For more than a thousand years, Equestria has blossomed into its beautiful, peaceful state... but when Princess Celestia tells Twilight the order she must carry out with the help of the other alicorn princesses, she is heartbroken. What she is about to do will shatter all that she thinks she is.

Note: this story takes place after season four and before season five. There will be no mention of Flurry Heart. She does not exist.

Ten years ago Twilight Sparkle became an alicorn. Shortly thereafter events proved to her that she needed a guard force to both protect and assist her in her struggles against Equestria's enemies. Despite her best efforts ponies occasionally fall in her service. The members of the Twilight Guard carry on, thanks to a good supply of hard cider, and the song in their hearts. This is the story of that song.

Moondancer is looking forward to some uninteruppted studying. She is therefore surprised--and angry--to find that not one, but several of her fellow classmates have decided to stay over the holidays. And none of them are thrilled about it.

Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns is famous across Equestria as a center of academic excellence. Only the best and brightest unicorns are offered places, selected by their academic merit, magical ability and passion for study. To make the admissions process as fair and reliable as possible, all candidates are given three exams by different teams of examiners, who then meet in private to decide which students are most deserving of a place.

Winner of the December 2014 Writeoff competition: Behind Closed Doors.

Celestia prepares for another routine day at the castle with the recent addition of teaching her new, young student. However, an impromptu structure made from books causes a slight change of plans.

Inspired by the cover art and it's description, both used with permission from the wonderful Nova Quill.

Sunset Shimmer had an urge to see Twilight Sparkle of Ponyville again after so long with her friends in the other world. One day, she mustered up the courage to step through the portal and say hello.

Much to her surprise, however, Twilight Sparkle was far... smaller than she expected.

This story is a sequel to The Application of Unified Harmony Magics

  After the incredibly awkward reunion last night, Sunset is less than eager about her promise to introduce Twilight Sparkle to Princess Celestia. Maybe it would help if Twilight could go more than five minutes without a panic-driven ramble.
  Despite her doubts, Sunset decides to do her best. But between a bowl of ice water, Philomena’s antics and Celestia’s sly smile, Sunset knows this isn’t going to be easy.
  Still, Twilight probably could have handled it better.

Featured as a Sequel on Equestria Daily on October 8, 2016!
Appeared in the FimFiction Featured Box on September 27, 2016!

Historian’s Note: Set in the Wavelengths timeline where the Sonic Rainboom didn’t happen, the events of Princess Celestia: A Brief History occur the day after the story The Applications of Unified Harmony Magics.

Cast: Sunset Shimmer, Twilight Sparkle, Princess Celestia, Minuette & Philomena

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 Credits
Cover Design by Amber Spark using Pixelmator
Princess Celestia Vector by Wrathx79
Princess Celestia's Room by tamalesyatole
Sunset Shimmer Cutie Mark by MillennialDan
MLP Book Vector by SnowedEarth
MLP Magic Aura Vector by AimeeLovesU

Beta Reader Credits
Ebon Quill - Worldbuilding Writer on The Manehattan Project
Little Tinker - Master of Systems at Ponyville Live & Scripting Engineer on The Manehattan Project

Special Thanks
Fahrenheit - For wonderful advice on creating an epic and entertaining synopsis!

During Princess Celestia's break, Twilight Sparkle asks her a certain question that she's been curious about for a while, but thinks that Celestia is best suited to answer it.

"What's Ruling a Nation Like?"

The answer she receives, however, makes her regret the decision she made to do so.

A fun little one-shot I decided to do thanks to a game of 7 word fan fiction I played some time ago.

Edited by:KorenCZ11 Found Here

After what seems like forever as a Princess under the rule of Celestia, Twilight decides she doesn't want to be a Princess anymore. She is ready to move on from her reign... and from this world...

Twilight Sparkle is facing a crisis greater than Tirek, the Changelings, and King Sombra combined.

She's read every single book in existence.

So it is that she has nothing new to read.

She does not take it well.

Pre-read by The Albinocorn and MythrilMoth.

Review by Gear Tech the Living Robot

Dramatic reading by DRWolf
Reading by Wing T. Spears