From the stone age to the modern world, Celestia guides her little ponies into the future. And she needs to keep playing. Just one more turn.

Always one more turn.

Done as a speed-writing exercise in about three hours. Totally unedited. Enjoy!

The book was empty. Purely empty. Each page was as blank as the last. There were no words; there was no title. There was nothing but page after page of blank, white paper.

So Twilight reads it.

Twilight and her friends know the routine. The Cutie Map summons one or more of them by making their cutie marks glow and flash. They come to the castle to answer the summons then depart to some distant part of Equestria to solve a friendship problem. They've all done it many times before.

But whose cutie mark is that? It's not anypony in Ponyville. Or anypony Twilight's friends have met.

What's a pony to do when one morning their cutie mark starts glowing, and they have no idea why?

In the aftermath of the changeling invasion and the royal wedding, Twilight Sparkle loses herself in recollection. Celestia cannot rest either, and the two share their feelings over a Canterlot night.

What does it mean to be Celestia? What does it mean to be "at the top"?

Celestia knows.

And soon, Twilight will too.

Now on Equestria Daily!

Winner of the Second Twilestia Contest.

Now in Russian! Courtesy of Nogood.

Rainbow Dash is the world's greatest flyer. Not only because she practices and trains so much she could wear out the Wonderbolts, but also because she has turned flying into her own personal therapy.

However, some feelings don't just go away on their own.

Some feelings, you can't outfly.

On a patrol through the White Tail woods, Twilight comes across a dying changeling. Torn between giving up the drone to the guards or leaving it in the inhospitable wilds, Twilight reluctantly takes the drone in. As it awakens she realises that the drone was a blank slate, with no connection, no 'programming' guiding its functions. So Twilight sets out to teach this changeling about the world, one hoof step at a time.

Rated Teen for slightly mature themes involving ethical dilemmas.

If Word Worthy stopped editing for me, I'd likely wind up as a grammar-less hack. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

When Twilight was young, she used to sit on the balcony and look down at the statues in the royal garden. At the strange creatures of fur and armour and feathers and horns, and just...wonder on them.
And out of all of them, out of the unique draconequus and the rare Cyclops and the terrifying Invention Monkey, one particular statue always caught her eye.
Four...blocky, for lack of a better word, knights. Frozen in perfect formation, their heads hidden deep within the confines of their helmets. Each one stuck in the same pose, for as long as she'd known them.
And beneath them, engraved into the stone they were a part of, was a simple message.
"Wake us when something fun happens or Celestia stops being a bitch, whichever comes first."

Now with tropes page, all thanks to Eyeshield. Good work, buddy.

Twilight looked over to her dear mentor, Princess Celestia, and found she had once again fallen asleep mid-lesson. Her intense debate on awakening the princess was cut short when the decision was taken out of her hooves.

“Huh? Oh. Twilight, I am so sorry for falling asleep again. I think we need to reschedule this for tomorrow morning.”

Twilight nodded. After all, Princess Celestia was obviously overworked. If only there was something she could do to help.

Now with a dramatic reading courtesy of DRWolf.
Additionally, there’s a Spanish translation by Spaniard Kiwi over on Deviant Art.

Current Episode: Season Zero – Episode One
Next Episode: Twin Twilights

Art created from images by Tim015 and ShilaDaLioness.

This story is a sequel to Triptych

A collection of stories from the Apotheverse
Tags will be added as stories are.

Chiaroscuro - Twilight and Chrysalis discuss the changeling problem.