Tirek walked into the common room, which seemed to have been slightly thrashed. He quickly assessed the damage (scattered books, broken vases, a few things tipped over, though the stone furniture remained unmoved) before focusing on the pathetic-looking lump of pink slumped on the ground.
“Did I miss something?”
Cozy’s ears flattened onto the back of her head, but she didn’t look up. “Where have you been?”
“Scavenging for scrap metal,” he said, dropping the stuffed burlap sack he was carrying with a loud ‘clang’. “I was thinking of making myself some lifting weights to pass the time while I’m stuck in this damp place with nothing to do.”
Cozy finally stood up and turned to him, manic expression betrayed by the bloodshot eyes and streaks of dried tears across her cheeks. “Wow, isn’t this nice? You found a hobby!” Her grin turned into a scowl. “Well, have fun enjoying yourself while some of us work ourselves to the bone!” She then fluttered to sit on the bench, seemingly unaware it was built with the same stone as the ground she’d just been on.
“What in Tartarus is your problem?”
Tirek saw her consider for a second, then lower her head. “Nothing. I’m just tired.” She curled up against the backrest like a cat trying to warm itself after having a bucket of ice water thrown at it. Which was bizarrely off-putting, since this was the same filly who only months ago seemed unstoppable in her attempts to subjugate all of Equestria. He looked around the room again: all this pointless destruction sparked an uncomfortable sense of familiarity and poked at his ability to not be bothered.
He picked up his burlap sack and walked off to one of the lair’s empty halls, but not before looking back one last time.
---
Cozy Glow woke up sore, cold and just as irritated as she’d been before. Her sleep was restless against the marble bench and unsettling dreams (the latter she had more experience dealing with, seeing as her entire life was a nightmare of its own), but she shrugged it off with a stretch and a few wing flaps; she was generally used to discomfort.
She wasn’t used to waking up to a meal.
The cucumber sandwich sat beside her on the bench, atop an old metal plate; it was haphazardly assembled and somewhat stale. Cozy blinked at it, half expecting it to vanish like some sort of illusion, and frowned when it didn’t. Something’s up, she thought, trying not to mind her rumbling stomach.
She looked around for suspicious activity, but the room was just as much of a mess as it had been when she fell asleep. She thought of calling out but stopped herself, no longer wanting to draw unwanted attention.
The filly then proceeded to take the next three minutes to inspect the suspicious sandwich, before concluding it was just old cucumber in stale bread as available in the communal kitchen. (Gosh, a cupcake sure would be nice one of these days…) "Weird." Still, her suspicion didn't settle: this had to be a trap, somehow; she would eat it and immediately be yelled at, or attacked, or worse. No one would just… make her food for no reason. No one ever did.
Cozy sighed. There had come a time when she decided to not let anyone control her anymore, hadn't it? And yet, there she was, at the mercy of some insane and insanely powerful old goat. Reduced from a menace to all of Equestria to being scared of a sandwich. Her stomach rumbled again.
This was unacceptable.
"You know what? This is my sandwich now." Cozy said, finally giving in to the hunger and frustration. "Finders keepers. You don't just leave food lying around like this--" she took a bite-- "kmowin’ phomeom’ elfhe wiw take it. Conthider thifh a weshon."
She finished her meal with a somewhat renewed sense of confidence. Grogar may think he can just use whomever he wants to get that stupid magic bell back, but if he himself said he wasn't as strong without it, then he was stuck with her until they retrieved it. She wasn't about to let herself be walked on; he needed her, she was invaluable to him. She was irreplaceable.
“I assume you’ll clean up this mess now that you’re done napping.”
“Yes, sir, Mr. Grogar sir.” she squeaked and immediately started picking up the things scattered across the ground. Maybe being assertive might be a little harder than she thought.
At least by herself.
---
When Cozy found him, Tirek was in the process of molding a half-melted piece of metal into one of those lifting things she never bothered learning the name of. He was kneeling on one of his front legs, the other being used to bend the metal into shape. It would've been impressive if he didn't look so… underwhelmed? Defeated? Sad? She didn't know. He acknowledged her presence with a quick glance, but didn't say anything; maybe he was just focused. Maybe she was just projecting.
“Just so you know, I ate your sandwich.”
“Okay.” He magically heated an iron rod and bent it around the construct, soldering it in with a controlled magic beam. The whole thing looked like some sort of hefty metal disk with holes in it.
"You know, you shouldn't leave food around like that. It's a waste."
Tirek turned to her with a confused frown.
"Just saying."
"... Right."
He went on to inspect his makeshift metalsmithing job. It looked... functional, as far as Cozy could tell. Was it weird that a Lord of a faraway land knew how to make lifting weights? Having lived for so long, it shouldn't be a surprise that he'd learned a few things beyond what the average creature would. She chuckled at the mental image of Tirek learning how to knit.
"What's so funny?"
Her ears went flat against her skull. "Why, a filly can't laugh now?"
Woah, where did that come from?!
"Alright, that's it." Tirek huffed and put aside the metal piece. He looked mad. Cozy stepped back, anticipating… something. "Your bubbly, chipper façade is enough of a pain, but somehow this grumpy version of you is an even more effective way to get on my nerves." He stepped closer and kneeled in front of her. "Tell me where this attitude is coming from."
… Huh? "Huh?"
"Now don't take this as me 'caring', or anything like that." He raised his hands defensively. "But if this behaviour is going to become a thing, I'd rather it doesn't; so let's get this over with. What's the problem?"
Cozy's survival instinct screamed 'trap' at her, but survival instinct was a thing she'd long found to be unreliable: 'that broccoli smells safe', 'the new foster family sounds better than the last one', 'Mr. Firpin wouldn't-- he wouldn't'. She couldn't trust her gut, so she had to rely on her conscious perception of the world to make reliable decisions.
But this was a unique situation. Cozy knew Tirek was dangerous and proud of it. She knew of his literal hunger for power, of his overt distaste for emotional drama, of his full capability to turn on anyone, take their magical essence and leave them to wither. And yet he'd never threatened her. He entertained and even helped her flesh out her plan to rule Equestria. Still, he was old and smart, so the question was: how would he benefit from knowing she'd been threatened by Grogar?
The answer is he wouldn't, if she could help it. "Well, what isn't the problem?! Why aren't you angry too?" She turned the question on him, a classic derailing tactic. "We're stuck inside a castle in the middle of a swamp, forced by a crazy old goat to find a stupid magic bell that hasn't been seen or heard of in thousands of years!!"
"That isn't the issue."
"Wha-- w-why do you say that?"
"Because the common room wasn't destroyed last night." Oh. Old and smart, indeed.
Was trying to hide the truth even worth the effort? Wouldn't Tirek eventually figure it out? Her game face wasn't nearly as strong as it used to be (she managed to hold her 'happy camper' act pretty well back in Tartarus); truth is, she was just… tired. Performing here was pointless, no one cared if she wasn't happy.
She sighed. "I--"
"Meet me in the main hall." She nearly jumped out of her own skin. Where did he come from?! "The two of you. We must discuss the next step of our plan."
Grogar vanished down the hallway as quickly as he showed up, and then Cozy noticed she was clutching Tirek's leg. She pushed herself away, sheepishly, but saw the look of realization in his face before; she looked away, defeated. She knew he could feel her shaking. She knew how weak she looked. For some reason, it was so much harder to fake confidence.
Tirek stood up. "Well. Let's go." He walked toward the exit, stopping by the doorway when he realized she hadn't followed.
She tried to think of anything else to say, anything that wouldn't show how, but when the tears started rolling down her cheeks she knew it was too late. The jig was up. "I-I'm so scared." A shaky laugh escaped her lungs between sniffles as she slumped onto the ground. Absolutely pathetic.
"Ah. I…" Tirek shifted his weight, clearly uncomfortable with the waterworks. "Uh, it's best if you… don't do that right now, if possible." He rubbed the back of his neck and walked over to her. "Hey. Little one. How do I…"
It turns out Tirek didn't know how to comfort someone, because his idea of getting Cozy to stop crying was to pick her up from the ground, wait for her to look at him, and say:
"Stop."
Which was so outlandish, awkward and unexpected that Cozy simply couldn't not refrain an ugly guffaw, which only baffled him further.
"What?! What is the meaning of this? Are you trying to confuse me!?"
She started wiping her face. "No, no. You-- you're really bad at this."
Tirek sighed. "I spent much of my life either trying to destroy ponies or planning how to destroy them." He absentmindedly placed Cozy on his shoulder. "Comforting one is not on my skill set."
She giggled again, still recovering from the emotional whiplash. "Yeah, well, it sorta worked. Wow. I needed that laugh." She took a deep breath and released it, feeling much better. Maybe Pinkie Pie had a point after all.
"So, are you ready to go now?"
Right. The planning thing. "Well… will you let me hide behind you if the old goat gets too creepy?"
He blinked. "You've been doing it since we got here. Have you not noticed?"
Huh. She thought back to the time Grogar introduced himself; she'd immediately latched on to Tirek for safety, and he'd allowed it. She wondered what that meant. "So, uh… is that a yes?"
Tirek huffed and headed to the main hall.