A flip of a coin. A twist of fate.

Twilight Sparkle, younger sister of Princess Celestia's personal student, Shining Armor, grew up listening to her brother's bygone dreams of joining the elite of the elite: The Royal Guard.

Now, fresh out of the Academy, this young mare is ready to prove herself equal to the deeds of the great soldiers she read about as a filly. Too bad the princess she ends up protecting isn't Celestia.

This story is a sequel to Twilight Sparkle of the Royal Guard

Between castle gossip, professional rivalries, a blooming romance, and a mysterious malefactor still at large, Decurion Twilight Sparkle has a lot on her plate. Hopefully, she'll make a few new friends as she moves towards the destiny she's chosen for herself.

As per usual, big thanks to Magello for the rad cover art!

Twilight becomes alicorn of the stars. This is sort of a problem, because Luna kind of already was alicorn of the stars. Oops!

TV Tropes

This story is a sequel to Sharing the Night

Twilight Sparkle is the alicorn of the stars, and after a period of self-discovery, ancient-goddess-discovery and a minor case of malmanifestation madness, she has finally come to share the night, a city, her ex-villain status and a bed with Luna, the alicorn of the moon.

Things are looking pretty good for her.

The five demigoddesses she created out of spite? Not so much. Celestia and Celestia are a little lost too, and for some unknown, completely mysterious reason, dragons are flooding into Equestria—and they're not acclimating. Someone probably should do something about that.

It never gets dull in Ponyville, does it?

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Luna after years of abuse was banished to the Moon by her sister- Celestia. There she started planning her revenge, but drawbacks and unexpected problems are bound to appear. The biggest problem and at the same time her only light in her whole life was her newly-born daughter - Twilight Sparkle.

Proofread by Feroso

For millennia Princess Celestia had ruled over the lands of Equestria in peace and harmony, and in doing so the ponies of Equestria have lived a thousand years of peace and prosperity with their mighty Princess being a beacon of harmony and peace. Now Celestia's reign nears a millennia and ponies look forward to another millennium of prosperity. That is until one event that would change Equestria forever bringing back ancient dark evils and terrible secrets that could reveal a hidden dark history of Equestria and their mighty Princess.

But it may also bring hope for one ancient alicorn...

Chapter Types
Normal Chapters: These are just normal chapters and are the main core of the story, and will progress the story.
Lore Chapters: These chapters will mainly go over concepts in more detail or concepts that I want to go over more. These chapters are completely OPTIONAL, you can skip these chapters and still understand what the story is about.
Flashback Chapters: These chapters will dive into the past of the three sisters and sometimes there will be large time jumps. While these chapters are optional, I would recommend them as they will really dive into the world, help define the sisters, and explore certain events.

Hello there! so just wanted to say that this story is more than likely going to have a very infrequent update schedule (if you could even call it that) and that I am sorry if there are long pauses. I am doing this for fun and with school, my laziness, and just getting distracted by everything I see there are going to be gaps between updates. BUT I will try my hardest to work on and hopefully finish this story as I know the feeling of a story that never gets completed. So some final thoughts are well leave comments if I screwed up anywhere and your opinions and well I hope you enjoy this!... Oh also this is my first story so I'm trying

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!"

Twilight Sparkle has too much magic, and it will take her decades to learn to control it. Her spectacular loss of control during her entrance exam only proves that fact. She is a danger to herself and others.

After Sunset Shimmer’s disappearance, Princess Celestia needs a new student to bear The Element of Magic to defeat Nightmare Moon. With all of Equestria at stake, Twilight Sparkle…is not the pony she needs.

Princess Celestia seals Twilight Sparkle’s magic with the distant promise of one day teaching her.

But there are two diarchs of Equestria. Amidst a lucid dream, an offer is made.

“Hello, Twilight. Would you like to be my student?”

Cover art provided by Lafiir.

Princess Twilight, for all of her knowledge, didn't particularly know that much about Celestia or Luna's past. In an attempt to figure out more about her peers she digs up the infamous time travel spell. Jumping at the chance to gather first-hoof about the only other immortal ponies she dives head first into the past!

Finding that she has stumbled into helping the Princesses on a mighty quest she isn't hesitant to lend a helping hoof but her resolve is quickly tested when not all is what it seems and the past, and present, of Equestria is put at stake!

Follow Twilight, and the would-be Princesses, across the world as they track down dangerous artefacts, delve into dilapidated dungeons and avoid disaster in a race against time itself!

• Romance will, eventually, be between Luna, Celestia and Twilight.
• This story will include gratuitous amounts of cuteness at times.
• There will be action and a little dark here and there, but only because it's the past and fighting does occur. It won't be a regular thing, trust me.
• There is time travel and Twilight will be jumping around the timeline. But don't think about it too much!
• The AU tag is only there due to the Princesses still being there, as well as the whole world existing before Equestria thing.
• The world this story takes place in is: Equestria and Beyond. I absolutely love the detail which was put into this. Obviously there's parts not included, such as the Crystal Empire, etc.

I'm thankful to Dusk Melody for reading through and helping me realise the direction I wanted the story to go in.

Spelling, grammar and general thoughts have been provided by TheGreatEater

The source of the image used is: Magnaluna - Eye contact

->19/10/2019
Thanks for featuring! <3 Love you peeps!

Nightmare Moon has returned. Princess Celestia lied and betrayed her star pupil, Twilight Sparkle, leaving her woefully unprepared to fight the Queen of the Night.

But when she fails, rather than disposing of her and the ponies that tried to help her, Nightmare Moon sees an opportunity and a necessity. Having been locked away for one thousand years, who better to help her solidify her rule and keep Equestria from collapsing, all while rubbing it in her sister's face, than her own betrayed pupil?