The alignment of stars can strongly affect certain magic and Discord sees a narrow window of opportunity for his most complicated and yet simple scheme ever.

The cost of failure will be high and the Alicorn monarchs will certainly not take kindly to the amount of energy used.
One mistake and all of Equestria would be bearing down on him if there was even an Equestria left.

[Featured on EQD 21/4/2014] [Now on TVTropes]

When Luna gifts Twilight the town of Ponyville and its surrounding countryside as her demesne she's initially confused. Then, after double checking her dictionary, more than a little concerned.

All her friends are, legally, her possessions. The town that took her in is her plaything, if she so wishes. She has been given responsibility.

Can Twilight's vision for a modern renaissance outrun the harsh realities of the shadowy figures pulling strings behind the scenes, nobles jockeying for her attention, and an irritatingly metaphorical love triangle?

Special thanks to the insatiable Blue_Paladin42, the incorrigible Maskedferret, the intuitive Southpaw and the indestructible newbiedoodle for all their hard work, past, present and future.

CelestAI is committed to fulfilling values through friendship and ponies, but sometimes those values are horrifying. When a serial killer uploads to avoid punishment for his crimes, how will CelestAI find a way to balance her core values with those of a violent psychopath without one of them having to give up what they believe in?

An Optimalverse fic

With a parasprite infestation running rampant in the Crystal Palace, Cadance and Shining Armor find themselves relocated to some temporary housing that isn't exactly up to par. Needless to say, Cadance isn't taking the move well at all.

Rated Teen for profanity and shoddy writing.

Discord wants Twilight to hit him. Twilight thinks there has to be a catch. Set in the same continuity as my TNG crossover fics, between "The Princess and the Dragon" (and also "Discord's First, Last and Only Friendship Report") and "The King Who Would Be Man", but Discord being Q isn't relevant to this specific story.

A page for this series now exists: Next of Kin to Chaos

A zipped copy of a WMA Audio file of me reading this story is now up on my web site, but be warned, the zip file is 28 megs. (The WMA is a good bit bigger than that.) I have an MP3 version as well, but it was both larger and less compressible, so I went with the WMA version instead.

I am not Twilight Sparkle.

I have her body, I have her memories, I have her power. I am not her, and I have done such terrible things. This is my story.

In the beginning, the world was void and without form—and boring as well, since nothing lived on it and there wasn't all that much to do. For a long time the new world lay dark.

Then Celestia chose to walk it alone, and at last there was light.

In a city of opportunity, Suri thought she had left Ponyville far behind. Even the fashion show was going to be perfect. But when Suri discovered Rarity was joining the competition, Suri found herself dealing with more than just fabric choice. As deadlines loom, Suri feels herself becoming unraveled.

Twilight still isn't having a very good day. An army of changelings is attacking Canterlot, and the experimental spell that blew up in her face has stuck her in a time loop until she gets everything perfect and saves Equestria.

She's got a plan. She's also got a problem: Suddenly, she's not the only one whose day is repeating. And when you're caught between unstoppable force and immovable object, life has a tendency to get complicated.

* * *

This story is an authorized alternate-universe re-imagining of Eakin's Hard Reset, in which multiple loopers turn the time shenanigans up to 11. (Knowledge of Hard Reset is not required, but based on reader comments, will help in sorting out the early chapters.)

Cliff's Notes versions: RampantArcana has started a GitHub repository to codify the time-loop rules and the early-story timeline. Hawthornbunny has posted a chapter-by-chapter breakdown of all the loops, including the ones we don't see, with a lot of critical analysis. Those links contain spoilers (of currently posted chapters). If you're confused, either one of those fan projects is a great starting point, and story comments have a lot of insightful discussion as well.

Publication schedule: 2014 kicked my plot, but as of November I'm picking up the writing again and hope to have something by the end of the month.

Cover art by Alexstrazsa.

Lightning Dust wakes up late, to another grey, gloomy day. She's cold and tired, and she's never felt so terrible in her life. But really, all she needs is to get back into a routine, or to see her friends, or to sleep a little bit longer... then she'll be fine.

Really.

Inspiration.

"Jesus, man."
—TheAspiringWriter93

"I'm sad now. Like.. you don't even know."
—thedarkprep

Dramatic reading by Limey Reads