Twilight is invited to Canterlot to compete with some of the greatest magicians in the world for the Moonstone Cup, a prestigious award for the most powerful and skillful magicians, unicorn and otherwise. Can she win? What sort of competition will she face?

Awesome cover image was taken from NoOneBahtim

My unicorn parents called me a worthless mud pony. They pushed me every day to overcome my lowly status. When I woke up one morning with my cutie mark, I thought they would love me. I couldn’t have been farther from the truth.

It was not destiny or enjoyment that led me to discover the cello and composing. My parents made that decision, deciding before I was born I would continue their family legacy of famous musicians.

They did not realize what that decision would cost them.

Special Thanks and Links:

Cover Art: Dreampaw. The inspiration for the story.
Dramatic reading of Act I-III by Malao567. June 2013
Reading with music by ObabScribbler. June 2014
Song: Hooks and Strings by Reverb Brony. May 2014

Style inspired by H.P. Lovecraft
TypeWriterError: Editor & Rating Board
Gage of Grandiloquence: Editor
The11thWonder: Pre-reader
Nharctic: Pre-reader
Breath of Plagues: My Pinch Editor.
ArgonMatrix: Bad Grammar Exterminator
Daemon of Decay: Advice, also inspired me to write fan fiction. Blame him!

It's been a long, long time since Spike was stolen from her, but Twilight hasn't forgotten nor forgiven. After a long and arduous journey, she has finally found him and his kidnapper.

She will save him.

No matter the cost.

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Featured on EQD.
Now with Dramatic Reading by Joehighlord!
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Side story: A Dragon Whispers Her Name

Set in the future, after an unspecified amount of time has passed. Accurate to the canon set before 31/01/2013.
Inspired and loosely based on the short film 'Sintel'.
Elements of the story taken from the 'Where the World Ends' universe (by hlissner).

Image is fanart by NCMares.
Pre-read by ThoseRemainingSilent and Bleeding Rain.
Story formerly known as 'Twintel'.

Uh, hi. Yeah, Magic's my special talent; got the cutie mark and everything.

My parents think I'm a prodigy or something. Don't get me wrong; They've kinda got the right idea. I mean, I can see magic, and it's freaking everywhere. I've just had a little trouble figuring out how to do anything with it.

Teachers can't seem to teach me anything (I don't think they ever really tried), so I've just kinda... decided to try and figure it out on my own.

Um... There's something I've left out. Why I'm having a hard time figuring this stuff out, why no magic teacher could ever get anything through to me...

You see... I'm an Earth Pony.

My name is Strange Design, and I have no idea what I'm doing.

My name is Ironclaw Strongbeak, though the yellow bird pony calls me 'Elizabeak', and I am a chicken. No, not in the cowardly sense, in the literal one. I have been imprisoned by the bird pony for my entire life, but I have always yearned to be free from her and that nasty controlling stare.

Amongst our kind, there has always been a rumor that there were lands outside the dangerous forest, a land ruled over by a mystical leader called 'The Great Colonel'. Such a chicken would surely free us if he was made aware of our plight. So, imagine my delight when the opportunity to find this mystical land arises...

Find this story and more in a print copy! Just click these words here!

Featured on Equestria Daily 3/30/13

Twilight Sparkle, Element of Magic and student of Princess Celestia, has braved many dangers and defeated powerful foes. But on a peaceful afternoon, she will face her greatest challenge: eating some lunch.

With thanks to GlueFactory for helping me edit, and Equestria Daily for featuring me!

The Shaper is a smith of unparalleled skill, her creations the most sought after in the fallen world. When a pony named Lyra comes to her with a unique commission she has to put all her skill to the test to craft a weapon of great power. For Lyra's goal is not an easy one, and it is not just any weapon that can kill a Dragon.

A story inspired by this and this image, as well as this challenge by CDRW (whose fic A Still More Glorious Dawn Awaits is quite good).

After the Changeling invasion, Celestia and Luna make the decision to have Twilight investigate the Elements of Harmony and solve the mystery of their power.

A thousand years later, Rainbow Dash awakens in a world she does not recognize. She has no idea how or why she came to be there. She does not know the language, the geography or any of the rules of this new time. She soon finds allies in Star Fall, a scholarly pegasus whose Talent is Magic, and Astrid, Star Fall's Griffin guardian. Together they set out to discover why Dash has been sent to the future, and how she might return to when she belongs.

War threatens the nations, a Nightmare stalks the shadows, and Rainbow Dash's arrival has turned her into a wild card in a deadly game that pits the law on both sides of a broken Equestria against a mysterious criminal figure, Max Cash. Yet the stakes are higher than anyone knows, for in her research Twilight Sparkle discovered a dark secret about the Elements, something that will shake the foundations of the world.

Cover image by SierraEx
Has a TvTropes page

Steady Hoof is a skilled thief who has been driven out from his home in the Heartland to seek refuge in the City of Gardens and Cages. When his life is saved by a pegasus named Scootaloo, he is instantly smitten. But her life has been hard, and she has forsaken love. To win her over, Steady must brave the dark heart of the city and do the impossible: steal the Tyrant's heart.

Set in the same world as The Archer and The Smith

My name is Twilight Sparkle, and 350 years ago, Sweetie Belle and I vanished without a trace.
Now here we are, in the future.
Equestria has become a utopia, with everypony living in peace and harmony.
Everything is perfect. All a pony could ever want, and more.
My name is Twilight Sparkle, and I want to go home.

Editing provided by Stereo_Sub and JustAnotherTimeLord.

Cover art courtesy of Geomancing.

Reading by lieilengi

Spanish translation by Spaniard Kiwi