Once upon a time, in the magical land of Equestria...

One week ago, Twilight Sparkle was crowned the fourth Princess of Equestria. Tonight, Ponyville hosts the 1003rd Summer Sun Celebration, and Princess Celestia and Princess Luna want a vacation. With two fine young princesses like Cadance and Twilight to take over for them, nothing could possibly go wrong.

(Title image hacked together from vectors by sakatagintoki117 and Chrome-MMVII.)

This story is a sequel to The Dusk Guard Saga: Rise

"Viking ZX has pride in the fact that he can throw his readers into a ride." —PCaRG
"... an exhilarating romp that leaves you guessing half the time and keeps you thrilled throughout." —PaulAsaran
"... you’ll enjoy this one." —City of Doors

Blade Sunchaser is a griffon on the run.

Seven days ago she was the bodyguard of two of the wealthiest railroad magnates in Equestria. One day after that she was in a jail cell.

She didn’t stay there for long. She’s got a job to do, a job with a payoff bigger than any she’s ever earned before. All she needs to do is track down two stolen bits of crystal and bring them back to her employer. Stolen bits last seen being taken north, past Equestria’s furthest borders, into the lawless wasteland known as the Ocean of Endless Ice. A haven of ice dredgers, criminals, and pirates ripe with violence, danger, and dark secrets. But for this kind of payoff, the danger is nothing. She’ll face anything, go anywhere, and do whatever it takes to see her mission through.

Even start a war ...

Book II of The Dusk Guard Saga
Epic Fantasy
Equestrian Map of the Ocean of Endless Ice
Official Series Timeline at [url=https://www.fimfiction.net/group/204855/the-dusk-guard-saga/thread/127607/the-dusk-guard-saga-timeline]TDG Group Forums
Can be found on TV Tropes at The Dusk Guard Saga’s page (Page outdated)
Cover art by Midnight Sonare
Alpha and Beta read by Siers, Raptra, and Jorlem.
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 and can be clicked or passed over at your own choice. It is recommended that for maximum enjoyment beforehand, 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, where it will play automatically without your involvement.

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

Rainbow Dash has an unusual way of learning, and Twilight’s determined to take advantage of it. Before she knows it, Rainbow’s worst fears become reality and her life unravels before her eyes as she becomes the smartest pony alive.

The dark tag is for the implications of the story.

An entry for the April 2015 write-off event, with the prompt “Great Expectations.”

Hearts and Hooves Day is a sorry excuse for a holiday. Maybe it's the fact that most of her dates tend to get eaten by manticores, but Daring Do has long since given up on risen above any longing for romance.

But that doesn't mean she's not 100% okay with slinking into the Sugar Cloud Confectionery to hit up their sale on rainbow truffles. Hay no. This is her most important quest of the year.

Hopefully it doesn't end up like last Hearts and Hooves Day.

Stupid Wonderbolt.

Spanish Translation from Spaniard Kiwi!
1st Place in the Poniverse Hearts & Hooves Day contest!
Featured on Equestria Daily 3/27/15!
PresentPerfect Highly Recommends!
Invading your news feed 06/05/15!

There are no new cadets being trained, the big annual Wonderbolts party extravaganza isn't until this weekend, and Spitfire will only be away from the Academy for three days.

Fleetfoot is definitely ready for this responsibility.

Except she's not.

Somepony is totally getting fired.

Spanish Translation from Spaniard Kiwi!
Featured on Equestria Daily!
Apparently hit the feature box for like twenty minutes!
JohnPerry confirms: is a fic!
You Might Like This--May 2015 Spotlight!
Featured in EFNW's Fanfic Spotlight #34!

Dust has lived on the edge of Ponyville all her life, keeping to herself and studying. She knows Princess Twilight, and so when she realizes she's made a big discovery, she's eager to run to the castle and tell everypony the good news. But when she goes into Ponyville, they don't seem very happy to see her.

Why would that be? She didn't do anything wrong.

Letters. Everyone writes them, and they're not just for ponies. Be they carriers of serious news, friendly correspondence between pen pals, or declarations of heart and heartbreak, each one is written with a clear purpose or goal in mind.

Celestia uses them to try and keep her faithful student and friends in line, and try to keep an unbalanced world on the straight and narrow.

This is much harder than it sounds.

Now with an audio reading by Lady Tenkage!

Side Stories:

Old-Fashioned Bar Hoppers, featuring Celestia, Mayor Mare, and Granny Smith shenanigans.
Journal of an Adolescent Clone, featuring Sunny and Moony shenanigans since Season 5.

Friends who play together, stay together. That was the philosophy Rarity had in mind when she suggested she and Pinkie play a game of chess every week. Unfortunately for Rarity, however, Pinkie has a habit of changing the rules.