Twilight Sparkle has never needed much to be happy: a book to enjoy, a research to carry out, and a Spike by her side. But after teaming up with and befriending five stallions to save the world in her first, fateful night in Ponyville, her life has been thrown upside down.

For she is now the Bearer of the Element of Magic, and ever since, trouble is knocking at her door seemingly every week: be it a monster attack, friendship drama, or the fact that Equestria seems to be sleepwalking from crisis to crisis, Twilight’s life will never be the same again.

The Word of God Imaginary Voicecast^TM, if you so desire (by order of appearance):

» Spike: Pony.MOV's Spike.
» Phil Pie: Miles Luna.
» Applejack: Geoff Ramsey.
» Rainbow Blitz: Chris Pratt.
» Elusive: James Arnold Taylor.
» Butterscotch: Matt Bragg.
» The Night King: Sam Witwer.
» Prince Artemis: Tom Hiddleston.
» Shining Armor: Matt Lanter

FAQ
Q: If it’s not a harem romance, then why are the mane six and Luna genderswapped?

A: Because while it started as a deconstructive, character-driven take on one, we’ve realised that this character arrangement grants us far more creative freedom than what we would have using their canon incarnations.  Having M!Applejack, Rainbow Blitz, Elusive, Butterscotch and Phil Pie allows us to, essentially, make their characters our own, take them to uncharted waters, and introduce new plotlines and situations that haven’t been done previously and that just wouldn’t have worked if applied to the girls we all know and love. It’s, in a way, what keeps this story fresh, even when retelling the series for the umpteenth time. It mixes up their dynamics with other ponies and with each other in new, unseen ways, and makes it all the more interesting to explore.

Adding to this is the fact that Twilight, at the beginning of the series, is something of a blank slate, whose character development is informed by the quirks and personalities of her friends. Therefore, she functions both as her own, recognisable character and as an audience surrogate, who’s getting to know these guys at the same pace as the audience itself.

Funnily enough, Luna’s genderswap was never intended to have any relation whatsoever to the harem trope; Artemis was never supposed to be a Love Interest. Instead, well, let’s just say it fills in a certain, unaddressed headscratcher in the original series.

Q: Will there be shipping?

Yes, there will be romance. However, not only it will be what most people like to call a 'slow burn', but it's most definitely not the main focus of the story. If you're looking for a ship fic, you'll be disappointed.

Q: Is [character] genderswapped too?

No.

The only characters who are genderswapped are Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie and Luna. Everyone else is their canon gender. Trixie is female. Starlight Glimmer is female. Should she appear, Sunset Shimmer will be female.

Discord, on the other hand, is something of a grey area, as they're a literal God of Chaos. Therefore, just as they can do pretty much whatever they damn well please, they can also change genders at a whim. However, should Discord adopt a female gender, her name would still be Discord, rather than the fanon Eris, as the word 'Discord' is genderless.

Q: Why is male!Pinkie's name not the fanon Bubble Berry?

There's multiple reasons, all of which are stated point blank by the character himself during his introduction in chapter one. It's mostly for meta reasons, but there's some plot there, too.

Q: Will you do [episode]?

There is an overarching plot, and the selection of episodes that get adapted and the way they do heavily depends on how they contribute to set up or advance said plot, or how plausible they are given the differences between the canon characters and their genderswapped incarnations.

Therefore, many of your favourite episodes may end up happening in entirely different ways as they did in canon, be mixed up with another episode, be relegated to a mere mention, or maybe just not at all. It all depends on how they fit the bigger picture.

TUESDAY, APRIL 21 of 2020.
I may or may not have just broken my hand against my desk when I jumped in surprise when William Grey told me this story was on featured, literally MINUTES within uploading chapter 9.
I'm sorry, just...
What?!
Mind-blowing, man. I have no idea how the algorithms work, nor how long it will last, but we're very happy about it.
Seriously, we wish to thank wholeheartedly to anyone who has read it, who has liked it, who has commented. This is our first published story, among myriad we have written yet never had the courage to put them out there. It really means a lot to us that people are responding positively.
Plus, that means I can claim moral victory, because I absolutely spent my whole weekend writing this instead of preparing the ppt for my monograph's thesis proposal for tomorrow.
So, yeah.
Thank you <3

Credits:
Beta Reader, Editor, (basically) co-writer and elder brother who keeps stealing my drinks: William A. Grey
Male Mane Six vectors by Trotsworth.
Twilight Sparkle vector.
Cutie Mark vectors by Adam L. Humphreys
Image done by myself and my non-existent paint skills.

This story is a sequel to It's A Screwed Up Life

This is a story about the Sunset from the Wasteland Timeline in It's A Screwed Up Life.

Reading the other story isn't necessarily, well necessary, but will give context, specifically the chapter Tying Up Loose Ends.

Plans can change rapidly, with no time to counter.

Sunset Shimmer learned this the hard way.

She had gone through the mirror and spent her time in that world plotting to take over Equestria, to prove to Princess Celestia that she was indeed worthy of being a princess herself, that Celestia was wrong to expel her as her personal student.

However, those plans are now dead, along with Equestria itself.

If not for a strange filly who could defy the concept of reality itself, she'd have been trapped in a dead Equestria, all on her own, destined to die alone.

Now, she is stuck in the world beyond the mirror... and must face up to all she's done there in her years at CHS, as well as figure out how to move on to a future she never could've foreseen.

Will she be able to pick up the pieces and forge some kind of life for herself in a world that was never her own? Or will she fall into despair, with nothing to live for now that all she knew is gone? And why is there a child who seems to grasp Sunset's pain?

Sex tag is because human world, so duh, and high school, so, obviously talking about it will come up eventually.

Romance is obviously for Flash Sentry since, with this story taking place BEFORE the events of the first movie would've happened, Sunset had yet to break up with Flash prior to entering the portal and unknowingly being trapped on the other side.

If anyone to point me to the owner of the artwork, PM me.

Huh. In Popular Stories 10/08/2020. That is something I needed to brighten my mood after today.

(Takes place within the universe of My Little Pony, Friendship is Magic; Stallion Edition, set before Chapter 217.)

Prince Shining Armor's coronation is drawing near. But recent events have him thinking back to a time shortly after he first gained his wings and became an alicorn.

Taking part in a royal summit held at the Crystal Empire, Shining Armor struggles to adapt to his new alicorn status. But that night a new problem presents itself when an unexpected intruder manages to steal his crown and get away.

Forced to pursue the thief through a magical mirror, Shining finds himself in a world unlike any he has seen before. A world populated by creatures called humans. And if he wants to gets his crown back, he'll have to deal with a particularly nasty human called Sunset Shimmer, the very thief he's sworn to apprehend.

The newest and hottest game on the market is Sword Art Online, or SAO. A VRMMORPG, Virtual Reality Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game, Sword Art Online takes the player into a virtual reality world of swords and shields. Only 10,000 copies were sold online or in stores. But quickly, things go wrong and the fight goes from fun, to survival.

To escape the game of death, the game must be cleared. All 100 floors of the floating iron castle, known as Aincrad, must be conquered. If you die in game, you die in real life. The NerveGear will fry your brain. The same goes if the NerveGear is removed while you are in the game, you die.

Sword Art Online is a game of swords and shields with no magic. The game isn't designed to handle their Equestrian Magic. Sunset Shimmer must make sure that her friends and guildmates escape the game, or at least survive long enough until the game is defeated.

This story is a Serial Novel Society story: Updates will be at least on a weekly, Tuesday, basis.

*Pre-knowledge of Sword Art Online is not required. The Pilot Episode covers all you need to know.
**First Featured Tuesday, November 12, 2019. Also on 12/3/19, 12/10/19, 01/14/20, 2/11/20, 2/18/20, 2/25/20, 3/3/20, 3/10/20, 3/17/20, 3/24/20, 3/31/20, 4/14/20, 4/21/20, 4/28/20, 5/5/20, 5/19/20, 5/26/20, 6/2/20, 6/9/20, 6/23/2020, 6/30/2020, 7/28/20, 8/4/20, 8/18/20, 8/25/20, 8/27/20, 9/1/20, 9/8/20, 9/15/20, 9/22/20, 9/29/20, 10/20/20, 10/27/20, 11/3/2020, 11/10/20, 11/17/20, 12/1/20, 12/8/20, 12/15/20, 12/22/20, 12/29/20, 1/5/21, 1/19/21, 2/2/21, ICE, 2/23/21, 3/2/21, 3/9/21, 3/16/21, 3/23/21, & 3/30/21.

Want to know what is happening outside the SAO in the real world? There is a story for them! Link to the Asides.

A big thank you to my editor, Void Runner.
A special thanks to SuperSonicHeroes and Wildfiretiremile. Each helped a lot with Beta Reading!
Also, a special Thanks to Badwolf231. He helped me as this project got started.

- Sword Art Online is owned and created by Reki Kawahara.
* Cover Art created with art elements from Orin331, Frye-Medi, and flutterdashrarijack.

Sunset Shimmer and her friends receive remarkable news: Princess Twilight is poised to become the queen of all Equestria! As the girls celebrate the invitation to their friend's upcoming coronation, Sunset's horrified to find that she's not just selflessly happy for her best friend. If not princesshood, what's she meant to do with her life anyway? What's her destiny in the human world?

As Equestrian Magic grows more powerful due to an ominous, inter-dimensional rip in space-time above Canterlot High, Sunset's friends are affected by a dangerous, new magic and she's left to wonder if she's done more harm here than good.

This story is a sequel to The Exes Club. Helpful, but not required reading. Themes and ideas introduced there are developed further here.

Story development, visual direction, and illustrations by the badass Bevin Brand.
Editing and support by the lovely Space Jazz and LordJanitor.
Special thanks to one of my best friends, Bookish Delight, for her immeasurable support, guidance, and all around awesomeness.

Featured on June 2nd, 2020
Featured as a Scouted Fanfic on Equestria Daily June 5th, 2020

Print Editions:
Colour Edition (Novel)
Black & White Edition (Novel)
Behind the Zines (Art Book)

Tagged with Sex for sexual discussion, no graphic depictions. Tagged with Profanity because teenagers.

Sunset Shimmer fled from Equestria in search of the destiny that Celestia sought to deny to her. She dreamed of finding great glory and power in a strange new world. But she emerged on the other side of the mirror in a harsh cruel world beset by demons and troubled by division, conflict and racial animus: the world of Remnant.

Now, years later, Sunset has completed her studies at Canterlot Combat School and is ready to attend Beacon Academy. She hopes that in the more progressive Kingdom of Vale her appearance as a pony faunus will not be held against her the way it was in Atlas, and she can rise as high as her talents permit and seize with both hands the destiny she still yearns for.

Sunset finds herself assigned to lead three fellow freshman at the Huntsman Academy: Jaune Arc, who dreams of becoming a hero elevated above all others; Pyrrha Nikos, a peerless warrior who has everything that Sunset wants and hates everything about it; and Ruby Rose, a simpler and more honest soul who simply wants to save as many people as she can, and who might just light the way to their salvation.

Together they are Team SAPR, and together they are plunged into a world of mysteries, magic, allies and enemies, robot girls and Atlasian black ops experiments. It won't be easy, but if they can work together, teach Jaune how to fight and maybe learn to get along as friends along the way, then they might just save the world.

Original Cover Art by Mix-Up
Current Cover Art by MRK50
Now with a TV Tropes page

Also with a Discord Server