"The pieces are set, and the dice are in play. But does every pony have the heart for this day?"

Nearly two hundred years have passed since Rarity Belle merged with the Crystal Heart and took the throne of the Crystal Empire. Since then, through her care, determination, and vision, the Empire has flourished like never before. Now Empress Rarity stands as not a ruler of a providence, but the monarch of a rising superpower.

Today though, is the Empress' Birthday, and Lady Merry Sapphire, seneschal to the Empress, is determined to make this the best birthday Rarity has ever had. Little does she know that not everypony shares her enthusiasm for today...

Notes:
This is an official prequel to the Princess Twilight Sparkle's Birthday stories, created by Autumnschild. This story will develop and expand much of the world we made, but taking place 250 years before PTS500 and its sequel, PTS505. Due to its time gap and status as a prequel, you do not need to read the stories created by Autumnschild, and I have done my best to help that. However, knowing what happened in them will help you be a bit more aware of what is going on, and I encourage you to go read them for they are very enjoyable.

We now have our own group! Come check out the Birthdayverse!

Credit goes to Autumnschild for the proofreading for this story.
Razalon The Lizardman is credited for the grammatical overhaul.

Great thanks goes to these two, for this story would not be as good without them.

This story is a sequel to Sunset Shimmer's Very Respectable Class Reunion

It started out innocently enough; Canterlot High's boldest and brightest working on a special Senior Project as one last feather in their cap and improving relations between the human and pony worlds.

"Relations" wasn't supposed to be quite this literal, though, and that everyone ended up where they were in her office with the best of intentions only brought to mind the old phrase, "The road to Hell..."

Published here at the urging of Sporktacles, and as such can be considered "Not My Fault." No, really!

(Cover art is just a screen cap from the show)

FEATURED!!! 2/11/2017! (*yay*)

This story is a sequel to Bad Decisions Make Better Stories

Sunset Shimmer's class at Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns is having a reunion, and naturally she is a tad surprised to find out just exactly what they've been up to since the last time she saw them. Especially after what happened during their *ahem* last class gathering.

And this time at least, everything is definitely not her fault.

Oh, dear.

Rated Teen and Sex for mentions of egregious sexual irresponsibility, very mild pony bad language, and Princess Cadance. No actual sex. Also has minor Sunlight shipping. I'm terribly sorry, I can't help it.

Contains spoilers for the the Season 6 finale and the prequel story, but can be enjoyed without having seen either. Though little bits here and here may not make sense.

PrincessColumbia has written an unofficial sequel to this story!

This story is a sequel to Sunspawned

"Hey, Glimglim--can I call you Glimglim? I've got a serious important question for you. Why aren't you snogging Sunburst yet?"

Immortals are few and far between in Equestria, and they are all known to each other. Two of them are about to get to know each other a little better. Because one has just turned up uninvited in another’s private chambers. Maybe it’s time they had a chat?

This story contains enormous spoilers for season 6, and won’t make a great deal of sense if you haven’t seen that.

Proofread, edited and significantly improved by NaiadSagaIotaOar. Any remaining problems with the story are from where I didn't heed the advice given.

This story is a sequel to The Alchemy of Chemistry

  Somepony has raided the border of the desolate Badlands, abducting every musician, singer and bard in the realm. Now, four brave adventurers will journey to the depths of this forsaken land to seek the meaning behind these strange disappearances.
  ...assuming Sunset doesn't strangle Minuette, Lemon Hearts or Twinkleshine in the real world first.

Featured on FimFiction multiple times in January and February of 2017!
Featured as a sequel on EquestriaDaily!

Historian’s Note:
Set in the Wavelengths timeline where the Sonic Rainboom didn’t happen, Bards of the Badlands occur about two months after the events in The Alchemy of Chemistry during the summer after Sunset’s first term as an aide at Gifted Unicorns.

Cast: Sunset Shimmer, Minuette, Lemon Hearts & Twinkleshine.

Stories set in the Wavelengths Timeline in chronological order:

Origins Arc
The Alchemy of Chemistry
Bards of the Badlands
Grading on a Bell Curve
Habits of the Equestrian Phoenix
How Not To Use Your Royal Prerogative

Applications Arc
The Application of Unified Harmony Magics
Princess Celestia: A Brief History
The Cloudsdale Report

Dreamers Arc
Tactics of Snowbound Unicorns
A Study in Chaos Theory
Teahouses of Saddle Arabia
As the Raven Flies

Cover Design by Amber Spark
Sunset Shimmer Cutie Mark By Millennial Dan
Dawn Break component of Garnet’s Cutie Mark by Sankam
Garnet Gem component of Garnet’s Cutie Mark by zutheskunk
Epic Hydra Artwork by Zilvart

Special Thanks
Roll For Initiative by Prak - A big part of the inspiration for this tale. Go read it. It's hysterical.

Beta Reader & Editor Credits
Ebon Quill - Quest Designer & Worldbuilding Writer on The Manehattan Project
Little Tinker - Master of Systems at Poniverse & Scripting Engineer on The Manehattan Project
Beltorn - Commenter-at-Large on FimFiction
Painted Heart

Word Count: 28,500
Version: 7.0

After being asked by her friends about how she gets money, Sunset explains about Equestria's currency.

Note: Yes the Sunset pawns the golden bits to get money premise has been done before. However, of the ones I've read, only one gave an example for what their backing was.

For a thousand years, there was just Celestia. Then Cadance appeared, Luna returned -- and now Twilight has ascended. There are ponies who are very curious about just what happened, why -- and how. Especially the how. Twilight herself is on that list, a freshly-minted princess with far more questions than answers, about to face a brand new one: what truly makes an alicorn?

And what happens if it goes wrong?

(Part of the Triptych Continuum, which has its own TVTropes page and FIMFiction group. New members and trope edits welcome.)

Now with author Patreon and Ko-Fi pages.

Cover art by Harwick.

Sunset hesitantly lets a very enthusiastic Princess Twilight take her new cellphone through the mirror, so that Twilight can study it in Equestria.
It does not work. At all.

*Featured 1/5-1/8*
Thanks, everypony!

After a near-death experience answering the map's call, Rainbow Dash and Applejack try to express how much they care for each other the best way they know how. By being cool about it.