In this world, there is one thing that scares Trixie to death, and another one worth dying for.

An overdue dedication to a great and powerful friend and Trixie writer, Ninjadeadbeard, which may not be proper to put here due to the present themes but is only fair, as his legacy and our memories of him will live on forever.

Many thanks to ThePeer, Mockingbirb, Rego, Bronie312,Bean, Riley, 6-D pegasus and Buck Swisher for their invaluable input and to Felfox for the amazing cover art, check his twitter for more masterpieces.

Fifty-odd years after Twilight Sparkle took the throne, Equestria is in a golden age of technomagical innovation, with concepts from the human world competing with entirely original innovations in an upward spiral of ingenuity that promises to last forever.

… Sorry, make that promised to last forever.

On an entirely unrelated note, two elderly twin unicorns just teleported to an uncharted tropical island.

A double entry in the Dialogue-Only contest and the Tropical Post-Apocalyptic contest. Rated Teen for references to alcohol and almost certain death.

A treasure trove of historical insights re-emerges after hundreds of years, and Sunny, Zipp, and Dusty Inkstain embark on an expedition to uncover any documents they can. But with centuries lost in Celestia-knows-where comes an unknowable question: What else was banished with the Crystal Empire?

This story is a slightly edited copy of my entry to the Expanding Universes #4 contest, which means it is an expansion of this story by applezombi. I'd recommend reading that one first, but it's not strictly necessary.

Mane Melody survived its first few weeks and a visit from Phyllis Cloverleaf, letting Jazz Hooves finally find her place at the newly opened salon. When she is left in charge on a slow day, a strange customer stumbles through her door. As she gets to know the timid mare, Jazz discovers that showing just a little kindness in something as mundane as hoof care can make all the difference in the life of another.

Entry for The Red Parade's May Pairings 2024 hosted by the Original Pairings group.
Edited by: TheAncientPolitzanian
Preread by: Jymbroni, Scriblits Talo, and ItsVelvet
Cover Art: Heartfelt Hooficure by @Marenlicious on Twitter
Commissioned the artwork while at ポニコン11!

In the summer of 1016 at the tail end of a long, bloody war between Equestria and the Changeling Hives, the tides have turned in ponykind's favor. Changeling forces have been pushed back to Vesapolis, and every element of Changeling society has been mobilized against Equestria. Every passing day, the prospect of invasion becomes bloodier and bloodier while peace remains as far away as it has ever been.

Forced into making a hard decision, Celestia sits in her office and awaits the end of the war.

Princess Celestia gets legit deaded by everyone's favorite bacon head.

Romantic love is more abstract than something Twilight Sparkle puts into practice. She knows of its power—but she's got bigger things to worry about.

The thing about love is that you don't get to choose how it happens. It's a control freak's nightmare. Twilight is the mother of all control freaks. She can handle herself, her impulses, her wants.

And yet, she still finds herself in a married stallion's bed. More than once.

Discord can have good behavior, even when nursing a broken heart over his best friend. It's when her heart is broken that he can't do it anymore.

It's a good thing he has a friend to help him give her space.

At least ten years of unrequited fluttercord included. This is my submission for the dialogue only contest.

Luna is a strange mare. Cadance is only now just starting to see how strange she is when Luna mentions the unthinkable. Maybe she'll learn something new in the process.

Part of this story appeared as a chapter in Missing Pages & Scrawled Footnotes on May 31st, 2017. It has since been revised and expanded. Contribute to the TVTropes page!

"What happens when you change so much that you don't recognize yourself? What happens when you push everypony away to fit in, even going so far as to shatter your own heart in the process? What do you do to fix everything while you still can?"

Over the years Spike and the rest of the Elements of Harmony have seen a dramatic change with Rarity, even going so far as to degrade the quality, the uniqueness of her dresses. Only after confronted by Twilight and breaking Spike's heart does she finally see what has become of herself. Determined to fix it though, she sets out across the land of Equestria to try and rediscover who she is.