In the middle of the night of 1986, a twelve-year-old girl wakes up to find an armored pegasus underneath her bed. The pegasus suddenly leaves, but not without the little girl following him back to Equestria. There she finds Princess Celestia when she asks the little girl what her name was, she nearly goes into shock.

"It's Lauren," she said. "My name is Lauren Faust."

Update: Proofread by Fort Impression and Airchi. And a huge thank you to SecrretBrony01 for finally getting this edited fully.

I also want to thank MrAquino, FanficFanPony and Starburst Gleam for helping me keep this story moving with their helpful suggestions. And a tremendous thank you to Lotus Moon for volunteering to read this on YouTube from beginning to end.

This story is a sequel to Promises

Scootaloo's settling in to life with Rainbow Dash. It's smooth sailing from here right?

Once again this story wouldn't be possible without the pre-reading and editing efforts of:

juter4397, The Patriot, eggynack

So if you like this, go give them a thumbs up.

You probably don't need to read Promises to understand what's going on, but it would be useful.

Featured on day 1, thanks guys.

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!

My name is Twilight Sparkle.
I am three hundred and seventy five years old.
Except for Spike, all my friends are dead...But not for long

Betrayed by Celestia, and isolated in her castle with only Spike for support, Twilight Sparkle enacts a powerful spell to reincarnate the element bearers through her own body.
Her friends will be reborn, and, with the trials of being a mother to her friends ahead of her, an unraveling secret from the past following her at every turn, and the possibility of a brand new life so close in reach, Twilight just might be reborn too.

Credit for both the inspiration for this story and cover picture go to
Crystal Leviathan

A thousand years ago, Princess Celestia banished her sister to the moon, that much we know. What wasn’t known, and what Celestia kept secret was that before her banishment, Luna had given birth to a foal. Now a thousand years later, as Nightmare returns to Equestria to bring about Eternal Night.

Twilight Sparkle, protege of Princess Celestia, struggles against the tyranny of this ancient foe. But how will she be able to save herself and her friends when the truth of this ancient legend crashes down upon her? Twilight will have to confront herself...and her heritage.

Polaris501

The princess's fanatical student. A startlingly honest bootlegger. A prissy high-class escort. A traitor caught between two loyalties. A hyperactive pyromaniac. A quiet assassin who can kill with a word.

The night that has covered Equestria for a thousand years might just be coming to an end. And all of these familiar faces will be engulfed in the war between a victorious Nightmare Moon and her sister, returned from a millennium of exile.

Even as the sun rises, the situation has never seemed so dark.

This story was edited, preread, and otherwise improved by Einhander, Comrade Sparkle, CartsBeforeHorses, Spigo, and IR Pony.

A collection of small, self-contained, often single-chapter mini-stories set in the Rites of Ascension universe. See little glimpses into the lives and times of the characters in this compendium of random scenes. Some I wrote for fun, others may be scenes deleted from the main story for editing purposes.

With the exception of chapter three, you do need to have read Rites of Ascension to understand what's going on here. If you skip that part, you'll be severely lost.

Updates will be sporadic. Technically, these are non-canon, as they're not as heavily considered or edited as the canon stories. Most, if not all, of these are going to be Slice of Life, but exceptions may appear from time to time. Cover art by Violet Squiggles, my beloved wife.

A collection of silly, bite-sized skits where the characters crush the fourth wall into dust to talk about the world of Rites of Ascension, all while poking fun at each other. Learn about the ascension process, cored weaponry, and more!

This is a NON-CANON Rites EU "story." (The characters break the fourth wall completely, so of course it has to be non-canon.) Art by my lovely and amazingly talented wife, Violet Squiggles! You do have to have read Rites of Ascension to really understand this one. You're going to be seriously lost if you start here. That being said, you do not need to read this story to understand what's going on in Rites. This is to add to something already whole (and maybe get a few laughs), not make up for shortcomings elsewhere. Also, I thought it would be fun.

Also, as this is non-canon to Rites, I can go back and change things if I like. Generally, this will only happen if something hasn't been explained in the canon stories yet and has to change for them. Hopefully I won't ever actually have go do that, but if I do, I'll point it out in the chapter.

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!"

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?