Equestria and the Crystal Empire have fallen to the Changeling Hegemony, led by the brutal Queen Chrysalis at the head of a mechanized horde of guns and tanks. Princess Cadance stayed in the Crystal Empire; Princess Twilight stayed in Equestria. Chrysalis rules the continent, only defied by Nova Griffonia, the poor Griffon colony in the north.

Across the ocean, the Griffonian Reich pledges to reclaim its lost territory, sundered by revolution a generation ago. While the Alicorn Sisters retreat to New Mareland, Princess Flurry Heart and Shining Armor turn to Aquileia, the Republic born out of the ashes of the Griffonian Reich. The Kaiser of the Reich is only a child, subject to a regent bent on war and conquest.

Flurry knows the Reich and Chrysalis have worked together.

She knows that war is coming to Aquileia.

She knows that Celestia and Luna abandoned her mother and Twilight Sparkle.

She knows that the world is on fire, and she is the last true Princess of Ponies.

She knows she will go home.

Cover Art by Opal Radiance, commissioned by Sunstreaker.
https://www.deviantart.com/opalradiance

A thousand year absence from the world would be disorienting for anyone, but when your job is Head of State, understanding how society has changed during your interregnum is vital. Princess Luna, banished in the age of the longboat and the longbow, has returned just in time for the launch of the tablet computer. With the help of her sister, she undertakes to understand the history she's missed and the people she finds herself among, in order to resume the duties of her title.

This story takes the form of a series of conversations between Celestia and Luna that take place months and years apart. It is openly concerned with political ideas and how societies are organised, and not at all concerned with monsters and magic beyond the conceit of immortal monarchs. The Alternate Universe tag is there because I will be ignoring every single one of the thousand year catastrophes that occur in the show after the Nightmare Moon crisis, the retirement of the Princesses, probably the presence of any other Princesses, and anything else in the show I feel like ignoring, because I find them irrelevant to the themes I want to cover.

In short, if you wanted The Audience with ponies, I got you covered.

This story can be considered canon to my comic works such as The Sunjackers, and my other associated worldbuilding projects, and uses the same date system as them (ie. roughly matching our own, with the return of Nightmare Moon happening the same year as the episode aired, 2010). May also be your jam if you like Equestria At War, but not affiliated at all.

The greatest trick the Great and Powerful Trixie ever performed was convincing all of ponykind that she was only ever a mere unicorn.

Years later, Princess Celestia and Trixie have a discussion by Twilight Sparkle's grave.

Inspired by the cover art, drawn by crenaiir. Not canon to Season 6 ending and post-Season 6.

Twilight Sparkle's coronation as the sole ruler of Equestria is right around the corner. To not disappoint her, Sunset Shimmer decides to come back to Equestria for the first time since her theft of the Princess's crown to attend.

Said Princess's student, Starlight, is there to greet her, but the two of them are surprised to find that Sunset is a princess herself - or at least an alicorn, and her arrival may have unintended consequences for a trio of recently imprisoned villains.

Sunset Shimmer's life was good, she had plenty of friends and greatly enjoyed where she had eventually ended up in life. It's a shame then that reality had a different opinion on where she belonged. Now stuck in the past prior to first leaving for the human world, Sunset will have to figure out what kind of direction she wants to take in life this time around.

After all, the future she herself lived with her friends was not reachable without doing things that she now found appalling. Even so, she knows that staying in Equestria could very well doom the world to a much darker future. If she had time to draft a plan she could probably figure out something that would keep herself out of the way while also not affecting the timeline, it's a shame then that the two princesses of Canterlot would just not leave her alone!

Apparently this thing got feature mere days after publishing... somehow.

Lemon Zest is pretty lucky for a pony who just got fried to death, as she scores the one in ten thousand chance a pony has at becoming a ghost. Knowing nothing about how to survive the afterlife, Zest seeks out the guidance of a far older and more experienced specter named Sugarcoat. Fittingly finding herself haunting an abandoned schoolhouse, Lemon Zest will need to learn the basics if she ever wants to be a pro-ghost.
Of course, tuition isn't entirely free, and Sugarcoat will expect Lemon Zest to help her recruit more ghosts to the lonely Shadowbolt Academy.

More stories set in this AU can be found here.

From birth, Luna was a gifted unicorn.

So gifted, in fact, that Princess Sunset, the Solar Diarch, personally took notice of her abilities when she applied to attend Princess Sunset's school for the Gifted and Talented. When her pegasus sister, Celestia, hatches a phoenix egg, their entire life is changed.

Now, as Princess Sunset's personal students, the two sisters must figure out why sources of knowledge are disappearing, being stolen, or forcibly taken by dark shadows. Could the weird behaviours of the changelings explain the reason?

The one thing they do know is that something dark and powerful is plotting something in the shadows. And only they can stop this evil.

And why does Princess Sunset insist that the situation is nothing to worry about?

Cowritten by Meowofy and iAmSiNnEr

The story is a roleswap AU, we hope you enjoy!

Cover art commissioned, drawn by Cyonix, link to his Deviantart here.

For clarification: Luna and Celestia are not princesses in this story, even if tagged as such. There is just simply no non-princess Luna and Celestia to be tagged.

Preread by Jes
Helped and Edited by Sleepless!

This story is a sequel to Phoenix-born rising - the ascension of Sunset Shimmer [1st ed.]

The rite of the phoenix is one of the most celebrated moments among the sun-gazers of Solaria. For with the hatching of a new phoenix, comes the ascension of a new phoenix-born: a mortal chosen by the phoenix to be its new life partner and guardian. Only those with both strength and purity of their inner fire can draw the attention of a hatchling phoenix, so only the best of the best can ever hope to be chosen.

To one young orphan girl named Sunset Shimmer, she could only dream of witnessing the ascent of one of Celestia's chosen. As the day approaches, she learns that she will be able to, as she has been selected by the crown as one of the girls to serve at the event.

Little did she know that this would be the seminal event of her life, and change her fate forever.

Book One - The Choosing
Book Two - The Trials

Original abridged version was my entry into FanOfMostEverything's Imposing Sovereigns II contest. This is the expanded, full version.

Cover art by me.

Grammar and editing provided by ArgonMatrix (Up to Ch 7 of the Trials) and Incandesca (The Trials Ch 16 and on)

There’s no end to the monsters that lurk in the dark.

Ghosts, werewolves, mad scientists, cultists, mutants, zombies, vampires, aliens and more lie in wait in the dark corners of Equestria, terrorizing the night. But the most infamous and dangerous of them all is the legendary witch Twilight Sparkle, with a five hundred million bit bounty on her head.

Seeking fame and fortune, Rainbow Dash sets out to defeat the legendary witch and collect the massive reward. The one thing she wasn't counting on was Twilight being less evil than she expected.

More stories set in this AU can be found here.

Cover art is a work in progress by Abode_WTF