In the far reaches of Canterlot Castle, high above in the towers lived the archmage. Everypony knew her, yet few had met her.

Twilight Sparkle sighed, having teleported away another noble seeking favors before reaching the top of the stairs for the second time today. They never learned. As the archmage, she already dealt with political squabbles far too often without inviting them into her home. Aside from personal favors for Celestia, she did what was required of her position and then returned to seclusion and research.

The nobility grumbled that no archmage should be a commoner, and Twilight’s disrespect toward them proved it. Each and every time they were forced to bow to her, they hated what they saw: the position, the status, the deference.

Was she not powerful? Was she not great?

Twilight, now reading through dusty scrolls and long forgotten tales, wrote in her notes — notes gathering dust of their own. A brief thought flashed through her mind.

Am I not powerful? Am I not great?

And then Twilight picked up The Tale of the Royal Pony Sisters.

Defunct side stories told in Across the Boundary. They can still provide a little context, but when in doubt, the main story here is canon.

Cover art provided by Lafiir

Twilight Sparkle, the Solar Regent, was frustrated. She’d never had a chance against Nightmare Moon, and now she had to live with the consequences of her failure and the moon goddess on the throne beside her.

Shining Armor, Captain of the Royal Guard, was frustrated. His liege was gone. His marefriend was somewhere doing something. His sister was showing all the early warning signs of one of her infamous breakdowns. Worst of all, everypony was keeping secrets.

Sweetie Drops, Equestrian special agent, was frustrated. Work kept piling up, and there seemed to be more and more monsters to fight every day. She needed help.

Cadance, the Crystal Princess, was frustrated. Being somepony’s snack was beneath her, but needs must.

Tempest Shadow, wanderer, was frustrated. Why did life always insist on kicking her while she was down? If it wanted to maintain even the pretext of fairness, her next destination would be her last.

Luna, the Lunar Diarch, was delighted. Everything had gone perfectly since her return from exile.

Princess Nightmare Moon has it all. Socially awkward shut-in Twilight Sparkle has nothing of worth. Princess Nightmare Moon can acquire anything she desires. Twilight Sparkle can't seem to catch a break. Two polar opposites from completely different worlds. Yet amidst her dominant rule, Princess Nightmare Moon feels she's missing something. A certain day from her memory has been wiped... and none of her common materialistic desires can sate her quench for answers. That is until she encounters a certain young unicorn mare, who she can't seem to get off her mind.

Twilight Sparkle's dull and downtrodden life is about to get much more interesting.

[Inspired by S5 - Nightmare Moon AU: Thank you for your support!]

Twilight looked over to her dear mentor, Princess Celestia, and found she had once again fallen asleep mid-lesson. Her intense debate on awakening the princess was cut short when the decision was taken out of her hooves.

“Huh? Oh. Twilight, I am so sorry for falling asleep again. I think we need to reschedule this for tomorrow morning.”

Twilight nodded. After all, Princess Celestia was obviously overworked. If only there was something she could do to help.

Now with a dramatic reading courtesy of DRWolf.
Additionally, there’s a Spanish translation by Spaniard Kiwi over on Deviant Art.

Current Episode: Season Zero – Episode One
Next Episode: Twin Twilights

Art created from images by Tim015 and ShilaDaLioness.

This story is a sequel to Best Hell Ever

Once upon a time, Twilight went to hell. It wasn’t that bad. It was pretty great, actually. It had a library! A big one. Like, bigger-than-the-universe big. But then Twilight went and got herself kicked out of hell, and now she’s depressed.

There’s only one logical solution: with Starlight’s reluctant help, Twilight is going to break into hell and invade its library. Oh, it’ll be tricky — trying to find one specific location in an infinite dimension tends to be a bit hard — but the infinite knowledge it’ll provide is too good to pass up. Twilight will find that library if it kills her (which, since this is hell, isn’t the worst thing ever in the grand scheme of things).

There is absolutely no way this can possibly go wrong.

A story in which Twilight Sparkle proceeds to die.

Several times.

For science.

Featured July 1st, 2020!

StraightToThePointStudio did a reading. Check it out here!

Chinese translation here.
Russian translation here.

Suddenly finding herself in hell, Twilight is presented with one fact: for the rest of eternity, she's stuck in a library holding every book possible. She's expected to organize them and is allowed to read them.

What makes this hell, again?

Now has two Spanish translations, one by SPANIARD KIWI and another by Pugg-Senpai.

When Twilight needs a pardon, Celestia is there to provide. When Twilight doesn’t need one, Celestia still provides.

This story is a sequel to The Celestia Code

When the monsters created by the dark crystal engine escape their prison, it's up to Princess Twilight Sparkle to deal with them. She gets help and advice from Princess Luna, but things don't go as planned. In fact, when a pony who relies on logic and rationality tries to navigate the stormy seas of emotional entanglement while simultaneously saving Equestria from a horde of evil creatures intent on destroying everything they encounter, nothing goes as planned.
AUDIOBOOK by VisualPony
WARNING: Major spoilers in the comments.

Book 2 of the Alicorn Adventure series.

Goodreads Page
100% Approved by Twilight's Library!

The Badass Twilight tag applies more than ever, but please note the new tags.

This story is a fairly direct continuation of The Celestia Code. You might be able to follow it without having read The Celestia Code first, but it's better if you do.

The sequel is here: The Twilight Enigma

Most excellent pre-reading/editing done by the erudite AcademicPony and the dapper statoose!

This story is a sequel to Split Second

Twelve years ago, she broke time. Two alternate timelines exist, each with a different version of Twilight Sparkle. Both versions of her are able to see the other. In this timeline, Sparkle is a Necromancer.

Or rather, she was. Sparkle is dead now, not that she cares. She's got a new body. With Thorn (her undead dragon son) and Cobalt (her apprentice and an assassin for hire) at her side, she's ready to take on the world. Again.

(Spoilers in the comments. Read at your own risk.)

Featured on EQD.
The Tv Tropes page
The Ask Blog

This story is a sequel to Split Second and won't make sense without it.
This story also loosely shares continuity with Lupine Tree. Reading that is not required.

Cover art by Swirling Line.