There are 100 billion stars in the Milky Way, and humanity is determined to explore every one. We send probes, probes with the blueprints to reproduce human explorers upon arrival. Uninhabited worlds the galaxy over can be colonized and populated, until after many years they too can join the vast throng of interstellar civilization. But if a probe is very, very lucky, it will land on a populated world instead. Equestria is one such world.

Even so, it's far from perfect for colonization, not with an environment lethal to human life. But each probe is resourceful and armed with the greatest machine intelligence mankind has devised. If placing a human mind into a newly manufactured human body won't work, it will just have to get a little more creative.

This book has a Hardcover! If you want to pick it up, you can grab it here: https://starscribe.net/

This story was written at the behest of Canary In The Coal Mine, who is sponsoring it on my Patreon. As usual, cover by Zutcha. Editing by Two Bit and Sparktail.

Fantastic prereading help from: Chyre, Danger Noodle, Doctor Disco, and Doggyshakespeare (who also did the Esperanto translation). Thank you all for helping to make this story more readable and more consistent for everyone.

Sometimes, there are states of emotion that can overwhelm even the mightiest of creatures; or so they say. Queen Chrysalis had never taken stock in such tales, nor the creatures that told them. Until today that is.

Artist is hotkinkyshy

Discord's the only creature in Equestria who can recognize the human for what he is -- not the long-lost Seventh Element that never actually existed and couldn't have existed before the human arrived, but a meta-reality warper, an entity far more powerful than Discord with the power to warp the minds of all around him and the very rules of magic to make sure that he's always the Big Hero. And the role the human's assigned to Discord is the Villain to beat down or kill.

Pre-reform Discord's fine with being the villain. But on his own terms. Not dancing on some alien interloper's puppet strings.

Without friendship, or even allies, Discord's going to have to find a way to defeat a creature who can alter fate itself and who can even mind-control him. Or he may just end up worse than dead.

Art by Tenchi-Outsuno. Progress Bar at my writing journal.

Trigger warnings: Mind control (magically induced love, magically induced friendship, magically induced stupidity, Discord being Discord), noncon/dubcon (magically induced love, other forms of highly dubious consent), rape (female on male), violence/gore (mostly against Discord), literally everything in chapters 19-21, humans not being presented as unilaterally wonderful and superior to ponies and/or draconequui.

To save her sister and her faithful student, Celestia herself must travel into the ancient tunnels beneath the ruined castle in the Everfree Forest. She, and the guards who accompany her, must face the dark, twisting corridors. Still, what was Luna and Twilight's purpose at the old castle? Why were they unable to return of their own accord?

And what watches Celestia from beyond the light's edge?

Vermilion didn’t join the Guard to be a hero. He just wanted to escape the farm and his old, boring life.

But now it seems he may have no choice – his unit is being sent to Hollow Shades, a tiny hamlet hidden in the depths of an endless forest, to fight monsters on behalf of Luna and Celestia. When the mission turns into a disaster and the town is lost, Vermilion finds himself at the forefront of an unexpected war, with all of Equestria at stake.

A new dark age has begun. Heroes must be found to guard the flickering lights of civilization. And Vermilion and his friends will discover that monsters are the least of their worries.

Set in the years before Nightmare Moon’s banishment, The World is Filled with Monsters follows a young hero and his friends as they struggle to protect a newfound nation – and discover the cost of greatness.

Art gallery:

Fight!

Vermilion

Cloud Fire

Zephyr

Quicklime

Rose Quartz

Canopy

Luna

Tartarus

Derecho

The gang

Marvelous Needle (Zephyr's spear)

The Nightmare

THIS STORY IS BEING REWRITTEN. THEREFORE IT IS NOT COMPLETE.

My name is Seth Rogers. I'm a simple college student trying to get a degree so I can land a good job. However all of that goes out the metaphorical door when I encounter a strange man adorned in half-plate armor. Before I know it, I'm in an unknown land filled with ridiculous looking ponies colored every shade of the rainbow. Or all of them, in one case.
...
I want them to stay as far away from me as physically possible.

This is a Human in Equestria story with shounen elements. The twist is this: the main character, a bitter and troubled young man who doesn't believe in kindness or friendship, experiences the very same lessons that we have in the process of watching this incredible show. Can the ponies we all know and love help Seth become a better person?

Another thing that I must point out is that the show does not exist in the human world. Stay tuned, as character development is the goal of the whole story.

Book I: The New World: Chapters 1-7
Book II: The Meaning of Friendship: Chapters 8-19
Book III: To Canterlot: Chapters 20-33
Book IV: The Royal Wedding: Chapters 34-57
Book V: Forgotten Memories: Chapters 58-86
Book VI: The Return of the Crystal Empire: Chapters 87-End

There is now a Sequel: A Wilting Flower

Cover Art by https://chapaevv.deviantart.com/
Illustrations by icecapers
Edited by Castwing, Schadenponi, Brave-Hooves, Insidiaphilia, scaredofbs, ScootalooFTW, and Vayne Hellslinger

Feel free to come join us and keep up to date on all story news at https://discord.gg/YzuSAEC

~Featured on Fimfiction 11/19-22, 2017, and again on 12/9 and 12/16! Thanks so much!~

(This story will release in weekly chapters, beginning 11/19/2017 and continuing through the end of the year. Enjoy, and remember that this is a mystery story - if you intend to read, consider doing so before checking out the comments!)

Ponyville. The cradle of Equestrian civilization. The tiny hamlet with a habit for producing ponies destined to save the world. Under the cozy eaves of Equestria’s majestic capital city above, she sleeps; dreaming of quiet days, glad tidings, and a bountiful harvest.

This is Twilight Sparkle's town; the place where she earned her wings by learning not just to make a friend, but to be a friend yourself. Cider season is nigh, and a birthday party for a dear friend seems like the perfect way to usher in the first snaps of winter's chill. It might very well have been...had that friend not suddenly ceased to exist. Twilight didn't imagine her. Did she?

It wouldn't be the first time things have gone wrong. But it could be the last.

Story Specific Cover Art by: Ranch

Belvedere awoke to a misery he couldn’t explain, as if he’d experienced a great and terrible loss while he slept. His only clue, his only hope for regaining control over his life, is a curious image in his mind, an image he needs to draw.

Twilight awoke in a different world, a world where a dim sun never sets, where magic is scarce, where monsters haunt every shadow. Her only aid, her only friend, is a stallion named Belvedere who’s just as lost as she is.

Featured by Seattle’s Angels
Featured on Equestria Daily
Edited by Pascoite and PaulAsaran
Cover art by GenjiLim