This story is a sequel to Queen No More

Twilight Sparkle made the most foolish and selfless decision possible. She saved the life of Queen Chrysalis. The dynamics of Twilight's relationships begin to change as Chrysalis introduces the changeling hivemind to her pony caretaker. Chrysalis' only hope was to relieve her loneliness, but events begin to unfold that will change Equestria forever.

Nothing is stronger than the power of redemption...

NOTES
1. This is the sequel to Queen No More but there is a time jump between its end and Hive Alive's beginning.
2. This is Alternate universe due to the fact that this story will run off of a disparate timeline. Events forward of season 2 may be similar OR significantly altered.
3. There is mention in Chapter 3 of an old changeling tale titled As a Star. A version of this has been written by Farseer.

NO MORE UPDATES: The story is complete. A sequel has been made: Queen of Equestria.

FULL TIMELINE SUMMARY OF STORY AND CHAPTERS

2014 ANNIVERSARY AND HOLIDAY UPDATE
Updated outer cover, inner cover, and description!
2 new HD wallpapers!
Hive Alive 2013
Hive Alive 2014
New extras collection, Hive Alive Moments, including...
Too Hot
Perfect Marriage
The Hive Before Halloween
Take Two
Shy My Heart

Featured May 24th, 2014 and on every chapter release since then.

Art by BlackWater (that's me)

A diplomatic crisis arises between Equestria and the small, poor kingdom of Tarandroland, ancestral home of the reindeer. Celestia and Luna agree that it is time Luna takes a more active hand in foreign relations again, and Luna brings Twilight with her as someone she actually trusts and can talk to. But the mission turns out to be much more than political discussions - if scheming unicorn courtiers, unfriendly surly reindeer, bloodthirsty pirates, ancient sorcery and dangerous monsters weren't enough, our heroines must deal with something old - older than Luna. And is Luna really ready for diplomatic action, will Twilight learn to use a fan properly, and exactly how wrong are Spike's superhero comics about reindeer mythology?

Now has a TV tropes page

This story is a sequel to Guardians of Light: A Shadow Forms

From the mountains of the frozen north,
An ancient shadow shall come forth.
The sun will set on Canterlot,
A sacrifice that won't be for naught.

After years of waiting, the Shadow has been freed and quickly begins enacting his plans for liberation. As the fallen Malakh constructs his army from flesh and dark magic, Canterlot braces itself for an impending attack while Princesses Celestia and Luna, as well as some unexpected visitors, seek answers as to where the Guardians of Light are being kept. Even amidst the imminent crises, the spirits of the Guardians wait patiently for those that are to recover them.

John is alone on this world and has not seen a single soul in a long time. His only companions have been the ghosts only he can hear. Driven by guilt, he goes from town to town, searching and doing the only thing he can do:

Give the dead their final rest.

Discord once gave him a gift. It was given in grief. John has yet to understand what this gift means. He has lost track of time and madness and sanity wage a constant war in his mind.

For John, the greatest terror in his heart is facing the Goddesses.

He's about to meet one of them.

Seath the Scaleless, White Dragon God of Verdite, Traitor to the Everlasting Dragons, Duke of Anor Londo, Grandfather of Sorcery, and now the new friend and mentor to Twilight Sparkle? What will happen when two like-minded souls from opposite ends of the morality spectrum match wits? And what will remain in their wake?

A somewhat more meta twist on a MLP/Dark Souls cross-over, inspired predominantly by a few pictures I found of Seath and Twilight together, and my bewildered discovery that for all of the stories on this site that cover these two franchises, there's only one that focuses on Seath the Scaleless and so far it hasn't seen any updates in over a year ( http://www.fimfiction.net/story/68621/scales for those curious).

For those who haven't played either the King's Field or Dark Souls games worry not. I'll do my best to either explain the lore of both in the story itself, or add an author's notes for anything that gets referenced.

UPDATE: New custom cover art at last! Courtesy of Cryophase ( http://cryophase.deviantart.com/ )

Editing is courtesy of lunarstallion

Luna has been redeemed by the elements of harmony, but is finding that salvation is harder to come by. Ponies avoid her, the memories of Nightmare Moon still fresh in their minds. Additionally, after a thousand years of solitude and silence, she’s having trouble adjusting to life in noisy, crowded, living Equestria.

Change never happens easily, and Luna struggles despite the help of her sister and new friends, failing as much as she succeeds.

Perhaps the Moon, her prison for so very long, is truly where Luna belongs after all.

Although it's been almost a week since Twilight changed into an alicorn, she can still feel the consequences of her decision echoing. Strange things begin to happen around her, and it may be up to Spike to figure out just what's happening, and what Celestia failed to explain to Twilight the very first time they met.

Meanwhile, Twilight struggles against her developing darker self, trapped in in her own mind until her antithesis is banished, or she is.

Picture credit goes out to turbosolid on deviantArt.

For light to exist, darkness must exist as well. Even as happiness spreads throughout Equestria when a new princess is crowned, an ancient evil is at work. A starved and desperate nation searches for sources of food, but ends up getting something entirely different. With questions in the present that can only be answered by the past, an old shadow lurks, making ready its return. (Takes place immediately after season 3)

Luna awakens to find herself in a strange, frightening realm filled with churning darkness and eerie silence. With no idea how she'd gotten there, her only mission is to find her way back home. But this place is mysterious, terrifying and even dangerous. Along the way, she finds another pony who somehow found themselves in this strange place: Little Sweetie Belle. Can they survive?

--Cover art by ArtyLovr.
--Russian translation by NovemberDragon.

A flip of a coin. A twist of fate.

Twilight Sparkle, younger sister of Princess Celestia's personal student, Shining Armor, grew up listening to her brother's bygone dreams of joining the elite of the elite: The Royal Guard.

Now, fresh out of the Academy, this young mare is ready to prove herself equal to the deeds of the great soldiers she read about as a filly. Too bad the princess she ends up protecting isn't Celestia.