“Do Humans Hibernate?” Rainbow has a question on her mind. She's not entirely sure why it's bothering her so much. It probably doesn't help that the only human she could ask is the world's greatest liar.

Cover art by Pusspuss this random guy called ‘Pen Mightier’ who probably wishes he is Pusspuss but isn’t.

Marshal: (mɑː.ʃəl) noun….etymology - archaic: Middle English, from Anglo-French ‘mareschal’, of Germanic origin; akin to Old High German ‘marahscalc’, from ‘marah’ (horse) + ‘scalc’ (servant). Originally referring to "a person in charge of the upkeep of horses or stable hand”. The station became a position of trust and power in medieval courts and went on to acquire its modern military usage.

This story is a sequel to The Definitive Guide to Pony Anatomy - Starring Princess Celestia and Princess Luna

[img]http://i.imgur.com/NtX01an.png[/img]

'Do not trust an alicorn who weighs any less than her operating manual' - Author of this Guide

Sometimes your alicorn throws a temper tantrum and runs around the house turning off all the lights while declaring herself a new breed of adorable evilness. Sometimes sibling squabbles leave you with a tearful alicorn refusing to raise the moon and allow the day to end. Keep calm and read this guide. This guide will walk you through how to safely contain evil dark pony overlords using readily available household implements such as the humble cardboard box. And if all else fails, it will at least help you make effective use of the astrophysics of alicorn anatomy to manually override the raising, lowering and general joyriding of various celestial bodies.

Published by the Royal Canterlot Publishing House for the Royal Equestrian Diplomatic Mission to Earth. For human audiences only. No alicorns (or humans) were harmed in the making of this guide.

Contains: Princess Luna being generally mischievous and adorable for Hearthswarming Eve. Also contains cardboard. Surprisingly does not contain any bubblewrap for once.

This is a standalone story, but it does sort of have a 'previous episode' you can read here. Reading it is not required to enjoy this particular story, but it's a fun short read in its own right.

Sort of my Christmas fic. I decided to get it done early as I'll be working this Christmas. Again. Happy Hearthswarming, everyone!

"Raise the Heavens!" - The Nightmare Knights' rallying cry.

Heroes are not born. They are made. And the Crystal War was a forge of heroes, hardened ponies who have stared into the abyss and emerged stronger. But six unicorns went further than any other and brought the abyss back with them. They were the same six who defeated the Night Queen herself, the six who bore Nightmare Moon's dark curse into battle against Discord, the six who quietly subverted Queen Chrysalis into becoming Equestria's secret pawn, the six most feared by both Equestria's enemies and her own citizens. This is the unsung tale of six unicorns, Twilight Sparkle N1, Starlight Glimmer N2, Sunset Shimmer N3, Trixie Lulamoon N4, Luna Eclipse N5 and Sunshine Smiles N6, and their nightmare-bonded commander, [OFFICER NAME REDACTED] N7. Together they lead Equestria's last hope, the fearsome legion of nightmare-bonded humans and their loyal nightmares, the [REGIMENT DESIGNATION REDACTED PENDING CORRECTIONS FROM THE VICEROY OF HUMAN AFFAIRS].

As always, proudly brought to you by our hardworking dream team, Not A Hat and Brad The Brony.

S5 Finale spoilers herein.

Story premise in a nutshell: In a world without the sonic rainboom, the sirens succeed in amassing an army of brainwashed humans to invade Equestria. Their invasion led them straight into the hooves of Sombra and his army of mind-controlled ponies. The clash ended with the Sirens defeated and Sombra acquiring a new source of mind-controlled soldiers - Earth. The fielding of Sombra's highly-versatile mind-controlled human minions in battle further pressured Equestria into a corner. With no end to the war in sight, Equestria resorted to desperate measures. Once prisoners of Equestria, Nightmare-infected ponies and humans are finally allowed to fight to earn their freedom. This is the story of the first six Nightmare ponies, their human commander and their part in the Crystal War.

This is a Crystal War story featuring squad-based heroics, camaraderie-in-arms and a touch of wartime field survival. Originally conceived as a thought exercise in explaining away the absence of all the other villains in the the Crystal War continuity.

Starlight Glimmer and Twilight Sparkle save the future of Equestria together.

(My own musing on how the season 5 finale ending could have played out)

"I can face the whole world with one claw, as long as your hoof is holding the other." - A Dragon in Love -

Luna and Spike romantic feelgood thriller with a dash of political intrigue.

'...a great and glorious orchestration in romance...' - Wing, Non-Pareil Fiction
'You made me cry tears of sorrow and joy, cheer like a madman and truly be happy for the two characters I never even liked in the show.' - Eversquee
'This is the most I've laughed, cried, exclaimed and cheered in a long long time.' - Melancholy
'I usually don't like romances, but this one is awesome!' - Aguion12
'When the characters are happy, I'm happy. When they're not, I'm not. It's all so perfectly done..' - Drgnwolf

Synopsis

Greed strengthens a dragon. But what of the opposite? Spike feels a little bit of himself broken away with each passing day as Rarity flaunts her newfound love with another stallion. But that's the least of his troubles. A formal gala for which he is the guest of honour quickly approaches. With the relationship between the Council of Friendship and the nobles of Equestria at stake, he is certain this gala could only end in a big political disaster. Enter Princess Luna, cunningly disguised as the sweet elegant mare by his side, intent on turning him from a laughingstock into the star of the show. But jealousy and misfortune swiftly strike, leaving Luna permanently stuck in her disguise. Together they must maintain their cover until they somehow figure out how to fix everything. As the days pass, as the 'one more day's turn into a week, they slowly come to a startling realization - Perhaps there is nothing to fix?

Proudly brought to you by our hardworking editor dream team, Not A Hat and Brad The Brony

Story Art 1 - The Moon Rises!
Story Art 2 - Moonlight Sonata(Disguised Luna)'s cutie mark
Story Art 3 - The World Has Been Doubled!
Story Art 4 - Moon Walk
Story Art 5 - Raising the Moon

New Cover Art by this guy who's into candy-coloured little equines. Apparently calls himself Pen Mightier or something.

Old Cover art by the talented Yakovlev-Vad! Please be sure to give him a 'watch' on his DA as thanks!

'We’re taken on an adventure, and if I dare say, we aren’t just told the damn story. We’re allowed to experience it. Spike has a moment, and I feel warmth. Luna tosses off the royal baggage, and I feel the feels. This is a great and glorious orchestration in romance...' - Wing

'Bravo! Bravo! ...I'm not into Romance stories because I don't really like them at all but this story here...This is my favorite!' - PlatinumPony

'I don't think I can accurately express how much I truly enjoy this story, right now. When the characters are happy, I'm happy. When they're not, I'm not. It's all so perfectly done that it's like I'm living the story instead of merely just reading it off a page. This already wins first place for most adorable story I have ever read...' - Drgnwolf

'Oh my Gods the feels! I smiled, laughed, got very angry and very sad all in one chapter! Please oh please complete this awesome tale soon! The suspense is killing me!' - Wiriamuzu

'I always wait until a story is finished before thinking about adding it to my favorites. Always. I have never added a story to my favorites before it's finished. This story is the one exception.' - Jomp

'Yeah. You just made a grown-ass man make a 'squee' sound.' - HoneyBadgerr

'Of all the stories I've read I can safely say that this is the one that best combines the written word with sound and music, there are plenty that have tried the same and not even come close to what you achive here.' - Lore

'This is the greatest story I have ever read. This is also now my favorite story. If you don't upload another chapter soon I will wait patiently until you do. I will climb mountains for this story. I will go to Disney Channel.com without my parents permission for this story. If i don't finish this story, i will write down in my will for someone to finish it for me. You, ascended pony writer from a land where the pigeons poop gold, are the greatest person in history.' - Blooming Cherries

'I am loving this story so far. The storytelling, the drama... oh it is so magnificent. A well crafted story by a well deserving author. I tip my hat to you sir. I can see some form of "Beauty and the Beast" in here. But what also surprises me is the way it is written. I've even had some moments of portraying Spike as Holden Caulfield from the famous story, The Catcher in the Rye. Just the way he speaks sort of reminds me of the way that poor man was, and the bits of Spike not wanting to detach from Rarity felt similar in the regards of Holden not wanting to grow up. Again, Pen Mightier, you have done a great job. Keep up the great work!' - XxEpsilonxX

'My cheeks hurt because I been smiling all the way down the chapter. Princess Luna really is the best pony.' - Allen Vth

[img]http://i.imgur.com/NtX01an.png[/img]

(Clean family-friendly comedy with adorable Celestia being adorable, absolutely nothing explicit) Now with youtube readings! The Gentlemanly Reading by The Magpie, the Scientific-Plushie-Method reading by HanaYoriUta, And the Manly Reading by CaptainBron3y!

Should you find yourself a visitor to Equestria, it would benefit you to be able to tell a pony's rubby-tubby from his or her boop-button and fuzzy-wuzzy. Herein is your definitive guide, written by an expert upon the science. Published with the royal approval of Her Royal Majesty Princess Luna and the silent tolerance of Her Royal Majesty Princess Celestia.

Published by the Royal Canterlot Publishing House for the Royal Equestrian Diplomatic Mission to Earth. For human audiences only. No alicorns (or humans) were harmed in the making of this guide.

Inspired by this thread by Nuke

Inspiration, cover art and pictures in the story all courtesy of the PMV of the same name by the talented Loveless Nova, used with his/her permission and blessings. If you haven't already, check out the PMV - If I Were a Pony. It is awesome.

Queen Chrysallis died in the aftermath of that ruinous invasion of Canterlot. But Tartarus would not be my afterlife, and death not my reaper. No, Ponyville is to be my purgatory, and my socially-inept roommate, Moon-Butt, my rather overly-enthusiastic reaper. I now live on borrowed time at the whims of my layabout of a roommate. To earn my freedom I must be able to not only prove that a changeling can live as a pony but also earn affection as one. But in between trying to get used to the notion that friends aren't food and learning to join the flash mobs in song and dance, I find that there is more to being a pony than meets the eye.

That was the good news. The bad news? I swear by the Ancient Ones, this useless sloth I have to share a room with is simply using me as an excuse to be an incompetent freeloader away from her sister's watchful eyes. You know everything has gone hooves-up when I'm the voice of reason. But bills need to be paid, bits need to be earned, and I have to somehow save up enough to move out of this flat. For my sanity's sake.

Featuring the editing talents of: Not A Hat, and Brad The Brony. Be sure to thank them by checking out their pages and giving them a follow/liking their stories.

Now with an epic official soundtrack from our friendly neighbourhood musicians. Please be sure to check out their music and give them a like and subscription as thanks!
Across the Seas By Citric Acid

In celebration of 2015! We have made it, folks. We have made it to the Future!

"Little Lady, I swear you're going to be the first filly to ever be grounded before she was even born!" - A Very Concerned Father

Have you ever wondered what your life would have been like if you had become an engineer, a farmer, a heroic airship captain, a vet, the leader of the anti-robot resistance, a baker, or maybe the overlord king of Tartarus? Have you ever wondered what the future might have been if you had dated person A, had that fling with person B, married person C, became the faithful servant of goddess D or pissed off evil godlike entity E? Have you ever wondered where life would have taken you if you were destined to be the universe's last hope-...err, rather, sire the universe's last hope? I used to.

Now the products of all my possible life choices have come over for dinner. From the future. And they are adorable. And they are my children. Apparently they are each from different parallel futures where particularly excellent life choices on my part had led to various big evil monstrosities and demi-gods taking over the entire universe. Luckily, each timeline has one last hope - these little fillies. And they have come to save me from assorted assassins from their various futures who've come back in time to kill me to stop them from being born. To top it all off, these little fillies have got to fix what bit of history they haven't blown up by making sure I get together with their mothers so that they can actually be born. It doesn't help that they all came from different mothers. And choosing one may or may not create a time paradox that might erase the others...or the entire universe as we know it.

The universe is gonna be fiiiine.

Features slice-of-life filly-raising shenanigans filled to the brim with sugar and diabetes with a side of backseat romantic comedy and filly-powered swashbuckling action for good measure.

Cover Art - Placeholder picture from the Epic Animation Double Rainboom by Zachary Rich and FlamingoRich Studios. If you haven't seen it yet, go check it out. It is as awesome as it sounds.

[img]http://s33.postimg.org/7bfqvgx33/Butler.png[/img]

"My lady once wrote in her very personal and very secret diary that I have problems appreciating personal space. I beg to differ on that sentiment." - A Butler commenting on Professional Discretion -

I'm a Butler. My friends, the imaginary ones at least, call me Butler. My job, looking after my lady, can be...challenging at times, but rewarding. Lately the job's become a little more difficult, especially after my lady's sister returned from the moon and the parliament decided to try and pass an entire bill just to be able to legally get rid of me. But managing the chaos is part of the job description, even if it means I must secretly become my lady's knight captain of her personal bodyguards in order to keep my job. Though even I could never have anticipated having to train knights cunningly disguised as maids to stay one step ahead of the nobles. Ah, the things I do for my princess.

Featured 9 - 12 August 2014. Many many thanks to everyone who kindly made this possible! You guys have doubled the fun!

Now featuring the editing talents of our resident editor Dumbgamer99. Be sure to thank him by checking out his page and giving him a follow!

Butler tag kindly made by undead003. Many thanks! (You'll find it actually works if you click on it.)

Cover Art: This picture totally contains ninjas. You just can't see them, cause they're that good.

'Let's Pretend' is my favourite game. Someponies play it for fun. Someponies play it for life. When four little fillies and their trusty companion go on an epic adventure through black liquorice jungles and dark chocolate swamps to uncover the Lost City of El Chimichanga and the endless fountain of chocolate within, they find that some games can be played for Love.

My entry to the Equestria Daily Summer Writing Competition. Prompt: Write a story about ponies... from a non-pony's point of view.