Glow in the Dark

by Shadow Spector

Excerpt 8

Excerpt 8:

“You’re back!” Troth cheered. “How did it go? Did he intimidate you? Did you get your rook back?”

Cozy just stared down at the ground in anger.

“Oh no,” Troth realized. “It didn’t go so well, did it?”

“He’s - he’s a crook!” Cozy blurted out. “He is just so corrupt. I could do a better job at leading than he could.”

Troth looked at Cozy with concern. “Cozy, what did he say?”

Cozy sighed. “I saw my rook. I almost got it, but he stopped me. He talked about how the stuff he took was payment for staying here, and he also confirmed that he only took from the non-ponies. Said something about making sure they stayed in line with his rule through the use of the threat of Star Trek.”

“Tirek?” Troth asked.

“Yes, that guy. He told me that he isn’t a threat anymore. That he’s already defeated and now that Twilight pony you were talking about now has a title.”

“Oh!” Troth cheered in excitement. “What is she the princess of? Is she the princess of books? Tell me she’s the princess of books.”

“Friendship,” Cozy answered. “Contume said that she was labeled as the Princess of Friendship.”

Troth widened her eyes. “The Princess of Friendship? Oh dear. Nopony can challenge her now. Friendship is the most powerful thing there is so this means that Princess Twilight Sparkle is the most powerful being in Equestria.”

Cozy straightened her eyebrows in concern. “But can’t anypony use the Magic of Friendship like you said?”

“Well, yes, anypony can. It doesn’t even have to be ponies using it, but the more friends you have, the stronger that magic becomes. Not to mention that she has access to the Elements of Harmony so her friendship power is already greater than anybody else’s. Princess Twilight must have tons of friends if that’s her job.”

“Heh, I guess that means Contume won’t have any power,” Cozy laughed.

Troth chimed in laughing as well until her eyes widened in realization. “Wait, he lied to us and told us Tirek was still at large? Why?”

Cozy shook her head in disapproval. “Because he thought that by making the citizens afraid, they would seek a leader.”

Troth lowered her eyes in sadness and disappointment. “That’s not right. Something should be done.”

Cozy narrowed her eyes and looked at Troth. “You’re right. Something should be done.”

Troth tilted her head.”What are you getting at?”

Cozy realized how crazy she might have sounded so she decided to quickly change her motive. “Contume still has my rook. If you’d be willing to help me, Troth, golly, I would sure appreciate it. I do know exactly where it is now.”

“Where?”

“It’s in his palace room in this huge, heavy safe. I can go get the others, and together we can get it back.”

“Wait,” Troth said. “What makes you think that they’ll help you after what happened last time? It hasn’t even been a day.”

Cozy immediately remembered what Contume had said. Let’s just say they won’t be doing that ever again. She stared in suppressed anger for a brief moment until she turned back to Troth with an expression that hid her inner emotions.

“Don’t worry,” Cozy reassured. “I’m sure they’ll help me. Now I need to pay a visit to Droll and Opul.”

Troth gave Cozy the directions to their complexes, and Cozy was just about to leave until Troth stopped her.

“Wait,” Troth ordered. “Don’t forget this.” Troth held up the small saddle-bag that Cozy had gotten from the hospital.

“Uh, why do I need this?” asked Cozy.

“It's the bag that has your current belongings. It’s got the bits Opul gave to you, that weird, girly paddle thingy, and some snacks I packed in there for you. You never know when you’re gonna need them.”

Cozy’s mind shifted into a brief memory before she let out an oblivious giggle. Instinctively, the situation dawned on her before she put back on a plain face. “Oh, snacks?”

“Yes, snacks. Don’t you remember? I’m still supposed to be looking after you for the week since you just were released from the hospital, and that includes making sure that you never get too hungry.”

The remembrance of hunger drove Cozy to immediately grab the bag. Cozy gave an appreciative nod to her friend before departing.

Never do it again? Cozy thought as she flew to her destination. What could he have done?

Cozy reached the first residency and knocked two subtle knocks. From the inside, she heard something big fall to the ground. She grimaced in concern before the door finally opened.

A tilted Droll opened the door. Literally, Droll was tilting his head awkwardly to his right side.

“What trouble-maker want?” Droll said with a sideways glance.

It took a moment for Cozy to realize what was wrong with him. Her eyes widened at the sight of the single-horned yak.

“Dear Celestia,” Cozy viewed. “What happened?”

Droll glared at Cozy. “Emperor happened. None allowed to roam in palace. Mission failed and it’s Rookie’s fault.”

Cozy shifted in quick thought. “It wasn’t me who caused enough noise to get caught back there.”

“Rookie made yak go to palace, and Rookie made yak lose horn.”

“Oh come on. It’ll grow back.”

“Yak horns no grow back! Yak maimed like dragon!”

Cozy narrowed her eyes in confusion, but Droll kept on his rant.

“Yak trust pony, and yak pays price. Yak no longer do anything like this.”

Cozy instantly knew what to say. “You know, Lenia got caught too.”

Droll looked at the floor in a flurry of emotions. “What guards do to earth pony?”

“Oh, nothing. They didn’t do anything. They just asked her to leave.”

Droll raised his head in frustrated realization, ignoring his lop-sided weight. “Earth pony get caught and go free?”

Cozy nodded her head smugly to Droll. “And she went free because she’s a pony. She’s not a filthy non-pony.”

Droll gave short periods of breath as a result of his anger.

“And since you’re an inferior yak, Contume punished you harshly for being nothing more than who you are. He’s the one to blame.”

Droll’s face tightened in anger.

“And if he’s punished you for being a yak this time, he’s bound to do it again in the future,” Cozy continued. “What’s it going to be next time, Droll? Stepping out of line for half a second? Asking an innocent question to a short tempered guard? Walking anywhere near the ponies? This can end and it needs to end soon. You can make that happen. All you need to do is come with me, and put a stop to this tonight.”

Droll blinked his eyes twice in consideration. He was too stunned to talk.

“Just meet me where we met yesterday.” Cozy smiled innocently before turning away, leaving behind a still speechless Droll.

Cozy smirked all the way to where she was told Opul would be. This has to work, Cozy thought. I’ll make sure of it.

Finally, she arrived where she hoped to find Opul. The house looked abandoned. It also looked like garbage, but very cleanly kept garbage.

Cozy reluctantly approached and knocked quietly at the door. After a quarter of a minute of no answering, she knocked again, but with just a little more force.

“Opul?” Cozy called in, but no response came. Cozy listened in, but could not hear anything except for what appeared to be tiny periods of gasps of air. Cozy knocked again.

After the frustration of yet another unanswered attempt, she decided to take matters into her own hooves, trying to open the locked door to no avail. She took a step back to scan across the entirety of the abandoned house, having her eyes fall on a busted out window. Perfect, Cozy thought, but her celebration was short lived when she flew up to the opening only to find it boarded up. Cozy rolled her eyes and continued looking.

How could anyone call this place a home? Cozy could not shake the thought of somepony trying to live in a place like this, but she knew it was nothing compared to being forced to live inside a cage with no food.

Cozy shivered at the flashback before shaking the memory out of her mind to continue searching for a solution to get inside the scrap pile. If she was going to remove Contume from office, she couldn’t be alone for this.

Cozy frowned in frustration after searching for minutes until she finally went around the dump and found her entrance. Lifting up some debris, she managed to find a small opening to which she could squeeze through, holding on tight to her bag that Troth had given her.

Through the crawl space, Cozy traveled quickly, not wanting to get caught underneath anything and be stuck. The worry of Opul still not coming to her in the event of such a disaster kept her mind occupied the entire way.

Cozy crawled out from the passage way with speed, flying in the air to try and shake whatever dirt or debris may have collected on her coat. Once clean, or as clean as she was going to get, she turned to view her surroundings.

Her eyes caught on a ladder that looked to be out of place, as if it was a new addition provided on short notice. Why would a dragon need a ladder? Cozy thought. From the top, she heard the short gasps of whimpers again.

“Opul?” Cozy called again up the ladder to the second floor of the location.

“Go away,” a weepy voice answered back.

The emotion in Opul’s voice didn’t strike Cozy as one that would react well to anything too assertive, so she decided to begin things peaceful.

“Opul, I know things didn’t turn out that well yesterday,” Cozy began, calling up from the first level. “But I can make things right if you help me.”

From the second level, Opul sniffled. Cozy knew that she had to talk face-to-face with her if she was going to persuade Opul at all. Cozy began to fly up to the second level, still confused at the necessity of the ladder.

“Opul,” Cozy said again, reaching the top. “I need to talk to you.”

Cozy looked around for Opul, but all she saw were mounds of garbage everywhere on the second floor. Although it looked partially organized, it was still hoarded in loads.

She lives like a pig, Cozy thought.

“Where are you?” Cozy asked, before hearing another soft sob come from the corner of the room. Cozy flew over to get a better position for the conversation.

“Please,” Cozy continued. “I need your help.”

Opul was panting softly through the sound of tears. Cozy could barely see her underneath some clutter.

“You don’t deserve my help,” Opul responded.

Before Cozy could respond, the horrid smell of the room finally hit her.

“Oh golly, who lives like this?” Cozy blurted out.

Opul’s head shot up from the clutter to face Cozy. “Non-ponies, Cozy! The non-ponies have to live like this! Those who have the talent to build make what they get. Those who don’t know anything about that stuff get places like this.”

Cozy looked at Opul with minimal sympathy. She knew what poor living conditions Opul could be living in, but she also knew an upset dragon when she saw one, which would likely lead to no help from her.

“How did you even get in?” Opul asked.

“That doesn’t matter right now. Contume is going to pay for his actions against us, and you can help put an end to his tyranny.”

“That’s not going to happen, Cozy,” Opul immediately shot back. “Nothing can stand against Emperor Contume.”

“We can,” Cozy said in an inspiring tone.

“He owns all of us.”

“He doesn’t have to. We can live so much better if somepony like him wasn't in charge. You have to believe that. We can end this together.”

“No!” Opul snapped. “No one’s going back to that palace.”

Cozy frowned. “Just because some stupid yak got you thrown out? Is that why you’re so angry?”

Immediately after the last word left Cozy’s mouth, Opul shot up, letting all the clutter that covered her fall to the ground. From the right side of Opul, a single wing spread out. Cozy waited for the other one to stretch out, but it never did.

A horrified look spread across Cozy’s face when she finally realized what had happened. Immediately, she reached her hooves back to grab her own wings to hold them close, averting her eyes from the horrific sight.

Opul wiped her eyes. “Yeah. Take a good long look at what you did to me, Cozy. This is all you.”

Cozy’s breath was shaky from the trauma of the situation at hand. She blinked back a tear before trying to speak, stumbling over her words. “It-it wasn’t me who . . .”

Opul glared her eyes at Cozy and shook her head subtly. “Get out.”

Cozy, still looking away, tried to replicate the message that she had said to Droll, but her words were still faltering. “You know - you know, Lenia was -.”

“I said get out!” Opul repeated. “I never wanna see you again!”

Cozy still couldn’t look at Opul. She still felt a slight pain in her own wings from viewing Opul’s position. Finally, Cozy sighed and then turned away, flying quickly down to the first floor as to use as little of her wings as possible. Cozy turned to where the locked door was, opening and exiting through it as Opul’s sobs were heard again.

Cozy was still staring at the entrance to the broken down building when she heard a voice from right behind her. “You!”

Cozy turned to meet the last creature she wanted to see that day.

“You’ve got a ton of nerve showing up here!” Candid scolded. “After the fertilizer you’ve done!”

“Relax!” Cozy snapped. “I was just leaving. Wait, what are you doing here?”

“I’m here to comfort my friend. If you had a mind passed the development of a foal, you would realize that.”

“She doesn’t want to see anypony at the moment. Shouldn’t you know that?”

“She doesn’t want to see you!” Candid pointed a clawless talon at the filly, prompting the pegasus into confusion before the griffon continued. “You ruined her life and made it almost as pathetic as your own existence.” Candid raised his other claw upwards, revealing his other talon in the exact same condition.

For the first time, Cozy stopped to notice the abnormal condition in the griffon’s talons. She had heard griffons were supposed to have sharp claws but there was nothing on this non-pony. She briefly considered that he suffered the same fate as the yak and the dragon, but she quickly remembered that they only had their right side maimed. According to Cozy’s eyes, both sets of the griffon’s talons were bare.

Finally she couldn't look passed it anymore. “What happened to your claws?”

Immediately, the griffon flinched in anger. “None of your business! Don't try to change the subject. What you did is unforgivable. Why are you even here?”

Cozy looked away slightly shamed. “I was kind of going to ask for her help.”

“Help?!” Candid scolded. “She doesn’t want anything to do with you! You’ll finally learn how to do simple addition before she gets anywhere near helping you.”

Cozy instantly remembered what she had packed in her saddle bag before smirking. “Maybe she won’t help me if I ask her. But she might help me if you get her to.”

Candid snorted. “If you think that I’m going to get Opul to go on some little crusade with you, then you’re dumber than I thought, and that’s actually saying something. Now get lost.”

Cozy reached inside her bag and pulled out Candid’s item. Candid’s eyes lit up at the paddle ball.

“Care to reconsider?” Cozy politely asked, batting her eyes.

“How did you . . .” Candid questioned, trailing off.

“Some of us are better at stealth than others.”

Candid glared at Cozy. “You gave away my position!”

Cozy pulled the paddle ball back to an increased distance from Candid, shutting the griffon’s mouth.

“Here’s what’s going to happen, Birdbox,” Cozy began. “You are going to convince Droll and Opul to come join me tonight in taking on Contume and removing him from his throne. After you three are done helping me, I’ll give you this thing back.”

Candid scowled at Cozy. “You’d think I’d go to great lengths just for a piece of wood? You’re delusional.”

“Hmm. I guess I’ll have a warm fire tonight-.”

“Stop!” Candid cut in, appearing so angry that he was on the verge of twitching. “Okay, fine.”

“Perfect,” Cozy said with an innocent smile. “Be with Opul at the same time and place as yesterday, and don’t be late please. Thank you.”

Comments

[Blueelectric]

Troth widened her eyes. “The Princess of Friendship? Oh dear. Nopony can challenge her now. Friendship is the most powerful thing there is so this means that Princess Twilight Sparkle is the most powerful being in Equestria.”

Huh, it was you Troth, that gave Cozy Glow the idea that friendship is power! Thanks for dooming Equestria!

[Shadow Spector]

10097428
Precisely! A lot of Cozy's values came from early on in her childhood. Even more is to come so stay tuned!
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