Sunset Shimmer is having the worst day of her life. She used to be important. She was the personal student of Princess Celestia. She was a future leader of Equestria. She was the kind of mare that everypony envied.

Today, it's all crashing down around her.

Alternate Universe: What if Sunset Shimmer hadn't gone through the mirror?

After the Friendship Games, Sunset feels it's time to return home.

Only when she gets there, Twilight's castle is nowhere to be found, Cadance just got her horn, and Princess Celestia is still calling the bacon-haired pony her prized student rather than a failed one. And just reliving her past isn't on the table thanks to a pair of wings Sunset seems to have sprouted upon her return to Equestria.

With Sunset being back before she's supposed to, will the world stay as harmonious and on track, or will everything go down in flames as Sunset has to deal with allegations that she's really a changeling in disguise, a nerdy stallion with blue hair that wants to be her coltfriend, a pretty pink princess in need of remedial magic lessons, and an annoying purple pre-teen pony that will absolutely not go to bed without first being read Starswirl's Complete Mystical Mysteries Compendium?

Only time will tell

"It's not easy to be the bad guy. Sometimes you've got to raise towers of iron and magic in a testament to your power. Sometimes you've got to blanket the land in black flame just to uphold idle threats. And sometimes you've got to remind a filly that she is grounded - that's right, I mean you, missy. Don't give me that look, you've got homework to do."
- Excerpt from An Interview With Lord Ironblood.

Forgath Ironblood is a man who values power and might. He spent untold years developing his dark magics, and years more using ice and iron and balefire to claim and rule his domain. But it didn't last; a group of bold and plucky rebels broke into his inner sanctum and unleashed a magic he was unprepared for, a magic that cast him into the void between worlds. At that point, he was no longer their problem and the peasants rejoiced.

The world he fell into, however, was another story. It was a world rich in magic. A world full of innocents. A world he could bend to his will and carve a new domain out of.

He never knew what hit him.

Idea adopted from Whiskylullaby, as seen here, written entirely for the fun of it.

Chapters are dated for the reader's convenience; BNM for "Before Nightmare Moon", and AB for "After Banishment".

Necromancy gets a bad rep.

Oh, sure, some ponies like the whole cliche of the evil zombie master, pulling his puppet strings to make corpses dance and kill for their amusement. And yeah, you kinda do have to work with dead bodies a lot, and most ponies find that a bit creepy. Oh, and you learn a lot of spells to kill things and gain power from it.

But, come on, that doesn't mean all necromancers are bad... right?

Feature on Equestria Daily

The Brony Fandom lived long and old. Memes were made, ponies were enjoyed, and lives were rearranged to accommodate. As time went on, the passion that once fired up the community became just a flickering spark, and so the Brony name waned until, finally, the fandom died to obscurity.

That was it for user TutorialBlues88, who swore off his Brony pride after over two decades. But nostalgia one day invoked him to reflect on philosophies of a fandom long since dead. He wondered if it’s okay to turn back, to enjoy ponies once again even if its alone.

In meeting death, reincarnation gave Tutorial the opportunity to discover for himself what friendship and ponies meant to him, redefining and revisiting lessons attended since Season One.

Every week around the same time, Skywrite the pegasus leaves his little cottage in the woods to “pick up groceries,” and every week around the same time, Petalgrown the pegasus welcomes him home with a few hours of cuddling and his favorite dinner on the table. Of course, not everything here is as it seems. For one thing, there’s the dinner. French fried potatoes? Who’s ever heard of such a thing!? For another thing, there’s the way Sky looks at his hooves sometimes, as if trying to will something else to be there. Also, as a footnote, Petalgrown is one of the hundreds of changelings thrown free of Canterlot during the failed invasion attempt, and has been living off Skywrite’s strange, fiery love ever since.

As time goes on and questions about the strange, loving pegasus start piling up, she grows determined to discover the truth behind the pony she finds herself growing more and more intrigued with. Of course, it could be something even crazier than “love-sucking, shape-changing bug-pony,” but that’s just speculation. After all, there’s no way a pony could ever hide such a strange secret from a creature born of secrets, right? Why, it would take something very unpony-like to pull that off, wouldn’t it?

Everything dies. Sometimes, a life is left unfulfilled and with many regrets. The problem is, there are no do-overs. No second chances.

Not usually, anyway.

Sometimes, cosmic beings of unknown power just like to provide people with those second chances one such person thought impossible. Why? Who knows? All she does know is that she's now a small blue pony with wings.

A very young blue filly at that, and one who has to deal with the scars of her secret old life while living under the shadow of an older sister who doesn't know what to make of her.

Life is never simple, is it?

Inspired by: Gilded Sister by Kind of Brony.
Cover art made by Skijarama!
Reading can be found here.
Featured on 13/07/2017.

Set only a week after the banishment of Princess Luna to the moon, the realm of Equestria is in a state of upheaval. Celestia's royal guard attempt to regain control over the vast empire once ruled by dual monarchs, and the young alicorn's actions as a ruler have become a subject of scrutiny after her sister's attempted coup. Two factions have risen in the turmoil: The Knights of the Sun and The Bright Moon.

Far away from the political infighting and sword rattling exists a small mining town on the outskirts of Equestrian territory. Where once the royal guard would have no trouble fending off raids from bandits or other criminals, the panic of the capitol has caused a withdrawal of military forces to more essential cities and trading ports. Completely undefended and without a spell or sword amongst them, this town was soon overrun by a band of bi-pedal canines calling themselves the Diamond Dogs. As brutal as they are lazy, the Diamond Dogs have forced the local population to work until collapse to collect gems from the town mine.

Outraged by his inability to fend off these bandits and thieves, a young unicorn named Bone Marrow tries with all of his might to find his purpose in life - his cutie mark - and hopes that it will be enough to drive off the invaders of his home. He will soon discover that his special talent is far more than he bargained for.

((A Sequel will begin for this story as soon as I finish I Am a Pet Changeling. Stay tuned on Discord! https://discord.gg/nDXd3AB ))

This story is a sequel to Secret of Flying

Blank Page continues his life in Equestria. Everything seems to be going his way for once... hah! Like that would ever realistically happen.

Even if nopony else did anything, he could get himself into plenty of trouble all on his own. 

So, while Equestria seems peaceful for now, that may change. Or at the very least, he'll manage to make his life interesting for himself.

Whether he likes it or not.

Big massive thanks to Sipioc for the cover art!

Starlight has a conversation with Pharynx about the significance of a changeling’s true form. In the process, she might just learn a thing or two about herself as well.

Cover art by InkSpecter, formerly AzureDreamerRode, who graciously gave me permission to colour it.