The Great and Humble Trixie Lulamoon's reputation could not possibly be any worse, but that is about to change.

Following the disaster with the Alicorn Amulet, Trixie turns herself in to the authorities to account for her crimes. In penance, she is tasked by Princess Luna with the defense of Hollow Shades against a shadowy and unknown foe.

Trixie will have to draw upon every trick and every scheme she knows just to survive. And when faced with a fate worse than Death, she will have to prove there is more to her than flash and spectacle, and learn just how far her magic can go.

And learn how to Rise.

A Side-Story of The Code's Apprentice and The Code of Harmony
Many, many, Many thanks to Hooves McCoy
and The Cacophonous Muse for their aid in editing this story.

A friend notices Applejack acting odd and calls her out on it. With that prodding, our honest earth pony manages to cough up the truth to Twilight and is shocked when she is eager to try out being more than friends. Knowing they cannot put telling the others that are important to them, Applejack and Twilight are quick to make the rounds and things mostly go smoothly. In the end, things look bright for everyone.

Scootaloo's life hasn't been the easiest. Being orphaned at a young age and brought up in the foster system came with its own set of challenges, not the least of which was a lack of older pegasi around to teach her how to fly. Fortunately, Rainbow Dash can help with that. With her honorary big sister taking a more active role in her life, Scootaloo learns much more about herself than just how to fly.

A story about love, family, and growing up.

Editing by Formerly Committed and Shellsh0cker.

For as long as immortals have walked the planet they have had their own culture, rituals, and traditions. Of all these, the most sacred by far is the Bonding of Immortals, after which mortals modeled their marriages. Today Celestia and Twilight will take part in the Bonding of Immortals.

Written for the Seventh Bimonthly Twilestia Contest

This story is a sequel to Aegis of the Hive

Natural selection. It is the byword of every changeling queen who has ever lived. The chief resource that has always curbed the hives' growth used to be love. Now though, with Queen Twilight Sparkle's bloodline capable of producing love on their own, the old guard of changeling morality has seen fit to acquire this ability for the next generation before removing all of their future royal daughters' competitors.

Some queens are far closer to this goal than others.

Editor in Chief: A Bitter Pill, and Boldish42

When a dark enemy begins hunting the young wizard Twilight Sparkle, the walls of the fortress library of Candlekeep cannot protect her. Not even her mentor, the archmage Star Swirl the Bearded, can keep her safe. With a price on her head and the shadow of death on her heels, her only hope for salvation is the Magic of Friendship. Perhaps, with powerful allies at her side, she can find answers and uncover the truth about her destiny.

(This story is inspired by the Baldur's Gate CRPG series by Bioware, but you do not have to be familiar with BG to understand its events)

Featured on Equestria Daily
Cover by Bluest Ayemel
"I love this fic. Keep it up!" – Sethisto (on the EQD page)
"From it's fantastic character development of Twilight and fast pace and exciting action, The Sword Coast is an excellently written and well thought-out story." – Amy Clockwork

Side stories: Tales of the Sword Coast
Sequel: Shadows of the Crystal Empire
Warning: Comments contain spoilers. Proceed at your own risk.

Rainbow Dash is many things. Awesome, radical, amazing, and at least twenty percent cooler than any other pony in Equestria.

She is also lost, lonely and uncertain. Not that anypony else would know.

During the day she is everything everypony expects her to be: she is fast, daring, and adventurous, but when the sun goes down, she is left alone with her thoughts. Tired of simply yearning for something more, she sets out on a night of soul searching and stumbles onto a friend in need, and maybe, underneath the vanilla twilight, she finds something more.

While visiting the earth pony town of Promise, the Great and Powerful Trixie is coerced into searching for a missing foal against her own better judgment. But things are not as straightforward as they first appear. When push comes to shove, what kind of pony is Trixie at heart?

A different take on alicorn ascension. Sixteen years after arriving in Ponyville, Twilight Sparkle is excited to have invented a brand-new kind of spell, but it will come with consequences she cannot possibly anticipate. Meanwhile, threats in shadows around the world conspire to overthrow the Solar Throne. With her world turned upside down, she will have to come to terms with the role that fate has dealt her while straining to keep Celestia in power.

Now with a TVTropes page! Please show it some love! Also check out the official side stories, Designing Intrigue, and Love and Barriers! (With even more in my stories page!)

(Please Note: This story was started before any season three information was available. All episodes in season three and later are non-canon for this story, which also means there's no Crystal Empire in this one. In addition, the promotional map released close to the beginning of season three was also not available and is not compatible with this story. While the OC tag is active because there are OCs in the story, they're really just supporting characters. The focus is on Twilight.)

Also be sure to check out the Rites of Ascension Expanded Universe Group! We're working to develop the resources needed for other authors to try their hand at writing stories set in the Rites Universe!

The Book Two cover art was created by the amazing Silfoe! The original cover art can still be found at Violet Squiggle's deviantArt page.

Author's Notes, including proofreader's credits, can be found here!

"This is 100% Approved by Twilight's Library!"

With Hearth's Warming Eve just around the corner, Twilight Sparkle's followers are beginning to lose hope in one another. Supplies are low, and spirits even lower. Twilight begins to doubt herself, for how can she lead ponies if she can't even be trusted to feed them?

It will take the love of her friends, and the compassion of all those who call her their leader, to make it through this year's Hearth's Warming Eve. This winter, Twilight and her friends will realize that so long as the fires of friendship burn in their hearts, no pony will ever be cold.

Optional musical accompaniment located in first comment per chapter.