3/14/24 Still Alive Edition

There's only one pony in Ponyville that the Mane Six have never met. Pinkie Pie has never thrown him a party, Applejack has never sold him a mug of cider, and Twilight has never seen him check out any books. And as far as that unicorn, Lapis Print, is concerned, that's exactly how it should be.

Lapis can't risk them knowing where he lives, what he does for a living, or even what his name is - if he gets his way, the Mane Six won't even know he exists, and nopony in Ponyville will miss him once he's gone.

It should be a piece of cake - after all, it's not like the biggest magical power in Equestria is about making sure everypony looks out for each other, right?

(Rated Teen for language - mental cursing mostly.)

In 2185, during his campaign against the Collectors, Commander Shepard discovered a previously unknown species whose origins predated any other race in the modern galaxy. Following a daring rescue from their ancient sanctuary, the Equestrian Herd was brought back into the galaxy where, for the first time in eons, they must walk their own path.

Knowing full well the terrible threat that lingers on the edge of the galaxy, the leader of this newly freed race fights to secure her people’s future while attempting to prepare for the storm on the horizon.

This is her story.
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The long awaited Sequel to Mass Effect 2: The Equestrian Equation This is a reader directed story. Your choices will shape events.
If you favorite, also like! It's one little button click that makes all the difference.

Also, this series has its own TVTropes page now! (Special thanks to user CrowMagnon for setting it up).

It has been nearly a thousand years since Twilight Sparkle died. Celestia and Luna are gone. The Holy Equestrian Diarchy, ruled by a bigoted and brutal theocracy, has driven ponies apart and divided them along tribal lines. Unicorns are driven from society, feared and hated.

The lessons of friendship, painstakingly written down in the journal of friendship by Princess Twilight and her friends, have been warped and twisted to fit the Diarchy's hateful ideology. But to the average pony, this is the truth and reality of the world they live in, beset on all sides by enemies monstrous and magical.

Emberglow, a young pegasus mare, aspires to join the elite Knights, magically enhanced warriors dedicated to the holy Saints worshiped by the state religion. Can she uncover the lies and deceptions that have led the world to this bitter place?

Thanks to QueenChrysalisForever for prereading Chapters 1-24. Prereader for chapters 29-31 is MrRTS.
Prereading for chapter 34-? by Horsetorian
Additional pre-readers: bananachips/CommissarVulpin, Thought Prism, Chyre
Special thanks to my amazing editor, Cyonix
Cover Art by JodTheCod

Note on timing: I began writing this long before Season 9 aired, so none of those events happened as far as the narrative of this story is concerned.

Come join us on the Rekindled Embers Discord!

Edit: Featured 8/7/20! Yay and Thanks!

Equestria is dead. The sun and moon have stopped, and the planet is in ruins. The xenos that built the civilization are gone, their works in ruins. Investigating the planet, Interrogator Kylara makes a surprising discovery, one that might hold the key to what happened to this once-fair land - and what might be done to stop it. A Warhammer 40k crossover.

Now featured on Canterlot's Finest and Equestria Daily

Also now featured on TV Tropes.

This story is a sequel to The Dark Ones

Many years after the destruction of Equestria, Twilight Sparkle serves the Imperial Inquisition in its war against those responsible. Having thought her past safely buried, what will become of her when it returns with a vengeance?

Remember: if you fave, like!

Have some fanart, with thanks to NCMares!

Featured on TV Tropes!

Diplomacy has failed. Six years have passed Equestria's crowning of the princess of friendship, ushering in a supposed unprecedented age of peace and harmony. The concept of warfare is, to most ponies, nothing more than an unfathomable legend. They have let their guard down.

An unknown enemy has seized the opportunity to attack Equestria with terrifying new weapons of war, bent on taking the fertile land and restoring an ancient order. The valiant efforts of the Royal Guard have given Princess Twilight and her arcane scientists time to research and develop a response to their attackers, and the time has come for that response to be implemented. Utilizing weapons and tactics borrowed from another world, five squads under the command of Princess Luna will infiltrate the forests of the Equestrian Northwest to destroy a revolutionary magical matrix that Twilight refers to as the "radio" - a tool that allows enemy ponies to communicate across vast distances instantly.

Nightmare Two is comprised of three foalhood friends who, rather than be separated from each other in the draft, volunteer to become one of the five Nightmare squads. With their bodies forever altered to suit the needs of their mission, the three young mares join legions of ponies armed with powerful weapons to partake in a horrifying new breed of warfare - Equestria's first in over one thousand years.

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Heads up, folks. If you wouldn't mind leaving a comment alongside the thumbs-down, I'd appreciate it. This is my first foray into fan fiction and although it's a hobby I nonetheless wish to get better. :)

Got some FAQ's for you guys as well!

- Alternate universe in which the events of "Crusaders of the Lost Mark" did not occur. (As much as I loved it! :D)

- Numerical age tends to vary with headcanon, but the CMC here were just getting started with their adult lives when the draft went into effect.

- The war is pony v. pony, utilizing firearms and the Equestrian equivalent of a tank. The underlying headcanon is that ponies used firearms similar to muskets and tracked armored vehicles akin to our tanks in times of old, and what the enemy currently employs is essentially the natural progression of these technologies.

- There are no real-world weapons or equipment i.e. "Panzer IV," or "M16 assault rifle." Particularly acute details such as the caliber of weapons are also absent.

- Technology is based on that of WWI with some WWII elements. Firearms are primarily bolt-action.

- The "radio" spell matrix functions as what we know to be a radio, but is not identical.

- All four of a Night Mare's legs are permanently replaced by the augments.

- Night Mares are female. Stallions proved unable to properly animate the limbs.

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Hold up, now - fanart? You guys rock. Like, for real. Thanks a lot!

1. A great YouTube video coming from The_Pegasus_Box. Thanks, bud!
Check it out!

2. Click here for the collection on DArt.

3. https://derpibooru.org/740375?scope=scpeac921b191f688d04521575f31608785cbc3bbaa1
[img]https://derpicdn.net/img/view/2014/10/10/740375__safe_anthro_apple+bloom_gun_artist-colon-pusspuss_night+mares.png[/img]

Twilight is invited by Archon Sunset Shimmer to visit her in the island nation of Freeport. To her surprise, she discovers that Sunset wants to court her. As they spend time together, they need to find out if they can really make a relationship work despite their titles and personalities, or if they’re simply incompatible.

A Winningverse Story

The immaterium is an unpredictable and fickle aspect of reality, and "impossible" ceases to be a valid term when it is involved.

As such, when Twilight witnesses a fantastical cosmic event occur above Equestria, she immediately investigates. What she finds is nothing short of one of the most dangerous artifacts to ever make its way to the relatively peaceful realm of ponies: a blackened suit of massive armor, marked by the ouroboros.

Warhammer 40,000 crossover inspired by Blooms in the Dust.
Now with a sequel, Forged Anew!

This story is a sequel to Forged Anew

Twilight has earned the trust and loyalty of both Hesperos, a former Rubricae of the Thousand Sons, and Te'kan of the Salamanders. In the idyllic realm of Equestria, the need for such mighty warriors is nonexistant. However, outside Equestria's borders are lands wild and dangerous. Worse, the galaxy the astartes call home has not forgotten them. Together they face the final fate planned for them deep within the maelstrom of the warp.

A Warhammer 40,000 crossover.

Cloud Kicker might just have the wildest life of any pony in Equestria. Marvel at the insanity that is her life, and laugh at the suffering of her poor beleaguered best friend, Blossomforth. And maybe, just maybe, there's more to her than just the lovable sex maniac everypony thinks she is.

This is a semi-sequel to "The Incredibly Dense Mind of Rainbow Dash." Not really a proper sequel, since it's focused on Cloud Kicker and Blossomforth instead of Rainbow and Pinkie, but it's in the same continuity. So I guess that makes it a follow-up-side-quel story. Or something. You don't need to have read "The Incredibly Dense Mind of Rainbow Dash" to read or enjoy this, but you ought to read it anyway, just because.

TvTropes Page

The central story of the Winningverse.

We got a tag for Cloud Kicker, but Blossomforth still deserves one too.