“Come on! Come on!”
Tirek hit his head against the bars desperate as he held them. Chrysalis was sitting in a corner, inspiring and expiring sadly. He turned his head back and glared at Chrysalis.
“Well, aren´t you going to help me?”
“Hmm?” Chrysalis lifted her head a little.
“To conjure up a plan to escape and get Cozy!”
The changeling queen sighed.
“It´s useless, Tirek. She must be dead already.”
“But it´s not her execution yet! They are torturing her. We still have a chance!”
“Tirek. She is just a filly.”
“What do you mean with that?!” he asked upset.
“Let me finish, you idiot!” she yelled angrily. “What I mean is that her body is not as strong as ours, so I don´t think that she´ll be able to hold on to…” Chrysalis shook her head fastly. “Whatever they are doing to her. Besides, we haven´t got any magic. What do you expect us to do without it?”
Tirek scoffed.
“Chrysalis. We literally can absorb magic!”
“You absorb magic.”
“And you absorb love out of those ponies!” Tirek replied back. “You haven´t had a decent meal since we went to Mount Everhoof. Why are you throwing away the chance to have another one?”
“Let me think….” Chrysalis put her hoof under her chin while getting up. “Hmm… Oh, yes, I know. BECAUSE WE LITERALLY TURNED EVERYPONY AGAINST EACH OTHER?!”
Tirek didn´t have enough arguments to refute what she just said.
“Ok. That´s true. But I don´t think every pony in Equestria is dumb enough to have fallen for our lies!”
Chrysalis narrowed her eyes and raised an eyebrow.
“We are talking about normal ponies. Not Twilight Sparkle or any of her allies.”
“Still, there is a chance that a pony is still carrying love in their heart. You yourself said to be careful with those when we came up with the plan!”
Chrysalis rolled her eyes and turned her back on Tirek.
“It´s like you don´t even what to try!” Tirek exclaimed frustrated.
Chrysalis frowned.
“You´re right, I don´t.”
“And why is that, huh?! Don´t you want to rule?!”
“Of course I want to rule! It´s just… I´m afraid it wouldn´t be the main goal for the escape.”
Tirek raised an eyebrow.
“Explain yourself.”
Chrysalis sighed.
“Look. There´s nothing I desire more than ruling over those pathetic ponies. I still want to see them bowing before me and, most importantly, I want my army back. But I think that I´m using it as an excuse to cover the real reason why I would want to escape.”
“Which is…” Tirek continued while raising an eyebrow.
“Come on, don´t tell me that you want to save Cozy Glow just so you can get to the throne.”
Tirek bit his lip.
“Ok, fine! I admit it. I want to save her because I care about her. So what?”
Chrysalis scoffed.
“So what? So what?! We are starting to sound like Twilight Sparkle! What if this caring about each other turns us to her side, huh?”
“You mean… reforming?”
Chrysalis trembled.
“Uuugh! Just by hearing that word I get sick.”
“So, what you´re telling me is that you think that just because you care about Cozy you´re reforming?”
Chrysalis nodded. Tirek tried to hold his laughter but eventually, he gave up. He left out a huge roar of laughter. Chrysalis was puzzled.
“Oh! Oh my! I can´t breathe!” he said between his laughs.
“Don´t laugh! This is a serious matter!” Chrysalis yelled.
Once he was done laughing, he dried a tear.
“You are not reforming because you care about Cozy Glow.”
Chrysalis raised her ears surprised.
“I´m not?”
“Come on! She herself is the living proof.”
“What do you mean?”
Tirek raised his eyebrows.
“All this time together and you didn´t realize?” he rubbed his temples. “Ugh, for a creature that detects love, you are pretty dumb to notice obvious signs of love.”
“Hey, don´t call me stupid! Need I to remind you that I was the one who came up with all the ideas?”
“Hey, that´s not true! I helped in the plans!”
“Yeah. By building up your muscles for later instead of giving ideas.”
“Are you calling me stupid because I´m athletic?”
“I don´t know, am I?”
“Well, then, for being stupid I managed to manipulate Discord, almost defeated Twilight Sparkle and her friends, told Cozy what to do to accomplish her plans and she almost won as well, and somehow managed to keep my cool during difficult situations.”
Chrysalis had no words to say against him.
“Ok, fine. You´re right. But just because I have poor management of emotions and little knowing about them, doesn´t make me stupid. Just like you are not stupid for being athletic.”
“Fair enough. I just said that because I thought that you noticed as well.”
“Notice what?”
“Cozy Glow doesn´t view us only as a team. She views us as her family!”
“She does?”
“Why do you think she calls you Chrissy?”
“Don´t start calling me that too!” she pointed at him. “I thought she said that to annoy me.”
“That´s another reason as well, but only creatures that are close to each other do that.”
“Huh.” Chrysalis sat down.
“And just because she sees us as her family doesn´t mean that she cares about Twilight Sparkle and her friends or that she doesn´t want to rule Equestria anymore. Does she?”
“I… guess not?”
“There you go.”
“Well, it´s easy for you two to say. I learnt in a really bad way that if a changeling gives its love, they´ll turn into a bubbly and colorful changeling! I don´t want to look like that!”
Tirek widened his eyes.
“Yeah… I didn´t think about it. Hmm… Maybe it´s because when they gave their love, they released their hatred as well. I know! Let´s do something. You care about Cozy?”
Chrysalis took some time before answering.
“Be honest. Otherwise this is not going to work.” Tirek remarked.
“Hmm….. Yes?”
“Say it with all your certainty.”
“Ok, yes I do.” Chrysalis replied frustrated.
“Do you still want to take over Equestria?”
“D´uh! What question is that?”
“Do you hate Twilight Sparkle and her friends?”
“Yes.”
“The princesses and Discord?”
“Yes.”
“All Equestria´s habitants?”
“Yes.”
“How about Equestria´s allies?”
“Yes, except for my hive because they are going to serve me later, whether they like it or not.”
“Now, the definite question and evidence that you´re not turning into a bubbly changeling. Do you still want to rip Starlight Glimmer apart?”
“DON´T MENTION HER NAME!” Chrysalis yelled. “Of course I want to rip her apart! That soul hasn´t tasted all my rage yet.” she said with all her hatred.
“See? You failed the reformation test! There´s nothing to worry about.” Tirek crossed his arms with a relaxed smile.
“So… What you mean is that I can be evil and remain in this form while caring about Cozy Glow?”
“I don´t see anything colorful in you.”
Chrysalis wiped the sweat out of her forehead.
“Phew! You don´t know how much that relieves me.” she sighed in relief and hugged Tirek. “Thank you.”
Tirek widened his eyes in surprise and blushed a little. He gently undid Chrysalis´ hug.
“You´re welcome but don’t do this weird. Please.”
Chrysalis blushed in embarassment. She took some hoofsteps backwards.
“Forget I just did that. For your own sake.” she said threatingly. “Otherwise the one who´s going to be ripped apart is you.”
“And you´re back!”
“So, what´s your plan?”
Tirek started walking towards Chrysalis.
“What I was thinking was-”
Chrysalis blocked his way with her hoof.
“Let´s keep some distance. Just to avoid hugs or whatever sign of affection.”
Tirek took some hoofsteps back.
“Right. Sorry.” he cleared his throat. “As I said before, you and I can absorb some source of power from any creature.”
“So your plan is waiting for a miracle.”
Tirek raised his eyebrow confused.
“What?”
“Come on, do you really think that a pony or a creature is going to pop out of nowhere?”
Just after she said that they heard some hoofsteps. They peeked out their heads and observed a guard patrolling the cells.
“We´re in a prison in case you hadn´t noticed.” he whispered sarcastically in her ear.
Chrysalis sighed frustrated.
“Now, what we need to do now is to think about a way to call her attention and-”
By the time Tirek started talking, Chrysalis had already absorbed all the love from the guard, leaving her weak and laying on the ground. Tirek watched confused how Chrysalis licked her lips once she was done.
“You were right, there´s still love inside these ponies.” she said very pleased. “Such a great meal. Now, let´s see if this works.”
Chrysalis tried to light her horn. At first it flickered and she struggled to maintain the light, but fortunatetly, her magic was strong enough to take the keys from the guard´s armor and bring them to Tirek´s hand. The centaur caught the keys quickly. He stared surprised at Chrysalis for some time.
“What? What are you waiting for?” she asked upset while pointing at the doorknob.
“Ok ok.”
He opened the door and immediately got out. He smirked evilly at the pony before absorbing her magic. He turned to his normal state. He flexed his arms and kissed his biceps. Chrysalis rolled her eyes.
“Ugh, you can do that later! We have a fellow villain to save. Besides, I´m pretty sure that won´t be the last pony, whose magic you´ll absorb.” Chrysalis said with a smirk.
Tirek started laughing mischievously.
“One more thing, we can´t leave evidence.” Chrysalis added.
“What? And how am I going to do that?”
“I don´t know, think of something!” Chrysalis replied while running.
Tirek observed the frightened mare. When he got an idea, he smirked sinisterly at her.
“This is going to hurt just a tiny bit.” he said while igniting his horns.
“Ok. Let me ask you a question before we begin.” Cozy Glow said calmly. “WHY IN EQUESTRIA IS THERE A TORTURE ROOM UNDERNEATH CANTERLOT?!!!”
Cozy had her hooves tied to a platform. The torturer, who was a changeling, put his mask on. Surprised by Cozy´s question, he left out a laugh.
“I thought you knew because… Equestria history! Your history.” The changeling pointed at Cozy. “Canterlot used to be Tambelon´s capital, but after Gusty the Great defeated Grogar, all the revolutionaries destroyed the castle. But many years later, Celestia ordered to build a completely new castle. But I think that there were some ruins underneath. Such as this one”
“Wow, such an interesting and useful information.” Cozy said sarcastically while rolling her eyes.
“You asked, I didn´t.” the changeling replied bluntly while waiting for the metal stick to warm up.
Once it was almost melting, he took it to put it on Cozy´s belly. The tiny pegasus leaned against the platform all she could while blowing at the hot metal stick, hoping that it would cool down. The torturer changeling narrowed their eyes.
“Seriously? Are you that dumb to believe that it will stop burning just like that?”
“YOU ARE NOT THE ONE WHO´S ABOUT TO HAVE HER BELLY BURNED!!!” she yelled at his face.
Her yell was so strong that it made the torturer fall on his back.
“I´d prefer to be executed right now!” Cozy said.
“As you wish.” The changeling took out an axe.
“It was a form of speaking, you idiot!”
“Oh.” he said somewhat disappointed as he hid it.
“Isn´t there any other form of torture? One less painful.”
“Oh, well I can pierce all your body, I can break your hooves, your legs, I can let you bleed out… Grogar had some pretty mean ways to torture ponies, now that I think about it.”
Cozy knew that she couldn´t stand a chance. No matter the way she would be tortured, chances were that she would not make it to the day of her execution. So, the only thing she could do was distracting the torturer. And seeing how chatty he was, that would be something easy.
“And what were those ways?” she asked in her sweet façade.
“Grogar would force the prisoners how their friends were executed. He also liked to see them suffer very slowly. Oh! He also liked to show their lifeless bodies to his subjects as a warning of what would happen if they dared to disobey him. A pretty noted example was when he made a bell with twelve heads to get allies by fear before he even began to rule.”
“Oh golly, you don´t say.” she said, pretending to be very interested while being bored to death on the inside.
“It´s a very ancient legend. Chrysalis told us that legend every night for the same purposes.”
“Really? Golly, spill it out.”
“Well, it all began when he was still a young ram…”
“Aaaargh, how boriiiiiiiiing!” she thought to herself while the changeling told the story.
But something caught her attention. She saw some brief, green and orange flashes of light that came from outside, something she could tell by the door´s small spaces. Suddenly, the floor started to shake, making all the objects in the room jump.
“What in tarnation?” the torturer asked slowly.
Suddenly, the door fell down, leaving out some dust. Both the torturer and Cozy coughed. Once the dust cleared out, they could see what caused the door burst. Cozy gasped and smiled happily when she saw Tirek and Chrysalis lighting their horns.
“Tirek! Chrissy! You escaped!” she exclaimed very gladly.
For a moment, Chrysalis was going to shoot at Cozy for calling her Chrissy in public. Tirek was ready to stop her but saw that he didn´t have to when he saw the changeling queen calming herself down by breathing slowly.
“I´m fine. I´m fine.” she told the centaur. “Just give me a minute.”
She breathed in and out for a few more seconds. They all watched her confused and anxious, waiting for her to respond.
“Ok.” she said with an uncharacteristic, calm and peaceful smile. “WHATEVER YOU´RE DOING TO HER, STOP IT OR I´LL DESTROY YOU!” she yelled while igniting the horn at the changeling.
Although Chrysalis´ sudden outburst scared Tirek and made him jump, he quickly returned to his aggressive and defensive posture.
The changeling levitated his hooves.
“Ok. Let´s calm down. I didn´t do anything to her.”
“He was going to chop off my head.” Cozy lied.
“What?! That´s not true!”
“Then why do you have an axe, huh?” Tirek asked in an accusing tone.
The changeling gave a quick glance and the axe he kept on his belt. He quickly hid it behind its back. He laughed nervously before trying to leave the room and warn Grogar, but Tirek grabbed him by the neck.
“Oh, you´re not going anywhere.” he said with shining eyes while smiling and igniting his horns.
After absorbing his magic, Tirek left out a huge light on the changeling. The poor creature began to yell in pain. Chrysalis, who was freeing Cozy, tried to cover the filly´s eyes.
“No, no. I want to see this.” Cozy said with a sadistic smile.
After uncovering her eyes, Chrysalis took some hoofsteps away from Cozy, giving her a disgusted look.
Once Tirek was finished, there was no trace of the changeling. Only ashes.
“Are you alright?” he asked while Chrysalis undid her ties and sat her on the ground.
“Yeah, I´m good. But I have so many questions. First, how did you escape?”
“Apparently, every creature forgot that we are creatures who get power by absorbing magic or love.” Tirek explained.
“Oh, that´s true. Also, you could have chosen to fly off right now, yet you decided to come and save me. Why? I´m not an alicorn anymore.” Cozy said sadly.
“Did that stop you from almost conquering Equestria?” Tirek asked. “Or working with us?”
“Um… No?”
“Then, why do you think that we would live you behind?”
“Because I won´t be able to aid in battle. I have no magic, I´m not an alicorn and my wings are broken. I have literally nothing to give!”
“Ok. Let me check something.” Chrysalis put her ear on Cozy Glow´s forehead while knocking. “Hmm… It doesn´t sound as if it was empty inside, which means that you are still able to think and come up with plans to get that goat out of the throne and take what´s rightly ours! So yeah, you still have plenty to give.”
“But that´s something you can do without me.”
Frustrated, Chrysalis hit her head with her hoof.
“I´m trying to make you see that we´re not going without you in spite of your condition.
“But I need to know what I can give that you don´t.”
“Well…. You bring stability to this group. I fit wasn´t for you, Tirek and I would have killed each other.”
“Actually, you would have killed me.” Tirek replicated.
“Shut up!” Chrysalis glared at the centaur.
“Hmm… That´s true. But I think there´s something more.”
“What?”
“I don´t know you tell me.” Cozy replied with a mischievous smile.
“Come on! We don´t have time for this!” Chrysalis complained.
“Ok, fine.” Tirek intervened. “You give us a family. There! We said it! Are you satisfied? Can we go now so we don´t get discovered and executed immediately?!”
Cozy gasped. She covered her mouth with her hooves. Her eyes filled with tears.
“Is that true?” she asked very moved.
“Wait. Wasn´t that what you wanted to hear?” Tirek asked confused.
“No, I thought you were going to say that I apported cuteness to this group.” she sniffed. “You really mean it?”
Tirek scratched his back.
“Yes. Took me a long to accept it, but yes, you are like a family to me.”
“Even Chrissy? Does she feel the same?”
“First, will you ever stop calling me that?” Chrysalis scolded her upset. “Secondly… Yes. I feel the same. Aside my mom, you are one of the few creatures that has made into my closest circle. You´re almost… well, you´re practically family to me.”
Cozy sniffed with a smile. She hugged the two villains´ leg tightly.
“Me too, guys! You´re my family! I love you so muuuucch!” Cozy ugly sobbed.
Both Tirek and Chrysalis rolled their eyes.
“There´s no need to make a scene, Cozy.” Chrysalis muttered.
“Now, now. We don´t have time for this!” Tirek told the filly as he tried to undo the hug. “We need to leave!”
He took her on her back and began to run, with Chrysalis by his side. Meanwhile Cozy observed that there was not a single guard in the cells´ corridor.
“Um.. You do realize that this is practically empty, right?” she said sarcastically to the two.
“That´s the reason we need to leave now!” Chrysalis explained frustrated.
“What did you do?” Cozy asked suspiciously.
“The same thing I did to that changeling after I absorbed the magic.” Tirek responded.
“Ooh, that´s so mean and dark.” Cozy began to chuckle. “I love it!”
“Come to think about it? Was it necessary to do that to the changeling? You do realize he could have served for me later, right?”
“What else did you want me to do? Cozy could have been headless at any moment!”
“Actually, he was not going to do that. I made that up.” Cozy corrected.
Tirek and Chrysalis turned their heads on her.
“He had the axe because I figuratively said that I´d prefer execution rather than torture. But hey, he was going to torture me! But he was too excited by history to do so.” she laughed. “That poor fool.”
“Let me get this straight, Tirek basically destroyed one of my subjects for nothing?!” Chrysalis asked angrily.
“Sorry not sorry, I just wanted to have some fun. Besides, what part of talking about his interests instead of doing his job didn´t you understand? He would have been pretty useless in your army. So, no worries! Don´t lose your head!” Cozy winked at Chrysalis after saying the pun.
Tirek shook his head while rubbing his temples. Chrysalis started whispering in his ear.
“You know what? I´m starting to rethink if saving Cozy was a good idea.”
Tirek sighed.
“Me too, Chrysalis. Me too.”
Fluttershy explored her cell, pacing around everything that the chain around her neck could let her. She was looking for a way to escape. Yes, she knew that her friends were most probably dead, and she was just a weak, powerless pegasus who had nothing to do against Grogar. But she couldn´t bear the thought of not doing anything while Equestria suffered. She had to find a way. Maybe she couldn´t do anything but luckily, she knew an almighty draconequus who could lend a hoof. But first, he needed to be freed, and in order to do that she needed a plan, which had to begin by escaping.
She touched the blocks that formed her cell´s walls, hoping that there would be a secret passage made by somepony who was there before her thousands of years ago. She tried to advance to the right, but the chain prevented her from doing so. After yelping, she frowned at the chain.
“Stupid chain!” she spat angrily.
While looking at it, she also saw her wings, which gave her an idea.
“Let´s hope it works…”
Slowly, she opened her wing. She took out a feather out with her mouth, grunting a little in the process. Then, she grabbed it with her hooves. Once she found the whole, she inserted the pointy part of her feather. After spinning it around for some time, she managed to open the chain. She sighed in relief.
“Much better.” she thought aloud with a smile while caressing her neck. “Now, all I need is a little bit of luck.”
She kept on touching the blocks on the wall. Suddenly, she heard a voice.
“Hey you!”
Fluttershy gasped in panic, thinking that she had been discovered. However, when she turned around, she saw nopony. She leaned against the right wall and advanced to the bars, covering herself with her wings. She heard the guard running.
“Code red! The prisoners have esca-”
For some reason, the guard stopped talking. Fluttershy noticed that the guard´s voice became muzzled.
“Too late to warn your fellows.” a frightening voice said.
A chill ran through Fluttershy´s back when she recognized Tirek´s voice. She felt incredibly bad for the guard he had his hands on. From what she heard, she knew that he was summoning magic.
“Nice one Tirek!”
The much high-pitched and fake sweet voice made Tirek fire a ray magic without targeting well. It bounced the guard´s helmet, then a torch, and finally, it destroyed Fluttershy´s cells bars, leaving a hole on its floor.
“Cozy!” Tirek scolded.
Cozy smiled apologetically.
“I told you to stay quiet.” another voice joined in.
Fluttershy recognized the other voice. It was Chrysalis´.
“Sorry, Chrissy. I got excited.”
Chrysalis sighed frustrated.
From the shadows, Fluttershy watched how Tirek absorbed the guard´s magic. Suddenly, she saw a huge flash of light. After the flash of light, the guard´s shadow was there no more.
“I can´t wait to do that when we are in the throne.” Cozy said excitedly.
“Let´s go. Now!” Tirek commanded Chrysalis.
The changeling nodded and they disappeared in a flash.
Fluttershy panted heavily, trying to digest what had happened. She observed the hole in the ground. After making sure nopony was looking at her, she ran to the hole to check it. She chuckled hopefully when she saw that the hole was big enough for her to go in.
“Discord, I´m coming.” she said confidently before jumping into the hole.