The CMCs have gotten a rather annoying homework assignment. The three must write a report on an important event in Equestria's history. After drawing a blank, the three go see if the local egghead Twilight can help. Said egghead tells them the story of a great war that happened before Celestia's reign, a war that could have completely changed the face of Equestria entirely. This is the story of the Horsican wars.

All Private Shadow Heart wanted was to protect others, so she joined the Solar Guard in an effort to fulfill that dream. However, it seems as if her dreams are crushed when her first assignment is to babysit some self-important, arrogant Night Tribe noble.

However, events quickly disabuse her of that notion as she is thrust into a world of political intrigue, espionage, and piracy.

Oh, and to top it all off, the princesses themselves have charged her with taking down an international sapient trafficking ring.

It must be a Monday...

The Dark tag is there for some more mature themes and a grittier depiction of the evil being confronted by our heroes. (namely the pirates and the slavery ring.) I don't subscribe to describing gruesome scenes of death and destruction, but the fact that there is a slavery ring automatically earns this story the dark tag in my book.

Also, the alternate universe tag is there because this is a far more seedier and troubled Equestria. All characters and events from the show still happened and are depicted as such, but there is also a distinct presence of pirates, griffin warbands and slavers, which have never appeared in the show.

The setting is just after the Canterlot wedding episode, but before Discord is set free again.

MLP:FIM and related characters are owned by Hasbro and Faust.

I only own my name.

Coverart by Esuka, on Deviantart at: http://esuka.deviantart.com/art/Cumulus-331391259

When Private Fleethoof recognized his dream and joined the Royal Guard, he never thought he would ever experience the might of Equestria's military firsthand. But when Equestria's safety is threatened by an old enemy, he'll find out just what sacrifices war and survival demand, what it truly means to serve for Princess and country, and just how important some friendships can be. See the war through the eye-witness account of a soldier on the front lines, all taken from one enduring journal.

Featured on FOB Equestria [08.23.13]
Reviewed and featured by Seattle's Angels [04.13.14]
Singularity Dream's Review [04.24.14]
Featured by The Royal Guard [11.28.14]
Lord Sylus of Night's Review [11.30.14]
A Reading of the Prologue by TheFirstPersonGamers

This story is a sequel to Skyfall: Treason

The Everfree Forest. The myths that surround that dreaded place are just that: myths. Tales of monsters, cursed creatures, and evil magic are just stories made to scare foals at night.

But every story comes from some truth, and some answers are better left in the dark.

Inspired by Story of the Blanks.

Special thanks to my pre-readers Jake The Army Guy, irobern2857, Treilacl, and USMCbrony0311.

Characters and locations belong to their original creators.

This story is a sequel to Skyfall

From the author: Chapters with ♫ have music to accompany them. Check the Author's Notes at the bottom.

Following the events of Skyfall, Shining Armor has moved to reform the Royal Guard into the intimidating fighting force it was always meant to be. Skyfall Team is on hiatus, a long-earned respite. For the first time since the Griffon War, Equestria is recovering and growing substantially, no longer living in the shadow of danger.

But when an allied unit goes rogue and new threats loom from the shadows, Equestria's harmony is thrown into international turmoil that could bring about a world war between old enemies and allies. It is left to Skyfall Team to cover up the incident, and eliminate the defectors, before chaos can erupt into full scale conflict that could spell armageddon. Facing off against their comrades, Skyfall will learn that sometimes the toughest fights we face are against our own brothers.

All characters belong to their respective creators.

Twilight Sparkle has been betrayed by Celestia, all her friends brutally killed in front of her eyes after the young unicorn woke up one morning with wings. Celestia had realized that Twilight had been chosen by the Elements of Harmony to replace Luna and herself as the leading force of Equestria, and correctly surmised that the other Elements would have followed shortly after and become a united force the current princesses couldn’t hope to defeat if they chose to contest their position for the throne. Even though Twilight doesn't want to acknowledge her destiny as Equestria's next chosen ruler, the new alicorn cannot let the tyrants she has now seen Celestia and Luna really are remain in power.
Armed with only the Elements of Harmony and her burning rage, Twilight sets out to avenge her friends and free Equestria from Celestia and Luna's tyranny.
The fate of Equestria, as well as the balance of this entire universe, hinges on Twilight's success.

Stuck in a time not her own, with two mysterious ponies she's never met or heard of before, and Discord and Sombra at the full height of their power, will Twilight be able to prevent the mutual destruction of past and present Equestria?

This is a collab between two authors, Default and Nerobot

Also, huge thanks to our editor/pre-reader Stanku!

"What's a Warpig?"

An innocent question from a innocent filly brings back a flood of memories Celestia would have preferred to keep buried.

Rated Teen and tagged Gore for violence.

Edited by Magicman7997 and Evanescyan

Now with a dramatic reading by Goombasa

This is the original version of the first story I've ever written, over the course of three months as a brand new writer in late 2014.

I'm including these chapters here as a record of how the story looked when it began. This was the prototype for what would, over many years, become Black Feather. The story has gone through multiple complete rewrites, but this was the initial version. Enjoy reading my clumsy first steps into the world of writing!

Note: I will make the chapters visible again after Black Feather is published to avoid spoilers.

Commissioned cover art by SilFoe
Special thanks to onlyanorthernsong for encouraging me to write this and helping to envision Pen Stroke's Nyx as an adult.
Extra thanks to Pen Stroke for permission to write the adult version of his character Nyx.

Ponies and Griffons have been fighting for twenty-four years now without either side giving up much territory. The Ponies, having just negotiated peace with the Dragons, are shaping up to become a powerful nation. But the Griffons have held a solid empire for much longer and know how to survive a conflict of this magnitude. The Ponies are being pushed back and are quickly running out of resources. But all of that will soon change. A new addition to the army has been made. A group of unicorns bred from foalhood to fight in this war have entered the picture as newly instated "battle mages." This is the story of their leader, an exceptionally powerful unicorn, thought to be able to last more than a few a minutes against an alicorn before losing. These are the thoughts of a warrior.

Quick note: So, I'm doing a sort of "Inspired by Music" collection where I take the lyrics of songs I like and make stories out of them. Let me know what you guys think about this story and if the series is a good idea. The song for this is Warrior by Disturbed. Tagged [Dark] because no other tags seemed appropriate, but this can just be considered light-dark, nothing really intense about it. Told in 1st person, past tense. Enjoy.