Not long after the girls saved Camp Everfree and embraced their newfound magical abilities, Sunset Shimmer starts acting strangely. She jumps every time her friends get even remotely close to her and she keeps everyone at a distance. This is especially worrying to Twilight Sparkle, who seeks how to make her best friend feel better.

-Equestria Girls Four Spoilers abound.
-Inspired by a bit of sunny picspam I discovered.

A series of personal tragedies has left Roseluck despairing of life. Now in the hospital, she faces a difficult path to recovery from her depression. With caring but imperfect friends, an unconventional counselor, and a head full of questions, will she ever return to a happy, normal life?

Cover art by SubjectNumber2394, used with permission.
Special thanks to Caddy and Melody Pope for editing and story suggestions.

Every so often, a storm comes along that even the Pegasi can't control. Best they can do is warn everypony to bunker down and ride it out. Equestria hasn't seen a blizzard this bad in over half a century. AJ and Big Mac were out when the first winds hit, so Applebloom's stuck with Granny Smith in the farmhouse.

But ol' Granny remembers, she tells Applebloom. She remembers the last blizzard, and what came with it. Can't help but wonder if they'll stop by again.

In the deserts of Saddle Arabia, an explorer finds more than he bargained for in an ancient tomb.

Now in her late forties, Sunset Shimmer has built herself a career as a doctor. She has devoted her life to helping others, be it by prescribing pain killers or simply bandaging a scraped knee. A part of her longs to return to Equestria, but she is mostly happy with her new life. However, one day three very familiar girls drop by her office, one of them injured. Old memories flood back as Sunset is shown an unexpected harsh reality related to her high school life.

The big game. All Sunset has to do is be the ringer and help Rainbow Dash win it. Easy.

But for all her athletic prowess, whatever seems to be bugging Rainbow Dash won't be solved just by kicking a ball around.

Worthless, weak, ugly—as far as Twilight is concerned, that's all she'll ever be. Even three months into their relationship, Twilight still refuses to believe that an absolute goddess like Sunset could ever love a loser like her. And it doesn't help that Twilight spends every night being tormented by nightmares of Midnight Sparkle, the one being who hates Twilight more than she hates herself.

Twilight can only remember a single moment in her life when she felt strong: the five minutes that she spent as Midnight Sparkle. The five minutes she spent with magic.

Now, tortured by fear, anxiety, and never-ending nightmares, Twilight knows the only way to win Sunset's love is to make herself stronger—even if that means resurrecting the demon inside of her.

Originally written for the January 2016 Writeoff, "Look, I Can Explain...", where it made finals.

Thanks to Horizon, Bookplayer, and FanOfMostEverything for offering advice on the original. Thanks to Quill Scratch, Oroboro, Monokeras, Lise Eclaire, Monarch Dodora, Majin Syeekoh, PegasusMesa, Reneigh Haycart, and Hazeyhooves for helping me brainstorm certain parts. Preread by Pascoite.

Art by Ta-Na!

Sunset's friends ask her for help with a lot of things. Pretending to be Rarity's boyfriend at her cousin's wedding is a new one. It can't be that hard, right? A sharp suit, some expertly applied makeup, and a good backstory and she'll be charming the pants off of the bridesmaids in no time.

But just what is Rarity hoping to get out of this subterfuge in the first place?

Russian translation

When Applejack needs an extra hand around the farm during harvest season, Sunset Shimmer is the only one of the girls who has time to help.

During the long hours of work and play, they grow closer, learn more about each other, and discover what family means to each of them.

Some Canterlot entertainers aren't just musicians... and some ponies fall in love with them anyways.

When one of Equestria's most popular cellists appears at Twilight's birthday party, it's just another gig for Octavia, but a shock for Twilight and the rest of the party-goers. She arrives, wishes Twilight a happy birthday, wows them with her beautiful music, wows them with her musical beauty, and doesn't leave until after everypony else has left. So when a few ponies suggest that this 'entertainer' might be more than just a musician... some eyebrows are raised, but nothing more. Twilight is beyond reproach, after all, and Octavia can earn her living however she wants. When she sticks around Ponyville, however, it becomes a slightly different story - Twilight is romantically-naive, after all, and Octavia is... most certainly not.

The romance of Twilight Sparkle, Celestia's protege, and Octavia van Clef, Canterlot's most famous entertainer.

Rated 'Teen'. Per FimFiction's rating guidelines, this story contains some 'more adult themes', but has no 'graphically adult content'. Rated primarily for sexually suggestive material, but also (in later chapters) alcohol use and adult language.