“Right,” Sunburst nodded. “I’m in.”
Cadance smiled.
“This is ridiculous,” Starlight Glimmer huffed. She kept drawing the intricate circle in purified white chalk around the bottom of the floating Crystal Heart. “Just because she had a few bad days as a foal…”
“She chased me around daily,” Sunburst replied. “She always giggled.” His eyes went somewhere far away and he tugged on his braided goatee. There was a strip of white running down the middle. “I can still hear the laughter.”
“I know,” Starlight groaned. “I thought the cuddles helped.”
Sunburst’s ears wilted. “They do,” he acknowledged.
“From both of us,” Trixie added from her standing spot near the window.
Sunburst wiggled one of his hooves to Starlight, then changed the subject. “This’ll be a great prank on Flurry.”
“Right,” Cadance nodded. She paced at the double doors to the room. “Prank.”
“Then why am I drawing an actual containment circle?” Starlight asked. She shook the chalk in her magic aura. “This is the most powerful purifying spell in existence.”
“It has to look accurate,” Sunburst replied. “I taught Flurry the spells. She’ll stand in the circle, and I’ll go on my spiel, then Trixie will spray her with the hose.”
Trixie waved and continued to wrestle with the extended garden hose. The hose trailed through the slightly opened window, all the way back to the garden. Cadance had appropriated every hose from the crystal tool shed to reach.
“Your wife still thinks this is a bad idea,” Starlight grunted. She added the last dashes of chalk on the vaguely pentagram shaped snowflake.
“Your great and powerful wife concurs,” Trixie added.
“You’re not the great and powerful wife,” Sunburst added dryly.
“Trixie still thinks your anger is misplaced,” Sunburst’s second wife stated. She tilted her purple witch’s hat at Cadance.
Cadance smiled thinly. It was risky, trusting Sunburst and Trixie. They dressed up in capes and cloaks just like Darkheart. The lie of a ‘prank’ had been necessary to get their approval. “Oh?”
“Yes,” Trixie sniffed. “Why didn’t you hire a proper foalsitter? Or a team of foalsitters?”
Cadance opened her mouth, then failed to think of a proper reply beyond “Sunburst was hired on the cheap,” and closed her jaw with a clack.
“Trixie declares the matter settled,” Sunburst’s other wife nodded. “Trixie would spray you with the hose, but she is considerate and merciful.” Trixie angled the nozzle towards Cadance’s bandaged hoof.
“I’d like to see you try,” Cadance snarled and stepped forward in a challenge. Her boot squeaked on the smooth crystal floor. She lost her balance and had to flare out her wings.
“Trixie does not fight cripples.”
“Trix!” Starlight whinnied. “Apologize!”
“Trixie is honest.”
“You’re our guidance counselor,” Sunburst sighed.
“And Trixie guides foals to accept who they are,” Trixie said haughtily. “Including imperfections.”
“Is this why you never have repeat sessions?” Sunburst questioned.
“Trixie is that good.”
“Look,” Starlight set the chalk back into her saddlebags. “As thrilled as I am to be up at two in the morning, I expected a different kind of adventure for our anniversary.”
“Trixie concurs.”
“I need this,” Sunburst pleaded. “Just one prank, one prank to make up for the years of therapy. Luna laughed at me in my dreams. She adores Flurry.”
Starlight looked to the side. “You were never that good at keeping in touch. Did you ever tell Flurry how much it bothered you?”
“She knows what she did,” Sunburst hissed with a twitching eye.
“Statistically,” Trixie interrupted, “she does not. Many short-term memories of foalhood are forgotten.”
Her husband and wife looked over at the pale blue mare fumbling with the garden hose. It was tangled in the curtains. “What?” Trixie spat. “I can know things! I’m a guidance counselor!”
Cadance walked around the perimeter of the pentagram. Her hoof itched inside the boot. “What if…” Cadance began. “What if there’s actually evil inside Flurry?”
“Like magical corruption?” Starlight asked. “The circle will purify her. Anypony standing inside it.”
“And what if there’s nothing left?” Cadance asked softly. “A being of pure evil, like Sombra?”
“He’d never step in one of these,” Sunburst chuckled. “It would annihilate him if he did.”
Starlight gestured to the floating Crystal Heart. “Especially with the Heart’s power added to the rune.”
“Is it added to the rune?” Cadance asked.
“Why do you think I drew it like a snowflake?”
“It’s a pentagram,” Sunburst corrected.
“You called it a circle!” Trixie shouted out.
“That’s just the name of the spell!” Starlight snapped back angrily.
Cadance once predicted with her advanced Shipping Algorithm that the trio’s relationship would last three months and six days. The Princess of Love was convinced that Trixie had seen her calculations and became determined to keep the relationship going out of spite.
There was a double knock on the door. Cadance opened it and peeked out with a bloodshot eye, then stuck out her hoof. “Do you have it?” she whispered in a strangled voice.
Fizzlepop Berrytwist nodded under the hood. The purple maimed mare was wearing a full-body cloak. Not for evil, but for good. A box emerged from the depths. “As requested, Princess.”
Cadance accepted the small box and held it between her forelegs. The box art depicted a golden-armored alicorn waving a weird-looking chainsaw above his head. She flipped it over and looked at the price tag. Her pink fur blanched white. “Did you charge this amount on the crystal card?” It’ll be overdrawn.
“Oh no,” Fizzlepop chuckled. “I didn’t pay for it. It was in the store’s display case. The colt at the counter wasn’t willing to part with it.”
Cadance gulped. “What did you do?”
Fizzlepop licked her lips. “You said I could use ‘all available measures’ to retrieve another Primarch Horus.” She tilted her head and showed off the wicked eye scar. “I complete my missions, Princess Cadenza. No matter the cost.”
Cadance kept her muzzle still. “No witnesses, then?”
“Nah,” Fizzlepop shrugged. “I don’t want everypony to know I’ll autograph their Storm King merchandise.”
Cadance blinked. “What?”
“It’s all collectables now,” Fizzlepop explained. “My old signature as Tempest Shadow ups the value exponentially.” Her horn crackled under the hood. “Can’t just give it out.”
“Right,” Cadance said slowly. She eased the door shut. “Will you tell Flurry I’m here?”
“Of course, Princess.” Fizzlepop winked. “I’ll leave out who went down to the store.”
Cadance shut the door and held the box up triumphantly. Fool, she sneered. You’ve given me the instrument of your dark mistress’ destruction. She felt the urge to laugh, and giggled.
Starlight, Sunburst, and Trixie stopped arguing to watch Cadance rock back and forth with the box. Her giggles sounded more like hiccups crossed with snorts. Trixie held the hose protectively.
“Uh, Princess?” Starlight asked. Cadance snapped her head over to the mare. Starlight flinched at the bloodshot eyes.
“Yes?” Cadance hissed out.
Starlight waved a hoof at the Heart. “We’re…ready?” she said uncertainly.
Cadance walked around the perimeter of the pentagram-snowflake. Her boot squeaked on the floor. “We have to hide it,” the alicorn declared, then looked around the room. Her eyes settled on the long purple curtains hanging in front of the window.
Cadance’s horn glowed and she wrenched the entire curtain rod out of the wall with a dull crack. She flung the curtains down over the large rune, ignoring how the metal rod clattered down next to Trixie and missed her head by less than a hoof.
Cadance smoothed out the curtains with her magic. An ugly, purple rug right under the Crystal Heart. She nodded decisively. The perfect trap.
“Trixie was going to hide behind those curtains with the hose,” Trixie said, annoyed. She eyed the bat-sized metal bar that nearly crushed her head.
“Just use an illusion,” Cadance shrugged a wing.
Trixie pressed herself against the wall with a grumble. “Just use an illusion,” she muttered under her breath in a high falsetto.
Flurry Heart did not knock on the doors. She pushed them open and stuck her head through, blinking behind her glasses. “Mom?” she called out.
Cadance stood tall and tucked the box under a wing. “Flurry Heart.” If that is your real name. “Did my summons wake you up?”
“No,” Flurry yawned. She bared her unnatural metal mouth in an unspoken threat. “I was working on my miniatures.”
“I have something for you…daughter,” Cadance said sweetly. Her eyes tracked Flurry across the room. “A gift.” Cadance trotted around the curtain, stopping so that Flurry would have to cross under the Heart and directly across the hidden sigil.
“Okay?” Flurry answered. She looked at Sunburst and Starlight, then squinted her eyes at Trixie leaning against the window with the hose. Trixie whistled innocently. “Whatsh going on?”
“Nothing!” Cadance snapped. “Just three consenting adults having fun!”
“The hose is for cleanup,” Trixie lied on reflex.
“Ew.” Flurry stuck her tongue out. “TMI.”
The younger light pink alicorn entered the room and shut the door behind her. She was wearing a blue hoodie; it was rumpled and there were crumbs on the sleeves, probably from some late-night cheese snacks. The hoodie bunched up around Flurry’s barrel, not quite hiding the slight pudge. Her mane was a mess of tangled purple and blue curls.
Behold, evil.
“I saw you at the park,” Sunburst said pleasantly. “Quite the lucky roll at the end, Darkheart.” For one slow heartbeat Cadance feared betrayal, that she miscalculated, but Sunburst winked at her and smiled at Flurry. “Gordon’s gonna kick your flank next session.”
“Nuh-uh,” Flurry shook her head.
“You’re playing a squishy wizard against a paladin.”
“You’re a squishy wizard!”
“You are a squishy wizard,” Starlight added with a laugh.
Sunburst rolled his eyes and waved a hoof at Cadance. “Your mother wanted to give you a present for ‘Defeat of Sombra Day.’ Technically, it’s a bit late, but better late than never.”
“And why are you here?” Flurry asked. She hesitated mid-step. “Is this some weird talk about stuff? Like, an intervention or something?”
“She needed help picking out the right miniature,” Sunburst said.
That was actually true. Cadance had demanded ‘Primary Horse’ for several hours before getting the name from Sunburst and Starlight. She still got it wrong afterwards to Fizzlepop, but Sunburst managed to correct her.
Cadance unveiled the small box and flourished it with a wing. She took it between her forelegs. The boot made it awkward to hold. “Another Primary—”
Starlight coughed.
“Primarch Horus,” Cadance finished.
Flurry gasped and her wings fluttered. “He’s sho rare!” she lisped. “How’d you get him?”
“I went down to the store and demanded it,” Cadance declared imperiously. She tossed her head and bobbed her perfectly curled mane. “They dared not refuse.”
“You argued with Games Workstable?” Flurry asked in awe.
“Yes,” Cadance confirmed, having no idea what her supposed daughter meant. She double-checked the box and saw the logo, then nodded again. “I did.”
Flurry fluttered her wings happily and beamed at her mother. She practically galloped forward across the crystal floor. “I love you!” Flurry yelled.
Cadance smirked. Yes, be drawn by the doll. “And I love you,” she lied back.
Flurry skidded to a halt just before she reached the rug-curtain. Her wings assisted her on the smooth floor. Cadance snarled and quickly suppressed it with a wide smile. She held out the box and rattled it.
“It’s for you, Flurry!” she yelled with a touch of mania. “It’s all for you!”
Flurry scuffed a hoof on the curtain and looked away. Her ears wilted. Her glasses reflected the Crystal Heart floating above, humming quietly with power.
No. No, you foal. The trap is perfect. Cadance debated trying to drag her daughter to the center with her magic. “Don’t you want it?” she asked. “Isn’t this what you wanted?”
Flurry bit her lower lip. “You didn’t have to buy another becaush you broke it.”
Cadance was silent.
“I’m sorry I yelled at you,” Flurry apologized. “I love you, mom.”
Sunburst’s ears wilted and he drew a hoof across his throat, signaling Trixie to lower the hose. Starlight stepped back.
Cadance didn’t react as Flurry stepped on the curtain.
The doors crashed open.
“Stop!” Shining shouted. Thorax stood beside him with glowing antlers.
Flurry Heart turned around and screamed. She flared her wings out and covered her eyes. “OH MY HEART DAD WHAT IS THAT.”
Shining looked down at the latex outfit and zippers. “I didn’t have time to get changed.” He blushed as pink as his wife, but recovered and stomped a hoof on the floor. “Flurry, get away from your mother!”
“So,” Thorax began to Sunburst. “Funny story, I was looking to borrow some stuff from Shining and Cadance for later because I didn’t bring anything—"
“OH HEART NO.”
“—and I found Shining trapped in the closet,” Thorax continued.
“You didn’t say it was roleplay night,” Starlight said to Sunburst.
“It was meant to be a surprise,” Sunburst sighed, “but then Cadance showed up with the idea to prank Flurry.”
“Did you seriously choose petty revenge on Flurry over roleplay night?” Starlight nickered.
“Flurry!” Shining called out. “Your mother is trying to destroy you!”
Flurry had plugged feathers into her ears and shut her eyes. “LALALALA NOT LISTENING TO THIS.” She stumbled back on the curtains.
Trixie sighed against the wall and gave the nozzle a test squeeze. “All of you deserve the hose.”
Cadance flung the box to the side and howled with victory as Flurry Heart stepped into the center of the hidden pentagram-snowflake-thing. Now I see you as you are. “The power of the Heart compels you!” she screamed and jabbed her itchy hoof at Flurry.
Nothing happened.
“The power of the Heart compels you!” Cadance shouted again, with extra hoof-pointing.
The room quieted down. Even Flurry took the feathers out of her ears and stared blankly at her mother. Shining and Thorax approached from the doorway. Starlight and Sunburst backed away from Cadance as her wings spasmed.
Cadance looked at the curtains on the floor with a wobbling muzzle. “T-the power of the H-heart compels you!” she stuttered. Her hoof shook at Flurry. “Your evil is broken!”
“What?” Flurry asked.
The curtains ruined the sigil. In desperation, Cadance grabbed the edge in her smoky aura and ripped the curtains out from under her daughter. Flurry Heart flailed and landed hard on the floor with a yelp. Her glasses tumbled off her muzzle and there was a sharp crack of glass. “Ow,” Flurry groaned.
“Woah!” Sunburst shouted from behind Cadance.
“Don’t fall for her tricks!” Cadance whinnied. “Get an axe!”
Shining marched forward, as dignified as he could dressed in black faux-leather. “That’s enough.”
“Strike her down before she grows more powerful!”
“I said that’s enough.” Shining trotted across the perfectly functional rune.
“Flurry Heart is evil!” Cadance screamed to the Crystal Heart. It hummed quietly back.
Shining reached Cadance, reared back, and slapped her hard across the muzzle. With a hoof, that was indeed quite a powerful strike. She fell back onto her flank and blinked at her husband.
“You’re going to the doctor to look at that hoof,” Shining stated flatly. His eyes shimmered with rage. “Maybe, just maybe, a fever’s made you delirious enough to say all this.”
Cadance held her normal hoof to her cheek. “You slapped me,” she said softly. “You hurt me.”
“And you just hurt our daughter,” Shining replied evenly. “For what?”
Cadance looked over his shoulder. Thorax stood in the circle, perfectly fine, and helped Flurry up with gentle hooves. She blinked rapidly, struggling not to cry. Her glasses unsteadily wobbled back onto her muzzle in her golden magic, but one frame was hopelessly cracked. Thorax gave Flurry a soft hug.
Cadance looked over her shoulder. Sunburst and Starlight met her eyes with a glare, then trotted over to Flurry as well. Sunburst hugged her first. Trixie dropped the hose, but remained where she was. She narrowed her eyes at Cadance’s horn.
“You’re blind to her,” Cadance sputtered. “You excuse her evil.”
“She’s not evil,” Shining sighed.
“What else could she be?”
Shining braced his forehooves on his wife’s shoulders. “Honey,” he said calmly, “Flurry is a massive nerd.”
…no.
“She likes painting miniatures.”
No.
“She does well in school and plays O&O with her friends.”
No.
“She wins every tournament she enters. She even beat Pharynx.”
“NO!” Cadance roared and flung Shining back.
Thorax quickly transformed into a plushy brown bear and caught him before he hit the floor. Cadance stood back up and sneered at the gathered crowd. She struck a pose, flaring out her wings and cocking a hind leg.
“MY DAUGHTER IS NOT A NERD.”
Flurry, Shining, Thorax, Sunburst, and Starlight backed away towards the doors.
“I AM THE PRINCESS OF LOVE. THE ENVY OF EVERY MARE.”
Trixie blinked at Cadance, then looked to the metal pole next to her.
“EVERY STALLION DREAMS OF BEING WITH ME.”
Trixie picked up the metal curtain rod in her forelegs.
“I EVEN MADE MOTHERHOOD LOOK GOOD.”
Trixie gave the rod a test swing, standing on her hind legs.
“I MAKE ANYTHING LOOK GOOD. CELESTIA WISHES SHE WAS ME.”
Cadance reared onto her hind legs and pointed her bandaged hoof down at Flurry Heart.
“MY DAUGHTER IS NOT A FRUMPY…”
Flurry’s muzzle twisted.
“FAT…”
Tears welled up behind the broken glasses.
“FREAK!”
Flurry Heart began to cry.
“You married a geek!” Shining shouted back.
Cadance barked a harsh, deep laugh.
“I NEVER EVEN LOOKED AT YOU UNTIL YOU JOINED THE GUARD.”
Cadance jabbed her hoof at him. The bandages unraveled partially.
“YOU WERE JUST AS MUCH A LOSER AS SHE IS.”
Shining Armor shook his head numbly and held his daughter to his barrel.
“OH YES. YOU WERE PATHETIC. YOU WEREN’T EVEN WORTH MY TIME.”
Cadance sneered at him. Her teeth glinted in the light of the Heart.
“I ONLY MARRIED YOU FOR ONE REASON. ONE LONG, THICK—"
Trixie swung the curtain rod into the back of Cadance’s head.
Mi Amore Cadenza fell forward. She landed inside the snowflake-pentagram, and the lines erupted with white light. The pink alicorn screamed, high and loud, as the bandages burned away to reveal a black, crystal-coated hoof. Smoke leaked from her eyes as she writhed inside the rune.
Trixie stepped back and stared at the bent metal bar in her hooves. “I am the great and powerful wife.” She glanced at the crowd of shocked muzzles. “What?” she scoffed. “Trixie knows dark magic corruption when she sees it.”
The Heart thrummed with pulsating blue light as it added its power to the rune underneath. Cadance howled again, then began to laugh in a deep baritone. Her head twisted around with a crack to leer at the gathered ponies.
“Shining Armor,” Sombra laughed. The laughter shifted between Cadance’s voice and his own. “Your mother eats ice cream in Tartarus.”
“My mother is alive,” Shining replied with a scowl.
“It is too hot in Tartarus and it melts!” Sombra cackled.
“Let Cadance go.”
“You forgot to say please.”
“He’s trapped in there,” Starlight blinked rapidly. “We need the Elements. Anything.”
“Oh yes,” Sombra laughed as Cadance’s horn crackled with smoke. “Banish her.”
“Y-you can’t do anything in there,” Sunburst stammered. “The Heart will destroy you.”
“Which is why I am in Mi Amore Cadenza,” Sombra answered. He propped himself up with the crystalized hoof and gave Shining a sultry look. “Shame the Crystal Heart relies on positive feelings, hmm?”
The Heart above them flickered and the light emanating from the lines of chalk began to fade. Sombra stood up and smiled with a mouth full of fangs. Magic still crackled across his stolen body, but Cadance’s fur rapidly darkened. The pink deepened into the color of ash. Red and green smoke began to pour from her eyes.
Flurry Heart took one step forward and sniffled. “Mom?”
“Mi Amore Cadenza is mine now you little freak,” Sombra laughed. “Forever.”
Unnoticed, a lone tear escaped from their shared right eye. It trailed through the fur under the smoke.