There are some things in this world that absolutely no one can walk away from unchanged. Here we have Celestia on an investigative trip to the Badlands south of Equestria. Twilight's research told of a hidden city built by wonderful and terrible beings who "came before". Celestia needs to see it for herself. It is in a barren desert tainted by an unknown energy that destroys all who live...but perhaps not all who have lived. In one burnt out ruin hidden below the depths of that lonely place is a mausoleum haunted by its mistakes. Not even the ruler of the sun is all knowing and there are some secrets that will always hurt more than they help. This is a story about desperate minds searching for a solution in desperate times, what can happen when we let fear fuel the day, and good intentions gone wrong.

This is a sequel to my other story To Be Remembered. It takes place in the same "City of Dust" as that story, but I don't think you need to read that in order to enjoy this one. It's up to you. Contains some blood and takes place in a post-apocalyptic city outside normal, happy Equestria.

One thousand years ago, Nightmare Moon overpowered Celestia and banished her to the sun. As dictator of Equestria she's come to a slow eventual conclusion. She needs someone in charge of relations. And, like any good dictator would do with a undesirable job, she outsourced it.

Celestia wakes up in human form and at an insane asylum where similarities between the world she is in now and the world of Equestria cause her to wonder if Equestria even exists or if she simply made it up to escape her human life. Does she try to hold on to her memories of her Canterlot life or does she let them go and accept them as nothing more than stories? Who is she going to trust? Who is she anyway?

This is only the beginning...

TV Tropes Page

Cover Art by blahblahaha123 (with some altering by me.)

Reading by Phantom Brony

Editors:

Csquared08, DarkPheonix, Gweat and Powaful Twixie, HenryAnthonyCourtler, Kaidan, KartalTheWriter,ZeroOmega

Ten years ago, the Griffon Empire opened a portal to a strange new world and tried to annex it. In the peace settlement that followed they lost control of the province containing the portal. Since then, the Griffonian Democratic Republic had been completely isolated, surrounded on all sides by a hostile empire. Now, for the first time, a visitor had been allowed.

Featured on 13/09/2013 THANK YOU ALL!!!

"You either die a Hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the Villain."

Jasper William Montgomery, he just turned twenty and is absolutely bored with life. He's not suicidal, depressed, or a drug user with a penchant for drinking, he's just bored. Everything one can do in life, parties, going clubbing, video games, even computers don't really appeal to him. One thing that keeps him sane is watching shows from his youth and the occasional entertaining film. Due to a friends attempt to make him feel better he ends up watching all three seasons of My Little Pony and pretty much laughs at the fictional world. Being labeled a cynic and pretty much given up on by his friends, Jasper is alone. Until he's teleported away to Equestria by an observing Celestia.

TVTropes- http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/FanFic/Villainous

(Cover image courtesy of UsagiFriday, thank you!)

When a race of powerful ancient beings return to Equestria after an absence of thousands of years, it isn't to the sort of world they expected. Twilight Sparkle is now the first and last line of defense in a conflict that will decide the future of her planet.

Yes, there is life on other planets. This would be fascinating news to Twilight, had they come under more peaceful circumstances. Unfortunately, Thanks to Equestria's princesses, that life is angry and has come for its due.

Art by the fantastic Zutcha, as usual. Editing by Two Bit and Sparktail.

This story was written based on a simple idea from the HiE group forums. I haven't followed the idea exactly, but there's still a spoiler warning for those who want to check it out.

Twilight is an intelligent mare, and always has something to say. But when a group of bizarre creatures shows up at her library offering life long service and devotion, for once she's at a loss for words. Which is too bad, because she'd really love to ask: what's a human and why are they so weird?

Story Image by: Megan Lara

Twilight Sparkle wakes up one morning to a harsh dose of unreality. She is stranded, without her friends, on an island which matches no known locale on Equestria. Surrounded and harried on all sides by the alien and the dangerous, she will find her mettle sorely tested, and find perhaps that the best friends you will ever have in your life are the ones you make when your back is to the wall...

Thanks to CedricBale and noobie56xx for tracking down the name of the artist so I could give them credit.

Until yesterday, my life was no different than anybody's. Go to work, pay the bills, sleep. Today, I woke up to a world without humans. The streets are empty, the power grid is running down, and not another soul is in sight. That might not be the worst thing, if I wasn't also a pony.

Where is everyone? Why is this happening to me?

Will l stay sane long enough to starve?

This story now has a hardcover! If you'd like one of your own, you can grab it here: https://starscribe.net/

Now with a TVTropes page! Для тех, кто предпочитает русский язык, перевод можно найти по ссылке.

Note To E-Reader users: This story contains illustrations in each chapter, which will be lost in the standard fimfiction chapter export. The generous Phoen1x took the time to produce an epub version with all the illustrations intact, which you can download here.

A huge thanks to Zutcha for all his hard work on the art of this story. Also a huge thanks to my editors Two Bit and Sparktail, for tolerating my half-written crap.

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!)