Cup Cake knows what the pegasus mare is doing. She can see the way the filly is swaying her flawless body around Sugar Cube Corner. She can hear the flirty tones in the perfect voice as the mare sings her siren song to Carrot...

It was a surprise that Dash offered a kiss as a prize at the charity auction. It was a surprise that the colts were as "enthusiastic" as they were. It was a surprise that Dash didn't leap on the colts and beat them for their comments.

But, the biggest surprise of all was which one of her friends bid on her kiss... and why.

As she prepares to lift the sun to its apex, to usher in the solstice and bring the Summer Sun Celebration to its climax once more, Princess Celestia embraces the vision of the Equestrian summer that it places before her.

In the vision the summer she is birthing plays out around her, and as a happy phantom she walks through the summer stories of the lives of Twilight, Spike, the other bearers of the Elements of Harmony, their families and loved ones, and even her own sister, Luna. As she does so, she thinks on this world, her role in it...and the gift she's given it.

Gathered here are a series of short Pony stories for your enjoyment, pondering, bemusement, and mortification.

The Singular Constant (Slice of Life)(Random) - Twilight and Spike's surrealist exploration of their relationship.

Apples to Apples (Slice of Life)(Shipping) - Applejack tells us all about apples! And, well... Apples.

If You Give a Changeling a Cupcake (Comedy) - Carrot Cake chases a changeling around Sugar Cube Corner� with a golf club. Based on a series of children's books.

First Day on the Job (Slice of Life)(Adventure) - After his first adventure helping the bearers of the Elements of Harmony, Spike has an epiphany.

Hello (Dark) - A draconiquis meets someone new.

By Shades (Slice of Life) - Celestia awaits the return of a loved one... and finds out why she arrived where she did.

Once upon a time, Spike went for a walk.

While on his walk, he was judged by an ancient alicorn, lodged with griffons, parlayed with air pirates, charmed a maiden of a mystical race, and dealt with the scourges of hate, fear, and racism while deliberately drawing the armies of myriad nations to the brink of global war.

Once upon a time, Spike went for a walk, and did all of this so that he could keep a promise to the one that meant the most to him... Twilight Sparkle.

In the first of three books, Pillars of the Sun (Chapters 1-15), Spike is devastated by Twilight's fate and grows more and more despondent as he attempts to understand what has happened to his dearest friend. A gentle nudge from a pony he trusts sends him looking for answers. When that nudge becomes a push he unravels ancient secrets... and risks losing himself before his attempt to rescue Twilight can even begin.

Have Spike take the C.M.C.'s on a tour of Canterlot so that they don't interrupt Braeburn's ceremony? It was such a simple solution, but even the best laid plans can go awry. Now, Luna and Applejack must contend with some unfinished business from the princess's past as Twilight deals with the fears and concerns of two little fillies... and two little dragons.

When Spike returns home early from a gathering he sees something that causes him to go running from their little home...the sight of Twilight and Caramel together.

Once Twilight finds him, shivering and cold, she decides to try to address his fears...by giving him The Talk.

But, to Twilight's surprise, it may not be a talk about basic biology that Spike needs...perhaps something far more important is on his mind.

Equestria has fallen, and life for the ponies and those who they had protected becomes one of hardship as the land loses its magic.

Yet, there are rumors of a vicious pirate, the Purple Mare, and all she is doing to liberate the land. Outside the city of Port-au-Prance that mare, Twilight, waits as a familiar ship approaches...

Inspired by an image by KNA.

*Resubmitted following revisions.*

After his defeat at the hooves of the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony the stony figure of Discord was dragged far, far, far out of Ponyville where the good ponies could eventually forget the name of their tormentor...

...again.

But, it seems, as the months have passed some creature in Ponyville has not been able to put aside what had happened. Now, that creature approaches, and it seems as though he'd like a word with the immortal spirit of chaos...

Wander is a city colt who works his way up through the ranks. Green Brier is gentry who holds to his ideals.

No two ponies in Equestria are probably more different, yet they both keep inside themselves a powerful secret. Both of them have memories of a time of horrific war fought by baffling creatures on a distant world. Of those creatures two have shown them what it means to be an officer, to be a soldier...and to be a friend.

In this story, the first of The Somewhere Cycle, Wander and Green Brier share with you, the reader, these memories. See if you can figure out who their beloved masters were and what horse they were in our reality before the story ends!

*Resubmitted following revisions.*