October 26th, 2023 update: This story's going back in the oven. There's some changes I want to make. Details here.

Sunset Shimmer lived a perfect life: an aspiring career as Princess Celestia’s star pupil, a budding romance, and the perfect best friend to discover the wonders of the world that made life worth living.  But under the guise of a new friend Sunset met in her dreams, Nightmare Moon sought to upend everything in the name of vengeance, and the powers that be demanded their pound of flesh.

Years later, long after the dust had settled, Sunset found her home beyond the portal. Life was good, if a little strange.  But when Princess Luna comes seeking to quell the nightmares of a past that still haunt her, those nightmares rapidly spiral out of control, and Sunset is faced with the impossible decision of allying herself with the very individual who had destroyed her life.

With little choice, they strike a tentative partnership, and as past and present converge to threaten all that Sunset holds dear, she is left standing at the precarious ledge of a question that may very well have no answer:

Is there a limit to forgiveness?

[Non-con] tag for story elements, not on-page events.
Edited by RBDash47.
Cover art by Ventious.
Chapter header art by Smeows_isgood.

This story is a sequel to Rendezvous with a Batpony

Princess Twilight Sparkle is keen on bringing the Magic of Friendship to everyone, not only the ponies of Equestria. Accepting an invitation she received a long time ago, she decides to visit the domain of batponies. Alongside Midnight Wind, a Nightguard member she befriended, she sets off on a perilous journey to the land of Noctraliya.

But can she fulfill her task when faced with internal rivalries, political intrigues, cultural aversions... and a funny feeling growing gradually in her heart?

Equestria and the Crystal Empire have fallen to the Changeling Hegemony, led by the brutal Queen Chrysalis at the head of a mechanized horde of guns and tanks. Princess Cadance stayed in the Crystal Empire; Princess Twilight stayed in Equestria. Chrysalis rules the continent, only defied by Nova Griffonia, the poor Griffon colony in the north.

Across the ocean, the Griffonian Reich pledges to reclaim its lost territory, sundered by revolution a generation ago. While the Alicorn Sisters retreat to New Mareland, Princess Flurry Heart and Shining Armor turn to Aquileia, the Republic born out of the ashes of the Griffonian Reich. The Kaiser of the Reich is only a child, subject to a regent bent on war and conquest.

Flurry knows the Reich and Chrysalis have worked together.

She knows that war is coming to Aquileia.

She knows that Celestia and Luna abandoned her mother and Twilight Sparkle.

She knows that the world is on fire, and she is the last true Princess of Ponies.

She knows she will go home.

Cover Art by Opal Radiance, commissioned by Sunstreaker.
https://www.deviantart.com/opalradiance

Anon-a-miss, the mysterious gossiper, plagues CHS. Caught as the perfect scapegoat, Sunset finds herself more shunned than ever before. While determined to clear her name, Sunset decides that first she needs a break. From everything. Back in the place she used to call home.

But as soon as Sunset leaves, her friends at CHS realize the depth of their mistake. Not just in accusing Sunset, but also in forgetting Sunset is not like any other human. As they try with all their might to earn back their friend's trust, they quickly come to learn that they know very little about Sunset and the world she hails from.

And worse for the girls, as Sunset begins to pick up the shards of her old life in Equestria, she begins to wonder whether she really wants to stay at CHS at all.

Six hundred years passed since Twilight Sparkle, princess of Equestria, rose to the throne. She is dutiful. She is wise. She is watchful. She is miserable. The land bears the fruits of her tireless reign. The people are happy and flock to her court to pay their respects to their leader.

In the north, the Crystal Empire lay forgotten by Her Majesty Twilight Sparkle. Beyond that, a mountain range lay ignored by most, its secrets whispered by some. Twilight Sparkle knows there is a Question hidden inside that must be asked, but she is no foolish pony, and her duty is to her people, to Equestria. She does not step into the mountains. She does not follow the gnawing at the back of her mind to investigate their secrets. She does not venture through wind-blasted canyons and frigid reaches to try and glimpse a truth that escapes her.

All hail Twilight Sparkle! All hail the Princess of Equestria!

=== [1] ===
A hateful serpent lying in wait.
An alicorn underneath the churning waves.
A cowardly king who saw the face of death.
An ancient wizard past his prime.
Two fillies lost in a world, responsibility thrust onto them.
A drakoness with the world taken from her.

An ancient force as old as Life seeks to enact his vengeance on the world, empowered by the tensions building in the land, people at odds with one another and each kingdom on edge. A young drakoness is the victim of his bloody crusade, fueling her on a single-minded path to vengeance.

She must fight against an omnipotent foe with impossible odds stacked against her, while not losing herself as a person in her journey. She is Tempest - and this is her story.

=== [2] ===

Power that the world had not seen in an eternity tore the lands apart.

In the distance, the dragons began to roar.

In the distance, bells began to ring.

And deep below stirred the Queen of Storms.

The Elements of Harmony were annihilated in the final confrontation against Discord. Without them, there was only a matter of time until things fell apart. In a world without Harmony, the Solar Dominion is locked in an endless confrontation against the Lunar Sovereignty. Neither faction has a distinct advantage. The entire race of ponies is quite literally tearing itself apart.

Enter Twilight Sparkle, a uniquely gifted battlemage under the tutelage of Princess Celestia. Sent on a clandestine mission into Lunar lands, she must keep her identity secret at all costs as she recovers a mysterious relic that will tip the balance of the war. She isn't the only one with their own agenda in these treacherous lands, however, and with nopony to watch her back, she's going to have to do it herself.

Princess Celestia has taken on a new personal student: an unusual young colt named Amethyst Eclipse. When Twilight Sparkle meets Eclipse, he warns her she is fated to "ruin" a magical and mysterious realm that Celestia and Luna have kept a closely guarded secret for centuries—but refuses to tell her more.

Joined by her more scientifically-minded friends, Twilight will try to unravel the mystery before his prediction comes true.

Written for The Writeoff Association's "Under the Sun" contest.