Life in Canterlot Castle is about more than just the Princesses. Many ponies spend their days working in the palace, toiling with their virtues unsung to keep life humming alone.

Meet Spot Shine, Aegis, Raven, and more. Take a glimpse through their eyes, even as Princess Celestia finds herself a bit under the weather.

Some knowledge must be earned, but remember : Some doors cannot be closed once opened.

First written for the June 2015 Writeoff 'A Matter of Perspective', and winner of Most Controversial.

Celestia's morning has been difficult enough, between hearing Twilight's confession of love, and then breaking her heart as gently as possible. Mere moments later, her private chambers are rocked by the shockwaves of a time-traveling spell. This marks the arrival of Celestia's alleged lover from five thousand years in the future, Princess Twilight Sparkle—or as she insists on Celestia referring to her, Glitter-Flanks.

Armed with thousands of years of knowledge of which buttons to push and how to make her squirm, Glitter-Flanks has traveled back to this date for one singular purpose: to establish the closed time loop that sets the two of them up as a couple.

One's childhood never escapes you when magic and a certain motherly princess enters the picture.

Written for kicks and Momlestia/Sweet Celestia practice. But mainly for kicks.

WARNING: Written on late-night crazy sauce.

Rated T for swearing, dark implications involving drug usage and childhood trauma.

(And on a personal note: Don't use drugs to escape your problems.)

When Twilight visits Celestia's private hall of stained-glass windows, each bearing the image of a long-gone friend, one in particular catches her eye.

Who was this pony?

Why was she so important to Celestia?

And why does she look so familiar?

There is now a Spanish translation of this story, courtesy of Spaniard Kiwi

Celestia loves Twilight Sparkle. That is a fact, an indisputable constant of the universe. What that love means, however, is much less certain. The love of a teacher. The love of a friend. The love that Celestia dares not name. Every tick of the clock demands her answer, for while Celestia is timeless, Twilight is not.

Celestia has only a single lifetime to make her decision, but Twilight will wait. She always has, and she always will.

Tick. Tick. Tick.

Editing performed by the very talented Knight of Cerebus

Winner of the Seventh Bimonthly Twilestia Contest

A brave stallion goes on a quest to save the world by finding a lost princess in an enchanted forest. Things don't work out as he planned.

WARNING: Some spoilers in the comments. Also, a few mild spoilers for the Alicorn Adventure series, though it's not necessary to read those stories to understand this one.

Equestria Daily Page
Goodreads Page
Zabaware/AT&T Natural Voices "reading" by Modoc

When Twilight is awake, Celestia is her teacher, and she a faithful student. But when Twilight shuts her eyes, another mare approaches, who teaches her a very different lesson.

An experimental fic, written to play around with alternative perspectives. Be warned, ye who enter here.

[Complete! With TVTropes apparently!]
Also, apparently, an animated trailer.

In a world of brass and steam, Twilight Sparkle had thought she had made a life-changing discovery with the invention of the telescope. For better or worse, she was correct.

Now her discovery has not only changed her life, but the lives of those she seeks out in her desperate attempt to contact the only other creature as lonely as Twilight herself.

It all would have been much simpler, but it had to be the one Twilight could only call The Mare on the Moon.

Decidedly not within walking distance, then.

[Featured on EQD before story was meant to be submitted. 4/03/2015]

[Editing team: Southpaw, Wolfvenom, Maskedferret, SwanSong and BluePaladin42, without whom this story would be a fraction of its current state.]
[Special thanks to Novel-Idea for the updated cover]

To better herself, Luna has studied Twilight's actions and friendship reports almost religiously. However, she never expected to find the tables turned and be under the microscope herself, nor did she realize that a pony would go so far for one they called friend.

Pre-reading/editing by auramane, Habanc, Foals Errand, Meridian Prime, and Timaeus

Cover art commissioned by me and done by Silfoe and can be found here. Thanks a bunch!

Twilight's just received her official government escort license, which allows her to legally take on passengers during a teleport. Unfortunately, the fee was hideously expensive -- enough to completely wipe out all her spare bits. And there's a major purchase coming up which she refuses to put off. So what better way to raise the money than by giving her freshly-approved skill a workout? After all, it's winter, it's cold, ponies will get home all the faster, and since Twilight knows what 'escort' means, so will everypony else.

It's probably best not to bet on that last part.

(Part of the Triptych Continuum, which has its own TVTropes page and FIMFiction group -- but can be read as a stand-alone, and no knowledge of the other stories is required. New members and trope edits are welcome.)

Now with author Patreon and Ko-Fi pages.

Current cover art by Harwick: please contact him for commission rates. Original cover art by EquesTRON.