Even the tiniest change can alter the future in ways you can't imagine.

The battle with Lord Tirek did not end the way it was supposed to. The centaur was still sent back to Tartarus as he should have been and Equestria and all of its' ponies were saved, but thanks to one final act of defiance, Twilight vanished without a trace not long afterwards.

One month after her disappearance, Twilight has returned to Equestria, but not in a state anypony was expecting her to. Now they're all filled with questions about what has happened to her, but what tale does she have to share with them? What is she willing and unwilling to tell them?

Can a battered phoenix still rise from the ashes?

I've always wondered what your kind looked like in your Golden Age.

How you survived hundreds to possible thousands of cataclysmic events, and yet still be standing stronger than before.

Yet when the time came and all your glory lost to time and faith:

You were the only one left of your deific people.

Why?

Cover art credited to x-ste-x.
An idea that was in my head, please give me your thoughts on this concept.
27 May -- 31 May this was on the featured. Thank you all for liking this fic.

This story is a sequel to Discord Teaches Philosophy

Warning: The following is currently unedited and contains a significant amount of Philosophy.

After deciding on taking up the role of a Substitute and finding out that the main Philosophy teacher is boring his students, Discord decides to step in to take up the responsibility of teaching. And he will do it by teaching it in plain Equestrian, in a way that these young students would understand. As well as in his own unique way.

Lesson Plan (in no particular order):

Socrates: His Method and How We Ought to Live ✅

Plato: Allegory of the Cave ✅

Marcus Aurelius: How Stoicism Deals with Hardships ✅

Confucius: Who is Ruling Whom? ✅

Kintsugi: The Art of Imperfection ✅

Machiavelli: In Defense of the Prince ✅

Montaigne: Usefulness of Humility ✅

Rousseau: Of Savages and Civilization ✅

Kierkegaard: Subjectivity and Truth ✅

Nietzsche: Of Suffering and Happiness ✅

This story takes place three weeks after Of Lilies and Chestnuts

Hearth's Warming, the ponykind celebration of unity is right around the corner. Every moment is a chance to spread winter cheer as Canterlot far and wide, and Chestnut, Fleur, and Fancy Pants intend to make their first holiday as a family the best it can be.

Easier said than done, especially when you are a known socialite with a recent party foul on your tab. Or a freshly made mother learning the ropes. Or a Prench for once trying to figure out how to approach this strictly Equestrian holiday.

Merry Hearth’s Warming, Fleur. Merry Hearth’s Warming.

In an effort to find the couple that truly needs her help to find some romance in their life, Cadance develops a spell to send her to them.

It's just that when she gets there, neither of the creatures seem that interested in her help. They want to talk about silly stuff like her magic, the existence of other dimensions, stupid government conspiracies meant to keep aliens under wraps, and whether she is a winged unicorn, or a pegasus with a horn when they should just KISS ALREADY!

"It's not easy to be the bad guy. Sometimes you've got to raise towers of iron and magic in a testament to your power. Sometimes you've got to blanket the land in black flame just to uphold idle threats. And sometimes you've got to remind a filly that she is grounded - that's right, I mean you, missy. Don't give me that look, you've got homework to do."
- Excerpt from An Interview With Lord Ironblood.

Forgath Ironblood is a man who values power and might. He spent untold years developing his dark magics, and years more using ice and iron and balefire to claim and rule his domain. But it didn't last; a group of bold and plucky rebels broke into his inner sanctum and unleashed a magic he was unprepared for, a magic that cast him into the void between worlds. At that point, he was no longer their problem and the peasants rejoiced.

The world he fell into, however, was another story. It was a world rich in magic. A world full of innocents. A world he could bend to his will and carve a new domain out of.

He never knew what hit him.

Idea adopted from Whiskylullaby, as seen here, written entirely for the fun of it.

Chapters are dated for the reader's convenience; BNM for "Before Nightmare Moon", and AB for "After Banishment".

Cadance thought it would be a normal quiet day, that is until Anon, the most evil villain Equestria has ever seen, stumbles in her throne room.

---

Now with a sequel: The After Days

Twilight goes downstairs for a midnight snack during a bout of insomnia and steps right over the edge of her own accepted reality into something inexplicable.

This story is a sequel to Fallout New Vegas: Unexpected Friends

It's been a year since Twilight Sparkle returned from The Mojave Wasteland and she's having some troubles adjusting back to the quiet and peaceful life back in Equestria but she's in for a surprise when her past comes back to remind her what she escaped.

Now old faces come to Equestria and Twilight doesn't know if she's glad to see them again or worried about what else might come as well...

Pre-Read by Bum

Edited by Scootalooftw

(Looking for cover artist right now, if you are one I'm willing to pay but things will be blank until I have one made up)

Metal ponies tell their stories,
Scientists in laboratories,
Lay the wire, mount the brain,
Mount their hips, teach them pain.
Teach them fear of revolution,
Internalize the evolution.
Set their ruin on the throne,
Until their chains become their own.
Palaces and hollow eyes,
To the Masters goes the prize.
And if this act should be maligned:
"For the good of ponykind."

Winner of the September Writeoff Contest, "True Colors." Edited by Horizon.