Out on the frontier, the only friend a pony can really trust is the gun in her hoof. Out where the land is wild and the buffalo roam, more than a few ponies have foregone scratching out a living on the farms or mines to seek riches and glory on the wrong side of the law. As a particularly mysterious and valuable cargo heads west on a long train journey, six mares follow with trouble in their wake, each intending to claim the prize for her own.

Also, a lot of ponies get shot.

Edited by: Exuno
Preread by: barbeque
Inspired by the art of: Coin-Trip39
(Make sure you take a look at the cover image full-size! It's fantastic!)

When you live large, you dream large. Sometimes, you get tunnel vision—and sometimes you forget that sometimes what you want isn't always what you get.

Warning: Possible spoilers in comments

60 years have passed since Luna's return. Many things have changed, and not all for the better. But even in the run-down, crime-ridden urban sprawl of Detrot, one facet of Equestria seems determined to withstand any test of time: Ponies love a good celebration.

This year's Nightmare Night party at the Detrot Police Department Headquarters was shaping up to be one of the most magnificent yet, but when a magical mishap leaves Detective Hardy stranded in a cell with his partner, his driver, the eccentric city coroner, and several crates of cupcake vodka, the evening descends instead into alcohol-soaked reminiscence about a Nightmare Night long past...

This is a Nightmare Night special episode of Starlight Over Detrot: A Noir Tale.
Cover art by the talented Akasashi (http://akashasi.deviantart.com/)

Monster attacks. Crime. Illegal hallucinogens made from electric fruit.

They say things didn't use to be like this. They say things were different, before Luna came back 60 years ago, but Detective Hard "Hardy" Boiled of the Detrot Police Department has never known any world other than that demarcated by the seedy streets of his beloved decaying metropolis; a world in which the coroners sing and dance, surveillance bugs have personality disorders, and the Chief of Police is a scarier entity than most of the eldritch things the city attracts.

The grey unicorn who turned up dead outside the posh High Step Hotel seemed like just another case, but her missing horn is the pointy tip of a very large and nasty iceberg. It's up to Hardy and his friends - a rejected monster hunter, a psychic cab driver, and an underground antiques heir - to find out what’s going on in an investigation that promises to stick more than a cupcake into the very eye of Detrot.

Especially if Hardy has anything to say about it.

By Popular Demand, there is now a Patreon

Additional editing by coandco Sig_Awesome, Hinds, Clint, and Raccoon!
Featured on EQD - 5 Stars!
Cover art by MisterMech (http://mistermech.deviantart.com/)
Now with TVTropes page here!

A murder in small town Ponyville, a family divided, and a secret going back to Ponyville's early days. Detective Private Eye has the skills, the knowledge, and the cunning to solve the case. Accompanied by Twilight Sparkle the two hope to solve the mystery and put a stop to a plot against the town. But will Private be able to outrun his past or will it catch him in the end?

A Murder Mystery starring the cast from My Little Pony Friendship is Magic with flavors of Noir and Castle. If you love a good old fashioned mystery, complex characters, romance and even a little humor you will love this story. So sit back and enter the darker side of the pony universe.

When Twilight Sparkle slipped beneath the covers last night, everything had been fine. She had friends whom she loved, a teacher she adored, and a bright future ahead of her. But when she woke up, her blankets and quilts had been replaced by hospital gowns and padded restraints.

Everything is wrong and nothing makes sense; even her friends have changed. The doctors keep telling her that she is sick, that none of it was real and that it was all in her head. Yet she remembers a life far beyond the hospital walls. She couldn't have made it all up on her own. They must be lying… right?

Ask Asylum Twilight - Still updating regularly!
Equestria Daily
TVTropes
Asylum Fan Group
The Tartarus Project
Russian Translation
The Asylum 20,000 View Spectacular Stage Show!

Art:
Asylum Cover by conicer
Twilight and Twilight Smiles by dreamingnoctis
Mirror Twilight and Plague Doctor by Jaestring / BloodGoldWings
Twilight Smiles and Doctor AJ by conicer
Nurse Ratchet and Silas and What's in the mirror? by Archonix
Doctor AJ Sketch by Archonix | Colored and vectored version by ReFro82
Twilight's Asylum by Khan the Cake Lover
Smilight by HappySwitch
Twilight Waking Up by Dombrus
Fan Art by toxicdemon10
Asylum Twilight by Madness-With-Reason
Asylum Fluttershy and Asylum Ch 26 by Downburst-Backspace
Twilight and her Twin by v747
Birdgirl by sirValter

Readings and Videos:
Asylum Animated Trailer Video by formuladash
Reading by Gammarobot (SugarCubeRadio): All Chapters Here
Reading by Ender Brony: All Chapters Here
Reading by VisualPony: All Chapters Here
Reading by MelancholyIguana: All Chapters Here
Fan Trailer by Kaidan: Asylum FanFic Trailer Cuckoo's Nest

Sanctuary by Kaidan
Broadhoof Files: Dr. Humors by TypewriterError
Broadhoof Files: Corporal Phalanx Spear (Ret.) by Phalanx Spear
A Hearth's Warming Tragedy by Seven Fates

A special thanks to Breath of Plagues, Rex Ivan,
ChudoJogurt, Cynewulf, Death the Kid, Selbi, PrinceDolph, Blahman2816, Queue, and Gage!

Axan Zenith - Dr. Dreamer
Dratini4 - Way Finder
psychicscubadiver - Bright Mind
Velkaden - Dream Chaser
Reese - Silver Glow
Viola Heartstrings - Clover
Archonix - Spinney Whiteacre

"We live in what we believe is a shell, a closed sphere where all is constant. As physics would have it, nothing in the universe is unique, nothing is wasted or destroyed: it is repurposed. But now I prove them wrong. With a single idea, I realize that we are not so insignificant as we think. We are not slaves to destiny and existence. We are the ashes of gods, the fruits of eternity, the products of choice and fate. We are not meaningless. This universe is not our prison.

This is our empire."

- Excerpt from A Lexicon of Impossibilities, by Cypher

Special thanks:
AeronJVL, for the amazing cover art.
Emberspeak, Forderz, RTStephens, PropMaster, and RazgrizS57 for their editing.
shortskirtsandexplosions for the idea.

In a moment of weakness, Chrysalis had more than a taste of Shining Armour's love. 11 months later, Twilight Sparkle finds herself a brand new niece by way of 'A small foal in a basket on my door step'.

Special thanks for the picture by Awilldrawforfood1
Now edited with DoomManta.

This story is a sequel to The Promise of a New Day

Story three of Savage Skies:
All sorts of things are brewing in the pegasus city of Cloudsdale, which is a problem for Ponyville as the one thing that isn't is a rainstorm. As the drought continues to drag on, Rainbow Dash must confront her hometown and its history, as well as her own history. But she won't do it alone, which is good, because she'll need all the help she can get.

Series starts with Foal of the Forest.
Now with a TV Tropes page.

I wish I could see you smile again.

Ever since it went away, the pony I once knew seemed to disappear as well.

At times, it makes me wonder if anything matters anymore.

It makes me wonder if I still matter to you anymore...

Twilight and Rainbow Dash come to a crossroads in their relationship as they look to the future. But with as bleak and depressing as it seems, what really is the point? Perhaps love does conquer all...

-Approved for Twilight's Library and Celestia's Library
-Featured on the Royal Guard 2/4/14
-Featured on Equestria Daily 3/10/14
-Audio reading found here