Celestia watched the sunset.

Cast out of the Celestial Palace, the former Royal Student, Sunset Shimmer, is about to take life into her own hooves and seize what rightfully belongs to her, on the other side of that mysterious Mirror Portal.

Only problem is, somepony else got to the mirror, first. It's gone, vanished.
So is Celestia.

On the bright side, the new Acting Princess, Mi Amore Cadenza (or Cadance, as she likes to be called), is willing to ignore that banishment and give Sunset a second chance. She's heard the rumors about the reclusive, disobedient, and just-generally-mean Royal Student, but the Acting Princess needs all the help she can get.

So, all of a sudden, Sunset goes from being a disgraced scholar, banned from the palace grounds, to serving as a valuable asset of Princess Cadance's desperate scramble to hold the Principality of Equestria together and figure out what on Equus even happened to the Princess of the Sun.

Now, Sunset just has to avoid royally peeving off the ponies giving her a second chance: to ingratiate herself to them, even; to make herself indispensable. She can lie, cheat, and swindle like nopony else in the Celestial Palace, and it's time she used those talents for somepony other than herself.

Starting with this little project of Cadance's. The Princess needs to recruit a young group of friends to serve the Crown and Harmony, and she's already got a lead. Sunset just has to do the actual hoofwork of meeting the candidates, and then she can dust her hooves of this and go back to her studies, secure in her appointment as Royal Student.

What's the worst that could happen?

Comes after Stay of Execution, but that work is not required to appreciate this one. Provides context for Understudy.

Rated Teen for coarse horse language and various threats made to ponies' well-being.

Andrew hikes; he's always done it with friends, and he couldn't imagine a trip without them. Today is different: he's a bit lost, but he won't be friendless for all too long.

With the strange—yet adorable—local fauna as company, Andrew sets off to conquer the hike of his life.

On Goodreads thanks to the work of Facedeer.
Coverart originally by Danfango.

Two souls who found each other, and rekindled their relationship, so late in life are getting married, and the wedding is surely going to be a grand event. Both Cranky Doodle Donkey and Matilda have led long, eventful lives, and that's led to a long and varied guest list.

One such guest is looking at a wedding invitation from his first ever friend. He's going to go. He can't not go. But one little request, one added specifically for his invitation, has him stopping short. Four little words chilling him to the core.

Come as you are.

A standalone entry in the The Eventide Verse.
Other tag is for Kevin.
Also check out author Patreon, Ko-Fi and commissions.

Warning: The following story you are about to read is currently unedited.

In 835, Princess Celestia made history by having her picture be taken by the newly made invention called the daguerreotype camera. However, a week before, she found herself engaged in a conversation with three art critics who worried that this invention might summon the death of painting as they knew it.

Viewers would like to know that all the following criticism in this story is based on actual historical beliefs of how photography was seen in the 19th century. Any similarities to the new genre of AI art is purely coincidental.

"In The Precocious Princeling's Guide to Diplomatic Relations, there are three rules for how a royal ought to conduct himself abroad.

1. A diplomat of Equestria must obey all local laws of the nation they are assigned to.
2. A diplomat of Equestria should advocate for the interests of Equestria to the best of their abilities.
3. Under no circumstance should a diplomat of Equestria get involved in the following: Political parties, popular uprisings, peasant revolutions, class solidarity movements, coups d'etat, or other attempts at regime change, violent or otherwise.

By the time I had finished my tenure in Saddle Arabia, I had broken all three."
-Prince Blueblood, First of His Name

Rarity will be there when Rainbow opens her eyes, she has to be.

Thanks to Scriblits Talo for making the cover, and helping with the writing.

Thanks to PseudoBob Delightus for proofreading.

Thanks to ThePeer for pre-reading.

Thanks to Meadowsys for pre-reading.

This story is a sidequel to Equestrian Rim

This story is a side story and a sequel, however, it is not necessary to read Equestrian Rim, however it is recommended.

Follow Gung Ho and Blitzkrieg as they protect Baltimare with all of their might. After all, with a Jaeger like Crimson Fall, they can beat back a hurricane.

A pilot for an Idea I might or might not get back to.
Let me know if ya really want more.
 In the frozen north there is little separating life from death, however there are things that are far worse than death.

A lone wonderer finds an Alicorn, alone, injured in the snow.

This story is a sequel to Urban Wilds

Amanita. Quiet. Awkwardly self-conscious. Necromancer. Reformed. Newly hired by the Royal Guard and the apple of its eye. How could she not be? She’s a peerless expert when it comes to necromancy. But only because she’s the only pony with any knowledge of necromancy beyond the basics, she tells herself. She needs to be more than just a static source of knowledge; she also needs to apply that knowledge, to expand her mind. She can’t live her whole life in a lab. She needs experience out in the field.

Which is how she finds herself assigned to a ley purification team. There’s something wrong with a ley line. It’s not immediately dangerous, but if left alone, it could corrupt the land, killing crops and creating monsters. Amanita is part of a small crew that will head to the line’s source, the small mining town of Tratonmane, to identify and correct the problem. Fortunately, ley purification is a well-known science. It’ll be easy.

At least, that’s the idea. Far to the north, swathed in frost and snow, walled in by vertiginous mountains, Tratonmane is as isolated as can be. Miners and subsistence farmers eke out a living in what little land they have. Ravenous wolves stalk the forest at its border. Whispers abound at the team’s arrival. Tratonmane has existed outside the Crown’s influence for centuries and many of the townsfolk don’t appreciate it sticking its nose in now. Especially since no town lasts for that long without getting a few skeletons in its closets. Amanita and her team will have to navigate hostile environments — personal and terrestrial alike — if they want to get to the bottom of this.

For if they don’t, heads will roll. Perhaps literally.

Nothing a necromancer can’t fix.

Updates TuThS. Reading earlier stories will provide some context for this, but isn't required. Other entries in this series:

• Hinterlands
• Urban Wilds
• Death Valley