This story is a sequel to The Dusk Guard Saga: Beyond the Borderlands

"With ever-excellent action sequences, steady and effective character growth for our two leads, and constantly high stakes, the viking once again delivers an exciting and memorable adventure." —PaulAsaran

Long ago, a city of great magical power and ability was beset by evil and sealed away beyond the scope of time. Now that seal has begun to fray.

First Lieutenant Hunter and the rest of the Dusk Guard have been dispatched. At face value, their mission seems straightforward: Secure the city. Hold until reinforced.

But nothing for the Dusk Guard is ever quite that simple, and this mission is no exception. As the city nears its return so does its ancient king, a shade who once wielded enough power to bring even immortals to their knees. And if he is allowed to regain his throne, will once more. Worse, the city may very well be under the iron hoof of his own followers, a ruthless order who will stop at nothing to see their king regain his former glory.

Dark magics. Cities lost to time. Ancient evil.

The Dusk Guard's first official mission has begun.

Book III of The Dusk Guard Saga
Epic Fantasy
Official Series Timeline at TDG Group Forums
Can be found on TV Tropes at The Dusk Guard Saga’s page (Page outdated)
Cover art by ... well, I don't know. I was unable to find any credit whatsoever on the hosting site or by searching. If you know, please PM and pass it on so it can be properly attributed!
Alpha and Beta read by Halusm, Seirs, Bugsydor, and son_of_heaven176. Many thanks for your help!
If you encounter what you think are typos in the story, PM them rather than clogging the comments feed with them.

Author’s note: From time to time you may encounter a hotlink in the text. These hotlinks are background themes I listened to when writing the fic and can be clicked or passed over at your own choice. It is recommended that for maximum enjoyment beforehand if you do wish to follow them, make sure that your volume settings on YouTube are at a comfortable level and make use of Ctrl+Shft+Clicking or the middle mouse button to open the song in a new tab. Be aware that there may be ads if you do not have an adblocker.

Or just don’t click on them until later. They are an entirely optional experience, and can be passed over without incident.

Quiet mornings before school starts can be lonely, but peaceful. For some people, they're a good time to just breathe and prepare themselves for the day ahead. Fluttershy and Adagio Dazzle find themselves doing this in the same place at the same time, in their own ways.

Based on a picture that was a little too big to be the cover art, but cute enough to inspire some shipping anyway.

Now comes with actual cover art courtesy of SkycatcherEquestria!

Comments may contain spoilers!

Now comes with Trope page!

This story is a side story to Crystal's Wishes

On the surface, Velvet Step seems like a pretty straightforward mare. She is in the Canterlot Ballet, the dutiful daughter of Sunbeam and Pepper Ridge, and the very best of friends with Crystal Wishes, her fillyhood friend and current roommate.

However, Velvet has another side to her, one that not even Crystal knows about, and she is keen on keeping it that way.

A head full of romance is what many Canterlot ponies would call a frivolous waste of time. Everypony was meant to play by the rules of high society: keep your nose in the air, laugh at important ponies' jokes, and attend all of the right parties. Upper Crust and Jet Set had been diligent in raising their daughter Crystal Wishes to be a pony everypony would know, but she wanted more out of life than that. She hoped she would someday meet a handsome prince and fall in love, just like in the stories she wrote.

Crystal knew life wasn't as easy as a foal's tale, but that didn't stop her from dreaming. All of the wishes, hopes, and dreams inside her heart escaped into her precious notebook as she wrote about princesses in power and dashing knights. So long as nopony found out her secret, she could continue to play the part of a dutiful daughter while waiting for her own love story to begin.

Sunset Shimmer has never needed anyone or anything - she had her magic, she had her ambition, and she had intellect. Others just stood in her way or held her down. So what do you do when your plans for world domination fall through?

Now she's about to discover that the only thing harder than hitting rock bottom is climbing your way out of that crater. Good thing she has some new friends to help her along, but its tough to seek forgiveness from others when you can't forgive yourself...

Special thanks to KiltedKey (Chapters 1/2) and SolidFire for their editing work.

This story is a sequel to Fashion Crush

(Humanized) Vincenza Scratch, AkA Vinyl for her friends, AKA DJ-PON3 on stage, 22 years old. The DJ found herself in one of the low periods of her young career, probably the lowest and longest she ever experienced so far; writer's block, out of ideas for a new genre of music as her 'classic' electronica seems to go out of the crowd fashion, less and less attendance to her gigs, etc.

Starting to run low on money, She gets in touch with one of her mother's friend in the capital, Vito Philharmonica; Member of the board of one of the most prestigious private high school. Vito offers her a place to stay and a job to help her to get back on track : A music teacher job for a Highschool senior class, which includes Vito's own daughter, Octavia.

How's Vinyl going to teach to a bunch of teenagers when she's barely older than them? ( and probably not much more mature as well). And when other teachers and some of her students look down at her for being a 'simple' DJ? One answer, Becoming the GTVS: THE GREAT TEACHER VINYL SCRATCH! (Yes inspired by GTO, one of the coolest manga ever)

Fanart for the story on tumblr or on DA!

Don't forget to check the comic version as well

In a matriarchal society such as Equestria, sometimes the social position of a stallion can be difficult.

Big Macintosh has things going fairly well for himself. He does his share of the work at Sweet Apple Acres and helps to support his family along with his sister.

But Granny Smith has been talking lately. She thinks an eligible stallion such as himself should find a well-to-do mare and get married before he's too old. And now she's gotten an idea: why doesn't Applejack introduce him to her friends?