The story is set after the ending of 'The Crystal Empire in Siege.' After the princesses restored Sombra's body, he confessed his crimes and decided to search for the Amore fragments together with Hope. Cadance, as the ruler of the empire, stated that although we have witnessed your turning from darkness to light, your actions still caused serious harm to the empire. For the sake of the country and its people, I still have to impose a restriction on you for monitoring and assessment. Sombra calmly accepted this, but Hope exploded, accusing Cadance of not truly accepting Sombra, despite his repentance.

In the storyline following this scene, Sucrose furiously protected him but was stopped by Cadance. Cadance remained calm but gave Hope a slightly angry look, pointing to the scene behind everyone—the collapsed buildings, dead and wounded soldiers and civilians, and the crystal ponies rescuing the injured among the ruins. Hope was momentarily speechless, trying to argue but stopping midway, and pulled Sombra to escape.

Assuming in my Season 10 AU, at the time of this event, Flurry has already grown into a child, Sucrose has pledged loyalty to Cadance, and during the Umbra invasion, he covered Flurry's evacuation and fought several Umbra, suffering multiple fractures and an eye injury. Even while the city was still being rebuilt and er injuries were not fully healed, he immediately resumed his teaching duties.