Something can be a secret even if everybody knows.

Written for WandererD for Jinglemas 2022

Based on the prompt: I'd like a feel-good story featuring Silverstream and Ocellus.

An alternate take on events that begins in the middle of Chapter 2, Episode 6 ("The Traditional Unicorn Sleep-Over") of Make Your Mark. This story assumes reader knowledge of the show up to that point.

Zipp had a lot of suspicions about Misty, the strange unicorn that Izzy had met in town earlier that day and invited to an impromptu sleepover party at the Brighthouse. But while she'd been exercising her detective skills on their guest all night as the oddities surrounding her piled up, she hadn't meant to drive Misty away. So when, after Misty flees from the party in a panic, Zipp notices that she's still out in the Brighthouse's garden, pacing frantically, Zipp decides to see if she can talk to her, and figure out just what is going on with this curious new pony.

And what she learns may well give Zipp room for pause -- and a need to exercise some comfort skills.

Please note that while this fic is rated E, there is some mild discussion of parental/familial abuse.

A reading from StraightToThePoint Studio is now available! Also featured on Equestria Daily!

Cover art by emera33; used with permission. Pre-read by TCC56 and Goldenwing.

Featured 10/9/22-10/12/22!

An inspired linguist. An ancient stone tablet. And the story of how a new species, made in love and forged in fire, came to be.

1st Place in the Everfree Northwest Iron Author Competition 2022. Many thanks to the judges -- Aquaman, Grand Moff Pony, and Xepher -- for their kind comments, and to my fellow winners: FanOfMostEverything, Mica, Scampy, Steady Gaze, and Admiral Biscuit.

Editing by LevelDasher (who is now on a much-deserved editing sabbatical).

Cover Art by CadetRedShirt [DeviantArt] [Twitter]
(I commissioned this one. Give Cadet monies and she will make art and/or sing for you!)

Story notes in this week's MT File.

Featured on EQD, 10/23/22.

Living with a Kirin is actually not that weird. There are language difficulties and cultural differences, but snuggling is universal.

Now with a reading by StraightToThePointStudio!
Now also with a reading by Pony&Wolf Productions

Sweetie Belle has managed to snag an elusive spot on Princess Celestia’s calendar, but it’s only for a school assignment to interview somepony. On second thought, maybe she’s only wasting the Princess’s time.

Lengthened version of the winner from Loganberry’s first Flashfic 150 event, Getting Warmer.
Reading by StraightToThePointStudio

Rarity had always known she would have an arranged marriage—such was the life of a princess, after all. She just hadn't expected her wife to be a sphinx or that she would actively avoid her, and not just because she loves books.

Commission for the lovely Earthsong9405 set in one of her AUs where Rarity is in an arranged marriage to Princess Twilight Sparkle, a sphinx Princess from Saddle Arabia.

This story is a sequel to Hoofticuffs Day

The days after Hearth's Warming saw an especially hard hit in returns, and there won't be any real seasonal sales traffic for a while. When the Boutique's thermostat setting starts to move down, it's a sign that Rarity is expecting a hard winter. And after everything she's given to them, her friends see nothing wrong with trying to give something back. A few paid requests, here and there, to ease the burden.

But there's only so many dresses anypony truly needs.

And only so much one mare can stand.

(A stand-alone, no-prior-reading required part of the Triptych Continuum, which has its own TVTropes page and FIMFiction group: new members and trope edits welcome. While this story is tagged as a sequel, it just takes place after the linked one: no knowledge of those events is required.)

Now with author Patreon and Ko-Fi pages. Cover art taken from an image created by Visfor Yoshi.

Twilight Sparkle regrets botching her romantic confession to Rarity. As a joke, Rarity proposes a simple and elegant solution: break up and try it again.

She just wasn't prepared for Twilight to agree to it.

Set after “Practice Makes Perfect”. It is not necessary in any way to have read that story to get this one.

Includes a recording of a LIVE-READING of the story by the author herself, which is the recommended way of experiencing the story. I promise you. I do a fantastic Rarity voice.

Cover art by the wonderfully wonderful Jykinturah. Audio credits go to lilfunkman and Swan Song.

Celestia spends an inordinate amount of time talking to herself. One day, she talks back.

This story is a sequel to Time and Times

Long-retired, former Principal Luna wakes up in a barn and finds herself talking to a horse with wings.