In the midst of Equestria's most recent age of peace, just after Princess Celestia puts the finishing touches on her latest gift to her subjects, Twilight Sparkle appears with a strange question about an obscure beast. It's obvious that something else is bothering Celestia's most faithful student, but what?

When Twilight visits Celestia's private hall of stained-glass windows, each bearing the image of a long-gone friend, one in particular catches her eye.

Who was this pony?

Why was she so important to Celestia?

And why does she look so familiar?

There is now a Spanish translation of this story, courtesy of Spaniard Kiwi

Twilight Sparkle has too much magic, and it will take her decades to learn to control it. Her spectacular loss of control during her entrance exam only proves that fact. She is a danger to herself and others.

After Sunset Shimmer’s disappearance, Princess Celestia needs a new student to bear The Element of Magic to defeat Nightmare Moon. With all of Equestria at stake, Twilight Sparkle…is not the pony she needs.

Princess Celestia seals Twilight Sparkle’s magic with the distant promise of one day teaching her.

But there are two diarchs of Equestria. Amidst a lucid dream, an offer is made.

“Hello, Twilight. Would you like to be my student?”

Cover art provided by Lafiir.

In the far reaches of Canterlot Castle, high above in the towers lived the archmage. Everypony knew her, yet few had met her.

Twilight Sparkle sighed, having teleported away another noble seeking favors before reaching the top of the stairs for the second time today. They never learned. As the archmage, she already dealt with political squabbles far too often without inviting them into her home. Aside from personal favors for Celestia, she did what was required of her position and then returned to seclusion and research.

The nobility grumbled that no archmage should be a commoner, and Twilight’s disrespect toward them proved it. Each and every time they were forced to bow to her, they hated what they saw: the position, the status, the deference.

Was she not powerful? Was she not great?

Twilight, now reading through dusty scrolls and long forgotten tales, wrote in her notes — notes gathering dust of their own. A brief thought flashed through her mind.

Am I not powerful? Am I not great?

And then Twilight picked up The Tale of the Royal Pony Sisters.

Defunct side stories told in Across the Boundary. They can still provide a little context, but when in doubt, the main story here is canon.

Cover art provided by Lafiir

Certain alicorns have no regard for the rules of space and time. An astral sub-dimension becomes a potent weapon in what appears to be a divine prank war. Shining Armor hits the sauce.

Written for this contest thinger.

King Sombra’s dark influence was obliterated by the Crystal Heart, and the villain is well and truly dead. But when he attempts to steal the afterlife of an innocent victim, a human spirit is left hurtling towards Equestria, where this unfortunate soul is revived into the only vessel available: the reconstituted body of King Sombra himself.

Thus, a cheerfully oblivious alien is crammed into the form of the most evil and malicious being Equestria has ever known. Not that Shining Armor and Cadence know this, of course. As far as they are concerned, the King is back and he’s lost his fricking mind.

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Twilight still isn't having a very good day. An army of changelings is attacking Canterlot, and the experimental spell that blew up in her face has stuck her in a time loop until she gets everything perfect and saves Equestria.

She's got a plan. She's also got a problem: Suddenly, she's not the only one whose day is repeating. And when you're caught between unstoppable force and immovable object, life has a tendency to get complicated.

* * *

This story is an authorized alternate-universe re-imagining of Eakin's Hard Reset, in which multiple loopers turn the time shenanigans up to 11. (Knowledge of Hard Reset is not required, but based on reader comments, will help in sorting out the early chapters.)

Cliff's Notes versions: RampantArcana has started a GitHub repository to codify the time-loop rules and the early-story timeline. Hawthornbunny has posted a chapter-by-chapter breakdown of all the loops, including the ones we don't see, with a lot of critical analysis. Those links contain spoilers (of currently posted chapters). If you're confused, either one of those fan projects is a great starting point, and story comments have a lot of insightful discussion as well.

Publication schedule: 2014 kicked my plot, but as of November I'm picking up the writing again and hope to have something by the end of the month.

Cover art by Alexstrazsa.

Twilight Sparkle has walked the wastelands for a very long time, but now, at last, he has reached the end of his journey. He only hopes now that the gods will listen to his prayers, and finally allow him a good place to die.

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Celestia pays Twilight and her friends a visit.

It has been a very long time since she saw them last.

Bioshock meets MLP in this psychological thriller, where Celestia's new faithful student, Siren Song, must discover the truth behind the city beneath the waves.

Beautiful, gifted, and faithful student of the Princess of the Sun, Siren Song has very nearly everything a pony could want. Sometimes though, in the twilight hours, Siren can see the sadness in her mentor's eyes. Once, ponies whisper, the Princess had another student named Twilight Sparkle, but she left Equestria, never to return. The pony who has a perfect life just needs one more thing—to convince Twilight Sparkle to come home so the Princess will smile again. But when Siren arrives in pursuit of Twilight, she soon finds herself trapped in a city of horrors, with only its monstrous denizens for help.

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