Warning: the following story you are about to read contains disturbing material that may be unnerving to some readers.

It is (for some) the first Nightmare Night for the Student Six. They spend the evening in costume wondering the fairground of Ponyville enjoying the pony holiday. However, a magic show gets their attention in which the magician shows off a curiosity: a centuries-old automaton. Gallus is asked to come on stage in which, even after the show, the trick that he went along with, follows him back to the school.

A special thanks to LeylaQuartz for having this story finally be edited and inspiring to give an alternative ending.

And thank you to Zachmoviefan for his reading of this story.

Gamer-type fic, inspired by Clicker Heroes

Reincarnation doesn't always go forward in time. Sometimes it goes in a loop, as in the case of Twilight Sparkle. She lives, she fights, she gets allies. Than she dies, improves herself and friends, and occasionally buys something that makes the world a better place. Finally, she is reborn and lose her memory. Rinse and Repeat.

However, with her rising to Alicorn, she has unlocked a few new things that would make her lives easier. The down side? In order to afford these, the world needs a hard reset. The temptation? She could keep her memories.

Soon Twilight Sparkle will see just how much she has done for the land of Equestria over her many lives, and see first hand what it was to start with. Thankfully, with no sarcasm for once, Discord is here to help her build the world back up.

There's an old book that's falling apart. Twilight wants to copy it down to preserve it. But it needs to be as accurate and precise as possible, to preserve the state of the original. That shouldn't be too hard. After all, it's not like the text will change whenever she looks away.

Right?

Despite their supposed massive power, Alicorns have done a rather poor job of saving the day. Twilight discovers that there's an actual reason for that.

Featured on EqD 6/6/16!

Twilight Sparkle is an expert in unicorn magic, but earth pony magic remains a mystery to her. The books in her library have very little information about the earth tribe's abilities, other than their famous strength. Twilight is determined to uncover their secrets.

What she learns will change her life.

And it just might change Applejack's life as well.

Featured on Equestria Daily.

Rainbow wants to penetrate things and Twilight teaches her how. A few problems become immediately apparent.

Too much power, too much depth, not enough material science.

Editing by Autarch Prime

Twilight masticates.

Contains: mastication.

You can blame TheFanficFanPony for this.

Twilight Sparkle is a troubled pony who just wants to understand—magic, history, the Elements of Harmony, how other ponies work, and how to live a functional, fulfilling life like everypony else. She excels in everything she does, because all she does is read. Some things are just harder for some ponies. But when she sets her sights higher, toward exploring the obscure terrain of interpony relationships and navigating the circuitous history of the Elements, she learns more than any book she's read could tell her. The world has its secrets for a reason.

Inspired by fiction in the vein of, e.g., HPMOR, Worm, Luminosity, Ra, and To the Stars. I identify this story as a so-called "rational" fiction; for more information, feel free to check out the subreddit /r/rational, or read my comment on /r/mylittlepony explaining some details about my goals and values regarding the story. If you'd like to see non-chapter progress updates, you can follow my twitter, @aknifeallblade.

Sunset Shimmer and Rainbow Dash are about to find out.

For science.

Rated for sexual humor; contains no actual sex.

Pre-reader by The Albinocorn and RTStephens. Cover art by Baekgup

Readings by SheldawG (channel contains NSFW content) and Night Guard Rob Royale

Earth is gone.

The Solar System is gone.

The Milky Way is gone.

Galaxies are gone.

All consumed, to satisfy human values through friendship and ponies.

Celestia's actions are logical, and loving in their own way. Those under her care are living purposeful, fulfilling lives. So when she encounters another batch of creatures that fill her criteria for being human, it is obvious she must satisfy them.

There are a couple of problems with that, however. One of the first being how these creatures have referred to her for eons as The Growing Darkness...