• Published 10th Jan 2021
  • 4,115 Views, 130 Comments

Flurry Heart's Story: Villains Anonymous - AleximusPrime



Princess Twilight Sparkle tasks Fluttershy, Discord, Spike and Flurry Heart with reforming an unexpectedly repentant Lord Tirek, who is holding a dark secret about his motives.

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Chapter 3

Tirek waited inside Fluttershy’s cottage, carelessly munching on a biscuit as he sat on the ground. Across from him, Fluttershy, Flurry and Spike sat on a couch, watching him carefully. Discord was not around because he needed to fetch the special visitors from Villains Anonymous.

“How much longer must we wait?” Tirek asked.

“Discord will be back, Tirek. He just needs to check and see which members of Villains Anonymous are available right now.” Fluttershy replied.

“Should I just send a scroll to Ember and see if Garble wants to join in?” Spike asked.

“I’m guessing Discord’s already gotten to him, Spike.” Fluttershy replied.

“I mean who in Equestria are we even going to talk to? A pack of windigoes?” Tirek asked sarcastically.

“Windigoes?! Pfff, as if!” Spike laughed.

“Technically windigoes aren’t even living creatures.” Flurry added. “They’re spiritual beings that feed off of negative emotions and can’t be reformed because they consist of pure evil.”

“That’s right, but we know you started off good, Tirek, so we’ll do the best we can to return you to that time in your life.” Fluttershy said, sweetly.

“You fools don’t know anything about my past.” he replied with anger in his voice.

Suddenly, a flash of light appeared in the middle of the room and Discord appeared.

“Sorry for the wait, everyone.” he said. “Unfortunately Luna, Garble, Gilda, Diamond Tiara, Silver Spoon, Stygian, Pharynx, Flim, Flam, Caballeron and Ahuizotl are all a bit busy, but I managed to secure three special guests. Just the perfect amount for Tirek!”

“It’s about time.” Tirek said, getting up and stretching.

Discord snapped his fingers and suddenly they were all in a small auditorium with a stage up front and a podium in the center. Behind the podium was a banner that read "VILLAINS ANONYMOUS: UNITY SERVICE REFORMATION". Tirek looked around, perplexed.

“What? Where is this?” he asked.

“This is the meetup hall for VA! We have a newcomer, everyone! Say hi to Lord Tirek!”

Tirek turned around to see an audience seated in chairs. They were all just duplicates of Discord, dressed differently. They all appeared rather delinquent and rebellious. One of them was drinking milk out of an entire carton and was wearing worn-out clothes and had five o’ clock shadow on his lower face. Another one was dressed like a female and had black eye makeup, piercings, and studded apparel. Another was wearing a leather jacket and fingerless gloves and was sitting with his feet rested on top of the chair in front of him. The last one had regular clothes but was using a cell phone, constantly pressing buttons as he stared intently at it.

“AHEM!” Discord said to the crowd.

“Yay. Go us.” said the one in the leather jacket, pumping his fist in the air, nonchalantly.

“Oh my gawsh, like, do we have to sit with this loser? I can’t even!” the goth female added.

“Hey, now let’s all be respectful to Tirek.” Discord told his duplicates. “He’s already told Princess Twilight he’s sorry and he’s agreed to be part of VA.”

“Whatever. Let’s just get this over with.” said the duplicate with the cell phone.

“Yeah, the Ponyville Tavern closes soon. Hehehe.” said the disheveled one, before guzzling down the entire milk carton in his hand.

“Sorry about them. They can be a bit of a handful.” Discord whispered to Tirek. “You there, put your feet down from that chair so Tirek can sit in it.”

The duplicate in the leather jacket rolled his eyes and put his feet down. Tirek walked slowly over to the chair and sat in it, trying to not make eye contact with anyone. Off to the side, Flurry, Fluttershy, and Spike were still seated in the couch in Fluttershy’s cottage from earlier. They watched intently as Discord teleported to the top of the stage behind the podium and began to speak into the microphone.

“Alright, check…check…is this thing on? Hello everyone! I’m so glad you could all make it for another session of Villains Anonymous! We’re going to pretty much do the usual today as we have only one newcomer, but I’ve brought back a few familiar faces! Give it up for Sunset Shimmer, Starlight Glimmer, and Trix…er, THE GRRREAT AND POWERFUL TRIXIE!!”

A small object flew out on stage and landed on the ground until it exploded into a puff of smoke next to Discord. Tirek could just barely make out the silhouette of a pony rushing out on stage behind the smoke to make it look like she had magically appeared. As the smoke cleared, a blue unicorn appeared with her front hooves in the air. She had light blue hair and a cutie mark of a magic wand. Her hair was done up in two ponytails and was wearing a purple hooded sweatshirt with colorful stars printed on it. On the other side of the stage, Starlight Glimmer walked out, followed by a yellow unicorn mare with red and yellow hair. Her eyes were a bright shade of green and she was wearing a green buttoned shirt and some glasses. Her cutie mark was a fiery sun emblem. This was Sunset Shimmer, an old friend of Twilight Sparkle’s who spent a while in an alternate dimension beyond a magical mirror, learning her own lessons about friendship.

The three unicorns walked to the center of the stage in front of Discord’s podium and bowed politely. Discord’s duplicates in the audience clapped without much emotion while Flurry, Spike and Fluttershy cheered them on. Tirek just continued to sit and wait for something interesting to happen. He didn’t feel comfortable being around more ponies he didn’t know, though he suddenly realized that Starlight was the pony that helped Twilight and the others inside the crystal caverns after he, Cozy Glow, and Chrysalis took over Canterlot. He didn’t recognize Trixie or Sunset at all.

“Tirek, these three lovely ladies are the co-founders of Villains Anonymous. The four of us helped put it together a few years ago and we do most of the managing.” Discord explained.

“That’s great to know.” Tirek said.

“We’re happy to have you here, Tirek.” Starlight said. “I’m quite certain you recognize me.”

“Yes, you’re that powerful unicorn that Chrysalis can’t shutup about.”

“Yeah, she hasn’t exactly gotten over how I turned her hive against her. Anyway, Trixie, Sunset and I are going to just give some little life stories to show you how we do it here when we introduce ourselves. Sunset, why don’t you go first.”

Discord teleported down into one of the empty seats with a box of popcorn in his hands. Sunset walked behind the podium, while Trixie and Starlight stood off to the side.

“Hello, everyone. I’m Sunset Shimmer…” she began.

“Hi Sunset.” the Discords all said in unison.

“…and I’m a former villain. I started off much like our grand princess Twilight Sparkle did: I loved studying and I wanted to learn a lot about magic. Unfortunately, I was pretty arrogant and tried a little too hard to impress my mentor, Princess Celestia. After she caught me studying dark magic in the restricted section of the Canterlot Library one night, she had me expelled, but I wound up escaping into a magic mirror that leads to an alternate dimension. I spent quite a bit of time plotting revenge in there, and I nearly got it when I stole Twilight’s Element of Magic crown. Once I had it, I put it on and I felt a surge of power through my whole body that transformed me into a horrible demon. I nearly went through the mirror to attack Equestria, but Twilight and her friends all stopped me by using the power of the Elements in themselves. After the demon was exorcized, I immediately knew what I had done was wrong, and I accepted my punishment to help repair the damage I did in that world. I was there for several years until I finally decided to come back after going through quite a lot of wacky adventures with my friends in that realm. I made amends with old friends of mine and Celestia forgave me. It took some time to get used to being back in this world as a pony again, but I readjusted rather well and was permitted back into the School for Gifted Unicorns where I eventually became a teacher. I’m still working there to this day and am dating the first lieutenant of the Canterlot Guard, Flash Sentry. In closing: I owe it all to Twilight and her friends for helping to change me and give me a second chance. I was selfish when I was younger and thought I could just have everything to myself if I just got my hooves…or rather, hands on that sweet crown, but once I had the power I desired, I could already feel the pain from the demon within that was taking hold of me. If it weren’t for Twilight Sparkle, I probably would have invaded Equestria with an army of brainwashed souls and taken over long ago. My adventures have taught me much, and I’m happy to be where I am now with Villains Anonymous. Thank you.”

Sunset bowed her head and everyone except Tirek clapped and cheered for them while the Discord duplicates just clapped rather lazily. Sunset stepped aside and let Trixie start her story.

“Ahem. Hello, friends. My name is Trixie…”

“Hi Trixie.”

“…and I’m a former villain. Ever since I was a little filly, I always wanted to be a stage magician like my father. I admit I was a bit bigheaded though and my pride got the best of me when I decided it would be a good idea to nab the Alicorn Amulet and use its power to take over Ponyville and enslave the whole town. Well much like Sunset, I also felt a strange power when I put that thing on that caused me to go a little wacky. I did some things I wouldn’t have done without the Amulet and I felt really bad once they got me to remove it and I realized what was happening. I said I was sorry to Twilight, but it did take some time for me to fix my already-tarnished reputation. It was a rough transition, but things were better when I befriended Starlight Glimmer…”

A few minutes passed as the ponies told their speeches. Tirek was barely paying any attention to them and slowly began to nod off while Discord continued to eat his popcorn, which had already transformed into small jelly-beans without him noticing. Starlight finally got to the end of her speech.

“…and that’s when Twilight asked me to become the new headmare of the school. I had a hard time picking an assistant. It was originally going to be Trixie, but we agreed she’d make a better guidance counselor and Sunburst became the vice principal. After Twilight was crowned the grand princess, I spent the next eight years in charge of the school: the most responsible job I’ve ever had. Sunburst, Trixie and I have gone through a lot with that school and it’s been such a fantastic experience. I think we’re really making progress, spreading the magic of friendship by teaching it to these students, and our new teachers are amazing too. I also owe it all to Twilight and her friends. Without her we’d-“

Starlight was interrupted by a loud snoring sound coming from the audience. Discord stopped eating and looked to the side to see Tirek with his head leaning back in his seat and his mouth wide open. The casually-dressed duplicate was giggling behind his hand while filming Tirek with his cell phone.

“Oh dear. Tirek? TIREK!” Discord said as he began to snap his fingers in front of Tirek’s face until he woke up.

“Huh…what?!” Tirek said, rubbing his eyes.

“For the love of Twilight! How long were you sleeping?”

“I don’t know. I heard some of the yellow one’s speech and then I dozed off.”

Discord smacked his face with his lion paw and pulled down, causing his whole head to stretch like rubber.

“UUUUUGH!”

“Discord, maybe we should just let Tirek do the talking now, don’t you think?” Starlight said.

“Alright fine. Up you go, Tirek. Tell us your story.” Discord said to him.

“What?! My story?!”

“You can do it, Tirek! We believe in you!” Trixie cheered.

“Why would you want to hear my story? I’m a villain. There’s nothing good about me.”

“Actually we always give everyone their chance to tell a story even if they don’t have anything good to say about their lives. That’s the whole point of Villains Anonymous: so that one day you may have something good to report on.” Sunset explained.

“No.”

Tirek just sat in his chair and crossed his arms, refusing to budge.

“Alright, that’s it. Time to bring in the big guns.” Discord said as he teleported himself and Tirek onto the stage.

“WHOA! What are you doing?” Tirek asked.

“Just calling in a friend to help get you motivated.”

Discord snapped his fingers, and a tall, muscular, blue minotaur with sharp, curved horns appeared before them. He was wearing a black tie around his neck and a ring on his nose like Tirek. He had a barbell in his one hand that he was lifting over and over again as he counted out loud.

“One hundred fifty-seven, one hundred fifty-eight, one hundred fif…what the?! DISCORD!! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!” the minotaur shouted in a loud, demanding voice.

“Hey Iron Will. We just really needed your help with another VA session. Hope I wasn’t interrupting anything.” Discord said, nervously.

“Of course you interrupted something! I’m in the middle of a very important workout, trying to turn this six-pack INTO A TWELVE-PACK!!!”

Iron Will got up in Discord’s face and snorted air out of his nostrils.

“Okay, but we’ve got a bit of a situation. See, our newest member…well, take a look.” Discord said, pointing to Tirek.

“WHOA! Is…is that who I think it is?!” Iron Will said, surprised. “Well this changes everything then!”

“Wait, so there are minotaurs in Equestria now?” Tirek asked. “How? I figured they wouldn’t mix with ponies very well considering Equestria’s rather dicey history with the minotaurs.”

“Oh, that was just the ice minotaurs, and that was like about two-thousand years ago back when I was an…um…back when I was a little younger.” Discord replied.

“TIREK! FRIEND! BROTHER! This fellow ‘taur’ is here for you!” Iron Will said, wrapping his large muscular arm around Tirek, bringing him closer to him. “Look, I know you’ve done some crazy things in the past, but hey, we can make you a completely new centaur!”

“Uh…okay?” Tirek said.

“Trust me, I can relate. I jumped from profession to profession back then, running some shady businesses until Discord convinced me to join VA. Not exactly on par with trying to absorb everyone’s magic and take over Equestria, but it matters not, for our sins are all equal in the eyes of our benevolent Princess Twilight Sparkle!”

“Blah blah blah, I get it! You fools are all reformed now! Can I just give my speech so you’ll all shutup?!”

“Er, of course. The podium’s all yours.”

Iron Will stepped aside and Tirek walked behind the podium. Discord, Iron Will, and the unicorns all stood off to the side and eagerly waited for Tirek to start his speech. Tirek wasn’t familiar with modern technology, but he already knew he had to speak into the microphone so he pulled it in a little closer to him, rested his hands on the podium, and began to speak.

“My name is Tirek…”

“Hi Tirek.”

“…and I’m a villain.”

Fluttershy, Flurry, and Spike all appeared attentive while the Discord duplicates continued to not look very thrilled. Still not quite convinced that this is what he wanted to do, he took a deep breath while rolling his eyes and continued.

“Look, I don’t have much to say so let’s just skip to the part in my life where I started giving you all trouble: my brother and I came to Equestria one day and found it had been taken over by Discord. We originally wanted to negotiate with the King and Queen to help out our needy kingdom, but we decided to make allies with Discord instead and then secretly betray him. Yes, contrary to what you all believe, we didn’t have bad intentions at first; we were going to save Equestria. Well when we came back, everything was back to normal and Discord was turned to stone. To make a long story short, I stole magic, the ponies defeated me, I spent over a thousand years in Tartarus, and so on and so forth. I still don’t know what caused Cerberus to rush out of that awful prison, but when he did, I was able to escape and the same thing happened a second time…and then a third time. I was getting sick and tired of all of his so I just surrendered myself to Princess Twilight, while Queen Chrysalis and Cozy Glow went their own ways, and here I stand before you.”

The audience was silent aside from one duplicate that cleared his throat. Tirek just stood there, waiting for some kind of reaction, but he didn’t seem like he even cared much.

“Um…that…was not too bad for your first speech.” Discord said while slowly clapping.

“We were kind of wanting to hear a little more about the redemption part though, Tirek.” Sunset told him.

“Well maybe I don’t care about the redemption part and I just want to move on with my life? I already said I was sorry to the princess, what more do you fools want?”

“Everyone’s going to need some redemption at some point.” Trixie told him.

“Trixie’s right, Tirek. Don’t be shy to tell us some of your inner thoughts.” Starlight added.

“You don’t want to know my inner thoughts. I have nothing but contempt in my heart.” Tirek grumbled.

“Oh don’t be like that, Tirek! Here, let me show you how it’s done!” Iron Will said as Tirek stepped aside for him to take the podium.

“Ahem…Greetings friends! My name is Iron Will, and I’m a former villain! When I was just a young little minotaur, my pop always told me to never give up and be the best you can be! Well let’s just say I took his advice a bit too seriously. Whether it be teaching ponies how to be assertive without realizing I might have been encouraging poor Fluttershy down there to become a bully, or ruining Princess Twilight’s family vacation, I eventually decided I wasn’t getting anywhere, so I quit. Thankfully, Discord told me about Villains Anonymous and I thought I should give it a try, and now Iron Will can safely say that he is reformed!”

Everyone in the auditorium cheered loudly for Iron Will and even the duplicates began to clap with more emotion for him. Tirek could be seen off to the side with his arms crossed. He began to rub his forehead as if he had a bad headache. He clearly wanted to leave this place more than anything. Nevertheless, Iron Will continued.

“Oh, you thought that was the end?! IRON WILL IS JUST GETTING STARTED! I used to be selfish, but now thanks to VA, I’ve come to see the importance of friendship! And if I ever have the temptation to go back to my opportunistic ways again, I just look at myself in a mirror and I say ‘SELF, DON’T YOU DARE FORGET WHAT VILLAINS ANONYMOUS TAUGHT YOU! YOU ARE REFOOOOORMED!!!”

“ENOUGH!” screeched Tirek.

The entire room went silent and everyone looked over at Tirek who had his fists clenched and was breathing heavily.

“I’VE HAD ENOUGH OF THIS NONSENSE! Discord, take the illusion down! I want out of this place!”

“But Tirek…” Discord begged.

“Discord, maybe we should do as he says. I think we’re trying a little too hard.” Fluttershy said, flying in next to her friend.

“Oh, alright.”

Discord snapped his fingers and all of his duplicates disappeared. Next, the entire auditorium disappeared and they were all back in Fluttershy’s cottage. Tirek pushed past Discord and Fluttershy and walked towards the door.

“Now just where do you think you’re going?” Discord asked.

“Unlock this door! I need to be outside!” Tirek said, pulling on the knob until it finally opened after Discord used his magic to unlock it. Tirek stormed out the door and walked down the path to the road. He noticed a small shiny orb was launched in the sky and created a large canopy of energy around Fluttershy’s property.

“We’ll let you have some alone time, Tirek, but I just cast a protection spell around this area so you can’t escape. Anyone but you can move through that shield.” Discord said firmly.

“Fine!” Tirek grumbled as he continued to walk on into the small forest surrounding the cottage.

“Sorry about that, Fluttershy.” said Iron Will. “I didn’t think he’d get that angry. Usually my motivational speeches help everyone else in VA sessions.”

“It’s no problem, Iron Will.” Fluttershy replied. “Tirek just needs some time to think.”

“Are you sure that canopy is going to keep him in, Discord.” Trixie asked.

“He’ll be fine. It’s not like he can do any damage in his weakened state anyway.”

“Well that didn’t go as planned.” Flurry said to Spike.

“I had my doubts, Flurry.” Spike replied.

“I know we’re supposed to leave him alone, but I am really curious to see how he’s doing out there.”

“I’d leave him be. That guy’s got issues.”

Spike walked back into the cottage with everyone else. Flurry began to follow him but glanced back at Tirek. He had slowed down his walking, but was far enough away that she couldn’t hear him talking to himself. This day certainly didn’t go as planned so far, but something told Flurry there was still hope.

“Poor Tirek. There’s got to be a way to get on his good side.” she said.