Three Years Ago
Black bishop to f5.
“Hmm,” Cozy’s daddy said.
Seven-year-old Cozy Glow looked across the board at her daddy. He was frowning deeply. The two were lying on the floor – they never played at the table – and Cozy fidgeted. She’d spent almost the entire game setting this gambit up. Now Daddy was going to escape it. He always did.
White knight to g3, where it could defend the pawn in e4 that the black bishop now threatened. Avoiding the obvious move of just taking the bishop with the pawn. That was too obvious. Cozy had to have a trap, her daddy was thinking.
But that was the trap. Didn’t Daddy see it? Her daddy always saw all her traps. Every gambit. She’d never beaten him.
Black bishop to e4. Bishop takes pawn.
White knight to e4. Knight takes bishop.
Cozy’s eyes widened. She needed to move quickly now. Not give him time to think.
Black knight to e4. Knight takes knight.
White bishop to e4. Bishop takes knight.
Black pawn to d5. Threatening the bishop and thence the white queen, but if the white queen took the pawn then it would be exposed to Cozy’s own queen.
Cozy tried to hide the fact that she was holding her breath. Take the bait take the bait take the bait…
White bishop to d5. Bishop takes pawn.
“Wait,” Daddy said, but it was too late. He’d taken his hoof off the piece. Grunting, but also with the ghost of a smile on his face, he moved his hoof and waved it at Cozy.
Black queen to e3. Queen takes bishop. Check.
White queen to e3. Queen takes queen.
Black rook – the one that Cozy had castled earlier, the one she’d set up so many turns ago – to e3. Rook takes queen. Check.
Not checkmate. Not yet. But Daddy had no way of taking the rook, he’d have to move his king…and after that rapid series of moves and counter-moves, his field had been eviscerated. Her daddy leaned forward, looking over the board. There was no way to deny that Cozy was the one in control of the game.
“Now how am I going to get out of this…”
“Sir.”
Cozy looked up, glaring hate at the butler who’d interrupted the game. The earth pony paid her little mind, however, while Daddy didn’t take his eyes from the game.
“Sir,” the butler repeated, “it’s time to go now, or you’ll miss your ship.” Daddy let out a long sigh. He stood from the game, stretching his wings a little.
Cozy rose too. “But…but Daddy…” she moaned, “the game isn’t done! Can’t you keep playing for just five more minutes?”
Her daddy smiled down at her, coming over to draw her into a hug with hooves and wings both, kissing her forehead.
“You know I hate saying ‘no’ to those eyes,” he said, ruffling her mane in a way that he knew she hated. Her curls took work every morning! But she allowed it without complaint as he used a hoof to tilt up her chin. “But I have to go now.”
Cozy felt herself trembling. “But…but I’m winning,” she said, waving a hoof at the board.
Daddy’s grin became mischievous. “Oh no you’re not.”
“Oh yes I am!”
“Nope. It’s all just a cunning plan. I’ll checkmate you in five moves.”
Cozy looked back to the board, then to Daddy, who was trotting out of the room and to the estate’s front door. She galloped after him, “That’s impossible! You’re lying, Daddy!”
Daddy ruffled her mane again. One of the curls came loose, but she didn’t mind. “Maybe,” he said, “maybe I just don’t take to losing very easily and so I’m covering it with lies and bravado.”
Cozy shook her head. “But I never beat you.”
Daddy stopped at the door, and she did as well. There was a carriage waiting at the bottom of the steps. Her daddy once again scooped her into a tight hug, and once again kissed her forehead, and she kissed his cheek.
“We’ll finish the game when I get back,” he promised. “Until then, you behave yourself for your Uncle Fork, okay?”
“Okay,” Cozy agreed. “I love you, Daddy.”
“I love you, Cozy Glow.”
Cozy’s daddy was supposed to be gone for just a month, two months on the outside. That was how long it would take to sail to far southern Abyssinia, do his business with the felines there setting up trade routes and merchant shipping lanes, and then return. In the meantime, Uncle Royal Fork stayed with Cozy at the estate.
Two months passed. Daddy didn’t come home.
Not after three months either.
Nor four. Nor five.
No letters either. No word at all.
After six months, Uncle Fork had a bunch of lawyer ponies meet with him in the house. He’d said that Daddy might not be coming home. He needed to be treated as missing, and so Uncle Fork would be running her daddy’s businesses and estate and managing his money from now on. For now, until Daddy returned, everything was going to be his.
That was when a lawyer in the room had cleared his throat and produced a piece of paper, signed by Cozy’s daddy and a bunch of witnesses. The paper made it clear that everything actually fell to Cozy. Cozy owned the estate, and the carriages, and the businesses, and all the money. Uncle Fork could only manage it until Cozy came of age, and the vast majority of it would be held in trust and not be able to be accessed by anypony.
Uncle Fork had been really mad for a few days after that. He wouldn’t get to spend Daddy’s money. Take it all. Cozy wasn’t stupid. She knew what her uncle really wanted, that all he wanted was his brother’s money, although Uncle Fork didn’t know that she knew. Uncle Fork tried to find some way to get around Daddy’s will and testament, but it was ironclad. So then he started acting super nice to Cozy, letting her do whatever she wanted. Spoiling her rotten, so that when she grew up she’d share Daddy’s money with him.
Daddy was going to be so mad with Uncle Fork when he got back. Right after he finished the game with Cozy he’d probably…well, Cozy wasn’t actually sure what her daddy could do to her uncle. Not ground him, probably, since the adult version of grounding was going to jail but Uncle Fork hadn't done anything to deserve that. But Daddy could cut him off, that was definitely a possibility. Make it so that he wasn’t a part of Daddy’s company anymore. Wouldn’t get anything.
But whatever happened, it could wait. Because first, Daddy and Cozy would finish their chess game. Just as soon as he got back...
Well, so far so good. I haven't read the comic/have no intention of doing so. Honestly the show failing for giving ANY sort of background for Cozy was a massive fail on their part.
Looking forward to seeing where this goes. Of course chess would play a pretty big role in Cozy's backstory, but this is an interesting way to do it. She's essentially stuck with a chess game in her head that she can't finish, against the one player she could never beat.
Do you happen to have a list of moves of Cozy's and her dad's game? I'd love to see the PGN. A useful tool to generate it is https://lichess.org/analysis
Sad start. If Cozy's Tartarus sentence is permenent in your universe then it seems that Fork might even get the fortune.
10193998
The comics never touched on Cozy’s origin; the FIENDship is Magic series covered Sombra, Tirek, the Sirens, Nightmare Moon, and Chrysalis. Of those I’d say that Sombra’s and Chrysalis’ were good. Tirek’s was a little rougher but loaded with ideas. Nightmare Moon’s is the only one I would call unequivocally bad. The Sirens...on the surface it’s pretty terrible, but on the other hand it’s basically Star Swirl and the Sirens re-enacting “Beelzeboss”, with Star Swirl as Tenacious D and the Sirens as Satan. This is also the pre-Season 7 comic version of Star Swirl, so he was much more personable and likable if a bit irresponsible at times. So while on paper it’s not that great, I personally love it.
10193999
Hold that thought. It’s gonna get rough.
10194109
I actually do and am using a specific game of chess, but I want to keep the game hidden for now since how it plays out is important to the story.
10194381
Speaking of the comics, you can feel free to read into the fact Cozy’s dad was heading to Abyssinia. More on that later, after the story is finished.
"Trouble at Midnight Castle" H Y P E
Can't fuckin' wait! Been chomping at the bit since "Tiatarta". This will do as an appetizer, though. : )
INB4 Front Page
10194736 I have almost the exact same opinions on all 5 Fiendship issues. I liked the first 3, though Tirek felt like a ripoff of the Dark Crystal. NMM's was terrible, but the Sirens was campy and hilarious. I like the theory from Oliver that the Sirens Fiendship Origin is what you would get if someone (like Sunset Shimmer) interviewed Sonata Dusk about their origins, and recorded her version.
10198732
I actually got sort of a Greek myth vibe from Tirek’s. Tirek studies dark magic under Sendak the Elder but then he hears his father Vorak talking about how much Tirek is a dark kid who’ll probably turn on Vorak, with heavy implications that Vorak feels like he might have to act first and turn on Tirek. Not for the good of the nation, but for his own personal safety. And I also get the vibe that Tirek May have heard something similar from Vorak before which might have prompted him to seek out Sendak.
The whole thing just calls to mind Kronos and Zeus. Vorak’s own fears about Tirek prompted Tirek to turn into the thing Vorak feared. Tirek’s own fears about Vorak prompted Vorak to turn into the thing Tirek feared. There’s no way of knowing who is really to blame at this point, who started it — all that matters is who is going to finish it, and how.
10193998
I am still angry over how the show treated Cozy Glow.
D2 to E3 I think is how cozy's dad would get out of that cuz if memory serves correctly the way I was taught it the knights can only move in an l-shaped pattern
Finally decided to read this after starting with the two fics starring Chrysalis. I like it so far.
Ah, Cozy, the carte blanche od Mlp villains... Could be worse, she could have negative continuity like Chryssie.
10194736
I loved Sombra's backstory the most of all, it really explains why he hates the Crystal Heart so much, not because of his nature but because how much it and Princess Amore screwed him over and for so many years too .
The second place goes to Chrysalis, she already is my favorite villain in MLP, but her backstory just fits her so much and ties her character and actions together with a bow.
And i too hate Nightmare Moon's backstory. I hate the very basic concept about it the fact that it seems to treat Luna and Nightmare Moon as separate beings is an absolutely no go for me since it destroys a lot of Luna's character and she wasn't even imprisoned in the Moon, she was basically unable to leave it but had a LOT of room to have fun and relax... so poor and sickening
Already five billion percent better than the last two seasons of the show.
I’ve always wished there was a backstory comic for Cozy, given how much I love the ones we did get. I’m excited to read the rest of this, especially considering how much I love her dynamic with Tirek in Trouble at Midnight Castle!
Okay, this is pretty darn good. Count me interested.