I am not Twilight Sparkle.

I have her body, I have her memories, I have her power. I am not her, and I have done such terrible things. This is my story.

After the Changeling invasion, Celestia and Luna make the decision to have Twilight investigate the Elements of Harmony and solve the mystery of their power.

A thousand years later, Rainbow Dash awakens in a world she does not recognize. She has no idea how or why she came to be there. She does not know the language, the geography or any of the rules of this new time. She soon finds allies in Star Fall, a scholarly pegasus whose Talent is Magic, and Astrid, Star Fall's Griffin guardian. Together they set out to discover why Dash has been sent to the future, and how she might return to when she belongs.

War threatens the nations, a Nightmare stalks the shadows, and Rainbow Dash's arrival has turned her into a wild card in a deadly game that pits the law on both sides of a broken Equestria against a mysterious criminal figure, Max Cash. Yet the stakes are higher than anyone knows, for in her research Twilight Sparkle discovered a dark secret about the Elements, something that will shake the foundations of the world.

Cover image by SierraEx
Has a TvTropes page

At what should have been a routine doctor's visit, Applejack learns that she can never bear foals of her own. After an emotional breakdown, her friends do their best to calm her.

However, as the discussion develops, nopony is prepared for Twilight's revelation: the grand event which brought them together has left a hidden scar within each of them.

Tempers flare, relationships are strained, and the strength of their friendship is tested as each must come to terms with her newfound sterility.

Now on Equestria Daily
and Twilight's Library

Thanks to these wonderful people for all their help

Cover artist
MuffinExplosion

Editors:
NotMurphy
Georg
Ping111
ocalhoun

Prereadering and suggestions from:
Eakin
Distaff Pope
John Perry
Cartsbeforehorses
JaketheArmyGuy

Once upon a time, Spike went for a walk.

While on his walk, he was judged by an ancient alicorn, lodged with griffons, parlayed with air pirates, charmed a maiden of a mystical race, and dealt with the scourges of hate, fear, and racism while deliberately drawing the armies of myriad nations to the brink of global war.

Once upon a time, Spike went for a walk, and did all of this so that he could keep a promise to the one that meant the most to him... Twilight Sparkle.

In the first of three books, Pillars of the Sun (Chapters 1-15), Spike is devastated by Twilight's fate and grows more and more despondent as he attempts to understand what has happened to his dearest friend. A gentle nudge from a pony he trusts sends him looking for answers. When that nudge becomes a push he unravels ancient secrets... and risks losing himself before his attempt to rescue Twilight can even begin.

Equestria is barely three years old, and already danger threatens the fragile peace forged between the pony tribes. Monsters stream out of the Forest Ever Free on a daily basis, and now a prophetic dream foretells of even greater chaos that will befall the land.

It's up to Star Swirl the Bearded and his team of manly, heroic, eminently bearded (and strangely familiar!) stallions to brave the dark and murky Forest Ever Free in search of their one hope for salvation. Along the way, they'll learn more about the history of the land they've claimed as their own, not to mention each other. But as their unintended friendships grow, the forest will try its best to drive them apart.

Can they withstand the epic trials before them? Can they save Equestria? Will Star Swirl be known forevermore as the creator of Equestria's first beard-restoring spell? Journey a thousand years into the past and discover Equestria's epicest, beardiest history lesson ever!

Story tagged Dark for increasingly epic violence. Cover art by M. D. Quill! Accepted by The Royal Guard!

The Metro tunnels of Stalliongrad shelter the last remnants of ponykind from the ravages of the Apocalypse. Beneath the earth, ponies struggle to survive against mutants, radiation, and each other. But when an unstoppable threat emerges from the darkness of the Metro, one pony must brave the shadows to save not just his home, but the very existence of his people.

"How could somepony as amazing as you not have a Special Somepony on Hearts and Hooves Day?"

With that single sentence, a thousand memories came flooding back to Cheerilee. A thousand memories of a thousand terrible dates...

"The nine most terrifying words in this language are: ‘I'm from the government and I'm here to help.’”

Veggie Vee is the model bureaucrat: enthusiastic, motivated, and absolutely enamoured with setting the world to rights from the safety of her desk in Canterlot. Being assigned to Ponyville to save her job, therefore, wasn't exactly on her to-do list.

The local citizens aren't too happy about it, either. What should have been a simple poster campaign against unhealthy eating swiftly becomes a war of attrition. An incompetent underground resistance attempts to foil her every move and Veggie's latent megalomania isn't helping. Princess Twilight is nowhere to be seen, and an explosion-happy, candy-loving sugar freedom fighter is on the loose.

Everything is about to spiral out of control...

It's been more than a thousand years since the Mane Six's adventures in Ponyville, and things look very different. Equestria is gone, devoured by chaos. Nightmare creatures roam the lands, changelings prey on the few remaining pony settlements, and all trace of the peace and harmony during Princess Celestia's reign has vanished.

Until, that is, a small group of ponies set out to map the Tangle, and find a slumbering dragon inside. Now Spike, a millenium out of his time and with only his memories to comfort him, is ponykind's only hope. Together, he and his new friends set out to find the one pony who can set things right: Twilight Sparkle.

Cover art by the inestimable TheAuthorGl1m0.

Featured by The Royal Guard on February 4th, 2014.

[img]http://tinyurl.com/kaxbtuk[/img]
AUTHOR'S NOTES

- Beware of spoilers in the comment section!
- Currently undergoing heavy revision for chapters nineteen and onward. The "lost" chapters - that is, the story as it was originally published - can be found here.

When Twilight Sparkle is imprisoned after a heavy-hoofed ponyhunt on the direct orders of Princess Celestia, Rainbow Dash takes it upon herself to rescue her egghead friend from prison. Unbeknownst to her, things are not as they seem in Manehattan, or anywhere in Equestria. As she uncovers the mystery piece by piece, the rest of the famous Elements of Harmony and a few other familiar friends come to her aid. Who controls the strings, and can they be cut in time... or is it already too late? Will friendships of the Mane Six dissolve as they struggle through their greatest trials yet? And just where the hay is Princess Luna? Wake up! It's time to kick some flanks!
Loosely based on the John Carpenter film "They Live". Chronologically between Season 2 and 3.
As featured on EQD!