After a mirror portal field trip being conducted by Luna goes terribly wrong, Ocellus finds herself trapped in a strange palace far from home. That palace, once abandoned, is now infested with a hive of love-starved changelings intent on using her only way home as a means to invade her world.

Otherwise, Ocellus appears to be alone.

At first.

The story is inspired by, and a homage to, my favorite game of the last decade. However, this story is neither a crossover nor AU. This story is set after "The End of the End" (but before "The Last Problem"), and is purely a My Little Pony story. Warning: rudeness and intolerance are not allowed in the comments, but spoilers are. Exercise discretion. Remain polite and on-topic. And please enjoy the story!

Have you ever wondered how the story of Equestria that you know might change if Fluttershy was a swordsmith?
How would things be different if Rarity had a Stand?
What about if someone gave Applejack a culinary degree, a space-worthy exosuit, and a phoenix-core wand?
What if all of these happened in the same story?

If you have, dear reader, then welcome to the Celestial Forge! Where every thousand words, random chance bestows one of your favorite ponies with a new outlandish (and often copyright-infringing) power!

Equestria is a barren land trapped in perpetual sunset.

Broken, alone, afraid, and recalling only faint memories of her former life, a Hollow Pony awakens from her dreamless slumber. Lost in the shattered ruins of a hauntingly familiar world, she shambles onward in a quest to find herself, before she loses herself.

(A Pony story, heavily inspired by and using elements from Dark Souls/Elden Ring. Will update weekly, one chapter every Sunday. Praise the Sun!)

This story is a sequel to Changeling Space Program

Twilight Sparkle's experimental interplanetary drive has malfunctioned, stranding Starlight Glimmer, Spitfire, Cherry Berry, a changeling and a dragon on a hostile planet in another universe. With limited food supplies, very little magic, no communications with home, and no way to leave the planet, they must survive until somepony rescues them.

Fortunately they crashed right next door to another creature with the exact same problem- a creature named Mark Watney.

They're going to science the buck out of everything- and do whatever it takes to survive Mars and get everybody home.

TVTropes page here! Thanks to GymQuirk for making it!

Commissioned art and fan works from the readers! Thanks, everybody!

This experiment in an updates-daily story was made possible by a generous grant from Canary in the Coal Mine and viewers like you.

(Sex tag for crude talk about sex, but no actual sex in the story.)