The trip was supposed to be simple: a few weeks sailing to deliver family spices to a new buyer, a quick vacation, and back to the plantation. One mysterious, and coveted, box turned Cold Snap's chance to prove himself into a desperate struggle to survive on the wild seas at the mercy of a captain that sailors feared to whisper of, if they even believed he existed.

Others want that box, and the only thing keeping Snap and his friend alive is a ship so unnatural it had to be created by demons. Everything he thought he knew about the world's past is shattered in a game of cat and mouse to see who cracks the box's mystery first.

Unable to back out, and finding himself not eager to do so anyway, Snap throws his lot in with the peculiar Captain Gideon, who harbors more than a few secrets about his ship and himself.

This story is a sequel to Urban Wilds

Amanita. Quiet. Awkwardly self-conscious. Necromancer. Reformed. Newly hired by the Royal Guard and the apple of its eye. How could she not be? She’s a peerless expert when it comes to necromancy. But only because she’s the only pony with any knowledge of necromancy beyond the basics, she tells herself. She needs to be more than just a static source of knowledge; she also needs to apply that knowledge, to expand her mind. She can’t live her whole life in a lab. She needs experience out in the field.

Which is how she finds herself assigned to a ley purification team. There’s something wrong with a ley line. It’s not immediately dangerous, but if left alone, it could corrupt the land, killing crops and creating monsters. Amanita is part of a small crew that will head to the line’s source, the small mining town of Tratonmane, to identify and correct the problem. Fortunately, ley purification is a well-known science. It’ll be easy.

At least, that’s the idea. Far to the north, swathed in frost and snow, walled in by vertiginous mountains, Tratonmane is as isolated as can be. Miners and subsistence farmers eke out a living in what little land they have. Ravenous wolves stalk the forest at its border. Whispers abound at the team’s arrival. Tratonmane has existed outside the Crown’s influence for centuries and many of the townsfolk don’t appreciate it sticking its nose in now. Especially since no town lasts for that long without getting a few skeletons in its closets. Amanita and her team will have to navigate hostile environments — personal and terrestrial alike — if they want to get to the bottom of this.

For if they don’t, heads will roll. Perhaps literally.

Nothing a necromancer can’t fix.

Updates TuThS. Reading earlier stories will provide some context for this, but isn't required. Other entries in this series:

• Hinterlands
• Urban Wilds
• Death Valley

This story is a sequel to A Clash of Magic and Steam

Survivors of a decade long war that ended two years ago, Wiggly Sprocket and Live Wire have fended for themselves after war claimed their parents.

While the United Pony Space Initiative proved victorious, the Lilian star system was left nearly in ashes. The warp nexus allowing access to the wider UPSI still sits as a ruined mess, leaving the small planetary colony and two stations to fend for themselves against resurgent piracy.

Wiggly Sprocket has dreamed of leaving the system since her parents were killed, and taking the first shuttle when the nexus is repaired. However, money is sparse and the breaker yards only pay enough to keep her and Live Wire afloat.

That is until happenstance sees a battered but functional ship fall into her hooves. Trading the safety of a steady job for the potential riches floating in the void, Wiggly and Wire never could have imagined what they would find in the midnight sea.

Reading the 1st book is not truly required, but it will give context you might otherwise miss.

Despite their estrangement, the Princesses never come to blows. Instead, Luna goes her own way.

Give Luna her moonbase already. It's what the fans crave.

Cadance just got done dealing with the end of the world. Turns out, it never stops ending.

Another piece that's more concept than story. Here, I try to place Cadance into the world in a way that makes sense to the confusing mess of headcanon I've got up here in this noggin of mine.

This story is a sequel to Unchanging Love

The explosion of love from the defeat at Canterlot hit harder and reached farther than any changeling expected. Firefly felt the effects as much as any, but she also gained something wonderful and priceless from it. Though this gift brought her a kind of joy she had never expected, she fears one question more than anything.

What trials will she and Fine Roast face when the invasion's inevitable fallout reaches them?

Big thanks to Cursori, SigmasonicX, Dogman15 (Chapters 2-5), and Ghost Mike for editing.

Amazing cover art by Pridark.

Friendly heads up. Beware the comments, they may contain spoilers!

October 26th, 2023 update: This story's going back in the oven. There's some changes I want to make. Details here.

Sunset Shimmer lived a perfect life: an aspiring career as Princess Celestia’s star pupil, a budding romance, and the perfect best friend to discover the wonders of the world that made life worth living.  But under the guise of a new friend Sunset met in her dreams, Nightmare Moon sought to upend everything in the name of vengeance, and the powers that be demanded their pound of flesh.

Years later, long after the dust had settled, Sunset found her home beyond the portal. Life was good, if a little strange.  But when Princess Luna comes seeking to quell the nightmares of a past that still haunt her, those nightmares rapidly spiral out of control, and Sunset is faced with the impossible decision of allying herself with the very individual who had destroyed her life.

With little choice, they strike a tentative partnership, and as past and present converge to threaten all that Sunset holds dear, she is left standing at the precarious ledge of a question that may very well have no answer:

Is there a limit to forgiveness?

[Non-con] tag for story elements, not on-page events.
Edited by RBDash47.
Cover art by Ventious.
Chapter header art by Smeows_isgood.

The summer season was just about over at Stella Lacus adventure summer camp. Amie and her younger brother Wes were eager to return home. Unfortunately for them, their adventures had only just begun.

All at once, the entire summer camp and the mountain it was built upon shifted universes, leaving Earth behind for a far stranger world. In the same moment, every camper, counselor, and staff-member transformed into strange insectoid creatures, with unknown powers and incomprehensible needs.

Instead of returning to nursing school, Amie has a new goal: keep her little brother alive. If only the other campers didn't look at him like food...

Updates every Saturday. Editing by Two Bit and Sparktail.

Awesome cover by SimonDrawsStuff.

This story was sponsored by Canary in the Coal Mine on my Patreon. Thanks so much for your support!

It shouldn't have been a big deal. Celestia was kidnapped or knocked out or just generally made to seem powerless by whatever idiot with ill intent decided to show up on a nearly weekly basis. As the mighty and immortal Sun Princess, she could escape at any time, but she was happy to play these little games. The daring rescues and bloodless battles gave her ponies such a sense of confidence and purpose!
But this one didn't go as planned. One small, stupid mistake got her thrown to the twisted reaches of the world-prison, Tartarus. Now alone, unarmed, and barely more than mortal, Celestia wakes in a living landscape where everything has every reason to hate her.
And, far worse, she has accidentally picked up a passenger.

Sidenote: This a repost (I tried to go through official channels, I promise!) of a story I wrote long, long ago on an account I foolishly deleted. Back in those days, Tartarus hadn't shown up in an actual episode yet. It's not exactly an alternate universe situation, but it has nothing to do with the canon portrayal of the place.

Super amazing cover art by Cold In Gardez.

The kirins are a quiet folk. They tread lightly in their place among the stars, so lightly that they may well be silent, but they're there. Some consider their presence in the cosmic game a blessing. To others, an annoyance at most. What is certain is that they are peacemakers to all.

Searing Cold is a different kind of kirin, but he is still a peacemaker.

Even for a war machine on the run.

Thank you to NorrisThePony, for everything; and Shanaar, for creating Searing Cold.

Spotlighted on Equestria Daily.
Cover art by JedaySkayVoker.