To save her sister and her faithful student, Celestia herself must travel into the ancient tunnels beneath the ruined castle in the Everfree Forest. She, and the guards who accompany her, must face the dark, twisting corridors. Still, what was Luna and Twilight's purpose at the old castle? Why were they unable to return of their own accord?

And what watches Celestia from beyond the light's edge?

There was more to Rain Shine than anyone can believe. Not even her closest knew of what she’s done in the past. The Curse of Silence she forced upon her people was only one of the bad choices she’s made in her life. But she’s too terrified of herself to reveal what she’s done and let go of the past. She’s even too scared to go Nirik. But why? What has she done to have all of this weight on her shoulders? No one may know... That is, until a certain blue ram comes into her life.
What will happen when the Demon of Tambelon is forced to stay with the Kirin Tribe? Will the Queen of Silence be able to see through the beast and find his broken heart? Or is she meant to fall deeper into the Lake of Misery along with the Father of Monsters?

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Contains: Canon Divergence, Slow Burn, Elements of ASPD, Mentions of Blood, Gore, and Trauma

Cover Art made by Rockformed
Links:
https://www.deviantart.com/rockformed
https://rockformed.tumblr.com/

Edit (5/21/20): Making some fixes and trying to get down the full story.

Twilight Sparkle rules Equestria as the new sole monarch.
Three years have passed since her coronation and the kingdom had enjoyed a time of relative peace under her watchful eye, while she and the rest of her friends went on to live their own separate lives without losing contact or forgetting their friendship.

But even with everything running smoothly, in the world of light there will always be a shadow that lurks beneath. The ancient darkness of Equestria, which was believed to be a little more than a fairy tale and known only by those whose lifetime transcends the Two Sisters, is about to re-emerge and has found itself agents through whom to execute its will.

Will the power of friendship be enough to stop the darkness, when there is no light to take its place?

Art cover done by Sky.

After the slumber party at Rarity's, the humane 5 are shocked to discover that the pictures that were taken during the slumber party have been posted on Anon-A-Miss's page for the whole school to see. pictures that were taken using Sunset's phone.

Naturally the girls assumed that Sunset was Anon-A-Miss and when she didn't show up at School it further proved her guilt. But when they visited her apartment using the spare key Sunset gave Rainbow Dash in case of an emergency, they discover a very ill Sunset resting on her bed.

Pushing their anger aside to aid their sick friend the girls soon discover that Sunset is not Anon-A-Miss as whoever it is made a post while they were watching Sunset.

Now as they figure out who Anon-A-Miss could be, Sunset's fever continues to get worse and when her body starts flashing red, they realize that whatever Sunset has is beyond their world's ability to treat.

Celestia is far from an ordinary filly. The wings on her back and horn on her head have made that quite clear. In the corrupt, poverty-ridden world of steam and grime that she calls home, judgement against alicorns is swift and final by order of the Lord of Chaos that ponies have learned to worship.

The road to safety is far from welcoming, and fate has greater ambitions in mind than freedom for Equestria's last surviving alicorns.

(A steampunk-ish interpretation of Celestia's origin story and Equestria's historical past. Book One of a planned Three) Special thanks to Ice Star for prereading and editing help

Sunset Shimmer has hated Cadance since before they even met. After working her tail off for so many years as Princess Celestia's personal protégé, striving for perfection and aiming to eventually earn a royal title of her own, to have some random, two-bit nopony fall out of the sky and steal her crown felt like a kick to the horn.

So you can imagine Sunset's absolute delight when Princess Celestia assigns her to be Cadance's private magic tutor.

While at first it seems like some cruel punishment, Sunset quickly sees a golden opportunity. If she does this right, she might stand to gain far more than a mere grade.

The bamboo forest, a quiet haven for Rush the reed worker. His quiet life of self imposed isolation comes to an end one night when he goes to investigate unusual noises near his home. There, half covered in the first snow fall of the winter, he finds the still form of one who will change his life forever.

Edited by JBL

Twilight Sparkle is accepted into Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns and gets a little more than what she bargained for.

Illustrated by me.

(If you object to swearing, please skip chapter 6. That's the one chapter that bumps this story straight up to a Teen rating.)

Rainbow Dash usually had her head in the clouds, but she always thought she knew up from down. When an incredible revelation sends her life into a tailspin, she finds herself at the mercy of emotions she never thought she had, faced with hard questions and impossible choices.

Life is full of changes, but none of them are quite as disturbing as having a horn pop out of your skull…

Original Lauren Faust canon; non-alicorn Twilight, non-alicorn Cadance, no ascension. Diverges from the cartoon after season 3, with nods to later continuity wherever possible. Contains mature themes.

Princess Celestia has returned from a diplomacy mission with the Changelings, and she has a big surprise. She and Queen Chrysalis have fallen for each other and are now a couple. Cadence, more than a little distraught over what has transpired, plans to separate the two and prove that Chrysalis is still the evil enemy she was at the Royal Wedding.

Sequel: To Cast the Doubt Away