For many ponies there is a darkness deep inside their souls that no light could triumph over. For Celestia there is a blinding light.

Written for Bicyclette's second A Thousand Words contest in the category 'Drama'.

Proofread by Equimorto with further help from Jessi.

I'm fine with Celestia.

Celestia loves me.

Nothing is wrong.

No star lives forever. Starlight Glimmer knows this. Daybreaker haunts her dreams with visions of the fate that awaits Princess Celestia after surrendering power to Twilight. Can Starlight use her knowledge of astrophysics to defeat her nightmare and prevent Equestria being consumed by a chasm of infinite darkness?

Written to mark the award of the Nobel Prize in Physics 2020 to Roger Penrose, Reinhard Genzel, and Andrea Ghez for their work on black holes.

Princess Celestia has long been aware of the existence of Daybreaker, a version of herself powered by fear, anger, and stress. Thankfully, Daybreaker only exists in her nightmares. At least, that's what she had hoped. In truth, with the mounting pressures being put upon her in an ever-advancing society, she has become acutely aware of the very real possibility that Daybreaker may one day overtake her. Now, it's up to you, her loving husband, to ensure that this does not come to pass.

...Well, good luck with that.

Requested by Ladon.

Equestria is a husk of what it was before.

Friendship never existed, the windigos took over the world completely.

All that remains are insane alicorns, gods, and monsters.

As the remaining ponies cower in fear and hide away from the constant battles, two alicorns clash once more only to experience something new.

Now, Midnight Sparkle and Nightmare Moon must work together to uncover what could have been. They start with the other alicorns.

C̷̨̦͖͙̭̤͙͕͊̾̅͗̅̄̓̔ͅe̸̤͉͉͔̲̟͕̒̇́͜ͅl̷̢̪͇̟̙͈͕͙̆͊̕e̵͖̝̲͈̒͐̕̚s̸̹̽t̷̢͍̖̭̙̄̆̂̆̓̚͝ỉ̴͉̎̈͑̚͝͠͝å̴̢̡̨̛͙̫̱̤͋͋̊̿̕͘Daybreaker. M̸̡̜̲̮̳̣͑̂̀͘í̸̢͈̙͆̑̓ ̶̛̳̣͓͂̀̈́́̚͠͝A̷̩̮̰͐̃̈́̔̇̓̈́̃͆͝ͅṃ̶̩̲̟̰̣͎̬͐̆̿ō̵͍̳̝̣̪͛̅r̶̡̖͈͕̜͇̤͙̠̾͋̄̑̆̅͗͘ȅ̶̝̜̘̙ ̷͙̠͂̔̔̏̂̒̑̍̀Ĉ̷̛̛̘̼͉̅̓̒͐̓̈͝a̷͈̟̦͑̄̇͐̔̎͋d̸̥̳͓̖̠͍͔̗͑e̶̻̬͈̳̺͈̳̖̣̣̓͋͑n̸̢̩̹̳̲̖̦̲͂̓́̉̑͜͝ͅz̶̢̤͈͔͙̪͚̜͐̑̏̊̚a̵̝͓̱̖̞͕̰̓̓͆͠Heartbreaker.

It wouldn't be easy. They didn't care.

An experimental AU. Set to be less than 20k words, and uploads will be as I write the chapters.

Romance will come in later chapters. You have been warned.

For Luna's Hearth's Warming gift, Daybreaker and Granny Smith take over the world. (It's... complicated.) And it turns out it wasn't even that hard.

Audiobook

She wanted peace. She wanted diplomacy. She wanted harmony and friendship.

She got war.

With the armies of the Changeling Lands marching through Equestria, overwhelming any and all resistance they encounter, Princess Celestia has had to resort to increasingly drastic measures to save her country and the ponies that live in it. But while her sister leads the armies from the front and her ponies fight and die in the name of princesses and country, Celestia feels useless and inadequate in Canterlot. After all, she was supposed to protect her precious little ponies. How had she failed them so badly?

Those doubts and worries gradually gnaw away at her, day after day and month after month. Until one day, she reaches a tipping point, the point of no return:

She will save Equestria, no matter what it takes.

[An Equestria at War story]

Edited by LoyalLiar and SolidFire
Art by TwoTail813

Luna used to be haunted by dark thoughts of jealousy, but it was her sister who fell to the darkness first. She declared eternal day, before she was banished by the Elements of Harmony, leaving Luna to rule over the land of Equestria, alone.

Now, almost one thousand years later, Luna has taken another personal student under her wing, one with the potential for great things. Luna knows that she will greatly change Twilight Sparkle's life, but has no idea just how greatly Twilight will change hers.

"Do not speak to us of flame or wrath! Lest we show thee what the words truly mean!"

Twilight, Starlight, and Trixie go back in time to answer two questions: why did Celestia become Daybreaker, and how did Equestria survive?

Note: This story assumes the events of Friendmaker, but can also be read on its own.

It's really good tea. Trust me.

(Not crack, despite how it might seem)

Important: this takes place in the Equestria At War universe. Equestria At War is a mod for the grand strategy game Hearts of Iron IV, be sure to check out their Discord and Reddit if you're not familiar with it. They also have a group on this site: https://www.fimfiction.net/group/212917/equestria-at-war

Cover art made by placing the portraits of the Avatar, Grover and Daybreaker next to each other.

This is a one-shot.