"Hey, you used to be Celestia's student, right? Did you know Sunset Shimmer?"

Season 5 Finale-related.
So many realities. So many horrible futures. But in yet another alternate timeline, Twilight finds herself in the Golden Oak Library with the Princess of Friendship: Sunset Shimmer. Rather than the awful futures she's seen before, she now finds herself in a timeline that actually seems nice. But that means she has a tough decision to make...

-Awesome cover art used with permission from the amazingly talented Huussii (Teemu Husso).
-Based on an idea from Silver Quill.
-Featured as of 12/8/15! Thank you to all the readers!
-Editors: GenerousGhibli and E3gner

This story is a sequel to Changing Expectations

When ages are segmented and divided in the annals of history, it is done so with great events as breakpoints. The Second Age of Heroes was unanimously declared to have started with the return of Princess Luna and the changeling Invasion of Canterlot.

For thousands of years, the changelings survived beneath The Great Tapestry, that which connects all living and nonliving things. Hundreds of generations worked endlessly to keep their existence a secret. With one command from Queen Chrysalis, the Masquerade was broken.

In a single night, the changelings waged war against Equestria and took the Kingdom by storm. Months later, the war between changelings and ponies has ended. A new tapestry, a new story, must be woven between the two species. Equestria and the Fifth Hive have gone through a dark chapter and have emerged stronger for it.

One war ends and another begins.

As The Sword of Damocles hangs above the heads of the formerly-human King Phasma and his Equestrian counterparts, the forces of light must work on an ever-shortening window before war once again brings Hell to Equus. Dark powers grow in the places that the light does not reach, and they bring one irrefutable truth.

Epitaph is coming.

Cover art by Nixworld.

Special thanks to my pre-readers!

A middle aged brony inexplicably replaces Chrysalis as a new changeling queen some decades before the fruition of a certain pony prophesy. Now the new queen must figure out how to manage a kingdom that has been in a slow, seemingly irreversible, decline for the past several thousand years.

There exists in any given location either an inn or bar where the locals meet at the end of a long work day and trade drinks and stories. By the ancient laws of happenstance, the same must be true for areas where the permanent population is exactly one. Now, most would assume it would default to those creatures preferred drinking area in their own house. These people have never been to the only truly lonely place in Equestria. On the border of the unending sea and the badlands there sits an Inn, with a strange bartender. If one comes seeking riches or fame, he will gladly kick you out, stating the only riches here are booze and misery. But if you come for a strong drink and an ear to listen to your problems, then you have found your home.

Rocking the featured box again. Can I get a hoorah? 2/12/19 for those curious.

Nightmare Moon won. She defeated Celestia, broke the Elements, banished the sun. This all happened a very long time ago. So long ago, that she has had plenty of time to change her mind.

Of course, fixing our mistakes is never so simple, and never without consequences. Even with particularly potent help.

"If you came to conquer, you'll be king for a day. / But you too will deteriorate and quickly fade away."
— "No Control" by Bad Religion

A big thanks to Craine, Sorren, and Idylia for prereading and editing. If you enjoyed the story, don't forget to check out their pages.

Equestria Daily
Royal Canterlot Library (FIMfic version)
Russian translation by Doof
Chinese translation by Dreams Set Free

Kitsune Heart has done a dramatic reading of this story! Find it over here.
ObabScribbler has done a dramatic reading of this story! It includes a full cast of voice actors. Find it over here.

Comments contain spoilers.

This story is a sequel to The Pain of Eternity

Sunset Shimmer's father passed away while she was in Canterlot, studying under Princess Celestia. After that, she never had a chance to visit him in the cemetery again, until now. But as she heads back to her hometown with a friend to pay her respects, the author of a certain book latches on to them for some reason.

Related: Blog

You'd think that being trapped in stone would mean that, if nothing else, I could get some peace and quiet. Unfortunately, it seems that Celestia has other ideas.

She has appointed these ponies... these 'Keepers', as she calls them, to keep me entertained during my incarceration.

Honestly? I'd prefer the boredom.

Cover art by matrosha123
Spanish Translation by SPANIARD KIWI found here

Spike only wants things to stay the same. Time, however, has other ideas. He's going to need a lot of help... An everypony story.

(Cover image by Rannva)

John Apple, aging human farmer, has recently been injured in an accident by one of his horses. The doctors say he'll be unable to take care of his farm anymore due to considerable chronic back pain he will suffer for the rest of his years.

Farming had been his passion all his life, and had always been used to distract from the loneliness he felt from never having taken a wife, or raising children. Now faced with the prospect of losing his farm, having no options for meaningful employment, and the loneliness he can no longer distract himself from, he decides to bring an end to it all.

But what's this? He's still alive? Why did he wake up as a horse? How are these other horses able to talk? Why do these Apple horses keep calling him their father? And, perhaps most importantly, after finding himself with the family he had always wanted, does he dare tell them the truth?