For a thousand years, there was just Celestia. Then Cadance appeared, Luna returned -- and now Twilight has ascended. There are ponies who are very curious about just what happened, why -- and how. Especially the how. Twilight herself is on that list, a freshly-minted princess with far more questions than answers, about to face a brand new one: what truly makes an alicorn?

And what happens if it goes wrong?

(Part of the Triptych Continuum, which has its own TVTropes page and FIMFiction group. New members and trope edits welcome.)

Now with author Patreon and Ko-Fi pages.

Cover art by Harwick.

Once Upon a Time...

Equestria is at peace. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna have ruled over their little ponies for generations without a serious threat like Discord, Sombra, or Tirek. Equestria has had a chance to live, breathe easily, and grow from coast to coast.

As time has passed and things have changed, the only thing that has remained constant in their lives for the last century has been each other. They've been family, comrades, rulers, saviors. Is it any surprise that they should be lovers?

The one thing they've never been is enemies.

Written for the "Dear Love: A Beautiful Discord" Contest.

Tags are for sexual situations involving dubious consent, pain, and the emotional trauma of losing the one person who mattered most. Do not attempt to replicate these stunts without a trained professional present.

Twilight Velvet is a mare leading a charmed life. She's always relied on her ability to see a few moments into the future to keep her out of trouble, but when she gets caught up in danger that spans centuries and continents she's going to need to rely on other ponies if she wants to survive this bizarre adventure!

Two decades before the return of the Nightmare, an ancient evil is unearthed by ponies who aren't equipped to recognize it. The fate of the world is at stake in a game of cat-and-mouse between Twilight Velvet and four spirits of chaos!

Written for National Novel Writing Month. I'm going to attempt to publish a chapter every day as I write it, so there will probably be even more editing mistakes than my usual work (if that's even possible).

The bugbear found me. I don’t know how. I don’t know who or what it’s working with, never mind what’s happening to me, but I’ll get to the bottom of this if it’s the last thing I do.

Forgive me, Lyra.

Somepony is sabotaging Moondancer's research project.

Twilight Sparkle suspects Starlight Glimmer may be responsible. She enlists the Canterlot Royal Guard to protect Moondancer, and offers to help with her research.

Soon, however, the two ponies discover an unexpected side effect of Moondancer's research: one with dangerous consequences for all of Equestria—and possibly even their friendship.

Inspired by The Writeoff Association's "Out of Time" contest.

Luna has a secret.

A secret that she's kept close to her heart ever since her return from the moon, a secret she's hidden for so long that she's no longer even sure if it's real. At least until it returns to haunt her, and she has no choice but to confide in Celestia and hope her sister trusts that she hasn't gone mad.

It's time to tell Celestia about the circles.

Princess Celestia has taken on a new personal student: an unusual young colt named Amethyst Eclipse. When Twilight Sparkle meets Eclipse, he warns her she is fated to "ruin" a magical and mysterious realm that Celestia and Luna have kept a closely guarded secret for centuries—but refuses to tell her more.

Joined by her more scientifically-minded friends, Twilight will try to unravel the mystery before his prediction comes true.

Written for The Writeoff Association's "Under the Sun" contest.

Until yesterday, my life was no different than anybody's. Go to work, pay the bills, sleep. Today, I woke up to a world without humans. The streets are empty, the power grid is running down, and not another soul is in sight. That might not be the worst thing, if I wasn't also a pony.

Where is everyone? Why is this happening to me?

Will l stay sane long enough to starve?

This story now has a hardcover! If you'd like one of your own, you can grab it here: https://starscribe.net/

Now with a TVTropes page! Для тех, кто предпочитает русский язык, перевод можно найти по ссылке.

Note To E-Reader users: This story contains illustrations in each chapter, which will be lost in the standard fimfiction chapter export. The generous Phoen1x took the time to produce an epub version with all the illustrations intact, which you can download here.

A huge thanks to Zutcha for all his hard work on the art of this story. Also a huge thanks to my editors Two Bit and Sparktail, for tolerating my half-written crap.

For as long as Equestria Online existed, Ashton has been involved with 'the Scene' tearing it apart. Selling 'spells' for the game to do things that most ponies in Equestria couldn't, using faint exploits in its API to erode the barrier between the game and the rest of the internet. He had no illusions about the superiority of his work--but so long as he respected CelestAI's boundaries, his spells kept working.

But then his best friend's sister got cancer.

Now there's no spell in the world that can keep him from emigrating to be with her, leaving Ashton alone. All around him, civilization's thin veneer crumbles as homes empty into Equestria. But Ashton isn't going to emigrate, not if he has any say about it.

The problem for Ashton is that humans are systems, and aren't immune to exploits either.

Part of the Optimalverse universe of stories. If you've never seen a story in this universe before, you might want to try out the original first, or at least my first. None of my previous work is required to understand this one, however.

This story was commissioned by Two Bit, who requested a more serious exploration of identity, transformation, and the fae nature of CelestAI.

As usual, particular thanks go to my editors Two Bit and Sparktail. And gratitude to Zutcha as well for the cover.

After a mirror portal field trip being conducted by Luna goes terribly wrong, Ocellus finds herself trapped in a strange palace far from home. That palace, once abandoned, is now infested with a hive of love-starved changelings intent on using her only way home as a means to invade her world.

Otherwise, Ocellus appears to be alone.

At first.

The story is inspired by, and a homage to, my favorite game of the last decade. However, this story is neither a crossover nor AU. This story is set after "The End of the End" (but before "The Last Problem"), and is purely a My Little Pony story. Warning: rudeness and intolerance are not allowed in the comments, but spoilers are. Exercise discretion. Remain polite and on-topic. And please enjoy the story!