It has been nearly a thousand years since Twilight Sparkle died. Celestia and Luna are gone. The Holy Equestrian Diarchy, ruled by a bigoted and brutal theocracy, has driven ponies apart and divided them along tribal lines. Unicorns are driven from society, feared and hated.

The lessons of friendship, painstakingly written down in the journal of friendship by Princess Twilight and her friends, have been warped and twisted to fit the Diarchy's hateful ideology. But to the average pony, this is the truth and reality of the world they live in, beset on all sides by enemies monstrous and magical.

Emberglow, a young pegasus mare, aspires to join the elite Knights, magically enhanced warriors dedicated to the holy Saints worshiped by the state religion. Can she uncover the lies and deceptions that have led the world to this bitter place?

Thanks to QueenChrysalisForever for prereading Chapters 1-24. Prereader for chapters 29-31 is MrRTS.
Prereading for chapter 34-? by Horsetorian
Additional pre-readers: bananachips/CommissarVulpin, Thought Prism, Chyre
Special thanks to my amazing editor, Cyonix
Cover Art by JodTheCod

Note on timing: I began writing this long before Season 9 aired, so none of those events happened as far as the narrative of this story is concerned.

Come join us on the Rekindled Embers Discord!

Edit: Featured 8/7/20! Yay and Thanks!

In a sunburned Equestria, Rarity leads the pleasant life of a clothier in the tiny town of Spurhoof. She’s got a successful business, a capable assistant, and the respect of the place she’s called home for six years. Maybe she never achieved her foalhood dreams of fabulosity, but at least she’s comfortable. What more can a mare ask for?

Then a band of outlaws decide to pay Spurhoof a visit, and their leader’s eye has settled upon Rarity. Soon she’ll have to fight not only for her life, but maybe her very soul. Will her diamond turn dull under the hot Equestrian sun, or will adversity make her shine all the brighter?

Print copies now available for purchase on Lulu!.

Now featured on Equestria Daily.

Inspired by Fallout: Equestria and the song Bulletproof Heart by My Chemical Romance.

Other stories inspired by music:
Escape
Ordinary World
Bed of Roses
Drops of Jupiter
How to Save a Life
Forgive Me, Friend
Time for Tea

A big thanks to my brainstorming fellow and ever-awesome friend SorenPixels, who has helped me ponder the plans for this story since its inception.

Additional kudos to Danger Beans and Cerulean Voice for their help with the first few chapters.

Big thanks to the fantastic author Viking ZX for taking time out of his busy schedule to be my Alpha pre-reader.

Last but certainly not least, my gratitude to my gang of Beta pre-readers: Babroniedad, Lord-Commander, Merc the Jerk, Snowybee, Soge, and Wanderer D!

I was not prepared for the absolutely stunning world building or the incredibly well done characters. [...] This is a work of absolute art. — Equstarte Marine Sebaste

Reading and re-reading (and re-reading) this story was an amazing experience. It will always be one of my favorites! — Wanderer D

I dare say this is a masterpiece of the fandom. — FanOfMostEverything

It's a gorgeous, vivid-drawn setting you've crafted for this, and it hits its gritty Western beats and epic scope with aplomb. Rarity's character journey in this is a stellar one, and her gradual sink into (and recovery at the brink of) [...] darkness was wonderfully and believably told. — Carabas

Cover art commissioned from the fantastic bakki, with title work generously donated by Novel-Idea.

Twilight Sparkle's wildest dreams have just been met, and exceeded. Due to an unexpected magical outburst during her entrance exam to Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns, the Solar Princess herself took an interest and took Twilight on as her personal student.

This was a pleasant shock for Twilight and her family. However, a few months later, a less pleasant shock would reach Twilight in the form of Celestia returning to Canterlot with a new daughter, a freshly adopted pegasus filly named Rainbow Dash. As the two get to know each other, Twilight can clearly see something eating at the self absorbed and competitive filly's mind.

To make matters even more confusing, Princess Celestia is now hiding something. Twilight dares not question it, but it is quite clear that Celestia isn't being wholly open with anypony about her decision to adopt some random orphan.

Could the answers have something to do with the cryptic dream Twilight had the night before she met Rainbow Dash?

**Apparently, this was featured on August 12th, but I slept through that brief window. All the same, I am flabbergasted and humbled!**

Cover Art by the wonderfully skilled Novaintellus

The Lunar Rebellion sought to bring Nightmare Moon to power over Equestria, and for two long years, a war was fought for that very purpose. In the end, Nightmare Moon was defeated, but Celestia had become broken. She lost her faith in the ponies that once only knew love, and she walled herself inside her castle at Canterlot.

For five years, no pony had seen or heard from the goddess. In her absence, Equestria falls apart at the seams. Endless skirmishes are fought over petty land disputes. Love and tolerance are gone from the land. Ponies begin to revel in the art of war. When a dangerous threat emerges from the ashes of the Lunar Rebellion, all hope seems gone from the world. But some ponies aren't willing to let Equestria fall.

Four unlikely ponies step up to correct the mistakes of the past. In their quest to restore Equestria, they will learn that through the magic of friendship, all things are possible.

This story is presented as part of the Pony Fiction Writer's Month for September 2011. Enjoy.

The surface isn't safe anymore.

In the ruined depths of Canterlot, a team of brave salvagers discover six mares, long forgotten but miraculously preserved. Though these mares cannot remember what happened to their world, they possess powerful magic that hasn't been seen for centuries.

Now the Elements of Harmony are thrust headlong into a world beyond recognition. Twilight and her friends must dive into the sunken remains of history to determine what happened, but Equestria isn't the harmonious land it once was. Before they can focus wholly on the past, they may first have to survive the present.

It isn't going to be easy.

Audiobook by Skijarama!
Original Soundtrack by Noc!

Special thanks to Doccular42 for the original concept, and M1ntf4n for editing!

Join the Empty Horizons Discord!

Big thanks to dA artist fantazyme and reader jeffh4 for making this fantastic rendition of Rarity at Mr. Rich's party!

On the fence of whether to read? Check out the Rage Review or hear PaulAsaran's thoughts!

Sunset always knew that she was destined for greatness, but she never dreamed of how great she could become. Not until she had seen it – the mirror had shown her as an alicorn. Ignoring Celestia’s warnings, Sunset goes looking for answers.

When she learns that the mirror is also a portal to another world, well, what else was she supposed to do? But it seems that she hadn’t considered every possibility. She hadn’t, for example, considered that she might get herself trapped on the other side. Nor did she think she’d find herself transformed into a child again.

(Also available in print (temporarily out of stock), as an audiobook, and in Russian!)

A story set in the Who We Become series (earliest story, so a great starting point )

Many muches of thanks go out to ArchAngelsWings, Dessert, Mind Jack, Pasu-Chan,
CharCharChan, w_brown7, and eton975 for proofreading.
Additionally, thanks to Pasu-Chan for providing the glorious cover art

Twilight is a brilliant student who's never had the time nor reason to make friends. That all changed at the beginning of the year when she stumbles upon a mysterious super computer and activates it. It's here that she finds three things that'll change her life forever. A super intelligent and life like AI named Fluttershy, a virtual world called Lyoko, and a sentient computer virus named XANA who has desires to take over the human world.

With the help of her fellow classmates Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie, Twilight must engage the evil computer virus, save Fluttershy, and one day shut down the super computer once and for all. But why does something like Lyoko even exist, and who made it?

Now with TV Trope Page!!!

This story is rated Teen for violence, language, suggestive themes, and tense situations.

For as long as ponies can remember, it has always been winter. With limited resources and worsening weather, war is escalating, driving them closer to extinction with each passing day. Hidden away in the middle of all this is a single purple unicorn who braves the frozen wasteland, looking for a way to stop the weather and return the mythical sun to the sky. However, in a world without harmony, the task is far greater than she could ever know.

Edited by DoomManta