Twilight Sparkle has spent months researching chaos magic, developing a new spell to unlock magic nopony has ever experienced before. But when something goes wrong with casting, Twilight finds herself turned into a Draconequus and unable to control her new chaos magic. If she ever wants to be a pony again, there is only one who can help her learn to control her new magic.

Of course, learning from Discord was never going to be simple. And after a while, being a draconequus doesn't seem so bad anyway....

Based on the concept by Lopoddity

Editing by DB_Explorer
Proofreading by Mac349 (Ch. 1-11), Trippy998, Just A Fabulous Cat (Ch. 1-5), Doctor Candor and skysthelimit (Ch. 1-11).

For almost a thousand years, the immortal Nightmare Moon has reigned over Equestria as Empress. To the average pony, Nightmare Moon is an overarching enigma whose rule is absolute and whose wrath is terrible. But to Twilight Sparkle, who as an orphan has never known her parents, the Empress is something else entirely. When the young unicorn is brought under the royal wing as an apprentice, she learns a great deal more about the supposed tyrant than she ever knew. But as Twilight is introduced to life with her new mentor, she is thrust into a world of political intrigue, conspiracies and secrets. Secrets that were never meant to be revealed. As allies and enemies plot against the very peace of the nation, will Twilight fall prey to the perils of her new position? Or will she prosper and find in Nightmare Moon the mother she never had?

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My eternal gratitude to my editor, LordOfTheWrongs, without whom Night's Favoured Child would not be the story it is today.

Now with added TVtropes!

There are 100 billion stars in the Milky Way, and humanity is determined to explore every one. We send probes, probes with the blueprints to reproduce human explorers upon arrival. Uninhabited worlds the galaxy over can be colonized and populated, until after many years they too can join the vast throng of interstellar civilization. But if a probe is very, very lucky, it will land on a populated world instead. Equestria is one such world.

Even so, it's far from perfect for colonization, not with an environment lethal to human life. But each probe is resourceful and armed with the greatest machine intelligence mankind has devised. If placing a human mind into a newly manufactured human body won't work, it will just have to get a little more creative.

This book has a Hardcover! If you want to pick it up, you can grab it here: https://starscribe.net/

This story was written at the behest of Canary In The Coal Mine, who is sponsoring it on my Patreon. As usual, cover by Zutcha. Editing by Two Bit and Sparktail.

Fantastic prereading help from: Chyre, Danger Noodle, Doctor Disco, and Doggyshakespeare (who also did the Esperanto translation). Thank you all for helping to make this story more readable and more consistent for everyone.

Ask Sweetie Giraffe anything! || Even more What Ifs!
What would happen if Sweetie Belle became a tyrannical giraffe hellbent on destroying all that was shorter than her?

How 'bout Equestria being ruled by literal potatoes?

Ever wanted to see an author clawing at his remaining shreds of sanity at two in the morning, trying to figure out what the actual heck he's writing?

Well, guess what? This is the story for ya! Enjoy the noises of short-circuiting brain cells. :)

Suggestions for chapters are open, but remember to leave space for others! Keep in mind that I decide whether or not to use idea suggestions, and if you want a crossover, or are asking something about the show itself, then check this big ol' Twilight-grade list first!

Check out What If's new sister story!

Now with an anti-recommendation from Posh!

Other what if(s):

• https://www.fimfiction.net/story/398569/what-if
• https://www.fimfiction.net/story/423126/what-if
• https://www.fimfiction.net/story/501039/what-if
• https://www.fimfiction.net/story/512952/random-mlp-what-ifs
• https://www.fimfiction.net/story/538551/what-if

Chinese translation by OMPG!