A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away....

Sunset Shimmer, the former pupil of Princess Celestia, entered the mirror hoping to find a place where she could plot her revenge and prepare to enact it.
Instead she finds herself face down in a swamp, cold and alone, lost to the machinations of the dark, that is until she comes face to face with a being almost as ancient as her old mentor, and maybe just as wise.

Spoilers in the comments
Original Art by Bakki
Featured 5/30/2019

This story is a sequel to A Tale of Two Suns, Book 1: The Two Suns

Sunset Shimmer's life has taken a rather large turn since her "mother," Sunny Skies, came to Canterlot City. But while Sunset's problems with Child Protective Services may have been solved, life is not exactly calm for the ex-unicorn.

While Sunset and her friends try to deal with a new round of troubles amidst school and average teenage life, new and terrible dangers rise on the other side of the mirror.

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.

Proofread by Dragon of Shadows

Pre-read by Setokaiva

EDIT: Now with a TV Tropes page

Side Story
Swimming Lessons

This story is a sequel to Look In The Mirror To Find the Truth

Featured August 18, 2019

After her six week suspension, Sunset returns to Canterlot High School. Applejack's forgiveness and friendship have given her a new lease on life and a new mission: to try and make it up to the students of CHS.

But to say that her return to CHS isn't well-received is an understatement. Everywhere she walks, Sunset is treated with hostility, scorn, and quite a bit of torment.

Even Applejack's friends are somewhat divided by her return. While Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Fluttershy are convinced that Sunset has changed by Applejack, Rainbow Dash chooses to avoid Sunset entirely. She even starts hanging out with the members of CHS' track team rather then her own friends. The very team that harassed Sunset during her community service.

However, one mysterious student holds an especially severe grudge against Sunset. With his/her attacks on Sunset being sadistic, cruel, and threatening to her physical and mental well-being.

Will Sunset escape her predicament? Could her salvation lie with the least likely person?

This story is a sequel to Look In The Mirror To Find The Truth, and the second part of my Sunset's Steps series.

WARNING: This story features blackmail, offensive language, sexual assault, fights, and heavy drama.

You can read the other stories in chronological order.

Look In The Mirror To Find the Truth-Completed.

Live By The Sword-Completed.

Working Girl Sunny-Ongoing.

The Downfall of Sunset Shimmer: An Anon-A-Miss Story-Ongoing.

What Happened to Sunset's Family?-Ongoing.

Featured from 8/9/2019 to 8/10/2019.

After the Fall Formal, Sunset Shimmer's reign over the school had come to a shattering end.

Everyone at school no longer feared the cruel girl, and some chose to torment her at every opportunity.

Even the Rainbooms, despite the orders given to them by the Princess of Friendship, were reluctant to befriend the former bully.

While delivering her goods one early morning, Applejack encounters Sunset doing her community service. Despite her own anger toward the former Queen Bee, Applejack can't help but notice the complete shift in Sunset's demeanor: her pride and arrogance have been replaced by sorrow and shame.

Driven by her own curiosity, paranoia, her promise to the Princess of Friendship, and a small desire to extend an olive branch, Applejack approaches Sunset during her community service, asking her why she's acting so broken up. Sunset tells her that she went through the most painful thing imaginable: being forced to see oneself with objective clarity.

Will Applejack befriend Sunset, or will her anger toward Sunset overwhelm her compassion?

This fanfic is my own take about how the Elements of Harmony work, and why they managed to change Sunset so quickly. This is partly inspired by Fallowsthorn's Time.

This is the beginning of a series I call Sunset's Steps. I wanted to explore Sunset's redemption a bit, and use the series to see how she got to where she was by Rainbow Rocks.

Here are the rest of the stories, in chronological order.

Look In The Mirror To Find the Truth-Completed.

Live By The Sword...-Completed.

Working Girl Sunny-Ongoing.

The Downfall of Sunset Shimmer: An Anon-A-Miss Story-Ongoing

What Happened to Sunset's Family?-Ongoing

Rated T for language and depictions of bullying.

Sunset Shimmer fled from Equestria in search of the destiny that Celestia sought to deny to her. She dreamed of finding great glory and power in a strange new world. But she emerged on the other side of the mirror in a harsh cruel world beset by demons and troubled by division, conflict and racial animus: the world of Remnant.

Now, years later, Sunset has completed her studies at Canterlot Combat School and is ready to attend Beacon Academy. She hopes that in the more progressive Kingdom of Vale her appearance as a pony faunus will not be held against her the way it was in Atlas, and she can rise as high as her talents permit and seize with both hands the destiny she still yearns for.

Sunset finds herself assigned to lead three fellow freshman at the Huntsman Academy: Jaune Arc, who dreams of becoming a hero elevated above all others; Pyrrha Nikos, a peerless warrior who has everything that Sunset wants and hates everything about it; and Ruby Rose, a simpler and more honest soul who simply wants to save as many people as she can, and who might just light the way to their salvation.

Together they are Team SAPR, and together they are plunged into a world of mysteries, magic, allies and enemies, robot girls and Atlasian black ops experiments. It won't be easy, but if they can work together, teach Jaune how to fight and maybe learn to get along as friends along the way, then they might just save the world.

Original Cover Art by Mix-Up
Current Cover Art by MRK50
Now with a TV Tropes page

Also with a Discord Server