"The Night is not as forgiving as the Day."
When Twilight agrees to become Princess Luna's personal student, she discovers the hard way what Luna's Night and her Lunar Court are really all about.

This story is thematically a darker flip-side to "My Little Student", but is written so that it can read on its own. Also, while for the most part this is arguably compatible with show canon, I've turned on the AU tag anyway, just to allow myself a little elbow-room for world-building.

"I hereby challenge ya'll to a winner-take-all, no-holds-barred, all-day, doing-nothing-but-fun-stuff shoppin' spree!" What could possibly go wrong with that?

A entire day of low-key fun with the Mane 6 ponies, which I originally wrote as an experiment in doing an ensemble story, and also a way of exploring some of the lesser-visited locations in Ponyville. Also includes Zecora, who doesn't get nearly enough attention. And Derpy as well. Plus Celestia and Luna join in toward the end. Do we have a Mane 10 tag?

"The historians had slipped up. In addition to the five supporting Elements that accompanied Twilight to the Everfree Forest, there was also a Sixth Element... and it wasn't Magic!"

A combination of a backstory for Derpy and Dinky, and a look at the events that took place in Ponyville during Nightmare Moon's return. Also answers the question of why everyone in Ponyville so readily puts up with the wonderfully klutzy Derpy, no matter how much damage she does.

What happened between Twilight's entrance examination and her entrance to the School proper? How Twilight got to know Celestia, Cadance, and Spike, and started on the road to becoming the Element of Magic.

Note: If you'd like more in this same timeline, a darker "flip-side" companion piece to this story can be found here: Acolyte of the Lunar Court

In addition, the Hearth's Warming tale The Night that Luna Returned is essentially a direct follow-on to My Little Student, and draws on some of the Celestia-related aspects of this story.

And Roomies explores who else might have had the room before Twilight...

In case there's interest, I've written a Making Of: blog entry, with the original outline and commentary on how this story came to be written.