A Juggernaut, one of the most deadly foot soldiers on Earth, wakes up from cryosleep to find his ship crash-landed in a foreign location. With seemingly nobody surviving but he, the Juggernaut dons his armour for a final time and prepares to go out guns blazing.

When he makes it outside, he is confronted with something that will shake his very foundations of life.

Written for a friend that has supported me since the beginning.
Cover image thoughtfully recommended to me by Ironwolves21.

Luna and Celestia are not like you and I, or at least that is what we tell ourselves. They do not talk to those such as us, who are mere mortals who quickly pass on by them. At least, that's what we tell ourselves. Until one day, my Lady spoke to me.

I will never forget that night. Even though I want to forget it.

Edited by the ever lovely MaskedFerret.

This story takes place during the Season Five finale, "The Cutie Re-Mark". As such, there are spoilers ahead.

Starlight Glimmer's plan is working. All she has to do is upset Rainbow Dash's rainboom-creating race in the past, and Twilight Sparkle's connection with her friends will be severed. And she's done it. Repeatedly. Sure, Twilight can go back in time to try and stop her, but Starlight will always be brought back as well. No matter what Twilight tries, no matter how many times she returns, she can't stop Starlight. They're evenly-matched, and it's much easier to disrupt events than it is to preserve them.

That means Starlight wins, right?

This is the story of a brony, who inserted into Equestria.
But instead of a pony, he became the enemy of Celestia.

Would he decide to do what’s right, to love and tolerate
Or would his evil changeling nature make it hard to integrate

Then there is the question of the duty that is his natural birthright
Tasked by the changeling Queen, he was to murder Princess Twilight

So, here’s my attempt at a SI with a bit of a twist that others have done before. Go to Equestria, end up on the wrong side of the tracks, and have to deal with it. Enjoy!

Art provided by SoukiTsubasa

Every week around the same time, Skywrite the pegasus leaves his little cottage in the woods to “pick up groceries,” and every week around the same time, Petalgrown the pegasus welcomes him home with a few hours of cuddling and his favorite dinner on the table. Of course, not everything here is as it seems. For one thing, there’s the dinner. French fried potatoes? Who’s ever heard of such a thing!? For another thing, there’s the way Sky looks at his hooves sometimes, as if trying to will something else to be there. Also, as a footnote, Petalgrown is one of the hundreds of changelings thrown free of Canterlot during the failed invasion attempt, and has been living off Skywrite’s strange, fiery love ever since.

As time goes on and questions about the strange, loving pegasus start piling up, she grows determined to discover the truth behind the pony she finds herself growing more and more intrigued with. Of course, it could be something even crazier than “love-sucking, shape-changing bug-pony,” but that’s just speculation. After all, there’s no way a pony could ever hide such a strange secret from a creature born of secrets, right? Why, it would take something very unpony-like to pull that off, wouldn’t it?

Sunset think's it's deeply unfair that her human counterpart is better looking than her. On top of that, all her friends assume that she wants to date herself. They might be right about that.

Winner of Third Place in the Sunset x Sunset Competition

Surrounded by the Everfree Forest, filled with delinquents, devoid of morals and any real sources of magic, Ponyville is the worst place to live in all of Equestria. But it also has the cheapest rent and Twilight's life just collapsed to the point where she can't afford to live anywhere else.

Perhaps the only thing Twilight has going for her now is that Rarity, the most powerful pony in town, has taken a liking to her. Rarity is eloquent, but the leader of a gang. She's beautiful and intriguing, but the most irreverent and delinquent pony Twilight has ever met. Rumors swirl around her. Some ponies even say she and her entire gang are all vampires.

But Twilight is smart enough to not give in to temptations. Or join a gang. Or become a vampire.

It takes a certain kind of pony to become a personal servant to the princesses. One must have patience, grace, a clever head, and be a problem solver.

Dapper Dash is one such pony.

Although skeptical about the idea of having a personal butler, Dapper Dash soon proves he is anything but an ordinary butler. While most ponies would be rattled or nervous around Celestia and Luna, he seems to be calm, and even managing to keep up with them.

He's a true gentlecolt, and not only that, he is quite the learned stallion, impressing even princesses. Clearly he is more than than he seems, but not much is known about him. With the drama around the palace it may be good to have an ally that can think on his hooves.

After all, a butler is there to make life easier for their charges.

Big thanks to Hoodwinked MCShelster for the amazing cover art! Really love how it turned out! ^^

Twilight Sparkle was only a filly when Equestria detected the enigmatic Signal. A series of increasingly complex mathematical proofs, the Signal transformed from an intriguing curiosity to reliable evidence of extraequestrian life.

And as it happened, Equestria's exploration of their own solar system was nearly complete. With colonies orbiting every planet and large body, and an asteroid belt filled with miners and prospectors, Twilight's civilization was just about ready to turn its focus outward. The signal was less than ten light-years away, within reach of a daring, experimental voyage. A voyage Twilight Sparkle would lead.

Along with a small crew of the most skilled scientists and engineers Equestria could offer, Twilight is determined to uncover the mystery of the Signal, and brave the final frontier for future generations of Equestrian explorers.

A comment-driven, CYoA story. Please use the links provided in the author's notes of each chapter to vote, rather than the comments.

This story is a creative experiment of mine, one meant to explore the general idea that creativity is often most fostered by restrictions. As a result, I've imposed a number of restrictions on the writing of this story, which I'm stating explicitly here so I can be called out if I break any of them.

1. Brevity is the soul of wit
No chapter may be more than 1000 words long. This wordcount only includes prose, and not the questions/rolls.

2. Every choice matters
When a choice is offered in a chapter, at least one sub-optimal choice must be present, with no indication about which is which other than the prose itself. Every chapter should end with a CYoA-style decision tree when possible.

3. Fate is cruel and the universe is heartless
The decision of the vote must be respected. This means any character could be killed, or the entire story could end in failure, if that's what the votes decide. Where numbers, stats, and randomization appear in the text, these elements are not verisimilitude, but are decided by public diecrolls in my discord server.

Note: Because of the unusual production of this story, its chapters won't be edited in the same way as my usual fare. Feel free to point out any mistakes you encounter.

Awesome cover by Zutcha as you can probably tell. Editing stuff by Two Bit and Sparktail, where applicable.

Arc Weld has a bright space career ahead of him, but an unforeseen change looms on the horizon as the result of a little indiscretion on his part.

Luckily for him, he might just stumble across somepony who knows a thing or two about change.

A submission for the My Little Pony Renaissance Contest.