After his violent defeat, the former tyrant King Sombra has managed to claw his way back from the land of the dead and has returned to Equestria to seek revenge on Princess Celestia and the Elements of Harmony. However, the Emperor of Darkness is no fool. He knows that he cannot simply seek retribution on the Main Six or the Princess of Day, so he waits, gathering intel on his foes, learning of their weaknesses. When the time is right, he will strike. Can our heroes overcome King Sombra's plot for vengeance?

Sequel: The Return of the King

*Note: This story takes place in my official headcanon universe, not in the one for Shattering a Heart of Darkness

This story is a sequel to Rendezvous with a Batpony

Princess Twilight Sparkle is keen on bringing the Magic of Friendship to everyone, not only the ponies of Equestria. Accepting an invitation she received a long time ago, she decides to visit the domain of batponies. Alongside Midnight Wind, a Nightguard member she befriended, she sets off on a perilous journey to the land of Noctraliya.

But can she fulfill her task when faced with internal rivalries, political intrigues, cultural aversions... and a funny feeling growing gradually in her heart?

Deciding to find a wife, King Sombra arrives in Ponyville and finds the perfect mare: Twilight Sparkle. But how in Tartarus' name is he supposed to win her heart? Charlie Daniels, help him out!

This was inspired by an apparent cut scene from the episode “Slice of Life,” where King Sombra would’ve gotten into a musical duel with Octavia Melody a la The Devil Went Down To Georgia. So, I just ran with that idea and rewrote the lyrics to make it a Twibra story. Enjoy!

Now with reading by Lotus Moon!

Princess Twilight, for all of her knowledge, didn't particularly know that much about Celestia or Luna's past. In an attempt to figure out more about her peers she digs up the infamous time travel spell. Jumping at the chance to gather first-hoof about the only other immortal ponies she dives head first into the past!

Finding that she has stumbled into helping the Princesses on a mighty quest she isn't hesitant to lend a helping hoof but her resolve is quickly tested when not all is what it seems and the past, and present, of Equestria is put at stake!

Follow Twilight, and the would-be Princesses, across the world as they track down dangerous artefacts, delve into dilapidated dungeons and avoid disaster in a race against time itself!

• Romance will, eventually, be between Luna, Celestia and Twilight.
• This story will include gratuitous amounts of cuteness at times.
• There will be action and a little dark here and there, but only because it's the past and fighting does occur. It won't be a regular thing, trust me.
• There is time travel and Twilight will be jumping around the timeline. But don't think about it too much!
• The AU tag is only there due to the Princesses still being there, as well as the whole world existing before Equestria thing.
• The world this story takes place in is: Equestria and Beyond. I absolutely love the detail which was put into this. Obviously there's parts not included, such as the Crystal Empire, etc.

I'm thankful to Dusk Melody for reading through and helping me realise the direction I wanted the story to go in.

Spelling, grammar and general thoughts have been provided by TheGreatEater

The source of the image used is: Magnaluna - Eye contact

->19/10/2019
Thanks for featuring! <3 Love you peeps!

Twilight Sparkle has spent months researching chaos magic, developing a new spell to unlock magic nopony has ever experienced before. But when something goes wrong with casting, Twilight finds herself turned into a Draconequus and unable to control her new chaos magic. If she ever wants to be a pony again, there is only one who can help her learn to control her new magic.

Of course, learning from Discord was never going to be simple. And after a while, being a draconequus doesn't seem so bad anyway....

Based on the concept by Lopoddity

Editing by DB_Explorer
Proofreading by Mac349 (Ch. 1-11), Trippy998, Just A Fabulous Cat (Ch. 1-5), Doctor Candor and skysthelimit (Ch. 1-11).

Ever since the return of Nightmare Moon, Princess Celestia has noticed that her student and her friends have been getting into a lot of trouble, so, naturally, she worries that they may end up getting hurt while they're unable to protect themselves. Thus, she assigns a very special guard to keep watch over them, without them knowing, of course.

Ever since he'd met the Princess, he'd been serving her faithfully, how could he not? But when she tells him to head down to Ponyville to keep her student and her friends safe, he can't help but wonder if this is the best use of his time.

Unfortunately for Emerald Skies, a job is a job, and he'd be loathe to ignore an order from his Princess.

Twilight seeks out Sombra's horn after his defeat to study it but quickly finds herself studying with him once she finds the horn. Despite Sombra safely residing inside his own horn, Twilight learns that he is slowly dying.

How will Twilight behave once she learned of Sombra's fate?

The original cover art was done by a friend of mine, Ablaze Emblemier.

The redone cover art was drawn and colored by, Elu.

Thank you both Ablaze and Elu.

This story is a submission to the Dear Love: A Beautiful Discord writing contest.

During a quiet evening of stargazing, Princess Luna and a young Twilight observe the night with mutual contentment. A small flicker of light catches Twilight's attention, a strange anomaly in the sky. When she questions Princess Luna, Twilight is rewarded with a story — one both terrible and beautiful.

Edits by Level Dasher
Prereaders: JackRipper
Chaospaladin

Set before season three.
This story was written for Nightmare Moon 2017 Summer Contest.

Banished to another reality by a vengeful Starlight Glimmer. Twilight ends up in a near copy paste version of the Equestria that she knows and loves…with one small difference, she doesn’t exist. Twilight played a huge role back in her Equestria. So what would happen to an Equestria that ended up losing its saviour years ago?

Attempting to figure out what makes this reality different from the one she was born in and what happened to the original Twilight Sparkle. Twilight tries to reunite with those that she was closest to and find a way to replicate Starlight’s spell to return back home. However things won’t be as easy as she had originally thought.

Though after spending time in this version of Equestria, making friendships and finding love. Will she really want to go back?

Note: More tags will be added later throughout the story when required. If a tag should be there though isn’t, please comment or DM and I will rectify this mistake.

Proofreader: Rainbow Sunbeam (chapter 5 only)

From the day of her birth, an unknown guardian has watch over Twilight Sparkle. He has secretly protected her, assisted her, and been there for almost every significant event in her life, watching from the shadows as she grew into the wonderful and loved Princess of Friendship.

And yet, trouble is brewing, and with Twilight's life is now in danger, her unknown guardian must come out of the shadows and do all that he can to protect her, even if it breaks both their hearts in the process.

But just who is this pony? Why does he have such an interest in the Princess of Friendship? Why does he seek to protect her even at the cost of her happiness and his own?

And what is the force that threatens the young mare's life?
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This story was written in November 2017 as part of Writers Challenge put forth on EQD. It only took me until now to actually edit it fully and start publishing it, so enjoy

Cover art belongs to ShujiWakahisaa. Thank you for letting me use this art