Twilight Sparkle has never needed much to be happy: a book to enjoy, a research to carry out, and a Spike by her side. But after teaming up with and befriending five stallions to save the world in her first, fateful night in Ponyville, her life has been thrown upside down.

For she is now the Bearer of the Element of Magic, and ever since, trouble is knocking at her door seemingly every week: be it a monster attack, friendship drama, or the fact that Equestria seems to be sleepwalking from crisis to crisis, Twilight’s life will never be the same again.

The Word of God Imaginary Voicecast^TM, if you so desire (by order of appearance):

» Spike: Pony.MOV's Spike.
» Phil Pie: Miles Luna.
» Applejack: Geoff Ramsey.
» Rainbow Blitz: Chris Pratt.
» Elusive: James Arnold Taylor.
» Butterscotch: Matt Bragg.
» The Night King: Sam Witwer.
» Prince Artemis: Tom Hiddleston.
» Shining Armor: Matt Lanter

FAQ
Q: If it’s not a harem romance, then why are the mane six and Luna genderswapped?

A: Because while it started as a deconstructive, character-driven take on one, we’ve realised that this character arrangement grants us far more creative freedom than what we would have using their canon incarnations.  Having M!Applejack, Rainbow Blitz, Elusive, Butterscotch and Phil Pie allows us to, essentially, make their characters our own, take them to uncharted waters, and introduce new plotlines and situations that haven’t been done previously and that just wouldn’t have worked if applied to the girls we all know and love. It’s, in a way, what keeps this story fresh, even when retelling the series for the umpteenth time. It mixes up their dynamics with other ponies and with each other in new, unseen ways, and makes it all the more interesting to explore.

Adding to this is the fact that Twilight, at the beginning of the series, is something of a blank slate, whose character development is informed by the quirks and personalities of her friends. Therefore, she functions both as her own, recognisable character and as an audience surrogate, who’s getting to know these guys at the same pace as the audience itself.

Funnily enough, Luna’s genderswap was never intended to have any relation whatsoever to the harem trope; Artemis was never supposed to be a Love Interest. Instead, well, let’s just say it fills in a certain, unaddressed headscratcher in the original series.

Q: Will there be shipping?

Yes, there will be romance. However, not only it will be what most people like to call a 'slow burn', but it's most definitely not the main focus of the story. If you're looking for a ship fic, you'll be disappointed.

Q: Is [character] genderswapped too?

No.

The only characters who are genderswapped are Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie and Luna. Everyone else is their canon gender. Trixie is female. Starlight Glimmer is female. Should she appear, Sunset Shimmer will be female.

Discord, on the other hand, is something of a grey area, as they're a literal God of Chaos. Therefore, just as they can do pretty much whatever they damn well please, they can also change genders at a whim. However, should Discord adopt a female gender, her name would still be Discord, rather than the fanon Eris, as the word 'Discord' is genderless.

Q: Why is male!Pinkie's name not the fanon Bubble Berry?

There's multiple reasons, all of which are stated point blank by the character himself during his introduction in chapter one. It's mostly for meta reasons, but there's some plot there, too.

Q: Will you do [episode]?

There is an overarching plot, and the selection of episodes that get adapted and the way they do heavily depends on how they contribute to set up or advance said plot, or how plausible they are given the differences between the canon characters and their genderswapped incarnations.

Therefore, many of your favourite episodes may end up happening in entirely different ways as they did in canon, be mixed up with another episode, be relegated to a mere mention, or maybe just not at all. It all depends on how they fit the bigger picture.

TUESDAY, APRIL 21 of 2020.
I may or may not have just broken my hand against my desk when I jumped in surprise when William Grey told me this story was on featured, literally MINUTES within uploading chapter 9.
I'm sorry, just...
What?!
Mind-blowing, man. I have no idea how the algorithms work, nor how long it will last, but we're very happy about it.
Seriously, we wish to thank wholeheartedly to anyone who has read it, who has liked it, who has commented. This is our first published story, among myriad we have written yet never had the courage to put them out there. It really means a lot to us that people are responding positively.
Plus, that means I can claim moral victory, because I absolutely spent my whole weekend writing this instead of preparing the ppt for my monograph's thesis proposal for tomorrow.
So, yeah.
Thank you <3

Credits:
Beta Reader, Editor, (basically) co-writer and elder brother who keeps stealing my drinks: William A. Grey
Male Mane Six vectors by Trotsworth.
Twilight Sparkle vector.
Cutie Mark vectors by Adam L. Humphreys
Image done by myself and my non-existent paint skills.

A mysterious portal appears in the Everfree Forest one afternoon, and Twilight Sparkle and her friends are sent to investigate. The portal transports them to another Equestria, one full of darkness and strife, where they struggle to survive while trying to make their way home, making new friends along the way and combating dangers as they go, all while under the watchful eye of a manipulative overlord who wants to use them for some nefarious purpose.

Hang on, that all sounds awfully familiar, doesn't it? That's the basic premise of the entire CRISIS-verse, right?

But something is different this time around, something which influences everything in ways you might not expect.

This story takes place as an alternate retelling of CRISIS: Equestria, but you do not need to be familiar with that story to enjoy this one. But for those familiar with the original, you might just get a kick out of the new situations you'll find your favorite characters in.

The events of CRISIS: A Royal Affair are still considered canon within this timeline, except for that story's epilogue. It is not required reading to enjoy this story.

This story takes place during Season Three, after Wonderbolts Academy but before Keep Calm and Flutter On.

Foreword by and edited/co-authored by Devnator. Cover art and character designs by Starlight Spark.

Shares a TVTropes page with the original story.

In an alternate Equestria, the city of Hope's Point stands as a beacon of light and hope against the darkness and misery of the world around it, ruled over by the ever-watchful, keen-minded, and iron-hoofed Queen Blackburn.

But Blackburn wasn't always the queen of Hope's Point - she wasn't even its first ruler - and she wasn't always the hard-nosed mare with an eye for details. She was young once, too, just like everypony else, and just like them she had to make new friends, go to school, make mistakes, find love, and everything else that goes along with growing up, for better or worse, and that's not even counting her royal responsibilities.

Witness the rise of Blackburn, Princess of Hope's Point, as she becomes the mare - the queen - she was always meant to be, as well as the friends and enemies she makes along the way.

Takes place in the CRISIS-verse as a prequel to CRISIS: Equestria.

Many thanks to Devnator and BeeAre for their help in editing and as creative consultants. Cover art by Starlight Spark.

On a nice day in Equestria, Scootaloo gets kidnapped. While the Mane 6 and the CMC are trying to save her, the kidnapper has something up with that little, flightless Pegasus...

Rated T for Teen. Contains a brief moment of gore, but nobody was terribly harmed.

Being a pony from a human world is hard. Being a Queen's officer is harder.

No need to be familiar with the crossover source material ahead of time.

Thanks to Sledge115 and Raleigh for pre-reads, and various Discord denizens for idea bouncing.

Sequel: Fusion.

Fluttershy is a normal pony living a normal life. Sure, saving the world once is an achievement, but other than that she was content with the life she has.

But when she finds two abandoned changeling nymphs, her life is quickly turned upside down. Now she cares for young two creatures she knows nothing about, and they don’t seem to trust her.

She is determined to give them the best life that she can.

Edit (Aug. 8th, 2021):

TN, OP now has an editor! Thank you to Helping Hoof for helping me with my work.

Ponyville faced an ordinary day, but then night came, and with it a massive gateway into another world. It closes before any action can be taken, but now the Mane Six and Canterlot nobility are tasked with finding out what they can about the gateway. Who created it? Where did it lead to?

And most importantly, did anything come through?

Takes place after Season 2
Now 20% cooler with a TVTropes page!

Time after time, through chaos and through wars, Princess Celestia prevailed.

Of all the terrible forces she could have fallen to, Flim Flam Industry was the last one anypony had expected.

With thanks to gardrek for editing (3-6) and PinkieDP, Ice Star, and Odd_Sarge for prereading help.

Celestia has given Sweetie Belle a rare opportunity to become an exchange student where she can bring friendship to a whole new world’s students of magic. Elsewhere, Theodore Nott has been given a similar opportunity: turn down his Seventh Year at Hogwarts in order to learn powerful magic from the cursebreakers of the Equestrian Crystal Empire.

Neither of them has the slightest idea what they are about to experience over the next year.

Editors: Tek, Peter, Charles H
Cover art from Florida's Harry Potter World at night.

This story takes place after the episodes "the return of Harmony Part 1 and 2"

The elements of harmony may have defeated Discord and his brief reign of chaos has finally ended. However there was one casuality from the entire ordeal. Princess Celestia was regressed into a five year old filly. She now has to deal with the aftermath of Discord's chaos and the constant patronizing from her subjects.