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!"

The Great Equestrian Foam Sword Fight is a fabled event that happens once every fifty years. To win the event, one must incapacitate another pony using the most dangerous weapon known to pony-kind.

The foam sword.

The winner of the event is also said to win untold riches that nopony knows about. With everypony trying to win those riches, the strongest bonds will shatter, the dirtiest of tricks will be played and all bets are off. After all, there can only be one winner.

It is also one of the few times were a pony can legally knock out another pony using a piece of foam.

Tagged other due to fimficiton only allowing 5 characters.

After GLaDOS is uploaded into a potato battery, Wheatley humiliates the AI even further by uploading her into a project that was abandoned by Aperture a long time ago. In the blink of an eye, she finds herself in a deformed body of flesh and bone that resembles an equine, and is just as powerless as one too. It comes with all of its needs and bodily functions as well. To make matters worse, she's trapped in a land full of insufferable creatures that just want to make 'friends.' Will GLaDOS' cold, sadistic sense of humor and morals get the better of the ponies? Or will they peel away the once artificial being's metallic shell and find that there's a softer side? Probably not, but it's worth a try.

Story Theme: Tyler Bates - I Love You (Watchmen OST)

Thanks to Meeester, MrJoshy, and funkyferret for proofreading/reviewing.

Cover by Fedte16.

Canterlot... For centuries, Canterlot was the shining gem of Equestria, the pinnacle of pony society. Now, it’s a reminder, a bleak and monolithic warning to the world. 

Changed by the chemical and technological poisons that plague the mountain, an abomination of nature, I wander the greatest disaster Equestria has ever seen. 

... I will escape eventually, and when I do, I hope my friends still see me as Twilight Sparkle, and not the monster that hides among the ruins. 

Twilight Sparkle thinks that Cheerilee would provide a very interesting partner... to talk to... about literature. Nothing else. Right?

Only fools, madmen, and adventuring parties go into the Malpheggi, the swamp beyond the Everfree Forest. It can be left as an exercise for the reader as to which of these categories Samus Marcus (a Thyatian swordsman, or so he says) and Ivan (his companion in trouble) fall into. When they are rescued by the registered adventuring party, the Elements of Harmony, a grand quest across the D&D world of Mystara begins. Together they face culture shock, international politics, romance, dungeons, and a dragon with a grudge as Marcus learns how to trust his new friends and make up for his past mistakes while the Elements of Harmony try to save Equestria from a threat which proves more... complicated... than they originally thought. Also, pie. And hats. A D&D (Mystara)/MLP Crossover.

Princess Celestia tires of constantly being surrounded by decorum, deference, and formality, and decides to take a day off from being Princess. But visiting Ponyville incognito is harder than she expects. Will she be able to fit in and make friends without blowing her cover?

Twilight and the other Elements of Harmony have saved the land of Equestria from Nightmare Moon, Discord, and the Changeling army, but now they face perhaps their biggest challenge yet. A challenge that lurks behind smiling faces and friendly eyes. A challenge that threatens to overtake the entirety of Equestria and enslave its inhabitants. But the ponies won’t face this threat alone. Help comes in the form of the most unlikely of companions: four teenagers, a hawk, and a blue centaur.

After receiving a letter about Democracy from Twilight, Princess Celestia decides that she needs to destroy this idea before a revolt starts up.
This one was also just a ton of fun to write!

It is the middle of the night when two bored princesses visit Twilight and her 'What If' machine. Join the three ponies and Spike as the view more:
Tales
of
Interest!