Previously, our main villains stood at the top of Mt. Everhoof once again, this time, they were about to run their machine and detect the Rainbow of Darkness once again. Once they did, it would have completed their map, and tracked down the thing's exact location. However, it did not go to plan. They had some sort of electrical failure, and the experiment failed. Cozy Glow took it personally, and blamed it on herself. She was upset to have failed Chrysalis and Tirek, and hid away in the nearby cave. Cozy sat inside the cave where Grogar's bell used to sit. But the only thing sitting that cave now was her, and she was crying.
Cozy sat in the cave, alone. She pressed her hooves against her face, as tears poured from her face.
*sob*
After a couple moments, she wiped her tears, and cleared her throat.
*sniff* "Well, maybe this is a blessing in disguise. Using another source of power and attacking Canterlot again, it sounds an awful lot like a repeat of last time. We could be walking into another trap. I know the Rainbow of Darkness is supposed to make us ultra powerful, but we could still lose. And if we do lose, Twilight's probably gonna put us back in stone, maybe for longer, maybe forever. Or worse. And while world domination sounds great, honestly, I'm sort of fine with the more... humble things that come with freedom." Cozy thought. "I don't want to lose you two again. So maybe there's still time to ditch this search, and head back to our little town, and be surrounded with the only ones who seem to care about me-"
Cozy hung her head, and let out some more tears. She looked at an icicle, and saw her reflection. Seeing herself cry, made her rethink.
"Are, you, KIDDING ME?!" she exclaimed. "You're acting very soft, and out of character. Being trapped in stone has made you soft, when it should have done the opposite! You should be more eager than ever to get your revenge! You're so close to completing the map, and you're letting one setback stop you? The old Cozy Glow wouldn't let that happen!"
"But failure is inevitable. And I don't want to fail again, and risk losing Tirek and Chrysalis for good."
"You're weak, because you want them to be your friends. The magic of friendship is a toxin. You're weakening yourself by trying to make friends with them."
"But spending time with them... feels good *sniff* I don't want to lose them again."
"No! That's the friendship speaking! If friendship takes you over, Twilight wins. And if Twilight wins, you'll be spending the rest of millennium in stone."
"I know, but what matters most? Being their friend? Or destroying Twilight Sparkle? *sniff* I don't know anymore..." Cozy bawled her eyes out, and bashed her head.
"What's happening to me?! I-I-I-I..." Cozy started to have a breakdown.
*ka-boom*
"Huh?"
Cozy heard a thunder bolt outside. She rushed outside, and was awestruck by what she saw. Chrysalis must've transformed into a pegasus, and was flying around in circles, causing a storm.
*boom*
Lightning struct the generator, and the machine powered up. Everything seemed to be functioning correctly. Cozy's face lit up with excitement.
"Well what are we waiting for? Cozy! Come operate the machine now! We're ready!" Tirek shouted.
"Yes siree!" Cozy rushed over, and pressed the necessary buttons.
Chrysalis landed, and transformed back to normal. Cozy pressed the activation key, which activated the machine. Tirek fell unconscious. His horns lit up, as his powers activated. The sensor connected to his hand recorded any electrical pulses they may have been caused by the Rainbow of Darkness' signal. The monitors confirmed that the data was being recorded.
Once again, Tirek sensed energy emitted by the Rainbow of Darkness, and the machine recorded the intensity of these readings. After a few minutes of collecting data, they had everything they needed. Cozy flicked the switch to off, and he machine powered down.
"That's it! We've collected the last set of data we need!" Cozy gleed with joy.
"About time." Tirek awoke.
"Yeah, feels good to be done operating the clunky machinery." Chrysalis said.
"I'm so happy with you two right now!" Cozy said. "You worked together to solve this problem by yourselves."
"Well, we saw how upset you were when the machine didn't work." Chrysalis said.
"And we couldn't bear to give up without trying to fix things." Tirek said.
Cozy flew forward and hugged Tirek and Chrysalis.
"I knew I could count on you two." she shed a tear.
She realized what she was doing, and blushed in embarrassment.
*ahem* "Uh, never mind that impulse. Let's calculate the data in the cave where it's less windy."
Inside the cave, they were compiling the data, and plotting it out on their map. Cozy Glow ecstatically compiled the last set of data. She had pages of data printed out. Chrysalis and Tirek were helping.
"It says here, we detected a frequency of #%^ " Chrysalis said.
"And we know the RoD's ambient power level is ****." Cozy said.
Tirek had the map. The map had two circles they'd drawn from the previous experiments.
"We're located way up here..." Cozy put a pin over the northern part of the map.
"This time, we detected a radius of XXX." Chrysalis drew a circle on the map.
"Now, by taking the radius of the Rainbow of Darkness from all three locations, where the circles intersect should reveal its location!" Cozy said.
Chrysalis handed Cozy her compass, and red marker, to draw the final part of the map. Cozy drew the final circle.
"The point where all three circles intersect is right about... *BAM* HERE!" Cozy put a pin where the circles all touched.
"Changelings and gentle-centaurs, there she is. That is where in Equestria the Rainbow of Darkness lies dormant." Cozy Glow pointed on the map.
"Soon to not be dormant that is." Tirek said.
"It's beautiful. All the fruits of our labour, paid off. It really makes me proud, that we came so far." Cozy said.
"I can't wait to see the look on Twilight's face when we use the Rainbow of Darkness and destroy everything she cares about." Tirek said.
"Just the thought makes me giddy." Cozy said.
"BWAHAHAHA-" The three shared an evil laugh.
To be cont... wait, there's more!
Their evil laugh continued.
"-hahaha...ha... heh... eh..." after enough time, they stopped laughing, and kind of stood awkwardly.
"...Now what?" Chrysalis asked.
"Let's not waste a single moment! Let us venture forth, and find it immediately!" Tirek said.
"Or not... I guess we're snowed in until it subsides." Cozy said.
They looked outside, and a storm was brewing.
*crash* *boom* *bang*
"What's that noise?" Tirek asked.
"Did we leave the car and all the equipment outside?" Cozy asked.
Tirek and Cozy both looked at Chrysalis.
"Well, no one told me to bring it inside." Chrysalis sassed.
"I mean, it's not like we needed it anymore. The map's complete, but now we gotta traverse on foot now." Cozy said.
"But are the cocoons okay? We kept them in the vehicle, but may have just lost them for good." Tirek asked.
"I left the cocoons at the base of the mountain. We didn't need the extra weight, so I only brought the machine. So Sludge is fine unfortunately." Chrysalis explained.
"Well, since we're not going anywhere any time soon, I guess all that's left to do is camp here until the storm goes away." Cozy said.
They managed to start a campfire, and huddled around it inside the cave.
"So, this is the cave where Grogar's bell was hidden." Chrysalis said.
"Yep. I didn't get to take a good look at it the first time when I rushed inside, but now that we're here, I'm noticing it's very interesting in here." Cozy said.
Tirek and Chrysalis stared at the murals on the walls.
"This is the pedestal where Grogar's bell was held." Cozy said.
"It's odd that Discord wanted us to retrieve the bell." Chrysalis said. "If he only brought us back so Twilight could have a challenge, he didn't really need it."
"I wonder if he at some point had some sort of ulterior motive..." Cozy wondered.
"The cave goes really deep." Tirek said. "Much deeper than just the entry room where the bell was."
"Gusty the Great didn't just drop the bell off here and ditch it. I wonder if she spent a good long time in this cave." Cozy said.
"Who's to say Gusty had good intentions by stealing Grogar's bell. Perhaps she wanted the magic for himself, and hid it here for safekeeping." Chrysalis speculated.
"The version I was taught could be a glorified fiction. Who knows Gusty's true intentions." Cozy said.
"History is written by the victors. In this case, those equine swines." Tirek said.
*yawn* "What time is it?" Chrysalis asked.
It was still stormy outside, though now it was getting dark, so the sun was definitely setting.
"I think it's snuggle time." Cozy smirked.
"Golly." Cozy rubbed her eyes. "Guess there isn't much more to do besides hit the hay."
"I needed my beauty rest anyway." Chrysalis said.
Tirek and Chrysalis laid on their backs in the cave. Cozy in the middle, which each of them on her side.
"Ugh. Once again, I'm having trouble sleeping." Tirek said.
"You guys wanna tell stories again?" Cozy asked.
"That reminds me, you left us on a cliffhanger, Cozy." Chrysalis said. "I'd love to hear your origin story."
"You really mean that?" Cozy asked.
"Of course." Chrysalis said.
"It's bound to be interesting to hear how a filly went from zero, to ultimate unsuspecting evil." Tirek said.
"Well, I'll be honest, I only know part of my story. There's a lot I don't remember, but here's what I do." Cozy said.
*ahem* "Alright, here you go, my backstory (or at least part of it). My earliest memory, I woke up, and there were these two ponies by my side. A mother and a daughter. They said they weren't related to me though. They said they found me unconscious, and brought me in and cared for me in a hospital. They seemed to recognize me, but I had never seen them, or anything before."
"Your life couldn't have just started there." Tirek said.
"You clearly had some experience. You knew how to speak, read, walk, etc." Chrysalis said.
"Anyway, whoever the daughter was, she gave me a backpack, and said it belonged to me. Inside were notes written by me, but I don't remember writing them. It detailed plans to enroll into Twilight Sparkle's school, with the goal of twisting the magic of friendship to my benefit. So whatever I did before, I guess evil was always on my agenda?"
"I knew it, you're a natural born enemy of friendship." Tirek said.
"Not necessarily, we don't know why you wrote those things. And how come you don't remember anything before this day?" Chrysalis asked.
"I don't know. No matter how hard I try to remember, it's just too blurry." Cozy said.
"It might have to do with this um... blemish on my head." Cozy removed her hat. "There's a reason I wear head accessories. My bow actually a bandage that covers my injury. I don't know what caused it, but I wonder if I was... hit on the head, and that somehow affected my memories. Suri gave me a new bow, but those two ponies gave me my original bow at the hospital. They tied it on me to cover the injury."
Cozy was choking up while thinking of her origins.
"The notebook said that I wanted to make somepony named Pappy proud by enrolling in Twilight's school, and dominating friendship. Proud of what though? And who is my pappy? Did he hurt me? And my life is dedicated to pleasing him?"
Cozy was tearing up, so Chrysalis tried to move on in the subject.
"So, uh. What happened next, after the hospital?" she asked.
Cozy wiped her tears. *sniff* "After a couple weeks of care, the two ponies sent me off to Twilight's school. They took me to the train station, and waved goodbye as I departed. I had no interest in making friends. The ponies on board were jerks. The griffons on the train smelled. And whoever did this to my head must've been scum of the lowest form. If Twilight could make a kingdom home to such irritating creatures, then it's a kingdom I don't want to see. Instead of conforming to this nasty world, I sought to change it in my favour! So I vowed from day one at the school, to devote my time to overthrowing Twilight, becoming the true Empress of Friendship myself. The world wasn't kind to me, so I had no plans to be kind to it. I needed an ally, an the only villain available was 'ol Tire, just sitting in Tartarus. And the rest was history. So really, my memory only begins a short while before I enrolled in Twilight's school. It's so weird, makes me feel younger."
The two villains had fallen asleep next to her.
"And um, the only place I ever found salvation, was with you two..." she said softly.
Cozy closed her eyes, and fell asleep along side them.
.
.
.
The next morning.
Cozy Glow was first to wake. She rubbed her eyes, and let out a cute little yawn. She found herself on top of Tirek, and Chrysalis's wrapped a leg around her.
"Heh. You two are the best..." she said softly.
She liked being held by them. It made her feel... special. She spent a half hour or so just in their grasp, but eventually Cozy got up. She squirmed out of Chrysalis' grip, and rolled off of Tirek. She went ahead and explored the cave on her own while the other baddies still slept. The storm had appeared to have passed, and it was light outside again. However, there was more to the cave to explore, so that's what she did.
The cave was a single tunnel with no branching paths, so it would be difficult to get lost. The deeper she went, the less developed, and more natural the cave was, seeming to imply that the cave was some kind of a work in progress that was halted. But for what purpose? Towards the back of the cave, she saw a light coming from a hole in the side. She dug with her hooves, and some loose gravel collapses, and opened an exit.
"Hmm..."
Cozy squeezed through the opening, and exited the cave. She found herself outside in the snow once again. She wasn't impressed however..
"Hmph. Just another side of the mountain." she said.
Cozy stood, cold, in the freezing snow. She took in the view from above. Though it was nice, she didn't feel like exploring the outside of the mountain.
"There's nothing over here. I better head back to..."
Cozy paused for a moment. She thought she heard something...
"Hmm?"
She took cautiously took a step back, and then another, but then-
*PEW*
"AAHH!"
*oof*
Cozy was knocked over. Her little snow hat fell off. And suddenly, Cozy was ambushed.
"No! Stop! Get off of me!" she cried.
Cozy Glow was tied up and hoofcuffed. She was suddenly surrounded by royal guards.
"Let me go this instant!" Cozy exclaimed.
The captain appeared and stood before her.
"You're not going anywhere, Cozy Glow." said Gallus, captain of the royal guard.
To be continued...