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Queen Chrysalis was feeling quite smug.
This was nothing new for her. Given that she possessed unmatched power/cunning/beauty/etc., she always had reason to feel good about herself. What was new was that Cozy Glow was the cause of her current smugness. Usually, the young pegasus she'd been forced into an alliance with inspired nothing but irritation. However, recent events had finally broken the long-held psychological stalemate between them, and gave the changeling the perfect opportunity to bring Cozy under her manipulative sway.
The contest between the two of who would manipulate who began when Grogar first brought them all together. At first, Chrysalis thought that Cozy was perhaps Lord Tirek's servant. Then it was revealed that Grogar intended for the filly to be an equal partner in their malevolent coalition. After getting over her astonishment, she'd written the pegasus off as a mere annoyance. However, as time progressed, Chrysalis slowly began to see that there was far more to this "annoyance" than meets the eye.
For starters, her emotions were all wrong. For all of her obnoxious attempts at being friendly, Chrysalis rarely tasted the kind of syrupy sweet love usually found in ponies whenever the Queen tried to discreetly feed off her. Rather, Cozy's presence was most often associated in her mind with the tangy taste of self-satisfaction or the bitter taste of simmering frustration. The only times she'd sensed anything similar to what she would typically associate with ponies were when she or Tirek would indulge in Cozy's moronic team-building exercises.
After Chrysalis picked up on this, and actually started paying attention to the filly, she realized that what she'd initially dismissed as sentimentality and childish pride were actually parts of a masterfully crafted manipulation strategy. Her team-building exercises and constant mentions of friendship had caused Chrysalis to see her as just another stupid pony. At the same time, bragging about her near-successful drainage of Equestria's magic, sprinkled with occasional facts about Twilight that Chrysalis had not been privy to, had made her unconsciously start thinking of Cozy as useful enough to keep around. Without Chrysalis even realizing it, Cozy Glow had succeeded in getting the Queen to think about her in the exact way she wanted.
Had Cozy been a changeling, she would have been awarded a medal on the spot for her deviousness. However, since she was a pony, all it managed to do was piss Chrysalis off. Thus, she set out to remind the filly of her place in the food chain. She expected Cozy to cower in fear of her wrath like every other pony she'd faced. Instead, after patiently listening to the Queen's threats, the pegasus smiled innocently.
"Golly, Queenie, I don't know what'cha mean. There's no way I'd be able to pull one over on somepony as smart as you!"
Chrysalis preened. She was pretty smart, wasn't sh- no! She shook her head and went back to glaring at Cozy.
"Flattery won't work on me! Now cease your chicanery at once, or face my wrath!" She channeled magic into her horn to emphasize the point.
Cozy flinched, but kept smiling at her.
"Now, I hate to try and tell you what to do, but I don't think Grogar would like that." Chrysalis paused, and Cozy took that as her cue to continue, "Grogar brought all of us here and told us to work together. I don't think he'd be too happy if he found out you'd gone against his orders and threatened me. And if you were to make me face your wrath, I—" Cozy sniffed, crocodile tears welling up in her eyes, "—I-I'd hate for you to get in trouble." She turned away and wiped her eyes, but not before the changeling caught a glimpse of a smirk.
Chrysalis growled. She hated to admit it, but Cozy was right. Grogar was already growing steadily more frustrated with their apparent lack of progress. If she punished the pegasus for her insolence, she would likely face the goat's wrath in turn, and she was not yet powerful enough to overcome him. Cozy Glow had her in, Chrysalis ground her teeth at the thought, check.
"This isn't over, whelp!" she snarled as she spun around and marched back to her room.
A pep talk with her log later, she'd resolved not to be outdone by an amateur. If Cozy wanted to wage a psychological war on someone who'd had centuries to perfect her craft, Chrysalis would be more than willing to put her skills to work. Normal methods involving shapeshifting would be limited since only three people lived there (Grogar was frequently absent), but she would be a fool not to utilize the most effective weapon in her arsenal.
Her first plan was to turn Tirek against his protege. If the only other inhabitant of the lair became hostile, the pegasus would be isolated and forced to seek an accord with the Queen. With that in mind, she disguised herself as Cozy Glow and walked into Tirek's room while he was working out.
She pranced over to the centaur, who had so far refused to acknowledge her presence.
"Hiya, Tirek! How are you doing on this fine day?"
Tirek grunted.
"Good!" she chirped. She eyed an antique record player on a nearby nightstand and grinned.
"It's good to see you working out. We already have brains covered, so it'd be useful to have someone with brawn to back us up."
She didn't see his reaction while she wandered over to the nightstand, but she heard him pause before resuming his reps a little more aggressively than before.
"Anyway, I just wanted to see if- uh oh!"
She bumped into the table, knocking the old record player to the ground, severely damaging it and causing Tirek to grind his teeth. He turned and shot her a withering glare.
"Oh, I'm so sorry!" she said in a voice that almost sounded sincere. "I didn't mean to break your gramophone. I guess I should've watched where I was going."
Tirek sighed, set his barbell down, and looked her in the eye.
"Get out of my room, and don't try to deceive me anymore, changeling."
Chrysalis almost lost her composure, but maintained her facade and tilted her head.
"Changeling? I'm not an icky changeling; I'm a cute and cuddly pony! Are you sure your age isn't affecting your eyesight?"
Tirek's expression didn't change.
"You may be exceptional at your craft, but the real Cozy would not insult me so blatantly. I saw through your ruse the moment you started pushing my buttons without immediately trying to rope me into something. Now get out."
She opened her mouth, an argument already on her lips, when Tirek roughly seized her with her magic and forced her to her knees.
"That was an order, bug," he growled.
Chrysalis's simmering rage erupted at the remark. She conjured a burst of sickly green energy, shattering the centaur's hold. With a scowl, she let her disguise drop.
"If you ever have the audacity to give me an order again, you WILL regret it!"
"Try me," Tirek grinned, arcane power rippling across his form.
Chrysalis brought her own magic to bear with a snarl. Their combined ambient magic caused the air to hum and the room to vibrate. A voice in the back of her mind yelled at her not to engage, that Grogar would not tolerate damage to his lair, but she shoved it down. Her anger was practically a living entity at this point, and a battle with the centaur would be a good way to vent it.
The two mutually prepared to pounce when the door swung open.
"Hiya, Tirek! How are you doing on this fine-"
Chrysalis's head snapped towards the door. There stood Cozy Glow, a bewildered expression on her face.
"Um, should I come back later?"
"It's nothing," said Tirek. Chrysalis turned back to Tirek, and was surprised to see that he'd let his magic subside and was back to pumping iron. "She and I merely had a disagreement over which of those prissy ponies is the most insufferable."
Cozy perked up, "Ooo! Can I join?! I think it's Applejack; what about you?"
"Twilight Sparkle," he grunted.
"I can see that, but Professor Applejack is WAY more annoying to me. She's always going on about the importance of honesty, but since when has honesty gotten anypony power? Like, what?"
Queen Chrysalis watched their interaction with growing irritation. When Cozy Glow turned to her, obviously preparing to try and rope her into their ridiculous conversation (the answer was clearly Starlight Glimmer), she marched out of the room without a word. After gracefully destroying her room in anger, Chrysalis reconsidered her options. Masquerading as Cozy wouldn't work now that Tirek was on guard. Disguising herself as Tirek and antagonizing Cozy had merit, but it also ran the risk of joining teacher and student into a permanent alliance against her if the ruse was discovered. She briefly entertained disguising herself as Grogar and ordering Cozy to be her subordinate, but dismissed it almost instantly. Grogar would likely be displeased if he found out, and once again, she was not yet strong enough to overthrow him.
It seemed like shapeshifting was out, and it would be an old-fashioned battle of wits.
What followed was a frustrating deadlock. On one hoof, Chrysalis was no longer fooled by Cozy's syrupy sweet act, and did not allow herself to stop regarding her as a legitimate opponent. On the other hoof, the pegasus was far sharper than she had any right to be. Lies were laughed off, intimidation was ineffective, and all attempts to ingratiate either her or Lord Tirek to herself were rebuffed. For awhile, she secretly worried that the deadlock would continue until Equestria had been conquered, at which point her two "allies" would team up and turn on her. While she was confident in her ability to survive such a confrontation, it would still throw a wrench into her plan to revive the glory of her former empire.
Then, when she least expected it, an opening presented itself.
She was heading to the main room to prepare breakfast, and she heard the other two already in there. While she halted out of their sight and started psyching herself up for another day in the presence of those imbeciles, a part of their conversation piqued her interest.
"...so your parents didn't enroll you in Sparkle's school? Did they not object to you breaking the law and forging signatures?"
"Hm? Oh, I don't have parents. I lived in an orphanage, and the suckers who ran it are dumb as logs. They just signed off on my papers without a second thought!"
"I see."
Chrysalis took a moment to chew on that information. So Cozy was an orphan, then? Her instincts were telling her that this was an important revelation, but she was not yet sure why. Regardless, her instincts had never led her astray before.
She shook her head, she would pocket that information for later. Right now, she needed to make an entrance before she was discovered eavesdropping. Carefully schooling her expression into one of tired irritation, she shuffled into the dining room and made a beeline for the coffee.
"Good morning, Queenie!" Cozy chirped.
Chrysalis ignored her and plopped down into her seat. A plate of chocolate muffins sat in front of her.
"I made breakfast for everypony today. I hope you enjoy!"
Chrysalis pretended to keep ignoring them as she ate, but snuck glances at the other two when they weren't looking. Cozy Glow talked incessantly, unperturbed by the centaur's one-word answers. She was not sure what she was looking for, but her inner huntress was telling her that it would be important to continue observing.
Then, it happened.
Tirek stood up from his finished meal and absentmindedly patted Cozy's head as he passed. The filly's signature mask of innocence melted away, and a look of genuine joy took its place for a split second.
Chrysalis lifted her mug and took a long sip, hiding her maniacal grin. She'd been so caught off guard by the filly's craftiness that she'd forgotten the most fundamental fact about her: Cozy Glow was a pony, and all ponies were sentimental fools. Intelligent or not, an attention-hungry child is still an attention-hungry child.
Queen Chrysalis casually ate the rest of her breakfast and ignored Cozy's chatter like she usually did. However, once she finished, she put on an irritated frown and looked away.
"Your muffins were acceptable."
Cozy was unable to hide her surprise, "Huh?"
"I said your muffins were acceptable. Good job," she ground out.
There it was again. It was quick, but the changeling's keen eyes caught the genuine smile that flickered across her face.
"Gee, thanks!"
It took all of Chrysalis's willpower not to start grinning at the sight of her sparkling eyes. However, she didn't let the fuzzy feeling in her chest, which was surely the feeling of pride in herself, affect her expression.
"Don't mention it," the Queen murmured as she trudged back to her room, mind abuzz with all the ways this new weakness could be exploited.
It was little things after that. Chrysalis couldn't move too quickly without risk of her target catching on, but the thrill of the hunt was more than enough to keep her patient. She kept up the psychological battle between the two, but every now and then, Chrysalis sprinkled in bits of false affection and praise. When the pegasus made a notably ingenious play in their mental contest, the changeling would "begrudgingly" compliment her. When the filly ranted about how ingenious her plan was, and how unfair her defeat was, Chrysalis would act understanding, and relate the undoing of Cozy's genius plan to her own experiences. When Cozy summoned everyone for another round of team-bonding exercises, Chrysalis would participate with less complaint than before.
The results were exactly what the changeling had hoped for. Cozy Glow was smart enough to hide it, but Chrysalis didn't miss how the pegasus would light up whenever she was complimented, or how her smile became a little less fake when Chrysalis would take the trust falls seriously.
Once she was sure she had Cozy hooked, she upped the ante. When the group discussed how to divide Equestria in preparation for their triumphant march on Canterlot, Chrysalis consulted Cozy about manipulation strategies, and the two would bounce ideas off of each other. She followed that by actually seeking her out and spending time with her under the guise of wanting to get away from Tirek's frequent muttering as he translated the book they'd stolen from Celestia's library. Soon, she was even inviting Cozy to accompany her during her divide-and-conquer missions, and gave her ally frequent tips about how to refine her skills.
Again, the results were exactly what she'd hoped for. Cozy practically glowed (pun NOT intended; puns are a vile Equestrian invention) with joy during every interaction they had, and every scrap of unforced attention she threw the filly's way was soaked up like a desert plant drinking up the first rainfall in months. The psychological war between the two gradually faded into the background, and soon, the two would regularly spend quality time together just because they wanted to.
Everything was proceeding according to plan.
Her victory was achieved on an otherwise unremarkable day.
Chrysalis and Cozy had embarked on separate divide-and-conquer missions. Chrysalis had teleported to Manehattan, while Cozy had flown to the nearby town of Tall Tale. The changeling queen had returned from a day of successful subterfuge a couple hours ago, but the pegasus had still not returned.
Queen Chrysalis was not worried about her, of course. She was just concerned that the filly had been captured, and what that might mean for her plans of global domination.
She had been lounging by the window, pondering whether or not she should go look for her ally, when Cozy Glow stumbled in the room. She instinctually readied a verbal barb about Cozy's lateness, but paused when she took in her appearance.
Cozy looked exhausted. She was breathing deeply, and could barely keep her eyes open.
"She must have worked hard today," she thought.
Cozy fluttered over to Chrysalis's bed and plopped down on it, seemingly not realizing that she wasn't in her own room.
"This is not your room," Chrysalis stated.
Cozy jolted up, eyes wide before she caught sight of the voice's owner. She blinked, looked around the room, and sheepishly smiled.
"Golly, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to-" she yawned, cutting herself off.
Chrysalis considered ordering her back to her own room, but then, inspiration struck.
"-I didn't mean to intrude. I guess I'm so tired that I mistook your room for mi-"
The changeling Queen glided over and touched down on the bed, laying down beside her exhausted ally.
"You may sleep in here."
Cozy gaped, her mouth opening and closing as she tried to find a response to the unexpected act of kindness.
"How did your mission go?" Chrysalis asked, changing the subject.
"Huh? O-Oh, it went well. Those dopey townsponies ate up my sob story about their unicorn mayor being mean to me. By the time I left, there was a full-blown protest going on!"
Chrysalis hummed in approval, and Cozy's tail unconsciously wagged in happiness for a few seconds.
"Also, um, I tried out a few of those disguise tricks you told me the other day. It worked like a charm! They really thought I was an earth pony this time! It was so convincing that the earth pony community in the town took me in and treated me to a free lunch! Suckers!" she laughed, but cut herself off with another yawn.
"Very good. It seems you've taken to my lessons quite well. At this rate, you'll be more of a changeling than that traitorous hive of mine."
Cozy snorted, "That shouldn't be too hard. If those chumps were convinced to throw away their victory when they'd already won, they couldn't be all that evil in the first place."
Chrysalis found herself nodding in agreement.
"All these creatures into that harmony crap...so stupid." Cozy was starting to garble her words, her eyes drooping. "Hypocrites too. They harp on about stuff like...like honesty and loyalty, but they turn their backs and throw you into Tarturus the second...you're honest...about not buying what they're selling. Stupid..."
"Never mind what weaklings think," she whispered. "Their pathetic friendship won't save them from our revenge."
"You got that right... I'm not weak...m' strong..."
Chrysalis suppressed a smirk, and delivered her coup de grace. She started stroking Cozy Glow's hair and laid her translucent wing across her body; the barely conscious filly froze.
"You are strong, child. I'm proud of you."
Slowly, Cozy turned to look at her, tears in her eyes.
"...Nopony's ever said that to me, to the real me." She finally lost her losing battle with drowsiness, and closed her eyes. "Thanks, Chryssi..."
It was only after Cozy started snoring that Chrysalis allowed herself to grin. She could never mistake the taste of the emotion the pegasus had emitted right before slumber claimed her.
Love. Filial love.
She barely prevented herself from cackling in triumph. It had worked! The foolish pegasus had latched onto the illusion of motherly love like a tick, utterly powerless in the face of something she'd always desired, but would never admit to wanting. Now the dark triumvirate Chrysalis had been forced into was completely under her invisible sway!
"Yes, the entire alliance," she thought with mirth. Unlike Cozy, Chrysalis hadn't missed the subtle displays of paternal affection the centaur had directed the filly's way. If she had Cozy on her side, Tirek's cooperation would surely follow.
Soft laughter bubbled its way out of her throat. She just couldn't help it now that her victory was assured. She could see it now: Grogar and the Equestrians lying defeated before the triad, only for Chrysalis to stab her allies in the back and take the newly conquered lands all for herself. Cozy and Tirek's look of heartbroken betrayal would be the proverbial icing on her victory cake! No one could stop her now; all she had to do was reach out and seize her destiny! It was glorious, it was diabolical, it was perfect.
There was just one problem: Chrysalis hated the idea. The thought of Cozy's devastated expression made her want to vomit.
She brought her hoof to her mouth, eyes frantically darting around. Why was this happening?! How had she allowed herself to become ensnared in her own trap?!
Her eyes found the pegasus, and she snarled. It was the pony's fault. Of course it would be the pony's fault! She must've infected her with some sort of vile Equestrian magic virus! That's the only thing that would explain why she was feeling! Only an enchantment would explain the warm feeling in her chest whenever she made the pegasus happy, why she'd found herself pacing earlier when the filly hadn't come back at her usual time, why she'd been so shaken when Cozy gave her the same look some of her traitorous subjects used to give her when they were young...
Cozy nuzzled into her side, and her heart melted.
"Shit."
It had been easy to envision betraying her when the means to do so were still out of reach, but now that she'd won and the possibility of total victory was staring her in the face, Chrysalis knew she could never raise her hoof against the child. For a long moment, Chrysalis silently observed Cozy as she slept, pondering how this would affect her plans.
Well...she did say that Cozy was close to being more of a changeling than her hive... With her guidance, Cozy could easily become the equal of the most elite infiltrators. In fact, why stop there? Her subjects had already proven themselves to be unreliable. Once Thorax had been dealt with, it would be extremely useful to have a right-hoof mare who embodied proper Chrysalian values. It would take some effort to convince Cozy to give up her dream of being an empress, but she was sure the prospect of having influence over both ponies and changelings would be irresistible.
Queen Chrysalis's triumphant grin returned. Yes! This wasn't an obstacle to her victory, it was an assurance that she would decisively win both the war and the peace! Although this hadn't been her intended outcome, she knew that this development was anything but accidental. She must've seen a kindred spirit in her ally, and had unconsciously started working towards forging a genuine bond between the two. Her ingenious scheme, one so secret that even she hadn't known about it until now, had opened the door to a truly total victory! She'd won!
She basked in her own brilliance, already seeing her enemies bemoaning their foalish belief that they could ever match her wit! She yawned and laid down with a smile, dreaming of broken foes and laughing allies as she drifted off.
"Yes," she thought, hugging Cozy Glow tighter to her side. "All according to plan..."