So once again the day is saved. Literally. In this case, by that new unicorn who came into Ponyville and fought Nightmare Moon, the nightmare that would never end (until it did).

They say this unicorn is strange. They say she's a princess and a witch, who lurks in dark libraries and tames mighty dragons.

Well, Dinky knows that's bunkum, but who cares? She's never turned down a quest, not with her Sisterhooves Sisters in tow.

What a team they are too: Odd Job, carrot-farming sister and cosmic punching bag; Apple Bloom, who's got the heart of an apple (and the imagination to match); Alula, the pegasus who couldn't be more pegasus if she tried (harder); and Piña Colada, who's what you get as a sort of add-on if you seek out Berry Punch's beverages.

Together, they will bravely and nobly discuss over drinks what to do about this new hero in their midst, and see if they can fit her into their usual playtime. After all, it wouldn't be much of a quest if it wasn't dangerous. Twilight will just have to take her chances.

Economic Fact of Life #1: A pony in Equestria should always check their own name before applying for a job.

Economic Fact of Life #2: You will successfully not die if you refrain from mentioning Ooh La La in Filthy Rich's face.

Economic Fact of Life #3: Movies are the opium of the working class.

Economic Fact of Life #4: You cannot solve all your financial problems with carrot cake.

Economic Fact of Life #5: Finding a good job is haaarrrd. But...

Economic Fact of Life #6: ...sometimes you get one by pure, blind luck.

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

Cloudchaser is the perfect big sister: cool, calm, collected, and carefree. Flitter is a lot of things – most of them insanely annoying – but she’ll always see her sister as a true paragon.

That’s because Cloudchaser’s determined to act like one. Always. No matter what the cost.

So when they both apply for the Wonderbolt Academy, and only one of them gets in, it’s a very bad time to let the façade crack under the sudden pressure.

Then again, why not crack? After all, she’s walked on the edge of the storm every day. She has to stop acting sometime.

Storms that strong can’t hide forever.

Scootaloo. A name out of the tougher side of history. The Rider. The Speed Demon. The Devil-Made Mare.

She dreamed of busting barriers. She dreamed big. They say she dreamed bigger than dreams themselves. And then she conquered them.

The history books say Scootaloo died long ago. But legends live for as long as you tell them. This is the tale that will never die.

Originally intended for Loganberry's Flashfic 150, June 2020: "Dream a Little Dream" event.

Apple Bloom wants to grow up. She's sure she does. Surrounded by the family that founded a town, shaped it, and made it what it is today, she finds herself all the more invested in becoming a part of this legacy.

Yet as Apple Bloom's interest in the legacy grows, so does her interest in a pony who never had one.

After all, sometimes there's a good reason to step outside. To fly on your own. To look beyond the herd.

The hive is dying. The queen is unfit to rule. The rebellion is nigh.

To a changeling, these are almost impossible concepts to grasp. Faith in the hive is paramount. Cooperation, a must. And ordinarily, Commander Chrysalis would agree. She is as devoted a changeling as a changeling can be.

However, the world is turning upside-down. The enemy is within. And Chrysalis will not rest until it has been purged utterly.

The enemy is strange. The enemy is terrifying.

The enemy is doubt.

Some might think Twilight Velvet is the luckiest mother in the world. Yet she hasn't seen her daughter since her little girl was crowned princess. Velvet isn't even royalty herself. How can she be a mother to someone so radically different? So far away? So unreal?

Worse, it's now Mare's Day - a day for celebrating motherhood - and the situation is so bizarre that Velvet is in the odd position of having to go visit her little princess in Ponyville, by appointment, to bring the flowers that Twilight will then give back to her as a Mare's Day gift.

Twilight Sparkle's mother, they call her. Always and always. Princess this and princess that. Wouldn't it just be nice if someone looked at her life from any angle other than "Twilight Sparkle's mother"? For a day, at least. A few hours. Anything.

So who should she stumble across in Ponyville but the oddest and most extraordinary mother of all: Derpy, a mail mare capable of looking from all kinds of angles indeed. Sometimes in ways other ponies can scarcely imagine...

Written for the May 2020 Pairing Contest. Full details can also be found here.

Like spring, friendship warms.
A haiku challenge flies forth.
Two poets find joy.

Written for the May 2020 Pairing Contest. Full details can also be found here.

Commander Hurricane is the latest in a long line of pegasus commanders, in charge of the Pegasus Empire and determined to protect its citizens from threats. She will never break ranks. She will hold the line. Officially.

But when the threat is an eccentric revolutionary who talks nonsense, and who fights with ideas rather than with physical weapons, what arsenal does she herself possess to combat them? The power of the storm. Nature at her beck and call. Destruction worthy of divine wrath. Nothing less than godlike power to put the commoners in their place.

She doesn't think it will be enough. And secretly, part of her doesn't want it to be.