Tonight, it was finally time to begin the search for the Rainbow of Darkness. Cozy Glow had organized a mandatory meeting in the castle foyer. Every pony in the village gathered round in the foyer of the castle, with the exception of Suri Polomare, who was told to stay out. Besides her, everypony was there, although no one knew exactly for what purpose.
Everypony gathered in the castle foyer.
"What do you think's going on?" Lightning asked.
"Hopefully they're planning on congratulating us on our contributions to the community." Short Fuse replied.
"Well, I haven't got a clue either. And I'm supposed to be Cozy's number 1 adviser! Now that's treachery." Svengallop said.
"Shh, here she comes." Rolling Thunder said.
Cozy appeared on the upper level of the foyer. She stepped up to a podium, and looked down at her subjects. Finally, she opened the horse's mouth and spoke.
*ahem* "Thank you every pony for coming to this mandatory castle meeting! I just want to say, that each and everyone of you have helped monumentally." she said. "I think we've really made something special here, and I couldn't have done it without any one of you. Whether you help organize stuff directly, or decided to move in, you have been part of the cause."
"Wow, that was, pretty genuine of her to say." Flam said.
"That's the nicest thing we've heard her say thus far." Flim added.
"You've all done me a huge favor, and now it's time for me to ask you all of a little favor." Cozy said. "I want everypony to close their eyes. We have a big surprise for all of you!"
Everypony started chattering instead, out of confusion.
"I said close your eyes!!" Cozy exclaimed.
Her attitude scared everypony, and they closed their eyes immediately.
Meanwhile, outside the castle, Suri Polomare was intrigued by the gathering inside, despite being told not to attend.
"Hmm, I know Cozy said she wanted me to skip tonight's gathering. But gosh, I am curious." Suri Polomare said to herself. "I'll just peep my head inside."
Suri peeked her head through the window to see exactly what was going on
"Now, with your eyes closed, I want you all to clear your minds, and don't move." Cozy said.
There was a gust of wind in the castle, blowing out the lights, and darkening the room.
"Now, this next part miiiight feel a little funny. But I want you all to hold still, it'll be over before you know it." Cozy said.
Tirek was standing behind Cozy, and he had began sapping the magic from all the ponies in the room.
*SLURP*
Cozy watched as the aura from their magics flowed into Tirek. The consumption of magic made Tirek grow in size and strength.
"Thank you all for your cooperation." Cozy grinned. The two exited the room, leaving everypony dazed.
Suri was appalled at what she had witnessed. "So she really has been using us this whole time. Hmph." she said.
The two made their way to the castle roof, where Chrysalis was waiting for them, next to the machine.
"It's about time you got here." she said. "Everything is just about ready."
"Excellent." Cozy said.
Cozy Glow, Tirek, and Chrysalis were on the roof of New Midnight Castle, operating this big machine designed by Cozy Glow in order to find the Rainbow of Darkness.
"Now that I'm strong again-" Tirek started.
"We need you to wear this headgear device, sit down, and hold absolutely still." Cozy said.
"Hold still?" he asked.
"Mmm hmm. This is only a temporary thing for the experiment." Cozy explained.
"You're giving me all this magic, just for this experiment?" Tirek asked.
"We need you at maximum power for the best chances of success." Cozy explained.
Cozy hooked Tirek up to the main apparatus.
"All these machine parts you purchased with our bits, explain to me again what exactly we should expect to see." Chrysalis requested.
"Okay, let's outline the object one more time: We're on a mission to find the Rainbow of Darkness and use its power to overthrow Twilight Sparkle for good. Unlike the bewitching bell, where Discord told us where it was, we have to figure this one out ourselves. Now, according to this book I read, plus Tirek's account, the Rainbow of Darkness is so powerful, its energy pulses can circle the globe. It's constantly pulsating, but the signal is faint, so we need a bigger set of ears to listen."
"A bigger set of ears? Why didn't you just say so in the first place?" Chrysalis transformed into an elephant.
"No no no. Not ears for listening to sound. Metaphorically ears to listen for dark pulses. And that's what this baby is going to do." Cozy slapped the top of the machine.
Chrysalis transformed back to normal.
"Tirek is going to sit in this seat, hooked up to the main terminal. Once he's enhanced by the special instruments, he should be able to actually listen to the RoD! Once that happens, the data will be recorded, then reviewed, and the result should give us a precise location of the Rainbow of Darkness' current location." Cozy explained.
"I understood none of what you just said..." Chrysalis said.
"This machine will help Tirek hear out the Rainbow of Darkness, and tell us where it is." Cozy said. "I just need to make a few more last minute adjustments, and then we'll be ready."
"But why must I be hooked up and used as a component?" Tirek asked.
"You said it yourself, you're the one with the strongest connection to it. We need you detect it." she replied.
"Yes, but I can't sense it from here." he said.
"Not yet you can't. But once this bad boy is turned on, you will." Cozy grinned. "Now Tirek, hold very still."
"I'm sitting as still as I can." he replied.
Cozy place a device on Tirek's head.
"Now put your left hand over this sensor, and hold this bit with your right hand." she ordered.
Tirek did as she commanded.
Cozy hovered to the terminal, where she pulled a couple of levers, and typed into the binary keyboard. (ponies type in binary don't you know)
"We're just about ready! Pull the switch Chrysalis!" Cozy ordered.
Chrysalis pulled the switch, and the machine turned on. The whole thing hummed and vibrated, and bits of electricity ran around coils and wires.
"Now, this may feel funny at first." Cozy said.
"It feels very awkward." Tirek replied, sweating.
"I want you to close your eyes, and to clear your mind."
"Mmm." Tirek tried to empty his mind.
"Perhaps a little of this will help ease the tension." Chrysalis said, while rubbing Tirek's cheeks with some green ooze.
"I dislike this intensely. However, it is oddly..." Tirek's voice trailed off.
"I think he's out cold." Cozy said. "This is perfect. We need his subconsciousness to take over."
Tirek tapped his fingers click against the reader.
Tirek started to breath heavier. "I feel... I feel it. It's calling for me." he said with his breath.
"Yes, yes excellent!" Cozy said under her breath.
*thump thump* The heart rate monitor displayed a steady reading. "I think it's working." Cozy whispered.
A blip appeared on a second monitor. It appeared that they had successfully detected their target.
"I think that's it... We've actually detected it." Cozy said, astonished.
"Uh, Cozy. Why is the machine getting so hot? And why does it say 'Warning'?" Chrysalis asked.
"Just a little more aaaaand..." Cozy watched the last bits of data being collected.
Chrysalis was nervous that the machine was going to fail at any moment. The tension in their air was tight, until ultimately, Cozy made the call.
"Alright, that'll have to do." Cozy flipped the switch to the off position. The machine turned off, and humming and heating stopped.
"That's it?" Chrysalis asked.
"What do you mean that's it?" Cozy asked.
"This thing cost us a lot of bits, and it was running for like. one minute." she replied.
"Once we compile the data, you'll see why this was worth it. Now help me unhook Tirek."
Cozy and Chrysalis unhooked Tirek from the contraption.
"You can open your eyes now, big guy." Cozy said.
*phew* "What happened?" Tirek asked.
"You may have sensed the Rainbow of Darkness' presence, and thanks to our machine, the data will tell me where it is."
"Excellent." he said.
Pages and pages of data printed out. Cozy picked up the many sheets of paper, and skimmed through them quickly.
"By gosh, I think we've done it!" she exclaimed.
"Great! Now lead the way to the Rainbow of Darkness!" Tirek said.
"It's not that simple, Tirek." Cozy said. "This is just one experiment. I first have to interpret the data and come to a conclusion, we'll know the exact distance the Rainbow of Darkness is from us!"
"How long will that take?" Tirek asked.
"Long enough that you should probably give back all that extra magic right away." Cozy said. "But here's the rub, even if the we the distance, we don't know which direction it's located."
Tirek's face dropped.
"What?! THEN WHAT'S THE POINT OF ANY OF THIS?!" he exclaimed.
"Although this test went perfect, more data points are needed to triangulate the exact position. The book tells me how strong the RoD's ambient power level is, so once I figure out the power we detected, we'll know how far away it is, just not which direc-."
"Always with the delays! I'm getting sick of this indirect nonsense!" Tirek exclaimed to Cozy's face.
Tirek turned around and started the other way.
"Hey! Where do you think're you going!?" Cozy yelled.
"I'm sick of all of this! I am leaving!" Tirek answered.
Cozy's heart shattered.
"After everything! This is your breaking point?! After everything I've done for you! " Cozy cried.
"It's becoming increasingly clear that we're on the fast track to nowhere. We'll be lucky to find the Rainbow of Darkness within the next 50 moons at this pace." Tirek said.
"Fine! Run away Tirek! You have the magic of every pony in this village anyway! In fact, help yourself to mine, and Chrysalis' magic to!"
"Wait, I didn't agree-" Chrysalis started, but Cozy talked over her.
"So if you want to march right over to Twilight Sparkle and get your ass kicked AGAIN, THEN JUST GO!" Cozy said, choking up. The base of her eyes were a watery puddle.
"Just forget the whole operation,*hic* forget our town, *sob* forget everything we worked for together!" Cozy erupted in tears and went downstairs.
Tirek stood for a moment, before taking his next action.
"What are you looking at? I've seen this before. I won't be swayed by her manipulative crocodile tears." Tirek said.
"Let me ask you this, Tirek. Has anypony ever acted sincere to you before?" Chryaslis asked.
"Not to my knowledge." Tirek replied.
"Then I have a feeling you don't even know what real sincerity feelings looks like." Chrysalis said. "And you wouldn't know it, even if it cried its eyes out right in front of you."
"You really think I hurt her feelings for real this time? Pfft. I've said worse." Tirek said.
"It's all about context. She spent weeks building this machine for us, and basically said her efforts were stupid." Chrysalis said.
"So what? We don't do friendship. Remember?" Tirek said.
"Still, she's very upset. And it's a fact that ponies are more productive when they're happy. So go cheer her up, or consider our progress completely halted!" Chrysalis said.
Chrysalis' words made Tirek think for a moment. He didn't actually know the difference between truthful Cozy, and lying Cozy. He just assumed she was always a lying facade. The thought that he may have really hurt her feelings, actually made him think.
A few minute later.
Back in the foyer, all the magic belonging to the village ponies was given back to them by Tirek.
The lights in the room came back on, and everypony started to awake.
"Surprise!" Cozy exclaimed with a grin.
"Huh..."
"What?" the ponies inside were very confused.
"I have no idea what just happened..." Lightning Dust said.
"Did every pony enjoy their power nap?" Cozy asked.
"Is that was power nap?" Svengallop asked, tripping on his words.
"That felt really weird." Flim said.
"It was a little experiment, might do it again, might not." Cozy said. "Thus concludes tonight's meeting! Now go home and get plenty of rest every pony!"
Cozy turned her head to Tirek, who looked away from her. Afterwards, she stepped down from the podium and went to the other room, without saying another word to him.
Everpony made their way out of the castle. Suri was outside, ready to spill the truth.
"Ugh... my head feels weird man..." Lightning said, stumbling out of the castle.
"Do you have any idea what they did to you in there?" Suri asked.
"Whatever it was, heh heh, not gonna lie, it felt pretty nice." Short Fuse said, drooling.
"I say dear brother, I'm feeling extra exhausted." Flim said.
"What's say we crash for the night." Flam said, wiping his sweat away with his magic.
"They gave you back your magic? Huh..." Suri noticed. They're still just using us. But at least they were generous enough to give them their magic back?
"It's a shame you missed out Ms. Polomare. It was quite a zen like experience.
That's a good point. Why didn't Cozy want me there? Is it because earth ponies don't have very much magic? Then why invite Svengallop, and other background earth ponies? Suri wondered, trying to solve this puzzle.
Meanwhile, Cozy hid away in her room. Tirek stood outside, struggling to think of what to say to her. Tirek entered Cozy's room in the castle, where she was laying on her bed, wrapped in her yellow blanket, facing away from the entrance.
"Cozy, I... *umph* you know I wasn't going to leave you behind. I know that we're better as a team than as a single unit." Tirek said.
Cozy didn't respond.
"Look, I've been thinking, and, maybe I have been a little impatient throughout all of this." he added. "But hey, credit where credit is due. The fact you got this machine up and running, that actually can help me sense the Rainbow of Darkness, truly is a remarkable feat."
"If you're trying to rush me, then forget about it! I already know the next part of the plan, but just let me sleep. I wanna be alone..." Cozy said.
Tirek turned around and exited the room.
Cozy Glow had a lot on her mind, which made it difficult to sleep.
Is he keeping me around just because I'm the one coming up with the plans? Or... *sigh* I know you probably just see Chryssie and I as assets, but... *sigh* I wish I could tell you how I really feel...
To be continued in Chapter 8...