Celestia didn't want very much. She was happy to spend her youth learning how to farm with her adoptive father. She was happy learning how to cook from her adoptive mother. She was happy to play hide and seek with her little sister Luna, and stare at the stars with her on those warm summer nights. But when the world began to freeze with unnatural snow and ice, and the pony tribes began to go for each other's throats, Celestia's world is undone, and all she wants is to protect her little sister, no matter what.

But between ravenous snow spirits, superstitious ponies, and the machinations of those who would use them for their own ends, Celestia will struggle at every corner. Matters only become that much harder when her little sister begins to hear a voice in her dreams, calling her across the frozen wilderness with the only words Celestia remembers her true mother saying.

"Rise and shine."

A special thank you goes out to my editor, Chromio.

It is best to read this story with Night Mode turned on.

Chapter and cover art were all made by me.

In the aftermath of his battle with the sorceress who wielded the Memory Stone, Clover must piece together his mind. He turns to a pony he is certain will have information to fill the gaps: himself.

An entry into FoME's A Most Delightful Ponidox competition.

Princess Celestia violates Star Swirl's privacy. After asking for his forgiveness, Star Swirl the Bearded reveals to her the true nature of the secret she's uncovered.

Then the wizened mage makes an unusual request: pay his mercy forward to her prodigal students in the distant future.

For those less familiar with the show, the cover image shows Starlight Glimmer and Sunburst, younger mages who are referred to in part of the story.

Some people say that Celestia and Luna are useless. That they lounge in the castle while delegating all their responsibilities to hard working, underappreciated, exceptionally well-read students. That even when faced directly with threats to kingdom and country, they fold like cheap origami and wait to be rescued.

These people are correct. But there's a very good reason for it!

[Rated Teen due to a dark scene early on to set some backstory, and occasional comedic death]

Equestria is barely three years old, and already danger threatens the fragile peace forged between the pony tribes. Monsters stream out of the Forest Ever Free on a daily basis, and now a prophetic dream foretells of even greater chaos that will befall the land.

It's up to Star Swirl the Bearded and his team of manly, heroic, eminently bearded (and strangely familiar!) stallions to brave the dark and murky Forest Ever Free in search of their one hope for salvation. Along the way, they'll learn more about the history of the land they've claimed as their own, not to mention each other. But as their unintended friendships grow, the forest will try its best to drive them apart.

Can they withstand the epic trials before them? Can they save Equestria? Will Star Swirl be known forevermore as the creator of Equestria's first beard-restoring spell? Journey a thousand years into the past and discover Equestria's epicest, beardiest history lesson ever!

Story tagged Dark for increasingly epic violence. Cover art by M. D. Quill! Accepted by The Royal Guard!

What do you get when Twilight finds a thing that has never been categorized in any book?

Shenanigans.

Equestria's heroes have been captured, and its three greatest enemies are on the cusp of victory. But while his cohorts plan their next move, Tirek, the oldest of their number, goes to one prisoner in particular. A stallion he has wanted to speak with for a very long time.

(New readers, unsure where to start? The Education of Clover the Clever is best.)

The stars can see the future, and they don't like what they see.
Beset by signs of a great evil approaching on the horizon, Princess Luna and a young unicorn who speaks to the stars set out to uncover and prevent an unknown disaster.

Star Swirl the Bearded: the greatest wizard nopony has ever heard of. Why is that? What did he do? Why do so few now remember that he existed at all, and why do those who do remember him say he was one of the most important unicorns of all time?
A mythical retelling of Equestrian history.

23.02.2014 Featured on Equestria Daily!
Prequel to a more popular and completed sequel, The Education of Clover the Clever. Feel free to read either one first.

Cover art by VSabbath, used with permission.

Reader, in ancient days, the old lords of the world numbered in thousands. Then hundreds. Then even less.
Now, they are found only in tapestries and fanciful ballads.
The creatures are all vanished. All but one.

Rumors say there are more of him, somewhere far away. A young and supposedly gifted mage called Star Swirl, and Heartstrings, a gentle spinster, have joined him on a journey to find the rest.

Featured in The Royal Guard's Fic Spotlight #5
TV Tropes page (that could use more love)

The Library of the Crystal Empire vanished for 1,000 years with the city itself, taking (and ironically preserving) ancient tomes of magic long thought lost to Equestria. Now, in order to protect their own world from Equestrian magic, Sunset Shimmer and the human Twilight Sparkle will plumb the library's depths, accompanied by Starlight Glimmer, Sunburst, and the Great and Powerful Trixie, in order to find the answers they seek.

But soon they are swept up in an experiment conducted by none other than Starswirl the Bearded, who seeks to aid a friend of Equestria, the infamous Tempest Shadow (Fizzlepop Berrytwist) in restoring her broken horn.

One magical ritual, a dose of dimensional-duplicate-insecurities, and a mountain of existential crises later, and... well. Let's just say that Starlight might finally have some company in the "I destroyed Equestria" club.

Part of the Anarchyverse