It's Equestria's first, foremost, and simplest rule: Nightmare Moon comes first in your heart. Always. To betray one's devotion to Her Majesty with love for another is unthinkable. It is an act of high treason: a Heartcrime.

Night Chamberlain Rarity is not perfect. She's had the occasional liaison with her favorite Night Guard, a couple of incorrect feelings here and there, but she is certainly not a criminal. She is sure of it.

But then, Rarity's been wrong before.

An entry Winner of the Raridash doodles contest

In the shadow of political turmoil, riots, and inter-tribal conflict, Equestria cannot afford another crisis. When a legal snarl over a funeral explodes into a scandal, there may be a chance to set things right.

Now, armed with total faith in the power of friendship and harmony, Twilight Sparkle arrives in Cloudsdale to talk down a fringe movement of radical young Pegasi.
It would be a lot easier if their leader hadn't been petrified for fifty years.

Takes place between The Last Problem and MLP: A New Generation.

Winner of Imposing Sovereigns IV, with the prompt Twilight Sparkle/Persistence

Quillfeather has been tasked by Nightmare Moon to write a poem that will venerate her to her newly-conquered citizens.

He cannot.

There's too much at stake.

Written for the A Thousand Words Contest III, in the Drama category. Read the other entries here!

The title comes from the song of the same name by the Mountain Goats, although the song and the story share little in common.

With some poetical assistance by the ever-lovely alafoel. Preread by the wonderful Octavias Melody and the fantastic Arkadios!

*If you'd like to purchase a physical copy of this story, click here*

One of Equestria's greatest traits is tolerance. Every pony, whether Unicorn, Pegasus, or Earth, is accepted for who they are, and have their own parts to play in keeping Equestria running.

But what if an Earth pony decided he didn't want to play his assigned part? What if he wanted to rise above everyone else and become an Alicorn? Such a thing is possible... but the path to fulfilling one's dreams is never simple. Risks must be taken. Sacrifices must be made. And the question is always asked: How far would you go to get what you wanted? And would you be willing to pay a terrible price to get it?

Somehow, I've always known.

Cover artwork courtesy of Cloud-Drawings on DeviantArt.

My entry for the Dialogue-Only Contest!

One day in Equestria, the narration disappeared

Twilight does not take this well

An (apparently illegal) entry into the Dialogue Only contest

You can help support me and my stories on Ko-fi, if you want

This story is a sequel to Five Hundred Little Murders

There are ponies who insist on perceiving the Bearers as their Elements, and nothing more. Applejack is seen as having no qualities other than being honest. Rarity simply has to be generous even when doing so would hurt her. And Fluttershy must be kind. To those ponies, if she acted in any other way, no matter what the situation or provocation, it would mean she wasn't truly Kindness at all.

To see kindness as somepony's only possible response to everything is to take the first step in finding ways to abuse it.

To use kindness as the lone option can be worse.

Note: this is a direct sequel to Five Hundred Little Murders and this time, I will recommend reading that one first.

(Part of the Triptych Continuum, which has its own TVTropes page and FIMFiction group. New members and trope edits welcome.)

Now with author Patreon and Ko-Fi pages.

They love each other. But they don’t always understand. Centuries of shared time still haven’t been enough for each sister to fully comprehend how the other views the world, and that’s just one of the reasons Celestia and Luna still have fights. And sometimes it’s the smallest, stupidest differences, like how Luna prefers the longest of baths and Celestia doesn’t…

Luna feels that being immersed brings a pony closer to her world. And Celestia doesn’t understand.

Some lessons require special measures. Along with a lot of water.

And tiles. There’s definitely going to be tiles.

(Now with author Patreon and Ko-Fi pages.)

Once upon a time there was a very lazy dragon who did not want to find a town to pillage.

So he decided to make one of his own.

Editors: Mitch H, Dlafrferg
Jake the Army Guy has done an amazing reading of this on YouTube
Excellent cover picture credit: Harwick on Fimfiction or Harwicks-art on Deviantart.com
Also, the Audio Project has done a reading of this and other stories on YouTube

Crossing Guard works in Equestria's Immigration Department: among other things, he serves as the final check on whether a non-pony can take up residence in Canterlot. It's not a simple job, especially given the follow-ups when a new resident or citizen-in-waiting inevitably gets into trouble. But Gerald Gristle is an exceptionally calm applicant, Crossing's tired from a long day, and so he allows the griffon to begin the five-year process, with the announced food supply business set to open two weeks in.

Which is when Crossing finds out just what kind of food the griffon is supplying.

After all, carnivores and omnivores have to eat too...

(Part of the Triptych Continuum, which has its own TVTropes page and FIMFiction group -- but can be read as a stand-alone, and no knowledge of the other stories is required. New members and trope edits are welcome.)

Now with author Patreon and Ko-Fi pages.