As Twilight Sparkle wakes one day, she discovers something very strange. Her friends have all gone missing. Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Applejack and Rarity have all gone missing, and nopony has seen any of them since the day before. But that is not all that disturbs her. Not only are her friends gone, but five mares have shown up; all claiming to be Twilight Sparkle herself.

Desperate times call for desperate measures.

"We wear the mask that grins and lies, It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes."
— Paul Laurence Dunbar

It started as a normal Equestrian morning, but doesn't it always? The princesses are frightened, and in Ponyville, a creature from a forgotten race walks into town. His kind hasn't been seen in over a thousand years, but even then he's still far from what he appears to be.

Arc 1: The First Day

Author's Note: Hey guys! This is my first story, so constructive criticism is more than welcome. I'll take this moment to say that I own nothing but my main character, the plot, and a few surprises which will appear later. All other characters and linked music are NOT mine. A word on music. At times I might offer two links to a song. The first is the OFFICIAL version, the second is the closest approximation to how I feel it is sung in the story. Just warning you, because I know some people hate covers. This story is rated teen for occasional language, implied sex, and gruesome imagery (mostly late in the story and in flashbacks). Now with technical out of the way, I wish you all happy reading, and I hope you have fun.

Edit: Bug the writer! He writes faster when you do.

Princess Twilight Sparkle has a problem: she's possessed by a question. It came from a silly little book. Now, after a week of poor sleep, Twilight relents. She has to answer this question, even if it kills her.

Okay, so it won't kill her, but Twilight is going to have to violate one of the biggest pony taboos in existence to do so. That's okay. It's for science!

original author wille179

[Complete] Celestia awakens to see an empty world, white sandstone stretching the horizon. She wanders the world as she builds it from her imagination, filling it with life, but as time passes, the world that she created begins to seem like little more than a lucid dream, conjured from the dust.

After an Equestria-wide vacation Discord returns to Ponyville, with mixed reactions. During his stay he finds himself caught between his boredom and desire for chaos and not wanting to lose the few friends he has. Will Discord find a way to sate his desire for mayhem and still find a way to do good? What do you think? Just look at the title.
Inspired by HowXu on deviantart
Image provided by Tori-34 on deviantart

Important notes about the status of this story below

Ever wonder what Equestria's past was like? How did Celestia and Luna come to rule? And what made their rule a time of peace? Well I may have had something to do with that.

Name's Zack. I appeared in Equestria over 3000 years before the show "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic" takes place. For whatever reason, a few months after my arrival, I was transported to the modern day Ponyville. What happened? Are the Princesses mad at me for disappearing like I did? I only helped establish the greatest country this world has ever seen and then vanished.

That... sounded more innocent in my head. Uh oh...

A/N:
Just to let you know ahead of time, this is a ponified human, 1st person story. If you don't like it, don't bother.
The cover art was made by me, with the exception of the night sky bg (Wertyla).

Edit August 2nd 2016: I want to rewrite this story from the beginning. Read this for more info and tell me what you think.

Edit May 24th 2017: IMPORTANT! I am currently rewriting the entire story and with that, many details and aspects are set to change. As such, it will essentially be an entirely new story, meaning this version of Past, Present, and Future is technically Cancelled. There will be no more chapter updates until I finish the rewrite, meaning that this version will not have a proper ending. If it's requested enough, I may do some kind of Cliffnotes version of how the rest of the story was meant to play out, but for right now just know that if you start reading this version, you will not get an ending. I will post an announcement chapter on this story and Blog on my profile when the writing nears completion and I'm about to start uploading chapters. Thank you for all of your interest in my first public work of fiction. It really means a lot to me.

What if Twilight was orphaned before her acceptance into Celestia's school for gifted unicorns?
what if she and the princess of the sun became inseparable? What if Twilight starts calling Celestia mommy after their lessons?
What if Celestia loves it?
Inspired by the cover photo