Author's Notes:

Marvel at the AU crime-solving prowess of this duo! Prompt: What were you thinking?

“So who’s this Gabby Gums?” Pinkie asked.

“We can narrow it down,” Sombra replied, so she sat to listen. “Journalism is central to this case. We should take a cue from reporters and ask what whey would.”

“What, where, you thinking?”

He nodded. “Who, when, why, and how as well.” Then his stomach growled; she passed him a cupcake. “I used to be able to resist those.”

“What, were you thin, King?”

“Yes. Anyway, look at the scuffs on the paper. An old press, no doubt.”

“What, wear, you thinking?”

“And the colors are uneven. Smacks of inexperience.”

“What, were youth inking?”

“Precisely!” he shouted with a pound of his hoof, which squashed his cupcake.

“How could you conceive of doing that?”

He stared at her a moment. “For some reason, I thought you’d say, ‘What were you thinking?’”

She only shrugged. “For some reason, I thought you’d say, ‘Crystals!’”

Sonata Dusk Outsmarts Someone

Author's Notes:

Prompt: The Most Important Things

“Your what?” Adagio Dazzle barked.

“My birthday,” Sonata Dusk replied.

Adagio shooed her off like an insect. “No it isn’t.”

“How do you know?” Sometimes, if Sonata concentrated, she could set up a logic trap. Adagio rarely fell for them.

The more she stammered to find a way out, the bigger Sonata’s smile got. “Fine. It could be today. So what?”

“Don’t I get a birthday wish?”

“If you plan to pull this every week…”

Sonata clasped her hands behind her back. “No,” she mumbled. “I promise. I just really wanted to do this. With you.”

“If it’ll shut you up—”

“Yay!” Sonata hauled her to the couch, started a DVD, and opened a bag of popcorn.

“We’re just supposed to sit here?”

“Mmhmm,” Sonata mumbled through a mouthful of buttery goodness.

Adagio did reach for the bag. And she wore a hint of a smile.

What a perfect birthday!

It’s the Imperfections that Make Us Interesting

Author's Notes:

Prompt: Birthday Magic

“Is this her first lamb?” Fluttershy calmly said to Applejack, feeling the sheep’s belly.

“Yes!”

“Probably a narrow birth canal. We’ll go to Dr. Fauna’s—”

“She’s out on a call!”

Fluttershy’s eyes widened. “Th-this is more serious than I can…”

“She could die!”

Fluttershy set her jaw and nodded. “Twilight, you’ll need to teleport the lamb out.”

Twilight gaped. “I can’t teleport something I can’t see!”

“You have to.”

“W-where to aim, and… well, teleportation magic does grab all of something if you get part of it, but—” Twilight gasped “—the umbilical cord! They’re connected! It wouldn’t work, I’d have to guess where to cut—”

“I trust you,” Applejack said.

Fluttershy’s hoof traced an oval. “Inside here.”

Breath held, Twilight felt the magic cling, envelop, expand, oddly long one direction, stop!

A perfect lamb blinked at her—well, Twilight had missed its left ear point.

Applejack grinned. “We’ll name her Tippy.”

A Stone’s Throe

Author's Notes:

Prompt: I’m Flying Without Wings

“You don’t understand,” Sunset said, pushing her geode into Twilight’s hand—the Twilight from her world. She’d shoved it at Twilight, yet hadn’t loosened her grip.

“Do you remember how demonic I was? Grasping for any power I could. Then later I had it! At the Friendship Games, I had wings! I could fly!”

“Look how you used it, though,” Twilight said, rubbing Sunset’s shoulder.

“Still, I… hadn’t thought about it, when I went through the mirror the next time. What if I’d become an alicorn? Thank goodness I didn’t. I only now realize that.”

“You would have earned it.”

“No, no.” Sunset hid her face in a hand. “I only got those wings by taking everyone’s magic, and now that I know…”

Twilight pushed the fist with the geode back to her. “The fact that bothers you means you deserve it.”

Maybe. But it didn’t have to weigh so much.

Play Date

Author's Notes:

Prompt: Atmosphere

Snowflake Obsidian fidgeted behind her father’s chair. “When can I go out and play?”

He leaned back from his work. “Later.”

“C’moooon!” she said. “It’s my turn today! I waited years.”

He peeked outside. Just a regular day. Which wasn’t good. “You know the rules.”

With a harrumph, she stomped to the front door. By chance, a knock soon came. He arose and opened the door to the gloom. Except for the small patch of sunlight and air, with the few children it could accommodate. At the center stood Princess Radiant Hope, far too bent and wizened for her age, her horn alight. Despite everypony’s pleas, she’d always say it was for the children.

A fool’s errand. Inside was safe, and without the Crystal Heart, they had little choice. Barely into the centuries before their empire reappeared, by prophecy.

He sighed. “Thank you, Princess.”

Snowflake would return in an hour.