My name is Sunburst, and I live my life alone, because I prefer it that way.

Not everypony does.

For some ponies, in fact, that's more like a long slow death sentence.

I've received orders to a posting as a royal guard. My duty as a member of the guard is to protect the princess. Traditionally, that's taken to mean against physical threats. Less traditionally, I'm coming to a realization that it may mean assisting in other ways - maybe even in ways she's not aware that she needs. Normally I would say it's not our place to intervene in personal matters. But when you see as plain as the hoof in front of your face that something is wrong, sometimes it finally brings you to the point at which standing by and doing nothing is simply no longer an option.

Day by day, I'm getting closer to that point.

I may have to make a hard decision. I don't know if this is right or wrong. All I know is that watching my princess suffer is impossible to bear when I'm supposed to be protecting her.

Approved by Twilight's Library on July 26, 2014!
Featured on Equestria Daily on February 5, 2015!

After over a hundred years of ruling, Princesses Celestia and Luna are finally getting around to having their capital city built. For head mason Gabion, it's a once-in-numerous-lifetimes opportunity. Canterlot can only be built once, and he's the one overseeing it.

But there's a snag. The design of the castle is eye-poppingly impractical, ready to fall over the cliff at a moment's notice. It's a sin against good architectural practices everywhere. Even Celestia's assurance that she'll personally lend her magic to help build it does little to reassure him.

...And now he'll be giving orders to Princess Celestia herself for the duration of construction. This is going to be a weird job. Maybe he can get to know her a bit, if only to make things a tad less bizarre.

While spreading word of the Storm King's defeat, Tempest stops in a cafe. Given her past, nopony wants much to do with her. Except for Sunburst, who couldn't care less. With nothing else to do for a few minutes, they begin talking, mostly about magic. Sunburst's got a theory.

On her very first trip above the clouds at night, the young Blue Venture finds something she never expected.

Herself.

Historian’s Note:
Stars Above is set over five hundred years after the original events of MLP:FiM.

Cast: Blue Venture & Family

Featured on EquestriaDaily on April 17, 2018!

Cover Art & Blue Venture's Cutie Mark: Sankam
Cover Text: Novel Idea

Beta Reader & Editor Credits
Heartshine: Smol Pegsus, Big Heart
Painted Heart - Wife of the Author

Word Count: 4,500 Words
Version: 1.5

A human, having suffered due to the mysterious means of his transmission from one world to another, is stuck in bed recovering from his injures. While a little alarmed to find that the one looking after him is not human herself, he can't do much about it.

It helps that - as he finds - she's also rather good company.

Twilight and Shining Armor have a little sister named Light Step. Everypony tells Light Step how lucky she is to be related to such great heroes.

Light Step wishes she could smother them both.

As a general rule, leaving your future bride at the altar and abandoning your entire family to flee the city of Canterlot is a bad idea.

Then again, you never know just who you'll meet on the train to your new life.

Talk to someone on the telephone enough and you get an idea of what they look like.

And then you meet them for the first time, and they're not at all what you expected.

Leave it to Twilight Sparkle to create the greatest spell of the past century – and then want to destroy it.

It's too dangerous to use, she says. It's too tempting. It can't help you the way you think it can.

Well, Starlight Glimmer knows a thing or three about temptation. She'll prove to Twilight that this spell – this magnificent book – is too important to destroy. That it can help ponies.

She just has to survive using it, first.

Second place in the May 2018 WriteOff.

Cover art is "Reformed" by Okaces.

When Fluttershy went to bed, she was a normal mare. When she woke up, she could see numbers floating over everypony's heads. They were timers, each one counting down to some unknown event. Most ponies had timers that wouldn't end for years, some for many decades. But everypony had different numbers.

So why does Rainbow Dash's timer end in three hours?

Editing provided by TheMaskedFerret and SolidFire.
Cover art by HopefulSparks!
Spanish translation by SPANIARD KIWI!