Having received her teaching degree, Sunset Shimmer is back at CHS to help guide along a new generation with the lessons she's had to learn about magic and friendship.

This story is a sequel to Twilight Shimmer

Twilight Shimmer wants something more for her married life with her true love. She wants another member of the family. At the same time, she learns just how much she and Sunset mean to Rainbow Dash. As the years pass, the concept of family only becomes stronger.

NOTES
1. Takes place a few years after the early chapters of Twilight Shimmer. Notes will be made in that story when it passes by this one.
2. Fourth consecutive Christmas special I've done.

Art by BlackWater (me)

Sunset Shimmer has been worrying her friends of late. It had started off as her talking around the subject of home. Then outright avoiding it.

It isn't that her friends want to have a sleepover at her place, or have her host a Pinkie Party. They're just worried. Sunset does have somewhere to call home right? A roof over her head and a warm place to sleep?

EQG. Set after Friendship Games and before. Takes plot points from the comic special. Notes per chapter as needs must.

Just a story I wrote trying to escape writers block on other projects. It sort of ran away with me. Name comes from this track, but it didn't have much influence on the story. In need of cover art if anyone can point me to something good.

Now with cover art from Novel-Idea, designer of the fine image now applied.

Warning: Rated "T" and tagged "Dark" for swearing and malevolent thoughts.

The story now has a YouTube reading, provided by mindlessgonzo and TheInvertedShadow! Check it out and give them some cookies!

Now on TVTropes!

Anyone at Crystal Prep who knew Twilight Sparkle would never assume that this shy bookworm with top grades in all subjects could hold something evil within.

Thus, when said bookworm turned into Midnight Sparkle under the influence of the magic she released, everyone present was shocked to see their classmate become a callous and ruthless she-demon.

Nobody could understand: why? Twilight wasn't evil... was she?

Failing to understand the reasons behind that horrific transformation, Rainbooms and Shadowbolts decided to ask the newest CHS student herself about that. Initially reluctant, Twilight agrees, revealing the side of her that no one had suspected to exist...

On her deathbed, Sunset Shimmer looks back on her accomplishments, and realizes how she will be remembered.

Things have been going well for Sunset Shimmer since the Friendship Games. She's on good terms with the students at Canterlot High School, she has a close circle of friends she can depend on, and most of all, she now has a new friend and research partner in the form of the human world's Twilight Sparkle. With a brand new avenue in magical research now open to her, not even the prospect of her upcoming birthday can get in the way of her hope for the future.

Then her latest experiment blew up in her face.

Reduced to a mare in a child's body, Sunset has to find a way to reverse what she's done and return to what qualifies as normal in this world. But in a world where magic was a fairy tale until a few months ago, things are going to be more than a little difficult on that front. And as she struggles to maintain her adult mind against the immaturity of her current form, her friends are faced with the possibility that they may lose their friend forever.

On the day of the Friendship Games, the veil between two worlds is pierced. The magic of Equestria seeps through the barrier to permeate the world of humanity. Entities begin to come into existence. Lore and legend are gaining flesh, bone, and blood, yielding things both wondrous and horrible. Magic is powerful, but a limited resource. If the world at large discovers its existence, Equestria will become a target.

Thus, seven friends agree to keep the secret, but some things will not be hidden away.

**Friendship Games Spoilers**

Just days after the Friendship Games, Sunset Shimmer finds their world's Twilight Sparkle staring at what's left of the Wondercolt statue. The two then have a conversation about what it means to have been a monster, what it will take to move on from it, and what it all means for who they are.

Note 1: This story is told from Sunset Shimmer's perspective.

When does a game become more than that? What if it becomes a game where you are in a race against time? What if you were trapped within the darkness, and you have to struggle to find a way to return to the light? When Pinkie Pie hosts a sleepover where all of her friends, they discover that she has found a board game unlike any they have seen before, and insists the group play it.

This game is interactive... where twists and turns abound... it is a video board game where one must face their greatest fear...

Note 2: This story involves the Mane Seven playing a board game known as Atmosfear, sometimes referred to as Nightmare in other regions. Rather than go into the history of the game, I'll provide two links. One is the article about this game on Wikipedia, and the other is a YouTube of the actual video that is used to play.

Atmosfear - Wikipedia

Atmosfear - YouTube video of the first game in the series: The Gatekeeper.

Friendship Games Spoilers ahead

In the wake of the magical fiasco that was the Friendship Games, Sunset Shimmer invites her new friend Twilight over to spend the night, and Twilight comes to find out that the two have more in common than she ever would have expected.

Preread by DragonShadow
Cover art changed due to viewer confusion.