In a separate universe, Sunset Shimmer and Twilight Sparkle were born into the world as alicorn princesses, twin daughters of Empress Celestia. One day, they were sent away to Ponyville, where they were destined to meet 5 special ponies. The story is as we know it; with loyalty, kindness, honesty, generosity, laughter, magic... betrayal, distrust, danger... and so much more.

Equestria has always been ruled by two Princesses, but that's not always been the case, has it? Even years after being freed from exile on the moon, Luna feels that her place is no longer in Canterlot. Perhaps it's time for a change. Perhaps it's time for something...radical. Perhaps it's time to quit.

I got dragged to Equestria by pure accident due to an experiment gone 'wrong', roughly forty years before Nightmare Moons' arrival.
No matter what I do, as a pony-changeling hybrid, something will change with Equestria. I just hope I don't doom the country before Nightmare Moon even arrives... Or worse.

This is the first story I ever tried to write professionally, so there WILL be errors, for that, I apologize in advance.
I'm editing and proofreading it on my own because I literally suck when it comes to using this site competently.
Lastly, I am a slow writer due to IRL getting in the way but I will try my hardest to settle the story down whether it's popular or not.

Fair warning, there may be spoilers in the comments.

Thank you to Little Tigress for the fantastic cover art.

Shortly after Queen Chrysalis' defeat at Canterlot, her army is demoralised and hungry, and the Queen herself is at her wits end - having locked herself in her bedroom, presumably to spare her subjects from her upcoming mental break in a short moment of compassion.

The Queen that leaves the room is far different from the one that entered it.

Queen Chrysalis, seemingly revitalised in her entirety, declares a change in course for her and her subjects. She promises to lead them to a new battlefield... and she swears victory in her name.

Magic, the most forbidden art. Only nobles are allowed to learn from the great wizards and witches, and only from special schools set up by the state. For commoners, learning the mystic arts is nothing but a dream, a fantasy that many strive for but none achieve.

With one exception: Stalliongrad. The great, northern city boasted more magic schools than any other, and among them, the only one that accepts low born ponies. It's a dangerous trek to get there, and even more dangerous to simply stay in the frozen city.

Twilight Sparkle, however, will not be stopped. Destined to become the archmage, destined to sit at Princess Luna's side, she will not be stopped.

After all, Archmage Twilight Sparkle has a nice ring to it.

A thousand years ago in Equestria, Luna's frustration and desperation has been building for years and years as her social and political isolation grows, but just before Luna's jealousy and resentment can turn into murderous hatred against her sister, a new event triggars Luna's mental collapse and pushes her over the edge. When Luna by circumstance finds herself alone in Celestia's room she reads her sister's diary out of curiosity and discovers all of the disparaging criticism that Celestia has leveled at her over the years about how much of a nuisance Luna has been to her, but has been too polite to say directly to Luna's face.

Luna and Celestia had always supported and stuck with each other all their lives. Even when the common-ponies critisism and shunning of her was at its worst, the knowledge that her sister loved her kept Luna going. The realization that nopony, not even her own sister valued her or thought she was fit for the throne completely shattered whatever remained of her fragile psyche.

And so Luna just gave up...

She gave in...

If no one wanted her there...

Then she wouldn't stay there...

She would leave.

Celestia had come to hate the fragrance of dark coffee. Because it had meant Twilight was up. 

Rainbow Dash didn’t know she’d be on the precipice of the biggest change in her life when she nonchalantly agreed to help Pinkie Pie. Throw a party, make a lot of foals happy, go home. That was the plan.

So…why does she keep going back? Why does home…feel so empty?

Unable to shake the one foal that refuses to leave her head, Rainbow Dash is ready to jump into the greatest change—and greatest challenge—of her life.

And that, my friends, is only the beginning.

Chinese translation by luhcow:
无光，无声 Unseen, Unheard - FimTale
https://fimtale.com/t/34089

Equestria is a husk of what it was before.

Friendship never existed, the windigos took over the world completely.

All that remains are insane alicorns, gods, and monsters.

As the remaining ponies cower in fear and hide away from the constant battles, two alicorns clash once more only to experience something new.

Now, Midnight Sparkle and Nightmare Moon must work together to uncover what could have been. They start with the other alicorns.

C̷̨̦͖͙̭̤͙͕͊̾̅͗̅̄̓̔ͅe̸̤͉͉͔̲̟͕̒̇́͜ͅl̷̢̪͇̟̙͈͕͙̆͊̕e̵͖̝̲͈̒͐̕̚s̸̹̽t̷̢͍̖̭̙̄̆̂̆̓̚͝ỉ̴͉̎̈͑̚͝͠͝å̴̢̡̨̛͙̫̱̤͋͋̊̿̕͘Daybreaker. M̸̡̜̲̮̳̣͑̂̀͘í̸̢͈̙͆̑̓ ̶̛̳̣͓͂̀̈́́̚͠͝A̷̩̮̰͐̃̈́̔̇̓̈́̃͆͝ͅṃ̶̩̲̟̰̣͎̬͐̆̿ō̵͍̳̝̣̪͛̅r̶̡̖͈͕̜͇̤͙̠̾͋̄̑̆̅͗͘ȅ̶̝̜̘̙ ̷͙̠͂̔̔̏̂̒̑̍̀Ĉ̷̛̛̘̼͉̅̓̒͐̓̈͝a̷͈̟̦͑̄̇͐̔̎͋d̸̥̳͓̖̠͍͔̗͑e̶̻̬͈̳̺͈̳̖̣̣̓͋͑n̸̢̩̹̳̲̖̦̲͂̓́̉̑͜͝ͅz̶̢̤͈͔͙̪͚̜͐̑̏̊̚a̵̝͓̱̖̞͕̰̓̓͆͠Heartbreaker.

It wouldn't be easy. They didn't care.

An experimental AU. Set to be less than 20k words, and uploads will be as I write the chapters.

Romance will come in later chapters. You have been warned.

Across time, space and universes, Twilight and Applejack will always find each other.

Each of these is a short look into the ways Twilight and Applejack could meet in alternate universes.

Cover art by the amazing Mindless Sketching.

Chapter 4 - The crew find themselves in an AU based around the infamous Countess Bathory.