It had been two years since Cozy had the power of a princess only for it to be snatched away from her. Two years since Discord imprisoned her, Tirek and Chrysalis in stone. Far too long for her liking. Still, she didn’t really care how much time had passed. Kinda hard to when she was stuck in one pose for the rest of her days. She couldn’t even remember the last time she slept, not that she needed to. Despite being turned to stone, she could still see and hear her surroundings. The birds tweeting. The wind howling. And the occasional mob of ponies with pickets that read ‘Cozy Glow did nothing wrong’ and ‘Free Cozy Glow’ written on them chanting her name. While all that noise gave her a headache more often than not, the Cozy defenders always cheered her up whenever they showed, especially when they had signs with little doodles on them. If Cozy could move her mouth, she would have smiled. Just like how her dad got away with beating her and her mother because he was a respectable businesspony, Cozy could imagine getting away with her crimes simply because she was a cute little filly.
She was surprised that, rather than be thrown into juvie like most fillies and colts her age would when they’ve done something bad, Cozy was thrown into Tartarus for conspiring with Tirek to steal all of Equestria’s magic and turned into stone by the creature that freed her and Tirek from Tartarus in the first place. It wasn’t like she could escape juvie. Unlike her parents, she was just a pegasus. Then again, maybe juvie didn’t have the same maximum security that Tartarus and being turned into stone did. And even then, Tartarus didn’t have the best security, if an easily distracted guard dog and the possibility of a certain draconequus whisking the prisoners away with little effort are anything to go by.
The only thing that kept Cozy occupied was her intense hatred for Discord. It almost eclipsed the hatred she had for her own dad. If it weren’t for her current state, her blood would have boiled every time she thought about him. He knew what her home life was like before she teamed up with Tirek. He knew what it was like to be trapped in stone with nothing to do but watch as time passed by. And yet he had the gall to suggest to the princesses that she, Tirek, and Chrysalis should be living statues for eternity. She was there when he betrayed Equestria to Tirek and yet the worst he got for high treason was only a year in Tartarus. Most ponies in his situation would have gotten the cockatrice stare or a life sentence in Tartarus and yet he only served a year. She could only imagine the pain she would inflict on him as soon as she got out. If she ever got her hooves on the Bewitching Bell again, she would take all of Discord’s power for herself and tear him limb from limb. She would break every bone in his body. She would puncture every one of his vital organs to the point that he would be bleeding from every orifice. She would mangle and mutilate him so hard that he would be begging her to kill him. So many ways to kill him for what she did to her, so little time.
In fact, why kill him once? As soon as she would conquer Equestria, she could use him as her own little plaything. Kill him once using one method and bring him back to kill him with a different method. Or even better, throw his beloved Fluttershy into the mix. In his letters to her, Tirek had told Cozy about how Discord gave up wanting Equestria for himself the moment he became friends with Fluttershy. She could imagine how much agony Discord would be in if he saw Fluttershy’s wings ripped off right in front of him. She could turn him into stone and force him to watch as she maimed and mutilated Fluttershy in every conceivable and bloody manner possible. Have her ripped apart by rabid bears and timberwolves. Eaten alive by carnivorous ants. Feasted on by bloodthirsty vampire bats until she was nothing more than a dried up husk. Her flesh gnawed upon by leeches and all sorts of creepy crawlies. Maybe even force Discord to strangle her with his bare hands. Or she could just give Fluttershy a simple claw to her jugular vein provided by a very nasty bunny rabbit. And when she would get bored of killing Fluttershy, she could kill Discord in the slowest and most painful method she could think of and bring them back to break them all over again. Maybe even use the same method on them both. As soon as she would get out of this stony prison, Cozy wouldn’t settle for making Discord suffer like she did. She would give him the fate he deserved. A fate worse than death. A fate worse than Cozy’s own predicament.
As she spent the night fantasizing about what excruciating abominations she would inflict on Discord and Fluttershy like she did every night, she remembered that she had difficulty controlling all of his chaotic power the first time around, which forced her to share with Chrysalis and Tirek. So much for backstabbing those two, especially since they knew next to nothing about teamwork and rejected every attempt Cozy made to teach them the power of friendship. It was their fault she was trapped in stone. But rather than find more cooperative individuals, perhaps she could start out with a smaller artefact. She heard rumours of an Alicorn Amulet hidden deep within the Everfree Forest. The name itself was enough to entice Cozy but when she heard of a petty stage magician that went mad after getting her hooves on the amulet, she craved it even more. Sure, the stage magician apparently got better and it was only a few years ago but trekking through the Everfree Forest was bound to be easier than her attempts at climbing Mount Everhoof. If she could harness the power of the amulet, how hard could it be to learn how to harness the full power of the Bewitching Bell? As the day slowly faded into night, Cozy thought about when she first stepped hoof into the School of Friendship. It was a very simple plan. Just sneak into the School of Friendship. Find the artefacts necessary to drain all the magic from Equestria. Make everypony as powerless as her dad was when Tirek attacked and rule over them as the Empress of Friendship.
How could a simple plan like that go so wrong?
Cozy stared at the entrance of the School of Friendship. Its golden doors with crystalline windows parked between two waterfalls made for an interesting sight. But Cozy wasn’t here to sightsee. She had a job to do. And once she had done her job, then everypony would know what it would be like to be powerless. No longer would she be a victim to those who use their power to get away with their atrocities. She would have all the power in the world. And if nopony agreed with her reign, she would have them killed. After all, it was what her dad would have done. As much as she despised the duplicitous lech that had beaten her within an inch of her life whenever the mood struck him, she couldn’t deny that he taught her a few lessons about life. If ponies liked you, you could just about get away with anything. Nopony would ever suspect you of any wrongdoing and those who would dare to do so would be ignored or silenced. And since she was just a cute little pegasus filly that was also smart for her age, despite the many beatings she had in her early foalhood, who could possibly accuse her of draining all of Equestria’s magic?
She gave the doors a mighty push and flew right into the school. While the crystals in certain areas looked pretty and there was a massive hole in the roof, Cozy thought it looked a bit plain. But since it was a school and school was rarely fun, she wasn’t surprised. Since there was nopony in sight, they were either in class or it was the weekend. Either way, it gave Cozy enough time to explore the school undisturbed. She fluttered around the halls, looking through every nook and cranny in the hope of finding where the magical artefacts are kept. If they were important, then they would be hidden somewhere safe. As much as she tried, she couldn’t find anything. Exhausted and annoyed from flying around for ages, Cozy flew into the library in order to take a break from her pursuit. But when she entered, she saw she wasn’t the only pony in the library. At the table was a purple alicorn with dark purple hair, quietly reading a book. It didn’t take long for Cozy to figure out that the mare in front of her was the Princess of Friendship herself, Twilight Sparkle. Cozy hid behind a bookshelf and slowly hovered over to get a better look at the princess. Given how vividly Tirek described his fight with the princess, Cozy thought somepony of Twilight’s reputation would be older. Not that Cozy was in any position to judge, since she herself was only a filly and yet she could read at a tenth-grade level. And then it hit her. If she was going to find the artefacts, she would have to warm up to Twilight. And if they have any other common interests, then it would make getting Twilight to trust her that much easier. She flew from her hiding place and sat near Twilight.
“Hey there, friend-a-reeno,” Cozy said.
Twilight jumped in surprise when she noticed Cozy sitting next to her. Either Cozy was quiet as a mouse when she flew over or Twilight was just that entranced in her book.
“What’cha reading?” Cozy asked.
Twilight gave Cozy an odd look, “Uh...shouldn’t you be in class?”
“Wait, class has started?!” Cozy asked in shock, “Oh no. Am I in trouble? You’re gonna give me detention!”
Cozy turned away and started crying. Memories about the amount of times she was beaten by her dad did wonders for turning on the waterworks. Was more convincing than just covering her eyes.
“Hey, it’s okay, it’s okay,” Twilight said as she tried to comfort Cozy.
“No, it’s not okay!” Cozy cried, “I’m just a big failure!”
“It’s okay to make mistakes on your first day of school,” Twilight said reassuringly.
Cozy sniffed, “You really think so?”
“Well, as long as you don’t make too many mistakes afterwards or get into trouble,” Twilight replied, “So, what’s your name?”
“Cozy Glow,” Cozy replied.
“Okay, that’s good,” Twilight said “Well, uh, nice to meet you, Cozy. I’m-”
“Twilight Sparkle,” Cozy excitedly interjected, “I heard so many wonderful things about you. How you and your friends defeated then became friends with Discord. How you travelled to lands unknown and defeated the Storm King. I even read your Friendship Journal!”
“Oh,” Twilight said sheepishly, “Well, thank you very much.”
“You’re welcome,” Cozy said.
“Now, let’s see if we can find what class you’re supposed to be in,” Twilight said as she got up.
“Oh, but it’ll probably be over once we find it,” Cozy said worriedly, “This place is so big, it could take forever to find what class I’m supposed to go to.”
Twilight put her hoof to her mouth in thought, “Well, I could always give you a lesson of my own.”
Cozy’s eyes lit up, “Wow! Really?”
“Sure,” Twilight replied, “But let’s keep it a secret. I don’t want the other students to get jealous and have dozens of foals clambering after me like last time.”
Twilight shuddered. Whatever happened the last time she privately tutored a pony was a mystery to Cozy. One that she was not interested in finding out.
“Don’t worry, professor,” Cozy said, “My lips are zipped.”
As if to emphasize her point, Cozy put her hoof to her lip and pretended to zip them shut. And in a literal flash, Cozy and Twilight were no longer in the library but instead in what Cozy assumed was Twilight’s office. There were two big wooden cabinets filled with potions, though what all those potions were doing in a school designed for teaching friendship is anypony’s guess.
“So, what’ll you be teaching me today?” Cozy asked.
Twilight hummed as she thought of something to teach Cozy. It was as clear as day that she was not expecting a student to be extremely late and completely unprepared. How she managed to defeat Tirek is beyond Cozy’s comprehension. As Cozy thought about it, she realized that Twilight fought Tirek with all the magic of the other princesses. And since the other princesses were still in power, Cozy could only assume Twilight gave their magic back. She was almost tempted to laugh at how somepony would give up all that power. If she had the power of all the princesses in Equestria, she would never let go of it or share it with anypony. In fact, with such power, she wouldn’t need Tirek’s help.
“How would you describe yourself?” Twilight asked.
“Well, I’m sweet and adorable,” Cozy replied, “I like reading and I’m very good with ponies but not very good at making friends. Guess that’s why I’m here, huh?”
“I see,” Twilight said as she continued to think.
“Ooh, and I’m also really good at taking charge of things,” Cozy said.
After much thinking, Twilight finally had an idea. Cozy was surprised that Twilight’s horn didn’t light up like a lightbulb during her eureka moment, but her horn lit up for a different reason as she levitated a chessboard and a book about chess towards them.
“It’s not a friendship lesson per se,” Twilight explained, “but if you were a leader of a group during a teamwork exercise, this might help with your leadership skills. Celestia and I started playing this after the Storm King’s invasion.”
“I actually saw the Storm King,” Cozy said, “I dunno how he managed to conquer all of Equestria. He was a total goofball.”
“So was Discord and he managed to turn my friends against each other,” Twilight retorted.
“But you’re friends with him now, right?” Cozy asked, “It’s all water under the bridge?”
“Of course, though that doesn’t mean I haven’t forgotten,” Twilight replied, “And he can be an annoying pain in the flank sometimes.”
Cozy giggled, “I can relate.”
Twilight opened up the book about chess, possibly to familiarize herself with the rules, and set up the chess pieces with her magic. Cozy had all of the white pieces while Twilight had all the black pieces. In spite of her cutie mark being a rook, Cozy had never played chess before. But she wasn’t going to let a little thing like inexperience stop her from winning. She moved all of her pawns as far as they could go while Twilight only moved a few of her pawns to a6, d5, f6, g4, and h5. Cozy smiled as she used her king to capture Twilight’s pawn on g4. The first prisoner of war. Twilight moved one of her bishops to e7. As Cozy moved a bishop of her own to h3, Twilight moved one of her knights to f6. Sensing that her king might need back up, Cozy moved her knights right behind her row of pawns. Pony shields at their finest, and in an almost literal sense to boot. An excellent strategy too since she managed to capture two of Twilight’s pawns with one of the knights and a bishop. Unfortunately, one of Twilight’s knights had captured her bishop. No matter. She could just as easily do the same to Twilight. An eye for an eye. But when she did so, her impulsive move bit her in the flank as Twilight’s king captured that very knight Cozy used to capture the bishop. Worried that Twilight’s dark knight might take away her own white knight, Cozy moved her knight towards her queen and bishop. But when Twilight captured one of her pawns with a rook, Cozy wasted no effort in capturing the rook with one of her own rooks. A valiant effort only to be undone by Twilight’s king capturing her rook. Cozy huddled her queen over to her remaining knight and bishop. Even with what was left of her row of pawns, Cozy knew she was done for. After many moves of trying to avoid her queen being captured, she was eventually defeated.
“Checkmate,” Twilight said.
“Aw, you beat me,” Cozy said jovially, hiding the fact that she took a hit to her ego.
“If it helps, I used to be terrible at this game as well,” Twilight said, “Every time I had a match with Celestia, I always lost. Even when I understood the rules, she always managed to beat me.”
“Golly, that must have been really frustrating. Did you eventually beat Celestia?” Cozy asked.
“Yes, but that was only because she let me,” Twilight replied.
“So how did you get better at it?” Cozy asked.
“Simple,” Twilight replied, “I had a lot of practice against the school’s guidance counsellor.”
“Well, since you’re the expert here, maybe you could tell me where I went wrong,” Cozy suggested.
“The first thing you did was create a barrier of pawns,” Twilight explained, “I understand how making barriers to protect yourself is important but you need to learn to take risks, just like how I did with-”
“Making friends?” Cozy butted in.
“Actually, I was gonna say using the Prench Defence but yeah, friendship can be risky too,” Twilight replied.
“Sounds like I got my work cut out for me, huh?” Cozy said.
The school bell rang, startling both Cozy and Twilight. Twilight pulled a list out of one of the drawers on her desk and immediately packed away the chessboard and the book on chess with her magic.
“Well, it’s been nice seeing you and I look forward to having you as a student,” Twilight said.
“Where are you going?” Cozy asked.
“Just a personal errand,” Twilight quickly replied, “Enjoy your break!”
Without a moment’s hesitation, Twilight galloped through the door and out of the office. As the list she was holding fluttered down onto the floor, Cozy picked it up and took a look at it.
“Twilight Time, huh?” Cozy said to herself, “Interesting.”
Even in her petrified state, it still annoyed Cozy that she lost to Twilight during that chess match. But at least she learnt something from that match and that wasn’t to waste any valuable pawns. A lesson that served her well when she stumbled upon the Cutie Mark Crusaders after stalking Twilight to find out what this ‘Twilight Time’ was all about. Even if her efforts made her look dumb in front of the Crusaders, she knew it was better to have them as friends than as enemies. And what better way of earning their friendship than by getting them inside the School of Friendship like they wanted? Granted, her plan to get them inside nearly backfired but at least she had the guidance counsellor talk to Twilight and even gave them jobs as friendship tutors. As much as Cozy hated to admit it, she actually sucked at making friends before encountering the Crusaders. All her daddy ever taught her was how to act adorable and to do what ponies expected of her. Well, when he wasn’t beating her half to death, of course. As far as Cozy was aware, she had made more friends than her dad could ever dream of. And if it weren’t for those meddling creatures and that stupid Tree of Harmony, she would have won. She would be ruling all of Equestria as its Empress of Friendship. The more she thought about, the more she realized that she should have done a better job at befriending them. Or at least tearing apart their friendship so the Tree’s magic wouldn’t save them at the last minute. Discord managed to break apart Twilight’s friends before they became all buddy-buddy with him, how hard could it be for her to break apart the friendship of a scheming dragon, a changeling, a hippogriff, a griffin, an Earth pony, and a yak? Better yet, she should have destroyed them when she had the chance. The problem with that was it would have been very difficult to find a couple of ponies willing to help her dispose of the bodies, or what would have been left of them.
As it was still night time and she couldn’t sleep, she continued to dwell on how much she hated Discord. But as much as she hated Discord, she couldn’t deny that without him, she never would have gotten her hooves on the Bewitching Bell. If it weren’t for her mouth being stuck in a scream, she would have laughed at how gullible Discord was when he pretended to be Grogar. Did he really think her, Tirek, and Chrysalis would tell him they had succeeded in getting the bell from Mount Everhoof? They were villains, dishonesty and disloyalty were in their nature. And since he was betrayed by Tirek before, he really should have known better than to trust him. Come to think of it, the only reason why she lost her alicornhood in the first place was because of Tirek’s daddy issues. Had he kept his temper in check, then maybe their prisoners wouldn’t have escaped and turned them all into stone. If she ever got out, she would not waste any time in destroying Tirek and Chrysalis for their incompetence. They were the reason she was in this mess and they will pay for it with their lives. She would chuckle at the irony of it. The ancient evils of Equestria, usurped and annihilated by one little filly.
At the corner of her frozen eye, she saw the sun rise. It was amazing how quickly time could fly by when there was nothing to do but think of how to achieve power again. In the distance, she saw Twilight and Discord walking towards her. She wouldn’t be surprised if they were only here to check if she had any cracks in her prison. But what did surprise her was, when Discord snapped his fingers, she felt something. The only thing she ever felt since her petrification was coldness so to feel a tingling magical sensation different from that was a miracle to her. Even more miraculously, she fell onto the grassy ground, free at last. She felt the breeze within her mane, the blades of the grass, and air in her lungs. She never knew how much she would have missed her senses. It was almost enough to make her lick the mud beneath her. She laughed happily as she rolled around in the grass. It just felt so good. And when she had finished rolling around, she was face-to-face with Twilight and Discord.
“Golly, I was wondering when you would finally come to your senses,” Cozy said in a sweet tone, “How could you let such a cute little thing like me get the same punishment as these mean ol’ monsters?”
“You can stop with the act, Cozy,” Twilight said sternly.
Cozy giggled, “Force of habit. So what changed your mind about me? Was it because I didn’t get a fair trial but he did?”
Cozy pointed at Discord, who just shrugged.
“Well, I thought the first time you were on trial was enough,” Discord said sheepishly.
“What first time?!” Cozy asked angrily, “They just threw me into Tartarus!”
Discord gasped in an exaggerated manner, “Did they? I suppose Celestia was fond of using extreme force to punish those who threaten Equestria. I should know, she and Luna were the ones that turned me into stone the first time around.”
Twilight glared at Discord.
“But it was also her idea to free me the second time around,” Discord backtracked, “So...even Stevens?”
“Let me guess,” Cozy said, “You felt bad about the princesses and Discord turning me into stone and now you want to reform me? Just like what Celestia did with Discord.”
“I believe everypony deserves a fair chance,” Twilight replied.
“And she was getting tired of all the ponies protesting for your release,” Discord butted in, “I’m surprised anypony would want to continue being friends with you after you tried to take away all their magic.”
“What can I say?” Cozy said, “I’m cute and lovable.”
Discord scoffed, “I really doubt that. Maybe you were a lovable little filly once upon a time but now...Now you remind me of your dad.”
Cozy snarled, “Don’t you dare compare me to him! He just wanted to make money, get drunk, and sleep with any mare that took his fancy behind mommy’s back! And when he ain’t doing that, he was beating me to a pulp! I, on the other hoof, had ambition! I wanted all of Equestria to bow down to me! And if you think I’m just gonna sit here and listen to you two lecture me on how to be a good little filly and how I should change my ways, then you got another thing coming!”
As Twilight and Discord stared in shock at Cozy’s little outburst, Cozy just turned away.
“I’m...sorry you had to go through that,” Twilight said solemnly, “I know it was unfair of us to imprison you without trial but maybe I can help you. You don’t need to be alone. I have made many friends that used to be enemies, including the school’s guidance counsellor.”
Twilight offered her hoof in friendship, “Just let us help you.”
Cozy glanced at Twilight’s hoof before turning away in disgust.
“How about you and your buddies finish the job and destroy me the same way you did with Sombra?” Cozy bitterly spat out, “Or would that be too much for you? Either way, I’d rather be back in Tartarus.”
Cozy flew away from Twilight and Discord. She wasn’t in a rush to get her power back. She just wanted to see how long it took for them to turn her back into stone. But when she turned her head around, they were nowhere to be seen. She was surprised by how well that comment about how she wasn’t given a fair trial worked. She couldn’t care less about the fact that she got thrown into Tartarus for her troubles. If she learnt anything from her dad, it was that mercy was wasted on the wicked, and that included both him and her. She was very certain the only reason Twilight offered her another chance was because she was a pony like her. Though that wouldn't explain why they didn’t spare Sombra nor why the princesses didn’t obliterate her former cohorts. While she knew they wouldn’t have it in them to kill her, whether it was because of her age or her background, she wasn’t going to repeat the same mistakes she did before. She needed a better way to be bad. Way better than teaming up with Tirek and Chrysalis. She would think her plan through and kill anypony that got in her way. All she had to do was find the Alicorn Amulet, master its power, and torture Discord to find out where he kept the Bewitching Bell. The last one she was really looking forward to doing but there was the problem of Discord’s magic. An immortal Lord of Chaos would have magic far more powerful than the magic of a simple trinket. He could easily undo Cozy’s plan with a finger-snap. But there was an easy fix for that. If she couldn’t find the Bewitching Bell but had the power of the Alicorn Amulet, perhaps she could take a page out of Tirek’s book and learn how to absorb the magic of everypony in sight.
Though, if she did that, what would she need the Bewitching Bell for? Maybe as an excuse to torture Discord as much as she wanted. The brutal fantasies that kept her sane during her petrified state were now going to be a reality. She could already feel such power, and what she would do to everypony. Perhaps she could drench all of Equestria in darkness and let it freeze, or she could set all of the lands ablaze. Maybe she could turn everypony into baby fillies and watch as they are beaten mercilessly by big, drunken, ogres. There were so many things she could with such power. She suffered long enough, it was everypony else’s turn. As she flew towards the Everfree Forest, violent thoughts brewing in her head, a smile crept up on her face and a little giggle crawled its way up her throat. And that giggle became a chuckle before that chuckle turned into maniacal laughter. Her laugh was so loud and evil that it was beginning to hurt her throat. And as she coughed from laughing too hard, she still kept laughing. Even if they were just thoughts, she revelled in how twisted and evil they were. She had long since accepted she wasn’t a good filly. And since everypony knew of her misdeeds, she no longer felt the need to hide it. It was better to reign over Tartarus itself than to serve the princess and her friends.
It didn’t take long for her to actually reach the Everfree Forest. It looked different in the day. Less threatening. Not that Cozy was ever scared of the dark, let alone the Everfree Forest. Whatever dangerous creatures that lurked in the forest would be nothing compared to the foul beasts she saw in Tartarus. The worst that could happen was falling into a patch of poison joke or encountering an Ursa Minor. Or both at the same time. With no time to waste, she ventured onward.
“This is gonna be fun,” Cozy said to herself.