Everyone needs time to breathe now and again, and the princesses are no different. Cadence was happy to use a request to speak at the School of Friendship as an excuse to get in a relaxing mini-vacation in Ponyville.

The issue with that plan was using "relaxing" and "Ponyville" in the same sentence.

Set in Season 8, just before "On the Road to Friendship." Rated Teen for references to alcohol, violence, and certain biological functions.

Having known her for her full time in Ponyville, Berry Punch could say a lot of things about Twilight Sparkle, starting with how enough booze to loosen her up would be irresponsible to give to a unicorn that powerful. But Berry had to admit, Twilight always learned from her mistakes. Sometimes that meant making daring new ones, but she learned.

Berry's own mistakes, well, nopony's perfect. And apparently the same goes for kirin. You can't blame a mare for being curious.

An entry in the 2021 May Pairing Contest. Rated Teen for substances that S&P wouldn't allow into Equestria. (Remember, Faust wanted to call Berry "Pinot Noir.") Contains incidental comic references.

The release of Equestria Online and the incredible capabilities of its central Celestia AI led to ferocious debates among ethicists, computer science experts, every religious community on the globe, and more besides.

In hindsight, I probably should've been paying more attention to the news. In my defense, I was reading a lot of fan fiction at the time.

An entry in the Friendship is Optimal contest. Names have been changed to protect the variably innocent.

Cover image by Chatoyance, used with permission. Prereading provided by Speckle.

In theory, the Festival of Friendship will be Twilight’s official appearance on the world stage. Yes, she’s participated in diplomatic talks, hosted diplomatic parties, and interfered with a nonzero number of less-than-diplomatic Gauntlets of Fire, but she’s never been the main attraction of the political circus until now.

The issue isn't being part of that circus. The issue is that nocreature's buying tickets. And at least one's trying to sneak in.

Set between the end of Season 7 and the movie. Much expanded from an entry in the August 2016 Writeoff Competition. Prompt: *Princess Not Included. Thanks to Krack-Fic Kai and hawthornbunny for their help in prereading.

A sky of eternal storms that offer only lightning, never rain.

Rivers of molten rock.

The howls of unthinkable horrors in the distance.

The demon knows this is not her home, that she seeks something she cannot leave without. But she can remember so little else...

An entry in Scampy's Sunflower Shipping Contest and winner of Aricene's Brain Genius Award.

Main piece by Cliff Childs. Wallflower's cutie mark vector by CloudyGlow.

It was fairly simple as far as assignments for the Lord Ambassador of Equestria went. Just a border dispute over a patch of land nocreature really wanted. But then came the summons back to Canterlot, so urgent that it only had four words:

Spike,
Twilight needs you

Contains outdated G5 speculation based on the information available at the time.

A deity, even one who refuses to identify as such, is going to attract followers. And those followers will show their devotion to said deity in a number of ways, whether she wants them to or not.

It's not that Sunset wants to stop people from expressing themselves. She just wishes that expression didn't involve parts of her she'd rather keep out of public view.

Part of the Oversaturated World.

Rated Teen for textual depictions of artistic nudity and discussion of the associated body regions. Title suggested by Justifiedparanoia on Estee's Discord sever; Fimfic username unknown at this time. Additional suggetions from Mockingbirb, Krack-Fic Kai, and CCC.
Statue source is the Venus Callipyge by François Barois at the Louvre; unlinked due to site policy.

After hearing Twilight's favorite Hearth's Warming story, Starlight was inspired to join the celebration... but it's still mostly made of ponies she doesn't know, and musical numbers only do so much.

Good thing there's a pony there who can empathize, and who's willing to listen. Maybe too willing...

Cover assembled from this and this. Set during Season 6.

This was written for IgnitedSage as a part of Jinglemas 2020! For more information about Jinglemas, check out our group!

After a few moons in Ponyville, Twilight Sparkle has confirmed that everypony there is indeed crazy. But it's a fun kind of crazy, one she's come to appreciate.

She's much less appreciative when it comes to madness waiting for her back in Canterlot.

Cover cobbled together from this vector and this site for escape rooms. Rated Teen for Lunar ribaldry. Preread by Speckle.

Sing, o Muse, of impetuous Zagreus: Scourge of shades, son of Hades, Prince of the Underworld. Few tales are told of him and even fewer truths. But what follows, though wilder than the most outlandish Orphic fiction, is still as true as an oath sworn on the Styx. For the depths of his father's realm contain passages unplumbed by any, and gates to realms undreamt of by god or man.

But by pony, they are well known indeed.

A crossover between issue #82 of the main MLP comic and the game Hades. Cover synthesized from works by Pencils and Supergiant Games. Contains some game spoilers, including some several millennia old. Rated Teen solely to allow the content warning.

Prereading provided by Akouma, Bugsydor, Caliaponia, and SirNotAppearingInThisFic.