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Princess Luna takes on a Night Apprentice, her counterpart to Princess Celestia's Faithful Student, Twilight Sparkle. Nova Shine, a wandering unicorn from Canterlot, is given the position for the first time in a thousand years. What neither of them know is that there exists a long and secret history between the positions of the Faithful Student, the Night Apprentice, and a mysterious shadow that seems to keep popping up in Nova's and Twilight's dreams. This shadow, whatever it is, and the dreams it appears in do not bode well, but the Princesses remain tight-lipped about these nightmares.

Nova and Twilight agree to investigate the nightmares themselves, and this mission occupies them for some time. But as they continue their search, their relationship starts to develop into something more than just fellow students. As if to make matters any more chaotic, Trixie Lulamoon arrives on Twilight's doorstep announcing that she, too, has been dealing with nightmare problems.

Finally, there's also the shadow itself. An ancient and dangerous enemy, it has lain dormant for the last thousand or so years. Why it chooses to reveal itself now is anyone's best guess, but unless Twilight and Nova can stop it, there's no telling what will happen to Equestria...

First featured under the old system on 25 November 2013, with occasional reappearances in the new system.
Featured again on 19 November 2022, on its 10th anniversary, and again on 19 November 2023 when the final chapter of the rewrite was published. Many thanks, everyone.

Takes place in an alternate universe where Celestia and Luna used the Elements of Harmony to slay King Sombra.

Celestia and Luna are no more. The sun and moon have collided, and the heavens torn asunder in the aftermath of their final battle. The Elements of Harmony are missing, presumed forever lost. The fiends of Tartarus are on a rampage, and no one can stop them. And to make things perfect, the ruler of the nation of Boardor has decided to invade.
Desperate, Clover the Clever's last living student gathers together 108 virgin mares, in order to perform a ritual that will revive King Sombra. They succeed... kinda.
A human, in King Sombra's body, suddenly finds himself in an Equestria in a downward spiral with a bunch of technicolor ponies begging him to save them. Convinced that he's either dreaming, stoned, or insane, he tries to go along with it as best he can, although the voice in his head, a very angry voice with a hunger for conquest, crystals, slavery, and stairs, isn't doing much to instill confidence in his own sanity...

New Cover Art By Shadow Bolt!

Following his tumultuous defeat, King Sombra is flung across space and time to exit out a human's malfunctioning toaster. For weeks, Sombra monologues his revenge to destroy those that hurt him. But seven months later, when a route back to Equestria is found, does he not seem all that interested in returning.

Edited by spigo.

Prequel: The Roommate From Tartarus
Side Sequel: (Not My) Home Sweet Home

Update: labelled as complete. The last three chapters will remain as bonus chapters.

This story is a sequel to Unfinished

In the aftermath of the Nightmare's near-victory, Twilight Sparkle struggles with her status as an alicorn and the lingering gulf between herself and her senior Princesses. Love inspires awesome and terrifying things, but the path to harmony and friendship may leave her more broken than before. Beneath it all, a lingering memory refuses to be ignored.

Dusk Shine still lives, and he wanders the wasteland of unfinished stories and forgotten dreams at the bottom of the universe, attempting to put his world back together. The price to remake his home may be greater than he can bear, but one name still guides him: Twilight Sparkle.

Two paths draw close once more, not to run side by side, but meet each other head-on.

----

Check out this amazing fan comic by Bypenandhoof!

It has been one of the closest guarded secrets of Canterlot's royalty. Deep in a specially constructed dungeon, surrounded by warding spells and powerful magic barriers, exists an enigma. Within a cage that could only be described as something out of a nightmare, it waits and watches all of Equestria. A creature that cannot age, is immune to disease, does not thirst nor hunger, and resists all injury. But, it also holds secrets and knowledge that could safeguard the kingdom. Its powers are frightening, but it is civil enough for debate when patience permits.

Princess Celestia has sought counsel with the creature before, enduring it making deal after deal for its services. The Princess walks a fine line when dealing with it, knowing full well anything could give it an advantage despite its imprisonment. She has had to go back on her word in these dealings, and from this a deep animosity between them has been born. It is a necessary evil as she is convinced this is a being capable of untold evil far and above anything Equestria has ever dreamed of. So long as it remains within the confines of its cell, her kingdom is made safe. So much magic has been woven to ensure that, there is little chance of escape.

So long as the magic holds, there is no danger. So long as the cage remains strong, the nameless creature stays enthralled in his cavernous dwelling. If that were to change--if the magic failed--not even the wisest could say. But one thing is assured, it does not bode well for Equestria.

No one's important. No one's special. Except for the princesses.

Blueblood's always known this. He's always accepted this. He'll never be special. He'll never do anything important.

But now he has to. There's too much at stake.

He knows he'll fail, but he has to try. Because...

The Elements of Harmony. Six artifacts of legendary power that have provided for the peace of Equestria for over a thousand years. While Queen Chrysalis managed to deny the ponies their ultimate defense, she still lost to a different unexpected surprise in the form of a love-powered shield spell.

However, the Elements won't be so easily denied. Unbeknownst to anyone, they awaken in their vault and cast Chrysalis into another world to teach her a lesson or six about life and harmony.

Stripped of her power, trapped in a form unfamiliar even to a changeling, and at the mercy of the locals, Chrysalis must learn how to get along with others before she is allowed to return to save her hive. And if successful, she may just be allowed to keep her new friend... If he's willing, and if he can survive the drawbacks of being one of the rarest changeling classes ever seen:

A breeding drone.

Join a spoiled rotten queen and a workaholic electrical engineer in the retelling of an adventure that brought them together across the boundaries of space and time. Because sometimes, a little change isn't all that bad.

(Changeling Drone 'Gazer' design artwork courtesy of oFimFiction.net member 'More Dakka')

[Second Person Perspective]

Once a year, you come around with a simple task. Most of the time, it means nothing. You are normally dismissed without another thought.

However, when you find out Princess Luna has been asking for you, you can't help but worry that something is wrong.

(Scene written for confirmed-by-voting best pony Luna. A bit of a mystery fic. See what details you can glean from the dialogue to determine who the character is and what they are talking about.)

A human finds himself in Equestria under very unpleasant circumstances with no explanation.
His reaction: get the heck out of Dodge and start a new life where Equestria and her ponies can't reach him.
But an alicorn's reach is long and the events which brought him here and his treatment in Canterlot are not so easily forgotten by those who did it. How does one say 'go away' to an immortal goddess?

Yay! Featured, thank you all.
A TV Tropes page
Revised 08/31/14 for clarity and grammatical issues, no events changed. I am working on a sequel, but it will be from Fancy's POV.
P.S. Green is NOT Lyra. There are other green unicorns.

Upon Nightmare Moon's return, the leaders of other nations gather to discuss the situation.

They're not especially happy about it.

Cover art from the gallery of WingFlyte.

Spanish translation, by SPANIARD-KIWI. Russian translation, by Dark Room Collaboration.