One is an upper-class if somewhat eccentric unicorn from Vanhoover. One is a country pegasus with neither manners nor patience. When both attend the same prestigious college in Canterlot, friendships are made, secrets revealed… and loyalties tested.

Little Lyra Heartstrings, a filly born to odd parents, is not a Canterlot pony. She has neither status nor treasure, and she is a stranger to the strange city.

Yet she has hope. For music makes possible what is impossible, and says what cannot be said.

Lily wanted to be an explorer. Roseluck wanted to be an inventor. Daisy just assumed they'd end up running a modest, boring little shop. Guess who was right? But Daisy's (reluctant) desire for normality isn't enough to drown out her childish dreams.

Contestant for the Unexpected Meeting Monthly Contest hosted by Razor Blade the Unicron.

Wonderbolts have a duty to Equestria. In the case of Spitfire, however, duty does not stop there.

Ex-Wonderbolt Wind Rider, now dishonourably discharged, is living out his days on the seedier side of Manehattan. Under her own secret obligations, and certainly not because she wants to, Spitfire seeks him out and spends a few hours with him, giving him some company.

If both of them can agree on one thing, it's that this constitutes several hours too many.

Roseluck: arguably the smartest, bravest, and most outgoing of the three, though that isn't saying much, given the competition.

Lily: a paranoid nutcase with both a severe desire for attention and, unfortunately, an equally severe case of social anxiety.

Daisy: the bland, sensible one who runs things in the background, pretending she isn't as terrified as the rest of them.

Together, they are the Flower Trio, as craven a bunch of marginals as one could hope to find. At least they have each other. But the business slump and their own trigger-happy neuroses combine into a swarm of pests, devouring the flowers of their friendship, slowly but surely destroying something beautiful and precious.

Just when they're hoping it won't get any worse, Daisy falls into a deep sleep at the counter of the florist's. She doesn't wake up.

Now it's up to her friends, Lily, Roseluck, and Doc – the most scientifically gifted pony in Ponyville who isn't Twilight Sparkle – to find out what's going on in her mind… and whether or not they can even bring her back. Or at least bring back the Daisy they know and love.

Lemon Hearts says she works at the palace. Lemon Hearts says a lot of things, only in the wonderful world of Equestria, there's a limit to how explicit her curse words can get.

She's not a passionate musician like Lyra, or a star-struck scientist like Twinkleshine. Sure as sugar she ain't no Princess of Friendship. Feeling like the one rotten fruit in a rich and healthy bushel cramps her style. At least, it would if she had any.

Soon, Lemon Hearts decides to do what she should have done a long time ago, when she'd otherwise been busy with her highly amusing and rebellious wealth redistribution activism (a.k.a. shoplifting). She decides to find out where she went wrong. Or wronger, at least.

And if she can earn some money out of it.

And whether or not her friends can help. Or, more likely, need help.

Twinkleshine had barely started kindergarten when she first met the universe. Like most first meetings, it had been awkward, not under the best of circumstances, and a single instant that ignited a lifelong passion, which would inevitably end with late nights and concerned parents.

Magic and music have so much in common. Both come seemingly from nowhere in the material world. Both leave their subjects enchanted. And both can change lives forever.

In Trixie's case, not necessarily for the better.

With her popularity and prosperity waning, Trixie ends up in a backwater country village called Fall Bridge, and ends up insulting the locals almost instantly, as she is wont to do.

Down on her luck, she seeks solace at the Mermaid Tavern in the selfsame village…

And who should she bump into there but the lovely Countess Coloratura? Yes, Equestria’s onetime most beloved superstar – now known as “Rara” – is also having difficulties. The tastes of music are somewhat less stable than the tastes of magic.

However, the Great and Powerful Trixie has heard her sing. She's been captured by a new kind of magic.

A plan occurs to her: a bold and ambitious plan, one that'll get the once-disgraced magician back on top. For young and trusting Rara is her golden ticket to a classy comeback…

This story is a sequel to Impossible Numbers' Flashfic Anthology, Volume Five

Trixie tries teaching non-magical magic to Starlight Glimmer. She hits a stumbling block.

Genres: Slice of Life, Comedy
Prompt: "Crossing Over"
Original Source: https://www.fimfiction.net/group/212112/flashfic/thread/324773/closed-flashfic-150-july-2017-prompt-crossing-over#comment/6018326

Protector of the ponies, Princess Celestia reaches a boiling point in more ways than one.

Genres: Drama, Dark
Prompt: "The Boiling Point"
Original Source: https://www.fimfiction.net/group/212112/flashfic/thread/328025/closed-flashfic-150-august-2017-prompt-the-boiling-point#comment/6045119

Clover the Clever is brought before the throne to answer charges of high treason.

Genres: Drama, Historical
Prompt: "Before the Throne"
Original Source: https://www.fimfiction.net/group/212112/flashfic/thread/331958/closed-flashfic-150-september-2017-prompt-before-the-throne#comment/6092563

In the land of Ammonia, where the dead are honoured more than the living, Pharaoh's son has other ideas.

Genres: Comedy, Drama, Historical
Prompt: "The Generous and the Dead"
Original Source: https://www.fimfiction.net/group/212112/flashfic/thread/335734/closed-flashfic-150-october-2017-prompt-the-generous-and-the-dead#comment/6137061

Mr Waddle watches the light grow darker and darker, hoping it never goes out.

Genre: Slice of Life
Prompt: "Logan's Run"
Original Source: https://www.fimfiction.net/group/212112/flashfic/thread/339715/closed-flashfic-150-november-2017-logans-run-not-a-prompt-as-such#comment/6198843

Petunia Paleo might be too young to understand what drives her. That she is driven, there is no doubt.

Genre: Slice of Life
Prompt: "Through the Ages"
Original Source: https://www.fimfiction.net/group/212112/flashfic/thread/343165/closed-flashfic-150-december-2017-through-the-ages#comment/6224847

Discord shows Pinkie Pie his secret, and then has some surprising news for her ears only.

Genre: Slice of Life
Prompt: "Laughter, Both Old and New"
Original Source: https://www.fimfiction.net/group/212112/flashfic/thread/346709/flashfic-150-january-2018-laughter-both-old-and-new#comment/6289050

Nightmare Night, the perfect time to cut loose and go wild! Or so Rainbow Dash thinks; Fluttershy, not so much. So when Rainbow pays her a tame, friendly visit, she stumbles upon a Discord tea party and - amid all the usual draconequus nonsense - wonders how he'd take to the holiday of horror.

Originally designed as a contestant for FlutterDash Contest #4: Nightmare Night, What a Fright!

Partially written for National Pony Writing Month 2017.