It's been a couple of weeks and way more than a couple of games since Pinkie Pie introduced the Mane Six to the joys of playing the classic real-time strategy title, Age of Empires II. Unanswered questions surround this mysterious game: where did it come from? Who made it? Why is there so much killing?

Never mind all that - Twilight Sparkle and her friends have a game to play!

NOTE: Though I've tried to make the story more about the relationships between the four gamers (no Rarity or Fluttershy, sorry!) than about the game itself, some rudimentary knowledge about Age of Empires II is required if you want to understand what is going on. I wrote this as a short-ish story so I'm not really going to go into technical details much.

=====INFO AFTER BREAK=====
References consulted while writing story:
ZeroEmpires (Commentary on Competitive AoE II matches)
wikiHow (5 Ways to Make Your Economy Boom in Age of Empires II)
Wikipedia (for info on Byzantines, Moon & Vikings)
Luttwak, E. "The Grand Strategy of the Byzantine Empire" (Harvard University Press, USA), 2009 (Byzantine military strategy)

Youtube links:
Prologue - PakAttack95 (Youtube Channel)
Main Menu and Victory Music - mikec1000 Civilization Themes

Cover Image:
Wikipedia
Age of Empires II
Cutie Mark Vectors by Hawk9mm (deviantART page)

Twas the night before Hearths Warming, and there was only one thing she wanted this year: Apple Bloom.

Twilight and Chrysalis spend Christmas together. The alicorn wants to use the concept to do something nice for her friends. The changeling just wants the four letter word. Being a princess means Twilight has to be more calm and collected when she makes decisions and when she reacts to the world around her. It's a good thing that she's been making progress on that or else the holiday would likely end up a flaming wreck, courtesy of her overzealous obsession with perfection.

Thankfully, the wishes of the pony and changeling are compatible this time.

NOTES
1. Soft holiday Chrylight fluff. Don't over-think it.
2. Rated teen for a little playfulness. Nothing too extreme.
3. Lyra needs to tone it down with the human craziness.
4. It's a good thing Pinkie Pie doesn't know about Christmas yet...right?
5. Based on setup from Queen No More.
6. Not a part of Hive Alive's official timeline.
7. Merry Christmas, my little Chrylighters!

Art by BlackWater (me)

A RariPie romance

Pinkie Pie has had a crush on Rarity for many months. After discovering Rarity feels the same way, she finds herself tagging along on a business trip to Manehattan.

A city that never sleeps, a city of joys and glee. All with her glamorous new girlfriend by her side. It should be everything she had ever dreamed of. But worries, insecurities, and the strain of trying not embarrass Rarity in polite society soon start to take their toll. If Pinkie really wants this relationship to succeed, she's going to have to drop the frivolity and work harder than she ever has before.

Pre-read by Blue_Paladin42 and jlm123hi, who stop me from writing dumb things.

Picture used with kind permission of Pinkproposal.

When Sugarcube Corner burned down, Twilight offered to let Pinkie live with her. Living with Pinkie can bring out a lot of things in a person, though. Annoying habits, odd quirks, and feelings that had been ignored for a long time.

Nightmare Moon's defeat meant more to Equestria than just the return of the sun and their Princess. Witness the conclusion of a story one thousand years in the making, through the eyes of a Hoofington nurse.

Written for Equestria Daily's 2013 Batpony Writeoff.

Nagatha Harshwhinny was a professional. When she set a goal, it was done. When she took charge, production soared. When she spoke, ponies listened. A lifetime of strict regiments and no tolerance for slouching instilled a discipline that rivaled that of Canterlot's Royal Guard; a template for order and leadership.

But Harshwhinny's fateful visit to Ponyville changed all that, and made her realize that absolute, 100%, crystal-clear professionalism came at a terrible price...

Her.

A bellowing shout out to my wonderful proofreaders Pearple Prose, JeffCtv, OkemosBrony, and Skeeter The Lurker.

Rated "Teen" for suggestive themes, mild adult content, alcohol consumption, and someone who had TOO much fun writing this.

Enjoy!

And Merry-f**ckin-Christmas!

While traveling to spend time with the Apple Family for Hearths Warming Eve , both Big Macintosh and Caramel decide to at the very least enjoy their time together by exchanging gifts in their icy train cart after their train gets stopped in the middle of their journey due to heavy blizzards.

Meant to be fluff, little has been edited, just enjoy the gay shipping.

Art by Clepony

Vinyl Scratch and Octavia are on holiday when they are separated from their tour group, and get lost in the jungle. Hope you survive the experience, ladies!

Special thanks to the awesome artist Whatsapokemon for the cover art, and to syvvak for proofreading!

The Vinyl and Octavia Series
1. Vinyl and Octavia Machete Their Way Through the Jungle
2. Vinyl and Octavia Move House
3. Vinyl and Octavia Get Incredibly Drunk
4. Vinyl and Octavia are Forcibly Shipped
5. Vinyl and Octavia Fight Ten Thousand Ninjas
6. Vinyl and Octavia Have Multiple Dates
7. Vinyl and Octavia Engage in Roleplay
8. Vinyl and Octavia in 'Dial D for Detectives'
9. Vinyl and Octavia Duel Destiny
10. Vinyl and Octavia Bust Out of Prison
11. Vinyl and Octavia Join COBRA
12. Vinyl and Octavia Break the Timestream
13. Vinyl and Octavia Rob a Casino
14. Vinyl and Octavia's Freaky Day
15. Vinyl and Octavia Jump the Shark

Trixie and Spike get stuck in an old well. 'Nuff said.

Commission for Swashbucklist, Spike's number one fan.