Her best and only magic teacher, Sunburst, abandoned her when he got his cutie mark and she didn't. Her butler and guardian, Proper Step refused to teach her magic, saying it wasn't "lady-like." Magic is in her blood, so she has no choice but to run away. She learns to fight with hoof and magic, first to save her life when she’s brutally attacked, but later because she is very good at it. She doesn't realize she's being honed to become somepony's sharp tool.

This is Starlight Glimmer’s pre-redemption The Gangs of New York and Anakin Skywalker Star Wars I, The Phantom Menace novel-length origin story.

The cover image is a commission by a very talented artist, Pony-Way. Please visit Pony-Way’s page.

About the warning tags: [Sex] Off screen, rare, unmistakable; [Violence] Street gangs, mafia bosses, prizefighting, becoming a bodyguard (naturally)—blood, occasionally. Please don’t be shocked and give the story a thumbs down because bad things happen to Starlight at a level that can’t be shown in show. Adversity always makes her stronger.

The sequel to this story is The Enforcer and Her Blackmailers. This is an Enforcerverse novel, and you can view that link if you want huge amounts of context.

A big shout-out to my pre-readers: Javarod and DoContra

Rainbow Dash's morning was pretty much ruined.
She tripped getting out of bed and landed flat on her face, giving herself an aching muzzle.
She forgot to buy her favorite brand of hay flakes at the store yesterday and had to eat plain toast for breakfast.
She found out she had to pull double-duty today and tomorrow on the weather patrol.
Oh, and she found a nearly-dead foal, broken and bleeding at the edge of Ponyville.

The rest of her day became a whirlpool of stress and worry but the colt woke up, thank Celestia.
Something's not right, though. Nopony can find his parents, he's not in the registers, and there's an unsettling look in his eye...

-
YouTube reading by Fire Hearth

Chinese Translation by forgivenlove

Russian Translation by Likantrop

TV Tropes page, if you're interested in that sort of thing.

This story is a sequel to The Pony Guard (Season 1)

As the two worlds start to come together as one, The Pony Guard and the Lion Guard continue to keep the peace in both the Pride Lands and all of Equestria as they all face bigger challenges than before with their friendship tested more than ever as they face more dangerous foes eager to threaten that very balance.

This story is a sequel to CRISIS: Equestria - Divergence

Golden Dawn and her sisters have succeeded in sending Twilight Sparkle and her friends back to their home. Their father's plan to destroy a goddess of evil so that he could take her power for himself has also succeeded, and he has ascended to a higher plane of existence. Before leaving them behind in this mortal realm, he gave them a crucial task: undo the damage that he had done to the world; make the northern lands a better place.

The sisters' work is only just beginning, and they must now forge their own places in the world, grow beyond their status as altered clones of Twilight and her friends, and venture out from under their father's shadow. They must learn to make new friends, find love, and live their own lives.

But unbeknownst to them, a dark force slithers beneath their hooves, seeking to undo everything they've accomplished and to take vengeance upon those who have wronged it.

Co-authored and edited by Devnator and BeeAre.
Cover art by Starlight Spark.

This is the second part of the three-part Divergence series, an alternate retelling of the CRISIS: Equestria story.

Updates Fridays.

This story is a sequel to The Olden World

For eighteen years, Equestria's northern neighbors have been at peace.

Despite instability further to the north and far to the east, the Theocracy of Yakyakistan and the technological powerhouse of Ironridge have walked the road of friendship, sharing their best and brightest minds in the remote mountain research colony of Icereach. An underground city built by scientists, for scientists, Icereach is the crucible of the most advanced technology in the world, as well as some of the loftiest dreams: sending ponies into space, and perhaps setting hoof on the moon.

But Icereach has never even sent up a rocket, let alone a random teenager like big-dreaming me. It feels like we've been months away from a proper launch for years now, and no one quite seems to care why. For that matter, there are a lot of things no one questions about Icereach, like why there's an ancient chapel in the deepest part of the caves. Or why historical data in our libraries is censored seemingly at random. Or what we even expect to find out there, beyond the stars.

Maybe it's because I'm not a real scientist, but I feel like I'm the only one more interested in the big picture than getting my name on some invention or other. They say Icereach is the pinnacle of civilization, but there has to be more to life than this...

This story takes place eighteen years after the events of The Olden World and can be read fully standalone. Having read The Olden World is not required.

Chapters are currently posted weekly.