A Cozy Tale

by Leondude

Chapter 11 - Powerless

It was another afternoon session In Dr Headlove's living room. The sun glistened through the windows and onto the milk-white walls as scented candles imbued the air with a strong smell of lilac. Brocade was never fond of the candles but it was certainly a change of pace from the stench of booze and tobacco.

"So, how has your home life been?" Dr Headlove asked.

Brocade turned to face towards the violet stallion, barely making eye contact due to the sunlight that reflected off of his glasses.

"It's...actually pretty good, for once," Brocade replied "Facade is actually being nice to me. Just like he was when we first met."

"Must have been a pleasant surprise," Headlove said as he adjusted his glasses.

"It was, actually!" Brocade said with more enthusiasm "But not as surprising as getting a visit from Discord."

"Discord?" Headlove tilted his head in curiosity.

"Yeah, Discord," Brocade replied "My grandma used to tell me stories about how he plunged the world into chaos and despair until the two sisters stopped him. He used to frighten me as a filly so you can imagine how surprised I was when he was nice enough to clean the house for me."

"I know the feeling. My personal boogeymare had always been Nightmare Moon."

"Oh, I could never have it in me to tell Glowie stories about the Mare in the Moon. She'd have nightmares for days. Heck, I never told her about Grogar."

"Do you believe Grogar is real?" Headlove asked inquisitively.

"Oh, no, of course, not," Brocade replied shakily "I mean, I used to but there's no possible way a ram could have power that far exceeded that of the highest-level unicorn. Not to be disrespectful to rams or anything but the only proper magic users in Equestria are unicorns, alicorns, centaurs and, as I have recently discovered, draconequii."

"I'm not confirming Grogar is real, since everypony knows he is a ghost story designed to scare foals long before Nightmare Moon, but it's not entirely out of the realm of possibility for other creatures to use magic. I heard of zebra shamans that are quite good with potions."

"Yeah but another reason Grogar is not real is that he got defeated by a normal pony. If Gusty the Great was so great then how come she only had that one story dedicated to her exploits? Or for that matter, is Gusty even real?"

Headlove wrote down notes on his clipboard, relieved that Brocade doesn't show any signs of delusion. Not that he ever worried about Brocade having a psychotic episode but it was always best to take notes about issues unrelated to her marital troubles.

"So, about Facade," Headlove asked in an attempt to steer the conversation away from boogeymares and monsters "Was his sudden change in behaviour a result of Discord's meeting?"

"I think so," Brocade replied, "Discord said he wanted a word with him and Facade didn't show any signs of brainwashing so maybe the right guy chat was all Facade needed. After all, if the spirit of chaos and disharmony can willingly change his ways, why not my husband?"

---

Facade took Cozy Glow to the theatre in Canterlot, mainly in part to his wife attending another therapy session and to prove to Discord that he is taking good care of her. While he never cared much for the brat, he couldn't deny that, should he actually teach her to be more like him, she could prove to be a worthy heir. But that was only something to think about in the future, and Facade rarely thought about the future. Not that he needed to, since he was rich and had friends in high places as well as low places. As he found a place to sit, he noticed one random pony in front of him turned around in her seat.

"Aw, isn't she adorable?" the pony cooed.

"Yes, she is," Facade replied, "Figured I'd give her a break from reading all those books."

"What's her name?" the pony asked.

"Cozy Glow," Facade replied, "It was my wife who picked the name."

The pony continued staring at Cozy Glow and made funny noises and funny faces, much to Cozy's discomfort. While she always enjoyed being the centre of attention for her cute appearance, it can get annoying when ponies made stupid noises for two minutes. Luckily for her, she didn't have to put up with the annoying pony for long as the curtains began to unveil. But what nopony expected was for a certain draconequus to appear, dressed as a stage magician. While everypony was confused and annoyed by Discord's sudden arrival, especially considering they just wanted to watch ponies dressed up as cats, Facade held Cozy up as a way to prove to Discord that he was acting like a good parent. Unsurprisingly, Discord's first magic trick was to pull something out of his hat. But instead of a bunny like most ponies would expect him to do, a dark cloaked figure emerged from his hat. The figure unveiled his cloak and revealed himself to be a decrepit centaur with pitch-black eyes, firefly-like pupils and skin redder than the rawest of burns. While everypony was frightened by the centaur's appearance, Facade just looked on in confusion.

What game are you playing at, Discord? Facade thought.

One unicorn in the front tried to attack the centaur, but it was no use as the centaur absorbed his magic before moving on to everypony else, including Facade and Cozy. Cozy tried to fly away but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't get herself off the ground. In the distance, she saw Discord applauding the centaur as he grew in size and strength. More scared than she had ever been in her life, she scurried towards her dad, who had fallen to the floor as a result of the centaur's attack. While her initial intention was to hide behind him, she looked at his weakened face and smiled. For once, they were on the same level.

For once, he was powerless.

Author's Note:

And that's how Cozy met Tirek!

And how Discord's betrayal screwed more than his friendship with the Mane Six.

Comments

[FanficReader920]

I’m accepting this as Cozy’s canon origin, this is too good!

[Leondude]

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media1.tenor.com/images/07c0ca5b33d2946e8584952d886dc88f/tenor.gif?itemid=15027567

Figured it would have been more than an abusive childhood to warp Cozy into the psychopath she became in canon. So I added genetics (courtesy of her father being psychopathic as well) and being there when Discord betrayed everypony to Tirek.

[Artist]

Nice