Heavy is the head that bears the crown. Light is the heart that shares its burdens.

Historian’s Note: The Tarnished Crown occurs three weeks before the events in the Season 4 Finale, Twilight’s Kingdom.

Cast: Rarity & Twilight Sparkle
Introducing: Amber Spark

Cover Art: Little-Tweenframes (SciSetDaily)
Rarity Header & Section Breaks Design: Novel Idea
Rarity Cutie Mark: Black-Gryph0n (Yes, that BlackGryp0n)

Beta Reader & Editor Credits
Ebon Quill - Audio Director & Quest Designer on The Manehattan Project
Little Tinker - Master of Systems at Poniverse & Scripting Engineer on The Manehattan Project
Beltorn - Commenter-at-Large on FimFiction
Cursori: Reader of Many a Pony Word
Monochromatic - Patron Saint of RariTwi

Word Count: 11,000 Words
Version: 2.6

Twilight has been alone for a long time. She's not sure how long anymore, but the color of the sun is giving her some ideas.

Twilight stopped dreaming a long time ago, but she is now plagued by visions. Visions of the past. Visions of the worst moments of her life.

Twilight is feeling really annoyed right now.

Edited by the amazing NameGoesHere.

Reading by S Ninja

Partially inspired by It's Such a Beautiful Day by Don Hertzfeldt, if only because it put me in the mental state to write this.

There are no new cadets being trained, the big annual Wonderbolts party extravaganza isn't until this weekend, and Spitfire will only be away from the Academy for three days.

Fleetfoot is definitely ready for this responsibility.

Except she's not.

Somepony is totally getting fired.

Spanish Translation from Spaniard Kiwi!
Featured on Equestria Daily!
Apparently hit the feature box for like twenty minutes!
JohnPerry confirms: is a fic!
You Might Like This--May 2015 Spotlight!
Featured in EFNW's Fanfic Spotlight #34!

Luna and Celestia are not like you and I, or at least that is what we tell ourselves. They do not talk to those such as us, who are mere mortals who quickly pass on by them. At least, that's what we tell ourselves. Until one day, my Lady spoke to me.

I will never forget that night. Even though I want to forget it.

Edited by the ever lovely MaskedFerret.

Heiress Lucy Burdock knows life has a way of surprising you.

For example, she wasn't expecting a little pink pony for her birthday. She certainly didn't expect it to start talking, either. It was cute at first, but it kinda feels more like taking care of a little kid than a pony. Lucy's never really been great with kids... but she can make it work!

Can't she?

2nd Place in EQD's More Most Dangerous Game contest

After her little magic trick at the Fall Formal, Sunset Shimmer is not having the best night, and it's about to get worse: Principal Celestia just found out that Sunset has been living in the school clock tower. Now she has nowhere to live, and who's going to take in a teenager with personal issues that include recent demonic possession? No one normal, obviously.

But... maybe someone with a mohawk, a house full of creepy masks, and blue eyes that seem to see more than words -- or rhymes-- can say.

Winner of the Writeoff Association's February WriteOff, "Look, I Can Explain."

When I first met Princess Twilight, she was confused, lost. Adrift in an alien world. I thought of her as a rich eccentric, certainly a foreigner. I humored her as much as I believed her, really. Even when she dragged me to the very ends of the world in her mad quest for a mythic well, I really did it all for her. I figured it would help her find some closure, and we could go home.

I was right, in a way.

Based roughly on the game 80 Days.

Crime was easy before Princess Twilight and the First Five ushered in a golden age of Harmony. Back then, any idiot could plan a robbery, just like any rat could sneak through the cracks in wooden granary walls. But now that everything is cloudstone and clearsteel, with magical countermeasures over the few remaining holes, it takes a different breed of rat to survive.

"Slippery" Jimmy the Grey is one of the rare few ponies who can still slip through the cracks — even with the legendary Rainbow Corps on his tail. Now he's got a billion-bit heist planned in the gleaming skyscrapers of Cloudsdale. If only he hadn't made the mistake of stealing from a dragon …

Now with a reading by Illya Leonov and Scribbler!

* * *

This is a crossover with Harry Harrison's Stainless Steel Rat novels, but it assumes no knowledge of the series.

Winner of February's Writeoff Association competition! * Featured by Equestria Daily! * Featured by Seattle's Angels!

REVIEWS: "Highly Recommended" by Titanium Dragon; "Recommended" by Present Perfect; rated "Why Haven't You Read This Yet?" by PaulAsaran

WORD OF MOUTH:
"The Iridescent Iron Rat was not only my favorite story from the most recent writeoff... it's my favorite story of anything I've read in months." —Sharp Spark

"What a ride it is. This story is made of awesome moments." —Casca, Seattle's Angels

"[A]stounding on so many levels. … If there’s one story from this round you have to pick, make it this one." —Corejo, Seattle's Angels

"Absolutely beautifully done. It fits the style and feel of the books to a perfect T." —Themaskedferret

My name is Sunburst, and I live my life alone, because I prefer it that way.

Not everypony does.

For some ponies, in fact, that's more like a long slow death sentence.

I've received orders to a posting as a royal guard. My duty as a member of the guard is to protect the princess. Traditionally, that's taken to mean against physical threats. Less traditionally, I'm coming to a realization that it may mean assisting in other ways - maybe even in ways she's not aware that she needs. Normally I would say it's not our place to intervene in personal matters. But when you see as plain as the hoof in front of your face that something is wrong, sometimes it finally brings you to the point at which standing by and doing nothing is simply no longer an option.

Day by day, I'm getting closer to that point.

I may have to make a hard decision. I don't know if this is right or wrong. All I know is that watching my princess suffer is impossible to bear when I'm supposed to be protecting her.

Approved by Twilight's Library on July 26, 2014!
Featured on Equestria Daily on February 5, 2015!

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."]