Diamond Tiara is a rich, spoiled brat, and the only thing she cares about this Hearth's Warming is how many presents she's going to get. However, the night before Hearth's Warming she receives three mysterious visitors, each with something different to show her. With the help of these ghosts of the past, present, and future, she just might realize the true meaning of Hearth's Warming.

Edited and inspired by the ever-incredible, and increasingly belligerent, Sock

Shortly after becoming a teenager, Scootaloo undergoes a startling transformation. Her life spirals out of control as unanswered questions about her past resurface. Her journey to self discovery will create conflicts from those she thought was close, changes that scare her. With the odds stacking against her, she's afraid of what she'll find out about herself.

Thanks to this wonderful people for their help: Manaphy , DemonBrightSpirit, Blazing Light, Lord Of Dorkness, Prak and Word Worthy.

Made by the talented The Exotic Natasha.

It's been a couple of weeks and way more than a couple of games since Pinkie Pie introduced the Mane Six to the joys of playing the classic real-time strategy title, Age of Empires II. Unanswered questions surround this mysterious game: where did it come from? Who made it? Why is there so much killing?

Never mind all that - Twilight Sparkle and her friends have a game to play!

NOTE: Though I've tried to make the story more about the relationships between the four gamers (no Rarity or Fluttershy, sorry!) than about the game itself, some rudimentary knowledge about Age of Empires II is required if you want to understand what is going on. I wrote this as a short-ish story so I'm not really going to go into technical details much.

=====INFO AFTER BREAK=====
References consulted while writing story:
ZeroEmpires (Commentary on Competitive AoE II matches)
wikiHow (5 Ways to Make Your Economy Boom in Age of Empires II)
Wikipedia (for info on Byzantines, Moon & Vikings)
Luttwak, E. "The Grand Strategy of the Byzantine Empire" (Harvard University Press, USA), 2009 (Byzantine military strategy)

Youtube links:
Prologue - PakAttack95 (Youtube Channel)
Main Menu and Victory Music - mikec1000 Civilization Themes

Cover Image:
Wikipedia
Age of Empires II
Cutie Mark Vectors by Hawk9mm (deviantART page)

In a moment of weakness, Chrysalis had more than a taste of Shining Armour's love. 11 months later, Twilight Sparkle finds herself a brand new niece by way of 'A small foal in a basket on my door step'.

Special thanks for the picture by Awilldrawforfood1
Now edited with DoomManta.

With a simple little note from a certain blonde Pegasus, Forest Rain's dark life brightens forever.

Inspired by Forest Rain's song, Great To Be Different. Forest Rain gave me full permission to use his OC and lyrics to the song. I have Youtube PMs to prove this.

Rainbolt never meant to get Firefly pregnant. In fact, he NEVER wanted to have children. Accidents do happen, though, and this one will leave the poor stallion with a sweet, daring, and spunky little filly named Rainbow Dash to raise and care for.

Cover art by the extremely talented High-Roller2108

Her heart was broken. Her reputation in Ponyville was in ruins. A menace, they called her. Said she wasn't a real hero. Blamed her for the sudden disappearance of their real hero, Mare Do Well. She'd even been abandoned by her five best friends. Everything she thought she could count on was destroyed.

Bent on vengeance and driven by her raw emotions, Rainbow Dash becomes a villain that Ponyville won't soon forget. But she soon finds that not everything in Ponyville is quite what it seems.

Special thanks to DragonShadow, who pre-read and helped me revise this story. Thanks also to JofY, who gave suggestions for the second revision.

The comments are full of unmarked spoilers, so watch out.
Obviously, this contains massive spoilers for the season 2 episode "The Mysterious Mare Do Well," and one must have seen it before this story will make much sense.
Rated Teen for violence and some blood.

For almost a thousand years, the immortal Nightmare Moon has reigned over Equestria as Empress. To the average pony, Nightmare Moon is an overarching enigma whose rule is absolute and whose wrath is terrible. But to Twilight Sparkle, who as an orphan has never known her parents, the Empress is something else entirely. When the young unicorn is brought under the royal wing as an apprentice, she learns a great deal more about the supposed tyrant than she ever knew. But as Twilight is introduced to life with her new mentor, she is thrust into a world of political intrigue, conspiracies and secrets. Secrets that were never meant to be revealed. As allies and enemies plot against the very peace of the nation, will Twilight fall prey to the perils of her new position? Or will she prosper and find in Nightmare Moon the mother she never had?

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My eternal gratitude to my editor, LordOfTheWrongs, without whom Night's Favoured Child would not be the story it is today.

Now with added TVtropes!

You've watched every episode at least twice. You make regular pilgrimages to Hot Topic for pony stuff. You post regularly on MLP fanfiction sites. And you have a crush on Fluttershy.

In short, you could not be more of a brony if you tried.

So what happens when the Mane 6 suddenly materialize in your bedroom...and they're not very happy to see you?

Special thanks to Espeon_in_the_morning, RDTwin, The Lost One, JarheadHME, and TinkerStrike, for pre-reading and editing!

EDIT: By Steinbeck's mustache, this fic has been featured!

Fancy Pants and his lovely wife Fleur are quite possibly Canterlot's most heroic duet. Together they conquered countless events, faced hordes of snobbish socialites, and emerged victorious from the most dire of faux pas. May their bravery and finesse be forever remembered on parties to come!

There is a missing element in their perfect life, though: the joy of having a child and becoming a family. When conventional methods fail, will the couple muster enough courage to seek out the alternative, or will they stay a duet forever?

Enter Chestnut—a daring filly from beyond Equestria, out of their social stratum, and definitely exceeding their boldest expectations.

For better or worse.