Under the guiding hoof of their newly-crowned monarch, King Sombra, prosperity and love flourish in the lands of the Crystal Empire. With peace spanning half a century, most ponies have forgotten the true terror sleeping behind the forbidden boundaries of the northern wastelands.

However, rumblings of a powerful threat from the borderlands have alerted key ponies in the Empire. The tepid peace between the two nations begins to waver as the embittered changelings prepare for war.

With the kindling in place and the flint struck, the mettle of kings and countryponies are taken to their limits, testing just how far each one is willing to go for their homeland.

Foreword: Due to some confusion noted by several people, I will clarify here that this story takes place in the original time of the Crystal Empire (after Discord's original reign but before Nightmare Moon's first iteration.)

Thanks go out to my wonderful editor, nucnik

Preread by Brony Hectic

Additional help from Regocomics

Cover art commission done by the amazing Ryuku the Creative (aka Mytatsur). Be sure to check out his works!

Please leave a rating and a comment! I love to hear from all of you readers out there! If you do dislike it, please give me a reason why. I can use your feedback to improve myself!

Monster attacks. Crime. Illegal hallucinogens made from electric fruit.

They say things didn't use to be like this. They say things were different, before Luna came back 60 years ago, but Detective Hard "Hardy" Boiled of the Detrot Police Department has never known any world other than that demarcated by the seedy streets of his beloved decaying metropolis; a world in which the coroners sing and dance, surveillance bugs have personality disorders, and the Chief of Police is a scarier entity than most of the eldritch things the city attracts.

The grey unicorn who turned up dead outside the posh High Step Hotel seemed like just another case, but her missing horn is the pointy tip of a very large and nasty iceberg. It's up to Hardy and his friends - a rejected monster hunter, a psychic cab driver, and an underground antiques heir - to find out what’s going on in an investigation that promises to stick more than a cupcake into the very eye of Detrot.

Especially if Hardy has anything to say about it.

By Popular Demand, there is now a Patreon

Additional editing by coandco Sig_Awesome, Hinds, Clint, and Raccoon!
Featured on EQD - 5 Stars!
Cover art by MisterMech (http://mistermech.deviantart.com/)
Now with TVTropes page here!

With the recent victory at the Black Garden, Guardians in the Sol system celebrate. The Traveler is beginning to communicate with the Speaker and the Ghosts once more. And now there is a new desire from the Traveler: take the fight to the Darkness. With a squad of Ghosts chosen, they are sent to the outer reaches of the Sol system. None of them expected to find what they did.
(Crossover: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic + Destiny (Year 1 and hints of Year 2 content))