Beneath his black, chitinous exterior, cold blue eyes, and fang-toothed grin, Thorax holds a dark secret. He knows better than anyone that the best way to hide a changeling is with another changeling, but that's pointless, right? He's already a changeling.

My name is Smarty Pants.
I want to tell you about my friend, Twilight Sparkle.
She's my best friend. And I'm her best friend too.

Or, at least I was...

For most of her time in Ponyville, Twilight Sparkle has insisted that she is not, in fact, a Changeling.

Today, she has something important to tell her friends.

Written for the F*** This Prompt #8 contest.
Partial inspiration from The_One_Butcher.

Season 5 Finale-related.
So many realities. So many horrible futures. But in yet another alternate timeline, Twilight finds herself in the Golden Oak Library with the Princess of Friendship: Sunset Shimmer. Rather than the awful futures she's seen before, she now finds herself in a timeline that actually seems nice. But that means she has a tough decision to make...

-Awesome cover art used with permission from the amazingly talented Huussii (Teemu Husso).
-Based on an idea from Silver Quill.
-Featured as of 12/8/15! Thank you to all the readers!
-Editors: GenerousGhibli and E3gner

Something's been bothering Sunset Shimmer for a while now.

How can there be a human version of Princess Celestia who's in her early forties, when Princess Celestia herself is thousands of years old?

The Rainbooms catch wind of Celestia and Luna's upcoming family reunion, and decide to crash it.

What they find there is...disturbing.

For the former apprentice of Princess Celestia, science experiments are fun and enlightening. Then, one day, magical butterflies start haunting Sunset Shimmer from every corner, even hours after the experiment is long done. Now it's time to panic.

PRINCESS TWILIGHT SPARKLE: DEAD AT 18

TELEPORTATION INVARIABLY FATAL, WARNS LEADING SCHOLAR

One look at the headline of the Canterlot Times and Twilight knew that she should have slept in today. But at least none of her friends would be silly enough to believe she was killing herself every time she teleported, right?

There is now a Spanish translation of this story, courtesy of Spaniard Kiwi

Shining Armor decides he is Twilight Sparkle.

Twilight does some research into her tried and true teleportation spell.

Fluttershy has joined the Ponytones on tour. While backstage before their first performance, she continues to question this decision.

Cover image by GameMasterLuna