The Young 6 made their way out of the castle. They had looked through the crime scene for an hour and found no evidence that might lead them to Cozy. They moved onto Fluttershy’s cottage, they already took the spear, and the animals that had been injured were already being tended to by Luster Dawn’s griffon friend Georgia who was to take over the sanctuary once Fluttershy retired. Georgia had since then joined her friend in keeping watch around Ponyville and all Fluttershy’s animals were safe in her cottage with her and Discord. Trixie was still recovering in the hospital.
That left the Young 6 to find Cozy Glow. But so far, they weren’t having any luck looking for physical clues that might lead them to her.
“Well, I guess there’s always Plan B,” Gallus said. “Ocellus, think you can transform into something and track her by scent.”
Ocellus nodded. “I can transform into a Bugbear, they have a good sense of smell and can fly.”
She did so, turning into a large bear like creature with bee wings and a stinger. She sniffed the air and growled softly then turned back.
“There are too many animal scents around here! I can’t pick up Cozy’s scent!” Ocellus said.
“Yona got idea! We use Cozy’s spear! That will have her scent!” the Yak said.
They went back to the Castle of Friendship where they left the weapon with Starlight and Sunburst. Ocellus (back in bear form) sniffed the weapon then gave them a claw up to say she had the scent. It was mixed with the guard who’d this belonged to, but she could smell the difference between a good pony and a rat. She led them outside, back to the sanctuary and into the Everfree Forest. Cozy had gone all over the place, but the scent eventually got stronger. It led them to-
“Here!” Ocellus said coming back into her regular form.
“The Castle of Two Sisters!” Silverstream said.
“Where her comrades fell,” Smolder said.
“Cozy must be sad… and mad! Yona is too! Cozy hurt Trixie!” Yona declared. “Now we gonna stop her!”
“Careful Yona, we can’t do this out of revenge,” Sandbar said putting a hoof on his wife. “Or it will make us no better than her.”
Yona breathed steam through her nostrils. But she knew Sandbar was right. They slowly walked forward, toward the ruined castle. It had been even more damaged in the last battle when many in Equestria had faced Grogar’s army. There wasn’t much covering it anymore. Finding Cozy shouldn’t be too hard, right?
…
Cozy watched from a barely standing tower.
“They’re here, now to spring my traps!” she grinned. “Although this place has so many, I only had to make a few new ones! Ah well, I found some that will make good escape routes! That should get them separated and alone! Now just gotta make them chase me! Divide and conquer!”
…
The Young 6 were almost to the entrance when-
"Hey, looking for me?” a familiar voice called. It was older but unmistakable.
Cozy Glow flew out of a nearby tower, grinning down at them with evil eyes that had doubled in potency.
“Cozy Glow!” Gallus stated. “You are under arrest for jailbreaking, assault, animal cruelty, abuse, and attempted murder!”
“Yeah yeah, you wanna arrest me? You have to catch me first!” Cozy said as she flew off.
“After her!” Gallus ordered.
He, Ocellus, Silverstream and Smolder flew up after Cozy. Sandbar and Yona, being non-flyers, had to run inside. But they fell as they moved forward just a few feet. They screamed and Sandbar (thankfully) landed on top of Yona. If it had been the reverse she might have crushed him under her weight accidentally.
“Uh! A pitfall trap!” Sandbar exclaimed.
“Cozy must want to separate Sandbar and Yona from friends!” Yona said. “And probably separate friends from each other!"
...
Gallus led his fellow flying friends after the villain who despite her time in Tartarus had managed to stay in decent shape. As a captain of the royal guard though he was in even better shape. He flew faster than the others and was catching up to Cozy. She flew through the ruined and barely standing hallways of the castle. She turned a corner, a new spear in her hooves. Gallus rounded the corner and looked but- she was gone!
“Where’d she go?” Gallus asked looking around in suspicion.
Cozy watched from a hole in the wall, she’d found a secret passage in a wall by an old suit of armor. She heard the voices of her enemies as the other three flyers joined Gallus.
“I don’t see her anywhere!” Silverstream’s voice said.
“Me neither! Hey, where are Yona and Sandbar?” Smolder asked.
“Oh no! We left them when we chased Cozy!” Ocellus said.
Cozy grinned. Her plan had worked! She’d made a pitfall trap at the entrance and flown off to buy time in order to make sure the four flying members distanced themselves. Now she had two options, wait and see if they would separate further and she had only one nearby to take out, or take these four all at once.
Her madness and cunning wrestled for an instant, but her madness and bloodthirst won out. With the group split even by a couple members they couldn’t use the magic of friendship to obliterate her. That took away their greatest weapon. Now was the time to strike. It would have been even more ideal to face them one at a time, but this was good enough in her twisted mind.
She pushed the door next to the suit of armor open and saw them. Their eyes all widened as they saw her as well. And one strategic mad question went through her mind. Who to kill first?
Ocellus and Smolder! They were the biggest threats being the ones who could not only fly but had magic or dragon fire as well. They had to go first! Cozy screamed and charged at Ocellus who shook in fear as the spear came toward her face!
“Ocellus!” Smolder yelled as she dove in front of her friend to protect her.
She put herself in front of the changeling. The spear hitting her in the face instead. Fortunately, her scales protected her. If Cozy had aimed a little lower at her belly where she was vulnerable it would have hurt much more. Cozy hissed and tried to pull the spear back, but Gallus took the opportunity to grab it with his talons before she could. Silverstream joined and grabbed with her own talons. Cozy tugged as she kept it under her forehoof. Ocellus came out from behind Smolder and shot a beam of magic at Cozy who yelled and let go of the spear. The insane pegasus flew up into the open sky as the four friends went after her.
…
Yona and Sandbar managed to pull themselves out of the hole and ran into the castle. For a while they found nothing but empty passages. But then they heard the sound of magic in one direction and a yell. Looking up they saw Cozy Glow rise into the air quickly followed by their friends. Sandbar and Yona ran in that direction.
“Yona wish Yona had wings!” Yona said.
Sandbar likewise felt so helpless down here, unable to help their friends in the air. But maybe…
“Ocellus!” he called. “Down here!”
The shout drew the attention of Ocellus and the others.
“Yona! Sandbar!” the changeling called.
“Make us some wings to get up there!” Sandbar yelled.
Ocellus nodded. She’d managed to learn quite a few spells at the School of Friendship under Starlight’s supervision. That included how to make temporary wings. She flew toward her earthbound friends, her horn lighting up.
“Oh no you don’t!” Cozy yelled as she tried to go after Ocellus.
Only to have her path blocked by Gallus who took her hooves in his talons. They wrestled in midair with the other two while Ocellus flew down. She shot both her friends with the spell at once, granting them butterfly like wings. They’d done this once or twice before, so they didn’t have much problem. The three of them flew back up as Cozy smacked Gallus who was caught by Silverstream before he could hit the ground. Smolder meanwhile shot a burst of flame at Cozy, it missed mostly, but it did hit the feathers on her wings. Cozy screamed as the burning pain went over her wing and she fell, grabbing a broken ledge for support. She struggled to hold on as the Young 6 flew around her, with Ocellus coming close.
“Cozy give me your hoof!" Ocellus said reaching out.
Cozy glared at her. "What?"
"I'll help you!" Ocellus said.
Cozy looked from the hoof to the fall below that was sure to be fatal. She glared at Ocellus and gave a wicked smirk as she swatted the hoof away like Chrysalis had done twice before.
"I'm never going back to Tartarus!" she yelled.
And she let go of the ledge, grinning up at her enemies who didn't react in time to save her. Not that she wanted them to. She hit the ground, her body breaking as she did so.
It was done. The Young 6 descended to the ground, looking at the body of their former friend turned worst enemy with pity and remorse as they saw a mare driven to madness by all the abuse and loss she’d suffered. If only things could have been different, but there was no use dwelling on it.
Smolder put a clawed hand on Ocellus as she looked at Cozy in sadness.
"You did all you could," the dragon said to her friend.
“I guess we should bury her,” Gallus said sadly.
“Put her with Chrysalis and Tirek!” Silverstream suggested. “They were her friends!”
As much as they hated and pitied Cozy Glow, that was probably the best place to put her.
There wasn’t much of a funeral. No one would come to one for this pony anyway. The bodies of her comrades were buried here at the castle of two sisters outside. The Young 6 dug the grave then put Cozy’s body inside and covered her.
They erected a stone and carved Cozy’s name on it. The sunset there as this villain’s reign of terror came to an end.
…
Darkness filled Cozy’s eyes as she entered what had to be the afterlife. Then she saw them. Chrysalis and Tirek.
"You failed,” Chysalis stated as she looked at her friend's face.
“No surprise there,” Tirek said.
“So, what happens now? Is this where we villains go?” Cozy asked. “There’s nothing but darkness here!”
“Oh, we were waiting for you,” Tirek said. “Guess we’re all going to hell together!”
At that moment flames lit up around them and intense pain burned their souls. They screamed and everything vanished into flame. This was their existence, everlasting pain in hell for all their crimes. But one good thing was they were together forever, that was something they’d be fine with, or at least Cozy would.