Starlight believes she's broken magic itself. Worse, she can prove it. And she's going to need help from her closest friends... because her entire life has been leading up to this moment...

Set between Seasons 7 and 8. Warning: contains recursion, self-reference, and higher-order spells. Plus flashbacks and didacticism. And Starlight being Starlight, of course...

Inspired by Parting Words, by RHJunior

Princess Celestia is the paragon of Harmony. She is kind to her subjects and generous to those in need. She is loyal to her ideals and never compromised. She has a good, if mostly unknown, sense of humor. Above all else, she is always honest. Right?

Twilight Sparkle trusts Princess Celestia implicitly and in all things. The Princess has never steered her wrong, not once. When Twilight thought that her concerns for Nightmare Moon were being ignored, Celestia had her back, even if she was withholding information.

Wait a minute.

Shortly before Celestia leaves for Canterlot with the redeemed Luna, Twilight has a conversation with her mentor that will change her perspective on the Princess forever. She will receive something new, beautiful, and damning all the same.

Cynicism.

Six Little Words or: The Question That Twilight Didn’t Ask in Canon.

Violence Tag: Implied torture.

Comments are back open. Please try to keep it cordial.

First you're born, and then you're recorded in triplicate. The end of labor is the start of a very long paper trail, because nopony can exist without being documented. Sending copies of a new foal's documents to the Herdbook Registry is perfectly normal. And of course, in order to make sure there's nothing strange going on, that paperwork gets reviewed. Which is done by bureaucrats who establish absolute control inside their office while having no idea of what's happening in the actual world. So as far as they're concerned, the forms associated with somepony named 'Flurry Heart'...

Don't tell them. It's funnier if they find out on their own.

(Now with author Patreon and Ko-Fi pages. (Due to minimal story length, this was a pledge freebie.))

Twilight Sparkle has been abandoned.

After an expedition into the badlands is torn to tatters by an unprecedented monster attack, Twilight finds herself stranded in a hostile environment with no safe way back home. With no supplies and no survival training, It all seems hopeless for the scholarly unicorn until she is discovered by a type of creature she has never seen before. A changeling named Thorax, a native of the badlands.

With Thorax's knowledge of the environment, he is Twilight's best chance of getting home safely. And by that same token, perhaps Twilight is the best chance the timid, pacifistic drone has of discovering something he has lived his entire life without.

Set well before the Season 2 Finale.

Cover art was drawn by me.

This is a spiritual successor to The Bug in The Herd, and The Bug in The Basement.

Edited by Mister Hypothetical.

This story is a sequel to Pray, Hope and Wander

Case Report: Update - May 2nd
Submitted by: Verdant Vines
Location: Ponyville
Date: May 2nd
Case: Ponyville Mass Disappearance (#3467)
Classification: Top Secret

White Clover,

Given the new writings included in the addendum to the provided journal transcription, I’ve elected to continue our investigation through conversing with whoever, or whatever, is on the other side of it. They claim to be Twilight Sparkle, Princess Celestia's personal student. I’d like to request that Princess Celestia is not informed of this possibility until we can verify their identity.

As such, from this day forward I will be sending daily reports before sundown with transcription of our conversations, along with any thoughts I have. Included with these documents is a formal request of personnel transfer for Doctor Blue Sky to my team in order to assist with any psychological evaluations related to the writer of the journal. His team will continue to support evaluations of personnel working the case.

Special thanks to FloydienSlip, Petrichord, and KorenCZ11 for their help with feedback.

A print version of all the stories in this series can be found here. (There is currently a printing error I am working to correct. This will be available again soon.)

IRS Scammers. We all hate them, and in Equestria, it's no different. Once technology advanced to the point of phones and computers, scamming came with it.

Unfortunately, not everypony is as gullible as some other nasty people would like.

Find this story and more in a print copy! Just click these words here!

Featured on EQD 11/26/18!

Many years ago, Ponyville was even smaller than it is now. But not too small to experience its first bank robbery.

In distinctly Ponyville style.

Editors: Tek, Irrespective
Picture credit: Stock Image

Now on Equestria Daily

Princess Celestia, tired of the constant pressure that ruling a nation puts on her, decides to take a day off and let Luna take her responsibilities for a day, something the younger alicorn is more than happy to do. She disguises herself as a pink maned pegasus pony named Sunny Skies and decides to go walking around Canterlot without any supervision. Unfortunately for her, not all parts of Canterlot are as safe as the palace, and she finds herself at the wrong end of a gang of muggers, who decide to kidnap her for a ransom when they see how much money she has on her.

Luna freaks out.

Celestia thinks it's hilarious.

Find this story and more in a print copy! Just click these words here!

Featured on Equestria Daily 8/15/13

Go here for the French translation!

[img]http://i.imgur.com/CUBPvKI.png[/img]

Edited wonderfully by sqarishoctagon and Cloud Hop

Updated cover art by Dominatore

This story is a sequel to Trixie Lulamoon and the Horrendous Hypothesis

Enter the Dragon is an in between story and is recommended reading.

Princess Twilight Sparkle has a school for gifted foals. Some of them are fantastic. One of them had a Horrendous Hypothesis. All of them will be learning Princess Twilight Sparkle's curriculum for friendship.

An entry in the Weedverse.

Wut?

Family portrait

The stupid goes flying right out of Sumac's head.

Majestic!

Fancy Pants and his lovely wife Fleur are quite possibly Canterlot's most heroic duet. Together they conquered countless events, faced hordes of snobbish socialites, and emerged victorious from the most dire of faux pas. May their bravery and finesse be forever remembered on parties to come!

There is a missing element in their perfect life, though: the joy of having a child and becoming a family. When conventional methods fail, will the couple muster enough courage to seek out the alternative, or will they stay a duet forever?

Enter Chestnut—a daring filly from beyond Equestria, out of their social stratum, and definitely exceeding their boldest expectations.

For better or worse.