Sunset Shimmer knew she was better than the other ponies around her, even if she didn't have her cutie mark yet. She had to be.

She just needed to find a way to prove it.

The first time it happened, Sunset didn’t pay it any mind due to the circumstances. The second time it happened, she noticed it and brushed it off as the action of a concerned friend. The third time it happened, she finally figured out that Rarity was flirting with her.

6/20/2016: Now with cover art designed by the very generous Novel-Idea! Thank you so much!

Sunset has had the same jacket ever since she came to Canterlot High. Rarity and the girls want to treat her to some new clothes, but some things are too important to be replaced.

Twilight has been to the human world and met her counterpart there. Something about the encounter is bothering her, though. More specifically, something about the other Twilight.

With the help of her friends, Twilight does a bit of soul-searching and arrives at a conclusion that she may not like.

(Possible Friendship Games spoilers)

Since The Friendship Games, Sunset and Twilight now have something in common: Magical transformations, an experience unlike any other that they both endured. Twilight now feels inclined to share her feelings about the matter. Though the circumstances were different and their reasons even more so, they can agree on one thing....

Featured 9/27/15

Once more again the Summer months have made their way around, and all of Ponyville will see the joyous times abound. The Harvest celebration is seen just 'bout every year, and every-time it comes along you'd hear the shout and cheer.

Yet, some were not invited, though, for fear of how they'd act, causing certain accidents from the carefulness they lacked.

That all changed one fateful day when a stranger came to town, and with nothin' but a snap he turned the whole world upside down. He wouldn't change it back until they passed a single test, a challenge to the lot of them to prove who was the best. Now every pony started lookin' 'round with certain fright, cause who among them there could even save them from this plight?

But a certain mare stood up real tall and stated with a grin, that she'd take his little challenge cause she's the best there'd ever been!

(Vector image by Typeox. Original sketch by Mickeymonster.)

Twilight Sparkle - magus, heroine and Princess - has learned of worlds overlapping Ungulatia in space and time. Though this has been a well known phenomenon, safely traveling to these other worlds has always eluded pony mages. But now - after years of research and careful experiments - she prepares herself for the most audacious of all experiments: stepping hoof on the surface of an alien world and returning safely! What wonders will she find once she walks through her magic portal?

This assumes that Equestria Girls never happened.

While trying to make her family tree, Rainbow Dash finds her mother's family totally missing from public records. Maybe with Twilight's help, she'll learn something about her ancestry.

SPOILERS IN COMMENTS:
DO NOT READ THE COMMENTS UNTILL AFTER YOU READ THE STORY.

Editing and creative help from BionicBrony

A gray giant appears in the Everfree Forest. Standing as tall as Canterlot mountain, it looks down at the little town of Ponyville with six glowing eyes. Then it speaks.

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Another one-shot, this time a bit more sci-fi. The entire thing was inspired by this artwork. I wrote the first part almost half a year ago, then added some more to it and fixed a bit here and there.
Whether you like or dislike the story, please leave a comment and criticize away or I can't improve my writing.
Just like my other story Persistence, I have to give special thanks to joeSFX for helping me edit this story!
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It hit the feature box on 2015/07/15. Thank you to each and every one of you!

When Twilight visits Celestia's private hall of stained-glass windows, each bearing the image of a long-gone friend, one in particular catches her eye.

Who was this pony?

Why was she so important to Celestia?

And why does she look so familiar?

There is now a Spanish translation of this story, courtesy of Spaniard Kiwi