The royal court of Canterlot welcomes its newest member with open forelegs: the human philosopher Voltaire, from Earth.

On Earth, Voltaire is known as the greatest enemy of tyranny in the history of literature, and a legend in his own mind.

On Equestria, the court betting pool is giving him a week before the Princess banishes him to the Moon.

Note: This story doesn't have sequels per se, but there are a couple of short follow-ups set in the present day ("Parade Coverage" and "Secret Histories"), and a prequel of sorts in "At the Inn of the Prancing Pony".

TV Tropes page.

A thousand years ago, in the magical land of Equestria, there were two regal sisters who ruled together (basically) and created harmony for all the land (well, mostly).The two sisters maintained balance for their kingdom and their subjects, all the different kinds of ponies (it's a little more complicated than that). But, as time went on, the younger sister became resentful. The ponies relished and played in the day her elder sister brought forth, but shunned and slept through her beautiful night (generally speaking, but you know, that's not exactly the whole story).One fateful day, the younger sister refused to lower the moon to make way for the dawn (okay, you're skipping over a lot of details here). The elder sister tried to reason with her, but the bitterness in the young one's heart had transformed her into a wicked mare of darkness! Nightmare Moon! (Okay, this is getting misleading) She vowed that she would shroud the land in eternal night. Reluctantly, the elder sister harnessed the most powerful magic known to ponydom: the Elements of Harmony! Using the magic of the Elements of Harmony, she defeated her younger sister, and banished her permanently in the moon (whoa, hey, now you're skipping over, like, everything important). The elder sister took responsibility over both sun and moon, and harmony has been main- OKAY LET'S BACK THE HELL UP RIGHT NOW SHALL WE.

Okay, look, that's all technically true, but a lot of information is missing. So, let's get the story straight.

This is the story of a powerful pony who must face her faults when her strength fails her. This is the story of a teacher with lessons to learn. This is a story of love and of hatred. This is a story of joy and of sorrow. This story does not have the purpose of instilling a particular lesson -though it has many- or bringing about a particular feeling -though it has many of those too- like so many stories do.

This is just an Old Mare's Tale.

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This is a story I actually began, like, a year ago. Somewhere around fourteen chapters are up on EqD and Fanfiction.net. Now that I have resumed work, I've decided to post it to FiMFiction as well. It's not been on FiMF before, so this is NOT a re-post.

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Though the content of this story does not cross over into Mature territory, there is some graphic violence, and certainly some immature allusions (okay, and they straight-up talk about sex, too). Plus, there are swear words. If you are worried about that sort of thing, then this may not be the story for you. I know this warning is a bit redundant with the content rating, but I feel warning redundancy is a good thing.

Daring Do seeks a favor from her sister in Ponyville. Due to buried grudges, things quickly get out of hoof. She soon finds herself on her most perilous mission yet... with her biggest fan in the world. In the midst of truth and lies, loyalty and treachery, love and hate, one thing is clear ― some family situations are stranger than fiction.

The story extends in Through the Looking-glass and What Pinkie Found There and The Daughter Doo: Honorary Cutie Mark Crusader.

Many thanks to Honey Mead and statoose for their watchful and helpful pre-reading.

Ckat_Myla and statoose (CatNStat) have started an excellent reading of TSD.

You see things and ask why. We dream things that never were and ask why not?

This is a realistic view on how shipping would actually happen in the show. Almost every pony has been shipped with everypony else, but this is what would actually happen if two ponies ever attempted at a relationship.

...

No offense to any shippers, even though you shouldn't take any. If anypony would like to see any other shippings done on this fic, just leave a comment. Maybe I'll write it if I feel like it.

Pinkie Pie is overjoyed when she meets a Pegasus who seems almost exactly like her.
She's fun, silly, and Pinkie's friends take an immediate liking to her.
What could possibly go wrong?

Translated into Russian here!

There's been another sighting of the mysterious Mare Do Well...but this time, all of Rainbow Dash's friends plead ignorance, insisting that they've put aside their costumes for good. Rainbow Dash is determined to uncover the masked mare's true identity before she's humiliated yet again, but this time around, the vigilante seems especially interested in her as well. Will Rainbow Dash be able to solve the mystery before the culprit takes the hoax too far? Or is she in danger of losing not only her mind, but her heart?

Featured on Equestria Daily.

Note: This was originally written between Seasons 1 and 2, and may ignore conflicting lore established by Season 2 or later. THIS IS REALLY OLD WHY ARE YOU STILL READING THIS

Twilight Sparkle and her friends are snowed into the library one evening, and they happen upon that rarest of specimens - a book Twilight doesn't recognise. However, the ancient tale of adventure and intrigue they find inside ends up shattering their worldview and sending them on an adventure of their own.

This is basically what came to my mind when I heard that Lauren Faust's original concept for the show was of a more arc-based, magical girl style (this turned out not to be true, but my mind ran with it anyway), but this story ended up a long way from magical girls and well into high fantasy by the time I started writing. Also draws on select Homestuck and Dungeons & Dragons themes, and plays with a lot of things the canon leaves unexplained.

Tag update: Reduced character tags to Mane 6, CMC, Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash. While the Mane 6 and CMC provide most of the ensemble cast, Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash are the primary viewpoint characters.

Additional Tags: Anthro, conspiracy, high fantasy, gryphons, war.

Sequel now posted!