A thousand years ago, our Goddess fought Nightmare Moon. When the Elements were activated, they banished all of Equestria underground, where we would be safe. I am a Prophet, All-Seer of the Church of Daylight. And our Goddess has granted me a vision that our efforts to reach the surface will finally bear fruit.

I can only hope Equestria's still up there.

This story is the sister story to Lover of the Moon, but both can be read independently of the other.

Coverart drawn by the incredibly talented Shaslan!

Thank you to my brilliant prereaders and editors: Zontan, Holtinater, Haphazred, AFanaticRabbit, Draconequues, Dioxin, Lofty Withers, Cynewulf, Red Parade, Vis A Viscera, Bill Cipher, Ruby, Flashgen, Moonshot, Luna, and to everyone that's supported me throughout the 3+ years of working on this fic and its sister fic.

And a special thank you to Axolu. You've encouraged me from the very beginning, and I couldn't have done this without you.

Thorax has always been a black sheep among his kind. But only during the Canterlot invasion did he realize how wonderful it would be to have a friend he’d always wanted. Meeting no understanding among the changelings and finding every next day harder to bear, he decides to leave the hive… for better or worse.

Takes place some time after The Canterlot Wedding and before The Times They Are A Changeling.

AU tag added for modified version of canon.

This story is a sequel to Walk Where There Is No Path

Now that Spike has convinced Princess Cadance that the ponies had been wrong to assume Thorax was an enemy, the kind changeling was given, and accepted, the opportunity to make the Crystal Empire his new home, one where he hoped to soon have many friends, plenty of love to sustain him, and basically a good life, much better than the one he’d escaped from. He really should have known it wasn’t going to be that easy.

Set between Walk Where There Is No Path and Winds of Change. The story will touch on some of the events from Path, but familiarity with said story isn’t an absolute requirement.

Edit 5-Aug-2021: Whoa, made it into the Featured slot! Thanks guys!

Nightmare has it all. Everything she worked for is now hers. Equestria? Check. Eternal night? Double-check. But there's always a price to pay. For Nightmare Moon? It's the two voices in her head. But the solution may lie in the kitchen.

Featured 9/16/2021

Octavia has a musical history and a side to herself she'd rather not have to explain outside of Ponyville. Inside Ponyville... well, everything was fine until she spotted Vinyl Scratch. What was she doing here?

Don't panic, Octavia! Don't freak out, don't lose your mind, don't....
Oh well.
(And check out Goombasa's excellent dramatic reading!)
Cover by Page Turner.

A time-worn statue of a miserable mare stands in Canterlot's gardens. Legend has it it's Nightmare Moon herself, locked in the stone as a punishment for her crimes. Legend also has it that during the night, the statue quietly wails and sheds tears...

Meta:

Cover based on the images from:
https://derpibooru.org/images/958845

Proofread by Ginger and Grammarly

Tonight on Bottom Gear, Twilight eats a pineapple, Applejack goes berserk, and Rainbow Dash falls in love with a box of tissues. I think. There's some other stuff that happens too, but everyone's too brain-dead to summarize it all.

This is the worst possible way to celebrate a Fimfiction milestone, mark my words.

Disclaimer: there was, for a while, roughly 20 or so peeps working on this at the same time. This absolute carnage was somehow cleaned up into fitting precisely 5,000 words according to Fimfiction's word counter, and I still have no idea how we managed to do that. Do not expect quality, or even relevant memes. Oof.

Reviewed by PresentPerfect!
Read by The Mystery Fluttershy Fan! ded link
Read by The Mystery Fluttershy Fan!

Discord has a complicated relationship with the concept of rules. For a being who can do almost anything with the snap of his claws, what won't he do?

Protect our daughters, Mena. Protect them if we don't make it back. Discord must be stopped, but if we fail...you're the last thing they will have left. Keep them safe. This is our last order of you, Mena.

All ponies know about Philomena is that she's Celestia's pet phoenix. Oh, and that she loves pranks. However, what they don't know is that she is older than most ponies think and that she swore to protect Celestia and Luna. For the last thousand years, she has kept at her promise and task.

The Era of Discord saw the death of the King and Queen, which sent Celestia and Luna into hiding until they could find a way to defeat the mad chaos being. For now, as they grow up, Philomena has to protect them from the dangers that the chaotic world throws at them, and she will do so proudly. But of course, not all forms of protection are physical.

This, is Philomena's story.

Written by iAmSiNnEr

I hope y'all enjoy!

There are three chapters in this story-

The Era of Discord
After the Nightmare
Return of a Sister

Please be excited for all to be released!

“I heard you two mention the sickness. Nasty business, that.”

Applejack set her jaw. “Yeah. It is. Lotta good ponies who did nuthin’ wrong sufferin’ from it.”

“Good? Seriously? Those degenerate colt-cuddlers?” Spoiled Rich chuckled. “Well as far as I’m concerned, it has only one thing going for it – it’s killing all the right ponies.”

An Apple family member makes angry demands of Princess Twilight in the middle of a personal crisis.

Trigger warnings for HIV, the AIDs Crisis, homophobia and death.

I started writing this back in early 2018. It took me three years to finish because of the subject matter and the fact it's a non-linear narrative. All I ask is that you give it a chance to make sense and it will.

Many thanks to my pre-readers who looked at this in its various stages over the past three years: Clever Hooves, Suni, TheLostNarrator and Neighrator Pony

[EDIT] Wow, this stayed in the feature box from June 29th 2021 to July 3rd 2021! Thank you all!