Luna walked through the ‘dreamscape’ to find any child that needed comfort from their nightmares. The doors leading to each dream seemed to be fine until she came upon a door with a red glow behind it. She opened the door to see a dark environment with thick foliage. She stepped inside and instantly recognized this as the Everfree Forest. Not knowing whose mind this was taking place in, she decided to search.
“Hello?” she called.
The only sound came from peepers and screech owls nearby. Luna then heard heavy breathing. As she got closer to a nearby clearing, the sound of crying could also be heard. She saw an unkempt child walk by in the forest with a dark black cloud of mist around her. It was a small pegasus filly with a peach-colored coat and messy blue hair. Her cutie mark was a rook chess piece.
“Cozy Glow?!”
“It’s too late, Princess Luna.”
Cozy looked up to the princess with tears streaming down her face. Her eyes had slit pupils.
“What has happened to you?”
Cozy sniffled and then began to smile wickedly as her eyebrows moved down.
“Oh, like you don’t know.”
The smoke began to spin around Cozy. The expression on her face turned sad again.
“No…NO! WAIT!” she called out as she was lifted in the air.
“This is what you wanted, little one,” said a voice that sounded like Cozy’s voice, but deeper. “We had a deal after all. You follow me; I find you some parents.”
The smoke finally consumed Cozy Glow. Luna started to have flashbacks of the time she transformed into Nightmare Moon. She stepped back and watched as a dark alicorn took shape with bat wings and purple wavy hair. Its teeth were long and sharp and it had red sclera with orange irises. It grew a red blade-shaped horn and adorned itself with silver regalia.
“COZY GLOW!” screamed Luna.
The monster before her began to laugh. Luna’s heart beat faster and faster.
“Princess?” said a voice.
Luna immediately leapt and woke up. She had been seeing a flashback of the time she discovered Cozy’s transformation earlier that morning. Her vision was blurry, but as her eyesight adjusted, she saw several Crystal Empire guards before her.
“Princess Luna, are you all right?” asked one guard.
“What…what happened?” Luna asked as she stood up.
“You were knocked unconscious for quite some time. We thought you were fighting the Sorceress, but we are pleased to say she seems to have left.”
“She’s already gone? What about all the parents?”
“They are safe. We led them into the cata-”
“SHHH! We must be as quiet as we can. Stay out here and keep watch. I must check on the others now.”
Luna put her hoof on he guard’s lips and whispered to him. She then cast an invisibility spell and took off flying towards the castle. In a few seconds, she found the building with the entrance to the catacombs. Unfortunately she could not teleport herself down there since she didn’t know what it looked like, so she would have to continue on foot. Before entering, she looked to see if the Sorceress was around. There was no sign of her, so she closed the door behind her and rushed downstairs past some guards who let her in. As she made her way down the stairwell, she finally came to a door that led to a huge room full of crystal ponies. The ponies were all huddled up and quiet. Luna’s entry startled them, but they were relaxed to know it was not the Sorceress.
“Luna!” Flurry whispered loudly.
“Flurry, Spike, is everyone safe.”
“Yeah, we’re just waiting for her to leave.”
“The guards are saying she has left. I don’t trust she has, so we must stay down here until we know for sure. Not to fear. If she comes in, I will-”
“HAHAHAHA!” laughed the Sorceress as her voice echoed throughout the room. “You’ll do what, Princess? I would thank you for showing me the way in, but I already knew they were here all along, I just needed to wait till they were all right where I needed them!”
Everyone gasped and looked to the center of the room to see the Sorceress appear. In an instant, there was total panic. Ponies screamed and rushed for any tunnel entrances leading out of the room, but each doorway was covered in smoke and already starting to swallow up the parents.
“NOOOO!”
Luna shouted and lunged for the Sorceress, but the Sorceress teleported to another spot. Luna fell to the ground and got back up to see where she was, but at this point, it was already too late. The spell had been cast and all of the parents were already gone. The children everywhere were screaming and crying. The Sorceress continued to laugh maniacally. Luna overcompensated and threw herself onto the Sorceress, teleporting them both back to the outside so that their battle would not harm the children. Luna hollered at the top of her lungs and hurled repetitive magic blasts from her horn, pummeling the Sorceress. The Sorceress used a shield spell, but the barrage was too much. She finally opened her eyes and fired a beam back at Luna. Luna was so enraged she did not think fast enough to put up her own shield. She was knocked into a building, weakened by the impact. After she fell to the ground, the Sorceress fired a beam at the building to bury Luna under the rubble. Before it could hit her, it was held in place by a magic aura, but its color was yellow and not Luna’s magic. The Sorceress looked to the side to see Flurry using her magic near the entrance with Spike behind her. Flurry could not hold the rubble much longer, so Spike rushed in to pull Luna out before Flurry exhaled deeply and let it collapse. Spike held Luna in his arms and set her down.
“Luna, are you okay?” he asked her.
“I…I have failed…” Luna wept.
“Hehehe, you most certainly have!” said the Sorceress. “As you can see, I’ve inherited the little brat’s cunning nature. I’ve got all the time in the world to do this; regardless of how long it takes to wait for them to trap themselves like rats. I’ll kidnap every parent in Equestria if it takes a thousand years!”
Just as she finished speaking, a dark beam of magic made of random colors and electricity was fired at the Sorceress. She was sent crashing into a nearby building, causing crystals to fall down on her. Flurry, Spike, and Luna looked up to the sky to see a silhouette of a caped figure against the sun as the clouds parted. As it came into view, they all saw it was Discord in a superhero costume.
“Have no fear, citizens! Discord is here!” he said, heroically.
Random ponies that were watching out of their windows started cheering for him. Discord landed and blew on his finger like a smoking gun.
“Oh, thank Harmony!” shouted Spike.
“Discord!” Flurry said as she rushed forward to meet him.
“Flurry, sorry I’m late. This ‘Sorceress’ is hard to track, but I just got word from Twilight that she was in the Crystal Empire. Looks like I showed up just in time.”
“Actually you’re too late. She’s already taken all of the parents from the Crystal Empire.”
“Don’t worry. Once I knock her out for good, I’ll fetch those parents. Then we’ll send this thing straight to Tartarus, or maybe we’ll turn her into stone.”
“Uh…Discord…” Spike said, nervously.
“You don’t know who she is yet, do you?” Flurry asked.
Discord looked quizzically at them. The crystals that had buried the Sorceress then began to move and she emerged. Her armor had disappeared and her cutie mark was now visible. It had turned red, but it still had the same shape as Cozy Glow’s rook chess piece. Discord took one look at her flank and gasped loudly.
“COZY GLOW?! No…no, it can’t be!”
“Surprised, Discord?” the Sorceress said.
Discord’s outfit disappeared. He walked backwards and clutched his chest in horror. He looked to the others and shook his head back and forth.
“This changes everything. I can’t…I can’t send her to Tartarus. I can’t turn her into stone.”
“Yeah, I figured you wouldn’t have the strength to do that again. You’ve let yourself get far too soft even after everything I did to you several weeks ago.”
“Luna, what happened? Is this…is this what Nightmare Moon was like?”
“Yes,” said Luna. “She has been infected by a nightmare. She cannot be reasoned with. I already tried.”
“Discord, can you stop her?” Flurry asked.
“I…I don’t know if I can.”
“Can you at least rescue the parents?” Spike asked.
“Well…I guess I could try…”
“DON’T YOU DARE!” the Sorceress said, with her horn glowing.
Discord panicked and disappeared in a flash of light.
“NO! STAY OUT OF MY PRISON REALM!”
The Sorceress used her own teleportation spell to go after him. Everyone waited for a few seconds.
“Uh, did it work?” Spike asked.
Suddenly, Discord reappeared and fell to the ground. The Sorceress appeared above him and fired a beam, which he barely managed to avoid by teleportation. He reappeared next to everyone else and struggled to stand back up.
“Discord, what happened?” Spike asked as he helped him up.
“I can’t do it. I don’t even think I was able to find her realm. She came right in and attacked. I’ve underestimated her power and I don’t want to hurt Cozy. Everyone, I…”
Discord looked again at the Sorceress. She used her magic to make all her regalia reappear. She smirked and cocked her head both ways to crack her neck. Clearly Discord was not powerful enough to go head-to-head with such a beast. He was never able to sense how powerful Nightmare Moon was, so he always wondered if she was more powerful. While the Sorceress did not have the ability to bend reality the way he did, she had clearly outclassed him in brute strength and firepower. The negative feelings that came from Cozy’s loneliness emboldened the Sorceress to a high degree.
Discord took a few steps back as Luna, Flurry and Spike looked at him. A great fear came over him. The Sorceress didn’t seem interested in getting revenge on him like Cozy did when she had the Alicorn Amulet, but he wasn’t afraid for his own life, he was simply horrified over what had happened to Cozy Glow. He could not face her for fear he would hurt the true Cozy underneath.
“I…I can’t. Forgive me.”
Discord vanished again, leaving everyone behind. Luna, Flurry and Spike all turned to the Sorceress. They could do nothing but stare. Even their most powerful ally could not stop her.
“Hehehe. Coward,” the Sorceress mocked. “Well it looks like I’m done here in the Crystal Empire, at least for now. If I missed any parents, I’ll come back again. I’m sure in about another twenty years, some of these children will grow up and become parents themselves, and I’ll pay them a little visit. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have more moms and dads to snatch. Fare thee well, fools! AHAHAHA!”
Her horn glowed and she vanished in a burst of black and red smoke. Her laugh could still be heard echoing until it faded away. Luna noticed that some of the children had come up from the catacombs and saw what had happened with Discord. In a few seconds, their cries could be heard growing as the guards directed them out. Other guards and random citizens rushed in to tend to the children.
“Now what?” Spike sighed.
“Now we muster the Elements,” Luna replied, firmly. “They are our only hope.”
“Won’t she just go after the teachers the way she did when she had the amulet?” Flurry asked.
“She doesn’t seem to care about capturing anyone but parents. Thankfully none of the teachers have children of their own so they will not be targeted. It’s almost as if she’s forgotten about the Elements or perhaps she thinks they won’t work again. The Sorceress said she inherited the child’s intelligence; I wonder if she inherited her knowledge as well. Either way, the Elements are the only way I can think of to exorcise a nightmare demon. They took Nightmare Moon out of me; they can do the same for the child.”
“And after we do that? What will happen to Cozy? How do we know she’s alright?” Spike asked.
“I visited her in her dream a few hours ago right before this all started happening. She was weeping bitterly. Just as the transformation started, I could see the look of fear on her face. It was the same look I gave when I became Nightmare Moon. Cozy Glow is suffering. I haven’t a single doubt she wants nothing more than to be free of this possession and apologize for all her misdeeds.”
“So…she can be redeemed?”
“I think she already feels that way deep down, but her body is overtaken by the Sorceress. We need to stop it.”
“She didn’t sound like she was ready to apologize the last time I spoke to her, but I had just accidentally disintegrated her fake parents,” Flurry added. “I just really hope Mom and Dad are okay. I’m sure the real Cozy Glow wouldn’t want any of this.”
“We need to get back to Ponyville. The Elements are still being kept down in…well, just in case she’s still listening in on us, I won’t disclose their location right now,” Spike said, cautiously.
“Flurry Heart?” said the captain of the royal guard as he approached Flurry.
“Captain Onyx!” Flurry responded.
“Flurry, don’t forget, you are the heir to the throne. Both your parents are gone, so that makes you our princess regent.”
“Oh darn. I hadn’t thought of that.”
“Come, Princess,” said another stallion nearby named Aventurine that was one of Shining Armor’s trusted advisors.
“Sir Aventurine, please, I want to be of help.”
“You have a duty to help your people here. The Elements of Harmony will take care of the Sorceress. Now come.”
“But I-”
“It’s all right, Flurry,” said Luna. “Your people need you. We will gather the teachers and take care of the Sorceress.”
Flurry looked to Spike and Luna and then to the guards and advisor behind her. She hung her head and sighed.
“All right.”
Flurry walked over to the advisor and stood next to him. Luna then prepared a teleportation spell and Spike put his claw on her shoulder.
“We’ll be all right, Flurry,” Spike said.
“Be careful. When you’re done, tell Cozy…I forgive her.”
Flurry watched as Spike and Luna disappeared. She wanted so much to come with them, but it was too late. On this day, she would have no choice but to act in place of her parents, and she was not ready for it.
Spike and Luna appeared in front of the Crystal Castle in Ponyville. The clouds were rather dark there too.
“Poor Flurry,” Spike said. “Can’t they cut her some slack? She’s only a kid.”
“Younger ponies have become kings and queens in the past after their parents have died before,” Luna responded. “Flurry Heart is a smart girl for her age. She will do fine. For right now, she is only acting regent. If we have the Sorceress taken care of soon, things will return back to normal. Let’s be thankful Twilight Sparkle is not a mother.”
“Still, the fact that we’re losing all these parents is bad enough. And you heard what she said: she’ll come back years later for these children when they become parents too.”
As Spike finished speaking, he saw Smolder land a few yards away with the rest of the teachers behind her.
“So we heard there’s somepony causing trouble,” she said, crossing her arms proudly.
“We here to stop this Sorceress pony!” Yona shouted.
“Oh you guys got here just in time!” Spike replied. “Quick! The Elements are inside!”
“Come on guys,” Gallus told the others. “There’s only one way to stop this monster!”
“Uh…do they know yet?” Spike whispered to Luna out of the side of his mouth.
“Do we know what?” asked Silverstream.
“We’ll tell you inside! Come quickly!” Luna called as they opened the doors and rushed into the castle.
Hoo boy, things just keep on escalating. Luna knows that deep down, Cozy Glow doesn't want this, but she's not strong enough on her own to resist the corruption of the Sorceress, just as Luna was overpowered by Nightmare Moon. And now, even Discord's powerless to stop her, now that he knows who the Sorceress is. No chaos ex machina is going to save the day this time, not if he doesn't want to harm Cozy Glow. Looks like it's time to call in the new Bearers of Harmony, while poor Flurry has to remain behind and look after the Crystal Empire in her parents' absence. I'm full of anticipation over how all of this is going to turn out.
Oh boy... Equestria will be parentless as soon as the Sorceress is finish. Also
No... I think Cozy might want that. Reason; Shining Armor, Cadance and others who did try to stop Cozy Glow were parents and their children as revenge for taking hers. I mean even if her parents are fake, it was what she wanted them to exist for herself to have. Also will more Harmony will save them or make it worse? I mean it was harmony that fueled Cozy's negativity to create the Sorceress to existence.
No offense but Harmony and Friendship is starting to show dark results for their actions. I mean who wants to see an evil creation of Harmony & Friendship? I mean its something anyone who is curious to see.
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Good points, but remember how Cozy was at the end of Dream of Alicornication. She eventually felt terrible about everything she had done but the possession of the Sorceress lept her from coming back to apologize and she just wanted parents. Right now she obviously feels terrible but there’s nothing she can do since she’s completely overtaken by the possession. Luna was repentant after being freed of Nightmare Moon and the same is happening to Cozy.
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It’s definitely going to get more interesting from here on out, and the resolve may surprise you!
What the heck again how did she sneak through
Okay that thing has gone too far
Finally thank God Discord you're here it's time for you to use your op Power to go crazy on that crazy thing
Well we got to do something anything at this point
Grrr I take that back okay I'm getting a little upset sorry about that I get it that thing is much powerful especially emotionally powerful but if that's the case we need the elements of harmony
At this time the Elements of Harmony needs to be in use now and remember the elements are for healing not destroy as we found out back in season 7
Yes the young 6 are finally going to help because this is become way more dangerous than ever although what about sandbars parents because Sandbar has a younger sister and I'm sure she's about what 10 right now wouldn't that mean their parents will be kidnapped as well
Oh man this is really bad like seriously bad so Luna have broken after the battle but she did see a vision what happened to Cozy glow so that's enough information what happened to her and it looks like flurry heart and Spike got the parents safe downstairs but unfortunately it didn't last because somehow the sorcerer somehow leaked through like a parasite and basically with no problem kidnapped every single parents in the room and just a nick of time Discord showed up but it didn't last that long either because he found out who it is and he couldn't even hurt the sorcerer And basically disappeared and apparently she's not done yet she will kidnap every single ponies and creatures parents around the world Luna and Spike had to call the teachers the young 6 but flurry heart had to stay here at the Crystal Empire because her parents are gone and there's nobody taking charge so she has to stay hopefully this will be enough for the Elements of Harmony to take care of the sorcerers but will it be enough guess we'll find out next time
I get the feeling Flurry's going to be in a bit of trouble... especially when it comes to decrees and the like.
This is more dangerous than I thought. Not even Discord can help against The Sorcerer's magic. Plus, now that the parents of the Crystal Empire are gone, leadership falls on poor Flurry Heart to lead them. Looks like Flurry is being forced into a position of authority, much like her Aunt Twilight was when Celestia and Luna vanished when the Everfree Forest was invading.
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Like she said in that quote, she already knew they were in there, she just waited till they were all in the same place so she could get them at the same time.
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Oh I forgot about that. I’ll have to mention it in the next chapter.
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It's not going to go too well for her, but they'll find a way to deal with it.
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Oh yeah I forgot about that she overheard them 😅
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I want to agree with you on that but I have a rebuttal for your comment. I had to look for a past story I read long ago and found a connection to it. Cozy Glow lost everything when she broke down and cried. What I'm trying to say is, when Cozy lost her powers from the Alicorn Amulet after Flurry got her to take it off, she lost her new home, her new magic and her imagine parents in an instant which caused her breakdown. Cozy Glow was at her lowest because of Flurry Heart and when she tried to help her Cozy reacted negatively because that act of mercy was an insult to her after Flurry went all the way to save Ponyville from her. Cozy was backed into a corner as her dark side; Sorceress came to her as Cozy's retaliation to Flurry and everyone who helped her taking Cozy Glow down. It's like a corner animal; instead of giving up, it fights back. Reason for that is, take Starlight & Chrysalis for example; Twilight offer her friendship when she couldn't be stopped and was at her highest as Chrysalis was at her lowest when Thorax destroyed her throne, her home and took her family and that offer of friendship was like showing Chrysalis that there is nothing but one choice left to accept friendship but she refused it as a sign of refusing to give up immediately. Sorceress is Cozy Glow's refusal to give up and might be her inner anger towards not only her parents but every happy parent that she is force to see every day of her life before getting turned to stone.
If you don't believe what I said, read the that I found in my favorites and see what I mean.
https://www.fimfiction.net/story/403693/best-served-cold
Also even if they find Cozy Glow's parents and it turns out they did abandon her, I think they won't be punish for their actions. For anyone who will disagree with me, here's my answer. There are no laws preventing any creatures sending their newborns to an orphanage. I mean even if Flurry did ask Twilight to make it a law, they cannot be convicted due to how long they gave Cozy Glow away and given her now actual age, she is legally no longer considered a child and even if Discord say something about it, they'll say that Twilight is misusing her authority as Princess of Equestria just to punish them as she misused her authority to pardon Discord for his treason in manipulating the Legion for her confidence. It's my thought if they say something like that incase Twilight try to confect them for abandoning Cozy Glow.
The Sorceress seems to be very powerful. Makes me wonder if NMM was stronger then what we may have seen in the show or if this host makes for a stronger one for the nightmare monster thing. I do hope that Luna starts to regret turning Cozy to stone and sending her to Tartarus because it surely contributed to this situation.
One has to wonder why this wasn't the very first thing they thought of. They are the best possible solution in this case and there's still 2 element bearer groups.
A bit surprising. Back in medieval times, if the ruler died and the heir was too young, there would often be a regent until the kid was older. I guess the Crystal Empire doesn't have any candidates to act as a regent until Flurry becomes say, 18 or the rulers come back. I kind of wonder what Flurry would have to do now besides signing some papers or doing speeches. I can't imagine her being trained to actually rule the Empire.
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The reason I wanted her so powerful was because if Discord is more powerful, then she poses no real threat. Even the Elements might have a bit of trouble defeating her though.
Well they most likely had thought of it, Flurry just wanted to get to her parents, and Luna thought maybe she could talk some sense into Cozy first. The teachers were already on their way at the very end of this chapter and they will have no problem getting the Elements.
That would make the most sense, but some kingdoms have had kings that were very young, even younger than Flurry. Some were even declared kings before they were born but could not really lead till they reached a certain age. Flurry won't stay as the regent for very long because she'll be needed in this battle.
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To be real, this all sounds like what the Sorceress keeps telling Cozy in order to keep Cozy in a state of constant self-loathing and hopelessness.
The story isn't over yet. Wait till you see the resolve.
Poor Cozy... poor all the other children too...
Sorry to mention this but you forgot an “s” to make “teachers” instead of “teacher”
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Thanks.
Well... it seems I was not very far from the mark when I made comparisons to the Nightmare Rarity arc from the comics, considering what we now know has caused the Sorceress to emerge.
That said... while there is an idiom about how knowing is half the battle, clearly doing things by halves isn't going to be enough this time, especially considering neither Luna nor Discord were powerful enough to defeat the Sorceress, at least when working alone. Perhaps if they had worked together while they were still fresh, their chances would have been better... but for one, that's still an "if", and for another, it seems to be off the table for now.
And the Sorceress very much seems to be getting more and more terrifying, considering how far she's being able to go without anyone to stop her, not to mention her plain bloodthristy and ax-crazy demeanor. The way she says she'll kidnap every parent in Equestria even if it takes a thousand years is particularly horrifying. Especially when considering that even with others trying to stop her, she'd probably take far less time to do so.
That said... all of this is a greatly conveyed horror, and I can say without any hesitation that the Sorceress ranks up there among the scariest villains I have seen in any MLP fanfics! Kudos to you!
On a bit of another front... I feel for Flurry having to stay in charge of the Empire at such a young age... but as has been pointed out, that is something that could indeed have happened in a historical setting, and it does make sense for the MLP one too. And props to her for stepping up and doing it.˜
And while this is a less-present note, kudos also to the Student Six for being willing to face the Sorceress despite how much havoc she has already wreaked. It really speaks to their true character, regardless of the outcome of the battle.
All in all, another great chapter! I loved it!
Okay, so I think I get it now. It is basically a "deal with the devil" sort of thing. Cozy is in there, but the Sorceress is in control. It would make sense for the Elements to stop her, but knowing you, you'll come up with a different way of stopping her.
When Discord appeared, I was hoping for some fun antics, but ends up being useless. Talk about a disappointment.
I pretty much expected that Flurry would be forced to stay behind to care for the kingdom while her parents are away. It's pretty much the job she got the second she was born. It's still a pretty sad situation for her. Hopefully nothing goes wrong while she's in charge.
Okay, let's get to the Student Six getting informed as to what's going on and see how they feel.
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Yeah Cozy is suffering right now much like Anakin Skywalker was, except for the part where he was burned alive.
Discord tried but isn’t strong enough plus he doesn’t want to hurt Cozy. He’s got a role to play. So do the teachers and Flurry.