My name is Twilight Sparkle.
I am three hundred and seventy five years old.
Except for Spike, all my friends are dead...But not for long

Betrayed by Celestia, and isolated in her castle with only Spike for support, Twilight Sparkle enacts a powerful spell to reincarnate the element bearers through her own body.
Her friends will be reborn, and, with the trials of being a mother to her friends ahead of her, an unraveling secret from the past following her at every turn, and the possibility of a brand new life so close in reach, Twilight just might be reborn too.

Credit for both the inspiration for this story and cover picture go to
Crystal Leviathan

Spike needs to get out of Ponyville, and when an advertisement for an affordable travel package finds its way into his mailbox, he jumps at the chance. Little does he know that he isn't the only one who took the offer. What will come of his chance meeting with this beautiful mare? Friendship, or something more?

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]

You know what they say once you hit rock bottom...

Edited by Shadow Blades, iakovl, FlutterSky1979, and operaticphantom to whom I am grateful! Other editors will show on the chapters in which they lent their time and efforts.

Cover art by spier17. Go check out his stuff!

Michael Spriggs is invited to Equestria so he may visit his daughter, the budding changeling Chrysalis in the midst of her teen years. He's missed her terribly in the month since she left, but Luna visited him and offered him the opportunity to traverse worlds and see his little pumpkin.

He is shocked to discover the ponies have been watching Earth for a long time and are preparing to make first contact with Earth. However, his concerns lay fully on the purpose of his visit to this strange world. Fully intending to return home, Michael will follow his daughter in her choice to go out and seek other changeling hives to learn about herself.

Join them, a sorceress, an overweight changeling, and the Sun and the Moon as they venture deep into the greatest lair of the changelings and meet the mysterious Empress of the Changelings. There are secrets, personal quests, discoveries, and the simple desire to survive the odd things this world has in store for a simple human.

Not all is as it seems as changeling eyes are upon father and daughter; watching, waiting...

Rated T for language, violence, sensuality and gore.
MLP:FiM is owned by Hasbro.
MLP:FiM was created by Lauren Faust.
OCs are mine unless specified.

This will be updated as changes occur.

Featured 7/6/2014, 9/12/14. You guys are awesome. Thank you!