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.)

Hearth's Warming Eve is supposed to be a happy event—Cadance knows this, but all she ever feels is lonely. Now, with Shining Armor gone and a freak snowstorm battering her kingdom, it's up to Cadance to salvage the holiday and teach her crystal ponies to care for one another.

A story about finding your family, on the coldest night of the year.
— Featured on Equestria Daily

When Twilight and Applejack have a falling out over who can claim to have the best big brother, each will stop at nothing to prove theirs is better.

And their brothers will stop at nothing to make their sisters happy.

On a winter morning in Ponyville, Rainbow Dash throws a snowball at Applejack.

Things escalate quickly.

This story is a sequel to Spa and Order

Alicorns get sick in weird ways. It's enough to put a stallion off his love-themed holiday, something young Lt. Shining Armor of the Household Regiments is about to find out.

Part of "Cadance of Cloudsdale." Pre-reading and moral support by Axis of Rotation, GaPJaxie, horizon, Murcushio , SR Foxley, and my beloved spouse.

(Russian version by ya-RInA can be found here and here!)

A young Sunset Shimmer, spending her first Hearth’s Warming in Canterlot as Princess Celestia’s personal student, comes to the terrible realization that there’s not going to be any snow for the holiday.

She decides to do something about it.

*****
A Hearth's Warming gift for DrakeyC.

Cover art courtesy of the wonderfully skilled RyuRedwings, used with permission.

Editing thanks to the incomparable and brilliant Pascoite.

Russian translation, courtesy of ya-RInA!

Now available in Spanish, courtesy of SPANIARD KIWI.

Princess Twilight Sparkle discovers a centuries-old mystery hidden in the Royal Archives. Her investigation leads through layer after layer of deception and misdirection, setting her hooves on a path that seems to be leading to a mysterious secret. Along the way, she learns that some friendships can be very, very strange.

Book 1 of the Alicorn Adventure series.

AUDIOBOOK by VisualPony
Featured at the Royal Canterlot Library
TV Tropes Page (Courtesy of Sandtalon)
Goodreads Page (Courtesy of Facedeer)
Equestria Daily Page

WARNING: Major spoilers in the comments. Takes place several months after the end of season four. (Not a Da Vinci Code crossover, BTW!)

Do you see a dark tag? No, you don't. Not dark. Well, okay, there are a couple of dark-ish bits, but that's all. Not enough to warrant a tag. Speaking of tags, there really ought to be "Badass Twilight" and "Friendshipping" ones.

Sequels and side-stories (and more) can be found here Offprint and AO3, and a hardbound two-volume set of all that can be ordered from The Ministry of Image.

My editor for the first edition of this story was Gogito, and I can't thank him enough for all the hard work he did. My editor for the revised version was PresentPerfect, and he did a terrific job of getting the story into excellent shape.

UPDATE: 8,000 unique views! Wow! I'm incredibly flattered!

TVTropes Page

Plowpony's Day- a day of peaceful rest and relaxation. Or it was, until Twilight Sparkle badly mangled a teleportation spell. It has left her with a bad case of Horn Rot, a disease that if untreated could prove fatal. What's more, the malady is advancing faster than the slow-brewing potion that cures it!

There is one swifter cure: the Beneviolet, a star-shaped flower that grows in the distant Archback Mountains, far beyond the western borders of Equestria. Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity choose to undertake the long journey for the sake of their friend. Their path will wind through floes of ice, across gold-tinted plains, into distant forests glimmering with magic. They will learn much about the world beyond their homeland- and much about themselves, as well.

Yes, it's "Dangerous Business," here on FIMFiction. A huge debt is owed to all those who have supported me over the years. I've edited the story some to remove extraneous bolding and italics, but other than that, it remains unchanged. I hope new readers enjoy it as much as old ones did.

TVTropes Page

An ordinary afternoon at Canterlot's Summer Sun Faire becomes extraordinary when a young filly gets too curious and Princess Cadence experiences every foalsitter's worst nightmare. This is how one Princess discovered there is more to Twilight Sparkle than she ever imagined, and realized she is truly anything but "a regular old unicorn."

EDIT: Featured on Equestria Daily on 12/31/12. It's a New Year's miracle!

Kids. Kids. Who are you gonna believe, some old book, or your Uncle Bad Horse?

So, anyway. Like I was saying. Once upon a time...

(One of those damn kids had a wire on him, and put recordings on that tubey thing, one, two, three. And made a video. And wrote it all down, in Russian.)