//------------------------------//
// Chapter 21: Death of an Empire 
// Story: Glowing in Everglow 
// by Darkmoon9 
//------------------------------//

Diary of Princess Flurry Heart

I remember my early life in the Crystal Empire was quite idyllic. Being the first naturally born alicorn in thousands of years, I was the apple in everyone’s eye. The greatest treasure in my mother’s eyes. All as should be with me at the center of the universe This was until there was a change in my auntie Twilight. Soon after less people were doting on me and they began to be consumed by other matters, matters of war. 

According to my mother, it all began after she disappeared from Twilight’s Garden, a villain so horrendous that stories were told about her to scare children into obedience, Cozy Glow. A filly so vile that she was to be turned to stone for all eternity, while still a foal, a warning example to other foals not to follow in her hoofsteps. Twilight disappeared soon after, only to return a changed mare. Where once she had a heart of gold, she now had a heart of ice. I have heard whispers that my aunt didn't return at all, but that Cozy Glow instead took her place, after all, her reputation was bad enough to make the theory possible. This new Twilight soon became known as Midnight amongst the Crystal Empire, but who came up with the name I didn't know.

I didn't know why, but I had always felt a strange connection to Cozy Glow. I would often dream of her, horrible dreams about being trapped as a stone statue for all eternity, and I have had these dreams ever since I was a baby. I couldn't help but feel some sympathy for her. Was she really as bad as everypony said? Because of these dreams I have always had a fascination with Cozy Glow and the stories told about her, like when she tried to drain all the magic from Equestria. Fascinating stuff. 

When it became clear to my mother that Twilight had changed, she closed the border to the Crystal Empire and erected a powerful barrier using the Crystal Heart, a barrier to keep away evil, and protect her people, as well as the jewel of her kingdom, me. Mother would then declare war on Equestria. This was around the same time two guests arrived in the Crystal Empire, Chrysalis, the former Queen of the changelings, and Tirek, a powerful warlock with the ability to drain magic. Both of them old friends of Cozy, if friends were the right word, more like frenemies. But they were here to lend help the Crystal Empire in our fight against Midnight, would they really side against Cozy? Assuming Midnight was Cozy as some said.


Mother at first was careful not to let me be alone with Chrysalis or Tirek, seemingly not trusting them entirely. But I was still able to talk to them from time to time. When I told Chrysalis about the rumors of Cozy Glow being Midnight, she laughed, must have been the first time I ever had Chrysalis laugh. Then her tone became full of hatred and spite.

"Cozy? Ha, that wannabe villain? Trust me, Midnight is vicious, whatever you think of Cozy, Midnight is worse. Cozy, for all her ambition and lust for power was still a pony through and through, with all her focus on friendship and cooperation. You know, I always mistrusted ponies and their friendship, so I just thought that Princess Twilight finally showed her true colors when she ordered the death of my people. If the changelings still followed my ways, they would have been able to fight back. I always knew that Thorax's weakness would be his downfall. I am now the last of my kind, not only because of Midnight, but because it was inevitable that someone would come along exploit Thorax's weakness. But because they listened to pony foolishness. I guess I was proven right, just wish it wasn’t at the expense of my people. Now only one thing that remains for me is to claim Midnight's head."

I knew what my mother had told me about Chrysalis, how she got kidnapped and how the changeling queen tried to replace her during hers and father's wedding. But I still couldn't help but to feel sad for her, after all, her people were gone and she didn't have a single friend in the entire world, except for her old frenemy, Tirek. And wherever Cozy was, assuming she really wasn't Midnight. Yet I still had to ask:

"What do you mean by Cozy having a focus on friendship? Isn't she one of the bad guys? I was told you were turned to stone because you all rejected friendship."

Chrysalis scoffed at that notion.

"From the first day I met that filly, she always insisted we had a better chance sticking together, without her we would have probably gone separate ways and tried to take revenge on our own. I tend to value self-reliance over your namby pamby notions of relying on others. Yet I must admit that without her, we would never have received the power necessary to have a chance at revenge. She had an epiphany when we tried to recover the Bell of Grogar on top of Mount Everhoof, we had to work together to get past the barrier. But after we were successful Cozy said something incredibly foolish, and it has stuck with me ever since. She said that helping others felt better somehow. At that point I knew she was no different from other ponies, I had to shut it down before she infected me with her nonsense and I became weak like Thorax and look what happened to him. She almost infected Tirek too."

This was the first time I heard of it, I had been told many stories about Cozy's misdeeds, but this is the first I heard of Cozy almost finding redemption. I remember when I was younger, when my aunt still hadn't been replaced by Midnight, she had told me that Cozy Glow was beyond redemption. And not only Cozy had almost found redemption, but also Tirek.

"Don't you regret dragging that filly down with you?"

I asked the former Queen, who just brushed it off. 

"Regret? Remorse? Such emotions are for the weak. Cozy was only a means to an end. Without me the changelings would grow weak and perish, I failed, they paid the price for their weakness. Thats all there is to it."

Despite her words I could detect a hint of sadness in her voice. For all her faults it was clear she at least cared about her people. As time passed and the war dragged on, me and Chrysalis would become close. After the war meetings she participated in and various battles, she would grace me with stories about the war. Describing the strange metallic creatures serving under Midnight, as well as horrific nightmares she called Velstracs, who were obsessed with inflicting pain on others as well as a high tolerance for pain themselves. While scary, I found these stories fascinating. Chrysalis told me that Midnight had summoned these unnatural creatures from another plane of existence and that they were fierce combatants. My mother, after fighting for months side-by-side with her once arch enemy, she had started to let her guard down around Chrysalis, which allowed me to spend some more time with her just the two of us. If I didn’t know better, I would have sworn that the former queen had started forming an attachment to me.

I started telling her how I viewed the world, how as a naturally born alicorn, how I was destined to rule and that the Crystal Empire would one day be mine. At first, she considered the notion ridiculous, telling me that nobody was fated to rule by destiny, and that if I wanted to rule, I needed to claim that power using my own hooves. According to her, only the strong deserved to wield power. Little did she know that despite only being 12 years old, my magic was already stronger than most unicorns. Chrysalis offered to teach me how to fight and I agreed, my mother and father approved due to us living in times of war. Chrysalis taught me how to wield weapons using my telekinesis, my father would also join in for lessons, I had a feeling he was starting to get closer to Chrysalis as well. 

While I had mostly remained at the distance out of fear, one day I decided to approach Tirek to ask him about his experiences with Cozy Glow. Tirek had always an intimidating guy, especially since he absorbed a great deal of the magic of the Crystal Heart to use its power as a weapon during the war. He was an enormous, red-skinned centaur, bigger and more powerful than a minotaur, who he shared his horns in common with. Yet I had heard stories that he was once as big as a mountain, whatever the Crystal Heart could spare must have been less power than he had during that time.  Yet his current size was comparable to how he looked during the time he invaded Equestria together with Chrysalis and Cozy. I used to be afraid of him, but since Chrysalis and father had started teaching me how to fight, no more. I approached Tirek confidently.

“So, I heard you and Cozy Glow had an epiphany at the top of Mount Everhoof, did anything she stay stick with you? Did you ever regret doubling down on your villainous ways?”

Tirek looked down at my small frame and grunted: 

“Chrysalis talked, didn’t she? I don’t know why she would spill the beans considering she was the one who convinced me that Cozy was talking foolishly. But it’s true, what Cozy said that day has stuck with me. I don’t necessarily believe it, mind you, but has never left my head. I guess I am doing what she suggested now, working together with others towards a greater goal. Not that I have as strong a reason for doing so as Chrysalis, as far as I know Midnight didn’t kill my people. As far as I know they are already gone. I originally set out to destroy Equestria to prove my worth to my father and my clan, yet I do know if he still lives, or if any of my people are still around. Makes the whole affair quite pointless now that I think about it. I just keep thinking that given the current situation, Cozy Glow would have been useful for the, that filly always had a mind for strategy. I wonder where she is.“

Tirek almost seemed depressed, with a sense of longing in his voice. I continued to ask him questions:

“Is it true that you knew Cozy before she became infamous?”

Tirek chuckled, barely being able to hold back his mirth. 

“That is correct that is correct, imagine my surprise that during my second stay in Tartarus a young filly found a way to send me a letter through a ritual. Asking me for details about the nature of the demons I commune with. Cozy said she had a run in with a demonic entity, someone she wanted to identify. A demon who caused the death of a friend of hers. We were never able to identify this demon and to be honest I’m not sure if they ever existed, maybe it was all in Cozy’s head. But I could sense in her a longing to drown out her sorrow and sense of guilt with power. So, I encouraged her to embrace her ambitions, a filly that brilliant deserved to rule Equestria I told her. But in truth, I just wanted vengeance against Twilight and her friends for imprisoning me a second time. Trapping Twilight and her friends with me in Tartarus for the rest of their lives seemed like a good idea at the time. And Cozy would get what she wanted as well, enough power to finally forget her dead friend. Cozy impressed me from the start, I have never encountered a filly her age showing such command over ritual magic, I swear that if she had been born a unicorn, she would have been unstoppable. For under my tutelage, she showed a great aptitude for magical theory. A shame she couldn’t use it to it’s full potential. ”

I asked Tirek what he meant by that, and he explained that while Cozy had been willing to use artifacts to her advantage, she had shown hesitation when it came to his insistence of her making a pact with a demon like he had. Cozy telling him that she had made a pact with the demon before, and it didn’t turn out great for her. I suspected this pact. Of hers might have been what led to her friend’s death. I wondered who that friend really was.

I didn’t need to wait long as I would soon get my answer. That answer came from a young alchemist who had recently managed to get into the good graces of my mother with her explosive brews, traps and tactical knowledge. A young mare named Aurora Glow. I suspected the name Glow was unlikely to be a coincidence. And this Aurora looked a bit like Cozy, especially when it came to her mane, which she kept in locks resembling Cozy’s, but otherwise she was a small and feeble earthpony with a white coat and a blonde mane, an alchemical vial as her cutie mark. Except for the way she had chosen to style her mane, her only physical similarity to Cozy was her scarlet eyes. But they were of a brighter shade compared to Cozy. I wondered if she could potentially be a relative, sister perhaps. It was after Aurora had been promoted to take place in the same Council meetings as my mother, father and Chrysalis that I was able to catch her leaving one of those meetings. I asked Aurora if she was perhaps related to Cozy Glow, the question seemed to have taken her aback, it seemed where Cozy was confident in social situations, Aurora was awkward and shy.

“Me? Related to Cozy? I’m assuming you made that connection based on our names and perhaps my mane. Truth be told Cozy is my sister in all but blood. You see, we were both orphans raised in the Sunrise orphanage in Manehattan. We were both left there with no idea of our origin and with no names, so we made up our own. As her close friends we decided to create matching names, the name Glow was to unite us forevermore. But sadly, things were not to last. Honestly, I have a hard time getting used to how infamous Cozy’s name has become, I wonder what spurred her to do those horrible things. The Cozy I knew could be selfish and arrogant, sure, but a villain bad enough to be turned to stone for all eternity? Perish the thought.”

Aurora had already given me quite interesting information, and I felt I was starting to connect the dots. I continued asking her questions:

“So, I heard from Tirek that Cozy started to change after a close friend of hers died, something about a demon. Do you happen to know anything about that?”

Aurora blushed before continuing, she was clearly quite pleased with something.

“Unfortunately, that friend would be me. I know what you’re going to ask me, if I died, how could I stand before you today in the flesh. You are not going to believe this story. But we used to be bullied by a unicorn colt named Solar Justice, who made our life a living hell, our only solace was each other. But this changed after Cozy made it big in the chess world, Solar Justice suddenly started giving her positive attention and she soon abandoned me as her friend to chase popularity. With my best friend gone, I just couldn’t take it, so I ended my own life. That should’ve been the end of it, but it wasn’t. After death I found myself in a realm of torment where I was trapped for what felt like centuries but can’t have been more than a decade. Yet there would come a day where Cozy would save me from this place of perdition. I don’t know how, but she did something that allowed me to return to Equestria. I did find that my body had grown since I took my life and they soon discovered my special talent in alchemy. Upon hearing of the horrors of Midnight’s rule I joined the resistance here in the Crystal Empire and the rest is history. Not that you are going to believe me anyway. There is one more thing I found strange, while we were trapped in the realm of torment, Cozy would keep insisting that Solar Justice was a demon, but I seriously doubt that. More likely is that Cozy’s mind simply broke after my death, and she has been imagining things. Trust me, I have read a lot of books about psychology.”

Aurora’s story was indeed unbelievable. Yet I had few reasons to doubt her. I thanked her for her time, I felt like I had gotten what I wanted out of this encounter. 

Months would pass as the war continued, our forces steadily losing ground against Midnight, until her legions surrounded our capital. I wanted to fight, but my mother and father forbade me. Instead, opening a portal to somewhere, telling me this was the location that Starlight had told them was the place where she had sent an emergency message to Twilight, but she had never responded. Cadence told Chrysalis, Tirek and Aurora to watch over me before they sent us all through the portal. Mother believed I wouldn’t notice, but it was very unlikely she would be victorious against Midnight’s forces, Midnight’s dark magic having proven more than a match for even Tirek, who had been humiliated in the field, barely surviving on a flicker of magical energy, which had otherwise been almost completely drained from him. The barrier produced by the Crystal Heart had failed, we no longer had any protection from the evil outside the Empire. I knew Cadence and Shining Armor would perish, and that I would never see them again. They were sending me away to spare my life. I tearfully said goodbye to my mother and father, promising I would one day return and defeat Midnight. Taking my rightful place as the ruler of both Equestria and the Crystal Empire.