“Awaken!” a sinister multi-voice seems to echo through Cozy Glow's mind, causing her to stir with irritation. Although chilling, the voice mostly evokes curiosity for her. However, the solid cold floor is a source of irritation instead.
This is uncomfortable.
“Arise, young mare,” the voice commands.
Groggily, Cozy Glow stirs. Her eyes flutter open a bit, but they lack focus at first. Her eyes try to adjust to the light, but it does not take too long because her surroundings aren't that bright.
The first thing she notices is there appears to be a dark crystal roof with the center angled the furthest point above her. It looks a bit familiar, yet also somehow different.
Groaning, she turns over so that her belly side faces the cold floor. Her legs are splayed apart in an X pattern. Similarly, her wings are spread out. Her curly loops dangle freely. Some of them partially obstruct her vision, thereby increasing her irritation.
But when she examines the floor she is on, she notices that it, too, is made of crystal. If it isn't so black, she would have said she's in the Crystal Empire. In particular, the Crystal Castle.
“Welcome to my Castle, young mare,” greets the voice from somewhere nearby. Tracing the sound to its source, Cozy locates King Sombra sitting on his nearby black crystal throne. He is very hard to see, for he is caked in thick, unnatural looking shadow. It somehow billows, too, so it's more like he's covered in a black fog made of ash. The only thing that really stands out about him is his glowing red, snake-like eye pupils with green background. Black and purple wisps trail after his hungry-looking eyes that peer down at her with cruelty and greed.
Nearby him, there are two rows of earth ponies dressed in black spiky battle armor. They all wear helmets with narrow eye slits. Sickly green energy glows from those narrow slits.
“Yesssssss,” King Sombra says with a sinister, satisfying hiss as he beholds his nearby slaves. “Magnificent specimens, aren't they? So fierce. So loyal. So utterly mindlessly obedient. They make a fine addition to my collection.”
Cozy Glow sits up and straightens her back. She sits on her rear legs beneath her while her wings at first stretch behind her, then fold on her back. She does not answer his question right away because she has mixed feelings about the issue. When she finally does speak, she says, “As you can well imagine, I have a complicated history when it comes to slavery. It's a mixed bag for me, I guess.”
“Ah yes. Your vaunted friendship.” After he says that, Sombra pauses a moment to sip something that floats to his lips. The crystal cup is engulfed in popping black and purple energy.
“That's what you wanted to be, isn't it?” spoke one of the mares among the row of guards. She droned as she spoke. Her voice sounding empty and lifeless.
“The Empress of Friendship,” spoke another male guard.
“A whole herd of ponies,” spoke another, but yet another pony finishes the last one's sentence. In fact, this pattern keeps going with the end and beginning of each sentence. It did not take long for Cozy to realize, with a cold chill racing down her spine, that each pony that speaks is only saying what Sombra is forcing them to say. He's making them do that while his own mouth is sipping his drink.
“collected together” “to be your playmates” “like a personal collection of dolls.”
“Tell me” “young mare” “is that really what you wanted?” “To hide behind” “a symbol?”
“Friendship is power, you said.” “Oh yes!” “It is indeed.” “I've been on the receiving end of that often enough to know those claims” “aren't a bluff.” “Oh no!” “I very much felt its sting.”
“And I'm guessing I'm not the only one,” Sombra resumes with his own mouth as he floats his crystal goblet away. “You've been defeated more than once by such powers, haven't you? You wanted it for yourself, yet the rainbow beam keeps acting against you.
“I find such powers indeed mighty, but also messy, clunky, and imprecise. Do you realize how easily I would have won if even one of those ponies against me had a falling out with any of the others? There were six targets I could have aimed at, young mare, or they could have been bogged down with their own problems.”
Sombra waves her off with a black, smoky hoof, then goes on to say, “Free will is overrated and very messy. A group can be strong if they work together, but the problem is their personalities and free will often conflict with one another. One pony wants to eat apples. Another wants pie. Still another is not hungry and wants to watch a puppet theater instead. Their personalities clash . . . and during that time there is no harmony. No focus or cohesion to the group.
“I find my slaves to be far more neat and tidy.”
King Sombra lifts a hoof to demonstrate. As a result, the entire group around him straightens in attention. When he twists his hoof, they all turn in complete unison and stomp a hoof at the same time.
Cozy's eyes scan the group. A strong part of her finds this very unsettling, and yet she also can't help but admire it. It feels intoxicating and flawless, as if there would be less risk of her plans going awry if she had a power like this.
Starlight Glimmer should know this feeling, or so Cozy had heard. If she had this, why give it up?
There is one answer that comes to her mind.
“Doesn't this get lonely?” Cozy asks Sombra curiously and innocently. “These are not friends. I'm not even sure you can really call them slaves. Instead, these are puppets. Mindless puppets. If they are mindless, then that means, in effect, you are the only one who’s really in the room.
“Well,” she shrugs, “other than me, of course.”
King Sombra leans back into his seat as his glowing eyes narrow and also fade a bit. He says with a much more weary expression, “This is true, and it did not take me long to realize that, even back in this time. Part of the thrill of conquest lies within the challenge of competing with another sentient mind . . . or working with one. For the longest time, I sought an equal to share my great and glorious power with. I sought a queen to rule by my side. For a while there, I had my eye on the Night Princess. I figured she, more than anypony, would understand the thrill of ruling in darkness.”
King Sombra looks past her for some reason, then he does something that creeps her out. His head stretches from his throne into an overly long, nightmarish neck. He hovers his face near hers while still gazing past her as he tells her quietly, “Trot with me.”
After he says that, the rest of his black, smokey form catches up to his head. When it does, he finally coalesces into a solid pony form, one which is wearing his red cape with white fur trimming and black dots. He wears armor on his chest and the front of his legs, and a spiky crown on his head.
Trotting past her, Cozy Glow follows him with her gaze only at first until he pauses a short distance ahead of her. At first he just freezes like that, then glances back at her off the corner of his right glowing eye that narrows with a look that seems to demand, “That was not a request.”
Sighing, she finally gets up and complies. She follows a short distance behind him as he looks forward again and resumes his journey. As he does so, she notices how he proceeds with regal confidence and a pose that radiates sheer power.
While following him, it occurs to her that she wishes this had always been her father. Somepony who is strong and she can look up to. Somepony who just takes what he wants with no qualms or moral objections. Anypony who stands in his way is easily crushed. Sure, he may be arrogant, but he can easily afford it when he has that much power to spare.
She wants to be a pony like that when she fully grows up. With that much power, control, and confidence, there is no reason to feel vulnerable. No reason for fear.
Together, they trot across the large throne room until they emerge onto a balcony that leads outside. Once there, they approach the rail of the balcony. Sombra pauses just ahead of her, then looks back at her while nodding ahead of him, as if silently commanding her to peer beyond.
Gulping nervously, Cozy proceeds to do so. Once she approaches and peers beyond the edge of the rail, she gasps at the sight before her.
To begin with, this really is the Crystal Empire . . . sort of. It’s probably more of a mental facsimile of it. Even then, though, it is not a perfect copy of it. At least, not the version that Cozy saw on her previous diplomatic missions with her newly adopted “mother”.
This version of the Crystal Empire is nothing like the bright, colorful streets she encountered before. Instead, all the crystals here are dark and dreary. As for the earth ponies, they are there, but those not stuck in his military uniform are instead locked in a long chain gain and trudging across the streets in absolute misery.
Up above, Cozy notices that the shining rainbow of light is absent. Instead of that, dark storm clouds loom over the city. If she couldn't tell from the chill of the air that those are snow clouds, then the rain of snow from above is a dead giveaway.
What really astonishes her, however, is the view beyond the city line itself, for out there are many squadrons and battalions of ponies in war armor. These ponies are instead wearing much brighter armor, and it looks very similar to the royal palace guards’ armor, even from a distance.
The front line of that army appears to clash with Sombra's. Behind the attacking line of the invaders, a rain of magical beams is being shot over the heads of their forward line of troops. When those beams collide with something, sometimes they explode into a magical bubble of showering sparks.
Up above, several wings of pegasi curve to dive back into the battlefield. When they reach a certain distance, they drop some kind of payload. From this distance, Cozy has no idea what those things are, but they seem to explode as some kind of noxious gas. Their aim appears to target the back lines of Sombra's troops. Shortly after the gas spreads, those ponies collapse, either unconscious or dead. If those are Princess Celestia's pegasi, Cozy favors the former theory. Sombra's troops are quite likely alive still, especially if Celestia knew that Sombra's troops are mind-controlled slaves. Most likely the former Princess of the Day is attempting to rescue Sombra's victims while temporarily suppressing them at the same time, at least for the moment.
Cozy jolts when she sees several very large magical beams ricochet between several tall black crystal spires, except the beams appear to get more and more powerful with each pointy crystal spire they beam from. On the final two, those two spires instead take some time to gather and store the energy before shooting it forward as a continuous beam of deadly energy that is so thick, it is easily larger than an adult pony. The duel beams cut a swath across Celestia's troops. They burn the ponies and ground so badly that clouds of dust follow their wake. The beams continue for ten solid seconds, during which time they weave back and forth through Celestia's troops.
“Marvelous, isn't it?” King Sombra asks as he appears to sadistically savor the scene ahead of them. “The clash of war. It is poetry in motion. The wheels of fate are churning, crushing everything in its path. The screams and the smell of the dying fill the air. I can taste their wrath. Their fear. Their anguish, and it . . . is delicious!”
“You certainly seem theatrical today,” Cozy observes. “Everything needs to be melodramatic to you, doesn't it? Even your majestic poise.”
King Sombra spares an evil chuckle for a moment, then explains, “Why . . . of course, my dear. A good leader must strike an imposing impression. So much so that, even in defeat, I shall nary be forgotten.”
He approaches closer and gazes down with a hint of disdain and contempt for the lines of earth ponies trudging down below. A few glance up at him for just a brief moment. During that time, Cozy sees a spark of hope and a pleading look from them as if silently begging for a moment of pity.
“Ironically, it seems a vast majority of what is forgotten lies within,” Sombra admits somberly. “I stood here before, savoring this glorious day . . . or so I thought. I did not realize, until much later, how empty I truly was that whole time.”
Sombra lifts a hoof. He peers at the armored hoof thoughtfully.
“Even during this time, it had occurred to me how alone I was, for indeed . . . an army of mindless puppets is no compony at all.” He slams the hoof he was staring at on the rail as he gazes forward beyond the balcony again. For a brief second, his eyes flash brighter.
“Also,” he continues, “it left all the burden of the decision on me. All thought, all strategy had to come from me alone. There was no pony else to gather ideas from. No pony to watch my back against any threat I was unaware of. No allies who drew on their own innate creativity or past experience. I did have the ability to search through the minds and memories of those whom I have enslaved, but all I'd ever find is whatever I searched for if it happened to be there. No more, and no less. Due to my talents and my dark magic, their fears came forward to me the most. There are limits to how much knowledge I can gather from that.”
Thunder rolls across the sky which drew both of their attention skyward. After a few moments, he looks at Cozy off the bottom corner of his left eye while grinning as he asks, “Do you know what ice is?”
“Very cold substance,” Cozy answers. “It is water molecules condensed in its most solid form.”
“Indeed,” Sombra agrees as his gaze shifts skyward again. “It is all of that . . . plus it is a form of crystal.
“Behold.”
A huge amount of energy gathers in his horn and flares out his eyes so brightly that his eyes could not be seen for a moment. Eventually he shoots that energy into a beam which collides with the clouds above. He maintains this beam for five seconds before it wanes. When it does, his horn ceases to erupt into that black and purple popping energy. His eyes return to their normal menacing glow instead of the bright flare.
Up in the sky, Cozy hears all kinds of crackling sounds. It takes her a moment to realize the sounds of battle temporarily abated. Sparing a quick glance below, she notices that many other ponies pause the battle and look up in horrified astonishment.
Well, that is, with the exception of Sombra’s troops. Mindless also means emotionless, so they fight on heedless of the horrors that loom above them. This forces the ponies they are engaging to retaliate, or at least defend themselves, even if they feel very distracted.
Returning her gaze above, Cozy gasps when she sees giant icicle spikes grow out of the clouds before descending below.
As it falls, Cozy spare a quick moment to glance at her adjacent companion. For his part, his tongue hangs out of his mouth and his jaw hangs too low to be natural as if his jaw is unhinged into a gaping maw. For his part, he appears to savor the sight of the looming threat above and the terror such a sight is evoking to those still on the battlefield.
Except, once again, for his own troops. They might be in danger, but they don't appear to notice or care one bit. They just keep on fighting like nothing is about to crash down upon them.
When the attacking forces finally get their wits together, there are a few strategies they use to prepare for this. Some scatter, especially the ground force troops. Many pegasi fly up and gather together in a desperate attempt to divert some of the ice crystal chunks away from their ground allies. Several of the ice chunks are also being fired upon by some of the unicorns, mostly without success because the beams are not strong enough and they just don't have enough time and/or precision.
The only one who makes a significant difference is Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. They fly up to meet the ice chunk head-on and blast them to snow with especially powerful hornbeam attacks.
It helps, but many of the ice chunks rain down upon their forces anyway. Those who are not immediately crushed to death from the projectiles fall are subsequently encased in ice after the chunks hit the ground, for each one seems to be magically charged to almost suddenly grow significantly larger after their initial impact.
What makes this worse for the Princesses’ army is the fact that, not only do Sombra’s troops make no attempt to avoid the danger, they actually tackle their enemies to prevent them from fleeing as well.
“Cryssssstallllls,” hisses Sombra's sinister voice as he gathers up more magical energy between his hooves before slamming it down into the ground. As a result, many black crystals tear up from the ground in a straight line. That pathline of growing black crystals eventually meets up with the giant ice chunks far ahead into the battlefield. Once that happens, the ice crystals blacken. Following that, an ominous dark red and purple energy pulse from those ice chunks. Moments later, the ice chunks melt, finally freeing the ponies that were imprisoned within them. However, in exchange, their minds are imprisoned instead. Cozy sees the same green glow in their eyes as she does from Sombra. After that, those troops attack their own allies. This effectively replaces some of the troops Sombra lost in order to capture his enemies. The net loss is strongly against the Princesses’ invading forces.
Beside her, Cozy sees Sombra slump down for a moment as he breathes hard as if racing to catch his breath. Apparently, that spell (or spells) he recently cast took a lot out of him.
But seconds later, he laughs maniacally as he stands up straight again.
“A symphony of motion,” Sombra relishes as his black mane flickers faster like black fire. “Pain and fear . . . and absolute, unrivaled power!”
“So what happened, tough guy?” Cozy challenges him. “Obviously we're peering into one of your memories, so what happened next?”
He settles down beside her as his eyes sweep across the battlefield, then he announces after a short pause of silence, “I thought I felt so alive on this day, which is ironic considering that this was the last day I was fully alive. After today, my essence lingered, but no longer strong enough to hold corporeal form.” He looks at her. “So, in other words, I was much akin to a ghost.”
He turns around and struts back into the castle.
Feeling momentarily uncertain what to do, Cozy casts one last sweeping gaze across the epic battle ahead of her before proceeding to follow him back into the castle.
“This is also the last day the world would ever see the Crystal Empire for over a thousand years,” Sombra announces without glancing back at Cozy as he continues to make his way back to his black throne. “My arrogance notwithstanding, it did not exceed my greed and avarice about the Crystal Empire. I set things in motion to banish the entire Empire into Limbo should I be defeated, for I decided that if I couldn’t have it, nopony else would either.”
Midway back to his throne, he pauses for a moment and looks back at Cozy over his right shoulder.
“I didn't really expect to ever be defeated, but I also felt I could not rest until I set that contingency in place.”
He looks forward again but otherwise remains still.
“There are many contingencies I have set,” he goes on. “Most of them was set shortly after I killed the previous queen.”
He growls, but in such a way that seems filled with regret.
“I wish I had the foresight to just claim her. She was more useful to me alive rather than dead, but at the time . . . I considered her legitimate claim over the throne as a personal insult, and I also wanted to use her corpse as an example to demoralize the rest of her former citizens.”
He sighs as he looks down. During that moment, the black flame of his mane calms down nearly to normal. When he speaks, it is finally a single voice.
This is Crystal Sage speaking.
“Her mutilated body was encased in transparent crystal,” Sombra says with heavy regret. “I left it in public sight for so many of her former citizens to see.
“My Queen . . . the one I fought so hard to protect.
“She fought too. You have no idea what both of us went through to turn this city from a dream into reality. Apparently, it's more than even I realized over all these years.
“I wonder . . . if I had not forgotten the lessons of the past . . . would she still have died? Would I still have fallen with dark magic? Or would I simply have lost my way sooner?
“I guess . . . for the moment . . . there is no way to tell.”
He looks up at the ceiling above him.
“It may be a roundabout way to it, but the Crystal Heart is stored above this castle near the tip.” He looks over his shoulder at Cozy again as he asks her, “You may have noticed the ice and snow out in those clouds, have you not?”
“I sure did,” Cozy answers. “I also realized that the Crystal Heart should have kept that at bay, even if it was hidden.”
He turns around to look back at her more fully, this time turning about halfway. Now peering back at her with both of his eyes, he says, “Not quite. Don't forget, I helped to design and enchant that Crystal, so I knew how it worked.” He looks down. “I knew its strengths and weaknesses, and I also knew what could block its influence.” He points up while still looking down. “The Crystal Heart is encased in a crystal prison. That prison can either seal or limit the Crystal Heart's influence. As such, I can turn up or down the influence of the ice and snow as I wished.” He waves towards the balcony. “Generally I kept it to conditions like this because I knew that the light of daylight can spark hope and potential rebellion in my captive citizens, so I shut out the light in the Crystal Empire under the shadow of ice and snow.”
“Wow! You thought of everything, huh, Mister?” Cozy commends while flying off the ground a short distance just so that she could slow clap with her forward hooves without risking her balance. “Believe it or not, I truly admire you for that.”
“Yeah,” Sombra agrees bitterly as he narrows his eyes at her. “I know you do.”
“So what went wrong?” Cozy checks as she lands back on the ground onto all four hooves. “I'm sure it must have been something. I want to learn from your mistakes so I don't repeat them.”
Sombra stares at Cozy for a silent moment, then looks up at a dark windowpane before nodding at it.
“Before the end of the day,” he announces, “the Princesses of the Day and Night will come to challenge me.”
He looks at then resumes his journey to his throne. Along the way, he continues to say, “I will meet them with my typical arrogance. They attack me, I taunt them in return. I gave them the 'join me' and the 'we are more alike than you think' spiel. Blah-blah-blah. Yadda-yadda-yadda. The whole nine yards. Typical good verses evil melodrama.”
“And let me guess,” Cozy says with a disgusted roll of her eyes. “Those goodie four horse-shoes won.”
“Sort of,” he says when he arrives at his throne. He spins about then majestically settles down upon it. “Certainly things didn't proceed as I had foreseen. I doubt it proceeded the way they planned either. Certain . . . miscalculations had occurred, and I underestimated certain influences.”
Cozy growls, then complains, “I hate it when that happens!” She gestures to herself. “I had everything perfectly planned when I first acted against Twilight and her friends. I had them all locked in Tartarus! All magic was draining across Equestria. I had the whole school of students on my side. I was going to rule them all as the first Empress of Friendship, but nooooooooooooooo! They just suddenly won! It felt like fate was just rigged against me. If that blasted Tree of Harmony hadn't acted against me like it did, I totally would have won.”
Sombra narrows his eyes at Cozy slightly as he gathers his hooves before his face which conceals his mouth from her perspective.
“I see much of myself in you, young mare,” Sombra announces. “Similar backgrounds. Similar methods. Similar motives, and ultimately . . . similar fates.
“You say you look up to me, but that only means you are doomed to the same fate I tread upon. I even imagine, at one time, I might have faced the same opportunities as you, because right now what I see in you is an opportunity to trot upon two very opposite paths. One of them leads into light magic, the other dark. Both sides have their own costs, too.
“With friendship, you don't own anything except the joy of your own heart. Instead, friendship is about sharing the bounty between you. None gets the upper hoof. Each devotes only what they are willing to contribute, and the same goes for you. You have to devote time and energy for every scrap of power you earn. I faced Twilight's friends when they were mighty, but I have since come to realize their relationship theoretically could have been much weaker. If it had, the outcome would have been different, too.
“But the dark side also has its own cost. It costs yourself . . . and your own soul. It changes you. It warps you. It corrupts you until it is you who is the slave to its power, not the other way around. The degree to which it changes you means that not even you have free will, because you will be forced to become somepony else. You shall become a monster that vaguely represents your current form. All of your worst instincts shall be impossible to suppress. Eventually you cannot hold it back. It can be gradual, but the slippery slope means the downfall is eventually inevitable.
“So pick your poison. Either way has a price.”
He leans back in his seat.
“Power always does, I fear,” he adds.
Cozy's eyes slowly looks down.
“So you have to decide what kind of pony you are, and what you'd be willing to give up,” Sombra warns. “With the friendship route, I additionally warn you that your fate shall not be limited to just your own goals. Undoubtedly, your so-called 'friends' shall have goals of their own. Sometimes it supports your goals. Sometimes it interferes. Most of the time it's neutral. Merely optional if you get involved or not, but if you truly care for the compony you keep, mayhap that could be its own reward, regardless of what else may come of it.”
“Are you telling me you regret your decisions?” Cozy guesses. “That's what it sounds like to me.”
“I'm telling you to make your own decisions,” Sombra corrects. “I'm simply guiding it into a more informed decision.
“Yes, I do have regrets, but it is exceedingly rare for a pony to age as much as I have and still lack regrets. I'm sure the Princesses of the Day and Night know what I speak of.
“Now mind you . . . there is joy also in our lives. After this long, we've had enough time to accumulate just about every emotional experience, and our feelings about those memories change over time as well. I certainly know that is the case with me, especially when I get illuminated with more forgotten information.
“Life is messy no matter what path you pick. That is why I wanted to leave it a long time ago.” He points off to his side. “Sunset's mother has done that. She crossed over to the other side, which is something I want . . . yet I can't achieve it. Something is holding me back. Maybe it's regret. Maybe it's unfinished business. It tortures me to not know the reasons.”
He sighs as he closes his eyes and pounds the back of his head against his throne multiple times as he mutters, “I just . . . want . . . to finally rest in peace. Why is that so hard?”
“Old debts, perhaps?” Cozy guesses. “I'm not sure if I really believe in that stuff.”
“Well . . . it's obviously something,” he somewhat agrees as he opens his eyes and looks upon her. This time his eyes completely return to normal. “In any case, I'm pretty sure it has something to do with the course of my life and what went through it. That's something I'll have to work on, but in the meantime . . . most of your life is still ahead of you. I encourage you to think about your choices very carefully . . . because the results may unfold in ways you have not anticipated.
“I know you are a genius. I know you can strategize and calculate your way out of or into most situations. I know all these things. I've played my hoof at strategy too many times throughout my life. I'm also pretty good at chess.”
“Really?!” Cozy chirps happily. “In that case, we should play a game sometime.”
Sombra passes her a dismissive hoof as he says, “Perhaps.
“In the meantime, learn from my mistakes.
“I had it all, young mare. I served in the greatest empire in the world. I served the greatest Queen. I later ruled it as the king, and in doing so I became the tyrant I used to fight so hard against.
“Some might say that if you live too long, you might live long enough to see yourself become the villain. There was a time when that saying once confused me, but now I look upon it as if it was prophesy.
“That's already happened to you in your young life, at least to some extent. I trot the path of both the hero and the villain. To my knowledge, you've only seriously dabbled into one of these two paths. Have you learned from it enough to satisfy your curiosity? Has the price you have suffered on that path deterred you from exploring it further? Perhaps it is time for a course correction, but only you can decide where that leads.
“You don't have to trot this path alone, either. I had some in my journey who I trusted and respected. In the case of some . . . perhaps I even loved them.
“There's no guidebook to the perfect decision in life, young one. You just have to feel it out as you go, but if you are wise . . . you'll also learn from those who trot the journey before you. If you do, you might protect yourself from trotting into an all too familiar path and the same doom that lingers beyond it.
“Now, leave me,” he bids. “Return to your friends. Return to consciousness. Much has been discussed over your unconscious body. I caught some of it, but I'll leave you to discover that if you choose to explore it.
“Although, before you go, there is one request that I would ask of you.”
“Yeah?” Cozy asks while mostly feeling inwardly numb. There was a lot he discussed that left her head spinning.
“While I do not insist upon this, I do request that we visit the Crystal Empire in the present once again.”
“Feeling nostalgic?” Cozy guesses.
“Partially, but that isn't the whole reason,” Sombra explains. “I've already seen it multiple times since its return. I know how it fares today. For the most part, what I've learned settles my heart.
“But this isn't for emotional reasons. Instead, this is for strategy.”
“Oh?” Cozy asks, feeling suddenly very intrigued.
“I know many of the secrets buried there that may be useful in your journey,” he entices.
Upon hearing this, Cozy slowly grows a wide, devious smile.