She was a small Pegasus, incapable of the magic feats of a Unicorn, and too weak to be of any worth to others. Her only real talents were in observing the world and the ponies around her.
What friends she tried making? Even before becoming known as a villain the world over, they would always look to her last, think of her least… She never had a real friend. Never somepony who she knew she could trust.
For a time that was fine. For a time she was content with life. But each time a friend forgot her, each time she was left behind, a crack appeared, and out fell more of her trust in others.
Eventually, she only had enough trust left for one pony. Herself.
She was the only one on her side. She was the only one who truly understood herself and what she needed. She was the only one who she could trust.
Everypony else? They lost any special place they might have had in her heart. Her trust fell away from them.
And without that trust, she had no reason to keep staying in that life. So she cast it aside and left. She cast aside the world she knew. She cast aside the small school, the small orphanage, the pity filled looks, the narrowed eyes-
Ah, sorry. A bit off the main goal of this, hmm? No, right now we’re not supposed to be speaking of the journey that took Cozy here.
We’re talking about where Cozy Glow is now...
Cozy knew how the magic of friendship worked. She knew how the Elements worked. She had been at the school of Friendship for months, taught by the ponies who once bore the Elements themselves!
And with that knowledge, she knew: Everycreature who stood against her together was a threat. They were all a part of the whole, ants banding together to become a giant. She’d just have to remove as many ants as it took until they weren’t a threat anymore, and squash them into the ground.
With everything that happened in the last weeks, from the fake Grogar to her newfound partnership with the changeling queen Chrysalis and the tyrannical centaur Tirek, and even to how far they had already conquered Equestria, an idea had formed in her mind, and she prepared accordingly.
So even as she saw the army approaching, even as she saw the six disgusting paragons of friendship at the head of the crowd that stood against her and her allies, Cozy knew what her plan was.
The Elements of Harmony? They were powerful things, and their power still coursed through the veins of the ponies leading the charge.
But it only worked with all six ponies there.
‘A chain is only as strong as the weakest link’, as they say. Cozy would say something different.
‘Friends are only as good as they are at their weakest’.
It wasn’t some giant display of magic that she unleashed to dispose of them. No giant destructive beams, or waves of scorching fire. It was but a simple grip of telepathy as she pulled out the secret weapon of hers, howling and writhing in her magic.
And as the others stared in confusion, Fluttershy was the first to notice what it was. And Fluttershy was the first to bolt for it.
And following shortly after, Fluttershy was the first to die before she could even touch the broken dog Cozy had lured her with.
Drained of magic and emotion from Tirek and Chrysalis simultaneously, the dog from Sweet Apple Acres howled in despair as Fluttershy hit the ground. Lying there, she wasn’t even a quarter of the mare she usually was, bereft of her usual beauty and grace, Fluttershy was now a ragged grey mess of fur and bones, occasionally twitching as she stared up at the villainous trio with ragged breaths.
The pitiful display was put to an end by a quick stomp from Tirek’s hoof.
The dog's howls were silenced similarly.
Cozy Glow reveled in the feeling of power she had as the army gasped in horror, Fluttershy’s closest friend’s shocked into stillness with their mouths agape, the blue pegasus and orange pony pushed back by a blast from Cozy's horn. The old pillars of Equestria were the only ones unaffected as they rushed to the front of their group, though their faces had turned stoic and dark.
The Bewitching Bell made short work of them all.
The thing that had given her the power she wielded so casually, stole Discord's chaotic strength, and left Celestia and Luna, the supposedly immortal rulers of Equestria, weak and powerless...
All gathered in one place, facing against the three creatures able to use the Bell and take all their strength away from them? It was foolishness to think it would end well.
The pegasi fell, the earth ponies stumbled, and the unicorn’s horns ceased to glow.
Every bit of their power? Gone.
The following battle was a violent, brutal one, screams filling the air and blood spilling the ground. But if there was one mercy there…
The battle itself was short.
Cozy Glow had decided to wear a thick coat to the celebration feast. The Windigoes were still lurking around, making the whole of Equestria all too chilly.
With the main rebel force dispelled and beaten, the three ruling creatures had little to worry about in their immediate future as they drank, ate, and reveled in their victory.
They had to keep a few of the ponies alive, of course. They couldn’t very well be forced to make food themselves, to clean up after themselves, or to do menial chores with the power they now held.
They owned Canterlot. They owned the Crystal Empire. They owned all of Equestria!
Maybe for today, Cozy and her Cohorts would be content with that. Maybe for today, they would be satisfied with their feast and their victory.
But the next day? The day after that?
Who’s to say that Griffonstone wouldn’t be better ruled by them.
“…perhaps you might even decide to take the Hippogriffs next.”
Cozy flinched, jumping in surprise before looking around her room, horn glowing as she narrowed her eyes, growling in anger, “Who’s there?! Show yourself!”
”Ha! Perhaps that would be a simple task for you, but for me… Not as much.”
Cozy flipped around, but couldn’t see anyone or anything there. The glow didn’t leave her horn but she slowly sat back down, “You’re not anywhere near me…”
”In a way… Yes. In a way… No. I’ll let you decide which is more fitting for this situation.”
“Discord is dead,” she said flatly, “So this isn’t one of his tricks. I can’t sense anycreature around me either. What are you?” She looked up to the ceiling, trying to find the source of the voice again, though she knew it was in vain.
”I’m an interested party. Someone very keen on finding out about you, Miss Glow… About what you truly want.”
Cozy sneered, “You’re a therapist?”
”Ah… No.”
Cozy growled out her next words, “Whatever you are and whatever you want, you can go buck yourself! I’ve finally won! I can do whatever I want, and I don’t have to answer to you!”
”As is your right. You’ve won. The world is your oyster. You can do or say whatever you want to whoever you want whenever you want, and they can do nothing about it.”
She grinned, preening at the praise.
”And not a friend in the world to share it all with…”
The smile dropped from her face, a scowl tainting her young face.
“I don’t need friends! I don’t need anypony! You hear me?!”
But the voice didn’t answer that night. It wouldn’t answer her for many days to come.
The cold didn’t stop for the conquerors of Equestria.
Day by day, the temperature dropped, snow flowing down the mountains and covering the landscape, leaving it as pure white as the Crystal Empire.
Cozy Glow would’ve done anything to be rid of it. She wasn’t some… Child who desperately yearned for a snow day, a break from reality to have fun with frozen water, of all things. She was one of the most powerful creatures in Equestria!
But it seemed the Windigoes didn’t care.
They had tried dozens of times, but there wasn’t any magic for the Bell to take from the ice spirits, and Tirek didn’t even bother trying to take it from them.
Chrysalis had tried sucking them dry of feeling, but had to stop as she spat a black goo out. ‘Liquid hate’ she had called it.
Cozy could only scowl as they flew by, icing over the land, freezing lakes and rivers, making Equestria almost completely unlivable.
And what use was she for her homeland? She may have despised its values, the ponies that lived in it, but it was hers, and she didn’t want to let these monsters of ice and hate take it from her! She wouldn’t be looked down on by them! She wouldn’t-
She wouldn’t lose.
She wouldn’t be left alone because of them.
For now though, Cozy could only focus on wearing the warmest clothing she could find in the castle as she did what she did best, learning new things. Without anyone to stop her, books about anything from the most mundane to the most devastating were free for her to read in the Canterlot libraries.
She had worked hard pretending to be such a good pony at that damnable Twilight’s school of Friendship, the effort she put in now was small by comparison.
…Though it would help if it weren’t quite so tedious. And boring.
She didn’t know how Twilight did it, all that studying, how she could remember all these inane facts about horn pressure and thaumic leverage and everything and anything to do with the infuriating horn she now has on her head.
Death beams? Cozy found those to be surprisingly easy, just a point and shoot thing.
How to banish untouchable spirits of ice? You’d have better luck explaining how the sun and moon work to her.
Cozy was miserable here in this castle. She didn’t even have anyone to talk to, Tirek having decided to conquer the Everfree and drain it of magic while Chrysalis left to reclaim her Hive, or kill them, or whatever she decided to do to her former buggy subjects.
Meanwhile, Cozy was the only one who felt she had to make some effort to put things right in Equestria, to try and actually make something of their victory.
But without any help, without anypony to talk to, she was slipping more and more into frustration, anger, despair…
The worst thing for her, though? She couldn’t eat.
It was such a mundane activity, something that took so much time, something so… Normal. She couldn’t help but be driven to madness by its absence.
It wasn’t like she didn’t have the ability to eat, the feast following their victory had been proof enough for her of that, but with nopony bringing food to the castle and the Windigoes killing plants left, right, and center, there wasn’t anything left for the filly to eat, and she suspected the captured ponies she’d sent to find food wouldn’t be returning.
Maybe that was part of her punishment… Karma for having taken over Equestria? Maybe she deserved it.
But looking at the miserable child, alone in the library with a frown on her face, one can’t help feeling bad for her. Pity, almost.
Right now, she isn’t some dangerous tyrant trying to kill everypony she thinks wronged her. She isn’t some psychopathic mastermind trying to indoctrinate the masses.
Tears of frustration in her eyes, book after book of everything from fire to seals to Ancient Equestria and ghosts, all I can see is a child.
Scared and alone and…
“…In need of some company?”
Cozy scowled as she heard the voice, “So it wasn’t a dream. Wonderful.”
“On the contrary, I think you’re the dream. I look forward to seeing which of us is right.”
Cozy looked around the room, trying to see the source of the voice, again, and also failing to see it, again.
“Ugh… What do you want?” she slammed the book closed, something to do with fire spirits or the like, and tossed it to the messy pile next to her, “Here to tell me I need friends again?”
“I’m not here to taunt or correct you. I’m here to keep you company.”
Cozy got out of her seat, heading to the doorway as she tiptoed around piles of books, “I don’t need correcting and I don’t need company! I don’t need anypony!” she slammed the door to the library closed behind her, sighing as she leaned against it.
“Perhaps not…” the voice speaking out again made her flinch before she glared up at the air again, “But I don’t bow to your whims either. My company is yours, whether you want it or not.”
Cozy growled, looking like she wanted to stay something, but took a deep breath in before slowly letting it back out. Silently, she turned away from the library and started her trek down the hall, intent on just getting away.
“I see you require more convincing of my good nature,” the voice echoed out around her.
She remained silent, passing door after door down the stony halls of the castle, her hoofsteps the only sound she made.
“Perhaps I could tell you of something you want… Something you desire… Something you’d give the world for right now…”
Her pattern of hoofsteps stuttered, but she didn’t stop walking, though her ears seemed to be more open now.
“Perhaps it would interest you to know… Where the last remaining cake is?”
That was enough to stop her hooves, one paused in the air as she almost pulled open the door to the room she claimed.
“The last… Cake?” she echoed back.
“The last one in all of Canterlot. The castle may have been cleaned of crumbs, but there’s one special residence in this city that still has an intact cake.”
Cozy scowled at that, “Try a better lie next time. Any cakes would have gone stale or rotten by now,” she said as she shoved through the door.
“On the contrary, your city is plagued by the only thing keeping it fresh.”
That actually cause Cozy to fully stop before she could get into the massive bed and bury herself in the sheets and blankets.
“It’s frozen?”
“Indeed. And all it needs is just a little… Magic to bring it back to its full delicious power.”
Cozy didn’t want to turn around. She didn’t want to give in to the temptation set before her with that offer, to let this mysterious voice win.
But it had been a week since the food had run out in the castle. A week without eating, a week without being normal. She could hardly stand it.
“Fine…” she growled out as she turned around, “Show me the cake.”
The voice led her out of the castle and down into the city proper. It wasn’t somewhere Cozy had actually tried to spend time in, to explore and know her new ruling city, having been to busy with trying to find some way to get rid of the nuisance keeping it so lifeless.
All around, the streets were covered in snow and ice, windows shattered from the cold and glass littering the streets.
It wasn’t at all what Cozy wanted this place to be. She didn’t want a wasteland. She didn’t want a barren city of ice and snow. She didn’t want rule over the lifeless stones and statues and-
Statues?
Cozy had stopped, the voice cutting itself off as it noticed her delay.
“Hmm? Something piqued your interest, Cozy?”
“Why is there a statue there?” she raised a fetlock to point at the street, where a grey form in the shape of a pony, covered in a layer of snow and ice, was standing.
“Hmm? Oh… Oh! Uh, it was a recent addition being put up before your takeover.”
The voice sounded… Hesitant. And Cozy decided she liked that, “Oh really? In the middle of the street? I’m not buying it,” she walked closer to the ‘statue, trying to make out more. Was there a shirt on it?
“No, I think it’s just a statue. Perhaps we should ignore it and get back to finding that cake, yes?”
“Ohhh, somepony wants to tell me what to do now?” she gloated as she moved around to view the grey thing from where she saw the head was, “Well you can shove that up… your…”
Cozy’s voice trailed off as she looked at the head of the- the pony in front of her.
The stallion’s face was frozen in a scream, his mouth open and his eyes wide in terror, she could still see his eyes shrunk to pinpricks behind the layer of ice covering them, and one hoof outstretched in vain.
“…I’m sorry. I didn’t want you to see that.”
Cozy could only stare at the stallion, and the despair on his frozen face. “What happened to…”
“He… He was still in Canterlot when the Windigoes returned to Equestria. Making their way through the city, he just… Happened to be in their path.”
Cozy looked on blankly, her mind at war with itself, a part of her proclaiming she didn’t care, while the other couldn’t stop imagining the process, the pain, the frozen scream-
She abruptly turned away, her mouth in a frown and her face stony.
“How pointless,” she huffed hollowly, “Where’s that cake?”
“…Yes. The cake.” The voice echoed back.
It wasn’t even a minute before the voice led Cozy to the house. Laid out on a table, bright and colorful with pink and lime frosting, a cake sat there as promised by the voice. It had a message in bold letters, ‘Happy Birthday’, on it, and three candles sticking proudly out of it before she tore them off.
She didn’t see any more frozen ponies that day. She didn’t see any more of that fear.
She had gotten the cake.
But even as she grabbed it, flying it back to the castle, she couldn’t bring herself to look at it, her stomach feeling sick.
She couldn’t bring herself to eat the cake that day.
And the voice was gone before she could ask it why.
They were off some-bucking-where, either killing any creature they found or leaving them wishing they were dead.
And Cozy found herself missing them.
She hadn’t spoken to anypony for a month at that point, the days of studying being long and her nights of sleep all too short. It was so monotonous without anycreature around to even share an insult with, anypony she could see or hear or talk with-
The two tyrants were the only creatures she knew wouldn’t die, couldn’t die. They were the only ones left who could survive.
They wouldn’t leave her. They would come back. Cozy would just have to keep working until then…
She had some small comforts in the meantime, however brief. It had also been a month since Cozy had found the cake.
Kept frozen most of the time, she tried to portion it out to make it last, starting at one slice a day, but quickly turning to once every two days, then three, until, finally, she was left with one last slice of the cake, with the word ‘Happy’ still written out on it in frosting.
It was tantalizing, it would be so easy to gobble it down… One last rush of sugary sweetness. It would only take a few bites…
But she couldn’t bring herself to eat it. She couldn’t bare the thought of not having anything to look forward to, even if it meant torturing herself with the thought of it.
But Cozy was strong, yes? She knew that the cake would need to be eaten eventually, but she would limit herself to only after the Windigoes were gone.
And for her own sake, she hoped she would be rid of them soon…
She hadn’t made much progress on banishing them, but she had finally found a spell able to at least block the Windigoes from entering the castle, a Zebracan ceremony involving gems, though it didn’t stop the eternal cold from seeping through the stones.
She’d try and rectify that later.
In the meantime, she experimented with the different rituals of fire and banishment in her books, from Zebracan rhymes to the blessings of the Deer. Each one offered little use on their own, only keeping her own being safe from the Windigoes touching her… Flying through her… Freezing her, leaving her as-
Well… Anyway.
Every other spell she had looked through required some form of group cast or another, like the Elements of Harmony’s own power of Friendship.
Blegh… Like Cozy would ever go for something like that.
She might be desperate, but she had standards. Villains didn’t give up their morals when times got tough! They didn’t need help! And she didn’t need help either!
She didn’t need anypony…
She would be fine on her own.
She would find out how to do this, how to banish the Windigoes, how to save Equestria for her rule, and have everything she wanted.
She could do it.
She would do it!
And she wouldn’t be alone…
…Right?
Cozy looked over the spells she had assembled for this test.
She had layered them all together instead of trying any singular one on their own this time, laying the rest on top of the Zebrican protection ritual.
She had already found minor success with mixing the ritual with a targeting spell that encompassed the castle, tying it down to some key lines to keep the Windigoes away from it. Now she just needed to… Broaden her horizons.
She’d checked the city already with a modified fire tracking spell, the place free of any abnormally cold areas, meaning no Windigoes currently, and she could begin her work.
Starting with the Zebracan ritual, she crushed some diamonds and other gems down, scattering them on top of a few branches. Nearby were two hewn quartz gems, with gold she had melted down and wrapped around their middles in rings.
A sloppy job, but she could make better if she needed to.
Starting with the first, she focused her magic into it, condensing an area target spell down into the crystal, focusing on picking up every part of the city for it. It was an intensive amount of magic, and the crystal barely held, the gold barely keeping the thaumic container stable.
It was exhausting, picking out the buildings and layering each piece of information into the crystal with her magic, and she could feel sweat beading down her forehead, but she needed to continue.
In the second crystal, she focused down a modified fire spell. She wanted to make the city warm enough to live in, but combined with the area of effect spell in the first crystal, she knew she couldn’t just demand fire from the magic. She just wanted a little bit of warmth. Just… Enough.
It took a lot less magic for the second crystal, the gold ring holding firm, unlike the first which had deformed and bulged out. Still usable, but she’d need something stronger if she tried to make another one of those.
She wiped the sweat off her fur, resting her body against a nearby pillar, “Almost… Done…” she said, getting up for the final preparations.
One final inspection later, turning them over end to end for intense scrutiny, she nodded to herself. The crystals were ready, and she deposited them on top of the branches. Lighting them up with a spark from her horn, a multicolored flame danced up from the gem dusted sticks, and she let her senses wash away as she focused her horn on fueling the fire, much preferable to the chanting she’d have to use without it.
She didn’t hear it when quartz cracked, but felt it in the spell, merging with the gems already dusting the branches and the magic mixing with the flames.
She did feel the heat as the fire surged in front of her, soaring around her, bits and pieces of it moving around the city. She imagined it would’ve been beautiful if she were to see it.
But she kept her will on the source of the flames, wrestling it to into the ghost safeguard she wanted while the other spells helped guide it.
It was a short process, but one that left her horn burning. She felt a headache starting to form, going from her brain to the tip of her horn, but she only pressed harder as she felt the air around her feel a little bit warmer.
She kept going, pressing on, until the spell had finally reached its peak. She collapsed, gasping to the ground as she layed there, her horn barely staying functional to keep the spell rooted. Looking up, she saw a bit of snow starting to melt away in front of her, and she weakly grinned.
This was a breakthrough! She knew how to mix more than two spells together! With the Zebracan ritual, she could focus on region after region of Equestria. It wouldn’t stop the Windigoes from existing, but it could keep the lands safe, and warm, and…
And… It was getting hot.
Cozy was about to tie the mixed magics down to a ley line, letting Equestria itself power the city’s salvation, when she saw the snow turned water start to become steam.
Around her, all the ice had melted, but the temperature kept rising. First it was steam. Then she saw a tree smoking. It only took her half a second more before she cut off the spell, but by that point the damage had already been done.
Flying up into the air, she stared agape at the dozens of trees that had burst into flame, mind at a loss at the tragedy before her.
“This wasn’t… I didn’t…” she muttered out, astonished.
The spell was supposed to just keep things warm, not to make it this hot so quickly!
She tried to wrack her head for an answer, but nothing turned up for her. She could only look on, despair slowly creeping in from her failure.
Cozy Glow wrapped herself in her blankets, pouting at the wall. She was tired, sore, and in a miserable mood.
The fires had started spreading before she finally snapped herself out of her reverie, a thankfully close cloud being the perfect catalyst to start some rain. She may not have been good with her unicorn horn, but she was a pegasus by birth and knew how to wrangle some weather.
The smoke kept rising from the trees afterwards, but nothing was hot enough to keep burning, thankfully. She had barely reached the castle when the telltale chill of the rest of Equestria had invaded back into the city, and she hurried back to her room.
Whatever protection she put on the castle, it at least protected it from whatever screw up she had made before, none of the books or bedding so much as smoldering inside.
The rest of the city… She was glad she wouldn’t have to explain that to anypony.
The worst part of everything? She had put so much effort into it. She was sure this spell would be the one, that she finally figured out how to fix the whole mess.
But she failed… She failed to do anything good… Again…
But she was a villain. Villains didn’t do good, did they? They were only good at being bad, and bad is what she would call her screwup.
Tirek and Chrysalis would probably laugh if they saw her like this. She couldn’t even banish any of the Windigoes, and she had nearly burned the city down trying to stay warm.
And all she could do was sit there, staring at the wall, waiting for sleep to claim her.
Another day of no progress, and another night of nopony being there…
But there was a somecreature there.
“I… Hello, Cozy.” a voice spoke up, interrupting whatever thoughts ran through the filly’s head.
She barely reacted, keeping her eyes on the wall, “Oh… It’s you.”
“Yes… Me. Listen, Cozy, I wanted to ask you… Are you alright?”
Cozy growled, her eyes narrowing, “Gee, do I look alright to you?”
“I… I know it’s a sore topic. But what happened?”
“Just messing up something big and important I was working so hard on… Almost burning down the city. Just being a- …a villain.” Cozy Glow sunk into herself even more.
“You tried something new and you failed. I don’t see how that’s something bad.”
Cozy snorted, “You don’t get why it’s bad. It’s not the first time it’s happened,” she lazily waved a hoof in the air, “I used to want everypony in my home town to like me, but I was an orphan. Everything I did for them, I still lived in a rundown shack with ponies who didn’t care if I came home the next day, and everypony else didn’t like me any better,” her voice became more heated as she continued, more aggressive, “So I decided to run away, to try something new, and to make myself the only friend ponies needed. I had a whole big plan, and put everything I had into pulling it off. Every pony would always like me if I was the only skilled pony left… I’d be the best, and ponies wouldn’t just have me as a friend, they’d want me as a friend!
“But when I tried Tirek’s spell to get rid of all magic, to make it so I was the only pony they could rely on, I was stopped at the last second, and sent to Tartarus. All that effort, planning, time spent on it… And I failed again.
“And then there’s taking over Equestria! I couldn’t make friends anymore with everypony knowing how much of a villain I am, how bad of a pony I am, so I worked with Tirek and Chrysalis, and took down everypony!” she flopped down onto the bedding even more, eyes screwed shut, “But I didn’t win… I conquered Equestria and everything in it, but now there’s nothing to rule. The Windigoes just came and took over… And now I’m losing again.”
She got a burst of energy, violently springing to her hooves and glaring up to the ceiling, “And I hate it! I hate losing! I hate the world hating me! So yes, failing was something bad, and all of Equestria is going to keep making me fail!”
She heaved breaths, letting them flow in and out of her, not caring how she might look. It was a rant that had built up for a while in her.
“Cozy… I-”
“And you…” Cozy interrupted the voice, “You’re here, mocking me. Trying to make me feel better? You’re just another pony waiting to see me fail, to point and laugh!”
“No, I’m not, please, I don’t want you to-“
“Leave me alone!” Cozy screamed out, hurling all her frustration and anger into those three words.
There was silence for a while as Cozy stood there on the sheets of the bed, her breath falling slowly. And eventually, the voice answered back one last time.
Cozy Glow wasn’t happy. It wasn’t some sudden realization she had come to, but a slow awakening to the truth.
Every day she would wake up to a cold and lonely castle, every day she would go look for more spells to try and make stuff better, and every day she would go back to sleep no closer to finding a resolution.
Some days she would test some of the spells, but maybe it was her inexperience with magic, or just that she hadn’t found the right spell, but every time it would almost work but fail at the end. Sometimes houses would catch on fire, other times the stonework would crack apart, and on one occasion several pieces of the city would disappear entirely. She may have been an alicorn, but her strength in magic was only in how much she had of it, and none of the skill that came from using it.
Cozy Glow didn’t enjoy any of it. She didn’t enjoy the eternal cold, and the Windigoes, and being unable to do anything about them.
She didn’t enjoy being alone.
She was almost certain she was the only living pony left within Equestria. Everypony else had to have fled to some other country, or for the unlucky ones, fallen victim to the cold, the Windigoes, or even Chrysalis and Tirek.
Those two…
She was certain they were alive.
At least… Cozy liked to think they were alive.
She hadn’t been visited by them, hadn’t felt their magic anytime, and hadn’t gotten any messages from them.
For all she knew, they had fallen off the face of the planet.
They had to be out there, somewhere… Terrorizing the world, taking over other countries, maybe trying to find a way to banish the Windigoes themselves. But Cozy didn’t know if she’d ever see them again.
She could only keep trying to find the right spell… What was the use of all the power she had if she couldn’t defeat a bunch of ghosts with it? There had to be a spell, a ritual, some kind of magic she could do, something that would let her win…
She had to do this.
She had to.
She…
…
Would she…?
Cozy decided to take a break.
She had gone through almost every one of the books she could understand on wards, ghosts, fires, anything she thought could help, even the books left in Celestia’s and Luna’s old towers, though those didn’t offer more than diaries and some very… Strange fiction. The former only secondhandedly relayed information on some artifacts, while the latter she threw out the windows.
She kept note of the artifacts for the future, but kept her focus on what was in the Castle.
She hadn’t managed to get into the forbidden spells, an ever changing magic lock keeping them from even being looked at, much less opened. Whatever Celestia did to them, they were a lot more solid than other locked books.
The rest of the library had everything else, spell books that weren’t useful against ghosts, magical theory of oh so many frustrating kinds, and various other fancy books on everything from the founding of Equestria to what last century’s best mage liked for breakfast.
It was all so pointless, and she had tried all of the spells she looked at over and over and over and over and over-
She needed this break.
She needed to get away from the castle.
It was only a matter of what to do, and where to go.
Canterlot didn’t have much left of it, the only piece left intact being the castle itself, sticking out like a sore feather amidst the rubble, scorch marks, and various other things the city had been subjected to.
The only thing she could say for sure survived from it was the piece of cake she had saved, the rest of the city too disrupted to recognize anything of value, nothing for anycreature to live in even if this mess was resolved. The streets were barely anything more than rubble.
Meaning that that one... 'Statue', was likely gone too…
…Cozy decided on Ponyville.
If anyplace was going to have any more magic for her to use, it would be Twilight’s school of friendship, or maybe her big crystal castle.
Even if she wasn’t going to try those spells out right away, she could at least see if they were there. She didn’t need to be burnt out even more while trying to get away from her problems.
What pony would try and do that to themselves?
Certainly not Cozy.
Surely not.
Cozy tore the inside of the crystal castle to pieces.
Figuratively, of course. It would make a nice summer home when she fixed the Windigo problem, after all.
But all of the furniture was overturned, drawers pulled out of desks and doors ripped off of wardrobes, everywhere she went through the castle there was a trail of ruined rooms behind her.
What wasn’t there, though?
Books.
Not even something as innocent as a pamphlet or a paper plane. Everything was just… Gone.
It was infuriating, and Cozy swore she could feel her blood boiling.
Princess Twilight ‘Bookworm’ Sparkle, the pony who might have read twice as much in her short life than anypony else could have, so terminally involved in books that it was a health risk put on signs around her own school of Friendship! She knew, she helped put them up!
But what does Cozy find when she visits the castle Twilight lived in?
Not so much as a piece of construction paper.
Sure… It had been a few months since Twilight had died. Maybe some stray ponies took some of the books in the meantime.
But Cozy had gone through rooms of nothing but empty bookcases, stretching to the ceiling and along the walls, rows and rows in the middle, but not a single scrap on a single shelf! Nopony could do that much, right?!
“Agghh!” Cozy screamed out, clutching her hair as she sat on one of the chairs, even if it was sideways, “What did Twilight do to this place?!”
Who else could have gotten every single book in the entire castle except for the pony who knew it best.
…But Twilight didn’t know it best.
A half forgotten memory rose to the surface of Cozy’s raging mind, of a strange night where she encountered six peculiar students of the school in the halls, talking about the Tree of Harmony.
They had met the Tree of Harmony, talked to it even.
This castle was made by the Tree.
But Sombra destroyed it, or at least that’s what she saw from Grogar- Discord’s, scrying orb.
If it survived, though…
“It’s better than being in this dump…” she muttered, wings fluttering her into the air and down the halls to the big front door of the crystal castle.
Wherever those books went, she would get to the bottom of it.
True to his word, Tirek had picked the Everfree clean of magic, no monstrous plants or chimeras or manticores were left to fight and keep her out. All that was left was a wasteland of dead trees, covered in snow and ice with their dead branches sticking out of the top.
On and on she went, making her way over the canopies, navigating closer and closer to-
“Finally!” she grinned as she saw the fabled Castle of the Two Sisters come into view. She looked around the area, fluttering her wings through the icy air while she tried to remember some half forgotten descriptions of the tree from when she heard Twilight and her friends talk about it.
“If the castle is here…” she muttered to herself, “Than the bridge and chasm should- There!”
Cozy dove down, plunging past a rickety bridge and into a small canyon in the ground, slamming to a halt inches from the ground with her wings. It was a simple matter for her to look and find the cave Twilight and her friends had gone through, and start on her own journey to the last place the Tree of Harmony once lived.
...Though she barely got two hoofsteps before she froze in her tracks, eyes wide as her ears twitched. She heard voices.
Real, actual, living voices, muffled but still recognizable, coming from somewhere in the cave. Neither of which were Tirek or Chrysalis...
She walked on cautiously, the voices growing steadily louder as she approached a bend in the tunnel, launching into stark clarity as she made it around the bend to see a big crystal structure, very similar to the Crystal Castle in Ponyville.
"...I don't know how much longer we can do this." That voice! It was the same one that kept talking to her!
"Everypony deserves a second chance."
Cozy felt her heart stop in her chest.
That was Twilight's voice.
What- How- ?
"But nopony deserves to be tortured!" The Voice snapped back, "It's been months here, when will it be enough?"
"When Cozy learns her lesson," Twilight's voice was cold, colder than the icy world outside the cave, and Cozy couldn't help shivering, "That she can't win."
"Celestia's sake- She's a foal! You haven’t been here, I've watched day in and day out, she cries to sleep most nights, she doesn't have anypony! And you just heard how she reacted to the dead pony! She might think she killed the world, for how she's acting!"
Cozy shrunk into herself, though felt a building rage at her personal life being laid bare. She couldn't just sit outside this... Treehouse, or whatever it was, while this voice kept spilling what she did to this- this Twilight impersonator!
Cozy started marching up to the structure as Twilight's voice continued, "You seem to forget your place, Armin."
"And you've forgotten how to treat a scared Filly! She's not Discord, she's a pony who needs to feel wanted, not miserable, not-" The voice stopped as she got to the entrance of the structure, peering in to see a strange translucent image of Twilight, next to her a much more solid Crystal creature that looked just like Spike the dragon, wings and all, both of them staring at her with wide eyes, "...You weren't supposed to hear that." The Crystal being, Armin, finished lamely.
"What the buck?!" Cozy shouted, staring at the pair of clearly not normal creatures.
"What an interesting opportunity..." 'Twilight' seemed to think out loud, her expression schooling itself into a smirk before turning to Armin, "You claim she deserves mercy?"
"What- Mercy?! What's going on here?!" Cozy glared at the two... Who seemed to be ignoring what she said.
"Since she already knows, I think it's enough of the charade. Make me believe this Cozy has what it takes to be redeemed, and I'll let her be free of this," Twilight gestured around, seeming to emphasize something to Armin that Cozy couldn't figure out.
"And if she isn't ready?"
"We reset... We try again... Rinse and repeat," her tone was clinical in its coldness, and Cozy felt herself shiver even more.
There was a sigh before he spoke again, "Fine. Give me a day with her before I plead her case."
"One day... And not an hour more." With that the Twilight image blinked out of existence and left Cozy with the crystal dragon, standing alone in the cold crystal structure.
"Listen... I know this is going to be confusing-"
Cozy glared at the dragon, cutting him off, "Bucking hell it is! Why is-" she gestured to where Twilight was, "SHE, still alive!"
Armin flinched a little, but stood his ground, "First of all, she wasn't who you think she was. She wasn't Twilight... She is the Tree of Harmony," he gestured at the crystal structure, which looked even more tree-like the more Cozy stared at it, "When Sombra destroyed the original tree, pieces of her were remade, and reformed to be this treehouse."
"And what does that make you?" she walked up to the crystal dragon, poking her hoof into him with a small tink as it connected with his hard stomach, "Did you come here from the Crystal Empire?"
Gently pushing the hoof away, he shook his head, "I may not be as powerful as her, but I am still a spirit of Harmony. And..." he tilted his head to the side eyes closed, "You were actually at this Equestria's version of me earlier. Sigh... I should've payed more attention..."
"This version of-" Cozy's eyes widened at the various implications, but unable to ask everything at once, settled on the first, "You're the Castle of Friendship?!"
He nodded, one claw raising to show a projection of a box she had seen pictures of, from the first time Tirek had tried to take over Equestria, showing it change into the crystal castle that stood in Ponyville, "From this seed the Tree of Harmony gave Twilight and her friends, I was born to assist them much the same way that Spike is Twilight's assistant. You could say that Harmony is... Something of a sibling, or a mother to me," closing his claw into a fist, the projection faded, "But please, call me Armin."
Cozy Glow, however, backed away with her horn glowing as she readied her magic, "You... You've been spying on me! And you're from some- some other Equestria!" she felt her blood starting to pump harder as her breathing increased, but kept focused as she readied the magic in her horn.
"What, spying-? I'm here to help you!" Armin held up his hands placatingly, "I don't want to hurt you, Cozy Glow, please."
Cozy settled for a growl, her horn almost fully ready, "I don't want your help! I don't need your help! I just want you," the magic surged from her horn, "to leave me ALONE!"
Cozy froze mid stretch after she woke up in her bed.
Cozy's eyes bugged out as her mind flashed back to what she was doing before she woke up in her bed.
"Aaaaaand, good morning, Cozy."
And Cozy flinched as she turned to see the small crystal dragon she had been trying to kill was sitting to the side of where she woke up in her bed.
"I don't think you should do that again," Armin said, taking a sip from a cup of cocoa, dozens of marshmallows sitting in it, "Breakfast is ready for you, by the way."
She didn't want to give in to the urge to glance away, some small fear keeping her eyes rooted on the strange being next to her, but the smell of roasted hay after a couple months of nothing but cake and ice, she only felt mildly guilty for giving in.
She turned her head.
And what a sight it was.
Sitting on the desk across the room was a platter full of hay fries and flowers of all kinds, things she hadn't seen since before the windigoes had arrived in Equestria, and right next to it was another mug with steam rising from it.
That... That was evil.
And she didn't care.
She didn't waste any time throwing off the covers, darting across the room to the platter, the fries shoved into her mouth as she cried out in delight.
"I thought you might like that," the crystal dragon chuckled, "We can talk more after you eat."
The next couple minutes went by in a blur as she ate, filling her belly with the delicious salty fries, the sweet flowers with their rainbow of different flavors, and the nice bittersweet chocolate milk steaming in the mug washed it all down her throat, filling her with warmth and energy. She felt more whole than she had in months after eating it all!
But all good moments come to an end...
She left the platter on the desk, empty of food with a mug empty of drink, and turned back to the menace that had brought it.
"...Why?" was the first thing out of her mouth.
"Why... Give you food? Since you know who I am, I thought I'd be courteous this time when talking to you."
"No, why are you here? I tried to kill you!"
Armin sighed into his mug, taking a sip before responding, "Because there's still good in you, Cozy. You're not a monster."
Cozy growled, "Well maybe I want to be a monster! Maybe I don't want to pretend that friendship is some kind of magic!"
"And where has that gotten you?"
"It let me take over Equestria, and- and..." Cozy trailed off, silent for a moment. What had being a monster gotten her? "...And nopony can touch me anymore! I've got all the power, I'm the strongest, and I'll be the best! When I fix all this, they'll all need me!"
"But you won't fix this."
Cozy paused, glaring at the dragon as he took another sip. He looked so... Arrogant.
"You don't know that!"
"I do know that. Are you familiar with time travel?"
Cozy was about to yell at him, saying he was crazy, but caught herself as the words pinged something in her head. She did know of it, and what the stupid councilor had done with it.
"Ten, twenty, thirty years from now, Equestria is still the same," Armin gestured around the room, as if to point at the world outside, "Covered in snow, lifeless, devoid of life. Every time in the future is the same thing... You can't win, Cozy."
"I- So what! I'll do this as long as it takes!" she felt her position slipping, but stood her ground in the argument. She didn't want to lose to whatever the buck this crystal dragon of harmony was!
"Even if it takes a hundred years? A thousand?" Cozy didn't answer that, shifting her sight away, "Cozy... Please... I know this is hard to swallow, but you're not going to win this time. You won't get what you want."
Cozy glared at the dragon, like she was trying to drill him out of her sight with her stare alone, but couldn't come up with any words to say in answer. What could she say?
"I have a way out of all this, though..." Armin set the mug to the side and raised both arms, claws spread open. Light began pouring from each of his digits, crafting a scene Cozy wishes she were back to.
Equestria, green and beautiful, ponies playing, laughing, working, eating, drinking, singing... Everycreature was alive and well, every plant and animal in its right place.
"I come from an Equestria where the windigoes never came back. Where Equestria isn't covered in snow, and everypony is alive and well."
His claws closed and the lights faded, leaving Armin staring back at Cozy.
"I just need to prove that you're a pony worth bringing back."
Cozy... Didn't know what to say.
Worth bringing back? Could she... Would she even be willing to go with him?
This Equestria was the only one she ever knew. It was her home, it was the place she conquered, the place she had spent so much time in. It wasn't just that... It was hers. She owned it.
But going with him... She'd have to give up ruling. She'd have to give up being a monster, give up being a villain. She'd have to be good.
But it was an Equestria full of life, full of ponies, full of food and water. It would be warm, and she could actually live instead of spending her days lingering in a broken Canterlot, trying over and over again to get rid of the windigoes.
But... "What's the catch?"
"The catch?"
Cozy rolled her eyes, "Whenever somepony needs to redeem themselves, they need to give something up. So will it just be Equestria? Will I lose all memories of being bad? Maybe you'll make me be Twilight's assistant, blegh."
"Well... There is one thing," he shrugged his shoulders, "You'd have to give up the stolen magic. You'd no longer be an alicorn when we went there."
Cozy glared at him, "Give up the only power I've ever had?!"
"And get back to an Equestria that isn't dead. Yes."
Cozy... Hesitated.
Could she do that? Would she do that?
Even if she lost the power… Maybe she could get it back?
She didn’t want to return to how powerless she used to be. She didn’t want to be shoved around by other ponies, to never get her own way.
Over the day, Cozy tried to talk herself up for leaving. Tried to ignore the grey halls, the opulence of the castle, to forget about the life of luxury and lavishness that should be waiting for her there, to let go of the broken city and streets and all the ponies that should be living in it.
Cozy found it all so... Empty. She couldn't think of anything keeping her here, anything that would keep her from leaving.
Aside from the magic that is.
She was still torn by it, by the power she would have to leave behind. She'd be a normal pegasus again, a normal pony, and she'd have nothing to make her special.
But she wasn't special here. There wasn't anything to compare to, nopony normal or otherwise left. So it didn't really matter... Did it?
Chrysalis and Tirek... Would they care that she left? They had already conquered everypony. She didn't think they wanted anything more than that... So maybe they wouldn't even notice if she was gone, wherever they were.
She'd have liked to say goodbye at least.
She'd leave a note, she decided. Maybe someday they would come back to read it, a stone slab she carved words into with her magic, a private message only they could know. At least they wouldn't wonder where she had gone.
She supposed she'd never know for sure what happened to them.
The last thing she had to deal with was the slice of cake.
It was meant to be for her victory against the windigoes, victory against the unending cold.
But it wasn't really a victory was it... She didn't really win. She was leaving.
She felt her stomach twist a bit at it. She wanted to eat it...
But...
...
Cozy left the cake where it sat.
Cozy and Armin stood back in the treehouse. It was the same time as the previous day, when Cozy had barged in on the crystal dragon talking with the Tree of Harmony.
She fidgeted with her hooves, nervous enough for Armin to notice and lay a claw on her shoulder, smiling reassuringly.
All of a sudden, a light appeared in the middle of the room, purple and bright, and Cozy flinched from it. It's glow dimmed as it slowly formed into the image of Twilight again.
"I see that she's here. And I see that you look confident. I take it she accepted the terms?"
"Yes. I think she's worthy to come back."
Twilight stared closely at Cozy, seeming to peak through the skin into her soul.
"Very well... Let's see what we can do."
There was a flash and Cozy felt herself moved.
Not the normal sense of physically moving from one place to another. It felt woozy, dizzying... Magical. An unmistakeable feeling of being teleported.
The first thing she saw was the crystal castle, back in Ponyville. And the first thing she noticed was the lack of the horn she had become so familiar with, and the lack of the usual earth pony strength she’d grown to rely on.
The bigger surprise were the ponies that were there.
Surrounded by the Elements of Harmony, or rather the ponies who represented them, Cozy found herself greeted by smiling faces all around, welcoming her, giving her hugs.
Everything felt almost dreamlike, hazy. It left her reeling a bit, and she didn’t know how to react. Did those two actually send her here?
Without a proper grasp of the situation, Cozy shrunk back into herself with the presence of the ponies surrounding her, the ponies she had helped kill back in her Equestria, perhaps expecting some retort from them.
But none ever came.
Not a single one did anything of the sort to her as Pinkie partied around the room, Fluttershy smiled gently as she introduced her animal friends to her, Applejack grinning as she gave her food, Rainbow Dash showing off a few tricks, Rarity dazzling her with dresses, and Twilight staying at her side all the while with a cup of punch in her magical grip.
It was a party, full and true, full of cake, drinks, cookies, party hats, and more. Everything you’d expect from Pinkie greeting somepony to Ponyville.
Cozy was dragged into every part of it. And she felt herself enjoying the sweets after months of naught but scant slices, the warmth after nights of cold stone halls, and companionship when she thought she’d never again have it.
And it was all so… Exhausting. Tiring some would say. Cozy wasn’t the biggest filly, even with the time being an alicorn and having months and months to grow with the magic it gave her, and she didn’t have the most energy anyway after the day she had just had.
She was a bit reluctant to leave. She probably wouldn’t leave if she stayed any longer, falling asleep on a chair and having to be carried to a bed, having somepony to care for her.
But Cozy didn’t want that. She knew what her goal was.
So with her tiredness, she thanked them all, pleading her need for some sleep, and was shown to a nice room by Spike, one with a nice big comfy bed. And as the dragon left… The bed didn’t get usage that night.
Cozy waited a few minutes before darting back out of the room, fluttering her way through the halls. Out a nearby opened window, Cozy took her chance and escaped the castle, Armin, whatever she thought it was called. He wouldn’t stop her now.
She knew of other artifacts that lay here near Ponyville. Early weeks of reading Celestia’s diaries, the information unused in her world but all too vital in this one, flooded back to the forefront of her mind.
There was one particular artifact out in the Everfree, well away from Ponyville’s houses, and past Sweet Apple Acres and Fluttershy’s cottage, hidden away in the deadly forest.
Down a winding road that forked off multiple times, Cozy followed the mental map she had drawn, her heart and mind focused on the end of the path, and her prize at the end, praying against all odds it would be there.
Even if there were a Cozy in this world, even if the bell was already taken, she still had a chance to get power. Power that was now within her grasp as she came upon a pair of trees twisting around each other, as if trying to strangle each other to death. A pair of tree she immediately recognized the description of.
And there at the base sat a small metal box, perfectly smooth and silver.
Cozy smiles at the sight, a toothy smile full of glee, a smile that left her shaking with excitement as she opened the box, revealing the treasure inside.
The Alicorn Amulet… Finally her-
Cozy fell to the floor, gasping for breath.
She wasn’t in the Everfree. She was lying on a crystal floor, surrounded by crystal walls that held up a crystal roof, with one crystalline dragon frowning as he looked away while a semi-translucent image of Twilight looked at her with a stern and cold stare.
“What- What happened?!” Cozy scrambled to her hooves, trying to grab ahold of what exactly was going on.
“You failed,” Harmony said simply, “You didn’t even take long to fail. You rushed to the first glimpse of power the first chance you got.”
“I thought you were serious… I thought you’d be good this time…” Armin said quietly, almost to himself.
“But how did- Why am I-“ she couldn’t process it, “What is going on?!”
“What’s going on is that you haven’t learned your lesson, Cozy. And now that you know we’re teaching you one… Well, I don’t think you’re going to be as receptive to it.”
“No! I- I can still learn! Please, don’t leave me here! Take me to your Equestria, please!”
“No,” Harmony glared down at her, making her step back a pace, “I don’t think we will. You still aren’t ready to take back to your Equestria.”
“My… Equestria…?” that was out of left field for her, “But we’re in Equestria now!”
“No.” Armin said with finality, “We’re not.”
“But- What?!” Cozy couldn’t pull the thoughts together in her head, everything the two creatures in front of her were saying sounding ridiculous and rudiclous enough to unbalance her.
“I’m sorry Cozy Glow…” the crystal dragon looked up, staring back to her eyes, “This is goodbye.”
“Goodbye…? Wait, Armin, no- !”
Cozy walked into the bedroom, eager to get some nice sleep after the victory feast she had just eaten. Whatever the windigoes were doing? Whatever the ponies left in Equestria were doing? Those were a problem for tomorrow, one she’d happily face with Tirek and Chrysalis by her side.
But her reverie was interrupted, a voice ringing out from some unknown spot in the bedroom.