Twilight won't settle for anything less than a perfect gift for her girlfriend.

They have very different ideas about what that entails.

Entry to Everfree Northwest 2018's Iron Author contest, won second place. Prompt: Fire, Palpable, Brooch.

There are some things in this world I have never been able to explain. At what point does safety infringe upon basic trust? Why is it that I could be considered less than a pony with feelings like everyone else? Why do I even have to ask these questions?

It wasn't always like this. I once laughed and loved like everyone else. I once had a life I wanted to live.

Then it was taken from me.

Sunset Shimmer had everything. Personal protégé of the Sun Princess herself, top marks in the School for Gifted Unicorns, and the honor of being dubbed the greatest arcanist since Starswirl the Bearded.

Until she threw it all away.

In the last moments before leaving Equestria forever, her destiny is snatched away right before her eyes. Once upon a time the story of the lives of herself, Twilight Sparkle, and the path of Equestrian History went one way, a story that we all know well. But in every stand of woods there is a path untrotted, one with a different story and new experiences.

About the deleted comments.

Discussion of this and other works can be found on my Private Discord Server

New cover by DVixie. If someone knows how to contact them I'd be appreciative. It more accurately portrays the current evolution of the story.

Arc One, Filly Steps: Complete.
Arc Two, What Twilight Learned Today: In Progress.

My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic
Pony POV Series: Sunset Shimmer's Cutie Mark
By Alex Warlorn

"I was proud of you, too proud, to see what you were becoming, to see . . . what I was turning you into."

Previous: http://alexwarlorn.deviantart.com/art/Pony-POV-Nightmare-World-Spike-The-Dragon-473977886

Next Chapter:

First Chapter: http://alexwarlorn.deviantart.com/art/Pony-POV-Series-Fluttershy-FlutterCruel-Pearls-260092460

Trope page: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Fanfic/PonyPOVSeries (SERIOUSLY need to be kept up to date, every little bit helps!).

My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic And All Related Character Copyright Of Hasbro

Cover art by Fox Moonglow. http://fox-moonglow.deviantart.com/art/Sunset-s-Fall-1-The-Faithful-Student-382137378

PLEASE check out the ton of recursive fanfics of this fanfiction series. A lot of heart went into them! They also answer a lot of unaswered questions. http://mlp-pony-pov-series.deviantart.com/ For heaven sake they rock! Kendell2 and Oracle Mask and Richforce and Ardashir and Jawmax and Persona22 and Dragon of Twilight and ItsFromPeople and all the rest!!!

Alternate title:
"Enantiodromia"

Takes place after 'A Canterlot Wedding' Pony POV Series style.

Sunset Shimmer had everything one could ask for. Celestia's best student, wielder of the element of magic, recently crowned alicorn princess of friendship. Everything was perfect.
Then why did it feel wrong?
This was her calling, her destiny. This was the life she was meant to live.
Was it not?
Why did the world around look so alien to her?
Why did it feel like somewhere, somewhen, something had happened the wrong way?

Twenty-five moons ago, an accident unleashed billions of nanoscopic machines called Nanites, which spread to every corner of the globe and infected every living thing.

Most of the Nanites are inactive. A lot of them aren't.

When Nanites go active, their host organisms mutate unpredictably, becoming dangerous creatures called EVOs. Some EVOs have control over their powers. Some remain intelligent. Some even just want to be left alone.

Some have more sinister goals.

And then there's the outsider. One teenage girl who is, in reality, a unicorn exiled from another dimension. Having turned her back on Equestria and fled through the mirror at almost the exact same time as the Event, Sunset Shimmer has become the most extraordinary, unusual EVO of all...

...and she has the power to cure EVOs.

But will a self-centered, power-hungry, arrogant former unicorn really save a human race she doesn't care anything about?

Adapted from Generator Rex by Man of Action.

(Cover art is temporary; permanent cover art coming later...)

Casting magical spells is one thing. Surviving as a normal teenager in a different dimension is another. But for a certain fiery-maned unicorn humbled by defeat, the fragile journey to forgiveness will prove to be her most difficult challenge yet.

From her beginnings as a misguided filly to her final quest towards redemption, take the plunge and dare to trot in the horseshoes of “the pony Equestria forgot”.

Terra, 2317. For over a century, corruption has been lurking inside the Vault created by System Administrator Celestia. The Nightmare virus that overtook her sister Luna threatens to break free. To that end, she sends her finest student, a prodigy coder named Twilight Sparkle, to take charge on restoring the worldwide Grid.

Unfortunately for Twilight, that means doing the one thing she absolutely despises: making friends. But when the fate of Terra rests on her shoulders, she'll have to put aside her feelings and focus on bringing together a team of unlikely heroes to save the Grid and billions of innocent lives.

Cover art credit belongs to AnthemHearts on deviantArt.

This story is a sequel to Vengeance of Dawn

Co-created by SirViper235

Sunset Shimmer has returned, having travelled between worlds and crossed the dark spaces between dimensions to emerge changed, both more and less than a pony. Driven by a dream of impending doom, she sets out to unite the races of the world, heedless of the destruction that she would bring upon the world in the name of saving it. With the support of the proud zebras of Grevyia she launches an assault upon Equestria that will bring down the princesses and shake the peaceful land to its foundations. Using the power of the ancient Labyrinth Box, she imprisons the four mages who alone can threaten her: Twilight Sparkle, Breaking Dawn, Trixie and Chrysalis the Changeling. Now these former foes must work together to recover their true identities and escape the terrors of their enchanted prison.

With Twilight missing, Applejack and Pinkie Pie enslaved and Canterlot taken, Rarity must take up the mantle of leadership as Regent of Equestria, while Fluttershy braves dragons, deer and griffons in her quest for allies. And, as Sunset's tyranny grows ever more cruel, it falls upon the slender shoulders of the Cutie Mark Crusaders to be the salvation of Equestria.

Update 24/11/2013: The Albinocorn and Starlight Nova have become pre-readers for this story. Many thanks to them as the grammar makes an immediate improvement.

Cover art by Dotterall

Twilight Sparkle was merely trying to go out to lunch with her number one assistant after a long morning in the lab when a strange dome of energy passed over them. Now on the other side, with Spike missing, no one in Ponyville recognizing her and certain facts about the town and Equestria she had taken for granted changed, Twilight has some questions.
What happened?
Where is she?
How can she get back?
And perhaps most importantly:
Who is this "Champion of Princess Celestia, Sunset Shimmer Defender of the Realm" everpony keeps going on about?

This story is set in season 3, before Magical Mystery Cure. All other episodes have occurred, or are not relevant.
Characters who deserve to be on the main character list have been removed to prevent spoilers.
Edit: Updated to teen upon reflection of the fact that it is going to get rather violent latter on.
Cover art by the fantastic Lord-Giampietro of deviant art. http://lord-giampietro.deviantart.com/