In a world where she sees from a distorted perspective, all Twilight Sparkle can do is cling to the one pony she knows will never let her down: her teacher, the princess... no matter which princess her addled brain tells her that is. Twilight's used to rewriting letters, but when she's the one being rewritten, she finds the sensation to be altogether different.

Many thanks must go to my awesome editors, Varanus, Ebon Mane, shortskirtsandexplosions, Seattle_Lite, and Nick Nack.

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"The Holy Tome", "The Lost Relic", "Journal of the Heretics"; all are names for the Holy Covenant of the Triumvirate, a history of the tribes which documents the rise of the three powers that ruled the sky: the majestic Sun, the mysterious Moon, and the Twilight which balanced and separated the two in the harmony of their celestial dance. Over 700 years ago the Cult of Nightmare, seeking to overthrow the Sun, systematically destroyed all copies of this tome as they deemed the existence of The Triumvirate, a heresy against their one true ruler, The Nightmare. One copy survived the Purge and ended up in the possession of the Sun. Contemplate these words, passed down across generations, passed down to you.

At the party of the Summer Solstice Celebration, Twilight Sparkle's mane momentarily transformed into a fiery blast of phoenix fire as a result of some hot sauce.

Little did she know, she was destined to become the "Chosen One", blessed by the phoenixes with the power to control the most powerful element known to ponykind, and tasked with the job to unite all of the races of Equestria.

How can she do this? Fortunately, Philomena and the entire phoenix race will be there to guide her.

The princess has gone quiet. Ever since the nations began uniting under one flag, the princess has refused to see anypony, and nopony, not even Celestia's sister has seen heads or tails of the sun goddess.
She only wants to see her student.
Twilight ventures to the castle to see what exactly is the problem.

This whole thing was inspired by one little part in the cover picture. I don't know how many people agree with me, but she (Nightmare/Celestia) seems more concerned than anything else.

EDIT: I was planning on making this a one shot, but fate insists that I change that. No longer will this be a one shot, but a two-parter, I think. 5 comments. Holy shiznits, I must have done something right.

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!

Deemed a traitor by the God Empress Celestia, Twilight Sparkle must now flee for her life to escape her inevitable execution. In hot pursuit by Celestia's minions, Twilight discovers a cave where an ancient creature has been kept prisoner for over a millennium.

Ponyville, by all means, has never been a town without incident. Somewhere within it, something was always going wrong somehow. However, for so many different things to go wrong so close together...it means things are more wrong than usual. And Twilight has more to do with it than even she realizes...

Some things are best left forgotten. The truth is not always sweet.

But, do not think things will be completely dark and grim! There will be plenty of strange things, and Pinkie Pie being Pinkie Pie! Because Equestria is not Equestria without its share of strange things.

(joint effort between a friend and I)