Princess Celestia conceals it well, in appearance and poise, but she is an old mare. A thousand years is a long time to dwell, and her's have been filled with laughter and tears, love and loss, achievement and regret.

With a fresh open book and quill, Twilight Sparkle endeavors to capture in some semblance the journey that Celestia, Queen of Equestria and Warden of the Sun, has trekked in her centuries.

But before Nightmare Moon, before Discord, and before the Crown; in the age when Equestria was little more than a patchwork of jealous princes vying for supremacy, there was a white pony.

Tall, strong, and mysterious, she'd creep from the wilds and realize a destiny forged in elder days. A terrible evil stirs after millennia of dormancy. Equestria needs a hero, and the Wanderer of the North will answer the call.

An epic work retelling the life of Celestia, expanding on the mythology created in De Surgente Cadenteque Alicornuum, but it's not necessary to have read it beforehand.

Cover image by my good friend Private Dangle.

Also with a TVTropes page here!

The Rise and Fall of the Alicorns

"Where did the Alicorns come from? What happened to them? Why are there so few? Princess, what even are the Alicorns?"

"Sit down Twilight; it is a long tale. For to understand the Alicorns, one must understand the order of the Cosmos..."

Pardon my Latin

An appendix to my other work The Wanderer of the North.

And please enjoy this dramatic reading by the talented Illya Leonov AKA Morgan Freepony.

Applebloom had a dream...a dream she made into her reality. And now she stands as one of the wealthiest ponies in all of Equestria, commanding a mighty corporate empire. But even so, the old money will always see her as an "Uncultured Nouveau Riche."

Diamond Tiara offers her assistance, and promises to get Applebloom accepted into high society, seeking to put their differences aside. But unbeknownst to the industrialist, the magenta mare has ulterior motives for her uncharacteristic generosity.

A dramatic tale of crime and greed.

Cover image originally by Equestria-Election