It has been a decade since Twilight Sparkle was crowned sole Princess, and Equestria is at peace.

The Crystal Empire, not so much. King Sombra is apparently unkillable, despite all efforts. He returns several times a year to be destroyed, leaving behind his horn and always swearing vengeance. The jaded Crystal Ponies, some literally jade, have grown used to their tyrant attempting to return. Princess Cadance rules with her husband Shining Armor, while their daughter Flurry Heart excels in school. All is well.

All seems well, until Cadance begins to suspect that something is wrong with her daughter after the latest battle with Sombra. Flurry quite literally walks off a blast of concentrated dark magic. What Cadance discovers will shake her family to the core and upend everything she thought she knew about her daughter.

Flurry Heart is evil. If Cadance cannot save her daughter, she must stop her before it's too late.

Equestria and the Crystal Empire have fallen to the Changeling Hegemony, led by the brutal Queen Chrysalis at the head of a mechanized horde of guns and tanks. Princess Cadance stayed in the Crystal Empire; Princess Twilight stayed in Equestria. Chrysalis rules the continent, only defied by Nova Griffonia, the poor Griffon colony in the north.

Across the ocean, the Griffonian Reich pledges to reclaim its lost territory, sundered by revolution a generation ago. While the Alicorn Sisters retreat to New Mareland, Princess Flurry Heart and Shining Armor turn to Aquileia, the Republic born out of the ashes of the Griffonian Reich. The Kaiser of the Reich is only a child, subject to a regent bent on war and conquest.

Flurry knows the Reich and Chrysalis have worked together.

She knows that war is coming to Aquileia.

She knows that Celestia and Luna abandoned her mother and Twilight Sparkle.

She knows that the world is on fire, and she is the last true Princess of Ponies.

She knows she will go home.

Cover Art by Opal Radiance, commissioned by Sunstreaker.
https://www.deviantart.com/opalradiance

The first alicorn to be born rather than made. A pony of incredible power. A pony with a very important destiny.

Under the guidance of the fretful Princess Twilight, the sardonic Spike, and the ever-loyal crystal ponies, she will rise from the ashes of a childhood nightmare to become the princess she was always meant to be.

The journey won't be easy, but she won't give up. She was meant to be the Crystal Princess. That is her purpose.

And she will stop at nothing to keep it that way.

An entry in Imposing Sovereigns III, using the prompt "Flurry Heart/DETERMINATION".

“I’m not making you do anything, Flurry," Cozy murmured. “I’m giving you a choice. Me or your empire. And we both know what the right call is.”

Winner of FanOfMostEverything's "Imposing Sovereigns III" contest, using the prompt "Flurry Heart/Perseverance" (and technically "Cozy Glow/Determination" as well).

Every year, I write to the princess. I think she's amazing. I want to be just like her.

I wonder if she'll ever reply.

This story is a sequel to The Dreamer and Me

Princess Pipp Petals lives in a castle on a mountain on top of the world. She has everything she wants (except a working pair of wings). Yet as she looks down over Zephyr Heights and to the lowlands of Equestria below, she cannot help but feel dissatisfied. What is it that she is missing? She who has everything money can buy and a family that does not want for success?

Cadance has seen her type before.

Part 3 of Equestrian Scions, which began with Your Faithful Disciple; this story was preceded by The Dreamer and Me, and is followed by Hope and the Horizon.

Covert art by Cloudberry_mess, used without explicit permission; if use of the image offends, I will gladly remove it.

Sunny believed the tales. Really believed, in a way that most ponies didn't anymore. About the Elements of Harmony, and about Twilight Sparkle. Back when Equestria had princesses, and was whole, when every creature knew the real power of Friendship. She believed⁠—and she knew that, one day, if she believed hard enough, it could be again.

Elsewhere, distant, Twilight Sparkle watches her would-be student, and frets.

A Russian translation by NovemberDragon is available here. | Русский перевод от NovemberDragon доступен здесь.

A Chinese translation by forgivenlove is available here here. | 这里有forgivenlove的中文翻译。

A reading by ObabScribbler is available here.

Part 1 of Equestrian Scions, which continues with The Dreamer and Me.

A late addition to the "But what happened to Equestria?" story pile.

[04/29/21 - 05/02/21] Featured. That's a first for me. Thank you all so much.

Something bad is happening that will affect all of Equestria. Flurry Heart, now a grown mare and Princess of Love in Cadence's place, has to make an important decision that she may or may not be ready for.

Shining Armor spends some time with his daughter while he is recovering from a war wound. They play chess, and talk about some thoughts the game brings up.

Written for the Father's Day Not-a-Contest challenge

Sombra and Radiant Hope ventured through every crevice of Equestria to gather the missing pieces of Princess Amore. One day, Sombra discovered the final piece and the return of their loving Princess was nigh.

But what waits for Amore in a world that no longer feels like her own. What purpose could she serve when all of it has been relinquished? And what could she possibly do when she does not understand who exactly she is?

Progress: 03/20

Next: Chapter 4, The Shadow

Art Cover commissioned by Doodle-Mark