Magic, the most forbidden art. Only nobles are allowed to learn from the great wizards and witches, and only from special schools set up by the state. For commoners, learning the mystic arts is nothing but a dream, a fantasy that many strive for but none achieve.

With one exception: Stalliongrad. The great, northern city boasted more magic schools than any other, and among them, the only one that accepts low born ponies. It's a dangerous trek to get there, and even more dangerous to simply stay in the frozen city.

Twilight Sparkle, however, will not be stopped. Destined to become the archmage, destined to sit at Princess Luna's side, she will not be stopped.

After all, Archmage Twilight Sparkle has a nice ring to it.

This story is a sequel to Spare Some Change?

Coco really loves Moondancer. She loved her with all her heart, all of her everything. If she loved her, why was it so hard to do? So much fighting, so much heart ache, but Coco still loved her no matter what.

Heart Scratch failed. She failed in keeping her daughter in line, failed in keeping her husband in line, and failed in keeping her business straight. Exiled to Stalliongrad, Heart starts anew, with a vengeance festering inside of her.

Art by: https://www.deviantart.com/ilightningstari/art/Coco-Pommel-547827443 Go check them out, they're awesome!!

Octavia's lived the high life for years. Practice after practice paid off and she's risen through the ranks. Now, she works for the Royal Orchestra itself, toiling every day to produce perfection. Untouchable, practiced, impeccable...lonely.

Vinyl couldn't be any lower. Out of home, out of work, and nowhere to go but to a cold grave. Cast out and left to fend for herself, Vinyl has nothing, not even a friend to call her own.

The two cross paths.

A love story that many have known, and yet different. Both come in broken, beaten down people, their only hope each other.

Quiet Time is a unicorn mare. She's small, rather unassuming, and quite happy with her life. She has good friends, a supportive family, and a job that makes her excited to get up every morning. It may not be the most glamorous of jobs, but working for the princess is always a new experience.

There's really only one problem. Miss Quiet is mute. She was simply born that way and her condition is accompanied with any number of problems. Yet, that's never stopped her from being a hopeless romantic. Meeting ponies without her voice is hard enough, however will she meet her special somepony?

Canterlot lies steeped in chaos, a virulent and deadly plague still boiling away after a decade of suffering. The city, and the ponies in it, still feel the effects, still feel the bite of the times. The lower city, cursed as it is, is mostly partitioned off, leaving each and every pony left stranded and without help. Ponies struggle day by day just to stay alive.

Even as the ponies suffer, politicians toil away, plotting and scheming, machinations rumbling just below the surface. The city is fevered, sick and bloated, ready to pop at any moment. A single pony may be enough to make it all erupt.

And make it erupt Twilight Sparkle shall.

One small step, one lucky break is all she needs to turn the city on its head and take her rightful place by the Queen's side. But even she may not be prepared for the shark tank that is Luna's court.