Flurry Heart walked through the corridors of the crystal palace with a plate of food in her magic. She waved hello to a maid, then turned a corner and walked to an innocuous door. She gripped the handle, but it didn't open, not yet.
The ambient temperature dropped as Flurry Heart changed the magic she channeled. Her aura changed from her usual pale yellow to a deep purple. The door unlocked, and Flurry walked through, then locked it behind her. She waved the smoke from her eyes and then made her presence known.
"Hi, mommy, daddy," she said, "I brought you some food, daisy sandwiches, frog eye salad, and chocolate milk."
Cadence sprang out of bed. Her featherless wings instinctively opened to fly away, but she folded them as soon as her shock wore off. She couldn't fly anyway, not without her magic. Shining was nowhere to be seen.
"I wanted to see you two and don't worry, it's just us. Nopony will bother us." Flurry Heart put the plate on the nearby table. "Cozy says hi... Where's daddy?"
Flurry got the answer a second later. A white blur burst from their closet, tackled her to the ground, and pinned her.
"Cadence run, go find Twilight!" Shining yelled.
She sprang out of bed and attempted to open the door, but it remained locked, and with no magic, it would stay so. Flurry effortlessly stood up, despite Shining's best efforts.
She smiled and said, "Alicorn magic's great. Shame you don't have any anymore, mommy, thanks to Tirek. I'm so much stronger than either of you." Her smile fell. "Don't do that again. I'll let it slide today because it was harmless, but if you ever do that to anypony else, whether it's a maid or Cozy Glow, you'll regret it. I'll bring Chrysalis, and then it will never happen again because you two will be my perfect little playthings. You've seen Trixie and Starlight Glimmer and how happy they were when they helped Chrysalis take over her portion of Equestria. You can hurt me anytime you want, but if you ever do it to anypony else..."
Cadence sat on the floor, defeated. "Why did you have to free them?"
A smirk pulled at Flurry's lips. "I thought it would be fun, and it was. I don't regret it. Now I have an entire kingdom, friends, power, and a marefriend." She lifted the plates of food, then gave them to her parents. "Eat up. Honey Roast worked hard on this meal, so don't waste it. If you don't have at least a bite, I'll cast a 'want it, need it spell' again. "
That scared enough to eat. Flurry watched in silence until her parents were done. After their plates were empty, she asked, "Mommy, do you even know where Auntie Twily is?"
Shining and Cadence held their breaths. It had been years since they received any news about her. Flurry smiled wider. "She's alive, but she might not be sane. I turned her to stone the same day I unpetrified the others."
The news she was still alive was all Shining needed to hear to gain the strength to defy his daughter. Despite his lack of magic and her allies, he needed to try.
"Why would she not be sane?" Cadence asked, feeling brave too. "Discord didn't change after a thousand years."
An image of Discord materialized: "Discord didn't change because, even though the elements trapped him, he had the power to keep himself entertained. His physical form is only there to let him control it, but Discord is chaos incarnate. He's already in every chaotic place." The image changed to a petrified Twilight. "Auntie Twily's the princess of friendship and magic, and since my friends deprived her of magic and her friends, she had no power to use. Now Auntie Twilight is staring at a wall in Tartarus, with nothing except her thoughts."
Cadence let out a choked laugh, which slowly changed to a sob. Shining glared at his daughter. "Why don't you resurrect Sombra if you enjoy causing ponies so much harm?" he spat.
Flurry's smile fell. She growled, "I will never do that. My subjects will never have to live under him ever again. The rest of Equestria is suffering, but there are more resources for my kingdom to prosper because nopony else is using them." Flurry gripped her parents' faces and made them stare at her. "Even Cozy, as bloodthirsty as she is, knows to not harm my subjects. If she does, I will kill her. I love her, but I love my subjects more."
"Are we not also your subjects?" Cadence said.
Flurry grinned, then let them go. "You are, but I'm the princess of families. Shouldn't my family get special treatment?"
"You don't show it. How can you tear families apart when you should protect them?"
Flurry's horn charged with a dark purple aura as she teleported out of the room.
The couple hugged and cried as they mourned the young filly they once knew. If she was even real, Flurry released the villains as soon as she learned how. Maybe the young filly was just a ruse.
Yellow magic surrounded them, then gently pushed them to the farthest wall. The aura changed to a deep purple as their daughter opened the door, but it changed to yellow right after. Flurry walked in with a cart of books. She unloaded the cart, then teleported it away.
"History lesson, since you two have seemed to have forgotten. Nightmare Moon was still the princess of the night. You don't need to be nice to embody your domain. I'm the princess of families. I rule over them. Nothing is saying I can't use my power to tear them apart or keep them together. I can do whatever I want. Which is to keep my subjects safe and have the rest of Equus burn."
She left the books, then walked to the door. "You should study. Love you, bye."
