Shining Armor has many secrets. The first is that he has a diary, that he lovingly calls his Shining's Logs. And the second is that he is a reincarnated human. See how both secrets effect the life and relationships of Shining Armor, and help shape the future.

Explores the relationship between Twilight Sparkle and Shining Armor, and how it set both of them on their respective paths. Also explores the development of Shining Armor into the captain of the guard, his relationship with Cadence, and the powers of love and friendship.

A horrible Cataclysm has turned all of Equestria into a Wasteland of barren ash and twilight desolation. The Sun and the Moon have been destroyed. Everypony has died--including Princesses Luna and Celestia. But one pony miraculously survives; she is a lone wanderer, the last of her kind, surrounded by menacing creatures that hate her. She navigates the Wastes in an airship and scavenges off the blighted landscape to keep herself alive.

Then one day she meets an old companion who grants her a gift, the chance to go back in time to the warm and sunny days of Ponyville, where her dead friends live in happiness. How far will the last pony venture into this joyous age of Equestria, even if she fully knows that there is no way to change the horrible fate of everypony she loves?

2013 Edition: Smaller Chapters, Better Grammar, and a Few New Scenes

(A shout-out to Vimbert, pre-reader and gentlecolt)

King Sombra’s dark influence was obliterated by the Crystal Heart, and the villain is well and truly dead. But when he attempts to steal the afterlife of an innocent victim, a human spirit is left hurtling towards Equestria, where this unfortunate soul is revived into the only vessel available: the reconstituted body of King Sombra himself.

Thus, a cheerfully oblivious alien is crammed into the form of the most evil and malicious being Equestria has ever known. Not that Shining Armor and Cadence know this, of course. As far as they are concerned, the King is back and he’s lost his fricking mind.

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Thrust into the world of her favorite book-series, Rainbow Dash finds herself dragged along for the ride of Daring Do's latest adventure. Mind-boggling as it may be, things are about to get far more complicated. For Rainbow Dash, breaking the fourth wall may very well prove to be a learning experience.

TAGS: Learning curve, Breaking the Fourth Wall for beginners, "Rainbow Sense", Where is Pinkie Pie?

This story was conceived long before the episodes "Daring Don't" and "Power Ponies".
For the sake of this story, Daring Do remains a fictional character, the author remains anonymous, and there is no such thing as a store selling "enchanted" comic-books.

This story is available as an audio-book (text-to-speech synthesized), see individual chapters for links.

Story excerpt:

It still bothered her how she had gotten here, how it was even possible that she was walking side-by-side through some buried underground-structure, with her favourite fictional character become flesh. But as they resumed trotting deeper into the temple, Dash's thoughts kept going back to the event.

"No", Dash told herself, sternly. "That's - that's not it."

She almost would have compared the experience to "Pinkie Sense" of all things!

But she had seen something out of the corner of her eye. It had been... letters. Words. A sentence.

Something along the lines of "... the characteristic noise of a ... spikes closing in right behind ... Rainbow Dash slammed her body into ... ".

And then she had acted, before the trap was even visible. She had known what was going to happen, before it happened.

She ... she had read the next paragraph.

Story-related artwork:
[1] [2]

Twilight Sparkle has hit a wall in her studies. So when she is tasked by Princess Celestia with joining an expedition on a faraway island, she can't help but see it as a form of punishment. Nevertheless, she packs her bags and heads to Baltimare, one of Equestria's many port cities. It should have been simple: find a ship offering passage and pay them to take her to Haven. She soon learns, though, that ponies are afraid of the unknown waters past Eternity's Crossing. Despite her best efforts, she is unable to find a ship willing to take her there. That is, until she meets Captain Rainbow Dash.

Brash and enigmatic, Rainbow Dash, along with her crew, are the only ones willing to ferry Twilight on the waters of the Forgotten Sea. She expects six months of quiet travel that will allow her to continue her studies. What she gets is an adventure which makes her realize that, when sailing the high seas, the line between right and wrong is never as clear as it seems.

(Featured on EQD as of 4/28/13
A huge thanks to Breath of Plagues and Amacita, who are amazing editors.
Credit is also due to psychicscubadiver and Zeta040 for pre-reading.)