We walk down our long roads of life, but what of the roads not taken? Twilight and Applejack are carried along a different path, where their fates were bound in new ways. Fresh sorrows and avoided crisis gives friendship's flower a new shape.

This story will make an alternative universe, but will start grounded in the world we know. Have you read my other works? I love canon. I will respect canon, but we are also changing a core fact, and its effects will ripple outward. Our beloved ponies will be changed, as they must. The stream of fate carries them on tides we never witnessed before.

Twilight, Applejack, I hope you're both ready. Come, the water's fine, and I invite you to swim with me. Let us see what would happen if Applejack's mother survived where fate had once demanded her end.

Done for a patron, will update 1/month with 4k chapters.

Cover art by Jowybean!

Marianne Evergold is a kind-hearted girl with strange tastes, for she's the only person she knows whose favorite character is... Diamond Tiara. Snotty, bratty, childish, and vain? Perhaps. But she adored her all the same. The confidence with which Tiara carried herself was something she never had. In her eyes, Tiara was truly graceful and picturesque. And while she understood that drama needed a conspirator and Tiara was just the natural calling card for the show's writers, she never liked the idea that she was truly evil. So when the show ended its last season with her being turned to stone for her years of villainy and almost bringing Equestria to ruin... Mary could not accept it.

The only thing she could never understand was... why did they never give her a proper redemption? It always felt like they would. Yet they never did. And if by some miracle they ever did, she would never get to see it.

For she finds she awakes one day in the lands of the colorful Equestria. Far from home. So very far from friends. And so, so very far from family.

And in the horseshoes of Diamond Tiara herself, no less.

But at least she has a goal now. To save Tiara from that fate. Already with a history of bad blood halfway into the show, it would be no easy feat to redeem her as no one would allow her the opportunity after many years of treachery. But Mary vowed to never give up on Diamond Tiara and would keep to her promise come what may.

All while Tiara herself sat back silently in her mind, sealed from being able to take control of her own body again and watching it all unfold.

The cover art was drawn by DamayantiArts for this story. Consider supporting her work if you like it.

This story is a sequel to The Boy, The Sword, and The Stone

Tantabi

Incarnations of a powerful magic user's potent feelings, born and nourished by their regrets and anguish. Magical manifestations so strong, they gain a mind of their own, influenced by their original's darkest desires and most primal of instincts. Their ultimate goal is to fulfill their user's most heartfelt wish, unhindered by mental constructs like morality. Thankfully, or perhaps unfortunately, they are caged within the user's mind upon creation, and they can begin to influence and even overtake the user over time. Although cases of this happening have been incredibly rare since the magic needed to create one is far beyond the capabilities of normal creatures and ponies, there have been a few recorded cases of it in the distant past.

Ancient texts speak of a chilling theoretical possibility. From the very words of a pony who had been inflicted with one, translated to the best of my ability: "The magic mist had grown too strong. It rent the heavens of my dreams and nearly tore into the waking world. The damage it would have unleashed would have been catastrophic, had I not stopped it."

The scroll I took those words from is old, and unfortunately, the answer to stopping a Tantabus has been weathered by Father Time into illegibility, but all my research on them has given me one undeniable answer: I pray Equestria will never find itself facing even just one of them. The world would not have a hero big enough to save it then.

Cover Art was drawn for this story by DamayantiArts on Deviant Art. If you like her work, let her know!

Additional tags for involved characters: Luna and Celestia.

Everything got so much worse for batponies after Nightmare Moon was banished. Even those with no involvement in the war, Equestria turned hostile. Instead of a loving home, Mira grew up as an orphan, cowering in terror from the advance of Princess Celestia's Golden Army.

In the shadowy caverns of Understory, the ancient arts were still taught: Dreamwalking, and all the 'dark' practices that were once fundamental to the bats' reverence of Princess Luna.

After the death of somepony close to her, Mira finally resolved to do something. She didn't have the power to fight against Equestria, but maybe she could do something else.

With the forbidden knowledge of the sleeping world, she could rescue Nightmare Moon, and save batponies everywhere from extinction. That, or die trying.

Updates Wednesdays.

Originally written as a Patreon reward for TyrannisUmbra on my Patreon.
Editing by Two Bit and Sparktail. Cover by Skydreams.

A modern-day explorer gets his chance to visit Equestria, and writes down notes about the interesting ponies he meets and the stories that they tell.

North of bountiful Equestria and beyond the Crystal Empire lies an icy land of cryptic mystery. Its inner reaches have never been explored, but a Canterlot University expedition is set to change this. The plan is simple: penetrate the unknown depths of the Uncharted North and discover its most hidden secrets.

It's a noble undertaking, but a dark cloud looms on the horizon. Princess Luna's dreams have revealed a great but shadowy threat. To minimise the danger, Princess Celestia requests that her most loyal student, Twilight Sparkle, join the expedition and keep everypony safe. With the aid of her number one assistant, Spike, and mailmare Derpy Hooves, Twilight will attempt to do exactly that.

Cthulhu Mythos crossover, inspired by At the Mountains of Madness by H. P. Lovecraft.

Equus, the world, has a long and rich history, starting with the beginning of the first writing civilization dating many tens of tousand of years back, but before that?
Many believe that life simply kept evolving from one form to the next until the present species appeared, others believe that some deity had at least a part in the creation of the world, and very few others suspect that the truth lies in something far more incredible than any myth, something tied to a single word.
Humans.

Purple Point: the foul-mouthed, poker playing (and winning) Assistant Chief Engineer of the Cosmic Lotus. Eidetic memory, triple doctorate, and holder of secrets. Does anyone really know him, other than how good he is in repairing systems so that they never to be fixed again? Well, not really. Few know just how determined he can be. Also, don't EVER cross him...

Based on my OC in Goldfur's Cosmic Lotus story. Hats off to you, Goldfur, if I was wearing one...

This story closely parallels Goldfur's Cosmic Lotus. To fully understand this story, read Cosmic Lotus as well and spot where the two stories intertwine. You'll like it!

Featured Story 17 May 2018. wowsers...

Something strange is happening in Twilight's palace. The magic mirror has started acting strangely during a period of intense solar flares, leaving her worried about what complications might occur. The next thing she knows, through a sequence of events she didn't have the chance to analyze, the mirror inexplicably transports her, her friends, and Spike, to a mysterious, and dangerous world completely unfamiliar to her, where the only way to seemingly get back home is to go with a band of strange beings, on a quest to destroy a powerful ring in a far off land...

MLP:FIM is the property of Lauren Faust
Lord of the Rings is property of J.R.R. Tolkien

Proofread by Charlie_K

The day starts out like any other, until Sunny Starscout purchases a most peculiar book. She brings it back to her friends for a little book club, until the book itself transports them to the land of Middle-Earth. There, they become involved and a part of the Company of Thorin Oakenshield, and by extension alongside Bilbo Baggins. Along the way, they encounter a plentiful of beings and creatures such as Elves, Hobbits, Dwarves, wizards, and a Skin-Changer; but also the Orcs of Gundabad, the Goblins of the Misty Mountains, and the great Fire-Worm that stole Erebor all those decades ago.

Not only with the Mane 5 risk their own lives and their friendships, but also discover more about themselves.

LOTR tag because it's set in Middle-Earth.