This story is a sequel to What needs to be done

Now eighteen and finally old enough to inherit the family farm Big Mac's life was just getting started, but a message from his late father turns Mac's life in a new direction. Monsters are invading from Equestria and it's up to Mac and his new partners, the Dazzlings to hunt them down, but living a double life takes it's toll and Mac's family and friends might have to pay the price. Can Mac keep them save? More importantly will he survive? Or will he go the path of his father and die for those he loves?

Artwork by me

This story is a sequel to The Manehattan Sanction

Starlight Glimmer is one of the most trusted members of the Special Branch of the Equestrian Intelligence Service. When the job must be done, she is the one they send.

Sometimes, those missions are filled with action and danger, romance and violence.

Other times, they involve freezing your flanks on a park bench, waiting to see if a promised defector shows up bearing the state secrets Equestria would very much like to get their hooves on...

Cover art crafted by my friend CrazyDiamond, using art from a few different sources.

Featured 5-9 to 5-10-2023, peaking at #3. Thanks, everypony!

Five years ago, at the behest of Princess Celestia, Princess Cadance was sent to travel the world beyond Equestria's borders as a diplomatic envoy. During that time, she learned to move through political circles, wining and dining with the world's elite. Back home, her former classmate, Twilight Sparkle, has since proven her mastery of magic and been elevated to the ranks of Celestia's revered guard: the Battle Mages.

The two foalhood friends suddenly find themselves together again when Cadance is recalled to Equestria without warning and Twilight is given her first official tour of duty: protect Princess Cadance at all cost from both new and ancient threats. Now they are forced to navigate a world of assassins and diabolical plots that stretch back before the very founding of Equestria itself.

Big editing thanks goes to Bubble Boom for the first 8 or so chapters.
Any and all mistakes are otherwise mine.
Also big pre-reading thanks to Misago.

Sometimes we forget why things are the way they are. Sometimes we don't know why we do the things we do. And sometimes, there are those who change it, whether through intense courage or complete idiocy. Change can either be good or bad, but even when a change is good, it may happen for all the wrong reasons.

Someday I'm going to do a completely different version of this story which will be longer and more thorough, but until then enjoy the current edition.

Queen Chrysalis planned for months to finally take Canterlot for herself. Months of reconnaissance, bribery, and maneuvering to finally lower the defenses of the Equestrian capital at just the right moment. But while her stated goal was always to have enough love to feed the desperate Swarm, the reality of the invasion was something else.

The queen spawned thousands of drones, filling the sky with untrained warriors in order to marshal the greatest forces when the day of battle arrived. But then that day came, and they won. Now what? Most of those drones didn't even matter enough to earn a name, and so they will probably die unremembered. But at least one is determined to make something of herself in her queen's new world. She's determined to understand these strange creatures called ponies, and to survive the invasion no matter what.

Begins during a reimagined Canterlot Wedding. Updates every Wednesday.

Sponsored by TyrannisUmbra on my Patreon. Edited by Two Bit and Sparktail. Cover by Zutcha.

This 'Earth' is so close, and yet so far from anything Twilight described on the other side of that mirror. How is Rarity going to get back to her home when she can't understand anyponybody? And didn't Twilight say she became human, and humans didn't use magic? Yet clearly some did... and that wasn't even counting all the devices that might as well have been magical, as far as Rarity was concerned.

Who knew one strange little gem could cause so many problems? They'd taken it from her after it'd brought her straight into a lab for study, but... If she ever found it again, she was definitely going to let Spike eat it. As soon as she got home. And by Celestia, she was going to get home!

...Will Rarity ever find her way home? Is the gem that brought her to Earth the key, and is there more to the factions maneuvering around her appearance?

To complicate matters, this is an Earth recovering from its first alien invasion (Rarity being technically the second, then). ...Or does that actually explain things? No, no it doesn't. But it will.

------------------------------------------------------
To go with the Teen rating (or rather to explain it) there is light profanity and violence. I don't believe either are at a level where the warning tags are needed, but I'll mention it at least.
There may be some darker, more explicit moments in flashbacks, but I'll save those for Interludes.

If we couldn't use copyrighted material we couldn't write fan fiction, right?
Answer: Of course we could, We just have to tip toe around certain words and phrases. This is an example of such a fic. This is loosely based off of "Party of One."

Everyone is out of character or extremely warped.

This was written based on very ignorant understandings of how the SOPA/PIPA thing works.

I shouldn't have to explain who is who in this story.

Starlight writes her final farewell to Twilight.

She didn't expect this to be this hard.

But it's for the best.

She only hopes Twilight sees it this way too.

Inspired by Thought I'd Let You Know

Tossed through a portal as the last act by Twilight; Chrysalis is all that is left, the sole survivor of a fallen realm. Now she finds herself in a completely mechanized version of Equus, against an enemy with an all too familiar face; her own. Nothing is as it seems, and as more is revealed, Chrysalis finds herself questioning how she ended up like this. The real question is can she handle the answers she unconvers?

Rainbow Dash has a secret. One untold to the world, except for one pony and one pony alone, her wife Fluttershy. There's a reason Scootaloo is more like Rainbow then unlike her. And as for that secret? Scootaloo is her daughter. Long ago, after a night of passion with a mare who's name she's long since forgotten, Scootaloo was left on her doorstep nine months later. Problem is, Rainbow was always afraid she'd turn out like her father, who was an abusive drunk, and because of that fear of turning out like her father she gave Scootaloo up for adoption. But when she learns the cycle is repeating in Scootaloo's home by the parents who were supposed to love and care for her, Rainbow must finally face her demons in that old Poison Whiskey...

FlutterDash Scootadopt story. Inspired by RuinQueenofOblivion's Please Forgive Me. Collaboration with RuinQueenofOblivion, a pegasister far more talented than I, and in the later chapters, Shadowmane PX-41, someone who I never knew had such a dark and twisted mind. Warnings: Filly abuse, drunk ponies, and mild language.

Reached over 1,000 views: Hooray!

2,000 views... Damn....