On the Night Mare's Night, Archdruid Twilight Sparkle prays to her goddess, and, for the first time, her goddess answers.

Unfortunately, matters are never quite that simple when one is dealing with a being of power beyond mortal comprehension.

Entry for the Second TwiLuna Contest

Thanks to Obselescence for his help.

For one thousand years, Nightmare Moon wandered the moon, seeking perfection.

She found only dust.

Now on Equestria Daily!

Now in Russian! ...Twice!

Entry for The Writeoff Association's first writeoff: Lonely Happiness.
Special thanks to Cassius Littner and SpaceCommie for their proofreading/editing assistance.

Luna has now become her own mare

Cadence has become a beautiful princess in her own right

Twilight has grown up and graduated.

Celestia now begins to wonder about her own life and if she is still needed to be there for the younger generation and if they still need her to guide them.

Princess Celestia has watched Twilight grow, develop, and endure. Twilight has exceeded her expectations each and every time, and now she's enjoying a productive life full of joy and wonder. As far as Celestia is concerned, their studies together ended quite some time ago. But there's still one thing she'd like for her learn, something she can't exactly teach.

Twilight Sparkle calls upon a genie. The process is mired in rules, but she won't let that stop her. With the genie's power, she could change the world. She has until moon-rise to make her wish.

Rules provide structure and order. Rules offer reliability and build society. Rules are boundaries that we live within, but rules can be broken. Sometimes, we have to break the rules to do what is right.

But some rules can't be broken.

Sometimes, rules are shackles.

Featured on Equestria Daily.

Dramatic Reading

Can you ever truly know somepony, no matter how close they are to you? When a neighboring monarch and friend of Celestia's nears the end, she and her faithful student embark on a journey to seek the aid of those who reside in the lands far beyond Equestrian borders.

Twilight and Celestia only ever wanted to understand what's going on, and to return to their normal lives. But, when they look to solve the greatest riddle ever told, the answers they find... Might not be the ones they seek.

Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns is famous across Equestria as a center of academic excellence. Only the best and brightest unicorns are offered places, selected by their academic merit, magical ability and passion for study. To make the admissions process as fair and reliable as possible, all candidates are given three exams by different teams of examiners, who then meet in private to decide which students are most deserving of a place.

Winner of the December 2014 Writeoff competition: Behind Closed Doors.

Twilight copes.

For centuries, ponykind thought Princess Platinum's splendorous silver crown lost for all time, but it has been found. Twilight Sparkle, the self-proclaimed Princess of Thieves, has tracked it down to the long-fallen Diamond Dog kingdom of Erebark, and means to enter the mountain to retrieve her kin's lost heirloom and settle scores with Princess Celestia.

Unfortunately, there are one or two details she didn't realize going into this mess. Namely, that she'll need to steal from the gilded gallery of one of the mightiest dragons ever to walk the land.

Oops.

Preread by RossbyWaves, Cynewulf, Timaeus, Undome Tinwe, Brasta Septim, and Beltorn.
Special thanks to the aforementioned six for enabling and encouraging this story, along with a few other friends in the most exalted and dedicated purple girlfriends chat server.
Artwork brilliantly done by Lilfunkman.

Failing once in her attempt to take Canterlot and failing again in her attempt to take down Twilight, one would think Chrysalis would have cut her losses and let things be, but the queen has once again appeared, this time in broad daylight with no disguise and no army. Her weapon of choice? Diplomacy.

Now Twilight is having to deal with the changeling queen, but surely putting up with her antics will be worth the knowledge she's willing to provide about her mysterious race and the potential undiscovered agents still within their midst...right?

Takes place before Magical Mystery Cure and diverges from there.

With thanks to MisterGunpowder for proofreading and editing.

Revision History:

05/09/2015: Chapter 1 updated with millions of little corrections.
05/20/2015: Chapter 2 revised and edited with another million small and large corrections.
06/12/2015: Chapter 3 given a thorough editing and revision.
06/23/2015: Chapter 4 taken to the gutter and edited twice to be sure.
07/14/2015: Chapter 5 thoroughly brutalized with the editing stick.
08/03/2016: Chapter 6 finally edited. Yes, I'm still alive, dammit.
09/29/2016: Chapter 7 fell out of the editing tree and hit every editing branch on the way down.
10/26/2016: Chapter 8 has emerged from the editing emergency room.
11/17/2016: Chapter 9 found and edited. No casualties reported.
11/30/2016: Chapter 10 treated for whiplash after lightning fast editing.
12/22/2016: Chapter 11 edited. Chrysalis shot first.
01/17/2017: Epilogue edited. Time to hit the cider.