Rainbow Dash was the Iron Wing. She was a war hero, the Slayer of Shadows, the Liberator of the Crystal Empire, the Wrath of Celestia. And depending on who you ask, she still is.

But the war is over. There's little need for a pony like her in peacetime. So she keeps telling herself that she needs to adjust, that she needs to find a new role to fill in the world that she saved. But Equestria seems content to let her remain what she has become, even though they have no need of a warrior.

"This isn't how it's supposed to be", is something she keeps telling herself. But every time she says it, the only thing she can reply is, "so what should it be?"

One whole year after the close of the war, and Rainbow Dash still doesn't have the answer.

Art by NCMares.

The years have passed well for Twilight and Cadence: the Crystal Empire is prosperous, their ponies are happy, and their love is strong. All is well, until Twilight makes a discovery that threatens to destroy the life they've built together.

In Equestria, Princess Celestia struggles with feelings she thought conquered long ago as she is torn between anger at the past, guilt in the present, and hope for the future.

Originally posted separately on Magic of Love: Twidance Prompt Collab, and anyone looking for more TwiDance goodness is encouraged to head over there.

Events after Season Four finale

Both knew that this moment would come. Trixie was dying. And neither she nor Twilight could do something to prevent it.

For Equestria Daily Friend Off!
I based on the cover image, made by chi-hayu!

How do you cope when all your friends are dying of old age around you, but you seem not to be growing older at all? Twilight Sparkle tackles this problem for herself the only way she's ever known how: research, and then contacting Princess Celestia for advice. The explanation she gets is nothing like what she could have expected, and it will change Twilight's life forever.

One year after her coronation, Princess Twilight Sparkle is dead, killed by her own subjects out of fear and jealously. After the funeral, Princess Celestia isolated herself from the world, mourning the loss of her brightest student and daughter figure.

But she cannot weep forever. She must take control of her duties once more. Haunted by the memories of the assassination, and its aftermath, Celestia slowly makes her way to Twilight's resting place to find some closure.

Now With its own TV Tropes Page!

Sequel is up

This story is a sequel to What Have You Done?

Chrysalis, the Changeling Queen, has taken her prize, unhindered by Equestria's precious heroes. Celestia is little more than another prisoner of war now. The Bearers of the Elements of Harmony are lost, and the Elements themselves have turned away from Equestria's plight. As the world they once knew begins to crumble, a single question is asked among the people as they look up at their fallen heroes.

There is no such thing as "miserably ever after," for someone will always be fighting for things to change. Hope doesn't die just because someone's turned off the lights. Truth doesn't vanish when deceit begins its reign, and Harmony can only shine brighter among chaos.
Even as this world falls, we'll work to build it up again.
Even as you lose yourself, you can find greater things within you.
Even as fear rises up like a tidal wave, we'll forge a sanctuary to stand against it.
Even as you break, someone will always be standing there next to you to carry you through it.

Cover art is by Odin-odin.
Story theme (Equestria in Grey) is by Omnipony.
Main Characters are Twilight, Velvet, Discord, Nightlight, Luna, and Chrysalis, in that order.
See you in the comments, my dear readers.

AU. When Shining Armor and Cadence's love shockwave vanquishes the Changelings, before being sent away Queen Chrysalis fires a poisonous beam at Twilight's chest that leaves her in a comatose state she might never wake up from. As the doctors fail to find a cure, and everypony starts losing hope, Shining Armor is determined to help Twilight return to them, but on the inside he is conflicted by the cruelty he mustered at her the night before and his failure to ask for her forgiveness before being shot. Shining won't be able to live in once until Twilight says she forgives him, but how can that be when she can't probably even hear him?
Will Twilight wake up and go back to her old life, or will Shining Armor's tortured memory forever haunt him?

During the Discordian Era, Chaos ran free, allowing many monsters to establish solid footholds. Footholds that were lost when Celestia and Luna cast down Discord and took his place as the rulers of Equestria. Now, many thousands of years later, the Elements of Harmony, the very same tools that struck down Discord, belong to six individual ponies. Six vulnerable ponies. An ancient draconic vampire begins his campaign of revenge, uncaring of who is caught up within it. His first target? The Element of Magic, student of Princess Celestia, Twilight Sparkle.

Art by Archonix Source is in the link, and he does do commissions.

Rock's as solid a unicorn can be without being an earth pony. Then most of a life time growing up in a mine is going to leave a whole bunch of rough edges. Still Rock's always figured that it was pretty good preparation for when the sun went down for the last time ever over a year ago.

Now though she's stuck in a whole other Equestria and there's another unicorn that looks just like her that also lives in Ponyville. Just she's still calling herself Rarity and is far too prissy for her own good.

Soon she's going to meet other ponies in the same predicament, linked in ways they don't yet understand and try to find a way home to the Equestria that they know.

Course first off she's going to have to work out how to get along with herself...

***

Courtesy of an awesome brony Random Elements now has a tropes page : http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Fanfic/StrykesRandomElements.

This fic was completed in the week between One Bad Apple and Magic Duel, so consider anything before that as having happened for purposes of this fic and everything after as not happening yet, or at all.

Original chapter publish dates:
Chapter 1 - 24th July
Chapter 2 - 29th July
Chapter 3 - 2nd August
Chapter 4 - 8th August
Chapter 5 - 12th August
Chapter 6 - 30th August
Chapter 7 - 1st September
Chapter 8 - 5th September
Chapter 9 - 9th October
Chapter 10 - 5th November
Chapter 11 - 28th November
Epilogue - 28th November

Trixie has never been one to shy away from boasting and ego stroking. It certainly helps when you've suddenly become one of the most important ponies in the world in the span of a single night. But Twilight starts to think things are getting out of hoof for the showmare when she starts hoofing out autographs and getting news columns for things as simple as stopping a runaway baby carriage or fixing a broken carriage wheel.

So she decides to show Trixie what a real hero is like with a little help from her friends. Unfortunately for them, everything will go too according to plan. When a simple scheme to teach a mare about swallowing your pride turns into a race to save a reputation, a friendship, and perhaps an entire city, there's only going to be one question on everypony's mind at the end of the day:

What truly defines a hero?

Story set in the Manehattanverse.
Cover art by punzil504