Cheerilee and the young foals of Ponyville are on a school trip to the Royal Museum in Oxerford. There rests a curious looking invention, unlike anything else ever made. Cheerilee enlightens her pupils, sharing with them a story that recalls Equestria's golden age of the steam engine, when machines seemed to become abundant and find new ways to defy imagination.

This is the story about the machine called the Storyloom…

Under the bleak sky of a post-industrial Canterlot, a young mare named Neverwas ekes out a living through her knack for hacking computers. Her day-to-day existence is turned on its head, however, when she becomes entangled in a hidden war between the megacorporations vying for control of the city, and perhaps, the whole world.

Long ago, something happened to transmogrify the land of Equestria from an age of sunshine and rainbows into a cybernetic nightmare. Whether or not Neverwas wants to uncover the hidden secrets of her world, she'll soon do so.

This is a rewrite of my old story Obsolescence. Trust me when I say that although the changes are substantial, I hope I have been able to preserve what readers liked about the story's first incarnation.

The 'Gore' tag is for sci-fi action and violence.

Thanks so much to TheOmegaRidley for his amazing artwork!

Also, thanks to my amazing editors, Chapter 13 and Typoglyphic. They have been invaluable for help with grammar, structure, brainstorming, and creative contributions.

Thanks to Crystal Static for being so encouraging towards this project.

Finally, thank you for reading!

We went in expecting vicious graverobbers, desperate bandits, even crazed grievers who had trapped themselves down there.

If only we were so lucky.

(For Halloween. Part of the Upheaval world)

The King of the Eternal Herd has many duties, but, sometimes, the father of a filly indulges himself.

(Part of the Upheaval World) What makes one thing a blessing or a curse? The source, the circumstances, or just the will of the one it's placed upon? In an Old Kingdom ruin, some ponies will find out the hard way.

(Part of the Upheaval world)

Sharp Mark has been training his charge for a long time, knowing that, one day, this quiet pegasus colt must bear a tremendous responsibility upon his shoulders. But there are still a few more lessons to teach, and a few more wrinkles to iron out.

Celestia leaves to deal with a foreign crisis, giving her sister a chance to rule alone and become more attached to the modern world. She calls on Twilight Sparkle to advise Luna, hoping her student will be able to draw Luna out of her shell. With two major threats to Equestria already defeated in the past year, it seems like the perfect time to let Luna gain some confidence and experience in the modern world. After all, what are the chances of a third disaster occurring?

Now comes with complimentary tropes.

The Void Rift Crisis, the ill-fated bridge between one era to another. A time of great falls and rises within the Eternal Herd. An alicorn colt, curious about the events involving this time, speaks to some prominent figures involved in it.

The wheel of time turns, as destiny and history clash together.

Fifty years into the future, Sunset Shimmer is Princess Twilight Sparkle's most faithful student. She is smart and eager, but doesn't always think things through. Her life had been perfect, right up to the End of the World.

With a ruined future, Sunset travels into the past to alter the course of history. With only her mentor's cryptic word to go on, Sunset and the Elements of Harmony must solve the riddle of the Dark Regalia and stop the mysterious Vesper Radiance from rising to power. But the further Sunset goes, the more she feels like she's been through it all before.

Is destiny set in stone, or can Sunset shape her own future? Only time will tell.

Featured on Equestria Daily 6/16/13
Gratefully edited by JustAnotherTimeLord, Icarus_Gizmo, Cerulean Voice and Bad_Seed_72

The Sunset of Tropes page!

This story is a sequel to Upheaval: Reckoning

Equestria's fragments have reunited, and the power of sunlight shines once more within Celestia. With the remnants of the Old Kingdom destroyed, the Abyssal Throne sent away, the threat of Gravitas defeated, and Black Rose no more, Equestria now faces the encroaching darkness of Oceanus and his rebels.

But the stage is not yet fully set. Twilight Sparkle and her friends must gather what means they may before the battle is joined.

Cover art provided by Captain Nibbles