This is the story of the end. This is the story of the death of Equestria. It is the story of the reign of her royal majesty, Princess Twilight Sparkle of the Fading Sun.

The alicorn sisters are dead and Equestria has turned to Twilight Sparkle to guide it. However, just maintaining a dim sun a fraction as bright as her mentor's keeps the new princess near her limits.

Years have passed and Twilight Sparkle is sure of only one thing. Equestria is dying.

NOTE: Written before "It's about Time" in season 2. Everything after "Read it and Weep" was ignored throughout this story.

Many years after sending her beloved protege to Ponyville, unease sits heavily on Princess Celestia's heart as her relationship with Twilight Sparkle seems to have cooled despite all they've accomplished together. On the advice of her sister, Celestia sets out to investigate and resolve the lost connection with her most faithful student. What does it mean to be a Faithful Student...or a Princess of the Sun?

Earned a six-star rating on Equestria Daily and featured on its very own TVTropes page!.

Principal Celestia always has wings in her dreams.

They got her into trouble, once. She let herself believe that they meant she was an angel. Then she grew up, and learned some hard lessons about what being an angel really required.

Now six magical girls have just fought a demon in front of her school. And her phantom wings are itching.

Her life is turning upside down ... and she hasn't even heard about Equestria yet.

Rated Highly Recommended (Top 15 Stories Sitewide) by Present Perfect! "It's f**king flawless, you guys. … The first [6]00-word chapter by itself is a masterpiece."

"Literally the single best EqG story on the site." —Professor Plum
"[One] of the best stories on the site, period." —Pearple Prose
"One of my all-time favorite pieces of fanfiction." –brokenimage321
"My favorite EQG fic of absolute all." -Skywriter

Rated Why Haven't You Read This Yet? by PaulAsaran! "I might have been skeptical going in, but horizon knocked it out of the park."

Rated 5/5 by csquared08! "The opening chapter here was truly something else. ... Then I hit the end of chapter 3. holy crap."

Rated ★★★★ by Louder Yay! "A lesser writer might have made a horrible, cliché-ridden mess of this story, but fortunately horizon is not a lesser writer. For a start, it's by some distance the best portrayal of the human world's Celestia I've read."

Third place in the "Under the Sun" June 2017 Writeoff!  (That first draft has been revised and expanded for FIMFiction.) Praise for the Writeoff version:

"Holy cow ... That's how you write an EqG fanfic! You captured the heart and SOUL of this/your version of Principal Celestia, wrapped it up in bi-universal consistency, and sold me on an idea of redemption I didn't even know I needed." —Xepher

"This is gorgeous. A thorough, exhaustive, incredibly moving portrait of a character who I don't think I've ever seen get quite this much development or attention." —Posh

"This is actually, after all these years, an original take on a story on Luna's banishment. If that's not something to be celebrated I don't know what is." —Quill Scratch, Radio Writeoff

MORE REVIEWER PRAISE: Rated "Definitely Read" by Super Trampoline! Reviewed by City of Doors! Reviewed by Titanium Dragon! Featured on Equestria Daily!

Rated T for brief cursing and alcohol use. Cover art by Seniloko, used under Creative Commons license.

Translations:

中文 - 行政天使

The Princesses find an alien creature barely clinging to life at the scene of a terrifying crash. Can the Combined Power of the Elements of Harmony save it, or more importantly, should they save it? Will the arrival of this strange creature tear Equestria apart?

TV Tropes
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/FanFic/Article2

"My name is Lyra Heartstrings, and you will not remember me. You won't even remember this conversation. Just like with everypony else I've ever met, everything I do or say will be forgotten. Every letter I've written will appear blank; every piece of evidence I've left behind will end up missing. I'm stuck here in Ponyville because of the same curse that has made me so forgettable. Still, that doesn't stop me from doing the one thing that I love: making music. If my melodies find their way into your heart, then there is still hope for me. If I can't prove that I exist, I can at least prove that my love for each and every one of you exists. Please, listen to my story, my symphony, for it is me."

Cover pic by Spotlight: askspotlight.tumblr.com

Hi, my name's Nightingale and I think my Mommy's the best Mommy in the world. She doesn't just have one face, but many. And she always saves the very best face just for me.

Mommy has a great big list of ponies that hurt her before she adopted me. I really hope she gets to meet them all again. To make them apologize.

Artwork by LaurenMagpie.

Love is one feeling that can never be taken from someone's heart. No matter how many years of separation, no matter what wrongs were done in the past, no matter how much enmity exists between two ponies, love will always stand; at least that's what Nightmare Moon is hoping for. 700 years ago was the last time she had seen her sister Celestia, and her departing words had simply been 'I love you'. Now, after so long, Nightmare Moon's heart longs for its other half; and thus, she has brought Celestia back from the far away, magically void lands she cast her to so long ago. Now, she wonders if her sister will ever find it in her heart to forgive her for what she's done, and if their lives together can ever resume as they once had.

Takes place 300 years before when Luna would have returned from her banishment to the moon, and takes place in a universe where Nightmare Moon was never banished in the first place.

TVTropes Page!
Thanks everyone for getting the story to the feature box! (12/10/16)
This is now my 1st story to have broken 200 likes! Thank you all so much!
SPOILERS IN THE COMMENTS

Twilight was always fated to be the savior of Equestria, along with her friends. But fate can be so easily altered. What happens in one alternate realm when instead of marrying a unicorn, Twilight's mother had instead married an earth pony, resulting in her daughter being hornless? Without her magic, Twilight's future and destiny are far less certain, as is the destiny of all of Equestria.

However, destiny is not so easily set off course. When the princess of the night returns, can one little earth pony hope to be the one to help her damaged heart?

Now with a TV tropes page! Thanks to redandready45.

You remember Canterlot. You remember the taste of victory. Across a thousand years and a hundred lives, it was the greatest joy you had ever felt.

And then, in a flash of heat and unbearable light, it ended.

Now you are alone. The rest of your kind are dead or scattered, and you cannot hear their thoughts.

There is a void inside you. A gnawing, endless hunger you cannot escape. It is killing you.

You need love to survive, but there is none of that here. Not for you. You can only steal it from them, these ponies for whom we are hungry.

[My entry in and winner of the "Most Dangerous Game" contest."]

No one alive today can say where she came from; simply that she has always been there.

And yet, few ponies have had a greater impact on Princess Celestia's life than Raven, her most faithful aide.

Inspired by and based off of a headcanon put forth by Heir-of-Rick, though perhaps a bit less insidious than what he had in mind. He very kindly provided an alternate version of his image for me to use as my cover image! Text added by me.

All comments and criticism very welcome!

Featured in the Royal Canterlot Library! Go there to read the interview for some behind-the-scenes info on this story!

Translations: Chinese, Spanish!