Twilight Sparkle had been looking forward to a quiet, relaxing day with a friend, and at first it seemed that Fluttershy could provide just that. But when Twilight makes a rather unsettling discovery about the pegasus – and her unusually sanguine appetite – the knowledge proves to be anything but relaxing...

Isolated from her friends and taken prisoner in the middle of a war, Twilight must deal with the very real dangers of being percieved as an enemy as well as the nightmares of her arrival on 'Earth'. Can she overcome her own fears and the fears of her captors? Will the wayward unicorn's assistance be a boon or a curse to the 'humans?' Most importantly, will she ever find her way home?

"In short, it's a story of friendship and plasma rifles, with the emphasis on the friendship. The characters are well written, the XCOM setting is fleshed out very well, and the story is compelling. If you love XCOM, you'll love the story, but even if you've never heard of it, it's more than worth giving the first 3 chapters a read.

There's excellent action later on, but the real strength lies in the collision between the friendly and naive world of Twilight Sparkle and the desperate world of humans fighting a losing war for survival and willing to do anything to turn the tide."

--Arzoo

(XCOM/FiM crossover)
(Cover art commissioned by a friend and created by the magnificent FoxInShadow!)
(Original cover art by the amazing Carnelian can be viewed here!)
(Gore tag for blood and some violence)
(Many thanks to the studius OminousTen, Arzoo, xXFluttershyForeverXx and finally Setokaiva for giving my rambles a once-over)
(Now with it's own TV Tropes page! Get to tropin' folks!)

After the events of the Canterlot Wedding, the Changelings regroup and plot a return. Upon their comeback, they successfully imprison every live equine in Equestria into cocoons within the span of a year. Nesting in the mountain next to Canterlot, the Changelings feed off of the thousands of ponies' love, claiming Equestria as their own.

Many years after their triumph, one pony escapes her cocoon prison through sheer luck, discovering Equestria to be a dark and barren wasteland of dead trees and no existing plant-life. Searching for any means of survival that she can find, the individual pony seeks a safe place to hide from the Changelings hot on her tail, knowing that if she gets captured again, they will put her back in her cocoon where she will be trapped for the rest of her life, dooming her kind forever.

Twilight isn't having a very good day. An experimental spell blew up in her face, an army of changelings is attacking Canterlot, and she just died. Yet somehow, it looks like it's going to keep going downhill from here.

Given the chance to correct what's gone wrong, Twilight swears she's going to fix all this even if it kills her. Which it will. Frequently.

Cover art by Pixel Prism
Spanish Translation
Series TV Tropes page

I'm Griffin, not much else to it. I've been bullied most of my life, which left me bitter and sarcastic. I'm a closet brony. What? You think I'm just gonna go out and tell a world that hates me that I watch a cartoon intended for little girls? I don't feel like giving the punks at school any more ammo. That's when cosmic powers decide I need to take a trip to my favorite fantasy land. But all is not sunshine and rainbows and it certainly won't be after I'm done with it. Equestria from the point of view of an extremely pissed off teenager, with a twist. Rust, the author of 'The Ballad of Echo the Diamond dog' is awesomesauce enough to have a cross over between our stories. Carnelian is a boss when it comes to art. Part of the 'Chess Game of the Gods'.

Violence, gratuitous swearing, and sexual themes. Reader discretion is advised.