On a dark night filled with even darker magics, an insane cult attempts to give Nightmare Moon a body and life of her own, utterly separate from Princess Luna. But, when the spell is interrupted by Celestia, something unexpected is created.

Now, a little black alicorn filly named Nyx finds herself living under the care of Twilight Sparkle, only to be haunted by memories and emotions from her past. Is she Nightmare Moon reborn or is she simply a doppelganger with a soul and mind of her own? Can Twilight Sparkle protect Nyx from those who refuse to see past her dragon eyes and black coat?

Or, will Nyx be forced to inherit the sins that may not even be hers and become the greatest evil Equestria has ever known?

The Elements of Harmony have freed Princess Luna from the clutches of Nightmare Moon, and she could not be more grateful to their bearers. For her first Hearth’s Warming since her return, Luna wishes to give each bearer a gift in thanks. However, having not spent any more time in Ponyville, she knows very little about them, and thus has no ideas on what to give them. 

Having regained her power to dreamwalk, Luna decides to search for inspiration in the Element bearers’ dreams, but upon her first foray into the Dream Realm, she finds someone she never would have expected.

 
This story was written for Reactception as a part of Jinglemas 2021! For more information about Jinglemas, check out our group!

Cover art by (and story title totally stolen from) the incredible Little Tigress!

What made you think Nightmare moon was just evil magic personified? Nightmare moon is just as princess Luna and vice versa, two sides of the same coin.

So when she comes back and her sister expects some kind of change? She has nothing but pure hatred and boiling blood like poison for her sister.

Featured 12/17/2021 8:52 PM PST

There is a new threat in Equestria...the Shadow Ponies. And they are much more dangerous than any previous foe. The Shadow Ponies are lead by an evil entity that the Mane 6 thought that they were rid of for good...Nightmare Moon. In order to stop this new threat, the Mane 6 will have to find and team up with a pony that is said to be no more than a legend...the Dark Defender...who happens to be a shadow pony himself.

But how will the Mane 6 defeat the new form of Nightmare Moon...if her destruction would mean the death of an innocent filly?

Celestia discovers that the royal pantry is out of her beloved desserts, so Luna suggests that she bakes a cake for herself. However, it turns out that doing pancakes and cakes are completely different for her. Luna decides to help, giving each other time to reminisce about their younger days and spend some quality time together.

Artwork is by Buryooooo
Title Pancakes!

One million years ago, in the year 2017 A.D., humanity discovered two new types of radiation that were being emitted from an unknown region up in space. Using the Hubble space telescope, scientists were able to discover that the radiation was being emitted from an asteroid, which was on a direct collision path with Earth. 

These two newly discovered radiation types were dubbed Keifer's radiation (later nicknamed harmonic radiation) and Chaotic radiation. Keifer's radiation was found to be completely harmless to humans and animals, although it was later discovered that Keifer's radiation tended to be attracted to certain animals. Chaotic radiation, on the other hand, was found to be extremely harmful to humans in large amounts, causing fatal mutations to humans. 

The discovered asteroid was found to be over twice as big as the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs. In the year 2018, scientists predicted that the radiation was expected to reach fatal, critical levels by the year 2027. The asteroid itself was estimated to only crash into Earth one thousand years later, long after the rest of humanity would be wiped out by the lethal Chaotic radiation.

As a result of this, world leaders got together and began construction of Utopia, a large underground bunker, capable of housing four hundred thousand people, two thousand from each country. The chosen few were gathered together within Utopia and would be the last of humanity.

However, the radiation was estimated to have a half life of at least 1,000,000 years. This led world governments to invest heavily in suspended animation and cryogenic technology. And finally, in the year 2024, the first cryogenic pod was invented, capable of freezing someone for an infinite amount of time, without the need for sustenance, as long as there was a power supply.

Exactly one million years later, the humans reemerged to begin recolonisation... only to find several sentient species currently inhabiting the planet that they once had absolute, unchallenged authority over. 

One of them was humanity, which was able to recolonise and repopulate the planet from the few members of the human race that managed to survive the Second Flood, long before the Utopians woke up. But there was something wrong, humanity was being used as slaves by the ponies and several other species.

How will humanity answer to the fact that Planet Earth (now renamed Equus) is no longer theirs? Will they make peace with the locals, or will they attempt to wipe them off the face of the planet with their stockpile of nuclear weapons, that were there for the very purpose of reinstating human rule if another creature evolved to their level?

[Heavily inspired by the tv series The 100]

Featured from 19/7/21 to 23/7/21

Featured on 25/7/21

This is the old version of this story. The rebooted version is available here:

Beyond Earth Phoenix Rising

Pipp invites her friends over to try Surströmming for the first time and film a viral video. Fermented fish is one of her favorite snacks, and it's renowned for its pungent odor. It goes exactly how Pipp had hoped.

I saw the art and knew I had to write this...
Audio reading by StraightToThePointStudio here
Audio reading by The Mystery Fluttershy Fan here

Magic has returned to Equestria and all is well. As the royal sisters were about to return to Zephyr Heights, they suddenly remember that they are "phony ponies full of baloney".

At least the prison is nice.

My take on a certain overlooked plot point thanks to Sprout. Feedback and comments are welcome!

EDIT (8/10/2021): Wow. 50 likes. Thanks guys!!

One day, a young unicorn named Buggy Brush got the opportunity to meet the one pony he always felt a really deep admiration for, Princess Luna. Neither of them knows how many things are going to change after that one single encounter.

Sequel: Left Behind: Sunny Disposition
Apparently it was scouted and is on EqD too

Nightmare Moon was meant to be released after a thousand years. A momentous occasion for her but terrifying for all the ponies on her day of freedom. She would get revenge on her sister and cover the world in darkness and shape everything to fit it.

That was the plan, at least. Instead, something went awry with the spell and she wasn't released when she was supposed to be. The mare-in-the-moon is brought into a world with stagnated technology, giant cities, and no sign of her sister or any of the other immortals. In fact, ponies don't seem terrified of her at all, and the stay within the core of her powers infused and changed the alicorn's body drastically.

The alicorn had no obstacles left! But...she was also a relic of the past. A past everyone seemed to have forgotten. A past she could no longer look upon.

Artwork by ElkaArt. Link in source.
Big thanks to Kryostase for helping spot errors I've missed.