In which Cadance I of the Restored Empire is given a very unusual Hearth's Warming gift.

Now with a Spanish translation by the gracious SPANIARD KIWI!

There are rules for surviving in the Crystal Empire. Shining Facet knows them well, and only hopes her daughter can learn quickly. After all, they say that things are different now—but sometimes it takes more than flugelhorns and crystal-berries to heal old wounds.

Placed 2nd at the Write-Off round The Morning After

Edited by Dubs Rewatcher

Hearth's Warming Eve is supposed to be a happy event—Cadance knows this, but all she ever feels is lonely. Now, with Shining Armor gone and a freak snowstorm battering her kingdom, it's up to Cadance to salvage the holiday and teach her crystal ponies to care for one another.

A story about finding your family, on the coldest night of the year.
— Featured on Equestria Daily

Following King Sombra's defeat, a crystal pony contemplates her newfound freedom.

This story was written for the Thousand Words Story Contest . It did not place. This story has dramatic readings by StraightToThePointStudio, Pony&Wolf Productions, and TheQuinch. Thank you to all.

Bit is the first of her kind, a pony that was made from carved crystal and supernal circuitry. For many years she worked, obedient to the will of her master in endless repetition. She knew nothing else, not boredom, not satisfaction from her work, not anger or resentment or joy. Existence was obedience to directive, purpose fulfilled.

But around her, the world was changing. Her home wasn't Equestria, but the last surviving Crystal City, defiant to the Windigos and the imperial decree of Alicorns alike. She did not know, and could not care, how much the ponies of Zircon suffered under the rule of their king. But she was there the day those whispers united in a defiant chorus.

When the fires were still smoldering, she returned to her work. Generations came and went, and still she labored. It was all she was, all she knew, all she wanted. Until the day her last broom broke.

For the first time in her existence, Bit doubted.

Daily for the first four days, because Christmas. Updates Thursdays after that. Edited by Two Bit and Sparktail. Cover by Zutcha.

A story about finding the center of the maze.

After learning about their human counterparts in the world beyond the mirror, Cadance and Shining Armor begin to wonder about the pony counterpart of Abacus Cinch.

The original minific version of this story took 11th place in the October, 2015 Writeoff Association contest, "Illusion of Choice," and the cover artwork is courtesy of poecillia-gracilis19.

Feeling broken and defeated, Trixie Lulamoon leaves behind the Country of Equestria, and all of the ponies within it that don't want her there, in search of a new land that she may either call her home, or her final resting place.

She discovers the Crystal Empire, and to her shock, the ponies there aren't nasty, hateful creatures, but are actually kind, and welcoming to this new Unicorn stranger in their land. Appletini and Azure Eminence offer to help Trixie in rebuilding her career, and promise that she doesn't have to go back home if she doesn't want to, and the broken Unicorn slowly begins to feel right at home in this new land.

King Sombra’s dark influence was obliterated by the Crystal Heart, and the villain is well and truly dead. But when he attempts to steal the afterlife of an innocent victim, a human spirit is left hurtling towards Equestria, where this unfortunate soul is revived into the only vessel available: the reconstituted body of King Sombra himself.

Thus, a cheerfully oblivious alien is crammed into the form of the most evil and malicious being Equestria has ever known. Not that Shining Armor and Cadence know this, of course. As far as they are concerned, the King is back and he’s lost his fricking mind.

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Jasper was not in the Crystal Empire when it vanished. His wife Agate was. Separated from his family across time, he writes letters in the hopes that she may eventually read them someday, however far away that may be.

Written for Bicyclette's Twilight Files contest.

Sombra's takeover took everyone in the Crystal Empire by surprise. No one saw it coming, none were prepared for it, and almost no one got away. Almost.

A few hooffuls of daring souls managed to break out of the city and flee southwards, towards Equestria. Some ran to beg the Princesses for aid, others - just to save themselves and their families from the mad tyrant.

But as the refugees are about to learn, it's the dead of winter outside the Empire's shield, and the crystal ponies are far too used to their warm life in the city. One filly that gets separated from her parents while trying to get away learns that fact all too painfully...

Cover art by Marbo, Allfather of the Snowponies.

Additional tag:snowpony