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.
Well, these are certainly some interesting couples. Sad that Shining and Cadence divorced. Can't wait to see Sombra though.
Cozy as a Wonderbolt is a unique idea and so is Starlight adopting her. I take it that the trio were released and Sombra brought back shortly after the petrification?
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Actually, the point of the divergence is before Sombra is defeated. Essentially, Season 9 happened pretty much like in the show except Sombra survived and decided to follow Grogar's rules and was part of the villains betraying Grogar. After their final defeat, rather than be turned to stone , they're just thrown back into Tartarus. Starlight convinces the princesses to try and reform the villains in a more secure manner, which ultimately succeeds.
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I started the fic as an experiment on how Chrysalis/Shining and Sombra/Cadance could happen within the show, with Flurry Heart caught in the middle of the divorce. They are odd pairings, but they were the kernel from which the fic grew, lol.
Poor Cozy. Makes sense that she'd be so paranoid.
I do like your characterizations. Very interesting future timeline you have here.
I like your Sombra. I could imagine him acting like this if he were to be reformed. His enjoyment of comics is quite entertaining.
Yea, your Sombra is great.
I wonder if Twilight realizes how detrimental she's being to Cozy's mental progress.
I can actually see why Luster would grow to resent Cozy because of the association.
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I appreciate it. Personally, I enjoy the irony of having the Mad King be the voice of reason.
And they say Starlight was a Twilight 2.0. Luster seems to fill that role perfectly.
Well, this seems forboding. I wonder who that other mentor is.
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Its honestly oddly satisfying and a good way to show how far Sombra's come since his villain days.
Luster playing with forces you dont understand are never a good idea
Well, I have to say, I DID like the work that went into the exchanges and future chapter set-up in all the right places. And, yeah, I can definitely respect how unpredictable inspiration can be, but I decided to give this AU story a fair chance and I'm glad I did. I can definitely understand where both reformed-Chrysalis AND Teen Flurry Heart are coming from here. Yes, it is easy to see Chrysalis being extremely frustrated from the fact that she has so much trouble convincing most of the world that she has changed for the better (though she also acknowledges that a large part of that IS her own fault) and, yeah, I can also understand Flurry Heart blaming Chrysalis and Sombra for her parents divorcing (teenagers aren't exactly known for being completely rational). Though, at least Chrysalis is making SOME small headway with Flurry.
Anyway, on to the next chapter.
Again, the exchanges and future chapter set-up are quite well done. And, yeah, I DO appreciate you showing how much things can change in thirteen years concerning Cozy's characterization. Yeah, I can see where Rainbow would be in "try to teach Cozy a lesson" mode, even though Cozy is reformed in this universe and, also feel disgusted with herself for taking things that far. And, yeah, I DID enjoy seeing Starlight giving Rainbow a Mama Bear style earful considering Cozy's treatment. Though, at least Rainbow tried to suggest stuff that would be more appropriate for Cozy's skill set (which is intellectual rather than athletic), but kudos for Cozy NOT giving up.
On to the next chapter.
Once more, really good job on the exchanges, characterizations and future chapter set-ups in all the right places. And, yeah, I LOVED Cozy and Flurry's first meeting, the mention of Flurry in the book on forgiveness and that scene with Starlight and Sunburst. So, Stars is channeling a bit of her dad here, I see. :-D And, yeah, Cozy being an orphan not because her birth parents died, but because her birth parents didn't want her? Yeah, it doesn't excuse her actions, but I could see where it would be a subtle beginning to her Start of Darkness.
And, yeah, on to the next chapter.
Once again, great job on this chapter. The exchanges, characterizations and future chapter set-up are all well done in all the right places. Yeah, I love your spin on reformed-Sombra and the chat between him and Flurry was quite well done, especially with the compare/contrast between Chess and Hyperspace Hyperwars and Sombra mentioning growing to enjoy comic books. And, yeah, I could see Flurry reflecting on how Chrysalis and Sombra both changed for the better thanks, in no small part, to her parents; even if that change came at the cost of her parents' marriage; as well as POTENTIAL friends.
On to the next chapter.
REALLY good job on the exchanges, characterizations and future chapter set-up in all the right places. Yeah, I DID like the scene at Sweet Apple Acres between Cozy, Rainbow and the Apple sisters. As well as Apple Bloom's reassuring Cozy that her friends don't hold her past against her and Starlight assigning Flurry a dorm room with Luster and the explanation for that.
And, on to the next chapter.
REALLY good job on this chapter once again. Loved Cozy's chat with the CMC, especially with the gang's reassurances that Cozy's occasional dark humor was pretty understandable, Cozy's bit of backstory concerning the early days of her time with Starlight and Sunburst (while the former was pregnant with Luster), the mentioning of living in a sibling's shadow, Sweetie's reassurance that Cozy's ranting isn't half as bad as Rarity's and Cozy mentioning Luster getting a roommate.
And, again, on to the next chapter.
Again, this was a quite well done chapter with really good exchanges, characterization and future chapter set-up. Yeah, I have to admit, I DID enjoy Flurry's first chat with Luster as well as Flurry venting her frustrations concerning that chat with Trixie and Smolder being a bit sympathetic. And, yeah, while I can understand Twilight being A LITTLE paranoid and can see Luster developing a resentment for Cozy because of the family association, it is still excessive (the reactions, not the story).
And, on to the next chapter.
So, Luster was working on creating a miniature sun so she could study the magic behind moving the sun? Yikes. And, yeah, the chat between Luster and Flurry was great, with Flurry trying to reassure Luster that dorky and insecure works better for making friends than arrogance and Luster admitting she got a lot of grief for going up in the class so quickly and taking accusations no matter how hard she worked. At least Luster and Flurry are starting to bond SLIGHTLY. And Luster had a point about if the mini-star went supernova, she probably wouldn't be alive for healing spells to matter.
Anyway, really good job on the exchange, characterizations and future chapter set-up. On to the next chapter.
Excellent job on this chapter, once more. Yeah, loved Flurry chatting with her parents, Ember and the changelings about Luster and Cozy. As well as Luster and Cozy both making the realization that they each share a friendship with Flurry. Of course, I have to wonder if Spike is glad that Ember ended up with Thorax, jealous that Thorax got to Ember before HE did or a combination of the two. And, yeah, Flurry IS actually doing a surprisingly good job on defusing the situation during that get-together.
Again, the exchanges, characterizations and future chapter set-up are all well done and I'm on to the next chapter.
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Probably either the Pony of Shadows (looking for a new host body) or THE REAL Grogar. POSSIBLY Hydia (a villainess from the Generation 1 movie). Any one of those guesses could be wrong though.
All I can say is really good job on the exchanges, characterizations and probably setting up THE main plot to the story. Yeah, the chats between Flurry, Luster and Cozy were good stuff (especially the bits and pieces of light teasing and the stuff concerning "attraction admission"), but Luster's interest in pre-harmonic magic could lead to some REALLY bad stuff (and probably WILL). Yeah, definitely reminds me WAY too much of how Twilight COULD have turned out if she didn't have Spike to keep her grounded.
Anyway, VERY certainly looking forward to more of this, but I am quite willing to be patient.
I know that feeling.
Technically Tirek's eyes are yellow.
I assume you mean Cozy?
Flurry was? When?!
Kidding, although I honestly can't think of a time they offered Cozy a second chance (in as many words) at any point in the show. And you might want to fix that misprint.
Interesting portrayal. I do think the idea that Twilight's fears are making it worse for Cozy, is highly believable. Although there's always the possibility that Luster was simply listening in on something Twilight said, rather then something Twilight confided in her directly.
Understanding without sympathy. Interesting characterization.
Yes! Thank You Smolder, for saying that!
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Probably not.
True. Makes you wonder how effective this school actually is if it's become a house of gossip, though.
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Maybe Tirek? It's kind of weird that the author would have a powerful magic user and one old enough to possibly be aware of these magics, conveniently working at the school, and acting suspiciously guilty for some reason. It also wouldn't be the first time he did something like this.
Although (now that I think about it), Sombra would also have the age, experience, and power to teach her about such things, and his relapses sound destructive enough that this could definitely qualify.
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Ah yes. Thanks for catching those.
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Fixed. I don't think they offered her a chance in the show, but I like to imagine it was something that happened in the background. Doesn't make much sense for Twilight to offer amnesty to literally every villain except the filly :P
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I mean I would like to imagine she did so too. Unfortunately it's all head cannon one way or the other, and we can't be sure how things turned out.
Twilight had to have her spell books destroyed to prevent her from forcibly converting Discord by magic, she basically tried everything else to stop Starlight before talking to her, and there's a variety of minor antagonists she ignores altogether (including Trixie initially), so I unfortunately can't rule out the possibility that she just gave up on Cozy altogether in cannon.
But all my previous posts joking set aside, I have to say that I am really enjoying this story. It takes me back to a simpler time before Season 8 blew the lid on the show's many issues. For that reason alone I just want to say that I sincerely appreciate you writing this far, because it's been a enjoyable read.
Why did this word make me think of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band?
And this made me think of the Doctor Who theme song (for some odd reason).
*insert Seinfeld theme here*
This story is too friggin beautiful to put to words
This story is too good for words. Will you be continuing?
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So far, yes. I'm almost complete with the next chapter. Just been busy lately.
So NMM has been targetting Cozy? Worrying, but Luster's attitude is even more so. Hopefully she can be taken down a peg before it is too late.
All I can say is - wow. That was a quite-appropriately nerve-wracking chapter. But the exchanges, characterizations and future chapter set-up are all wonderfully done. So Nightmare Moon is targeting Cozy? Yikes. Though I DO really appreciate Luna having Cozy's back here. And Luna and Cozy's chat was beautifully bittersweet. As for Luster, yeah, something tells me Luster will be getting in over her head sooner rather than later and will definitely need both real friends and a major humility lesson. And, I said it before and I'll say it again, she definitely reminds me way too much of how a younger Twilight WOULD be if she didn't even have Spike to keep her grounded. Maybe Twi could invite Sunset Shimmer to visit Equestria and have a chat with Luster. After all, Sunset has been there (or similar places, at least) herself.
But, anyway, very certainly looking forward to more of this.
Interesting. I don't know what I expected but this definitely wasn't it. I can safely say I am curious to see what comes next.
This is how you professionally dodge a question.
Another beautiful chapter. Can't wait to see more! I still don't understand how people can write this good.
Luster is setting herself up to disappoint everyone.
Did I miss something? Because he really isn't
Ember's flame is pink.
This story is really well written! Amazing how the chapters flow into each other but each are separate. So easy to follow, really good pacing. Looking forward to more great work!
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Now that I think about it:
Everyone except Flurry.
*checks metaphorical watch*
.....Wait where did this thing come from? I don’t even own one of these. *tosses metaphorical watch somewhere off-screen then leaves to get my watch*
There we go. *checks my watch*
Again, a really good job on this latest chapter. Absolutely loved the exchanges, characterizations and future chapter set-up in all the right places. Absolutely loved Rumble trying to reassure Cozy. And that chat between Twilight and Cozy was beautifully bittersweet (ESPECIALLY with Twilight admitting she took her paranoia too far, acknowledging that Starlight and Rainbow have both confirmed very good things about Cozy, admitting that her relationship with Luster has gotten as strained as Celestia's did with Sunset and finding out about Flurry Heart's friendships with both Cozy AND Luster. Here's hoping Luster and Cozy DO patch things up in the end (though admittedly, it will probably help considerably having Cozy AND Flurry [as well as who knows how many other friends Cozy and Flurry will make] helping Luster out of the really big mess she is almost certainly going to end up in due to her ego and excessive curiosity).
Anyway, VERY definitely looking forward to more of this.
Hurray!!
I wonder what Luster's working on...