A new red star appears in the sky. It streaks across with unnatural swiftness. With it comes a new threat, raining down from the day sky in great strands of death that eats all organic matter it can find, leaving the terrain scarred and ponies dead.

Based on Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern, but set in Equestria. We will not be using Pern characters, nor is it required you read any Pern books, or even know what Pern is, in the end. This is a story set in Equestria, with the ponies having to deal with a new natural threat/calamity and hopefully rising to the occasion.

Done for Arkansasdragon (who also provided the image), a patron! (you can join them and support my writing over here)

Hundreds of years before the legendary Starswirl opened his eyes, a moment of change shook Equestria without even being noticed. Such is the way of the Changeling hive.

A new brood has hatched, unlike any other the hive has seen in generations: Changeling princesses, destined to lead the hive in a new direction that their mother could not. But the path is not easy for any one of them. Pony settlements dot every corner of Equestria, spreading thin the hive's hunters across the vast hunting ground.

Faced with the possibility of a divergence, a splitting of the home hive across Equestria, the princesses are thrust into the savagery of the world around them; their hive, their world, even their prey, show no mercy. To keep their kind alive, the princesses have no choice but to unleash their wrath upon those who would challenge them, lest they lose their hold on their family.

A great many things occur all throughout Equestria as the reunification proceeds and the days count down to a great upheaval. Every grand picture holds many small details, easily forgotten or unnoticed. These are brief records of such things.

Black Rose's elite agents serve her in various ways. To accomplish her tasks, their talents must be both great and diverse, requiring individuals from the far-flung corners of Equestria. To gather them is a difficult task in and of itself, a task that two siblings must deal with if Black Rose's plans could even have a chance to succeed.

Throughout history, the wolven have been known as vicious and rapacious raiders, swooping in from their frozen homeland far to the north in small bands to seize what they please from unfortunate settlements and caravans across Equestria's borders. For this one occasion, however, wolven raiders have acquired something that may be more trouble than it's worth.

Lexarius the steward, the alicorn sent by the Herd to aid those oppressed by the Everlasting Kingdom and their own tainted heritage, seeks to help those he considers his new kin. The first step, however, proves difficult as he must preside over a meeting that reveals old hatreds that may well destroy his path before he could even take it.

Alicorns are no strangers to battle. Within the vastness of the Eternal Herd is a plane where violence reigns. A young Sanctus Dominus, still a long way away from his kingship, encounters a former monarch in the battlefield.

This story is a sequel to Upheaval: Breaking Point

Following the events of Breaking Point, Twilight Sparkle and her friends discover that Equestria's demise may not come from an enemy invasion, but from within. The Barrier Lands and the Heartland begin the slow and uneasy process of reuniting into a single Equestria, but this long-delayed joining is already in danger at its conception.

With Celestia's power in her grasp and her agents by her side, the wheels of Black Rose's plans for Equestria's future continue to turn. However, her brazen gamble has done more than just bring down a centuries-old barrier. Ancient powers begin to stir: the remnants of a dark period in Equestria's history, the immortal inhabitants of Celestia's homeworld, and a rising tide of darkness coming ever closer.

A beastly plague has descended upon Ponyville, filling its streets with blood and madness. Its denizens desperately wait for reprieve, and a stranger steps into the nightmarish haze. A cure must be found, questions must be answered.

The Hunt is on.

Equestria is a land of magic and harmony, a peaceful realm ruled by immortal and benevolent monarchs. At what cost is this possible?

Following the discovery of a strange and powerful device, Twilight Sparkle is whisked away to the edges of a land she thought she knew so well. Here, surrounded by ponies whose very existences have been kept secret, she must contend with vicious enemies, hostile allies, and the truth.

Chapters 1-16 edited by KiltedKey