Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash awake to find themselves in a mysterious, compromising position. It's up to the brilliant mind of Twilight to deduce what series of events led them to this.

This story has sequels entitled Twilight Holmes: Sabotage After Sunset followed by Salting Snails.

Written for the Annual Twidash Contest.

Dramatic reading Part One and Part Two!

Let's Read blog by bookplayer here!

Remaster edited by Formerly Committed and Shellsh0cker.

Sequel: Left Behind: Sunny Disposition
Apparently it was scouted and is on EqD too

Nightmare Moon was meant to be released after a thousand years. A momentous occasion for her but terrifying for all the ponies on her day of freedom. She would get revenge on her sister and cover the world in darkness and shape everything to fit it.

That was the plan, at least. Instead, something went awry with the spell and she wasn't released when she was supposed to be. The mare-in-the-moon is brought into a world with stagnated technology, giant cities, and no sign of her sister or any of the other immortals. In fact, ponies don't seem terrified of her at all, and the stay within the core of her powers infused and changed the alicorn's body drastically.

The alicorn had no obstacles left! But...she was also a relic of the past. A past everyone seemed to have forgotten. A past she could no longer look upon.

Artwork by ElkaArt. Link in source.
Big thanks to Kryostase for helping spot errors I've missed.

This story is a sequel to Left Behind

After defeating the Broken Pony, Nightmare Moon is finally free to begin her plans to retake Equestria and restore it to its former glory. However, she is haunted by the ill portents she had been given and searches for signs of her sisters' fragments or the coming of any new alicorns.

On top of this, the king impedes the alicorn's work at every turn and tries to be rid of her just as frequently. So many things happening all at once and spiraling towards the doom the 'leftover tool' warned her about, but Nightmare Moon is determined. No creature will stop her goal, not even the dregs of Equestria's destroyers from so long ago.

The mirror appeared one morning in Rarity's home. It was covered in the dust of ages. Traced in the dust, with the tip of somepony's hoof, was a message and a plea.

SET ME FREE

Slightly expanded from an entry in GaPJaxie's My Little Speed Writing Competition, which gives you 60 minutes to write a story based on a prompt chosen by the masses. Join us in the Discord if you're interested in improving your writing skills!

It's autumn in Ponyville, and Nightmare Night is approaching, when Sweetie Belle stumbles on a mystery.

Cats are adorable, and playful, and aloof, and they know more than ponies realize. Once they were revered as gods.

But have you ever tried to get a straight answer from a cat?

Cover art by iisaw.
Featured in the Everfree Northwest spotlight.
Reviewed by Estee.

"I loved this. It’s atmospheric from beginning to end... a delightful piece, capably written and smooth in its delivery" --PaulAsaran.

Thrust into the world of her favorite book-series, Rainbow Dash finds herself dragged along for the ride of Daring Do's latest adventure. Mind-boggling as it may be, things are about to get far more complicated. For Rainbow Dash, breaking the fourth wall may very well prove to be a learning experience.

TAGS: Learning curve, Breaking the Fourth Wall for beginners, "Rainbow Sense", Where is Pinkie Pie?

This story was conceived long before the episodes "Daring Don't" and "Power Ponies".
For the sake of this story, Daring Do remains a fictional character, the author remains anonymous, and there is no such thing as a store selling "enchanted" comic-books.

This story is available as an audio-book (text-to-speech synthesized), see individual chapters for links.

Story excerpt:

It still bothered her how she had gotten here, how it was even possible that she was walking side-by-side through some buried underground-structure, with her favourite fictional character become flesh. But as they resumed trotting deeper into the temple, Dash's thoughts kept going back to the event.

"No", Dash told herself, sternly. "That's - that's not it."

She almost would have compared the experience to "Pinkie Sense" of all things!

But she had seen something out of the corner of her eye. It had been... letters. Words. A sentence.

Something along the lines of "... the characteristic noise of a ... spikes closing in right behind ... Rainbow Dash slammed her body into ... ".

And then she had acted, before the trap was even visible. She had known what was going to happen, before it happened.

She ... she had read the next paragraph.

Story-related artwork:
[1] [2]

The Cutie Mark Crusaders have gotten pretty good at helping ponies find and understand their cutie marks. They could even be considered experts on the subject.

A cutie mark that's vanished might prove a bit trickier.

Apple Bloom knows of a few things that could remove a cutie mark, but she'll have to dig deep to find the cause of this strange phenomenon, and help a poor filly get her destiny back.

Dee stays loyal to Mum, which means obeying all her Rules. Hide when company is over. Keep your sweater tight over your wings. Never speak the name "Rainbow Dash."

The problem with Rules is sometimes they don't help. Like when a scary purple unicorn shows up to ask Mum some dangerous questions.

Dangerous questions about Dee.

This is an entry in the Snippet Series, an anthology of old oneshots that I (and my good buddy Str8aura) wrote based around interesting pics I found. New ones will be posted every Thursday for the foreseeable future.

This story is a sequel to Hinterlands

Two years ago, bounty hunter Bitterroot turned a lich and her necromancer apprentice over to the authorities. Now, that apprentice, Amanita, has been released on good behavior. She has no more interest in necromancy. In fact, she asked Bitterroot to turn her in all those moons ago and helped capture her master. With nowhere for Amanita to go, Bitterroot takes her in until she can get her hooves under herself.

But all isn’t well in Canterlot. A killer is stalking the streets, striking with impunity and leaving no trace. The Royal Guard is befuddled. Bitterroot’s investigations have yielded nothing. And night is turning into a time of dread. Something needs to be done. If only the dead could speak. If only there was a moral necromancer around.

Amanita doesn’t want to admit it, but the part of her past she hates the most might be the most useful part right now. Just because ponies are dying doesn’t mean they need to stay that way. What she buried needs to be dug up again.

Her demons are rearing their ugly heads. It’s time to face them.

Reading the preceding story will provide some context for this, but isn't required. Cover art is modified from this image. Other entries in this series:

• Hinterlands
• Urban Wilds
• Death Valley

Trixie has read literally dozens of true crime stories. She has no idea why it takes the police so long to solve the crimes when they're so obvious -- especially in hindsight. When a murder happens right in front of her, its her chance to prove her expertise to the doubters and claim her rightful title as the Intelligent and Insightful Trixie, Equestria's Greatest Magical Detective!

Assuming it actually is a murder, anyway.

An entry in the 2023 Whodunnit Contest