As the Princess of Canterlot, the Mistress of the Sun, and the most beloved ruler of Equestria, it could be assumed that Princess Celestia was the pony who ran Equestria. Few people know that she actually doesn't.

Her assistant, Raven Inkwell, does. And Equestria would be nothing without her.

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!"

A normal end to a normal day -- at least, that's what it was supposed to be.

But it wasn't.

Luna went to raise the moon as usual, but something went wrong. Terribly wrong. She felt it, but she couldn't stop it.

None of us could.

It appeared too suddenly -- acted too quickly.

The only warning we received was a roar and a bright flash of light, then everything was gone. No more Canterlot, no more ponies, no more anything.

Nothing survived.

Nothing... except for us and whatever 'it' is.

We may be immortal beings, but that doesn't make things any better -- if anything, it makes the pain all that much worse. The only thing we can really do now is try to avenge those dear to us. Our subjects... our families... my friends...

Everything.

I don't care how long it takes, and I don't care if it's a pointless battle. All I care about now is making sure we put that thing down for good.

After that?

Well...

Cover art done by Little Tigress. Check out her other stuff on deviantart if you wanna see more!

Rarity is suffering from creative burnout, and Rainbow Dash decides to help by dragging her to a concert of her favorite band, Villian Court, led by one Twilight Sparkle. Things quickly spiral out of control in ways Rainbow couldn't have anticipated (but doesn't mind).

Have some Anthro RariTwi AU, because Earthsong apparently decided that I was not busy enough with my existing fics and tossed what she called the "Reverse Rockstar AU" (basically a role-flip of her Rockstar AU, where Rarity is a rockstar and then meets Twilight) onto my Tumblr dashboard. And I took one look at the picture and started to write.
Since then, we exchanged WIPs and ideas, and by now, her AU (now called the "Rock'n'Royal AU") and this fic are very similar, but also slightly different as we both worked on angles in different ways. It's been a wild ride so far, and I loved every minute of it!

Cover art done by Earthsong, which is fitting since she's the one who handed me this plotbunny to begin with. Fic title inspired by the song "Rock the Casbah" by The Clash.

This story is a sequel to Discord Teaches Philosophy

Warning: The following is currently unedited and contains a significant amount of Philosophy.

After deciding on taking up the role of a Substitute and finding out that the main Philosophy teacher is boring his students, Discord decides to step in to take up the responsibility of teaching. And he will do it by teaching it in plain Equestrian, in a way that these young students would understand. As well as in his own unique way.

Lesson Plan (in no particular order):

Socrates: His Method and How We Ought to Live ✅

Plato: Allegory of the Cave ✅

Marcus Aurelius: How Stoicism Deals with Hardships ✅

Confucius: Who is Ruling Whom? ✅

Kintsugi: The Art of Imperfection ✅

Machiavelli: In Defense of the Prince ✅

Montaigne: Usefulness of Humility ✅

Rousseau: Of Savages and Civilization ✅

Kierkegaard: Subjectivity and Truth ✅

Nietzsche: Of Suffering and Happiness ✅

In this one-shot idea, Fluttershy asks her friend Discord if he would be interested in taking up the job as a teacher at the new School of Friendship. Discord agrees to teach them something if he were given a chance to test-drive it by having a few students to see if he would take up the job. What follows is a lesson on the meditations of Reniegh Haycartes.

A special thank you to DuskHeart13, The Hat Man and SashimiPony for taking the time of proofreading this.

Note: this and its sequels were written before "Matter of Principles."

When Starlight Glimmer cast her spell and shattered the bonds connecting the Elements of Harmony, she inadvertently created a cosmic crack that would have further reaching consequences than she could ever imagine. The consequences of her actions rippled across time and space, shattering the very destiny of existence itself. The only thin string holding the universe together now is Twilight Sparkle, the representative of the Element of Magic and the Princess of Friendship. But with destiny already defied, how can she hope to pick up the pieces of a broken reality?
Well, starting with helping her other self might help.

Cover art created by myself. Shoutouts to Vebuzurr for being my proof-reader.

A few years after Luna's return it seems that Equestria will finally know an era of peace and appears to be on the verge of a new renaissance. Ponies are blithely happy, as they are often.

Luna is recovering, and happier than she's been a long, long time.

Celestia is miserable. She's faced with unexpected changes, like always. It never really mattered until she was faced with something (or rather somepony) she wasn't sure if she could cope with, and everything that came with him.

Now, it feels like she is watching the world fall apart. Her world.

Book One of the Strange Future arc. Thanks to NorrisThePony for proofreading and editing help! There are also unmarked spoilers in the comments. Content warnings are for discussions, themes, and 'off-screen' events. Contribute to the TVTropes page! The lovely art is by Rocket Lawn Chair but it has been edited by me. Old cover art by Alumx may be found here. Find the previous arc here!

Twilight has a secret coltfriend who nobody knows about.  Not even her.

And he’s not too sure either.

Then Luna gets involved, and it only gets weirder.

Editors: Tek, Mitch H, Airy Words
Cover photo: Getty images

This story is a sequel to Secret of Flying

Blank Page continues his life in Equestria. Everything seems to be going his way for once... hah! Like that would ever realistically happen.

Even if nopony else did anything, he could get himself into plenty of trouble all on his own. 

So, while Equestria seems peaceful for now, that may change. Or at the very least, he'll manage to make his life interesting for himself.

Whether he likes it or not.

Big massive thanks to Sipioc for the cover art!