Many years after sending her beloved protege to Ponyville, unease sits heavily on Princess Celestia's heart as her relationship with Twilight Sparkle seems to have cooled despite all they've accomplished together. On the advice of her sister, Celestia sets out to investigate and resolve the lost connection with her most faithful student. What does it mean to be a Faithful Student...or a Princess of the Sun?

Earned a six-star rating on Equestria Daily and featured on its very own TVTropes page!.

A normal end to a normal day -- at least, that's what it was supposed to be.

But it wasn't.

Luna went to raise the moon as usual, but something went wrong. Terribly wrong. She felt it, but she couldn't stop it.

None of us could.

It appeared too suddenly -- acted too quickly.

The only warning we received was a roar and a bright flash of light, then everything was gone. No more Canterlot, no more ponies, no more anything.

Nothing survived.

Nothing... except for us and whatever 'it' is.

We may be immortal beings, but that doesn't make things any better -- if anything, it makes the pain all that much worse. The only thing we can really do now is try to avenge those dear to us. Our subjects... our families... my friends...

Everything.

I don't care how long it takes, and I don't care if it's a pointless battle. All I care about now is making sure we put that thing down for good.

After that?

Well...

Cover art done by Little Tigress. Check out her other stuff on deviantart if you wanna see more!

This story is a sequel to Sunset's Crowning Achievement

The last time Twilight saw Starlight Glimmer, she threatened to kill Rainbow Dash when she was just a filly and ruin Twilight's life by going back in time. Only, when she failed to find Starlight in the past and returned home, Equestria wasn't a ruined wasteland, Ponyville was a lot bigger than she remembered, and all these new ponies in the castle were talking about some big pony they call Empress.

Twilight's been having weird, unfamiliar urges ever since she became an alicorn. Like an intense desire to grow flowers, or the fact she can't stop chewing on her wings when she's distracted. As it turns out, you can't just suddenly inherit the magic of all three pony tribes without getting the instincts to match, and instincts can be a powerful thing. Doubly so when you're not used to them, and especially when they're telling you that your best friend with the gorgeous wings would make the perfect partner to share a nest with.

Wait, what was that last part?

Originally this was supposed to be a birthday gift for Celysus, but I fell in love with the idea so it's gonna be a full fic now. You can't stop me.

(Rated teen for mildly suggestive flirting)

Warning: This story and this description both contain spoilers for the Web Novel: Worm. If you don't want to be spoiled, read Worm first, then come back and read this

The apocalypse had come at the hand of a god-like multidimensional alien entity. Taylor Hebert, a parahuman with power over bugs and bug-like things has her powers altered by a former enemy and subsequently uses morally questionable means to make everyone in existence with superpowers fight this evil deity, eventually defeating him.

This however came with a cost. Her mind was deteriorating as her power was subsuming her. Thus another cape decided it would be a mercy to put a pair of bullets in the back of her skull.

Another entity witnessed all of this. This entity, grateful for Taylor's role in stopping this alien god and thus saving countless worlds and thus countless lives, decides to intervene. It brings Taylor to Equestria turning her into a Changeling Queen in the process.

(Warning, Dark, Death, and/or Tragedy may be added to the list of tags in the future, depending on how things go. Furthermore, the Suicide tag is for the references to suicide in the description and in the first chapter. Suicide and/or self harm will NOT be a major theme in this story.)

(This is a crossover with the web novel called Worm by the author Wildbow. I highly recommend reading it if you haven't, it's a really good story!)

Sunset Shimmer's life was good, she had plenty of friends and greatly enjoyed where she had eventually ended up in life. It's a shame then that reality had a different opinion on where she belonged. Now stuck in the past prior to first leaving for the human world, Sunset will have to figure out what kind of direction she wants to take in life this time around.

After all, the future she herself lived with her friends was not reachable without doing things that she now found appalling. Even so, she knows that staying in Equestria could very well doom the world to a much darker future. If she had time to draft a plan she could probably figure out something that would keep herself out of the way while also not affecting the timeline, it's a shame then that the two princesses of Canterlot would just not leave her alone!

Apparently this thing got feature mere days after publishing... somehow.

Now with an audio reading by Skijarama!

Now with a print version available for order!

A purple Alicorn shows up one night and then vanishes into thin air. Many wouldn't think anything of it besides how strange it was.

Not Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow Dash has met that Alicorn before.

The implication it brings and the guilt that follows leaves Rainbow Dash with questions weighing on her mind.

Luckily, in the crushing pain of reality, she still has friends.

***

Cover art created by the extremely talented invertigo and paid for by the amazingly awesome Shipmun. Oh my gosh it's just so cool.

Have you ever seen a pony that just seemed out of place? Perhaps some mannerism, some behaviour that just struck you as odd? Some piece of clothing that didn't seem quite right? perhaps a coat or mane whose colour just seemed flat-out weird. A strange build, a strange voice, or maybe they were perfectly normal, except that you swear you just saw the exact same pony not five seconds ago somewhere completely different?

Of course you have. Everypony has encountered an Outsider at some point. But never up close, it's always at a distance, and they're always gone before you have the chance to challenge them.

But sometimes the rules get broken. Sometimes fate gets distracted for a moment, and a lone unicorn mare gets to see something that she was never meant to see.

Twilight Sparkle's day is about to get very weird.

FAQ and Supplemental Materials (Potential Spoilers for new readers)

Featured! Twice!
...I really don't know what to say!

Special Thanks go to Horizon for initial proof-reading, editing, and signal-boosting, provided as a prize for spotting an Easter egg in his story Hard Reset II. Seriously, it's an awesome, brain-warping story and you should go read it right now.

Thanks also go to my editors for putting up with my atrocious grammar and spelling errors - Ganelon, Ephraim Blue, BronyWhooves, Commonancestry, Princess Autumn Forest, and Morning Sun

Cover art credit goes to EMedina13 and tamalesyatole. I am looking for more appropriate art, so If you think you can do better, let me know.

If there was one thing that Rainbow Dash knew, it was that everyone loved High Princess Luna. And that, by Proxy, everyone loved her daughter, Princess Twilight, as well.

Too bad she loves said young Princess in a completely different way.

Eh, she'll figure it out.

Yesterday, Sunset's friends publicly cast her out after finding their secrets revealed by Anon-A-Miss.

Today, no one except Sunset remembers any of it ever happened.

Now she has to figure out why - and if she even wants to restore the memories that were lost.

Thanks to chris the cynic and I-A-M both for the initial conversation that sprouted this idea and title suggestions.

And of course thanks to Scampy, because SunFlower and Wally and all related cuteness.

Featured 8/12/2020 and 8/17/2020!