Minuette sits outside, sipping tea and waiting for something. This is about to become the best day of her life. She knows it, and yet she doesn't.

Princess.

Some hear the word and think of power. Others take it further. To move Sun, to create the cycle of day and night... surely that indicates something more. Something which can be called on. Pleaded with.

Celestia knows what ponies believe about her. She also knows there's no way to make them stop. Because there are times when the most powerful weapon against despair is faith...

...and the blade is always double-edged.

(Part of the Triptych Continuum, which has its own TVTropes page and FIMFiction group. New members and trope edits welcome.)

Now with author Patreon and Ko-Fi pages.

Strange nightmares are plaguing the ponies of Equestria.

Somepony must help ponies to face their deepest fears, but unless Princess Luna is able to discover who—or what—is responsible, the nightmares may never end.

Scootaloo is ready to prove that she can be as fearless as her big sister, Rainbow Dash, even if it means never having a peaceful night's sleep again.

"It's so nice to see you again!" said the thing that was not Celestia. "Oh yes, I know who you are, Twilight Sparkle. I had a taste of your magic the first time we met. Mortals forget things so easily, I find. Allow me to refresh your memory: you tried to kill me. But you failed, Twilight Sparkle. You only mostly killed me. And I guess that makes you one very unlucky little pony."

Bómù Guāng Shǎn, the Prince of Friendship, asks Mèng Huàn, the Prince of the Night, for help investigating a mirror universe. The ponies there call it Equestria instead of Cōng Mǎ Guó, and it might have a few other differences, too...

The original, short story version came in 10th in the Writeoff Association's Feb. 2016 contest, "Look, I Can Explain." The cover artwork is by huhulin from Vectorstock, and overflowing thanks go out to M1Garand8 for help with the Mandarin names and the hànyǔ pīnyīn to render them in Latin characters.

This story is a sequel to Under A Luminous Sky

In the wake of the Mbwun killings , Spike seems to be better off then he was before: his large, muscled body is a far cry from the chubby baby he was, and he no longer has to go through his hundred-year wyrm sleep. Life, however, is rarely so simple. As he and Twilight move back to Canterlot, Spike finds that his new body may very well mean the end of his old life.

Garble has won the Gauntlet of Fire and taken the Bloodstone Scepter. Upon hearing of this, Celestia, determined to stop the bloodthirsty Dragon Lord in his tracks, challenges him to a one-on-one duel for the fate of Equestria and the Dragonlands. An immortal alicorn capable of moving the sun with millennia of experience under her belt versus a teenaged dragon with no experience at all.

Garble accepts.

Stupider things have probably happened, but it's hard to say how.

Cover art is taken from this comic by Niban-Destikim.

Ponyville is shaken to its core when a body is discovered in the Everfree Forest. As the townsponies grieve, the mysterious Special Agent Bentgrass from Their Majesties' Royal Investigative Service arrives at the Books and Branches library and drags Twilight into a world she's only read about: lies, corruption, suspicion, and murder.

Faced with an indifferent police force, and Agent Bentgrass's infuriating methods, Twilight must put the pieces together and catch the killer. But as blood continues to spill and questions pile up, one thing is terrifyingly clear: in the dark of the Everfree, much more is at play than mere murder.

To alleviate her boredom, Twilight Sparkle decides to write a book.

But when she finds her wellspring of creativity has dried up, she casts an ancient magic spell to make her creativity manifest itself, and interrogates the foallike fragment of her soul for ideas. However, the tricky and restless sprite proves harder to handle than she anticipated....

Written for the Equestria Daily "Made In Manehattan" training grounds. Twilight vectors by RichHap and CaliAzian (with minor alterations).

PRINCESS TWILIGHT SPARKLE: DEAD AT 18

TELEPORTATION INVARIABLY FATAL, WARNS LEADING SCHOLAR

One look at the headline of the Canterlot Times and Twilight knew that she should have slept in today. But at least none of her friends would be silly enough to believe she was killing herself every time she teleported, right?

There is now a Spanish translation of this story, courtesy of Spaniard Kiwi