This story is a sequel to The Witch of the Everfree

Saddle Arabia is a land of mysteries and ancient legends, and Sunset Shimmer sees it as a great place to escape from her mistakes for a while. What caused her to flee Equestria, and can she find a way to prove herself and win back the favor of the ponies she wronged?

More importantly, can she avoid starting a war?

I'd like to thank all my followers, fans, and patreon subscribers. Without all of you, I'd be worse off in every way.

Sunset Shimmer is having the worst day of her life. She used to be important. She was the personal student of Princess Celestia. She was a future leader of Equestria. She was the kind of mare that everypony envied.

Today, it's all crashing down around her.

Alternate Universe: What if Sunset Shimmer hadn't gone through the mirror?

Magic isn’t real. Twilight Sparkle abandoned that fantasy in her childhood, along with nonsense like pony princesses and myths of a monster in the moon. The only thing worth believing in is that which can be proved—scientifically, of course.

But then a series of un-scientific phenomena starts happening at Canterlot High. The magic-obsessed transfer student won’t leave her alone, a vivid nightmare haunts her dreams with increasing intensity, and her benevolent mentor-slash-principal is clearly hiding something big. Everywhere she turns there’s talk and sight of magic; rumours of a thousand-year old prophecy and a monster returning to seek revenge. And worst of all? Twilight finds herself almost willing to believe it.

Almost. Good thing she’s smart enough not to, right?

An EQG-adjacent retelling of the season one opener. Sciset. Animated trailer. Reviewed by PaulAsaran. Art by me!

3/14/24 Still Alive Edition

There's only one pony in Ponyville that the Mane Six have never met. Pinkie Pie has never thrown him a party, Applejack has never sold him a mug of cider, and Twilight has never seen him check out any books. And as far as that unicorn, Lapis Print, is concerned, that's exactly how it should be.

Lapis can't risk them knowing where he lives, what he does for a living, or even what his name is - if he gets his way, the Mane Six won't even know he exists, and nopony in Ponyville will miss him once he's gone.

It should be a piece of cake - after all, it's not like the biggest magical power in Equestria is about making sure everypony looks out for each other, right?

(Rated Teen for language - mental cursing mostly.)

A creature of old has been present in Equestria since the beginning of the rule of the alicorns, watching, waiting. He saw their fall and the sisters' rise to power. Now, for the first time in eons, he steps from watching and takes action.

It was never supposed to end like this.

Princess Cadance has saved all of Equestria from the changeling threat. What comes next isn't going to be half as easy.

One wedding may be cancelled, but a new engagement has begun.

Massive thanks to my pre-readers/ideas tasters: Bronetheus and RK_Striker_JK_5. Go check out Night Errantry and Spanner in the Works for two great fics that are well worth your time.

Warning: This is an attempt to make the Cadance/Chrysalis ship work, without too much darkness (though there will be some), or it leading to an inevitable bad end. If you hate this idea, believe that Cadance ending up with Chrysalis is automatically a bad end regardless of circumstances, or just think it's plain impossible to pull off then please move on as this fic is probably not going to be for you.

Still if you want to see if this pretty cracky ship can somehow be made to work, and have some fun along the way, then this just might be the fic you are looking for.

If you still hate the concept enough that you feel that you have to hit the dislike button, then fair enough, but if you find something else objectionable then please post a comment, or basically I'm going to assume that you're just disliking the ship rather than the story and ignore you.

The Sex tag is there for some of the humour, some implication to off screen activities, and a few bits on screen that while are no where near the mature rating do push things somewhat compared to the rest of the fic. If you're wondering where the Comedy tag went I decided while I do believe there's a lot of fun and amusement to be had, I can see why it might mislead some readers as some of the events are taken more seriously that you'd expect from an all out comedy.

This story is a sequel to Queen No More

Twilight Sparkle made the most foolish and selfless decision possible. She saved the life of Queen Chrysalis. The dynamics of Twilight's relationships begin to change as Chrysalis introduces the changeling hivemind to her pony caretaker. Chrysalis' only hope was to relieve her loneliness, but events begin to unfold that will change Equestria forever.

Nothing is stronger than the power of redemption...

NOTES
1. This is the sequel to Queen No More but there is a time jump between its end and Hive Alive's beginning.
2. This is Alternate universe due to the fact that this story will run off of a disparate timeline. Events forward of season 2 may be similar OR significantly altered.
3. There is mention in Chapter 3 of an old changeling tale titled As a Star. A version of this has been written by Farseer.

NO MORE UPDATES: The story is complete. A sequel has been made: Queen of Equestria.

FULL TIMELINE SUMMARY OF STORY AND CHAPTERS

2014 ANNIVERSARY AND HOLIDAY UPDATE
Updated outer cover, inner cover, and description!
2 new HD wallpapers!
Hive Alive 2013
Hive Alive 2014
New extras collection, Hive Alive Moments, including...
Too Hot
Perfect Marriage
The Hive Before Halloween
Take Two
Shy My Heart

Featured May 24th, 2014 and on every chapter release since then.

Art by BlackWater (that's me)

The royal wedding is saved but at what cost? There was more to the changeling attack than was apparent and Twilight begins to wonder if it was all as black and white as it seemed. Queen Chrysalis was defeated and her rule was taken from her. With no food and no allies, she is doomed to the dreary fate she had always feared. When faced with potential tragedy, Twilight has to make one of the scariest decisions of her life. Does she help the dying changeling or leave her to her "just" end?

Continued in Hive Alive!

HD WALLPAPERS
Logo
Chrysalis

Featured July 20, 2014.

Art by BlackWater (me)

This story is a sequel to Hive Alive

After the chaotic series of events that created it, Twilight's small hive is now positioned with her at the peak of Equestrian authority. Not all are pleased by this. A coup has just been averted and the plots of those behind it may still be in motion.

With all other alicorns away and Discord gone with them, Equestria's history will be written by only one mare. She and her hive of friends and lovers are already being dragged into the tragedy of power-seeking pony elites, invaders, and ancient evils.

It begins as Cloudsdale falls...

GENERAL NOTES
1. Please see the age rating note below for a disclaimer on content and general story mood.
2. This is the direct sequel to Hive Alive. There is no significant time jump between stories.
3. Due to the length of Hive Alive and the time since it was finished, I have put together a useful timeline summary. Those interested in remembering key details from the 230,000+ word story will be able to do so easily. It is posted in a blog entry here.
4. Recommended to be read with the background color set to "Dark" via Formatting. It's the changeling thing to do. Chrysalis approved.

UPDATES
Biweekly. One new 3,000-4,000 word chapter every other Wednesday.

FULL TIMELINE SUMMARY OF HIVE ALIVE (for those that want to refresh themselves)

AGE AND CONTENT RATING
Rated Teen for violence, non-graphic injury, some crude language or terminology, innuendo, and suggestive content. No explicit scenes or descriptions will be included. Deaths may be mentioned but are not detailed. The intent of the story is not to be entirely serious or dark and therefore is not tagged as such. There will be more cheery scenes to come after the beginning chapters and thus this should not be confused with going the path of improperly tagged grimdark.

Alternate front cover is in progress.

In Popular Stories: December 31, 2016
First Featured: January 4, 2017

Thanks for reading!

Art by BlackWater (me)

Twice, they denied her a great victory. Twice, she was left humiliated and beaten by pony hooves. But if there's one lesson Queen Chrysalis surely learned, it was revenge. If there was a second, it was where to stick the dagger in a loving mother.

But there are some things even she can't foresee.

Thanks to RBDash47, Cynewulf, Timaeus, and Alto for enabling the brainworms that led to this.
Preread by Cursori, VioletRoseIntheRain, and Cynewulf.
Artwork by skippyrip and can be found here.