There is a giant hole in the wall of Twilight's castle. Most of her front door is gone. And Rainbow Dash had better have a good explanation for this.

Top ten finalist for the "Look, I can explain" writeoff.

For thousands of years, the moon has waged endless war on innocent beaches. Every day the tides wash away countless sand castles, crushing the dreams of foals all across Equestria. Somepony needs to stop the moon's heinous crimes—and, at last, it looks like somepony will.

After her sand palace is washed away by the ocean, Dinky Hooves takes it upon herself to do something that should have been done centuries ago: destroy the moon.

Now with a reading by Teksune Studios!

Originally written for the Writeoff Association's February Contest, "Look, I Can Explain..."
Thanks to Foehn, Quill Scratch, Murmurpunk, Horizon, and Oroboro for helping out in various ways.
Dinky vector by ZuTheSkunk. Silhouetted Luna vector by NightFlyer22. Moon photo by NASA.

Letters. Everyone writes them, and they're not just for ponies. Be they carriers of serious news, friendly correspondence between pen pals, or declarations of heart and heartbreak, each one is written with a clear purpose or goal in mind.

Celestia uses them to try and keep her faithful student and friends in line, and try to keep an unbalanced world on the straight and narrow.

This is much harder than it sounds.

Now with an audio reading by Lady Tenkage!

Side Stories:

Old-Fashioned Bar Hoppers, featuring Celestia, Mayor Mare, and Granny Smith shenanigans.
Journal of an Adolescent Clone, featuring Sunny and Moony shenanigans since Season 5.

Isolated from her friends and taken prisoner in the middle of a war, Twilight must deal with the very real dangers of being percieved as an enemy as well as the nightmares of her arrival on 'Earth'. Can she overcome her own fears and the fears of her captors? Will the wayward unicorn's assistance be a boon or a curse to the 'humans?' Most importantly, will she ever find her way home?

"In short, it's a story of friendship and plasma rifles, with the emphasis on the friendship. The characters are well written, the XCOM setting is fleshed out very well, and the story is compelling. If you love XCOM, you'll love the story, but even if you've never heard of it, it's more than worth giving the first 3 chapters a read.

There's excellent action later on, but the real strength lies in the collision between the friendly and naive world of Twilight Sparkle and the desperate world of humans fighting a losing war for survival and willing to do anything to turn the tide."

--Arzoo

(XCOM/FiM crossover)
(Cover art commissioned by a friend and created by the magnificent FoxInShadow!)
(Original cover art by the amazing Carnelian can be viewed here!)
(Gore tag for blood and some violence)
(Many thanks to the studius OminousTen, Arzoo, xXFluttershyForeverXx and finally Setokaiva for giving my rambles a once-over)
(Now with it's own TV Tropes page! Get to tropin' folks!)

This story is a sequel to The Most Annoying Infestation

Rainbow Dash's plan was just to relax and read Daring Do books all night long. Too bad it was interupted by a certain bat pony colt, begging "Blue Mommy" to have a sleepover with him.

This is a contest entry for ocalhoun's Big 250k Contest.

Review by MixMassBasher

Awesome Reading by Winged T. Spears

Years before six brave mares faced off against a returned Nightmare Moon, a young mare by the name of Sauer Kraut lived on her family’s farm in the Mysterious South at the foot of Macintosh Hills.

Her biggest issues in life were the constant search for new challenges and projects as well as her family's unenthused reactions to them. But was it really her fault that nopony got the brilliance behind her ideas?

However, her entire life got turned upside down the day a patrol of the Southern Equestrian Legion shot down a mysterious creature flying right overhead.

Big thank you to Recon777, Alcatraz, Civviq Writer, Silver Lighnen, Turning Gears,
Iryerris and last but not least KeyframeProductions for advise, brainstorming and proof reading!

Sequel to The Return of Princess Nightmare Moon! After having made a full medical recovery Princess Nightmare Moon tries her hoof at wooing one of her subjects, Nurse Bandaid. Meanwhile, Chrysalis returns to feed on Celestia, still vying for the position of godhood. (Coverart by Mewaponny!)