In a twist of fate, Twilight Sparkle never applied to Celestia's school for gifted unicorns. Turning to solitude and study, she fully engrossed herself into the mysteries of the arcane. In her solitary tower at the edge of world, she prided herself in her mastery over magic.

Then one day, she receives a letter from her brother Shining Armor. He is getting married and has requested she be there. Though she hasn't left her tower in years, she decides to make an exception for her brother.

Unfortunately, when she arrives, she finds that things have changed greatly in Equestria. There are three rulers now. Three alicorns of great, dark power.

The first, Daybreaker.

The second, Nightmare Moon.

And the last, Heartache.

Her brother is marrying the last one. A bit of important information that she was not told. (Thanks Shining Armor).

Content to get through the proceedings of the wedding and leave, Twilight tries to make her presence as obscure as possible. It goes about as well as expected.

Things are about to get a lot less lonely, and not in a good way...

In the depths of an unknown forest sits a cursed pool. The bones of the forgotten damned lay thick here, lost to time.

A cursed tree sits in the pool, sucking up the remains of creatures that died there, and feeding on the bones. It grows fat with power and hate. Within it, something twisted by the curse grows.

The dead are dead, yes, but they are never truly gone...

Twilight Sparkle died, again. Was it Sombra? Tirek? She is starting to forget. Not that she cares anymore. Her victories never seemed to matter anyways, the villains always returned, as will she.

She will always come back, risen from the grave by Princess Celestia. Her battle will never end. The harmony of Equestria was built on her back. On her shattered bones. On her rent flesh.

And with each death, Twilight feels a piece of her soul grow cold and dark...

Written for the contest, A Thousand Words Contest III (2024 Jun 09 - Jul 14) - A Thousand Words - Fimfiction

With Tirek approaching, Celestia contemplates why she never fights for her kingdom. There is a reason for it, a reason she had nearly forgotten. Wanted to forget.

But something like that can never be forgotten.

It was branded in her mind.

And it was branded with flame.

Submission in the second New Blood contest.

Everything was going well in Carrot Top's carrot patch. The carrots were growing in good health, and she tended to them earnestly. She was retired from her old painful life, and things were finally looking up for her. Then, without any reason in particular, everything started to go wrong.

Chaos erupts across the land. On her small farm at the outskirts of town, Carrot Top finds that her carrots are sick of being farmed. Granted life, they are out for her blood with a vengeance.

Little do those devils know, she used to do a whole lot more than farm carrots....

Berry Punch has taken to the hobby of pulling out the old lawn chair and watching Ponyville explode. It seemed a little too common at this point to be honest. How many times could a town explode before it got old?

Everything was going the way it usually did. Her on a lawn chair, bottle of wine in hoof, and a catastrophic event playing out in front of her that would no doubt be written in the history books. A usual afternoon in Ponyville.

Then a certain dragonequus shows up, drained of his magic, down on his luck, and in need of some mortal wisdom.

The fate of Equestria rests in her hooves, and Berry Punch doesn't even know it.

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-Inspired by that one lawn chair meme.

Pinkie Pie has seen Twilight frown and wander the edges of town, looking into the horizon. She knows what troubles her immortal friend. Her life is short after all, at least compared to that of an alicorn. It stings her heart to see a friend so sad.

So, she prepares a gift for Twilight. It might not be much, but a single memory might weather the road ahead.

This is that memory.

Celestia has a secret. There is a voice in her head. It plays a game she doesn't really understand but fears all the same. It wants her, and with everypony that knows of its existence its power grows. She has kept it away for as long as she can remember.

Luna is set to return, and with it, a friend of the voice. Can Celestia endure the voice's games and strengthen her relationship with Luna, or will she lose everything to it?