Cozy Glow neatly arranged her desk as she took on her new authority as Head Mare. The usually defiant Neighsay was speechless as his authority meant nothing to her. He was crippled, beaten by a mere child, a child whose beautiful curls took more time and effort than his silly EEA rulebook. He was a shortsighted fool, putting all his effort on those creatures from outside Equestria, as if a bunch of bumbling yaks and griffins could possibly challenge her power.
The hour was nigh. With Princess Twilight out of the way, she could do whatever she wanted. Equestria would be her new kingdom, a land she would claim for all eternity!
Better yet, she had captured her hated rival, Starlight. Seeing her helpless and weak had given Cozy a real tear of pleasure in her eye. Try as she might, she could never escape the clutches of the artifacts. It was planned all too well.
She left the office and entered the mezzanine. As head mare, she had authorized emergency rules. The student body was clustered there, whispering amongst themselves.
“Attention,” she cried out. “I am here to address rumors of wrongdoing going about the school. Firstly, these acts of discredit will not be tolerated here at the school of friendship. As Head Mare, I will remove students if need be if this continues.”
A stallion raised his hoof. “Ma’am, what happened to some of our classmates. We haven’t seen Yona or the others in a while.”
Cozy flashed a sweet smile. “Ah, some of our…foreign…friends have left to visit their homes.”
“Have you received any word from Princess Twilight?” a mare said.
“Don’t worry. They are taking longer than expected, that’s all. But for now, we all have to take care of our own duties. You may be students but with Equestria in this state, you are all as important as royal guards. Be vigilant!”
The ponies cheered her on, proud of their absurd belief in their unfounded role in the new world that was to come. Then, she heard a sound…that of something sneaking around. She looked up to see three little shadows in the rafters. She knew who it was at once. She licked her lips.
“Oh, students…there’s trespassers at hoof. Above us now, the villains prowl. You know your duties! Go and search the upper floor! They will be found!!” Her angry words forced a vengeful scowl, yet the students were unfazed, too devoted to their Head Mare to ever question anything. At once, they charged up the steps to hunt them down.
Just a day ago, the Cutie Mark Crusaders had talked to Starlight Glimmer. She was so busy acting as Head Mare, dealing with letters from parents, drafting new plans for classes and keeping her own head on straight as things started to fall apart. The school was anything but cohesive. They began to suspect Cozy was up to no good, yet, it wasn’t until they returned to school and found out that Starlight had supposedly “went searching for Twilight”, that they talked to the other students. The students from out of town had pretty strong opinions on the matter, even the reluctant changeling.
They were right to suspect her. To see Cozy act like this had broken their hearts. They thought they had done everything right. Ever since seeing her for the first time, her pretty blue curls bouncing, they felt a kinship with her. They taught her right from wrong, the elements of harmony and even got her out of trouble! Yet, this filly had chosen to become trouble instead. With the sounds of hooves fast approaching, they knew there was no talking out of this. The cutie mark crusaders ran for their lives.
“Hurry, Apple Bloom! Where’s the exit?!” Scoots shouted.
“I think there’s a balcony ahead!”
The crusaders were cut off by a mob of students.
“Get them!”
The three fillies sprinted from the charging hooves of so many ponies. They ran into a storage closet and blocked the door handle with a shovel. Hooves started kicking it down. They couldn’t believe it was happening before their eyes. Friends they had sat down for lunch with just yesterday were acting like animals, and for what? To appease some blue haired twit?
Sweets squealed in fright. “What should we do?”
Apps unlatched the window. “We just take a leap. Simple as pie.”
“Seriously, jump from the second floor? Got any better ideas?”
Scoots stuck her head out. “Looks like a bush underneath can give us some padding. Let’s go.” Both fillies took poor Sweetie Belle by a hoof and jumped down, flailing and yelling the whole way. Other than messed up manes, they weren’t hurt.
“Maybe next time…we can NOT do that!” Sweets demanded, brushing errant leaves from her pink curls.
“Sorry, Sweetie. But these are extraneous circumstances!” Apps said.
“You mean “extenuating”, Apple Bloom.”
“Whatever.”
The fillies ran as the brainwashed students scoured the grounds, looking for them. They took up refuge in a shed. Scoots coughed in the dark.
Sweets lit up her horn. “It’s all dusty in here. What is this shed for?” she said.
“I dunno. Something important.”
As the fillies checked the place out, Apple Bloom found a secret hatch in the dirt floor. It took them to a tunnel, ending with a steel door. They pulled on it, but it was locked.
“Anypony in here?” Apps said.
They heard a light voice from inside. “Hello?”
“Somepony in there?”
“Yes…please let me out. It’s so dark.” It was the sound of another filly. Something about it was familiar somehow.
“We’ll get you out in a jiffy,” Sweets said. They searched for anything to help open the door until Scoots found a fake rock with a key inside. They unlocked the door. Peeking their heads inside, they bathed the room in light.
“What the…?”
They pulled the frazzled blue haired filly from the room, the very same one it seemed who was commanding the ponies to do her bidding.
“Cozy Glow? How is it possible?”
Cozy looked confused and dirty. “How is what possible? I don’t know anything…one second, I was putting books away in the library. The next, I’m here.”
“No way you’re Cozy Glow,” Scoots said as she tried to find some tell to unravel her disguise.
Cozy backed away. “No…I’m Cozy. Please believe me,” she pleaded.
“Hold it, Scootaloo. I think she might be legit,” Apps said.
“Well, then someone must have stolen her identity. I think we’ve seen this sort of thing before,” Scoots declared.
“Gosh…who would do such a thing?”
“Not sure yet,” Apps replied. “But, we’re the crusaders. We’ll find out soon enough. Right girls?”
The three nodded. Cozy was dazed and unable to move on her own until she got outside in the fresh air. Apple Bloom fetched her some water. She gulped it down.
“Thank you so very much,” she said gratefully. She had bags under her eyes. She probably hadn’t gotten much sleep during her confinement.
“No problem.”
“I think we’re almost out of time. If the princess hasn’t come back yet, we need to do something on our own,” Scoots said.
“The last thing I remember, I was in the library. We should search there,” Cozy said.
“Good idea! Let’s go.”
The library was dark and empty. The fillies walked in a room once filled with the lively studying of unique creatures, learning everything there was to know about Equestria. Papers spilled, books scattered…things were a mess.
Cozy Glow looked at the ugly state of things. “I wish I could have done something…I feel like this is my fault.”
Scoots shook her head. “Don’t feel that way. We’ll find out who the real bad guys are, trust me.”
Cozy Glow quickly found the entrance to the caves. “It’s this way, girls! It has to be.”
As they descended downwards, the hairs on their bodies felt electrified like they were walking into a thunderstorm. Sweets was freaking out as she often did when sensing danger.
“This is messed up! I mean, I didn’t even know there were caves down here…and now we’re sneaking around! There’s two Cozy glows!” Sweets said.
Scoots put her hoof over her friend’s mouth before shushing her, only letting go when she promised to keep quiet.
They found an open room where several artifacts were building a great sphere of magic, enveloping the place in light. Crackles of electricity bounced on its surface. Inside, Starlight Glimmer was suspended like she was inside an egg.
Sweets gasped. “Starlight!” To her, the mare seemed to be in pain so she jumped down to try and free her. At once, she was captured by a magical spell. The other Cozy glow, backed by her personal legion of doom, strolled in.
“Ahh…you’ve found it…my secret lair! I suppose it was only a matter of time.”
Black churning energy consumed her body, transforming her curls into streams of hair like darkened ivy, a black scaly body topped by a pair of sharp wings. The evil queen stood over the girls in her anticipated triumph, a black forked tongue darting in and out of her mouth.
The girls realized the depth of their situation, the most hated enemy in all Equestria standing in front of them. Her loyal followers turned away in shock. The color from their faces seemed to fade, replaced by a sense of foreboding shame.
“What are you so afraid of?” Chrysalis said in the distinct low hum of her powerful voice.
“What…what are you?”
Chrysalis slammed a hoof on the ground, forcing many to cower before her.
“I…I am the lost leader of what was once the most powerful race in the world. Due to the interference of ponies, I have sworn to get revenge for what was lost, of what can never be regained!”
“You’re right about one thing! The Changelings have been doing great without you! They don’t miss you one bit!” Apps said.
“That doesn’t matter. That foolish Thorax will pay one day. For now, I am not deluded to think I can conquer them now. I have been defeated twice…because I used the same tactics! But, I never thought to use my enemy’s strength against them. Magic. Friendship. Power. All things are interwoven. If I use this system for my own benefit, I can once again be all powerful. See how easily I took control of this place?”
She briefly transformed back to being Cozy Glow. “And all your silly ponies fell for it. I was built for love, but here, friendship is what builds love to begin with. If I dominate friendship, I can consume a near infinite supply of love and I will be strong enough to overthrow Throax!”
Scoots ran to one of the artifacts. “We have to get these out!”
Chrysalis hissed, returning to her true form. “No! Stop!”
A bolt of magic struck the filly, casting her aside. Despite a cut on her cheek and bruises on her body, she bounced back like rubber. Her friends came to her aid. Before Chrysalis could react, multiple ponies came to their senses and pounced at her, trying to drag her to the ground. In a furious burst of anger, she threw them off.
“Enough!”
All the ponies were immediately frozen in place.
“You pathetic ponies are nothing compared to me!” She lowered her head so her face was mere inches from Applejack’s frozen little sister. “I am the queen!”
“Gotta chew on a breath mint once in a while…whew.”
Chrysalis huffed in anger and lifted her hoof to smite the ornery filly. After all these years, she would not tolerate such offense. No matter how badly things had gotten, she would always be royalty!
Something powerful slammed into her body, sending her flying forward into a wall. As the ponies regained control of their bodies, Apps was comforted by a huge ball of scruffy yak hair while she hugged new Yak friend, Yona.
“Oh, little apple pony…I missed you!”
Yona’s friends arrived, followed by a startled Neighsay.
He looked at Cozy Glow. He was beside himself. “What is the meaning of this? What is that monster? Your pet?!”
“No, chancellor! She locked me up and used her powers to pretend to be me.”
“There’s no time for this,” an exasperated Gallus said. “We have to stop these artifacts before it’s too late.”
The six students pulled at the objects binding the magical sphere in place. Chrysalis rose to her feet. Those crusaders were ruining everything. Her horn crackled. Her eyes blazed with fury and revenge. She would not be humiliated again! Her magic levitated the students and shoved them in the magical prison along with Starlight. When she saw what she had done, a wide smirk grew across her face. Why did she ever bother using an army? Only a fool relied on others to do what one could do herself!
Yet, things reacted in a way she did not expect. A greater power than she, the same which had upset her plans at the Everfree Forest, emerged with such magical ferocity. She could do nothing as the students were freed by a will she could not possibly comprehend. They pulled the artifacts, quickly destabilizing the contained magic.
Unlike the queen who was so bewildered by the light of the tree of harmony, Neighsay was beginning to see a new side to these creatures from beyond Equestria. They could have run and rightfully so, abandoning their friends. He once thought they were only capable of betrayal and false comradery. Yet, what he saw now was the pure truth. They were not inferior. They understood friendship…even if he hadn’t. He rallied the ponies behind him, leading them out of the school to safety. As the sphere began to collapse, Starlight Glimmer teleported all of her friends out of there until they were safe on school grounds.
Out of the ground, Chrysalis emerged, barely alive. Her wing was cracked, her horn broken down the middle. She tasted not only blood but pure hatred for Starlight, the mare who seemed all but invincible.
Starlight stepped in front of her friends, ready to defend them with her life if needed. Chrysalis prepared to charge in one final attack, yet, the return of the world’s magic already heralded her final defeat. Enemies were coming from all directions.
She would have rather died than to face Twilight Sparkle, and worse, the gloating face of Princess Celestia…yet, she is not dead. Nor can she escape with a broken wing and horn.
“Oh, brave and glorious Starlight Glimmer,” she mocked, “What punishment to you levy against me in your moment of triumph?”
Starlight’s aggressive face relaxed, her gaze shifting to the young Cozy Glow.
“I’m afraid it is not my call. You have ruined so many lives, operated in the shadows to disrupt our world again and again. As much as I wish to make the call, I must know when to step back. My time with you is over. Cozy Glow, what should this creature’s punishment be?”
This decree startled the filly. “Why me, Miss Glimmer?”
“This villain must know what it is like for her victim to turn the tables on her.”
Cozy Glow knew it had to be done, as much as it pained her to see it. Chrysalis looked absolutely full of hatred. Time and time again, she has squandered any chance for redemption. From what everypony has said before, it was clear she had willingly chosen this path.
As time passed, Cozy Glow was rewarded for her bravery and for taking part in defeating the queen, once and for all. The crusaders too earned their role as true friendship ambassadors, for not only helping the young filly understand where it comes from, but helping to defend it in the nation’s darkest hour.
As Cozy Glow strolled in the halls, giving directions and advice to new students, she often thought of the cruel creature who would have sought out her destruction. She had come so close to being destroyed too…if ponies had not seen her true self, she would have ended up in a worse place than the queen. Not all were fated to be irredeemable. Neighsay had apologized for his past prejudices and went to great lengths to make amends for trying to put Twilight’s school down. She always enjoyed his visits.
It was a hard decision, sending her to Tartarus, but Twilight Sparkle gave her encouragement to make it the right one. There was something about Tartarus that gave a pony despair, but it was designed to contain the uncontrollable. Some creatures only had a desperate need to hoard power at all cost. But she knew that power was not friendship.