Nightmare Moon is captured by Princess Twilight Sparkle and Princess Luna after a dangerously close call with Moon Dancer. Freeing herself from Luna's prison, Nightmare Moon infests Luna's sister and brings to life one of the most powerful adversaries, Day Breaker. Teaming up with Queen Chrysalis, the two giants invade Equestria, forcing Twilight and her friends to hole up in Ponyville. Heroes will come in all shapes and sizes; for sometimes it is not the big and mighty that save the day, but the small and insignificant.

Coco Pommel is a "glitch": a rejected pony AI sent to live in a simulation below Equestria. In a world where pony AIs are used as props for a successful television program, her story--and her future--couldn't be more unclear. As she tries to make sense of her new world, she happens across a fellow glitch--a filly trapped inside a mysterious capsule.

And so begins Coco's journey to forge her own story outside the simulation...

Coverart by II-Art

Twilight was trying a new spell. It backfired.
She lost six test subjects and is fighting guilt and sorrow. She calls her friends together so she can confess her horrible crime....

(Its not what you might think. Or maybe it is.)

The Lord of Chaos had little concern for the passage of time... until he got a friend. Wanting to make Fluttershy's birthday the best she's ever had, he resolves to find the best present in all of Equestria.

The ocean remains to be the greatest mystery left unsolved in the world. Intent on cracking the case wide open, Professor Moondancer took it upon herself to figure it out, following in the first steps of so many who had failed to do so before her. As the questions began piling in and all seemed lost, however, there came a miracle, and with it, comes knowledge that had never seen the light of day.

With it, comes the answers she needs to understand everything.

With it, comes the only truth left worth knowing.

WARNING: this story goes into much darker, much grosser, much weirder and, on all aspects, more graphically descriptive in later chapters. If the idea of Lovecraftian body horror alone, among many other grotesque things, does not appeal to you, then I advise you to stay far, far away from this story.

This story is Cthulhu-free, despite it seeming otherwise.

This story is a sequel to Tally Marks

Sunset wouldn't say she's been lying to her friends. She wouldn't say she's been hiding anything from them. She just hasn't been ready to tell them about her depression. It has never felt like the right time. Or place. She doesn't have the right words. The right tone.

But she doesn't want to keep facing this alone. So she tells the one person, or pony rather, she is ready to: Princess Twilight Sparkle.

When Twilight Sparkle's life grew more full of accolades, it grew more full of demands. First, she became Twilight Sparkle, the element of Magic; then she became Twilight Sparkle, the Princess of Friendship. Then the savior of two universes, then the rejuvenator of the Tree of Harmony, then owner of the Castle of Friendship. The Redeemer of Starlight Glimmer, the aunt of the world's most powerful alicorn, the headmistress of the School of Friendship. So it went.

And at the end of it all, she realized that Twilight Sparkle didn't really exist anymore - all that was left of her was a series of titles, awards and obligations, and the pony that held it all together was little more than a puppet to the demands of the world around her.

And when she understood that Twilight Sparkle was as good as gone, a second option opened itself up to her: if she could unfetter herself from the glory she had worked all her life to obtain, would Twilight Sparkle exist again - not as a name attached to a role, but a pony with her own hopes, dreams and desires?

And if she did, what would come next?

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A brief story about time, reality, pseudophilosophy, self-actualization and surprisingly tasty desserts.

Cover art by KzKsM.

Part of the Re- 'Verse.

Thanks to Wanderer D, Flashgen and Door Belle for their help proofreading, editing and offering advice.

And, more than anything else, my immense thanks to GaPJaxie for inspiring, reviewing and talking to me about this story. Without him, it literally would not exist.

Chiffon Swirl just wants to be noticed as an up-and-coming baker. Entering the Ponyville Baking Competition seemed like a good idea, at least until it involved making carrot cake. Nopony likes carrot cake.

Carrot Cake just wants to be noticed by a certain blue mare. Entering the Ponyville Baking Competition seemed like a great way to make that happen. If only he knew more than one recipe.

A special thanks to BlazzingInferno for the title and the long description.

This story is finished, and I will post a new chapter every Tuesday and Thursday.

Spike's always come up short on his luck with mares. All that's about to change. Probably not for the better. Oh, and there is that whole thing with the Changeling capitulation deal, which is unlikely to affect Spike. Nope, not at all.

Primary Cast: Spike, Pleiades (she's back, baby!)
Secondary Cast: Twilight Sparkle, Rarity, Chrysalis, and more.

Set about ten years after the end of Season 4.

Note: This story is set in an alternate universe, where very little past season 4 will be referenced, and the changeling changes with Thorax and friends are retconned to hell!

Update: Dark tag added for some of the humor.

Anon spent the last year in Equestria, learning about its rights and rules, along with the new laws of physics which would be considered a joke back on earth. One of them goes as follows: "Every creature within Equestria's borders is affected by musical magic, making them sing when dealing with intense emotions."

That night, as he was making his way to his home through the streets of Ponyville, he thought back to his home. To his family, his old life, and his old hobbies. He reminded himself of one of the old cartoons he used to watch as a kid, Sesame Street, specificaly to one song he remembered: "I dont want to live on the moon."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIq8jLj5TzU

He heard the instruments start playing in the background, and he already knew what awaited him.

Unbeknown to him, Princess Luna was passing by, and decided to listen to what the popular human had to sing about.