"Things are going well. My plan is working perfectly." Flurry Heart said. "By now, the brainwashed crystal guards should've captured my auntie and imprissoned her in the Crystal Empire dungeons." She added.

"So, what are you going to do with Twilight from here huh? Turn her to stone like she did to me?" Cozy Glow said.

"Oh no, Twilight needs to stick around to raise the sun and lower the moon with that gizmo of hers. I'd rather not be relegated to such a task." Flurry Heart said.

"...Your kidding right? Don't underestimate your aunt." Cozy Glow warned.

"I've brainwashed her entire friend circle, the entire young six, and the cutie mark crusaders. I have every card in my corner." Flurry Heart said.

"Card in your corner? Ah...I wondered about your cutie mark." Scootaloo said. "If I'm not mistaken, that's a card with the same picture as your mom's cutie mark." She added.

"Good eye. It's quite the symbol, isn't it? I'm a master poker player. Strangely enough, the strategies at winning at Poker only differ slightly to winning at Chess." Flurry Heart said.

"If nothing else, it is another big brain game. Kind of pairs well with my mastery of Chess." Cozy Glow admitted.

"Yeah those sorts of games fly right over my head. The two of you can have those scenes." Scootaloo said. She then took out a certain bell. "By the way, the Shadowbolts found it." She added.

"Yes! The Bewitching Bell!" Flurry Heart said. "With this, nothing can stop us!" She added before she pointed the bell at Cozy Glow before blasting her. It made Cozy Glow back into an Alicorn.

"I'm an alicorn again; yes! So much yes!" Cozy Glow said.

"And now you understand, I'm not worried about any last-ditch efforts by my aunt. I truly have an ace in the hole." Flurry Heart said with an evil grin. As Cozy Glow approuched Flurry Heart, suddenly the doorway was forced upon. "WHAT THE..." Flurry Heart said. Standing in the now broken doorway was none other then Twilight, but she wasn't alone: She had notable represnetive for the various races at her side. "HOW?! I DON'T UNDERSTAND, HOW DID YOU ESCAPE THE CRYSTAL GUARDS?!" Flurry Heart exclaimed.

"Funny you should mention that..." Twilight said.

When I got to the Crystal Empire, I recognized right away that what I was dealing with was dark magic. So I did a scan of the crystal guards themselves. Doing so revealed your lies to me right then and there. I had taken your lies at face value because of how well you sold it. After all, why would I doubt my own niece backing up Cozy Glow's statements.

I knew right away that my own niece must be behind this, as it would all fit then. But I knew that you both would've expected me to go for my friends or the young six to stop the combined efforts of the two of you. It was obvious to me from the beginning that my own niece was some sort of psychopath not unlike Cozy Glow because of what I learnt.

So I decided to do the one thing neither of you would expect: I recruited Ember, Gilda, the yak tribe leader, Nova, Copper, Celaeno, and even Tempest Shadow. I reached out to everyone I could. All of them were ready to help me.

"Which leads me to now..." Twilight finished.

"See Flurry Heart, I warned you that you should underestimate your aunt! Many a villain has underestimated her in the past. You really should've just seen this coming." Cozy Glow said.

"So, you managed to pull a card out of your hat that I did not forsee. So sad that's it's for nothing." Flurry Heart said before she suddenly summoned another one of her corruption hearts. "Want to know what this is? It's a modified mini-crystal heart that allows me to brainwash the minds of any non-alicorn I so choose to. Which means your army of supporters means jack squat once I activate this." Flurry Heart said.

"Tha-that's impossible? She's joking right? Please tell me she's joking!" Ember said.

"How about you see the results for yourselves?" Flurry Heart asked before activating her corruption heart which did do as advertised.

"Wh-wh-what?!" Twilight exclaimed.

"So sad too bad Auntie. You thought you could outplay me just like that? Unless you specifically block my magical signature by either draining me of my magic or kill me; either method works; then I'm afraid you can't stop my brainwashing. And it doesn't matter if you escape now. I'm so close to perfecting a version that does work on alicorns of my choosing as well. By the time you'd grab Celestia and Luna in a vain attempt to stop me, it'd be too late." Flurry Heart said.

Twilight gulped. This was it; she had lost. And there was literally nothing the purple alicorn could do about it. As such, she was promptly captured by the brainwashed representatives.

A few hours later, Sweetie Belle was redecorating the throne room with Rarity in the images of Flurry Heart and Cozy Glow.

"So Flurry Heart, I got to know: Was what you said about a Corruption Heart that could effect alicorns a real thing? Because I think you were bluffing." Cozy Glow said.

"Actually yes, I was in fact bluffing. But my auntie couldn't have known it was a bluff. She was so ready to accept there was no way out, that she didn't even try." Flurry Heart said.

"Damn, that was a smug trick you just pulled then." Cozy Glow said. "Clever girl, Flurry Heart; clever girl indeed." She added.

"Did you expect anything less from the Poker Master? Making a believable bluff is a part of psychology behind Poker after all." Flurry Heart said.

"Heh...I suppose that's true. And that's similar to how sometimes you make a move that looks like you're giving your opponent an opening, only to lure them into a cleverly hidden trap." Cozy Glow said.

"Yes, it is indeed a similar principle. I wasn't kidding that there are certain aspects of Poker that can be found in Chess and vise versa." Flurry Heart said as she leaned her head on Cozy Glow with an evil yet seductive smile on her face.

"Oh I can tell, you and I are going to have quite the rule from here on out~" Cozy Glow said, returning the very same smile.

Author's Note