I have lived my entire life among the ice at the top of the world with my pod. I knew little of the world outside of the ways of We of the Sea, and as a filly, that suited me just fine. But one day, the steel whales came, and on their backs, they carried creatures not unlike myself, yet wholly different. For while I swam in the sea, they walked on the land and flew through the air. Yet they reminded me of my kind, so curious, so tragic, and so infinitely precious. Where they did not understand, they sought to learn with a foolish stubbornness. Where they wandered far from home, they extended their hooves in friendship.

Where they waged their wars, they fought with a violent savagery that was frightening to me.

As I held a dear friend close, the breath fleeing from his body, I only wanted to know one thing.

Why?

Cover art and inspiration by JhonnyRebel. Pre-reading provided by djthomp.

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And an awesome reading by Illya Leonov!
Another awesome reading by Scribbler!

Russian translation of this story can be found here, courtesy of NovemberDragon!

Equestria burns, its citizens enslaved, its goddesses silent.

Clinging to Celestia's teachings of mercy and forgiveness, Twilight journeys south across the Sand Sea to make peace with the enemy who devastated her homeland. But every step of the way, the brother they killed is there to haunt her. The brother whose family they butchered. The brother so filled with hatred he'd see Twilight betray everything she believes in to satisfy his need for revenge.

You know the story: The sirens rampaged across the land, sowing havoc until Star Swirl the Bearded banished them to a magicless backwater of a universe full of naked apes.

The problem with historical narratives, as Clover the Clever can attest, is that the reality is rarely so cut and dry.

Technically part of the Oversaturated World, though no knowledge of it is required.

Thanks to my beta readers Daedelus Aegle, Masterweaver, and themaskedferret.

Baking cakes, selling cakes, baking more cakes—it's all in a normal day's work for Pinkie Pie when the Cakes take the day off and leave her in charge of Sugarcube Corner. All she wants now is to prove that she's capable of handling anything life throws her way.

Just so long as life doesn't ask her to go upstairs.

Thanks to TGM, Rainedash, Kamikakushi, and Dubs Rewatcher for delving into the dark to preread this for me.

After Starlight hypnotized her friends, Twilight goes out of her way to teach them how to control their own minds before someone else does.

It doesn't go too well.

There's a man who works at my job in the basement.

He says his name is Derek. Not many people like Derek. People say he's weird and tends to lie. Derek says he was tricked and isn't supposed to be here at all.

He also says he used to be the Chaos King back home.

And here I just wish he'd stop screwing around with the coffee in the breakroom.

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 bolt of fire, a mighty crash
A demon turns to powdered ash
Remember the day that Tirek died
And also the day the Princess survived
―Equestrian Nursery Rhyme

Every year, on the day Princess Twilight Sparkle saved Equestria from its greatest threat, she mourns the loss of who she was.

Preread by Waterpear!

Edited by Dubs Rewatcher!

Princess Cadance, just like everypony else, needs some time of leisure from her many duties. While Shining Armor is taking care of their daughter, Cadance enjoys her lone trips to the nearby Nephrite Forest, where she can be away from all of her burdens and obligations for at least a short while.

She was simply destined to get mugged eventually, wasn’t she? Why not by somepony who takes his job very seriously.

Also available in Mandarin Chinese (translation by keplebletbett) and Spanish (translation by SPANIARD KIWI).

My name is Rachel. Or at least it was. A bad decision brought me to the brink of death. I was "rescued" from that fate by some self-appointed "Spirit of Chaos." Or maybe he really was the devil, I don't know. He promised me a second chance but didn't tell me it would be in the body of a cutesy pony in a world which makes no sense. Worse, I think I've been set up, and something bigger is going on ...

(Rated teen for language and non-gory violence)

Cover art by the talented NoviceCreedArt on tumblr. Link to original work.