How deep does a friendship go?

Does surpass the conventions and taboos of society?

Does it overpower the scorn of others?

For Twilight and Spike, this has always been the case; their deep bond formed under the watchful eye of Princess Celestia during their long years in Canterlot.

But for Rarity, a mare known for her superficial view of the world, this question has always remained open, until a chance encounter reveals a dreadful secret about Spike that could drive both him and Twilight from Ponyville.

Horrified beyond belief, and pushed to the very edge of her relationship with the two, Rarity will see exactly how far her friendship to a scatterbrained librarian and her reptilian assistant will take her.

Hippophobia: An abnormal and persistent fear of horses. Sufferers of this fear experience undue anxiety even when a horse is known to be gentle and well trained. They usually avoid horses entirely rather than risk being kicked, bitten or thrown. They may also fear other hoofed animals such as donkeys, zebras, mules and... ponies.

A pianist from Earth is home on a lonely Saturday, getting ready to enjoy his weekend, when he is suddenly summoned to Equestria - only to find himself being held captive by The Great and Powerful Trixie, who plans to use him as a piano-playing slave in her show.

If you came here looking for the sequel, 'The Piano Man: Act II', it can be found here.

When your life is as dull a gray as the world that surrounds you, the mundanities can make it all seem meaningless. Sometimes we need a couple drugs -- or six -- and maybe a pegasus, to reintroduce us to what truly makes life worth living.

Captive tortoises have been known to live for about one hundred and fifty years. Most ponies are lucky to live past eighty. Rainbow Dash was not Tank's first pony, nor will she be his last. The stoic tortoise doesn't have much choice but to live with it, though, and enjoy his time with each of his friends as much as he can.

Oh this is rich! So listen to this, I'm just your run of a mill guy who is surprisingly living a decent life, despite all this falling economy crap. Now this is where things get juicy! For some reason I got hit by something and now I'm in a completely different world, where Ponies are the most prosperous race. Crazy right? But you know whats really funny? I'm now living in a monstrous wolf body and some 'Goddesses' want me dead.... absolutely brilliant.

*UPDATE 1/19/2013*

This story has been cancelled, due to my declining interest into MLP. Thank you all for reading the small amount of chapters I provided and I apologize for bursting your hope for this story. Peace out Bronies.

The Piano Man has spent the last month in captivity, forced to play the piano as part of The Great and Powerful Trixie's traveling show. Now he's free, and recovering under the care of the Equestrian monarchy while Trixie awaits trial for her crimes.
All is not well, however. The Piano Man has a long road of recovery ahead, and all the time he must compete with overbearing carers, his own mental trauma, and even discrimination from members of Equestria's unicorn supremacist subculture.

This story is the kinda (can't stress that part enough) better-written sequel to 'The Piano Man'. Because the first story involved some rather dark scenes, I have included a helpful catch-up in the first chapter - so if you have no interest in reading a dark story, then you can ignore the first piece and skip straight ahead to this one.
'The Piano Man: Act II' is most certainly not a dark story, and neither is it sad. The sad tag is in place for scenes in which I reference the previous installment, and nothing else.

The absolutely amazing cover image was created by the even more amazing WIL_I_ZIN, (deviantART) who is just... just awesome, for helping out.

While out hiking in the mountains near Ponyville, Big Mac discovers a mysterious staff which grants him the power of the ancient god Thor. Old myths awaken, new legends are born, and one simple farm pony is thrust in the middle - as the leader of Celestia's newest crime-fighting force, The Avengers! A fusion fic with Marvel Universe, mostly Avengers.

Sup, the name's Mark. Or was Mark, anyway that's not to important anymore. Just know that while I lived on Earth, I was constantly under pressure to follow the rules and fit a mold that didn't fit well with me. My life was constantly controlled by a system I despised.

Well since getting sucker punched into Equestria by a goddess those days are over. Being the one and only Winged Wolf in the known world is a huge help to being able to make my own rules. I'm finally free to do what I want, when I want, and how I want and that's exactly what I'm planning on doing.

Set in the same universe as The Ballad of Echo the Diamond Dog and Griffin the Griffin.

-------------------------

I did get permission from both Rust and BlackWing to use the same setting as their characters. Go read both of their stories. They're awesome. Reading them is what made me want to write this story in the first place, so if you liked this, you'll fall in love with those stories.

Added the Dark tag just in case. There will be a decent amount of violence later on. Will add character tags as they become important to the story.

Imprisoned in the tunnels beneath Canterlot, she withers away in hunger and despair. In the castle above, curiosity leads him to a door that he is forbidden to open. When they finally meet, it is just the opportunity she has waited for. Mislead by a child's trusting innocence, Spike unknowingly stumbles into the clutches of Equestria's greatest foe. And once you embrace the darkness, the darkness never lets you go...

Cover image by ss2sonic