"My little ponies, it is with great relief that I can finally tell you: The Crystal Wars are over. With the end of hostilities, my daughter --your hero-- Sunset Shimmer, is coming home."

After twelve long years, Sunset Shimmer is coming home. To Canterlot. Through twelve years of hard, bloody campaigning, Sunset had finally ground the Crystal Empire, and by extension the tyrant, Sombra to dust under her hooves. And she's coming back to Canterlot, the place of her birth.

As for Princess Celestia, The Celestial Monarch. She has waited for her daughter to come back so that she may impart one final lesson. But Sunset Shimmer has a lesson of her own:

War. War never changes. But ponies do.

This story is a sequel to The Runaway Bodyguard

(See chapter list. New content having to do with notice below.)

There is a REMASTERED version. Please read that instead of this (the original published) version if you just finished the prequel.

Starlight Glimmer's past and future collide in Canterlot a few years before the 1000th Summer Sun Celebration. Still bruised by the loss of Sunburst, runaway Starlight Glimmer tries to forget her recent past at Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns but the crimes of that past and Celestia's original protégé, Sunset Shimmer, make that difficult. What happens will change Equestria forever.

Prequel published 3/19/21. Sunset Shimmer Goes to Hell is a sequel (mostly) to this novel from Sunset Shimmer's point of view. The Forgiving Lesson is a sequel to The Crystalling and this novel.

Image (c)2016 by Riakoh-Illust, commissioned for this story. (Click source to see final artwork.)

¡Muchas gracias! to DoContra for his heroic work as a pre-reader.

Twilight Sparkle recovered her crown, made new friends, and redeemed someone with the power of friendship. As far as she knows, all is absolutely right with the world.

Sunset Shimmer can't believe she fell for it.

Also? Blame Wheatley

A few hours after saving the Friendship Games, Sunset Shimmer and her good friend Twilight Sparkle are relaxing on the CHS lawn. The two are so close that Sunset finally feels like she can ask a question that's been on her mind for a while.

"Can I go home?"

A human finds himself in Equestria under very unpleasant circumstances with no explanation.
His reaction: get the heck out of Dodge and start a new life where Equestria and her ponies can't reach him.
But an alicorn's reach is long and the events which brought him here and his treatment in Canterlot are not so easily forgotten by those who did it. How does one say 'go away' to an immortal goddess?

Yay! Featured, thank you all.
A TV Tropes page
Revised 08/31/14 for clarity and grammatical issues, no events changed. I am working on a sequel, but it will be from Fancy's POV.
P.S. Green is NOT Lyra. There are other green unicorns.

As the eternal regent of Equestria, Princess Celestia's knowledge of magic is without equal. Over her long life, only a few gifted ponies who had a great destiny before them have had the honor of learning at her side. Sunset Shimmer was one such pony: one of Celestia’s best and most promising students. As she learned at Celestia’s hooves, their bond strengthened until they became far more than student and teacher to one another.

Sometimes those closest to us are the ones who can hurt us the most.

[Note: This story does not directly tie into Equestria Girls]

Hundreds of years have passed since the wedding of Princess Cadence and Shining Armor. As with all mortal life, Shining Armor was fated to die and his soul to pass from the world. But with magic, his end was averted. What price will his immortality demand?

Now 100% approved by Twilight's Library!

Featured on Equestria Daily!

Also on TV Tropes!

New cover art by the awesome BroDogz.

This story is a sequel to Proud Mother of a... Changeling?

After Twilight receives a letter saying that Queen Chrysalis is the guest of honor in the Crystal Empire's First Grand Banquet, she becomes suspicious and attends in order to thwart any plans the changelings may be hatching.

Loop D'Loop is a changeling who has tried her best to integrate into the small town of Liveryburg. She has friends, a job, and she's happy. Now more changelings are attacking the town, and she's going to have to find a way to save everyone without revealing that she's the same as the monsters they're afraid of.

No one's important. No one's special. Except for the princesses.

Blueblood's always known this. He's always accepted this. He'll never be special. He'll never do anything important.

But now he has to. There's too much at stake.

He knows he'll fail, but he has to try. Because...