Today
Tirek had a crying foal in front of him.
Cozy had fallen over onto her side, curling around herself as she wailed, hooves clawing at her mane, undoing the careful curls. Cozy Glow, Tirek was sure, was a filly who absolutely could be adorable while crying if she wanted to…but she was not being such right now. There was nothing cute about the strangled sounds she made, the physical, visceral pain she seemed to be in.
Tirek was ruthless. He was driven. But he was not cruel, not without purpose, not to those who had done him no wrong. So as grating as the noise was, Tirek crossed his arms and closed his eyes and simply let Cozy cry. Given that the game the two had been playing had somehow, against all reason, ended up as a copy of the game that Cozy had been playing with her father before his disappearance, it didn’t take a genius to figure out what had broken Cozy so.
Tirek idly wondered what it would be like, to care about a creature as much as Cozy appeared to care for her father. Inhibiting, most likely.
Eventually, Cozy’s wails abated, becoming quiet sobs. Tirek waited through that as well. Finally, he heard Cozy moving, and opened his eyes. He saw that Cozy Glow had picked herself up, was rubbing her eyes. She looked atrocious, her mane disheveled, her coat dirty from rolling on the ground, and her eyes completely bloodshot.
She hiccupped, and looked up to Tirek. “S…sorry.”
“Don’t apologize,” Tirek answered immediately, holding out one hand. “You needed that.”
Cozy nodded slowly. She rubbed her snout, and looked to the board. Seeing the fallen white king, she almost burst into tears again, but held herself in check this time, instead just taking in a few shuddering breaths and letting them out slowly.
“I…” she said, “I…lied. I said my Daddy is away on business.”
Tirek inclined his head. “You did.”
“But he’s not. Not…not anymore. He was only supposed to be gone for a couple months. But it’s been three years. I don’t know what happened to him, but…but if he could come back…then he would have by now.”
Tirek wasn’t cruel without purpose. But he didn’t see the benefit of letting Cozy preserve any illusion at this point. She needed bluntness. “No. Your father is gone.”
Cozy flinched, but nodded. She rubbed her snout again, then lay her head on the chess table. She reached out a hoof and knocked over her own king. “Thank you,” she whispered, and looked up to Tirek. “I…I got to play out my game with Daddy. You…you’re really good.”
Tirek grinned. “Not good enough to avoid losing.”
Cozy shook her head, standing up. “N-no, you really were! You just fell into some traps I set, but there were a lot of points where you could have won. You’re not familiar with the modern rules, is all. And you didn’t make any big mistakes.”
“Perhaps…but that trap you set up was exceptionally cunning.” Tirek stroked his beard. “From that moment on, I was on the defensive, but you eviscerated my ability to defend myself.”
Cozy nodded. “Uh-huh! It’s all about the rooks.” Cozy forced herself to smile as she took to the air, hovering of the board, putting her hooves on her rooks. “Maybe my bishop was what caused it…but you got trapped not just by my rooks…” she placed one hoof out, on the rook next to Tirek’s king, “but by your own. Pawns are important, they help you control the board, but you won’t win with pawns directly. Queens are the most powerful piece but they’re so powerful that they’re targets. Rooks are where the real game is, especially in the endgame. That’s what I think.”
“And of course you set up your entire winning strategy by that castling move,” Tirek noted.
“Yup!” Cozy grinned. She landed, and her smile faltered. “I…I wish my Daddy could have seen this…” she frowned, then looked to Tirek. “of course, you would have just drained him of magic, wouldn’t you?”
Tirek shrugged, not denying the truth. “Most likely. I doubt you would have been here in the park without your uncle’s machinations.”
“Well, I still think you’re gonna lose.”
“I look forward to proving you wrong.” Tirek considered. “In fact, I look forward to your apology letter once I win. I believe I promised to teach you a minor spell, didn’t I?”
Cozy lit up. She rubbed the last of the tears from her eyes, and nodded. “Yes please!”
The spell was simple enough to teach the basics of, but it required practice and repetition to master. An inscribed rune beneath the fire that was to be used, magic words said in exactly the right tone and at exactly the right speed, while making a specific series of gestures in a specific way. And without any organs to channel magic naturally, like the horns of a unicorn or centaur, Cozy would have to try much harder to master it.
In the limited time the two had left, Cozy still hadn’t been able to do it, though that wasn’t surprising: if hedge magic like this had been easy, then every creature would do it. But Tirek, anticipating that Cozy would need to keep at this for several weeks at least, left detailed instructions, inscribing them on the piece of paper that Cozy’s uncle had given her – it might as well serve some purpose.
And then Discord returned.
“I have had the most wonderful time!” the Lord of Chaos exclaimed as he manifested by growing out of the branch of a tree like some kind of disturbed flower. “You were absolutely right, Tirek, some time spent just being me was exactly what I needed.”
Tirek had his hands folded behind his back. He glanced to where Cozy Glow had been, but found that the foal had disappeared – save for a tiny bit of blue hair, the edge of her tail, under one of the chess tables.
Given that Discord had been responsible for two major disasters in her life – three, if one counted today – he could hardly blame her for hiding at his arrival. So Tirek stepped to the side slightly, blocking the table from view.
“I look forward to seeing what you have done with Manehattan,” he said, trotting forward and taking one hand out from behind his back, gesturing. “I have had a rather engaging time myself. It is good to be free of Tartaros at last and feel the wind and sunlight once more.”
“Freedom,” Discord agreed, floating through the air. “It’s so…liberating, isn’t it?”
“By definition. There is a small matter, however…when you conjured every adult pony in the city to this park, you missed a few after all.” Tirek’s eyes narrowed. “The ones already in the park.”
“Did I?” Discord asked, snapping his eagle claw. A couple dozen flashes resulted, and the sound of ponies crying out in shock and fear. Discord’s eyes widened. “Oh, so I did. How delightfully unexpected! Honestly, Tirek, I had no idea. Still, they’re here now, aren’t they?”
Tirek was already channeling magic, spreading his arms wide and reaching out to the screaming ponies. The screams devolved into moans and whimpers as their magic was drained, and Tirek felt himself growing incrementally stronger.
“Errors happen,” Tirek allowed as he finished, “but we cannot afford to many such errors if we are to defeat the alicorns.” Tirek glanced around, using the opportunity to check on Cozy Glow. The filly was peeking out from beneath the chess table, looking at him. She still looked awful after her breakdown…but she put on the widest smile she could, and waved.
Tirek grinned as well, and turned to Discord. “Come then! Let’s be off. I want this kingdom under our five hooves by this time tomorrow.”
“Right you are, my dear ally!” Discord agreed, raising his eagle claw. “There’s nothing that can stop us!”