For more than a thousand years, Equestria has blossomed into its beautiful, peaceful state... but when Princess Celestia tells Twilight the order she must carry out with the help of the other alicorn princesses, she is heartbroken. What she is about to do will shatter all that she thinks she is.

Note: this story takes place after season four and before season five. There will be no mention of Flurry Heart. She does not exist.

This story is a sequel to The Alchemy of Chemistry

  Somepony has raided the border of the desolate Badlands, abducting every musician, singer and bard in the realm. Now, four brave adventurers will journey to the depths of this forsaken land to seek the meaning behind these strange disappearances.
  ...assuming Sunset doesn't strangle Minuette, Lemon Hearts or Twinkleshine in the real world first.

Featured on FimFiction multiple times in January and February of 2017!
Featured as a sequel on EquestriaDaily!

Historian’s Note:
Set in the Wavelengths timeline where the Sonic Rainboom didn’t happen, Bards of the Badlands occur about two months after the events in The Alchemy of Chemistry during the summer after Sunset’s first term as an aide at Gifted Unicorns.

Cast: Sunset Shimmer, Minuette, Lemon Hearts & Twinkleshine.

Stories set in the Wavelengths Timeline in chronological order:

Origins Arc
The Alchemy of Chemistry
Bards of the Badlands
Grading on a Bell Curve
Habits of the Equestrian Phoenix
How Not To Use Your Royal Prerogative

Applications Arc
The Application of Unified Harmony Magics
Princess Celestia: A Brief History
The Cloudsdale Report

Dreamers Arc
Tactics of Snowbound Unicorns
A Study in Chaos Theory
Teahouses of Saddle Arabia
As the Raven Flies

Cover Design by Amber Spark
Sunset Shimmer Cutie Mark By Millennial Dan
Dawn Break component of Garnet’s Cutie Mark by Sankam
Garnet Gem component of Garnet’s Cutie Mark by zutheskunk
Epic Hydra Artwork by Zilvart

Special Thanks
Roll For Initiative by Prak - A big part of the inspiration for this tale. Go read it. It's hysterical.

Beta Reader & Editor Credits
Ebon Quill - Quest Designer & Worldbuilding Writer on The Manehattan Project
Little Tinker - Master of Systems at Poniverse & Scripting Engineer on The Manehattan Project
Beltorn - Commenter-at-Large on FimFiction
Painted Heart

Word Count: 28,500
Version: 7.0

What is the story of Queen Chrysalis and her kingdom, what is her pain, sorrow, and despair? Read and find out...

Note: This is a side story to Star Swirl so please go read that (first).

But to be more specific the Chapters Meeting Queen Chrysalis and The Queen's Curse.

Follow the tale and story about the real truth behind the great and powerful yet still mysterious Star Swirl as told by (the) Princess Celestia to her student Twilight Sparkle.

Follow along as he takes on Discord, the Sirens, Nightmare Moon, Finding True Love, Finding the Alicorn Kingdom, Meeting Queen Chrysalis, Meeting the Alicorn King, Meeting young little Celestia and Luna, Teaching them, his apprentices, The Elements of Chaos, A Traitor, and even more fun packed filled adventure!

Want to know the real truth behind this great and powerful yet still mysterious wizard?

Read and find out...

Featured (as of 1/20/2017) on: Here

Note: This now has a Side Story to it called Banished and it is about what happens to the Sirens after they are banished so feel free to go and check that out if you want to.

It was an average morning in Ponyville. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, the changeling was swimming in the pool.... wait what?

This story is written by me and Limescale.
You can find his page here
Front page at 1/21/2017. Thanks guys for making it possible!

As of 11/27/2023, the story now has an audio reading. Check it out! https://youtu.be/iYjTMNmnfSk

Immortals are few and far between in Equestria, and they are all known to each other. Two of them are about to get to know each other a little better. Because one has just turned up uninvited in another’s private chambers. Maybe it’s time they had a chat?

This story contains enormous spoilers for season 6, and won’t make a great deal of sense if you haven’t seen that.

Proofread, edited and significantly improved by NaiadSagaIotaOar. Any remaining problems with the story are from where I didn't heed the advice given.

THIS STORY IS BEING REWRITTEN. THEREFORE IT IS NOT COMPLETE.

My name is Seth Rogers. I'm a simple college student trying to get a degree so I can land a good job. However all of that goes out the metaphorical door when I encounter a strange man adorned in half-plate armor. Before I know it, I'm in an unknown land filled with ridiculous looking ponies colored every shade of the rainbow. Or all of them, in one case.
...
I want them to stay as far away from me as physically possible.

This is a Human in Equestria story with shounen elements. The twist is this: the main character, a bitter and troubled young man who doesn't believe in kindness or friendship, experiences the very same lessons that we have in the process of watching this incredible show. Can the ponies we all know and love help Seth become a better person?

Another thing that I must point out is that the show does not exist in the human world. Stay tuned, as character development is the goal of the whole story.

Book I: The New World: Chapters 1-7
Book II: The Meaning of Friendship: Chapters 8-19
Book III: To Canterlot: Chapters 20-33
Book IV: The Royal Wedding: Chapters 34-57
Book V: Forgotten Memories: Chapters 58-86
Book VI: The Return of the Crystal Empire: Chapters 87-End

There is now a Sequel: A Wilting Flower

Cover Art by https://chapaevv.deviantart.com/
Illustrations by icecapers
Edited by Castwing, Schadenponi, Brave-Hooves, Insidiaphilia, scaredofbs, ScootalooFTW, and Vayne Hellslinger

Feel free to come join us and keep up to date on all story news at https://discord.gg/YzuSAEC

Flash Sentry: hero, heart breaker ... and self-admitted coward. For the first time, he details his own undeserved rise to heroism (as well as the trouble such a reputation brings him) in his own words.

Marik develops an evil and needlessly complex scheme to send all of the main characters (and Tristan) to a new show, but it backfires when he is sent there with them. Now the heroes must save Equestria from Marik's evil and get back home. Come on! There aren't even any trading cards in Equestria!

There is a Tropes page for this fic here: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/FanFic/ScrewTheMagicIHaveFriendship

Yugioh Characters appearing in this fan fiction (in order of whatever I feel like):
-Seto Kaiba
-Mokuba
-Shadi
-Unnamed hair guy
-Yugi Moto and Yami
-Joey Wheeler
-Tea Gardner
-Tristan Timothy Taylor
-Marik Ishtar and Melvin
-Duke Devlin

With guest appearances from:
-Yugi's Grandfather
-The Dark Master Zorc
-Bakura and Florence
-Maximillion Pegasus
-The Great and Powerful Dartz
-Rafael
-Valon
-Alister

As the eternal regent of Equestria, Princess Celestia's knowledge of magic is without equal. Over her long life, only a few gifted ponies who had a great destiny before them have had the honor of learning at her side. Sunset Shimmer was one such pony: one of Celestia’s best and most promising students. As she learned at Celestia’s hooves, their bond strengthened until they became far more than student and teacher to one another.

Sometimes those closest to us are the ones who can hurt us the most.

[Note: This story does not directly tie into Equestria Girls]