The first of what I hope will be weekly entries to the Word of the Week Quickfic Challenge group! This week's Word is castellated.

Princesses talk, and some have grown worried about Luna's seclusion. They make an effort to rectify this. Luna, of course, is displeased.

Everypony knows that the future is predestined; the very existence of cutie marks proves it. Still, Minuette isn't so sure that she has to make the same mistakes twice.

Two ponies look to the future, and all the while one looks back to the present.

Alert: As of 16 August 2018 I've begun some drastic editing to knock this story down from Mature rating to Teen; there has been a lot of cleaning up to do in both content and formatting. I believe it's finished, but I might need someone to let me know if it's still too M for the T. Let me know if you think I missed something. Thanks for your patience!
~Adda

The post-graduate campus of Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns is a place of knowledge obscure and powerful, perhaps powerful enough for Alpha to live his dream for just one night... but how far would he be willing to go when his friend's safety and dignity are on the line?

[ This was my entry into the Mature bracket of the Transformations group's Body Swap Contest. How the Other Half Lives managed to place second! Congratulations to the winner, Twinkletail. ]

[ What's more, this story has been accepted into Twilight's Library, which I hear is quite a feat for a story with these tags. As if I wasn't proud of it before! ]
[img]http://i.imgur.com/m9vLrr7.png[/img]

[ Vanilla Breeze acted as prereader for this one; without her help this story would make even less sense than it does, haha. Than you so much, hon! I couldn't have done it without you. ]

[ Placeholder art is by Death-of-all. I'm still looking for something a little more suitable. ]

They say everypony has a soul mate, one being they are destined to find and connect with. If that soul mate is lost it is up to the survivor of the pair to find ways to cope. Some never do.

[ 'True Love' tied for second place in Surry's Eggcellent Egghead Competition! Congratulations to the winner, The DJ Rainbow Dash. ~Adda ]

[ Preread by three of my favorite ponies ever - Wolfcape, Specimen021, and Razzle Dazzle. Thanks for putting up with me! Cover art by Antiander. ]

When Rainbow Dash suddenly proclaims her love and adoration for a certain 'Miss Sparkle' and tells her friends the story of how the unicorn 'fixed' her, the girls are hesitant to take the situation at face value. However, even they can't deny it when the facts begin to build into a case against Twilight. Twilight claims innocence but her words sound like hollow excuses and obvious lies. The four of them are left wondering if Twilight Sparkle is truly the hero she once was or if she has finally allowed her true nature to show: the nature of a heartless psychopath.

[ Spoilers in the comments... So many spoilers... ]

[ 'Miss Sparkle' occurs a few months before Twilight's ascension, early in the spring of Twilight's second year in Ponyville. According to my version of the chronological timeline, the only episodes of the first three seasons that have yet to take place are (in chronological order) "Wonderbolts Academy", "Just for Sidekicks", "Games Ponies Play", "Spike At Your Service", "Keep Calm and Flutter On" and "Magical Mystery Cure". ]

[ The cover art was made by the oh-so-generous tehmisiu. Thanks again! ]

[ 'Miss Sparkle' placed first in (Incoming spoiler of story-ruining proportions!) Blundy's TwiDash Framed Challenge! Thank you all so much for your support! ]

[ To top it off, Twilight's Library found it worthy of being added to their shelves. I'm at a loss for words as I write this, and I probably will be when you read this too. Just... Thank you. Thank you all so much. ]
[img]http://i.imgur.com/m9vLrr7.png[/img]