Rarity receives a formal invite to a grand masquerade down at Palgiot Palace, famed for its brilliant architecture and the occupants's eccentric family history. Taking the train to Pendant Lakes, a friendly yet unsettling town, she quickly stumbles upon the numerous guests around her, all invited by the head of the family, Winter Palgiot.

But beneath the splendor and the smiles, a tangled web of conspiracy begins to unfold, as one of the guests was found dead, strangled by the sheets of his bed. As Rarity slowly digs into the case, she quickly uncovers the dark secrets of the Palgiot family and their rise to power in Pendant Lakes that might not only endanger the lives of everyone at Palgiot Palace, but to her friends in Ponyville as well...

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This is my first fanfic. Please give tips on improving!! Critiques are welcome as well!!! :D
Rated Teen for Gore. Especially the first chapter (which has a little too much... I apologize for that)

Image by the talented =Nightwalk3r on dA. All rights of it to the artist himself.

Author's note: I'm starting to rewrite most of the chapters, especially the beginning ones, to make sure not everything is jumbled up. Thx for 5000 views of all the chapters combined!

A horrible Cataclysm has turned all of Equestria into a Wasteland of barren ash and twilight desolation. The Sun and the Moon have been destroyed. Everypony has died--including Princesses Luna and Celestia. But one pony miraculously survives; she is a lone wanderer, the last of her kind, surrounded by menacing creatures that hate her. She navigates the Wastes in an airship and scavenges off the blighted landscape to keep herself alive.

Then one day she meets an old companion who grants her a gift, the chance to go back in time to the warm and sunny days of Ponyville, where her dead friends live in happiness. How far will the last pony venture into this joyous age of Equestria, even if she fully knows that there is no way to change the horrible fate of everypony she loves?

2013 Edition: Smaller Chapters, Better Grammar, and a Few New Scenes

(A shout-out to Vimbert, pre-reader and gentlecolt)

This story is a sequel to Of Laurels & Lace

A year has past since the fall of the northern city of Pendant Lakes, and Equestria is under threat of an attack like no other from an enemy that Rarity had thought to have perished in its depths. Bombings plague the nation, secrets start unraveling and when chaos soon overruns the country, it will not be long before a terrifying truth kept hidden will be unraveled to her.

Journeying beyond Equestrian Borders was Pinkie Pie, found with no recollection of her past life and on her own travels with the enigmatic Caravan, exploring places far and wide. However, when the world soon turns to chaos and her past comes into clarity, she would soon find that the world is not as it seemed.

These two mares, along with her friends, will uncover what could be the greatest conspiracy that none other than the alicorns had kept hidden from the world for so long. A secret that Celestia and Luna had kept silent about. A secret threatened to be exposed by none other than their oldest adversary.
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Sequel to my other story, Of Laurels & Lace. It's required for you to read that, or you won't understand any part of the story. Plus, the prequel still requires a lot of editing, so don't expect it to be as glorious as my more recent works.

Tips, critiques, full-fledgling reviews and such are welcome!
Cover art by Carnifex / Siansaar (deviantArt)

EDIT: Story has been recently recovered and reposted as of April 2013. A big thank you to the awesome jackrose for his contribution!!

This story shows how my parents fell to a tragic death, while their children sat and watched, unable to help. Sitting there was agony.

This is how two young fillies fought through the bad happenings and pulled through it all. The pain is hard to handle, but still, 'Everything will be alright,' they say. How do they cope?

There have been many theories as to what happened to Starswirl but few know what happened that day. You do though. You found his last entry before his greatest experiment. Aren't you lucky. Just keep telling yourself that and maybe you'll sleep without waking up in the middle of the night with beads of sweat dripping onto your bed. Maybe.

For the past ten centuries, Princess Celestia ruled alone with a gentle touch, waiting for her sister to return from exile. Twilight Sparkle reunited her with Luna and banished Nightmare Moon away.

For the past ten centuries, Queen Solar Flare ruled alone with an iron hoof, accepting that she would never again see her sister after Nightmare's mysterious disappearance. Until one fateful day when she too was reunited with her sister, thought long dead.

But years later, when Luna discovers a tether of Nightmare Moon's magic in her mind, the veil is breached once more. What strange interactions will occur when the symmetry between these two worlds is broken?

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For antiquity, featured 10/29/14, 11/22/14, 12/18/14

This story is a sequel to Aegis of the Hive

Natural selection. It is the byword of every changeling queen who has ever lived. The chief resource that has always curbed the hives' growth used to be love. Now though, with Queen Twilight Sparkle's bloodline capable of producing love on their own, the old guard of changeling morality has seen fit to acquire this ability for the next generation before removing all of their future royal daughters' competitors.

Some queens are far closer to this goal than others.

Editor in Chief: A Bitter Pill, and Boldish42

When Cadence told Celestia she was having twins, the princess of the sun wanted to be happy for her. She tried very hard to be happy for her, but she couldn’t. Celestia knew that it was inevitable, but hearing that Cadence was having foals drove a dagger of jealousy through her heart, for she is able to have something that Celestia can never have: foals.

Edited by Rated Ponystar
Proofread by Neko Majin C
Pre-read by RainbowBob

YouTube reading!

This story is a sequel to Of the Hive

Having fully embraced her new changeling heritage, Twilight Sparkle turns to the past to learn more about her people. A difficult task, given that every other queen cares next to nothing about it.

What she finds will shed unwanted light on a secret better left forgotten.

Editor in Chief: ABitterPill

Coverart: Tulip

In the wake of Chrysalis' failed invasion, a different hive breaks tradition and steps into the light to open relations with Equestria. The ever eager scholar, Twilight Sparkle, uses this truce as the perfect opportunity to learn more about this enigmatic race. Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, she will learn all there is to know about what it means to be a changeling.

But will Twilight lose herself in the hive, or will she regain what she has lost? Only time will tell.

Featured on 9/24/13

My first featured story! You guys are awesome.

Story readings and cover art by Luminescent Skies: Click here for some audio novel treatment

My Editor in Chief: Cloud Hop