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

This story is a sequel to Brighter Horizons

Adopted from infancy, there are few things Flash Skies wouldn't sacrifice for Equestria and the ponies who love and raised him. But when a pony is brutally murdered and all evidence points to Equestria's adopted son, unshakeable loyalties are questioned, friendships are strained, and a mysterious enemy more deadly than anything Flash has ever faced will manifest their dark designs against Equestria itself. Can friendship truly prevail where there is uncertainty of who is truly a friend?

Friends are close, but enemies draw closer in this thrilling sequel to Brighter Horizons!

Edited by Venerable Ro.

(Cover Art: Shimmering Sunset by Kirk Crane)

One evening, Twilight Velvet, book editor for Hoovesbury Publishing and mother of two, meets her newest client: aspiring writer Sunny Skies, who writes of distant lands and people from across the world, who has as many secrets as Celestia has loving subjects.

It didn't matter to her much, so long as Sunny did her work, and Velvet hers. But as the seasons pass by and their acquaintance grows, Velvet finds that perhaps she and Sunny are more alike than she could have ever imagined.

Set before Season 1.

Now with an audio reading by skysayl! Thanks a bunch

Third Place in the 2023 May Pairings Contest!

4/5 Stars from Loganberry's Louder Yay!

Featured on Equestria Daily!

A standalone piece in the Spectrum-verse. TV Tropes page here!

Edited by VoxAdam, proofread by skysayl and EileenSaysHi. Thanks, everyone

The Great Hall of Asterion excerpts adapted by VoxAdam.

Cover by egriz.

Featured on 29/5/2023-3/6/2023, reaching #1 three hours after publishing!

After the Friendship Games, Sunset feels it's time to return home.

Only when she gets there, Twilight's castle is nowhere to be found, Cadance just got her horn, and Princess Celestia is still calling the bacon-haired pony her prized student rather than a failed one. And just reliving her past isn't on the table thanks to a pair of wings Sunset seems to have sprouted upon her return to Equestria.

With Sunset being back before she's supposed to, will the world stay as harmonious and on track, or will everything go down in flames as Sunset has to deal with allegations that she's really a changeling in disguise, a nerdy stallion with blue hair that wants to be her coltfriend, a pretty pink princess in need of remedial magic lessons, and an annoying purple pre-teen pony that will absolutely not go to bed without first being read Starswirl's Complete Mystical Mysteries Compendium?

Only time will tell

Zipp packs up her now-obsolete flight lab.

There's more to Luna's duties than simply stopping nightmares. As well, not all nightmares are confined to dreams. Sometimes a pony needs a special reminder of their importance.

Written as a gift for Zontan, as part of an anthology. Cover art by Jay.

This story is a sequel to Brighter Horizons

Adopted from infancy, Flash Skies has sworn to serve and protect the ponies who took him in, by becoming a member of Equestria's Royal Guard. But when allegations of a tribe of marauding, massively mandibled mares mauling a pony comes to Celestia's attention, Equestria's adopted son is sent to investigate. Will he discover the truth behind the tales? Or will he end up on the menu?

Inspired by the Legend of the Mares of Diomedes, the carnivorous horses captured by Hercules. Adventure and amusement await! (Wow, featured on 9/8/22, thanks FimFic!)

(A spin-off of Brighter Horizons, join Flash and friends on a new adventure!)

Edited by Venerable Ro

Cover art 'Dark Forest' by CA34CB

The coordination is over, and Twilight is now Equestria's sole ruler.

Too bad Celestia didn't mention a few minor problems that come with ruling Equestria, such as where the royal closet is located, certain laws that are incredibly stupid but must never be rescinded, and the curse that comes with the title of Ruler of Equestria.

Yeah... that last one's going to come back and bite someone.

Teleportation. It is the best possible way to travel... As long as you don't think about it too much. As long as you don't ask where Twilight goes in that split second when she's neither here nor there.

The sound I listened to as I wrote it, available to you in order to give you the option of having the same atmosphere.

No relation to the other story with the same name, just a coincidence of both picking the same excellent title. I was unaware that the other one existed.
Dramatic Reading by Charles Spratt | Second Reading by TheDizzyDan | Third Reading by Crafty Arts | Fourth Reading by Stormy787
Russian Translation 1 (by Aloz) | Russian Translation 2 (by Doof Ex Machina)

(A PoE story.) Additional Tags: (Slice Of Life)
All Twilight wanted was to give Spike a special gift for his birthday. Yes, it was a book, but it was a very special book. An Enchanted Book like that Power Ponies comic they had recently experienced.
Things went wrong when Spike startled Twilight as she was working the spell for his (secret) gift. Needless to say, startling Twilight while she's in the middle of a spell can be a bad idea - as certain frogs can tell you.
Twilight has every reason to believe that she is now trapped in a closed reality bubble fabricated out of her own magic, with no way out. She's lost in some made-up universe reflecting some random story line.
Mike, of course, has a different opinion about the matter.

WARNING: Both Twilight and Mike love talking technical and explaining things to each other.

Twilight's World now has an audio reading by No One and Nobody. Listen HERE.

This most excellent cover art was provided by Void Heart