This story is a sequel to The Moon Glows Gently

When you're the immortal ruler of an entire kingdom, the most important quality to possess is self-control. No princess can rule her nation if her emotions rule her. Celestia knows this better than anypony, and mastered them long ago.

So long ago, she may have forgotten that a little bit of passion can come in handy now and again.

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?

=====Originally Written Summer 2011=====EQD Post=====
Cereal Velocity should really be careful what he posts up on Equestria Daily. A one-shot of an Octavia story Cereal wanted to see written.

Octavia may be a gifted musician, but that doesn't mean she always liked her instrument. After all, what filly grows up wanting to play a huge contrabass?

On a dark night filled with even darker magics, an insane cult attempts to give Nightmare Moon a body and life of her own, utterly separate from Princess Luna. But, when the spell is interrupted by Celestia, something unexpected is created.

Now, a little black alicorn filly named Nyx finds herself living under the care of Twilight Sparkle, only to be haunted by memories and emotions from her past. Is she Nightmare Moon reborn or is she simply a doppelganger with a soul and mind of her own? Can Twilight Sparkle protect Nyx from those who refuse to see past her dragon eyes and black coat?

Or, will Nyx be forced to inherit the sins that may not even be hers and become the greatest evil Equestria has ever known?

As fate would have it, Twilight had to hatch a much bigger egg this time.

Twilight finds herself struggling without a clear path in front of her as a princess. In a bout of panic, she seeks out her mentor, Princess Celestia, in the hopes of gaining answers, only to find herself with some much more distressing questions.

With a decidedly unexpected guest making herself comfortable in Canterlot Castle, it quickly becomes evident that her mentor has been keeping some interesting company over the years. Twilight quickly begins to realize just how much things are going to change for her. She's practically immortal. Which, apparently, means she's going to be spending a lot of time with beings a lot less mature than they first seemed.

(First Story-Woot. Likely to be broken down into three parts.)

Princess Twilight Sparkle discovers a centuries-old mystery hidden in the Royal Archives. Her investigation leads through layer after layer of deception and misdirection, setting her hooves on a path that seems to be leading to a mysterious secret. Along the way, she learns that some friendships can be very, very strange.

Book 1 of the Alicorn Adventure series.

AUDIOBOOK by VisualPony
Featured at the Royal Canterlot Library
TV Tropes Page (Courtesy of Sandtalon)
Goodreads Page (Courtesy of Facedeer)
Equestria Daily Page

WARNING: Major spoilers in the comments. Takes place several months after the end of season four. (Not a Da Vinci Code crossover, BTW!)

Do you see a dark tag? No, you don't. Not dark. Well, okay, there are a couple of dark-ish bits, but that's all. Not enough to warrant a tag. Speaking of tags, there really ought to be "Badass Twilight" and "Friendshipping" ones.

Sequels and side-stories (and more) can be found here Offprint and AO3, and a hardbound two-volume set of all that can be ordered from The Ministry of Image.

My editor for the first edition of this story was Gogito, and I can't thank him enough for all the hard work he did. My editor for the revised version was PresentPerfect, and he did a terrific job of getting the story into excellent shape.

(The Votes are in! Here you go, the next installment of Leap of Faith!!!)(Note: Any songs I reference are properties of their respective owners and I do not in ANY way, own any of the musical content used in this fiction)

The Second Leap of Faith.

Octavia is known across Canterlot as a "High-class, prestigious pony of good taste and fair charm". Unfortunately for Octavia, despite hours upon hours of practice, she believes she is still ill-prepared to deal with one of the greatest and most respected performances in all of Equestrian History! The stress begins to mount, and her life begins to unravel in her own hooves, with no signs of escape and no release from the pressure of it all!

That is...until she convinced herself to go to a "Bar" named "Vinyl's Cage Coral". It is here she will meet the legendary DJ-PON3, the one and only Vinyl Scratch herself. When their eyes meet, Octavia can only see the word "Ruffian", where as Vinyl will see the word "Opportunity".

Can Vinyl Scratch, through whatever means necessary, convince Octavia to enjoy the fun and wild side of life? To put down her cello for just one second so she can hear another kind of music? The music of freedom...of life...of faith?

Just how far will Vinyl go...to help Octavia take a Leap of Faith?

The next Nightmare Night is approaching fast, and this time Luna's going to come to scare everypony as Nightmare Moon the first time intentionally. A few days before she leaves for Ponyville though, she discovers the friendship reports Twilight has been sending to Celestia. Interested in these, she reads them and realizes she has a crush on Twilight Sparkle.

How will she react to this revelation, and will Twilight return those feelings?

Cover image is by RyuRedwings. Editing done by Destinae Spring on chapters 1 and 2.

(New readers, unsure where to start? The Education of Clover the Clever is best.)

The stars can see the future, and they don't like what they see.
Beset by signs of a great evil approaching on the horizon, Princess Luna and a young unicorn who speaks to the stars set out to uncover and prevent an unknown disaster.

Star Swirl the Bearded: the greatest wizard nopony has ever heard of. Why is that? What did he do? Why do so few now remember that he existed at all, and why do those who do remember him say he was one of the most important unicorns of all time?
A mythical retelling of Equestrian history.

23.02.2014 Featured on Equestria Daily!
Prequel to a more popular and completed sequel, The Education of Clover the Clever. Feel free to read either one first.

Cover art by VSabbath, used with permission.