[Complete! With TVTropes apparently!]
Also, apparently, an animated trailer.

In a world of brass and steam, Twilight Sparkle had thought she had made a life-changing discovery with the invention of the telescope. For better or worse, she was correct.

Now her discovery has not only changed her life, but the lives of those she seeks out in her desperate attempt to contact the only other creature as lonely as Twilight herself.

It all would have been much simpler, but it had to be the one Twilight could only call The Mare on the Moon.

Decidedly not within walking distance, then.

[Featured on EQD before story was meant to be submitted. 4/03/2015]

[Editing team: Southpaw, Wolfvenom, Maskedferret, SwanSong and BluePaladin42, without whom this story would be a fraction of its current state.]
[Special thanks to Novel-Idea for the updated cover]

A mysterious “World Circus” has come to Ponyville; though, not all is as it seems. When Twilight learns the motives behind the grandeur, she finds only death and despair lying within its machinations. But somewhere in the illusions and fabricated realities lies the truth she so desperately must find to save herself and the world as she knows it.

Now that Earth and Equestria have made contact, lots of ponies dream of visiting Earth, and while tourist visas are hard to come by, a few lucky students each year can participate in a foreign-exchange program.

Silver Glow is one of those lucky ponies.

She thought she was prepared for Earth, but can you ever be fully prepared for a truly foreign exchange?

Link to the dramaturge