For a thousand years, there was just Celestia. Then Cadance appeared, Luna returned -- and now Twilight has ascended. There are ponies who are very curious about just what happened, why -- and how. Especially the how. Twilight herself is on that list, a freshly-minted princess with far more questions than answers, about to face a brand new one: what truly makes an alicorn?

And what happens if it goes wrong?

(Part of the Triptych Continuum, which has its own TVTropes page and FIMFiction group. New members and trope edits welcome.)

Now with author Patreon and Ko-Fi pages.

Cover art by Harwick.

Now Featured on Equestria Daily!
TV Tropes and a group of its own.
Audio version
( EPUB / MOBI )
Three Nights in Manehattan, a sequel
Hardcover Print-on-Demand Order Page

As a child, Daphne knew of a world where magic lived, where an immortal princess reigned over a beautiful kingdom, and longed to journey there beside Leit Motif, the filly she'd grown to love in the woods behind her home. But one day, when she needed her most, Leit Motif was gone, and she never came back to show her the way. As she grew, she put aside her childish dreams, and taught herself to believe the lie.
When forces beyond her knowing take her sister Amelia, though, she discovers that her childhood fancies were entirely too real, and is thrust into a journey that will take her back to that land she longed for, back to the childhood friend she'd abandoned, and to worlds she'd only dreamed of.

Interview with Pre-Reader Amacita
PresentPerfect's Review

Somewhere in the Frozen North, a griffon expedition has gone missing. As the only airship specifically designed for the frigid environment, the Aurora Dawn and her crew's first mission out of the shipyards will be to find and rescue this lost expedition.

If only they knew what the expedition was really out there to find...

Inspired by the collective works of H.P. Lovecraft, though familiarity with Lovecraft's works are not necessary to get this.

I experimented quite a bit with narrative in this story, specifically in using different narrative voices depending upon the perspective. I'll leave it up to the readers if I pulled this off effectively.

My thanks to JawJoe for the exceptionally helpful prereading and suggestions on how to make this story all the better.

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

Ponyville is filled with strange citizens. Enigmas such as the mildly psychotic Lyra, drama queens Roseluck, Daisy, and Lily, as well as Pinkie Pie, the reality-defying party pony are all welcome in the quaint little town.

But there is one new arrival that stands out among the rest, an individual with a tale so horrifying as to shake this blissful village to its core.

Is it possible to heal any wound? To regain something lost that may never have been there in the first place? Does there exist any hope for a soul that has been so thoroughly broken and betrayed by the world?

In the bright and happy land of Equestria, is it possible to bring such a victim back from the brink?

This is a story that's been on my mind for a while, so I figured I'd finally mollify my creative muse's demands and get it out. One of my very favorite things to read about^__indeed, perhaps my most favorite subject^__is those who so desperately need it getting the help and therapy they need. I like to think that in Equestria, where the common citizen is so much friendlier than us humans, such help is likewise more plentiful.

I know that there are some individuals here on earth that are past the point of complete recovery, indeed, past the point that we have tools to help them. But I sincerely doubt that Equestria is bound by the same rules, and thus I've been wondering if there's any individual that's beyond help.

Strap on in folks, this one's gonna be rough.

New cover art by the fantastic Flygon! My gratitude knows no bounds!

(P.S. Just to clarify: The title is Libero as in the Latin word for 'liberate', not the volleyball term.)

(P.P.S. For those understandably put off by the...well...strangeness of the writing in early chapters, it gets better later on.)

The Millennial Summer Sun Celebration is only a few years away, but Rarity’s fashion career seems to be ending before she can begin it. Now, she has one last chance to find a place for her talent.

But as she works to create the boutique of her dreams, a forgotten piece of Ponyville’s past is waking up. Secret memories lie forgotten in dusty basements, unrighted wrongs scratch at locked doors, and Rarity finds herself caught up in a history that may be doomed to repeat itself.

For although she is the first to set hoof in the Old Town Hall in thirty years, she can’t help but feel that something inside was waiting for her.

A slow-burning, atmospheric horror.

Now with an audiobook by AShadowOfCygnus! Find Chapter 1 here!

Special thanks to Neighrator Pony, GutiuSerenade, and ObabScribbler for pre-reading and feedback!

Cover art by Amiki.

Awake and alone, Applejack will find a way to survive.

And here's a TV Tropes page, if you're into that kind of thing.

The problem with being an explorer in this day and age is that unexplored lands are few and far between. Almost everything's been charted, catalogued, analyzed, and what have you. But that's an almost; there are still those rare, blank spots in the maps, inexplicable, untouched by hooves, unsurveyed. One of those corners is Needle Vale in the far north. Supposedly cursed, yet everyone who's gone in has come back out. It has more stories about it than Celestia herself, yet every single adventuring group that's gone in has found nothing. Thanks to a nonstop snowstorm that's been blowing for centuries, no one's even been able to map it out.

Daring Do thinks there are too many stories about it to be a coincidence. Something is inside there. The source of the legends and of the snowstorm. And no one has a will quite as strong as Daring's (or so she tells herself). With a small team at her back, Daring makes a decision: she will go into Needle Vale, she will withstand the storm, and she will discover what’s going on in there.

But, as Daring is about to find out, there's a reason no one’s been able to pin down what's going on in that valley. Not everything that lies in the dark corners of the earth should be studied.

Loosely inspired by Annihilation. Has a dramatic reading done by Quinch.

A distress call issues from a mansion in the snow-capped peaks of the Crystal Mountains. One of the six young residents is reporting evidence of a changeling among them. The Royal Guard rallies to their remote location with all haste, but they are days away—they have charged Detective Pesco and his apprentice Bluebird with investigating the scene in advance.

There's nowhere to run, and nowhere to hide. Identity is a delicate thing, and the changeling's isn't the only one on the brink of unraveling.

A novel-length mystery (social deduction, closed room, limited suspect pool) with an emphasis on character drama. Entirely original cast split among canonical and semicanonical MLP species: ponies, griffons, reindeer, zebra—and among them, the changeling.

Assumed to take place prior/alternative to the changeling reformation in season 6.

Cover art (one and two) by Rocket Lawnchair.

Many thanks for the catches and suggestions from my beta readers, including: wonderkid125, Miller Minus, mikemeiers, Secret Moon, Majora.