Twilight, as a result of a magical experiment gone wrong, has disappeared. Several months pass with no sign of her whereabouts. Hope was nearly lost until a faint whiff of her magic was felt in a far away universe. Discord takes it upon himself to rescue the young alicorn. However, many years have passed for Twilight. Long enough for her to nearly give up hope in seeing Equestria again, and long enough for her to build ties to this new world. Now, Twilight must choose where she belongs.

This story is a sequel to Seven Years

Family had always been a strange notion to Princess Skyla, and anypony who knew her history would never wonder why the filly had such a vague grasp of the concept. Every memory she had of her family was tainted and dark, the photographs of her life smeared and marred by the decisions made by her mother and father, and she couldn't remember a time when she could even think about the word "family" without a black veil of disgust and sadness drawing over her heart. As such, family was never something that Skyla had ever given much thought, unless it was how she was going to get away from them.

Now, however, family is all Skyla can think about. Princess Cadence and Shining Armor have welcomed her with open hooves into their home, and their daughter, Princess Flurry Heart, is overjoyed to suddenly have a "big sister" to learn about and play with. She hasn't been officially crowned a Princess yet, but despite that the whole of the Kingdom is abuzz with news of her, and all of the Princesses of Equestria have all set aside time to come and see her for themselves...

...but try as she might, Skyla can't shake the feeling that something is wrong. Not with anypony else... but with her. She doesn't know how family is supposed to act around each other when they're not trying to scheme and stab you in the back; she has no earthly idea how sisters are supposed to behave around one another, or how a mother and daughter are actually supposed to talk to one another in normal, every day situations. She's a mess, with her heart and head all tangled up in knots that may never come undone -- and that's even before the nightmares start.

Flurry Heart, however, isn't about to give up on her, and with a little bit of help from a lot of different ponies, she'll work hard to show Skyla that a family isn't about the blood that you share, but about the bonds that you forge.

All things told, Princess Flurry Heart really doesn't have any major problems in her life. Sure, she's a Princess and heiress to the throne of the Crystal Kingdom and potential successor to her mother Princess Cadence, who has been, without question, one of the Kingdom's best rulers since it's inception, but she know she'll grow into that.

She might have Princess Twilight Sparkle as an overly-enthusiastic teacher who seems to think she can learn everything there is to know in the world before she hits her teens, but Flurry Heart knows that her Aunt Twilight means well and knows that as long as she tries her best the Princess of Friendship will be happy with her.

All in all, the Princess's life is pretty good, all things considered.

Now if only she could figure out why she's hearing voices late at night: voices that mention crystals, the sky, and her name...

For years, Sunset Shimmer has happily held her place at Celestia's side. She was her prized student, her number one prodigy. In return, Celestia was Sunset's world, her passion and drive. However, with time and age come change, and Sunset cannot take it any more.

She doesn't understand why Celestia won't look at her any more, why she is so enthralled by the talent and simple nature of her newest discovery. All she knows is that as much as she may aspire and hope, she'll never again be the object of Celestia's interest.

Sunset Shimmer intends to leave, and she has no plans of returning.

Written for Oroboro's Sunset Shipping Contest: Changing Seasons

Special thanks to Ceffyl Dwr for pre-reading as well as helping me to iron out the creases in my original idea.

Part of the All-American Girl continuity.
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For Derpy Hooves, life is never easy. Even as an accomplished scientist and scholar, she still has to contend with a twin sister that hates her, living alone in a tiny town and working a dead-end job, and, of course, her eyes, which causes her to be clumsier in public than she normally is. For her, life sucks.

But now, Derpy has to face a decision that could rock the very foundations of her family, her life and her future. And if that wasn't enough, one of the neighborhood foals, Sparkler, may need her help desperately. And to top it all off, a secret project of hers might just change the world of ponydom forever.

She's got a lot on her hooves. Maybe too much.

Trixie explains what happened to her parents and how they died. She explains how her kind of unicorn were hated for so long. Trixie spills everything.

The Great and Powerful Trixie grew up having it all: loving family, supportive friends, and an unbeatable magic show. That’s what she tells herself, at least.

There is a time in The Great and Powerful Trixie’s past that she would prefer to not remember. A time when she knew only one spell. A time when she lived in a backwater town. A time when she went by a different name…

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The original version of the story took 9th place in The Writeoff Association's April 2015 contest, "Great Expectations"