//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: Some Time Alone // Story: Cozy Chronicles // by 5u0myn0n4 //------------------------------// Our trio continued work on establishing the land around them into their own kingdom. It was time Winter, so nights were particularly cold, but that didn't halt their progress. After a long day, their hard work was paying off. Tirek had already half erected a stone fortress for our trio to hideaway in, and Chrysalis had enough captive wildlife to last for months. "Excellent work you two." Cozy said. "The place is really coming together." "This castle I've built is the finest example of centaurian architecture!" Tirek boasted. Cozy did a quick fly around to check out the castle. "The new castle impressive, but it lacks a roof!" Chrysalis said. "Where are we supposed to sleep?!" "Fear not, I anticipated the slow construction of the castle (no offense), so I prepared a temporary shelter!" Cozy said. It was an igloo, with two entrances on either end. Strange indeed. "An igloo? Seriously?" Chrysalis said. "These warm half domes kept ponies warm for generations, and it'll do the same for us." Cozy said. Tirek stuck his head inside. "I barely fit in this thing!" he said. "Material was at a premium." Cozy said. "Well, a shelter is better than no shelter." Chrysalis said. With dwindling options, and the cold sneaking in, the villains ultimately decided that the tiny igloo was their best option. Cozy was snuggled up in her winter outfit, and wrapped in her yellow blanket from the finale. It was very warm inside, and also cramped. Immediately to each of her sides, were Tirek and Chrysalis sticking their heads into the igloo. "I take back what I said earlier." Chrysalis said. "This is completely undignified." Tirek said. "You two wanna sleep outside in the cold?" Cozy asked. "Not really..." Tirek mumbled. "For what it's worth, at least it's warm in here!" Cozy said. "I haven't decided if that's a good or bad thing yet." Chrysalis said. "The idea of having each of your body heats warming me up is... eeugh..." "Well hey, we're fugitives on the run, so we have to make compromises early on." Cozy explained. "Hmph." they grunted. "Hey! The sooner y'all fall asleep, the sooner this dreadful night will be over." Cozy said. "How can I sleep with a centaur's horn in my neck!" Chrysalis exclaimed. "If either you so much as snore just a little bit." Tirek started. "Don't get me started! If I hear one mention of Gram-Gram, or of Chrysalis' many sisters..." Cozy said. The three exchanged arguments at each other, until they heard a loud noise outside. *thud* "What was that?" Cozy asked. "Sounded like a tree falling." Tirek suggested. "And since we're here, we heard it, and it made a noise." Chrysalis said. "You know trees make noise regardless, right?." Tirek irked. "But how did it fall?" Cozy asked. "Trees die, just like anything. Now be quiet and go to sleep." Chrysalis demanded. The three sat grumpy, and struggling to sleep. "I've been trying to sleep, and I just can't." Tirek complained. "This difficulty of this task is exceeding." Chrysalis argued. "Why don't we tell each other stories?" Cozy suggested. "You mean confess our life stories and bore each other to sleep." Tirek said. "Whatever it takes." Cozy affirmed. "I'll get mine out of the way. My brother Scorpan and I came to Equestria with the intent of complete takeover. But my brother betrayed me when ponies showed him friendship. Later, I almost had Equestria myself, until Twilight and her friends defeated me and put me back in Tartarus." Tirek explained. "Us Changelings have been on this planet generations before the very first horse. We were here first. But when ponies came to power and our territories collided, war broke out. When I attempted to conquer Equestria by sneaking in as the bride of Shining Armor, that should have been game set and match." Chrysalis explained. "But the love I tried to steal was used against us, and they sent us flying miles away. My second attempt was thwarted by Starlight Glimmer, and the double crossing of my precious Thorax. That's when I lost my hive. My entire hive, my children, turned against me, for some purple Twilight imitator..." "That story is so sad, I'm already falling asleep it's so boring." Tirek said. "It's not enough, I'm yawning, but I need just a little bit more." Cozy said. "Well, what about you Cozy?" Chrysalis asked. "You seemed to pop out of nowhere, and became a huge villain overnight." Tirek asked. "Golly, thank you for asking." Cozy said. "The thing about me is that, I uh... don't have a family..." "Oh, your entire family disowned you?" Chrysalis asked. "No, I mean I literally don't have a family." Cozy replied. "I close my eyes, and try to think, but I can see any parents." "That's impossible." Tirek said. "All living creatures must be the result of the mating of two creatures." Chrysalis said. "I uh, don't want to talk about it..." Cozy said. "In fact, I don't really remember. I haven't thought about my life pre-Twilight's school in a long time." "Well, what do you remember? What did you do before you infiltrated that school?" Tirek asked. "I think there was someone... I think I did have a caretaker, but I don't remember their name." Cozy said. "My life's been very lonely. I've mostly just been fending for myself. We're all created for a purpose, and well, I forget what my assigned purpose was. Hiding out at Twilight's school was a way to find salvation, to run away from my previous life, and to secretly find away to rule the world. I came so close twice but, it didn't exactly pan out. First an eternity in Tartarus, then an eternity in stone. I don't know which is worse. But by some stroke of luck, here we are. We're free now... free together..." "Zzz..." both Chrysalis and Tirek were sound asleep. "Hmph. When we had Grogar's bell, and we became super powerful, it felt like, like I found a part of me that was missing. Ever since we started working together, I feel like, I... you two are like..." "ZZZ..." their snoring grew louder. "Ugh. Thanks for listening..." Cozy said sarcastically. She closed her eyes and also fell asleep. ... The next morning. Cozy was the first awake. She found herself pressed against Tirek's chest. This surprised her. She could have sworn she fell asleep separated from either Tirek or Chrysalis. The other two were still asleep. She nudged herself free, exited the igloo, and took a walk outside. It was still early in the morning, the sun had not yet risen, and he sky was just beginning to illuminate. Cozy found herself by the shore of a lake. She plopped down and sat right at the edge of where the waves came in. She sat in pure silence. Wearing her winter outfit, and wrapped in her yellow blanket, she just sat in place, and thought about stuff. She looked into the lake and stared at her own reflection. It gave off the same grumpy look she did. "What are you doing? You're wasting your time just sitting there!" "We're just finding out footing that's all. Once we settle down, we'll get back on track, and come up with a plan." Cozy replied. "I thought you wanted revenge. Why are you wasting time with compliments and team work?" "Well I do revenge but, cooperation is important too. We never would have had Grogar's bell if we didn't work together." Cozy said. "I need them as allies, but... not as friends right?" "The moment you start to think of them as friends, is the moment they find out you're weak. And the moment they start to think of you as a friend, is the moment all your plans crumble, and you'll never get ultimate power. And Pappy wouldn't like that would he?" "No, I don't think..." Cozy replied. "Exactly! Now, either find the Rainbow of Darkness, or something else. Whatever it takes to become the ultimate life form, like you were meant to be!" There was a ripple in the lake, and her reflection ceased talking to her. "Hmph..." she grunted. "Hmm?" Cozy heard Tirek's footsteps behind her. She kept quiet however, wondering what he would do if anything. The footsteps stopped for a moment, and then resumed. Presumably Tirek noticed her, but didn't approach. "Hmph. Guess we're not that close after all. The kind of close where we walk up and ask each other about feelings." Cozy said to herself. A light glared in Cozy's eyes. It came from over the horizon and reflected off the lake. "What are you looking at!?" Cozy snarled at the sun. "This view sucks now." she turned around 180 degrees, and saw the full moon setting behind her. "Oh come on!" she exclaimed and leaned back. *splash* Cozy fell back, and landed in the shallow part of the lake. "Great, now my stuff's all wet..." she moaned. She sat on her back in the shallow water. Wet, and frustrated. "What's got you in a bind?" Tirek asked. Chrysalis appeared. "Yes, explain your tantrum." "Every where I look, I'm reminded of those dumb princesses. The sun, the moon, they can be seen everywhere on this planet." Cozy said. "Now that Twilight is in control, she's in charge of raising both the sun in moon. All of the land is influenced by her." she added. "You still buy into their lies?" Tirek said. "What do you mean?" Cozy asked. "Doesn't the moon weight several billion pounds? No unicorn magic can actually move it." Chrysalis said. "Besides, the sun doesn't rotate around the planet. We're a heliocentric system. The sun is the center, the world revolves around the sun, while the moon revolves around this planet. All due not to unicorn magic, but a force called... I forget. But the point is, everything they've taught about astronomy is wrong. At least, so I've heard." "You shouldn't believe every conspiracy theory you hear, Chryssie." Cozy Glow said. "Now get up. It's a new day, and let's get back to work." Tirek said. "Indeed. Right after I dry my stuff and wash up." Cozy said. "I suppose I could use a little TLC myself..." Chrysalis said. Cozy striped and removed her winter outfit. She left it and her blanket out to dry. She then decided to take a little dip in the lake. By dip, I mean Cozy ran up, flew into the air, and dived into the lake with a moderately sized splash. She breached her head about the water, and spit out excess water she had swallowed. "Come on in, the water's great!" Cozy called to her villainous allies. "I would say no, but my exoskeleton is rather dry. Fine." Chrysalis gave in. "That's a hard pass from me." Tirek declined. "Eh, three's a crowd anyway." Cozy said. Chrysalis joined Cozy in the water, while Tirek sat on the land. "This is a waste. Think of all the things we could be doing. I could be building my castle, or searching for the Rainbow of Darkness." Tirek said. "If the Rainbow of Darkness is so well hidden, then what's the first step of finding it?" Cozy asked. "Its location could be written somewhere in that Canterlot library." Tirek thought out loud. "We're not going there again, not even in disguise. It's too risky." Chrysalis said. "So we don't know where it is, but what if there was a way to... detect it." Cozy thought. "The Rainbow of Darkness is a powerful thing. It pulsates dark energy from its epicenter." Tirek said. "Hmm, what if there was so way we could listen close, and detect the Rainbow of Darkness, and have its signature lead us to its location." "A very puzzling challenge to be sure..." Chrysalis pondered. *SPLASH* Cozy splashed Chrysalis. "Oh you little brat!" she snapped. "Then come get some revenge." Cozy said with a smirk. *hee hee* Cozy giggled. The two splashed each other in the water. "Chryssie, teach me to swim in deeper water please." Cozy requested. "You never learned?" Chrysalis asked. "Nope. I had a misguided fillyhood. Didn't you listen last night?" Cozy replied. "Well, us Changelings never think much of water. Our relatively low mass to large volume ratio means we float like leaves. Not to mention, our wings don't work when wet." "Fine, I'll just use what Head Mare Twilight taught us in school about buoyancy to figure it out myself. And you better catch me if I start to drown." Cozy said. "I can only guarantee your safety in event of a disaster within a 20% margin." "Eh, works for me." Cozy said. Cozy had a rough idea on how to swim. She paddled out to deeper water. She took a deep breath, and went underneath. "So uh, do we save her if she drowns or..." Chrysalis said. "I mean, she is a valuable asset." Tirek said. "Well, more than that. It's almost like she..." *SPLOOSH* Cozy breached out of the water. "Wow! Who would have thought pegasus wings would be so helpful in the water?" Cozy said. "Must be nice having wings made from feathers rather than a membrane cuticle." Chrysalis said. "Come on Tire, jump in!" Cozy said. "You'll probably start a tsunami!" Chrysalis added. "While I may be able to cause a great wave, I am not going to entertain your speculation." Tirek said. "Well fine then. In fact, as much fun as this is, we best ought'a get back to work." Cozy said. "Agreed. There are many ramifications to be made before this place is truly a home." Chrysalis said. *crash* "gosh darn it" cried a distant voice. "Did you hear that?" Cozy asked. "It sounds like we're not alone." Chrysalis hissed. "It may seem like we have our first intruders." Tirek clenched his fist. To be continued...