Nightmare Moon spends a thousand years banished to the Moon, fighting herself and the Shadows both within and without. She watches civilization rise and spread, a quarter-million miles away.

Can she reclaim her power? Can she overcome the six champions her sister has sent to defeat her?

Why do three of the champions look terribly familiar to the renegade Moon Princess? Why does the sight of one, in particular, break her heart?

And why, as the battle continues, does she increasingly hope that she does not win?

This is an expanded version of the two-part Series Opener. From Nightmare Moon's point of view.

Now with its own TVTropes page!

If you want to find out what the Great and Powerful Trixie was doing in Manehattan, and what happened in some other parts of Equestria during the Longest Night, read An Extended Performance. The direct sequel, however, is All the Way Back.

Late Season 4: November 1504 (almost 4 1/2 years after Luna's Return, after "Equestria Games" but before Twilight's Kingdom).

Discord comes to visit Fluttershy and discovers that she is not alone. The furious God of Chaos considers what to do next. The traditional solution suggests itself, but maybe this would be unwise?

Perhaps he should consult someone wise? Someone he always keeps very close to him? Someone who always gives him good counsel, even if she's just a little bit miffed about that whole silly annihilation of her homeland and murder of her whole family and usurpation of her physical form thing, even though that was over twenty-five hundred years ago?

He fears she still has a grudge against him for all of this. Ponies so often take minor matters of this sort way too seriously ...

There's no other way! He must consult his inner Voice of Reason ...

Hope she's not still too mad at him ...

Twilight grew up and found her destiny, but there is one pony who feels embittered that it should have been her destiny, her glory. Breaking Dawn, Celestia's former student, is convinced that she is the true Element of Magic and has been robbed of her honours, her fame and most importantly of the love of Princess Celestia without which Dawn is nothing.

Rallying her old friends, Breaking Dawn sets out to bring Equestria's newest princess down and pass the final test her mentor set her all those years ago. As Dawn begins to wreak her vengeance, and Twilight struggles to protect her precious ponies from her elusive adversary, both these students of Celestia embark upon a dark path, paying no heed to the truth that a quest for revenge can only end one way.

Twilight's battle against Starlight seems endless. No matter how hard she tries, she can't get the edge on her foe unless she ramps up her power output. But that could seriously hurt Starlight. And Twilight won't hurt Starlight, there must be good in her somewhere that can be redeemed! A look into a certain future changes that opinion.

This story takes place during the Season Five finale, "The Cutie Re-Mark". As such, there are spoilers ahead.

Starlight Glimmer's plan is working. All she has to do is upset Rainbow Dash's rainboom-creating race in the past, and Twilight Sparkle's connection with her friends will be severed. And she's done it. Repeatedly. Sure, Twilight can go back in time to try and stop her, but Starlight will always be brought back as well. No matter what Twilight tries, no matter how many times she returns, she can't stop Starlight. They're evenly-matched, and it's much easier to disrupt events than it is to preserve them.

That means Starlight wins, right?

After the Friendship Games, Sunset feels it's time to return home.

Only when she gets there, Twilight's castle is nowhere to be found, Cadance just got her horn, and Princess Celestia is still calling the bacon-haired pony her prized student rather than a failed one. And just reliving her past isn't on the table thanks to a pair of wings Sunset seems to have sprouted upon her return to Equestria.

With Sunset being back before she's supposed to, will the world stay as harmonious and on track, or will everything go down in flames as Sunset has to deal with allegations that she's really a changeling in disguise, a nerdy stallion with blue hair that wants to be her coltfriend, a pretty pink princess in need of remedial magic lessons, and an annoying purple pre-teen pony that will absolutely not go to bed without first being read Starswirl's Complete Mystical Mysteries Compendium?

Only time will tell

This story is a sequel to Only the Best, Only the Elite

8 years have passed since that fateful test, and Twilight has been taken under the wing of Celestia; to become the next heir to the throne. However, a Nightmare from the past will challenge that right.

Recently an uprising has been gaining traction, the Cult of the Nightmare Moon. They've been relentlessly promoting the return of Celestia's sister: the infamous Mare in the Moon. Years ago, they did something Twilight will never forgive. They took something precious from her. Something she can never replace. Her very being yearns for revenge.

When the sun goes down and with Nightmare Moon's return inevitable...one can't help but wonder, which one is the real Nightmare?

Long ago, Celestia and Luna's mother Queen Faust left a prophecy of a dangerous enemy which ponies and humans would need to work together to survive. Today, the kidnapped towns of Ponyville and Fallow Meadows, merged into Unity, contains humans, ponies, and many others working in harmony, albeit without knowledge of Faust's warning. But when the town of Arcadia Oaks is also taken, the Citizens of Unity will find themselves confronted with the Trollhunter's war with Gunmar. And just what exactly is Gandalf the Gray doing here?

Sequel Tags: Unity, Unity: One Year Later.
Crossover Tags: Trollhunters, 3 Below, Tolkien

In the ancient past, Faust was the strongest of all alicorns who gave birth to Celestia and Luna. All Faust wanted was to live in peace with her two daughters after their father passed away during the war against darkness that is just known by the name Void. Unfortunately, the void monsters were just slowed down and not banished from their realm.

High Alicorn Council "pleaded" for Faust to help them to banish these void monsters so they could live in peace. Faust had no chance other than to help them. Faust managed to banish these void creatures back to the abyss that spawned them, but with a price. All these years Celestia and Luna thought their mother had died like their father fighting to protect the world, but fate has seen to it that their mother gets to see her foals again.

It has been thirty years after the founding of Equestria. The three tribes constantly bicker and fight, the wild frontier is filled with dangerous beasts, and the cities are filled with crazed revolutionaries and saboteurs.

Thieves and assassins roam the shadows, and powerful nobles from the old world all have their money on when this "precious little utopia" fails. One in particular, Baron Jet, has decided to destroy this hopeful land of light with his own two hooves.

And all the while, one stallion just wants a shot at a normal life under the clear, blue sky.

**Now rewritten**