Twilight Sparkle finds herself inside a cocoon in the throne room of Canterlot Palace along with her friends and many other ponies. She is thrust into a dream world by Chrysalis who is feeding on the feelings of love and friendship she and the others will experience in their alternate realities. In her dream, she finds Princess Celestia, who has been able to cross between dream worlds. Twilight and Celestia must now travel between dreams in order to awaken their friends and stop Chrysalis. However, some dreams are not as happy as they expected, and some secrets held in the subconscious may be better left unawoken.

Additional character tags: OC's, Princess Cadence, Shining Armor, Princess Luna, Nightmare Moon, Trixie, Zecora, Diamond Tiara, Snips, Flitter, Cloudchaser, Roseluck, Big Macintosh

Inspired by the fan video of an alternative ending of season 2. Click here to watch it!

Featured on Equestria Daily 9/14/2012.

Now a comic illustrated by Zoarvek! http://zoarvek.deviantart.com/gallery/48143295

"Sex" tag added on 10/12/2014 due to sexual themes here and there. It's not the focus of the story, but it's in there. For a more detailed explanation of why the tag was finally added, see the author's note on "Corruption Ch 10"

Old cover art here: http://i.imgur.com/Tgt974q.jpg
Full size: http://i.imgur.com/9uWAX.jpg

Coverart from HERE

Set shortly after the season 5 premiere, but before episode three

Romance tag readded due to a lack of a certain mare having a ship in the finale.

Normally, Ken wouldn't have minded finding an excuse to get out of school. However, being hit by a car and suddenly waking up as a strange four legged creature with purple fur, wings and a horn is not something he'd have chosen just to play hooky.

Now in a world he continually doesn't understand and makes him... now a her, want to pull her hair out, Ken must learn how to coincide with the creatures of Equestria, while finding her place in this bizare world that defies all senses of logic she was raised with. On top of that, she's now apparently a princess and has to deal with nobles fawning over her, including one male who she knows is definitely just trying to get into her new female parts to breed, and she'll have none of that.

Of all the things she could've chosen to get out of school, this was definitely not one of them and she just wants to go back to normal. Sadly, that doesn't seem likely to happen any time soon.

Though not pertaining to the main character, Romance tag does still apply to other characters in this story. It's just the Tag Limiter wouldn't let me keep Romance Tag after I edited the description a little, so had to remove the tag, even if it still holds some small weight on the story.

Featured Box 16-18/8/2015. Okay. Seriously did not see that coming.

Popular Stories 16-20/8/2015

Featured Box again 6/11/2016 if only for a few moments. I... I honestly don't know what to say

Featured again? Really? Thank you guys, so much

Commander Shepard remembers firing the crucible. She remembers she had to make an important choice. She remembers good friends, a lover, and plenty of loyal crewmen.

She just can't remember what her choice was. What the threat she was striving so hard to end was. Or what the faces of the most important people in her life look like.

She also has no idea how she wound up in the monster filled forest she's come to call home for the past eight months. Or how she picked up a snarky A.I. making its home in her omni-tool.

Quiet mornings before school starts can be lonely, but peaceful. For some people, they're a good time to just breathe and prepare themselves for the day ahead. Fluttershy and Adagio Dazzle find themselves doing this in the same place at the same time, in their own ways.

Based on a picture that was a little too big to be the cover art, but cute enough to inspire some shipping anyway.

Now comes with actual cover art courtesy of SkycatcherEquestria!

Comments may contain spoilers!

Now comes with Trope page!

Guard
noun

1. a person who keeps watch, especially a soldier or other person assigned to protect a person or to control access to a place.

There is more to a Royal Guard than meets the eye. Capturing crooks, chasing ruffians, fighting monsters, stopping assassinations, and protecting the Princess with all their worth -- with a thousand years of peace time, they have become more and less. But the future is uncertain, and within the horizon, the dark storms are a brewing.

Aiming to become a Royal Guard had never been Twilight's first choice of career -- it certainly was not what Mom and Dad wanted her to be. Still, that didn't stop Twilight Sparkle to pursue that dream. Now that she was one, she had to deal with monsters, cultists, vengeful ghosts, prickly teammates, forgotten childhood friends, and a Sunset Shimmer. Not exactly what she had expected out of her military career in peaceful Equestria, but perhaps it wasn't far off from what she wanted.

Serious thanks to Sunglow for offering proofreading and commentaries.

Link to the Spacebattles Thread

Editors: Fire Starter, Alcatraz, and Neko Majin C (Recently: Seven Fates)
Additional Story tags: Clarke's 3 Laws (More specifically 1 & 3)
Cover Artist: PosionSt

In the year 2036 an asteroid dubbed "Apophis" struck the Earth and contaminated fifty percent of its water and atmosphere with an extraterrestrial pathogen dubbed "The SOL Strain." After two years, sixty percent of all human life was gone! With the world's governments struggling to keep their countries together; all seemed lost.

That is where my story begins.

My name is Chloe Cooper and I'm the only known human to be genetically immune to the SOL Virus. During the pandemic, I volunteered myself for experimentation. In order to keep me safe, I and three other humans were locked away in a vault deep within the Appalachian mountains. There these people, who I soon considered my friends, ran many tests on me and the virus, however after months without contact from above it was time to put the project to rest.

Cryostasis pods dubbed: "Cocoons" had been built in case we failed. 16,000 years later I awoke to sirens, signaling a whole host of problems.

And now? I'm the last of my kind.

Character tags will be updated depending on where the story goes

Twilight Sparkle has too much magic, and it will take her decades to learn to control it. Her spectacular loss of control during her entrance exam only proves that fact. She is a danger to herself and others.

After Sunset Shimmer’s disappearance, Princess Celestia needs a new student to bear The Element of Magic to defeat Nightmare Moon. With all of Equestria at stake, Twilight Sparkle…is not the pony she needs.

Princess Celestia seals Twilight Sparkle’s magic with the distant promise of one day teaching her.

But there are two diarchs of Equestria. Amidst a lucid dream, an offer is made.

“Hello, Twilight. Would you like to be my student?”

Cover art provided by Lafiir.

Failing once in her attempt to take Canterlot and failing again in her attempt to take down Twilight, one would think Chrysalis would have cut her losses and let things be, but the queen has once again appeared, this time in broad daylight with no disguise and no army. Her weapon of choice? Diplomacy.

Now Twilight is having to deal with the changeling queen, but surely putting up with her antics will be worth the knowledge she's willing to provide about her mysterious race and the potential undiscovered agents still within their midst...right?

Takes place before Magical Mystery Cure and diverges from there.

With thanks to MisterGunpowder for proofreading and editing.

Revision History:

05/09/2015: Chapter 1 updated with millions of little corrections.
05/20/2015: Chapter 2 revised and edited with another million small and large corrections.
06/12/2015: Chapter 3 given a thorough editing and revision.
06/23/2015: Chapter 4 taken to the gutter and edited twice to be sure.
07/14/2015: Chapter 5 thoroughly brutalized with the editing stick.
08/03/2016: Chapter 6 finally edited. Yes, I'm still alive, dammit.
09/29/2016: Chapter 7 fell out of the editing tree and hit every editing branch on the way down.
10/26/2016: Chapter 8 has emerged from the editing emergency room.
11/17/2016: Chapter 9 found and edited. No casualties reported.
11/30/2016: Chapter 10 treated for whiplash after lightning fast editing.
12/22/2016: Chapter 11 edited. Chrysalis shot first.
01/17/2017: Epilogue edited. Time to hit the cider.

This story is a sequel to I'll Always be Here for You

A budding love, a new family.

Rescued from her horrible parents by Twilight and Rainbow, Scootaloo begins a long journey of recovery from the years of mental and physical abuse. Now Rainbow’s and Twilight’s adopted daughter, she looks forward to what the future has in store for her. However, Scootaloo's happiness and her life are at risk now that her parents have escaped from prison, fully intent on revenge.

Meanwhile, Rainbow and Twilight try to make their relationship work as they face the difficulties of raising a filly together. To accomplish their dream of a happy family, they all must face numerous challenges that will test the strength of their love and friendship.

Sunset Shimmer had everything. Personal protégé of the Sun Princess herself, top marks in the School for Gifted Unicorns, and the honor of being dubbed the greatest arcanist since Starswirl the Bearded.

Until she threw it all away.

In the last moments before leaving Equestria forever, her destiny is snatched away right before her eyes. Once upon a time the story of the lives of herself, Twilight Sparkle, and the path of Equestrian History went one way, a story that we all know well. But in every stand of woods there is a path untrotted, one with a different story and new experiences.

About the deleted comments.

Discussion of this and other works can be found on my Private Discord Server

New cover by DVixie. If someone knows how to contact them I'd be appreciative. It more accurately portrays the current evolution of the story.

Arc One, Filly Steps: Complete.
Arc Two, What Twilight Learned Today: In Progress.