This story is a sequel to Delinquent Debutante

There are many, many things Queen Chrysalis would rather be doing in what little spare time she has than making a trek to the frigid northlands - unfortunately, the intel she collected warrants the long, cold, unpleasant trip. Seriously, who in their right mind would capture a Princess ~ moreover, how could somepony capture a Princess?! With her day thoroughly ruined, she begrudgingly embarks on a small adventure...

Artwork by Corantus (Twitter @corantus)

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Two guys, sitting there, watching television.

This is what happens when you let your brain wander after writing a 140,000 word novel about ponies. Not a canon part of the Who Rules? Faniverse, maybe not even a slingshot part, but it was written and here it is.

I have no regrets. Except for all my regrets.

Thirteen years is a long time, yet old wounds have a habit of coming back to haunt those who bear them.

The Princesses of Equestria decided to spare the holdout villains, offering them counseling. Humbled from prison and asylum, shown kindness and acceptance where there should have been punishment and hatred, the last barriers of the unredeemed disintegrated like sand before a wave. Their rehabilitation fell under the auspices of the Princesses themselves, as well as Starlight Glimmer - the preeminent redeemed villain. The tensions of the past saw the Royal Family of the Crystal Empire sundered, but it also saw new families created in shocking arrangements.

A teenage Flurry Heart struggles to make friends at the School of Friendship, confused and angry at the divorce of her parents and their remarriage to the Crystal Empire's greatest enemies. An adult Cozy Glow struggles to forge a path of her own in a world that refuses to forgive actions she made as a filly. Chrysalis and Sombra struggle to adjust to life as domestic spouses, and loving step-parents to the youngest alicorn. Tirek struggles not to give into his hunger for magic. Everyone else struggles to accept this new paradigm, to forgive the final holdouts.

And, unseen by all, a final darkness stirs, enticing a filly with promises of power.

Alright, this was a project I was working on for... well, a few months at least. 10 chapters complete, I figured I'd upload what I have. It started as a simple fic about a what-if situation where Flurry Heart tries to adjust to her parents being divorced and remarried to the greatest archenemies of her foalhood, but evolved into a story about all the unredeemed villains.

Unusual for me, I've kept shipping to a minimum. I tried to keep the pairings as "canon" as possible, according to the hints at the end of Season 9 (AppleDash, FlutterCord, CheesePie, StarBurst, etc.) but I also threw in ShiningChrysalis and SomDance, which are pretty central to the plot.

Sombra pays Starswirl an overdue visit.

Written for the Rare Pairings Pillars Shipping Contest.

Thanks to Snow Quill, Holtinater, and Shaslan for prereading and editing.

The feared, legendary sorcerer Grogar has returned to Equestria, plotting to reclaim the land of the ponies for himself. To accomplish this, he has recruited all the villains who have rejected friendship, and now this villainous league will fight to bring down Twilight Sparkle and her best friends.

My take on the Legion of Doom. And no, Discord won't turn out to be Grogar.

Ghosts of the past continue to haunt Cozy Glow in more ways than one. Not only does she have to adjust to her fate with her newly adopted mother, Princess Twilight, but she also has to rescue her human counterpart from a coma, thus repaying an old debt. As she investigates why this is happening, she gradually realizes that she isn’t the only one who is recovering from a tragic history.

Note: This story can be viewed as a follow up to my earlier stories "Sky Dancer, the First Flying Unicorn", "The Shadow Queen", and "Here I Am" can even be considered an outright prologue to this story. None of these stories are required reading but be warned that this new story has major spoilers for those earlier stories as early as chapter 1.

I wasn't the most consistent fan of My Little Pony, in all honesty. In fact that show wasn't the only thing on my list of interests. For a long while I had left those colorful ponies in the dust. I practically missed seasons 7-8 because I had gotten bored. However... it was the last season that drew me back in. I guess I now know a bit about the show, but not everything. I definitely knew of Cozy Glow however. She was hated by everyone. Well, except me. For some reason I liked her as the mischievous little filly she was. Her character interested me and I wanted to learn more. I wanted to see what kind of history she had. Why did she decide to turn evil? She was probably the only reason I went back to previous seasons.

You could guess how disappointed I was when the finale came up. Instead of helping her, they turned her to stone. Instead of trying to figure out the issue, they left her behind to be forgotten. Everyone cheered and laughed while Cozy, Chrysalis, and Tirek were turned into statues for the rest of eternity. I was displeased. Afterwards I drifted away and instead tried to focus on my work. I had to, after all. I was becoming an adult. I was growing up. Though the stress might pile up on me, I had to keep going. I had to get things done...

I could keep going... couldn't I?

It seems however that the universe had decided to drag me back into a world of rainbows and magic. Imagine my surprise when I suddenly woke up the next day inside a cage in the deepest, darkest chambers of Tartarus. Not only that but also as the small pink bundle of feathers that everyone loathed and despised. A billion questions rang through my head but the most prominent ones of all continuously pounded against my skull: What in the holy hell do I do from here?
And how do I stop what comes next?

Inspirations:
The Tirek Who Tolerated Me by Kotatsu Neko
&
An Unexpected Aftermath by Autumn Breeze

[Note: This is half a self-insert and half not really. This character is different from me but does have a few traits from me as well. Like cursing, I curse a lot, but there are some traits here and there I don't really have.]

King Sombra has been defeated once again. Once Grogar resurrects him the second time, Sombra is forced to be a permanent member of the Legion of Doom. Although Chrysalis, Tirek, and Cozy Glow do not quite like Sombra, they do what they can to make Sombra a member due to Grogar’s forceful biddings. However, as Sombra starts to know the three villains personally, his perspective starts to somewhat change.

(This is set after “The Beginning of the End” part 2 MLP:FIM Season 9 episode 2)

It has been a hundred years since the elements and their bearers have disappeared leaving the land of Equestria in a state of disharmony. War has not consumed the land nor thrown into chaos that the princesses could not contain, but to say all is well would be a grave misconception. Crime is on the rise, darkness looms, pony society no longer hold the same values as they did years ago, the alicorn princesses can only fight so many battles at once alongside their other duties. And so they they watch on, helping where they can while waiting for something to turn the tides, to save the world from what it has become. Change was coming, but not the kind they wanted. Chrysalis, for years, has been scheming and preparing for her ultimate plan of revenge, one that could never fail even if it turns for the worst. Now is the time, everything is ready. All she needs are the players.

This story is a prologue going over some events before the audio project my friend and I are working on called Conquest is released; these stories focus on most of the main characters. Episode one will be released soon, so this was made to give more depth and insight into the world and characters before the main story begins. Because of this, there are certain details you may need to be informed about before reading, ones which could not be covered in the story and, hopefully, answer potential questions you may have. Some of these details couldn't be naturally written into the story and so, for the sake of not leaving the reader confused, here’s a quick few notes.

Conquest was written some time between seasons six and seven, certain details won’t be included or are changed to fit our own headcanon, what works with our story / what we like better, and anything that contradicts what we have that is introduced from now on may or may not be added (it could be added, but changed to fit our ideas). Here’s an example of what I mean: I hate how Tartarus is this one room or whatever with those mythical creatures and not a big prison with all these pillar islands harboring the most dangerous of criminals so guess what we changed that to? That isn’t to say it will play any part in this story, but knowing how Tartarus works is needed regardless because Tirek.

This means the whole thing with Cozy Glow never happened, the school probably didn’t happen and even if it did, would have no impact on the story whatsoever. Characters like Shining are well and dead, and Equestira Girls will have no part in this. As far as this world’s concerned, that mirror and world does not exist (Sunset Shimmer probably still existed since she originates from Equestria, same with the most likely dead sirens as what other option would Starswirl have had, not that it matters). Further more, we will not be taking much from comics except some ideas for backstories and the like, minor things if any as between my friend and I, we have not read enough to actually implement them and there are lots of un-explainable contradictions. And yes, the main six are dead, very, very dead; this will be heavily implied throughout. No resurrections, no time travel. Dead.

That is about all I can think of at the moment, if you have any questions, I will try to answer them or tell you to wait since it may come up in future episodes; dependent on spoilers and all. The last thing I want to do is ruin anything. Anyways, enjoy the story! I will be updating the description once the episode is released and putting out a blog for those interested.

Oh, and before I forget, Ilvaria and Griskal belong to my friend VChart920.