In the early days of Equestria, a dragon threatens the fledgling realm. It falls to Clover the Clever and Smart Cookie to find a way to defeat the beast.

Princess Platinum's helping too, though. Whether they want her to or not.

Cover art from the gallery of scrimpeh. Proofread by themaskedferret. Written for the Imposing Sovereigns contest and for the Marching Forth theme for the Time Action Glory Challenge! group.

Spanish translation, by SPANIARD-KIWI.

Clover the Clever, Student of Starswirl the Bearded, scholar of magic, bearer of the Flames of Friendship, and hero of the fledgling nation of Equestria has just finished his latest quest to apprehend and stop a master criminal and insidious sorceress. Now he must contend with a task that is often more difficult than it appears: returning to the life he left when he went on his journey.

The chronic and rampant memory loss the witch left him with is not going to help.

Written for MagnetBolt as part of the annual Jinglemas Secret Santa Swap!

Prepread by the lovely Wanderer D and Cynewulf. Any typos and errors left are my own. Those two are good, but not miracle workers.

How many times must I be called monster, beast, or foul chimera?
How many times must they hunt me down?
What did I do?
What do they see?
...
Am I a monster?
...
Do they want a monster?

Featured 12/23/2021 first time I got a story featured :)
edited by:
DarthBall - Fimfiction
UnamusedWaffle - Fimfiction
prereader - 0fficerZ0mbie#0569

image source
Zlayd-oodles: https://www.deviantart.com/zlayd-oodles

I hope that you’ve opened this particular tome looking for a guide to the life of a traveling hero, presented through the story of a young unicorn rising up to defeat the disembodied spirit of a powerful and evil archmage.

If you’re not interested, you’re in the wrong section of the library for cookbooks, and for the record, I’m very sorry for the life you must live.

My name is Mortal Coil, and this is the beginning of the most important story in the history of Equestria.

A Price of Loyalty story.

The friendship between Clover the Clever, Smart Cookie, and Private Pansy led to the founding of Equestria. But what can they do in the face of a new and chaotic menace who calls himself Discord?

Two events from December 2011 led directly to this story: the revelation in "Hearth's Warming Eve" that the princesses were nowhere in sight when Equestria was founded, and the announcement of the existence of Cadance, the third Princess. Unfortunately, at the time, I was in the middle of several non-Pony related projects, but I wanted to get the idea written up before the Cadance episode aired and made canon-fodder out of the whole thing. So I carved ten days out of my schedule in the middle of January 2012 and wrote it up in two parts. It made Equestria Daily, but I've always felt it needed one more run through the word processor.

So I'm suspending my usual "write it, submit it, move on to the next" rule and giving the story another spin. I'm also, after a year and a half, giving it a sequel: "Calling You."

Equestria, it is said, was not made in a day. It was made through hardships, through struggle, and through the coming together of peoples who had never seen each other as anything more than enemies. But now ponykind is united, and their leaders have come together to try and guide them all in this new era of unity.

Luna's descent into Nightmare Moon could have been stopped by the ponies around her, if only they had not been so embroiled in their own petty squabbles and selfish desires.

'Experience is simply the name we give our mistakes.'
~ Oscar Wilde

She saved the galaxy multiple times, and after sacrificing herself to save John, Cortana now finds herself stranded on an unknown world as a living breathing pony. Many paths lay ahead for her, that will test her ingenuity, resourcefulness, and integrity, as a new war, yet familiar war rages on. Will she help to end it, or will she be the destroyer?

Sunset Shimmer hangs out around the Wondercolt statue with her dear friends, Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash. They await the arrival of one Starswirl the Bearded to aide them in recovering and safeguarding magical mysteries he once left behind in their world.

Some mysteries of which he's only just now discovering for himself, however.

Part of the Anarchyverse. A sequel to All These Midnight Days, but you can read this without it.

In response to a prompt by Admiral Biscuit on the Prompt-a-Day group thread.

"Princess Celestia?"
"Yes, Twilight?"
"So... I was a unicorn before my ascension, and Cadence was a pegasus... if you don't mind my asking, what species were you and Princess Luna before you became alicorns?"
"Well, Twilight..."

I do not own the cover art.