This story is a sequel to Phoenix-born rising - the ascension of Sunset Shimmer [1st ed.]

The rite of the phoenix is one of the most celebrated moments among the sun-gazers of Solaria. For with the hatching of a new phoenix, comes the ascension of a new phoenix-born: a mortal chosen by the phoenix to be its new life partner and guardian. Only those with both strength and purity of their inner fire can draw the attention of a hatchling phoenix, so only the best of the best can ever hope to be chosen.

To one young orphan girl named Sunset Shimmer, she could only dream of witnessing the ascent of one of Celestia's chosen. As the day approaches, she learns that she will be able to, as she has been selected by the crown as one of the girls to serve at the event.

Little did she know that this would be the seminal event of her life, and change her fate forever.

Book One - The Choosing
Book Two - The Trials

Original abridged version was my entry into FanOfMostEverything's Imposing Sovereigns II contest. This is the expanded, full version.

Cover art by me.

Grammar and editing provided by ArgonMatrix (Up to Ch 7 of the Trials) and Incandesca (The Trials Ch 16 and on)

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

This story is a sequel to The Witch of the Everfree

Saddle Arabia is a land of mysteries and ancient legends, and Sunset Shimmer sees it as a great place to escape from her mistakes for a while. What caused her to flee Equestria, and can she find a way to prove herself and win back the favor of the ponies she wronged?

More importantly, can she avoid starting a war?

I'd like to thank all my followers, fans, and patreon subscribers. Without all of you, I'd be worse off in every way.

In an Equestria where the mirror portal didn't exist; a very different fate awaits Sunset Shimmer.

In an alternate universe, Empress Celestia is the sole ruler of Equestria - later to be surpassed by her daughters; her heirs, Princesses Sunset and Twilight.

Nightmare Moon had long since banished to the moon, but even for such an exile, there's only so much a moon banishment can do. Her body may be chained, but not her spirit.

Takes place years before Tough Love

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?

The foggy feeling like you're wandering through a dream, disconnected from the world around you. Sunset Shimmer experiences that every day. Ponies struggle to remember her, she suffers from random bouts of exhaustion, and at eighteen, she still has no cutie mark.

Despite the claims her mother makes, Sunset knows she is broken in some way. It isn't until her nineteenth birthday that she discovers why.

When her perception of herself and the world around her shatters, Equestria will face the consequences of the villain... or the hero, it was never supposed to have.

This story follows Lessons for the Teacher, but it can also stand alone nicely.

(What if, ages ago, Sunset Shimmer had leaped through a different mirror? And instead of landing in a high school, had found herself in a mystical dimension filled with dangers undreamed-of?)

When newly-made Princess Twilight attends the first Princess Summit, she is concerned about many things: her new responsibilities, Celestia and Luna’s relationship, and the prospect of immortality just to name a few. But when an old enemy from Celestia’s past returns, Twilight finds herself in a battle for her life and her people, beneath the falling sky of an alien world. And just what does it mean to be a princess, anyway? Sunset Shimmer has reached her own conclusions…

(Chronology note: this story takes place betwixt seasons three and four, and is the point where my Elsequestria timeline branches most distinctly into an alternate reality [though most episodes remain compatible with it]. Therefore, while it was inspired by Equestria Girls, once the stage is set this tale makes no effort to maintain any cohesion with the original movie.)

(Content note: contains violence with serious consequences, some profanity. Initially posted under the working title Equestria Women.)

Part of the Elsequestria Continuity.

This timeline continues in When Legends Meet.]

Overwhelmed by her new duties as a princess, a newly-crowned Twilight Sparkle seeks solace within the quiet confines of Canterlot Castle's royal archives, where she discovers a book she'd never seen before. Within its pages was a story about both Princess Celestia and Starswirl the Bearded, as well as a mare that Twilight had never heard of.

Details of their lives, their history, and their relationships puzzle, intrigue, and even worry Twilight. The more she read, the more curious she became and the more questions that arose. But there was only one question to which she truly sought the answer:

Who was Sunset Shimmer?

After being betrayed by her friends during the Anon a Miss incident the darkness threatens to swallow up Sunset, but there are those who want to offer a helping hand and guide her in another direction. Will she take those offered hands, or will she let herself fall to the darkness forever?