stellar first impression, Derpy Hooves and the human struggle to quell the rumors surrounding his diet, and convince the townsfolk that he's harmless.

Will the human be able to make himself meek enough to coexist? Or will he be driven out of town with torches and pitchforks?

Each chapter is told from the perspective of a different pony.

My name is Twilight Sparkle. I'm an alicorn princess in the land of Equestria, and I've made a terrible mistake.

Five months ago, I created the Borealis Institute. Its purpose, to perfect through science what magic cannot be relied upon to accomplish. A scant few weeks ago, we began our experiments with cloning. Owing to my high resiliency, I volunteered to be the initial template for equine experimentation.

Twelve minutes ago, the first clone came off the assembly line. And just by looking at her, I know we have done our jobs too well.

Because she says that her name is Twilight Sparkle, and that I am the rogue clone.

Story concept and art come to us courtesy of Pedro Hander. Check them out.

There are many who say that evil has no place in the world. These people are wrong. There is a place for everything, but evil especially. Without evil, we wouldn't have any context for what is good. The world needs villains so that it knows who its heroes are.

But as someone very unhelpful once said, there's evil and then there's evil. Some villains go over the edge, and instead of quietly filling their role as the natural antagonist, they try to overturn the chessboard. Instead of conquering, they destroy.

It's these sorts of villains that give evil a bad name. It's these sorts of villains that King Sombra is dedicated to hunting down.

Made as a birthday present for the utterly brilliant Evehly.

Rainbow Dash was the Iron Wing. She was a war hero, the Slayer of Shadows, the Liberator of the Crystal Empire, the Wrath of Celestia. And depending on who you ask, she still is.

But the war is over. There's little need for a pony like her in peacetime. So she keeps telling herself that she needs to adjust, that she needs to find a new role to fill in the world that she saved. But Equestria seems content to let her remain what she has become, even though they have no need of a warrior.

"This isn't how it's supposed to be", is something she keeps telling herself. But every time she says it, the only thing she can reply is, "so what should it be?"

One whole year after the close of the war, and Rainbow Dash still doesn't have the answer.

Art by NCMares.

You're drenched in sweat and ennui. She's fighting the enemy, and you're fighting depression. Stuck forever in a nowhere town, you try to rise above inertia, but you only end up feeling useless. You're always feeling that way.

"Feeling That Way"/"Anytime" are two popular Journey songs from their breakout album Infinity, often played back to back on the radio.

Highly recommended by Present Perfect!
Featured in the Royal Canterlot Library!
Four Stars on Louder Yay!

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