Everything seemed to be going better for Sunset Shimmer since getting blasted by the rainbow of light. She was learning about friendship and how to be a friend. Then Anon-A-Miss struck.

Thinking she had gone back to her old ways, Sunset's new friends walked away from her, leaving her alone.

Now Sunset cannot find neither the strength nor the will to get out of bed.

This is a first foray into attempting to tell a story from a first person perspective from Sunset's point of view.

This story is inspired in part by my own past struggles with depression.

The suicide/self harm tag is for thoughts of self harm, and Sunset's inability to eat or do anything other than lie in bed as she sinks deeper and deeper into depression.

Featured 01-13-2023!

Sunset Shimmer is devastated since her friends abandoned her because of Anon-A-Miss. While she tries to figure out what to do a new girl arrives in town, not knowing that she will be involved into an event she doesn't know about or has control over.

This story is a sequel to Our Illusion

A boring night takes a turn when Princess Rarity keeps screaming for help dealing with an eight-legged intruder who keeps conveniently disappearing when Twilight actually gets there.

Read this story and others on my website, Hollow Shades! You can also support me on Ko-Fi!

On a secluded grassy knoll, Pinkie lets Spitfire take a bite of her cherry pie.

Cover art belongs to CaptainPudgeMuffin.

Life's been hard for Sunset ever since the Fall Formal. She's chronically lonely, much of her free time is dedicated to work and studying, and her classmates still don't trust her. Regardless, she's committed to making things right and improving herself one day at a time.

Most of her new friends are trying to make her feel welcome, but everything feels so forced and awkward at first. This is made worse by Rainbow Dash who seems intent on making things difficult for Sunset. Are they just incompatible? Or is there a deeper reason they can't seem to get along?

Shoutouts to EileenSaysHi, NudistSquid, X_c4nd13d_p3pp3r_cut13_X, Gusto Starstorm and another one of my friends for a combination of workshopping, pre-reading, editing, and proofreading

Featured 10/13/22! Thank you!

This story begins a couple months after the events of the first Equestria Girls movie.

This also takes place before the events of "Can You See What I See?", but you don't have to read that to understand this or vice versa.

• Sunset vector used sourced from here. Unable to find the original source link. If you happen to know the source, please drop me a link!
• Rainbow Dash vector used can be found here.
• Rest of cover created/edited by me.

After seeing a girl that looks like Sunset Shimmer at a carnival in town, Twilight spends a day with Sunset looking for her. Maybe seeing this girl will reveal a little more about what's eating Sunset.

"If you ever need anything, come see me, okay?"

When Fluttershy said those words, Sunset had not really believed her. Just last week, Sunset had been a tyrant, a bully. Surely the girl was just being nice. They weren't really friends.

But as her emotions rage inside, Sunset begins to wonder if, perhaps, those words meant something. Perhaps she really could go to Fluttershy for something. Something only a friend can provide...

Now with a reading by Fire Rain

Another reading by Pony&Wolf Productions

Chinese translation by studyb (学习b) is available on fimtale

This story was Featured on April 24, 2019

This story was featured on Equestria Daily as part of a best fanfics round-up for Sunset Day 2020.

This story is a sequel to The First Step

It has been a few weeks since the fall formal. The school has been repaired, Sunset has been, begrudgingly at least, accepted back into the student body, and she even has a few friends.

They all have so much energy to them. They laugh, they tease, the fight and make up. Sunset can't do that. Not yet. It takes too much energy, energy she doesn't have. Being around them is great. They've been so kind to her. They stand by her. Sunset only wishes she had the energy to do the same for them.

-- Cover art by JanaDashie over on Deviant art.

It has been a few days since the Fall Formal. Sunset is the construction crew's gopher, she still eats lunch alone, and she's feeling worse than ever. At the very least, she can feel proud of not having been a total she-demon since the dance. In fact, other than being lonely, she's been a model student.

So why in the name of Celestia is she being called to the principal's office?

Sometimes waiting at the bus stop with your sworn enemy can lead to some deep conversations.