Every month, Octavia plays privately for Princess Luna as she paints the night sky. Each time, Octavia feels that familiar feeling, one she's rarely ever felt before. Now she has decided that it is time to announce these feelings. However, she has a secret, one she has kept for longer than she can remember. But surely the Princess of the Night would be able to understand her own creation, right?

Artwork by Johanpok
Dramatic Reading of All the Stars in the Sky

Equestria is a land of magic and harmony, a peaceful realm ruled by immortal and benevolent monarchs. At what cost is this possible?

Following the discovery of a strange and powerful device, Twilight Sparkle is whisked away to the edges of a land she thought she knew so well. Here, surrounded by ponies whose very existences have been kept secret, she must contend with vicious enemies, hostile allies, and the truth.

Chapters 1-16 edited by KiltedKey

"They take da' pain out, make it somethin' good, somethin' good. Wear yer' blues well, colt, you gonna earn every drop of em'. Yer' gonna be tangled up in blues," the old stallion told Blues, presenting him with the saxophone.

Blues himself tells us of his life after that day and as he explores what it means to be "painted blue"; to hope, to fear, to love, to lose. He tells us as he learns what really makes a stallion a stallion, what it's like to leave something you love behind, and what risks one must face in life or risk becoming nothing at all.

All of this, Blues tells us, takes place against the background of critical moments in his life and as he travels the scope of Equestria from Manehattan to Ponyville and Appleoosa. All the while the songs he learns from his pain mingle with the one his mentor, Moody Blues, revealed within him...something unbelievable the old pony did to bring it forth.

Life's hard when you're small, especially if you're a breezie. The ponies keep trying to knock down your tree-home, steal all your fruit, and now they're about to bring back winter and doom your hive to a frozen fate.

Misty has had enough. She's going to leave her tree, stop the Summer Shutdown, and save the world.

After all, someone's got to do it.

Written for Equestria Daily's Outside Insight Summer Fanfic Contest

Rarity tries to find out if Applejack really does smell–and taste–like apples.

My deepest gratitude to First_Down for editing, proofreading, reviewing, and polishing the fic. Also, thanks to SerenityViewer for his suggested changes in the first few paragraphs.

What does it mean to be immortal? Celestia has lived for too long. Her memories are old. She has seen many ponies, and many places, and many times, and many stars, and many dreams. She wakes one night to find she does not know the ponies and the stars of today from the ponies and the stars of any other day she has lived. She no longer knows what was real and what was only dreamed.

She desperately searches for the one pony she knows could not have been a dream.

After the most important night of her career is ruined and its saboteurs not even so much as punished, Octavia's life changes. She begins to pursue a path that has never been seen before in Canterlot, where concertos and rhapsodies give way to controversy and rebellion.

A path where symphonies are composed with cans of spray paint.

Cover art used with permission by LuGiAdriel14

For several years now, Tom has been maintaining a vigil over the Everfree Forest. Set to guard the secret of the Mirror Pool, he has never once let anything through.

He is surrounded by life and vibrancy, but he feels none of it. Nothing notices him or cares to notice him. He is alone, as alone as a rock can be.

Bloomberg similarly feels lonely, but is surrounded by wanton lust and fake intimacy. He stands apart, but wishes for the eternal coupling that he remembers so many of his elder trees having in Sweet Apple Acres.

Separated by distance and only able to see each other in their dreams, these two must find a way to reconcile far more than their inhibitions if they have any hope of being together.

This was written completely seriously. There's a few puns and whatnot, but this is legitimately a ship between Tom and Bloomberg. You've been warned.

Also featured on a Fic Spotlight. I love you, Tooly Royal Guard.

Also resides in the shelves of Twilight's Library.

Also reviewed by Seattle's Angels. It means a lot to me. Thank you guys for being awesome.

In a freak accident from the Cloudsdale weather control team, Twilight is struck down by an errant lightning bolt. But the veil of death is relatively thin...