An archeologist finds himself pulled into a parallel world by Discord's storm of Chaos, and encounters the mysterious creatures that live there. How will a rational human, confronted by creatures out of mythology, and unable to find his way home, adapt to his environment? Only one way to find out.

Princess Celestia tires of constantly being surrounded by decorum, deference, and formality, and decides to take a day off from being Princess. But visiting Ponyville incognito is harder than she expects. Will she be able to fit in and make friends without blowing her cover?

My name is James Clark, and I am a Private Military Contractor. No, not Mercenary. Yes, there is a difference, but that's beside the point.

Ok, where was I? Ah yes, I was just entering my office in Downtown Houston one afternoon to hear a job offer. When I got there, I found a beautiful, robe-wearing woman waiting for me. Now, in this day and age, most people would find that strange. I didn't for two reasons.

1) In this line of work, you run into a few crazies. If I had a dollar for every nut-job I turned away, I could buy a small European country.

2) It was Halloween. Hell, I was on my way to a party dressed in a replica suit of Veteran Ranger Armor from Fallout: New Vegas, complete with gas mask and real riot gear I borrowed from a friend on the SWAT team. I was gonna win the costume contest for sure!

I'm getting off topic, aren't I? Anyways, this weirdo offered me a job without going into much detail. No location, no objective, not even a dollar amount The only thing I got out of her was the promise that I would be saving thousands, if not millions of lives.

Every instinct told me to turn the job down, and yet I still accepted it. Maybe the idea of playing hero again had its appeal.

God, I had no idea what I was getting myself into.

It occurred one peaceful night. Half of Equestria awoke to the sound like a double-shot thunderclap. A percussion heard in the skies and rattling windows from Apploosa, to Canterlot, to Ponyville. Nopony knew what it was or what it heralded for the world as it drew a line across the nation.

For Twilight Sparkle, this isolated incident might have faded from memory after a time, if not for the strange rumors of a creature sitting on the hill on the outskirts of town.

These are her thoughts given written form. These are Sparkle's Notes.

Report EVERYTHING to the Princess.

Twilight Sparkle wakes up one morning to a harsh dose of unreality. She is stranded, without her friends, on an island which matches no known locale on Equestria. Surrounded and harried on all sides by the alien and the dangerous, she will find her mettle sorely tested, and find perhaps that the best friends you will ever have in your life are the ones you make when your back is to the wall...

Thanks to CedricBale and noobie56xx for tracking down the name of the artist so I could give them credit.

It has been several months since the disappearance of Twilight Sparkle..

One night, after watching her sister raise the Moon and set the heavens alight, Princess Celestia begins to bed down for the night, only to be interrupted by portal forming in her room. From out of the portal comes none other than Twilight Sparkle, garbed in strange armor.

Princess Celestia, along with Luna, Cadence, and Shining Armor, are overjoyed by the Element of Magic's return, but are justifiably curious as to where she had been and what she had been doing. And so, Twilight begins her tale. A tale of survival against impossible odds. A tale of a people fighting for the most basic right of all sentient beings. The right to exist.

Humanity has grown to control most of the Sol system, and looks to distant stars for further expansion options. When probes discover an uncannily-earthlike planet at a vast distance, the Solar Government takes on a project larger than any before it.

A colony ship, carrying over seven thousand people, the Eclipse is constructed. Thanks to its translight engine, it is capable of making the journey within two decades. The expedition is launched with high hopes, its crew made up of the best and brightest, setting out to prove that the vastness of space was no longer an insurmountable obstacle, that landing on distant worlds full of life was no longer just a pipe dream.

What happens when this colony ship's crew arrives at their destination would forever change humanity's outlook on the rest of the universe, as well as what could be deemed possible. Supernatural beings, energies unexplainable, and most importantly, sapient organisms all populate this mysterious, fertile world. In all of its extensive preparations, is the Eclipse versatile enough to tackle the task assigned to it? Or, more importantly, is its crew?

Featured on Equestria Daily 1/1/2013.

Pre-read by Stringtheory and Milo. Proofread by Erumpet and Demetrius. Thanks! Contains some hard and some soft sci-fi elements.

Dearest Billy,

It is with a heavy hand that I must relay: He is dead, and passed away among his bees only some hours ago. I, too, am not long of this earth, thus it falls to you to publish my final wish. The attached parcel is my tin box--you have ferried it hither and thither before--and it is where notes from all our adventures, spanning two centuries, as many wars and three monarchs had been safely kept. The remaining bundles within, however, we agreed some time ago to never publish, lest our reputations be shredded. However, with his passing heavy on my mind, I cannot forget such cases, so singular and impressive that they prove, without a doubt, that Sherlock Holmes was the greatest detective London, Britannia, and Worlds beyond our farthest imaginations could ever have known.These cases will confuse you--perhaps even tarnish your memories of us--but mark my words: they are as true and real as the paper upon which you read this letter.

Most Faithfully,
Dr John. H. Watson MD

==Originally written spring 2011== Equestria Daily Post==
GLaDOS is free of Chell, free to continue testing, when she discovers a portal gun Wheatley tried to repair with duct tape. When the portal gun catastrophically fails, the enrichment center, GLaDOS, and Chell are literally dropped in the middle of Equestria. The mute test subject soon finds the world of ponies far more welcoming than the human world. But GLaDOS sees possibilities. Let the testing begin... for science.

Cloudsdale. Bastion of the Pegasi, linchpin of weather control, home to the Wonderbolts. A magnificent metropolis gracing the skies of Equestria. So what happens when an oblivious human starts stumbling around in a sailplane? As they say, hilarity ensues.