A thousand year absence from the world would be disorienting for anyone, but when your job is Head of State, understanding how society has changed during your interregnum is vital. Princess Luna, banished in the age of the longboat and the longbow, has returned just in time for the launch of the tablet computer. With the help of her sister, she undertakes to understand the history she's missed and the people she finds herself among, in order to resume the duties of her title.

This story takes the form of a series of conversations between Celestia and Luna that take place months and years apart. It is openly concerned with political ideas and how societies are organised, and not at all concerned with monsters and magic beyond the conceit of immortal monarchs. The Alternate Universe tag is there because I will be ignoring every single one of the thousand year catastrophes that occur in the show after the Nightmare Moon crisis, the retirement of the Princesses, probably the presence of any other Princesses, and anything else in the show I feel like ignoring, because I find them irrelevant to the themes I want to cover.

In short, if you wanted The Audience with ponies, I got you covered.

This story can be considered canon to my comic works such as The Sunjackers, and my other associated worldbuilding projects, and uses the same date system as them (ie. roughly matching our own, with the return of Nightmare Moon happening the same year as the episode aired, 2010). May also be your jam if you like Equestria At War, but not affiliated at all.

This story is a sequel to Tales from Everfree City

The Equestrian experiment is failing.

Fewer than forty years after Commander Hurricane, Princess Platinum, and Chancellor Puddinghead united the three pony tribes into one nation, that nation stands on the brink of ruin. The Triumvirate that once led Equestria forward lies broken in the aftermath of war and civil strife, leaving only the unicorn queen, Platinum III, to rule from Everfree alone. The Cirran Legion, once the backbone of Equestria's military, has been dissolved, and with it, any semblance of control over the countryside has withered away.

To the south, along the fringes of equine civilization and settled lands, an old soldier flies alone. Once, she protected these ponies; once, she led them, standing shoulder to shoulder with the unicorn queen and the earth pony chancellor. But now she is just another sword in the wilderness, a leaf adrift on the winds of fate, as the twilight of her years fades away.

Because the Equestrian experiment is failing. And Commander Typhoon, daughter of the legendary Hurricane, is dead.

Art by egil. Editing by LoyalLiar
Part of the Price of Loyalty universe. Prior reading of A Beginner's Guide to Heroism and Tales from Everfree City is strongly recommended, but not required.

She wanted peace. She wanted diplomacy. She wanted harmony and friendship.

She got war.

With the armies of the Changeling Lands marching through Equestria, overwhelming any and all resistance they encounter, Princess Celestia has had to resort to increasingly drastic measures to save her country and the ponies that live in it. But while her sister leads the armies from the front and her ponies fight and die in the name of princesses and country, Celestia feels useless and inadequate in Canterlot. After all, she was supposed to protect her precious little ponies. How had she failed them so badly?

Those doubts and worries gradually gnaw away at her, day after day and month after month. Until one day, she reaches a tipping point, the point of no return:

She will save Equestria, no matter what it takes.

[An Equestria at War story]

Edited by LoyalLiar and SolidFire
Art by TwoTail813

A year after the first Hearth's Warming, unification hasn't gone as smoothly as ponies would have hoped. Old grudges and hostilities flare up despite the best efforts from their leaders. By the time the second Hearth's Warming has come around, cold, bitter feelings claw once more at Princess Platinum's heart.

Things take a turn for the weirder when she finds a tree in her living room and Commander Hurricane in her kitchen. He promises that there's a simple explanation for everything.

The only catch is that the 'explanation' will take all night. Generous though she may be, Platinum can settle for two hours.

The clock is ticking, Hurricane.

Written as a Christmas present for Fahrenheit, posted now after giving time for Farrie to savour it first.

Cover art by Rossby Waves.
Preread by Carabutt.

This story is a sequel to A Beginner's Guide to Heroism

Before 'Everfree' was a forest, it was Equestria's thriving capital.

In the city's earliest days, fresh off saving Equestria from an evil that threatened to steal the sun itself, Princess Platinum faces a new challenge. She and her undercover coltfriend, Celestia's apprentice Mortal Coil, set their sights on what seems like a much easier, safer, and happier task: giving the Princess a choice other than the seven horrible suitors her parents picked out for her.

Unfortunately for them, when it comes to the politics of a freshly founded Equestria, the romance of a princess is anything but simple, or safe, or happy.

Editing by The 24th Pegasus, Pega-Ace, and Ruirik. Cover art by Ruirik.

Clover the Clever never asked for his life to get so complicated.  It was bad enough tricking a drunk Imperatrix Celestia, war goddess of the Three Tribes, out of her accidental coup against Queen Platinum.  But now the most dangerous pony in Equestria has returned to trade her claim on the sun for a chance to woo him.

On top of that, his erstwhile mentor Star Swirl the Bearded has saddled him with a mysterious magical necklace and a uniquely bleak and pointless prophecy: If he's brave enough, and if he's clever enough, he just might survive Celestia for long enough to break her heart.

Now with an audio reading by ScarlettBlade!

Recommended by PresentPerfect! "horizon gave me the story I needed rather than the one I wanted ... along the way we get some very strong lessons about love, and meditations on the value of a lifetime and what one pony can achieve on their own."

Featured on Equestria Daily!

First place, "Out of Time" Writeoff! (11/2015) At long last, expanded to novella size! The world-spanning, centuries-spanning romance as it was always meant to be told!

PRAISE FOR THE WRITEOFF VERSION:
"One of my favorite depictions of Celestia in a long time." –billymorph
"To the top of the ballot with it." –AugieDog
"There’s going to be a lot of tears shed when this one hits publish." –Georg
"You need to read Time Enough For Love. I literally swore out loud when my computer crashed when I was halfway through, and then I immediately whipped out my smartphone to finish it. And now I'm reading it again in a desperate attempt to figure out how it does its job so damn well." –Bachiavellian
"I can get behind some historical revisionism for such a brilliant story. The writing is second-to-none … I laughed, I cried, and I felt other things too." –Trick Question

Cover art by Nadnerb.

It has been years since the Mayor's rainbow generator overloaded and drained Hope Hollow of its color. Kerfuffle did her best to stay happy and inspired despite the new gray world she found herself in, but even she has her limits. It's hard to make art in a world of gray, and now Kerfuffle's inspiration has finally left her. Struggling to get by and remain upbeat in a hopeless and friendless town, the pegasus soon finds herself feeling as gray and empty as the world she lives in. But perhaps a close encounter with death will show her that maybe there are still ponies in Hope Hollow who care, and maybe she's not as hopeless and empty on the inside as she feels...

Art by SJArt117

It all used to be so simple: find a lead, survey the land, and grab a take to tide the Gang over for a few months. But the era of outlaws in the Equestrian Southwest is coming to an end, and it has no tolerance for ponies like Kestrel. Wanted by the law and stealing just to survive, Kestrel will have to take the fate of her band of outlaws into her own hooves and try to give them a good life... or die trying.

A comment-driven Choose Your Own Adventure story inspired by Red Dead Redemption 2. Key events in some chapters are in part influenced by dice rolls, which can be seen in my discord server. Be wary as the dice rolls may spoil current and past chapters.

As this story is different from traditional fare, there are a few caveats going in, inspired by another great CYOA story:

1. The chapters will be kept fairly short, ideally not longer than 1500 words per chapter, barring the choices and author's notes.
2. The vote will always have the last say, even if the choice they have chosen is suboptimal in terms of its effects in-world.
3. The story will end once the fate of the Gang is resolved, though it may end prematurely if Kestrel dies before this can happen.

You can see Kestrel's character sheet, along with important information about the Gang, here.

Special thanks to Ruirik for the cover art.

How valuable is your voice?

If you lost it, what would you do to get it back?

What would you do to keep it if you did get it back?

Is it worth the price?

Now with an awesome dramatic reading!

An airship wreck leaves Rainbow Dash and Rarity stranded on a deserted island. Together, they must find a way to survive until help comes.

If it comes.