Destiny is a fickle thing.

Cloud Kicker had her life figured out. A cushy desk job in the weather service in a few years' time. Great friends. Good times. Loose mares. A mild amount of family and relationship drama along the way, maybe, if she was unlucky.

She'd never have guessed that her life would take a meteoric rise toward eternity after making a cute, purple librarian cry.

(Written entirely for laughs for AU Month in the Winningverse. I couldn't resist.)
(For those that reflexively downvote Winning stuff, comment instead! It's more fun to bicker. Ask Pinkie.)

(A collab by JaketheGinger and Luminary)
Equestria isn't what it should be.

Celestia is a figure of distant mythology. Progress has replaced harmony as society's watchword. Progress born of spell, steam and gears. A dark corruption eats away at Canterlot and stretches out its influence.

In the shadow of the dying capital are scattered points of light. The selfless pink toymaker, caring for nothing but a smile. A unicorn noblemare feeding the ghettos. An airship captain who gave up wealth and status to stamp out injustice. They, amongst others, are thrown together by danger and flight, and find themselves gambling on a desperate bid to restore Equestria.

(Welcome to EqD ponies! Thanks for the feature!)

Equestria stands at the dawn of a new golden age of harmony and enlightenment. Six normal ponies have taken up the tools of the gods and defeated the greatest evils of history. A bookish unicorn filly is set to usher in a magical revolution. The first new alicorn in a millennium provides the promise of a coming era of peace and love.

Change is rarely peaceful.

In the wake of the Royal Wedding, the nation struggles with a scattered army which feeds upon the very thing that stands to elevate ponykind. However, Equestria's citizens, her heroes and even her gods discover that it is the enemy within that one really needs to fear.