//------------------------------// // Cadance's Baby // Story: Flurry Heart is Evil! // by UnknownError //------------------------------// “Bow to your rightful King!” Sombra roared. More smoke and shadow than physical pony, the King of the Crystal Empire swirled around the Crystal Heart. Tendrils of black shadow slammed against the golden shield protecting the Heart from his dark touch. “You’re not the King anymore!” Shining Armor shouted up to the dark blob. The Prince of the Crystal Empire was still in his pajama bottoms, plaid cotton pants decorated with little golden guard helmets. His pink shield battered away the shadowy tentacles, severing them. “I will always be the King!” Sombra’s muzzle and smoking eyes emerged from the cloud for a moment. His burning red eyes poured purple and green smoke. He sneered down at the prince, reforming more tendrils of shadow. “Not anymore!” Cadance cried. She kicked open the doors to the Crystal Palace, flapping her wings above a horde of crystal ponies. Coats shining with renewed hope and joy, they knelt and began to glow, adding their strength to the Heart. “We finally filled out the paperwork!” Cadance added. “Impossible,” Sombra rumbled. The shadows shifted into a frown. “Old Ponish is long forgotten. You cannot have filled out the forms correctly.” “We couldn’t!” Flurry Heart answered. The thirteen-year-old filly stood underneath the floating Crystal Heart, scowling up at the dark mass attempting to break her golden shield. Her braces reflected the light from her horn, along with the thick-framed black glasses perched on her muzzle. “But Luna could! You forgot about her!” Flurry lisped with a smirk. Sombra paused for a moment. “I will refile the paperwork,” he decided. “You’ll be refiling it in Tartarus,” Cadance scoffed. She fired a beam powered by the sheer love of her family into the roiling mass of shadow. Shining stomped his hooves and the crystal floor erupted with light. Flurry dropped the shield protecting the Heart, unleashing its loving fury right into Sombra. The Crystal Heart exploded with light, banishing the shadows. Sombra howled in defeat as the smoky clouds burned away. Everypony’s coat glittered with energy as night became day for a brief second. “I will return,” Sombra vowed. His hateful eyes lingered for a moment, glaring down at the family that defeated him. Again. “We know,” Shining groaned. His white coat shone, partly transparent. He raised a hoof to inspect his mane. His bedhead had been fixed by the Crystal Heart, now a smooth, blue wave that complemented a neat blue beard. “Pointless going back to bed now,” he sighed. Sombra cackled wildly, somehow without lungs as the last of the smoke vanished. His horn fell from the sky, landing point-up before the Crystal Heart. The twisted black horn had a blood red tip that still emitted a small bit of smoke. Cadance landed, her own mane immaculately curled and coiffed, matched by her tail. “Citizens of the Crystal Empire!” she announced to the gathered crowd. “I, Mi Amore Cadenza, the Princess of the Crystal Empire, announce that the former King Sombra has been defeated!” She struck a pose, flaring her wings. Her pink fur sparkled along with her purple eyes. The crystal ponies’ enthusiasm was hampered by the fact it was three in the morning, and it was the fourth time that year that Sombra had been defeated. A few stomped their hooves and yawned. A few more exchanged bits, having lost wagers on how long it would take for Sombra to lose. “You may go home now,” Cadance added. “Tomorrow will be the fourth ‘Defeat of Sombra Day’ for the year.” That cheered the crystal ponies up. They enjoyed national, tax-free holidays as much as anypony. “Three cheers for the Princess!” a mare shouted. “Hooray!” “Hooray!” “Hooray!” The crystal ponies slowly dispersed, guided back to their homes by the Heart Guard. Flash and Fizzlepop saluted Shining briefly before leaving to spread the word. Cadance, Shining, and Flurry surrounded the horn, still emitting black smoke. “We only budgeted three ‘Defeat of Sombra Days’ for this year,” Shining pointed out. “We can’t expect them to work after staying up all night,” Cadance replied. “And he only came back three times last year.” “I told you we shouldn’t have thrown the horn through that mirror,” Shining answered. “Principal Shimmer just tossed him back.” “You said to get help!” Cadance accused. “I asked Starswirl what to do!” “He’s senile!” “I hate my mane,” Flurry groused. She desperately tried to undo the piled-up purple and blue coif with her forehooves. The Crystal Heart curled her mane into a beehive, and her tail was a thick swirl. “Your mane looks lovely like that, sweetie,” Cadance assured her daughter. “I don’t like it,” Flurry lisped. Her wings flared in agitation, accidentally knocking over Sombra’s horn. The horn erupted with a plume of dark smoke that dove towards Flurry. The cloud enveloped her before anypony could react. Cadance and Shining lunged towards their daughter, hooves outstretched. “No!” they screamed in unison. Flurry Heart was too old to be kidnapped again; Twilight would make fun of them forever. Flurry coughed and waved her hoof, dispelling the smoke. “Ew, gross! Horn smoke!” She stuck out her tongue and gagged. “It’s not stuck in my braces, is it?” Shining embraced his daughter, looking her over. “Are you alright?” “I’m fine,” Flurry coughed. She removed her glasses with her horn and wiped the frames on her frumpy blue hoodie. Cadance glared down at the sideways horn. The pink alicorn stood with twitching purple eyes. “You monster! Even in undeath, you still go after our daughter!” She kicked the horn with her bare hoof, sending it skidding across the crystal floor. “Ow!” Cadance nickered. She raised her foreleg and inspected the shallow cut on the bottom of her hoof. She kicked one of the jagged edges. She flushed with embarrassment; it was the only injury any of them had. Shining crossed from his daughter to his wife. He gently grabbed her foreleg and looked at the cut. “We got worse papercuts going through Sombra’s filing system.” “I know,” Cadance grumbled. “At least the crystal ponies didn’t see it. There was a bet we’d defeat him without injury.” “Whatta we do now?” Flurry lisped again. She blushed and repeated herself, carefully enunciating. “What do we do now?” “We might as well stay up,” Shining shrugged. “You can go back to bed, sweetie. You were up late.” “I will,” Flurry yawned, exposing her braces. The pink alicorn filly needed a full set. “I was asking about Sombra.” She grabbed the horn in her golden aura and levitated it back over. “Be careful, Flurry,” Shining warned. Flurry held it away from her at a respectful distance. “I just kinda feel bad is all,” she said. “He never does anything else. Always the first thing he does when he comes back is all 'Blargh, Crystal Slaves' and stuff.” Her voice deepened for the impression, but it was still squeaky and high-pitched. “Well, he’s evil,” Cadance said. “Yeah, but he could like, paint or something,” Flurry replied. “He’s a blank flank.” “He’s an undead abomination of eldritch magic,” Cadance said. “I don’t think he can get a cutie mark.” Flurry hummed. She squinted through her thick frames; they made her blue eyes look owlish. “Yeah, I guess.” “We’ll just put the horn back on the 'Sombra’s Horn' pedestal in the courtyard,” Shining decided. He took the horn from his daughter and wrapped it in a plastic baggie with a grimace. The pedestal was guarded by a rotating shift of guards that watched it at all times, equipped with a flugelhorn for alerting the Crystal Empire. It was the worst posting in the entire Empire, counting the frozen outposts with no indoor plumbing. Shining used it as punishment; there was an appeal to Princess Twilight that it counted as 'cruel and unusual,' but she refused to intervene. “I’ll take it,” Cadance offered. “Are you alright, Flurry?” “Yeah,” Flurry answered. She stuck her tongue out. “It got in my mouth. I’m going to brush my teeth and go back to bed.” “I’ll walk you up,” Shining offered. “Dad, I’m thirteen.” “You can walk this old stallion up,” Shining rephrased. His legs wobbled unsteadily and he staggered over to Flurry with a wide-eyed look of pleading. “Please, daughter,” he croaked out from the back of his throat. “If I fall, I can’t get up.” Flurry giggle-snorted. “Your jokes are terrible.” “And yet you still laugh.” “Lean on me,” Flurry smiled. “Old stallion.” Shining leaned heavily on his daughter’s right side. “These old bones won’t make it up all those stairs,” he wheezed. Flurry huffed at him and corrected her gait, easily holding him up with a curled wing and trotting away. Cadance smiled, then glared at the horn again. She shook the plastic baggie aggressively, making the horn bounce about. “You’ve done enough to our family.” She trotted to the courtyard with her head held high. “Sweeper, you did well to alert us.” There was no answer, only a light snoring. Cadance lowered her muzzle to the sleeping crystal pony beside the pedestal. His legs twitched and curled around his flugelhorn protectively. “Sweeper!” Cadance shouted, then blushed. She didn’t mean to be that loud. Sweeper gasped awake and jammed the flugelhorn to his lips. Cadance stuffed her hoof into the end and Sweeper produced a strangled note instead of a trumpet blast. “Oh, Princess,” Sweeper said in relief. “I’m sorry, just with the horn gone…” “You did your duty and alerted us,” Cadance replied. "I won't tell anypony." Sweeper looked to the hole in the wall from where the horn rocketed off the pedestal to return to Sombra. “Yeah,” he admitted with a bit of pride. “Does that mean I’m off horn watch?” “I’ll talk to Shining in the morning,” Cadance promised. “I didn’t mean to overflow all the toilets in the city.” “In the morning,” Cadance repeated with a strained smile. “Okay,” Sweeper nodded. “Thank you, Princess.” Cadance levitated the plastic bag over to the pedestal and set it down. The bag crinkled slightly. Sweeper stared at the horn inside. “Uh, should I take it out of the bag?” “No, maybe it will help,” Cadance sighed. “Yeah, I guess it is helping,” Sweeper admitted. “It’s not smoking anymore.” “What?” Cadance looked back at the horn, squinting through the plastic. “It usually smokes a little,” Sweeper explained. “It’s not doing that anymore.” It got in my mouth. Cadance staggered back. Her mind spun. She vanished with a crack of light and reappeared in a hallway to their bedrooms. Not my daughter. Cadance rushed forward, past her and Shining’s master bedroom towards Flurry Heart’s room. She began to gallop with wings extended. Flurry’s crystal door had caution sign on it, declaring ‘Mare at Work.’ Cadance didn't stop; she smashed open the door. It swung hard on the hinges and impacted the wall with a heavy strike. Not little Flurry. Flurry’s bedroom was decorated with several posters; mares and stallions in armor fought against monsters in all of them. Cadance understood the appeal of impractical armor and large swords, but the posters focused more on the combat and spells than the appeal of a skimpy barbarian stallion. Flurry had a large crystal worktable underneath the posters, along with several stacked books stored underneath. The table was covered in tiny dolls lined in rows; they looked nothing like the dolls Cadance grew up with. Instead of cosmetics lining her dresser, thin paintbrushes were stored in cups along with a dozen different hues of paint. The cramped worktable rattled from the door’s impact and several gray figures fell over onto the floor, breaking apart. Flurry reared out of bed, snorting and flailing her wings. She also fell to the floor in a tangle of bedsheets. “Gah!” Flurry struggled with the sheets, blinking rapidly. Her head emerged from the impromptu cocoon. She squinted at the figure in the doorway. “Mom?” Cadance stared at her daughter with quivering wings. “Flurry?” she asked desperately. “Mom!” Flurry shouted, annoyed. “What the hay? I just laid back down!” She levitated over her glasses from her nightstand and slipped them on. Cadance stepped into the room, but hesitated. “Are you okay? Where’s Shining?” “Dad went to talk to Fizzlepop and Flash,” Flurry replied with a furrowed brow. “He said he would, remember?” “Right,” Cadance said distractedly. “Are you okay?” “No,” Flurry grumbled. She tugged herself free from her bedsheets, shaking them off. Flurry had already combed her mane back to its normal unkempt swirls. Flurry looked to her table and she gasped, staggering over with unsteady hooves. “No!” “What!?” Cadance whinnied. “Tell me what’s wrong!” “You broke them!” Flurry accused. She levitated up several of the figures that had fallen over. “It’ll take me all night to fix these now!” Cadance blinked, looking at the disconnected tails, hooves, and legs floating in her daughter’s magic. “What?” Some of the parts looked like claws or weapons, but she wasn’t sure. "Your dolls?" “These are collectibles,” Flurry lisped. She was too upset to notice. She set them down in a pile on the desk, then batted Cadance back with her wings. “Out! Get out!” “Flurry, I came to check on you!” Cadance resisted her daughter’s pushing with her own alicorn strength. For a moment, mother and daughter descended into a slap fight with their wings. “I’m fine! Go away!” Cadance glared down at her daughter. “I am your mother! You do not tell me to go away!” She stomped her hoof for emphasis. There was a crunch and Cadance winced in pain. She stomped down on her hoof with the cut. Cadance raised her hoof back up with a grimace to see if it was bleeding. It wasn’t, but one of Flurry’s figures was completely shattered on the floor. It looked like it was an alicorn in bulky armor. “My miniature,” Flurry Heart mumbled, staring down at the pulverized pony with pinned back ears. “Primarch Horus still needed to be painted.” She gave her mother a murderous stare, wet with tears. “Out.” Her voice cracked into a deep growl. “Flurry…” “Out!” Flurry seized her mother in her golden magic and shoved her to the door. “I hate you! Get out!” Cadance tried to resist, but Flurry’s magic overpowered her and pushed her into the hallway with skidding hooves. The door slammed shut right in front of her muzzle and locked. Cadance pounded on it with both forelegs. “No! Flurry!” she wept. “Resist! Don’t give in!” She slumped against the door. "Don't give up!" “What?” Shining asked. He came running around the corner, still in his pajamas. Cadance flung herself at him, weeping. He embraced his wife, nuzzling her. “What happened?” “She said she hates me!” “Flurry? Why?” “It’s Sombra! He got to her!” Shining cocked an ear and listened for the flugelhorn. When it didn't come, he asked, “What happened?” “I just broke one of her stupid dolls and she screamed at me.” Shining sucked on his teeth. “Which one?” Cadance shoved him away. “What kind of question is that?” she growled. “Was it painted?” “No.” Shining’s ears pinned back. “Flurry kept her grades up and did all her chores to buy the new Warhammer miniatures," he explained. "She’s been saving up so she has a nice set for the tournament. She paints them herself.” “So?” Cadance sniffed. “How expensive could they be?” Shining told her. “What!? We let her waste money on that!?” “It’s not a waste,” Shining defended. “She has fun.” He gently guided Cadance back to their bedroom. “I’ll talk to her later. It’s been a long night. Maybe you should lie down.” Cadance didn’t resist, still sobbing. “She hates me,” Cadance wept. “Flurry doesn’t hate you,” Shining assured her. “She’s just upset.” “It’s too late. I was too late…” “Not looking forward to figuring out which one you broke,” Shining muttered under his breath. “Look, if it wasn’t painted yet, we can buy her another one. You can buy it and make it up to her.” Cadance rolled over on the bed, away from Shining. “Too late…” “Get some rest, honey. I love you.” Shining kissed the top of her head and crept out of the room. "She'll calm down." Cadance’s purple eyes stared at the far wall, replaying the moment she entered Flurry’s bedroom. Flurry squinted at her mother to hide her slit pupils. Her sharp teeth gleamed in the light. Wrapped in the bedsheets to hide her corruption. I hate you! Sombra hated. Cadance’s eyes narrowed and she dried her tears on a foreleg. “I will save my daughter,” she vowed.