//------------------------------// // With The Villains // Story: The Three's Redemption // by Melody Song //------------------------------// Tirek was sitting in the meeting room, twirling a ball of magic in his hand. "Whose is that?" Cozy Glow asked from beside him as Chrysalis came in. "The firehead's." Tirek replied "It was a treat, the Flare family has powers. Fire magic, to be precise. Fire magic is delicious on it's own, but this one had a touch of evil too. One of her parents must be evil." Tirek explained "I wonder which one." Chrysalis muttered "So do I. But she's holding it back, forcing it not to control her. It's a shame really, with her abilities we could overpower Grogar even faster." Tirek said, eating the ball of magic in one bite. "It would be nice to have another pony on the team." Cozy commented, and Chrysalis made a face. "Ugh, there's that feeling again, and I think I know what it is." Chrysalis said "What is it?" Cozy and Tirek asked "Guilt." Chrysalis spat "Eww, how come you feel guilty for those sentimental saps?" Cozy asked "Well...I...I think it's that I don't want Grogar attacking them. Why am I feeling this gross thing? Changelings don't normally feel anything" Chrysalis said "I know, so weird." Tirek agreed "Yeah, I think I feel it too. It's gross." Cozy said, then sighed. "But why do I feel like I should be listening to it?" "Listen to us! Having those ponies here is making us soft!" Chrysalis hissed, stomping her hoof on the floor. "We should avoid them." Cozy said, then heard voices. "This way? Are you sure?" came a pony's voice, and the villains backed away, so they wouldn't be seen and scare off the ponies. "Yes, trust me." a second pony replied. "Whenever you say trust me I get a chill down my spine." a third one said. "Oh shut it Rapid, at least we're going somewhere." said the first pony. "But it's Blunderlane, and it's not like he has a map glued to his face." the third one retorted. "That would be funny-looking!" another piped up, snickering. "Not now Cheese; Wave, Rapid, cool it. Thunderlane, are you sure you heard voices?" a stallion's voice said in an authoritative tone. "Yes, and I hope we get there soon." the pony, Thunderlane said. "Me too, I want to have Cadence and Flurry back." the authoritative pony was Shining Armor, apparently. "And I want Fluttershy back in my arms." came the unmistakable voice of Discord. "You gave us all that grief about liking some of the mares who were taken, but when you're talking about your crush it's okay?" a pony said "Clipper, it's not like it isn't obvious you like Rainbow, you can't get enough of her. And where exactly did she sleep the night before she disappeared? She never came into the sleeping quarters." a pony said slyly. "That's none of your business Fire Streak. And it's not like we do anything. For the record, she fell asleep in the rec room last night, I didn't want to wake her up by moving her." the pony responded. "If Applejack were here she would say this, so I'll go ahead and say it: you're lying." they recognized it as Spike. "No I'm not!" the pony said "Really?" another said "Don't you get started Fashion." he cried "Come on, where was she, really?" the pony named Rapidfire asked. "Okay fine, we were talking in my private room after dinner and she fell asleep. I may have...fallen asleep too." he said "Soarin and Rainbow..." the pony's voice-Fire Streak's-began. "Say it and you'll get chore duty for a week, and I'm not kidding." the pony named Soarin threatened. "Ooh, feisty." Discord said "All of you quit it." that was Shining Armor again. He seemed to be leading them. "Indeed, this isn't helping us find the girls." another pony added, and the stallions' voices faded as they went down another tunnel. "What's wrong with us? Why didn't we capture them? With the most powerful stallions and mares locked up we could take over Grogar twice as fast!" Chrysalis spat "I think...we should let them go." Cozy Glow said, lowering herself down onto her seat. "What?!" Chrysalis and Tirek cried. "I mean...would holding them captive really help our chances? It would only mean we'd have to obey Grogar and watch them in case they try to escape. And besides...they all care so much about each other. Unlike us." Cozy sighed "What do you mean? Those stupid stallions can barely last two seconds without fighting, you just saw it. How could they possibly care about each other?" Chrysalis asked "But...but that's what a family does. They get on each other's nerves, want to kill each other for poking fun at things like who they have a crush on, and at the end of the day, they still love each other. That's what a family is. Or at least, how my family used to be." Cozy replied softly "Used to be?" Tirek asked "Yeah, until my mom and dad started lying and cheating, got rich, and started ignoring me and my siblings. That's when my sister Black Queen started smoking and my brother ran away one day. His name's Checkmate Glow, he said he'd come back for me, but he never did. Then; Pawn Glow, my other sister, and my other brother, Bishop King; started bullying me. Our parents, White Queen and Black Knight Glow, didn't even care, they just cared about staying rich. Actually, that's why I started to manipulate, it's the only way I know how to act." Cozy said "You've never told us that before." Chrysalis voiced what the two were both thinking. "Oh, sorry." Cozy said "No, it's fine." Tirek grumbled, and Cozy shook herself. "It's not important, what I mean is that they're a family too. And they need to be reunited. Because mine never was." Cozy explained "Okay, but how do we do that without reforming like Discord and without Grogar finding out?" Tirek asked "Let's block off a few tunnels so that they're forced to take the ones that lead to the mares." Cozy suggested "But Tirek needs to keep the magic, or else Grogar will be suspicious. And we still have the Bewitching Bell to hide." Chrysalis objected. "How about we make a deal." Tirek suggested, and the other villains leaned in to hear his plan.