All Twilight had to do was finish Starswirl the Bearded's final spell. She didn't have to become undead, seal her soul in the Elements of Harmony, or enlist her friends in an effort to fix everything... but you have to play the hand you're dealt.

Even if it's rotting off.

-

Big ups to Themaskedferret for all her support on this story.

After several bloody years of war, we are about to defeat King Sombra. I almost wish we would have lost.

The Oldest and Strongest Emotion is Fear
-Lovecraft

The town is engulfed in fog. A pony sits in his cabin, fearful of what lurks outside. It wants inside, and it scratches at his door.

Twilight has issues with the new mare in town. Pinnacle is smarter, prettier, more connected and more talented than everyone combined. Why can't Twi love the gaudy newcomer with the contrived and complicated past? As the lone voice of dissent she finds the only possible solution; a sledgehammer.

Something bad has happened to Sweetie Belle, so why won’t anypony tell Apple Bloom what? At least she can keep her friend company, and Sweetie Belle can hear her talking. Everypony says so. She can hear.

If friendship really is magic, she sure could use some now.

An entry in the write-off event “There’s Magic in Everything.”

A day following his horrific attack on both Canterlot and Ponyville, Tirek returns to lay claim on what remains. Including the dead.

Because they're all dead, right? Like, seriously, there's no way they could've survived that, right?

Right?

Luna's homecoming tour has taken her to every major city in Equestria. Every city but one. Lunangrad, the frozen sentinel of Equestria's forbidding north, and Luna's ancient sacred center.

Twilight, along for the ride, finds herself drawn inwards towards some horrible secret as the world she knows trembles before some great revelation. The Pilgrimage has begun.

It was dark. Somewhere, beyond the cave, beyond her cage, it was raining. And the tide was coming in.

Content warning: implied past sexual abuse
Thank you to The Legendary Bill Cipher, Zontan, Lofty, Red Parade, Krazy, themoontonite, and Dioxin for their help with prereading and editing.

Written for a Quills and Sofa Speedwriting Group panic fiction contest, with the prompt "A martyr, a witness, and a cage". Feel free to join us on Discord here, we have a good time.

If the sirens had their way, they would have divided and conquered all of Equestria. But a certain Star Swirl the Bearded wasn't having it. Rumor has it he found a way to banish them to another world – one where he believed their magic power would be lost. That world must have been the one where my Canterlot High friends live.

But Star Swirl must have sent them there ages ago. How come they're just surfacin' now?

A cursory look at the sirens' thousand years of history in the human world before the events of Rainbow Rocks. With apologies to Kim Stanley Robinson.

Absolutely no connection to Death and the Dazzlings.

"Every normal pony must be tempted, at times, to spit on her hooves, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats.”

Over brunch, Twilight Sparkle lines out her plans to turn to a life of villainy. For the most part, her friends are all for it.

It makes sense in context, honest.