After considerable effort, Princess Cadance is pregnant.

Beset by fears and doubts, she comes to Flurry Heart's cribside to vent her heart.

Flurry Heart is deeply upset at this betrayal.

Written for the Cadance Is A Terrible Mom contest, where it took an Honorable Mention!

Featured 4/6/2021 - 4/8/2021!

Grogar's ancient machinations finally come together as he leads the Legion of Doom against Canterlot. Chrysalis, Tirek, and Cozy Glow want to rule for themselves, however, and intend to betray him as soon as it's convenient. Can Applejack, Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash save Equestria?

Other significant characters: Spike, Starlight Glimmer, Sunburst, Trixie, Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, Princess Cadance, Shining Armor, Student/Young Six. Spoiler characters: Windigos, Mean Twilight Sparkle, King Sombra.

Author's note: I decided to rewrite episodes S9E24 and S9E25 as if Grogar were real and the finale were a four-parter. This story takes everything up to and including S9E23 as canon, and took inspiration from a huge variety of sources, including the finale trailer (though it does not strictly hold canon to the trailer).

I give my deep, heartfelt thanks my kind editors and prereaders, as well as the lovely anons on /mlp/ where I've been posting the first draft. My deepest thanks of all go to triq267, who's been helping me at every stage of the story with ideas and advice.

Featured 1/6/2020, and again 1/14/2020, 8/3/2020, 9/17/2020, 10/3/2021, and 10/25/221! Thank you guys!

This story is a sequel to The Ending of the Beginning

The moments of our lives are fickle things. We never really know what moments we'll remember years down the road, and we surely have no idea how significant some moments can be until they're already long past.

For three former villains, a great number of moments occurred between their fateful meeting with the former Princesses of Equestria and their ultimate revenge on two callous ponies from Manehatten. Some moments were tiny, still others enormous, but there was one thing they all had in common; for this odd little family, they meant the world.

Step back and peer through the window at these moments, these scenes, in the lives of three creatures who united to destroy, but were bonded together forever by love.

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A collection of small scenes in the lives of Tirek, Chrysalis, and Cozy Glow between the events of the first and second chapters of 'the Ending of the Beginning.' They'll be written in no particular order, and put in order once all the scenes are completed.

Cover art borrowed from Flutterthrash

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Villain-Tines Day- "Tirek and Chrysalis have their first Hearts and Hooves Day."

Rules for Dating Our Teenage Daughter- "Tirek and Chrysalis have a heart to heart with one of Cozy Glow's suitors."

Mother (Figures) Day- “Cozy Glow has some questions about how Chrysalis really feels about Mares Day.”

Sixteen Tons- “Tirek gets a job.” Suggested by Animation Crusader

Pick On Somepony Your Own Size- “Cozy Glow gets some unexpected back-up when dealing with a bully.” Suggested by Ember Shroud

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year- “The family celebrates Hearth’s Warming with some of the friends they’ve made over the years.”

Progress Reports- “Chrysalis starts getting mail from an unexpected source.” Suggested by Frustration in Excelsis

The Sound of Little Hooves- “Chrysalis has something very important to discuss with her husband.” Suggested by K9Thefirst1

The Imitation Game- “Chrysalis has mixed feelings about Cozy Glow’s choice in Nightmare Night attires.” Suggested by Vaguely Demented

We Need to Talk About Cozy- “Chrysalis attends her first parent-teacher conference.” Suggested by Animation Crusader

Upcoming Chapters;

Sleepovers 101- “Cozy Glow has Lily Vine and Mustard Seed over for her very first sleepover. Tirek and Chrysalis are unsure what to do.” Suggested by Green Cuppa

Decisions, Decisions- “Cozy Glow can’t decide what university to attend. Tirek and Chrysalis have an idea, but it comes with a heavy price.” Suggested by Wisp_of_a_Willow

Neigh-Borhood Watch- “The family’s neighbors debate their true intentions.” Suggested by ppg1998

The Chrysalis Revenge Squad- “The family is visited by three mares who don’t believe they’ve changed.” Suggested by ruthim345, bottleH2O, and Razzy.

Important notice: This is not in the same universe as Maternal Instinct.

Years after the failed invasion of Canterlot, Queen Chrysalis has grown indolent and inept in running her kingdom. However, she grows concerned when she no longer senses the love and adoration of her subjects. Her advisors proving unhelpful, she goes seeking the council of what many would consider the most unexpected sources...

Picture courtesy of Yula568

This story is a sequel to Changeling Courtship Rituals

Queen Chrysalis attacked Canterlot, brainwashed Twilight Sparkle's brother, kidnapped her former foalsitter, defeated her mentor in combat, and conquered her kingdom. She kidnapped the sisters of Twilight's friends, turned them against one another, and tried to drain all of Twilight's magic. Queen Chrysalis has, at every opportunity, done her very best to utterly destroy Twilight Sparkle's life.

For some reason, this has not caused the pony to fall in love with her.

However, due to Twilight's misunderstanding of changeling customs, it does mean they are now married. Twilight eventually managed to tell the Queen the truth, but she forgot that whether it's a kingdom or a heart, changelings conquer.

And since the changeling way of conquest didn't work, Chrysalis is determined to try the pony way. The only problem is, of course, she has no idea what that is. But she knows someone who does: Princess Cadance.

Now, with the absolutely sincere help of her mortal enemy, the pony she once locked in the caves beneath Canterlot while trying to steal her husband on their very wedding day, Queen Chrysalis is going to woo the sister-in-law of that very pony.

Surely this is the most perfect plan ever devised.

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Proofread by ShutterflyYay.

Takes place roughly after season five (so Starlight Glimmer is running around occasionally)

For years, Twilight Sparkle and Queen Chrysalis have been at each other's throats. Both have experienced victory over the other, and both have experienced defeat. Out of all the creatures in Equestria, none despise each other the way the pony Princess and changeling Queen do. They seemed destined to remain locked in battle forever, or at least until one is finally dead at the hooves of the other. The cruel insults, the vicious loathing, and the powerful spells that have passed back and forth between them at each meeting have become the stuff of legend.

Imagine Twilight's surprise when she finds out changelings consider this dating.

And now they're married.

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Sequel: Pony Courtship Rituals

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Some beautiful fanart of the end of chapter three was done by Dmann892; you can see it here.

More awesome fanart, this time from chapter one.

Now with a TvTropes page (obligatory TvTropes warning goes here).

If you want a Russian translation, you can find it here.

There is now a reading of the story on Youtube, which starts here.