//------------------------------// // Chapter 11: Snow Glow // Story: Cozy Chronicles // by 5u0myn0n4 //------------------------------// In the last chapter, after an interesting diversion, our trio of villains were once again on track. They were steadfast on their way to what would be the last location, they needed to reach in order to achieve their goal. With two thirds of their map to the Rainbow of Darkness complete, all they had to do was run their machine one more time, and its location would be revealed to them. This time around, Tirek took the wheel of their vehicle while they drove in the middle of the night. There was no time to stop for camp. After being chased by Ember, and Sheriff Silverstar, who knows who would be on their tail now. Tirek drove, while Chrysalis navigated. Cozy Glow in the meanwhile was asleep in one of the seats. Cozy Glow was sound asleep in the vehicle. It was cold, so she was dressed in her adorable winter outfit. She was also wrapped in her yellow blanket while she slept. Chrysalis overlooked Cozy. "Mmm. She really is cute." Chrysalis said. "Deceitfully so." Tirek said. "It's how she was able to manipulate so many other ponies." Cozy was only partly asleep. She was listening to their conversation, pretended to be fully asleep. "Have you ever wondered if Cozy is... out of place with us?" Chrysalis asked. "How so?" Tirek replied "Not in a bad way, it's just, we're evil creatures of unimaginable terror. We've both come close to conquering Equestria due to our great ambition and immense power. And then there's Cozy Glow. She's just a little filly, and I'll be honest, she lacks in the latter category." Chrysalis thought out loud. Cozy wondered, is this what they really think of her? Just a filly? Not worthy of their time? "Her ambition matches that of any great conqueror in Equestria. She nearly had her way and banished all the magic from Equestria, even tricking me by giving me the short end of the deal." Tirek said. It was nice to hear Tirek's compliment, but it hurt hearing Chrysalis talk down about her, but then she clarified. "It's not like that. I'm not saying she isn't any less great than us, but she's lot more... vulnerable." Chrysalis said. "Sure she was all powerful with Grogar's bell, but by herself, she could get slaughtered by anything really." "Which is why we have to protect her. She almost got hurt during our skirmish with the dragons, or during our escape from Appleloosa." Tirek said. "Oh, so you do care about her?" Chrysalis asked. "Me? What about you? You brought this up!" Tirek replied. "I don't care care about her, but... I..." Cozy was waiting for an answer. Did Chrysalis care for Cozy, like that? "It's just, none of this would have been possible without her." Chrysalis said. "Yeah, having her around really changed the way we go about our plans for the better." Tirek said. "She's precious." Chrysalis said. "Such an evil package, inside of something so adorable. An absolute miracle." Little old me a miracle? Golly gee. Cozy thought. "She is miraculous." Tirek said. "It's fortunate that we have her, she's made us a near unstoppable force." Tirek said. "Almost unstoppable. Twilight did stop us." Chrysalis replied. "But once our plan is complete, and we have the Rainbow of Darkness, we will be unstoppable for real." Tirek said. "And we'll have her to thank." "We're soon to possess the greatest power Equestria has ever known, and it'll be thanks to her. And uh, I'm glad we have her." Chrysalis said. "Yeah, same here. I don't regret having her with us." Tirek said. Eh, it's a start. They'll come around soon. Cozy thought. At the very least, it sounds like they do appreciate me, which is all I wanted to hear. Cozy smiled and fell asleep peacefully. It seemed for the time being that her villainous cohorts had the slightest hint of feelings for her. She cleared her mind and fell asleep for real. After a few more hours of traveling, the sky started to get brighter in the East. "The sun's coming up." Tirek said. "No! Not yet. We still don't know where in Equestria we are!" Chrysalis exclaimed. "Wake up, Cozy." Chrysalis nudged her. "Huh?" Cozy started to slowly awaken. "We need you to figure out our position in Equestria before the stars go away." Chrysalis said. "Golly, say no more." Cozy rubbed her eyes. Cozy took out her map, and looked up at the stars. It was morning, so the stars were in positions she wasn't used to. She did however see the Equestrian North Star. Upon seeing how high in the sky she was, she figured out their latitude. And no time too soon, as the sun came up and the stars went away. "Well?" Chrysalis asked. "Shall we continue? Or are we far enough away that we should consider running the machine again?" Tirek asked. Cozy pinpointed their location. "You know what? Just about." she said. "Excellent." Tirek said. "It's almost time. Let's consider getting ready." Chrysalis said. "You know what, this area looks familiar." Cozy said. "Brr... and it sure is cold here." Tirek said. "It can't be..." Chrysalis said. The three looked up, and got chills when they saw some familiar mountains. "Mt. Everhoof..." they said simultaneously. The three got cold feet. It was bittersweet seeing this place again. "Gosh, this place sure does bring me back..." Cozy said. Cozy went through their supplies to find her winter outfit. "Wow, Tirek. Your navigation skills are second to none, bringing us back here." Chrysalis said. "What matters not is where we are, but where we are." Tirek said. "Okay, sure." Chrysalis replied. Cozy came back, wearing her familiar purple winter coat and hat. "Last time we were here, we were on Discord's mission to find Grogar's bell. Now this time, we're on our own mission to find something even greater." Cozy said. At the base of the mountain, the three engaged in winter-y fun goodness. Cozy made a snowpony of Twilight, and Tirek made a snow sculpture of Discord. "I can this one, draconequus-idiotiquus." Tirek said. "I call this snowpony-whiny-princess who thinks it's okay to imprison a filly in stone!" Cozy said. "I call this *ZAP* revenge!" Chrysalis destroyed the snow sculptures. "HAHAHAHA!" they all laughed. Cozy sat on a piece of driftwood at the top of a snowy hilltop. "Give me a push, Chryssie." Cozy requested. Chrysalis pushed Cozy to the ramp. "Wee!" Cozy rode down the hill. *pompf* Cozy crashed against a snowy hill and went inside. *poof* she popped out of the snow. "Woowee. What a ride." she said. Next, they did some snowball fights. Cozy made a snowball in her hooves, and threw it at Tirek. *splash* *teehee* she giggled. Tirek made a really big snowball. "Betcha' can't make a snowball as big as... THIS!" Tirek held a giant snowball over his head with both his arms. He chucked it at Cozy, but he underestimated his strength, and it hit Chrysalis instead. *bam* It buried the her in snow. "Whoops..." Tirek said. "Now you've done it." Cozy said. The snow around them started to glow, and Chrysalis used her magic to send it back at Tirek. "You came for a snowball war, and you are going to get a war!" Chrysalis said. "Be careful who you pick a fight with." Tirek said, rolling up more snow. The two gathered all the snow they could, and chucked it all at each other. "My snowball army shall seize all the ponies in Equestria!" Chrysalis exclaimed. "Once I absorb all the magic from the snow, I'll be the strongest in Equestria!" Tirek shouted. Cozy laughed. Hearing the two play and get all serious about a snowball fight was amusing. They both conjured the biggest snowballs they could, and flung them *boom* The snowballs exploded and enveloped them all in snow. Cozy popped out of the snow. "Wow, you two. You'll get heated over anything." she said. "Hm Hm Hm Hm. Ha ha ha." Chrysalis laughed. "HAHAHAAHA! they all laughed simultaneously. Later: The they laid down in the snow, and just had a nice time. "It does feel nice to unhinge." Chrysalis said. "Not always so worried about world domination." Tirek said. "Just kicking back, and appreciating the little things..." Cozy said. The three sat in the snow for a while. "...Okay, I'm done. Let's complete the map." Chrysalis said. "Agreed." Tirek said. The two got up. Eh, it was fun while it lasted. Cozy thought. Cozy stood up and followed them. "Now, where are we going to find magic out here?" Chrysalis asked. "Hmm. There was that magic force field at the top of Mt. Everhoof." Cozy said. "But Tirek said he couldn't absorb it." Chrysalis said. "But Tirek absorbed the scepter no problem. So maybe there is a way he can absorb the shield." Cozy wondered. "It's worth a shot." Tirek said. "For old times' sake, let's climb Mt. Everhoof." Cozy said. "Are you sure? It was pretty tricky." Chrysalis said. "We did it once before. This time, it'll be a cake walk." Cozy said. (On a side note, Rusty Bucket's shack was still there, however, it was now empty). Climbing the mountain was very easy. After doing it once, now it was basically a walk in the park. They even manged to bring along with them the vehicle and all the equipment. They arrived at the top of the mountain with all their necessary equipment. Cozy looked out and took in the breathtaking view. "Equestria's changed a lot since we've been gone. But up here, where there's no development, everything is almost exactly the same..." Cozy thought aloud. Tirek pressed his hands against the force field, and it was still there. "Well, the force field is still here." Tirek said. "So they never bothered to take it down, huh." Cozy said. "But what exactly is keeping the force field up?" Chrysalis asked. "You said you could only absorb magic from living things, but we discovered that it extends to certain artifacts. So what if..." *BZZT* Cozy touched the shield, and it stung her. *OW* "Careful!" they shouted. "I know, I know." Cozy said. Cozy touched the shield again. *BZZT* *OW* "What are you doing?" Tirek asked. "Sometimes you gotta take one for the team." Cozy said. "True insanity is doing the same thing and expecting a different result." Chrysalis commented. "I'm not doing the exact same thing." Cozy replied. Cozy touched the shield in a different spot. It still stung, but not as much. "Hmm, interesting." Cozy said. "What are you doing?" Chrysalis asked. Cozy flew around, touching the shield, and tried to find the area where it was most intense. When she did, she found something interesting. "So, what did you find?" Tirek asked. "The force field is strongest right here." Cozy pointed to a spot in the shield. "Okay, Tirek. I want you to try really hard to concentrate on this spot right here." Cozy said. "I know it doesn't look any different, but this is the epicenter from which the magic diverges." Tirek opened his mouth, and tried to absorb the shield. The force field bulged from where Tirek was focusing, but he wasn't having much of an effect. "It's not working..." Tirek said. "Come on, it's having some kind of effect." Cozy said. *egh* Tirek got too tired and stopped. "No good." he said. *sigh* "I'm sorry. I thought there was a chance. But I guess it was worth a shot..." Cozy said. "You know, if you need a boost, I can lend you some of my magic." Chrysalis offered. Tirek absorbed Chrysalis' magic. She collapsed in exhaustion. "Okay, try it now, Tirek." Cozy said. He opened his mouth and tried to absorb the shield again. The shield bulged further out this time. "I think I can feel something..." Tirek said. Slowly, the magic started to flow faster into Tirek. "It's working!" Cozy said. Tirek broke through, and started a runaway flow of magic. Tirek had absorbed the whole force field and grown more powerful. It worked. Tirek had absorbed all the magic, and grew to his next stage of strength. "Yes!" Cozy cheered. Tirek gave Chrysalis her magic back. Hover, Tirek remained pretty strong since he had the force field's magic inside of him. "No more force field, Tirek is strong, and Chryssie is back to her normal strength." Cozy said. "If only we'd figured this out earlier. We wouldn't have had to have risked losing you in the cave." Tirek said. "Now we can enter the now empty cave whenever we want." Chrysalis said. "The cave can wait! Alright! You guys ready?" Cozy asked. Chrysalis and Tirek nodded. The vehicle holding all the machine was with them at the top of the mountain. Cozy flicked the switch, and the machine powered up. "Positions, everyone!" Cozy exclaimed. Tirek sat in the seat, while Chrysalis hooked up the hand and head sensors to him. Cozy made sure all the monitors were on. "Alright, we're about to conduct the last experiment!" Cozy said. *boom* The machine made a pop noise, and powered down. "That's not good..." Cozy said. "What's going on?!" Chrysalis asked. Cozy inspected the machine. "Oh no no no!" she cried. "What's wrong, Cozy?" Tirek asked. There was smoke coming from the machine. After some troubleshooting, Cozy came to the conclusion. "Our generator isn't supplying enough power for the machine to run!" Cozy cried. "We came all this way, we got so far, but we've hit a dead end! And it's all my fault for ordering faulty equipment!" "Cozy Glow, calm down. We can think this through." Chrysalis said. "No, it's over! This entire plan is done! There's no way we can fix this in the middle of nowhere." Cozy said. "I know you guys really wanted this, but I really failed you. But there will be no Rainbow of Darkness, and no revenge. I-*sniff* I-I'm sorry to disappoint you..." Cozy cried actual tears, and flew into the cave. "You know, I actually do feel kinda bad." Tirek admitted. "She's putting the burden of this failure all entirely on herself." Chrysalis said. "But she really shouldn't..." The two stood quiet, and they could hear Cozy crying inside the cave. "We should go inside and say something." Chrysalis said. "Say what? I don't know how to cheer up someone's mood." Tirek said. "Well, I'm not qualified for that either." Chrysalis said. "If we can't find the words to say to her, maybe there's something we can do for her..." Chrysalis took a look for herself at the generator. "Hmm, actions do speak louder than words." Chrysalis said. "But, Chrysalis, she said that fixing the generator would be impossible." Tirek said. "It's only impossible because it hasn't been done." Chrysalis said. She said the generator's broken, and supplying an insufficient amount of power." "There must be some other way to generate electricity..." Tirek said. "What really is electricity? And where can we get more?" she wondered. "Lightning comes from thunder clouds." Tirek said. "There's plenty of clouds up here, but none of them stormy." "Heh heh. Not yet anyway." Chrysalis said. To be continued...