Maud needs to round out her rock science major with a liberal arts minor. She's chiseled down her options to three subjects that she likes, (cooking, poetry, and fashion), but she'll need your help to choose between them and pass an entrance exam. Good luck.

In Twilight Sparkle's dreams, all her friends are turning on her. The nightmares are steadily driving her mad and preventing her from getting any kind of sleep. The cure may be found in Canterlot, or must Twilight find the solution in her own mind?

I'm labeling this dark because some of it gets a little intense, but there shouldn't be anything too off-putting, unless you're Twilight!.

Twilight Sparkle comes across a small, battered diary detailing a new form of transportation. While the research is sloppy and the notes incomplete, Twilight takes it upon herself to see that the ancient project is completed.

Of course, nopony said it would be easy.

Twilight Sparkle enjoys her friends' visits. They only want to help, after all. But when the line between dream and reality blurs, she must decide whom to believe, the ones she's known for so long, or the one she mistrusts the most.

"Are you afraid of the good you might do?"
Anonymous old peasant woman to Madeleine, Les Miserables.

Second-place winner in the /fic/ write-off "Sweet Music."

Featured on Equestria Daily!

The discovery of a tiny extraterrestrial object within our own solar system makes a strangely equine alien race aware that the Earth is inhabited by an intelligent species, and they're on their way to come visit.

But since space is a really, really, really big place, they aren't going to get here for about a thousand years. They do have FTL communication, though, so while we wait maybe we'd like to be pen pals...

You could win a free one shot commission! Check the associated blog post for details.

...and gets more than he bargained for.

The real Gilda comes to Ponyville... but she doesn't get the welcome she was expecting. For some reason, everypony seems to already hate her... Will she ever find a place where her and her half-pony daughter can live in peace?

Also read:
Last Impression by Typoglyphic -- A wonderfully dark and morally ambiguous short story about what happened to Changeling Gilda.

There are many axioms in Equestria. "Go with the grain." "Count your blessings." "Strive to be happy with what you have."

And, though left unsaid, the most important one of all: "Know your place."

Although Flash Sentry loves Twilight, she can never know of his love. She can never return the feelings. It wouldn't be proper. After all, social order is more important than fulfilling one's own wishes.

Alternate Universe tag is due to the existence of a caste system in this story. Please keep that in mind as you read.

Thanks to Sir Rustbucket, Draconian Soul, Regidar, and Loopy Legend for editing.

Now Featured on Equestria Daily!

Now with a poem by Fiend from the Darkness!

Now with a YouTube reading by BlackIrisBalloon (and multiple voice actors)!

Now with a Korean translation by Kianoke!

Followed by What Hath Joined Together.

Rated Teen for mild violence and thematic elements.

It was a completely normal day in Ponyville for Twilight Sparkle, or at least, that's what she thought it would be. That should have been her first clue that something was up. She expected it to be a quiet day where she could hang out with her friends, and maybe she'd get a friendship letter in if she was lucky.

She did not, however, expect everypony in town to turn into a flaming racist overnight.

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

Nightmare Moon, Discord AND Crysalis have returned to exact their vengeance on the six little ponies that caused them so much grief. But they aren't going to fight them themselves, what fun is there in that. So they decided to send them to a suspended reality where they can pit Twilight, FLuttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Rarity and Applejack against some of the greatest fighters and monsters ever invented in bloodthirsty duels to the death. Will anypony survive?