Can a utopian paradise that preaches love and tolerance really make ponies happy? Does contentment really lie in free universal healthcare and open government?

Twilight Sparkle is determined to resist this happy world on a matter of principle, and finds herself sneaking off with a mare called Trixie to hate and loathe each other in secret.

Will their hate-nest go undetected? Or will they be forced to face the dangers of the Ministry of Love and the mysterious Room 101?

For almost a thousand years, the immortal Nightmare Moon has reigned over Equestria as Empress. To the average pony, Nightmare Moon is an overarching enigma whose rule is absolute and whose wrath is terrible. But to Twilight Sparkle, who as an orphan has never known her parents, the Empress is something else entirely. When the young unicorn is brought under the royal wing as an apprentice, she learns a great deal more about the supposed tyrant than she ever knew. But as Twilight is introduced to life with her new mentor, she is thrust into a world of political intrigue, conspiracies and secrets. Secrets that were never meant to be revealed. As allies and enemies plot against the very peace of the nation, will Twilight fall prey to the perils of her new position? Or will she prosper and find in Nightmare Moon the mother she never had?

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My eternal gratitude to my editor, LordOfTheWrongs, without whom Night's Favoured Child would not be the story it is today.

Now with added TVtropes!

Twilight Sparkle thinks that Cheerilee would provide a very interesting partner... to talk to... about literature. Nothing else. Right?

Stephen has a nice chat with the Princess

==Originally written spring 2011== Equestria Daily Post==
GLaDOS is free of Chell, free to continue testing, when she discovers a portal gun Wheatley tried to repair with duct tape. When the portal gun catastrophically fails, the enrichment center, GLaDOS, and Chell are literally dropped in the middle of Equestria. The mute test subject soon finds the world of ponies far more welcoming than the human world. But GLaDOS sees possibilities. Let the testing begin... for science.

Banishing Queen Chrysalis was not without complications. Twilight has found herself on the plane of Innistrad, a dark place wrestling with ghosts, spirits, vampires, curses, and other things that should not be. Now she's on a world with no backup, no books and no plan beyond basic survival. Yet friendship is still a powerful thing, even in this new world of gothic horror. Now Twilight must find a way home, while still trying to do the right thing. [MLP:FiM][MtG:Innistrad block][Horror-genre themes]

This story is a sequel to Dusk and Dawn

The Dawn Militia and Nightmare Moon's armies continue to wage war across Equestria under the eternal night. The six bearers of the Elements of Harmony–Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Trixie–have been blessed with extraordinary powers, with which they lead the Dawn against the tyrant and her reluctant lieutenant, Eclipse.

But it's hardly easy. After all, what place does harmony have on the battlefield?

"Suppose I killed them all?"

Twilight finds a dusty old book full of puns and begins to use them, much to the dismay of her friends, considering her puns are slowing down their travels and they need to be PUNCTUAL.

Some things in this world happen by chance. Others do not. Twilight Sparkle is about to learn a disturbing truth that will turn her world upside down.

- Originally written May 2011 for Deviant Art

Reading this story first is strongly recommended:
(Blood is Thicker) http://ciroton.deviantart.com/gallery/26378692#/d3e1ndq

Credits:
~Image by JohnJoseco~ ~Edited by BrotherPrickle on Deviant Art~