This story is a sequel to Knight of Equestria III: Pizzicato and Changelings

Lord Tirek is stealing Equestrian magic. DJ Flopsy Mopsy a.k.a. The Songbird, reluctant secret hero, is heading for Canterlot for what she expects will be her first recording deal. While the princesses have a plan for Tirek, DJ FM puts into effect a more pragmatic solution. Then she meets Discord. Again.

Marked teen for fighting and some blood, mostly Flopsy's, but specifically not gore because it isn't. Sometimes when you've got Princess Compulsive Disorder and you fight against overwhelming odds, do or die, you get hurt.

Six chapters over six weeks published on Tuesday. All chapters are completed, so read with confidence and press thumbs-up early! Comments also appreciated.

Like all the stories in this series, this story is written to be standalone with all important background in the narrative. This is by design and was done as an experiment to practice writing this way. The individual stories were written out of order with "standalone" in mind.

This story is a sequel to Knight of Equestria II: Discordant Harmony

Pizzicato and Changelings (for a Pegasus Heart)

Vinyl Scratch lands a gig for DJ Flopsy Mopsy: the public party for the royal Canterlot Wedding of Princess Mi Amore Cadenza and Shining Armor—in a stadium-sized venue. Handling this taxes her fledgling DJ abilities, but, when she thinks she owns all the hooves, all Tartarus beaks loose. Then she'll need the abilities she learned from Princess Nightmare Moon.

Fourteen chapters, updating Tuesday/Thursday or when increments of 50 likes are registered. Vote and comment.

This story contains British Trottingham dialect; these bits are not grammar errors, though I do use AmEng spellings. Pizzicato was written to be standalone, specifically as an exercise in writing stories in a series such that no story requires the reader to have read any previous story first. In fact, reading the Knight of Equestria stories in the opposite order of publication will prove very interesting. (#2 was written after #4 and the current #3, and yes there is a finished sequel!)

Flopsy Mopsy is a DJ becoming a musician, so, as you might imagine, music is important to her, and the story! The author notes contain links to dance music that is relevant and ponified in the story. You fun will be doubled if you listen first, or click the YouTube links found in the text.

A big thank you to my pre-readers, DoContra and Loganberry.

A little extra from a future Songbird Serenade...

Music Biz's Wicked Tongue: So, Miss Serenade... World renown DJ, songwriter, records topping the charts, fans cry "Songbird" at you, Friendship Festival headliner... What's the scoop with the serialized stories The Strand is launching? Self-aggrandizing fiction?

Songbird Serenade: Self-aggrandizing? (She shuffles some pages on the table before her and takes a deep breath.) On the evening of the 1000th Summer Sun Celebration, a blank-flank teenager was expecting to scrub and dust, helping her immigrant parents clean Town Hall overnight. She was... okay with that. Her family was glad for any opportunity. Her Trottingham accent worried her—

WT: Your accent—

SS: Might her classmates discover she was a peasant who cleaned up after other ponies and always would? She jammed with a nascent DJ named Vinyl Scratch, but, with her sorry excuse for being a DJ next to her only friend, she had no dreams of a musical future.

(Her blue eyes catch mine for an instant.) Little did I know at the dawn of the Age of Harmony, I would meet its first monster.

The filly made it to her next sunrise, but would be piecing herself together for the rest of her life. Ultimately, without Princess Nightmare Moon there would be no Songbird Serenade. This is one of those stories.

WT: Are you saying the stories are autobiographical?

SS: (She covers her face with her mop of bangs after I see incipient tears.) It's a confession. She dislikes the filly she was. As for the mare she became... (Shudders)

This story is a sequel to Knight of Equestria I: Certainty

Long before I became Songbird Serenade, while I was still in high school, I encountered Discord turning Ponyville into the Chaos Capital of the world. I wasn't buying that his changes made ponies more fun, and I told him as much, which meant I had a part to play in the drama.

Though this three chapter story is a sequel to Knight of Equestria: Certainty, it begins with a reprise of the first story and is written to be enjoyed as a standalone work. A big thank you! each to DoContra and Loganberry for pre-reading and suggestions.

Songbird's Playlist

Fly Away!, the JPB Remix by NCS.
Looking for You by the Empire Cast
Ain't Nobody, a cover by Ain't Nobody, not the original by Chaka Khan
I'm Free by Kenny Loggins on the Footloose Soundtrack.

The following sequence from the long description of Certainty also sets the stage for this second story in the series:
Music Biz's Wicked Tongue: So,  Miss Serenade... World renown DJ, songwriter, records topping the charts, fans cry "Songbird" at you, Friendship Festival headliner...  What's the scoop with the serialized stories The Strand is launching?  Self-aggrandizing fiction?

Songbird Serenade: Self-aggrandizing? (She shuffles some pages on the table before her and takes a deep breath.)  On the evening of the 1000th Summer Sun Celebration, a blank-flank teenager was expecting to scrub and dust, helping her immigrant parents clean Town Hall overnight. She was... okay with that. Her family was glad for any opportunity. Her Trottingham accent worried her—

WT: Your accent—

SS:  Might her classmates discover she was a peasant who cleaned up after other ponies and always would?  She jammed with a nascent DJ named Vinyl Scratch, but, with her sorry excuse for being a DJ next to her only friend, she had no dreams of a musical future.

(Her blue eyes catch mine for an instant.)  Little did I know at the dawn of the Age of Harmony, I would meet its first monster.

The filly made it to her next sunrise, but would be piecing herself together for the rest of her life. Ultimately, without Princess Nightmare Moon there would be no Songbird Serenade. This is one of those stories.

WT: Are you saying the stories are autobiographical?

SS: (She covers her face with her mop of bangs after I see incipient tears.)  It's a confession.  She dislikes the filly she was.  As for the mare she became... (Shudders)

Featured Nov 6, 2018 at 18:30 PST
A reporter from The Canterlotter magazine tries to find the true Twilight Sparkle when she comes home to Canterlot after fighting for a return of harmony. This is the resulting article and accompanying artwork. It paints a picture of a Twilight Sparkle few have seen.

For the sake of the FimFiction terms of publication, this is a work of original prose fiction and qualifies as a story. It slots into the Enforcerverse but is completely standalone. The events take place immediately after the closing scene in The Return of Harmony - Part 2.

A big thank you for pre-reading and opinions about the artwork to DoContra. All typos, errors, and omission are my responsibilty. Feel feel to report any typos, write a comment (please please please), or leave a critique (but do cite the paragraphs you are discussing). Please remember to press the like button!

When Starlight gets emotional, bad things happen. She really shouldn't have blasted Discord. Now she has all the time in the world, but paradoxically finds that her time is rapidly running out.

Tagged SF for "Timey" elements. The story begins after S8E14—A Matter of Principals and therefore contains spoilers. This is a revision of A Timey Nightmare written for the All the Time in the World event on WriteOff.me. This is the Starlight Glimmer of the Enforcerverse.

Tip o'the hat to DoContra and Trick_Question for pre-reading and critiques.

Long before I took the name Songbird Serenade, I met Princess Nightmare Moon. It changed me forever. It revealed in me a strong—and I fear evil—certainty that has affected the lives of many ponies. This is the story of that meeting on the morning of the 1000th Sun Celebration, and its continuing aftermath.

An Equestria Daily story post on Sept 20, 2018. (Changed from Certainty: Songbird Serenade, Knight of Equestria because its length caused card view to mangle the title.)
First sequel: Knight of Equestria: Discordant Harmony

This story is standalone, but slots into the Enforcerverse. There will be a sequel. Thanks to DoContra for all your coaching to get me through this project, and to make it much more readable! Thanks to Loganberry for help with dialectal issues and a POV issue to do with FM's cutie mark.

Spike meets a Saddle Arabian filly who was separated from her parents when she was 3 years old. An uncaring government deported them and lost their whereabouts, and now she is searching the world to find them. Spike empathizes with her sense of abandonment because, like her, he realizes he doesn't know the whereabouts of his parents either—but he does know he's going to help her.

Another refugee lends a hoof.

Thanks to DoContra for pre-reading. The other refugee first appeared in Knight of Equestria: Certainty. If you like her part, read that next.

What happens when two hungry unicorns enter the castle dining room at the same time? Magic Duel! (House rules.)

Two minifics combined for your pleasure.
It's Your Turn: Twilight Sparkle vs Starlight Glimmer
Reformed Evildoers Club: Starlight Glimmer vs Tempest Shadow (Movie Spoilers!)

It’s Your Turn was originally published in a Writeoff.me competition. Reformed Evildoers Club was written intentionally to be really short, for me to show contrition for all the novellas I’ve written when I really intended to write a short story, and to provide enough verbiage so I could publish both together for you to read on FimFiction!

In the days before Equestria was even a dream and mares are second-class citizens, a pony with a solar cutie mark, Sunny Daze, decides to help her brother become a mage. She doesn't realize that she and the sun have an appointment with destiny.

Sequel novelette: https://www.fimfiction.net/story/430769/to-keep-light-in-eternal-darkness

Accepted for an Equestria Daily Story post on September 24, 2017.
Shelved in the Royal Canterlot Library on August 12, 2019.

The Teen rating is for 10th century AD gender issues faced by a mare that are no longer experienced by the characters in modern (show canon) MLP.

Thanks to DoContra for pre-reading, plenty of suggestions, and copy-editing assistance. Thanks to Equestria Daily submission editors for a lot of stuff I fixed after they pointed out I missed it!

Rainbow Dash encounters a spooky castle and learns something.

This story references an episode from the series (guess) and the arguably pretty good chapter book Starlight Glimmer and The Secret Suite, fully explained in the text with a minimum of spoilers. Any references to the Potterverse is the fault of that author, not yours truly.

This story was written for the WriteOff.Me The Twilight Zone prompt and slightly expanded here with suggestions taken from the critiques. Thank you everypony who pointed stuff out! You can read the original here. This version is both 20% cooler and 20% longer!