The Alicorn Amulet twists its wearer into madness and megalomania. Nopony can wear it without repercussions, both for themselves and others. Nopony is safe. Nopony is exempt.

Still, nopony expected him.

It is a soldier’s duty to defend his country, a soldier’s duty to protect the people and sometimes while performing that duty sometimes a soldier pays the ultimate price. During the Canterlot invasion a soldier paid such a price, he left the world without so much as a thought, but he was not forgotten. Another soldier remembered his name and now he stands before a simple stone to speak to what he had lost.

I did not want to die; I wanted to live, but cruel fate ruined that when the bullet found me. These are my final thoughts as the life spills from my veins.

Pinkie Pie is bringing her big sister Maud around on a tour of Ponyville. While looking around Sweet Apple Acres, Maud loses her pet rock, Boulder. She receives help from Big Macintosh, and the two have a nice, deep conversation.

Thanks to RainbowBob for the idea for this ship.

Now with TWO YouTube Readings! One by Arwhale and one by DRWolf!

Now with a Spanish translation!

Discord has lived for quite a long time. Centuries as a ruler, a millennium as a rock, years as a reformed draconequus, it all gets very tiring. A nap is exactly what he needs. But when you live forever, time loses its meaning, years pass in the blink of an eye, mortals come and go like mayflies. And that's fine.
After all, any being that is truly important will live forever. Discord would never associate with anything less.

When a freak reading accident causes Twilight to be admitted to the Ponyville hospital, Rainbow Dash is right by her side. Compelled by a sense of duty and repayment, she takes it upon herself to cheer up her friend.

At her coronation after-party, Twilight gets a little freaked out at the prospect of growing into her new life, especially one specific aspect of it. She knows better than anyone that talking her problems over with a friend can help tremendously, but she doesn't have many friends with whom she'd be comfortable talking about this particular problem, let alone ones who would really understand what she's going through.

...unless she broadens her definition of "friend."

Now with a reading, courtesy of PresentPerfect! Go check it out, if you're so inclined.
Ahora en español gracias al maravilloso trabajo de SPANIARD KIWI!
(Now in Spanish thanks to the brilliant work of SPANIARD KIWI!)

A long, long time ago, there was a knight who set out on a noble quest to save a fair maiden and, if possible, slay the dragon keeping her captive.

Only... things don't always go as planned.

Many thanks to the incredibly talented hattonslayden for letting me use this picture for the cover art. Check out his work some time!

Update: featured? Oh my... I feel all tingly inside...

In the final days of her life, an exceptionally faithful student muses on the subject of her perfect and immortal mentor Applejack.

Now with Spanish translation by Spaniard Kiwi!

Golden Harvest is not jealous. Sure, her neighbor Applejack has a life of adventure and glamor, friends who are national heroes and princesses, an appallingly lucrative share in the local fruit market, and firm, toned flanks. And sure, by contrast, Golden Harvest has been stuck with her snout in the same old muddy patch of carrots pretty much every day since she earned her cutie mark, her best friend is a dentist, and her idea for a 'Carrot Juice Season' never really gained much ground for some reason. But Golden Harvest is not jealous.

Not jealous at all.

She just wishes Applejack would stop being so distracting.

*

Pre-read by Midnight Herald and Communist Bob (no link).