It's been five years since she first met them, and most of Twilight Sparkle's friends have found love, leaving her feeling left out and unwanted. The Winter's Eve Ball promises a magical night of mystique and romantic wonder, but will Twilight's romantic notions get the best of her? Based on the song by the Fireman.

Originally published on Equestria Daily November 29, 2011.

Be sure to check out the song by Baron Thyrai!

This story is a sequel to Hoofticuffs Day

The days after Hearth's Warming saw an especially hard hit in returns, and there won't be any real seasonal sales traffic for a while. When the Boutique's thermostat setting starts to move down, it's a sign that Rarity is expecting a hard winter. And after everything she's given to them, her friends see nothing wrong with trying to give something back. A few paid requests, here and there, to ease the burden.

But there's only so many dresses anypony truly needs.

And only so much one mare can stand.

(A stand-alone, no-prior-reading required part of the Triptych Continuum, which has its own TVTropes page and FIMFiction group: new members and trope edits welcome. While this story is tagged as a sequel, it just takes place after the linked one: no knowledge of those events is required.)

Now with author Patreon and Ko-Fi pages. Cover art taken from an image created by Visfor Yoshi.

An epilogue of sorts to 'Mothers.' Gilda is dragged off for a little 'chat' by the behemoth bulldozer of a pegasus, Fluttershy's mother Barricade. But what exactly did they 'chat' about?

Twilight Sparkle starts to develop strange and alarming symptoms after learning that Rainbow Dash helped her earn her cutie mark.

Sweetie Belle discovers an amateur novel lying abandoned on the ground. The mysterious story soon becomes all the rage with everypony.

And then Rarity hears a passage of it being read out loud...

Spike wins the Gauntlet of Fire but decides not to give the Bloodstone Scepter to Ember for he has other plans in mind. Twilight and her friends are not thrilled to lose Spike but the Dragons welcome him. Spike discovers what Dragons are missing will lead them to prosperity.

Takes place during season 6 episode 5.

This story got featured 4/20/23-4/21/23, 5/2/23, 5/3/23, 5/10/23, 5/14/23, 5/20/23, 6/6/23, 6/21/23, 6/24/23, 6/29/23, 7/14/23, 1/13/24, 3/1/24, 3/22/24 AWESOME!

Her Majesty Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship, Element of Magic, Ruler of One Fourth of all Equestria, Guardian of Harmony, and the First Star of Six has reigned in Equestria for one hundred years. She and her friends, the Elements of Harmony, have served as tireless protectors against all manner of evil, and they are revered and loved by all. Despite this, Twilight lives in fear. She is beset by premonitions of a dark and terrible future, and creatures older than time are readying to move against her. To save herself, her friends, and the world itself, she must delve deep into the past to learn the secrets of the world's making. What are the Elements of Harmony, really? What makes Twilight and her friends so special? And most importantly, who is the ancient creature that calls himself Entropy, and what does he want with the Princess of Friendship?

[Special thanks to @earthsong9405 for the cover art]

To assist her in her duties, Princess Celestia has the ancient bloodline of Inkwells; a role passed down through their family through generations, from mother to daughter, father to son.

And Princess Luna?

Luna has Sunset Shimmer.

Written for the Choices - Species Change Contest.

Special thanks to my lovely beta readers Sadie, Chloe, and Josie for helping me proofread this and beating my inner critic back with a stick. <3

[An AU where Sunset Shimmer never went through the mirror. The mirror portal didn't exist, and neither did the humans.]

When Sunset woke up to find herself in some part of Equestria she's never been before, she had originally planned to drive all the ponies apart in this place and gain more power to show Celestia that she's strong enough to be an Alicorn. But she didn't need to; all the ponies were already fighting with one another.

EDIT: Sequel is up now!

This story is a sequel to The Olden World

For eighteen years, Equestria's northern neighbors have been at peace.

Despite instability further to the north and far to the east, the Theocracy of Yakyakistan and the technological powerhouse of Ironridge have walked the road of friendship, sharing their best and brightest minds in the remote mountain research colony of Icereach. An underground city built by scientists, for scientists, Icereach is the crucible of the most advanced technology in the world, as well as some of the loftiest dreams: sending ponies into space, and perhaps setting hoof on the moon.

But Icereach has never even sent up a rocket, let alone a random teenager like big-dreaming me. It feels like we've been months away from a proper launch for years now, and no one quite seems to care why. For that matter, there are a lot of things no one questions about Icereach, like why there's an ancient chapel in the deepest part of the caves. Or why historical data in our libraries is censored seemingly at random. Or what we even expect to find out there, beyond the stars.

Maybe it's because I'm not a real scientist, but I feel like I'm the only one more interested in the big picture than getting my name on some invention or other. They say Icereach is the pinnacle of civilization, but there has to be more to life than this...

This story takes place eighteen years after the events of The Olden World and can be read fully standalone. Having read The Olden World is not required.

Chapters are currently posted weekly.