Luna is a strange mare. Cadance is only now just starting to see how strange she is when Luna mentions the unthinkable. Maybe she'll learn something new in the process.

Part of this story appeared as a chapter in Missing Pages & Scrawled Footnotes on May 31st, 2017. It has since been revised and expanded. Contribute to the TVTropes page!

Equestria has witnessed centuries of rapid technological advancement during Twilight's rule. Innovations in the production and integration of magic has led to countless improvements in the quality and efficiency of life in Equestria, and enabling ponies to finally touch the stars and new worlds. However, with the rise of more and more energy-heavy processes and a stagnation in development regarding the extraction of energy, Twilight turns to the biggest and final step in energy extraction: a dyson sphere: a massive device that would surround the sun and allow virtually all the energy released through nuclear fusion to be harnessed by Equestria.

Two former princesses have some concerns.

Written as an entry for the Science Fiction Contest III.

Princess Celestia gets legit deaded by everyone's favorite bacon head.

Sunset Shimmer didn't really like that stupid pegasus to begin with, and her distaste for her only grew after the day of Mi Amore Cadenza's coronation. That crown was supposed to be hers. Instead, it went to the stupid Princess of Love. Now, Celestia has arranged for Cadence to stay in Canterlot with Sunset, and encourages the two of them to become friends. But with Sunset's dour attitude, and her constant bullying, will the two ever become close?

Highly underrated and little-known ship I have dubbed "SunDance"

Rated T for pseudo-profanity and suggestive content.

Cast out of the Celestial Palace, the former Royal Student, Sunset Shimmer, is about to take life into her own hooves and seize what rightfully belongs to her, on the other side of that mysterious Mirror Portal.

Only problem is, somepony else got to the mirror, first. It's gone, vanished.
So is Celestia.

On the bright side, the new Acting Princess, Mi Amore Cadenza (or Cadance, as she likes to be called), is willing to ignore that banishment and give Sunset a second chance. She's heard the rumors about the reclusive, disobedient, and just-generally-mean Royal Student, but the Acting Princess needs all the help she can get.

So, all of a sudden, Sunset goes from being a disgraced scholar, banned from the palace grounds, to serving as a valuable asset of Princess Cadance's desperate scramble to hold the Principality of Equestria together and figure out what on Equus even happened to the Princess of the Sun.

Now, Sunset just has to avoid royally peeving off the ponies giving her a second chance: to ingratiate herself to them, even; to make herself indispensable. She can lie, cheat, and swindle like nopony else in the Celestial Palace, and it's time she used those talents for somepony other than herself.

Starting with this little project of Cadance's. The Princess needs to recruit a young group of friends to serve the Crown and Harmony, and she's already got a lead. Sunset just has to do the actual hoofwork of meeting the candidates, and then she can dust her hooves of this and go back to her studies, secure in her appointment as Royal Student.

What's the worst that could happen?

Comes after Stay of Execution, but that work is not required to appreciate this one. Provides context for Understudy.

Rated Teen for coarse horse language and various threats made to ponies' well-being.

Sunset Shimmer has always been a hot-headed, impetuous girl. She's always been prone to making snap decisions, and later finding herself regretting them. It was exactly this temperament that had brought her to the human world, penniless and alone. When the opportunity to get back on her feet presented itself in the form of a stranger's outstretched hand, she leaped at the chance.

This is the story of a woman who has made many bad choices, and the life those choices have made for her.

Tags, and even rating, may change as the story goes on.

Thanks as usual to Magello for the cover art!

A short one-shot where Sunset and Twilight go to a café to take a break during finals season. Twilight feels a little insecure over her new look, but Sunset is there to ease her fears. This one-shot is a character study of Sunset Shimmer and includes my personal headcanon about her relationships with the two Twilights.

Cover art by omame0521

In an alternate universe, Empress Celestia is the sole ruler of Equestria - later to be surpassed by her daughters; her heirs, Princesses Sunset and Twilight.

Nightmare Moon had long since banished to the moon, but even for such an exile, there's only so much a moon banishment can do. Her body may be chained, but not her spirit.

Takes place years before Tough Love

A princess and her nine companions are picked off one-by-one after stumbling into the hunting grounds of an ancient evil, in a mysterious forest of monsters. 

Demons were once merely a myth. But now, they are all too real.

Scribe Twilight Sparkle is content with her position within The Order, simply documenting and cataloging various menial pieces of information. It's a life she couldn't imagine being any different.

However, when a veteran Demon Hunter arrives at Monastery Firelight, and she's at the wrong place at the wrong time, she's thrust into a new, terrifying and dangerous world. One that has always existed beneath the veil of her previous life.

Now, instead of shying away from the darkness, she must face it head-on.