Princess Celestia has finally decided to introduce her two prized pupils to each other, hoping that together they'll finally start to appreciate the beauty and magic of friendship. Sunset may be proud and brash, and Twilight might be obsessive and oblivious at times, but surely they'll get along fine, right?

They'll go above and beyond that in time, but the road they'll take to get there is a rocky one.

Written for Oroboro's Sunset Shipping Contest: Changing Seasons

Cover art by Novel-Idea
Original Sunset and Twilight image by Sikander-MLP

Featured on September 1, 2017!

Updated 10/27/17: Minor edits to existing chapters; 3 new chapters added (Reconciliation, The Twilight Zone, Sowing Seeds)
Updated 11/27/17: Cover art added!

Deciding to pay her old friend, Princess Twilight, a visit, Sunset Shimmer returns to find Equestria no longer the “friendly” kingdom she remembered.

Looking for answers, she joins a rag tag team of young ponies, who hope to make Equestria the kingdom it once was.

Contains spoilers from MLP: A New Generation.

Cover art by EmeraldBlast63.

No important political meetings to attend? Check! No letters to answer? Check! A magical and child-safe gift for Flurry Heart that she's sure to love? Check!

Her schedule was clear. Shining and Cadence were off on vacation. She'd prepared all her materials. Twilight Sparkle was more than ready to spend a fun-filled weekend babysitting her favorite niece.

But she wasn't prepared for King Sombra's return. Nopony could prepare to be trapped with him inside a storybook of fairy tales.

And nopony's ever ready for an unhappy ending...

Proofread by: Alicornpriest

Winner of November 2017 NaPoWriMo: Goal of 50k smashed!

Now Featured on Equestria Daily - First hit the Featured Box on April 28th!

Twilight Sparkle discovers that the alternate timelines created by Starlight Glimmer in her misguided attempt at revenge did not, in fact, disappear when the original timeline was restored. Instead, they persisted as separate, parallel universes.

Never one to leave a job unfinished, she decides to employ the magic of friendship to restore those universes to a more harmonious state.

She begins with Nightmare Moon.

This story is the first in a series. The other stories can be found below.

1. For Want of a Horseshoe <-- you are here
2. A Big Brother's Duty
3. Healing

Cover art provided by the excellent Sini.

On a dark night filled with even darker magics, an insane cult attempts to give Nightmare Moon a body and life of her own, utterly separate from Princess Luna. But, when the spell is interrupted by Celestia, something unexpected is created.

Now, a little black alicorn filly named Nyx finds herself living under the care of Twilight Sparkle, only to be haunted by memories and emotions from her past. Is she Nightmare Moon reborn or is she simply a doppelganger with a soul and mind of her own? Can Twilight Sparkle protect Nyx from those who refuse to see past her dragon eyes and black coat?

Or, will Nyx be forced to inherit the sins that may not even be hers and become the greatest evil Equestria has ever known?

This is an idea that wouldn't leave my head, inspired by Fairy Slayer's "Mommy Nearest," Aldea Donder's "Alicorn," SoundofRainfall's "Play" and RainbowDoubleDash's "Lunaverse"

Alternate Universe: Instead of Twilight Sparkle, Princess Celestia made Rainbow Dash her personal student instead! Follow her through the events of the 1,000th Summer Sun Celebration. A reimagining of "Friendship is Magic"

This story is a sequel to Friday Night Twilight

A cartoon pony named Twilight Sparkle visits me every other Friday night. We talk more than we used to, but she still makes me watch that show of hers. Isn’t anything ever going to change?

Chinese Translation by ComradeSpark

Note: that Romance tag doesn't equate to mushy stuff, and it's not the reason for the Teen rating. This is much closer to Everyone than Mature.
Cover art generously provided once again by statoose
Big, heartfelt thanks to Skeeter The Lurker for helping me deal with reader reactions, and to Craine for proofreading the new final chapter.

Sometimes, bad things happen to good ponies. A year following a tragic incident, Twilight Sparkle returns to Ponyville to visit what she has been missing - her town, her memories, and most importantly, her friends. But will everything be as she remembers it?

This story has a sequel titled "In History, Maybe".

Rainbow Dash's morning was pretty much ruined.
She tripped getting out of bed and landed flat on her face, giving herself an aching muzzle.
She forgot to buy her favorite brand of hay flakes at the store yesterday and had to eat plain toast for breakfast.
She found out she had to pull double-duty today and tomorrow on the weather patrol.
Oh, and she found a nearly-dead foal, broken and bleeding at the edge of Ponyville.

The rest of her day became a whirlpool of stress and worry but the colt woke up, thank Celestia.
Something's not right, though. Nopony can find his parents, he's not in the registers, and there's an unsettling look in his eye...

-
YouTube reading by Fire Hearth

Chinese Translation by forgivenlove

Russian Translation by Likantrop

TV Tropes page, if you're interested in that sort of thing.

Sweet Biscuit may or may not have a slight cookie addiction. She also may or may not break into Anon’s house to steal his cookie jar. Again. Or maybe it’s just because she misses him.

Either way, they're happy enough to see each other again.

... Though that doesn't mean Anon won't lose a sweet or two in the process.

Art stolen. Send the artist some love!