Two passengers on a train ride toward an uncertain future. One is a pony. The other only pretends to be.

Sex is tame and non-explicit. Don't be afraid to read.

Written expressly for Equestria Daily's Outside Insight Summer Fanfiction Contest.

Now with a dramatic reading by Illya Leonov!

Russian translation courtesy of Arsus.
Chinese translation courtesy of viczhn.
French translation courtesy of BroNie.

Inspired by the artwork of RubleGun and Raddjuret. Musical accompaniment by Patrick Poe.

Featured at Equestria Daily and the Royal Canterlot Library.

Reader Testimonials

"Vinyl + Octavia is one of the fandom's most cliché and mismatched pairs, and yet this is a real romance with genuine depth and emotion." - horizon
"Holy shit this is impressive. Like... Holy shit, man." - Skeeter The Lurker
"You have crafted something wonderful here, a true gem. You should be proud." - Illya Leonov
"Note that I hate this ship when I say this is far and away the best ScratchTavia I've ever read." - PresentPerfect
"Fuuuuck it's so good!" - Luminary

With her head swirling with thoughts and emotions, Sunset decided to write them all down to get them out and help organize them. She just should have paid attention to which book she was using...

Starlight Glimmer had sought revenge against Twilight Sparkle for so long. What she didn't expect was for her hated foe to show her a better way...

Sweetie Belle discovers an amateur novel lying abandoned on the ground. The mysterious story soon becomes all the rage with everypony.

And then Rarity hears a passage of it being read out loud...

After discovering a package filled with a strange-smelling plant on her porch, Twilight finds a note inside saying to smoke it with the glass device included. She has no idea what's going to happen, but like a good faithful student, she sends her findings to Princess Celestia.

Spike has a really big announcement to tell all of his friends, and he was proud to say that he became the mascot for a really big company. However, while half of them are happy about his new job, the other half are shocked and appalled.

Of course, that's because they knew something Spike apparently didn't.

Sunset Shimmer visits Equestria and spends some time taking care of animals with Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow Dash is apparently not good with certain animals.

Sunset discovers very quickly that what you learn from the human world cannot be unlearned, ever.

Rated Teen and Sex for a pile of juvenile innuendo, though technically no bad language. Only technically.

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

*6-16-2017 Edit, added Rainbow Dash tag because it triggered knighty.*

"I can handle the cold. I'm a pegasus. Pegasi are supposed to be able to handle the cold. Sure, most of them have a warm, fluffy cloud home and a nice warm bed...and this is the coldest winter I've ever had to survive through...but I'm tough. I'll be fine...It's just a little cold weather..."

Thanks to my pre-reader: Mcstuffins
Cover art: kanashiipanda
"Alternate Universe" in only the strictest sense. Some things deviate from the show's canon, but only by a little

Chinese Translation: Link
Russian Translation: Link