Thirteen years is a long time, yet old wounds have a habit of coming back to haunt those who bear them.

The Princesses of Equestria decided to spare the holdout villains, offering them counseling. Humbled from prison and asylum, shown kindness and acceptance where there should have been punishment and hatred, the last barriers of the unredeemed disintegrated like sand before a wave. Their rehabilitation fell under the auspices of the Princesses themselves, as well as Starlight Glimmer - the preeminent redeemed villain. The tensions of the past saw the Royal Family of the Crystal Empire sundered, but it also saw new families created in shocking arrangements.

A teenage Flurry Heart struggles to make friends at the School of Friendship, confused and angry at the divorce of her parents and their remarriage to the Crystal Empire's greatest enemies. An adult Cozy Glow struggles to forge a path of her own in a world that refuses to forgive actions she made as a filly. Chrysalis and Sombra struggle to adjust to life as domestic spouses, and loving step-parents to the youngest alicorn. Tirek struggles not to give into his hunger for magic. Everyone else struggles to accept this new paradigm, to forgive the final holdouts.

And, unseen by all, a final darkness stirs, enticing a filly with promises of power.

Alright, this was a project I was working on for... well, a few months at least. 10 chapters complete, I figured I'd upload what I have. It started as a simple fic about a what-if situation where Flurry Heart tries to adjust to her parents being divorced and remarried to the greatest archenemies of her foalhood, but evolved into a story about all the unredeemed villains.

Unusual for me, I've kept shipping to a minimum. I tried to keep the pairings as "canon" as possible, according to the hints at the end of Season 9 (AppleDash, FlutterCord, CheesePie, StarBurst, etc.) but I also threw in ShiningChrysalis and SomDance, which are pretty central to the plot.

After Twilight and company's (sort of) success with Discord, Celestia and Luna decide that it's time to reform another villain. But then something completely unexpected happens and Twilight now has a young amnesiac Sombra living in her castle.

A\N cover art by the wonderful Pixel Spark. Big shout out to her and her stories!

Radiant Hope thought she could save Sombra from himself. Instead, she lost everything.

Alone and hurting, Hope finds her way to Seaddle and tries to settle down into a quiet and obscure life where she can be left to her sorrow. That is, until she crosses paths with Starlight Glimmer, who realizes that Hope could be the key to setting her own dubious plans into motion. They may not like each other, but before either of them knows it, a series of events launches them on a perilous journey along the western coast of Equestria and they must depend upon each other to survive.

Enter a devotee of Starlight's who takes this whole "Equality" thing a little too seriously, a quack doctor with an ego the size of Manehatten, a wandering lunatic that's convinced he's Starswirl the Bearded, and a secret agent intent on protecting the princesses at all costs, and things get complicated rather quickly. Everypony has their own agenda and nothing is what it appears to be. Through it all, Hope and Starlight will be forced to take a hard look at their lives and the choices they've made. But if they can manage to make peace with their respective pasts, our heroines might just have a shot at that rarest of things; redemption.

(For Radiant Hope, this story diverges at the conclusion the Siege of the Crystal Empire arc (Issue 37). It diverges between The Cutie Map and The Cutie Re-Mark for Starlight Glimmer.)

Sombra was not always the heartless ruler that ruled the Crystal empire with an iron hoof. He once had friends, a home, a lover...
But his thirst for knowledge and power led him down a dangerous road.

By chance or the powers that be, Sombra is deemed worthy of a second chance to correct a thousand year old mistake. History ignores intentions however, only recording actions. Can Sombra find a way to bring peace to his heart and those he cares for, or will the darkness from his past consume him?

Image, story idea and OC used with permission.
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Inspired by StasySolitude's animation. (Watch to provide a bit of clarity/backstory!)
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Chapter 8 Picture:
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What happens when Princess Twilight Sparkle marries The Lord of Chaos?

Happily Ever Afters are for everypony right?

Or maybe not all fairy tales are meant to have a happy ending.

Cozy Glow, Tirek, and Chrysalis have escaped from their stone confinement, and have fled to the outer most remote regions of Equestria. They must now work together if they want to uncover the long lost Rainbow of Darkness, and use its power to conquer Equestria once and for all. Their journey, however, takes many unexpected turns, as they make new friends and foes, and uncover secrets about each other. They’ll face their toughest challenges yet, as they struggle to stay together.

No important political meetings to attend? Check! No letters to answer? Check! A magical and child-safe gift for Flurry Heart that she's sure to love? Check!

Her schedule was clear. Shining and Cadence were off on vacation. She'd prepared all her materials. Twilight Sparkle was more than ready to spend a fun-filled weekend babysitting her favorite niece.

But she wasn't prepared for King Sombra's return. Nopony could prepare to be trapped with him inside a storybook of fairy tales.

And nopony's ever ready for an unhappy ending...

Proofread by: Alicornpriest

Winner of November 2017 NaPoWriMo: Goal of 50k smashed!

Now Featured on Equestria Daily - First hit the Featured Box on April 28th!

In an alternate timeline, roughly 30 years after the reappearance of the Crystal Empire, Obsidian, a unicorn with Dark Magic at her command, is awoken from her slumber in a secret chamber, only to discover the world has changed greatly since her time under her father's heavy hoof. As she is integrated into society, she is commanded by the Princess of Friendship to make friends and learn how to adapt to the new world around her.

Though she has her... issues... she ends up meeting some interesting individuals, and begins to acclimate to pony society. But the question remains: will she be changed by Equestria... or will she rise to change Equestria herself?

[TEEN rating due to somewhat graphic descriptions of violence in one chapter, and light comic-book style gore. Otherwise, this story is SFW.]

{Cover art by the wonderful hand of Lord Valtasar}

The Accursed Alicorn Amulet. An item of great power, capable of giving any pony wearing it the power reserved only for alicorns. The power of a god among mortals. All of that, only at one price; your sanity.

Not an easy decision, isn't it? Sure, a mind is something precious and all that, but the temptation of having such a power can be too much for certain ponies. It was too much for Trixie, and she fell for it. It's a good thing that Twilight Sparkle managed to save her from a life of insanity.

But, what would happen if Trixie's sanity wasn't the only price to pay? What else could the Amulet take from Trixie?

Co-written with nightwalker

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Chapter 1's Live Reading

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A purple Alicorn shows up one night and then vanishes into thin air. Many wouldn't think anything of it besides how strange it was.

Not Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow Dash has met that Alicorn before.

The implication it brings and the guilt that follows leaves Rainbow Dash with questions weighing on her mind.

Luckily, in the crushing pain of reality, she still has friends.

***

Cover art created by the extremely talented invertigo and paid for by the amazingly awesome Shipmun. Oh my gosh it's just so cool.