In an Equestria without the Princesses or the guidance of the Elements of Harmony, Twilight Sparkle is a researcher on the cusp of her greatest discovery and simultaneous fall from grace while finding love at the same time.

Initially written for the May/June Twiluna contest. Proofreading and idea-seeding credit goes to Pearple Prose Rated Teen for language and implied sex/violence.

After Twilight delivers a batch of books to Sweet Apple Acres as a gesture of goodwill, she finds that one member of the Apple Family is not interested in her offerings. Through her efforts to discover why, she inadvertently discovers Big Macintosh's most shameful secret.

Thanks to JBL for the story idea.

Thanks to Holo, Midnight Legend, ajvasquezbrony28, Sir Rustbucket, ValorlordV5, and Sage Runner for editing.

Now with a YouTube reading by Thornquill!

Rated Teen for some thematic elements.

For the longest time, Epona has served as the loyal mount of Link, hero of Hyrule. But one day, she finds out that she's actually from a world inhabited by intelligent, colorful equines. And not only that: Her daughter is one of the six main heroes from that world. But that is only the beginning.

When the worlds of Equestria and Hyrule get into contact after a millennium, lots of hidden conspiracies are revealed. Evil fiends from a time long forgotten emerge and some ponies begin to understand their powers as sages. But the one important question will be: What will Epona choose? Her friends from Hyrule? Or her family from Equestria?

After strange occurrences with radios across the world Twilight does some research. What she finds, changes everything.

Weeks have past since Tirek had been defeated. Life in Ponyville is back to normality, and Discord couldn't be happier, especially given the fact that all of his friends had forgiven his betrayal.

However, lately he's noticed that Fluttershy doesn't act like herself. She's constantly tired, a bit moody, and overall just not-Fluttershy. She claims to be fine, but Discord is done hearing that excuse.

And he will find out what's wrong. He has to...

.:Couple Portrayed:.
DiscordXFluttershy ( DiscoShy / FlutterCord )

For as long as Rainbow Dash could remember, her life was simple, straightforward, and planned out with one goal in mind: become the best flyer in all of Equestria. Simple. But when she unwittingly comes across a tool that allows her to relive the memories of her ancestors, that simplicity is challenged when she discovers dark secrets hidden in her family's past as well as Equestria's history that not only challenge her perceptions of reality, but threatens to alter her very psyche.

As she's thrust into the remnants of a centuries-long war, as she questions the morals of those around her, as she battles to separate reality from fantasy, will Rainbow be able to hold on to her own beliefs or will she embrace her family's blood-stained traditions and finish what they started?

Lyra Heartstrings, who is not exactly the most responsible adult out there, is driving a train. A train with no brakes, on fire, full of orphans, which is approaching a broken bridge at terminal velocity.

Hmm. Well, at least things can't get worse.

Fair warning: Dark humor ahoy, guys. Horrible things played for laughs.

Proofread by:

• Selbi
• Octavia Harmony

Diplomacy has failed. Six years have passed Equestria's crowning of the princess of friendship, ushering in a supposed unprecedented age of peace and harmony. The concept of warfare is, to most ponies, nothing more than an unfathomable legend. They have let their guard down.

An unknown enemy has seized the opportunity to attack Equestria with terrifying new weapons of war, bent on taking the fertile land and restoring an ancient order. The valiant efforts of the Royal Guard have given Princess Twilight and her arcane scientists time to research and develop a response to their attackers, and the time has come for that response to be implemented. Utilizing weapons and tactics borrowed from another world, five squads under the command of Princess Luna will infiltrate the forests of the Equestrian Northwest to destroy a revolutionary magical matrix that Twilight refers to as the "radio" - a tool that allows enemy ponies to communicate across vast distances instantly.

Nightmare Two is comprised of three foalhood friends who, rather than be separated from each other in the draft, volunteer to become one of the five Nightmare squads. With their bodies forever altered to suit the needs of their mission, the three young mares join legions of ponies armed with powerful weapons to partake in a horrifying new breed of warfare - Equestria's first in over one thousand years.

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Heads up, folks. If you wouldn't mind leaving a comment alongside the thumbs-down, I'd appreciate it. This is my first foray into fan fiction and although it's a hobby I nonetheless wish to get better. :)

Got some FAQ's for you guys as well!

- Alternate universe in which the events of "Crusaders of the Lost Mark" did not occur. (As much as I loved it! :D)

- Numerical age tends to vary with headcanon, but the CMC here were just getting started with their adult lives when the draft went into effect.

- The war is pony v. pony, utilizing firearms and the Equestrian equivalent of a tank. The underlying headcanon is that ponies used firearms similar to muskets and tracked armored vehicles akin to our tanks in times of old, and what the enemy currently employs is essentially the natural progression of these technologies.

- There are no real-world weapons or equipment i.e. "Panzer IV," or "M16 assault rifle." Particularly acute details such as the caliber of weapons are also absent.

- Technology is based on that of WWI with some WWII elements. Firearms are primarily bolt-action.

- The "radio" spell matrix functions as what we know to be a radio, but is not identical.

- All four of a Night Mare's legs are permanently replaced by the augments.

- Night Mares are female. Stallions proved unable to properly animate the limbs.

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Hold up, now - fanart? You guys rock. Like, for real. Thanks a lot!

1. A great YouTube video coming from The_Pegasus_Box. Thanks, bud!
Check it out!

2. Click here for the collection on DArt.

3. https://derpibooru.org/740375?scope=scpeac921b191f688d04521575f31608785cbc3bbaa1
[img]https://derpicdn.net/img/view/2014/10/10/740375__safe_anthro_apple+bloom_gun_artist-colon-pusspuss_night+mares.png[/img]

Princess Twilight Sparkle discovers a centuries-old mystery hidden in the Royal Archives. Her investigation leads through layer after layer of deception and misdirection, setting her hooves on a path that seems to be leading to a mysterious secret. Along the way, she learns that some friendships can be very, very strange.

Book 1 of the Alicorn Adventure series.

AUDIOBOOK by VisualPony
Featured at the Royal Canterlot Library
TV Tropes Page (Courtesy of Sandtalon)
Goodreads Page (Courtesy of Facedeer)
Equestria Daily Page

WARNING: Major spoilers in the comments. Takes place several months after the end of season four. (Not a Da Vinci Code crossover, BTW!)

Do you see a dark tag? No, you don't. Not dark. Well, okay, there are a couple of dark-ish bits, but that's all. Not enough to warrant a tag. Speaking of tags, there really ought to be "Badass Twilight" and "Friendshipping" ones.

Sequels and side-stories (and more) can be found here Offprint and AO3, and a hardbound two-volume set of all that can be ordered from The Ministry of Image.

My editor for the first edition of this story was Gogito, and I can't thank him enough for all the hard work he did. My editor for the revised version was PresentPerfect, and he did a terrific job of getting the story into excellent shape.

This story is a sequel to April Fools!

Fluttershy has always stayed out of Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash's pranking schemes, but she decides to give it a chance when Pinkie tells her that Rainbow bailed on her last minute. For her first prank, she has to help Pinkie pull off the prank to end all pranks.

Fluttershy has to help Pinkie put hot pink tips into Sombra's mane while he's sleeping. It goes just as well as you'd expect.

Credit for artwork goes to the lovely Evehly on DeviantArt.