"OH! That would be the Elements of Harmony! They're the neatest thing! We each get a jewel necklace--Twilight gets a sparkly tiara--and we used them to defeat Discord and Nightmare Moon with rainbows that go pewpewpew-!"

A clawed glove wrapped over Pinkie Pie's lips, silencing her.

"What does the pink one speak of, pony?" He demanded of Twilight, who sputtered at his question. "Do these 'Elements' hold the power to resurrect humanity?"

"I'm... not sure." She returned, halfheartedly. "They're pretty powerful..."

"Where are they?"

"In Canterlot, the city on the mountains, but-"

He dropped Pinkie and stomped off, leaving her to flop around her stretched-out lips. Twilight saw that he was going out the door and in the direction of the city she had mentioned.

"W-wait! Stop!" She galloped after him.

Imprisoned in the tunnels beneath Canterlot, she withers away in hunger and despair. In the castle above, curiosity leads him to a door that he is forbidden to open. When they finally meet, it is just the opportunity she has waited for. Mislead by a child's trusting innocence, Spike unknowingly stumbles into the clutches of Equestria's greatest foe. And once you embrace the darkness, the darkness never lets you go...

Cover image by ss2sonic

Princess Celestia always knew that Twilight Sparkle was destined for great things, but she never revealed the source of that knowledge, not even to those closest to her. When the day of Twilight's true destiny finally arrives, can Celestia fulfill an ancient promise to save Equestia's past, present, and future, even it means saying goodbye to Twilight forever? How can Celestia refuse her mother's last wish?

Art by the inimitable Harwick

Luna struggles with the edges of sanity and feelings of depression after her time of lunar isolation.

Echo is a high ranking changeling officer. The Canterlot invasion was going perfectly, and her battalion had personally defeated the Elements of Harmony. Suddenly, she finds herself far flung from Canterlot, crashing into the Everfree forest. Now she is faced with a difficult reality - her hive, the only family she's ever known, no longer exists, and she must adapt to life as a pony. What she finds out about herself, though, will surprise her.

Rated Teen for occasional suggestiveness and language, tagged gore for brief violence, particularly in later chapters.

Dark because later chapters get pretty ... well, dark.

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Addendum 5/29/2018

This story is now, as of this addendum, five years old. It is getting more attention as I put out new chapters on the sequel.

I recognize that this story has problems, and that some of them by their nature carry over to the sequel; please remember that when I started writing this, I was not yet even old enough to legally drink in the US. A lot has happened and a lot has changed, and there are many things about this story I regret including, but which it is now too late to change. Some of those things I have simply done my best to ignore and make irrelevant, but some of them are errors from a 19 year old me that will haunt me until the sequel is finished.

In short, please be gentle.