Spiders. Nightmares on eight scuttling legs. An entire group of creatures so bizarre, menacing, and creepy in their habits that a specific phobia has been dedicated to them. It's proven to be surprisingly popular. Or unpopular, as the case may be.

For Fluttershy, though, there's a lot more to them than that. A friend to all living creatures can hardly discriminate amongst her charges. And surprisingly for her, a day when she devotes her time and energy solely to these alien animals proves to be one of the most enjoyable ones of her week.

From the outside, she seems to be a very lucky girl. She has a loving family, lots of friends at school, a comfortable home to call her own.

In her head, things are different. Trapped in her own mind, surrounded by the ruins of her life, the only survivor of the death of her soul. She has no family, no friends, no home, nothing.

And one enemy.

Ruby Pinch is not alone. Ruby Pinch is never alone.

Against her will, Doctor Caramel Crisp recruits a rehabilitated mad scientist for their next scientific and technological commission. The mare is crazy, there's no denying that, but she's also said to be an unparalleled genius.

Well, Caramel's heard that one before.

Unlike Aria Blaze and Sonata Dusk, the siren Adagio Dazzle is neither a childish idiot nor an apathetic layabout. She has vision. She has purpose. She has drive.

So when – after their spectacular defeat at the hands of the Rainbooms – the trio of terror wind up incarcerated as a result of another failed scheme, she utterly refuses to take it lying down. Nothing in her past has taught her to accept failure. Nothing.

However, the longer she spends in this cell, and the more she has to put up with the irritations and insults of the other two, the more she starts to wonder if something else is going on. Something far more sinister than yet another tedious setback.

Pinkie and Rarity reluctantly venture into the strange caves of the far reaches of Equestria. The map must have sent them there for a reason, after all. Hopefully, they'll live long enough to figure out what it is.

This is a world in which Gods rule their cities. Magic is a divine manifestation of nature's power. Demons – both figurative and real – lurk in the shadows.

Sunset Shimmer – unparalleled thief, master of the arts, and a magical prodigy – worships the brightest and the warmest of all Gods. More than worships, in fact: six years, all born from one strange and terrifying encounter, have fuelled a fire in her heart that will never die.

If only the same could be said about her. For surely, mortals and Gods were never meant to fall in love.

Inspired by, but not a contestant for, the Sunset Shipping Contest: Changing Seasons. Further details are available via this link.

Diamond Tiara is a true Rich. Will be, to the end.

Despite all her past setbacks, she’s grown up to become the hyper-successful CEO of Barnyard Bargains Incorporated, a business empire which has spread across the globe. Now she’s built the high-tech Equestrian Dream Shopping Mall right in the heart of Ponyville, a town suited to the ultra-modern vogue not at all.

But when they said corporate would eat her alive, this is NOT what she had in mind…

An entry in Imposing Sovereigns IV, using the prompt "Diamond Tiara and Apple Bloom/Persistence".

Sunset: devotee of fire, mage of the flame. Sea Swirl: water shaman, mage of the sea. Neither seems to be a good fit for the other, yet time has forged their bond unbreakable. However, once they both journey into the deep…

Written for the Sunset Shimmer Shipping Contest: Journeys.

In the world of ponydom, Equestria is but a young and vulnerable nation. It needs heroes to defend it. It needs authority. It needs pillars.

Yet Star Swirl and his legendary Pillars have mysteriously vanished. After guiding ponydom for so long, their absence is sorely felt, their stability lost, their legacy in peril.

Young Celestia knows this. But what can she do? She's just a disobedient student.

Young Cinch knows this too. And in her mind, it's not a question of what she can do. It's a question of what she will do. For she is always working – she prides herself on it – and now she is working on a solution to everything...

An entry in Imposing Sovereigns III, using the prompt "Cinch/Integrity".

The first alicorn to be born rather than made. A pony of incredible power. A pony with a very important destiny.

Under the guidance of the fretful Princess Twilight, the sardonic Spike, and the ever-loyal crystal ponies, she will rise from the ashes of a childhood nightmare to become the princess she was always meant to be.

The journey won't be easy, but she won't give up. She was meant to be the Crystal Princess. That is her purpose.

And she will stop at nothing to keep it that way.

An entry in Imposing Sovereigns III, using the prompt "Flurry Heart/DETERMINATION".