Discord decides it would be funny to pop in on Twilight. That's nothing new. However, this time it could not have been more ill-timed, as just at that moment, Twilight had been testing out an experiment combining Harmony magic and the properties of Grogar's bell.

This permanently severs Discord's connection to Chaos.

Without magic and in a changed body, he has to find a new path in life, and it will not be easy, even with friends there to help him.

Cover art by me.

Somehow, I've always known.

Cover artwork courtesy of Cloud-Drawings on DeviantArt.

My entry for the Dialogue-Only Contest!

In the modern era, it has become common for foreigners to mock Equestria, seeing the pony nation as weak, naive, unwilling to commit to hard decisions. More belligerent neighbors often view the ponies as easy prey or targets, to have their magic stolen, to be devoured and pillaged, or conquered as a ready supply of slaves.

It was not always thus. In ages past, Equestria was a land of heroes and legends, of darkness and bloodshed. In time, the princesses learned to temper strength with mercy, power with forbearance, and righteous conviction with benevolence.

But now, a thousand years after the younger princess was banished to the moon, the long peace is drawing to a close. Forces both within and without Equestria awaken, seeing a nation weak and easily toppled. Seeing a people grown fat on peace and luxury, who have long forgotten the hardships of war and conflict, or the glory of bloodshed.

Woe betide to all who come to Equestria with ill intent. For in all these long years of peace, the Princess of the Sun has never forgotten the lessons of war, and her eyes watch over her beloved subjects with not only patience and understanding, but an implicit promise of protection.

The time will come soon, when those who would do Celestia's Little Ponies wrong will come to learn... That even an Empire of Mercy is still paved upon the bones of its enemies.

[...]
Alternate universe story based on two main principals: First, that Rainbow Dash is taken in as Celestia's student in addition to Twilight. Second, that the threats to Equestria are both larger in magnitude, but also countered by a more competent and militarized Equestria. Also, it will follow my headcanon that alicorn's are gender neutral.

It is also somewhat based on my love of story threads that are disconnected but still intersect. The continuity will not really have a single group of main characters (Though it will start with mostly Rainbow Dash and Celestia), but rather a number of different story threads playing out simultaneously across the world. I have plans for the Mane Six, Celestia, Luna, Spike, Starlight Glimmer, and Scootaloo at the least.

I will be posting every 14 days on saturday, at least for the time being. Story is in present tense, third person. Genre will kinda be all over the place, parts of the story will include the whole spectrum from war story to slice of life to drama to who knows what else.

Sometime after the events of the first TYT special: The Blockywockys, Allura, still mad at the fact that she and Twitch was so close to getting the Nova Charm, finds a way to get revenge on the ponies.

Unsettling dreams are starting to worry Princess Luna. She is positive these dreams hold an ominous portent for all of Equestria, but there is only one stallion who knows for certain the answers she seeks. King Sombra has been imprisoned again in Shadow since his defeat and the shattering of his body, but he is no less cunning and ruthless. And as Luna tries to interrogate him over time, she finds there is a softer side to the unicorn king, one nopony has seen before. But Celestia fears for her younger sister, warning Luna against Sombra's advances. Is the once-tyrant truly starting to court Princess Luna...or is she simply being used as a pawn in his plans to regain power?
~~~
Cover art by the amazing MickeyMonster, who has permitted me use of it for this fanfiction, as this image inspired me to write this story in the first place.
Edited and proofread by my girls TheOneBehindYou and LabyrinthineMind.

8tracks playlist: https://8tracks.com/yoru-the-rogue/lingering-shadows

Spike had never thought he would meet his birth parents, he had been with Twilight for quite sometime now and he was starting to lose hope that he'd ever meet them. But when he goes to the Dragon Lands to see the Migration, he not only meets a kind dragon who helps him through the place, but he also helps find someone he never thought would get to meet..

Forcing Twilight to move out of her old dorm room next to Canterlot's best libraries? A terrible, terrible mistake.

Former and current rulers in Equestria have disappeared with no clear explanation as to why, no closure granted to the civilians at large.
Everyone copes, or pointedly does not, in different ways.

_{This was originally written October 2022.}

Equestria has changed, magic is now a distant memory. The tribes have split apart. Twilight's rule has long since failed. The Dark age is here.

Yet there is still another. Come, see the journey, where it began. For yet, hope remains while the love and friendship remains true. Hope is coming.

Flurry Heart's tale is not yet finished.

(Thank you to https://www.fimfiction.net/user/712780/Sonicexcel for helping to Proofread and edit.)

Celestia has a secret. There is a voice in her head. It plays a game she doesn't really understand but fears all the same. It wants her, and with everypony that knows of its existence its power grows. She has kept it away for as long as she can remember.

Luna is set to return, and with it, a friend of the voice. Can Celestia endure the voice's games and strengthen her relationship with Luna, or will she lose everything to it?