Discord has something on his mind. Cadance isn’t completely sure how she can help but she’ll try her best to solve this puzzle.

***
The third place winner for the Iron Author speed writing contest at Everfree Northwest this year. I was honestly so shocked and honored when I heard. Everyone’s stories were so good! I can’t wait to see everyone post theirs soon.

Speaking of that, I want to edit this story more since I think I could smooth things out a little. But I don’t want to make everyone wait until then so here’s the unedited version submitted at the contest. I’ll leave the story complete but a second chapter that’s just a better edited version might be out soon.

Princess Nightmare Moon has it all. Socially awkward shut-in Twilight Sparkle has nothing of worth. Princess Nightmare Moon can acquire anything she desires. Twilight Sparkle can't seem to catch a break. Two polar opposites from completely different worlds. Yet amidst her dominant rule, Princess Nightmare Moon feels she's missing something. A certain day from her memory has been wiped... and none of her common materialistic desires can sate her quench for answers. That is until she encounters a certain young unicorn mare, who she can't seem to get off her mind.

Twilight Sparkle's dull and downtrodden life is about to get much more interesting.

[Inspired by S5 - Nightmare Moon AU: Thank you for your support!]

This story is a sequel to A Stitch in Time

Having discovered the message left for her by Star Swirl the Bearded in the distant past, Twilight once again finds herself caught up in the middle of a struggle against forces far greater than herself. In order to even stand a chance she'll need to travel further and wider than she ever has, and forge some unlikely alliances with old enemies. All to bring down the powers that have manipulated and shaped her entire life, and retake control of her own future.

The conclusion of the Time Loop Trilogy, which began with Hard Reset
Available in Spanish thanks to dgs1993
Series TV Tropes page

What is a mediocre villain to do these days? How in Equestria do you compete with the likes of Chaos gods and love-stealing shapeshifters? Ever since those Bearer brats found the Elements of Harmony and Princess Celestia's long-lost and kind-of-evil-but-not-really-in-the-end sister returned, nopony bats an eye at the small potatoes any more.

Small Potatoes himself just cannot take being relegated to the side lines any longer! He has one, glorious plan in the works, one that might finally see it - his name, that is - go down in history. He's going to do the one thing that villains all over Equestria have been failing to do since that fateful Summer Sun Celebration to stop the Guardians of Harmony once and for all.

He's going to hire somepony else to do the job for him.

[This story contains scenes about death, attempted murder, some blood and an injury described in light-moderate detail (and with a humourous bent, I'm hoping.)]

Vermilion didn’t join the Guard to be a hero. He just wanted to escape the farm and his old, boring life.

But now it seems he may have no choice – his unit is being sent to Hollow Shades, a tiny hamlet hidden in the depths of an endless forest, to fight monsters on behalf of Luna and Celestia. When the mission turns into a disaster and the town is lost, Vermilion finds himself at the forefront of an unexpected war, with all of Equestria at stake.

A new dark age has begun. Heroes must be found to guard the flickering lights of civilization. And Vermilion and his friends will discover that monsters are the least of their worries.

Set in the years before Nightmare Moon’s banishment, The World is Filled with Monsters follows a young hero and his friends as they struggle to protect a newfound nation – and discover the cost of greatness.

Art gallery:

Fight!

Vermilion

Cloud Fire

Zephyr

Quicklime

Rose Quartz

Canopy

Luna

Tartarus

Derecho

The gang

Marvelous Needle (Zephyr's spear)

The Nightmare

In a dark, cold place bored into the core of Mount Canterhorn, a God is being born. Twilight Sparkle, the Solarian Union's most gifted mind, is overseeing its birth. When the Tower is complete, it will unite the Union and the world, overseeing infastructure, communication, automation of every kind. It is the ultimate marriage of science and magic, and the great work which will usher in a new age.

Twilight watches her creation taking shape in the void, and loses herself in its terrifying mystery. The God they are bringing into Being is not the mere machine they set out to build.

Based on the Equestria at War universe.

In the year 1011 ALB, Queen Chrysalis declared war on Equestria. She and her High Command believed that the Equestrians would be easily crushed underneath the treads of their tanks and pushed back by their powerful changeling rifles. However, they were quickly proven wrong as their forces met the heavily fortified positions of the Equestrian military. After months of a painful stalemate, the High Command had a brilliant idea. They began deploying infiltrators into the Equestrian fortifications to weaken and surprise the defenders for the oncoming attackers.

One particular changeling was deployed to an Equestrian fortification, weeks in advance. On the promised day, he sits in a trench, waiting for the arrival of his brothers and sisters. But, will they come? And what happens to the mare that he became friends with if they do come?

Now with reading by Fire Hearth Studios!

Special thanks to Witchery for editing!

There’s no end to the monsters that lurk in the dark.

Ghosts, werewolves, mad scientists, cultists, mutants, zombies, vampires, aliens and more lie in wait in the dark corners of Equestria, terrorizing the night. But the most infamous and dangerous of them all is the legendary witch Twilight Sparkle, with a five hundred million bit bounty on her head.

Seeking fame and fortune, Rainbow Dash sets out to defeat the legendary witch and collect the massive reward. The one thing she wasn't counting on was Twilight being less evil than she expected.

More stories set in this AU can be found here.

Cover art is a work in progress by Abode_WTF

Magic, the most forbidden art. Only nobles are allowed to learn from the great wizards and witches, and only from special schools set up by the state. For commoners, learning the mystic arts is nothing but a dream, a fantasy that many strive for but none achieve.

With one exception: Stalliongrad. The great, northern city boasted more magic schools than any other, and among them, the only one that accepts low born ponies. It's a dangerous trek to get there, and even more dangerous to simply stay in the frozen city.

Twilight Sparkle, however, will not be stopped. Destined to become the archmage, destined to sit at Princess Luna's side, she will not be stopped.

After all, Archmage Twilight Sparkle has a nice ring to it.

Months of torment without end. Months of going to school, fearing each torturous moment. Rarity, broken and afraid, finds solace in a small clearing in a forest near her school. Her bullies do not come for her there.

Until one day they do.

They make their intentions of beating her up quite plain, and when the leader went to attack her... What she did; she didn't mean for it to happen that way, but it happened.

In the main timeline, she killed all three of her tormentors and went on to become a deadly serial killer. Here, one of them escapes, and Rarity is caught right away...

An alternate universe of The Secret Life of Rarity

Cover art link

Want a print copy? You can get one here!