Discord's the only creature in Equestria who can recognize the human for what he is -- not the long-lost Seventh Element that never actually existed and couldn't have existed before the human arrived, but a meta-reality warper, an entity far more powerful than Discord with the power to warp the minds of all around him and the very rules of magic to make sure that he's always the Big Hero. And the role the human's assigned to Discord is the Villain to beat down or kill.

Pre-reform Discord's fine with being the villain. But on his own terms. Not dancing on some alien interloper's puppet strings.

Without friendship, or even allies, Discord's going to have to find a way to defeat a creature who can alter fate itself and who can even mind-control him. Or he may just end up worse than dead.

Art by Tenchi-Outsuno. Progress Bar at my writing journal.

Trigger warnings: Mind control (magically induced love, magically induced friendship, magically induced stupidity, Discord being Discord), noncon/dubcon (magically induced love, other forms of highly dubious consent), rape (female on male), violence/gore (mostly against Discord), literally everything in chapters 19-21, humans not being presented as unilaterally wonderful and superior to ponies and/or draconequui.

Celestia wants Twilight and her friends to loosen up a little bit around her. Luna just wants to try the hard cider. During a surprise visit to Sweet Apple Acres at the tail end of cider season, Princess Luna has just a bit too much to drink, and when she makes a rather inappropriate joke, Twilight comes to the very uncomfortable realization that she has never seen Celestia excuse herself to use the restroom.

NOTE: This story will be going on hiatus, to resume in early December 2013, as I will be participating in NaNoWriMo, and that will eat up all my free writing time until the end of November. Sorry for anyone who is actually waiting on it.

The Cutie Mark Crusaders are the best of friends, but when life sets them on different paths, can their friendship survive? Will they find a way to bridge the growing gap between them?

While the Mane 6 are away on royal business, the three rambunctious fillies find their lives changing. They are growing up, and growing apart. Without the guidance of their older sisters, these fillies will have to find their own answers. Their single-minded focus on finding their cutie marks is no longer enough to build a friendship on.

Is this the end of the Cutie Mark Crusaders?

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This story will occur in three acts: Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo. The main focus of the story will shift to
each filly in turn as the acts progress.

This story contains a romantic relationship, but will involve no more than mild reference to any mature content beyond what is roughly age-appropriate. This relationship, while integral to the plot, is not the focus of the piece, so don't be disappointed.

A refined mare fresh out of high school and a dropout following her dreams find themselves forced to spend a lot of time together.

With the help of a meddling psychology tutor and their new classmates, can they find what they've been looking for?

French Translation!

Fan Stuff!

I don’t question the “life” bar floating over my head, or my “EXP” gauge, or the little phantasmal boxes that appear whenever I look at an “equippable” object that show its “statistics.” It’s normal for small messages to appear in the sky every now and then, such as [System update in 2 hours.] My kind worships the Developers, higher beings that direct, create, and control everything we see. It’s all normal. This is how things have always been, since I was born. My father, my grandfather, my ancestors have all accepted and coped with these elements.

So why does everything feel so... fake?

My name is Twilight_Sparkle, and I know there’s something wrong here.

Co-Written by GaruuSpike and Chaotic Dreams.

(EDIT: This story is cancelled forever because someone sabotaged all of our attempts to write. You know who you are, and so do I, and I hope you're happy for killing it.)