One week after Starlight Glimmer suffered a "relapse" during some long-overdue friendship lessons, Spike found her reflecting and lamenting in her bedroom. After some urging from the dragon, Starlight admitted she wasn't sure if the Mane 6 (save for Twilight) had truly accepted her as "one of them." But most of all, the reformed friend-in-training legitimately wondered if a pony with her past even deserved friends at all.

Naturally, Spike had some things to say about that.

While hanging out on Hearts and Hooves Day, Spike and Big Mac discussed how the Mane 6 had run off to parts unknown during the more recent Hearts and Hooves Days, including this one. Big Mac asked Granny Smith if she knew anything, but the elder pony claimed to be sworn to secrecy and told him to drop the matter.

Naturally, being denied just made Spike and Big Mac yearn to learn the Mane 6's secret more. Overcome by curiosity, the pony and dragon defied Granny Smith's order and set out to learn what their friends and sisters were up to.

Spoiler alert: you didn't really think a hint to the Mane 6's secret would be here, did you? Har har, har-ly har har!

Rarity was summoned by the Cutie Map to Ponyville's park, solo. However, there were no friendship problems in sight; the only thing that seemed to be waiting for Rarity was a lake.

According to Princess Twilight, the map was functionally normally, so there had to be something going on for the magical map to take action. Or could a certain troll be at work?

Eric Reed tried to recreate his mother's lasagna, his favorite meal prior to his "permanent visit" to Equestria. While his latest batch was adequate on its own, it wasn't good enough for him. He yearned for lasagna just like what his beloved mother used to bake.

But when Eric was close to writing his attempts off as a fool's errand, Pinkie Pie informed her human friend of a special spice. She claimed it could improve any meal, and if Eric acquired the spice, it just might allow him to bake lasagna close enough to his mother's version to satisfy him. However, no store sold the spice. The incredibly rare fruit it was made from only existed in the wild.

Desperate for even a chance of eating something close to his mother's lasagna, Eric traveled to a vast jungle, where the fruit was said to grow, with Pinkie as his guide. He was a little concerned that a full day alone with Pinkie and her unmatched energetic personality could test his sanity.

But Eric might end up learning something that "Energy Incarnate" had on her mind for months but hid from him.

This is the second of my two 5th-year anniversary stories of opening my account on this site, requested by Relly. Sometimes I think time flies too fast

This story is also one of a still-growing series of stories that all take place after A Giant Adventure to Equestria. It isn't necessary to read any of them to understand this story, but "A Giant Adventure to Equestria" does show how and why the human OC Eric Reed is in Equestria and can't leave.

If you enjoy this story and would be interested to check any of the other stories with Eric, you can find the list of all current ones here.

When Princess Twilight Sparkle suffered "one of those days" that pushed her to her breaking point, Spike worked to salvage the rest of her day. He was driven to ensure what the stressed Princess of Friendship still needed done would get done, perfectly.

However, once the bad luck that plagued Twilight started targeting Spike, his self-appointed mission threatened to push him to his own breaking point.

The idea for this story was requested by wonderkid125 and is the first of my two 5th-year anniversary stories of opening my account on this site. Man do time flies...

Realizing she hadn't tried to serve dinner once post-reformation, Starlight Glimmer decided to end her unintentional "streak" and made dinner for Princess Twilight, Spike, Eric Reed, and a visiting Sunset Shimmer. Being the big-hearted pony she is, Starlight was proud to do something for her friends, and her huge grin proved it.

It was just too bad her dinner, which she dubbed "Glimmer Surprise", looked and smelled horrendous.

This story is one of a still-growing series of stories that all take place after A Giant Adventure to Equestria. However, it is not necessary to read any of them to understand this story, but "A Giant Adventure to Equestria" does show the details of how and why the human OC Eric Reed is in Equestria

If you enjoy this story and would be interested to check any of the other stories with Eric, you can find the list of all current ones here.

And lastly, special thanks to TheHardie-Boy for helping with proofreading!

As an experienced reformed heroine who had dealt with unpredictable Equestrian magic in the human world, Sunset Shimmer has seen some pretty weird things.

Knowing that every human inexplicably has an Equestrian pony counterpart? Sunset yawns at this news. Being trapped in a collapsing mirror world? Not weird, but maybe a little scary. Having to play peacemaker when two Twilight Sparkles argued over who had the better boyfriend? That may have been unexpected, but not odd.

But the fact that Princess Twilight's boyfriend was a book and the teenage Twilight's boyfriend was a smartphone? Now that bit of weirdness wasn't so easy to shake off...

Special thanks to TheHardie-Boy for proofreading this story!

Princess Twilight Sparkle had learned Pinkie Pie could break physics and her biology whenever she felt like breaking them. So, when Pinkie claimed that she had laid an egg, Twilight could have accepted it was possible with only moderate but short-term confusion.

However, the additional claim that Twilight, a mare, was somehow the egg's father broke even Pinkie Pie logic. As well as breaking the alicorn herself.

Special thanks to TheHardie-Boy for proofreading chapter 2!

While the two were in the middle of a reading session, Eric Reed decided to have fun with Princess Twilight and her perfectionist urges by slightly sliding her teacup from her preferred spot on her table any time she wasn't looking. She kept reacting in the way you might expect.

However, if Eric kept tempting fate by testing an alicorn's obliviousness, he could end up in a sticky situation.

This story is one of a still-growing series of stories that all take place after A Giant Adventure to Equestria. However, it is not necessary to read any of them to understand this story, but "A Giant Adventure to Equestria" does show the details of how and why the human OC Eric Reed is in Equestria even if the story isn't that great by my standards and improved writing abilities now.

If you enjoy this story and would be interested to check any of the other stories with Eric, you can find the list of all current ones here.

While hanging out with Starlight Glimmer, Eric Reed blurted out that he thought Rarity is a large ham, due to her habit of being overdramatic. As per his luck, Rarity happened to be in earshot and did not like what her human friend called her, albeit for reasons Eric didn't mean.

However, even if Eric tried explaining what he really meant by "large ham", Rarity might not take that answer well either.

This story is one of a still-growing series of stories that all take place after A Giant Adventure to Equestria. However, it is not necessary to read any of them to understand this story, but "A Giant Adventure to Equestria" does show the details of how and why the human OC Eric Reed is in Equestria even if the story isn't that great by my standards and improved writing abilities now.

If you enjoy this story and would be interested to check any of the other stories with Eric, you can find the list of all current ones here.