Cadance tilted her hoof and looked at the shallow cut. It didn’t hurt, or itch, or need a bandage. The doctors told her it would be gone in a day. Her bruising would fade within a week. A few welts were visible under her pink coat, and her mane was pulled into a loose ponytail.
The Princess of Love still looked good. She sat on her stomach beside her husband on their bed. There was a little bit of space between them, filled by the dented Primarch Horus box. One corner had indentions from her teeth.
Cadance’s Shipping Wall had been cleared, and the ceiling was covered in a thick coating of plaster. It didn’t match the crystal, but it was a temporary fix. Like everything, the pink alicorn thought.
There was a soft knock on the door.
“Flurry,” Shining called out. “You can come in.” He was naked, as was Cadance. It was an improvement over the faux-leather outfit. The white unicorn had also shaved off his blue beard.
Flurry Heart entered in a long-legged pink hoodie. Her mane was scrunched up messily in a ragged ponytail; the curls visibly struggled to escape. Pink-framed glasses balanced on her muzzle. They matched her fur, but not her eyes. Flurry stopped a few hooves before the bed. Her large wings twitched.
Shining shut the door with his horn. Flurry looked at him and avoided looking at her mother. “Hey,” she said softly, then visibly hesitated. “Sir.”
“None of that,” Shining said softly. He folded his hooves. “You know what happened at our wedding.”
“You almost married Queen Chrysalis.”
“Yes,” Shining nodded. “I almost married a horrible bug monster.”
“That’s a little racist, dad.”
“I’m not saying all changelings,” Shining nickered. “Just her. I hate her. She made me say a lot of awful things about Twilight, about her friends. I didn’t mean any of them.”
Flurry glanced at her mother briefly.
“She got inside my head,” Shining continued. “I felt awful afterwards. I felt like I could never look at my family again, not after all of that.” He leaned over and nuzzled Cadance. She looked down at the floor.
“She Charmed you,” Flurry said.
“There was nothing charming about her,” Shining said quickly. “Oh,” he realized, “like in O&O. Actually, yeah, a bit like that.”
“Maybe Dominate would be better.”
“Flurry,” Shining said with a slightly twitching eye. “On topic.”
“Shorry,” Flurry lisped.
Shining closed his eyes and exhaled. “It’s fine. My point is that I said a lot of things that I never meant under her influence. Do you understand?”
Flurry looked over to Cadance. The older pink alicorn still looked at the floor. “Yeah,” she said quietly. “He made mom say all that stuff.”
“Yes,” Shining nodded. “She didn’t mean any of it.”
Cadance looked up at her daughter. Flurry looked at her with misty eyes. "Really?"
All Mi Amore Cadenza needed to do was say yes.
“No.”
Shining whipped his head over to her. “Honey!”
“Not all of it. But some of it.”
“Cady!”
“Some of it was me,” Cadance admitted. “I’m sorry, Flurry.”
“Oh,” Flurry said. Her muzzle wobbled.
“She’s exhausted,” Shining said quickly. “We’ve been with the doctors for hours—”
“Shiny,” Cadance interrupted. “Please let me talk.”
Shining closed his mouth.
Cadance kneaded her hooves on the bedspread. “I married your father because he was a wonderful stallion,” she began, “but love is partly physical attraction. I liked the older nerdy brother of Twilight Sparkle, but I never thought of him…in a romantic way until he started to get into shape.”
Shining looked away towards the closet.
“He was different from all the nobles,” Cadance continued. “He kept trying to talk to me about O&O instead of trying to earn favors or marry Celestia’s niece. I never cared about it and always found other ways to roleplay.”
“Ew,” Flurry sniffled.
“When I was your age,” Cadance sighed, “I had colts wrapped around my hooves. I had magazines and parties and make-up and dresses. I loved Canterlot’s glitz and glamour. I’m worried you’re missing out on life.”
Cadance closed her eyes. “But that’s an excuse. I just don’t understand you.” Her wings sagged on the bedspread. “And I didn’t want to make an effort to try. I kept hoping that one day you’d ask me to curl your mane or paint your hooves or gossip about cute colts. I decided to wait until you did.”
Flurry was quiet. Her wings trembled against the hoodie.
“I’m so sorry, Flurry,” Cadance apologized. “I missed out on a lot of things.” She laughed sadly. “I do that a lot. I didn’t even realize Shining was getting bullied by the colts I was stalking—”
“Wait, what?” Shining interrupted.
“—until they showed off one of his notebooks.”
“I thought you said you found it,” Shining interrupted with a frown.
“I do get bullied,” Flurry admitted.
Shining’s eyes darkened. “Who?”
“My friends.”
“They aren’t your friends if they bully you.”
“It’s not about me,” Flurry shrugged a wing.
“What do you mean?”
Flurry looked at her mother.
“Me,” Cadance said softly. “I’m a ditzy, useless airhead, right?”
Flurry slowly nodded.
“No, she’s not!” Shining slammed a hoof onto the bedspread. It made a muted thump.
Cadance laughed. “It’s true.”
“No,” Shining replied, “it isn’t.”
“I am a stupid mare," Cadance shrugged. "The village I grew up in didn’t have a school. Celestia graded me on a pass/fail. I’ve only ever been a foalsitter and a princess, neither of which have many qualifications.” Cadance rolled her eyes. “That book I wrote was meant for high school.”
“Uh,” Flurry stumbled, “it’s for second grade.”
“Flurry, I can’t do your math homework. I’ve tried in secret.”
“That’s more common than you think,” Flurry pointed out.
“I haven’t been able to do it since you were six.”
Flurry blinked.
Cadance rubbed her hooves together. “And it’s selfish, but I am worried you’re missing out on things. You spend so much time in your room and playing around with games and figures. I miss when we did things as a family.” Cadance sighed. “I miss when I decided what you should do,” she rephrased. “I'm so sorry.”
Flurry Heart was very quiet. She sniffled and rubbed a hoof against her nose.
"I haven't been here for you," Cadance said softly, "and this was my fault. All of it."
“Mom,” Flurry Heart said, “Twilight’s in charge of Equestria.”
Shining and Cadance frowned. “Yes,” Shining acknowledged.
“You remember the Grand Galloping Gala we went to?” Flurry asked.
Cadance nodded on reflex, then hesitated.
Shining leaned over and whispered in her ear. “You got absolutely wasted with Celestia in the garden.”
Cadance blushed. “No, I don’t.”
“Itsh a massive book fair,” Flurry snorted.
“I don’t understand.”
Flurry rolled her eyes behind the glasses. “Auntie Twilight’s a massive nerd. Petitions need at least three peer-reviewed sources. Everypony in Canterlot’s trying to keep up with the Royal Book Club instead of fashion.”
“What are you saying?” Shining asked.
“You’re worried I’m not cool,” Flurry giggle-snorted, “because you were cool. But Twilight’s the Princess. Everypony looks at the Princess of Equestria for what's cool. Nerds are cool now. Ponies get bullied for not playing O&O. I liked all that stuff anyway, but I'm the coolest princess, like, ever.”
Cadance gave Shining a side-eye. He shrugged a hoof helplessly.
“Luna’s more popular now than she was as the Princess of the Night,” Flurry continued. “She moved out of Silver Shoals years ago. Celestia's still there, I think. I have plenty of friendsh. Friends. We hang out all the time after game sessions. It's like a party.”
“Even colts,” Cadance remarked. She looked up to the plaster on the ceiling.
“Yeah, and a lotta older fillies like to play colts in O&O,” Flurry shrugged. “Dunno why.”
Cadance pursed her lips. Snowberry’s a good colt. In another year, she’ll notice.
“Mom?” Flurry asked.
Cadance looked down at her daughter.
"I forgive you." Flurry Heart looked to the side and licked her braces. “I’m sorry I’m not the daughter you wanted, all pretty and pink and perfect.”
“No!” Cadance screamed and launched herself off the bed. She impacted her daughter and swept her up in a crushing hug. “Never say that! Never say that again!”
“Ugh,” Flurry grunted. For once, mother overpowered daughter.
“I don’t have to understand you to love you,” Cadance vowed. “And I am so proud of you, Flurry. I love you so much.”
Cadance nuzzled her daughter relentlessly, knocking her glasses aside. She caught them with a wing. “The daughter I wanted,” Cadance stuttered, “wouldn’t have kept her grades up. The only tournaments she would’ve won would be beauty pageants; she couldn’t outwit Pharynx. She could lead garden parties, not adventuring parties.”
Cadance brushed her daughter’s wet muzzle with a wing. “Don’t cry. You’re perfect. Just the way you are.”
Flurry smiled with her braces and squinted up at her mother. They hugged on the floor. Shining joined them after a moment. Flurry and Cadance wrapped their wings around him and pulled him to the hug.
After several minutes, the hug broke. “I promise I’ll go with you to the park,” Cadance said.
“You don’t have to,” Flurry insisted.
“I will,” Cadance promised. “I’ll have to take Shining along so he can explain what’s happening. And I’ll cheer for Darkheart even when I have no idea what's going on.”
Flurry blushed.
“But there is one thing,” Cadance said seriously. She eyed Flurry and poked the pink hoodie around Flurry's stomach. Her hoof sank into the slight pudge. “You’re going to go jogging with me.”
Flurry groaned. “I hate gym class.”
“It’s my fault,” Cadance said. “I tried to ply you with crystalberry pancakes too many times. And I’ve ignored all the snacks you take to your room.”
“Do I have to?”
“Is Darkheart pudgy?” Cadance asked. “She runs around all day, raising the dead or whatever.”
“Darkheart’s not real.”
“Your mother’s point,” Shining stressed, “is that your eating habits are unhealthy. So were mine, but I was rail-thin. I had to bulk up to join the guard.”
“I don’t have time,” Flurry crossed her hooves.
“If that’s the case,” Cadance said slyly, “you can go to the park and jog with me instead of going to the game.”
"There's time!" Flurry gasped. A bit of spittle sprayed on Cadance’s chest fluff, but she ignored it.
Cadance floated over the cardboard box. “What would Primarch Horus say?”
“He’s not real either.”
"Really?" Cadance winked at the stallion on the box. “He would tell you to conquer your daemons.”
Flurry uncrossed her forelegs and huffed. “Fine,” she groaned. She lifted up her hoodie and stared at her slightly pudgy belly. “Too much Pizza Palace,” she sighed.
Cadance’s eyes widened. She dropped the box, but Shining caught it with a hoof. “Flurry!”
“What?” Flurry asked with a slight snap. “I’m not that fat.”
Cadance pressed her hooves to her muzzle and squealed. “Cutie Mark!”
Flurry looked at her flank, where the Crystal Heart was proudly emblazoned. It emitted rays of white light. “Oh,” Flurry shrugged. “Yeah.”
“Sweetie, when did that happen?” Shining excitedly asked.
“Sombra,” Flurry said. “Trixie and Sunburst already congratulated me.”
“Forget about Sombra!” Shining smiled. “We’ve budgeted your cutie mark celebration for years!”
“Next time he comes back,” Cadance spat, “I have such words for him, but you’re going to rub that mark in his face!”
“Phrasing,” Flurry scrunched her muzzle.
“I can’t believe I’m saying this,” Shining admitted, “but I can’t wait until he comes back.” He pounded a hoof on the floor. "We're going to kick his flank!"
“He’s not coming back,” Flurry interrupted.
Shining and Cadance blinked. "I'm sorry?" Shining asked.
“The horn’s gone,” Flurry explained. “He’s not coming back.”
Shining and Cadance looked at each other. Over the whole emotional moment and breakdown, they hadn’t even looked for it. “What spell was that?” Shining asked. “We’ve tried to destroy the horn.”
“I took a sledgehammer to it that one time,” Cadance reminded her daughter.
“I invented the spell,” Flurry said proudly. “I based it off Dimensional Tear.”
Shining paused. “From Ogres & Oubliettes?”
“Yeah,” Flurry nodded.
“Those spells aren’t real,” Shining laughed awkwardly.
“They can be with a little math,” Flurry replied bluntly.
Cadance worried her lower lip. “What did you do?”
Flurry’s ears pinned back. “I was gonna tell you guys,” she protested. “I figured it out, how to beat Sombra, but he came back so quick this time.”
Cadance wing-hugged her daughter. “I’m not angry,” she assured her. “I just want to know what you did.”
Flurry raised her muzzle and slipped her glasses back on. “I’ve been thinking,” she started to lecture, “that Sombra was a lich this whole time. It explains the horn, right? It’s his phylactery, and it’s indestructible. Thatsh how he keeps coming back.” Impressively, Flurry Heart did not lisp ‘phylactery’ at all.
“He’s an immortal dark wizard,” Shining said slowly.
“Yeah,” Flurry agreed, “like a lich. But he’s not a lich.” Flurry smiled and showed off her braces. “He’s an Umbrum.”
“We know that,” Shining said, visibly not following.
“Dad,” Flurry grunted. “Sombra’s an Elemental, not a Lich. They’re entirely different monsters in O&O.”
“This isn’t O&O,” Shining responded worriedly. His daughter ignored him.
“The horn is a conduit,” Flurry proclaimed. “It connected Sombra back to his elemental realm. That’s how he kept coming back and reforming from the Crystal Heart blasting him.” She stood up and began to pace. “Elementals are weak to the opposite element. Like fire and water.”
“Sombra’s a shadow.” Flurry turned to her parents. She closed her eyes. When she opened them, her eyes were glowing again. “Light,” she intoned. Her voice echoed. “That’s why the Heart always burned him away, but it needed a little boost.”
Shining and Cadance looked at each other on the floor.
Flurry blinked and her eyes returned to their normal, owlish look behind the glasses. “So, I had to tear open the Shadow Realm and banish his essence back to it. The horn had to crumble within contained light magic to destroy the conduit.”
“You banished him,” Shining connected. He smiled, relieved. “He’s gone?”
“Yesh,” Flurry nodded. “I’m shorry I didn’t tell you guys, but there wasn’t enough time.”
“Oh Flurry,” Cadance sighed. “I’m so proud of you. He can’t come back?”
“No,” Flurry giggle-snorted.
Shining and Cadance smiled at each other.
“He’s dead.”
Shining and Cadance frowned at each other.
“What?” Shining asked.
“He’s dead,” Flurry repeated.
“I thought you said you banished him?” Cadance asked.
“I could have,” Flurry shrugged a wing. “I could’ve tossed the marble into the vortex. Instead, I closed the portal and smashed it. With the light magic, nothing's left.”
“What?” Cadance asked. Her stomach twisted.
“I smashed him,” Flurry repeated. She frowned. “I mean, he was finally powerless. And he possessed you. Thatsh mean.”
“Flurry…” Cadance trailed off, remembering Sombra’s final desperate pleadings. “You killed a pony.”
“Sombra wasn’t a pony,” Flurry scoffed. “Elemental. Totally different class.”
“This isn’t O&O,” Shining said absently. “This is real life.”
“I know,” Flurry said, annoyed. “When I kill things, they stay dead.”
“Why didn’t you banish him?” Cadance asked with growing dread. “You could’ve just banished him, right?”
“Yeah,” Flurry acknowledged with two shrugging wings, “but I wasn’t gonna let him live. Not after…” she stopped to think. “Golly, how many times has he come back?”
“Flurry, you killed him while he was begging for his life.”
“Villains always beg,” Flurry chuckled. “And banishment never works, not long-term. It just gives them time to think and plot their escape. Itsh lazy so the DM can keep using the BBEG.”
Cadance paused. “What?”
“Dungeon Master and Big Bad Evil Guy,” Shining explained with a distant look in his eye.
“Or gal,” Flurry corrected. “Inclusive.”
“You said you felt bad for him,” Cadance prompted.
“Yeah, but he had plenty of chances not to be evil,” Flurry said. She turned and showed off her cutie mark. The Crystal Heart fired lasers. “I think it’s for smiting evil, what do you think?”
Cadance opened and closed her mouth like a fish on dry land.
“I mean, I love Auntie Twilight, but statues?” Flurry stuck her tongue out. “Thatsh just asking for them to break out in the future and cause trouble. Nopony wants to clean up after somepony else.”
“You…” Cadance grasped desperately. “You spared the Sun Witch!”
Flurry blinked. “Huh?”
“Darkheart!” Cadance corrected. “Gordon was going to stab her, but you spared her!”
Flurry’s ears perked up. “You were watching?”
“Yes, and I saw you spared her from Gordon’s blow!”
“Nah,” Flurry laughed. “Killing her was just going to banish her essence back to the sun. Darkheart stole her soul. That’s worse.”
“Worse than killing her?”
“Yeah,” Flurry giggle-snorted. “She’s trapped in Darkheart’s staff. Forever.”
Cadance looked off at the Shipping Wall. One red string was left behind. It swayed.
“But Darkheart’s evil,” Flurry continued blithely. “She does stuff like that. Killing is kinder.”
Cadance and Shining sat on the floor, staring at their daughter. Flurry looked proudly back at her cutie marks and lowered the hoodie. “Smiting evil,” she sang with a lisp.
Cadance offered her daughter the dented and slightly chewed box. Flurry accepted it in her golden magic. “Thank you, mom.” Her ears pinned back. “You didn’t have to buy another.”
“Yes, I did,” Cadance said. “Fizzlepop went down to the store, not me. Thank her more. I love you, Flurry Heart.”
Flurry beamed as bright as the light magic. Her glasses sparkled. “I love you too.”
Shining still stared ahead blankly. Cadance nudged him with a wing. “I love you,” he eventually managed.
“I love you,” Flurry said to her father. "I liked your beard better."
Shining rubbed his white muzzle and sighed. "I'll regrow it."
“We should talk about your cutie mark party,” Cadance said. “We’ll probably roll it into ‘Defeat of Sombra Day,’ and we’ll have to do something special since it’s the last one.”
“Okay!” Flurry chirped.
“Let’s not tell anypony what exactly happened yet,” Cadance said slowly. “We’ll leave it a surprise.”
Flurry nodded rapidly. “Everypony’s gonna be so jealous.” She began to trot out of the room.
“When did you…” Cadance hesitated. “When did you figure all this out about Sombra?”
“After we beat him last time,” Flurry answered from over her shoulder.
“So, a few days ago?”
“Yep.”
“I love you, Flurry.”
“I love you,” her daughter said happily. “Primarch Horus needs to join his army.” She shut the door behind her. Cadance heard the distance trots beat out a rhythm. “Smiting evil!” Flurry sang in the hallway. "Gonna smite evil so hard!"
Cadance helped Shining up onto the bed. They laid on their backs, staring at the plaster on the ceiling. It covered up the prophecy that Prismia told her.
“Shiny?” Cadance asked.
“Cady,” Shining said eventually.
“Did our daughter use the rules and spells of a tabletop game to assassinate the former ruler of our empire in less than a week?”
“Yes.”
“Our daughter as in the one who can beat Hive Marshal Pharynx at strategy games?"
“Yeah.”
“The same daughter who leads adventuring parties with our two best generals following her plans?”
“Yep.”
Shining and Cadance stared at the ceiling.
“You know,” the alicorn muttered, “I saw a lot of the Heart Guards in the crowd at the park.”
“Just about all of them play O&O or Warhammer.”
“If Flurry wanted to take over the Crystal Empire…”
“Less than a day,” Shining finished.
"Poor Snowberry's enraptured by Flurry," Cadance hummed. “Prismia never said it would be my standard of beauty. Tricky little witch.”
“I think you might have been onto something,” Shining whispered hoarsely.
“Flurry’s younger than Twilight. It could be about her as well.”
“I don’t want to think about this,” Shining whimpered.
“She was born an alicorn.”
“What do we do?”
“Nothing,” Cadance flicked her tail.
“Flurry killed Sombra,” Shining reminded his wife.
“He was evil.”
“What if she decides somepony else is evil?”
“So far, she’s a good judge of evil, but I suppose smiting is quite permanent,” Cadance allowed.
“We have to do something,” Shining nodded.
“Does stopping somepony smiting evil make you evil by default in O&O?” Cadance asked.
Shining frowned and thought about it.
“When Chrysalis breaks out, I’ll tell Flurry not to get involved,” Cadance said ruefully.
Shining’s ears folded back. “That’s unfair,” he whickered.
Cadance laughed, high and dainty. “Don’t worry. Everything is going to be perfect.” She reached over with a hoof and held Shining's to her own.
“Our daughter is a wonderful young filly destined to overthrow us,” Cadance said with love. “She will reign as the Princess of Nerds. Her glory and splendor will outshine Twilight and her book fairs. She'll rule justly and fairly, and strike down evildoers. We'll get her into shape and she can take some guard lessons with Fizzlepop. Can't smite evil pudgy. Flurry will be thrilled.”
Shining stared at the ceiling with bloodshot eyes. “I wish you told me that prophecy before I married you.”
“Why do you think I didn’t tell you? Too late now.”
“Are we going to tell everypony that she killed Sombra?”
“Oh,” Cadance laughed, “absolutely not. We’ll tell Twilight that Sombra was banished. Twilight’s itching to try some villain reformation again. She’ll be heartbroken he's gone for good.”
“You know Flurry's going to go around telling all her friends she killed Sombra.”
“No adult will believe her,” Cadance chuckled. "Officially, he was banished. Means the same thing to a lot of ponies."
Shining sighed in relief. “Yeah, you’re right.”
Nopony will believe her, not until it’s too late, Cadance smirked to herself. She could hear music echo through the crystal walls from down the hallway. It was far, far too loud, but she hummed along happily and imagined her daughter singing while painting Primary—Primarch Horus.
“We come from the land of the ice and snow…”