Competition. It drives us all one way or another. Whether it’s to be the fastest flier, the best team, the greatest magician, to steal a land in jealous fury, or simply to beat that other pony to the stall for the last carrot; competition is in all of us.

Some claim that a competitive nature is healthy, and keeps a pony sharp and fit. Others claim it drives ponies apart and should be avoided as much as possible.

Rainbow Dash and Applejack don’t care about any of that. They just don’t want the other to win. Theirs is an unending game of friendly one-upmanship, a constant striving to prove their superiority to one another for no other reason than they can.

Neither of them thought it would ever bring about romance in their lives.

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Written for (and winner of) the 3rd AppleDash competition. Prompt by bookplayer.

Thanks to my friend, Radoh from the Escapist, for making some small, but very good, points.

Cover art by nekokevin.

This story is a sequel to Foal Fever

You try having a daughter who thinks the only way to get anywhere is by flying. And a pregnant wife who can move slightly faster than continental drift. Oh! And before we forget, let's make sure your wife is also the pony with the magic to keep your daughter from flying or running or getting into various other shades of trouble.

Can you imagine how exhausting that would be? Try to, because then you might understand just why I listened to Vinyl's idea. Going around, telling your foal Krampus will give you coal if you're naughty? That's not too far removed from the usual Santa Hooves story, and if it can buy me a few days of peace and quiet before Hearth's Warming? Well, I'll take what peace I can get.

Thanks, as always, goes to EquesTRON and Seether for editing my story. I know I couldn't get this story out before Christmas, but I still managed to publish it in the twelve days of Christmas, so... you know, it still kind of counts.

Before the crusaders, there was the three hazards of Ponyville. It's been ten years since the hazards promised to meet again some sunny day. The promise thay made that day will shine through the trouble that split them apart in the years after.

With help from JumbledThought, and Rinnaul.

First featured on 6/17/2014.

Prodigy
Genius
Perfect

These are some of the titles many have bestowed on the virtuoso, Octavia Melody. Through countless hours of practice and studying, Octavia had become the most renowned musician in Equestria. With an abundance of fame and fortune, it seemed like she lived the perfect life. However, Octavia has lately been feeling that something is missing from her music.

A seemingly normal trip to Ponyville changes everything when she hears the sound of a fiddle. Following the music, Octavia arrives at an apple orchard. What she finds would possibly help her make her music whole again. As well as so much more.

This story takes place within Season 2 with a few elements from Season 3 mixed in.

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.

[Featured on EQD 21/4/2014] [Now on TVTropes]

When Luna gifts Twilight the town of Ponyville and its surrounding countryside as her demesne she's initially confused. Then, after double checking her dictionary, more than a little concerned.

All her friends are, legally, her possessions. The town that took her in is her plaything, if she so wishes. She has been given responsibility.

Can Twilight's vision for a modern renaissance outrun the harsh realities of the shadowy figures pulling strings behind the scenes, nobles jockeying for her attention, and an irritatingly metaphorical love triangle?

Special thanks to the insatiable Blue_Paladin42, the incorrigible Maskedferret, the intuitive Southpaw and the indestructible newbiedoodle for all their hard work, past, present and future.

Octavia was always one for planning ahead. Whether it be dinner that night or her career years away, she always had an idea of how to get there. The right amount of practice, the proper performance to the right pony, and she could see her life progressing exactly as it should.

However, suddenly turning into an alicorn kind of put a damper on her plans.

Story thirteen in my Twidash Challenge: Secondary Pairing (Quite Obviously)

After the Changeling invasion, Celestia and Luna make the decision to have Twilight investigate the Elements of Harmony and solve the mystery of their power.

A thousand years later, Rainbow Dash awakens in a world she does not recognize. She has no idea how or why she came to be there. She does not know the language, the geography or any of the rules of this new time. She soon finds allies in Star Fall, a scholarly pegasus whose Talent is Magic, and Astrid, Star Fall's Griffin guardian. Together they set out to discover why Dash has been sent to the future, and how she might return to when she belongs.

War threatens the nations, a Nightmare stalks the shadows, and Rainbow Dash's arrival has turned her into a wild card in a deadly game that pits the law on both sides of a broken Equestria against a mysterious criminal figure, Max Cash. Yet the stakes are higher than anyone knows, for in her research Twilight Sparkle discovered a dark secret about the Elements, something that will shake the foundations of the world.

Cover image by SierraEx
Has a TvTropes page

"Twilight isn't exactly a social pony." Could win me the Understatement of the Year award.

However, what most ponies don't know is that Octavia, a high-class socialite, isn't exactly much better herself, despite countless rumours about a liason between her and a certain DJ.

Now, drawn back to the upper-classes that she tried so desperately to get away from, can Twilight Sparkle find solace, and companionship, from one of the very socialite ponies of her past that she is so desperate to escape?

A different take on alicorn ascension. Sixteen years after arriving in Ponyville, Twilight Sparkle is excited to have invented a brand-new kind of spell, but it will come with consequences she cannot possibly anticipate. Meanwhile, threats in shadows around the world conspire to overthrow the Solar Throne. With her world turned upside down, she will have to come to terms with the role that fate has dealt her while straining to keep Celestia in power.

Now with a TVTropes page! Please show it some love! Also check out the official side stories, Designing Intrigue, and Love and Barriers! (With even more in my stories page!)

(Please Note: This story was started before any season three information was available. All episodes in season three and later are non-canon for this story, which also means there's no Crystal Empire in this one. In addition, the promotional map released close to the beginning of season three was also not available and is not compatible with this story. While the OC tag is active because there are OCs in the story, they're really just supporting characters. The focus is on Twilight.)

Also be sure to check out the Rites of Ascension Expanded Universe Group! We're working to develop the resources needed for other authors to try their hand at writing stories set in the Rites Universe!

The Book Two cover art was created by the amazing Silfoe! The original cover art can still be found at Violet Squiggle's deviantArt page.

Author's Notes, including proofreader's credits, can be found here!

"This is 100% Approved by Twilight's Library!"