When Celestia went on sabbatical into the west, she promised Twilight it would be only a couple of months. A year and a half later, the sun resists control, the country is in ruins, and her teacher is lost in the wilds. Twilight has become the apostate, her faith in her teacher and her teachings waning. In the wake of tragedy, her resentment blossoms into fury and she vows that something must be done. Shadows gather around Canterlot, and old things that should not have been awakened are on the move. The Student goes west, her hope restored by friendship and righteous fury.

The night, at long last, is passing.

It's morning in the human world, and Sunset wants to show Twilight something before the sun comes up.

6/20/2016: Now with cover art designed by the very generous Novel-Idea! Thank you so much!

Rainbow Dash can’t wait for her first date with Applejack; they always have an awesome time hanging out, and a relationship just means there are even more physical activities they can try together. So when the dumb zap apple harvest postpones their date, she decides it’s the zap apples that are going to have to change their plans. Equestria should know by now that wild, ancient magic is no match for Rainbow Dash, especially when she might get laid.

Everything is going according to plan, until she crashes. Or, rather, until she wakes up after crashing and fifteen years have gone by. Fifteen years during which she seems to have been a very busy pony.

Now Rainbow Dash has to adjust to a life she never thought she wanted, and figure out if she’ll ever get to live the life that brought her here.

Update: Proofreading and formatting by RBDash47

Written for the AppleDash Group Contest prompts "Family" and "An Important or Memorable Date."
Cover art by SketchyJackie

When Luna asked Twilight for help adapting to the modern Equestrian language, Twilight was quick to agree. She was happy to call Luna her friend, but royal duties between the both of them typically dictated that their visits were few and far between, and any opportunity to see the Lunar diarch on a less formal basis was okay in her books. Helping Luna understand the convoluted idioms Equestrians love to create seemed like great fun anyway. She just... She hadn't expect Luna to be that out of date. Fortunately, Twilight's not a pony to back away from a challenge, and a vintage bottle of Manehattan Vintage Marelot is all the reinforcement she needs to enjoy giving the lessons and ignore the inevitable headaches to follow.

Originally written for the TwiLuna prompt collab, but I decided to expand it to its own story (also, the collab was dead).

Huge thanks goes out to my awesome proofreader Absolution for putting up with my shit and arguing with me over a lot of things. Even if we ended up not agreeing on most things, those discussions led to a lot of different changes which this story is very much the better for.

~sex tag to be safe, nothing really explicit

Coverart from illuminatiums.

Featured on the 12th of May :D

Things have been going pretty well for Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship, lately. She's been resolving friendship problems left and right, and even Rainbow Dash has gotten in on the action, helping Twilight perpetuate her mad schemes (or just outright overriding them). As bold as Twilight has been, though, there are some lines she won't cross, even in the name of helping a friend.

Or she wouldn't, until now. Seeing Rainbow Dash's boldness in handling problems has inspired Twilight to bring her schemes to the next level, weaving a scheme of political intrigue, betrayal, forgiveness, pie, heartbreak, and oxford commas.

This insanity can be read on its own, or you can see the stories that led up to this tragic conclusion:

Librarian Twilight Sparkle: Tutor of the CMC

Librarian Twilight's Plan Gets Bodychecked By Rainbow Dash

(Cover image came off of My Little Face When. Source unknown.)

Featured on Equestria Daily!

I, The Great and Powerful Trixie, have been reduced to performing magic tricks in a Trottingham tavern. One would think I'd never sink this low, but it's not as bad as it could be. The food is good, the beds are soft, and the company plentiful. The only problem? I'm stuck here until I earn enough bits to buy another caravan so I can get back on the road where I belong.

So imagine my delight when one evening, a conpony walks through the door and starts cheating at cards. It was a golden opportunity: a chance to line my purse, play the heroine, and teach an amateur magician a thing or two about misdirection.

I had a perfect plan. My only mistake was getting a friend involved.

Two passengers on a train ride toward an uncertain future. One is a pony. The other only pretends to be.

Sex is tame and non-explicit. Don't be afraid to read.

Written expressly for Equestria Daily's Outside Insight Summer Fanfiction Contest.

Now with a dramatic reading by Illya Leonov!

Russian translation courtesy of Arsus.
Chinese translation courtesy of viczhn.
French translation courtesy of BroNie.

Inspired by the artwork of RubleGun and Raddjuret. Musical accompaniment by Patrick Poe.

Featured at Equestria Daily and the Royal Canterlot Library.

Reader Testimonials

"Vinyl + Octavia is one of the fandom's most cliché and mismatched pairs, and yet this is a real romance with genuine depth and emotion." - horizon
"Holy shit this is impressive. Like... Holy shit, man." - Skeeter The Lurker
"You have crafted something wonderful here, a true gem. You should be proud." - Illya Leonov
"Note that I hate this ship when I say this is far and away the best ScratchTavia I've ever read." - PresentPerfect
"Fuuuuck it's so good!" - Luminary

Rainbow Dash closed her eyes, trying to think about anything but the straps that bound her to the wooden board. She cracked one eye open just enough to see Applejack, smiling mouth full of the knives that would soon be racing though the air towards her. The things some ponies will do for love...

Sunset Shimmer's life has been on the up and up. She turned from her past, made new friends, and is now passing the magic of friendship to others, including this world's Twilight Sparkle.

Which is why, of course, this is all just a mistake. Things got a little out of hand, but it's over now. So now they can just move past this. Why, it'll be a funny story to tell in a few months.

------

Special thanks to the following:

SoloBrony, for being who he is.

CarcinoGeneticist, for his charitable contribution cleaning up the grammar.

Nadnerb who along with Solobrony convinced me to work toward publishing this stuff, even when I didn't want to.

And Skeeter the Lurker, Tourquillian, Nyerguds, and Prane for arguing in the Gdoc about what worked and what didn't.

The catalyst for, but not part of, The Shelf Cleaning Intiative

Now has a spiritual sister story in So You've Just Seduced Your Best Friend. For more details on that, check here.

Rainbow Dash has become quite the mare since joining the 'Bolts. Brave, loyal, charming, and the fastest flier in all of Equestria to boot, and Spitfire would be lying if she said she didn't admire that and didn't find that more a little attractive.

Not that she has a crush or anything.

So after a good night out on the town, Spitfire decides to make an offer to Rainbow Dash to do something special. It's an offer Dash can't really refuse.

Unfortunately there are a couple factors Spitfire didn't account for.

A story of sex, friendship, small talk, and aggressive awkwardness.

Gracious thanks to CarcinoGeneticist for his proofreading support.

Part of the Shelf Cleaning Initiative