"Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer."

Twilight keeps Starlight very close, until she is sure she can trust her former enemy. Within backstabbing range, specifically.

Can there ever truly be peace after war? Queen Chrysalis's actions have emblazoned, in the mind of many ponies, the image of changelings as monsters out to enslave and enthrall all ponies as love-starved food stock. But not all changelings agree with her. Two changelings, having foresworn loyalty to Chrysalis, seek out Princess Twilight Sparkle in an effort to begin peaceful relations by asking three simple questions about liquid fear, irrigating ponies, and cupcakes.

Yeah, the ponies don't get it either at first.

Totally not written in one stream of thought session, honest.

Apple Bloom is learning various types of cooking, and knows a particularly finicky judge of cuisine. She decides that pleasing his palate is a suitably difficult challenge, on her quest to master a skill and finally earn her cutie mark. But will Fluttershy approve of the methods Apple Bloom has to use to track down and feed Angel?

Cover art by Tawadi.

This story is a sequel to It's A Wonderful Case

Sometimes, the only course of action that remains is the right thing to do.

Rainbow Dash, having managed to evade execution by her friend's horn, is hospitalized and forced to confront what she did. But Spitfire is determined to give her another chance, for both of their sakes. The commander of the Wonderbolts needs to learn her subordinate's training methods, said subordinate needs grooming for her future, and while Twilight does not need to spread her love for academia she is drawn to any opportunity to do so.

A random bit of character development. Takes place the day after It's A Wonderful Case.

Jealousy. The infamous heart parasite, that feeds on and sours most flavors of love. The changelings call it "that which spoils food". For years it has nestled within Big Mac, feasting upon every exploit of Applejack's, every newspaper article bearing her name and photograph, every excited babble of Apple Bloom exaggerating Applejack's feats. He kept it under control, hidden from his family, until now.

And never noticed how much worse she had it.

Takes place shortly after Brotherhooves Social. Contains minor spoilers if you have not seen it.

Listed in Popular Stories within a day of posting! Thanks for the views and likes!

Prince Blueblood, distant but traceable blood relative of Princess Celestia, lives as a tool of Equestrian society. He views his very existence as a debt he must pay, with few career options other than civil service. Fortunately, an attorney's duties suit him.

He believes in Equestrian society, for better or for worse. In his opinion, changelings rank among the "worse". So when the commander of the Wonderbolts accuses one of murdering Rainbow Dash, he sees his involvement as foreordained, especially once a Princess signs on to oppose him with revenge on her mind.

He is also widely seen as an extreme narcissist, only tolerated because of his link to Celestia. But many things are not as they seem.

It is no secret that Pinkie Pie really hopes the Pies and Apples are related, as it gives her an excuse to have the Apples all be friends with her family. But even if the genealogical records are in doubt, there are other ways to tell. For instance, two related earth pony families should respond to the earth in similar ways.

The Pies are known for their abilities with rocks. Finding, sculpting, evaluating - if it can be done with rocks, the Pies can do it.

The Apples grow things, none of them rocks. (Notwithstanding the occasional apple that rots into something hard.)

Pinkie Pie feels her hopes deflating. But Maud does not seem worried, even if she can be hard to read sometimes.

In the popular box on 11/4/15! Thanks for the views and votes!

After Bloom & Gloom, Apple Bloom finds that her shadow now talks to her in the waking world, too, and retains the power to make things go away. It only wants to help her.

A student of Twilight Sparkle knows dangerous magic when she sees it. And yet it is hers, unwilling to do anything truly bad without her command.

This secret can not keep forever. Given its host, it will not even keep long. What will those around her think when they learn of her power?

April Foals' Day. They call it a day of practical jokes and hoaxes, all for fun. Applejack disagrees, and declares her farm a "No Pranking Zone" for the day. One might think this would be the perfect Pinkie Pie repellant, and it is.

So what is a certain pink baker doing hanging out with the Apple family, when the same pony is busy pranking the rest of Ponyville? And why is Applejack going along with it?

Murder is the most heinous crime imaginable to ponies. What, then, do they make of a pony whose cutie mark is about killing?

Note: this is primarily a look into the Mane 6's reactions to a pony who kills. A blanket trigger warning is given for death and death-related topics such as gore - but if you're looking for gratuitous bloodletting, look elsewhere. The story is set during FiM season 4. Big thanks to my prereaders, especially Lithl!

Now with side story: A Pegasus Salute.