You remember Canterlot. You remember the taste of victory. Across a thousand years and a hundred lives, it was the greatest joy you had ever felt.

And then, in a flash of heat and unbearable light, it ended.

Now you are alone. The rest of your kind are dead or scattered, and you cannot hear their thoughts.

There is a void inside you. A gnawing, endless hunger you cannot escape. It is killing you.

You need love to survive, but there is none of that here. Not for you. You can only steal it from them, these ponies for whom we are hungry.

[My entry in and winner of the "Most Dangerous Game" contest."]

This story is a sequel to A Moment in the Sun

Sunset Shimmer is on the run. It's been six months since she left her life as Princess Celestia's student behind, but she can't escape her own past. Her parents are offering a reward for her safe return home, and Celestia's agents are watching her every step. She might have gotten out of Canterlot, but the runaway student is still a long way from freedom. Especially since her education with the Princess of Equestria didn’t cover things like how to make a living wage with her magical skills.

However, there might still be one place where she can escape all of them. The infamous island nation of Freeport has long had a reputation as a haven for pirates, criminals, and exiles, but there's no better place in the world for somepony who wants to disappear. The only question is whether Sunset will live long enough to pull it off.

Octavia Philharmonica would like nothing more than to practice her cello and to compose beautiful music all by herself. Unfortunately, her teacher Princess Cadance has other plans! Sent to Ponyville to assist with logistics for the Vernal Equinox Festival, Octavia wants only to get through the ceremony with as little interaction with the local populace as possible, but her plans are derailed by the return of two ancient evils. When the ancient tyrants Burning Sun and Nightmare Moon break free from their prisons and initiate a new era of war and devastation, Octavia finds herself and five other musicians -- Vinyl Scratch, Fluttershy, Lyra Heartstrings, Bluenote, and Medley -- caught up in a desperate race to find the Elements of Harmony and stop the alicorns. It will be a difficult journey, but it just might be possible, if Octavia can manage to befriend the other ponies... and if she can learn to truly listen to the music of Ponyville.

First story in the Cadanceverse!

Cover art generously provided by Mimicry.

Special thanks to my betas Blackbelt, Lev the Lurker, and RK_Striker_JK_5

When the Royal Wedding scatters defeated changelings all over Equestria, a member of the hive winds up being captured in Ponyville, tied up, stunned, repeatedly shot by a cannon, and held against his will.

The truly frightening part is he’s starting to like it.

Thank you to my twisted editors: Tek, Seether00, GameKnut, Cerulean Blue and Peter
The picture Pinkie Pie uses Party Canon is from Atmospark at DeviantArt

This story is listed as comedy⁽*⁾ because the author has an odd sense of humor. No changelings were harmed⁽¹⁾ during the production of this story, despite what the newspapers printed or the ongoing lawsuit from the ESPCA⁽²⁾. The management would like to remind all readers to spay and neuter your pets. Unless your pet is a changeling, in which case…

(*) Dark humor, to be exact. If you are someone who finds pleasure in the misfortune of others, enjoys watching the occasional inept chainsaw juggler or cheers during a NASCAR crash, welcome home. Also, get help.

(1) Excluding blunt trauma, thermal impingement, chemical exposure, radiation, thaumaturgic infusions, and confetti ingestion. All characters represented, including changelings, are the exclusive property of Hasbro, no matter what they may shout at you from between the bars of their cell. Any violence or pain inflicted on the changeling in this story was simulated on a stunt changeling with special effects and mirrors. Except for the cannon. There is no truth to the rumor that Queen Chrysalis provided the stunt changelings from a supply of disobedient changelings in her dungeon⁽³⁾.

(2) Equestrian Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Arthropods

(3) The Changeling Kingdom does not have dungeons. They have Call Centers. It explains a lot, actually.

Here is a link to some appropriate background music to listen to while reading: Piotr Tchaikovneigh’s 1812 Overture

Additional Note: This story is tagged Sex because it has the occasional reference to… well, sex. There are no explicit references, but there are things.

In the wake of the interrupted wedding of Princess Cadence and Shining Armor, the Royal Guard went on a changeling hunt, fanning out throughout Equestria to find any changelings living amongst ponykind. The captured changelings have been confined to a guard barracks in Canterlot.

Meanwhile Princess Celestia is finding herself swamped with petitions from ponies across Equestria asking for amnesty for their changeling friends, colleagues, and lovers. Princess Luna, who has been itching to regain some responsibility since her return, offers to take on the petitioners... and the changelings.

(sex tag for off-screen births and hinted baby-making)

Once a year, the Night Guards of Canterlot receive a very important shipment, much to the distress of their peers. Flash Sentry has no idea what the fuss is all about.

(Submission for EqD's Friend Off event.)

The Castle of the Sun and Moon is a monument to the unification of the two tribes of unicorns - the sun and moon raisers. After being pushed out of their fatherland by the Windigos, civilization have begun to appear in the Everfree - at the cost of the indigenous Elven race of Deers, who are said to have cursed the land by opening a portal to another sphere of existence known as Tartarus, where various creatures of all forms of magic and mutation are unleashed to remove the intruders of the forest. A particularly strange beast known as a Draconequus lurks among the gardens near the temple, complicating the otherwise simple life of a young Sun Raising monk - soon to grow and inherit the castle in place of her father and mother, alongside her sister Luna. Meanwhile, Luna's own upbringing is drastically changed due to her friendship with a young Jarl from Snowreach named Sombra, a land in the tundra that borders the home of the Windigo.

Through out this journey, we discover their life before they unlocked the strange Alicorn mutation and long before they reigned as princesses over the land. An epic retelling of the origins of Equestria's goddesses of the Sun and Moon with inspiration from Eastern European folklore and history. A tale of magic, political scandal and love in the most unlikely places. The two sisters are forced into a world of kings and magical tyrants, unknowing of their importance for the future of Equestria.

A "novelization" of sorts, of a long running role play with my dear friend Ravenpuff. Who also did the sketches that are in the cover photo. It starts out rather innocent, but do not shun away everything just yet - the story involves political conflict and in later chapters to come, the passion of lovers as they come of age. Discord and Celestia, as well as Luna and Sombra fans will rejoice!

Originally posted on Deviant Art: http://fav.me/d7cpoq5

Twilight Sparkle, a loyal soldier and messenger working under President Celestia - views the horrors of a civil war first-hoof. Along with accounts from her friends, the ponies of the former united Equestria have fallen into a brother-war that will devastate history as we know it. The viciousness that is one's fellow ponies is portrayed through the tormented battleground of the once beloved lands - cherished and tread upon by pegasus, earth pony and unicorn alike. But, underneath this supposed utopia was a festering ethnic tension that exploded at the end of the latest century. Twilight struggles to relate to her own innocence and the world of the past, when encountering the nightmarish reality that is now her home. Soon she learns that even the ugly villages, burn just as ugly. While the pretty ones - burn beautifully.

Tirek. Discord. The Changelings.

The ponies have faced all these threats, and triumphed, but things could have been handled better. Princess Celestia knows this better than most. She knows that to face threats even greater than Tirek, greater than Discord, the ponies need allies. They need friends to turn to when the chips are down and the mad gods and cruel tyrants are on the horizon

She and Princess Twilight Sparkle travel to the Griffon Kingdom to meet the Griffon King. They seek to negotiate a formal treaty, something more than a rudimentary "You stay in your yard, we'll stay in ours." If the Changelings invade, or Tirek is once more a threat, it will not only be the ponies standing against them, but the griffons as well. It's only logical, after all. The griffons and the ponies share a border. They share ideas. They share refugees and concepts and cultures. And there haven’t been any major hostilities since the Pony-Griffon War. That was almost a thousand years ago.

It is logical to enter an alliance, but politics aren’t always about logic. Sometimes they are about past crimes, mistakes, and tragedies. Sometimes, past grudges simply can't be let go.

(Rated Dark and Teen for some disturbing content, though nothing too heavy or overt)

Coverart from Pie on furAffinity

Finally, after years of begging, Celestia gives Twilight permission to access the Forbidden Wing of the Royal Library, a wing so secret even the other princesses can't access it. Twilight rushes to Canterlot, excited for the research potential.

Then she finds those books…

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