After the Friendship Games, Sunset feels it's time to return home.

Only when she gets there, Twilight's castle is nowhere to be found, Cadance just got her horn, and Princess Celestia is still calling the bacon-haired pony her prized student rather than a failed one. And just reliving her past isn't on the table thanks to a pair of wings Sunset seems to have sprouted upon her return to Equestria.

With Sunset being back before she's supposed to, will the world stay as harmonious and on track, or will everything go down in flames as Sunset has to deal with allegations that she's really a changeling in disguise, a nerdy stallion with blue hair that wants to be her coltfriend, a pretty pink princess in need of remedial magic lessons, and an annoying purple pre-teen pony that will absolutely not go to bed without first being read Starswirl's Complete Mystical Mysteries Compendium?

Only time will tell

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?

============

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 is a secret in Equestria. A secret the newly crowned Princess Twilight Sparkle doesn’t dare to believe. Like puppeteers pulling on marionettes, they have influenced Equestria for better and worse since the fall of Discord. So far they have been benevolent, but their potential for evil is vast. What’s worse, she doesn’t know their name. She doesn’t know their mission. All she knows for certain is one thing.

That they all seem to be zebra.

Sunset Shimmer is having the worst day of her life. She used to be important. She was the personal student of Princess Celestia. She was a future leader of Equestria. She was the kind of mare that everypony envied.

Today, it's all crashing down around her.

Alternate Universe: What if Sunset Shimmer hadn't gone through the mirror?

The flu; all ponies have had it at some point in their lives. It's a simple yearly ordeal that leaves you feeling crummy for a week or two, then you're fine again, right? Oh how wrong of a misconception that is. This is not the story of the feather flu, this is the story of the black flu; the worst flu pandemic in Equestrian history.
(There is adult SpikeBelle shipping [as in age, not content] and no, there aren't any zombies.)

Though this story is fictional, I'd like to point out that this will be an accurate representation of a worst case scenario pandemic in our world. And after the recent outbreak of H7N9 in China and NCoV in Saudi Arabia, I felt as though I needed to write this story. So I hope this story will both entertain and educate you.

Baking cakes, selling cakes, baking more cakes—it's all in a normal day's work for Pinkie Pie when the Cakes take the day off and leave her in charge of Sugarcube Corner. All she wants now is to prove that she's capable of handling anything life throws her way.

Just so long as life doesn't ask her to go upstairs.

Thanks to TGM, Rainedash, Kamikakushi, and Dubs Rewatcher for delving into the dark to preread this for me.

After being purged of the darkness at the Fall Formal Sunset was hurt, and badly. She needed a home, and a place in someone's heart.

Luckily for her, Celestia has room for her in both.

Lovingly edited by RK

Note: This was originally written between Seasons 1 and 2, and may ignore conflicting lore established by Season 2 or later. THIS IS REALLY OLD WHY ARE YOU STILL READING THIS

Twilight Sparkle and her friends are snowed into the library one evening, and they happen upon that rarest of specimens - a book Twilight doesn't recognise. However, the ancient tale of adventure and intrigue they find inside ends up shattering their worldview and sending them on an adventure of their own.

This is basically what came to my mind when I heard that Lauren Faust's original concept for the show was of a more arc-based, magical girl style (this turned out not to be true, but my mind ran with it anyway), but this story ended up a long way from magical girls and well into high fantasy by the time I started writing. Also draws on select Homestuck and Dungeons & Dragons themes, and plays with a lot of things the canon leaves unexplained.

Tag update: Reduced character tags to Mane 6, CMC, Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash. While the Mane 6 and CMC provide most of the ensemble cast, Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash are the primary viewpoint characters.

Additional Tags: Anthro, conspiracy, high fantasy, gryphons, war.

Sequel now posted!

Okay, I don't know if anyone can hear this, or read this, or whatever, but I'm trying my best to use Pinkie Pie's legendary fourth-wall-breaking powers to try and get a message out.

If you can hear this, I need help. I'm in Equestria, and man, this is strange. But I'm also stuck in Pinkie Pie's body, for some reason.

Yes, it's just as weird as it sounds. And now, I need your help... because all the ponies in this town think I'm crazy!

After an unsettling experience with Soarin, and hearing that her friends think she's gay, Rainbow Dash starts to question her sexuality.

When she finds out the truth, will it jeopardize her relationship with Soarin and perhaps her friends?

The "Sex" tag is for language. This is not a story about being gay or not gay, but on uncovering one's identity and coming out.