Celestia and Luna have lived long and suffered greatly. Luna, still insecure in her newfound grace, is anxious to secure herself against any further suffering. She sees in Twilight Sparkle (and in many others) the roots of ten thousand tragedies. Celestia proposes a wager.

A very loose retelling of the Book of Job.

Twilight does some research into her tried and true teleportation spell.

*FEATURED 5/12/16 *

Twilight's dinner party to show Celestia Starlight's progress as a student of friendship was a disaster of epic proportions.

Okay, fine, that's being a little dramatic. The evening didn't go as planned of course, but some good things did come from it, it's not like anybody got hurt, and Twilight did her best (give her a break--she's new to this 'teaching' thing). So why did Celestia--normally poised and calm and understanding Celestia--look so angry? She acted like Twilight was inconveniencing her on purpose! No wonder the friendship princess was so frazzled.

Later that night, Celestia returns to Canterlot. And, after a lot of stubborn denial (and some interference from a certain being of chaos), she finally confides in Princess Luna the real reason she was so frustrated. Luna listens, comforts her, and then proceeds to do her duty as princess of the night by making everyone's evening a little more peaceful.

The night heals all wounds.

Celestia decides to see just how right she was in her choice regarding Twilight's ascension. But upon stepping off the Cutie Map, the world is shattered and she aims to find out why.

If you're interested in more, Apathy is the sequel.

Princess Celestia finds herself trapped in the depths of Tartarus itself. Nightmarish visions haunt her through the blackened streets of Canterlot. Something lurks in the shadows, stalking her every step of the way. A frail voice rises from the ashes.

It is said that the only way to escape Hell is to have hope. But how does one find it in there?

(Now with a reading by TheDizzyDan, click here to check it out: link)

(Submission for the Everfree Northwest Scribblefest 2016)
(Many thanks to JLB for pre-reading and editing)

(Author commentary: link)

Twilight awakens to find that she is no longer an alicorn, nor a pony for that matter. Rather she has become the fearsome Queen of the wasteland.

This started out as an exploratory idea, that patrons requested more chapters of and was viewable earlier for said patrons. Head over here if you want a chance of adding onto this story for just 5$ or to see stories early for just 3$!

The year is 1019, and the scars of the Great War are finally starting to fade from Equus. Queen Chrysalis of the Changeling Hegemony was defeated by a last, desperate alliance of free creatures from across the continent. The All-Ponies Front pushed into the heart of her empire in Vesalipolis after years of daring tank maneuvers beyond muddy trenches while planes dueled above. The Stalliongrad Soviet fought beside the Principality of Equestria it once shunned. The Crystal Empire modernized and stood with the Yaks across the northern mountains. The penguins and bears of the north resisted in the bitter cold. The deer of Olenia rose up under their rightful queen. The Republic of Nova Griffonia mostly made money selling guns to all the little ponies.

The war, and what came afterward, was a time of great upheaval and change. Princess Celestia and Luna abdicated their titles to Twilight Sparkle; the Princess of Friendship rules beside Prime Minister Sunset Shimmer and the Council of Friendship. The Crystal Empire, being a time displaced feudal state, did not change that much. Princess Mi Amore Cadenza and Prince Shining Armor rule as a universally beloved sovereign and a war hero. As the world changes around it, the eternal Crystal City stands still.

Princess Flurry Heart, currently going through "a phase," would like to change this.

By summoning the Ghost of Communism Past as her new political science tutor while her mother is away.

It is up to Shining Armor to avert the dictatorship of the poneletariat and the downfall of the bourneighsie.

May Harmony help them all.

Twilight had no idea of where the door had come from. It was there, and that was a fact. When it was there, at least, which wasn't always the case. But she would find out what was behind it sooner or later. It was just a matter of time. The door was always there, after all.

Audio reading by ObabScribbler.

Rarity discovers the meaning of happiness.

Stream-of-consciousness written in about an hour. Unedited.

A contest reward, written on the prompt: "Just write something comfy for yourself." I don't think the winner quite understood what he was getting into.

First discovered in the year DCIV of Her Majesty's solitary reign, the inscriptions are a set of square tablets, two nails tall, their sides measuring a leg and a quarter, of an unknown substance. They are currently located behind protective casings, to ensure no damage may come to the observers. They are bereft of markings on one side, which has led some to speculate they may have been originally affixed to a wall, or the interior or exterior of some other construction.

They tell of Fire, Heaven, and a timeless land beyond the sea, yet their true meaning still eludes all of ponykind, from its youngest citizen to its ancient ruler. For they are, perhaps, even more ancient than she.

These are their contents, as they are understood, and the story of the pony tasked with spreading that knowledge to the world.

An entry into the 2nd A Thousand Words contest, under the "Experimental" category.

Prereading and cover art courtesy of Reviewfilly.