Twinkie Pie. Appledash. Rareshy. You know these pairings and may have favorites of your own. But what if every member of the Mane Six were paired with every other member in the same fanfic?! That's what the Combinatorics Project is--an epic treasury of fifteen ships spread across five parallel universes increasingly full of plot and whimsy. Can you guess which couple is which?
* The angster and her secret admirer
* The burlesque showmares
* The celebrity marriage
* The commune farmers
* The curse victim and caretaker
* The dessert caterers
* The hopeless homebodies
* The industrial mavens
* The mad scientists
* The masquerade hosts
* The model train overlords
* The multiversal adventurers
* The orchard grafters
* The rivals in love
* The weather aficionados
Plus: Twilight blows up like a balloon and goes out to 'have a spicy time'! Applejack and Rainbow Dash are competitive about everything! Rarity dresses like a butterfly--and later in five outfits at once! Pinkiezilla crushes a miniature town and argues with Octavia about her instrument! Fluttershy dances with an angel and keeps a weather diary! Derpy tells a six-word joke! Not everypony ends up happy, but most do! A little suspense is a good thing. Bitter sorrow! Transcendent joy! Probability cupcakes are cupcakes that cupcakes!
Note: This story was written during Season Two, so a few small things are out of date.

Twilight has always had feelings for Celestia. But whether these feelings are for her surrogate mother or for her imagined lover, nopony knows. It will take something strange to make her understand just what she thinks of the Princess; something like her conscience becoming sentient.

Twilight Sparkle has always admired Princess Celestia. Her fortitude, her wisdom, her eternal grace and love for all her subjects. Twilight has often fantasized about what it would be like to be in Princess Celestia's horseshoes. She never imagined those fantasies would come true.

---
Events take place a short time after the Crystal Empire's return (early S3).
Proofreading from chapter three-onward provided by Daemon of Decay.
Cover image used with permission from TexasUberAlles, thanks!
Inspiration for Sunny Skies from PhantomFox.

Can you make a rainbow just with sunlight and water? No magic required? With the help of the pegasus weather team, Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle investigate.

Rarity has risen to the highest stretches of the fashion business and high society, but she's found that not all is as it seems. In the corners of cocktail parties all over Equestria, dark conversations are found. Eventually, Rarity can take no more of this, and begins reporting back to Celestia in secret while delving deep into a world she had no idea was so intertwined with her life's goal.

How much of herself is she willing to give up to protect the throne and, more importantly, Twilight Sparkle? The life of a spy is a dangerous one indeed.

A canon story in the Rites of Ascension Expanded Universe! Artwork by Violet Squiggles. Author's Notes, including proofing credits, can be found here.

Our favorite old time traveling Doctor has been alone his entire life, and he had pressed it down until one night he shows up one Twilight's doorstep.

Now Twilight must somehow make sense of the outpouring misery of one of the most complex minds in the universe, and, somehow, comfort poor old Doctor Whooves.

A short, feel good tale I wrote as part of a one-hour-challenge. Enjoy.

A different take on alicorn ascension. Sixteen years after arriving in Ponyville, Twilight Sparkle is excited to have invented a brand-new kind of spell, but it will come with consequences she cannot possibly anticipate. Meanwhile, threats in shadows around the world conspire to overthrow the Solar Throne. With her world turned upside down, she will have to come to terms with the role that fate has dealt her while straining to keep Celestia in power.

Now with a TVTropes page! Please show it some love! Also check out the official side stories, Designing Intrigue, and Love and Barriers! (With even more in my stories page!)

(Please Note: This story was started before any season three information was available. All episodes in season three and later are non-canon for this story, which also means there's no Crystal Empire in this one. In addition, the promotional map released close to the beginning of season three was also not available and is not compatible with this story. While the OC tag is active because there are OCs in the story, they're really just supporting characters. The focus is on Twilight.)

Also be sure to check out the Rites of Ascension Expanded Universe Group! We're working to develop the resources needed for other authors to try their hand at writing stories set in the Rites Universe!

The Book Two cover art was created by the amazing Silfoe! The original cover art can still be found at Violet Squiggle's deviantArt page.

Author's Notes, including proofreader's credits, can be found here!

"This is 100% Approved by Twilight's Library!"

Twilight Sparkle is called away to tend to Luna when she falls ill. As Luna grows sicker and Twilight more determined to help the younger princess, she begins to uncover dark secrets about the elements, the alicorns, and her own past.

Should you form attachments to mortals if you yourself will never die?

Losing the last of her friends in a battle that should never have been fought, Twilight Sparkle's world falls apart, until meaning and purpose come back into her life in the most wonderful way imaginable. But she forgets, again, that every living creature must eventually die...

Sequel to Not My Destiny, which you can read here. PG-13 for some mild psychological horror and plot-relevant, non-gratuitous injuries. I'll try to keep to the same chapter-a-day release schedule as I did back over New Year's.

Glorious cover art: Secreta Altare Window 3: Twilight Transcendent used with the kind permission of the magnificent confused--guy!

Twilight Sparkle is outliving all of her friends, and must come to terms that she has many more years in front of her.

Set before the end of season 2.