Trying to patrol the dreams of every pony in Equestria can be stressful. To ease her burden, Luna retools the Tantabus to turn nightmares into good dreams instead of vice versa. Aware of her mistakes from last time, she tests it out thoroughly, making sure there are no unexpected behaviors. And as far as she can tell, there are none.

Except that it's started calling her "Mom".

Faced with the prospect of possibly creating life, Luna seeks out Twilight's advice and assistance. With a little luck, they can get this all sorted out before the sun rises.

I had a pretty good life. They called me Spit Shine, I worked in the palace, cleaning this, doing that. Hell, I even got to talk to the Princess, and learned all sorts of interesting stuff. It was stimulating, prestigious, and hey, call me weird, but I liked the work.

Shame I was also secretly a changeling infiltrator with a name too annoying to pronounce in polite society trying to observe and potentially subvert your nation state.

I mean, these things happen.

Of course, you'd be surprised what you can learn about a pony when you have a different perspective.

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Original Concept by SoloBrony

Grammar-Less-Suckification by CarcinoGeneticist

Vector by Ackdari

Brand new Spanish Translation by Spaniard Kiwi!

This story is a sequel to Twilight Sparkle of the Royal Guard

Between castle gossip, professional rivalries, a blooming romance, and a mysterious malefactor still at large, Decurion Twilight Sparkle has a lot on her plate. Hopefully, she'll make a few new friends as she moves towards the destiny she's chosen for herself.

As per usual, big thanks to Magello for the rad cover art!

Isolated from her friends and taken prisoner in the middle of a war, Twilight must deal with the very real dangers of being percieved as an enemy as well as the nightmares of her arrival on 'Earth'. Can she overcome her own fears and the fears of her captors? Will the wayward unicorn's assistance be a boon or a curse to the 'humans?' Most importantly, will she ever find her way home?

"In short, it's a story of friendship and plasma rifles, with the emphasis on the friendship. The characters are well written, the XCOM setting is fleshed out very well, and the story is compelling. If you love XCOM, you'll love the story, but even if you've never heard of it, it's more than worth giving the first 3 chapters a read.

There's excellent action later on, but the real strength lies in the collision between the friendly and naive world of Twilight Sparkle and the desperate world of humans fighting a losing war for survival and willing to do anything to turn the tide."

--Arzoo

(XCOM/FiM crossover)
(Cover art commissioned by a friend and created by the magnificent FoxInShadow!)
(Original cover art by the amazing Carnelian can be viewed here!)
(Gore tag for blood and some violence)
(Many thanks to the studius OminousTen, Arzoo, xXFluttershyForeverXx and finally Setokaiva for giving my rambles a once-over)
(Now with it's own TV Tropes page! Get to tropin' folks!)

A flip of a coin. A twist of fate.

Twilight Sparkle, younger sister of Princess Celestia's personal student, Shining Armor, grew up listening to her brother's bygone dreams of joining the elite of the elite: The Royal Guard.

Now, fresh out of the Academy, this young mare is ready to prove herself equal to the deeds of the great soldiers she read about as a filly. Too bad the princess she ends up protecting isn't Celestia.

Once, I was alone.

I felt neither sorrow nor joy at this. The presence or absence of others meant nothing to me. The universe moved in silence, and I drifted in its flow.

Then came the song.

Twilight ventures out into the mountains to see a once-in-a-lifetime event. Disappointed by her friends not coming with her, Twilight crosses paths with a kindred spirit.

A demon of a long-forgotten time, trapped in the barriers of an ancient prison; forever cursed with loneliness... until one day, she meets a human.

"What a queer looking creature..."

Heavily inspired by Juniper's Knot a visual novel by Dischan Media. Reading it is not required.

Thanks to DVAN56, bocaj518 and Mr101 for their help!

I always wanted to go to Equestria. When I got the chance, I took the deal without reading the fine print. To my surprise, I didn't arrive there as a pony, or even as a human. It seems I get to view this world from a different perspective than what I've imagined.

My name is Echo. I am a Diamond Dog.

-Edited by the one, the only, Nathan Traveler!
-(Cover by Jovial_Shake of fimfiction.net)
-Now featured on Equestriadaily.com!

TTS Reading of the entire fiction: Courtesy of the FanFiction Reader on Youtube.

Character List: Courtesy of TruthHut (A work in progress)

Handy is not a happy man at the best of times.

He was even less happy to find himself in an alien world that offended the very laws of physics and got injured for his own stubborn refusal to accept the obvious path fate had apparently laid out for him.

For his trouble he is now on a journey, with the long term goal of finding his way back home, only to find himself involved in plots and machinations so far above his head and cares that he quickly becomes a pawn in a game played by powers who care not for his well-being.

Quite like his life back on Earth if you think about it.

Needless to say, Handy does not care for any of it. He is much more preoccupied with the more immediate and pressing mundane concerns of day to day life a human needs to worry about while in Equestria.

Obtaining a new pair of shoes for example.

All this and one almighty hangover, what's the worst that could happen?

Rated teen for harsh language and minor violence

Proofread by JBL, Jude and Usurper