It's tough to realize that you haven't done enough with your life to really know who you are. And it sucks to know that even being a top student at the School of Friendship doesn't automatically make you feel special or important on the inside.

Fortunately, Smolder's found a workaround to that problem, and she's willing to let Sandbar in on the secret. And it turns out that a new hobby and a developing sense of achievement are powerful tools for restoring a Colt's self-confidence. Perhaps too powerful...

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Thanks to Wanderer D, Flashgen, Door Belle and GaPJaxie for their help.

There are certain obligations to be fulfilled by the Canterlot Elite when duty calls. One must never back down from assisting others when to refuse aid would shame the entire aristocracy, one must never complain about assisting others, and one must never ask for aid when they can physically manage to avoid getting other court members involved. It's not a standard that many nobles are able to hold themselves to, but it's certainly expected, particularly for strapping young up-and-comers like Blueblood.

Still, Blueblood wasn't expecting to have to conduct a tea ceremony for a foreign delegate, particularly when he knows nothing about the delegate or the ceremony itself.

It's a seemingly impossible task, but when the alternative is publicly losing face, Blueblood might not have a choice at all...

All Star Tracker wanted was a couple of books signed from the world's most amazing pony. Of course, when you're perpetually nervous and your idol might be talking to you face-to-face, "no problem" might be a very big problem after all.

Thanks to Door Belle and FlashGen for their help.

When Twilight Sparkle's life grew more full of accolades, it grew more full of demands. First, she became Twilight Sparkle, the element of Magic; then she became Twilight Sparkle, the Princess of Friendship. Then the savior of two universes, then the rejuvenator of the Tree of Harmony, then owner of the Castle of Friendship. The Redeemer of Starlight Glimmer, the aunt of the world's most powerful alicorn, the headmistress of the School of Friendship. So it went.

And at the end of it all, she realized that Twilight Sparkle didn't really exist anymore - all that was left of her was a series of titles, awards and obligations, and the pony that held it all together was little more than a puppet to the demands of the world around her.

And when she understood that Twilight Sparkle was as good as gone, a second option opened itself up to her: if she could unfetter herself from the glory she had worked all her life to obtain, would Twilight Sparkle exist again - not as a name attached to a role, but a pony with her own hopes, dreams and desires?

And if she did, what would come next?

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A brief story about time, reality, pseudophilosophy, self-actualization and surprisingly tasty desserts.

Cover art by KzKsM.

Part of the Re- 'Verse.

Thanks to Wanderer D, Flashgen and Door Belle for their help proofreading, editing and offering advice.

And, more than anything else, my immense thanks to GaPJaxie for inspiring, reviewing and talking to me about this story. Without him, it literally would not exist.

Formal social occasions are sort of a funny thing. Despite their oft-stated purpose being recreation and relaxation, they tend to be incredibly stressful and vaguely disingenuous - and the more formal they are, the more stressful and disingenuous they tend to be.

The Canterlot Hearth's Warming Ball? Hoo, boy.

And when you're a pony who doesn't belong at such things, what in Equestria are you supposed to do? What, if anything, can help you get through the evening?

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My entry into the Jinglemas Collab of '17, posted very late. Sorry about that.

Rated "Highly Recommended" by Present Perfect!

The beach is a wonderful place. More than anything else, it's the getaway to end all getaways: a chance to drink in the sun and the surf and lose track of the outside world. And for two ponies looking to get away from different things, it's a nice little pocket of paradise. For a time, anyway.

It's a shame that paradise isn't perfect. It's a shame that paradise doesn't last forever.

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All of my thanks to Flashgen for going over this story for me. And while I can thank Alex Pall and Andrew Taggart for inspiration, it's more for the following quote than anything else:

Paris \`pa-res\ n
1. A sentimental yearning for a reality that isn't genuine
2. An irrecoverable condition for fantasy that evokes nostalgia or day dreams.

Here's to the lies that are beautiful, everyone.

Shaping a loose collective of dragons into a formidable and regimented empire isn't the easiest task. But with the proper application of wit and willpower, she's started to chisel out edges in the previously dull kingdom, started to sculpt it into something powerful enough to stand the test of time.

Spike was only supposed to visit her as a diplomat, to help her hammer out a trade agreement between The New Dragon Empire and Equestria. But he's everything a dragon shouldn't be: conciliatory, spineless, peace-loving, friendly. He sees what she has to do - executions, browbeating, delegation - and balks, has the audacity to think he can help her.

And he's getting popular. Among them. They're supposed to hate him, but they're doing the opposite. And in a world where he's treated like royalty and could have been king, what room is there left for Ember? How's she supposed to govern when the mere presence of a foreigner is enough to shake the empire's principles to their roots?

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This story is designed to be able to be read as a stand-alone long story. Similarly, Flint. is designed to be read as a stand-alone short story. For fullest reading experience, however, read the two of them together; chronologically, the events of Steel. come literally right after the events of Flint.

I'm gonna be honest, I haven't done multi-chapter stuff in a while, and I might have bitten off more than I can chew here. I've got it all plotted out, in my head and on paper, but actually making good on my promises feels daunting at best. "Bear with me" applies until I've published everything, I guess, and I'll try to release chapters on a semi-regular basis until it's done (and add a tag when it starts actually cropping up in the story proper.)

All of my thanks to Flashgen for helping me with this.

Ruling an up-and-coming empire is largely an unpleasant task: there are disputes to be resolved, budgets to be balanced, infrastructure to maintain and policies to enact - and made sure they're followed through on. This isn't helped by the fact that, as a dragon, Princess Ember is supposed to perform these duties without complaint, clemency or compromise. It was thankless for her father and thankless for her, especially when they were supposed to perform duties above and beyond their normal tasks.

Ember really doesn't want to have to personally execute a traitor. But that's part of her job, part of what she's expected to do, part of how she's expected to show strength of character.

He. Must. Pay.

All of my thanks to Flashgen and Regidar for pre-reading the story.

Picture was created by bassybird, and will be deleted upon request.

The Grand Galloping Gala is thoroughly boring and stale. Fortunately, Rarity's awesome and cutthroat enough to make a legitimate impression this year, and all it took was ditching her normal frou-frou affectations and adopting the bad-girl attitude she always deserved to have.

Unfortunately, the change doesn't sit well with everypony. But what matters is how you feel on the inside, right?

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Yeah, this is Taylor Swift's fault. It's also Josh Haber's fault. I might as well blame unmitigated stupidity for enabling this sort of thing in multiple ways, and i also recommend blaming FlashGen for being a wonderful friend, and also for not telling me to not post this idea. Too late for that now, though.

Rated "Recommended" in a particularly nice way by Present Perfect. I'm glad you liked it, my guy.

For the past few weeks, Princess Celestia has been quite used to Daybreaker tempting her in her dreams. Unfortunately for Daybreaker, Celestia doesn't have much use for even greater power or the terrified fealty of others, and even threatening Celestia doesn't seem to perturb the princess in the slightest.

But Celestia wasn't prepared for a dream about making conversation over pancakes with Daybreaker. And she certainly wasn't expecting the loud-mouthed and melodramatic alicorn to be horrifyingly effective at crushing her will with breakfast and cold, twisted logic.

Now featured on Equestria Daily! (4/19/18)

All of my thanks to Door Belle, Garnot, Pearple Prose and Pascoite for helping me write this. I'm profoundly thankful for their help.

Indirectly inspired by the works of Boundlessanon.