Smolder, now an old and ancient dragoness, looks back on a certain conversation she had with her five best friends 1,000 years ago on the subjects of life span and mortality.

Life is like a tree: constantly growing, stretching many directions.

But the trunk remains the solid center it builds from. A branch may reach the sky, but stays anchored to and part of the tree.

Twilight Sparkle isn't the only one to grow into a new role.

[Death] tag is only for discussions and mentions thereof, nobody dies on-screen.

Featured 7/6/2021 - 7/7/2021!

Twilight Sparkle grew up believing in a world that was sound, stable, and scientific. There was no place for a silly corporate Hearth's Warming mascot like Holly Jolly in that equation, no matter how many kids around her believed.

Sunset Shimmer grew up in a world where Hearth's Warming meant something entirely different, where magic was only special in terms of power levels, and holiday frivolity was little more than a distraction from her pursuits.

So when the two of them, a few years post-high school and now a couple, chanced upon some Holly Jollys at a local mall, neither of them put much stock in it at first. But then Twilight said something that got Sunset thinking.

And then she asked Pinkie for a red suit.

Written for BlueMoonHarlot for Jinglemas 2024!

Pre-read by Avery Day, Dewdrops on the Grass, and The Sleepless Beholder. Featured on 25-26 December 2024.

Sunset Shimmer hates the magicless world of mutant apes she's been trapped in for the last four moons, but at least she's making some progress on improving her situation. Now if only the short-sighted fools surrounding her would stop getting in her way, she could show them. She'd show them all!

Note that this particular Sunset has yet to encounter the concept of the "mad scientist." Not until later today, anyway.

An entry in the Science Fiction Contest II and the Spring Fling, winning judge prizes in each. Thanks to EileenSaysHi for the original idea (which, full disclosure, was proposed in January, before the Spring Fling was announced.) Rated Teen for the occasional discussion topic that goes outside the scope of TV-Y.

Luna’s return from banishment has been a challenging learning process. But as the years pass and Luna becomes more aware of Equestria’s current technological state, she has a critical question for her sister.

Why?

Cover art belongs to extraluna and all credit should go to them.

Rarity is not feeling like herself. Her experiences with sadness were usually intense and loud, but brief. Not this time. After a chance encounter with a customer, powerful melancholy grips her, unlike anything she has experienced before. She feels empty, hopeless, and miserable.

Then Twilight Sparkle visits.

Sequel: The Night Before Forever

There are some mentions of suicidal ideations, but no actual suicide or self-harm.

A HUGE thanks to Troublesome Beast for helping me with this one.
Cover art by Sarochan.

Her Majesty's Starship Philomena is a generational ship designed to save ponies from the devastation of Equus and ferry them to a new world. The trip will take 150 years: the first generation will carry on the memory of the old world, and the third will set hoof on the new world.

The second generation is ash and engine grease: those born in darkness and destined to die in darkness, who will never know the bounteous fruits of which the hydroponic gardens bear only echoes and promises. Twilight Sparkle is one such middle link, tasked with maintaining the hardware of the ship's onboard AI, Celestia.

_{gold medal in thousand words iii (slice of life)
cover art is an edited screenshot from neon genesis evangelion. shoutouts ritsuko
russian translation courtesy of zebrowski}

Yesterday, Twilight and Discord had two things in common. Now, they just have one. Twilight wants to talk about it -- and to her surprise, Discord is willing to listen.

Silver medalist in the Drama category of the A Thousand Words III contest.

Rarity returns home at a strange and disjointed time in her life, hot off the heels of a divorce and the crumbling of her once carefully plotted (and carefully conventional) life path. It's an ideal time to reconnect with Twilight Sparkle, the woman who was, and is, and maybe will be the most important person in her life.

Special Thanks to Monochromatic for her invaluable help and collaboration along the way. Cover art by Maxiima

Twilight Sparkle has discovered her new friend is a pony from another dimension.

She refuses to leave this stone unturned, and will get to the bottom of this through extensive research, whether Sunset Shimmer knows it or not. Midnight Sparkle, of course, has her two scents about this entire nonsense.

Still-- A magical pony from another dimension walks beside her. This requires further study.