This story is a sequel to Lightning to the nations

After a tiring day tying up loose ends as ruler of a planet and princess to a people, Twilight returns to find Jack having started an inadvisable hobby. The reasoning beyond this hobby becomes clear to her fairly quickly.

In wake of the second Changeling Takeover, Discord is infuriated with his magic being useless when he truly needed it. To reclaim his pride, Discord does the one thing he never needed before: Train.

Now he shall remind the world just who he really is: The most powerful entity in this world. Possibly any world. And he will start with the Pony of Shadows. But is Equestria ready to see the unknown and untapped limits of Discord's might?

Stories about monsters disguised as treasure chests were thought to be no more than legends.

But when Sunburst finds the last one in existence, the Changelings come to the Crystal Empire with a demand: kill it and send the species to extinction.

This story is based on a suggestion by LordMentat!

Yesterday, Twilight Sparkle was hot in pursuit of dangerous stolen magic, her friends at her side and Ahuizotl in her sights. Today, she is imprisoned aboard a wondrous and horrifying city, hurtling through the empty void of space and surrounded by creatures and a world she barely comprehends and everything she thought she knew is upside-down - a world where a legion of ponies serve as seeming slaves.

Yesterday, Santana Guerro was finishing up an ordinary investigation - another day, another case, another synthetic assistant assigned to be by his side. Today, an ancient, living space probe from a lost world is in his office - the furthest possible thing from routine, and certain to be far from easy to close the case on.

Both of them need answers. Secrets are in play - secrets that others will kill to be the one keeping. But to find a way out, they’re going to have to understand each other.

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First-Place Winner of the 2023 Science Fiction Contest.

Cover art Credit: Twilight is from the show. All else is mine.

Cypress Flash has worked at Station Thirteen as part of the Logistics department for a month, and has had no reason to believe that it would ever be interesting. That changes when one day, he uncovers a perplexing mystery in the form of components missing from the storeroom. It'll be up to him and Kai, the station's only Changeling, to figure out not just who stole these supplies, but also why.

An entry for the 2023 Science Fiction Contest II.

Cover art adapted from this image. All credit goes to the original artist.

An alien scientist is startled when Pinkie Pie stumbles across his ship in the woods near Ponyville. For him Pinkie is a problem: he's not allowed to make contact with intelligent natives.

Pinkie Pie is overjoyed when she stumbles across an alien spaceship in the woods near Ponyville. For her the alien is a new friend, to be given a Welcome to Ponyville party with all sorts of treats.

Of course, the alien is really alien- a methane-breather who can't leave his refrigerated ship. His biochemistry is very different from a pony's. Can Pinkie Pie find something he can eat that isn't poison? And can he keep other ponies from finding his hiding place and forcing him to leave before he's had his party?

Tied for second place in the Science Fiction Contest II. First draft released early as a Patreon exclusive, now posted here in edited form for everybody.

EDIT: Wow! Straight to the top of the Featured list! Thanks, everyone!

Part of the Remember Fort Libris print anthology, thanks to our Kickstarter supporters!

This story is a sequel to The Education of Clover the Clever

History is full of mysteries.

Before the first Hearth's Warming, when the pony tribes were divided and weak, the Griffon Empire threatened to conquer the lands of ponies. The Unicorn King sent his court wizard Star Swirl the Bearded to the Griffon King to persuade him not to.

When the dust had settled the Griffon Empire ceased all expansion, and for many decades afterwards the Griffon King sent assassins to kill the wizard.

No-one knows what the two of them said to each other when they met, and over time the meeting between them became shrouded in myth. Legends sprang up about what had happened, each wilder than the last.

Now the story is told.

(New to the series? Unsure where to start? Don't worry! While they share a history, all these stories are meant to work on their own, and explain themselves along the way. Feel free to try this one, or start with one of the others. The Education of Clover the Clever is considered the best, and is a great place to begin.

This is an AU I started writing in 2013, and it has diverged from canon in ways large and small, but it rarely matters. When this story begins Starlight Glimmer is here, and the Castle of Friendship, but Star Swirl the Bearded hasn't returned to G4's present.)

The summer season was just about over at Stella Lacus adventure summer camp. Amie and her younger brother Wes were eager to return home. Unfortunately for them, their adventures had only just begun.

All at once, the entire summer camp and the mountain it was built upon shifted universes, leaving Earth behind for a far stranger world. In the same moment, every camper, counselor, and staff-member transformed into strange insectoid creatures, with unknown powers and incomprehensible needs.

Instead of returning to nursing school, Amie has a new goal: keep her little brother alive. If only the other campers didn't look at him like food...

Updates every Saturday. Editing by Two Bit and Sparktail.

Awesome cover by SimonDrawsStuff.

This story was sponsored by Canary in the Coal Mine on my Patreon. Thanks so much for your support!

The kirins are a quiet folk. They tread lightly in their place among the stars, so lightly that they may well be silent, but they're there. Some consider their presence in the cosmic game a blessing. To others, an annoyance at most. What is certain is that they are peacemakers to all.

Searing Cold is a different kind of kirin, but he is still a peacemaker.

Even for a war machine on the run.

Thank you to NorrisThePony, for everything; and Shanaar, for creating Searing Cold.

Reviewed ‘Pretty Good’ by PaulAsaran
Spotlighted on Equestria Daily
Cover art by JedaySkayVoker

Blake and his friends are urban explorers, venturing into some of the most interesting places that the public isn't allowed to see. They deal with dangerous structures, poison gas, and even the occasional arrest. But when they venture into the bony catacombs of Paris, they could never imagine what they'll find waiting for them.

Now the whole group has been thrust from the world they knew, each one cursed with a terrifying new shape. If they ever want to see their home again, they'll have to work together, searching this strange new world for a return worldgate. But while return portals are numerous, finding one that's safe enough to get them back alive is another matter entirely.

Written thanks to the generosity of donations from Lightfox and Canary in a Coal Mine on my Patreon. Edited by my wonderful team of Two Bit and Sparktail. Cover by Zutcha.

Updates every Monday and most Tuesdays. Will update more frequently until Fimfiction catches up to my Patreon.