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".

Muddled, distracted, and ineffectual, Cloudkicker isn't exactly the sort of carer most ponies think of when they think of reliable older sisters. Her own sister, Alula, certainly doesn't. She doesn't think of anything; she just does things! Like a proper pegasus is supposed to do! Yeah!

If she ever thought at all, she might think how lucky she was...

“Moondancer–?”

“What!? Oh. Minuette. It’s just you. What the hay are you doing? How did you even get in my house?”

“Ye-heh! Just little old me. Sorry, did I interrupt your reading? I just wondered where you’d b–”

“My next question is: Why are you here? Sorry, sorry, that came out wrong. I meant: What brings you here, Minuette? Uh… 'my little friend'… you…?”

“It’s OK. It’s just… only… you know there’s a party on right now?”

Originally intended for Loganberry's Flashfic 150, February 2021: "Two Truths and a Lie" event.

This story is a sequel to Impossible Numbers' Flashfic Anthology, Volume Four

Cloudchaser is the one who bids her sister goodnight. She knows precisely why; she's just trying to forget it. After all, ignorance is bliss.

Genres: Sad, Slice of Life
Prompt: "So Long and Goodnight"
Original Source: https://www.fimfiction.net/group/212112/flashfic/thread/432899/flashfic-150-april-2020-so-long-and-goodnight#comment/7198414

A pegasus - Raindrops - is intrigued as to why an earth pony - Cherry Berry - would have any interest in defying her tribe's traditional biological limits. Maybe she sees a chance herself...?

Genres: Slice of Life
Prompt: "I'm Flying Without Wings"
Original Source: https://www.fimfiction.net/group/212112/flashfic/thread/435203/flashfic-150-may-2020-im-flying-without-wings#comment/7208622

She was legend. She was real. She was the Ultimate Crusader. She... was Scootaloo.

Genres: Adventure
Prompt: "Dream A Little Dream"
Original Source: https://www.fimfiction.net/group/212112/flashfic/thread/437919/flashfic-150-june-2020-dream-a-little-dream#comment/7253781

N.B.: This fic is preserved more for historical interest than for its quality. It was later adapted to a much more comprehensive and complete version under the same title, accessible here.

On Sweet Apple Acres, some things have to be done. No one said they had to like it.

Genres: Dark, Sad, Slice of Life
Prompt: "After the Storm"
Original Source: https://www.fimfiction.net/group/212112/flashfic/thread/440844/flashfic-150-july-2020-after-the-storm#comment/7275689

N.B.: Original title was "Storm and Stress, Then Healthy Crops". This was later changed in light of the critical feedback.

Starry Eyes loves Twinkleshine. Such a princess among unicorns, the beauty of astronomy, the brightest star in his sky! Well, it can't be hard for him to tell her how he feels, can it? He's a pegasus, after all. Pegasi are supposed to be fearless...

Genres: Romance, Sad
Prompt: "Early Bird"
Original Source: https://www.fimfiction.net/group/212112/flashfic/thread/443711/flashfic-150-august-2020-early-bird#comment/7289694

Where Luna chose the night, Celestia chose the day. Except the night is everywhere, in this universe, whereas the day exists only here. After all, the sun is just another star...

Genres: Drama, Horror, Sad
Prompt: "Rising Star"
Original Source: https://www.fimfiction.net/group/212112/flashfic/thread/449695/flashfic-150-october-2020-rising-star#comment/7346449

Sweetie Belle remembered the song. Long ago, Rarity had sung it to her: a song of fairy-tale romance. Only in her marehood does she properly understand her sister's secret meaning...

Genres: Slice of Life
Prompt: "A Song I Remember"
Original Source: https://www.fimfiction.net/group/212112/flashfic/thread/452549/flashfic-150-november-2020-a-song-i-remember#comment/7364209

Written Script loves "Carrot Top", as her friends call her. Why, he wishes to write the perfect poem for her! The problem is... well... she's Carrot Top. She's not exactly the mushy romantic type.

Genres: Romance
Prompt: "Poetic Justice"
Original Source: https://www.fimfiction.net/group/212112/flashfic/thread/458094/flashfic-150-january-2021-poetic-justice#comment/7415927

One's a terrified flower pony who takes everything seriously. One's a party-loving jokester who never takes anything seriously, not if he can help it.

Each of them would love it if the other would just grow up. Neither can agree on what "growing up" entails.

Both of them need each other.

Apple Bloom never thought of herself as a "s'phisticated" pony. She lives on a farm, she eats what's put in front of her, she follows the advice of her kin without question or doubt. That's all there is to it.

Rarity, on the other hoof, is so "s'phisticated" she can actually spell it. Probably too "s'phisticated" for her own good. The life of an artist - even one who actually makes money - is never a simple one.

But truth, like life, is like the gleam off a sun-caught apple. Turn it around, and though it was once dull and uninteresting, the flash of light may well catch your eye in a way that sparks something new and exciting. As if you'd found your cutie mark all over again. A life-changing moment of pure inspiration.

Maybe these two socially sensitive ponies have more in common than they'd ever thought possible...

Scootaloo might be no good at sums, but she knows Scootaloo plus scooter equals the fastest, awesomest, most attention-grabbing-est thing on the ground.

She also knows Applejack minus anyone actually fun to be with equals one really lame time.

And yet, spending a day with the Apple farmer and her broader Apple family seems strangely attractive to her. They might not be the most exciting of ponies, (and when it comes to cool, they're certainly the most clueless), but they have something Scootaloo really, really wants. Deep down. Something she keeps coming back for.

Not that she's going to admit it. Cos that would be seriously lame.

Sweetie Belle has spent most of her life trying to be like Rarity. That engenders a certain beau monde sophistication regarding one's life philosophy.

It ain't got nothing on Rainbow Dash, though, who'd probably think "engender" meant "make someone a boy or a girl". Assuming she knew words that long.

However, if these two ponies are going to spend a day together, they'll have to commit to it. But then, who knows? There are times when even beauty comes in the most unexpected and unlikely of forms.

And when it comes to picking things up on the fly, Sweetie Belle's nothing if not a keen student. Always eager to please a sister.

Sea Swirl loves Sassaflash.

Sassaflash loves Caramel. Caramel loves Sassaflash.

It'd be so much easier if Caramel was a jerk. It'd be so much easier if Sassaflash really loved Sea Swirl all along. It'd be so, so, so very much easier if Sea Swirl didn't have a mind as wide and vacant as a deserted seabed.

The trouble is: love is like life, and both are like the sea. As simple as they look on the surface, they're so mind-bogglingly strange and complicated underneath that it's easy to get lost without a guide.

Life, love, and the endless sea: Sea Swirl herself can only manage one of those three. But she's always trying her best. And sadly, her best might not be good enough, not when it comes to the one thing that matters most:

A happily ever after.

From everyone's friend to everyone's enemy, Gladmane has always been larger than life.

He started off as a used cart salespony in a backwater desert village, but there was no way he was staying there. For he has dreamed the Equestrian Dream, and why be a small-time businesspony when you can be a king?

In a humble hotel, in Las Pegasus the city of dreams, where even the clouds are within an earth pony's grasp, Gladmane plans to show what a heart of gold he truly has. And to hide his mind of steel.

After all, he's good at making friends. He makes everyone happy. And he knows how mean and ruthless the world can be; it's what he's had to fight against just to get here.

So why does his conscience start to prick him, the closer and closer he gets to his greatest performance ever?