Princess Twilight Sparkle discovers a centuries-old mystery hidden in the Royal Archives. Her investigation leads through layer after layer of deception and misdirection, setting her hooves on a path that seems to be leading to a mysterious secret. Along the way, she learns that some friendships can be very, very strange.

Book 1 of the Alicorn Adventure series.

AUDIOBOOK by VisualPony
Featured at the Royal Canterlot Library
TV Tropes Page (Courtesy of Sandtalon)
Goodreads Page (Courtesy of Facedeer)
Equestria Daily Page

WARNING: Major spoilers in the comments. Takes place several months after the end of season four. (Not a Da Vinci Code crossover, BTW!)

Do you see a dark tag? No, you don't. Not dark. Well, okay, there are a couple of dark-ish bits, but that's all. Not enough to warrant a tag. Speaking of tags, there really ought to be "Badass Twilight" and "Friendshipping" ones.

Sequels and side-stories (and more) can be found here Offprint and AO3, and a hardbound two-volume set of all that can be ordered from The Ministry of Image.

My editor for the first edition of this story was Gogito, and I can't thank him enough for all the hard work he did. My editor for the revised version was PresentPerfect, and he did a terrific job of getting the story into excellent shape.

Sweetie Belle, alone and dejected, comes across The Great and Powerful Trixie, who was ostracized for her prior misdeeds involving the Ursa Minor. Trixie becomes Sweetie Belle's tutor, giving Sweetie (and perhaps herself as well) both the guidance and companionship she needs.

This is a S1 fic. Events take place before 'The Return of Harmony, pt 1'.
Writing for this fic began before Season 2, so events do not match canon storylines.

This fic was featured on Equestria Daily on Oct 18th, 2011

Title art by:
http://acesential.deviantart.com

Fan art:
http://fav.me/d4ghb33

This story is a sequel to The Return of Midnight Sparkle

Sunset Shimmer's life has always been full of mistakes; But she rose to the occasion and kept fighting, willing to improve herself, every single time.

And now she is celebrating five years of being an Alicorn Princess-- Happily married to Twilight Sparkle. It can't get better than this, she is the happiest she's ever been.

Of course, in Equestria, there is always trouble, right around the corner. And now, a happy, fulfilled and incredibly powerful Sunset Shimmer is cursed to travel the multiverse, forced to meet other versions of herself-- Disgusted by their failures.

All she can do is keep fighting, stay strong, and hope that she can find a way back home to her love.

And maybe, just maybe, help a few Sunsets along the way.

"Sunset, you weren't the first unearthly threat to come to this world, and you won't be the last. If we seem calm in the face of strange events, it's not because we're oblivious or indifferent to them. It's because they're not strange to us. The Fall Formal may have been the most important night of your life, but to us... it was Thursday."

(Slice-of-life adventures of Canterlot High's unlikely band of monster hunters.)

Now with a Tropes page, courtesy of AnoneMouseJr.

Sunset Shimmer originally went to Freeport to escape Celestia's influence, and to make some progress towards becoming an alicorn princess. She's certainly done her share of good in the infamous city of rogues, but after almost two years away from Canterlot she doesn't feel any closer to achieving her big goals. At this point, any reasonable pony could wonder if they made a mistake...

Faced with the unpleasant prospect of possibly going back to Canterlot in order to advance her goals, Sunset finds herself with one last option to preserve her independence: the great dragon Argentium the Runescaled, far to the north, wants to meet with her. However, her journey becomes far more than a simple social call, and Sunset has no idea just how much danger she and her friends will face.

Or how much she'll have to sacrifice—not just for her dreams, but survival.

It was just like any other night. The moon had been up for hours and the ponies rested peacefully in their beds. Celestia, on this normal night, decides to take a stroll around the quiet palace.

This seemingly routine walk changes everything for her as she finds one young unicorn thief trying to rob her.

And this thief, harnessing magical powers quite rare to normal unicorns, catches Celestia's attention.

Sunny’s failure was even greater than Twilight’s. The world was consumed by chaos. Magic all but faded away in disharmony.

Sunny Starscout is one mare against the dystopian world. On this night, however, she bites off more than she can chew. And no, being constantly harassed by annoying Sweetie Bot doesn’t help at all!

CoverArt by SweetAI Belle

This story is among the winners of the Cyberpunk Equestria Contest

Equestria, but not as you know it.

Welcome to the radiant capital of the Solar Kingdom. Gargantuan skyscrapers line the streets and mechanical transports dot the skies. AI constructs reign over most electronics built within the last decade.

The streets of Canterlot and New Ponyville are embroiled in a corporate cold war while more obvious international conflict threatens to engulf the borders. A young, sheltered Twilight Sparkle embarks on a perilous tour of this brave new world with the aid of a select few others: less-than-fortunate outcasts and calculating socialites among them.

An amalgamation of classic and modern cyberpunk in controlled doses. Inject directly into bloodstream.
For the more genteel among you: story contains measured amounts of violence and profanity.

Part of the Wibblyverse Continuity.
Part one of Classic Doctor Whooves Adventures
Part one of Ninth Doctor Whooves Adventures
Previous Story: The Rising Night
Next Story: Fall of the Doctor

The Doctor, embittered and sorrowful after the end of the Time War, lands in Equestria. Celestia, sick and tired of her nephew's snotty behavior, walks through her garden, hoping for inspiration to strike. Thus begins the odd partnership of the Doctor and Prince Blueblood as they investigate a spate of murders in Canterlot that may be connected to a mining disaster.

Death and violence tags for above murders and mining disaster.

The newest and hottest game on the market is Sword Art Online, or SAO. A VRMMORPG, Virtual Reality Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game, Sword Art Online takes the player into a virtual reality world of swords and shields. Only 10,000 copies were sold online or in stores. But quickly, things go wrong and the fight goes from fun, to survival.

To escape the game of death, the game must be cleared. All 100 floors of the floating iron castle, known as Aincrad, must be conquered. If you die in game, you die in real life. The NerveGear will fry your brain. The same goes if the NerveGear is removed while you are in the game, you die.

Sword Art Online is a game of swords and shields with no magic. The game isn't designed to handle their Equestrian Magic. Sunset Shimmer must make sure that her friends and guildmates escape the game, or at least survive long enough until the game is defeated.

This story is a Serial Novel Society story: Updates will be at least on a weekly, Tuesday, basis.

*Pre-knowledge of Sword Art Online is not required. The Pilot Episode covers all you need to know.
**First Featured Tuesday, November 12, 2019. Also on 12/3/19, 12/10/19, 01/14/20, 2/11/20, 2/18/20, 2/25/20, 3/3/20, 3/10/20, 3/17/20, 3/24/20, 3/31/20, 4/14/20, 4/21/20, 4/28/20, 5/5/20, 5/19/20, 5/26/20, 6/2/20, 6/9/20, 6/23/2020, 6/30/2020, 7/28/20, 8/4/20, 8/18/20, 8/25/20, 8/27/20, 9/1/20, 9/8/20, 9/15/20, 9/22/20, 9/29/20, 10/20/20, 10/27/20, 11/3/2020, 11/10/20, 11/17/20, 12/1/20, 12/8/20, 12/15/20, 12/22/20, 12/29/20, 1/5/21, 1/19/21, 2/2/21, ICE, 2/23/21, 3/2/21, 3/9/21, 3/16/21, 3/23/21, & 3/30/21.

Want to know what is happening outside the SAO in the real world? There is a story for them! Link to the Asides.

A big thank you to my editor, Void Runner.
A special thanks to SuperSonicHeroes and Wildfiretiremile. Each helped a lot with Beta Reading!
Also, a special Thanks to Badwolf231. He helped me as this project got started.

- Sword Art Online is owned and created by Reki Kawahara.
* Cover Art created with art elements from Orin331, Frye-Medi, and flutterdashrarijack.