Nay for valor,

or thirst for blood,

we serve the crown,

a crushing flood,

every's duty,

to protect each other,

less we fail,

and lose one another...

He had failed.

Rarity gives a speech about the first friend she made. Making a point to remember and cherish the best of ponies.

Yesterday, the Cakes put Pumpkin and Pound on the train to head off to their first year at college.

Yesterday had been a very, very hard day.

Today will be worse.

When Applejack asked Fluttershy to help out with an animal problem on Sweet Apple Acres, she had NOT expected to be faced with an animal so big.

And red.

And energetic.

After casting down Discord and imprisoning him in stone, Celestia and Luna become the new rulers of Equestria. Their subjects, however, are fearful of them due to their command over the sun and moon. To prove she and Luna care for Equestria, Celestia begins a campaign of befriending their subjects through acts of love and kindness.

This results in her meeting Solis, a troubled earth pony orphan with pure yellow eyes and whom never had a loving family or friends. Recognizing great potential in the little colt, Celestia adopts Solis for the purpose of raising him to be a third wheel in she and Luna's rule over Equestria. With him under her wing and Equestria's citizens faithful to her and Luna, Celestia is confident that the future of ponykind is a bright one.

Such confidence is broken, however, by Nightmare Moon's rise and subsequent defeat. With her subjects' faith shattered, Celestia's vision of a bright future starts to crumble. It's then that Solis proposes a plan to ensure such a future comes to pass, but at a great cost to them both. The fate of Equestria is in Celestia's hooves and it all boils down to one simple, yet very emotional question.

Can she learn to hate her only child?

Edited by: kyttypony and Aurora-Borealis
Big thanks to them for helping me with Ye Olde speak.

"One day, I swear to you, I will stand in the ashes of the Elements of Harmony themselves and proclaim a new world." -Starswirl the Bearded.

This is the story of Princess Celestia: her origin, the battles she fought, her betrayals, her adventures, the friends she made along the way, her one great love, and her ultimate destiny.

Now on Equestria Daily!

[Thanks to _Medicshy for his faithful editing and input. And to Heliostorm as of chapter 13.]

[Cover image by tamponandtwilaloop on deviantart, used by permission.]

Warning: updates irregularly lately.

An act of goodwill by Applejack suddenly leads to her entry into the first annual "Miss Ponyville Pageant." Determined to help their friend pull a victory, Rarity and Fluttershy give the work horse a crash course in in the finer aspects of lady-like behavior. But how bad do they want her to win? More importantly, who's gong to take care of AJ's hat?

Princess Luna's memories and connection to the Moon have been missing since her return to Canterlot, and every day she gets more and more guilty that she hasn't taken any responsibilities back from her overburdened sister. Surely something in Equestria can make her whole again, but who or what could it be?

[Written in June 2011, back when our mental image of Luna didn't yet include the Royal Canterlot Voice or bat pony guards.]

Deep in the Everfree Forest, two young sisters face a god of Chaos.

(Inspired by fairy tales and the stories of H.P. Lovecraft. Thanks again to _Medicshy for his feedback on this.)

Luna has the cold, which activates Celestia's matronly instincts. Which drives Luna crazy.

New cover image courtesy of http://www.fimfiction.net/user/BlackLal.
Luna-rrrrrrrrrrrito!
Previous image: http://fav.me/d5tedm6