What do you do when given the choice between your existence, and the lives of your friends? What would you give up? Your happiness? Your life?

Your soul?

Twilight Sparkle embraces oblivion for her friends, and awakens the Soul of Hope.

Formerly known as The Harmony League.Hero Souls: Awakening FAQ

Warnings
1. I enjoy writing fight scenes, so this story will be more violent than most MLP stories you'll find... I think. It won't be grimdark violence, but still.

2. This is an Alternate Universe story. The content within this story may or may not match up to canon.

A different take on alicorn ascension. Sixteen years after arriving in Ponyville, Twilight Sparkle is excited to have invented a brand-new kind of spell, but it will come with consequences she cannot possibly anticipate. Meanwhile, threats in shadows around the world conspire to overthrow the Solar Throne. With her world turned upside down, she will have to come to terms with the role that fate has dealt her while straining to keep Celestia in power.

Now with a TVTropes page! Please show it some love! Also check out the official side stories, Designing Intrigue, and Love and Barriers! (With even more in my stories page!)

(Please Note: This story was started before any season three information was available. All episodes in season three and later are non-canon for this story, which also means there's no Crystal Empire in this one. In addition, the promotional map released close to the beginning of season three was also not available and is not compatible with this story. While the OC tag is active because there are OCs in the story, they're really just supporting characters. The focus is on Twilight.)

Also be sure to check out the Rites of Ascension Expanded Universe Group! We're working to develop the resources needed for other authors to try their hand at writing stories set in the Rites Universe!

The Book Two cover art was created by the amazing Silfoe! The original cover art can still be found at Violet Squiggle's deviantArt page.

Author's Notes, including proofreader's credits, can be found here!

"This is 100% Approved by Twilight's Library!"

When Twilight loses control of her magic, she finds herself in the realm of the the eternally damned, Tartarus. In order to survive she is forced to learn and change. However, when Twilight finally escaped from Tartarus, how will Equestria deal with a Twilight who has been forged in hellfire?

Author's Note: I want to point out that the Dark and Gore tags are not all consuming. They are there only by necessity. There are going to be some dark material in here, but nothing grim.

On the same note, Twilight is the only anthro in the story, and there is an in-story reason for it, so don't let that big nasty Anthro tag scare you.

One final thing. It has been some time since I've done any real work on this story. To make clear how long, this portion of the author note was added July 5th, 2019. This story is currently sitting in that little area between "Hiatus" and "Cancelled". Time will tell if I revitalize it.

The World of Tartarus Forged.

By some cosmic happenstance, a young woman is transported to Equestria, and finds herself in a precarious situation. She's taking it in stride so far. Maybe because finding herself in an alien world and in an alien body is not the worst thing that's ever happened to her.

Some wounds, especially those of the soul, can take a long time to mend. What healing arts can the ponies of Equestria offer a scarred young woman? What can she offer them in return?

Timeline-wise takes place starts off in the later parts of season 4 but before the season finale. It also mentions events from the EG-movies and the comics, but neither of which are required watching/reading in order to understand this story.

Trigger-warnings:
- Human-turned-into-pony-
- Who's kind of okay with being a pony-
- And becomes friends with the Mane 6.
- Being a pony is pretty awesome.
- Has both slice of life and adventure.
- Equestria Girls happened.
- Like the source material, it has adventures.
- And Celestia is not a jerk.

Cover art by the extraordinarily skilled viwsrasputr.
The piece in particular has been uploaded here: https://derpibooru.org/1478347
Really cool art by Cyanjames2819. Also found here.
Leave a comment if you so desire. Simple praise also appreciated.

Twilight was always fated to be the savior of Equestria, along with her friends. But fate can be so easily altered. What happens in one alternate realm when instead of marrying a unicorn, Twilight's mother had instead married an earth pony, resulting in her daughter being hornless? Without her magic, Twilight's future and destiny are far less certain, as is the destiny of all of Equestria.

However, destiny is not so easily set off course. When the princess of the night returns, can one little earth pony hope to be the one to help her damaged heart?

Now with a TV tropes page! Thanks to redandready45.

This story is a sequel to Stardust

Times are changing for Equestria as Twilight’s return brings with it news of people and cultures from beyond the peaceful world everypony knows. Aid and volunteers are freely offered to help the besieged humans of Earth because every Equestrian knows that’s what good friends do. Unfortunately, making friends can also have the unintended consequence of making enemies.

When the monsters besieging the humans strike at Equestria with a level of brutality not seen in over a thousand years, the cry for help is sent to all the kingdoms of the world. Honored allies step forth to fulfill ancient treaties and oaths. Enemies, old and new, bury their grievances. An alliance never before seen in Equestria will be created to combat the monsters from the void.

And because of these events, a grim but welcome sibling to the XCOM project is born.

(XCOM/FiM Crossover)
(Sequel to Stardust, which I recommend reading before starting this. Fortitude Amicitia and Broken aren't required reading but are supplemental to the storyline)
(Gore tag for blood and violence)
(Alternate Universe tag because of the divergence from canon that Stardust has caused)
(Uses elements of Season 4)
(Coverart produced by the amazing Carnelian!)
(Many thanks to Arzoo, BradTheBrony, Vandenbz and Setokaiva for prereading!)
(As of 03/07/2016, the prereading team consists of Arzoo, BradTheBrony, Noble Cause and Metallusionsismagic!)
(Complete with it's own TVTropes page as part of the Stardust continuity. Could use some updating!)
(Character tags will be added as chapters are added!)
(Featured 5/12/2014! Thanks folks!)
(Possible spoilers in the comments! BEWARE!)