The star system Omega Centauri was just another oddity on a map to scientists in the not too distant future. However when they found the star was orbiting an earth-sized, earth-like planet instead of a black hole as its motion had suggested, a mission was scrambled to investigate this most unusual of celestial behaviors.

Hamstrung by politics, and nearly crippled before it began, the 'Lone Ranger' mission was reduced to just one crew member and left to his own devices.

These are the logs of Arrow 18 and its lone commander. This information is classified TOP SECRET by the Global Space Agency.

Do NOT tell the princess.

With the help of The Apparatus, Queen Twilight Sparkle had gained knowledge from innumerable divergent worlds. Using this newfound mystical power, she had conquered her world, united its varied peoples, and brought peace and prosperity to all through her own benignly neglectful rule.

Then Cadence, Princess of Love and the last of Twilight's family and friends, destroyed the Crystal Palace.

Along with everyone inside.

Why?

(Content Note: While the red tags are technically accurate, this is first and foremost a work of speculative fiction. It is not a gore fest.)

(Chronology Note: The crux of this tale takes place outside of continuity, in several of infinite possible futures. Its driftwood may touch upon any number of dimensional shores.)

A Queen of Light and Darkness story.

This tale was strongly inspired by Larry Niven’s All the Myraid Ways. Though I only read it once many years ago, it left a powerful impression on me, and you can definitely see that in this story.

Special thanks also to B_Munro, for recognizing the stories’ similarities and telling me who wrote that splendid story I’d read as a child, and what the name of it was.

Due to the nature of the discussion which follows this tale, there are comments - including mine - which may contain spoilers to varying degrees (depending on what you consider an actual spoiler). The more serious spoilers are behind the usual black boxes, of course.

Starlight and Trixie get drunk on Hearth's Warming Eve and complain about their problem with towns and the unwillingness they have to be taken over, among other unrelated things.

Twilight Sparkle visits Night Vale. Some people (and other things) are disturbed. Cecil notices.

Twilight Sparkle has a nice lunch with her friend Fluttershy.

A (late) Hearth's Warming present for PsychicKid.

At a certain age, fame loses most of its power as a motivational force. Cold, hard cash on the other hoof...

A pegasus attempts a dangerous record-breaking flight.

Twilight settles an unusual court case, while lacking a reasonable amount of caffeine in her system.

Reading by TheCaptainSand: One Heck of a Case Broken link:YT channel deleted.

EQD page: HERE

The last thing Applejack remembers, she was going out to tend to the south fields one day. She had just left the house and then... a blur. She found herself someplace else entirely. Loud, spattering noises surrounded her. Strange people were trying to hurt her. Her very body was twisted and wrong.

When she awakes from what should have been a nightmare, she discovers it was all too real. She's been trapped in another world, in a body that she can't even recognize, let alone control. To make matters worse, her natural Earth Pony magic is reacting to her new environment in strange and disquieting ways, intensifying to truly dangerous levels causing her to break nearly everything and everyone she touches.

Thankfully she's been offered help. A group of remarkable people is offering to take her in... assuming she can aid them in return. There's a man in a suit of armor. Another who carries a shield. One who carries a hammer. One a bow and arrow. One is a woman who lies just a little too much for Applejack's taste. And one of them is very, very angry.

Applejack will have to come to not only understand her new body and abilities, but also come to try and understand the meaning and value of honesty itself as she's put to the test in ways she's never anticipated. In this world of endless conflict and threats beyond any she could have ever imagined, does Applejack even stand a chance of finding her way back home?

Teen rating for mild blood, some death, and occasional mild nudity and lewd jokes.
Character and genre tags may be altered as necessary as the story progresses.

Nopony has heard from Fluttershy for three months. Not Rainbow Dash, not Rarity, not even Pinkie Pie. Her friends have been tending to the cottage and her animals, keeping it clean and organized, but even with Twilight's constant magic scans and a semi-constant guard search Equestria-wide, no hint has been found of where she went, how she vanished, or why she didn't tell anyone. Some ponies even think, in their darkest nightmares, that she might be dead.

Then she shows up one day, very definitely not dead, but just as definitely not the same as she was.

And does she have a story to tell. Boy, does she ever...

Coverart by Paladin.

Twilight is summoned to Canterlot Castle at the behest of a letter from Princess Celestia. Is it a test? A warning? Or something that could potentially alter the course of the next thousand years for the young Princess?