Flurry Heart's Frenemies

Flurry awoke in the Canterlot dungeon, in the same cell as Cozy Glow, who had been turned back into a pegasus. Unfortunately, the bars were too close together for either of them to squeeze through, and Flurry was unable to use her magic. There was a shackle on her left hind leg, stopping her from getting too close to Cozy. She had a severe headache, too.

"Overpowered little monster, that Starlight," Flurry muttered. "How does a unicorn beat an alicorn so easily?"

Cozy rolled her eyes. "Tell me about it. There's word that they want to turn all four of us to stone and put the statue of us in Tartarus. Apparently, they might even shatter the statue and spread the pieces around. That's what King Sombra did with the pony who used to rule the Crystal Empire before him."

"But that makes them no better than he was!"

"I said that to the guard who was stationed outside the cell, but he just told me to shut up. Gee, that was annoying."

"Never mind. By the way, Cozy, how long was I unconscious for?"

"Only a day."

"Right. And I have a bit of a weird question."

"Go on."

"What if you and I pretended to be really sorry for all of this, and tricked them into letting us out? Even if we can't cause all that chaos again, it would be better than being turned to stone or going to Tartarus."

"Eh, Tartarus wasn't too bad, because I could fit through the bars of my cage and talk to other creatures, but the statue was a nightmare. So yeah, I'd do that. Do you think they'll believe us?"

"They won't let us go just like that. Maybe we'll be kept here, or maybe we'll be sent to the Crystal Empire. But we won't be turned to stone or sent to Tartarus, and we'll be able to stay together."

"Gee, you really do like the whole friendship thing. Well, as I am the Empress of Friendship, we have a deal."

Chrysalis and Tirek were stuck in cells opposite each other, in different parts of the dungeon. They sat for a while, scowling at each other, not speaking a word. Then Tirek chose to break the unbearable silence.

"What do you think has happened to the other two?"

"They are probably in a similar predicament to us."

"Do you think Flurry Heart was trying to get us to warm up to each other? She could have been told to free us so she could make us accepting of friendship and all that."

"Flurry Heart did not seem like the rule-following type to me. She acted out of what was in her heart. I could tell. There is a possibility her intention was to make us nicer, but she at least allowed us a taste of freedom, and she didn't give in to the Elements of Harmony. That was admirable of her."

"Would you ever change, like the rest of your old hive?"

"I have yet to be given a reason to submit to that. Would you ever choose to become a part of normal society again?"

"Maybe. It depends on the circumstances."

"You're beginning to sound a bit like that idiot Discord."

"And you're beginning to sound like a grumpy old mule."

"I'm not even a pony, let alone a mule. You, on the other hoof, are a cross between an excuse for a pony and an unintelligent ape."

"Ooh, I'm upset. The bug horse is insulting me."

"Sarcasm is not your forte."

"I expected better from you."

"Oh, I can give you better if you want to hear it, you mutt. Are you sure it was Scorpan who was adopted and not you?"

"You are more of a drone than the other mindless insects in your hive are."

"Just looking at your face would make the world's ugliest dragon go blind."

"For some reason you remind me of that Sombra pony."

"Is that supposed to be an insult?"

"Possibly."

"Then it was a larger pile of rubbish than even you are."

They snarled at each other, and then the impossible happened. They realised how utterly pointless their argument was, and they simultaneously burst out into laughter.

"Fine, I'll admit, you have me there," grinned Tirek.

"Oh, have I won then?"

"You may have won the battle, but you will never win the war."

"Enemies forever?"

"Maybe not forever..."

"Aha! All that talk about weakness in that cave, and look what happens! Are you giving in to the magic of friendship, then?"

"Magic is magic."

"And according to Twilight Sparkle, magic is friendship."

"Not necessarily."

Chrysalis stuck her head through the bars and looked down the hall. "We'll go back to arguing later. They have finally brought us some dinner. Bread and water is not the same as sucking the raw emotion out of another creature, but if it sustains me, then it will do."

"Look at Queen Chrysalis, learning to compromise."

"I do what I have to. I hate swallowing my pride, but in a matter of life or death I know what I would rather do."

The servant placed a plate with a slice of bread and a cup of water on the floor in front of each cage.

"I'd rather go back to Tartarus than spend any more time with you," Tirek said.

"Agreed."

"Flurry, so you're telling me you did all of this because you thought ponies didn't like you as much as they did all the other alicorns?" Twilight asked from the other side of the bars.

"Celestia's the Princess of the Sun. Luna's the Princess of the Moon. My mum's the Princess of Love. My dad's the Prince of Protection. You're the Princess of Friendship. Blueblood's the Prince of Navigation. And who am I? The salespony to whip up support for the rest of you? The buy-our-merchandise-type pony? I used to think being an alicorn made me special, but it doesn't. Even that idiot Prince Blueblood is an alicorn now." Flurry closed her eyes. No no no no no. She was not going to cry in front of Cozy. Her new friend was not allowed to see that side of her.

"And Cozy Glow? I know you hate me, but why did you do all the things you did?"

"Gee, I thought you'd never ask," Cozy sighed. "You know, I've been waiting for ages for you to ask. Did you only just get it into that big head of yours that there was a reason for all this?"

"Get to the point, Cozy."

"My parents always said, Strive to be the best you can be. And every filly has that dream of being a princess. So I did what I could, and I realised I couldn't do anything because all of the Princesses had magic and were older. I couldn't do an age spell for obvious reasons. So then I thought, what if I remove that magic from the equation? So I used what you taught me about Tirek's ability to steal magic and the magic that could be stored in different artefacts like the Alicorn Amulet. I did think about stealing that at one point, but that useless earth pony Sandbar told me about the time he ran into a timberwolf and I decided not to go into the Everfree Forest to look for it. So I wrote to Tirek, we became buddies and he taught me how to do some awesome magic stuff so you rubbish alicorns couldn't keep rubbing it in our faces how powerful you are. Except Flurry here. Sure, I've seen first-hoof how much magic she has, but even I was never upset about it because she got me out of the statue, and she shares my viewpoint."

Flurry said, "Really, both of us have the same reason for why we got annoyed. We're looked down and ignored because we're foals, and we tried to change that."

Twilight was lost in thought for a moment. Surprisingly, the foals had perfectly good explanations for their actions. "I will speak to the others, and we will make a decision on what to do with you. Don't hold your breath. Regardless of your ages, titles, or intentions, nopony should ever do what you did." She stood up, towering over the two fillies, and left.

"Twilight, do you really think I had a choice when I was in charge of my hive? I did what I could to keep them alive, and then your friend Starlight Glimmer took away what very little I had. You expect me just to let that go?" Chrysalis asked the alicorn stood in front of her cage.

"Any rational creature would," Twilight answered crudely.

"Any creature can be overwhelmed by their emotions, Twilight. Considering that you defeated Nightmare Moon and the Pony of Shadows, I thought you would have known that," said Tirek.

Twilight looked at him as if he had gone mad. "Who are you, and what have you done with the centaur Tirek?"

"I am the centaur Lord Tirek, I'm just defending a fellow rogue."

"I will ignore the fact that you called me a rogue and instead focus on the fact that you are trying to help me," Chrysalis mused. "I think what she is trying to say is, what's in it for you, Tirek?"

"Why am I helping you, Chrysalis? Because you have helped me. Apparently we have learned to put up with each other."

"Fair enough. Oh, and Twilight, Tirek only ended up in Tartarus in the first place because of his brother Scorpan. They both came to Equestria and tried to terrorise its ponies. Tirek was just more stubborn when Celestia stood up for her ponies, and that is not necessarily a bad thing."

Twilight began to smile triumphantly. "I might be wrong, but I think the two of you might be starting to form a friendship."

"No," Chrysalis and Tirek said together. They glared at each other and bared their teeth.

"Right, because I could almost swear that you're working together for something more than your own gain. Creatures like you two wouldn't defend each other even if it meant an increased chance of getting out of jail. I'm not offering you that chance, by the way. I can't trust either of you at the moment, but, I am shocked to see you two getting along so well."

"Tirek, we are in trouble. Now she thinks we're being friends."

"Stop it, Chrysalis. I'll come up with a plan to make her think otherwise."

Twilight shook her head. "If you two can work together for some purpose other than trying to usurp me, then I can let you out on parole. Then, if you prove to me that you are going to behave, I can let you go free. If it makes you feel any better, Cozy and Flurry aren't acting much different to the two of you."

"Do what you like, Princess," Chrysalis spat, "but we will always try to find new ways of overthrowing you. Quite frankly you are no better than Celestia. I see the Royal Guard is just as useless as it was under her reign."

"I'm open to suggestions on how to improve security. Tell me what your ideas are, and I'll consider it."

Chrysalis and Tirek shared a look, and grinned. Finally, the Princess of Friendship was listening to them, and they could use that to their advantage.

The Council of Friendship stood in the throne room above the dungeon. All six Element Bearers, Starlight Glimmer and Twilight's top adviser Spike, had gathered to discuss the situation with the Legion of Doom.

"I'm shocked," Twilight said. "They were being reasonable. I don't know if they want to trick us or if they were telling the truth."

Applejack groaned, "Unfortunately, from what yeh said in that letter, they were bein' truthful. Flurry Heart seems ter have taught 'em how ter be nice, but she ain't done the job completely."

"They might be able to reform, but we know from past experiences that it takes a lot of work," said Rarity. She glanced sidelong at Starlight. "No offence, darling."

"None taken," Starlight replied. "However, you've reminded me of something that might make the process more difficult. Chrysalis doesn't really like me."

"That might be the biggest understatement of the year," Rainbow laughed. Pinkie collapsed on the floor and began to roll around, giggling.

"I know. She hates me, and she isn't going to change her ways until I make up with her. The only way that's going to happen is if the changelings accept her back. I'll have to speak to Ocellus about it."

"Good idea," Twilight mused. "Anything else? Tirek isn't going to be easy to crack."

Pinkie Pie sprang to her hooves, then sighed, "I got nothing."

Fluttershy piped up, "There might be something. From what Discord told me, Tirek first came to Equestria to try and please his parents. Somepony in Ponyville has been through something similar, just on a smaller scale: Diamond Tiara. If the two of them spoke to each other, then maybe it could make Tirek see things differently."

"That's a good start, Fluttershy, but Tirek is never going to change just like that."

A large POP reverberated around the room. Discord said to Twilight, "Right-o. Those two are never going to move on and become one of us after a little conversation. From my perspective, as odd as it may be, the two of them might have to force each other to be more like us. If one of them is constantly telling the other, 'just go along with it and then we'll be able to leave this horrendous place,' it might just work."

"Friendship can't be forced, Discord. If Celestia had told me the only way to make the Elements of Harmony to work was to make friends, I wouldn't have learned the lessons I needed to learn, and Nightmare Moon would have won there and then. Flurry Heart and Cozy Glow have made Chrysalis and Tirek form a friendship without realising it. From there, we have to teach them how to be friends with other ponies."

"Teach. School. Friendship school. Tirek and Chrysalis at the Friendship School."

Everypony looked at Discord. Twilight sighed, "You do know that would never work?"

"Just putting a suggestion out there. But if you don't think it will work, then I accept that, Princess Back To Being Regal And Sensible Twilight."

Pinkie said, "It's not the craziest thing he's suggested. Going to the School? We're never going to allow them near that place, because just look at what Cozy Glow managed to do. But, they can still have friendship lessons, from those who have been through similar stuff. So we could talk to Diamond Tiara, Pharynx, maybe Tempest Shadow, and others. Even Flim and Flam could help."

"Fer the right fee, of course," Applejack added, scrunching her muzzle. "'Cause when did the Flim-Flam Brothers ever do somethin' fer charity, other than ter boost their reputation?!"

They all laughed.

Cozy and Flurry flew from the back of the cell to the bars and poked their heads through the moment they heard the click-clack of horseshoes approaching. Princess Mi Amore Cadenza towered above them. She looked shattered.

"Flurry," she sighed, "why do you have to get yourself into all this trouble?"

"Mum, I'd rather be hated worldwide than ignored completely. And you don't really think I would have let Chrysalis and Tirek run the place?"

"I have my doubts."

"Mum, come on. This is silly. You and Dad are glory-hoggers."

Cadance cleared her throat. "Let me remind you that I am your mother and one of the co-rulers of the Crystal Empire."

"Let me remind you that I am also one of said co-rulers, despite being a foal. And how much credit to I get for my suggestions? Zilch. I'm nothing more than a figurehead, and it's not fair." Flurry turned to her cellmate. "You can see my point of view, can't you?"

"Yuppers. You have a point. Princess Cadance, you and I have reasons why not to be nice to each other, but putting Flurry Heart in a dungeon? Gee, that's overkill. Tell her off, ground her, but don't do this. She's super bored. We were talking about whether or not to invent rainbow-flavour candyfloss before you came here."

"To be honest, Cozy, that's one of your better ideas, but there's more important stuff to talk about, like when will the other alicorns stop putting foals below the age of criminal responsibility in prison? Cozy's parents should have some of the blame, and you never asked what happened to them, did you, Mum? Your aunt Celestia whisked her straight off to Tartarus. Please listen to us. Please?"

Cadance groaned, "Twilight told me that she has something in mind. That's all I am allowed to tell you."

Cozy Glow and Flurry Heart nearly exploded with joy. "She's actually thinking of letting us out!" Cozy squealed. "Maybe we can both go back to the Crystal Empire and get to be proper friends!"

"Deal." Flurry hugged Cozy.

Cadance rolled her eyes, and trotted away. Now to deal with the other two members of the Legion of Doom.

Chrysalis smiled with amusement as Cadance walked towards her cell. "My sweet princess doppelganger. Cadance, tell me, how is Shining Armour?"

"Better now he doesn't have to live with you. That comment only confirms that you deserve to remain in a statue for eternity. Tell me, how was it in there?"

"Bitter. I spent a lot of time thinking about revenge."

"The feeling is mutual, I'm afraid."

"Even though I have already lost my home and my family, you wish to torment me further? Princess Cadenza, I thought you were a nice pony."

"To most. Give me a reason to be nice to you, and I will be. You kidnapped me a mere three nights before my wedding and tried to steal my one true love from me. I found that hard to swallow, and I'm not sure whether forgiveness is deserved here."

"Oh please, I don't really care about forgiveness. One day, I will try to destroy you again, Cadenza. I will always get back up again and I will always be willing for a rematch. Just because I have taken a few dents, it does not mean my pride is gone. I know you and Twilight Sparkle plan for us to be reformed and all that, but you should know that I have a special place in my heart where I hate you and the unicorn Starlight Glimmer, and shall do so for eternity."

"Charming." She turned her back on Chrysalis and glanced at Tirek. "And what wonderful words do you have for me?"

"I never got a chance to fight you. I fought Twilight when she had your magic, and later I absorbed that magic, but I never really got to see what you can do. Therefore, I am trying to remain impartial, though I am inclined to listen to Chrysalis."

"I guess I should be glad that you aren't trying to insult me. Tirek, there is a lot of potential for you. Twilight has had issues in places like Klugetown, where the threat of having their magic drained might get a few creatures in line."

Tirek paused. "I was considering getting along with you until you said that, but I doubt I am going to make friends with a princess who wants me to become her diplomat. Tell that Blueblood fellow to deal with it."

"Pretend I never said that. I'll pass on the message to Twilight that you're not interested. How does that sound?"

"Better. Now tell me when I get to go free."

"When you prove that you won't steal magic from everypony in Equestria."

"I can do that."

"Twilight will be the judge of that."

She left without another word.

"We're free?!" Flurry reread the letter in front of her.

"Yuppers," answered Cozy. "Twilight thinks the two of us have shown enough remorse and are good enough at being friends that we can go free. Obviously, she has no idea what the two of us can do if we continue working together. How did you break the Crystal Heart again?"

"Sonic scream, as loud as the Royal Canterlot Voice. Apparently, everypony who was there at the time had difficulty hearing each other for a while afterwards, even when they sorted out the storm clouds."

"Fancy that again?"

"I'd rather not. I'm in enough trouble as it is. Mum and Dad are not going to let me forget this."

"Well, if they give you a hard time, you've shown how good you are at long-distance teleportation, so you can always talk to me about it."

"No need," said Twilight as she approached the cell. "Cozy Glow, since you have a bit of a history behind you, you are going to stay at the Crystal Castle where Princess Cadance and my brother can keep an eye on you."

Cozy's eyes lit up, and she glanced at her friend. "Oh, Princess Twilight, thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou!"

"That's an overreaction, Cozy," Flurry laughed. "Although, I will be pleased to have a friend in the castle. But what about Chrysalis and Tirek?"

"Once they have proven that they aren't going to cause mass destruction the moment I realease them, they will be sent to stay in Ponyville, where my friends can make sure they don't try to cause trouble."

"Can we visit them at some point?" both fillies questioned Twilight.

"Well, I suppose."

As Twilight opened the cage door and allowed the fillies out, she thought, Cadance and Shining are going to have some sleepless nights.

A magenta flash of light took them to the dais at the Crystal Castle. The Crystal Heart was surrounded by guards who kept a watchful eye on Cozy in particular.

Noticing their glares, she pulled a cute face and said, "I hope these guards are going to be nice to me."

"They will," Flurry answered casually, brushing off her friend's concerns. "They've always been nice to me. As long as we keep out of trouble, we're fine."

"That means neither of you are allowed near the Crystal Heart," Twilight warned as she led them inside and up the stairs to the throne room.

Cadance and Shining Armour were there, sat together on the twin crystal thrones. Flurry sighed, wishing she had a place up there too. She wasn't a true princess in the eyes of everypony else, clearly. She looked up at her parents' faces. There was a mixture of pleasant surprise to see Twilight, relief to see their daughter again and worry at the thought of Cozy Glow staying in the Crystal Empire.

"Twilight!" Cadance said in a sing-song voice. "How are you?"

"Fine, thank you," she replied. Cadance flew over to her, and Cozy and Flurry had a hard time containing their giggles as the two alicorns did the "sunshine-sunshine" dance. Shining Armour was also forced to hold a hoof to his mouth to make sure he didn't burst out laughing.

"So, here we have the two mischief makers," Cadance said once the dance was over. "My darling little Flurry Heart, and Miss Cozy Glow." She cocked her head to one side. "The filly who looked up at us and fell into the darkness because of it."

"Princess, you and the other alicorns have magic, wings, super strength, and a kingdom that loves you. Gee, I'm not the only one who's insanely jealous. I thought Chrysalis would have taught you that."

"Jealous," Cadance repeated quietly.

"Well, duh, you have everything a pony could want. Even Flurry went crazy because of it."

Flurry nodded in agreement. "Fine, I'll admit, I've never really felt like a princess."

"Don't think that we don't sympathise with you." The tone of Cadance's voice softened. "I have been there. So have Twilight and Luna. Not feeling respected or cared for is something that many ponies and other creatures have to deal with. We understand that struggle, but we can only give you a second chance to prove yourself to us. Whether or not you take it is up to you."

"We understand," Cozy and Flurry chorused.

"Good. Twilight, I assume Cozy Glow will be staying in the castle too?"

"If that isn't too much of a problem for you."

"No, no, not at all. We'll be fine, Twilight."

"In that case, I will leave and deal with the," she coughed politely, "less cooperative two creatures. Remember, I am only a letter away. If ever I am needed to remind anypony of where they stand, I will return immediately." gave both fillies a cold glare, and teleported away.

A moment later, she stood in the corridor between the cells holding Chrysalis and Tirek.

"Oh, Princess Twilight. What a pleasant surprise. Are we finally going to be freed?" Chrysalis asked.

"I will only release you when I see fit."

Chrysalis grumbled, "I was going to be nice to you before I heard that."

"As I have said hundreds of times before, you can't be horrible just because you aren't being given what you want."

"But we can, Twilight, and I'm sure plenty of your ponies do exactly that," Tirek pointed out. "Maybe if you gave us good reason to be nice to you, then we would be."

Twilight could do nothing to prevent the smug grin from creeping across her face. "Fine, maybe I should be a bit more specific. I will only release you when I see fit, but I think that will be within the week, once I know that the other two aren't going to cause trouble. They were released earlier today."

"And why are we not being released today?" Chrysalis demanded.

"Because I have yet to find a place where you can stay. The Changeling Kingdom might accept you back, Chrysalis, but I have yet to speak to Prince Thor-"

"Thorax is no King, nor Prince. He had power thrust upon his shoulders because the rest of the hive abandoned me and refused to allow his brother Pharynx to take the burden when he was far more suited to ruling."

"Both Thorax and Pharynx now rule the Changeling Kingdom. I could have said that if you hadn't interrupted me."

"Oh. I suppose I should be happy for Pharynx for regaining at least some control of the hive and keeping them from giving in to weakness completely. And what of Ocellus? I had her down as a potential future queen before she went to that silly school of yours."

"Thorax and Pharynx share your opinion, actually. She is one of the top Guardians of the Hive."

"Good to know. I will look forwards to seeing them again." She paused. "That is, if they still respect me like they should."

"You'll be fine, Chrysalis. One good thing about you is your resilience." Twilight turned to Tirek. "You are going to be the hardest to place. I could let you stay in the castle, but I want you to spend time around ponies and you won't get that opportunity if I do that. I could send you to Ponyville to stay in the Castle of Friendship, but I worry a lot about the students and my friends. Starlight especially, since she's got such a lot of magic."

Chrysalis laughed, "Good luck, Lord Tirek. Trust me, that unicorn is nothing but a pain. If I were to give into this excuse for an alicorn's requests to reform and join society once more, I would feel a huge amount of sympathy for you."

This rubbed Tirek the wrong way. "At least you have a family to go back to. Mine is long dead, and even then..."

"Even then, King Vorak was a pain in the backside whom all the magic in Equestria couldn't please because apparently old Scorpan was the angel sent from above the clouds to redeem you," Chrysalis finished. "I honestly cannot comprehend why you still respect him."

"For the same reason that your hive still respects you. That is, if they do. He's my father. He's family. I can't just turn away from him and forget he ever existed."

Chrysalis's eyes grew wide as the realisation dawned on her. Her hive probably felt the same way, which meant there was a chance that she could still be accepted back. Even if they refused to call her their queen, she could still help run the place and stop friendship from erasing changeling culture. There was still something she could do. "I suppose you are correct, Tirek."

"You don't have to," Twilight piped up. She too had been lost in thought. "Tirek, there's somepony who you should meet. Cozy would probably benefit from talking to her too. I'm not as sure about you, Chrysalis, but I don't think there's any harm in it either."

"Who is it?" Tirek questioned her.

"An earth pony mare, Diamond Tiara. You might find you have a lot in common with her if you decide to talk to her."

"What would I have in common with a silly little earth pony?!"

"Family." Twilight left it at that and trotted away from the cells, leaving Tirek and Chrysalis to consider the offer.

Chrysalis broke the silence eventually. "Are you going to speak to that little pony?"

"Is there any harm in doing so?"

"We both know it is an attempt to make us accept the Equestrian way, but we can always speak to her about our logic and why we are nothing like her or any of those other silly little ponies."

"Agreed."