Chapter 9: Hot to the Touch
Cozy Glow, Tirek, and Queen Chrysalis traveled the land of Equestria riding in a powered vehicle carrying their Rainbow of Darkness detecting equipment. Where were they heading? No where in particular. What mattered most was that they got far enough away from their home base, so that they could conduct the Rainbow of Darkness experiment once more. Once they did, they would have two thirds of their map complete. One more, and they would know its exact location. The kicker with this approach of course is that they had to travel all the way to the other side of Equestria...
"I hate long road trips." Chrysalis said.
"Would you rather be catapulted 1,000 miles away by a miraculous force field of love projected out by two ponies, one of which you disguised yourself as, the other, the one you tried to steal their love, but in a cruel twist of irony that love is what catapulted you and your army blasting off again!?" Cozy asked.
"Uh, not really. Been there, done that." Chrysalis replied.
"For all we know, we may be far enough away. It's been a few days of non-stop traveling." Tirek said.
"It's hard to know our exact location." Cozy said. "We keep heading East, until night, when the stars come out, I can accurately determine our location, then we'll decide whether or not to keep going."
Tirek looked at the sun, and saw it was still high in the sky.
After a long day of traveling, the three settled down in a little camping area for the night. They were in a forest area, although the air quality was iffy. Smelling like burnt ashes. Luckily the sky was clear enough for Cozy to look at the stars above, and figure out their latitude and location in Equestria.
"So the good news, we are just about far enough way from our town of that I feel we could run the test again." Cozy said.
"Finally!" Chrysalis said.
"It's about time!" Tirek added.
"But here's the rub, whenever we do this experiment, it's essential that Tirek is powered up as much as possible. Otherwise we may not detect anything." Cozy explained. "At the village, we were fortunate enough to have a crowd of ponies hand over their magic, but on our travels, we'll have to get more creative."
"Where are we going to find a powerful source of magic in the middle of nowhere?" Chrysalis asked.
"Well, I'm speaking to one right now." Tirek said.
"Forget it! I'm not some vile of magic you can sip whenever you want!" Chrysalis snarled.
"Chrysalis' magic is a good start, but I think we'll need an extra kick beyond that." Cozy said. "Luckily for you two, I studied magic at Twilight's school, so I happen to know a powerful source of magic nearby."
The next morning, the three drove through a rocky mountainous location. It was a very bumpy ride.
"It's getting too rough for the vehicle to go much farther." Tirek said.
"We'll have to put the car somewhere safe, and continue on foot." Cozy said.
The three found an empty cave. They turned off the car, and rolled it into the cave, with all their fancy Rainbow of Darkness detecting equipment on board.
"That oughta do it for now." Chrysalis said.
The three traveled through the landscape. They saw the shadow of something flying overhead.
*gasp*
"Get down, let's hide." Cozy said.
The three hid in the cover of a pile of boulders.
"Where are we anyway?" Chrysalis asked.
"Why, this is dragon lands. A prosperous land, home to, well dragons." Cozy introduced the area.
"Are you sure this is the dragon lands? I'm seeing creatures of all sorts in these parts." Tirek said.
"Guess Twilight's really made sure to diversify every region of Equestria." Cozy said.
"What a pointless endeavour. She is disrupted the natural order."
"Never mind that." Chrysalis said. "What matters most is our objective."
"Like I said, we need a powerful source of magic for Tirek so we get the best results in our test." Cozy said.
"Dragons typically don't contain much magic at all." Tirek said.
"There's plenty of hippogriffs. They have the ability to turn into seaponies when they hit the water. There's bound to be some tasty magic in them." Chrysalis said.
"That's too obvious. I have an idea for even more powerful magic, while being more inconspicuous." Cozy said.
The three hid around some cover, but kept a look out to scope the area.
"I've read all about the Bloodstone Scepter during my time at Twilight's school, and in this book." Cozy brought along her book from Canterlot library. "It says here, that the scepter grants the user the ability to control dragons. Though, for our purposes, we just need its raw magic so Tirek can sniff the Rainbow of Darkness."
"Where are we to find such a treasure?" Tirek asked.
"The Bloodstone Scepter is wielded by the Dragon Lord. The dragon's throne is just over yonder." Cozy pointed.
From their vantage point, they saw Dragon Lord Ember, sitting on her big throne, commanding the dragons.
"Alright, now riddle me this, how do we get that scepter?" Chrysalis asked.
"We don't wanna cause a big scene here. I reckon it best we slip in the cracks." Cozy said.
"Slipping in the cracks is exactly what I do best. Heh heh heh." Chrysalis laughed.
"I don't like when she giggles like that..." Tirek said.
"Well whatever you have in mind, do it, while Tirek and I get the machine ready." Cozy said.
Ember sat still on the throne, waving to dragons, and giving orders. However, she was about to be jump scared by an unexpected guest.
"Excuse me, dragon heroine. I'm expressing great discontent with myself." said an teenage looking dragon.
"Oh, what's the matter?" Ember asked.
"I'm at that awkward age where boy dragons make me feel funny." she said.
"Yeah, growing up does really suck." Ember added.
"I was thinking I could use that Scepter to vaporize those who offend me." she said.
"Uh, I'd prefer if you didn't do that." Ember said.
"Then perhaps I could offer you... something else, in exchange for the scepter." she gave Ember the eyes...
Of course this weird dragon was Chrysalis in disguise. Did the plan work?
The plan worked perfectly. While Cozy and Tirek were getting the machine ready, Chrysalis successfully brought them the Bloodstone Scepter.
"Feast your eyes, for I present to you the dragons' most valuable treasure!" Chrysalis said, wielding the scepter.
"Perfect! And not a moment too soon." Tirek said.
"That Ember looked to be a stubborn figure. How'd you get the scepter?" Cozy asked.
Flashback to a couple minutes ago.
"No can do, this scepter is very important to me. It's what allows me to be-" Ember was interupted.
"Dragon Lord Ember!" a dragon cried.
"What is it? What's wrong?" Ember asked.
"Garble's got claws stuck under a rock!" they said.
"What?" Ember exclaimed.
"You gotta help." they said.
"Sorry, newbie. We'll have to cut this talk short. They need my help."
"Take all the time you need, lassy." Chrysalis said.
Ember flew off with the other dragons. Chrysalis couldn't help but notice she forgot something.
"Hmm. For as important as the staff is, she didn't seem to mind leaving it here alone with me..." Chrysalis thought.
"It wasn't easy I tell you. Why-" Chrysalis said.
"Okay, I didn't need your life story." Tirek said.
"Help us get everything ready. Time is of the essence." Cozy said.
The three got the machine ready. Everything was basically ready to go while being mounted to the car.
"We have to do the experiment outside for the best reception." Cozy said.
"But unfortunately, it does leave us quite visible." Chrysalis said.
"Which is why we gotta move quick." Tirek said.
"So with no further delays, we need Tirek to absorb the scepter's magic." Cozy said.
But unfortunately there would be further delays, as they were interrupted by a familiar face."
"Hey." said a familiar green dragon.
"What the?!" Tirek said.
"Sludge?!" Cozy said.
"Back off dragon! Your scepter is our's now!" Chrysalis said.
"You're the dragon from the village." Cozy said.
"Well, yeah. Why'd you guys follow me here?" Sludge asked.
"We were not following you! You followed us!" Chrysalis shouted.
"Nuh-uh! I've been here for a few days now." Sludge said. "I chalk this up to you guys missing me, that you followed me here."
"I honestly forgot about you. You kind of disappeared." Chrysalis said.
"Well, I was kind of bummed that you humiliated me in front of the other spokesponies, so I left your dumb town and came home."
"Look, all I'm saying, is that what you did to Spike was pretty messed up. Those ponies had the right to call you out." Cozy said.
"Oh, like you're some kind of saint." Sludge sassed.
"I just think that impersonating someone's parent is pretty messed up!" Cozy said. "I know that if somepony did that to me, they'd be lucky to walk again!"
"Cozy! Forget the freeloader. Let's run the experiment so we can find the RoD, become power, then destroy any and all enemies!" Chrysalis said.
However, Cozy didn't seem to listen.
"Cozy Glow?" Tirek asked.
"What are you doing?" Chrysalis asked.
Then, Cozy Glow did something unexpected. She took a deep breath to calm herself down. After she calmed down, she had a rational conversation with Sludge.
"What exactly do you want from us?" Cozy asked.
"A chance to redeem. A chance to prove I can be of use." Sludge pleaded.
"Okay, Sludge. I'll give you a chance." Cozy said. "You can help us in our object by going to Dragon Lord Ember, and making sure she's distracted so she doesn't discover us."
"Finally, an opportunity to prove myself. I won't let you down." Sludge flew away.
"Do you really want to make him an ally?" Chrysalis asked.
"No way. We're totally gonna ditch him when we're done here." Cozy said.
"Then let's conduct the experiment now! So that hopefully we can finish before he gets back." Tirek said.
"I second that. First, we need you, Tirek, to absorb the scepter's magic." Cozy said.
"With pleasure." Tirek said.
Cozy Glow held the Bloodstone Scepter up to Tirek. He opened his mouth, and started to absorb the scepter. The scepter glowed, and it's magical aura flowed into Tierk. The consumption of magic made Tirek grow in size.
"Wait!" Chrysalis exclaimed.
"What now?!" Cozy and Tirek said simultaneously.
"I just remembered something. I thought you could only sap magic from living things." Chrysalis said. "But you sucked up the magic from the scepter just fine."
"Oh yeah... I did say that." Tirek said.
"Have I identified a major continuity error?" Chrysalis asked.
"I view it more as we're discovering more about Tirek's abilities." Cozy said.
"So, I couldn't absorb the shield because it was a spell with no artifact or pony source to absorb." Tirek said.
"Today we learned that we can add magical artifacts to your list of consumable magic." Cozy said.
"Whatever, let's just do this thing before it makes my head spin." Chrysalis said.
Tirek sat in the main chair. Cozy hooked up several apparatus to him. One to his head, the other to his hand. Tirek gave them a thumbs up. Cozy and Chrysalis don't have thumbs, so they just gave affirmative looks.
"Alright, no time like the present." Cozy pulled the lever, which started up the machine.
*Bzzzt*
Tirek fainted, and went subconscious. his horns glowed, as it sniffed out the Rainbow of Darkness' faint but ever real essence. It didn't take long to detect a signal. Then, an electric current flowed from Tirek's finger tips to the machine, which the machine interpreted as a reading from the Rainbow of Darkness.
The monitor lit up. It detected a faint bleep. Cozy and Chrysalis paid close attention to the readings.
"The signal's not as strong as it was back at the village." Chrysalis said, worried.
"That's fine. It just means we're farther away from it. A result is a result either way." Cozy said.
The machine heated up, and started smoking up.
"It's getting warm again, we could lose power at any moment." Chrysalis warned.
"Just a little more..." Cozy said.
The monitor bleeped and blooped, which means data was still coming in.
"The signal's weaker, it has to run for more time!" Cozy said, sweating.
*hrrgh* Tirek was getting uncomfortable.
Cozy flicked the switch to off.
"That's all she wrote for today." Cozy said, wiping her hooves clean.
Tirek opened his eyes and regained consciousness.
*phew* "Did it work?" Tirek asked.
"It did. You were still strong enough to sense the RoD, and this baby captured the data." Cozy said.
"Excellent." he replied.
*phew* "Thank the stars." Chrysalis said.
"Once we have time to print out and read today's data-" Cozy started.
"Then that will leave just one location left before we know where the Rainbow of Darkness is." Chysalis said, with an evil grin.
"And then once we have the Rainbow of Darkness." Tirek started.
"Twilight Sparkle won't know what hit her, when it hits her with the force of 100 teratons of dark energy!" Cozy beamed.
"Now that we got all the data we need, we just gotta..." Cozy trailed off.
Cozy turned around, and saw Ember and the dragons.
"Oh..."
Ember and a group of dragons stood before them.
"Sludge! This is the opposite of what I told you to do!" Cozy scolded.
"Sorry, when Ember asked where the scepter was, it's not like I told her where it was. The truth just sort of... came out." he said.
Cozy face palmed really hard.
"So, the notorious Lord Tirek and Queen Chrysalis thought they could sneak onto our home turf and steal what belongs to us." Ember said.
"Now now, no need to get your dragon tail in a knot. We were going to give you back the scepter when we were done. Look, I'll prove it to you. Tirek, relinquish the magic back into the scepter." Cozy commanded.
"What? Why should I listen?" Tirek said.
"WHAT!?" Cozy exclaimed.
"I have the strength and power to take on all of these dragons. If I gave it up, they'd most likely arrest us. We are fugitives after all. I reckon I keep the magic to myself-" Tirek said.
"Gosh dang it, Tirek! Not again! Whenever you absorb too much magic, you become stupid arrogant Tirek!"
"I'm saying, I just pound the guts out of every dragon in front of me!" Tirek said.
"NO! You can have a power so much greater if you just listen to me! Now give up the magic now!" Cozy exclaimed.
All the dragons looked at her, perplexed.
"What are you all looking at?!" Cozy shouted.
*swoosh*
Tirek let go his magic and it went back into the Bloodstone Scepter. Cozy took a deep breath.
"Here's your stupid stick, dragon girl." Cozy held the scepter out.
"Uh, thanks? You know we still have arrest you." Ember said.
"Hmm, under what authority?" Cozy smirked, retracting the scepter.
"As dragon lord-" Ember started, but was interrupted.
"Dragon Lord? I don't think so." Cozy said. "The Bloodstone Scepter has a special connection to the dragon lord. But it doesn't appear like the scepter likes you very much."
"What's she talking about?" Garble asked.
"The scepter! It isn't calling to me! I thought you said you would restore its power!" Ember cried.
"I did! I haven't got any dragon scepter magic left in me." Tirek said.
"Then what's going on with the scepter?" Ember asked.
"Isn't it obvious? You're supposed to know everything about the scepter. It's a classic do over." Cozy said.
"It's power's been reset. I've been demoted from dragon lord!" Ember cried.
"Hmm, a reset scepter? Sounds to me like the gauntlet of fire." Cozy said.
"She's right!" Garble said.
"What? No! There scepter may be in gauntlet of fire mode, but there is no gauntlet! Just give me back the scepter!" Ember said.
"So... the next dragon who touches this scepter is made dragon lord eh?" Cozy said.
"Yes, now just give it please." Ember begged.
Cozy retracted the scepter, and leaned it in the direction of Sludge.
"No one take a step forward, or else Sludge becomes dragon lord!" Cozy held the scepter very close to Sludge.
"Ooh. I like this deal." Sludge said.
"No no no no no no!" the dragons said simultaneously.
"Don't! That's the worst possible thing that could happen!" Ember cried.
Cozy thought about what to do next.
"You want your little stick back? Well take it!" Cozy exclaimed.
Cozy flung the scepter into the crowd.
"I call dibs!"
"It's mine!"
"Stop it! Dragons don't free for all any more!" Ember cried.
"Why do you get to be dragon lord?"
"It's been a long time! I say a new gauntlet of fire is only fair!"
The dragons fought over the right to the scepter. Eventually, Crackle caught the scepter.
"Noo!" the dragons cried.
Crackle started to glow, and became all powerful.
"Now's our chance to escape!" Cozy said.
Cozy Glow, Tirek, and Chrysalis jumped into the vehicle. Luckily they never technically unloaded the machine since it's operational while loaded. So they were good to go.
"Let's hightail it outta here!" Chrysalis said.
Cozy turned the ignition key. She stomped her hoof on the gas pedal, and *woosh* they were off!
"Woowee! We did it!" Cozy exclaimed. "The data is stored safely in the machine, we totally did it."
"That was such an adrenaline rush!" Tirek said.
"Oh golly golly yes!" Cozy breathed heavily. "Onward, to collect our third data point!"
"Yes! Yes! Aw, you guys are the greatest!" said Sludge, who also happened to be on board.
"What the? You're still following us?" Tirek snarled.
"Would you get lost?!" Chrysalis sneered.
"What? I thought we were a team. The way we worked together and almost had the Bloodstone Scepter to ourselves. Shame you gave it back to them." Sludge said.
"I still don't like him." Chrysalis said.
"You may not like listening to him, but I have an idea." Cozy winked.
"Hey Sludge? What was the thing you loved most about Twilight's castle?" Cozy asked.
"Oh, where do I begin? The space. The archetexture. The collection of pointless knickknacks for me to hoard. Why, just thinking about it makes me... makes me...*ugh* Why is my head getting heavier...-" Sludge got drowsy.
Chrysalis happened to suck his love essence, which caused Sludge to faint and fall over.
"Mmm. He really liked that castle. The thought is almost sickening as the taste..." Chrysalis shivered.
"At least he's quiet now." Tirek said.
"The rest of him will make for a healthy snack for the rest of our journey." Chrysalis said.
"And no better timing, this is the penultimate push towards greatness. We're going to need all the help we need." Cozy said.
To be continued in Chapter 10!
Stats
Page generated in 0.026 seconds
Total duration
1,075 users online
1,981,878 hits today, 2,724,632 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Why didn't you respond to my comment?
10028279
Sorry for not replying earlier. The story is titled 'Cozy Chronicles' because it is a story primarily about Cozy Glow. Yes, the story features Tirek, Chrysalis, and many other characters, but Cozy gets the spotlight because she's my favorite. Plus, I liked the way the title sounded.
Chrysalis, are you seriously trying to be like Pinkie Pie?
Then that would also include Grogar’s Bewitching Bell since it also had magic. Wherefore, why didn’t it ever cross your mind to just absorb its magic, Tirek? 🤨
Now, Sludge is joining that terrible trio. This won't be good for Equestria.