How many years has it been since I joined the military?

I don't know. I lost count. When you feel like you wasted your whole life, you lose your sense of time-- what's sad is that the more you enjoy it, the faster time goes by.

I thought the rest of my time on Equus would be exactly as I described, until she came into the picture.

Original cover art by Imalou

Following the Cutie Map, Applejack and Rainbow Dash head off to Whinnypeg to find a friendship problem somewhere in the convention center. A con is poised to start when they arrive and they check-in as attendees, ready to search high and low among the staff and the con-goers for whoever needed their help. The only real problem is that the con is a couples retreat, everypony is flashing Applejack and Rainbow Dash knowing looks, and the two of them aren’t together like that.

At least, they haven’t been together like that since they were teenagers …

A novella told in three parts.

Editing by JetstreamGW and bookplayer. Cover art by mousse.

Magic has faded and the surface has been lost, but the war rages on. Twenty years after the catastrophic start of the battle, what's left of Equestria hides in the skies, fighting for survival with machines powered by diesel.

Most don't think twice about Captain Rainbow Dash, still piloting out in the field after decades, too stubborn for a promotion to stick but too skilled to be forced into retirement. All they see is an old burned out warpony waiting to die on the battlefield. Nopony knows what Rainbow Dash is fighting for anymore. Maybe not even Rainbow Dash.

Editing by Formerly Committed and JetstreamGW.

This story is a sequel to Tall Tales from Tall Tale: Bumps In The Night

Railroad life is not as easy as it may appear to those on the outside looking in, especially for crew out on the hoofplate. With long work schedules and short periods of time to be away from the line to properly relax, when those moments of reprieve do arise, these ponies take full advantage. This, expectedly, tends to lead to rowdy and drunk behavior and many a story start with "So we were down at the bar one night....."

Twilight is the new Princess of Equestria, and she's hosting her first Grand Galloping Gala. Celestia joins her, and Twilight asks her why she and Luna stepped down as Princesses. Celestia decides she's ready to answer.

Nobody wants a runaway train. They have caused horrific damage around the globe, both physically and psychologically. Though precautions and rules have been established to prevent such runaways, they still happen. They still cause damage. They still cause trauma.

They still cause atrocities.

One cold night, a big and powerful steam locomotive dragging a long and heavy train of ore is left in a siding at the top of a mountain so the crew can rest.

Unknown to them, a boiler leak is letting steam pressure drop. The steam pressure dropping means the air compressor supplies less and less air to the brakes. The air pressure dropping means the brakes become less and less effective.

With not a single soul to watch - except for a fiery Pegasus - , the train begins to move downhill, completely unattended, threatening to destroy the small town of Detrot.

The Mareconi Wireless Radio. A brand-new invention that allows messages to be sent to ships at sea without the need of magic. It is but a novelty, only being available at the Manehattan Harbor and on a few select vessels.

This newfangled nonsense would be put to very good use one calm night. As I was just about to finish cleaning and shut everything down, a message came through the wireless that, for the first time ever, made my blood run cold.

"CQD CQD SOS Titanic Position 41.44 N 50.24 W. Require immediate assistance. Come at once. We struck an iceberg. Sinking"

In the dead of night, a forest fire wreaks havoc on the Green Mountains. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, having been at the right place at the right time, are valiantly fighting it. The fire, however, refuses to be quelled.

Before the two are able to fetch help from nearby towns, they hear the crying call of something that is in trouble. Something big. Something fast. A sound that could only be one thing.

The Haunting Wail of a Steam Train.

In the Ponyville Railyard, towards the back, in a old siding by themselves, sit 6 old hopper cars filled with gray gravel. The cars are rusty, the letters on them having faded long ago. The cars have not been touched in ages, and seemingly serve no purpose. Scootaloo aims to find out why the cars are there, and what purpose they serve. Now she wishes that she'd left well enough alone, because when something has been abandoned, there's always a reason behind why it was........

(This is my first foray into the world of MLP horror stories, so hopefully this goes well)

Featured as of 5/4/22?! Holy cow. Thank you everypony!

A Notice of Hiatus

Jackson Brunner was walking home from work when he slipped and fell. He then awoke in a palace made of crystal that seemed to be long abandoned. Exploring these halls, Jack feels a strange sense of foreboding. Almost as if something horrible had happened here.

And that's not even the strangest thing about this situation.

No, things will only get stranger from here once the new owners of the palace show up.

Times this story has been featured:
August 16th - August 20th, 2023 (briefly got top spot on the 16th!)
Pretty much every time I upload a chapter lmao