During a full moon, Flash Sentry enters the mirror beneath the Crystal Palace to pay an unauthorized visit to the human world. This sort of action will probably cost him his career. He could care less.

Special Thanks to Jake the Army Guy.

Fillydelphia! City of a thousand glittering opportunities! Come to Fillydelphia! Get your mane cut! Divorce your spouse! Buy a chariot! Rent a condo! Fillydelphia! The city that glows like the gin blossoms on its mayor’s face!

Trixie and Gilda have been in Fillydelphia for some time, and it’s almost, but not quite, to their taste. There’s no good work — at least, no good work with monthly paychecks, annual performance reviews and a promotion track that doesn’t involve murder — for a travelling illusionist and an uncertified bouncer, so to cover the rent they’ve had to resort to bad work.

Well, not bad bad work. And certainly not that sort of bad work. The hours are good, the pay is more than adequate, and the people they meet are interesting.

They cater to a certain clientele, ponies who know it’s not just what you have in life that makes you happy, but what you don’t have. Like vengeful rivals. Or snitches. Or nosy detectives.

Or dead bodies.

When that is the particular problem, Gilda and Trixie get a call. For a reasonable price and a good reference, they’ll make your problem disappear...

This story is a sequel to If I Could Catch Fuzz In a Bottle

Twilight Sparkle enlists Rainbow Dash's help in a "Fuzzy Muzzle Nuzzle" research project. The experiment only has three steps. That's not too much to ask of a close friend, is it?

Written for the artist CaptainPudgeMuffin on their birthday, and using their cover art.

Cadance isn't Sombra. But Sombra's leadership is all the crystal ponies remember, a ruler they had to love at all costs, with the final payment being their own lives. And as they gradually come to see their new Princess as leader instead of savior, too much of that residual fear is being transferred to her. They praise her, adore her, refuse to correct her no matter what she does -- because they live in terror of the consequences for doing anything else. They have yet to find their own voices, and may go on repeating hers until Celestia and Luna switch shifts. So how can she make them tell her when she's wrong, see that there's nothing to be afraid of, and take the next step in coming back to themselves once and for all?

Forbidding them to do anything other than criticize her should do the trick, right?

...right?

(Part of the Triptych Continuum, which has its own TVTropes page and FIMFiction group -- but can be read as a stand-alone, and no knowledge of the other stories is required. New members and trope edits are welcome.)

Now with author Patreon and Ko-Fi pages.

What sort of mare would turn down the chance to help a friend? Twilight's been there for me so many times in the past, but now she's a princess with all the new obligations and duties that come with that. The transition... hasn't been an entirely smooth one. Who better to lend her a helping hoof and show her how one deals with nobles, courts, and politics than moi?

I only hope it doesn't end up costing one of us our sanity along the way.

"They take da' pain out, make it somethin' good, somethin' good. Wear yer' blues well, colt, you gonna earn every drop of em'. Yer' gonna be tangled up in blues," the old stallion told Blues, presenting him with the saxophone.

Blues himself tells us of his life after that day and as he explores what it means to be "painted blue"; to hope, to fear, to love, to lose. He tells us as he learns what really makes a stallion a stallion, what it's like to leave something you love behind, and what risks one must face in life or risk becoming nothing at all.

All of this, Blues tells us, takes place against the background of critical moments in his life and as he travels the scope of Equestria from Manehattan to Ponyville and Appleoosa. All the while the songs he learns from his pain mingle with the one his mentor, Moody Blues, revealed within him...something unbelievable the old pony did to bring it forth.

Our six heroes decide to settle down for the night with a few bottles of their choice beverage and a few hands of poker.

The night was going so well until Rarity decided to wager her virginity.

Now she's desperate to get it back.

(Formerly known as Rarity Loses Her Virginity in a Poker Game. The author's artistic integrity was long gone by the time of writing this.)

Special thanks to Blue_Paladin42.

Black Rose's elite agents serve her in various ways. To accomplish her tasks, their talents must be both great and diverse, requiring individuals from the far-flung corners of Equestria. To gather them is a difficult task in and of itself, a task that two siblings must deal with if Black Rose's plans could even have a chance to succeed.

"Living here in Ponyville
Fighting villains from afar
You've got to find first gear
In your giant robot car"

When the CMC stumble across a giant mecha from another time, another place, another reality, their latest quest for their Cutie Marks takes on epic proportions. Between getting to class, dealing with an angry alien that's somewhat friendly, dealing with an angry alien that is distinctly less friendly, and anything else the heavens can throw at them, you'd think things were hard enough. But they still have to be home by bedtime.

...at least piloting a giant robot makes it easier to get certain bullies to shut up. Ponies dig giant robots too...when its weapons aren't pointed at them.

Now where - and what - was first gear again?

Creative Consultant: The_Whovian16

For Rarity, waking up with split ends is the absolute worst thing ever. Unfortunately, a mysterious stallion proves otherwise when he warns her that Armageddon is approaching and Equestria is doomed, and if that happens, she can kiss her well-coiffed mane farewell. Now the timeline is splitting worse than Rarity's hair as our intrepid heroine travels back again...

and again...

and again in order to save the world, with perhaps a smidgen of help from Princess Luna. And if she happens to find the time for a trip to the spa along the way, well... A mare can't be blamed for wanting to look her best, can she?

Thanks as always to JeffCvt for editing.

Further thanks to Prak for prereading!

Fantastic cover art provided courtesy of Pony-Berserker. Check out his other work—it's all amazing.