"Fluttershy has tail extensions!" And thus was revealed a secret that Fluttershy hoped would never come out.

There's nothing wrong with having a short tail. Looks aren't everything. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Fluttershy knows every cliché, every truth, every comfort statement; it doesn't help what she sees in the mirror when the extensions are removed.

So how to deal with the fact that ugliness – however cruel its judgement – is also in the eye of the beholder? An eye, more to the point, that has difficulty looking away, no matter what the beholder wants or needs to see?

Perhaps, in the end, it needs another set of eyes to do the beholding…

Rainbow Dash wakes up to an odd winter heatwave, but at least Scootaloo wants to play with her. By the end of the day, she's fighting her way through a nightmare blizzard. And only one question burns through her mind: WHERE'S THE REAL SCOOTALOO!?

Toola Roola is a special pony, just like everypony else. She's learned that fighting with your friends doesn't mean you have to stop being friends. It just means you should let them win sometimes, otherwise it looks suspicious.

She didn't learn that from her parents, who have no time for her except by appointment. She didn't learn that from her best friend, who has too much time for her and spends most of it fighting anyway.

And she especially didn't learn that from her ancestral homeland: the distant, enchanted land of Skyra, whence her oddball uncle cometh, but which - in her entire life - she has never, ever seen for herself.

No, she learned it from a book. Princess Twilight Sparkle^TM's Journal of Friendship^TM, only $12.99 at your local tree-made, cloud-made, or conventionally built magical bookshop! Buy your way to a meaningful^TM, satisfying^TM relationship^TM now, while^TM stocks^TM last^TM!^TM

On the outside, White Lightning the pegasus and Ponet the unicorn have a perfectly normal, perfectly fine relationship. At the very least, a meek and nondescript weather pony going out with an artiste harbouring high aspirations is... well, there have been stranger combinations in Equestria.

Unfortunately, things are a little more complicated than they seem, and neither side can fully open up to the other. Not even on Hearts and Hooves Day.

Twilight Velvet's mind was stuck. She only wanted to write her magnum opus; how else could she explore the fantasy worlds of her past? It's just a shame her daughter is more interested in long words than she is in tall tales.

Coloratura struggles after losing the odious manager Svengallop, and does what she can to get her life back on track.

Running three boutiques across two cities and a town brings an unwelcome upsurge in dressmaking demands for Rarity, Ponyville's foremost fashionista and self-styled judge, jury, and executioner of artistic works and wonders. Then again, it is the Gala Season.

Of course, things would be that little bit less exasperating if a certain pegasus pony wasn't so irritatingly laid-back about the whole thing. And for a connoisseur of quality and merit, there's a crime even worse than sunbathing while others are sweating over stitches…

Written as part of Calming Moon's National Pony Writing Month 2017.

While hiding from her sister's latest attempt to smarten her up, Sweetie Belle joins Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo at Ponyville's local river to have fun in the cool water. Together, they come up with a silly story explaining the origin of the infamous "Beauty Curse", a blight Rarity apparently suffers from.

When they were fillies, Applejack was a lone farmer and Pinkie Pie was a party animal, and that was the unlikely beginning of a rocky but fruitful friendship. Yet as both ponies will soon discover, there's a little play in the work and a little work in the play.

When the Queen of the Changelings refuses to stick her neck out for a dying soldier, Moulder’s passionate love drives her beyond convention to seek a deal with the dreaded Sorceress, who seems more interested in a fairy tale from long ago.

Submission for World-Building Alliance April-May Writing Competition.