A post-apocalyptic story about exploring ruins, the mistakes of another civilization, and memory.

No one must ever know,
This land where we must go,
They hoped and shared their love,
Yet death rained from above,
The scars of passing linger on,
Through empty husks and unheard songs.
Although they now live in my heart,
The truth still hurts...where do I start?-Twilight Sparkle

Coverart by this guy who is awesome. THIS GUY Also, major thanks to Luna-tic for helping me edit this sucker! Perhaps even bigger thanks to Obabscribbler who made a radio play of it. You can find that radio play HERE!

Long ago, before the fall of Princess Luna, before the rule of Discord, there existed another race of pony; The lamia, or snake ponies, feared by all of pony kind as mighty hunters and predators. When the Two Sisters rose to power, no longer able to stand by and watch as the lamia preyed on their subjects, they decided to put an end to the lamia’s reign of terror. Leading their army straight into the capital of the lamia they slew their leader, along with any lamia they encountered along the way.

Using a shapeshifting ability gifted to them by an ancient relic, the scattered remnants of the lamia managed to stay hidden for over a millennium. In the rare case that one of their kin was discovered, they were hunted down and persecuted without so much as a trial. Adapting to the lifestyle of the ponies, the lamia live in constant fear of one day having their true identity discovered.

Tired of living in constant fear, of hiding from her neighbors, and not caring about the consequences of being caught, one lamia decides to leave home and move to a friendly little town in the center of Equestria. Little does she know that something as small as moving to another town could set off a chain of events that will change relations between the lamia and the ponies forever...

The prologue contains some dark themes, as well as a bit of gore, however, that is the only chapter that contains them.

Cover art provided by artist and co-writer The Spirits Demise.

Full size cover can be found here.

Spirit and I have opened up a Discord server for this story. If anyone is interested in hopping in to get updates on the story, discuss what you did or didn't like about a particular scene, or just to chat in general, feel free to follow the link!

With time ticking out, and no other options left to them, the rulers of Equestria turn to the lone human in Equestria to save them from Chrysalis' plot.

Warning, this story contains discussions of torture.

My name is Twilight Sparkle, and 350 years ago, Sweetie Belle and I vanished without a trace.
Now here we are, in the future.
Equestria has become a utopia, with everypony living in peace and harmony.
Everything is perfect. All a pony could ever want, and more.
My name is Twilight Sparkle, and I want to go home.

Editing provided by Stereo_Sub and JustAnotherTimeLord.

Cover art courtesy of Geomancing.

Reading by lieilengi

Spanish translation by Spaniard Kiwi

In the closing days of the Pre-Classical Era, at the dawn of the rule of the Royal Pony Sisters, the devastation of Discord’s cruelty hits hard and leaves an open wound. As the young and inexperienced Princesses Celestia and Luna struggle to keep the peace, powerful figures in all three Pony tribes bridle at the upstart Alicorns who so quickly and easily claimed power...

Fic reading with soundtrack can be found here!

A journal was found. Old and weathered with years untold. The first entry was dated yesterday:

My name is Twilight Sparkle, and for the last 33 days I've been stuck in a time-loop, repeating the 23^rd of March, 2 A.R. It is still unknown how the loop started, nor how I can end it. All I can say with any amount of certainty is that time for the rest of the world resets every night, and every morning I wake up it is the morning of the 23^rd.

Now with a reading by ObabScribbler. Link!

Equestria, the stellar empire long joined together with the Covenant has commissioned an inquisition into the crusade against Humanity, such a monumental task falls into the hooves of the diligent Twilight Sparkle. Granted the title of Inquisitor can the Unicorn bring herself to admit the terrible truth should she find it?
but more pressingly can she survive the deadly battle of Installation 04?

Scarlet Frost has had more than enough death and violence in her life and has spent the last several years living quietly as a librarian and scholar in the New Equestrian city of Swanrun. Sadly, it seems that death and violence are not yet done with her, as she is about to discover.

After a chance encounter, Scarlet is forced to leave her home and flee for her life alongside a mysterious orphan filly named Primrose. Now being hunted across the land she once went to war for, Scarlet will have to use every resource at her disposal just to stay alive. And if she is going to make it through this, she must confront the ghosts of not only her own past, but those of this long-broken world as well.

A special thank you goes out to my editors, Mister Hypothetical and Chromio!

Now with a reading over on YouTube!

The sex tag is for occasional blunt discussions on the subject matter and implied sexual behaviors between consenting adults.

Octavia Melody's love of music has revolved around a single influential and prestigious work of art, the song May Our Sun Shine Forever. Since she was a filly, what has been the Equestrian national anthem for generations has continually inspired Octavia to perform, shaping her into the promising cellist she is today. Though the completed original was lost to the passage of time, the remnants of the final masterpiece composed by the Grand Maestro Glissando has been the cornerstone of not only Octavia's career, but modern music theory in Equestria.

When the tattered remains of an ancient songbook possibly containing the original song in its entirety is found, the Equestrian Society for the Performing Arts and Princess Luna begin planning a concert series to celebrate the work's eventual restoration. However, their meeting screeches to a halt once Princess Celestia vehemently forbids anypony from playing the original in the concert and demands its restoration to cease immediately. Octavia Melody finds herself at a loss, wondering why the princess of the sun would silence such a beautiful song meant to bring light to the world.

Proofread and Edited by TheAncientPolitzanian and various others over the years of trying to fix this thing.
Cover Art Depressing Melody by TertonDA
Updated 02/27/24

There are 100 billion stars in the Milky Way, and humanity is determined to explore every one. We send probes, probes with the blueprints to reproduce human explorers upon arrival. Uninhabited worlds the galaxy over can be colonized and populated, until after many years they too can join the vast throng of interstellar civilization. But if a probe is very, very lucky, it will land on a populated world instead. Equestria is one such world.

Even so, it's far from perfect for colonization, not with an environment lethal to human life. But each probe is resourceful and armed with the greatest machine intelligence mankind has devised. If placing a human mind into a newly manufactured human body won't work, it will just have to get a little more creative.

This book has a Hardcover! If you want to pick it up, you can grab it here: https://starscribe.net/

This story was written at the behest of Canary In The Coal Mine, who is sponsoring it on my Patreon. As usual, cover by Zutcha. Editing by Two Bit and Sparktail.

Fantastic prereading help from: Chyre, Danger Noodle, Doctor Disco, and Doggyshakespeare (who also did the Esperanto translation). Thank you all for helping to make this story more readable and more consistent for everyone.