After the most important night of her career is ruined and its saboteurs not even so much as punished, Octavia's life changes. She begins to pursue a path that has never been seen before in Canterlot, where concertos and rhapsodies give way to controversy and rebellion.

A path where symphonies are composed with cans of spray paint.

Cover art used with permission by LuGiAdriel14

I've never been good with ponies. Honestly, I would have been happy just being with my parents for the rest of my life. That all changed when they sent me to normal school. No, I didn't get better with ponies. But I did find someone who was just as bad as me. There was just one thing though. My soul was pure white, untouched by darkness and evil. Her soul was pure black, and only knew darkness and evil. She was a monster, and she wanted me to be hers and only hers.

And I loved every bit of it.

My name is Silver Spoon, and this is how I met a true monster, and how that monster became my best friend, and eventually more.

This is how I met Diamond Tiara...

Cover art by GSphere

This story is a sequel to The Moon Glows Gently

When you're the immortal ruler of an entire kingdom, the most important quality to possess is self-control. No princess can rule her nation if her emotions rule her. Celestia knows this better than anypony, and mastered them long ago.

So long ago, she may have forgotten that a little bit of passion can come in handy now and again.

To my dearest Reader,
I regret to inform you that the work of fan fiction which you are about to read is exceedingly troublesome, for it recounts the unfortunate lives of the three Apple youngsters: Macintosh, Applejack, and Apple Bloom. Though they are charming and faithful, these poor ponies’ lives are filled with misery and misfortune. From the very first paragraph of this upsetting account of events the cruelty of their lives is realised, and my horn, even now, is loathe to hold the quill.
In this woeful series the three Apple siblings will encounter an egotistical and prejudiced relative, uncomfortable accommodations, an abused unicorn, a terrible plot, and horrible news that will change their lives forever.
I have taken it upon myself to document these miserable happenings, but you have the freedom to keep on scrolling and pass this piece of fan fiction by. I am sure that not far from this location on the webpage is some other, happier story about, say, some playful and colourful ponies frolicking under a rainbow, enjoying the happiness of a life without sorrow.
However, if the sad lives of these three ponies has grabbed your attention, then read on; but don’t say that I did not warn you.
With appropriate resolve,

Quill

Inspired by A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket

There was only one explanation. For all of it. All of the strange, erratic behavior. Her irrational fear of the sun. Her nocturnal habits of locking herself in in the dark and closing all the blinds. Wearing her sunglasses everywhere, even inside! It was time to invest in some silver, garlic, and a wooden stake.

For almost a thousand years, the immortal Nightmare Moon has reigned over Equestria as Empress. To the average pony, Nightmare Moon is an overarching enigma whose rule is absolute and whose wrath is terrible. But to Twilight Sparkle, who as an orphan has never known her parents, the Empress is something else entirely. When the young unicorn is brought under the royal wing as an apprentice, she learns a great deal more about the supposed tyrant than she ever knew. But as Twilight is introduced to life with her new mentor, she is thrust into a world of political intrigue, conspiracies and secrets. Secrets that were never meant to be revealed. As allies and enemies plot against the very peace of the nation, will Twilight fall prey to the perils of her new position? Or will she prosper and find in Nightmare Moon the mother she never had?

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My eternal gratitude to my editor, LordOfTheWrongs, without whom Night's Favoured Child would not be the story it is today.

Now with added TVtropes!

If you ask Applejack, she’ll tell you Pinkie Pie can be a few apples short of a bushel even on the best of days. They’ve always been good friends, but nothing more than that. After all, what could a hard-working apple farmer and a sugar-crazed party pony possibly have in common?

As it turns out, the answer to that question may not be a pleasant one, but something good may yet come of it.

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!

When Applejack is set upon by a series of unnatural nightmares, she turns to good friend and confidant Pinkie Pie to try to figure out exactly what's causing them. Day after day they struggle to learn the skills that will allow her to make sense of it all, as they discover what is needed to walk the realm of dreams.
And as time goes by, the clearer the picture becomes.

But still it remains - the mystery and the clues that lay scattered across her nighttime episodes where words do not exist, only to be analyzed during the day where conversation is all she has.

Join Applejack and Pinkie as they work it out together and traverse a story where nothing is ever as it seems.

"All my life, I've wanted to fly
But I don't have the wings, and I wonder why
I can't break away..."
Most pegasi figure out flying easily enough. Heck, most of them figure out how to do it before they even get their cutie marks.

But not me. I couldn’t do it, no matter how hard I tried. I couldn’t even hover. Not for more than a few seconds, anyway. And not even Rainbow Dash, the greatest flier in Equestria, could seem to help me. We tried everything, and I failed every time. Day after day, I tried – and day after day, I failed, until finally I was ready to just give up. I’d never be able to do it. Nopony would ever be able to help me to fly...

...until one day, somepony did.