Ten years ago, Twilight made the ultimate sacrifice in order to defeat Tirek. Equestria has been in a state of civil war ever since.

Canterlot has at last fallen, and the six heroes of the rebellion now go to face the ultimate challenge: defeating the godlike Twilight Sparkle. What they expect to be a brutal, hard won quest for glory and Equestria's salvation turns into something entirely different... and now they face a choice.

This story is a reaction piece against the Tyrant Sparkle trope.

Special thanks to Absolution for pre-reading and Danger Beans for proofreading.

Cover art credit: BluestreakFUS

Now with a Chinese Translation courtesy of Hellagur.

Twilight was supposed to gather the Elements of Harmony the way Princess Celestia planned it: meet the embodiments of the Elements while running errands in Ponyville, team up with them, discover the meaning of friendship, and then defeat Nightmare Moon. It was all so simple.

Too bad she really underestimated Twilight's ability to screw things up.

Additional Character Tags: Octavia, Nightmare Moon, Princess Celestia, Shining Armor, Princess Cadance

Edited by WorkbenchManiac: chapter 7-25, 27 onwards
Edited by docontra: chapter 26 onwards

After the defeat of Tirek, Equestria is safe once more, but Luna can sense that her sister is troubled. When Celestia retreats to the starry realm of ascension in order to look upon the past, Luna joins her to discover what is bothering her.

There is now a Spanish translation of this story, courtesy of Spaniard Kiwi

Cadance and Night Light share a pleasant conversation in a café. Everything somehow manages to get really weird, really fast.

Proofread by Octavia Harmony and Selbi.

When Maud Pie officially endorses the latest party game to hit Equestria, Pinkie can't wait to share it with her friends.

For all the wrong reasons, it's a game they won't soon forget.

The trendsetter so controversial, 60% of FimFic's mods ruthlessly crushed the subsequent bandwagon!

Stuff said about CAE:
"I never knew I wanted this until now!" - Xomniac
"Despite your vileness, I can't stop laughing at this fic!" - Professor Tactitus
"Illuminati confirmed." - AlesFlamas
"So weird, I reviewed it twice!" - John Perry

Rated Teen, but brace yourselves for some rather 'near-the-knuckle' humour and strong-ish sexual references. Oh my.

Edited by Kolth

Octavia is in jail and waiting to be bailed out. The good news is she has a friend who is willing to come bail her out. The bad news is that the prim and proper Octavia is not going to get out without a little teasing.

I have heard ponies say that living so long would be a curse. That it is a burden. That it can break a pony's mind. There is some truth to that. It can be hard to know that you'll always be left behind as others pass on. However, that is not the whole truth, I am also blessed. I have an opportunity to see history play out in front of me and tell future generations of the ponies behind the legends.

In audio form: http://youtu.be/mTGMfwcAcwQ

At Celestia's behest, Twilight Sparkle arrives in Ponyville to prepare for the Summer Sun Celebration, and potentially the return of Nightmare Moon.

Her preparations will be anything but easy. The stallions in charge of the festivities all seem to have taken a "romantic" interest in her, and every one of them is terrible at flirting. Really terrible. Really.

T for innuendo/creepy behavior. Thanks to Sereg for prereading and to Midnight Rambler for helping with the first draft song sequence. Thanks to Posey, Jetto, Blank!, and Kuroi Tsubasa Tenshi for editing (Plus three other anons who didn't give me their fimfic names). Especial thanks to whatmustido and ocalhoun for nitpicking the hell out of this mess.

All-mare version
All-stallion version
Stallion Twilight/mare main five version
The password for the FIMfic versions is: TUSH
(Every version is essentially identical, save character gender. Comments are enabled on the Gdocs if you notice any typos )

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.

Our six heroes decide to settle down for the night with a few bottles of their choice beverage and a few hands of poker.

The night was going so well until Rarity decided to wager her virginity.

Now she's desperate to get it back.

(Formerly known as Rarity Loses Her Virginity in a Poker Game. The author's artistic integrity was long gone by the time of writing this.)

Special thanks to Blue_Paladin42.