From everyone's friend to everyone's enemy, Gladmane has always been larger than life.

He started off as a used cart salespony in a backwater desert village, but there was no way he was staying there. For he has dreamed the Equestrian Dream, and why be a small-time businesspony when you can be a king?

In a humble hotel, in Las Pegasus the city of dreams, where even the clouds are within an earth pony's grasp, Gladmane plans to show what a heart of gold he truly has. And to hide his mind of steel.

After all, he's good at making friends. He makes everyone happy. And he knows how mean and ruthless the world can be; it's what he's had to fight against just to get here.

So why does his conscience start to prick him, the closer and closer he gets to his greatest performance ever?

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.

I had that weird dream again last night. You know, the one where I’m wearing a dark crown. Violet cape fluttering in the wind. Standing on top of a pile of bones. Looking down on the blackened buildings. Seeing all the tattered ponies marching past in chains. That one.

I like that one. I wish I didn’t. But I really, totally dig it.

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.

If the soul is a private garden, then Wallflower's is full of choking weeds and abandoned trash. Thankfully, she's clearing it out now, with help from her friend Derpy in the gardening club.

Yet something lurks below the soil, waiting for its chance.

Wallflower wants to bury it, but she's scared. What if it can't be killed at all? There must be another way. A better way to keep a garden pure...

Before the final battle of the Siren War, the Pillars and Stygian take a moment to get ready, get what fun they can, and if possible, actually get along.

Now with audio reading! Generously provided by Quinch of the Golden Oaks Memorial Library.

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.

Prince Hisan, now pharaoh, is plagued by a mysterious affliction that torments him nightly. Ever hopeful, Somnambula ventures forth to seek the help of Princess Luna, for she is now a shining light in dark places. But lights CAN be extinguished…

One's a terrified flower pony who takes everything seriously. One's a party-loving jokester who never takes anything seriously, not if he can help it.

Each of them would love it if the other would just grow up. Neither can agree on what "growing up" entails.

Both of them need each other.

Once everypony has gone to enjoy the rest of the night, the great mystery of Nightmare Night remains: what really happens to all that delicious candy when nopony else is around? Does Nightmare Moon gobble it up, or is there something even more sinister (and entertaining) at work?

Bloo knows. Bloo's mother knows too. And the problem is that once everypony else has had their fun, the other side of Nightmare Night has barely any leftovers of fun worth talking about.

Perhaps this year will be different. There's a special guest at this year's Nightmare Night: THE special guest. And in the gathering darkness, maybe Bloo will see the light more clearly than ever before...