As the eternal regent of Equestria, Princess Celestia's knowledge of magic is without equal. Over her long life, only a few gifted ponies who had a great destiny before them have had the honor of learning at her side. Sunset Shimmer was one such pony: one of Celestia’s best and most promising students. As she learned at Celestia’s hooves, their bond strengthened until they became far more than student and teacher to one another.

Sometimes those closest to us are the ones who can hurt us the most.

[Note: This story does not directly tie into Equestria Girls]

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.

After the Elements free her from Nightmare Moon, Luna asks Celestia, "What happened to my daughters?"

Celestia escorts Luna to the Canterlot Sculpture Gardens and shows her the Reliquary of the Heroes.

Under the statues of her millennium-dead daughters, Luna learns how they lived in the shadow of Nightmare Moon's treason, and how they died as glorious heroes of Equestria.

Sequel: With Her Majesty's Coast Guard.

Recommendsday!

Content warning: Pandemic. Note that this was published before current events.

When Nightmare Moon’s rebellion tore across Equestria, leaving a trail of blood and horror in its wake, Princess Celestia knew that merely banishing her sister wouldn’t be enough. Her army was too powerful, and too bloodthirsty, to be left behind without a leader. When she finally turned the Elements of Harmony against her, she didn’t just banish Nightmare Moon. She banished thousands.

Now they’re in a race against time, to find a way to survive in an environment so alien that every aspect of it is trying to kill them. They face suffocation, freezing, boiling, starvation, radiation, meteorite impacts, low gravity… the list goes on.

Nightmare Moon thought she should be the ruler of all Equestria. Now, in a world nopony was ever meant to survive, her abilities will be put to the ultimate test.

This story now has a hardcover! If you'd like one of your own, you can grab it here: https://starscribe.net/

Editing by the indulgent and patient Two Bit and Sparktail. Coverart by Zutcha.

Note: I intend this story to be as faithful to our current scientific understanding of the moon, and I’ve consulted for help with the aspects outside my technical purview. That said, I fully expect to make decisions that some may see as mistakes, based on their own independent interpretations.

I am a storyteller first, and I realize it’s likely I’ll eventually make a mistake, or an arbitrary decision to simplify the storytelling over accuracy. I’m doing my best here, but this isn’t a NASA white paper. Set your expectations accordingly.

This story was commissioned by Canary in the Coal Mine on my Patreon, feel free to contact me if you’d like one of your own!

Principal Celestia always has wings in her dreams.

They got her into trouble, once. She let herself believe that they meant she was an angel. Then she grew up, and learned some hard lessons about what being an angel really required.

Now six magical girls have just fought a demon in front of her school. And her phantom wings are itching.

Her life is turning upside down ... and she hasn't even heard about Equestria yet.

Rated Highly Recommended (Top 15 Stories Sitewide) by Present Perfect! "It's f**king flawless, you guys. … The first [6]00-word chapter by itself is a masterpiece."

"Literally the single best EqG story on the site." —Professor Plum
"[One] of the best stories on the site, period." —Pearple Prose
"One of my all-time favorite pieces of fanfiction." –brokenimage321
"My favorite EQG fic of absolute all." -Skywriter

Rated Why Haven't You Read This Yet? by PaulAsaran! "I might have been skeptical going in, but horizon knocked it out of the park."

Rated 5/5 by csquared08! "The opening chapter here was truly something else. ... Then I hit the end of chapter 3. holy crap."

Rated ★★★★ by Louder Yay! "A lesser writer might have made a horrible, cliché-ridden mess of this story, but fortunately horizon is not a lesser writer. For a start, it's by some distance the best portrayal of the human world's Celestia I've read."

Third place in the "Under the Sun" June 2017 Writeoff!  (That first draft has been revised and expanded for FIMFiction.) Praise for the Writeoff version:

"Holy cow ... That's how you write an EqG fanfic! You captured the heart and SOUL of this/your version of Principal Celestia, wrapped it up in bi-universal consistency, and sold me on an idea of redemption I didn't even know I needed." —Xepher

"This is gorgeous. A thorough, exhaustive, incredibly moving portrait of a character who I don't think I've ever seen get quite this much development or attention." —Posh

"This is actually, after all these years, an original take on a story on Luna's banishment. If that's not something to be celebrated I don't know what is." —Quill Scratch, Radio Writeoff

MORE REVIEWER PRAISE: Rated "Definitely Read" by Super Trampoline! Reviewed by City of Doors! Reviewed by Titanium Dragon! Featured on Equestria Daily!

Rated T for brief cursing and alcohol use. Cover art by Seniloko, used under Creative Commons license.

Translations:

中文 - 行政天使

After the Friendship Games, life at CHS has settled down. No more magical villains to face, or impending disasters. Sunset and the others can go back to living as normal teenage girls. Or as close to normal as a group of magically empowered girls and a former unicorn from another universe can anyway.

But when Sunset gets into trouble, someone she never expected comes to help her, and her life will never be the same ever again.

Disclaimer: I don't own My Little Pony Friendship is Magic or any of it's characters. I'm just a fan.

Cover art done by my very good friend PrettySoldierPetite. (EDIT 07/08/19: And now with new cover art!)

Proofread by Dragon of Shadows

Pre-read (post ch 12's publishing) by Setokaiva

FEATURE BOX 11/28/17!

EDIT: Added the MLP: FIM tag because of recent events, and I really should have put it in before this anyway.

EDIT 04/14/19: While the content of this story does not qualify for the "Dark" tag, I have been advised to give a warning that chapter 6 contains a scenario that may trigger some individuals. Tags: psychological abuse & gaslighting.

EDIT 10/16/19: Now with a TV Tropes page!

Side Story
Swimming Lessons

Cadance didn't know what to expect when her formerly banished Aunt Luna returned from her thousand year banishment. But, she's quite entertained by the hilarity. Especially if it means a chance to play a little joke.

Edited by Habanc. Preread by The Albinocorn, Foals Errand, and Timaeus

Cover art was done by Silfoe and used with permission! In fact, this fic is a gift for her!

Now with Spanish translation by SPANIARD KIWI.

What did happen to the "other" Sunset Shimmer? The human one? The one who isn't a pony? Where is she?

Sunset is pretty sure she knows the answer.

Featured, 2^nd March 2019! Thank you!

Featured on Equestria Daily, 1^st May 2020
_{One of Equestria Daily's 30 Best Fanfics to Read for Sunset Day, September 2020}

Reviews
4* (Recommended), Louder Yay
9/10, My Little Reviews & Feedback
Highly Recommended, PresentPerfect Fic Reviews

This story is a sequel to In the Days That Followed

After dealing with everything from attempted murder, to personal tragedy, to survivor's guilt, Sunset Shimmer and her friends find themselves trying to stay out of the way of a government agent brought to the city because of recent events.

With the portal to Equestria closed, and something very angry lurking in the woods surrounding the city, the seven friends will find themselves dealing with foes old and new, a mystery that could threaten everyone in the city, and an impossible and unacceptable choice.

Part 3 of The Repercussions Trilogy.

Featured on 1/13/19

When Wanderer D dies, he ends up looking at two incredibly large beings that will decide his fate.

What could that fate possibly be?!

If the fact that this is posted in a MLP:FIM story archive and it has ponies listed as characters doesn't give you a clue... wonder no more and just... read.

This story has been called a 'deconstruction of self-insert cliches'... I call it: 'I need therapy.'

Inspired loosely by the letters: JG and LT. If you get the reference you know your DL well enough.