Twilight had never questioned the nature of the Tree of Harmony. To her at least, it stood as a sentinel, a silent guardian watching over Equestria and keeping disharmony at bay.

She soon starts to have questions and misgivings when she inadvertently witnesses the horrifying fate of hers and the rest of her friend's twisted doppelgängers. Did something happen to the Tree of Harmony, or was it always this way?

Twilight aims to resolve this mystery once and for all. Little does she realize that this mystery goes far deeper—the truth far more terrifying than she can imagine.

Will she be able to solve this nightmarish mystery with her sanity intact, or will she surrender and be lost to madness?

After some deliberation I chose to put a Crossover tag as the whole story uses many assets from several stories in the Cthulhu Mythos (most of them written by authors other than Lovecraft).

Fantastic cover art done by Mix-up!

[Note: This chapter is based on the events of MLP's recent 200th episode, and was written less than two days after the episode premiered.]

It's been less than a month since the unexpected return (and near domination) of King Sombra upon the Crystal Empire, as well as Ponyville and Canterlot. Even though the treacherous foe had been vanquished once more, and Equestria was still safe and sound, Twilight Sparkle was happy to see that the Royal Sisters were already looking into increasing the security measures around their castle. And since the pony assigned to strengthening their defenses was one of Equestria's most skilled unicorns in protection magic -- Prince Consort and Head of the Royal Guard, Shining Armor -- it seemed only fitting to have the Princess of Magic herself test his security measures with the aid of her friends.

Spike and the six Elements seemed more than eager to test their skills against Twilight's brother, but one of them appeared to be less worried about Shining's capabilities than she should have. Is Twilight able to change Rainbow Dash's opinion about the stallion they saved on multiple occasions? Or is there more to Shining Armor's abilities and skills that haven't been seen by them just yet?

Octavia's lived the high life for years. Practice after practice paid off and she's risen through the ranks. Now, she works for the Royal Orchestra itself, toiling every day to produce perfection. Untouchable, practiced, impeccable...lonely.

Vinyl couldn't be any lower. Out of home, out of work, and nowhere to go but to a cold grave. Cast out and left to fend for herself, Vinyl has nothing, not even a friend to call her own.

The two cross paths.

A love story that many have known, and yet different. Both come in broken, beaten down people, their only hope each other.

Twilight has settled into her new castle, which now feels like a home thanks to her friends. The only problem is she's still not sleeping and still finding excuses to keep herself busy. The last few weeks had been particularly stressful. She thought that once everything calmed down her life would get back to normal, but something that happened affected her more deeply than she thought.

Rainbow Dash can tell something is wrong. She wants to know if she can help.

Editing by Formerly Committed and JetstreamGW.

Also available in Dramatic Reading form! Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.

Why do ponies dream? Why do we all seem to dream the same dreams?

What if we started to dream new things?

Discord said he wanted to make our dreams more interesting. Add some spice to our boring nocturnal lives. Nothing dangerous – just a bit of excitement to talk about in the mornings.

"Stop worrying so much, Twilight Sparkle," he said. "After all, dreams never hurt anypony."

How I wish he’d been right.

Gold Medalist in the Under the Sun Writeoff Event.

Now with Russian translation, courtesy of Cloud Ring! https://darkpony.space/the-archetypist-1/

Well it's not actually a sequel. Here is a collection of short stories and histories detailing the life of Alternia, a changeling queen impersonating the life of Princess Celestia. These are the stories of the ruler under her mask.

Reading the main story: Princess Celestia: The Changeling Queen is a requirement if you don't want to be spoiled or confused. I will try to provide background information when I can.

For readers of the main story, there are basically no spoilers if you've read past chapter 8. Enjoy!

Effective communication is important in any friendship.

Unfortunately for Twilight, Tempest Shadow and Pharynx communicate almost exclusively in overwhelming force.

This story is a sequel to Seven Saviors

Now that Anon-a-Miss has been defeated, Sunset is ready to move forward with her new friends. Too bad the past doesn't want to leave her be. New misadventures follows her and her crew as the past meets the present. Can Sunset help fill the gaps that have formed around her friends hearts? Or will the shackles of past sins drag everyone down? And what of the CMC? Will guilt lead them to do something that can never be taken back?

The Sphinx catches a stallion trying to enter her lair without permission. He has an offer for her.

Sunset's in trouble and we need Princess Twilight's help.  We've been calling her with Sunset's magic journal since yesterday but there's been no reply.

Looks like we're going to have to go through the portal and find her ourselves.

After all, it's a magical land of cute, colorful ponies.  This should be easy.

Right?

Sex tag exists for jokes relating to nudity and innuendo.

Chapters 1 - 5 pre-read by Spirit Shift and Rocinante
Chapters 6-41 (and most epilogues) pre-read by FanOfMostEverything

Complete list of cameos:

Act 1: Twilight "SciTwi" Sparkle and Spike the dog.

Act 2: Cranky Doodle Donkey, Cheerilee, Thunderlane, Applebloom, Big Mac, Grand Pear, Sweetie Bell, Angel, Bon Bon, Lyra, Octavia, Vinyl, Trixie, Flower Trio (Rose, Daisy, Lily Valley), Discord, Treehugger, Wallflower (Sort of), Scootaloo, Gummy, Mr. & Mrs. Cake, Mr. Davinport, Bulk Biceps, Amathyst Star, Cloudchaser, and Dinky Doo.

Act 3: Fancy Pants, Iron Will?, Moondancer, Zephyr Breeze, Sassy Saddles, Shining Armor, Tank, Doughnut Joe, Muila Mild, Snips & Snails, and Maud.

Finale: FSpoiler, ASpoiler, and SSpoiler.

Epilogues: Big spoilers here: Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, Princess Cadance, Starlight Glimmer, Sunburst, Philomena, And a spoilery name drop.