This story is a sequel to Shadowbolts Adventures: Let It Snow

School. The first frontier.
These are the adventures of the Crystal Prep Shadowbolts.
On their 12-year mission to learn new things and grow up.
To boldly go where everybody has gone before.

This is the rest of the story that began way back in 2015 with "Music To Our Ears", as the Crystal Prep Shadowbolts live their day to day lives, occasionally embarking on exceptional adventures and journeys, and always learning how to not be terrible people. They're joined by their friends the Wondercolts and Dazzlings, who have their own problems and issues to deal with, such as rogue magic powers and the end of a millennium of existence.

This story is an ongoing "Webcomic" style story. It will be updated on a daily basis with much shorter chapters 5 days a week Monday-Friday (unless I get far enough ahead for the occasional weekend updates). However, don't worry about getting confused about what's going on at any given time. If you wish to relive old adventures or keep track of specific storylines, what story each chapter belongs to will be clearly marked for reader convenience.

I hope you'll join me for this ride and enjoy it as much as I have been and will continue to.

Canterlot lies steeped in chaos, a virulent and deadly plague still boiling away after a decade of suffering. The city, and the ponies in it, still feel the effects, still feel the bite of the times. The lower city, cursed as it is, is mostly partitioned off, leaving each and every pony left stranded and without help. Ponies struggle day by day just to stay alive.

Even as the ponies suffer, politicians toil away, plotting and scheming, machinations rumbling just below the surface. The city is fevered, sick and bloated, ready to pop at any moment. A single pony may be enough to make it all erupt.

And make it erupt Twilight Sparkle shall.

One small step, one lucky break is all she needs to turn the city on its head and take her rightful place by the Queen's side. But even she may not be prepared for the shark tank that is Luna's court.

This story is a sequel to Nightmares Are Tragic

After the final fight against Nightmare Moon, Princess Luna has regained her identity and sanity. But she is still weak, scarred by her suffering, and -- save for her sister -- mostly alone in a strange new Equestria, a world which in some ways resembles the old Age of Wonders, and in other ways is very different.

Can she recover her strength, make friends, and resume her rightful role as Celestia's co-ruler? And can she do this fast enough to save the kingdom?

Now with its own TVTropes page!

For the Shadows which claimed her before are still extant, and stretching their malign powers forth to consume the light of Celestia's bright new world ...

This story is a sequel to Reformation of the Hives

Even though the threat of the jungle queens and Grogar have been diminished, life often times does not get wrapped up in a neat little bow. More troubles present themselves large and small. Our only hope is we keep passing life's constant tests, even when it is the last thing we wish to do.

The worst possible scenario; Nightmare Moon takes control of the throne of Equestria.

How could this have happened? And what lies in store for the ponies under her rule?

This story is a sequel to From the Ashes

The Hive hidden in the Scarred Forest, officially dubbed the 'Scarred City' by its allies, has already changed twice in recent memory. The first time was when Chrysalis reached out to Equestria for peace and Twilight Sparkle joined their family. The second was when Twilight Sparkle ascended to the throne and changed things for the better. Now, as the queen finally opens their eyes, the whole world will see how they will change. For better or for worse.

When Twilight loses control of her magic, she finds herself in the realm of the the eternally damned, Tartarus. In order to survive she is forced to learn and change. However, when Twilight finally escaped from Tartarus, how will Equestria deal with a Twilight who has been forged in hellfire?

Author's Note: I want to point out that the Dark and Gore tags are not all consuming. They are there only by necessity. There are going to be some dark material in here, but nothing grim.

On the same note, Twilight is the only anthro in the story, and there is an in-story reason for it, so don't let that big nasty Anthro tag scare you.

One final thing. It has been some time since I've done any real work on this story. To make clear how long, this portion of the author note was added July 5th, 2019. This story is currently sitting in that little area between "Hiatus" and "Cancelled". Time will tell if I revitalize it.

The World of Tartarus Forged.

It has been several years since Chrysalis’ defeat during the Canterlot invasion. Since then, the fortunes of her changelings and kingdom have rapidly declined. With mass starvation, ponies capturing more of her spies and love collectors every day, and her own powers diminished to the point of being a complete non-threat to her enemies, she fears that it may soon be over for both herself and her entire race.

As Chrysalis reminisces about past failures, a pony named Time Keeper crashes a large metal box into her bedchambers. He claims to not only be a time traveller but also to have accidentally killed Twilight Sparkle on the day she was supposed to go to Ponyville to defeat Nightmare Moon.

In an effort to avoid the prospect of the universe tearing itself apart at the seams from the ensuing paradox, Chrysalis agrees to go back in time and live out a facsimile of Twilight’s life herself, and if time allows, she'll work on her own little project: shaping the future more to her own liking.

This story is a sequel to Split Second

Twelve years ago, she broke time. Two alternate timelines exist, each with a different version of Twilight Sparkle. Both versions of her are able to see the other. In this timeline, Sparkle is a Necromancer.

Or rather, she was. Sparkle is dead now, not that she cares. She's got a new body. With Thorn (her undead dragon son) and Cobalt (her apprentice and an assassin for hire) at her side, she's ready to take on the world. Again.

(Spoilers in the comments. Read at your own risk.)

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This story is a sequel to Split Second and won't make sense without it.
This story also loosely shares continuity with Lupine Tree. Reading that is not required.

Cover art by Swirling Line.