Two decades after the banishment of Nightmare Moon, her shadow still lingers. Princess Celestia has been left to tend the Twin Thrones alone and protect us all from those who would see Equestria crumble. Our enemies take many forms: some would tear the world down with their claws, others with their smiles. They are monsters all the same.

I have had many names, and I have been many things. Today I am Swift Sweep, and I work for the Equestrian Bureau for State Security.

Special thanks:
NCMares (DeviantArt) for the gorgeous cover art.
Octavia Harmony: primary beta reader and editor throughout the many months of production.
PaulAsaran: for great help with and feedback on plot development and initial story drafting.
Kleora, Cerulean Voice, Nonagon: for further help with editing and story development.

"My name is Sweetie Belle, and I live in a world where night lasts forever."

It all began on the Summer Sun Celebration in Ponyville, a little more than a year ago. Nightmare Moon, the mare thought to be a mere legend has returned and changed our world. She forbid the sun from rising ever again, she broke our spirits and sowed seeds of distrust and sadness amongst us.

She invaded our dreams, poured nightmares into them to make us live in fear, make us obey. And those who didn't obey, ended up in dreamlocked prisons built of their dreams, wishes and fears, with no hope of returning to the real world.

As for myself... I just want my sister back.

Warning: please refrain yourself from reading the comments before the story, because spoilers!

An elderly Twilight Sparkle goes back in time to tell herself to stop studying.
What is the point in knowing how life works, if you're not out there understanding why it works?

Celestia has a dangerous creature held in the deepest of Canterlot's high-security dungeons. It can create ponies (with full backgrounds and histories) with it's strange and often-times prophetic powers. The Princess does her best to keep it under wraps, but its only a matter of time before it's "creativity" will get out of control.

"Would you tell anypony if you knew the world was going to end, Twilight Sparkle?"

My name is Captain Ares Andrews. I'm an AH-64 Apache pilot attached to the 101st Airborne division in Ft Campbell Kentucky. I'm not suffering PTSD, I didn't get sucked through a portal, or any of that nonsense. In fact, the last time I even heard the name 'Rainbow Dash', I was a college kid. That show went off the air like five years ago! But, regardless of when the last time I dove into the land of pony art and stories was, it doesn't change the fact that I have something in my house that fans of the show would probably kill for. And I have no idea how she got here, when she's leaving, whether or not she's even real. But she's here alright.

It has been ten years since the industrial revolution changed Equestria forever, a decade of prosperity for some, but a decade of torture for Rainbow Dash, whose desk job has slowly been draining the life from her body. Every day, she moves further away from other ponies, and the memories of her days of friendship and comraderie, when she could fly high and free, are little more than a fading memory. There's no use for the wings of a pegasus anymore, and flying has been banned in between the smokestacks and skyscrapers which make up the cities of Equestria. After so many years, she can barely even remember the feel of the wind beneath her wings.

Twilight Sparkle, the revolutionary genius who changed Equestria forever, was to blame. But not as much as herself.

Art and story idea from Queue, and big thanks to my editors Flint Sparks, Golden Vision, and Titanium Dragon.

Immortality isn't all it's cracked up to be. Just ask someone who would know. Like... Apple Bloom, for instance.

Written for the February Writeoff - Closing Time

Finally, after years of begging, Celestia gives Twilight permission to access the Forbidden Wing of the Royal Library, a wing so secret even the other princesses can't access it. Twilight rushes to Canterlot, excited for the research potential.

Then she finds those books…

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It is said the River Styx seperates the land of the living from the fields of the dead. Every mortal eventually finds themselves crossing the black river of woe with its odd ferryman to meet their final resting place. The only question Twilight has is this.

Why was she here?

Big thanks to my editor, SirTruffles, for all his help and hard work!