Twilight Sparkle stood on her hind legs, her forelegs to her side swaying back and forth as her scythe dropped to the ground. Tears welling up in her eyes, she looked down at the corpse that laid before her, still young, but ready to die. It wasn't her fault she was chosen for this, all because she became fascinated with new powers.

"I can't believe this."

Twilight stared over the horizon, gazing on the city of Ponyville in the distance. It's inhabitants, who once saw her as one of their best friends, now barely knew her. She could walk the streets to Sugar Cube Corner, or help her friend Applejack on the family's farm. She could even sit in her Library with Spike and read her favorite books.

But none of it would be the same.

"I am evil."

It was a night that will forever be burned into the memories of everypony. One fateful night in Equestria everything changed. The princesses who had ruled over the world with kindness and heart were gone, and a new ruler had taken their place.
Years have passed since that event. Ponies have grown up, aged, and moved on with their lives. Equestria has become a very different place over the span of these years.
Our story begins when a face resurfaces in Equestria. When a weathered, scarred, but familiar face steps into the light.

This is the fanfic based on Astringe's Bad Future series on DeviantART. He did some great designs of the characters, so make sure you give that gallery a peruse before you read the fic.

Also worth mentioning, he's been nice enough to plop any pics he does based on chapters I've written into this separate gallery, so there will be less spoilers for readers just jumping in to the story.

NOTE: The canon of my story picks up at the start of Season 3, where it begins to diverge away from the canon of the show. I've never read the IDW comics nor have I seen Equestria Girls, so the events of my story aren't canon at all with them.

Now has it's own TVTropes page!
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/FanFic/BadFutureCrusaders

This story is a sequel to The Code's Apprentice

Sequel To : The Code's Apprentice

The land of Equestria has been changed forever.

New monarchs sit upon the thrones of the Sun and Moon, the once almighty power of Harmony overturned to make way for a new Diarchy of Balance. Political unrest and turmoil have engulfed the land, and at the very center of it all, Princess Celestia - renamed Tia Sunbeam - seeks atonement for the crimes she committed in the name of Eternal Harmony.

With much of her power sealed away, Tia must live amidst the citizens of Ponyville as the world changes all around them. As Ponyville works to rebuild following the struggle between student and teacher, they must cope with the edicts of a new government determined to bring equality to all creatures, beliefs, and ways of life - even those that were long since banished to the dark places of the world.

Tia Sunbeam will struggle with her own deeply held convictions on the way the world should be, versus the way it will now become. She will face a truth she has long since denied, and realize the true meaning of Harmony. And perhaps, most importantly of all... She must make some Friends.

Cover art by SinSays at http://sinsays.tumblr.com/ - Go spend some money with her! :D
Oh, and go check out my new side story - Rise - It's going to become relevant here!
(character tags are not comprehensive! Some are being kept secret! ;3)

This story is a sequel to The Longest Night

As her twenty-first birthday dawns, Twilight Sparkle finds her simple life turned upside down. While her birthright forces itself into her life, Twilight also has to deal with the arrival of three Alicorns. No pony knows where they came from or what they want, and the Alicorns seem intent on keeping themselves and their purposes hidden. To uncover the truth, Twilight will set sail for distant, ancient lands with old and new friends.

Side-Stories: Velvet Sparkle and the Queen in Stone, Myths and Birthrights: Anthologiae, A Dream of Pride and Envy, The Castle Canterlot, by Honey Mead

TVTropes Page

Pre-readers/Editors: Honey Mead, WNA, Cerulean Voice
Cover art by Saint-Juniper

Comments Contain Spoilers

The Great Tragedy. The night an era ended. The night the skies stopped turning. The night the Canterlot palace, along with all of its occupants, was utterly obliterated.
Nopony knows how it was done or by whom. But they do know that one unicorn stood at the center of that calamitous explosion, and they know that Twilight Sparkle survived where two immortals had perished.
Twilight awakens in a world a shadow of its former self, abruptly thrust into the fallout of a disaster she remembers nothing of. Faced with a foe that is perhaps more familiar than she might realize, Twilight must find a way to restore her broken world and carry on the legacy of her beloved princesses.

Huge thanks to my proofreaders Some Person (chapter 1-12) and RazerWrites (chapter 12-14). The story would have been much worse off without them.

Twilight Sparkle was presumed to be dead. Destroyed without even a body to bury, the young victim of a deadly magical surge that claimed the lives of many others along side her. More than a decade later, reports of a violent murder by a pony bearing her name are brought to Celestia and Luna's attention. A trail of carnage leading directly towards Canterlot's doorstep, brought by a pony who strikes without mercy. As Twilight approaches, in service to an unknown master, the Alicorn Sisters desperately try to uncover what happened all those years ago.

Edited by Zintegy and The Pink Mugsy

Chapter Heading Art by KirillK
All Sketches and Artworks can be found HERE

Rainbow Dash, a talented young flyer, rich, inventor of some of the most advanced technologies in Equestria and to the pleasure of stallions every where, single. However her cushy life takes a turn when she is mortally wounded and taken hostage by a radical Diamond Dog terrorist group. But Rainbow creates her greatest invention in order to escape. When her back is to the wall Rainbow Dash will become The Invincible Iron Mare.

Cowritten with General Soarin(Chapter 4 and on.)

Co-written with Avenging-Hobbits (Prologue-Chapter 4.)

Picture borrowed (without permission heh) from AlienFirst on Deviant Art

Transformed into an alicorn against her will, Twilight’s peaceful world is shattered when she discovers that she’s considered a threat to the throne of the Two Sisters. With her friends nowhere to be found, Twilight must set off on a journey to find the truth behind her transformation, and why her own country considers her an enemy.

Old wounds will be opened, new friends will come forth from the shadows, and Twilight will discover a truth that will shatter her view of her mentor forever. Yet unbeknownst to her, this was her destiny all along.

This fanfic is heavily based on Equestria-Prevails artworks and fanon material. Any credit for the Characters, Locations, and Art that belongs to him must be directed at his page on Deviantart. Any other art will be credited to the respective owners on the author's note section of each chapter.~

I also have to give my thanks to a few guys who are helping me with this:
The awesome Bulder for Proof-Reading chapters seven through thirteen;
The amazing Vexy for revamping the long description;
The fantastic ymom2 for proof-reading from chapter two towards six;
The lovely Divine Path for helping me with rephrasing.

Cover art credits must go to ~Nalenthi

A thousand years ago, Princess Celestia banished her sister to the moon, that much we know. What wasn’t known, and what Celestia kept secret was that before her banishment, Luna had given birth to a foal. Now a thousand years later, as Nightmare returns to Equestria to bring about Eternal Night.

Twilight Sparkle, protege of Princess Celestia, struggles against the tyranny of this ancient foe. But how will she be able to save herself and her friends when the truth of this ancient legend crashes down upon her? Twilight will have to confront herself...and her heritage.

Polaris501

Twilight's day hasn't gone well. Her night is about to get a WHOLE lot worse. Starting with being banished to the Moon...

After a series of unfortunate events conspire to trap Twilight within her own nightmares, Twilight's friends - along with the with aid of Princess Luna - become Twilight's only hope of rescue. Time and Twilight's fears are already against them, but they must also come to terms with how Twilight got there in the first place...