While Apple Bloom is waiting for her potion to take effect during Twilight Time, a picture of Twilight's family on a nearby shelf brings back long lost memories of her dead mother. She craves her mother's loving touch, and right before she's about to give up on her potion, its contents bursts into life.

Her confidence in her abilities restored and now armed with the necessary knowledge and skills, Apple Bloom is confident that she'll be able to bring her parents back from the dead. She enlists the help of her friends, but they quickly discover that some things are better left in the past.

Edited and Proofread by Alcatraz, Rated Ponystar, Manaphy, ROBCakeran53, and PatchworkPoltergeist.

Cover art time lapse video

Ten years ago, Twilight made the ultimate sacrifice in order to defeat Tirek. Equestria has been in a state of civil war ever since.

Canterlot has at last fallen, and the six heroes of the rebellion now go to face the ultimate challenge: defeating the godlike Twilight Sparkle. What they expect to be a brutal, hard won quest for glory and Equestria's salvation turns into something entirely different... and now they face a choice.

This story is a reaction piece against the Tyrant Sparkle trope.

Special thanks to Absolution for pre-reading and Danger Beans for proofreading.

Cover art credit: BluestreakFUS

Now with a Chinese Translation courtesy of Hellagur.

The cake twins have always been my most favorite foals in the whole wide world!

Their parents were always SOOO busy, so I constantly played with them, and entertained them. We all had fun when I was in charge!

Lately, Mrs. Cake has been feeling sick. Guess what, she BIT Mr. Cake! Can you believe that? And Mr. Cake is sick now, too! Now the foals are all scared! But as their unofficial aunt, I will protect them no matter what.

I won't let harm ever come to them.

"You" profess your love for the most beautiful mare you've ever known, but in the game of love, not everything ends happily ever after.

I suppose I should give some explanation for this story...
It's not meant to be taken too seriously. I would describe it as a parody of happy-go-lucky second person fics but with a serious tone. I never expected this story to end up as heavy as it is, and I think that will cause people to miss the purpose of this story.
In short, it's a response to second person fics rather than one in itself. When I say "response," I don't mean I'm mocking them. I'm commenting on the typical scenario most have.

Gilda, the High Queen of the Griffon Kingdom, the Restorer of Griffonstone, receives Princess Twilight Sparkle of Equestria. This first diplomatic meeting after decades of animosities makes her realize the price that she had to pay to see her nation rise to its former glory.

It all came down to a choice between two great treasures.

After Derpy is late home several nights in a row, Dinky makes a sad discovery about why her mother works so hard. Being the clumsiest pony in town can be a costly problem, but Dinky wants to help fix things for her Mommy.

What should have been a good day got a bit crazy. Now everything is fine and everypony should be happy, right?

Then, why is Twilight crying?

We hadn't needed the Elements of Harmony in a long time.
And she hadn't needed me even longer.

Things have fallen apart for Applejack. Her friends have moved on with their lives and the love of her life went with them. When she finally tries to patch things up, she realizes she may have waited too long.

[Cover art credits to the wonderful WhiteDiamondsLtd! Click the picture to take you to her DeviantART. I only added the text]

A monologue of King Sombra, from the time he was trapped in the ice of the Equestrian Arctic.

For EQD's Flash Fanfiction Event #3 - "Write a fic celebrating the fathers in the series." I might've stretched the term "father" a tad, but whatever.

Ditzy Doo always had problems with her eyes being 'derpy', but she never let that come between her and the light of the world...until now.