My unicorn parents called me a worthless mud pony. They pushed me every day to overcome my lowly status. When I woke up one morning with my cutie mark, I thought they would love me. I couldn’t have been farther from the truth.

It was not destiny or enjoyment that led me to discover the cello and composing. My parents made that decision, deciding before I was born I would continue their family legacy of famous musicians.

They did not realize what that decision would cost them.

Special Thanks and Links:

Cover Art: Dreampaw. The inspiration for the story.
Dramatic reading of Act I-III by Malao567. June 2013
Reading with music by ObabScribbler. June 2014
Song: Hooks and Strings by Reverb Brony. May 2014

Style inspired by H.P. Lovecraft
TypeWriterError: Editor & Rating Board
Gage of Grandiloquence: Editor
The11thWonder: Pre-reader
Nharctic: Pre-reader
Breath of Plagues: My Pinch Editor.
ArgonMatrix: Bad Grammar Exterminator
Daemon of Decay: Advice, also inspired me to write fan fiction. Blame him!

Neither time nor setting matter. It would all disappear in time, so why dwell on the needless details? I, Luna, am here with a purpose. I find myself burdened with thoughts, knowledge never deserving the honor of being learned. Consider this, and act accordingly.

Cover image by BlueDragonHans.

Sometimes, there are states of emotion that can overwhelm even the mightiest of creatures; or so they say. Queen Chrysalis had never taken stock in such tales, nor the creatures that told them. Until today that is.

Artist is hotkinkyshy

Twilight Sparkle has a special guardian while under the tutelage of Princess Celestia. A creature that turns intensely violent at the slightest threat against his charge. A creature that will maim and kill without concern if it has to, that will do anything to keep those it loves safe.
These are not these stories.
These are the stories from the inside. The stories that make a makeshift family work. The small moments. The little secrets. The normal life.

Short stories about Twilight's and Spike's life before the events of the Lunar Guardsman. Maybe a little funny, maybe a little sad, maybe a little sappy, certainly not on any chronological order. Chapters posted whenever I am taken by the mood to write one.

This is a collection of prequel stories to The Lunar Guardsman, an M rated story currently in progress by yours truly.

Many of the chapters are worthy of the Comedy tag, some of the Sad tag, and a couple of the Dark tag.

Before the crusaders, there was the three hazards of Ponyville. It's been ten years since the hazards promised to meet again some sunny day. The promise thay made that day will shine through the trouble that split them apart in the years after.

With help from JumbledThought, and Rinnaul.

Wet pavement hissed under her tires, and the Caterpillar engine rumbled happily in front of her. Her truck was happiest when it was moving. She was happiest when she was moving.

A story for the drive to Bronycon

Crime was easy before Princess Twilight and the First Five ushered in a golden age of Harmony. Back then, any idiot could plan a robbery, just like any rat could sneak through the cracks in wooden granary walls. But now that everything is cloudstone and clearsteel, with magical countermeasures over the few remaining holes, it takes a different breed of rat to survive.

"Slippery" Jimmy the Grey is one of the rare few ponies who can still slip through the cracks — even with the legendary Rainbow Corps on his tail. Now he's got a billion-bit heist planned in the gleaming skyscrapers of Cloudsdale. If only he hadn't made the mistake of stealing from a dragon …

Now with a reading by Illya Leonov and Scribbler!

* * *

This is a crossover with Harry Harrison's Stainless Steel Rat novels, but it assumes no knowledge of the series.

Winner of February's Writeoff Association competition! * Featured by Equestria Daily! * Featured by Seattle's Angels!

REVIEWS: "Highly Recommended" by Titanium Dragon; "Recommended" by Present Perfect; rated "Why Haven't You Read This Yet?" by PaulAsaran

WORD OF MOUTH:
"The Iridescent Iron Rat was not only my favorite story from the most recent writeoff... it's my favorite story of anything I've read in months." —Sharp Spark

"What a ride it is. This story is made of awesome moments." —Casca, Seattle's Angels

"[A]stounding on so many levels. … If there’s one story from this round you have to pick, make it this one." —Corejo, Seattle's Angels

"Absolutely beautifully done. It fits the style and feel of the books to a perfect T." —Themaskedferret