During her time-twisting battle with Starlight Glimmer, Twilight finds herself in an Equestria ruled by a tyrant alicorn that calls herself the Queen of Equestria. In this world, Twilight's friends are gone and beyond her aid, and Equestria's citizens live in fear of their ruler's wrath should they anger her.

But no one has ever seen the pony who suffers the most in this world.

Pre-read by MythrilMoth and RT Stephens. Cover art vector by kindkristy99

"Most things out here are ambivalent. The animals, the forest, they don't care about you. But the river? The river is trying to kill you."

"I have found that in our darkest days, we judge ourselves not in terms of what we can do, but in what we fail to do."

CW: death by drowning in the background, implied suicide attempt

Entry for the Twilight Files contest. This story is a media fic best read on the site. If any piece of media is not working (and Red is still active on FimFic) please let him know.

Time travel is not a simple case of following someone back to stop them from committing whatever evil deeds they plan on. To stop a change to the past, one must prevent the traveler from going there in the first place.

Twilight and Spike failed to do this, but that's okay.

Tirek, Devourer of Magic, and Lord of Power, lies broken and defeated in his prison in Tartarus. His only company is the one he wants to see least of all.

Starlight Glimmer had all she could want. She was in charge of a village of ponies, and she had convinced them all to give up their cutie marks in pursuit of what she believed was true and irrefutable friendship.

Now though, the house of cards has come crashing down. Starlight is revealed as a fraud and captured by the element bearers. Her villagers reclaim their cutie marks and renounce her beliefs. However, one of the ponies formerly living under her rules decides she needs a punishment most befitting of her crime.

This story is part of a group of stories I'm calling the Taste of Their Own Medicine series. In all of these stories, the message is clear: It ain't so great to have a taste of your own medicine.

Diamond Tiara regrets many things in her life. She meets with Apple Bloom, by chance, at a Manehattan coffee shop and pours her heart out to her old enemy-turned-friend.

Sometimes life just doesn't turn out like how you want it.

Originally written for Quills and Sofas' 2024 Hearts & Hooves speedwriting contest. Heavily edited from the original version.

Thanks to ScreamQueen3 for prereading.

Cover art by qimono on pixabay, edited.

Twilight Sparkle didn't think much of the spell at the time. Using her student's music box to keep an eye on her seemed like an excellent idea! There was just one problem: she couldn't change back.

A darker take on the events of S.7 E.10, so probably watch that first. Fantastic cover by Zutcha, who has a perfect record.

Twilight Sparkle's state of mind has deteriorated ever since she got diagnosed with R.O.A.M. (Rapid Onset Alicorn Memory disorder), leaving her hapless in the care of her friends and family.

Starlight Glimmer awaits her punishment at the hooves of Twilight Sparkle and her friends.

This story is a sequel to Can You See What I See?

It's only living the dream when it's your dream.

This shares continuity with Chromatic Aberration, Can You See What I See?, and Crowds & Constellations, but those are NOT required reading to understand what's going on in this story.

Dedicated to my lovely wife whom this was written for and about

Preread by both my wife and Nudistsquid.
Cover used with permission by TCN_tancha