Opaline had stolen the cutie marks from half of Equestria and was rapidly conquering the rest. Even the fake alicorn Sunny Starscout and her minions were faltering before her. One more push would bring Opaline to her final victory.

Then she surrendered.

And even Opaline doesn’t know why.

Sunset arrives in the human world as a pony in the middle of a busy freeway in Britain and physics happen. Stranded in a world that doesn't even recognize her as a person with everything she's ever wanted, consequences she never asked for and no way home, circumstances conspire for her to end up going to Hogwarts in Harry's year as Luna Lovegood's pet.

Ponyville is filled with strange citizens. Enigmas such as the mildly psychotic Lyra, drama queens Roseluck, Daisy, and Lily, as well as Pinkie Pie, the reality-defying party pony are all welcome in the quaint little town.

But there is one new arrival that stands out among the rest, an individual with a tale so horrifying as to shake this blissful village to its core.

Is it possible to heal any wound? To regain something lost that may never have been there in the first place? Does there exist any hope for a soul that has been so thoroughly broken and betrayed by the world?

In the bright and happy land of Equestria, is it possible to bring such a victim back from the brink?

This is a story that's been on my mind for a while, so I figured I'd finally mollify my creative muse's demands and get it out. One of my very favorite things to read about^__indeed, perhaps my most favorite subject^__is those who so desperately need it getting the help and therapy they need. I like to think that in Equestria, where the common citizen is so much friendlier than us humans, such help is likewise more plentiful.

I know that there are some individuals here on earth that are past the point of complete recovery, indeed, past the point that we have tools to help them. But I sincerely doubt that Equestria is bound by the same rules, and thus I've been wondering if there's any individual that's beyond help.

Strap on in folks, this one's gonna be rough.

New cover art by the fantastic Flygon! My gratitude knows no bounds!

(P.S. Just to clarify: The title is Libero as in the Latin word for 'liberate', not the volleyball term.)

(P.P.S. For those understandably put off by the...well...strangeness of the writing in early chapters, it gets better later on.)

Starlight does a slightly better job at attempting to reform Chrysalis after freeing her friends and reforming the rest of the hive, and finds herself quite unexpectedly the new Princess of Empathy. Whether things go uphill or downhill from here will depend on who you ask. Twilight is thrilled, Chrysalis is miserable, Trixie is gay, and Starlight is just trying to cope with becoming royalty scarcely a year after being Equestria's most dangerous supervillain.

I've always thought Starlight more than earned her wings in the show, but, given that I also love Chrysalis, I decided to grant them in a way that ends with my two favorite characters not trying to kill each other.

This will be a series of mostly one-shots dealing with various aspects of Starlight's life after ascending, with a variety of tones; while it's marked as incomplete, the majority of chapters form complete stories. Obviously, there are an enormous amount of things to be done with such a premise, and, if you have anything you'd like to see explored—and also enjoy the story enough to comment—please feel free to request topics for future chapters!

Note: Chapters are usually, but not always, in chronological order. Where they aren’t, it will be made clear.

"Sweetie, Are ya okay? Ah took a medical kit if ya need help?" Apple Bloom said as Sweetie kept totally still, the pair in front of her making no move to enter the small cave.

"Please do not harm this unit." The voice was distorted, damage to the vocal box giving a metallic tang to the request. Both Bloom and subject 2 jumped back from the entrance, their eyes wide at the distorted voice.

"S-Sweetie?" Apple Bloom stammered, reaching for the shotgun strapped to her barrel. Sweetie pressed herself a little deeper into her hiding place.

>Updating survival odds: 37%

"Please do not harm this unit." Sweetie tried again, various subsystems starting to simulate the most optimal way to fight in her current state.

"H-Hey Sweetie, t-that's you, right?" subject two asked, sounding even more terrified than Apple Bloom.

A small Sweetie Bot story I had in the back of my mind and have occasionally dotted down things for for the last 9 months. Hopefully a fun read!

Cover Image Source

Now with physical book print!
https://www.fimfiction.net/blog/1037123/data-lost-physical-print

Sunset was devastated. It hurts, knowing what she's lost. Forced away from the only friends she's known, she feels like Anon-A-Miss has won. Somehow, she makes it home, and finds herself doing something she rarely does: watching television. Early in the morning hours, she's awoken by the sounds of a children's show with a man who wears a red cardigan.

Somehow, this soft spoken man reaches inside her and gives her peace with just eight words: "I Like You Just the Way You Are"

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A tribute to a great man, and my own way of memorializing his life in one of my favorite shows. Like he said once, I may not be good at this, but I still enjoy it.

EDIT 6/3/19
Featured story! Thanks so much for this! You're all wonderful people, and it's you that I like.

Life for Sunset Shimmer took a turn for the worse when Anon-a-Miss single handedly sowed the seeds of distrust amongst her friends and the entire school, but things got worse when the identity of Anon-a-Miss is finally revealed. Unable to forget how those she thought were her friends and family were quick to assume she had relapsed to her old ways of being a bully, Sunset turns her back on them as they once did to her and is prepared to live a life of shutting out friendship entirely. That is until she happens upon a kind stranger who not only could be the friendly ear to listen to her problems, but even teach her things about friendship that even the Princess of Friendship herself could never teach.

Adagio Dazzle has a real penchant for showing up at the wrong time in places special to Sunset Shimmer. The school, the PostCrush concert, and now her favorite music cafe. Adagio doesn’t seem to be causing any trouble with her singing yet, but sirens only sing for one reason. When Adagio sets her plan into action, Sunset will be ready to stop her.

Thanks to Jarvy Jared and NaiadSagaIotaOar for extensive editing suggestions.
Featured on Equestria Daily!

Twilight falls head over heels for a sandwich artist.

It's just unfortunate that the object of her affection seems to hate her for some reason.

Sex tag for saucy situations and innuendo.
Profanity tag for a healthy helping of swearing.
Romance tag for a love as empty as the calories at Subway.
Comedy tag for the joke that is my taste in music.
Art by yuck-banner.tumblr(dot)com (nsfw warning)
Under new management! Originally published while in exile on Feb 15th, 2020 on a defunct alt named Hoagie.

Right Angle, Ponyville's resident building inspector, has seen a lot of strange domiciles in his life. Twilight Sparkle's castle, however, just might be the strangest.

The castle seems to think so, too.

Inspired by a discussion with the lovely Perfectly Insane. A big thank you to ChudoJogurt, gapty, and AllThatShimmers for prereading.

Ko-Fi. Y'know. If you feel like it.

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