It has been eight long years since Principal Celestia lost her only child. Eight years of self blame and sadness. When a young woman stumbled into her office, begging to be enrolled she thought that it was just a cruel joke. Especially when that girl turned out to be a tormented villain from another universe. But could Celestia’s mistake be another girls salvation?

In a land of eternal night, a brave band of heroes stood against Nightmare Moon to return the Sun to their world. In a desperate bid for victory, they broke an ancient spell to pull six legendary heroes out of Limbo so that they could do battle with the Night Tyrant.

This is not the story of that battle.

It is the story of the monster that returned with the heroes - and how it found love.

Created for the May Pairings contest

Featured 5/14/2020!

Cover art by the amazing Bean.

Ten years ago, Spike ran away from his home determined to grow strong and learn about his past. He now is back in Equestria to hunt monsters and reconnect with old friends. Will he be able to become their friend again or did he lose them?

Big thank you to my editor Adamastos!

Prince Blueblood is absolutely convinced that Tempest Shadow has lied to Princess Celestia and that she is still plotting to conquer Canterlot. Now it's up to him to stop her.

Unfortunately, he is (a) dead wrong, (b) not a fan of comic books, and (c) not trained in espionage, counter-intelligence, special operations or anything else that would be useful in such a situation. But he does know which flowers go well with her coat and what restaurant can offer the best candlelight dinner opportunities, so... that's... a start...?

Prince Blueblood / Tempest Shadow, because I love my random and obscure shipping constellations these are two very different, very fascinating characters who can probably learn a lot from each other. (Also maybe some Capper/Celaeno on the sidelines later on?)

Content warning is again on the "better safe than sorry" side: there is no suicide, and the only reference to self-harm will be when some of Tempest's scars are discussed.
Took out the warning label for the time being. If I or others feel now or at a later time that it should go in again, it'll go in then. Thanks to the commenters so far for the feedback on when to include it!
Also a mild spoiler warning since this takes place shortly after The Movie.

Cover art (and thus early hype-generation for this fic) done by the amazing Earthsong9405 (Tumblr, DeviantArt).

(Featured Box on March 4, 2018? Thank you all!)

Twilight Sparkle, the Solar Regent, was frustrated. She’d never had a chance against Nightmare Moon, and now she had to live with the consequences of her failure and the moon goddess on the throne beside her.

Shining Armor, Captain of the Royal Guard, was frustrated. His liege was gone. His marefriend was somewhere doing something. His sister was showing all the early warning signs of one of her infamous breakdowns. Worst of all, everypony was keeping secrets.

Sweetie Drops, Equestrian special agent, was frustrated. Work kept piling up, and there seemed to be more and more monsters to fight every day. She needed help.

Cadance, the Crystal Princess, was frustrated. Being somepony’s snack was beneath her, but needs must.

Tempest Shadow, wanderer, was frustrated. Why did life always insist on kicking her while she was down? If it wanted to maintain even the pretext of fairness, her next destination would be her last.

Luna, the Lunar Diarch, was delighted. Everything had gone perfectly since her return from exile.

This story is a sequel to Sharing Beat Up Stories

Sunset Shimmer has had a busy month.

From an admittedly stupid cyberbullying attempt that somehow worked to her friends equestrian counterparts coming over to kick their own butts. Even finding someone from the human world stranded in Equestria to Twilight's counterpart ripping several holes in reality and probably leaking magic like no tomorrow into her homeworld.

All within the span of four weeks!

That being said, she's ready for a break. So, after a moment of nostalgia and reflection alongside her friends, she decides that their idea for her to take a vacation back home for a spell might be a good idea. She could even check to see how her dad was doing! After all, she did vanish quite a few years ago, so he probably would like to know she was at least okay.

So why did she have this foreboding feeling about it all?

And this is where we diverge from the canon story of SunShim's adventures. Does this mean Camp Everfree is a no go? No, it still will be a thing for Sunbutt Jr. to face later. There's just going to be this story between then and the last story's events before it swings back into the right lane. (probably the only reason there's no AU tag on this yet.) It may be a good idea to read the prior stories first, but I will try my best to make it not required to understand all of this.

That being said, please enjoy!

Edit 10/7/18: WHY DO YOU ALL KEEP GETTING THESE INTO THE FEATURE BOX!? I AM NOT THAT GOOD OF A WRITER!

The elements of harmony did not posses emotions, despite what many thought. They were simply a weapon to be used against evil and disharmony, they were black and white when it came to their use. They cared not for what lead one to evil or why. When used they reflected the users desire and were open to interpretation to what the users wished for them to do. In her desire to destroy the evil that corrupted her sister. Celestia did not realize the elements would interpret it as a desire to kill!

Thanks to everyone that looked over the story. You guys rock.

On the longest day, of the thousandth year, the stars aided in her escape.

Then Nightmare Moon looked out upon the land that would soon be her empire, and found a world she no longer existed in. In a thousand years, she had been all but forgotten.
She could conquer, and continue to be hated. She could put aside her pride, and be redundant. Or, she could disappear, and fade into the glorious night.

AN: While Princess of Equestria takes place before this, neither are required reading for the other. Rather, they complement each other.

Sunset Shimmer has lived in the human world for over ten years now. Some of the best and worst days of her life have happened there. When she finds herself no longer having a place in the world she's grown accustomed to she travels back to her homeland of Equestria to figure out who she is and where she belongs. What she finds is a land and people irreversibly changed by time.

Twilight Sparkle now rules over this new Equestria. It is a time of peace and prosperity for the entire world, so why does the Princess seem so sad?
Figuring out her own problems, an entirely different home than the one she grew up in, and her increasingly complicated relationship with Princess Twilight could be the most difficult thing Sunset Shimmer has ever done.
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Story takes place post FIM and EG

John has always been curious about the Everfree forest. Always sticking to the more relatively safe areas he was show by both Fluttershy and resident zebra, Zecora. He never expected to find an Un-changed Changeling, or the extreme state they were in.

*A warning to readers of the teen or lower rating, I initially wasn't going to have any mature sexual content, but I recently I had an idea or two for potential scenes and did a vote. So they will be added, which in turn will bump it up to a mature rating. I plan on leaving it as teen until I add the mature content. Just a heads up.