Princess Luna still feels alone, nineteen years after her return to Equestria . But when she finds a friend in an online game, everything seems better. She can be herself without worrying about what others think, and she can finally talk to another pony, even if he never knows who she really is.

Celestia is worried about her sister, especially right now. Upcoming peace talks with a powerful new nation mean that all the Princesses need to be completely ready. With her Luna so absorbed in a fantasy world, she wonders how she'll make it through the harrowing weeks to come.

Button Mash feels like a failure. He's still living at home, he still can't find work that can use his degree from the university, and he still feels alone. His friends are getting married, starting families, and thriving in their careers. On the plus side, he plays games regularly, and his best friend is a mare, even if she doesn't know his name. He hopes that his upcoming vacation to Canterlot might help his mindset.

But, unbeknownst to all of them, a sinister web within a dark plot threatens to ensnare Equestria... And Luna may be the only one able to stop it.

She may face it alone, or maybe she'll have some help from her knight in faded armor...

Cover art credit to yamashta. Link here.

Preread by -TGM- and Goldenwing

Edited by m1ntf4n, PheonixStarr, Wing, and the_Doc, and Swan Song, and Orion Caelum.

Follows canon up to about season 4 or so. I'm not sure when everything went off the rails, but it was originally as true as possible when initially written.

Link to the Discord chat HERE!

Twilight Sparkle wakes up one morning to a harsh dose of unreality. She is stranded, without her friends, on an island which matches no known locale on Equestria. Surrounded and harried on all sides by the alien and the dangerous, she will find her mettle sorely tested, and find perhaps that the best friends you will ever have in your life are the ones you make when your back is to the wall...

Thanks to CedricBale and noobie56xx for tracking down the name of the artist so I could give them credit.

Life in Equestria is changing, and nopony knows this more than Lyra Heartstrings. While on vacation in Appleloosa to forget her past trauma with changelings, the struggling musician ironically stumbles upon Queen Chrysalis. In her starving death throes, the Matriarch of the Hive latches onto Lyra. When the unicorn awakens, she is no longer her usual self, but rather a super-powered pony with all the gifts and talents of the changeling queen who has merged with her, forming a shared consciousness in Lyra's head.

Together, the two will be forced to work out a symbiotic relationship, performing acts of heroism against a shifting tide of questionable politics, dangerous personalities, unpredictable technologies, and the runaway denizens of Tartarus. Neither Chrysalis nor Lyra exclusively, they must both settle for an identity that sparks fear in the minds of evil... and instills hope in the hearts of the innocent.

This is not the story of Queen Chrysalis. Nor is this the story of Ponyville's silly Lyra Heartstrings. This is the day-to-day saga of the pony known only as the Shell, the heroes and villains attached to her, and the adventurous legacy that she will ultimately leave behind.

Cover Art by Rangelost

The Great Freeze. Was it our hubris in controlling the sun, or was it that others started to covet that control? At this point, the whos and the whys don’t change anything. Our star is dying, and those responsible for it are long dead. Their causes and motives, lost to all but a few.

For the past hundred years, our sun has been growing dimmer, kept alive only by Celestia’s constant efforts. But not even she nor the legion of magi and scientists can stop the inevitable.

Our only choice is to flee to a new world, one that could give our doomed species a second chance. The Seeding colony ship is that chance. There are so many worth saving, and yet so very few seats.

May our children never forget the sacrifice of those we leave behind.

~Excerpt from Princess Twilight Sparkle’s journal three days before Seeding.

While this fic will borrow heavily from Beyond Earth, it will be written so that you do not have to know anything about BE to enjoy the story.

Once upon a time, (if the term even applies) two young ladies, (if that adjective even applies) decided to visit a magical land of Equestria, selected seemingly at random from about a million.

• One of the two is a time traveler deprived of her time machine, the other is an eldritch abomination out of her element.
• One would prefer the world of pastel-colored ponies to stay as it is, and can’t help but alter it. The other one is anxious to see how it can change, and can’t help but maintain it.
• Both believe that this is not their story. But while they disturb the delicate world of ponies, they don’t even notice ponies doing the same to them.
• Sandwiches are involved somehow.

There are many things this story is and some things it isn’t.

It’s not a fix fic, no matter what some of the characters think. It’s written in multiple first person narration, which happened for a pointlessly clever reason, that will eventually become quite obvious. It’s not a crossover, it just comes with an unhealthy amount of backstory. It could be a rational-fic, but since idealistic philosophy is typically not seen as very rational, it’s only a philoso-fic instead. It’s quite meta, in the original definition of metafiction: fiction concerned with fiction as a concept. In any case, it’s either a small monument to overthinking things – I’m trying to reexamine many fanon ideas here – or a digital paperweight, I’m not sure which. It’s quite a bit more subtle than it could be, and everyone talks way too much when they should be having glorious adventures.
I know how it starts, I know how it ends, and most of what happens in between. Readers say it’s a slow burner, but we’ll get there eventually.

Acknowledgements

With special thanks to my editors, Thainen, Shrink Laureate, and MitchH.
Further special thanks to ScarletWeather and Themaskedferret for valuable input.
The artist who made the cover image stubbornly wishes to remain uncredited, but thanks to her anyway.

This story is a sequel to Princess Celestia's Newest Arch Enemy

After successfully defeating both Princess Celestia and Luna on his first day as super villain, the colt known as Bad Dude sets his sights on much larger projects. Namely, the creation of Equestria's first ever super villain group known as The Coalition of United Terrible Evils. Or C.U.T.E. for short.

But were villains ever truly meant to play nice with one another?

Artwork by Shadow Bolt.

More Bad Dude art by TurnWrongattheFork. HERE!

This story is a sequel to The Changeling of the Guard

This is a collection of various stories, short and otherwise, to go along with The Changeling of the Guard.

They aren't absolutely necessary, but the intention is to provide some background or additional material. Things like Topaz's research notes on Changelings, stories involving the other characters, and various insane things Idol has done that don't quite fit into the main plot. They might be chipper, they might be sad, but they're all canon to the main fic... or to whoever from the story is relating them.

Chapter 1 is the Nurse, mentioned briefly in Moonlighting, who brought Idol the Nymph.

Ponyville has grown boring for Rainbow Dash. Sometimes, an entire week will pass between monster attacks.

What's a mare of action to do when her neighbors are all celebrating apples and hard work? When the weather bureau insists on gentle showers and sunny days, instead of something more exciting?

She has to find adventure, obviously. And when an airship captained by a pegasus pony flies through Ponyville one lazy summer day, dragging a flying iceberg behind it, Rainbow Dash realizes this might be the opportunity she's been waiting for.

But nopony ever said adventuring was easy.