Twilight summons a powerful and disaffected five thousand year old demon, me. Because I cannot put footnotes into this description, this description is bereft of any further insights into my awesome tale. Yours ironically, Bartimaeus.

Everypony has a dark side to them. Something they fear, something that could destroy them. As a certain purple unicorn is forced to use dark magic, she finds her fears threatening to consume her...Along with the darkness inside.

This story occurs directly after the end of season 3: episode 2. If you haven't seen it yet, go and watch it before reading this story. (This story is my take on where i think they're going to go with that dark magic we saw, it wasn't used nor explained nearly enough in that episode.)

The world's going to end in one week. It's been doing that for a while now.

Someone in Equestria's broken the world. They've taken time along with it, trapping everything into a single, indefinitely repeating week. Only the elements' bearers move forwards in time, but they've got problems of their own. For each cycle drains their talents from them, each conversation twists old friends into enemies, and not a single one of them knows how to save the world. Some of them have even stopped trying.

And then Twilight finds a way. All that's left to do is gather everyone back together.

Story arcs written about an apocalypse cycling in perpetuity and the effect it has on Equestria. Not as dark as it tries to be.

Additional: Story formatted to look its best in Font Serif, Size Normal, Colour Medium-Dark, Paragraph Spacings 1.2; this as the banner image; no interactive pony, Snow Default, css color #8c8691, Background Pattern Stars and Background Image Night Town . Reading otherwise will expose you towards rogue spacings, silly typography and a severe lack of Luna.

Featured on EQD for crimes against humanity.

Every morning, princess Celestia raises the sun, and every evening, she lowers it.
This never changes.

Every night, princess Luna moves the constellations through the sky, and every month, the moon cycles through its phases.
This never changes.

Like clockwork, the movements of the heavens are constant, unwavering.

Most ponies never give it a second thought. Even Twilight Sparkle.

Until one day. . .

One thousand years after Celestia banished her sister and crowned herself Empress, six mares are caught up in a swirl of intrigue and disaster. Each of them must decide who and what they stand for, because Luna is returning, and she is not Nightmare Moon.

"Magic, as the moon, has darker side." Everything Trixie wanted when she came to Cloudbergen was making her name famous in one of the most obscure and remote locations in Equestria, a place with a mysterious past and gullible citizens...With a sudden turn of events her expectations are shattered, she attracts unwanted attention and meets her early demise faced with a seemingly impossible task that puts her pitiful life on the line, possibly even more. Something lurking in the shadows is ready to offer his help, but are his ideas the right ones? Trixie is taken to the most sinister passages of Equestrian history, learning that sometimes, death isn't the worst alternative, and evil lies everywhere, at every hour... Will she be able to escape her unfortunate fate?, Or be dragged to the wretched depths of the world-not? Magic is Chaos, Art and Science. It is a curse, a blessing and progress. It all depends on who uses magic, how they use it, and to what purpose.

Need help with Editing.

"Why do you think Trixie acts the way she does, Twilight Sparkle? Why do you think she became a showpony in the first place? She does it so she can be remembered. All the good Trixie did, all the bad Trixie did--it was all so her name would never die out, even after she herself had. She will not allow herself to be used as a catalyst for some greater scheme, then tossed to the wayside to be forgotten. She will make the world remember her name."

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Years after her humiliating fiasco in Ponyville, a pacified Trixie returns to try and find closure with the ponies she hurt the most. But time has wiped the slate clean in more than one way, leaving the showpony forgotten, nothing more than a fading memory in the minds of the townsfolk. Will a mare who devoted her whole life to being remembered find solace in the vastness of her impact? Or will the loss of her hallowed image tear her apart?

Art by My-Magic-Dream.

Rarity has risen to the highest stretches of the fashion business and high society, but she's found that not all is as it seems. In the corners of cocktail parties all over Equestria, dark conversations are found. Eventually, Rarity can take no more of this, and begins reporting back to Celestia in secret while delving deep into a world she had no idea was so intertwined with her life's goal.

How much of herself is she willing to give up to protect the throne and, more importantly, Twilight Sparkle? The life of a spy is a dangerous one indeed.

A canon story in the Rites of Ascension Expanded Universe! Artwork by Violet Squiggles. Author's Notes, including proofing credits, can be found here.

Discord had one last trick up his sleeve to play before being locked up again: he's turned Equestria's timeless protector into its most dangerous threat. The kindhearted princess that ponies loved and adored is gone, replaced by an alicorn of iron and blood that forged Equestria out of the fires of pre-history.

Can Twilight Sparkle survive being the student of a pony who never had need of the magic of friendship or will she be forced to sit on the sidelines as Equestria irrevocably changes around her?

Cheer up, Twilight. It's not every day somepony changes species. In fact, no pony has ever changed species. It's something new and you like discovering new things. Granted, Equestrians don't like new things, especially things that fundamentally alter their government. So maybe there is reason not to be happy after all.