Preview Trailers · 2:36pm Aug 19th, 2012
Somepony requested that I post some scraps of fics that I intend to write in the future, and it sounded like a good idea to me, so here's a preview of upcoming attractions. Let me know if any of them particularly catch your eye -- the response I see will probably influence the order I write them in! 
My Ponyville Summer
A/N: Inspired by the song "Griffin Village - Summer" by JackleApp. Which is technically about a pegasus, but shut up. 
I’d been flying across Equestria to spend the summer term in Alpacapulco. It was cheaper to fly myself than take a train or whatever, and I wanted to save as much as I could for my month of sun, surf, and suds! And, if I was lucky, maybe there'd be a sexy, single griffon babe on the beach...
But "lucky" apparently isn't one of my qualities, and those plans got put on hold indefinitely before I made it halfway. I figured I could get to Alpacapulco in two days’ flight if I didn’t stop to sleep until I got to Fillydelphia, so I was burning the not-midnight-yet oil and navigating by moonlight down the central valley of Equestria. Apparently I skirted too close to the Everfree Forest in the dark, though, because some huge black bird took offense to having a griffon in its airspace.
Now, I’m no fighter. I’m a university student with an undeclared major, for Celestia’s sake. So when the bird started shooting lightning at me, I did the natural thing: I dove to try and outrun it, and I fled the legendary forest like my tail was on fire. Unfortunately, I’m not a racing griffon, either, and it just wasn't enough. I leveled off just above treetop level, the branches rushing beneath me faster than I’d ever flown before. It might be faster than I’ll ever fly again. The last thing I remember is the random tangle of the forest giving way to the orderly rows of an orchard, and then the flash and jolt as a lightning bolt tagged me.
Next thing I knew, I was groggily struggling my way back to consciousness in a white room on a white bed with white sheets. A white mare in a little white nurse’s hat was watching me, looking like she was ready to bolt if she needed to. Both my wings were wrapped in white casts.
So much for Alpacapulco.
Since I didn't immediately try to rip apart the first pony I saw (seriously, who does that?) Nurse Redheart gave me a battery of questions for their records, and apparently also to make sure I hadn’t lost any mental capabilities.
“Godric.”
“I’m from Talontoe, Gryphus.”
“Student at the University of Talontoe.”
And so on. She’d kept me sedated until she had my wings set and immobilized for fear I’d damage them -- or her -- when I woke up. Eventually, she gave me a clean bill of health (outside of the obvious) and told me I was in some little podunk called Ponyville. That sounded faintly familiar, but I couldn't quite place where I'd heard of it before. Regardless, I bought an early dinner of oat dogs and sat down to figure out "what next".
The painkillers were making me hazy, but a quick review of my finances determined that once I paid the hospital bill, I could either convalesce here for the next month, or I could blow most of my remaining vacation money on a train ticket home and spend the rest of the summer with my parents.
Yeah, no contest. At least rates were cheaper here than in some city that had, you know, stuff to do.
Not that it mattered what room prices were! There was some kind of family reunion going on, except it had to be the biggest family I’d ever heard of. Every single inn in Ponyville – all two of them – was overflowing.
Miss Dewdrop was quite sympathetic about the situation. “You could try the Prancing Pony—”
“They sent me here!” I moaned, burying my face in both claws. “When will you have an opening?”
The orange unicorn checked her books. “Next Sunday,” she replied apologetically.
I snarled something I’d rather not repeat.
“You could ask around if there’s anypony willing to put you up for a few days. Try Sugar Cube Corner – Pinkie Pie knows everypony in town!”
I growled a less-than-gracious thank you and stalked out into the sunset. I knew it wasn’t her fault, it was just the universe conspiring against me or something. But I still wanted to bite someone's head off... metaphorically speaking. Half a block later, I slapped my face again. I’d forgotten to ask for directions to Sugar Cube Corner.
Down a block, turn right, keep going. Big pink building with a cupcake on top, you can’t miss it. While the description was accurate, it didn’t quite convey the... intensity of the real thing. I was looking at three, maybe four stories’ worth of gingerbread, peppermint, and frosting. And yes, it was pink, but not girly-pink or strawberry-flavor-pink. It was aggressively pink. It was the kind of pink that shouldered other colors aside and flopped down in the middle of your vision like a huge, unwelcome dog. I was starting to hate this town already.
The interior was only marginally better. Treats of every color blended together in an eye-searing riot, the clashing colors so loud they were almost audible. The Pink wasn’t as blatant here as it was on the exterior, but it was there. Waiting. Lurking above the doorjambs. Skulking in the trim. Waiting for the perfect moment to overwhelm an eye already dazzled by the shrapnel of an exploded rainbow. Did I mention I was on painkillers?
And then it came for me. The Pink finally pounced. In equinoid form, it exploded out of the kitchen, as brain-piercingly bright as the noonday sun. It – she – gave an exaggerated gasp and words began to pour forth.
“Oh my gosh, you must be that griffon that crashed on Applejack’s farm last night! Are you okay? I mean, I can see that you’re not okay-okay, and Rainbow Dash said Applejack said Nurse Redheart said you broke both wings and that must really hurt, I can’t imagine not being able to fly if I could fly but of course I can’t fly but I can imagine what it would be like to fly and then not being able to, that must be so awful—”
The enormous run-on sentence became too much for my poor, drugged brain to process. My mind wandered and I started to wonder where she kept all that air. I would swear she hadn’t taken a breath since she started. Could ponies have pneumaticized skeletons? The bell over the door rang and a couple more ponies entered the shop, but they didn’t try to interrupt. Apparently the verbal avalanche was a common occurrence here. Now I definitely hated this town.
“—and she was like ROOOAR and Fluttershy was like EEP (Hi Lyra! Hi Bon-Bon!) and I was like GRR, but Rainbow Dash liked her so I threw her a party to improve her attitude but she was really twitchy-switchy-rhymes-with-witchy to everypony and Rainbow Dash got mad at her but I’m pretty sure all griffons aren’t like that, so you’re probably a friendly griffon. Hey, what’s your name, stranger? Oh yeah, and welcome to Sugar Cube Corner, I’m Pinkie Pie, how can I help you today?”
It took me a few moments to realize I’d been asked a question. “What? Oh, I’m Godric. You said you’re Pinkie Pie?” Of course she’s Pinkie Pie, idiot! What color did you expect her to be? Green?
“Yep-a-roonie!” The pony bounced into the air as if gravity were a mere formality. Maybe the balloons on her butt were full of real, live helium. I scrambled to collect my thoughts.
I gave her the abbreviated version of my story so far. “...so I need a place to stay for about a week until a room opens up at one of the hotels here. The mare at the inn said you know everyone, so you might be able to help me find a place to cra– er, sleep.”
I saw the mares who’d come in after me exchange a glance, and then the cream-coated one with the indigo-and-fuscia mane (ugh!) trotted up. “Well, we’ve got an empty bedroom we could offer.”
I blinked, feeling obscurely guilty for the uncharitable thought of a moment before. Her mane was very nice, I was sure, even if griffons didn’t happen to come in those colors. “What, just like that?”
Both mares grinned and nodded.
“Uh, well... thank you! Thank you very much! I’m Godric, if you didn’t hear earlier,” I said, holding out my hand to shake without thinking.
“Bon-Bon.” The mare gave me her hoof while the mint-green unicorn waved.
“I’m Lyra! Nice to meet you.”
“Likewise.”
“Glad I could help!” Pinkie Pie added with a giggle.
Maybe this town wasn’t so bad after all.
Diagonals
A/N: This was kind of an experiment in FlutterDashieTwiPieRareAppleShy shipping. I may or may not do anything with it, depending on response.
Twilight flipped to a fresh sheet on her easel pad and began drawing a small sketch of herself and Rarity's faces. "So let me get this straight. I've... ahem. I've got a crush on Rarity," she said quickly, blushing as she drew a line between the sketches, then added Fluttershy with her hair hanging in her face. "Rarity likes Fluttershy, who's been in love with Applejack for who-knows-how-long." She added lines between them and continued to draw as she spoke, moving clockwise in a rough circle. "Applejack likes Dash, but Dash is involved with Pinkie." She paused, noting the obvious gap between Pinkie's face and her own. "I don't suppose you've been holding something back from us?" she added sardonically in the pink pony's direction.
"Er... actually..." said an uncharacteristically embarrassed Pinkie after an awkward pause.
"Oh, come on!" Twilight shouted, throwing her hooves in the air. She spiked the pencil on the floor so hard it bounced into the air, tumbling end-over-end until it landed in Pinkie's mane. "This is..." The anger gradually faded from her voice and she slowly deflated to the floor. "This is just... ridiculous." She hid her face under her forelegs.
"I admit it's rather startling, when one sees it all drawn out like that," Rarity said, stroking the other unicorn's mane comfortingly.
Rainbow Dash glanced sheepishly at Applejack, trying not to meet the earth pony's eyes. "Wow. Uh. I feel really stupid now."
"I'll just... stay out of your way," Fluttershy offered as she started to creep toward the door.
"Now don't you try ta vanish on us, sugarcube!" Applejack said quickly, waving the shy pegasus back to her place. "This don't change noth-- well, I mean, I still wanna be yer friend!"
Twilight blew out her lips as she lifted her head just far enough to look at her friends. "So what do we do /now/? No more than half of us can be with the pony they really want, and it's not like I can just ask Princess Celestia for more tickets this time!"
Pinkie suddenly spoke up from the easel, where she was carefully drawing in lines connecting everypony to everypony else. "Isn't it obvious?" she said with a grin.
Rarity eyed the chart distrustfully. "No?" she ventured.
"Friends-with-benefits all around!"
There was a long, extremely embarrassed pause.
"Oh, what the hay," Dash finally broke the silence.
"That's the spirit, Dashie!"
"I guess?" Twilight said, then slowly raised herself from the floor as her voice grew more confident. "I mean... sure! It kind of makes sense, right? Primitive ponies lived in communal herds, after all."
"Heaven knows we all want to act like primitives," Rarity cut in ascerbically. Her eyes flicked to Fluttershy, though, and her expression softened. "Still, unconventional as it might be, I suppose the idea has... merit." She turned an appraising gaze on Applejack.
The earth pony rubbed the back of her neck under the uncomfortably intense scrutiny. "Well, I s'pose I can give it a try. Fer a bit. If you're okay with it?" she asked, drawing all eyes to Fluttershy.
"Um... oh my... well, if you really want me to..."
"Woohoo!" Pinkie whooped. "I've never arranged an /orgy/ before! Do you mind if we use the library?"
"Pinkie, what about Spike? We can't--"
Pinkie interrupted with a huge, dramatic gasp. "We're gonna need tons of booze and it's nearly sunset! AJ, Dashie, can you help me carry?" She was out the door like a shot.
"I'll catch up," Applejack put in, ambling to the foot of the stairs as Rainbow Dash flew after the pink pony. "Hey, Spike!" she bellowed gleefully, "wanna stay up late an' help us give each other makeovers?!"
Less than a minute later, the little dragon was dashing through library. He had a pillow clutched in one hand, the other trailing a battered suitcase with hastily-packed comic books poking out the edges. "Hey Applejack you've got a hayloft right sounds cozy have fun good night!" he shouted as he ran for the door. The orange pony crossed her hooves and cast a self-satisfied smirk in Twilight's direction.
"You're amazing," the unicorn growled. "Now shouldn't you be catching up with Pinkie?"
Applejack's chuckle drifted back over her shoulder as she galloped out the door.
Untitled
A/N: Crack ship? Crack ship. I honestly don't remember what I was thinking when I wrote this, but it seems like an oddly compelling setup to me.
Candlelight flickered behind closed curtains in the Carousel Boutique, casting a soft glow about the main room, but none witnessed it except a discarded, pointy hat spangled with yellow and white stars which lay at the foot of the stairs. A cape of similar design had fallen carelessly between the upstairs door and the bed, alongside a fuzzy pink robe.
"Why can't I contain myself when you're here?" Rarity murmured in the half-darkness, stroking a hoof down the frost-colored tresses that spilled across her stomach.
"The Great and Powerful Trixie has that effect on intelligent unicorn mares, it would seem," the other unicorn replied playfully. "And why would a passionate mare like yourself want to contain it?"
Rarity grimaced and leaned down to plant a silent kiss on the tip of Trixie's horn. "Because I love Twilight -- like a sister, of course -- and it will devastate her when she finds out. And she will find out, sooner or later. You know she's no fool."
Trixie simply smiled in reply and waved her hoof expansively as she spoke. "Ah, but Trixie has a plan." Her horn began to glow, conjuring neon outlines of herself and a purple unicorn standing together. "By this time next week, Twilight will find herself sorely tempted by another." The glowing outline of a white unicorn with vivid purple hair appeared, drawing the Twilight-figure's gaze. A bright red heart sprung up in the purple unicorn's chest, pulsing with an audible "thump-thump". The other two images grabbed the edges of the heart and started tugging on it, pulling it back and forth between them. "Oh, how she will waver! And you, of course, will not make the decision easy."
Rarity covered her mouth with both hooves, stifling a gasp. "You suggest that I pursue Twilight? How could that accomplish anything but break her heart twice over?"
The Trixie-figure suddenly let go of the heart and pulled the other two into a hug. "Of course, Trixie is no fool either. When I 'find out' about her desire, the wise and worldly Trixie will simply suggest an... unconventional solution. Assuming, of course, that you would not object to adding my dear Twilight to our little trysts..." The glowing figures began kissing one another in frenzied passion, then fell over in a very suggestive pose before bursting in a shower of pink and red sparks.
Rarity let out a laugh of delight and clopped her hooves together. "Oh, darling, that is simply /perfect!/ I'll gladly welcome Twilight into my bed." She leaned down farther, pressing her lips to Trixie's. "You wicked..." Kiss. "...devious..." Kiss. "...beautiful mare!"
LyraBonCon
A/N: Don't look at me like that.
Lyra and Bonbon stood expectantly in front of their closet door, the unicorn nearly bouncing with excitement while her wife sat, outwardly calm, but glancing at the clock every ten or fifteen seconds. Each clutched a badge in her hooves, labeled Lyra-52 and Bonbon-52 respectively.
There was a low 'worrp' from the closet, and the two mares grinned at one another and slipped on their badges. Then Lyra stretched out her magic and opened the door.
They walked into a room full of familiar faces. The ones, in fact, that they saw in the mirror every morning. From a bank of doors identical to their own, other Lyras and Bonbons trotted into a stainless steel cube of a room. A quarter of the room was sectioned off into a dais enclosed in panes of glass, where the lab-coated mares of Equestria-1 operated arcane control panels. Lyra waved and got a quick wave in return, but Byte and Lepton were far too busy to socialize.
At the mouth of the hallway out of the portal room, another Bonbon sat with a clipboard in her hooves, checking off boxes as each pair passed. "Hiya, Five!" Bonbon said. "How's Tootsie?"
"Fifty-two!" Bonbon-5 dropped the pencil and clipboard to hug her doppelganger hello. "She's fine, thanks. We dropped her off with Dinky's mom this morning. How about you? Thinking of adopting?"
The 52 couple glanced at one another and giggled. "Not quite yet," Lyra grinned, then glanced over her shoulder. "We better not hold up the show, though. Catch up with you later?"
"You bet!" the mare said, passing over a pair of booklets. "Only a few more cycles to go, so opening ceremonies will start soon. Have fun!"
A huge banner that read, "Welcome to LyraBonCon 7!" greeted the new arrivals in the main room, nearly obscuring the "Equestrian Innovations" logo on the wall above a temporary stage. The atrium lobby was flooded with identical cream- and mint-colored mares, plus a smattering of oddballs. A hoofful of pegasi flitted above the crowd, and an aquarium tank was occupied by six seaponies. (Two more than last year!) The four human couples sat together at the back of the room, mobbed by adoring Lyras. Lyra-52 personally didn't see the appeal, though they were certainly nice enough. There was also a small fan club around the stallions from Equestria-63 and its neighboring universes, but they didn't stand out nearly as much.
"Awww, all the good spots are taken already," Bonbon complained. They pushed into the crowd, trying to find a spot where they could see well, but Lyra ultimately ended up slumped on the edge of a planter next to Bonbon's hooves while the earth pony craned her neck to see.
The lab-coated mares climbed up on stage alongside a smiling Bonbon, who trotted up to the mic as conversation quickly ceased. "Greetings, Lyras and Bonbons of the multiverse! Welcome to Equestria-1, Ponyopolis, and LyraBonCon Seven!" A round of cheers went up. "I'm glad to see so many familiar faces--" She waited for a polite laugh, then went on. "--and I understand we have some newcomers, too! Let's give a big L-and-B welcome to Skyra and Bon Voyage from 270, the 288s, and our new Seapony-304 couple!" There was a garbled mess of a hello, which Lyra and Bonbon cheerfully added their voices to. "And of course, a huge thank-you to Byte and Lepton, without whom none of this would be possible!" The local couple took a bow.
"Now, I'm afraid we have some sobering news to report. It seems that Equestrias 235 through 238 finally had their apocalypses. Lyra and Bonbon 235 haven't made contact, and we fear the worst." Noises of sympathy rippled through the room, but the Emcee waved them to silence. "It gets worse, I'm afraid. The 238 couple managed to hold out until today, so we'll be working on re-homing them later, but Lyra-237... didn't make it. Princess Lyra and Princess Bonbon are treating B-237 for radiation sickness now, but if some of you single Lyras could go see her, I know she would appreciate it.
"But enough about that. We've got a string quartet concert right here at seven tonight, followed by the heavy metal stylings of Dyskörd at nine. The panel schedule is in your booklet. Now, it's time to party! So make friends, have fun, and remember: what happens in Equestria-1, stays in Equestria-1!"
Queen of Hearts
A/N: This one, I'm a bit nervous about. It's sort of a pseudo-redemption story for Chrysalis, but you could also read it as Stockholm Syndrome. And I'm okay with that ambiguity, but I wonder if it might make readers uncomfortable.
Princess Mi Amore Cadenza lit her horn and strode slowly down a flight of carved steps, down and down into the earth. The daylight soon vanished behind her, leaving the soft blue glow of her magic as her only guide.
"Help!" a high-pitched -- and familiar -- voice drifted up from below. "Whoever's up there, please help me!"
She continued down, neither hesitating nor hurrying.
"My name is Twilight Sparkle! I've been captured by an evil enchantress, but if you free me I can give you anything you want! I'm Princess Celestia's personal student, she'll make good on it! I swear! Please!"
The cell at the bottom of the stairs was rough-hewn stone, quite large for its single prisoner, but plain, almost unfurnished. Water dripped steadily into a basin at one side, and a large pile of straw served for a bed. A magical orb shed chilly silver light from the middle of the ceiling. There were no guards on the prison -- what fool would venture down a tunnel within sight the gates of Tartarus itself? Cadence paused as she entered the cell, regarding the captive coolly. The little purple unicorn stood straining toward the door at the end of her magic-resistant chains, one loop driven straight through each of the unicorn's legs.
Twilight's face fell as soon as she saw the visitor. "Oh. It's you," she growled. A wave of green flame enveloped her, eating away the purple coat in favor of chitinous black. In a moment, the former queen of the changelings stood in the cell at the bottom of the stairs. She wore no shackles; there was no need. The chains that bound her were simply strung through the holes in her legs.
"Hello, Chrysalis," Cadence said softly.
The changeling glared death at her. "Is this how Princess Celestia treats her prisoners? Banished beyond the borders of Equestria and imprisoned in my place of banishment! Left without company or nourishment for weeks on end!" Chrysalis sat up on her haunches, waving her forelegs dramatically. "Why not go all the way? Was she out of serpents to drip venom in my eyes?"
Cadence sighed, taking a seat on the hard stone floor just beyond the changeling's reach. "This is all Luna's doing, actually. She has somewhat more... definite ideas of how to deal with threats to our people."
Chrysalis looked down at her fetters and shook them, rattling the chains. "I seem to be dealt with," she replied acidly. "So why are you here? I didn't take you for the gloating type."
The princess shook her head quickly. "I'm not here to gloat. When Shining and I got back from our honeymoon, Princess Luna asked me to take on the duty of feeding you. You're probably... very hungry by now. Almost out of power?"
The changeling blew out a huff of a laugh and rolled her huge, luminous eyes. "You wasted a trip, then. Even if I changed into your loving husband," she spat venomously, "you would know who I am. There would be no love there for me to feed on. I'll starve to death here unless you release me." She held out a foreleg with a mix of hope and resignation in her voice.
The pink alicorn gave Chrysalis a sad, lopsided grin and stepped toward her, brows creased with concentration. "You're wrong. My talent is Love. I can spread love with my magic and lend its power to those I care for, but that's only one facet of it. I've found, if I try, I can find it within myself to love anyone. No matter what they may have done."
The changeling flinched as though in physical pain and retreated a step, her poison-green eyes widening. "What was that? What did you do? Stay back! I mean it!"
"I forgive you, Chrysalis," Cadence said softly as she advanced.
The former queen backed away step by step until her rump found the corner of the cell. Cadence continued forward, relentlessly, a sad smile on her face. "Stop it..." Chrysalis begged. "It hurts!"
The mare stood firm, fixing the changeling with a sad, sympathetic gaze. "It hurts me, too. You could have come to us in friendship, Chrysalis. We could have figured something out."
"You don't understand! I can't control my feeding. It hurts to feed!" Chrysalis whimpered, tears springing up in her eyes as she cringed into the corner. "Why does it hurt?"
Cadence's eyes widened in surprise, but she didn't move. "Oh... well... I'm sorry. But you have to eat."
"Please..." Chrysalis gasped, her voice nearly a wail. "I'd rather starve!"
The pink mare finally stepped back and shook her head sadly, releasing the concentration it took to admire the changeling queen's cleverness and dedication to her swarm. "You know we can't let that happen. You said it yourself." It was a small meal, but perhaps it would have to do for now. She needed to consult with Luna anyway. "See you next week."
I really like the look of that Chrysalis fic- I'm always about scared of those though. In case they make her to pony and not alien enough-
It looks cool though, different.
Diagonals and the Chrysalis one sound pretty interesting to me.
The narrative style in My Ponyville Summer cracks me up to no end, and I'm interested in your vision of Twilight meeting a foreign university student.
216742
"Ponyville Summer" is more of a Lyra/Bon/OC fic. But thanks!
216792 Understood. However, just as you have a Pinkie appearance in your preview, I didn't think it too much of a stretch to imagine a Twilight cameo as well.
Whoa boy; 'Diagnonals' sounds awesome :3
Diagonals looks absolutely awesome. I never thought such a concept could be pulled off well, but, at least in concept, you seem to have done a good job with it. I'm DEFINITELY eager to see that one. AFTER Lace and ribbon!