Flurry Heart's Frenemies

The young Princess Flurry Heart looked up at the statue of the Legion of Doom, and grinned. Look at them. All stuck in stone, because they had tried to take over Equestria, almost won, and then failed on a spectacular level. Cozy Glow looked terrified, Tirek had scowled for so long his face would probably never return for normal, and Chrysalis stuck her tongue out, tasting the drops of rainwater. The three of them were pathetic.

Then again, Auntie Twilight was a bit pathetic too, for letting an alicorn filly explore the Canterlot Castle Garden of Statues completely unsupervised.

Flurry had heard the tales of those three creatures in the Legion of Doom, and always wondered about them. They were close, so very close to embracing the magic of friendship, but of course they had let their differences get in the way. However, Flurry knew there could be a way around that. If those three could work together back when they last tried to take over Equestria, it could be done again. That is, getting them to work together and taking over Equestria.

She concentrated, and a little bit of magic hit Cozy Glow's snout. A flake of stone peeled off, revealing the baby pink fur underneath. Not enough magic. The Royal Sisters and Discord had done their job a bit too well. Flurry took to the air, focused harder, grunted and sent a massive ball of golden magic towards all three of the trapped villains. The stone around them disintegrated, and they fell to the ground in one big heap.

Cozy Glow was the first to speak. Examining her hooves, she said, "We're free?!"

"Obviously," Chrysalis snapped.

"Oh, Queen Chrysalis, lighten up," said Tirek. "None of us ever expected this, so allow us to savour the moment."

"I will do as I please, Lord Tirek. You have no right to give me orders, you-"

"Hello, you three," said Flurry.

All three villains looked up at Flurry. Each of them had different thoughts running through their minds as they took in the sight of this pale pink and purple bundle of innocence. Tirek was anticipating absorbing some magical essence, and the power of an alicorn - even if she was only a filly - would give him enough strength to cause havoc and take on the other princesses. Chrysalis could sense the love that other ponies and creatures had for this little foal, and wondered what would happen if she tried to take the foal's place and steal some of that love for herself. She too saw Flurry as a way of regaining her power and claiming the kingdom for her own.

Cozy Glow saw a beautiful little filly, somepony with a golden heart, somepony whom she could not bear to see corrupted by the darkness that lurked within her own soul. She looked up at that sweet little pony, and saw herself, before she had turned to the ways of evil. As much as she knew how dangerous an alicorn could be, especially since she had only just been freed from her marble prison, she had no intention to cause the foal any harm.

"My name is Princess Flurry Heart. You three get to call me Flurry. I'm usually all sweet and innocent, doing as I'm told and setting an example, but I have plans to cause a lot of chaos. When I was less than two days old, I destroyed the Crystal Heart and nearly turned the Crystal Empire into a frozen wasteland. I don't plan to repeat that, but I don't plan to be nice to the other alicorns, either. You three are the first I've told about my dreams, and I've dreamt big.

"Here's the deal: us four are going to work together and take over Equestria and the Crystal Empire. Maybe the Changeling Kingdom and other places too. Everypony before us has failed, but you know what? There's no Elements of Harmony this time, and Auntie Twilight has taught me a lot of magic. I can help you three and we can take back what is ours. What do you say?"

Chrysalis looked at the still airborne alicorn. "So, let me get this straight. You are the alicorn foal, the one who has been raised to help rule Equestria, and you want us to rule instead?"

Flurry's voice was filled with childish enthusiasm. "Why not? It could be fun! Since I was so young I don't remember any of the chaos you three caused, and it's been really boring lately. So, what do you think?"

"I hate helping ponies," Tirek sighed, "but I suppose we could work something out. As long as I get the biggest bit of land."

"Fine by me, as long as I get the Crystal Empire. It's my home and all."

Cozy said excitedly, "So what's the plan?"

"Chrysalis, you can disguise yourself as anypony else and have some hypnosis skills too, I hear. If you can get some guards under mind control, we're all set. Tirek, you're going to need some magic to help out, so how about taking Auntie Twilight's? That way, she can't attack us and throw us in jail. Cozy, you're like me. You can do some awesome stuff. Now, I can't make you an alicorn like last time around, but I do know some cool tricks, and the two of us can cause a huge amount of trouble if we can work together. How does that sound?"

The three villains stared in shock at how much thought the little princess had put into her plan to be queen.

"Well?"

Three nods followed.

"Brilliant. Now where do we start? The Canterlot Castle throne room?"

"Yuppers," beamed Cozy. "Take us there, Flurry."

Princess Twilight Sparkle was in the middle of a heated debate with a group of aristocrats on the importance of planting trees in the Dragon Lands when Flurry Heart teleported into the throne room, along with Chrysalis, Tirek and Cozy Glow.

"Auntie Twilight, I've made some new friends, just like you always wanted. And I think they have something to say to you."

Twilight's eyes grew wide. "Flurry, I-"

Tirek inhaled deeply, and began to absorb Twilight's magic. Chrysalis used hypnosis on the guards. Cozy Glow rounded up the posh ponies and made sure they were unable to alert the world of what had happened. It was all over in ten seconds.

Twilight lay on the floor, and looked up at Flurry. "My little niece, after all this time, you... You just..."

"Freed the Legion of Doom and defeated you before you could even try to tell me off? I know!"

The other three laughed at this comment.

"Hmm, what to do next? Spike is in the Dragon Lands, so that's one less creature to deal with. The Elements of Harmony, Discord and Starlight are going to be a problem. They're all in Ponyville. Then we've got the Pillars of Old Equestria on holiday in Fillydelphia, I think; the Royal Pain in the Flank Sisters have retired to Silver Shoals, and oh boy, my parents are going to be so mad at me. Any ideas, you three?"

"I can take on Starlight," suggested Chrysalis, grinning menacingly.

"You do that. Who wants to go with her?"

"I will," Cozy volunteered. "Of the three of us, Chrysalis, I think I'm the least annoying."

Chrysalis pondered this. "You might be right, Cozy Glow. Tirek needs to stop trying to absorb my essence-"

Tirek spat out a ball of orange gunk. "You were saying, Chrysalis?"

"And Flurry Heart, how in Equestria did you even free us?"

"Sorry, I have some strange magic. I wouldn't go as far as saying it's overpowererd, because look at some of the other alicorns, but I can do things that a lot of unicorns can't. I'll try and keep a handle on it." She turned to Tirek. "Where do you want to go first? Those two are off to Ponyville."

"Silver Shoals. Once we have three of four alicorns, we-"

"Only four alicorns? I nearly forgot to tell you, Daddy and Blueblood are both alicorns too now. Or is the right term stallicorns? Anyways, we'll have to speak to Blueblood eventually too. He's somewhere down south."

"That complicates things a bit."

There was a huge POP, and Discord materialised in the room. "Ah, you three... and Flurry?! What in Equestria are you up to?"

"Taking over Equestria, with the help of these three creatures. Why?"

"You don't really think that's going to work, do you?" A carnivorous pineapple with a carved face appeared, and growled. Flurry blew it up almost as soon as it appeared.

"Discord, I hope you realise you've been out of the villainy business for too long to know what we're up to. We're about a mile ahead of you. Of course, you could always help us out, and get the Elements of Harmony under our control. I mean, Tirek already got Twilight, but the others might need a bit of work." She pulled a very cute sad face. Her puppy eyes face was more powerful than anything Cozy could do. The latter opened her mouth to say something, but decided against it. What could you say to somepony with the power and the guts to challenge the Lord of Chaos himself?

Discord looked at Twilight for the first time. "Twilight! You know, I expected better of you. I thought you could have dealt with this lot single-hoofed if they ever came back."

"I'm trying to think of a plan, Discord."

Flurry clicked her teeth. "Tick tock, Lord of Chaos. Who's side are you on?"

"I am going to help my friends. Meet you in Ponyville. Toodleoo."

Flurry launched herself at his long, thin, grey face before he could POP out of the room. "I don't think so. If you go to warn anypony, you'll have to take me with you. Teleport us to Ponyville if you like. Watch us take the place down. You know, back when you were still a villain, Fluttershy was the only one who gave you a chance, and now I'm the only one giving these three a chance. Sure, we're taking over Equestria, but it's all in good fun. It's like a massive game of Monopoly, and we're buying all the streets so we can bump the price up. And the price we're asking for is freedom and respect."

"Oh, playing games, are we?" He glanced at the three villains, only to have his yellow eyes covered by Flurry's oversized wings. "If Princess Flurry Heart's playing games, I bet you ten bits to one she's going to stick you all in Tartarus once she has what she wants."

"That isn't true," Flurry argued.

"I don't know what you're up to, but I don't like it." He used his tail to pull her off of his face. "Go to Abyssinia or something. Lay a hoof on my Fluttershy, and you'll be sent to the hospital in several pieces."

"That's a bit too violent for my tastes. Change of plan, we're not going to Ponyville. Goodbye, Discord!"

Flurry teleported.

The Legion of Doom found themselves in a cave on Foal Mountain. "I almost forgot how ridiculously overpowered Discord is," Flurry moaned to herself. She started pacing. "What to do, what to do? Auntie Twilight hid Grogar's Bewitching Bell and she didn't tell anypony where it is. We'll never get hold of it, so we need something else."

"A distraction. A pegasus filly fluttering around causing trouble, for example," said Cozy, who suddenly found herself wrapped in a hug.

Flurry stopped pacing and trapped Cozy in a huge winged hug. "You're a genuis, Cozy!"

"Uh, thanks. You can stop with the hugging now. Gee, you've got some death grip."

Flurry released her and smiled sheepishly. "Sorry."

Chrysalis licked her lips and raised her eyebrows. "Forgive me for asking, but why exactly are you so keen to help us? I would be disappointed if it was purely for the purpose of entertainment."

"There is that, but also ponies don't really see me as a princess, and I'd like to show them a little bit of what I can do just to get them to listen to me. Plus, as terrifying as they try to make the stories about you, they miss the bit where you work together. You're still technically using the magic of friendship, just for something else that you want."

"The magic of friendship is like a disease. Sickening."

"Eh, not really. Some ponies and creatures think it makes you weak. I disagree. It makes you stronger, but it also means that when you do something dangerous you're making a bigger gamble."

"I never really thought of it that way, Flurry Heart. Perhaps you have taught me something new."

Cozy said, "Finally, somepony teaches them about the magic of friendship and what it can really do. I'm not sure how big a gamble I'd be willing to make, but friendship is magic and magic is power, so friendship is power and can be used to get you what you want. And you know what they say: the bigger the gamble, the bigger the prize." She grinned with satisfaction.

Flurry nodded. "That's right. The prizes for us include getting to know one another, and taking over Equestria, and once we do that, since we know each other a bit more and we're all friends, we're less likely to fight and have our power taken away from us by somepony else." As Tirek began to drain her magic, she gave him a withering glare of similar intensity to Luna's, and he stopped immediately. "As long as we don't fight amongst ourselves, nopony can get in our way. Isn't that right, Tirek? Friends don't absorb each other's magic. I thought Auntie Twilight's essence would have been enough for you."

"What?" asked Tirek. "I'm not into this whole friends and family thing. My brother Scorpan used to be all sappy, and then he dragged me into trouble here in Equestria and left me here! I've spent a fair amount of time in Tartarus stewing in my anger and making up my mind, so don't try to sway me into this whole ponies-love-friendship thing. Just because Chrysalis is weak enough to buy into it, it doesn't mean I am too."

"Oh, please," sneered Chrysalis. "Weak? If I were so weak, my hive wouldn't have survived a year under my reign. As it is, I have kept them alive for years, and though I may not have ruled correctly, those mistakes are mine, because I was strong enough to rule. Lord Tirek, is it? What land do you rule? What do your subjects think of you? Oh, that's right, Scorpan was the eldest and he took the throne. Everypony loved him, and he became strong enough to rule, and they threw you in Tartarus."

"I can quite easily absorb your magic if you're willing to speak to me like that."

"I can do far worse to you if you try."

"Cut it out!" Cozy and Flurry simultaneously yelled. They looked at each other for a moment, blue eyes met red eyes, and then they looked away and blushed, both slightly embarrassed at their outburst.

Once she had recovered from her embarrassment, Cozy stepped towards the quarrelling changeling and centaur. "I know you two creatures have different beliefs, but you know, you have to work with different creatures sometimes. Keep the end goal in mind. We get to rule Equestria and show those loser alicorns - no offence, Flurry - what we think."

"None taken," said Flurry.

She had a different plan in mind, of course. She was confident in the abilities of the Elements of Harmony, Celestia, Luna, Discord and her parents. All of them on their own were powerful enough, but together, and maybe with the help of the Pillars of Old Equestria... Flurry would probably have to endure a friendship laser, but she was chipping away at the Legion of Doom, and maybe, just maybe, she could leave her mark on history.

Discord and Twilight finished explaining to the Element Bearers about the new threat to Equestria, and watched their reactions.

Rarity fainted onto a conveniently placed red velvet couch behind her. "Oh my!"

Pinkie just gave a huge gasp.

Rainbow Dash complained, "Those three jerks are back and Flurry is helping them?! Not. Cool."

"Ah never thought Ah'd see the day those three returned," Applejack deadpanned.

"I'm worried. Why is Princess Flurry Heart helping them?" squeaked Fluttershy.

Discord said, "Now now, Fluttershy. And the rest of you, too. I'm surprised you lot think she's really in this to be evil. Probably she has a perfectly good reason to let them loose."

"But Discord, what are we going to do?!" Twilight moaned. "Tirek took away my magic before I could do anything to stop them, and they work so well together and-"

"Twilight, don't go back to Twilighting, I prefer it when you act all nice and regal. You are the Sovereign of Equestria, for Celestia's sake. Yes, those lot might work well together, but think about it. What reason would Little Princess Flurry have for getting those three to work together?"

"Ooh! I know this one!" Pinkie sprang into the air. "Flurry wants to get the Legion of Doom to work together and become friends and then slowly sap the evilness out of them so they embrace the magic of friendship, become normal citizens of Equestria and then return your magic so everything's back to normal, we don't have to whoop their flanks again and Flurry gets some credit, because she's a really sweet and all-round awesome pony but she gets overlooked because all the other alicorns have done some amazing things and they're all adults and she's a bit jealous! In other words, she's doing a Nightmare Moon, but at the same time she's trying to help us!"

"My thoughts exactly, Pinkie. So you see, Twilight? She's a little monster, and the Legion of Doom are going to end up being reformed without even realising it. Really, she's not doing a Nightmare Moon, she's doing a Fluttershy." He turned to the aforementioned pony. "Oh Fluttershy, I still haven't thanked you enough for that. If you hadn't tricked me into being nice, I would probably have still been in that statue now, and I hate being a statue. It's so boring. Quite the opposite of what I have now."

Fluttershy smiled sweetly. "You're welcome, Discord. And I think you and Pinkie have some good points. I don't agree with the way Flurry Heart is doing things, but if she's helping us, then that's a good thing. We still have the magic of friendship, even if your magic is gone, Twilight. We also have Princesses Celestia and Luna, and the Pillars."

"And Princess Cadance and Prince Shining Armour need to be told about their rogue daughter," Rainbow added.

"Right," said Twilight. "I have a plan. We continue to let Flurry work her magic, but we're also going to try and use the rainbow laser on the other three before they cause too much trouble. It's a good thing none of them have found Grogar's bell yet. Celestia forbid they go to Foal Mountain."

"Everypony, come quick! Guess what I found!" Cozy said giddily.

The other three sprinted to where Cozy was digging a hole in the dirt. She pulled something out of the hole. It was Grogar's Bewitching Bell. It was in perfect condition.

Chrysalis broke out into a fanged smile. "Well done, Cozy Glow. Remember all the destruction and chaos we caused with this last time? Alright, we'll have to split the magic we steal four ways instead of three, but then again, it was hard to control that magic last time, and we wouldn't be here unless Flurry Heart had helped us."

"Are you sure we have to split the magic four ways? I think Flurry Heart is powerful enough as it is, whereas dear old Tirek over here needs that magic if he is to claim his rightful place on Equestria's throne."

The other three gave Tirek a look that meant Say that one more time, we dare you.

"Alright then. We'll split the magic four ways. I get the most of it, though."

"Ahem, Tirek," Cozy coughed, "we're working together as a team. There is no I in team. We all get the same amount of magic each. Besides, you already got Twilight's."

Tirek folded his arms. "I'm not giving it up."

Flurry took the bell and stole Twilight's magic from him. He shrank quite a lot. She waved it in the air, and four bolts of lightning burst out of the bell, one hitting each of them. Tirek grew a little again. Chrysalis closed her eyes and inhaled deeply, her horn glowing green. Cozy's wings trebled in size and a unicorn horn burst out of her forehead from underneath her blue locks. Flurry just giggled and said, "So this is what it feels like to be a villain."

"The Legion of Doom is back on track, and I think it's safe to say we've got a fourth member. Flurry, brohoof." Cozy held out a hoof, and Flurry returned the gesture. The two fillies bumped hooves and gave each other a warm smile.

"What now?" asked Tirek.

"Next stop on our tour of Equestria: Silver Shoals. More specifically, Sunset Cottage, the current residence of Celestia and Luna."

Flurry's golden beam of magic engulfed the four of them and the Bewitching Bell, and they were gone.

Celestia was brushing her mane. Luna was applying pink eye shadow instead of blue for a change. It didn't really suit her. Neither of them were expecting the Legion of Doom to turn up on their doorstep.

"Do we answer the door, or not?" asked Celestia.

"We get out of here, now!" cried Luna.

Both Princesses teleported to Ponyville, only to find the Legion there when they arrived.

"Celestia, Luna, please don't take this too seriously," Flurry giggled. "You aren't in charge of Equestria any more, so I'll go easy on you for that. My allies, however, are less pleased about being sealed in stone."

Cozy flew behind the Two Sisters, and quickly stole their magic with the Bell.

"This is too easy," Flurry laughed. "If only Discord had had the Bewitching Bell when he was still evil."

"Flurry, I told you about why nopony could win in the villainy business. I tried, remember?" said Luna.

"Luna, the difference between you and me is that I - I mean, we," she corrected herself, looking at the other members of the Legion, "are going to succeed. Yes, you tried, and yes, you failed. However, you did everything alone, you didn't have the awesome ability to take other ponies' magic, and you had a rubbish catchphrase. Do villains even need a catchphrase?!"

"I suppose not, but that's a discussion for later. Whilst my sister and I are unable to do anything at the present, they can."

Everypony turned to look at the Mane 6 and Discord as they approached. Flurry said something that Cadance and Shining Armour would not like to have heard their daughter say if they had witnessed the event. The Elements of Harmony shared a look of determination and held hooves in preparation to use their rainbow laser. Cozy teleported behind them and pulled Rarity's mane.

"Ouch! You little scoundrel!"

"Gee, I'm not that bad. Speak to my partner in crime, Flurry. She's just stolen all of your magic."

Flurry grinned. "Sorry, friends, but I can't have you using your little friendship laser or have Discord use his chaos magic to stop us. Now we have all this magic, defeating the Pillars is going to be a piece of cake. Then there's Starlight. Chrysalis, I think I'll let you deal wit her all on your own. And then the only ones in our way are-"

"Flurry! Get. Here. Now!"

The Royal Voice of Canterlot echoed across the countryside as Cadance and Shining Armour descended from the sky.

Flurry immediately pulled her puppy eyes face. "Mum, Dad, it's not what it looks like. I swear to Tartarus. I'll make sure the others don't take your magic if you listen to why I have to do this." She turned to the other members of the Legion. "You all have to promise not to hurt my parents. All of you."

"If they don't get in the way, then yes," said Tirek.

"I can deal with that," agreed Cozy.

"Cadance and I have," Chrysalis paused, "a history, but I'm sure she and Prince Shining Armour won't try to fight me again. So I agree. I won't do anything to them."

"See? They're not unreasonable! Maybe they were before I started helping them, but you show them a little respect and look what happens! Sure, I can't imagine any of them dancing and singing a musical number like what the Elements of Harmony do, but they can be nice."

Cadance spat, "Nice?! I can tell you four have been stealing magic, and I am willing to fight for mine. Flurry, after this, you are so very grounded."

"Meh. Put me in the statue with these three if you like. I can deal with that. They're fine once you get to know them. I'm really upset that you didn't listen to me, so I guess I'll have to show you how good a team we are. NOW!"

The four of them blasted Cadance and Shining Armour with a huge ball of magic. The couple stood their ground, but were knocked off their hooves by the blast. They flew towards the horizon, and disappeared. A small speck glinted in the distance.

Flurry looked at the other members of the Legion. "Later, they are going to be really mad at me. Should we go looking for them now, or find some of the other ponies who might give us a bit of trouble?"

Twilight interrupted, "You are going absolutely nowhere, you-"

"Language, Twilight. There's two foals here. Evil or not, we don't want our ears to start bleeding because the ex Sovereign of Equestria said a bad word."

"But you swore when we arrived!"

"Didn't you hear? Twilight, I tried being all nice and cutesy-wutesy, but nopony listened to me. I am every bit the alicorn you are, and yet nopony thinks of me that way. Being evil is better than being ignored. Right, friends?"

Each member of the Legion of Doom nodded.

"Now, I actually get to do your job and rule Equestria, with help from these three, and even if we fail, I will still go down in the history books and be remembered. Now, everypony, tell us. Do you surrender, or do you want to go to Tartarus for some thinking time? I hear you have to have magic to get in and out."

Twilight raised a hoof. "Fine, we surrender."

The rest of the Mane Six, Discord and the Royal Sisters stared in shock.

"What? We've lost our magic and there's nothing we can do to stop them. I don't like admitting when I have lost, but here we are. We either go along with it, or end up in Tartarus. Which would all of you prefer?"

"Fighting to the bitter end, duh," grumbled Rainbow Dash.

"Twilight," said Celestia, "did I teach you to give up?"

"No, and I'm not going to. Give me some time and I'll think of a plan, but for now, this is the only plan I have. Everypony, as Princess of Equestria I demand that you back me up here, or else when I get back in charge I will be the one sending you to Tartarus."

That stopped the argument immediately.

Cozy grinned. "You know what, Flurry? I think we might be teaching them something about friendship!"

"I agree, Cozy. You and I can take them back to the caves underneath Canterlot, and that allows Chrysalis and Tirek to have some fun. You two, cause a little bit of havoc. Get the Royal Guard under control. Make sure Starlight Glimmer doesn't try to rewrite history. Got it?"

"I'm happy to do that," Tirek answered.

"Oh, finally I get to confront that pesky little unicorn. Who knows, after that I might get my hive back."

Starlight Glimmer teleported next to Tirek and grabbed the Bewitching Bell before teleporting away again.

"Ponyfeathers."

Flurry Heart was hit by a spell, and she lost consciousness.