When you fear the cure worse than the affliction, how can you ever hope to recover? For Berry Punch, there's never been an easy answer.

And when she is forced to confront consequences worse than any she could have imagined, it's just going to get harder.

With only her newfound desperation to drive her forwards, Berry Punch throws herself into what might truly be her last living attempt at recovery.

My appreciation goes to Simon_oSullivan, Tired Old Man, and Burraku_Pansa for their contributions.

Featured on Equestria Daily 05/04/2014

Pixelbright is a young unicorn driven by a question about the nature of the world. Her friend, Peppermint Tea, is integral to her quest. But the journey of discovery is not always an easy one, and the first steps are often the most difficult.

In the wake of the events of "Infernal Machines" and the Nightmare's most pathetic assault on Ponyville yet, Applejack is thrown into an existential crisis, despite her not knowing what the word "existential" means. So when a stranger named Stranger arrives in town, teaching a new way of coupling talent to power using complex machinery, she is quickly suckered in, along with everypony else. Now, it falls to the Most Dependable of Ponies to bring the resulting ruckus down to earth, but can even Applejack's legendary pragmatism stand up to the brain-fizzing horror that is... CONTRAPTIONOLOGY?

Now with a Spanish translation by Spaniard Kiwi!

On a cold market day, Berry Punch remembers her foal's first words.

Trigger warning: some innuendo, lots of swearing.

Out on the frontier, the only friend a pony can really trust is the gun in her hoof. Out where the land is wild and the buffalo roam, more than a few ponies have foregone scratching out a living on the farms or mines to seek riches and glory on the wrong side of the law. As a particularly mysterious and valuable cargo heads west on a long train journey, six mares follow with trouble in their wake, each intending to claim the prize for her own.

Also, a lot of ponies get shot.

Edited by: Exuno
Preread by: barbeque
Inspired by the art of: Coin-Trip39
(Make sure you take a look at the cover image full-size! It's fantastic!)

"My name is Lyra Heartstrings, and you will not remember me. You won't even remember this conversation. Just like with everypony else I've ever met, everything I do or say will be forgotten. Every letter I've written will appear blank; every piece of evidence I've left behind will end up missing. I'm stuck here in Ponyville because of the same curse that has made me so forgettable. Still, that doesn't stop me from doing the one thing that I love: making music. If my melodies find their way into your heart, then there is still hope for me. If I can't prove that I exist, I can at least prove that my love for each and every one of you exists. Please, listen to my story, my symphony, for it is me."

Cover pic by Spotlight: askspotlight.tumblr.com

Moxie gazed over the stallion in front of her, as the crowd stared at them in turn. Fellow nobles, dignitaries, and her parents had all gathered here, in the balmy mansion of her birth, to witness this occasion. The final words had been said, and they were now officially husband and wife. But she was not happy; this was not her wish.

She ran her hoof down the lock of blue hair entwined in her mane. Her whole life had been decided for her, everything coordinated to the tiniest detail. What she had learnt, how she spent her leisure, who she knew, whose company she enjoyed, whom she had pledged herself to, everything... except the one trip she had taken to Canterlot without the permission of her parents, that is. The glimmering blue strands linger as a testament to her last free action...

Featured on EqD: 13-11-2013