Princess Celestia and Twilight Sparkle have a private meeting during the Royal Nightmare Night Party.

Twilight always thought that being able to send the Princess her letters instantaneously through Spike's fire breath was the best thing in the world. Instant correspondence with her mentor and secret crush could never be a bad thing, right? Unfortunately, Twilight has a habit of writing her secrets down on flammable materials. Now her secret's out, so what's a panicky unicorn to do? Panic, obviously!

After a full day in Canterlot, Twilight and Rarity decide to explore the palace garden's legendary hedge maze. Their attempts to unravel the mysteries of the labyrinth yield some interesting and unexpected results.

Twilight Sparkle makes her maiden voyage to the human world! During her adventure, she meets a group of girls who inspire the same magic of friendship Twilight found long ago back home. In particular, she finds a familiar friend in one girl calling herself "Rainbow Dash."

But this Rainbow Dash has more than just friendship to offer the otherworldly princess. She also has her own outlook on life, and insights into her pony counterpart that Twilight would never have guessed... and will never forget.

Editing by nanashi_jones. Cover art by CViperfan.
A deluxe-sized, from-scratch re-exploration of a previous concept.

This fanfic was written in 24 hours as part of a Charity Challenge to raise money for BBC Children in Need and is posted here exactly as it was at the completion of the time limit.
I went into this without any plan. I'm so, so sorry.

Moondancer's house has been destroyed, which isn't the best start to the week. Of course, she's more concerned with the closure of Canterlot Public Library, after plunder vines wreck the city .

With nowhere else to turn, Moondancer decides to seek out her once-friend, Lyra Heartstrings, in the hopes of finding a place to stay the night. But when she makes her first trip to the famed Golden Oaks Library, Moondancer runs into a familiar face—one that she hoped she would never see again.

Unable to go home, and with nowhere else to study, Moondancer soon finds herself spending more time with Twilight Sparkle, and is surprised to find that their friendship is not so difficult to heal. But is it really friendship that she wants?

Twilight finds it a bit difficult to reconcile Celestia's playful new manner with the regal teacher she knew for so long.

Once she does, however, the benefits are plain to see.

Ideas, editing, and criticism provided by my partner in crime, Cryosite.

Now with a reading by HanaYoriUta.

This story is a sequel to Vanilla Twilight

Rainbow Dash has a problem.

She might be in love with Twilight Sparkle and has yet to admit it to anypony, least of all Twilight herself. After the events of Vanilla Twilight, the two have grown much closer together, spending more time together and sharing their interests. Unfortunately for Dash, Twilight hasn't caught on to her feelings yet, and she could be content with just letting things progress as they are...

If only she hadn't sent that blasted letter admitting it.

Now, thanks to a pair of meddling princesses, Rainbow Dash finds herself on a globe-trotting journey with the subject of her affections. On the surface, it might just seem like a simple task for the Princess, but for Rainbow Dash, it might be the very thing that forces her to come clean with her feelings, or forever face her doubts. For her, in the world of life and love, sometimes it's best to take it one dream and disaster at a time.

Rainbow Dash is many things. Awesome, radical, amazing, and at least twenty percent cooler than any other pony in Equestria.

She is also lost, lonely and uncertain. Not that anypony else would know.

During the day she is everything everypony expects her to be: she is fast, daring, and adventurous, but when the sun goes down, she is left alone with her thoughts. Tired of simply yearning for something more, she sets out on a night of soul searching and stumbles onto a friend in need, and maybe, underneath the vanilla twilight, she finds something more.

Twilight Sparkle is in love with Fluttershy, but now she knows what love is, she doesn't know how to express that love. So after seeing Applejack for advice she makes a plan to go on an adventure with Fluttershy to find this rare flower that shines silver, and sings when those destined to be together are present.

Can Twilight confess her love to the pegasus? Will Fluttershy enjoy going on this adventure? And will the pegasus accept Twilight's love?

As with my first story, constructive criticism is greatly appreciated.

A different take on alicorn ascension. Sixteen years after arriving in Ponyville, Twilight Sparkle is excited to have invented a brand-new kind of spell, but it will come with consequences she cannot possibly anticipate. Meanwhile, threats in shadows around the world conspire to overthrow the Solar Throne. With her world turned upside down, she will have to come to terms with the role that fate has dealt her while straining to keep Celestia in power.

Now with a TVTropes page! Please show it some love! Also check out the official side stories, Designing Intrigue, and Love and Barriers! (With even more in my stories page!)

(Please Note: This story was started before any season three information was available. All episodes in season three and later are non-canon for this story, which also means there's no Crystal Empire in this one. In addition, the promotional map released close to the beginning of season three was also not available and is not compatible with this story. While the OC tag is active because there are OCs in the story, they're really just supporting characters. The focus is on Twilight.)

Also be sure to check out the Rites of Ascension Expanded Universe Group! We're working to develop the resources needed for other authors to try their hand at writing stories set in the Rites Universe!

The Book Two cover art was created by the amazing Silfoe! The original cover art can still be found at Violet Squiggle's deviantArt page.

Author's Notes, including proofreader's credits, can be found here!

"This is 100% Approved by Twilight's Library!"