This story is a sequel to The Olden World

For eighteen years, Equestria's northern neighbors have been at peace.

Despite instability further to the north and far to the east, the Theocracy of Yakyakistan and the technological powerhouse of Ironridge have walked the road of friendship, sharing their best and brightest minds in the remote mountain research colony of Icereach. An underground city built by scientists, for scientists, Icereach is the crucible of the most advanced technology in the world, as well as some of the loftiest dreams: sending ponies into space, and perhaps setting hoof on the moon.

But Icereach has never even sent up a rocket, let alone a random teenager like big-dreaming me. It feels like we've been months away from a proper launch for years now, and no one quite seems to care why. For that matter, there are a lot of things no one questions about Icereach, like why there's an ancient chapel in the deepest part of the caves. Or why historical data in our libraries is censored seemingly at random. Or what we even expect to find out there, beyond the stars.

Maybe it's because I'm not a real scientist, but I feel like I'm the only one more interested in the big picture than getting my name on some invention or other. They say Icereach is the pinnacle of civilization, but there has to be more to life than this...

This story takes place eighteen years after the events of The Olden World and can be read fully standalone. Having read The Olden World is not required.

Chapters are currently posted weekly.

Queen Chrysalis, against her better judgement, accepted Starlight's offer of redemption after her hive, and her plans, exploded around her. Now, the next day, she wants nothing more than to go on with her miserable life. Her children have other plans.

This takes place in the same universe as my alicorn Starlight story The Tiniest Changes, but can be read on its own perfectly comprehensibly.

I'm marking this as incomplete, because I suspect I will revisit it when I'm in the mood to write Chrysalis, but the first chapter was written, and functions, as a standalone story.

Lyra and Bon Bon love each other, but they have a ... somewhat unusual relationship. One of them is a secret agent. One of them is a changeling.

And the third one is a perfectly normal pony, about to have her life turned upside down.

This may result in some questionable relationship decisions.

Third-place winner of FamousLastWords' "A Two-Faced Charade" competition!
"This story [is] a ride … chaotic, crazy, wild, an emotional rollercoaster." –FamousLastWords

Reviewed by Hopeling! "Now this is an odd, interesting and touching one. ... Go read it, you won’t regret it."

Thanks to Titanium Dragon and BlazzingInferno for prereading suggestions. Cover art by mostlyponyart (whose blog seems to have vanished).

Starlight does a slightly better job at attempting to reform Chrysalis after freeing her friends and reforming the rest of the hive, and finds herself quite unexpectedly the new Princess of Empathy. Whether things go uphill or downhill from here will depend on who you ask. Twilight is thrilled, Chrysalis is miserable, Trixie is gay, and Starlight is just trying to cope with becoming royalty scarcely a year after being Equestria's most dangerous supervillain.

I've always thought Starlight more than earned her wings in the show, but, given that I also love Chrysalis, I decided to grant them in a way that ends with my two favorite characters not trying to kill each other.

This will be a series of mostly one-shots dealing with various aspects of Starlight's life after ascending, with a variety of tones; while it's marked as incomplete, the majority of chapters form complete stories. Obviously, there are an enormous amount of things to be done with such a premise, and, if you have anything you'd like to see explored—and also enjoy the story enough to comment—please feel free to request topics for future chapters!

Note: Chapters are usually, but not always, in chronological order. Where they aren’t, it will be made clear.

Equestrian culture loves cutie marks. Filly Starlight Glimmer hates them and never wants one. So, she leaves Equestria.

Inspired by Imploding Colon's Austraeoh.