Twilight is invited to Canterlot to compete with some of the greatest magicians in the world for the Moonstone Cup, a prestigious award for the most powerful and skillful magicians, unicorn and otherwise. Can she win? What sort of competition will she face?

Awesome cover image was taken from NoOneBahtim

Princess Twilight Sparkle discovers a centuries-old mystery hidden in the Royal Archives. Her investigation leads through layer after layer of deception and misdirection, setting her hooves on a path that seems to be leading to a mysterious secret. Along the way, she learns that some friendships can be very, very strange.

Book 1 of the Alicorn Adventure series.

AUDIOBOOK by VisualPony
Featured at the Royal Canterlot Library
TV Tropes Page (Courtesy of Sandtalon)
Goodreads Page (Courtesy of Facedeer)
Equestria Daily Page

WARNING: Major spoilers in the comments. Takes place several months after the end of season four. (Not a Da Vinci Code crossover, BTW!)

Do you see a dark tag? No, you don't. Not dark. Well, okay, there are a couple of dark-ish bits, but that's all. Not enough to warrant a tag. Speaking of tags, there really ought to be "Badass Twilight" and "Friendshipping" ones.

Sequels and side-stories (and more) can be found here Offprint and AO3, and a hardbound two-volume set of all that can be ordered from The Ministry of Image.

My editor for the first edition of this story was Gogito, and I can't thank him enough for all the hard work he did. My editor for the revised version was PresentPerfect, and he did a terrific job of getting the story into excellent shape.

Equestria is a land of magic and harmony, a peaceful realm ruled by immortal and benevolent monarchs. At what cost is this possible?

Following the discovery of a strange and powerful device, Twilight Sparkle is whisked away to the edges of a land she thought she knew so well. Here, surrounded by ponies whose very existences have been kept secret, she must contend with vicious enemies, hostile allies, and the truth.

Chapters 1-16 edited by KiltedKey

Training Session
We all knew Twilight Sparkle was a powerful sorceress, but none of us had ever realised just how powerful she truly was. It is no underestimation if somepony said that she’d be able to challenge an immortal to a battle and come out as the victor. The possibility was there, of that there was no doubt, the only thing that was needed for her to actually defeat an immortal, such as myself, was for her to realise her full potential, for her to realise just how much power was stored in that small body of hers

"...we could be stuck doing this for all eternity!" Twilight said.
"That's fine with me!" Starlight responded.
Starlight never thought that Twilight was actually being serious.

What would have happened if Starlight hadn't turned herself over to Twilight? If she rejected friendship, even after being given a chance to come back?

Starlight Glimmer is strong. She always has been. She always will be.
But Twilight wants that to change.

Thousands of years after Equestria has been reduced to a barren wasteland, an empress returns to the home she failed to protect to face the ghosts of her past.

Twilight casts a new spell labeled as a "pick-me-up" that, among other things, gives her the ability to smell color and causes her to lose all meaning of the words "personal space."

Now with an audio reading by Scribbler. Check it out.

Bat Ponies have returned to Equestria following the return of Princess Luna from her 1000 year banishment.

While most of Equestria is slow to trust these strange night worshipping creatures, for one pony, it represents a perfect new avenue of study.

When a Bat Pony comes to live in Ponyville, Twilight jumps at the chance to ask him a few questions. What she didn't expect was the condition that came with those questions: That she let him take her out to dinner first.

Just a quick little story that kept on growing as it developed. The story was inspired by, and based off of a sketch image originally drawn by Jaxonian which was put up for adoption into a story.

Contains a small amount of blood towards the end of the story. Teen rating because of that.

Now with an audio reading by Scribbler. Check it out.

My unicorn parents called me a worthless mud pony. They pushed me every day to overcome my lowly status. When I woke up one morning with my cutie mark, I thought they would love me. I couldn’t have been farther from the truth.

It was not destiny or enjoyment that led me to discover the cello and composing. My parents made that decision, deciding before I was born I would continue their family legacy of famous musicians.

They did not realize what that decision would cost them.

Special Thanks and Links:

Cover Art: Dreampaw. The inspiration for the story.
Dramatic reading of Act I-III by Malao567. June 2013
Reading with music by ObabScribbler. June 2014
Song: Hooks and Strings by Reverb Brony. May 2014

Style inspired by H.P. Lovecraft
TypeWriterError: Editor & Rating Board
Gage of Grandiloquence: Editor
The11thWonder: Pre-reader
Nharctic: Pre-reader
Breath of Plagues: My Pinch Editor.
ArgonMatrix: Bad Grammar Exterminator
Daemon of Decay: Advice, also inspired me to write fan fiction. Blame him!

In a freak accident from the Cloudsdale weather control team, Twilight is struck down by an errant lightning bolt. But the veil of death is relatively thin...