Fanfic / The Shimmerverse

The Shimmerverse is an Alternate Universe series of fics of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic started by Evowizard25.

The Shimmerverse is a world that is similar to canon in some respects, such as Celestia ruling Equestria for a thousand years after banishing her sister. However, the similarities are small. This Equestria has always been at war with someone. Celestia is the supreme goddess in the eyes of the Equestrians and they fight for her each and every day. Of course, Nightmare Moon is to return and now Sunset Shimmer, the adopted daughter of Celestia, has to save the world alongside six other mares.

Good grief.

The Shimmeverse is a Shared Universe and is always open to new stories from both the original creator and fans.

The core group that acts as a central hub for its information can be found here at Fimfiction.net, which also hosts a majority of the stories found in this Shared Universe. It's had a crossover with Whiteeyes' similarly conceived The Sunsetverse. The series also has a crossover with another series in The Multiverse, Tarbtano and Faith-Wolff's The Bridge (MLP) called The Bridge: A Shimmer in the Dark. It is considered canon and is set after Fanning Our Flames.

There is a third crossover, this time with A Pony Out of Place and written by its author. It is the first chapter of Shimmy Shorts, which is otherwise a series of non-crossover Shimmerverse stories.

Not to be confused with the fan group of the same name.

Season 1

• A Different Sunset is a retelling of "Mare in the Moon" with Sunset's meeting her fellow future Elements and besting Nightmare Moon.
  • A Different Sunset: The Battle for Ponyville is a side story that deals with what was happening in Ponyville during Sunset and the main seven's quest to stop Nightmare Moon.
• Cute Trouble is the first episode after the season premier. It deals with Pizzelle adopting Aki Hikaru and the troubles of raising such a child.
• Fanning Our Flames is the third installment of the series, with the surprise appearance of Sunset's old rival, Gingersnap.
• The Bridge: A Shimmer in the Dark deals with a remnant of Nightmare Moon's army scheming for revenge. And then Rodan from The Bridge (MLP) gets pulled into the mess.
• Rumble's Cutie Problem Rumble's quest to get a cutie mark.
• Quickfix's Night Fight Quickfix tries to deal with some late night pests.
• To Fear A Predator Things are going haywire around Ponyville and a new Inquisitor is coming to town. Can the gang fix this before things get out of hoof and an innocent is blamed? Or is he really innocent?
• Ticket to Madness Sunset has an extra ticket to the Grand Galloping Gala, however it will soon prove to be more trouble then it is worth.

Season 2

• Shimmering Sunsets is a crossover with Whiteeyes' Sunsetverse.

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This fanfic provides examples of:

• Adaptational Villainy: In the show, Luna begged Celestia for forgiveness and became The Atoner after she was freed from Nightmare Moon. She punished herself with the Tantabus for at least a year before she was finally able to let go of her guilt with the help of her newfound friends, the same ponies who beat Nightmare Moon. As you will see below, this is not what happened here.
• A God Am I: Nightmare Moon. She is incredibly boastful, proclaiming herself to be the one and only true god and the only one worthy to rule.

• Adaptational Dumbass: Shining Armor. Upon learning in Shimmering Sunsets that Sunsetverse!Twilight is from an alternate dimension, he wants to put her in protective custody
  No dimension is going to get to her now.
• Alliterative Title: Multiple stories:
  • Shimmering Sunsets
  • Shimmy Shorts
• All Your Base Are Belong to Us: Unlike in the original series, Nightmare Moon and her cultists actually attack Ponyville, and almost succeeded.
• Alternate Universe: Sunset Shimmer was adopted by Princess Celestia and became an Element of Harmony bearer, but because the story came out before the later seasons of Friendship is Magic, it's world building is also a tad different.
• Ascended Extra: Word of God says that Shade was originally planned as a minor character, but his popularity with the fans made him become much more important to the story.
• Bag of Holding: Fiddlesticks has one as her hat. She normally keeps her fiddle in it, but it can store other items as well.

• Befriending the Enemy: After healing the Nightmare cultist Shade, Redheart offers for him to tag along. He accepts and eventually he becomes the friend of some of the Element Bearers.

• But for Me, It Was Tuesday: At least in Shimmering Sunsets, major wars are so frequent that when Sunset is asked about 2000 years ago when Sunsetverse!Equestria was founded, she mentions that nothing really happened except for a devastating world war.
  Sunset: Nothing really happened two thousand years ago here.
  Redheart: Well, except for that world war that devastated our planet.
• Cloudcuckoolander: Twilight Sparkle, as a result of being a chaos mage, could give canon Pinkie Pie a run for her money.

• Crossover: Two with the Sunsetverse in Shimmering Sunsets and the Amalgamverse in A Shimmer in the Dark.

• Darker and Edgier: The Shimmerverse takes inspiration from Warhammer 40,000 and as such is much grittier than canon.

• Dude, Where's My Respect?: While Sunset Shimmer gets her due respect within her universe, this is most definitely not the case with crossover characters, due to her abrasive and imperious manner and her much higher social status in this universe than in the others.
  "Jeez you're harsh," Flare commented. "You sure you're Tia's daughter? I can't imagine she'd teach you such terrible manners."
  There was so much to correct in that question that Sunset didn't even know where to start. She simply let out a strangled growl and stormed off.

• Establishing Character Moment: All of the Mane Seven are introduced doing their most prominent character trait.

• Everybody Lives: Despite how dark the series can get, no named characters ever die.

• Final Boss: The battle between Sunset Shimmer and Nightmare Moon right before she managed to unlock the mystery of the Element of Harmony.

• God-Emperor: Celestia in this story is acknowledged to be a full-fledged deity and is still the princess of the realm.

• Hero of Another Story: Rodan from the Amalgamverse co-stars in A Shimmer in the Dark.
• Humans Are Bastards: For the most part.
• I Choose to Stay: Despite how much she didn't want to make any friends, Sunset grows attached to her new friends that she decides to stay in Ponyville with them after Nightmare Moon is defeated.
• Mad Scientist: Quickfix embodies this
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Nightmare Moon and her cultists' attempts to stop Sunset and her friends only serves to grant them their respective Elements.

• Only the Leads Get a Happy Ending: Inverted. Everyone is congratulated and rewarded for their part in the final battle.
• Really 700 Years Old: Celestia is several thousand years old but looks beautiful and ageless. Many of the other gods look like this as well, with the exceptions looking old by choice.
• Redemption Rejection: Luna/Nightmare Moon at the end of A Different Sunset. She hates Celestia far too much to give up.
• Tsundere: Sunset definitely isn't in love with Shade. Sunsetverse!Twilight believes this, but no-one else really does.

A Shimmer in the Dark provides examples of:

• Feed It with Fire: Both Rodan and Sunset Shimmer's plasma and fire attacks do squat to the other, though they can get knocked around by the concussive force.
• Our Vampires Are Different: Seem to obey literary Dracula rules. They have the ability to shapeshift into a swarm of bats to account for their body mass, have a creepy look to them that is both beautiful and eerie, slits for pupils, drink blood though not necessarily from a body directly; and become such after being bitten by an elder vampire like Countess Mircalla. However the bite does not always result in a change and a majority of the time just kills the inflicted outright. They can go out in the sun, but it's extremely uncomfortable to them and they lose their powers. Vampires may have an extended lifespan, however they are not undead and zombies freak them out.
• The Remnant: The main antagonist is Countess Mircalla, the last remaining one of Nightmare Moon's Generals, leading a reserve force that is all that's left of the latter's shattered army. Notably, she's lost faith in the cause, but keeps going out of debt to her former master (and because she knows that if she doesn't, the Always Chaotic Evil Nightmare forces will tear her apart for disloyalty).

• Ship Tease: Sunset Shimmer gives Rodan a kiss on the cheek in the end and Princess Celestia turns into a Shipper on Deck.
• Super Mode: Rodan and Sunset power one another up with their magic, causing him to access his "true form" (IE, the power he'd have had had he not been awakened prematurely) like Raiga did in A Sound of Thunder and her to access a Daydream Shimmer-like form.
• You Killed My Father: Once she recognizes her, Sunset Shimmer's motivation to try and kill Countess Mircalla is because she killed her biological mother.

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