Pinkie Pie wants some apple strudel, and by Celestia, she's gonna get it!

Ponyville is a massive city with its own long history interweaving with the lore of Equestria at large, and each of its four hundred thousand inhabitants has their own stories to tell. Sadly, only a few of them get a chance to tell their tales of hope, tragedy, loss, and love.

Here, they shall get their chance. In this collection, history will be uncovered and many stories will be related where they might never have been told.

The Noireverse has a wide cast of secondary characters, each of which has their own history, personality, and background. Unfortunately, I would never have enough time to cover them all in the main Ponyville Noire series. This collection of short stories allows me to expand the universe "vertically," in a way, by adding on other details and exploring parts of my world that would otherwise never come up. Also, it gives me a chance to write down short story ideas that pop into my head from time to time. I hope you enjoy!

Warnings for profanity and some possible suggestive content.

This story is a sequel to Ponyville Noire: Kriegspiel—Black, White, and Scarlet

Zugzwang is dead, Scarlet Letter is in prison, and Ponyville is safer than it has ever been before, the once invulnerable crime syndicates in fragmented disarray. But Daring Do and Phillip Finder still dream of the red sky and the empty black eyes; Trace's dying scream echoes in their ears when they try to sleep, and they feel Zugzwang's ghost haunting them.

But even as they struggle with their demons, more cases come to the doorstep of 221 Honeybee Bakery. And as hard as it is, Phillip and Daring cannot turn away from those in need. Dragons in Canterlot, changeling intrigue in their own hometown, murder in the Crystal Empire, and treasure hunts in the Aushaylian Outback: these new, fantastic cases will take the detectives on strange journeys across Equestria, introducing them to new allies and friends. And maybe they will find peace along the way.

The third story of the Noireverse, this smaller series is intended as a sort of coda to the previous story, Kriegspiel. As I prepare to plan out the next major story of the Ponyville Noire series, I decided to write a few shorter cases to keep the gears greased. The purpose of this story is primarily to introduce some new characters and locales to the Noireverse, but also to show Phillip and Daring dealing with the trauma of what they went through in the last story: all things I wasn't confident I could do well in the next big story, considering what I have planned for that.

I hope that you enjoy this work!

Featured on April 2, 2021! Thank you all!

Updates every Saturday. Edited by Eagle--Paladin of Shadows!

Click here to check out the theme music by The L-Train!

This story is a sequel to Good Trooper Gilda

Gilda has been a fugitive, a refugee, a prisoner of war, and a bat-hen to Equestria's fussiest unicorn. But it wasn't until she took 'the Princess's bit', that she began to know something about what it meant to be responsible for the welfare of others, even if the others in question happened to be the pack of imbeciles, blackguards, con-ponies, and bat-ponies who had been fool enough to answer her captain's call to the standard.

A crystalline standard which had not been seen in the living world for over a thousand years.

And although Captain Gleaming Shield and her motley band of raw recruits and shifty bat-ponies aimed to do nothing more exotic and dangerous than put a foreign princess on her proper throne, there are other things stirring in the shadows.

Like calls to like, and the revival of ancient battle-colors may lead to the revival of other, darker memories upon which the rays of Celestia's sun lay lightly and infrequently.

Ponyville is one of the largest cities in Equestria, a center for trade and finance, a melting pot of many races, tribes, and cultures. It is also a place where corruption is a way of life. Here, the cops that aren't on the take are forever chasing their own tails, citizens live in fear, and gangs battle for control of the streets.

Daring Do has just been released from prison after a year-long sentence for thievery, and no one is about to let her forget her place. Phillip Finder is a local private detective and the bane of the Ponyville Police Department. The new partners quickly find themselves at ground zero of a city-wide gang war; surrounded by dirty cops, mobsters, assassins, and bizarre crimes, they can only rely on each other and a few honest ponies for aid.

They're hardly heroes. Which means they may be exactly what Ponyville needs.

Updates every Wednesday. Proofread by Eagle—Paladin of Shadows

The first story of the Noireverse.

Sex and Gore tags for suggestive content and graphic descriptions.

Check out the theme music by The L-Train by clicking here!

Featured on 1/29/18! Thank you all so much! <3

A bit of background...

Three years ago, I introduced Phillip Finder in my first fanfiction, "The Pony in the Gray Trilby." Over the next many months, I kept writing and eventually turned my first work into a twenty-story series. I learned much and enjoyed the stories' moderate success, but unfortunately, I became dissatisfied with them over time. I realize that it's perhaps a bit of a cliche that many artists end up hating their own work, but for both Tchaikovsky and myself, it is the truth.

I initially planned to write this story as a prequel to the series, focusing on Phillip Finder and Daring Do. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that I wanted to improve upon my work, but felt as though I was being held back by the original series. While I am proud of my first stories for what I learned and gained through them, I decided that the best course of action for me, what would make me the happiest, would be to wipe the slate clean and start again from the basic foundations.

That's where this story comes in. A semi-reboot of the original series, the adventures contained herein, set in a vastly different alternate universe and replete with a mixture of reinterpreted and original characters, are the culmination of all the experience that I gained writing the original series. This is Phillip Finder and company as I meant them to be.

I hope that you enjoy reading this story as much as I enjoy writing it!

This story is a sequel to Ponyville Noire: Tails of Two Private Eyes

When reformed thief Daring Do and private detective Phillip Finder took down Silvertongue, the reigning king of Ponyville's underworld, they hoped that things would get better for their city, and for each other. And with the dawn of a new year, and the honest if harsh Cold Case as the new chief of the Ponyville Police Department, that hope seems fruitful.

But nature abhors a vacuum. The throne that Silvertongue vacated has been taken by his former associate: Zugzwang, a cold, bloodthirsty sociopath who harbors a chilling obsession with Phillip Finder. But not all meet his rule willingly: the griffon Whitestone declares war on Zugzwang and his allies, and Phillip and Daring are caught in the center. Amidst the chaos, the mysterious Scarlet Letter manipulates all three sides as part of an unknown plan.

Ponyville is burning all around them. With a few friends at their side, Phillip Finder and Daring Do fight to restore order, but they and the city might not survive without a few scars.

Updates weekly. Proofread by Eagle—Paladin of Shadows

The second major story of the Noireverse.

Sex and Gore tags for suggestive content and graphic description.

Click here to check out the theme music by the L-Train!

This story is a sequel to Hinterlands

Two years ago, bounty hunter Bitterroot turned a lich and her necromancer apprentice over to the authorities. Now, that apprentice, Amanita, has been released on good behavior. She has no more interest in necromancy. In fact, she asked Bitterroot to turn her in all those moons ago and helped capture her master. With nowhere for Amanita to go, Bitterroot takes her in until she can get her hooves under herself.

But all isn’t well in Canterlot. A killer is stalking the streets, striking with impunity and leaving no trace. The Royal Guard is befuddled. Bitterroot’s investigations have yielded nothing. And night is turning into a time of dread. Something needs to be done. If only the dead could speak. If only there was a moral necromancer around.

Amanita doesn’t want to admit it, but the part of her past she hates the most might be the most useful part right now. Just because ponies are dying doesn’t mean they need to stay that way. What she buried needs to be dug up again.

Her demons are rearing their ugly heads. It’s time to face them.

Reading the preceding story will provide some context for this, but isn't required. Cover art is modified from this image. Other entries in this series:

• Hinterlands
• Urban Wilds
• Death Valley

Beyond Equestria, the lands to the north are hostile and unforgiving. Ponies eke out a subsistence in uncontrollable weather, separated by mile after frigid mile of snow and mountains. A land where only the hardiest survive is no place for civilization.

Yet civilization encroaches from time to time. When a colossal bounty is placed on the head of a unicorn deep in the arts of necromancy, a motley crew of bounty hunters assembles and gives chase. It’s too good a chance to pass up. They’ll bring her to justice, no matter what stands in their way. Not her dark magic. Not the inhospitable environment.

And certainly not each other.

Other entries in this series:

• Hinterlands
• Urban Wilds
• Death Valley