“Please look after my children.”

Pear Butter’s last words were spoken to the stranger who found their crash: the cruel, otherworldly siren named Adagio Dazzle, who sees in her death a golden opportunity.

What starts as a plan to raise willing minions for sustenance and protection goes… a little differently than Adagio had in mind.

Cover art by Uz Naimat!

Opaline had stolen the cutie marks from half of Equestria and was rapidly conquering the rest. Even the fake alicorn Sunny Starscout and her minions were faltering before her. One more push would bring Opaline to her final victory.

Then she surrendered.

And even Opaline doesn’t know why.

Sunset is a roving part-timer, and Adagio sings on Whotube for tips. The pair are never more than a month from eviction, so when a shady party center offers Sunset a holiday bonus to work Christmas Eve it’s both too good to refuse… and too good to be true.

Written for Incandesca for Jinglemas 2023!

To the north, Queen Chrysalis' empire grows strong with conquest, industry, and fearsome new weapons.

To the south, Equestria sleeps.

But not Miss Harshwhinny. She is not a soldier, owns no factories, did not even know what a tank was before seeing a picture. She can learn, though, and she can see what is coming. And as the day of invasion draws near, she races against time to build for Equestria a weapon with a fighting chance.

(An Equestria at War fic.)

Now with a dramatic reading by Skijaramaz!

With only one minion to her name, Opaline finds herself in a bind when Misty falls ill. Cooking, cleaning, and infiltrating Maretime Bay for medicine become the least of Opaline's problems as she contemplates exactly what Misty means to her – or rather, as she tries to not contemplate it.

Self-doubt is unbecoming for a perfect alicorn, after all.

Russian translation: https://ponyfiction.org/story/17571/

It's always been fun playing Dungeons and Dragons with the girls. Applejack never gave thought to running a campaign herself until their group hit a wall. Sunset's game had just finished, Twilight wasn't ready to start a new one, and no one else volunteered. It was Applejack or bust.

But she wasn't much into dragons, glowing swords, and all that. As her writing slows to a crawl, Applejack takes a walk outside in search of inspiration...

Principal Celestia had always looked up to Miss Harshwhinny. The stern, professional woman was the rock of the school. They were friends, even though they never met outside of work.

Until the day Harshwhinny invited her to dinner.

Written for the May Pairings Contest 2023!

Cover art by Kiose!

When deafness stole away her music, Octavia Melody became the greatest composer in Equestria. Her Tenth Symphony lies finished before her, the pinnacle of all her work, done against all odds at the very end of her life.

Yet the clock ticks, and she finds herself under the gaze of gods and devils. With only Discord's mocking aid, Octavia must journey through her past to save her very soul.

Cover art by JowyB!

(A ponified take on "Beethoven's Last Night" by Trans-Siberian Orchestra.)

(AU-tagged because the quasi-godly figures such as Celestia, Tirek, and Discord occupy a pantheon with rules and limits instead of simply being protagonists and villains.)

Moondancer enjoys working Hearth's Warming Eve: Nopony else ever comes in, leaving her with the entire Canterlot Archives all to herself. What could be better?

Her happy solitude is ruined when a pony arrives with a strange puzzle in hoof. As they search for the answer, Moondancer slowly learns that the interruption is not so bad, after all. At least, when done by a fellow nerd.

Written for FanOfMostEverything for Jinglemas 2022.

Winter Wishday. Wishentine. Wishiehoof. To hear Sunny Starscout tell it, the old name was "Hearth's Warming," back when the races lived together.

Maybe that time was coming again. It sure seemed like it, every passing day. The ponies of Equestria were growing together once more.

Which means Queen Haven has no more excuses to put off what she should have done a long time ago.

Written for kleia for Jinglemas 2022.