The world ended.

That, at least, is what it sounded like. Screaming, howling, and then deathly silence.

A month later, Cheerilee and Scootaloo emerge from their shelter in search of food. As they search among the dead bodies of their friends, only one question comes to mind:

Where are the unicorns?

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Written for the Quills and Sofas Cheerilee contest.

Featured on May 18th, 2021!

Equestria and the Crystal Empire have fallen to the Changeling Hegemony, led by the brutal Queen Chrysalis at the head of a mechanized horde of guns and tanks. Princess Cadance stayed in the Crystal Empire; Princess Twilight stayed in Equestria. Chrysalis rules the continent, only defied by Nova Griffonia, the poor Griffon colony in the north.

Across the ocean, the Griffonian Reich pledges to reclaim its lost territory, sundered by revolution a generation ago. While the Alicorn Sisters retreat to New Mareland, Princess Flurry Heart and Shining Armor turn to Aquileia, the Republic born out of the ashes of the Griffonian Reich. The Kaiser of the Reich is only a child, subject to a regent bent on war and conquest.

Flurry knows the Reich and Chrysalis have worked together.

She knows that war is coming to Aquileia.

She knows that Celestia and Luna abandoned her mother and Twilight Sparkle.

She knows that the world is on fire, and she is the last true Princess of Ponies.

She knows she will go home.

Cover Art by Opal Radiance, commissioned by Sunstreaker.
https://www.deviantart.com/opalradiance

Zipp and Pipp have always been distant sisters. Their interests never aligned, and rarely did they spend time in each other's company when their mom wasn't involved. But after returning from an adventure and making friends with earth ponies and a unicorn, the two royals have an important question to answer: are they sisters, or are they family?

Cover art by Tsuyu_Tatsu, which inspired the story
Edited by SolidFire and LoyalLiar

"Rule number one." Pipp put on an uncharacteristically serious face. "Your fans cannot be your friends."

Sunny blinked. "What?"

"Oh here we go," Zipp muttered to herself.

Beneath the clear blue waters of the Celestial Sea lies a great city known as The Reef. A metropolis without compare, The Reef is home to dozens of species, each one as colorful as the city's namesake. Together, the citizens of this underwater utopia create some of the greatest artistic accomplishments the world has ever seen, from incredible gravity-defying architecture to breathtaking stage performances. Seaponies, hippocampi, kelpies, and more live in harmony in The Reef, just like they have for centuries.

Toccata works the spotlight at The Reef's most famous musical theatre, Conch Hall. Ever since she moved to the city, she has dreamed of performing on stage, singing hit musical numbers before hundreds of sea creatures gathered in the auditorium. Music is her passion, her greatest pleasure, and her voice could put even the guild's top vocalist to shame.

Her only problem? Toccata is a siren, and The Reef has not allowed sirens to sing in public for centuries.

Edited by SolidFire

She wanted peace. She wanted diplomacy. She wanted harmony and friendship.

She got war.

With the armies of the Changeling Lands marching through Equestria, overwhelming any and all resistance they encounter, Princess Celestia has had to resort to increasingly drastic measures to save her country and the ponies that live in it. But while her sister leads the armies from the front and her ponies fight and die in the name of princesses and country, Celestia feels useless and inadequate in Canterlot. After all, she was supposed to protect her precious little ponies. How had she failed them so badly?

Those doubts and worries gradually gnaw away at her, day after day and month after month. Until one day, she reaches a tipping point, the point of no return:

She will save Equestria, no matter what it takes.

[An Equestria at War story]

Edited by LoyalLiar and SolidFire
Art by TwoTail813

After four harrowing years of civil war brought about by Nightmare Moon's return, Canterlot has finally fallen. Princess Celestia has been banished to the moon, and now a new alicorn rules over Equestria. For the supporters of Nightmare Moon, the new eternal night is a time for celebration. For the ponies who fought for Celestia, it means something else entirely. For when the war is lost and the victor demands fealty, the vanquished are given only two choices: bow low and kiss the ground beneath her hooves, or die.

Not everpony who bows does so out of love for the conqueror, of course. Some do it to bide their time. Some do it out of a sense of opportunity. Most bow merely to survive. All of them are liars. But how long can a pony tell the same lie before it becomes the truth?

And what happens to that pony when their lies are lies no more?

Edited by SolidFire. Inspired by the Nightmare Moon timeline in the season 5 finale, a particular scene from a particular show, and an entertaining game of Equestria at War.

Celestia: a filly of twelve. A cynical, hungry pauper, with a young sister to protect and feed.

But the food has run out. Winter has gripped the land for too long, and now the pair face starvation.

The cynic in Celestia knows she can't move the sun. But the child in her wonders... and so she tries.

(Inspired by the Donovan song of the same name.)

(Now with a dramatic reading here, by Crafty Arts, and here, by KeyframeProductions.)

(Now with a Spanish translation here.)

I have lived my entire life among the ice at the top of the world with my pod. I knew little of the world outside of the ways of We of the Sea, and as a filly, that suited me just fine. But one day, the steel whales came, and on their backs, they carried creatures not unlike myself, yet wholly different. For while I swam in the sea, they walked on the land and flew through the air. Yet they reminded me of my kind, so curious, so tragic, and so infinitely precious. Where they did not understand, they sought to learn with a foolish stubbornness. Where they wandered far from home, they extended their hooves in friendship.

Where they waged their wars, they fought with a violent savagery that was frightening to me.

As I held a dear friend close, the breath fleeing from his body, I only wanted to know one thing.

Why?

Cover art and inspiration by JhonnyRebel. Pre-reading provided by djthomp.

Featured on Equestria Daily!
And an awesome reading by Illya Leonov!
Another awesome reading by Scribbler!

Russian translation of this story can be found here, courtesy of NovemberDragon!

It has been many years since the war started...

Chrysalis and her armies rolled over our defenses, overwhelming our forces with sheer numbers. We fought a fighting retreat, always on the run from the swarm. We thought it would be over, that this would be the end of Equestria, and the end of Harmony...

But it was not so. We gathered our strength and held our ground, at last. Desperately our soldiers fought on and held the swarm off. Ponies took up arms to bolster our ranks or grabbed a tool to aid the war industry.

And now, after all these years, we remain in a stalemate. The Changelings adopted their own variant of total warfare. They launch raids on defensive positions at night, send bomber squadrons to destroy civilian centers all across Equestria and sink civilian cruisers out on the sea.

The war drags on, and my ponies grow tired of grieving the loss of their homes and loved ones. It is time for Equestria to commit to this war and leave behind our outdated principles of pacifism and harmony.

This war has brought upon us a new age. And with it, a new Equestria must rise!

This story takes place in the 'Equestria at War' universe. Further knowledge of this universe is not required, but it's good to know. Link to the official EaW group can be found here.