This story is a sequel to Good Trooper Gilda

Commodore Grosvenor and his crew of gryphons and ponies prepare to launch a surprise night-time attack on Mount Aris.

A standalone story, inspired by Good Trooper Gilda and The Princess's Bit and set somewhere in that story's history. Many thanks to MitchH and Oliver for editing.

Magnificent action vignette, conveying the chaos of the battlefield while still being an engaging read.

— FanOfMostEverything

Herin lies the tale of the STARK WEATHER - MARE EXPEDITION to the CLOUDBREAK ISLANDS, in 1365 YD. The mysterious floating islands are the stuff of legend, said to exist within the massive, eternal storm wall, far off in the wilds beyond the north-west borders of Equestria. A few fringe historians claim they are the origin of dragons, griffons, even magic itself, but only a few fragmentary, contradictory accounts exist from those who entered the storm and returned to tell the tale.

Fifteen years after Princess Twilight took the throne, the time has come for the secrets of the Cloudbreaks to be revealed. Two great airships of the Storm Fleet have been slumbering, mothballed since their capture in the Sixth Battle of Canterlot. Now the EAS Friendship and the EAS Harmony have been refitted for the task ahead: equipped with experimental devices to cut through the storm. Nearly two hundred ponies and allies are assembled: the finest explorers, researchers, aircrew and engineers Equestria has to offer. Together they will be the first to pierce the veil and fly to the Cloudbreak Islands.

High adventure awaits in these 'sky lands', populated by strange creatures and filled with unknown magic. What caused a piece of another realm to seemingly break away and become part of Equus? What happened to the long-vanished guardians, villains and great spirits of the realm? What designs do the remaining population have on Equus and how will they greet its ambassadors?

Set around the time of 'The Last Problem', and based on a four-player online RP with Ferret, Patashu and Spearmint. Note: the action takes a while to get rolling; the early chapters focus on character interaction. If you want to skip the prologue, try Chapter 4: Crossing the Storm, or Chapter 18: Exploring the Cloudbreaks.

After spreading the world of the Storm King's demise, Tempest Shadow feels it is time to further atone for her role in his attrocities by leading an attack on Klugetown to liberate the slaves being imprisioned and sold there. After a rousing speech to convince Equestria's Royal Guard, and an appeal to Queen Novo's desire to make up for years and years of cowering in Seaquestria, an army of ponies and hippogriffs is ready to shatter Verko's hold on the town. With Tempest Shadow, Princess Twilight Sparkle, Spike, Starlight Glimmer, and the other five Element Bearers leading the charge, victory is all but assured.

What's more, two of the brave creatures among this army are about to have meetings that will significantly alter the course of their lives.

Seafoam Green is an artist, well-respected in the community and held in high regard among his peers. Unfortunately for the hippogriff, his talent catches the eye of Queen Calyso, who decides that he will create her official portrait. Little does he know that this is the beginning of a path which will change the course of fate on Mount Aris.

Written for the Ponyfest 2020 Iron Author competition with a time limit of two hours and three mystery prompts to work with. Their ranking system was a bit... convoluted, but it arguably took seventh place. The story has been slightly expanded and cleaned up for posting.

The Kingdom of Hippogriffia, united under the royal line of Novo, was long the shining beacon of prosperity and progress. It was a land that lived in harmony with itself, where troubles were something that happened far away and abroad, but not there. A land where its monarchs ruled absolute - firm but fair, with many wise Kings and Queens coming to pass.

But those were days that now seemed long passed. The Storm King's invasion had forced upon Queen Novo a cowardly retreat, one that would forever embarass her as the sovereign of her subjects. It was a time where she, meant to be the bravest, wisest, most capable among both races, seemed the most undecided and incapable. It was the start of something greater. A time where the cracks began to show.

Now, years later, that story has only continued, running its predictable course. Hippogriffs and seaponies alike are fed up with a Queen who was a coward. A Queen that was incapable in times of true distress, but always active and resolute on matters that seemed artificial. They were tired and angry at a Queen that did nothing to adopt to a changing world.

And now, they were banging at the gates. Now, they would force the issue. Whether it be them or the Queen - something or someone had to give way.

Long live the Queen.

The trip was supposed to be simple: a few weeks sailing to deliver family spices to a new buyer, a quick vacation, and back to the plantation. One mysterious, and coveted, box turned Cold Snap's chance to prove himself into a desperate struggle to survive on the wild seas at the mercy of a captain that sailors feared to whisper of, if they even believed he existed.

Others want that box, and the only thing keeping Snap and his friend alive is a ship so unnatural it had to be created by demons. Everything he thought he knew about the world's past is shattered in a game of cat and mouse to see who cracks the box's mystery first.

Unable to back out, and finding himself not eager to do so anyway, Snap throws his lot in with the peculiar Captain Gideon, who harbors more than a few secrets about his ship and himself.

A young Floridian boy and his father take a boat trip to a remote island. But when an ocean storm hits, the boy is whisked away to the magical land of Equestria; more specifically, Mount Aris.

At the same time, Silverstream has just finished school for the year at the School of Friendship and is upset since her friends from the school don't have any time to visit her at Mount Aris. She first finds the boy unconcious and later decides to help the boy find his lost father when he awakens from being unconcious.

[Rated Teen for potential dark and mature elements later on.]

[Special thanks to LavenderRain24 for making the cover art!]

When one dies, nobody knows what'll happen. In this case, death with its perks.
Con: Loss of one life, naturally.
Pro: Beginning of a new one.
Con: Having to learn everything all over.
Pro: Blank slate!
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Crossover with That time I was Reincarnated as a Slime.
Tags will be added as necessary.
Any comparison to any people, living or dead, is coincidental.

Applejack, short of options, plans to ask out her friend-turned-roommate Rainbow Dash when Sugar Belle sets her up on a blind date at a Hippogriff-owned café with a new resident of Ponyville. It turns out to be another blue pegasus that touches her heart in a way she never could've predicted.

Cover art by Snow Quill.
Contest Entry for the Crackship Contest 😃
Contains coffee dates, multicultural Ponyville, and Appledash friendship/subplot.

Here's EAW's timeline btw

And here is an image of the map of EAW + Europe.

Late Victorian era Europe of 1888 is inserted into the EAW universe in their respective year of 774ALB (Just after Grover I fails his invasion of Sicameon). Also, none of the Europeans remain human. Discord blushes.

Grover I, or the soon-to-be, "The Blessed," rests his creaky bones as he receives news of the defeat against Sicameon. Grover II will remember that. He pays little mind to this advancement, after all, he expected as much considering he only sent a meagre force mostly comprised of levies and Acquilean sellswords in his so-called 'military expedition,' though, he regrets the unifying effect he inadvertently initiated on the Parishes.

Across the sea, Celestia, as always carefully schemes and manipulates the fates of her neighbours, namely, Severyana, of which royal family and attached royal court she had been patiently nudging into a hyperbolic pit of Tartarus every generation or so to orchestrate a succession crisis. She figured they would blow up in 22 years. Of course, she could just ditch the mind-numbingly slow subtlety and just kick the Tzar in the flank and turn the boyars into ash, but she doubted the proud burghers and peasants of Severyana would appreciate that one bit.

Meanwhile, in Europe.

The Brits wept at the loss of their source of tea.

The Russians purchased a noose upon realising there was nothing past the Ural mountains.

The French erupted in civil disobedience, protests, riots; political and regular violence epidemic, Paris was in ru- oh wait, sorry, France was completely normal.

The Germans drowned themselves in beer. To their wives, 'it was because they had turned into mythical lion-eagle hybrids'. But really, they always finding excuses to get plastered.

The Austro-Hungarians continued to be a tongue-twister, and the powderkeg they sat on turned into a RBMK reactor with Dyatlov in charge.

The Italians surrendered to their mirrors when they awoke.

The Swiss became dragons.

The Spanish pretended that they had lost alot.

The Nords ate glue & paste.

The Balkans became Balkan-ier.

And the Portuguese... Uh, they existed.

Written on a phone.

I don't check my work. (It drains my motivation)

About my writing style: Why yes, I enjoy the mass assault doctrine. How could you tell???

I'm creatively bankrupt and have been playing an unhealthy amount of Victoria III and Equestria at War, and after my 9th playthrough of genocidal Suntail and Funni black flag Russia, I had the brilliant idea of writing a fic with the premise of Victorian Europe tryna scramble up the continents of Equus, Griffonia and Zebrica during their kinda-Renaissance.

It is very niche, but this story is mostly for me. I had to make a part of my brain shut up and unfortunately, my lobotomist got arrested, so I gotta do this now.

Yay, I got featured.

The shitty title pic is mine.