This story is a sequel to Freeport Venture: Auction Night

As Freeport’s foremost problem solver, Puzzle Piece knows that nothing is ever simple. An easy job today can create complications months or even years down the line. Sunset Shimmer’s acquisition of the Black Codex—a potent, ancient book of black magic—was just such a job. Now the warlocks she took it from have come to Freeport to take it back, and to put an end to Sunset for ruining their plans.

Puzzle Piece has no intention of letting that happen. Whether he can stop them is another matter entirely.

Buried beneath the Dragon Lands, there is a city. It rots, and it bleeds.

And it breathes.

A writing exercise inspired by the magnificent Lost Cities, written by Cold in Gardez.

Enormous thanks to Undome Tinwe, without whom this story would probably not exist.

Audiobook by Illya Leonov!

Audiobook by Jman14102!

Pinkie Pie is visited by a strange customer whilst working at Sugarcube Corner. Hilarity ensues.

Necromancy gets a bad rep.

Oh, sure, some ponies like the whole cliche of the evil zombie master, pulling his puppet strings to make corpses dance and kill for their amusement. And yeah, you kinda do have to work with dead bodies a lot, and most ponies find that a bit creepy. Oh, and you learn a lot of spells to kill things and gain power from it.

But, come on, that doesn't mean all necromancers are bad... right?

Feature on Equestria Daily

This story is a sequel to Tricks Of The Trade Show

For the most part, Ponyville's outdoor market hosts local businesses. Every so often, somepony from Canterlot may try to dump stock in the neighboring settled zone, but it's a rare occurrence. It means newcomers stand out. And when more and more of them crowd in, with every last one selling the same things...

Rarity knows the fashions being sold are counterfeit. Knockoffs. Travesties.

She just doesn't understand why she's supposed to care.

(A stand-alone part of the Triptych Continuum, which has its own TVTropes page and FIMFiction group. New members and trope edits welcome. The prequel story is linked for the prior appearance of one character: no knowledge of that piece is required to read this one.)

Now with author Patreon and Ko-Fi pages.

That's right kids! My Little Pony Generation 5 is here with The Starlight & Pals Magical Half Hour! Join Starlight Glimmer, Spike, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and all the rest for this fun-filled magical adventure. With this week's special guest, Applejack!

Be part of the adventure with Starlight & Pals as they learn valuable lessons, including: friendship, magic, small claims court, probable cause, sorcery and Nichomachean Ethics!

A collaborative anthology with GaPJaxie, offering a helpful path for Hasbro in case they need ideas for how Generation 5 should go.

How often have we been invited out, and yet, left alone? Spike knows the pain of being alone at a party, and apparently, so does Princess Luna. What will the two learn about each other as they get progressively drunk throughout the night?

Sunset Shimmer, the Magus of Freeport, has always been of two minds regarding Strumming Heartstrings. The Equestrian spy is irritating, difficult to work with, and does a lot of things Sunset doesn't approve of. However, when an old enemy leaves Strumming on death's door, Sunset will have to decide how far she's willing to go to bring her attackers to justice.

Twilight is looking to hire guards for her castle. Derpy is looking for a new job. Lightning Dust is trying to find a way forward after her falling out with the Wonderbolts, and Flare Warden is just trying to get a position far far away from her brother.

Immense thanks to Fylifa for countless hours of editing and proofreading.
Cover art by Anchorxx

There's a crime wave gripping the sleepy town of Apple-Morepone, and nopony on the City Watch seems to care. Corporal "Rainbow" M. Dash naps through her patrols, her partner Dobby is an infamous kleptomaniac, Captain Rhymes is a drunkard, and the entire Watch is a group of burnt-out misfits.

They're about to meet a batpony (adopted) by the name of Carrot, visiting town to return an overdue library book.

And none of their lives will ever be the same.

A crossover/homage to the "City Watch" books of Terry Pratchett's Discworld, written to be readable without any familiarity with the series (though they're excellent, and if you do read them you'll catch my Pratchett in-jokes).

Winner of Aragon's "Comedy Is Serious Business" Contest! "I was quoting this offline for days, forgetting where I was remembering the lines from. … This story made me legitimately jealous, both of its cleverness and of its funniness." –Contest judge MrNumbers

Rated ★★★★★ by Louder Yay! "The best comedy I've read in a long time."

"Highly Recommended" by Super Trampoline! (Video review here @ 09:17) "It's 13,000 words long, but it doesn't feel long, because so much fun stuff is happening."

Reviewed by Ghost Mike! "It features meticulously laboured-over prose, rhyming with actual metre for Zecora, perfectly-timed jokes and reveals that are often outrageous, a sneakily clever plot and character investment that works its magic throughout ... This is a phenomenally executed piece of work."

Other reviews: Present Perfect | City of Doors

Thank you to Themaskedferret and Caliaponia for prereading, and GaPJaxie for motivation/inspiration!