For the second time that week, Cozy Glow snuck out to go visit her friends.
She didn’t tell anyone that this was the plan, of course. She waited until Tirek and Chrysalis were both involved in their own evil schemes - Chrysalis preparing to backstab Tirek and Cozy Glow, and Tirek finding out how she was planning to backstab them and turning the tables so that her plans would really backstab her.
It was a lot to keep up with. And though Cozy found great pleasure in giving creatures what they deserved, the only thing that really made her happy anymore was hanging out with the Crusaders
Which was getting harder and harder every day.
Lofty Skies was fine with Cozy Glow hanging around, especially since Cozy knew more about flying than she did, and would constantly demand that she give her flying lessons. Cozy Glow discovered that she was actually pretty good at all those fancy Wonderbolts tricks she had seen Rainbow Dash do at the School of Friendship, and they had great fun, whooping and soaring through the sky while Jinx Evergreen and Rose Blossom worked together to find any evidence of Sunny Starscout and her friends being in the area.
The other two fillies were nice as well - Jinx knew exactly how to make Cozy laugh, and just talking to her made Cozy feel lighter. She wished she could tell Jinx everything, but she knew she couldn’t - there was no way any of them would care about her when they knew that she was an infamous villain seeking to destroy all of Equestria from anypony else’s perspective. They wouldn’t believe her when she said it was all for the greater good. Rose Blossom was nervous and smart, always making the logical decision and thinking things through. She analyzed every situation they were in and was careful not to go too far with Lofty Skies’ crazy schemes.
Both Jinx and Rose were very curious about where Cozy came from, and she had to make up a story that she told them every time. She made it close enough to real life that it wouldn’t be that hard to remember: Cozy had been abandoned by her parents to an orphanage, but it was awful there and she ran away (that part was all true). Then she said that she found her way to a small town of ponies, which was also true, and found a new family. No need to mention that her new family consisted of two other vengeful villains that were working behind each other’s backs.
Thinking about it reminded Cozy Glow of the School of Friendship. And for some reason, thinking about the School of Friendship was less painful when she was with the Crusaders, like them being there eliminated the pain.
And she did admit to herself and herself only that, yes, she considered them as real, actual friends. Which made what she would eventually have to do to them hurt all the more.
“So, wait,” Rose Blossom said one day as they trotted through the woods, still searching for clues, “what are your relatives’ names again?”
“Um… Queenie and Scorpan,” Cozy lied, thinking of the closest names to Chrysalis and Tirek’s real names as possible, so that they were easier to remember. She knew Tirek would kill her if she mentioned his traitor of a brother (now that she was thinking about it, she didn’t really blame Scorpan for his decision to side with the ponies, though it was the throwing-his-own-brother-in-jail part that always made her angry) so she decided not to mention this to him. Like, ever.
“How’d you meet them?” Jinx asked, a concentrated look on her face as she made three small stones move in a circle in front of her, her horn glowing brightly.
“I, um…” Cozy cleared her throat. “I was penpals with Scorpan for a while, and we met Queenie at a… project.” Close enough to the truth. “We grew kind of close, and we’ve been like family ever since.”
Rose opened her mouth to ask another question, but, up above, Lofty Skies called, “Guys! Take a look at this!” She disappeared from above them and off into the trees. Cozy, Rose, and Jinx hurried after her.
There was a clearing just up ahead - a clearing that had clearly been lived in very recently. In the middle was a blackened spot of earth that clearly had once been a fire, and there were hoofprints all around. Cozy froze and approached a set of four hoofprints, pressed deeper into the earth… as if the pony there had taken a very big jump.
Or had taken off into the air.
There were six spots around the fire that had flattened grass, implying that somepony had slept there multiple times.
Six ponies… pegasi confirmed… that over there looks like unicorn magic… camping out here of all the places in Equestria… Cozy Glow froze as the realization washed over her. I know who was here.
“So weird, isn’t it?” Lofty Skies said excitedly. “Who do you think it was?”
“There’s six different sets of hoofprints,” Rose said, leaning down and staring at them all. “No, seven! No, eight!”
“How in Equestria can you tell the difference between two sets of hoofprints?” Jinx asked.
Rose pointed to one of them. “This one’s the smallest, those two are slightly bigger than the others, but one pair is lighter and not pressed in as hard. And over there - that one’s a bit different from all of them. See, the shape is a bit rounder and more… dainty.”
As she continued to point out the slight differences that defined the different sets of hoofprints, a different set that the earth pony filly hadn’t got to yet caught Cozy Glow’s eye, and she walked over to investigate. They were around one of the sleeping spots, standing in a way that made her think that the ponies they belonged to were staring at the pony lying there. She stared closer at one print in particular, with a slight nick in it.
Her breath caught in her throat. She knew where she had seen a hoofprint like that…
Permafrost had a small nick in his hoof. She had always noticed it but had never asked where he had gotten it.
And this hoofprint had a nick in it.
So what was Permafrost doing out here? And that other set of hoofprints beside it must be Sour Lavender’s.
It seemed like Chrysalis and Tirek weren’t the only ones working behind each other’s backs.
Tirek looked up from his book - the book they had retrieved from the Canterlot Library Restricted Section so long ago - as Cozy Glow marched into the room, her expression contorted with anger. “Where have you been?” he growled, scanning her face for any of the signs of treason or betrayal that he saw in Chrysalis’ face, but there was none - not that he could tell.
“Where are they?” the filly seethed, her voice so full of anger that it took Tirek by surprise. She usually spoke in a cute, adorable, innocent voice.
“Where are who?” he asked back, looking up from his book, secretly genuinely interested.
“Them,” Cozy Glow hissed. “Those ponies we picked up, who want revenge on Sunny Starscout and her friends. Where are they?” she added in a low voice.
Tirek was taken by so much surprise that he stammered the truth. “I-I think they’re in there-”
With a swish of her tail, she was gone. Tirek dropped his book on the table and leaped to his hooves, following her out of the room. He looked around and spotted her dragging Permafrost outside by his ear, and the unicorn looked so taken by surprise that he went along with it. Behind him, Sour Lavender and Chrysalis poked their heads out of their caves. Their eyes met Tirek’s, and he shrugged. The three of them followed Cozy out of the cave.
“AHA!”
The pegasus was hovering next to a very confused Permafrost, pointing triumphantly at the ground.
“I knew it!” she crowed. “I knew it, I knew it, I knew it!” She whirled around as the other three villains joined her on the shores of the dirty lake that surrounded their headquarters. “Those two,” she said in a low voice, pointing at Permafrost and Sour Lavender at the same time, “have been sneaking out to do Celestia knows what with Sunny Starscout’s friends!”
Permafrost and Sour Lavender exchanged a fearful glance, a shared message passing between them: How did she know? Chrysalis took one look at the two ponies and snorted.
“They wouldn’t have the guts,” she scoffed. “And what would they have to gain, anyway?”
“For once, I agree with the changeling on this one,” Tirek growled, and Chrysalis whipped around to glare at him.
“For once?” she demanded, but he didn’t elaborate.
“Why,” Cozy Glow seethed, “would anypony in their right mind who had already tried to take over Equestria once before be okay with being stuck as the second most powerful pony in the land?” She pointed an accusing hoof at the two stallions, who stood next to each other. “They obviously want to use our own strategy against us - create a mind link between them and one member of Sunny Starscout’s little group, and use said pony to have leverage against us and them!” She glared at Permafrost and Sour Lavender. “What do you have to say for yourself?”
“I think you’ve got the wrong idea-” started Sour Lavender, but she cut him off.
“Don’t play dumb with me! I see that little nick in your hoofprint - there’s only one pony in all of Equestria that it could be, and it’s you. So what were you doing?”
“Scouting it out,” Permafrost mumbled. “We found them in the area and wanted to see what they were up to.” He was looking down at his hooves, from the miniscule nick in one of them to the print he had made in the mud when Cozy Glow had dragged him out there. In all his life, he had never considered that something as small as that would make such a big difference.
“Yeah, right!” Cozy snapped, but Tirek and Chrysalis both looked like they were trying not to laugh. She felt flush rising in her cheeks and huffed as she flew back into the cave.
“Drama queen,” Chrysalis scoffed as she flew back to her own cave, no doubt perfecting her evil plans to stab them in the back. Tirek glared at Permafrost and Sour Lavender until they scurried back into the cave, their heads bowed together as they whispered something. Tirek himself stalked back into the main cave where they had all their meetings to see Cozy Glow sitting at the table, her head resting on the stone. She lifted her head when he entered.
“I’m telling you,” the foal insisted, “they’re up to something! I think they’re planning to betray us, just like Chrysalis is. You can’t seriously believe that-”
“I’ve had enough of listening to you,” Tirek told her, picking up his book as he sat down.
Cozy Glow looked like he had just slapped her across the face. “But - but I thought - I thought that you-”
“Listened to all your ‘brilliant’ ideas?” Tirek asked, making air quotes around the word. “Poor, poor naive pony. You’ve never amounted to anything, and you never will. You can’t fool me with that innocent little act of yours. Face it - the world will never care about you, or any of us. Just when you feel that they might, they’ll dump you in the ditch like they’ve always done. And the sooner you accept that, the better you’ll be.”
Once he said the words, he wished he could shove them back into his mouth, because he could see the hurt in Cozy Glow’s eyes, but this was the world, and she should wake up and see it.
Cozy turned and ran out of the cave, leaping into the air and flying to her refuge on top of the giant ram-shaped rock, where she wrapped her wings around herself and tried to keep from crying.
She remembered the words she had told the Crusaders of Harmony: I found a new family. A better family.
That was a lie. This family was no better than her old one.