Somehow, I've always known.

Cover artwork courtesy of Cloud-Drawings on DeviantArt.

My entry for the Dialogue-Only Contest!

When Fluttershy went to bed, she was a normal mare. When she woke up, she could see numbers floating over everypony's heads. They were timers, each one counting down to some unknown event. Most ponies had timers that wouldn't end for years, some for many decades. But everypony had different numbers.

So why does Rainbow Dash's timer end in three hours?

Editing provided by TheMaskedFerret and SolidFire.
Cover art by HopefulSparks!
Spanish translation by SPANIARD KIWI!

If you ever met Sunstone when he was but a young colt, you would’ve seen a large grin, two purple eyes full of determination, and an earth pony who could take on the world.

But something happened over the years. As Sunstone grew older, more and more did his cheerful smile morph into an ugly scowl. His enthusiastic attitude gradually capsized, leaving in its stead a disgruntled husk of his former self.

Shining Armor and Twilight Sparkle: Two gifted unicorns that would quickly undermine everything Sunstone has been hoping to achieve, unintentionally turning him into the underdog he never wished to be. Resentment overtaking his better judgement, feeling doomed to be living forever in the shadow of his immensely successful brother and sister, Sunstone has had a lifetime of feeling thoroughly unremarkable.

Unable to bear his inability to stand out amongst his younger siblings, Sunstone vowed to never see his family again. It’s been five years since he departed on a journey to finally understand his true place in Equestria.

Not once has he looked back at the life he left behind.

On Flurry Heart's twelfth birthday, Cadance tells her daughter she will never die.

Haunted by the loneliness of her young immortality, Flurry Heart finds unexpected solace in the only other pony who could possibly understand her — the filly preserved for eternity within the Gardens of Canterlot.

Flurry could not have forseen that an apparition of that filly would appear before her, and only her.

Something brought them together. Flurry intends to uncover what.

Twilight's fears over becoming a princess convince her to attempt a spell to glimpse the future. Unfortunately, she ends up doing a bit more than glimpsing; the spell turned out to be permanent, meaning she never returned back to her own time, and therefore didn't exist for ten full years.

Her absence caused a fall-apart of the elements of harmony, and Twilight is horrified to see how they've changed without her. She doesn't know how to teleport back, so she instead tries desperately to figure out what happened and piece everyone's lives back together.

Time, as it turns out, is indeed finite. There is a certain point where, against all logic, everything ends. Of course, that's not something most will witness.

Twilight however, has been waiting a very long time to see it, and maybe something more.

Celestia tries to stop Sunset from leaving.

Written for the A Thousand Words Contest II Contest in the Drama Category.

Preread by The Sleepless Beholder and TCC56.

Tirek got everything he ever wanted. All the magic in Equestria. His vengeance fulfilled. The kingdom in ruin. Yet his fury remained as unrelenting as his newfound power. Countless years after his victory, there is nothing else to conquer, no new horizons to reach, only himself and the voices of the past in a dead world. He pays one last visit to those he plunged in Tartarus on the day of his coronation, as he has done many times before. But this time, something is different. Something is wrong.

Thanks to Reviewfilly for giving me some pointers, as well as other anonymous advisors.

Made it to the box on 06/24/23. Thank you so much, guys, I honestly did not expect that.

My captor was kind, to a point. They provided me with a comfortable private suite, three meals a day, and tried to accommodate any of my needs within reason. It was a far cry from being locked away in a dingy dungeon or straight up killed, but I still was a bit wary about the true intentions of this alicorn. 

A gilded cage, however, is still a cage.

Edited by UnamusedWaffle. and INeedSleep

Thanks to Snuffy for proofreading chapter 9 part 1

Credit to Neither for the amazing cover art!

This story is a sequel to Inexcusable

She looked just like Princess Celestia, except marred and broken. Her ceremonial barding had rusted slightly, and dirt matted her coat. Most noticeable was her hair; black streaks accompanied its usual multicolored luster. They looked like discolorations in an old photograph.

Worst was the scar across her chest. Her armor covered it, but nothing could hide what it meant.

The tarnished Celestia smiled at Luna. "H-hello, monster. I would say I am glad to see you, but that w-w-wouldn’t be quite accurate."

A big thanks to AlicornPriest for editing/prereading.

Russian translation by MLPMihail, with editing by Randy1974.

Comments contain spoilers. See here for a complete series timeline.