Finalist and judge's top choice in Equestria Daily's 2012 Nightmare Night contest.

Fluttershy has been plagued by nightmares, and Twilight wants to help her get rid of them. But when the bookish mare begins to pry into the depths of Fluttershy's unraveling psyche, she finds more questions than answers. What do her dreams mean? Why won't they stop haunting her? And why does the creature she keeps seeing inside them seem like more than just a simple night terror?

"Her parents hadn’t come close to telling us what had happened. As I read her newest letter I couldn't believe what she was telling me. This kid hadn’t 'had an accident'… this kid, damn, this kid had been buckin' broken... she’d been broken…"

Based on characters and situations from "Tiny Wings" by DeadParrot222.
Image "Filly Dash" by Imalou. Both used with permission.

"How could somepony as amazing as you not have a Special Somepony on Hearts and Hooves Day?"

With that single sentence, a thousand memories came flooding back to Cheerilee. A thousand memories of a thousand terrible dates...

Twilight Sparkle is a gifted student and scholar. When she attempts to harness her creative side by writing a science-themed sensual romance novel, however, things rapidly get out of hoof. Can her friends stage an intervention before she humiliates herself (and them) at a prestigious literature recital?

No. No, they cannot.

I was still a young colt when I took my first steps into the world of steam engines and railroading. I was meant to sing the song of steel, the chorus of the railways. Despite the challenges, discomfort, and dangers, I wanted to be a railway pony. I wanted a fine steam engine like #3803. I wanted to be like Highball.

What I got? Well now, there's a story worth telling...

During a lull in the conversation at an upper class charity dinner, Rarity takes a moment to contemplate some commonly held assumptions made of Princess Celestia. Specifically, her table manners.

Yesterday, the Cakes put Pumpkin and Pound on the train to head off to their first year at college.

Yesterday had been a very, very hard day.

Today will be worse.

"They take da' pain out, make it somethin' good, somethin' good. Wear yer' blues well, colt, you gonna earn every drop of em'. Yer' gonna be tangled up in blues," the old stallion told Blues, presenting him with the saxophone.

Blues himself tells us of his life after that day and as he explores what it means to be "painted blue"; to hope, to fear, to love, to lose. He tells us as he learns what really makes a stallion a stallion, what it's like to leave something you love behind, and what risks one must face in life or risk becoming nothing at all.

All of this, Blues tells us, takes place against the background of critical moments in his life and as he travels the scope of Equestria from Manehattan to Ponyville and Appleoosa. All the while the songs he learns from his pain mingle with the one his mentor, Moody Blues, revealed within him...something unbelievable the old pony did to bring it forth.

Princess Celestia always knew that Twilight Sparkle was destined for great things, but she never revealed the source of that knowledge, not even to those closest to her. When the day of Twilight's true destiny finally arrives, can Celestia fulfill an ancient promise to save Equestia's past, present, and future, even it means saying goodbye to Twilight forever? How can Celestia refuse her mother's last wish?

Art by the inimitable Harwick

“Real isn’t how you are made,” said the Skin Horse. “It’s a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real.” -Margery Williams, The Velveteen Rabbit

Twilight Sparkle has come up with an inspired idea for Rainbow Dash’s birthday present, the best one she can imagine. She’s made a living, breathing copy of her favorite fictional character for her. The new pony has one goal in mind, and one purpose that crowds out all others: Be the best Daring Do she can be.

A collaborative work with the incomparable Eakin.