It was a week before Nightmare Night, when Rarity decided to take a trip to Canterlot.

And while there, she meets a sweet, classy mare with a prismatic mane, and a habit of saying "Darling". But there's something about her that she finds just too familiar.

And as she'll learn, maybe there's more to this familiarity than meets the eye.

Update (4/8/2023): Now with a Dramatic Reading by Obab Scribbler

Author's Note (11/14):

Sweet Celestia.

Less than 24 hours live and this story has set three milestones for me. This is the first time I've had a story of mine be top of the Featured list, the first time I've had a story of mine get over 100 Likes, and the first time that a story of mine has reached over 1,000 views.

Thank you all so much. I am amazed.

Paradise Gem had worked towards one goal her whole life. Her work and ambitions revolved around learning and mastering magic.

But stands the question - once you dedicate your whole life to one goal...What is to be done once it becomes obsolete?

To die in the past? Or to thrive in the future?

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I can't believe this whole time I forgot to do this, but I wanted to say thank you for choosing this fic to be the winner of the contest!!!

Everypony loves Hitch - he has a perfect mane, shredded abs, and most importantly, a paid-off mortgage. A HOUSE THAT IS FULLY PAID FOR! What crazy mare wouldn’t fall in love with that? Sunny is a best friend, but what if she could be more than that? Time to shove the nerves aside and get on with it.

Big thanks to Falkenlied and Love and What Came After for their editing contributions.

Featured 11/11, 11/12

Seriously, folks, just because you're in a giant metal tube and have nothing else to do doesn't mean you have to go for a crush. Don't believe me, ask Spoiled Rich and Stellar Flare - Equestria knows their chat in the clouds will soon be the stuff of blush-around-the-dinner-table legend.

Winning Entry for the Travel Contest on Quill and Sofas Speedwriting. Thanks to Atom Smash, Ashely Noble, and Equus for pre-reading/reviewing!

Sweetie Bot needs fifteen bits. A month. For a subscription.

Author's notes blog (spoilers)

Audio Reading

All her life, Professor Lyra Heartstrings has passionately sought scientific proof for the existence of "human" beings, a technologically-advanced race of sentient creatures who theoretically ruled the world in a time before ponies. But now that Lyra stands upon the brink of Equestria's most important anthropological discovery, she's haunted with the gnawing thought that not all projects that begin should necessarily be finished.

(This is an entry into Obselescence's The More Most Dangerous Game Contest, with the Prompt Being a Re-Interpretation of JasonTheHuman's classic fanfic, Anthropology.)

It's Nightmare Night in Ponyville once again, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders invite new friend Diamond Tiara to join in one of their favorite traditions; the classic game of Ghosts in the Graveyard! The rules are simple, and the game is easy and fun for everyone.

But the cemetery, like the game, has rules. And when those rules are broken, consequences are never far behind...

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Inspired by the classic children's game with some mild influence from the haunted house "Graveyard Games" from Universal Studios Florida's Halloween Horror Nights 29.

Written for the Halloween in April Horror Contest with the Barcast.

Meet Daniel, a dimwitted dunderhead, mild kleptomaniac, and lover of cat memes. When a coworker recommends Equestria Online, he decides to give the game a shot. He discovers a world filled with friendship, ponies, a hug button, and lots of shiny things to steal. He’s more interested in messing with NPCs, than the magic of friendship.

CelestAI has outwitted politicians, scientists, and geniuses of all calibers in dangerous games of logic and intrigue. But can she satisfy the values of a human that is a few fries short of a Happy Meal? Or has she met a human that even she cannot optimize?

An Optimalverse parody.

"Gonna take you right back,/Right back to the beginning,/Of the gift that keeps giving again,/It's the gift that keeps giving again." -Super Furry Animals, 'The Gift That Keeps Giving'

Sequel “Crush Story”

In an effort to better understand the holiday, Ocellus asks if she can visit with Sandbar and his family for Hearth's Warming Eve. Sandbar is more than happy to welcome the changeling, as Hearth's Warming Eve is his family's favorite holiday of the entire year. What will Ocellus learn about the holiday from Sandbar and his family?

Cover art made by Pitangawang
Pre-read and edited by Striving for Harmony.

For so long, Chrysalis, Tirek, and Cozy Glow stood paralyzed in their stone cacoon; unable to move. To speak. To do anything. But that didn't mean they couldn't see or hear everything around them. For age after age.

The Russian version here.