Twilight did her duty. She saved everypony she could, except herself. Now trapped by an evil cult, in more pain than she has even been in before, and dying on a sacrificial altar, she calls for help. The Nightmare answers.

Will Twilight become the next evil to threaten the world or will the Nightmare simply be glad to have some freedom? One thing is for certain, Twilight's life will never be the same again.

The Editors
Cander (CH 1-Current)
Yutah123 (CH 8-9)

Now with an excellent reading by StraightToThePointStudio (Currently only up to CH 30)

And we even have art!
[Warning Spoilers] Twilight's Nightmare Art

This story is a sequel to When The Snow Melts

The unthinkable has happened. Celestia, wounded and pursued by her enemies, falls from the sky behind enemy lines. Watching in horror, the Celestian army falls back in disarray as the forces of Nightmare Moon push ever onward. Enlisting with the promise of excitement and adventure, two young friends leave their country village to join in the fight against the Legion. Reality however, is a cruel teacher. Perhaps somewhere in the ashes of defeat, there is still hope for a brighter tomorrow.

Four hundred years ago, an alien warp gate was discovered that connected Equestria to the Koprulu sector. A deserted sector of spaced filled with centuries worth of abandoned alien technology. That technology advanced Equestrian civilization hundreds of years into the future. One hundred years after its opening, that warp gate would close, trapping many citizens of Equestria on the other side. Cut off from their ancestral homeland, their descendants have grown up to a life filled with war and chaos, fought using technology never meant for pony kind.

On a quiet little colony, three young mares enjoyed a relatively happy childhood. During one of their usual friendly outings, they make a discovery that will change their lives forever. Their peaceful childhood comes to an end as the now adult cutie mark crusaders are about to find out just how hard life in this sector of space can be.

Additional lore on the factions can be found here if you are interested.

Cover Art and Chapter Art by Rametep. You can find his gallery here.

Warning, spoilers in comments You've been warned.

There are 100 billion stars in the Milky Way, and humanity is determined to explore every one. We send probes, probes with the blueprints to reproduce human explorers upon arrival. Uninhabited worlds the galaxy over can be colonized and populated, until after many years they too can join the vast throng of interstellar civilization. But if a probe is very, very lucky, it will land on a populated world instead. Equestria is one such world.

Even so, it's far from perfect for colonization, not with an environment lethal to human life. But each probe is resourceful and armed with the greatest machine intelligence mankind has devised. If placing a human mind into a newly manufactured human body won't work, it will just have to get a little more creative.

This book has a Hardcover! If you want to pick it up, you can grab it here: https://starscribe.net/

This story was written at the behest of Canary In The Coal Mine, who is sponsoring it on my Patreon. As usual, cover by Zutcha. Editing by Two Bit and Sparktail.

Fantastic prereading help from: Chyre, Danger Noodle, Doctor Disco, and Doggyshakespeare (who also did the Esperanto translation). Thank you all for helping to make this story more readable and more consistent for everyone.