This story is a sequel to The Poisoned Barb

Prequel reading is recommended to enjoy, as well as a steady reading pace.

I was once a woman in her twilight. I was once a mother and a wife. I was once a respected human being. I was once unquestionably happy.

Now I am Barbara The Dragoness; property of House Shine, Squire to Prince Solaris, Assistant to Apprentice Dusk Shine... and master of my own fate.

This is the story of my second childhood, and how I found the strength to keep moving forward.

Welcome to my new life.
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Cover Art by Koviry!

Once upon a time there was a very lazy dragon who did not want to find a town to pillage.

So he decided to make one of his own.

Editors: Mitch H, Dlafrferg
Jake the Army Guy has done an amazing reading of this on YouTube
Excellent cover picture credit: Harwick on Fimfiction or Harwicks-art on Deviantart.com
Also, the Audio Project has done a reading of this and other stories on YouTube

A damaged robot pony, unlike anything ever seen in pre-industrial Equestria, is found in the orchard. Before it collapses, it says only two words: "Twilight Sparkle..."

Twilight fixes the mechanical mare and gives her a new directive: "Make friends." Now a robot must learn what it takes to be a good friend and, while she's at it, what it means to live...

Featured on Equestria Daily (11/22/15) and The Goodfic Bin! (3/20/16)!
Featuring illustrations by Colby Green (Illustration Gallery found HERE.)
Editors: GaPJaxie,The Knight Templar, GenerousGhibli, E3gner, and Reese.
Technical Consultants: Artichoke Lust and JFalk.

Now with its own TV Tropes page!

Discord's the only creature in Equestria who can recognize the human for what he is -- not the long-lost Seventh Element that never actually existed and couldn't have existed before the human arrived, but a meta-reality warper, an entity far more powerful than Discord with the power to warp the minds of all around him and the very rules of magic to make sure that he's always the Big Hero. And the role the human's assigned to Discord is the Villain to beat down or kill.

Pre-reform Discord's fine with being the villain. But on his own terms. Not dancing on some alien interloper's puppet strings.

Without friendship, or even allies, Discord's going to have to find a way to defeat a creature who can alter fate itself and who can even mind-control him. Or he may just end up worse than dead.

Art by Tenchi-Outsuno. Progress Bar at my writing journal.

Trigger warnings: Mind control (magically induced love, magically induced friendship, magically induced stupidity, Discord being Discord), noncon/dubcon (magically induced love, other forms of highly dubious consent), rape (female on male), violence/gore (mostly against Discord), literally everything in chapters 19-21, humans not being presented as unilaterally wonderful and superior to ponies and/or draconequui.

Being an alicorn is wonderful... except when it isn't. There are plenty of things that put a damper on limitless vistas of possibility afforded by such a long life: Court, mortal needs and expectations, the occasional decade of ennui.

And the dreams, of course. Agelessness comes with its own special kind of dreaming. Celestia finds that her own "Inner Court" is a bit too literal, and it--and she--are troubled at the prospect of a near-immortal Twilight Sparkle.

If only she could articulate exactly why that was.

art by spectralunicorn

Part of the Monophysite Quartet, which also includes Celestia Isn't Real, Have You Considered My Servant, Twilight?, and The Esoteric Rites of Darkness. All four stories have a common origin point in an old story idea I called "Monophysite" and touch on who or what Celestia really is in some way. They are otherwise unrelated.

It's only been a few moons since Spike moved to Ponyville, and the settled zone hasn't quite gotten used to having a dragon around, any more than his sister has become accustomed to managing all the duties of a small town library. So while she sorts out late fee notices, he's expected to work the front desk and speak to patrons. Ponies who don't know how to talk to him. Ponies who seem to be having a hard time even looking at him. So when Twilight finally sends him to collect a book from a truly unresponsive patron, it's almost a relief.

Except that the pony isn't there. Will never be there again.

And just about nopony seems to care if she was ever there at all.

(A stand-alone, no prior-reading-necessary part of the Triptych Continuum, which has its own TVTropes page and FIMFiction group: new members and trope edits are welcome. )

Now with author Patreon and Ko-Fi pages.

All he knew was his globe. He was left inside of it as punishment for his devious crimes, but that was hundreds of years ago. Still, he sits inside his spherical home, his mind slowly degrading as each day passes.

He can't even remember what he did wrong in the first place.

The scary thing is, neither can the alicorn who put him there.

Cover image by HoodwinkedTales
Story input by Enigmatic Otaku and ROBCakeran53

Idol Hooves holds a special place in Equestria. He's probably the only exiled changeling to serve in the Royal Guard, or at least, that's what he expects, as exiles don't really broadcast that fact. However, it's well known that Princess Celestia loves all of her little ponies, and her guards perhaps more so, and that makes it one of the best ways for a changeling to discreetly feed.

But how does a changeling even get there, let alone get exiled in the first place? For that matter, why would it ever go to Canterlot? Set a number of years before the series proper, before Luna’s redemption, Idol details how he was exiled, the ponies he’s met, and the series of misadventures that led him to joining the Royal Guard, and should continue a good ways into the series, as something of an alternate perspective.

Soon, he’ll have to deal with a boisterous new princess to serve and a royal wedding in the works bringing a third to power. Will his old instincts bring this new life crashing down around him? What precipitates Chrysalis’s ill-fated assault on Canterlot? Is it really so wrong for a changeling to enjoy good craftsmanship to an obsessive degree?

New cover art provided by the fantastic Carnifex

And a TVTropes page here.

And an Ask Blog of questionable canonity!
Out of Idol Curiosity

Fanart by Norad2! Major thanks! Short For a Royal Guard

Art by Egophiliac of Idol and his Daring Duckie Please don't tell him what that brush is meant for.

Rating updated to (T), it's a bit darker than (E)
Comedy Tag added as well
And changed the character tags a bit.

Zebras. None of Twilight's friends had even known they existed before seeing Zecora. But zebras exist, and are sorely absent in Equestrian society. Seeing a gap to bridge, Twilight decides to head to Zebrabwe, the zebra homeland, as an ambassador and open diplomatic relations. New friends are new friends, no matter where they are.

But things aren't all as they seem; Equestria isn't the only country interested in Zebrabwe, and definitely not the closest. Zebrabwe has neighbors of its own, and there's a reason zebras in Equestria are harder to find than needles in haystacks.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: "Zebrabwe" was originally "Gondwana" before I decided that the country needed a horse-pun name. Early comments mention Gondwana rather than Zebrabwe.

This story is a sequel to Better Living Through Science and Ponies

THIS STORY IS CURRENTLY BEING REWRITTEN. PLEASE READ:
I've decided to rewrite this entire story. Considering that I began this project with almost no creative writing experience, I was bound to make some pretty bad mistakes. The story flow is not well organized, and there is an unhealthy amount of redundancy and poor pacing, as well as some pretty important things that I should have included. I intend to address these issues to the best of my ability, but it will be a long and arduous task. This story means a lot to me, so I want it to be more than the mere amateur mediocrity that it resembles. So, give it a read if you want, but keep in mind that it will change. I recommend that you put this on your read later list in the meantime.

This is a Portal 2 crossover. If you haven't played Portal 2, please do that first. Then read the prequel if you haven't done that either.

After Chell finally escaped the confines of Aperture Science, a freak portal mishap down below transported her, along with the entire Enrichment Center, to the land of Equestria. Upon entering this world, she was transformed into a pony. In a strange body and in a strange land, Chell was fortunate enough to be accepted by the ponies of Ponyville, and she lived out a new life contently among the ponies.

But that peace was not to last, for GLaDOS took a particular interest in the ponies of Equestria, and after two weeks of preparation, she launched a surprise attack and kidnapped 300 ponies to serve as test subjects, including Chell's friends and the princesses themselves. Once GLaDOS had them, she subjected them psychological torture. To save her friends, Chell made her way into the one place she hoped never to see again. In doing so, she freed the ponies, defeated GLaDOS in battle, and helped bring about the destruction of the facility. Although this made Chell a hero, she paid a terrible price in that brutal fight.

Beaten, battered, and traumatized, Chell spent months recovering from her wounds. After returning home from the hospital, all she wants is to once again live a normal life in Ponyville, but to do that, she must first heal from her wounds, both physical and psychological.

At the same time, GLaDOS herself has survived Aperture's destruction. With nothing left but herself, she vows to get back to testing. Though she faces an uphill climb, she is determined to see her facility rebuilt and the testing resume, and will stop at nothing to achieve this.

Has a TV Tropes page (will need to be updated after rewrite)

The works that this fanfiction is based on are properties of Hasbro and Valve. I would like to thank Pen Stroke for writing the original story and Flyer for his assistance and advice.

Please note, this is an unofficial sequel. I have received permission from Pen Stroke, but it is not canon to the original. I hope you enjoy it, but keep in mind that this is a fan work (of a fan work), and Pen Stroke holds the rights to the original story.