Season 9 has come to a close, Cozy Glow, Tirek, and Chrysalis, the greatest threats Equestria has ever faced so far, have been taken down for good.
So far...
Even with all of the magic and power that exists within Equestria, no one is aware of what lies beyond it, just out of reach. Innumerable other worlds, each with their own unique laws and characters, all existing in parallel without ever knowing of each other...
All of this changes when an evil the universes have never seen appears, tearing holes in the fabric of reality itself and finally allowing these worlds to come into contact with one another, but at the cost of everything being in danger as the D@RkN3sS consumes everything it touches. All thanks to the transgressions of - [DATA ERROR].
Can Twilight and her friends, along with characters from their universe and beyond, stop what seems inevitable? Or is everything doomed to be consumed?
This is a story that revolves around the incredibly popular concept of "Learning with Pibby," which was first coined by Adult Swim in October 2021. The concept video features a glitch-like corruption that invades and destroys any world it happens to manifest in. As shown in the trailer, it threatens the existence of cartoons and animation as a whole. Of course, they can only use cartoons they own because of copyright laws. But that doesn't apply here, does it?
Welcome to When Darkness Falls, a story that follows Twilight, her friends, and many new ones, as they adventure to both survive and stop the corruption when it comes to their world.
To get the most context for what Learning with Pibby is, and to get a good idea of what to expect here, I'm going to leave a link to the official trailer HERE.
In future chapters, I will be making use of some rather unique concepts and takes to how the story is told, which depending on the reader may have mixed reaction. However, I have tried my best to make them understandable and enjoyable for everyone. These concepts aim to add a new dimension to the story and another layer of immersion for the reader.
There is also a ton of lore scattered throughout, both original lore written by me and other members of the Learning with Pibby community, as well as official lore from many of the TV shows that I use to inform the main storyline. Enough that they deserve their own blog posts rather than the Author's Notes because they'd be too long. Regardless, the Author's Notes still contain the bare minimum of what you need to understand the corresponding chapter. The blogs are more or less just for in-depth lore/explanation.
Credit to Marenlicious on Deviantart for the very fitting cover art.
High Res version cover art link: https://www.deviantart.com/marenlicious/art/Dusk-till-dawn-910529649
And a huge shoutout to the one person who’s helped me the most to stay motivated and confident in my work, ScorchingFlamesInc. Without them I might not have had the same level of motivation I did to finally finish this remaster. They also happen to be the author of another fic on this same concept, just a different take, which I very much recommend you check out (after you’re done here of course.)
Small Disclaimers:
-This story does change some of the main timeline of FiM, but is not an AU. Everything up until season nine is the same, but The Last Problem never happens for reasons that become evident early on.
-This story is set to be a crossover of massive proportions, and while there are only a few featured at the moment, there will be many, many characters and world’s of animation from the 90s to present day shown as either cameos or playing big roles in the grander storyline. This roster so far includes (updated as new chapters come out):
MLP: FiM, MLP: EQG, Learning with Pibby, The Fairly Oddparents and The Amazing World of Gumball.
-The tags on this story aren't indicative of what's already in the story. Rather, the tags are for safe measure, for things that aren't in the story yet, but will be down the road.
Comments and other feedback are greatly appreciated and encouraged. This story so far has proved to be a monumental task, especially for a first time writer such as myself, so your feedback and constructive criticisms are very much appreciated.
