//------------------------------// // Chapter 21: New Glow // Story: Cozy Chronicles // by 5u0myn0n4 //------------------------------// It was morning, and in a quaint little distant village, a caring father was caring for his daughter. The daughter was a little filly unicorn, with pale skin, freckles, a flowing blue mane, and a blank flank. "Pappy, can I have some more soup?" asked the little filly. "Of course, little Amber, I'll be right back." her father said. The father walked into the kitchen, leaving the filly unguarded. Unbeknownst to either of them, they were being watched. Outside the window, one wicked equine was appalled at what she saw inside the house. But as to not be out down, she thought of a scheme, and she thought of it quick. The father returned, and made a horrific discovery. "Now, dear. Be careful, it's a little hot, and-*gasp* what the?" He walked in to a most horrific sight. His daughter, dead, and hanging by a noose in the middle of the room. *gasp* *crash* The father dropped the soup. "Amber! No! Not again!" he cried. The father's legs collapsed, and he wept. He barely mustered the strength to look up, and gaze at the horrific sight. But the closer he looked at the details, he noticed something wasn't right. "Wait a second..." The filly in front of him looked a lot like his daughter, but it wasn't! The dead filly in front of him was a pegasus, not a unicorn! His daughter was also a blank flank, and the body in front of him had a rook cutie mark. The pony hanging in front of him was none other than... "Oh my god..." he said under his breath. "Heh heh heh." giggled somepony. He wasn't alone in the room. There was a somepony in a reclining chair, facing away from the stallion. The chair turned around, revealing Luster Dawn, as an alicorn, with the bewitching bell. His unicorn daughter sat in her lap, tied up. "Hello, Pappy." Cozy said, who was mind controlling Luster Dawn. (Cozy's consciousness lived inside Luster's body). Pappy was completely shocked at this insane sight. "What's going on?" he asked. "Surprised to see me? I know I look a little different now, but I am still your daughter." Cozy said. "See that filly hung by the noose? You did that! That's me! Or at least it used to be me. Sure, you tried to kill me, and you failed, but death eventually caught up to me/her. But you needn't to worry. Luster Dawn here was kind enough to donate her body to my cause! Now, Cozy Glow's life and soul lives on in the body of Luster Dawn!" "You know Cozy Glow isn't your name, right? Your real name is-" Pappy started. "Enough about me! Let's talk about you!" Cozy said, holding Amber. "So, one child wasn't enough? You just had to raise another to eventually kill?" "Stop it! Give Amber back this instant!" her father exclaimed. "So, Amber, is it? I don't deem you as fit to raise a filly, so I'm officially adopting her myself!" Cozy said. "I hereby rename you, little one. Your name is now Amber Glow!" Cozy said. Cozy stroked Amber's mane. It was remarkably similar to her old mane, besides the fact it wasn't styled. Amber was too terrified to say anything. She quivered in fear, but for whatever reason, Luster radiated a warm aura. "So, who's the lucky mare?" Cozy asked. "If mama's dead, how in Equestria did you conceive of another filly? Let alone one that looks so much like the old Cozy Glow?" It was true. Amber Glow looked almost exactly like Cozy Glow! In appearance, she basically was Cozy Glow, but with no cutie mark, different mane style, and most distinct different of all, Amber was a unicorn, not a pegasus. "Pappy? What's she talking about?" Amber asked. "You stop this right now!" he exclaimed. "You don't know what our daddy did to me?" Cozy asked. "He's just going to do it to you too! It's like a rite of passage when Pappy tries to kill his daughter." "That's enough! Unhand my daughter and-" *ZAP* *a beam of magic connected to Pappy* "Show us exactly what happened that day!" Cozy said. A magic stream flowed from her dad, to Luster, and then it projected an image to the wall for everyone to see exactly what happened to Cozy Glow on that day. That fateful moment in young Cozy Glow's life replayed for the three to watch. Her dad had locked himself in his room, while Cozy was outside yelling, after the worst school day of her life. "Come out and look me in the face! Don't you wanna know how my last day of school went?! I got f****** expelled! They're holding me back a grade! But don't fret, Princess Twilight Sparkle has her own school! I think it's the perfect match for me!" Cozy exclaimed. "If Princess Celestia can make Twilight Sparkle from unicorn to alicorn, then she absolutely can do the same to me! And if she doesn't then we'll force them to! Against their will! We'll force them to relinquish all their magic to me! And I'll become the most powerful alicorn princess to ever-" *SMACK* *SHATTER* The door swung open when the dad forced it open. "What do you want now?!" Pappy exclaimed. He looked around, but his daughter was nowhere to be found. He looked around the corner to where the door flew open, and saw a shattered window. "Oh no!" He looked out the window and saw- *gasp* The opening of the door had slammed against Cozy's head. The force of the impact forced her through the window, shattering the glass, and then she fell down an entire story. "No no no!" The dad rushed downstairs to his daughter. By the time he had arrived, the authorities had already arrived. They were surrounding the fallen filly. She laid unconscious on the ground. "Do you know what happened here, sir?" the chief asked. "That's my daughter! And I-" "So you're the one responsible for this gruesome crime?" one of the deputies asked. "Well, yes technically, but not intentionally, I-" "I think you better come with us." the sheriff said. They arrested the dad on the spot, and carried the inured pegasus away. "Don't worry. Your daughter will be in better care soon." the chief assured. Pappy looked around in shame. He knew he was neglectful of his daughter, but he never could have imagined that his actions would lead to this. *the flashback concluded* "Tsk tsk. So reckless." Cozy said. "And they still allowed you to have a child after this? Pitiful! So who is her mother?" "It's a bit more complicated than that." Pappy explained. "If you paid close attention to the flashback, you would have noticed I kept a clump of your hair. I frankly wasn't sure if you were going to survive. I know I can't take back my mistakes, but using a sample of your genes, I was only recently was I able to successfully create Amber." Cozy was quite shocked at this revelation. "So you nearly killed me, and instead of facing me, you decided to cloned me so you could try again?" she asked. "They said I was never allowed to see you again, and that you would be fostered away." Pappy explained. "Well, golly! I have an identical twin sister!" Cozy said. Cozy flicked Amber Glow's horn. "You're so cute. You look almost exactly like the old me! Except... why exactly is this little girl a unicorn?" Cozy asked. "Exact copies practically don't exist. There's always genetic variation." the father said. "So if she's a unicorn, but she came from my genes, that means I almost was an alicorn after all?" Cozy asked. "Interesting, but unfortunately, almost doesn't cut it." she added. "You have us at your mercy, so what are you going to do?" the father asked. "I'm going to make you suffer." Cozy grinned. Luster got out of the chair, and tied Amber to the chair. She walked forward, threatening Cozy's father. "So, what is an appropriate punishment for attempted filly murderer? There isn't a punishment worthy enough for you!" Cozy exclaimed in a mocking tone. Multiple Luster Dawns appeared and whispered into Cozy. "Hmm, that does seem fitting." she said mockingly. Her horn lit up, and the walls around them collapsed, *FLASH* There was a blinding flash of light, and when the light faded, they had appeared at the tip top of Tartarus. "Welcome to Tartarus, home to the most vile creatures in Equestria, and so I think you'll fit right in, Pappy. Now, what to do? Caged in Tartarus? Stone? Caged in Tartarus as a stone statue?" Cozy pondered. A giant cage fell from above, and *BOOM* landed, trapping Pappy inside. "I pick all of the above!" Cozy exclaimed. *ZAP* Cozy zapped her dad, and he started to turn to stone. "You can't do this! You're not Queen of Equestria!" Pappy exclaimed. "Not yet. But I will be very soon!" Cozy stuck her head in the cage and gave him a nasty grin. His body turned to stone from bottom up. Cozy walked forward, and stuck her head through the cage, watching her father turn to stone. "Do you have any last words before nopony hears from you again?" Cozy asked. "I just want you to know that I loved your mom dearly." he said. "Is that what you told her before she died?" Cozy asked. "I told her that our daughter was going to be the most special pony in Equestria..." he said. "Well, mission accomplished." Cozy grinned. Her dad had completely solidified in stone. Cozy noticed her corpse was still here. She took her corpse, and hung it inside the cage with her father. "Together with his daughter, forever. I can't think of anything he'd want more." Cozy said. *clop* *clop* Somepony clapped their hooves together. "Congratulations. Well done, Alisha." said somepony. "What are you doing here?" Cozy asked. "I came so that you could thank me for all I've done for you." she said. "What have you done for me? Besides push me out of your birth canal, and then swiftly dying soon thereafter! You gave birth to me, and that's all you did! Don't act like anything you did influenced my life!" "I've been here this whole time, guiding you." she said. "Shut up! That's not how it works! I did this on my own! I'm the most powerful alicorn in Equestria! And it's no thanks to you or dad's wishful thinking! It's 100% because of my ambition!" Cozy ranted. "But at what cost?" she pointed to Cozy's original body. It was now an empty corpse. "A necessary loss! You and dad created a weakling. The old body was poisoned to death, but now I have a new body! I am immortal!" Cozy said. "No, you are lost." they said. Cozy got very mad. "I'll show you!" she exclaimed. Cozy started forward, but a different pony reached from behind and embraced her. It was Cozy's sister, Amber. She gave her big sister a big ol hug. "Please stop, Cozy!" she pleaded. Luster's legs collapsed, and she fell onto her hind legs. Cozy's tears ran Luster's face. *sob* "How could you love me? I'm a monster..." Cozy sobbed. "You're my sister. I want you to stop, and to be happy." Amber cried. Tears ran down her face too. Cozy looked into the cage, seeing her own father encased in stone brought back horrific flashbacks of being sealed away in stone by Discord. And seeing her corpse tied to a noose reminded her of when a poison dart hit her, and ultimately sealed her fate. She looked at Amber, a filly who looked just like Cozy, except she was fresh, meanwhile there was herself, who ultimately lost her body after a series of punishments, and hardships. Amber embraced Luster's body tighter, filling Cozy with even heavier emotions. *sniff* "I promise that I'm not going to let anything bad happen to you." Cozy said. "Little Amber, so young, so pure, innocent. Such a blank slate..." Cozy realized that Amber really was a clone of herself, except without any experience. This gave Cozy an idea. "Say, would you like to play a game with me?" Cozy asked. "Yes, anything for you, sister." Amber wept. "Let's play pretend. You'll be Cozy Glow, the most feared and awesome pony in all of Equestria. And I'll be Luster Dawn, Twilight Sparkle's most trustworthy and faithful student. At least, trustworthy for now... hehe." Cozy giggled. "I guarantee you it'll be fun for both of us." Cozy grinned. *sniff* "Will I make you happy?" Amber asked. "Yes, little one. I would be beyond happy if you played pretend with me." Cozy said. "Then I'll do it, sister." Amber said. Cozy was giddy as she conceived of what would be her final plan for world domination. "Golly, a lot has happened to me. There's a lot to dive into. But don't worry, I'll catch you up to speed so you'll be able to play the part of Cozy Glow!" Cozy said. "This does sound like fun!" Amber said, ecstatically. "I'm glad you think so, my little sister, Amber." Cozy said. "I think Twilight Sparkle will have the most fun out of any of us." Cozy grinned, while holding the bewitching bell by her side. Cozy Glow reconnected with her family, and met a family member she didn't know she had. Besides her different mane, and blank flank, Amber Glow looked just like Cozy! She was even almost the same age Cozy was during the events of the main series. This was about to come in very handy very soon... To be continued...