Princess Celestia always thought she knew how her kingdom worked. The Unicorns used magic specialized to their jobs. Pegasi flew in the sky and handled the weather. And Earth ponies... Earth ponies... uhhmmm...
Huh. Maybe Princess Celestia didn't know everything about her ponies after all.
Princess Celestia realized this after Applejack came to speak with her about a tax unfair to Earth pony farmers. It was during their conversation that Celestia realized she needed help.
Huh, isn't that odd Princess Celestia has had to leave on emergency business, leaving Luna to raise and set the sun? And hey, is that a new pony living and working at Sweet Apple Acres? I think her name is Sunshine Meadow. Surely, it's just a coincidence. Surely.

There's no place like Donut Joe's diner to unwind after a long, hard day. Good company, great coffee, and the best dang cucumber omelette in Equestria. After the week Celestia's had, she could really, really use a place to get away from it all.

Here, the regulars all know her as Sunny Skies, the unassuming workaholic mare who hasn't taken a day off in... ever. Well, today's her lucky day. Sunny's about to have one apocalyptically long holiday.

Luna's become delirious with a fever, Discord's fled the castle in terror, there's a living moon locked in Celestia's dining room, and something is very, very wrong with Equestria's sugar.

Put on a pot of coffee, folks. We've got an all-nighter on our hooves.

Holy horseapples, Sugarfree has AMAZING FANART NOW! Cover art by the wonderful StyxLady.
Crazy huge thanks to Luminary, Brawny and Eakin for pre-reading and editing this horrid thing.

Aphid is a changeling, stuck in a cage in a circus sideshow. Azure Blue is a colt from the Crystal Empire, the heir of a wealthy family... and looking to make a purchase.

There are some things money can't buy. A changeling's freedom should be one of them...

Cover Art Provided By Pen Mightier.

Eighty years after the events of The Dread Chitin, Equestria is a radically different place. The arcane science of the late Duran Thirk and the information found on the Star League library core have combined to catapult the nation's science ahead by hundreds of years.

Now, facing the possible aggression of a completely unknown alien power, Twilight Sparkle and her friends have to gather together once more, leading a crew of the best ponies they could assemble in a voyage outside their own star system. They seek to learn about their potential foe, to explore the galaxy around them, and possibly find allies and friends to stand alongside them. Who knows what they will actually find?

One fateful day, Discord felt a disturbance in the balance of things. Not just him, but Pinkie Pie and Cheese Sandwich, too. They all know what happened.

Laughter had experienced a loss.

This is for the loss that has been endured on 8/11/14, of a comedy icon that never failed to try and make everyone smile. O Captain, our Captain.

-Alternate events DURING Magical Mystery Cure-

A moment three years in the making, it's at last come time for Princess Celestia to choose the next Princess of Equestria. Everything has been planned out, the planets aligned, the proper paperwork submitted.

It was supposed to be so easy, so simple.

How did things end up like THIS?

Created, Written, Edited and Revised by Lunabrony and Leonhard

Twilight has been having her study sessions with the Cutie Mark Crusaders for some time, and has been remarkably pleased with their progress. And kind of worried, as they keep getting better and better. She might be a princess now, but TEACHING THE CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS? She'd rather not become their formal mentor. Yet.

A letter is sent out, and Princess Celestia gets a call for help. And, an opportunity is born. After all, why not? After a thousand years, perhaps it is time to do something else, just for a bit. She does have a rather wonderful younger sister who hasn't been ruling a land for a thousand years, and who has been studying how to rule for the past four rather intensely. So, teaching three fillies undercover? Sounds like fun.

And Luna. She's wanted to be as respected as her sister so much that she once went mad over it. But now, she's simply being handed the power that she once coveted for so long and no longer wants. What kind of a world does she live in now that her highest desire has been so casually granted?

With all of this, What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

Arcs:

Escape: When Celestia hears the call, she jumps at the chance to teach again, especially three fillies who might surpass her grandest student. But first she's got to escape her own identity...
Examination: So you want to find out what a filly does? Time to test her silly, so long as you don't taunt the Happy-Fun Filly.
Excitement: So, you've found the Happy-Fun Filly. Great, but the other two need help as well, and Scootaloo has this ~Great!~ idea for how to use her new-found magic...
Encouragement: Cometh the Bubbles, and a whole load of new headaches as they find out just what being a Happy-Fun Filly really means...
Exaltation: Where's Luna been this whole time? She can't be very happy about being left in the lurch holding Equestria. She could really use somepony to talk to.
Exercise: 'Sunbeam' is looking to teach the Happy-Fun Filly more, but first she needs to start taking care of the wagon-tire she keeps around her middle so that certain Unfun-Time Fillies don't interrupt her. And there's this big draft stallion looking for help...

For the past ten centuries, Princess Celestia ruled alone with a gentle touch, waiting for her sister to return from exile. Twilight Sparkle reunited her with Luna and banished Nightmare Moon away.

For the past ten centuries, Queen Solar Flare ruled alone with an iron hoof, accepting that she would never again see her sister after Nightmare's mysterious disappearance. Until one fateful day when she too was reunited with her sister, thought long dead.

But years later, when Luna discovers a tether of Nightmare Moon's magic in her mind, the veil is breached once more. What strange interactions will occur when the symmetry between these two worlds is broken?

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For antiquity, featured 10/29/14, 11/22/14, 12/18/14

Spike always thought that his love life was simple: chase Rarity, eventually win Rarity. But a surprise confession from a friend complicates matters in a way he never could have expected.

Cover art by the very talented Magello!
Further thanks to Setokaiva for lending his discerning eye.

Against better judgement, David buys his daughter a pony for Christmas. Too bad it was Diamond Tiara. She, like many other fillies and colts in Ponyville, was taken by Discord for his cross-dimension pony trade. Now she must convince David and his family to help her and the others get back to Equestria. Fortunately for her, David is more than happy to get rid of her. His daughter Tiffany however, is not.