Gilda has a long, glorious tradition of hunting to live up to: her people, the griffons, are predators to the core. Hunting is in her blood, but sometimes, even the greatest of predators needs to keep their skills sharp.

Especially when you're in pony lands, where such activities aren't exactly common, and opportunities to test oneself even rarer.

Bitter about being kicked out of Wonderbolt Academy, Lightning Dust decides to travel abroad to give herself time to brood about her dreams slipping out from under her hooves. However, when visiting the land of Accithera, she meets a gryphon named Gilda in Australeo, and learns what Loyalty actually is.

Gryphons are a proud race, and Gilda is an excellent example of the breed. It's been a long, cold winter in the Everfree Forest waiting for Rainbow Dash to realize the error of her ways and ditch those lame new pony friends of hers, but Gilda's ancestors weren't quitters and by Orion, neither is she.

Surely one day, Rainbow will finally realize where her true loyalties lie. One day...

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Note: the image may be furry, but the story is not. Such as it is.

Rated "teen" for copious amount of pony-swearing and small amount of actual swearing.

(Image is by kdjade. My usual warnings about galleries not being as work safe as the pictures I use continues to apply)

Author's note: All this came because I commissioned kdjade to do a picture of anthro Gilda looking annoyed about shoveling snow. I figure the ponies may be all enthusiastic about winter and manual season changes, but that doesn't mean everyone is. Me? I hate shoveling snow. Blargh.

Written for Everfree Northwest's Pre-Con Writing Competition 2014.

Cover art is credited to teygrim on deviantArt!

The nice thing about living in Appleloosa, Gilda has discovered, is that you don't have to share the skies with anyone else. There may not be many clouds in the sky for perching and napping, but a warm rock on a high pinnacle can work just as well.

The locals are at least tolerable. Earth ponies tend to be a simple, predictable bunch, prone to routine.

It's when you get out-of-towners coming through, though, that problems can erupt. Especially when too much hard cider is involved.

Part of Equestria Daily's Outside Insight Fanfic Contest.

Reviewed by InquisitorM (review one | review two) , PresentPerfect, Cerulean Voice, Seattle's Angels, and Ponyfic Roundup 231

Thanks to Stitchwolf for the beta read and edits.
Thanks to Wargame Brony for the beta read and edits.
A very special thanks to Chuck Finley for assistance with some of the slurs and insults bandied about during this piece.
Thumbnail is a cropped version of an image by Toki Reatle on deviant art.

While mildly envious of Twilight Sparkle's ascension to Alicorn, Trixie notices a silver lining. With Twilight now being an Alicorn, the title for most powerful Unicorn remains up for grabs. Join everyponys "favorite" showmare as she sets off on a journey to truly become "Great and Powerful".

Anon has been living in Equestria for some time, and has very little to show for it. Shunned away from most cities, he finds solitude of a sort in Ponyville. But there are few places for an omnivore to satisfy all his appetites, so when he meets a fellow omnivore, both parties find more uses from the other than they'd expect.

Stan was one of the lucky ones to make it out of the Canterlot disaster unscathed, unfortunately for him that means he now has to deliver a treaty to the princess.
Who happens to be one of his most deepest darkest fears.

The changelings are banished, the day is saved! Yet a victory for one must be a defeat for another, and this particular victory has left one changeling stranded in Canterlot, alone and broken. A certain pink party pony is also alone in the Canterlot night, hiding her depression from her friends. She cannot, however, hide her feelings from a changeling. What will become of this unlikely pair?

As featured in Twilight's Library.

Cover picture by Ruirik

Kuno, a young changeling, is left weak, bloodied, and bruised after the events of the Canterlot wedding. She is soon discovered by Warden, a Royal Guard. But for some reason, Warden shows her mercy. Instead of taking her into the custody of the Royal Guard, he becomes both her captor and her savior. But over time, Kuno will come to ask herself the hardest question she has ever pondered: Can a changeling feel love?