Inexperience is a foreign concept to Celestia. At least she thinks it is. Right up until the moment a rash decision leaves her with a student who is a dozen years younger than what she's used to.

Enjoy.

Twilight has a remarkable destiny ahead of her, but first Celestia must let her go.

Everypony enjoys myths and ponytales, even if they know such things aren't real. Alicorns fighting against a spirit of chaos? An ancient princess trapped in a library under a tree, waiting to be found? Quite enchanting and fantastic tales yes, but nonetheless as fictional as Daring Do and other such stories. At least, that's what Rarity used to think.

She doesn't anymore.

Dedicated to Annuska for being as amazing a writer as she is a friend.

Now a physical book!!!
Patreon!
Based on an old oneshot.
Chapter Art by Arctic Waters // Graphic Design and Typography by Swan Song.

Twilight has always been the best there is at magic. She's won dozens of scholarly competitions and tests of skill in Canterlot. But when it comes to the more violent uses for magic, she is essentially clueless.

When she meets a strange unicorn in a seedy bar, he introduces her to a little known sport that will test her knowledge of magic in different ways. That is, of course, if Twilight can't resist its primal lure.

The Great Tragedy. The night an era ended. The night the skies stopped turning. The night the Canterlot palace, along with all of its occupants, was utterly obliterated.
Nopony knows how it was done or by whom. But they do know that one unicorn stood at the center of that calamitous explosion, and they know that Twilight Sparkle survived where two immortals had perished.
Twilight awakens in a world a shadow of its former self, abruptly thrust into the fallout of a disaster she remembers nothing of. Faced with a foe that is perhaps more familiar than she might realize, Twilight must find a way to restore her broken world and carry on the legacy of her beloved princesses.

Huge thanks to my proofreaders Some Person (chapter 1-12) and RazerWrites (chapter 12-14). The story would have been much worse off without them.

Strife has been building between Princess Celestia and Princess Luna for years, differences in opinion on ruling have finally caused them to part ways. Realizing that Princess Luna and Princess Celestia aren't perfect, and have both made questionable choices, even if they have all turned out alright, and seeing the argument that caused the final rift between the sisters have led Twilight to also succeed from Equestria.

Now Twilight must rally the ponies of Equestria under her banner, and hope to bring peace and harmony to a land that is beginning to shatter from the strain of a three-way civil war.

Twilight Sparkle regrets botching her romantic confession to Rarity. As a joke, Rarity proposes a simple and elegant solution: break up and try it again.

She just wasn't prepared for Twilight to agree to it.

Set after “Practice Makes Perfect”. It is not necessary in any way to have read that story to get this one.

Includes a recording of a LIVE-READING of the story by the author herself, which is the recommended way of experiencing the story. I promise you. I do a fantastic Rarity voice.

Cover art by the wonderfully wonderful Jykinturah. Audio credits go to lilfunkman and Swan Song.

Princess Twilight and Rarity are dating.

The other Rarity in Twilight's life isn't quite sure how she feels about any of this.

Guard
noun

1. a person who keeps watch, especially a soldier or other person assigned to protect a person or to control access to a place.

There is more to a Royal Guard than meets the eye. Capturing crooks, chasing ruffians, fighting monsters, stopping assassinations, and protecting the Princess with all their worth -- with a thousand years of peace time, they have become more and less. But the future is uncertain, and within the horizon, the dark storms are a brewing.

Aiming to become a Royal Guard had never been Twilight's first choice of career -- it certainly was not what Mom and Dad wanted her to be. Still, that didn't stop Twilight Sparkle to pursue that dream. Now that she was one, she had to deal with monsters, cultists, vengeful ghosts, prickly teammates, forgotten childhood friends, and a Sunset Shimmer. Not exactly what she had expected out of her military career in peaceful Equestria, but perhaps it wasn't far off from what she wanted.

Serious thanks to Sunglow for offering proofreading and commentaries.

Link to the Spacebattles Thread

Just before leaving for her honeymoon, the newly-married Princess Cadance finds her old diary in her clothing dresser, filled with memories long forgotten, where she then recounts on those happy days as Twilight Sparkle's foalsitter. (Featured on EqD!)

Image credit goes to Bufko