Planes. They're big, loud, and heavy, but they somehow lift off the ground over and over again, going from place to place seemingly without effort. But what if planes didn't exist? Not because they didn't work, but because they weren't needed?

What if I had wings of my own?

What if I told you that such a world really existed?

My entry for Scribblefest 2016, the EFNW pre-con writing contest.
Pre-read/edited by Winston, Biker_Dash, Loyal, and FamousLastWords
Featured by Equestria Daily and The Royal Guard

"...we could be stuck doing this for all eternity!" Twilight said.
"That's fine with me!" Starlight responded.
Starlight never thought that Twilight was actually being serious.

What would have happened if Starlight hadn't turned herself over to Twilight? If she rejected friendship, even after being given a chance to come back?

Starlight Glimmer is strong. She always has been. She always will be.
But Twilight wants that to change.

Milk is good for ponies.
Milk is especially good for very young ponies.
Milk's crucial for their development at that age, really.
But the way Big Mac's carrying on about things, you figure that Applejack would be feeding cyanide to baby Applebloom, instead of milk.

Clearly, the guy needs to stop acting embarrassed and start acting like a responsible parent.
It's not like there's anything immoral about a mother nursing her child in public, right?

Right?

I'm not sorry about this.

Story is possibly in-universe; your interpretation of whether this is alternate universe or not depends on who you believe Applebloom's parents are. Either way, I'm pretty sure this gag wouldn't work without this particular assumption, So I offer my apologies to people who don't like the concept.

Oh, and rated teen for the lactating bits of female anatomy.

A long time ago, my family moved to Appleloosa, and we ain't had no luck since. We tried growing apples, but our orchards just never took right. Now, the bank's gonna repossess unless we can get some bits together real fast.

No, we ain't never been lucky, but in that ring, I don’t need luck. I’m one win away from saving our farm, and Granny says that tonight I’m fighting some fancy unicorn named Blueblood. I hear he's real fast, but there ain’t no way I’m losing with so much on the line.

This ain't gonna be pretty. In fact, I can just about guarantee it’ll be real, real ugly.

Edited by Pascoite.

Additional help from SongCoyote, Steel Resolve, Dragonas77, Skeeter the Lurker, Seether00, and RainbowBob

Cover image by viwrastupr

A changeling sets up a secret shop inside of Ponyville. He can be anyone you want him to be. The crush you wished felt the same way about you. The boss you want to just scream at. The parent you hoped would return someday. The friend that's now your enemy.

He can be anyone you want him to be. Just don't ask him to be himself.

Now with a youtube reading. HERE!

Fluttershy wakes in the middle of the night on Hearth's Warming Eve to find Big Macintosh waiting for her outside. He has a surprise for her, and their subsequent adventure rekindles old feelings and memories of Hearth's Warmings past.

Twilight Sparkle's family reunion is finally over.

Now all that is left is the cleanup. And the apologies.

Until next year.

Placed Second in the Best Laid Plans Writeoff.me contest.
Expanded to reach the Fimfiction minimum chapter length.
With a wonderful reading by Scribbler Productions on YouTube

Some ponies seem to be born knowing what they are meant to do. Some discover it. A few need to be shown. Star Swirl the Bearded was in this latter group. This entry of his journal recounts the encounter that turned an apprentice lens grinder into the greatest wizard of all time.

Rated Teen for some coarse humor and language.
Originally an entry in the February 2015 Writeoff Competition.

Thirty five years. Been roaming Equestria from town to cloying town, looking for her. Not for lack of trying, mind you. Equestria's just that big of a place. There's only so many places left to look, though, and it'd be foolish to throw in the towel already. I'm getting close. So I'll do the same thing I did yesterday: search.

First place winner of The Writeoff Association's "A Single Moment" contest.

Featured by: The Last Roundup | Royal Canterlot Library | Equestria Daily | The Royal Guard
Reviews by: Present Perfect | Bad_Seed_72 | PaulAsaran | Titanium Dragon | Cerulean Voice

How much can change in a hundred years? How much can change in a thousand? The day of the Nightmare’s defeat Princess Luna finds herself adrift, a thousand years away from the world she knew. With her home in ruins and Equestria changed beyond all recognition, is there anything left for her when even apples are strange?

Winner of August's Write-off! - Distant Shores

With thanks to JCatt and Lord of Dorkness for their help pre-reading.