Sunset Shimmer has grown and changed from who she was. For a long time she's kept to her own path through life in the human world and kept her silence from across the rift that separates her from Princess Celestia.

But there's something important to say and a lot of healing still left to do.

It's time they talked again.

Finalist in the Forbidden Knowledge event on http://writeoff.me/. A big thank you to everyone who critiqued and reviewed the story there.

Thanks to a newly found common interest, Rainbow Dash and Rarity seem to be getting along great—right up until they have a very sudden, and very hurtful, falling out.

But Rainbow Dash thinks that maybe there's more going on than it looks like on the surface. Could an old toy be the key to unlocking the solution to a serious problem?

Pre-read / proofread by Georg and Lazy Gray.

Entry for Scribblefest 2016

Oops!: Comedy, Slice of Life
Pinkie Pie forgets to mention something. The consequences blow up in her face.
In the Leaves: Drama, Sad Two life-long friends face autumn together.
Rx: Drama, Sad Lily Valley consults her doctor about bringing some dignity to her situation.

These are some of my collected entries for 750 word minific writeoff.me prompts, with some cleanup and revision based on reviews and feedback during the writeoff.

Thanks to Titanium Dragon, Baal Bunny, Bachiavellian, Bad Horse, Bugle, Calipony, CoffeeMinion, Everyday, FanOfMostEverything, Xepher, Trick Question, The Letter J, gardrek, Loganberry, journcy, sunnypack, and numerous others for their reviews during the writeoff process.

Twilight Sparkle unwittingly makes her first prank phone call. It's... an experience.

I don't know where this came from. It was a stupid random idea, but one that just begged to be written, so I did, and it turned out pretty alright for my first comedy.

Now with a reading on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LK_V6pjzcUA
Thanks, Agent Fluffy!

It was a just a common, ordinary spell, one that unicorns use every day. Somehow, something went wrong. Now Twilight Sparkle has to figure out how to cope with the aftermath... before it's too late.

Fourth place finalist in the "Out of Time" writeoff prompt at writeoff.me.

Thanks to Bachiavellian, Titanium Dragon, FanOfMostEverything, FrontSevens, horizon, JonOfEquestria, The Cyan Recluse, The Letter J, and Trick Question for their reviews during the writeoff.

My name is Candy Cane. I live in Fillydelphia, and I make candy for a living. That's it. I'm nopony. Really.

I'm just a candy maker, and that's all.

Why can't I just be left alone?

Pre-reading and editing by The Dobermans, Sigawesome, and Dopamine Agonist.

Hit the feature box on November 3, 2015!

Twilight Sparkle conducts an experiment and succeeds in obtaining an unusual flower with some intriguing properties.

What it could teach her, however, might prove to be more than she bargained for. She finds herself having to face surprising—and maybe frightening—new possibilities about the universe. How does it work? What is 'real', exactly? And why are these suddenly such uncomfortable and challenging questions for her?

Pre-reading and editing for this story was done by Grand Moff Pony, The Dobermans, SIGAWESOME, Reese, Georg, LCranston, and Equestria Daily pre-readers 63.546 and Slorg. Many thanks to all of them for helping this get where it is!

Now with an audio reading by TheDizzyDan!

Pinkie Pie doesn't exactly have a high opinion of Gilda after what happened last time the griffon visited Ponyville—it was nothing but a trainwreck of bullying, thieving, being insufferably mean, and of course, topping it all off by committing the cardinal sin of ruining a party. The only thing that went right was when Rainbow Dash finally kicked her out. Good riddance.

Ponies (and griffons) don't always stay the same forever, though. Eventually the time comes to set aside past feelings and take a fresh look at things... especially when it would mean so much to another friend. Could it be worth giving her a second shot?

This story is a sequel to Seashell

I never thought I would see the Seawall again. Fate, though, seems to enjoy odd twists. Thirteen years ago, it was roses. Now it's feathers. Somehow they've both brought me back to this place, back to the edge of the world to where I really belong most of all.

My name is Sunburst, and as a guard of Princess Twilight, her student Azure Sky is both one of the ponies I protect and my friend. I watched her grow up. I, and everypony else, thought we knew exactly where she was headed in life. It seemed so obvious - how could the personal student of a princess have anything but the brightest of futures? We were all so sure.

What did we really know?

A happy life, a good life, can't be built on a lie. The heart of a unicorn and the heart of a pegasus are different things in some ways, but in the ones that really matter, they're the same. Nopony can endure the misery of an existence devoid of real meaning in their hearts, going through empty motions they feel nothing for, dead on the inside. I think all ponies, deep down inside where it counts, are the same in this way. That's what Azure and I needed to learn, here on the edge of the world, so that I could help her share the things she so desperately needed to find a way to give voice to.

Approved by Twilight's Library on December 11, 2014!

As day ends and night begins, there is a brief window of time in which the two royal sisters meet on equal terms, neither one firmly in complete control.

In these times of quiet reflection with one another, their minds and their hearts can truly meet most closely. This is when they see each other the most clearly, here in the trading and in the game they play.

Note: The game in this story can actually be replayed if you're interested! Get the text of the .pgn (portable game notation) file at http://pastebin.com/NY258GJx, copy it to your clipboard, and paste into the PGN text box at http://chesstempo.com/pgn-viewer.html for a JavaScript based replay right in your web browser, or save it as your own .pgn text file and replay with the game viewer software of your choice (you can find one by Googling for "pgn viewer" - not to be confused with "png viewer", though, which is completely different).

It's not terribly important, however. Alternately, you can ignore the game replay and just read the story without it, which most people probably will. Other options for replay are in the notes at the bottom of the story.