The abandoned infant's cry is rage, not fear.
~Robert Anton Wilson
A week into Twilight's role of princess and all is at peace. She adjusts to new duties as a princess, while still keeping up with her friends and her books. However, the sky is always calmest just before the storm. An innocent outing planned for an astrological event seems to send a look of unspeakable terror into the eyes of Celestia.

A reckoning half-a-millennium in the making is about to crash into Equestria and it will put the bonds of harmony to their ultimate test.

(Update: If you enjoyed so far, please also enjoy our new Prequel One-shot: Love Bites )

Meet Ditch.

Ditch is the caretaker at the Canterlot Cemetery. He lives a calm life involving digging, burying, seldom... well, occasional... alright, habitual drinking, and generally managing the place and its residents to the best of his abilities.

Ditch enjoys his job. The salary is not enough to live, but sufficient not to die, the graveyard shifts are not graveyard shifts, and the clients are calm and docile, even if a little bit stiff. Canterlot ponies, right? But Ditch does not mind. They don’t complain and loyally catch some due rest.

Except for when they suddenly don’t.

I have spent my whole life in the hive, learning to be an infiltrator. But now Chrysalis has fled, and everything has changed. I don't know what I'm going to do next.

Let me tell you how I got here.

Written as part of a fic exchange for Flashgen.

Cover art by Shaslan.

This story presents a what if scenario.

What would have happened if Thorax had sought out Princess Cadance and Shining Armor upon reaching the Crystal Empire, instead of hiding in the frozen wastelands to be found by Spike? Would the Crystal Ponies be willing to accept him, or is he getting in over his head? More importantly, what will the two rulers, the same whose wedding was almost ruined by his kind, decide to do with him?

Takes place before the episode The Times They Are A Changeling, and of course retcons what happens in said episode.

Celestia has ruled over Equestria for centuries since Luna's banishment. Solitary rule has compelled her to place the country's needs above her own. With no end to the monotony that is her life, she gets stuck in a bout of apathy.

One evening, she finds herself looking after a newborn on the verge of death. In saving the filly, Celestia is thrust into a role she never expected to fill in her entire life: motherhood. Will this foal be able to move Celestia's tired, cold heart?

Special thanks to B_25 for encouraging me to write.

Warnings: death of a redmane, implied infanticide.

When Chrysalis reappears with an army of unturned changelings to challenge Thorax for the throne, the Changeling Civil War begins. Of course, being close allies with Thorax's Kingdom, Equestria enters the war on his side, and the Wonderbolts are called into military service. On a routine scouting mission, Rainbow Dash goes down behind enemy lines and the changelings bring her to a prisoner-of-war camp, already full of captured ponies and turned changelings. Naturally, being a hero of Equestria, a veritable symbol of the nation, leads to her captors taking out a lot of aggression on her. Nonetheless, Rainbow Dash's will to return home to her friends and loyalty to her nation keeps her strong, and, with the help of a sympathetic changeling guard, she plots a daring escape to freedom. All the while, Spitfire is determined to track down and rescue her best flier--and her close friend.

Since this is November, and Veterans/Armistice/Remembrance Day is around the corner, I'd like to give a big thank-you to all those who've served/are serving, especially our dear military bronies. You folks aren't only brave enough to serve your country and put your lives at risk, but also to openly enjoy a show about small, rainbow-colored horses? That takes guts.

In addition, I'd like to warn everypony that while this story doesn't stray too far from the MLP world we all know, it does take place during a war, and in an internment camp. And some of the things that go on inside POW camps are not very pretty. The things that staying in one can do to your mind are even less pretty. Rainbow's gonna see some sht; readers, you've been warned.

A lot of the information I got about prison camps, how they operate, and how to survive and escape one came from the book SAS and Elite Forces Guide: Prisoner of War Escape & Evasion by Chris McNab. It's a very interesting book if you'd like to learn more, and I thank him for writing it.

Just a quick note about tags: "Teen," in addition to the following, encompasses some occasional sex jokes and innuendoes. Will add the appropriate tag if the audience finds it necessary. "Violence" and "death" because it's set during a war and there are depictions or references, though "gore" will only be occasional (because I don't particularly enjoy viscera), and "profanity", well, I don't plan on having too much thrown in, because the characters, to me, don't seem like ones who would curse too much, but certain words (namely "damn") will get used in-text or in-speech as intensifiers.

This story is a sequel to Obsidian: Shards Of Sombra

Equestria's perils are at an all time high.

The throne is held by a wicked and cruel tyrant, and the entire kingdom is besieged by horrific abominations of science and Dark Magic. Much of the population has seemingly vanished, and there is little hope for the once beautiful land of friendship and Harmony.

But Obsidian has had ENOUGH; she and the rest of The Siddy Six are determined to fight back, discover what can be done, and hopefully put an end to this living nightmare, once and for all.

In the final arc of the Obsidian storyline, will we get to see her and her friends conquer the darkness once and for all? Or will this spell the end of her, her friends and possibly all of Equestria?

{Cover art by the incredible Rutkotka}

Twilight Sparkle has been transformed into a broom! What's more, Celestia is missing! Whatever will Twibroom Sweeple do?

idunno.

sweep, maybe.

for some reason this is how I'm celebrating seven years on the site.

A child prodigy, a stallion running out of space, agents on a mission, a mage at the height of her power, a farmer in search of a new beginning, and a pony that just wants to keep her secrets buried. The caretaker who watches over them all.

Empty roadways after dark, lit only by the pale moon and distant lights. Living rooms void of furniture and life, with only ghosts lingering where warmth once was. Supermarkets with full shelves, and distant songs playing overhead with the hum of electricity flowing through the air. Places where life should be, but isn't. Places where you can't help but feel that you do not belong.

Ponies that have nothing and everything in common, in places that wear familiar faces but are haunting all the same. In a world beyond space and time, the tower teaches them the lessons they must learn.

This a tale of liminal spaces, twists of fate, and a tower that looms over everything and everypony below. It will update twice a week until it is complete, usually on Tuesday and Thursday. Strap in for a long ride.

UPDATE 14 April, 2023: The second arc is now complete, so there will be a temporary hiatus till the third arc is ready. Stay tuned!

Cover image is a commission from Shaslan.

“Because an illusion is an illusion. Reality always exists despite the facade." - Kasie West

On this particular day, in this particular time, a stain braves the winds of the Equestrian North. Despite her impending death, she stands strong. That is, until the facade breaks...