"The pieces are set, and the dice are in play. But does every pony have the heart for this day?"
Nearly two hundred years have passed since Rarity Belle merged with the Crystal Heart and took the throne of the Crystal Empire. Since then, through her care, determination, and vision, the Empire has flourished like never before. Now Empress Rarity stands as not a ruler of a providence, but the monarch of a rising superpower.
Today though, is the Empress' Birthday, and Lady Merry Sapphire, seneschal to the Empress, is determined to make this the best birthday Rarity has ever had. Little does she know that not everypony shares her enthusiasm for today...
Notes:
This is an official prequel to the Princess Twilight Sparkle's Birthday stories, created by Autumnschild. This story will develop and expand much of the world we made, but taking place 250 years before PTS500 and its sequel, PTS505. Due to its time gap and status as a prequel, you do not need to read the stories created by Autumnschild, and I have done my best to help that. However, knowing what happened in them will help you be a bit more aware of what is going on, and I encourage you to go read them for they are very enjoyable.
We now have our own group! Come check out the Birthdayverse!
Credit goes to Autumnschild for the proofreading for this story.
Razalon The Lizardman is credited for the grammatical overhaul.
Great thanks goes to these two, for this story would not be as good without them.
Great start! Looks like you lost some of the original formatting like Italics, but otherwise excellent fun.
Great little expansion of the PTS500 universe.
One thing you might want to do is indicate in the description that reading the other stories isn't required for this one, that way people will more readily read through and like this.
3479956
Caught some of it, thanks. I'll just upload directly from GDocs next time.
3480002
Thank you, and done!
Very good. I look forward to more.
Very good! I can't wait to see what more is on it's way especially what with Rarity being in dread-mode.
Something I noted:
-In the story, you mention Rarity's three prong crown. I'm guessing by the photo you have along with this story that you mean that three prongs are viewable when she faces forward, but since the crown is round, it would have more prongs around the sides and back, otherwise it'd be more tiara-like. Not sure if you want to change that to a 6 prong? Just a thought.
Can't wait to see what all happened to Cadance and Shining Armor, not to mention the story behind why Rarity became a walking pony-cicle!
All in all, a great job so far. I always like a good Rarity story I'm loving the concept! In the meantime, I'll have to check out Autumnschild's work!
3480580 Looking forward to seeing more.
3482806
Well we are just seeing a 2D view of a 3D object, I imagine it's more like there's three domes on top of the crown in a triangular pattern, plus the decorative forward plate.Scratch that, looked into it a bit more and saw the original crown it was modeled after again, and yeah you're probably right, that one had 5 prongs on it: Hearth's Warming Eve
3482806
That's talked about in Princess Twilight's 505th birthday.
3480580
Good story so far. I can't wait to see how this turns out.
3502935
Thank you. I plan on doing two more arcs with this setting.
Within PTS 505, we do know more about Cadence and Shining Armor, but not a whole lot about the Crystal Empire. Rarity, within chapter seven of PTS 505, is turned into a crystal unicorn but she isn't the Frostmare yet. A later incident happened with that, but I'll need to touch bases with Autumnschild about that specific part. We discussed it while the Chapter was being reviewed, I just can't remember what was said/decided.
3503516
Awesome, and thank. I personally love the Princess's 500th Bday timeline. And I can't wait to see what you two hammer out with the Frostmare event, and is this event (even if non-canonically) the reason she no longer hates birthday celebrations. I'm thinking that Saphire is related to Pinkie Pie some how.
I actually read this fic before 500 and 505. Got my attention cause best pony and I found it good and intriguing enough to read everything else available on this continuity.
So it's safe to say I'm loving it so far, can't wait to see where this goes.
That really made me crack a smile.
interesting...
i'd love to see more of what's to come 
I haven't read the Twilight stories. I tried the first one and it didn't really interest me. This one, in my opinion, is much more interesting, so far at least. Keep writing, I want to see what you do with it.
3534530
I shall see to it then. While ER 250th is going to follow the same comedic value, it will have its serious moments that expand the universe, like how PTS 505 did.
I apologize for my lateness in replying. Anything in particular that grabbed your attention?
3600364 It's nothing I can really put my finger on. But I think it's just that the whole "future of Twilight's reign" thing has been done so many times already that it's gotten pretty boring. Rarity ruling the Crystal Empire is more original.
YAY Updates!
3607417
bwhaha. Your comment and avatar went perfect!
3607421
I live to please! Arrriba!
Personally, I can't wait for more!
3607502
That's a pretty good reason to me.
I'm glad I got you hooked on it.
3607452
E'yup
Got a good start on it already.
Rarity really Irished up her coffee there.
Someone needs to come along and make some old lady jokes at her. Also, I wonder which generation of Blueblood this is, considering Rarity is immortal and so many generations have passed.
I will be honest. I am completely new to this 'verse so it is fairly new to me. I started reading because Rarity is the best pony and the story seemed interesting enough. Having read two chapters now I can say you have me hooked so good job there. I look forward to more.
Aside from a few spelling errors, great job dude!
I eagerly await more.
I absolutely love all of the little history hint thingies. Mainly Spike/The Magicborn(AWESOME NAME!)
Also: Major Tom and his Diamond force. I see what you did there.
Hah, the journal. Nice nod there.
This is turning out splendidly.
3608649
3608357
Thanks to both of you. I'm glad you enjoyed the little nods in there. There are quite a few in this chapter.
Bowie fan, are you? Well, no one's perfect.
Juuust kidding.
I like this story a lot. The idea of Rarity and the Crystal Heart merging Is something I have never seen before. Neat! Upvote, fave and a watch from me.
This is... odd. I can't quite get a handle on it. It looks like Rarity is genuinely regretting accepting this role and the subsequent immortality. Maybe being a ruler isn't her thing or maybe she's missing AJ, Rainbow, Pinkie and Fluttershy.
So, Silver is obviously Rainbow's distant descendent (and has all of her ancestress's brash ways, by the look of it). Sapphire is chaotic enough to be a blood relative of Pinkie Pie's too...!
About the 'birthday' thing...? My suspicion is that one of the Six died on her birthday and it is still hard for her to feel an enthusiasm on that day. AJ probably, given how close the two were.
This is pretty good for a first fic, keep it up
3614241
Thank you.
Dragon attacks... Rampaging Alicorn Princess...
I see what you did there!
3725208
Thanks. I left a few references and jokes to things in these chapters.
I'm guessing that middle part isn't supposed to be there?
3767994
Lol, nope. Thanks for catching that.
Removed it. Should be gone now.
Love it. More I say, more!
Edit: looks like Eagle-eye Raz beat me too it!
Rarity knows about Bluebloods and knows how to deal with them.
Awesome chapter, Blood Lord.
I like how you're keeping everything on a small scale at first, clearly building up to something big later on. Also, I noticed lots of references to other things in the fandom, which is good as it shows how invested you are in this. All in all, I eagerly await more greatness from Best Pony.
I can't think of anything else to say except this.
You monster.
3768156
Haha, I had to jump on that bandwagon a little bit. It was too good of a thing not to poke at.
3768149
Thank you!
3768057
I hope Rarity knows more than she is letting on.
3769149
Oh the temptation to just post the next chapter is sooo strong.
SO STRONG.
3769228
You ask like, the hardest questions. I love them and I really want to answer them, but I can't because I don't want to give things away and I have no idea what would be too much. It really is a good idea that came out during pre-reading. I really love the fact that you are thinking about the story and trying to figure a few things out.
But yes, he is a jerk, and it gets worse.
3770868
Huh, that seems like it would be a remarkably easy question to answer, given the whole 'set 200+ years after the show' thing.
3771063
Hmm, it does, doesn't it.
So my hesitation to answer must mean that there is a third possibility of which the other two fall a little short.
3771135
TIME TRAVEL!
3771391 Mirror Pool Clones!
Or, he's directly descended from Celestia and thus is longer-lived.
Or, he actually is Celestia and is thus longer-lived.
3787011
Alternate realities maybe? Bleeding in from other sources of fanfiction?!
This...
Oh my yes, this!
You, sir, have my interest!
Also...
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/03/Grand_Marnier_Bottle.jpg/180px-Grand_Marnier_Bottle.jpg
Fuck yes.
~Skeeter The Lurker