This story is a sequel to The Monster We Made

She betrayed us.
She mislead us.
She imposed her rule upon us.
We rose in defiance.

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!

Now has a sequel, One Year Later

After a vigorous day of organising and sending reports to Celestia, Twilight notices Spike is feeling a little ill. He slowly grows more and more cold, before finally falling into a coma that Twilight fears is her own fault.

Going to the Princesses for help, Twilight eventually is brought before an Elder Dragon and comes to the realisation that she may have failed as a caretaker, a friend and as an older sister.

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*EDIT* Okay, okay. You guys win - I'll write an additional chapter or two. I've marked this story 'Incomplete' for now. Follow up chapter has been done. If you want more, let me know. I'm sure there are a few other characters I could write a chapter on (Except for the dragons, of course)

*DOUBLE EDIT* Okay, wow. I seriously didn't expect this to take off as well as it has. This is honestly probably one of the best days of my life. I'm so glad and happy that you've all enjoyed the story.

Letters. Everyone writes them, and they're not just for ponies. Be they carriers of serious news, friendly correspondence between pen pals, or declarations of heart and heartbreak, each one is written with a clear purpose or goal in mind.

Celestia uses them to try and keep her faithful student and friends in line, and try to keep an unbalanced world on the straight and narrow.

This is much harder than it sounds.

Now with an audio reading by Lady Tenkage!

Side Stories:

Old-Fashioned Bar Hoppers, featuring Celestia, Mayor Mare, and Granny Smith shenanigans.
Journal of an Adolescent Clone, featuring Sunny and Moony shenanigans since Season 5.

Rainbow Dash and Big Macintosh spend the day gathering supplies for Apple Bloom's birthday party. This is a good thing.

This may or may not have been written for Jake the Army Guy.

Princess Cadance has some problems in her sovereignty over the Crystal Empire. For one thing, she isn't even a crystal pony. Another thing is that the crystal ponies would much rather have the former King Sombra rule over them... despite previously reigning with an iron hoof and treating the populace like whipping mules. To prevent civil war, Cadance has a brilliant idea to ensure her bid for the throne while pleasing the people: have an election.

And it's any wonder ponies don't have democracy.

Collab with the undeniably blue and of a shifty variety Blueshift. Go on and check his stuff out!

Also, big thanks to my editors Aragon, Themaskedferret, and prereader Skeeter The Lurker.

Twilight's caught a special type of flu, and it's up to none other than Princess Celestia to nurse her through it. A special, tender little moment follows in this most unexpected of circumstances.

On her way to Canterlot High for her music club, Octavia meets Vinyl Scratch and is annoyed by the music blasting from her headphones. After getting yelled at, Vinyl responds by making odd gestures with her hands. It turns out, Vinyl Scratch is deaf, and she feels music instead of listening to it. Feeling ashamed, Octavia wishes to make it up to her, but is surprised by Vinyl's request.

Commissioned by Dashole

Pre-read by ZOMG and MrMinimii

Twilight Sparkle, Princess Celestia's most prized and faithful student, is being sent to Ponyville to learn about the magic of friendship.

This is going to be fun!

A spinoff of Letters From A Disgruntled Friendship Student by milesprower06.