This story is a sequel to The Poisoned Barb

Prequel reading is recommended to enjoy, as well as a steady reading pace.

I was once a woman in her twilight. I was once a mother and a wife. I was once a respected human being. I was once unquestionably happy.

Now I am Barbara The Dragoness; property of House Shine, Squire to Prince Solaris, Assistant to Apprentice Dusk Shine... and master of my own fate.

This is the story of my second childhood, and how I found the strength to keep moving forward.

Welcome to my new life.
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Cover Art by Koviry!

The guards are scared to say it.

Sunset Shimmer has returned to Canterlot.

And the Princess is furious...

Not in continuity with my other stories. Just something that popped into my head one day.

Spell Nexus (mentioned only) is from Past Sins, by Pen Stroke

This story is a sequel to Last one out

Space! It's big. You can find things in it.

Or so is the hope, at least. Nova Flare - Twilight's best pupil, at least right this moment - has been put forward as the first pony Captain of a Hegemony science vessel and so she really is aiming to find something out there in the inky black.

She does, obviously, though what she finds comes as something of a surprise to everyone...

Someone recently did an SCP file for Lyra. I was inspired to post this bit of sillyness which has been on my computer since 2012, so apologies for now non-canon elements.

"Uh... attention, all personnel. There seems to be a problem with the SCIP Network. No Foundation computer at this site seems to be able to access the Control Systems, and that includes the Door Control System. We fear we might have been hacked by a Splinter Group, or a massive system glitch has occurred. Whatever the case, we are initiating a site-wide Class A1 Lockdown out of precaution, until control can be remotely restored. We will update everyone shortly."

This was never supposed to happen.

"Attention, all personnel! The Door Control System is being accessed remotely from an unknown source. An immediate Class B3 Lockdown has been initiated per direct order of O5-█! We advise all personnel to seek out a safe space, or prepare for an evacuation."

Why? Why did she have to do this? She- she was curious, fascinated with it. So enamored with the possibilities she didn't even begin to consider the potential dangers. And now look where she is.

"Attention, all personnel! Somebody is opening up the containment chambers! This site is now experiencing multiple Keter and Euclid Class Containment Breaches, and we advise all remaining personnel of Class-C or higher to enter to your nearest evacuation shelter immediately! Full-site lockdown initiated!"

Stuck. In a room, with a horrifying abomination, something so terrifying she couldn't even begin to comprehend had she not seen it first hoof, outside the door, ready to devour her. Smashing it's huge body into the door in an attempt to break it down. Snarling. Growling. Waiting for it to give way.

"We've dispatched several MTF Task Forces, including Epsilon-11, to this facility for immediate re-containment purposes. We advise all personnel to remain in your evacuation shelter and to ignore any and all personnel attempting entry unless verified to be both human and at least Class-C. We can't take any risks in a breach of this magnitude. The following SCPs are confirmed out of containment: SCP-002, SCP-005, SCP-008, SCP-009, SCP-016, SCP-017, SCP-019, SCP- wait, what is- OH MY GOD!"

And now she was going to die.

"...You... disgusting, RETCHED creatures... you... you think I am secured here... you think... I can be contained. That... you... are... protected. That you... are in control. That any of these... ABOMINATIONS... can be... locked away. That you can win."

And now they were all going to die.

"You... are gravely mistaken..."

And it was all her fault.

Crossover with the SCP Foundation Mythos.

Graduation was supposed to be a happy day for the Rainbooms. Sunset and Princess Twilight had both agreed to temporarily shut the portal to Equestria so they could leave CHS safe and sound while they went on a post-graduation band tour. However, instead of SHUTTING the portal, they somehow made it explode, shattering the multiverse and scattering the Rainbooms across countless different universes. Now, Sunset Shimmer finds herself face-to-face with creatures straight out of dreams and nightmares, from the pages of legend to the screen of cinema.

Her best chance to reunite with her friends and get home: a self-proclaimed "Giant Nerd" and his old jalopy of a car, both of which are native to a world of silent observers of the multiverse, including her own life with the Rainbooms. Between his guidance and her courage, the two of them are determined to reunite the Rainbooms and get them back home...

Even if that means facing ink demons, xenomorphs, genocidal time-looping children, or even Egyptian god cards.

((The most blatant of self-insert fics. I am 100% aware of that. This is just a project to help me unwind.))

"In the beginning, there was nothing but all encompassing darkness that claimed all of existence within the void.
Yet even in this darkness, there was light.
A single speck of light that defied the shadows and slowly grew to encompass the known universe, bringing light to a once dark and dreary realm.
The being had wrested control from the void, yet it was not content.
With its power, it created the stars and planets that dot the seemingly infinite expanse of the universe.
This, was how the universe had truly come to be."
Creation of the universe according to the Church of Primis
Long ago, before the times of the princess's, the world stood divided. The father of the universe saw the hatred between the races of the planet, and sought to rectify his mistake of abandoning his creation, choosing to live amongst them once more.
This is where our story begins.

*Tags will be added as needed, or when the story. calls for it.*

Been featured like seven times now...wow, that's awesome, didn't think I'd even get it once.

[Rationalfic Deconstruction / Subversion of Displaced]
You’ve read the stories of people from Earth being “Displaced”: Their bodies are changed, their minds are warped, and they’re thrown across the multiverse, to whatever world and timeline their supernal "Displacers" decide upon.  Well, this story isn’t one of them...

...because when they tried to remake me, I didn’t let them.

A Rationalist Horror story, in which an Occultist from some version of Earth (implied to be the World of Darkness) undermines her own Displacement and ends up as a Self-Modifying Construct. Scientific Inquiry, Philosophical Debate, Rational Discussion, Body Horror, and Existential Hijinks ensue. Themes, Concepts, and Style inspired by HP Lovecraft, Elizer Yudkowsky, Gordon R Dickson, Edgar Allen Poe, Modern Prometheus (Frankenstein), Dresden Codak, World of Darkness, and Friendship is Optimal.
^{Front page on JUL 28th, AUG 12th, OCT 30, and every update after that.}

Your story breaks the shitty norm that most displaced stories have in common by being an 'actually interesting story' instead of a powertrip for a horny teen.

This is like brain porn. My head hurts but in a good way.

Author’s Notes

I often find Displaced fics to be more often Miss than Hit with me. Often, they're generic, poorly written, or just do not do anything worth reading with the concept.  This is an experiment to trt out a few other concepts which aren’t used often, even by me, including some which directly subvert Displaced as a genre, and maybe even come up with some advice for those authors. This is also a crossover with the upcoming Dragon: The Oroboroi Chronicles, a World of Darkness rulebook which I lead the development team for.

I hope you all enjoy this, and I implore you to leave some feedback in the comments section: I'll experimenting with a few uncommon concepts here, and I'd like to know how people feel about how they're coming across. :3

FAQ

Because people keep bringing these things up...

Horror/Dark Tags

I've had multiple people ask "how bad does it get?" Note the lack of the "gore", "sad", or "mature" tags or anything like that. Yes, there is blood and death at some point in this story, but the real horror of this story comes from the philosophical and scientific quandaries the characters go through: this is "intellectual horror", not "visceral horror".

Length

In the interest of this NOT becoming one of those long, sprawling fics, I plan to keep this limited to a manageable 10 chapter limit, not counting Prologue and Epilogue. No one wants to read something that long, and I'd rather not be stressing over this 6 months from now.

Sequel

The Sequel is already in the works, with scenes already written. It will be a more episodic story revolving around world optimization and interplanar hijinks.

Crossovers

To be clear, I do plan on having the main character make one of those "Token" things, but as they often get in the way of actual stories, that won't happen until the end of the story. The Sequel will be crossover-heavy.

After the events at Camp Everfree, Sunset Shimmer hoped the rest of the summer would be spent hanging out with her friends and exploring her new magic. One night, an armored woman named HIldr arrives, wielding unique powers, and shows Sunset Shimmer that the world is bigger and stranger than she ever believed. Fighting an enemy she doesn't understand and running from a government that doesn't trust her, Sunset Shimmer does her best to help Hildr return to her own time and show that the past does not dictate the future.

Ponies take to dance numbers like fish to water. Humans... do not. When Pinkie Pie gets up to her old tricks during a shopping trip, the other girls try to resist the Equestrian magic and its latest compelling song.

A one-shot spin-off of What They Expect to Give, my mature AU EQG romance drama. Takes place a few years before.

Editing provided by Desalvos and ChudoJogurt.

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