Flurry Heart's Story: Villains Anonymous

Chapters

1. An Unexpected Surrender
2. Welcome to Villains Anonymous
4. Showing Signs of Change
5. Not Ready...
3. Calling in Some Familiar Faces

1. An Unexpected Surrender

Princess Twilight Sparkle arranged to meet with Flurry Heart and Spike in Canterlot to discuss some things and see how Flurry’s time in Ponyville was going. She stood in her throne room and listened to her niece as she told her about her findings in Ponyville for the past week.

“And I guess they’re going to take me to go see the Apple Family tomorrow. I can’t wait to see them!” Flurry told her aunt.

“You’re going to love the Apples, Flurry.” Twilight replied. “Things have improved greatly on the farm since Tex came into Applejack’s life. So how are things going with the Cakes and Stormy?”

“I love them! They’re all so friendly and I think they really want to make my time here worthwhile.”

“We’ve got quite a nice little team forming here, Twilight.” Spike added. “Kinda reminds me of the seven of us back when I was little, except now I’m the adult. Hehehe.”

“I’m so happy to hear all of this. Well you two, keep up the good work and keep sending me those letters as well. Now I’m not sure if I’ll be able to see you next weekend since I may be a little busy with some things. King Scorpan has requested that I see him to talk about-”

Suddenly the doors to the throne room swung open and a tall dark purple unicorn with magenta hair came bounding in. She was wearing silver armor and had a helmet with a glowing blue spike in place of her broken horn underneath. This was Tempest Shadow, the captain of the royal guard. Twilight had appointed her as the new captain a few years ago after Tempest had completed her journey to spread news of the Storm King’s defeat. She would rarely come in like this, but Twilight could tell something was clearly wrong.

“PRINCESS! We’ve got a situation!” she called to Twilight before stopping in front of her.

“Tempest? What’s wrong?” Twilight asked.

“It’s Lord Tirek. We’ve got him.”

Twilight put her hoof to her mouth and her wings opened while Flurry and Spike gasped loudly.

“TIREK?! He’s back already?!”

“Lucky for us we were able to capture him without a problem.”

“Where is he right now?”

“My guards have him right outside. He says he’d like to speak with you. Should I let him in.”

Twilight looked back to Flurry and Spike. Spike looked really nervous and almost wanted to tell Twilight to say no. She felt uneasy about letting Tirek in with Flurry around, but she also didn’t feel right kicking her and Spike both out.

“Spike, guard Flurry. Tempest, let him in.” she said.

Spike put one of his arms around Flurry to protect her. Tempest stepped aside and called to her guards.

“Guards, bring in the prisoner, and be ready!”

Two guards came in and held the doors open. Several other guards shuffled in with spears drawn. They stepped into the light and a tall slender centaur was there before them. It was Tirek, the former prince of the Midnight Kingdom, which was the home of the centaurs, gargoyles, and other races. He was once the heir to the throne of his homeland, but his crimes against Equestria were far too great for him to be allowed to return and he was sent to Tartarus instead. Tirek was a known villain across all of Equestria and was treated as such. He used to be muscular and had long s-shaped horns, but his time in Tartarus had made him weak and emaciated. His horns were sawn off after his first encounter with the Elements of Harmony centuries ago and were now just tiny nubs on his skull to prevent him from using powerful magic. They could grow long again if Tirek absorbed magic, but he had only his base magic left inside right now. He had grown a beard out over the years, giving him a more elderly appearance and wore a nose-ring and large silver ring around his neck. Like most centaurs, his upper body was covered mostly in dark fur while his arms and face bared reddish skin. All centaurs had black sclera in their eyes, and Tirek’s pupils were yellow.

The guards continued to prod Tirek forward, some of them barking at him to move faster. He was bound by chains that had been attached to the metal cuffs on his arms. Their spears were tipped with pointy shards that came from Queen Chrysalis’s throne. He had very low levels of magic left in him, but the spears were close enough to him that he would not be able to use any magic at all. Oddly enough, the centaur criminal didn’t even appear to be that angry or spiteful. He actually seemed a bit on edge and scared of all the guards that were surrounding him. They brought him forward to meet Twilight. With a grim face, she opened her wings and walked towards him.

“Tirek.” she said, angrily.

“Princess, we meet again. Congratulations on your coronation by the way.” Tirek replied with a rather sycophantic voice.

“You’ve got some nerve showing up here like this.”

“What ever are you talking about? I gave myself up willingly. I walked right up to your devoted guards with my hands in the air in surrender.”

“Is that true, Tempest?” Twilight asked her captain.

“It’s true, but I still don’t trust him.”

“What about the other two? What happened to Cozy Glow and Chrysalis, Tirek?”

“They’re gone for now. After a bit of an argument we all decided to part ways. The queen met up with some changeling named Scutellum I believe and just ran off with him. As for the child…no idea. All I know is she’s very vengeful of your princesses and that fool, Discord.”

“So Chrysalis already did find Scutellum.” Twilight said to herself. “And how did you manage to break free from being in stone?”

“I’m not sure. I thought it was Chrysalis who used her magic but she denies it. I doubt she’d even be that powerful after our last encounter with the Elements. Oh well, it’s moot at this point. Anyways, Princess, now that I’m here, I think this is as good of a time as ever to say that…well, I’m sorry.”

The entire room went silent for a few moments. Twilight stopped grimacing and appeared confused now. Spike and Flurry just stood with their mouths open.

“That was unexpected.” Spike whispered to Flurry.

“You’re sorry?” Twilight asked Tirek, skeptically.

“Yes. I’m sorry that I’ve caused you ponies so much trouble. After being defeated a total of three times, two of them being by you and your friends I might add, I have decided that Equestria is no longer worth my time and I wish to be sent back to the Midnight Kingdom where I belong.”

“King Vorak had you banished from the Midnight Kingdom after you were first sent to Tartarus, Tirek.”

Tirek looked surprised at this news and finally started to show anger.

“Did he now. That old fool can’t still be in control of the kingdom.”

“Your brother took your place as the king. He’s been ruling for centuries now.”

“Let me guess: silly Scorpan still has me banished too?”

“Reluctantly, but yes.”

“Oh I doubt he’s that reluctant about it, Princess.”

“Regardless, Tirek, you’re a known criminal and I should have you punished for your crimes…”

As Twilight was speaking, she gave Tempest a glance and smiled to her and calmed herself a bit before turning back to Tirek.

“…however, I am not without mercy. Considering the change I’ve seen in Tempest Shadow here, as well as Discord and several other friends of mine, I do believe you are still eligible for reformation.”

“Reformation? Oh no.”

“I hereby sentence you, not directly to imprisonment, but to temporary rehabilitation until you’ve reconciled your crimes.”

“What?! Princess, I just told you I’m sorry. Is that not enough for you?”

“Actions speak louder than words, Tirek. Now unless you want me to have you turned back to stone or sent to Tartarus, that is my offer.”

Tirek rolled his eyes and crossed his arms.

“Ugh. Fine!” he grumbled.

“But Twilight, who in Equestria are you going to have reform him?” Spike asked, walking over to Twilight as Flurry followed closely behind.

“Trust me, Spike, I have a few friends who know a thing or two about redemption.”

Twilight smiled mischievously as Spike and Flurry both looked at each other.

“Fluttershy and Discord?” Flurry asked.

“Definitely.” Spike said, nodding and crossing his arms with an impish grin on his face.

2. Welcome to Villains Anonymous

Just outside of Ponyville was Fluttershy’s cottage, with her animal sanctuary just a short walk away. Just near the cottage, the sound of laughter could be heard. There was a rather colorful tree in the ground with random objects growing from its branches. On top was a table with a tea set and snacks and next to it were two seats where Fluttershy was sitting along with her friend, Discord, the Lord of Chaos.

Fluttershy was a yellow pegasus pony with pink hair done up in a ponytail and three butterflies for her cutie mark. She had talent with understanding and taking care of animals and was known for her kindness. Contrasting to his pegasus friend, Discord’s entire body was very muddled in appearance. His head resembled a long-faced stallion, but he was made out of random animal body parts in the shape of a snake-like dragon. Discord was a master with chaos magic and had high levels of cosmic powers, enabling him to bend reality. He was once a major villain in Equestria after attempting to take over and spread his chaos, but he was tamed by Fluttershy and spent his days visiting her and trying to befriend others. Not many ponies out there would give him a chance after the things he had done in the past, but he found Ponyville to be most accepting and would frequently visit. He was in the middle of telling her a funny story as his dishes and food floated around in front of him.

“So then I thought I’d spruce it up a bit by turning all the tree’s leaves blue.” Discord told her. “I never had thought that blue leaves would clash so well with everything else on that little island in my dimension! Not that there’s anything wrong with regular trees, but, you know, green gets a little boring after a while until autumn comes around.”

“Oh my. What sorts of fruits grow from them?” she asked him before taking a sip of her tea.

“Fruits? Oh heavens no. Not in Discord’s world. How about sticks of dynamite that explode into… wait for it… marshmallows!”

“Hehehe! Oh Discord, your random flora are so delightful sometimes!”

“Would you like one?” he said, offering her a roasted marshmallow on the end of a twig with blue leaves.

“Oooh, they look delicious!” Fluttershy said, nibbling away at the marshmallow. “Well Discord, whenever you’re ready to come by the sanctuary again, we could use more giant watermelons for the capybaras. They were really grateful the last time you-”

“WHOA!!” Discord shouted as his body began to twitch about, violently.

“OH! Discord, what’s happening?!”

“That power…I haven’t felt that strange type of magic since…”

“What is it? What do you sense?” Fluttershy asked Discord as his eyes widened.

“It’s him! He’s here!”

Fluttershy gasped loudly and put her hooves to her mouth in fright. Discord snapped his fingers and the tree disappeared. Fluttershy flew over to her animal sanctuary and called out to all the creatures living there.

“TIREK IS HERE, EVERYONE!” she called to them as they all began to retreat to their homes to hide.

Fluttershy zoomed around locking doors to storage sheds and checked each animal’s domain to make sure they were safe. Meanwhile, Discord could be seen wearing a camouflaged army uniform as duplicates of himself parachuted down from the sky. Instead of carrying actual weapons, they had long objects like brooms, candy canes, and fishing poles in their arms. Discord blew a whistle and they all stood straight in formation.

“A-TEN-HUT!!” Discord shouted to them. “We’ve got an enemy detected, troops! Get ready! Sergeant Fluttershy, do you see anything?”

Fluttershy flew in front of Discord and put her hoof over her forehead to get a clear view of things. Tirek was nowhere in sight, but she finally spotted a chariot being pulled by two powerful pegasus guards coming down from the sky. Princess Twilight could be seen in the front seat with Flurry Heart and Spike flying next to the chariot.

“Oh, Discord, we have visitors. I think it was just Twilight’s power you felt.”

“What?! Oh, well of course it was Twilight! Hehe…silly me.” Discord laughed nervously as his duplicates angrily tore off their uniforms and stormed off.

“Flurry, Spike, Twilight! It’s great to see you!” Fluttershy said, rushing over to meet her friends.

“Hey Fluttershy!” Flurry said as they both hugged.

“Hey Spike! Great to see you too!” Fluttershy said, hugging Spike. “We thought maybe you two would come to visit at some point. It’s great to hear Flurry’s been having a good stay in Ponyville so far.”

“My apologies for calling in the cavalry back there, Flurry.” Discord said as he made his uniform disappear. “For a minute I thought I sensed Tirek around here somewhere.”

“You did sense Tirek, Discord.” Twilight said as she got down from her chariot to meet the others. She looked back as another chariot could be seen landing. Inside were several guards and Tirek in the center, still in chains. They lead him out with their spears drawn.

“You may release him, Sirs.” She said to the guards as they reluctantly undid the chains and put their weapons down.

As Fluttershy and Discord looked in shock, Tirek walked over slowly next to Twilight with his hands behind his back.

“We found Tirek in Canterlot earlier and I’m having him brought to you both for a reforming session.” Twilight explained to them.

“Oh my. You…you want us to reform him already?” Fluttershy said.

“Well, we all knew this day was coming at some point.” Discord said. “It just came a little earlier than I…expected.”

“Alright, can we just get this over with?” Tirek asked, crossly. “I already said I was sorry, so I don’t see what the point is of a reformation class.”

“YOU SAID YOU WERE SORRY?!” Fluttershy squealed as she rushed forward and grabbed Tirek by his cheeks. “OH MY GOODNESS!! Tirek, that’s great news! You’ve already got the first step done! At this rate, we should have you reformed in no time!”

“Now now, Fluttershy.” Discord said, safely pulling her back. “Tirek clearly isn’t sorry yet. We’ve all got a lot of work to do.”

Discord moved his head in close to Tirek and gave him a very suspicious look. Tirek reared back in surprise, but eventually scowled back at him.

“Spike, would it be alright if we tagged along with them?” Flurry asked her dragon protector.

“What?! Absolutely not, Flurry!” Spike said, firmly. “This is Tirek we’re talking about!”

“Oh, well would you look at that, Princess Twilight. They already hate me. It’s almost like this reformation thing really doesn’t work and no one’s opinion of me is ever going to change.” Tirek said, crossing his arms.

“Spike, let’s not forget that Tirek has barely any power now and he can’t hurt anyone.” Twilight said, walking over next to Flurry and Spike. “Even Flurry has a higher level of magic than he currently does. Tirek may be a villain but he’s still smart. I think he’d know better than to act in anger around Discord.”

“That’s right, Spike. He wouldn’t hurt a fly. I’ve got my eyes on him.” Discord said as his eyeballs popped out of their sockets and floated around Tirek.

Tirek swatted away at the eyeballs as if they were pesky flies until they returned back to Discord’s head.

“Well everyone, I should be heading back to Canterlot.” Twilight said as she returned to her chariot. “Let me know if there’s any trouble. Behave while I’m gone, Tirek.”

“Yes, yes…” Tirek said, rolling his eyes.

Everyone else waved goodbye to Twilight and then finally turned to Tirek.

“Alright Tirek. I know you’re not looking forward to this, but I promise we’ll all go easy on you and make you as comfortable as possible.” Fluttershy told the grouchy centaur.

“This is actually quite exciting, Fluttershy. You once reformed me, and now I get the chance to do the same with you at my side!” Discord said, pulling her in next to him. “I’ve got just the thing for him to get started with.”

Discord snapped his fingers and a pink shirt appeared on Tirek with a rainbow graphic and message written below. He looked down in surprise at the shirt as Discord turned the letters upside down for him to read it.

“Be patient…I’m re…reforming?” he said, reading the message.

“Welcome to Villains Anonymous, Tirek! The not-for-profit organization meant to turn the biggest of scoundrels into law-abiding citizens who wish for nothing but rainbows, friendship and puppies! In all seriousness though, it’s a little club I created for me and other former villains and ne’er-do-wells to get together and talk things out when we can.”

Flurry and Spike couldn’t help but snicker at the sight, which only made Tirek angrier.

“Grrrr! I apologized to Princess Twilight, and all I got was this stupid shirt?! I AM NOT WEARING THIS!!!” Tirek said as he tore the shirt off with both of his sharp claws.

Discord snapped his fingers again and the shirt reappeared on Tirek’s body, completely mended.

“Oh, yes you are!” Discord laughed.

“Now Discord, like I said, we need to make him comfortable.” Fluttershy reminded him. “Tirek, first of all, would you like any refreshments?”

“I could actually use some, yes.” he said.

“Excellent! Discord, how about we have some tea and snacks over by the meadow with him. I’ll bring in Angelica to help me out with everything.”

“Sounds like a plan, Fluttershy.” Discord said, as he snickered at Tirek. He then snapped his fingers and disappeared in a flash.

Tirek grumbled and just turned around so he wouldn’t have to face anyone. Spike and Flurry both exchanged nervous glances.

“Don’t worry, Spike.” Flurry said. “I’m sure he’ll come around.”

A few minutes later, they were all sitting around a large, flat mushroom out in a clearing just by the cottage. On top was a tea set and a small, white rabbit with a pink bow in her hair. She was Angelica Bunny, the daughter of Fluttershy’s old pet rabbit, Angel. Angelica was hopping around on top of the mushroom, helping to set things for Fluttershy. Tirek sipped some of his tea. He still appeared rather peeved, but didn’t seem to dislike the tea. He clearly had not had a proper meal in some time and was content enough to have anything that tasted good.

“How’s the tea?” Fluttershy asked, politely.

“It’s fine.” Tirek said, flatly as he took another sip.

“This here’s Angelica Bunny. I used to have a pet rabbit named Angel. He’s not with us anymore, but he left behind an adorable little daughter. Say hi, Angelica.”

Angelica hopped near Tirek’s side and waved to him while smiling. Tirek just gave her a bothered look and continued with his tea. Angelica looked hurt.

“It’s okay. He’s still getting used to this.” Fluttershy told her rabbit. “Tirek, there’s also some buttered toast here if you’d like some.”

“That would be nice.”

Angelica hopped off the mushroom and helped Fluttershy with some food over at a serving cart nearby. Spike, Flurry and Discord all remained seated, continuously watching Tirek. Spike still had a hard time trusting Tirek so he sat between him and Flurry. He would take a sip of his tea every now and then while still looking on cautiously at the centaur. Flurry continued to watch Tirek, hoping to see him show any signs of change. Discord had his arms crossed and looked suspiciously at Tirek as he kept drinking. Tirek eventually began to stare back at him. Flurry noticed tension rising between the two of them so she decided to say anything to get their minds off of each other.

“So, Tirek, Cozy Glow and Chrysalis both left after you guys were free from stone?” she asked.

“The queen left with a changeling soldier and I left the child behind. I figured the smartest thing to do was to turn myself in.” he said as he set his tea cup down.

“Yeah, Flurry and I met that changeling a few days ago and some teachers from the School of Friendship took him down with the Elements.” Spike said.

“So that explains that green column of light we saw.” Tirek replied.

“You three were out there in the Everfree Forest when it happened?” Flurry asked.

“We were just sitting around a campfire, arguing and we saw something from a distance. I had no idea a battle was going on while we were talking. Then again, we were in a pretty heated argument.”

Discord’s teacup hovered around in front of his face as they spoke. He shot his tongue out like a frog’s and pulled in his teacup to chew it up like food, leaving behind the tea as it floated around like liquids in outer space.

“Well it’s good to know you thought surrendering was a better option.” he said to Tirek.

“I never asked for this class, though.” Tirek said, sounding a little angrier.

“Better than Tartarus or being turned to stone.”

“Anyway…” Flurry said, trying to change the subject. “Were Queen Chrysalis and Cozy Glow alright when you were with them?”

“They were fine. They both want revenge. Chrysalis wants to invade Equestria again. She’s crazy. As for Cozy: I can’t remember what she said she wanted to do.”

Discord made a notepad appear in front of him and began to write on it with a pen.

“Discord, what are you doing?” Flurry asked.

“Taking notes.” he said. “We’ll need to keep tabs on what those two are doing and how we can prepare for facing them. So anyway, Tirek, did Chrysalis say how she planned on coming back to attack one day?”

“No, she didn’t. I’m not concerning myself with her anymore.”

“And this other changeling, Scutellum, did he spill any beans?”

“How should I know? Why am I even being asked these questions? I thought I was in a reforming class, not an interrogation!”

“Oh, just wondering. Cozy and Chrysalis don’t sound like they want to take your route and apologize. We should be ready for anything.”

“Well that’s all I have. I don’t care to talk about those two anymore if you don’t mind. Can I drink my tea in peace? And can you please turn the gravity back to normal?!”

Tirek suddenly noticed that everything began to levitate. Flurry and Spike just remained still in midair, not knowing how to react as the two of them continued to argue. Angelica began to flail around in front of them, helplessly trying to find something to anchor onto until Spike caught her and held on to her. Flurry used her magic to send them back down to earth along with the mushroom table and everything on top of it.

“Sorry. Sometimes my powers go a little haywire when I argue like this.” Discord told Tirek. “Don’t worry, you’ll get used to it. Gravity is so overrated sometimes.”

“GRRRR! FLUTTERSHY, WHERE’S MY TOAST?!?” Tirek screamed.

“Right here, Tirek.” Fluttershy said, flying up to him and handing him a plate with two pieces of toast. “Discord, maybe we should take it down a notch?”

“Ah, fine.”

Discord snapped his fingers and Tirek fell back down to the earth, landing on his face with a grunt while Discord just floated down gracefully and landed on his legs. Tirek got up and brushed himself off, completely forgetting about his toast.

“Confound this ‘reformation’ class! It’s getting me nowhere!”

“Shhhh, it’s okay, Tirek. Discord, maybe it’s time we move on to Plan B?”

“Plan B?”

“Oh that’s right! I almost forgot I invited a few Villains Anonymous buddies over to help out with reforming Tirek!” Discord said as a light bulb appeared over his head.

“Greeeeat, more annoying creatures of Equestria. This is sure to be a forgettable experience!”

“Oh don’t worry, Tirek.” Fluttershy said, putting her hoof on his shoulder. “You’ll like these three. They might have a lot in common with you. They’ve had their fair share of past mistakes too.”

“Well at least there’s something we have in common.” Tirek grumbled.

4. Showing Signs of Change

Tirek stomped through the woods. He had already strayed off the path between Fluttershy’s house and the road to Ponyville, but he wasn’t worried about getting lost with Discord’s shield surrounding the perimeter. At this point, he couldn’t go much further before bumping into the shield, but he had already made himself comfortable in a small clearing.

“Fools.” he grumbled to himself. “Do they not understand personal space?”

He stopped walking and sighed deeply. For about a minute he stood still, thinking about all the events that lead to this moment. His eyebrows and forehead began to relax as he calmed himself down and closed his eyes.

Not too far away, Flurry and Spike were sneaking behind a tree. Tirek could not hear them because Flurry had cast a temporary spell around them that would cancel out any noise they made.

“Flurry, I told you we should have left him alone!” Spike said, worriedly.

“It’s okay, Spike.” Flurry replied, ducking down behind a fallen tree trunk. “I’m good at this spell. He won’t hear us, but we best whisper just in case. Just make sure he doesn’t see us. I can’t use an invisibility spell at the same time.”

“Alright, alright. I just don’t see anything happening though.”

“Shhhh!”

Spike and Flurry both stopped talking and looked at Tirek. He remained still for a few moments, and then finally opened his eyes to look around a bit.

“This is much better than being in Tartarus.” he said.

A small bird perched itself on a nearby low-hanging branch. It looked at Tirek and began to chirp. Flurry and Spike could not see the slight smile that began to form on his face, but what they saw next surprised them.

“Hello there, little one.” Tirek said, putting out his finger as the bird flew over and landed on it. “Must be wonderful for you to not have to worry about the things I’m dealing with…to be so free.”

A few other birds landed on some branches and some squirrels and chipmunks came out to watch. Tirek looked around at them all and his smile began to grow. He let the bird leave his finger to join its friends back on the branch.

“I wish it could have been this easy for me back in the Midnight Kingdom.” he said. “We were so much better off when it was peaceful and all I wanted was for that peace to remain. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say areas like this in Equestria are far more hospitable. At least the wildlife can thrive.”

Flurry and Spike watched closely. Spike had his mouth hanging open and Flurry had a huge grin on her face and couldn’t contain her zeal.

“Spike, are you seeing what I’m seeing?!” she squealed.

“I see it…but I can’t believe it!” Spike said, rubbing his eyes. “Tirek actually likes animals?!”

“Not only that, but he’s talking about peace…like he wants peace! Plus, didn’t he say he and Scorpan had good intentions when they first came?”

“Yeah, they were going to stop Discord in order to find favor with Celestia and Luna’s parents. Tirek just went a little mad afterwards according to what Scorpan told me. I guess he just really wanted to…OH! GET DOWN!”

They both ducked behind the log Flurry was behind right as Tirek turned himself around. He walked past them over into another area to find other woodland creatures to spend time around. A few birds seemed to be following him to show him where to go. After he had walked on far enough, Flurry and Spike continued to watch.

“Spike, we have to go tell the others!” Flurry said, excitedly.

“You’re right. They gotta know. Let’s leave Tirek to himself here. We don’t wanna make him mad if he finds out we’ve been snooping on him.” Spike replied.

They both ran back to Fluttershy’s cottage, while Tirek continued to walk around with some of the wildlife.

Back in the cottage, Flutershy, Discord and all the present members of Villains Anonymous sat down to drink some tea while discussing the situation with Tirek.

“Maybe we should just send him back to the Midnight Kingdom.” Trixie said, gloomily.

“No can do. He’s been banished.” Starlight replied. “King Vorak made that decision rather reluctantly after tons of the citizens complained once Tirek betrayed them. To my knowledge, Scorpan has yet to lift the ban and I’m afraid doing so would make him seem like a weak leader.”

“Great, so he’s just stuck with us then. I see he’s not too thrilled about that.”

“He’ll come around. We just need to find a way to get to him.” Sunset added.

“Any ideas, Discord.” Iron Will asked Discord.

“I’m thinking.” Discord said as he paced about, stroking his chin. “I just don’t get it. Why would he say sorry to Twilight yet refuse to listen to us?”

Fluttershy flew in with a plate full of tiny egg-salad sandwiches for them.

“It’s okay, everyone.” she told them as she set the plate down on a nearby table. “We’re doing the right thing by leaving him to himself. Hopefully Flurry and Spike have something to report on.”

Just as she spoke, the front door swung open and Flurry flew in as Spike followed after her, huffing and puffing.

“TIREK LIKES ANIMALS!” Flurry shouted. “We saw him interacting with them in the woods!”

Everyone in the room made a collective gasp.

“WHAT?! HE LIKES ANIMALS?!?” Fluttershy said, smiling.

“You guys won’t believe it!” Spike added. “He let a bird perch on his own finger and he talked nicely to it!”

“He even said how he wished the Midnight Kingdom could be that peaceful or something! He actually seems to like the idea of peace!”

“DISCORD, DID YOU HEAR THAT!” Fluttershy said to her draconequus friend.

Discord’s mouth had dropped and was hanging all the way down to the ground. He stretched his arm down and tugged on his beard. His jaw flew back up to his head and spun around like a rolled up curtain until it stopped.

“Well now…color me surprised!” he said. “I never knew Tirek had a fondness for animals. That part about wishing for peace in his homeland doesn’t really surprise me. His country was having a rough time and that’s why he and Scorpan first came to Equestria to begin with.”

“Well what are we all waiting for?!” Iron Will said, getting up from the sofa he was sitting on. “Let’s go take him to the animal sanctuary!”

“Now now, Iron Will.” Fluttershy said. “He’s probably still a bit mad at us. We don’t want to rush anything. If we can use the animals to get him to show his more sensitive side, then maybe he’ll start listening. Let’s take baby steps. You guys can watch, but I’d stay far away so he can’t see you while this happens. Meanwhile, I’ll handle Tirek.”

With a confident smile on her face, Fluttershy marched over to the door as everyone watched her leave to go find the centaur.

Fluttershy flew around the woods, calling for Tirek. She saw some blue jays flying nearby and stopped one of them to ask for help.

“Excuse me, Eleanor, have you seen a centaur roaming around out here by any chance? That’s Lord Tirek. He means no harm. Me and my friends are trying to reform him right now.”

Eleanor replied to her through a series of chirps and squawks and then Fluttershy’s eyes widened.

“Oh my goodness! Really?! Show me!”

Fluttershy quietly landed on the ground and continued on hoof. Eleanor led her to a nearby clearing. Tirek was sitting on top of a bed of grass in the center with his head bowed down and his hands together. Crepuscular rays shone down through the branches with the largest one shining down on him. Birds, squirrels, raccoons, chipmunks and other wildlife could be seen perched in branches or on the ground, watching him. The sound of birds chirping could be heard in the distance, though the ones around Tirek were silent. Tirek spoke not a word but just sat there, meditating. Fluttershy had her hooves over her mouth and could not believe what she was seeing. She was as quiet as she could be, hoping he would not hear her. Tirek continued to sit, motionless and silent. She wondered what he was thinking, but she could not see his face to tell for sure. Finally Tirek spoke up.

“Did the animals tell you I was here?” he asked.

“Oh! Tirek! I’m…uh…I’m so sorry if I interrupted you.” she said. “Do you want me to leave? I just wanted to see how you were doing.”

“It’s no use. I’m guessing you wanted to see if I was behaving. Let it be known I can be at ease when the time is right. I did have to sit around like this in Tartarus for over a thousand years after all.”

“I…hadn’t thought of that.” Fluttershy said as she cautiously began to walk towards Tirek. “I’m glad my animals are all keeping you company. Have you always been this friendly towards them?”

“No one really hates woodland creatures like these in the Midnight Kingdom. We were having so many issues there before I first came to Equestria; anyone would have been happy to see a sight like this. I don’t dislike animals. They aren’t the ones who put me in Tartarus or turned me to stone.”

As Tirek spoke, his voice was very flat and calm, but he still appeared a bit upset and couldn’t bring himself to smile. Fluttershy stood still and let her eyes wander a bit as she thought of what to say to him next. She was so surprised at how well behaved he now was, she wasn’t sure how to respond.

“Well, if you’d like to see more animals, I also have a sanctuary over on the other side of my cottage.”

“What sort of animals?”

“Oh, well there are ones like these, but there’s also plenty of exotic ones from all around that have found their homes here.”

“Will the others be there?”

“No, it will just be you. I’ll be there to tend to some of them and show you around in case you need me.”

Tirek turned his head and stared into space for a few moments. He finally stood up, stretched his arms, and then turned back to Fluttershy.

“I suppose it’s worth a try.”

“Really? Oh, well that’s great! Follow me then, I’ll show you the way.”

Fluttershy smiled jubilantly and flew off towards her cottage to take the path that lead to her sanctuary. Tirek followed her with his arms behind his back. There was still no emotion in his face, but a trip to the sanctuary might be just the thing to make him feel at home.

By the time they made it to the sanctuary, some of the animals were already out, playing and eating food. They already knew Tirek was around and didn’t seem to mind having a visitor. Fluttershy hovered a few feet above the ground as Tirek followed behind her on the path.

“Here it is!” she said. “I have all sorts of animals here. We’ve got birds, there are otters, flamingos, an elephant, a giraffe, a bear, snakes, koalas, raccoons, capybaras the list goes on.”

“I’ve never seen this many predators and prey in the same place. Do they ever attack one another?”

“Oh no, they’re trained not to do that.”

“Trained? By who?”

“Well, me of course. That’s part of my special talent. I have a really deep connection with animals and I can get them to listen to anything I say.”

“Interesting.”

Tirek looked around and saw some birds fly past him to a nearby birdbath while some raccoons ran around in the grass to his right. He wasn’t sure he was ready to visit the large animals like the bear or the elephant just yet, but he felt safe being around the smaller woodland creatures. He continued to walk and started to smile a little as he observed them. Fluttershy saw him smiling, but she knew he probably would be too shy to show any positivity around her, so she kept a fair distance between them. She left him to his business and flew off to tend to some of the creatures that needed feeding. Tirek stopped walking and watched the squirrels and chipmunks in the trees nearby. He continued to smile and chuckle a bit at some of the antics of the squirrels chasing each other around a tree. After a while he turned around to see Fluttershy on the other side of the stream, feeding some large rodents with a giant watermelon. He used the rocks in the middle of the stream to carefully cross.

“These are the capybaras, Tirek.” Fluttershy said as she flew over next to him. “They’re the world’s largest rodents. They’re pretty cute, aren’t they?”

“I’ve heard of these creatures before.” Tirek said. “The Midnight Kingdom is a bit too inhospitable for them.”

“They live in more temperate climates where there’s lots of water, but they make great pets as long as they can be shielded from the cold and have a place to swim. These ones come here every summer from their owners down south to stay for a few months.”

“They are something else.”

Tirek reached down to pet one of the capybaras by his leg. It was a calm animal and didn’t flinch at all when he touched it. It actually seemed to really enjoy being petted.

Over on a nearby hill, Flurry, Spike and the others were all watching Tirek in the sanctuary. Discord had transformed himself into a giant telescope so they could see him from a distance.

“What’s he doing now?” asked Spike.

“He’s petting one of the capybaras!” Flurry said, looking through the scope.

“Let me see!” Trixie said as Flurry gave her a turn. “Oh my goodness, she’s right! Starlight, take a look at this!”

As Starlight took her turn with the Discord telescope, Iron Will watched through some binoculars.

“Well I’ll be!” Iron Will exclaimed. “He’s actually starting to warm up! This was a good idea after all! Here Sunset, take a look!”

Sunset looked through the binoculars and saw Tirek petting the capybara as Fluttershy continued to talk to him.

“Those little ones over there are still growing up.” said Fluttershy. “They stay around their mothers a lot. Most of these animals are very close to their family. They depend a lot on togetherness”

“Uh…yes.”

Tirek’s expression changed as soon as Fluttershy said this. He stopped petting the animal and put his arms behind his back again as his smile turned into a frown. Fluttershy was too busy petting one of the capybaras to notice him walking away.

“If you pet one enough, they might roll over for you. Uh…Tirek?” Fluttershy said, looking back to see he was no longer there.

“Uh oh…what’s he doing now?” Flurry asked.

“Oh dear. He doesn’t look so happy.” Starlight added.

Discord suddenly transformed back into his regular form once he noticed Tirek walking away.

“That can’t be right…” he said, stroking his beard.

“What happened?” asked Sunset.

“He doesn’t look happy anymore. Was it something Fluttershy said?”

Meanwhile, Tirek had moved away to another spot. Fluttershy watched curiously, not realizing how sullen he was. He stopped and looked off to the side to see a mother bird flying to her nest to feed a worm to her babies. He turned his head away immediately. He walked a little faster until he reached an area where there were no animals and sat down. Fluttershy flew over to talk to him.

“Tirek, is everything okay?” she asked.

“Everything is fine.” he said.

“Um…well, if you’d rather, I can just leave you to yourself. Feel free to visit any of the other animals.”

Tirek sat still for a few moments without saying a word. A duck came out of the stream nearby with her young behind her. She quacked to them so they would follow. They walked by Tirek a few feet away. He took a quick glimpse at them and then gritted his teeth. He stood up quickly and turned away, rubbing his forehead as if he had a headache.

“What’s wrong with him?” Flurry asked, nervously.

“Hold on, everyone. I’m going to go check it out.” Discord said.

“But we’re supposed to leave him by himself, Discord.” Spike reminded, but Discord had already snapped his fingers and disappeared in a flash.

In the sanctuary, Tirek was still standing by himself, refusing to watch any of the animals. Fluttershy was watching behind a tree. She looked very worried. Suddenly, Discord walked out of nowhere accompanied by several families of various wildlife. He had transformed his arms into tree branches with nests. Each nest had baby birds in them with both their parents watching over them. The left arm had eagles, the right arm had barn owls, and his deer antler had lovebirds. Behind him were beavers, gibbon monkeys, grey foxes, Vanhoover geese, and swans: all of which were also raising their young. Tirek heard him walking by and turned around to see what was happening.

“Hey, Tirek, don’t mind me.” Discord said, cautiously.

“Um…what are you doing?” Tirek asked.

“I’m just helping out with some of these animals.”

Tirek looked surprised at first. He looked around at each of the animals until he noticed what was going on and he began to frown again.

“Fluttershy has me take special care of them sometimes. They all have one big thing in common: family. That’s right, these are all animals that mate for life and raise their young together. Some of them are so devoted; they protect their mate and their young and will only seek out another if one of them passes away. They take very good care of the children so they can all grow up to become strong independent creatures and then carry on the legacy.”

Tirek was covering his head with his hands until finally he snapped and just stomped off. The capybaras scattered as he walked through. He crossed the stream and left the sanctuary.

“Tirek! Where are you going?” Fluttershy called to him.

“Far away from here!” he hollered back.

All the birds attached to Discord picked up their nests to carry them away while he transformed his arms back. The other animals left to go back to their homes.

“Discord, what was that?” Fluttershy asked, angrily. “Everything was going so well!”

“I’m sorry Fluttershy, I was just testing him.” Discord replied.

“Testing him? What do you mean?”

“I think I might know what’s wrong with him.”

“You do? Oh, wait. Do you think it has to do with his…um…”

“Yup. I think that’s it.”

5. Not Ready...

“IDIOTS!” Tirek growled through his teeth as he angrily stomped through the forest on the other side of Fluttershy’s cottage. “I can’t take this any longer! I need to get out of here!”

He walked until he reached Discord’s magic shield and placed his hand on it. It gave him a bit of an electric shock, causing him to flinch. He shook the pain off of his hand and stared harder at the shield. Charging up some centaur magic between his horns, he fired an energy beam at it. He knew it would have no effect given how weak he was, but he wanted to test the shield’s invulnerability.

“Just as I thought. There’s no way I’ll ever break through this blasted canopy. Even if I could somehow overpower Discord, his magic combined with everyone else’s in here would not be enough. I’ll have to find some way to escape when it’s down…if he ever takes it down.”

Suddenly, he looked up and saw Ponyville’s local mail-mare, Derpy Hooves flying towards the shield on the other side. He quickly ran off to hide behind a nearby tree.

“Alrighty now…1400 Everfree Lane, Ponyville, EQ, 99832.” She said as she read a clipboard.

Tirek watched carefully as Derpy flew right through the barrier without even realizing it was there. He had forgotten that anyone but he was able to traverse it. Derpy flew on towards the cottage with a few envelopes in her mouth to drop in Fluttershy’s mailbox. Tirek suddenly had a dastardly idea.

“Hmmm, maybe it’s time I stole a little Equestrian magic. I’m sure the others would disapprove, but like I care. What they don’t know won’t hurt them.”

He crept behind the bushes as quietly as he could, watching Derpy get closer to the mailbox. A few yards down, she finally stopped and landed in front of it. She pulled down the door to the mailbox and put the envelopes inside. Sneaking up behind her, Tirek rubbed his hands together and smiled wickedly. Derpy had just begun closing the mailbox when suddenly she felt a strange sensation all over her body as she began to feel weak. Tirek opened his mouth wide and an orange aura surrounded Derpy.

“Ugh! What’s happening? Help…ugh…no…” she said.

She felt so tired she could barely talk anymore. All of the energy went into Tirek’s mouth and caused him to grow slightly taller than before. He could even feel his muscles widen. It wasn’t nearly enough to give him any advantage in battle, but it felt good to finally absorb magic again. Derpy fell to the ground and her cutie mark had disappeared. She could barely open her eyes, which had a milky white filter over them.

“Finally some real food!” Tirek said, licking his lips. “Now if only I could find more unsuspecting ponies to-”

“TIREK!!!” shouted Fluttershy not too far off.

Tirek froze and looked to the side to see Fluttershy, Discord, Spike, Flurry, Starlight, Trixie, Sunset and Iron Will all running in.

“OH! Uh…this pony, she’s…um…she doesn’t seem well…” he cautiously said, tapping his fingers together.

“Tirek, we saw what you did!” Trixie said, sternly. “You can’t go around stealing magic anymore!”

“What?! Steal magic?! I…I…”

“And you were doing so well back there!” Starlight added. “We all saw you with the animals. We saw you behaving and showing signs of changing. What happened?”

“Is there something you’d like to tell us, Tirek?!” Discord said, walking up to Tirek and looking down at him, menacingly.

Tirek put his hands in the air and backed up till he bumped into a tree. He tried to find an excuse to use or a story to make up, but all the looks on their faces made it very clear they had seen him steal magic and there was no defending himself. He closed his eyes, gritted his teeth, then finally he snapped and admitted everything.

“Alright, enough playing dumb!” Tirek shouted as he began walking towards Discord. “Listen, you fools! My apology to Princess Twilight was unscrupulous! I lied when I told her I was sorry. I wasn’t lying though when I said I’m done trying to take over Equestria. I don’t care about Equestria! Do you all want to know what’s really wrong with me?! It’s my family! I hate them!!”

Fluttershy covered her mouth with her hooves and everyone else gasped rather loudly. Even Discord looked surprised. Tirek took a few seconds to calm himself down, but he was still raging mad. After catching his breath, he continued.

“None of you here will ever know what it feels like to be betrayed by one of your own! You were already told that Scorpan and I had good intentions when we first entered Equestria; well that’s not wrong. I just wanted to please my father. I’ve been trying to get his approval ever since I was just a boy. He never gave me a chance; he always thought I was too selfish. I thought that if I brought back some Equestrian magic to help our dwindling kingdom, he would finally see me as a worthy prince that would one day be king…BUT HE DIDN’T! Mother always took his side and didn’t help, and my idiot brother left me to rot in Tartarus with nothing but that stupid pendant! I’ve wasted all my time trying to take Equestria. I don’t want Equestria anymore; I want to see Scorpan suffer for betraying me! I hate all of them, and no, I’m not interested in being part of your stupid little reformation club! Does that answer your question?!”

As he finished speaking, Tirek tugged tightly on the collar of his “Be Patient. I’m Reforming” shirt and tore it right down the middle. He threw the pink shreds of cloth onto the dirt and stomped on them. His breathing was loud and deep. He snorted through his nostrils as his nose ring flapped about. Tears could be seen out of the corner of his eyes, but he wiped them away. Everyone stood, completely frozen, looking horrified. Flurry was hiding behind Spike and looked very sad. She was expecting this day to end much better after she saw Tirek with the animals. Fluttershy was standing over Derpy, helping her to stand up. Derpy was still very worn out, but she seemed really scared of Tirek.

“Tirek…” Fluttershy said, trembling. “Is there anything we can do to he-”

“NO, THERE IS NOT!! I told you, I’m not in the mood for reformation! What you saw back there with the animals means nothing! That was just me when I’m calm and distracted from my quest for revenge, and I will still take magic if I need to in order to get it!”

Discord closed his eyes and sighed deeply. He then turned to Fluttershy.

“Fluttershy, I think for now we’re going to have to mark Tirek off as a work-in-progress.” he said, gloomily.

“Are…are you sure?” she asked.

“I knew Tirek had problems with his family, but I didn’t think it was this bad. We’ll try again another time. Tirek, return your magic to this pony.”

Tirek did nothing but stare angrily at Discord for a moment.

“You heard me.”

He finally opened his mouth and returned all of Derpy’s magic back to her. Her body glowed with the same aura as before as she slowly floated in the air until she was able to stand on her own again. She opened her eyes wide and brushed herself off.

“Derpy, I’m so sorry about all this.” Fluttershy told the scared mail-mare.

“That’s ok, Fluttershy. I left your envelopes in the mailbox. I’d better go now.” Derpy said, nervously before taking off and flying away very fast.

Discord turned back to Tirek and walked towards him.

“Go ahead! Turn me into stone!” Tirek shouted.

“I think you’ve had enough imprisonment for one lifetime.” Discord said.

The tall draconequus closed his eyes and then opened them. They swirled around and shone intensely like stadium lights. Tirek was already too late to look away. He saw snippets of his entire life flash before him. He saw even some of his earliest memories from his childhood, though there seemed to be a bit of a blurry spot some time after he met his old master Sendak and right before Sendak was arrested and sentenced to work in the mines, while Tirek was reprimanded by his father for trying to steal magic from a captive pony. After that came all his memories from his first attack on Equestria over a thousand years ago to the most recent events. Finally everything stopped and he was back in front of Discord once again. Discord’s eyes still had the swirling pattern in them until they went back to normal. Tirek rubbed his head and groaned.

“Ugh…what did you do…my…wait! My memories! What did you do to my memories?!” he shouted.

“I wiped some of your memories about your time with Sendak. You’ve forgotten the spell he taught you to steal magic. You will never steal from anyone again, Tirek.”

“WHAT?!”

Discord walked back towards everyone else and then crossed his arms, almost as if he was waiting to see what Tirek would do next. The rest of them looked a bit confused at Discord’s reaction. They were expecting him to at least imprison him in some sort of cage or turn him into stone, but it was clear Discord was through with even that harsh of a punishment.

“Discord, what will he do now? Shouldn’t we let Twilight know” Flurry asked.

“She already does.” Discord replied. “I’m doing what Twilight told me to do if this didn’t work out. Tirek may have another chance someday, but if he wants to be free, he’ll have to live without his powers completely.”

Tirek stood still, panicking. He put his hands on his head and closed his eyes before letting out all his rage.

“Why…you…YOU…GAAAAGH!!” he hollered, galloping off past Fluttershy’s cottage.

Everyone chased after him but Discord. He came towards Fluttershy’s back yard until he bumped into the shield and was knocked backward. He quickly stood back up and began slamming his fists on it.

“TAKE IT DOWN! I’M NOT STAYING HERE ANY LONGER!” he yelled as he turned around to see the others, stopping a few yards behind him with Discord teleporting next to his friends.

“Discord?” Iron Will said, turning to the sullen draconequus.

Discord gave Tirek a rather sympathetic look at first, almost like he wanted to keep him around to comfort him, but it would do no good. He closed his eyes and snapped his fingers. The pinkish energy around Fluttershy’s property finally dissipated and the shield was gone. Tirek took one last look at all of them, grimaced, and then bolted off into the Everfree Forest, causing a flock of birds and squirrels in his way to scatter and hide.

They all stood still for a few moments until Fluttershy hung her head and sighed. Trixie and Sunset both put their hooves on her shoulders to comfort her.

“Poor Tirek.” Fluttershy said. “I’ve never met anyone who hates their family that much.”

“It can’t be that bad with Scorpan, can it?” Trixie asked.

“Nah. He’s a great king.” Spike answered. “Tirek just doesn’t understand why Scorpan left him in Tartarus.”

“You think we’ll ever see him again, Discord?” Iron Will asked.

“I’m sure we will.” said Discord. “There will come a day when Tirek understands, but for right now, turning him to stone or sending him to Tartarus isn’t going to get him to change his mind.”

“I’m guessing Chrysalis and Cozy Glow will probably be the same way.” added Starlight. “It all comes down to family with those three: Tirek hates his family, Chrysalis wants hers back, and Cozy…well, we don’t even know if she has a family.”

“Well Flurry, we’re sorry this didn’t turn out how we all expected.” Sunset said, turning to Flurry. “You probably were expecting to learn a good lesson if Tirek was reformed.”

Flurry thought for a moment about what Sunset said. She was expecting Tirek to reform, but maybe that was part of the problem they had been having all along. They all had their hopes up to change the mind of one of Equestria’s greatest villains, but they underestimated his motives and why he behaves the way he does.

“Actually, I think I did learn something.” she said as everyone else turned to her to listen. “I learned that not everyone can be reasoned with. We should always try our best to understand them and make an effort to help them get better, but we should also prepare for the worst. And if they don’t want to learn right now, it might be best to just give them some time. I guess some beings out there take a lot longer to do it, but it’s worth waiting for. Hopefully someday Tirek can see that too.”

“I’m glad you learned something from this, Flurry.” said a voice behind her.

Flurry turned around to see Twilight. She was happy to see her but was still melancholy over what happened with Tirek.

“Did you see what happened, Twilight?” Flurry asked as she walked up to hug her aunt.

“The whole thing.”

“We’re sorry, Twilight.” Discord said. “I’m afraid now is just not the time for Tirek.”

“It’s alright, Discord, and thank you for erasing the absorption spell. He won’t be that much of a concern without his powers. Tirek needs some time to himself to think things through and hopefully make amends with Scorpan one day.”

“Scorpan’s not going to be too thrilled to hear this either.” Spike added.

“No, he won’t, though he has thought of lifting the banishment order that King Vorak made over a thousand years ago to keep Tirek out. I should probably meet with him soon to discuss it.”

“And what about Cozy Glow and Queen Chrysalis, Twilight?” Fluttershy asked. “Do you think they’ll cooperate with us if we send them to Villains Anonymous?”

“I’m not sure. I still can’t locate Cozy’s parents and I’m pretty worried about what Chrysalis and the remaining black changelings can do. We need to make sure Pinkie and Cheese’s wedding is as secure as ever.”

“If we find them, we’ll be sure to talk to them.” Flurry said, smiling as she and Twilight hugged once again.

Later that night, Tirek had finally found a place to stay in the mountains beyond the Everfree Forest. He found a small cave near the top of a cliff and had started a fire. With only a fish he had caught and some bitter fruits to eat, this would be his shelter until he could figure out how to go on without his powers.

“It’s going to take me centuries to build on my own power without that spell.” He grumbled as he turned his stick around with the fish still on it, baking over the fire. “If they hadn’t taken my base powers back when I first came to Equestria, I wouldn’t be in this position.”

Tirek suddenly noticed the fish was on fire. He quickly brought it away from the burning wood and started blowing on it until the fire went away. The fish was charred and crispy, but Tirek angrily pulled it off and chomped away.

“If I could find a way to get to the Midnight Kingdom, maybe I could locate the Absorption Stone or at least the Staff of Sacanas. I’m sure the stone is heavily guarded. This is going to take some time…”

“Oh I think I know someone who can help.” said an elderly voice behind a nearby rock.

“Wha…? WHO’S THERE?! SHOW YOURSELF!!” Tirek said, standing up and charging his magic.

“Now now, my young apprentice. Is that how to greet your teacher?”

A hooded figure crept out from behind the rock. He had four legs like Tirek, but he was not a pony. Tirek then remembered this voice. It was his old master Sendak: the one who taught him how to steal magic. Sendak slowly lifted his arms and used his long gangly fingers to pull back his hood and reveal his face. He was much thinner than Tirek and a bit hunched over. His skin was a shade of magenta and the color of the fur on his lower horse half was brown. He did not wear a nose ring but had a thick, white beard with a long mustache growing on his upper lip. His horns used to be curled downward, but they must have been sawn off because right now they were just small nubs protruding from his skull like Tirek’s. He spoke in a deep, commanding voice. Even though Tirek had grown weak from his time in Tartarus, he was still much younger than Sendak, but Sendak was so old, he should have died long ago.

“Master Sendak?!” Tirek said, astonished.

“What is left of him.”

“How are you still around? My father banished you to a lifetime of labor in the mines. You should be dead!”

“Whoever released you from your stone prison must have done a similar deed for me. I was in the mines, but somehow I too was turned into stone. It was so dark and I don’t recall seeing who was casting the spell, but once I was set free of it, I awoke somewhere in the Equestrian Badlands. Had our mysterious savior not done this, we would never have been reunited.”

“Wait, so you’re telling me you were also turned to stone and then released outside of the Midnight Kingdom? That is…very peculiar. Somebody is clearly helping us. But who?”

“We can investigate that later, young one. Right now, you and I both have revenge to prepare against the Kingdom.”

Sendak walked up to his apprentice and put his hand on Tirek’s shoulder while using the other one to gesture.

“Your family betrayed both of us. I should hope you want to see them suffer as well, am I right?”

“Most definitely.” Tirek said as he clenched his fists.

“But you say you’ve forgotten the spell already?”

“Technically it was erased from my memory.”

“Who on Earth could have erased your memories? Did King Solmidas do this to you?”

“Oh he’s not even leading this country anymore. One of his old confidants from the courts went insane with power at one point and became the self-described Lord of Chaos: Discord. He’s the one who erased the spell. He did it just hours ago.”

“His name is Discord? He must be very powerful I take it.”

“Indeed. He’s so powerful I wasn’t even able to outclass him until I had taken the magic from most of the ponies in Equestria. I did manage to take his power. Oh, and also the power of not just one, but four alicorns. I became more powerful than I think any being has ever been, but sadly it was short-lived.”

“Let me guess: those blasted Elements of Harmony?”

“Yes.”

“I see. Well if that is the case, I will have to teach you the absorption spell once again. We will invade the Midnight Kingdom and overthrow your foolish brother.”

“Perfect. What will you do once I have what I want?”

“Well I can no longer take revenge on your father. I am, however very interested in this land.”

Sendak walked out to the edge of the cliff to look upon the land before him. Tirek had a concerned look on his face upon hearing that Sendak planned to invade this country.

“You’re planning on taking over Equestria?”

“The ancient centaurs sought to expand beyond our borders, young one. When we began to intermingle with the gargoyles, we became far too soft. We must get back to our roots. You are the rightful heir to the throne, so the Midnight Kingdom is yours to keep, but I will certainly be looking for a chance to flex my own muscles, and I think Equestria will be a perfect place to start.”

“Well right now, we best take the Midnight Kingdom first. I will find the Staff of Sacanas and transfer your powers back to you once I’ve taken care of Scorpan.”

“Excellent. You are lucky to have me here. I will help you remember how to take the power that you rightfully deserve. You shall be great once again, Prince Tirek.”

“Soon it will be 'King Tirek.'”

Tirek smiled wickedly as he looked out to the horizon where the sun was setting. His day did not begin very well, but with Sendak by his side, he would find a way to complete his quest for revenge, even if it meant betraying the old centaur.

“I’m coming for you, Scorpan…”

THE END

3. Calling in Some Familiar Faces

Tirek waited inside Fluttershy’s cottage, carelessly munching on a biscuit as he sat on the ground. Across from him, Fluttershy, Flurry and Spike sat on a couch, watching him carefully. Discord was not around because he needed to fetch the special visitors from Villains Anonymous.

“How much longer must we wait?” Tirek asked.

“Discord will be back, Tirek. He just needs to check and see which members of Villains Anonymous are available right now.” Fluttershy replied.

“Should I just send a scroll to Ember and see if Garble wants to join in?” Spike asked.

“I’m guessing Discord’s already gotten to him, Spike.” Fluttershy replied.

“I mean who in Equestria are we even going to talk to? A pack of windigoes?” Tirek asked sarcastically.

“Windigoes?! Pfff, as if!” Spike laughed.

“Technically windigoes aren’t even living creatures.” Flurry added. “They’re spiritual beings that feed off of negative emotions and can’t be reformed because they consist of pure evil.”

“That’s right, but we know you started off good, Tirek, so we’ll do the best we can to return you to that time in your life.” Fluttershy said, sweetly.

“You fools don’t know anything about my past.” he replied with anger in his voice.

Suddenly, a flash of light appeared in the middle of the room and Discord appeared.

“Sorry for the wait, everyone.” he said. “Unfortunately Luna, Garble, Gilda, Diamond Tiara, Silver Spoon, Stygian, Pharynx, Flim, Flam, Caballeron and Ahuizotl are all a bit busy, but I managed to secure three special guests. Just the perfect amount for Tirek!”

“It’s about time.” Tirek said, getting up and stretching.

Discord snapped his fingers and suddenly they were all in a small auditorium with a stage up front and a podium in the center. Behind the podium was a banner that read "VILLAINS ANONYMOUS: UNITY SERVICE REFORMATION". Tirek looked around, perplexed.

“What? Where is this?” he asked.

“This is the meetup hall for VA! We have a newcomer, everyone! Say hi to Lord Tirek!”

Tirek turned around to see an audience seated in chairs. They were all just duplicates of Discord, dressed differently. They all appeared rather delinquent and rebellious. One of them was drinking milk out of an entire carton and was wearing worn-out clothes and had five o’ clock shadow on his lower face. Another one was dressed like a female and had black eye makeup, piercings, and studded apparel. Another was wearing a leather jacket and fingerless gloves and was sitting with his feet rested on top of the chair in front of him. The last one had regular clothes but was using a cell phone, constantly pressing buttons as he stared intently at it.

“AHEM!” Discord said to the crowd.

“Yay. Go us.” said the one in the leather jacket, pumping his fist in the air, nonchalantly.

“Oh my gawsh, like, do we have to sit with this loser? I can’t even!” the goth female added.

“Hey, now let’s all be respectful to Tirek.” Discord told his duplicates. “He’s already told Princess Twilight he’s sorry and he’s agreed to be part of VA.”

“Whatever. Let’s just get this over with.” said the duplicate with the cell phone.

“Yeah, the Ponyville Tavern closes soon. Hehehe.” said the disheveled one, before guzzling down the entire milk carton in his hand.

“Sorry about them. They can be a bit of a handful.” Discord whispered to Tirek. “You there, put your feet down from that chair so Tirek can sit in it.”

The duplicate in the leather jacket rolled his eyes and put his feet down. Tirek walked slowly over to the chair and sat in it, trying to not make eye contact with anyone. Off to the side, Flurry, Fluttershy, and Spike were still seated in the couch in Fluttershy’s cottage from earlier. They watched intently as Discord teleported to the top of the stage behind the podium and began to speak into the microphone.

“Alright, check…check…is this thing on? Hello everyone! I’m so glad you could all make it for another session of Villains Anonymous! We’re going to pretty much do the usual today as we have only one newcomer, but I’ve brought back a few familiar faces! Give it up for Sunset Shimmer, Starlight Glimmer, and Trix…er, THE GRRREAT AND POWERFUL TRIXIE!!”

A small object flew out on stage and landed on the ground until it exploded into a puff of smoke next to Discord. Tirek could just barely make out the silhouette of a pony rushing out on stage behind the smoke to make it look like she had magically appeared. As the smoke cleared, a blue unicorn appeared with her front hooves in the air. She had light blue hair and a cutie mark of a magic wand. Her hair was done up in two ponytails and was wearing a purple hooded sweatshirt with colorful stars printed on it. On the other side of the stage, Starlight Glimmer walked out, followed by a yellow unicorn mare with red and yellow hair. Her eyes were a bright shade of green and she was wearing a green buttoned shirt and some glasses. Her cutie mark was a fiery sun emblem. This was Sunset Shimmer, an old friend of Twilight Sparkle’s who spent a while in an alternate dimension beyond a magical mirror, learning her own lessons about friendship.

The three unicorns walked to the center of the stage in front of Discord’s podium and bowed politely. Discord’s duplicates in the audience clapped without much emotion while Flurry, Spike and Fluttershy cheered them on. Tirek just continued to sit and wait for something interesting to happen. He didn’t feel comfortable being around more ponies he didn’t know, though he suddenly realized that Starlight was the pony that helped Twilight and the others inside the crystal caverns after he, Cozy Glow, and Chrysalis took over Canterlot. He didn’t recognize Trixie or Sunset at all.

“Tirek, these three lovely ladies are the co-founders of Villains Anonymous. The four of us helped put it together a few years ago and we do most of the managing.” Discord explained.

“That’s great to know.” Tirek said.

“We’re happy to have you here, Tirek.” Starlight said. “I’m quite certain you recognize me.”

“Yes, you’re that powerful unicorn that Chrysalis can’t shutup about.”

“Yeah, she hasn’t exactly gotten over how I turned her hive against her. Anyway, Trixie, Sunset and I are going to just give some little life stories to show you how we do it here when we introduce ourselves. Sunset, why don’t you go first.”

Discord teleported down into one of the empty seats with a box of popcorn in his hands. Sunset walked behind the podium, while Trixie and Starlight stood off to the side.

“Hello, everyone. I’m Sunset Shimmer…” she began.

“Hi Sunset.” the Discords all said in unison.

“…and I’m a former villain. I started off much like our grand princess Twilight Sparkle did: I loved studying and I wanted to learn a lot about magic. Unfortunately, I was pretty arrogant and tried a little too hard to impress my mentor, Princess Celestia. After she caught me studying dark magic in the restricted section of the Canterlot Library one night, she had me expelled, but I wound up escaping into a magic mirror that leads to an alternate dimension. I spent quite a bit of time plotting revenge in there, and I nearly got it when I stole Twilight’s Element of Magic crown. Once I had it, I put it on and I felt a surge of power through my whole body that transformed me into a horrible demon. I nearly went through the mirror to attack Equestria, but Twilight and her friends all stopped me by using the power of the Elements in themselves. After the demon was exorcized, I immediately knew what I had done was wrong, and I accepted my punishment to help repair the damage I did in that world. I was there for several years until I finally decided to come back after going through quite a lot of wacky adventures with my friends in that realm. I made amends with old friends of mine and Celestia forgave me. It took some time to get used to being back in this world as a pony again, but I readjusted rather well and was permitted back into the School for Gifted Unicorns where I eventually became a teacher. I’m still working there to this day and am dating the first lieutenant of the Canterlot Guard, Flash Sentry. In closing: I owe it all to Twilight and her friends for helping to change me and give me a second chance. I was selfish when I was younger and thought I could just have everything to myself if I just got my hooves…or rather, hands on that sweet crown, but once I had the power I desired, I could already feel the pain from the demon within that was taking hold of me. If it weren’t for Twilight Sparkle, I probably would have invaded Equestria with an army of brainwashed souls and taken over long ago. My adventures have taught me much, and I’m happy to be where I am now with Villains Anonymous. Thank you.”

Sunset bowed her head and everyone except Tirek clapped and cheered for them while the Discord duplicates just clapped rather lazily. Sunset stepped aside and let Trixie start her story.

“Ahem. Hello, friends. My name is Trixie…”

“Hi Trixie.”

“…and I’m a former villain. Ever since I was a little filly, I always wanted to be a stage magician like my father. I admit I was a bit bigheaded though and my pride got the best of me when I decided it would be a good idea to nab the Alicorn Amulet and use its power to take over Ponyville and enslave the whole town. Well much like Sunset, I also felt a strange power when I put that thing on that caused me to go a little wacky. I did some things I wouldn’t have done without the Amulet and I felt really bad once they got me to remove it and I realized what was happening. I said I was sorry to Twilight, but it did take some time for me to fix my already-tarnished reputation. It was a rough transition, but things were better when I befriended Starlight Glimmer…”

A few minutes passed as the ponies told their speeches. Tirek was barely paying any attention to them and slowly began to nod off while Discord continued to eat his popcorn, which had already transformed into small jelly-beans without him noticing. Starlight finally got to the end of her speech.

“…and that’s when Twilight asked me to become the new headmare of the school. I had a hard time picking an assistant. It was originally going to be Trixie, but we agreed she’d make a better guidance counselor and Sunburst became the vice principal. After Twilight was crowned the grand princess, I spent the next eight years in charge of the school: the most responsible job I’ve ever had. Sunburst, Trixie and I have gone through a lot with that school and it’s been such a fantastic experience. I think we’re really making progress, spreading the magic of friendship by teaching it to these students, and our new teachers are amazing too. I also owe it all to Twilight and her friends. Without her we’d-“

Starlight was interrupted by a loud snoring sound coming from the audience. Discord stopped eating and looked to the side to see Tirek with his head leaning back in his seat and his mouth wide open. The casually-dressed duplicate was giggling behind his hand while filming Tirek with his cell phone.

“Oh dear. Tirek? TIREK!” Discord said as he began to snap his fingers in front of Tirek’s face until he woke up.

“Huh…what?!” Tirek said, rubbing his eyes.

“For the love of Twilight! How long were you sleeping?”

“I don’t know. I heard some of the yellow one’s speech and then I dozed off.”

Discord smacked his face with his lion paw and pulled down, causing his whole head to stretch like rubber.

“UUUUUGH!”

“Discord, maybe we should just let Tirek do the talking now, don’t you think?” Starlight said.

“Alright fine. Up you go, Tirek. Tell us your story.” Discord said to him.

“What?! My story?!”

“You can do it, Tirek! We believe in you!” Trixie cheered.

“Why would you want to hear my story? I’m a villain. There’s nothing good about me.”

“Actually we always give everyone their chance to tell a story even if they don’t have anything good to say about their lives. That’s the whole point of Villains Anonymous: so that one day you may have something good to report on.” Sunset explained.

“No.”

Tirek just sat in his chair and crossed his arms, refusing to budge.

“Alright, that’s it. Time to bring in the big guns.” Discord said as he teleported himself and Tirek onto the stage.

“WHOA! What are you doing?” Tirek asked.

“Just calling in a friend to help get you motivated.”

Discord snapped his fingers, and a tall, muscular, blue minotaur with sharp, curved horns appeared before them. He was wearing a black tie around his neck and a ring on his nose like Tirek. He had a barbell in his one hand that he was lifting over and over again as he counted out loud.

“One hundred fifty-seven, one hundred fifty-eight, one hundred fif…what the?! DISCORD!! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!” the minotaur shouted in a loud, demanding voice.

“Hey Iron Will. We just really needed your help with another VA session. Hope I wasn’t interrupting anything.” Discord said, nervously.

“Of course you interrupted something! I’m in the middle of a very important workout, trying to turn this six-pack INTO A TWELVE-PACK!!!”

Iron Will got up in Discord’s face and snorted air out of his nostrils.

“Okay, but we’ve got a bit of a situation. See, our newest member…well, take a look.” Discord said, pointing to Tirek.

“WHOA! Is…is that who I think it is?!” Iron Will said, surprised. “Well this changes everything then!”

“Wait, so there are minotaurs in Equestria now?” Tirek asked. “How? I figured they wouldn’t mix with ponies very well considering Equestria’s rather dicey history with the minotaurs.”

“Oh, that was just the ice minotaurs, and that was like about two-thousand years ago back when I was an…um…back when I was a little younger.” Discord replied.

“TIREK! FRIEND! BROTHER! This fellow ‘taur’ is here for you!” Iron Will said, wrapping his large muscular arm around Tirek, bringing him closer to him. “Look, I know you’ve done some crazy things in the past, but hey, we can make you a completely new centaur!”

“Uh…okay?” Tirek said.

“Trust me, I can relate. I jumped from profession to profession back then, running some shady businesses until Discord convinced me to join VA. Not exactly on par with trying to absorb everyone’s magic and take over Equestria, but it matters not, for our sins are all equal in the eyes of our benevolent Princess Twilight Sparkle!”

“Blah blah blah, I get it! You fools are all reformed now! Can I just give my speech so you’ll all shutup?!”

“Er, of course. The podium’s all yours.”

Iron Will stepped aside and Tirek walked behind the podium. Discord, Iron Will, and the unicorns all stood off to the side and eagerly waited for Tirek to start his speech. Tirek wasn’t familiar with modern technology, but he already knew he had to speak into the microphone so he pulled it in a little closer to him, rested his hands on the podium, and began to speak.

“My name is Tirek…”

“Hi Tirek.”

“…and I’m a villain.”

Fluttershy, Flurry, and Spike all appeared attentive while the Discord duplicates continued to not look very thrilled. Still not quite convinced that this is what he wanted to do, he took a deep breath while rolling his eyes and continued.

“Look, I don’t have much to say so let’s just skip to the part in my life where I started giving you all trouble: my brother and I came to Equestria one day and found it had been taken over by Discord. We originally wanted to negotiate with the King and Queen to help out our needy kingdom, but we decided to make allies with Discord instead and then secretly betray him. Yes, contrary to what you all believe, we didn’t have bad intentions at first; we were going to save Equestria. Well when we came back, everything was back to normal and Discord was turned to stone. To make a long story short, I stole magic, the ponies defeated me, I spent over a thousand years in Tartarus, and so on and so forth. I still don’t know what caused Cerberus to rush out of that awful prison, but when he did, I was able to escape and the same thing happened a second time…and then a third time. I was getting sick and tired of all of his so I just surrendered myself to Princess Twilight, while Queen Chrysalis and Cozy Glow went their own ways, and here I stand before you.”

The audience was silent aside from one duplicate that cleared his throat. Tirek just stood there, waiting for some kind of reaction, but he didn’t seem like he even cared much.

“Um…that…was not too bad for your first speech.” Discord said while slowly clapping.

“We were kind of wanting to hear a little more about the redemption part though, Tirek.” Sunset told him.

“Well maybe I don’t care about the redemption part and I just want to move on with my life? I already said I was sorry to the princess, what more do you fools want?”

“Everyone’s going to need some redemption at some point.” Trixie told him.

“Trixie’s right, Tirek. Don’t be shy to tell us some of your inner thoughts.” Starlight added.

“You don’t want to know my inner thoughts. I have nothing but contempt in my heart.” Tirek grumbled.

“Oh don’t be like that, Tirek! Here, let me show you how it’s done!” Iron Will said as Tirek stepped aside for him to take the podium.

“Ahem…Greetings friends! My name is Iron Will, and I’m a former villain! When I was just a young little minotaur, my pop always told me to never give up and be the best you can be! Well let’s just say I took his advice a bit too seriously. Whether it be teaching ponies how to be assertive without realizing I might have been encouraging poor Fluttershy down there to become a bully, or ruining Princess Twilight’s family vacation, I eventually decided I wasn’t getting anywhere, so I quit. Thankfully, Discord told me about Villains Anonymous and I thought I should give it a try, and now Iron Will can safely say that he is reformed!”

Everyone in the auditorium cheered loudly for Iron Will and even the duplicates began to clap with more emotion for him. Tirek could be seen off to the side with his arms crossed. He began to rub his forehead as if he had a bad headache. He clearly wanted to leave this place more than anything. Nevertheless, Iron Will continued.

“Oh, you thought that was the end?! IRON WILL IS JUST GETTING STARTED! I used to be selfish, but now thanks to VA, I’ve come to see the importance of friendship! And if I ever have the temptation to go back to my opportunistic ways again, I just look at myself in a mirror and I say ‘SELF, DON’T YOU DARE FORGET WHAT VILLAINS ANONYMOUS TAUGHT YOU! YOU ARE REFOOOOORMED!!!”

“ENOUGH!” screeched Tirek.

The entire room went silent and everyone looked over at Tirek who had his fists clenched and was breathing heavily.

“I’VE HAD ENOUGH OF THIS NONSENSE! Discord, take the illusion down! I want out of this place!”

“But Tirek…” Discord begged.

“Discord, maybe we should do as he says. I think we’re trying a little too hard.” Fluttershy said, flying in next to her friend.

“Oh, alright.”

Discord snapped his fingers and all of his duplicates disappeared. Next, the entire auditorium disappeared and they were all back in Fluttershy’s cottage. Tirek pushed past Discord and Fluttershy and walked towards the door.

“Now just where do you think you’re going?” Discord asked.

“Unlock this door! I need to be outside!” Tirek said, pulling on the knob until it finally opened after Discord used his magic to unlock it. Tirek stormed out the door and walked down the path to the road. He noticed a small shiny orb was launched in the sky and created a large canopy of energy around Fluttershy’s property.

“We’ll let you have some alone time, Tirek, but I just cast a protection spell around this area so you can’t escape. Anyone but you can move through that shield.” Discord said firmly.

“Fine!” Tirek grumbled as he continued to walk on into the small forest surrounding the cottage.

“Sorry about that, Fluttershy.” said Iron Will. “I didn’t think he’d get that angry. Usually my motivational speeches help everyone else in VA sessions.”

“It’s no problem, Iron Will.” Fluttershy replied. “Tirek just needs some time to think.”

“Are you sure that canopy is going to keep him in, Discord.” Trixie asked.

“He’ll be fine. It’s not like he can do any damage in his weakened state anyway.”

“Well that didn’t go as planned.” Flurry said to Spike.

“I had my doubts, Flurry.” Spike replied.

“I know we’re supposed to leave him alone, but I am really curious to see how he’s doing out there.”

“I’d leave him be. That guy’s got issues.”

Spike walked back into the cottage with everyone else. Flurry began to follow him but glanced back at Tirek. He had slowed down his walking, but was far enough away that she couldn’t hear him talking to himself. This day certainly didn’t go as planned so far, but something told Flurry there was still hope.

“Poor Tirek. There’s got to be a way to get on his good side.” she said.