This story is a sequel to The Prankster's Gambit

Big Macintosh was a big strong earth pony stallion. 'Was' being the operative word here, as due to Poison Joke Big Mac has found himself transformed into a very different form, and must come to terms with how he feels about it...

AU in where Twilight is a dragon but still is Princess Celestia's student. Twilight has a more logical head on her shoulders and takes her job as a caretaker to Spike more seriously than canon.

motherly!Twilight, manipulative!Celestia

Idea sparked from Winter Quill's stories Growing Up With Scales and Sparkles and Scales

Cover art courtesy of Majestickfire9

Not Beta'ed, all mistakes my own. Don't like? Don't read. Cross-posted on ff.net under PlutoMilo

Now being rewritten: https://www.fimfiction.net/story/533926/the-element-of-magic

There’s no end to the monsters that lurk in the dark.

Ghosts, werewolves, mad scientists, cultists, mutants, zombies, vampires, aliens and more lie in wait in the dark corners of Equestria, terrorizing the night. But the most infamous and dangerous of them all is the legendary witch Twilight Sparkle, with a five hundred million bit bounty on her head.

Seeking fame and fortune, Rainbow Dash sets out to defeat the legendary witch and collect the massive reward. The one thing she wasn't counting on was Twilight being less evil than she expected.

More stories set in this AU can be found here.

Cover art is a work in progress by Abode_WTF

Luna used to be haunted by dark thoughts of jealousy, but it was her sister who fell to the darkness first. She declared eternal day, before she was banished by the Elements of Harmony, leaving Luna to rule over the land of Equestria, alone.

Now, almost one thousand years later, Luna has taken another personal student under her wing, one with the potential for great things. Luna knows that she will greatly change Twilight Sparkle's life, but has no idea just how greatly Twilight will change hers.

When their mother brings home an abandoned purple hatchling, and introduces him as Spike, the newest member of their family, both Garble and Smolder are more than thrilled. Garble even vows to be the best big brother he can be for Spike, no matter what he does or fails to do.

Does he really need to act like a pony?

An alternate universe where Spike is raised by Garble's family.

Featured on 2/26/2020! Thank you everyone!

Edited by VoxAdam

Cover art drawn by Doodle-Mark

Old cover art Cover Art drawn by boskocomicartist for SpikeSmolder fan, used with the commissioner's permission.

This story is a sequel to Seven of Six: A Screaming Butterfly

Twilight Sparkle is a unicorn prodigy, her special talent of magic allowing her to wield all manner of the arcane arts with ease. She is an SGU graduate, has connections with the Royal Guard, knows Princess Celestia, and is a mother to a juvenile dragon.

She's also apprenticed to Discord, Lord of Chaos and Disharmony.

And he has a mission for her. A fallen alicorn named Nightmare Moon will soon return to bring eternal night and assured death to all the world. It's up to her to retrieve the Elements of Harmony and stop her.

Join her as she explores a familiar town, befriends familiar ponies, and completes a quest that's as old as the fandom itself, but with a twist.

A retelling of the pilot episode Friendship is Magic, but set in one of Starlight's alternate timelines.

Twilight Sparkle has never seen the need to venture into the realms of Humanity, but when Pinkie Pie receives six invitations the grand opening of her sister's fine dining restaurant in Singapore, she swallows her apprehension and takes the plunge into the wondrous magical void that is the human's domain. A world of steel, glass and machines that defy the very laws of magic.

And stranger still, are the ponies that make their livelihoods amidst the madness. Pinkie's sister amongst them.

Yet, even for such a foreign land, the troubles of home are deceptively close indeed.

Twilight's fears over becoming a princess convince her to attempt a spell to glimpse the future. Unfortunately, she ends up doing a bit more than glimpsing; the spell turned out to be permanent, meaning she never returned back to her own time, and therefore didn't exist for ten full years.

Her absence caused a fall-apart of the elements of harmony, and Twilight is horrified to see how they've changed without her. She doesn't know how to teleport back, so she instead tries desperately to figure out what happened and piece everyone's lives back together.

Surrounded by the Everfree Forest, filled with delinquents, devoid of morals and any real sources of magic, Ponyville is the worst place to live in all of Equestria. But it also has the cheapest rent and Twilight's life just collapsed to the point where she can't afford to live anywhere else.

Perhaps the only thing Twilight has going for her now is that Rarity, the most powerful pony in town, has taken a liking to her. Rarity is eloquent, but the leader of a gang. She's beautiful and intriguing, but the most irreverent and delinquent pony Twilight has ever met. Rumors swirl around her. Some ponies even say she and her entire gang are all vampires.

But Twilight is smart enough to not give in to temptations. Or join a gang. Or become a vampire.

Twilight Sparkle's wildest dreams have just been met, and exceeded. Due to an unexpected magical outburst during her entrance exam to Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns, the Solar Princess herself took an interest and took Twilight on as her personal student.

This was a pleasant shock for Twilight and her family. However, a few months later, a less pleasant shock would reach Twilight in the form of Celestia returning to Canterlot with a new daughter, a freshly adopted pegasus filly named Rainbow Dash. As the two get to know each other, Twilight can clearly see something eating at the self absorbed and competitive filly's mind.

To make matters even more confusing, Princess Celestia is now hiding something. Twilight dares not question it, but it is quite clear that Celestia isn't being wholly open with anypony about her decision to adopt some random orphan.

Could the answers have something to do with the cryptic dream Twilight had the night before she met Rainbow Dash?

**Apparently, this was featured on August 12th, but I slept through that brief window. All the same, I am flabbergasted and humbled!**

Cover Art by the wonderfully skilled Novaintellus

Now with a TV Tropes Page.