Two decades after the banishment of Nightmare Moon, her shadow still lingers. Princess Celestia has been left to tend the Twin Thrones alone and protect us all from those who would see Equestria crumble. Our enemies take many forms: some would tear the world down with their claws, others with their smiles. They are monsters all the same.

I have had many names, and I have been many things. Today I am Swift Sweep, and I work for the Equestrian Bureau for State Security.

Special thanks:
NCMares (DeviantArt) for the gorgeous cover art.
Octavia Harmony: primary beta reader and editor throughout the many months of production.
PaulAsaran: for great help with and feedback on plot development and initial story drafting.
Kleora, Cerulean Voice, Nonagon: for further help with editing and story development.

Why did Chrysalis invade Canterlot? To feed her changelings. After the invasion failed no one trusts changelings being within a hundred yards of them and everyone is on the watch for infiltrators. With a hive full of hungry minions what does a being who feeds on love do? She approaches the Princess of Love, and asks to help restore lost love amongst ponies. In exchange for a little quid pro quo of course.

But as bold as the Changeling Queen is, she would never have predicted who would come through her door looking for help.

Note: I started this before the Season 6 finale aired. So, all chapters should be assumed as taking place before that.

The life of a reformed villain is a tough one. It's difficult to find friends who share the mindset of "I wanted to destroy/enslave the world!" due to the peaceful nature of Equestrians.

For such former megalomaniacs, there lies a little-known place called "The Salt Lick", where once a week, if you were evil enough to be a credible threat to Equestria, the barkeep will give you a discount in a night coined as "Villian's Night."

For one such unicorn, her time to discover this haven of enemies turned friends is today.

Rated T for references to alcohol and swearing.

Twilight Sparkle receives a new book from Discord chock-full of interesting and unknown facts about draconequi. How fascinating!

Nothing sinister about that, right?

This story is a sequel to The Trials and Tribulations of Trying to Date Twilight Sparkle

One hand, things seemed to be going perfect for Princess Celestia.

After realizing she had fallen in love with Twilight Sparkle, she was at first hesitant to reveal her love out of fear of rejection and damaging their relationship. However, thanks to the support of her friends, she was convinced to pursue her love. And, as a bonus, she made a new friend. After coming up with the perfect gift to give Twilight to prove her love, Celestia journeyed to Ponyville, ready to declare her feelings to Twilight.

On the other hand...

The new 'friend' she made was Queen Chrysalis.

Chrysalis is only friendly now because she's fallen in love with and is marrying Princess Luna.

The perfect gift was owned by a mob boss and Celestia was only able to obtain it by organizing a heist with the assistance of Princess Cadance and the changelings (who proceeded to empty the vault without telling anyone).

And due to a lack of communication, Twilight was not expecting Queen Chrysalis to show up out of nowhere, attacked her with the Rainbow Power, and as a result was turned to stone herself, along with Chrysalis, Luna, and Cadance.

Oh, and now Nightmare Moon has been freed from Luna's head and has her own body.

…

This is not what Celestia thought her love life would be like.

Proofing thank to ShutterflyYay, as always.

Princess Celestia has been in love with Twilight Sparkle for years. The rescue of her sister had been the start, but since then Twilight has saved Celestia, Luna, and their kingdom countless times. However, Celestia's true feelings have remained hidden, even from herself.

That is, until the day her love is revealed to her through a dream. But Celestia is determined to keep her feelings to herself. She has no idea how Twilight will react, and would prefer things remain they way they are, with the two Princesses as friends.

Unfortunately, Luna immediately finds out. A small group of ponies is quickly gathered, all with one goal: to force Celestia to confess her feelings and end her thousand-year relationship drought.

This causes so much chaos that Discord goes on vacation and will not be appearing in this story.

---

Edited by ShutterflyYay from chapter four onward.

Diplomacy amongst nations should be done by highly skilled and intelligent people that have had significant training. In fact, any kind of public spokesperson should be overly qualified before they step out into a spotlight.

Lyra is not particularly skilled. She also has absolutely no training. But, unfortunately for Equestria, that isn't going to stop her.

Artists is Hidden-Cat if anyone wanted to know.

Pardon me, sir or madam, but do you have a moment or two to discuss the benefits of sharing love with your neighborhood representative of the Changeling Empire?

I blame Vdrake77 and his server for enabling this.

Now with a reading by Illya Leonov! Thanks both to him for the full reading and supplying Silver Spinner's voice, and to Goombasa for serving as a wonderful Diplurida!

Luna has hidden a deep, dark secret from the ponies she watches over so lovingly. Were they to discover it, she can only imagine what it would do to the image they now hold of her. Twilight thinks it's just precious and plans to uncover it once and for all.

In the name of dapples.

Written because I was brainwormed by the wonderful art of my friends, Amarynceus and SilFoe. In turn, they were then brainwormed to make a couple contributions of their own.

Cover art by Amarynceus, because why not use something I brainwormed by the person who brainwormed me?

A Warhammer 40k Crossover. Not a brutalization fic. A Brony's First Warhammer fic. Gore will be as light as possible.

In the nightmare future of the 41st millennium, there is only war. There is no hope in a galaxy filled with terror and fear. When three fillies from the magical, peaceful land of Equestria are suddenly thrust into this living nightmare, they must adapt in order to survive. They will sacrifice everything they know and love in order to keep themselves alive.

War will change them.

And the Marks of War will stay with them forever.

"It is not the Horror of War that troubles me but the Unseen Horrors of Peace."—Imperial Thought of the Day