Rainbow Dash is a busy mare. She has to juggle Ponyville weather duties, training for the Wonderbolts, handling the occasional friendship mission or threat to Equestria, and napping. After all that, she only has so much time to spend writing Daring Do fanfiction.

Needless to say, that means her writing’s not that great - especially when combined with her inexperience at anything eggheads do.

Clearly somepony needs to fill the role of editor… even if the results aren't what Rainbow had in mind.

(Begins in the middle of Season 4, but the events take place over the next two seasons. References to episodes will happen as applicable.

Artwork modified with permission from a sketch by EvoManaphy. Story proofread by SPark, and others who don't have Fimfiction accounts.

Contains spoilers for Season 7, Episode 10: "A Royal Problem," as it takes place the evening after the events in that episode. The episode itself serves largely as a framing device, however.

Long ago, Luna turned into a twisted, evil version of herself, and Celestia remained to watch over Equestria. Yet Celestia has wondered whether she too could turn into a "Nightmare"... and she's speculated about what she would become.

She has kept these thoughts to herself, but when Celestia and her sister witness the former’s evil counterpart, "Daybreaker," in a nightmare, Luna notes that Celestia does not seem too surprised at her own "dark" side...

The next evening, Luna asks Celestia for her thoughts on Daybreaker - and asks what exactly would turn Celestia into such a monster...

Proofread by SPark.

(For the reasons behind this story's cancellation, check here: https://www.fimfiction.net/blog/603530/old-shame)

Though Sombra has been destroyed, a fragment of his mind remains... with no memory of his time as the Black King. For a time he resided in Twilight's mind, but now he is free with his body restored to him. A second chance at life has been given to him, and he intends to make the most of it... but it remains to be seen what fate will deal to him.

Sequel to my stories Sombra's Crucible, Twilight's Corruption and Shattered Darkness. You can read those, if you wish. Or you can just read the prologue, and not have to deal with the shoddiness of my early writing. Once again, special thanks to Wolframclaws for selflessly drawing the cover art.

Sequel to my fic “Sombra’s Crucible, Twilight’s Corruption.” Reading it may be helpful (and appreciated!). Do note, however, that the styles and themes are quite different.

After being brainwashed into serving King Sombra, Twilight Sparkle was able to break free with the help of her friends and family. She then dueled Sombra himself in a world of nightmares to buy her friends time to activate the Crystal Heart. Though her gambit succeeded, Sombra cursed her by implanting a fragment of himself in her mind.

Now she has the voice of the Black King himself in her head, able to listen to her innermost thoughts and pierce all her mental defenses. But something seems different about this voice in her mind... as time grows on, his mind becomes more entangled with Twilight’s, and he starts to feel everything she feels… including some feelings he may have never felt as the Black King…

Special thanks to the wonderful Wolframclaws on deviantART for drawing this cover image for me.

So many close calls, so many potential hesitations, so many things that Twilight and Spike could have done differently, and they'd have failed. It doesn't matter what they did wrong or didn't do right, only that a split-second is all the difference Sombra needed. Now, Twilight is completely at Sombra's mercy, subject to whatever mind games he has planned for her...

Recent viewing of The Crystal Empire is helpful but hopefully not necessary. Special thanks to Mickeymonster for drawing the image that inspired this story.