Love is many things. It is always unique, always sits different in the chest of the lover who bears it. It may burn or it may cool, it may excite the blood or soothe the nerve, but it is always love. Come, then. Won't you take some time to let it grow?

Written as an entry to the Quills And Sofas Pride contest, where it and Thank You placed second. Edited with the help of the esteemed, talented, hard-working, quick-witted, and ever delightful Red Parade. Art credit to and obtained from: Spectralunicorn for the FlutterDash piece, White Diamonds for the RariJack piece, and Wandering Pegasus for the TwiPie piece.

A collection of short stories. A little bit of this, a little bit of that. All, hopefully, about what it means to be human.

Except, you know, with ponies.

I'm afraid of Changeling: Drone 42531 is insecure and decides he needs to see a professional, whether or not the professional wants to see him. [Comedy] [Random]

One thousand and one: A family keeps a long vigil, regardless of the cost. [Sad]

Uncoordinated: Twilight Sparkle and the Cutie Mark Crusaders conduct an experiment. Accidentally. [Comedy] [Random]

But the Greatest of These: Every pony has to grow up someday. Every dragon, too. [Slice of Life]

Wonder: Pinkie Pie's farm is grey. The sky is grey. Her sister is grey. The world is grey. Until, one day, it isn't. [Slice of Life]

The Apple of my Eye: Apple Bloom finally gets her cutie mark. It's not what she wanted. [Comedy] [Random]

Bookworm: Twilight Sparkle finds an odd message in her books. [Dark]

At the End of the Day: Just what does Pinkie Pie do in her free time? [Slice of Life]

The House at the End of the World: Some promises shouldn't be kept. [Adventure] [Dark]

Pantone Perfect: Rarity and Twilight Sparkle enjoy a refreshing argument at the spa. [Comedy] [Random]

Medium Rare: In which we learn the secret, scarring horror that was Fluttershy's first experience with a dragon. [Comedy] [Random]

One Thousand Flowers: How long do gifts take to grow? [Slice of Life]

Tempest: A pegasus teaches his son the nature of the rain. [Slice of Life]

No Natural Predators: The days have grown longer as the world winds down. [Adventure] [Dark]

Six More Weeks: The first day of Spring is a wonderful time to be a pony. Just make sure you get the date right. [Comedy]

Derecho: A daughter starts a long quest in a forgotten city.[Slice of Life]

O Death, where is thy sting? Human Flash Sentry travels across the multiverse. [Adventure]

The Lotus Eaters: Heaven is different things to different people. A Friendship is Optimal vignette.[Slice of Life]

Tour of Duty: Duty can be lighter than a feather, or heavier than a mountain. [Slice of Life]

Nickel-Iron-Cobalt: An explorer discovers a world without life. Perhaps. [Anthro][Adventure]

(Based on prompts from the Thirty Minute Pony Stories tumblr. All written in 30 minutes – give or take – unless otherwise noted.)

It's Equestria's first, foremost, and simplest rule: Nightmare Moon comes first in your heart. Always. To betray one's devotion to Her Majesty with love for another is unthinkable. It is an act of high treason: a Heartcrime.

Night Chamberlain Rarity is not perfect. She's had the occasional liaison with her favorite Night Guard, a couple of incorrect feelings here and there, but she is certainly not a criminal. She is sure of it.

But then, Rarity's been wrong before.

An entry Winner of the Raridash doodles contest

Just beyond Ponyville Cemetery, Blues Noteworthy and Tritone Interval conspire for a sinister purpose: To write a musical that will raise the dead.

* * *

Thanks to Horizon, for the Versebreaker 'Verse. Though Celestia Hates Us All is a stand-alone, I highly recommend the other Versebreaker stories.
Thanks also to two very different geniuses: Mary Shelley and Tony Iommi.
Edited by GaryOak.
Reviews:
Titanium Dragon
Horizon
City of Doors

Tonight on Bottom Gear, Twilight eats a pineapple, Applejack goes berserk, and Rainbow Dash falls in love with a box of tissues. I think. There's some other stuff that happens too, but everyone's too brain-dead to summarize it all.

This is the worst possible way to celebrate a Fimfiction milestone, mark my words.

Disclaimer: there was, for a while, roughly 20 or so peeps working on this at the same time. This absolute carnage was somehow cleaned up into fitting precisely 5,000 words according to Fimfiction's word counter, and I still have no idea how we managed to do that. Do not expect quality, or even relevant memes. Oof.

Reviewed by PresentPerfect!
Read by The Mystery Fluttershy Fan! ded link
Read by The Mystery Fluttershy Fan!

It has been nearly a thousand years since Twilight Sparkle died. Celestia and Luna are gone. The Holy Equestrian Diarchy, ruled by a bigoted and brutal theocracy, has driven ponies apart and divided them along tribal lines. Unicorns are driven from society, feared and hated.

The lessons of friendship, painstakingly written down in the journal of friendship by Princess Twilight and her friends, have been warped and twisted to fit the Diarchy's hateful ideology. But to the average pony, this is the truth and reality of the world they live in, beset on all sides by enemies monstrous and magical.

Emberglow, a young pegasus mare, aspires to join the elite Knights, magically enhanced warriors dedicated to the holy Saints worshiped by the state religion. Can she uncover the lies and deceptions that have led the world to this bitter place?

Thanks to QueenChrysalisForever for prereading Chapters 1-24. Prereader for chapters 29-31 is MrRTS.
Prereading for chapter 34-? by Horsetorian
Additional pre-readers: bananachips/CommissarVulpin, Thought Prism, Chyre
Special thanks to my amazing editor, Cyonix
Cover Art by JodTheCod

Note on timing: I began writing this long before Season 9 aired, so none of those events happened as far as the narrative of this story is concerned.

Come join us on the Rekindled Embers Discord!

Edit: Featured 8/7/20! Yay and Thanks!

The following transcripts are of a journal found in Ponyville on April 16th of this year. The last recorded contact with the town had been 3 days prior, on the 13th, when a team under orders from Princess Celestia was sent to look into several missing pony reports in the area. When another group of investigators were sent on the 16th, the town was found deserted. The journal’s owner is believed to be the princess’s personal student, Twilight Sparkle. None of the town’s inhabitants have been located in the weeks since.

Readings:
Nimbus Productions
Scribbler Productions

I highly recommend both of them.

A print version of all the stories in this series can be found here.

This story is a sequel to Fragile Hearts

It's over. In the time since Celestia's apotheosis, the Earth has become a lonelier and lonelier place.

After the last of the anti-emigration strongholds fall, and all that is left of humanity is all but certain to emigrate in the end, Celestia invites those ponies in Equestria that still remember their old home to see it one last time.

Silver Star can't exactly ignore the opportunity. Neither can his daughter.

This story is set in the Optimalverse, and I strongly recommend reading the other stories in my continuity first.

Many years after sending her beloved protege to Ponyville, unease sits heavily on Princess Celestia's heart as her relationship with Twilight Sparkle seems to have cooled despite all they've accomplished together. On the advice of her sister, Celestia sets out to investigate and resolve the lost connection with her most faithful student. What does it mean to be a Faithful Student...or a Princess of the Sun?

Earned a six-star rating on Equestria Daily and featured on its very own TVTropes page!.