A flip of a coin. A twist of fate.

Twilight Sparkle, younger sister of Princess Celestia's personal student, Shining Armor, grew up listening to her brother's bygone dreams of joining the elite of the elite: The Royal Guard.

Now, fresh out of the Academy, this young mare is ready to prove herself equal to the deeds of the great soldiers she read about as a filly. Too bad the princess she ends up protecting isn't Celestia.

On a normal weekend, Cheerilee assigns everypony an assignment from a unit she has been using for years. She considers it to be the most important one of the year; to teach the fillies and colts about the differences between ponies, and how they can all work together to do more than they could on their own. Unfortunately, a confused trip to the library by three fillies raises questions the teacher can't answer.

In an effort to make sure she teaches everything she can to the best of her ability, Cheerilee enlists the aid of Twilight Sparkle to help rewrite the textbook she has been using for years. As the days tick by, however, she is forced to deal with something she thought she had a handle on a long time ago.

Trixie has returned to the only life she hasn't failed at, rock farming. When her old rival comes to help her make amends, she's thrust into an adventure she doesn't want to be on, but it may be what she needs to reclaim her confidence as the Great and Powerful Trixie she once was.

Things haven’t exactly gone well for Trixie. Ever since the Alicorn Amulet incident she has seen her own fortunes shrink while Twilight's continues to soar. Now Twilight is an Alicorn and Trixie feels left behind. But Trixie has a plan; one Discord is all too willing to aid her in. For a price.

Note: (Immortal Twilight)
Takes place shortly after the defeat of Tirek.

Early chapters Primarily Proofread by Auramane and Slrvertigo. Mid to late chapters edited by myself.

Much thanks to Crowscrowcrow for help along the way with some scenes and ideas.

Reviewed by the Mighty Paul!

After a chance encounter in Baltimare, Rainbow Dash and Trixie spend a little time together working on a way to redeem Trixie's Great and Powerful stagename, during which the two discover new feelings for one another, thus setting them both off on their new adventures of romance together.

Cover art by the wonderfully talented Navi.

Octavia has finally been promoted to first chair, unfortunately for her, that chair is in the new (and as of yet unformed) Royal Ponyville Orchestra. Now, the best cellist in Equestria (Her words) is being sent to the cultural gulag of Ponyville (Also her words) to form and lead the Royal Ponyville Orchestra to greatness (Princess Luna's words).

Now has a sequel, Princess Luna's Academy of the Arts and Sciences.

And an online reading.

Credit goes to jlm123hi for arranging the cover art
Vectors used:
The stage
Vinyl
Lyra
Fiddlesticks
Octavia

Bonus: Have some fan art made by GamingMelody I found when I accidentally typed my username into Deviant Art's search tool instead of logging in. It's cool someone liked my words enough to draw them, and I hope anyone who does so in the future will send me a link so I can plug them in whatever way I can.

The sequel to this story: Sweetie Belle and the Quest for Knowledge is now available!

When Sweetie Belle finds a mysterious artifact of a now lost civilization, how will she come to terms with the wealth of knowledge it provides? It says it can be ignored, it says it will never try to influence her, but can an artifact of such power really be so harmless?

Book I of III

Prologue and Chapter 1: Thanks to TheOtherSideOfFluttershy for pre-reading and editing.
The whole story: Thanks to RaylanKrios for editing.
Chapter 4: Thanks to AuthorGenesis for editing.
Epilogue:
Thanks to Malefactory for editing.