Shining Armor will tell you that he suffered no long-term ill effects from his encounter with Queen Chrysalis.

Nor did he experience any lingering problems from his fights with King Sombra or Lord Tirek.

None whatsoever. Absolutely not. Everything in his life is perfect. Happily married to a beautiful mare (who happens to be a princess!), Prince Consort in his own right, a kingdom of his own to help run...there is absolutely nothing wrong at all.

Shining Armor is a liar.

A side story to my Four Princesses, Four Demons series, which began with Cadance the Unbroken. Readers of that series will notice a few connections, but this story is crafted to be enjoyed independently.

Featured from 06/23/21 to 06/26/21, peaking at #1. Thanks, everypony!

What would you do to save your country?

A young princess Celestia must grapple with the fate of her nation and her own mind as a cursed scroll delivers warnings of apocalyptic proportions. As the scroll's true intentions are revealed, it falls to faithful court transcriber Silver Quill and ghoulish archmage Silver Spell to stop it before it consumes their princess and casts their world into darkness.

The sole survivor of a sunken cruise ship finds himself stranded in the middle of the ocean, nowhere close to land and with very little to help him survive.

Being alone is bad, but not being alone might actually be even worse. Something is stalking him. Tormenting him. Something that can scare away even the most vicious of predators.

Written for the Barcast's Halloween in April contest.

"In The Precocious Princeling's Guide to Diplomatic Relations, there are three rules for how a royal ought to conduct himself abroad.

1. A diplomat of Equestria must obey all local laws of the nation they are assigned to.
2. A diplomat of Equestria should advocate for the interests of Equestria to the best of their abilities.
3. Under no circumstance should a diplomat of Equestria get involved in the following: Political parties, popular uprisings, peasant revolutions, class solidarity movements, coups d'etat, or other attempts at regime change, violent or otherwise.

By the time I had finished my tenure in Saddle Arabia, I had broken all three."
-Prince Blueblood, First of His Name

Delta. A logging town in Equestria’s far west. With its pleasant (if insular) locals and slow, quiet atmosphere, every inch the small town you’d expect. Except that every few weeks, a predator is found dead and and covered in brutal injuries.

Ranger and single mother Swan Dive is sent to Delta to make sense of it all. But the more she uncovers, the less sense it all makes. The monster leaves no trace except for its own killings. The deaths don’t seem to serve any purpose. And the murders are all clustered around Delta. Swan’s going to have to keep her wits about her if she hopes to make any sense of these strange incidents.

Because there’s something in the forest. Something stalking Delta’s animals. Something deadly. Something bloodthirsty. Something the likes of which Swan has never seen before…

I read the Twilight series to learn from it. Long story short: it really sucks. But more than that, it has many, many ideas that are quite good, but very underutilized. This is my rewriting of Twilight, aiming to utilize those ideas and throw out the ideas that don’t work while still following the same basic plotline. Because even I can do better than that tripe.

Special thanks to Bugsydor for the title.

Canterlot lies steeped in chaos, a virulent and deadly plague still boiling away after a decade of suffering. The city, and the ponies in it, still feel the effects, still feel the bite of the times. The lower city, cursed as it is, is mostly partitioned off, leaving each and every pony left stranded and without help. Ponies struggle day by day just to stay alive.

Even as the ponies suffer, politicians toil away, plotting and scheming, machinations rumbling just below the surface. The city is fevered, sick and bloated, ready to pop at any moment. A single pony may be enough to make it all erupt.

And make it erupt Twilight Sparkle shall.

One small step, one lucky break is all she needs to turn the city on its head and take her rightful place by the Queen's side. But even she may not be prepared for the shark tank that is Luna's court.

Every friendship has its origins, even the most sinister.

And revenge is a dish best shared.

Written for the Cozy Glow Short Story Contest.
Edited by Miss Direction and Pascoite.
Original art by Plainoasis.

• Having been elected a national hero for his antics in recovering the Crystal Heart, a modest Spike is now left wondering how it’s possible to accept all the sudden unflattering attention and fame he’s not completely convinced is so necessary – or terribly deserving, for that matter. WARNING: Contains copious amounts of material based upon Season Three's introductory episodes – previously edited by and dedicated to Martian, Bookplayer, theburningone94 & hunterz263, TheMyth, plus the kindly input of Not Worthy, Phazon and Bad Horse. Cover art created by author.

In a world of extraordinary mares, Lady Rarity hunts for her next victim: a scientist by the name of Twilight Sparkle.

Inspired by The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.

Edited by garatheauthor.

Fluttershy's Nightmare Night scare from last year is on all the girls' minds again. So when the yellow Pegasus invites them all to stop by her cottage for another frightful Nightmare Night, they all jump at the chance. And boy, does Fluttershy deliver. First, she lets out a terrified scream as she runs out of her cottage, then a creature of darkness sucks her back in, and now she's talking in a voice not entirely her own.
But it's just a fun fright for Nightmare Night. Right?
'Horror' tagged because it's Nightmare Night, after all, and 'Teen' because it might be a bit scary (?)

Written for EQD Writer's Training Grounds "Scare Master".