Rainbow has known Fluttershy for a long time, almost longer than she can remember remembering things at all. Lately, though... things have been weird. Not like... super weird, but weird.

It's like... Shy is still Shy, but cooler? Not quite. It's complicated. Rainbow wasn't actually planning to do anything about it, though. Not until Applejack stuck her nose into Rainbow's business.

Still, maybe it will be okay. She just has to talk to Shy, right?

This story is a sequel to Changeling Courtship Rituals

Queen Chrysalis attacked Canterlot, brainwashed Twilight Sparkle's brother, kidnapped her former foalsitter, defeated her mentor in combat, and conquered her kingdom. She kidnapped the sisters of Twilight's friends, turned them against one another, and tried to drain all of Twilight's magic. Queen Chrysalis has, at every opportunity, done her very best to utterly destroy Twilight Sparkle's life.

For some reason, this has not caused the pony to fall in love with her.

However, due to Twilight's misunderstanding of changeling customs, it does mean they are now married. Twilight eventually managed to tell the Queen the truth, but she forgot that whether it's a kingdom or a heart, changelings conquer.

And since the changeling way of conquest didn't work, Chrysalis is determined to try the pony way. The only problem is, of course, she has no idea what that is. But she knows someone who does: Princess Cadance.

Now, with the absolutely sincere help of her mortal enemy, the pony she once locked in the caves beneath Canterlot while trying to steal her husband on their very wedding day, Queen Chrysalis is going to woo the sister-in-law of that very pony.

Surely this is the most perfect plan ever devised.

***

Proofread by ShutterflyYay.

Takes place roughly after season five (so Starlight Glimmer is running around occasionally)

Finished. It's nearly finished, now.

After the world, there are two ponies. One who sits and watches. One who comes and goes. They cannot leave each other, but they cannot stay in one place together. One works towards some last great mystery, and the other explores the darkness outside. But they never leave.

Twilight Sparkle is going to do the impossible. Again. And she knows that she will be successful, because she has already done it.

Loosely inspired by Endgame, by Samuel Beckett

...or, alternatively, "Boy, Twilight Really Gets Around!"

A collection of very short snippets, ficlets, random ideas, and other musings that I've been collecting for years now, even while I was 'inactive' as a horseword writer. A lot of these come from discussing episodes, character motivation, and headcanons with a number of other different brony friends and writers.

Surgeon General's Warning:
For your convenience—no matter the character, setting, or subject being explored—all of these stories have been neatly stored and delivered in a standard Shipping container.

Though they are largely unconnected, some have developed running themes and jokes. Most of these stories center around Twilight Sparkle being the straight mare to the madness that is her romantic entanglements and life in Ponyville. They explore different temperaments and interpretations of our favorite nerd: sometimes adorkably inexperienced, sometimes confident, sometimes uncannily worldy.

Each one will feature an Author's Note that explains in better detail what's wrong with me the motivation, discussion, or episode that led to its creation. Most of these were written off the cuff on Skype or Hangouts, so they're mostly just for fun and not very detailed or polished; but I still enjoyed how they turned out!

Enjoy!

Princess Cadance, just like everypony else, needs some time of leisure from her many duties. While Shining Armor is taking care of their daughter, Cadance enjoys her lone trips to the nearby Nephrite Forest, where she can be away from all of her burdens and obligations for at least a short while.

She was simply destined to get mugged eventually, wasn’t she? Why not by somepony who takes his job very seriously.

Also available in Mandarin Chinese (translation by keplebletbett) and Spanish (translation by SPANIARD KIWI).

The greatest displays of strength are not always the most overt. Fluttershy is not whom one would consider to be a strong pony. But when Rarity digs a little deeper, she discovers in her friend a strength that carries the weight of hundreds.

Inspired by Estee's Five Hundred Little Murders.

When the Stars set her free...
When the Sun fell... When the Nightmare consumed the land...
When the Elements of Harmony were but a forgotten legend...
We were there.
The battle against Nightmare Moon, as told by one of its survivors.

What? What're you looking at me like that for? Of course that's how it happened!

Princess Celestia has been in love with Twilight Sparkle for years. The rescue of her sister had been the start, but since then Twilight has saved Celestia, Luna, and their kingdom countless times. However, Celestia's true feelings have remained hidden, even from herself.

That is, until the day her love is revealed to her through a dream. But Celestia is determined to keep her feelings to herself. She has no idea how Twilight will react, and would prefer things remain they way they are, with the two Princesses as friends.

Unfortunately, Luna immediately finds out. A small group of ponies is quickly gathered, all with one goal: to force Celestia to confess her feelings and end her thousand-year relationship drought.

This causes so much chaos that Discord goes on vacation and will not be appearing in this story.

---

Edited by ShutterflyYay from chapter four onward.

Being an alicorn is wonderful... except when it isn't. There are plenty of things that put a damper on limitless vistas of possibility afforded by such a long life: Court, mortal needs and expectations, the occasional decade of ennui.

And the dreams, of course. Agelessness comes with its own special kind of dreaming. Celestia finds that her own "Inner Court" is a bit too literal, and it--and she--are troubled at the prospect of a near-immortal Twilight Sparkle.

If only she could articulate exactly why that was.

art by spectralunicorn

Part of the Monophysite Quartet, which also includes Celestia Isn't Real, Have You Considered My Servant, Twilight?, and The Esoteric Rites of Darkness. All four stories have a common origin point in an old story idea I called "Monophysite" and touch on who or what Celestia really is in some way. They are otherwise unrelated.

Fluttershy tries to build up the courage to show Rarity there's a certain plant above her in a special way.

A thank you to RainCrasher, RK_Striker_JK_5, and Weatherbug for pre-reading!
And a big thanks to Manaphy and Octavia Harmony for editing!