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!"

For Luna and Twilight, life had always been rather simple – eating treats, sleeping in the sunshine, and wandering the streets at night.

But all is not well on Equestria Avenue. A mysterious fox creeps through the shadows, Luna's past threatens to drive a wedge through her budding relationship with Twilight, and Twilight has to face the possibility of her normal life slipping away between her paws. Will their friendship be enough to save the neighbourhood from certain disaster?

Set in the Catverse (yes this is a thing now)

Twilight Sparkle wakes from a coma after being cursed by a stallion she doesn't remember ever meeting. Princess Celestia and Spike have been taking care of her while she was sleeping. But something is wrong, and Twilight’s memories don’t match up with anypony else's.

This is an AU story of my own twisted imagination. Set after “Games Ponies Play” but before “Magical Mystery Cure” timeline wise (sort of, you'll see). So no Alicorn Twilight here. Tagged Twilight and Celestia as they are the main characters, but other characters do appear in the story.

Descriptions are hard. Big thanks to my Pre-Readers Nakrab and Dumbgamer99!

-- Soft Story

After being crowned Twilight finds out that she has become a unwilling player in the millenia old powerstruggle of the noble houses. Learning in a quite blunt way that she has to take on a consort. Simply because of a law that states that there must be a royal consort atleast once every 300 years. And not only that, but also that the only nobles themselves can select those of which she can choose them from.
With a ruse she seemed to get a decent choice. However, how will life turn out for the bookish scholar when it turned out that her new bride has been the comfort mare of a spoiled brat ever since getting her cutiemark? And almost equally important. How will the noble react to a 5P:
a pretty pissed purple pony princess?

Coverart by: G_Haze

In the far reaches of Canterlot Castle, high above in the towers lived the archmage. Everypony knew her, yet few had met her.

Twilight Sparkle sighed, having teleported away another noble seeking favors before reaching the top of the stairs for the second time today. They never learned. As the archmage, she already dealt with political squabbles far too often without inviting them into her home. Aside from personal favors for Celestia, she did what was required of her position and then returned to seclusion and research.

The nobility grumbled that no archmage should be a commoner, and Twilight’s disrespect toward them proved it. Each and every time they were forced to bow to her, they hated what they saw: the position, the status, the deference.

Was she not powerful? Was she not great?

Twilight, now reading through dusty scrolls and long forgotten tales, wrote in her notes — notes gathering dust of their own. A brief thought flashed through her mind.

Am I not powerful? Am I not great?

And then Twilight picked up The Tale of the Royal Pony Sisters.

Defunct side stories told in Across the Boundary. They can still provide a little context, but when in doubt, the main story here is canon.

Cover art provided by Lafiir

Twilight Sparkle left Equestria willingly one day, leaving only a note explaining not to look for her. Her friends did regardless, causing themselves unfathomable pain. After a decade, they had nearly forgotten about her, moving on; one day, however, a mysterious mare enters Celestia's court seeking an audience. Celestia recognizes the mare under the cloak; it was her most faithful student! She had returned, but how have the sands of time changed her? Is she still the book-loving unicorn they once knew? And how will her friends react to her return from the grave?

The description was edited by jamlamin
6/7/14: This story, after reviewing my own work, I deemed a mess and decided to put this on hiatus a few weeks ago. It's not the writing itself but the story, its not constructed that well, my biggest problem being my AU Twilight is just a poorly thought out, she's suppose to be broken yet I basically portrayed her as OP. I may eventually continue this, but most likely If I did I would just rewrite it.

In an Equestria without the Princesses or the guidance of the Elements of Harmony, Twilight Sparkle is a researcher on the cusp of her greatest discovery and simultaneous fall from grace while finding love at the same time.

Initially written for the May/June Twiluna contest. Proofreading and idea-seeding credit goes to Pearple Prose Rated Teen for language and implied sex/violence.

Celestia, queen of Equestria, and feared conqueror had been Twilight Sparkle's mentor for years. Celestia taught Twilight everything she knew about battle, warfare, many things that had served her well. Yet now, Celestia has forced Twilight into an exile's death.

The ancient dragon queen, Tiamat, has been manipulated by Celestia into ending the life of Twilight Sparkle and her elite army. The battle is brutal, and it has drained on Twilight Sparkle, yet in a war of attrition, the dragon army will win. Twilight must do what she must to save herself and the ponies who have fought and died on her behalf.

With the death of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, Twilight dons the mantle as ruler of Equestria and sets out to learn about the new way of life without magic. As nature wreaks havoc upon the world, ponies everywhere struggle to survive, turning to their prince and queen for help. But as the years drag on, Twilight becomes uncertain she can restore the magic, while the memories of Celestia and Luna are slowly but surely fading away...

What if Applejack and Rainbow Dash had been too late to save Twilight from her fall in the Everfree forest?