Komm, Süßer Schein

Chapters

Determinism
Silence, Out of The Silence
'Train Wreck' may be appropriate, but I think it's more like a metronome.
You can pretend it ends here.
Crushing the Place
Let This Game Begin
On the Edge // Can't go back // You can pretend it ends here too.
Down Down Down
Not with a bang, not with a whimper, and not with anything really, as there is no sound in the empty vacuum of nothingness.
Shadows of a Different Future
Days of Future Fall
Queen of Eternity

Determinism

All was quiet within the walls of Canterlot's throne room. Not a breeze to disturb the banners, not a creak from the stonework or wooden furniture, no skittish foal or exuberant noble to clack their hooves on the polished floor. The warm orange glow of late afternoon light cut in through the windows, and all was calm in the vast hall.

All, but one thing.

Perched on her throne, the cushion's fabric spared from the assault of her claws merely because she had none, Princess Twilight Sparkle sat and waited, and no one else was there to listen to the singing tension inside her.

A glance at the clock, a glance at the door, then her eyes settled back onto the source of her distress. One rectangular piece of paper, lying on the small circular table beside her, four words neatly inscribed onto it in sharp strokes of black ink.

We have a problem.

That was all Sunburst had written. She'd tried all sorts of spells and charms to reveal further hidden contents, and yes, she'd tried to hold the letter up to a candle, that wouldn't trick her again. Nothing else was there. Coming from the stallion who hadn't hesitated to tell her about how a magic explosion had replaced the School of Friendship with a different building housing strange bipedal creatures, one of which claimed to know both her and Starlight, it was quite worrying.

A click from the clock, as its hands struck six o'clock, and a knock at the edge of the room.

Purple light encased the doors as Twilight opened them, perhaps a little too hastily, and the bearded unicorn stepped in. And with him, he carried the obscure instruments that many times already had threatened to destroy Equestria.

Twilight had come to know them well. Forged in dark chambers many centuries before, the names of their creators lost by time. No one knew exactly what bout of madness had inspired the birth of such twisted tools, whether it be some dark force or simply their makers' own deteriorating mind. But most of those who came across them, even as simple mentions in books, swore to never again dare to research further into the nature of those cursed artefacts, and the few who did did so out of dire necessity.

No one dared, no one even conceived of studying them further than necessary for their own gain. All feared them, and the few dark mares and stallions who had tried to take over the country had sworn to cast them into fire rather than use them. They were vicious weapons, as deadly to the wielder as they were to anyone else. For a time, they had been forgotten, and the common pony wouldn't even know of their existence. But they had remained there, waiting in sealed up archives, for the day a fool would invoke upon their powers again.

And once again, it seemed, they had reared their ugly heads, threatening the peace and safety of the nation like so many times before. Twilight didn't wish to know them, but it was a burden she had to bear. And she was infinitely grateful that Sunburst had taken upon himself the terrifying task of studying their nature. She was quite surprised he hadn't yet turned mad, though quite worried about it, too.

The unicorn stepped forward, and set the dusty tomes of the Codex Solaris Lex Æquestrian on the floor.

Twilight stared at the collection of ancient laws and edicts, her eyes betraying the profound loathing she felt towards the inextricable web of details and clauses that had stumped and trapped her so many times. "What is it?" she asked, her voice dry yet dripping with dread.

Sunburst looked down at the books, then up at Twilight, then sighed with the weight of a thousands screams of agony.

The Princess broke protocol for a moment, and walked up to the stallion to give him a reassuring pat on the back with her wing. Then she returned to her seat. "When you feel like it. No need to rush."

Sunburst waited a couple of moments, breathing deep, slow breaths to calm his nerves. He clicked his lips and tongue once or twice, swallowing away the dryness, then took one last deep breath. "So," he began, "it turns out that ancient Equestrian culture had a definition of Princess deeply rooted in the nature of the most prominent examples available to them. Namely-" He adjusted his glasses "-while not every Princess must be an alicorn, every alicorn is by law a Princess."

He flipped through the pages to reach the relevant one. "This takes immediate effect the moment of their ascension, and their status as Princess is tied to them rather than to their nature as an alicorn, meaning it will not be revoked should they somehow lose their wings or horn." He looked at Twilight from over his glasses. "I think you know where this is going."

It wasn't immediate in Twilight's mind, but it didn't take much time either. Not long after the unicorn's question, the memories of what should have been the day of her coronation came to her. Particularly, those of a rather annoying pegasus filly, now part of a delightfully hideous statue in the gardens. She nodded along. "So by law, Cozy Glow is still a Princess, right?"

"Correct."

Already bracing herself, on the verge of a pit she knew she would have no choice but to fall into, Twilight still clung to one last shred of hope she recognised vain. "Please tell me that's all," she meekly asked.

Sunburst's answer was the loud thud of a volume's cover hitting the floor as he opened it, and Twilight's hope was crushed between the floor and those bindings. He moved to one of many, many marked pages, and looked up at the Princess, waiting.

After a moment of hesitation, and more than one instance of her contemplating abdication within it, Twilight finally nodded.

And so, by informal decree, began the swift and painful slaughter of the Monarch's daily mood and sanity. Sunburst chose to be a merciful executioner, and spared her the details of which section and paragraph he was referring to.

"A Princess cannot be imprisoned in any way without a formal trial."

"Nightmare Moon was."

"Nightmare Moon was imprisoned by the Elements, the judgement of which is considered equivalent to that of a formal trial."

"The Elements, or Harmony itself at least, sided against Cozy."

"Harmony removed her status as an alicorn, but did not imprison her. Arguably, this makes the imprisonment worse."

"She should have been in Tartarus when she became an alicorn. She should be going back there either way."

"Princesses cannot be imprisoned in Tartarus. A new punishment will need to be established for her old crimes as well, assuming what she had to go through already isn't enough, this does not change the fact that she is a Princess now, and must be judged as such."

"She destroyed Canterlot!"

"And it'll be the jury's duty to establish a rightful punishment for her."

"Does she have to be present at this trial."

"Physically and mentally, and she needs to be able to defend herself."

Twilight inwardly cursed the day she'd agreed to take over the throne. Celestia had conveniently made no mention of the Codex. But oh, she'd be sure to help, as long as she wasn't busy with such important activities as shark-diving or kite-surfing or enjoying her sister. "So we have to free Cozy Glow from stone and put her through a formal trial. Is this all?"

"Princess Cozy Glow," Sunburst corrected with little enthusiasm. "And no. It's not all."

"Of course."

"Before we can put Cozy through the trial, she needs to be formally recognised as a Princess, with a proper ceremony. One that must be officiated by at least one of the current rulers of Equestria, which only leaves you as an option."

"Free Cozy from stone, crown her, trial." Twilight sighed, then asked with little hope, "Is there more?"

"Yes."

Twilight wordlessly tilted her head back, smacking it against the throne with the delicacy typical of her resigned frustration. Her long horn slid into the hole in the fabric and stuffing, one of many left there whenever she'd encountered the Codex. It had served as a good reminder of her growth, when she pierced a new one she knew she'd gotten taller since the last time she'd crossed paths with her ink on paper nemesis.

Sunburst flashed a tired but supportive smile towards the Princess. "On top of being crowned, Princess Cozy will need to receive a series of compensations for her status." He looked up again. "Every Equestrian Princess is owed a crown, a residence, and a title designating a field she rules over. You must give them to her yourself, as current ruler." Sunburst paused with a sigh. "Now for the worst part."

Twilight failed to contain a groan.

"Princess Cozy Glow is also owed compensation for her unjust punishment, and for the late recognition of her title. As she is a Princess of Equestria, both of these offences classify as treason. I am still figuring out what exactly the compensation will need to be, but at minimum it will involve a lot of land to rule over, a number of servants and subjects, monetary compensation, and some level of leniency during the trial. And about the land..." Sunburst sighed again, bringing a hoof to his temple and shaking his head. "Her last known residence was Ponyville. So I believe, as far as I'm allowed to see, that that is the city she should rule over."

Twilight readjusted her neck. "So I need to free her from stone, crown her, give her money and a castle, make her the ruler of the town I used to live in, then finally put her through a trial?"

Sunburst nodded.

The alicorn clicked her tongue. "Sunburst? What would happen if I ignored the Codex?"

"It would void your position as ruler, and the next pony in the hierarchy would replace you. Which, given the present circumstances, would mean that Cozy Glow would become the rightful ruler of Equestria."

"And can I not choose to abolish the Codex?"

"It was approved by Celestia herself."

"And Celestia appointed me as her successor."

"And going against her decisions concerning the Codex would render that null, as you would be going against the explicit will of the one who appointed you as ruler and therefore no longer be suitable for your current role. This would create a vacancy of power, and Cozy would legally take your place. "

"What if Celestia changed her mind?"

"She's no longer the ruler."

"What if I made her?"

"Again, you'd be going against her explicit will. You'd lose your position, the decision would be considered unlawful, Cozy would become the ruler."

Twilight stared at the ceiling, in a futile attempt to pierce through it with her gaze. "What if I changed the Codex?"

"The Codex can only be altered by a unanimous decision of all Princesses. That includes Cozy."

Twilight finally lowered her head. She did not want to hear it, but she needed to. "Remind me again why we can't ignore the Codex, Sunburst."

"Because following the law is the right thing to do."

"And?"

"Because there are ponies out there who wait for nothing more than a chance to dethrone you."

"And?"

"And we saw what happened last time you ignored it. You don't exactly function well when you get to make the rues yourself," Sunburst hesitantly concluded.

The memories of that building burning were still fresh in her mind, even after all those years. "Right. Right." Twilight took a deep breath. "So I should go free Cozy and tell her she's a Princess now, right?"

With a defeated expression, Sunburst closed the volumes. "Yes."

The Princess' expression was a perfect image of calm and tranquillity, a placid pool of undisturbed water. Except for a barely noticeable twitching in her left eyelid. And had that twitching not carried along the echoing sound of shattering glass with each vibration, she might have easily fooled most ponies into thinking she was indeed calm.

Sunburst looked at her. "Do you need a moment, or-"

"A moment," Twilight said. "Just a moment." She disappeared in a flash of light, and reappeared a second later, shaking some white dust off of her hooves and wings.

Sunburst lifted a hoof and opened his mouth, but did not get to speak.

"Moon dust," Twilight explained, as if that was all the explanation needed. And under her breath, she added, "Someone didn't like it when I glassed a desert last time, I had to find some other place."

Silence, Out of The Silence

Silence, only interrupted by the occasional chirping of birds, and darkness. She could try to see if she really wanted to, but it was such a struggle. She'd much rather sleep. It wasn't hard, it came almost natural at that point. And it certainly was better than trying to listen to the other two. But she didn't like the idea of giving into it completely. She wouldn't. No matter how much it took, things would change one day. The hunger inside her hadn't stopped burning, and she would never let go of it.

She was aware of how long it had been, somewhat. Years, she knew for a fact. It hadn't felt like years. Things had a tendency to blur at times, either when she chose to or when nothing worth noting was happening outside. She could slow it down, of course, but why bother? As much as it angered her, all she was left with was waiting for things to change. She hated it, but at least she could make the wait go by quickly.

The silence was broken. Hoofsteps. Probably the gardeners, even if weirdly off-schedule. They came closer. Without a doubt, she could tell they were moving towards her now. Perhaps a class of foals? No. Only two sets of hooves, and the sound was that of adult ponies. Perhaps some guards had gotten curious? One certainly did sound heavier, while the other's steps were hesitant, uncertain. A scholar's steps, someone who had done enough research to fear what they were going towards and lived outside of books too little to hide it. That was probably what it was. A scholar and a guard.

They stopped in front of her, and made no sound. Perhaps admiring her and the other inmates. She didn't bother to check, but she did once more regret the position she'd been in when it had happened. She had to give Chrysalis some credit, she'd at least gone out fighting. Not looking scared like she had, not looking full of herself like Discord originally had. Probably the best way to get turned to stone.

There was a sound from the two ponies in front of her. A cough, to be exact. Coming from the heavy one. What sounded like a female voice. That was odd. No female guards were patrolling that section of the gardens. Had someone been replaced? Even then it didn't quite fit for her. Those had sounded like tall steps, and she'd assumed they belonged to a stallion, a mare wouldn't... Unless... Cozy would have smiled, had she not been encased in stone. A mocking smile, but still a smile. The Princess had grown since the last time she'd come to visit, she hadn't recognised her at first.

Now though, it was evident. The cadence of her steps, the subtle ruffling of her feathers if she listened closely. The small sounds of her mane flowing in a breeze that wasn't there. Cozy could even feel an electric tingle over her skin, the air around the Princess was that charged with the magic radiating from her. The power that should have been hers, the filly thought to herself, full of venom. Whyever had she chosen to come there, she wondered. And with Sunburst, most likely. Maybe a sting of guilt? She didn't really care.

A sigh from the Princess' lips. A resigned sigh, tired, somewhat annoyed. That was strange. She didn't want to be there. Maybe Sunburst, or whoever else was with her, had asked to be brought to see them? He hadn't seemed too enthusiastic about it either though, less than Twilight in fact. Maybe-

Cozy's train of thought was interrupted. Magic, reaching out towards her. Wrapping around the statue. The others felt it too, and their shouts became impossible to ignore. They were lifted from the ground, then suddenly, they were not there anymore.

The statue touched the ground once again. A different ground, as the sound of the impact suggested. Stone, most likely the castle's interior. Why had they been moved there? Would they be sealed away in some hidden warehouse inside the palace? Cozy dreaded the possibility. It was fine in the gardens, she could hear ponies, entertain herself. Alone with only Chrysalis and Tirek? She hated the idea. She hated them. If only she'd been able to control Discord's magic, she would have drained them as well. She'd been so close to winning.

Magic reached out again. It was different this time, very unlike the teleportation or the telekinesis they'd grown accustomed to. And it felt as if it was reaching towards her specifically. Passing through the stone walls of her prison, flowing deep into her. Changing her. Had Twilight decided they were too dangerous? Did she fear a repeat of Discord's escape? Were they being turned to stone in mind as well, or perhaps worse? Cozy couldn't know, much to her frustration and anger. And so she had to wait, and hope, as disgusted as she was with herself for hoping a pony who should have been crawling beneath her would show mercy.

A flash of light went off in the small pegasus' mind. Then, darkness no more.

Cozy slowly opened her eyes, shielding them from the artificial white light of the magical lamps lining the throne room's walls. She stumbled around on shaky legs, painful jolts shooting up through them, and took her first breath in years. That hurt too, the air burning into her throat and lungs, and she coughed out what appeared to be some leftover grey dust. She turned around to face her old prison, now only housing Chrysalis and Tirek, and she smiled to herself as she looked at it. They were most certainly furious.

Then she turned around. Sunburst, she'd guessed correctly, and Twilight by his side. She had grown considerably. She looked unmistakably like Celestia, and Cozy wondered just how much power she had inside her, if she'd already surpassed Luna in stature at such a relatively young age. It made the filly boil with rage. That should have been her. She should have been wearing that crown, she should have ruled Equestria, she should have had that magic. But she kept it hidden, bottled up inside. It would do no good to show it there.

Cozy sat down, feigning confusion, looking around with wide, innocent eyes. "Oh, golly. Where am I? How did I get here? I don't remember anything, what-"

"Spare us this farce, Cozy Glow," Twilight said, forcefully closing the filly's mouth shut with her magic. At the stern look Sunburst threw her way, she muttered, "Add it to the list." Then she let go of the pegasus' mouth.

Cozy stood back up, studying the two before her. Neither seemed like they wanted to be there. Sunburst looked somewhat frightened, Twilight mostly annoyed. She rubbed a hoof over her mouth, pretending the alicorn's magic had hurt her more than it had, and started to think through her options. She was out, but not because they wanted her out. Running wasn't an option. Find out what was happening. Use it to her advantage. They most likely wouldn't send her back if they needed her, she could use whatever leverage she had to her advantage.

Anticipating the filly's incoming why am I out and by the way that place was horrible and those two were awful with me and actually they were forcing me to attack Canterlot back then and you should feel awful about doing anything to me because I'm cute speech, Sunburst swallowed the lump in his throat and stepped in. "You're probably wondering why you were freed from stone. We have come across an old but still valid piece of Equestrian legislation and it appears that due to your, hmm... Your peculiar conditions, your imprisonment was unlawful."

She knew ponies were dumb, but she wouldn't have guessed they were that dumb. Though it did make her feel a little worse about her talent, if a lifeless piece of paper was enough to manipulate them. Still, good news, though not too good. She had no real leverage as far as she could see, they would probably just send her to Tartarus again, they didn't seem to have a problem doing that to a filly. How stone was worse than prison for the youth she wasn't quite sure.

Running was beginning to look like an option. Still, it wouldn't hurt to try to move things in her favour a bit first. "My peculiar conditions?" she asked in an innocent tone, tilting her head to the side, wearing a curious expression on her face. It was always good to remind them that she was a filly after all. Sure, it probably wouldn't work on Twilight, but it was worth a shot. If she couldn't see the Princess crawl beneath her hooves where she belonged she could at least haunt her nightmares and flood them with regret.

"Uh, yes, you see, uh..." Sunburst bought some time by cleaning his glasses. "It's an old piece of law, see, the ponies back then had a tendency to define things in a more practical way, and basically, uh..." He looked down and cleared his throat, all too aware of Twilight's gaze on him. "Having been an alicorn means you're legally a Princess," he finished.

For one of very few moments in her life, Cozy was left with nothing to say. Princess. That was good. Sure, Empress would have been better, but Princess was a start. Maybe. She wasn't quite sure of what that meant, nor of what would happen next. It would be a good idea to study those laws the two were following, if they felt such an obligation to obey them she could use it to her advantage. Rebuilding her facade, she began, "Oh, golly. Me, a Princess? What does that mean? Do I get a crown and a castle?"

Sunburst swallowed, and it felt painful. "You do, actually."

Cozy almost couldn't stop a grin from splitting her face in half. That was ridiculous. And great, absolutely great. But ridiculous. She'd come a hair's breadth away from conquering Equestria, twice in fact, and now she was being gifted something like that without having to lift a feather. "Oh. And what else do I get?"

"A number of things," Twilight said, stepping in, "and I'm sure we'll have time to discuss everything later on. For now, I will just give you the short version of things. According to the Codex Solaris Lex Æquestrian, having been an alicorn at one point grants you your status as Princess, yes. However, you are still an enemy of Equestria, as far as I'm concerned. You will be crowned, you will be compensated for what has been deemed an unjust punishment, you..." Twilight sighed, bringing a hoof to her face and looking down. "You will get to rule over a town, yes."

The alicorn took a deep breath, looking up and blinking a couple of times. She spoke again, more determined, "Then, you will be put on trial. And rest assured, I will make sure you are put back where you belong. I am willing to put up with this little play, it's the law, but don't think you'll get a chance to make anything of this. This is purely a formality. I suggest you treat it like a small break and enjoy it as that, better don't get your hopes up after what you have done already. I believe the laws of this country are right, and this will not change things much at all."

Cozy looked up at Twilight, cocking her head to the side. They would see about that. But first, something had caught her interest. "Why are you choosing to go through with this if you think things won't change? I'm sure your life as a Princess is very busy, why waste time on little old me?"

Twilight pursed her lips for a moment. "The Codex Solaris Lex Æquestrian is an ancient, rather important piece of literature. And it was approved by Celestia herself. While I find its procedures perhaps a bit archaic, I do think it is right to follow through with them."

An idea began to form in Cozy's mind. A suspicion of something. She had gone through every single book of law she'd found in Ponyville after all, yet never heard of that one. "And why is it not well known by ponies? I have never heard of that name, is it not taught about in schools?"

Because it was a mess. A disastrous mess, the creation of which was something Discord had probably had a claw or talon in, something that any sane pony would have burned. It was unfortunately fireproof. However, Twilight couldn't tell that to Cozy.

She hesitated for a moment. "The Codex is old, and mostly concerned with the higher layers of government. It would be pointless to teach it to foals, not to mention how complex it is."

The purple pony had never been a good liar. Unable to suppress a smile, Cozy asked, "May I see it for myself?"

'Train Wreck' may be appropriate, but I think it's more like a metronome.

Cozy stared at the piles of books in front of her, and her eyes carried such hatred that they defied the notions of what was possible for a pony. No one would have guessed so much rage could fit into a stallion, much less in a small filly.

She'd been stuck there, studying. Curved over those books. Old and dusty tomes, sometimes written in ways too archaic to be understood right away. Imprisoned there, between ink and paper, waiting for her coronation.

There was a lot of hate inside the filly, more than anyone could have thought possible. And most surprisingly, perhaps surprising exactly because of just how much hatred she carried, it was not the only thing inside Cozy. In fact, it was not even the most present thing inside her.

Cozy was happy.

Cozy was more than happy. Happiness didn't begin to describe what she was feeling. It was something beyond happiness. Like happiness had kept building up until there was no more space left for it to go, the pressure growing more and more intense until the gaseous sensation had begun to aggregate, condensing and then being forced to crystallise into something greater, an ecstasy as pure and dense as diamonds that filled her mind and made her feel like she didn't even need her wings to soar.

The hate, if anything, was the leftover waste of the process. Her happiness had been purified, her mind oversaturated with it, and as it had formed into that sublime jewel of pure bliss it had expelled all its imperfections as an acid, liquid stream of hate.

And that was Cozy's mind in that moment. A crystal clear, see-through iceberg of pure joy, floating in a deadly sea of blood-red hatred, consuming every other thought that dared try to swim in it and confining them to distant shores in the outer reaches of her mind.

Only one thought reigned supreme in Cozy's mind, sitting upon its throne engraved in crystal and overlooking its kingdom of destruction: She had won. Nopony else knew it but her, but she'd won. The games had not even begun for the others, and already she'd beat them.

And staring up at the sky, at the ever-shifting canvas of her imagination, that thought saw visions and fantasies of her future. Deliciously beautiful, far greater than what her desires had once been. It would be hers, all of it.

Cozy stared at the books with hate. Infinite hate, for them, for the ponies who kept her there, and for everyone else, pony or otherwise. And she delighted in the way she knew she would punish them all for their actions. Make them crawl like the worms they were.

All her life they'd been mocking her, insulting her with their very existence. And she'd been forced to suffer through it. She should have been born a unicorn, and she knew that. Instead she'd been a pegasus, forever forbidden from rising through the ranks. Ponies like Twilight Sparkle had been picked to study under the Princess, and she'd been left with nothing but her wings.

But she'd fought back against fate. She'd found other ways to attain the power she deserved. Ponies could be manipulated. Ponies could be used. She'd still had a chance. And she'd been so close to winning. If she couldn't have magic, she'd just have to take it away from everyone else. And then she could rule.

But she'd been defeated. Humiliated, locked away. She'd tried to manipulate Tirek, sure, but the centaur had proved much more resistant to her usual techniques than ponies had been. But then hope. Freedom again.

She had to admit it, she'd had fun with Tirek and Chrysalis. They understood her. They were wrong in thinking they were the ones who deserved to rule, obviously, but she could appreciate their drive. Their shared disgust for how weak ponies were. And having someone else do the heavy lifting had always been her thing, it hadn't been too hard to work with them. Though she did wish she'd managed to get things on her terms.

Then had come the greatest revelation of her life.

Power. Real power. Flowing through her veins, setting her senses ablaze. Reality could bend to her will. She could finally put ponies below her where they belonged. If only she'd been able to control Discord's power, Equestria would have been hers.

Instead, defeat. The failures of the other two had brought them all to their downfall. For years, she'd been stuck in stone because of them. Stuck in stone along with them. She'd hated that.

And then, freedom had come for her. One last chance to get everything she deserved. She would not let go of it.

Cozy was happy. Cozy was hysterical. The only reason she wasn't laughing was her sore throat, after she'd done just that for hours.

She'd had all the time she'd needed to hatch her own plan there. All the time to study the relevant sections of the Codex. It was surprising how none of them seemed to have picked up on its underlying structure. It looked crystal clear to her, so easy to navigate and to decipher. There was only one thing left that could get in her way, but if things played out right he wouldn't come in until it was too late.

Cozy stared at the piles of books in front of her, and her heart swelled with triumphant joy.

You can pretend it ends here.

Twilight stared at the thing which called itself a pony, now sat on a makeshift throne that had been fetched from the dining room no more than ten minutes before. The quick colour-changing spell and the poorly attached cardboard pieces did little to hide the fact that it was merely a normal chair, but Cozy Glow didn't seem to mind.

Princess Cozy Glow, actually.

Actually, Not-Yet-Princess Cozy Glow, Twilight corrected herself again. Not until she placed the crown on her head. And she had every intention to keep it far away from those hideous curls for as long as she could, even if it was just a minute longer.

The crown was made of paper, like one a foal would make. They hadn't had time to forge a new one, and Twilight had no intention of symbolically using her own, Harmony forbid there was some law that made that count as abdicating in Cozy's favour. Cozy hadn't objected to that.

The ceremony was purely a formality, really. A paper crown and a cardboard throne, and no one to see it other than Sunburst. But again, the little spawn of Tartarus hadn't said anything and was apparently fine with it. Twilight hated that. Cozy seemed exactly like the kind of creature that would have delighted in being at the centre of some pompous ceremony, seen by all of Canterlot. But instead she made no objection at being crowned like that.

But there were more prominent reasons for her disliking of the small manipulative flier. Namely the memory of the horn she'd once had, glowing bright red, pointing right at her face. Cozy hadn't changed since then. She was the same who'd tried to destroy Equestria's magic, the same who'd blown up Canterlot, the same who'd stolen Luna's and Celestia's magic.

Yet there she sat, short hooves dangling from her would-be throne, an ear-to-ear smile on her face. And Twilight was supposed to crown her. Twilight was supposed to declare her a Princess. Twilight was supposed to put her on the same level as Celestia, Luna, Cadence, Flurry and herself.

Cozy looked up at the alicorn. "Well? What are we waiting for?"

A cracking sound was heard through the room, coming roughly from where Twilight's head was.

Sunburst looked up to the purple pony, rather alarmed. "Twilight?" he asked, stepping closer to her. "Is everything alright?"

"No," answered Twilight. "Nothing is alright." She lowered her horn, and placed the yellow piece of rolled together paper on Cozy Glow's head, acting before her brain had time to realise what she was actually doing and put up its walls again. "I hereby declare you Princess Cozy Glow," the alicorn spat out, giving the distinct impression of having accidentally put cement in her mouth.

"Golly," Cozy said, looking up at the excuse for a crown she'd been given and adjusting it a little on her head.

Twilight hadn't yet let go of the thing, and she repositioned it to sit the way she'd originally placed it.

Cozy stared right in her eyes, her hooves still on the crown, and for a moment there was only silence in the room.

Turning power-mad and taking control of all Equestria was beginning to appear a rather tempting possibility to Twilight. They'd find a way to stop her, and the country would recover eventually. Her only regret in that moment was not having studied petrification spells.

Sunburst cleared his throat.

Both mares suddenly let go of the crown, as if snapping out of a trance.

"Well then," the stallion tentatively began. "I believe we should move on to the assignation of land and castle, and relative business."

That. Twilight knew she would hate it even more.

"Doesn't the title come first?" asked Cozy.

Sunburst pursed his lips, then fetched his notes. "Huh. You're right, it does." Placing the clipboard back down, he asked, "Have you decided what to do about that, Twilight?"

The alicorn bit her lip. Alicorns were usually assigned a domain based on what their talent was, or on what had brought them to their ascension, though usually the two were deeply entwined. Cozy... Her talent, as far as anyone could tell, was manipulation. Not exactly something appropriate for a Princess. Or for a pony, for that matter, and Twilight had always found the fact rather unsettling.

And her ascension wasn't much better. She'd stolen an ancient evil artefact, then stolen a book on how to use it. All the while working together with two of Equestria's worst enemies. What did that make her? Princess of stealing?

Twilight looked over the filly. Then, an idea struck her.

"I, Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship, as ruler of Equestria, hereby declare your title to be that of Cozy Glow," Twilight said with a smirk, "Princess of Games."

Cozy's relatively serene expression didn't crack. Something behind it did though, judging by the sound at least.

She couldn't say anything about it though. It worked perfectly. It fit with her cutie mark, it fit with her being a filly. Both knew about the other meaning of it, referring to Cozy's ability to play with ponies. The third was just as evident, and it was what made the little equine furious behind her mask of calmness. Crowned with piece of paper on a throne of cardboard, Princess of Games because that was all her coronation was, and Twilight had no intention of making it last long.

The sound of Sunburst's quill taking note of the event was the only notable thing to be heard in the room for a while, as the two Princesses stared at each other in silence. Arguably, only because hate and rage didn't make any sounds.

"Now then," the stallion spoke. "About the land and castle."

Twilight looked at Sunburst and swallowed. She'd taken that one small victory over Cozy, and she would hold dearly onto it during what would come next. She just needed to tough things out, even if it pained her. "Yes," she replied, turning back to Cozy.

The little demon perked up in her chair, adjusting her crown once more as it threatened to leave her head and make the floor a Princess too.

Twilight rubbed her temple with a hoof, wishing for nothing more than for the thing in front of her to evaporate. Maybe she could still let go. Maybe she could just make someone else ruler of Equestria and let them deal with it while she was off skydiving somewhere. What was the worst that could happen? After all Cozy had only almost destroyed magic and then been responsible for about a third of what had happened to Canterlot. It wasn't that bad. It was...

The alicorn looked at the filly. She was doing the right thing. She had to remind herself that she was doing the right thing. Going against the Codex would have legally put Cozy in charge, and more importantly it would have led her down a slope she didn't want to revisit soon. What she was doing was the best alternative.

That didn't make it hurt any less.

"As a matter of fact," she began, "given how slowly things would move if we were to build a new castle and establish a new region for you to rule over, never mind the hustle of having to unmake all of that in a week once you're imprisoned again, we've decided to utilise a pre-existing lot of land. You'll be ruling over..." Twilight's breath grew heavier, and the words died in her throat.

"Yes?" asked Cozy, tilting her head to the side.

"Ponyville," Sunburst cut in, and the look he received from Twilight was in equal parts filled with gratitude and with betrayed trust.

The Princess herself cleared her throat, then turned to speak to Cozy with such a display of struggle that one would have guessed she was condemning a friend to be executed. Which she was, in a way. "As Sunburst said. You'll be staying in my old castle, and you'll rule over the city." It hurt just as much as she thought it would, and the smile spreading on the newly-crowned's face didn't help with that.

Quickly, she added, "But the School of Friendship remains outside of your jurisdictions, and under my control." Twilight had no intention of letting the curly imp manipulate any students again, and at worst the school would work as a place for the citizens to hide in.

"Golly," said Cozy Glow, playfully dangling her little hooves from the chair. "I haven't been to Ponyville in a while." She looked around. "Well then. Are we going?"

Few times in her life had Twilight felt that same wish for the ground to swallow her, and for number of times she'd caused it Cozy was tied with Chrysalis, and only surpassed by Celestia. "Sunburst will fill you in on the technicalities. Excuse me for a moment," she said with all the politeness she could muster, then unceremoniously teleported out of the room.

What once would have been an informal meeting and make-out session between her forehead and the wall was interrupted by her long spiral horn stopping her motion as it clashed against the polished marble of the corridor's side, and Twilight remained there, outside the room, hanging her head low as she sighed.

A familiar set of talons reached to pat her back, while the griffon they belonged to remained silent.

After a few moments, Twilight lifted her neck. "Thank you, Gallus. For everything. I know you'd rather see her turned to stone just as much as I do."

"More than you do," Gallus replied. "You've always been the more forgiving one of us two." He stared at Twilight for a moment, chewing, then finally decided to spit out the thought which had been bothering him. "If it was up to me she'd remain a piece of stone in the gardens forever. But I'm not the Princess, and you're not me. So as much as it's not something I would want to happen, I need to ask this."

There was a pause, and a glance between the two.

Finally, Gallus spoke again. "Why haven't you tried to reform them yet? Because it's the kind of thing the Twilight I know would do."

The mare's eyes darted out of the way, looking somewhere behind Gallus and betraying her nervousness. "Equestria hasn't had time to forget yet. Look at what you just said. I don't blame you for any of it, but I'd never be able to get them to change if this was what everyone thought of them. And right now it is. It was hard with Luna, and she'd genuinely changed, it would be impossible with them."

"Discord didn't get to wait."

Twilight bit her lip, and her eyes still strayed away from the griffon's. "Discord was different. He didn't need to be a part of our community. And his short-lived return left wounds far less severe than the scars of his previous reign." And he'd been needed.

He was the world's worst safety net, but it was better than nothing. Sure, it had horribly backfired twice and almost never been otherwise useful, but it wasn't like she had a charm to make enemies fall to their knees before her. Okay, she did, a copy of the one had Sombra used. But she didn't want to use that. She didn't want to use any sort of magic from that section of the archives, really. It hadn't gone well the previous time. Equestria needed something. That had likely been Celestia's line of thought at least, from what she'd gathered discussing with her.

Gallus clicked his beak. "Is that really all there is to it?"

Twilight's eyes moved even further away.

"Is it just Equestria that hasn't had time to forget yet?" the griffon pressed on.

Twilight finally let go of her tension and sighed. "You're right. I... I feel like I can't forgive them yet. Not because I shouldn't, but because I don't want to."

Gallus patted her back again. "I get that. And it's the same for me. But you rule this country, not me, and that's because you're better than that. We both know you are. You should try to fix things now that you have the chance. It'll just make everything harder if you don't." He turned to the side and held his talons over his mouth, puffing his cheeks. "Don't ever force me to do something like that again, okay? I'm not supposed to be the one playing the good guard," he said in a disgusted tone.

Twilight smiled at that. He was right, after all. She should at least try to give Cozy a chance. It would be hard, but-

The doors swung open, and out came Sunburst, with Cozy splayed over his back, pulling his mane and giving him directions by tugging at his horn.

It would be hard. Very.

Crushing the Place

It was so fun.

She knocked over a frame, Twilight growled. She made fun of the interior, Twilight raged. She fluttered to the ceiling to poke the roots hanging down, Twilight almost screamed. And all throughout it, the alicorn still tried to keep her calm and composure, still tried to act friendly towards her. It was the best. She could go on all day.

And Sunburst. Oh Sunburst. He made everything twice as hilarious. Trotting behind Twilight with a resigned expression, holding her by the shoulders and telling her to let go of the matter. You'd start a civil war and she would become the ruler. That was just hilarious.

"What's there to laugh now?" Twilight half-barked with a cracking voice. Her mane and tail were a swirling maelstrom of bubbling energy, magical lighting crackling through them, and her eyes threatened to burst into flames, despite her attempted mask of politeness.

At her side stood Sunburst. Clearly scared by her, but just as clearly more scared by the potential consequences of his inaction. He tentatively held out a hoof to touch Twilight's back, and occasionally ducked down to avoid a bolt of magic.

"Oh?" Cozy feigned surprise, turning to look down from her position in mid-air. She was lying on her back, fluttering close to the ceiling. She couldn't stay there long, her wings weren't as big and strong as they should have been had she still possessed the powers they'd stolen from her, but she had no intention of coming down soon. It was too funny to mock the two. "I was just laughing at how ugly this ceiling looks. I think I'll have it rebuilt."

The grinding of Twilight's teeth was comparable to an earthquake, and would have potentially been just as strong had she chosen to channel her earth pony magic into it. "Get down here. Immediately." She forced herself to swallow. "Please."

Cozy brought a hoof to her mouth to stop another wave of chuckles. The look on Twilight's face was priceless. But her wings were about to give out. "Oh, fine," she said, slowly moving down in sweeping circles.

Twilight's mane finally ceased to resemble the cosmic equivalent of a thunderstorm. She closed her eyes briefly, and began to take slow and deep breaths, ruffling her feathers back into place.

Cozy landed right on top of the map, and she started to roll around over it. Anyone who didn't know who she was would have found her adorable, and she knew it. But sadly, those two ponies wouldn't, so there was no point in wasting her talents. Lying on her belly, she placed a hoof over the projection of Canterlot and began to repeatedly crush it.

Twilight's low, aggressive growl was music to the pegasus' ears.

The taller Princess walked towards her and circled the map, until she reached her own seat. Without thinking, and glaring at Cozy, she slipped into the chair still bearing her cutie mark, and it wasn't until a moment later that she realised she still fit perfectly in it. Twilight looked back at her old throne, more than a bit surprised. Then she sighed, a low sound full of longing and nostalgia.

Cozy held off the impulse to puke at the sight, and deeply regretted not having blown the palace to shreds when she'd had the chance. The school too. The whole town, actually. She'd make sure to glass the place once she got her powers back.

Twilight turned back to her, while Sunburst reached them. "Are you happy with your new castle, Princess?"

"No, I think it's horribly ugly," Cozy replied with a grin.

If air could shatter it would have around Twilight. "Very well. Don't worry, you may not be spending much time in it." She looked at Sunburst for a moment. "As for the monetary compensation, bits have already been brought into the castle, and you'll be free to examine them later."

There was a pause.

"With this," Twilight began, "you are officially in control of the city." She swallowed, then stuck out her hoof.

Propping her own head up with a leg, Cozy shook Twilight's hoof with the other. "Oh," she said at first. Then she looked over the two. "Golly."

There was a groan, and it didn't come from Twilight.

Both mares in the room turned to Sunburst, the taller with a worried look on her face, the younger with an amused smirk. So it did annoy them. It was Twilight's turn to place a hoof on her friend's back this time.

The stallion took a moment to calm down, then stared at Cozy. "If you so wish, we may move on to the trial now. Whatever you choose to do though, at most you'll be allowed to wait only until tomorrow. And your control over the citizens remains limited by the fact that you are still a criminal, so I suggest you don't do anything crazy in the meantime."

Cozy rolled her eyes. She knew all of that already. For the sake of her plan, she could go directly to the trial, but there was admittedly a certain allure to the idea of seeing how much she could bother the two before then. She rolled around on the table, pretending to think about the offer, and purposefully landed over Canterlot again. "I think we can move on," she said. No point in wasting time, what would come after would be more fun anyway.

"Very well," answered Twilight, with a calm tone that seemed to surprise even herself. "I shall be waiting back in Canterlot then. Sunburst will help you with all the preparations." She looked over the filly for a moment. "Goodbye for now. I hope we'll come to an agreement, I would not be against keeping you out should you prove you have changed. I'm giving you a chance, don't waste it." With a flick of her horn, the Princess disappeared.

Cozy grinned at the stallion, and began to crawl towards him on the table. "Just you and me now, huh?"

"It would seem so," the unicorn replied. "Now, about your trial. It will be held in Canterlot, you may choose to have it kept private if you wish. Given your position, we had to find a set of creatures who wouldn't be biased against you for the jury, you may look over them later. If there's anything else you need to know, ask."

"Keep it open to the public, that's all." Cozy reached the edge of the table-map, and sat up. "You used to take care of Princess Flurry Heart, didn't you?"

Sunburst adjusted his glasses. "I did. Why the question, Princess?"

"Don't I look a bit like her?" Cozy stood up and posed, the paper crown askew on her head.

Sunburst looked over her. "Not in the least. Flurry looks like a much friendlier pony, and one I'd much rather talk to." He tilted his head to the side. "And I can't help but notice a distinct lack of something on your forehead, compared to her."

Cozy sat back down, keeping her smile. That was it then. "You can go now," she told him in dry tones, shooing him away with a hoof.

Pleased with the reaction, Sunburst headed towards the door.

"And one more thing."

The stallion paused, and turned back.

"When I become Empress, I will remember."

"I fear I'll be long gone by the time you get out of your prison again." Sunburst walked away, and let the door close behind him.

Cozy sat there, alone in her castle. She turned back and looked at the map of Equestria. She walked up to Canterlot's projection on it, for the third time, and once again she began to repeatedly bring her hoof down on it. And she laughed.

Let This Game Begin

Twilight sat on a wooden chair. Of all the things she wished Celestia had taught her, the seemingly imperturbable aura the elder alicorn managed to project on her appearance, crafted and perfected over centuries, was certainly one of the lessons she thought would have been most helpful.

There were reasons Celestia hadn't taught it to her, of course. For once, it could not be taught so simply, being the result of years of experience. Secondly, it was Celestia's signature behaviour, Twilight needed to find one of her own. And lastly, her detached aura had become a prison to Celestia at times, one she'd tried to break out in the last years of her reign.

One of the reasons she'd passed on the throne to Twilight. The isolation she'd built around herself had cost her one student already, and she'd come to realise how her choice had perhaps been the wrong one. If she'd thrown Twilight horn-first into action when Nightmare Moon had come back it was in no small part because she believed herself incapable of actually teaching friendship to her student.

Twilight understood why Celestia had wanted to avoid a successor as distant from her subjects as she'd appeared. That did not change how the purple alicorn was now stuck on the chair, her flowing mane seemingly filling with knots by itself, her wings tense, her feathers ruffled and her limbs itching for movement. She looked nervous. Which would have been a perfectly acceptable thing, had the pony sitting on the other end of the room not been the picture of serenity.

It was infuriating. Cozy sat there, a book and a velvet pillow between her and the chair's cushion to make up for her stature, and she smiled. Not the innocent smile of a little filly heading for a walk in the park, or at least of somepony who pretends to be one. It was the smile of a power-crazed maniac who'd razed Canterlot to the ground, and who would do it again if she had the chance. The smile of someone who knows more than you do.

Something which was, most likely, exactly the case. That did not help Twilight's nerves in the least. Cozy's request to read the Codex had to be fulfilled, of course. She did need to know the laws she was being put on trial upon. It was a perfectly reasonable request. It would have arguably been against the law to not let her read it, as it would have prevented her from defending herself as well as she could.

And she'd read it. All night long, if the guards were to be believed, and the bags under her eyes the morning after had been a pretty decent piece of evidence supporting the claim. Along with the amount of coffee the filly had drunk once she'd been escorted to breakfast. And now she smiled.

Twilight stared at her own mane for a moment. She'd never noticed how it could look like stormy clouds, much less how it seemingly could replicate some semblance of lighting in the form of magic sparks jolting through it. Idly, she pondered if she shouldn't have felt fear instead of hate. The truth was that she did not want to even consider the possibility. She did not want to accept that Cozy had found a way to beat her.

Twilight had tried to read the Codex. And in fairness, she could have probably done it. She'd gotten through books longer and more complex than it, though it was close to the top in both regards. But she'd chosen not to. Because, while certainly... While probably written with what appeared to be good intents, the Codex was dangerous. It was old, and it had been closer to more sources of raw magic than any book should have realistically been able to withstand. There was a strange, compelling aura to it, and Twilight did at times wonder if it was even possible to break its laws.

That was not to speak of what those laws actually were. Not anything any sane pony would have found reasonable, on the base of common sense even without any knowledge of law. Sunburst's continuous visits to his therapist could attest to that. It had been written by ponies whose only knowledge of laws and ruling came from the tyrannies they'd faced, approved by Celestia only because they'd needed some form of certainty. No one really knew what its full contents were.

No one, but the filly sitting in that room with her. And that filly was smiling. It was ironic, that the greatest threat she had so far faced in her rule over Equestria was in the form of a book. But there was hope. That maybe the Codex wasn't as twisted as she feared. That Cozy most likely wouldn't be able to exploit it all that much. That even with all that said, Cozy winning her trial was absurd. Not after what she'd done. At most, she'd be allowed a chance to redeem herself, and Twilight would give it to her.

The alicorn shook her head, and focused back on the situation she was in. Sunburst stood at one side of the room, the Codex at his side. Apart from him, Twilight and Cozy, the room was filled with ponies and a couple of other creatures, though most of the presents were members of the Royal Guard, Gallus included. Luster was among them as well, somewhere in the back. And, of course, the jury.

It had been hard to find proper members. As per the Codex's instructions, in a rare instance of the text lining up with common sense, they needed not be biased towards one or the other pony, a rather complicated matter when one was a beloved Princess and the other had been fought by most of Equestria and beyond. But Sunburst had managed to assemble a suitable group. A small one, but that was what the Codex requested. Ponies of old had had an apparent fear of large democracies, as weird as that seemed.

Pound and Pumpkin Cake had been too young to remember Cozy properly, and had never known Twilight all too personally, so they'd been an acceptable pick, at least to round the numbers. A griffon by the name of Giove and a dragon called Ash, both born after Cozy's imprisonment, were joined by a relatively young changeling known as Antenna. Beside them, a bespectacled unicorn from the Crystal Empire, fresh out of his law studies. And to avoid chances of an even split, Sugarcoat had gently accepted to step in. She'd been rather unsurprised by her new equine body, compared to other members of her species.

Grogar's Bell, brought there as a necessary piece of evidence, sat on a table in the middle of the room, closely guarded by armoured ponies and magic seals. In front of it, there more as a peacekeeper of sorts than as a real judge, an old earth pony going by Silver Swirl sat on a wooden chair. Twilight had never heard of him, which was actually a good thing given the context.

"I believe we can begin," he spoke, looking up from a bundle of papers.

The murmurs from the creatures slowly died down.

"Very well." He cleared his throat. "The present assembly has been gathered here to judge the accusations moved against the newly crowned Princess of Equestria, Cozy Glow, by the current ruler of our country, Princess Twilight Sparkle, and to establish what the rightful punishment should be for her crimes should we find her guilty of them, all in accordance to the laws of our country. Before I begin, is there any question any member of the jury would like to ask?"

"Yes! You didn't tell me about this, you told me we were playing poker!" Trixie's voice, rising from the crowd, shouted towards Sunburst.

"Trixie, please. You are not even here," Sunburst replied.

Trixie's holographic form disappeared, and everyone looked at Sunburst.

The stallion sighed. "Sorry. She's annoyed because I can't be to our session with Starlight."

Everything went back to silence.

Silver blinked. "Very well." He turned to the small pegasus. "As you and all the presents already know, you are accused of having taken part in the destruction of Canterlot, something you were punished for by being imprisoned in stone. You have previously been found guilty of attempting to remove all of Equestria's magic, something you were punished for by being sealed in Tartarus. Once we have solved the first of the two accusations, we will decide of your new condition, now that you can no longer be kept there. So I formally ask, Princess Cozy Glow, how do you respond to the accusation of having taken part in the destruction of Canterlot?"

The filly adjusted her paper crown over her curls. "Personally, I find the accusation quite absurd. I am no more than a pegasus filly. Tirek and Chrysalis were behind the destruction of the city, I was merely abducted by the former and kept as a hostage."

Twilight bit her tongue.

"Princess Cozy, there are multiple witnesses claiming they saw you take part in the assault and in the subsequent battle. Not one of those present there claims otherwise, in fact," Silver explained.

"And I say all of them have something to gain from lying about this," Cozy replied. "Twilight's friends. Guards working for her. Political leaders she has ties to. Beside all that, she's the ruler of this country, no one would risk upsetting her. She has willingly covered up her mistake. I was innocent, and Princess Twilight is trying to hide the truth by spreading an altered version of history." Cozy stomped her little hoof on the wood for emphasis.

A sound went through the crowd, much to Twilight's dismay. Most of them were young, born after she'd taken the throne. They had no reason to believe her the monster Cozy was claiming her to be. But they had no reason not to believe the pegasus either. To them, she was the innocent filly she always pretended to be.

"Please, listen to me." Cozy turned to the jury. "I ask you to judge the situation purely basing yourselves on facts. I am a pegasus and a filly, and I could never have done what I am accused of. I did try to steal Equestria's magic once, this I cannot deny, but I have changed. And think about it. How could I have done what they claim I did, when I don't posses any magic? Was that not the entire motivation of my previous crimes, the thing that shaped their execution? Is it not absurd?"

The members of the jury exchanged looks with each other, most of them nodding.

Silver placed his gaze on Twilight. "How do you respond to this, Princess?"

The alicorn stood up. "As others will claim, Princess Cozy did indeed have magic at the time. It is the entire reason this trial exists in the first place, and I would like the members of the jury to recognise that fact. Cozy Glow was an alicorn at the time of her attack on Canterlot, after she'd stolen Grogar's Bell and used its powers to ascend."

"Lies!" Cozy almost yelled. "Don't you see? This is all just a play to justify her crimes. She's simply looking for a way to have me imprisoned again in a formal environment, so that you may stop questioning her actions. All a lie. I was unjustly punished, I was innocent, and I was never had a chance to redeem myself. And look at this!" She held up her crown. "Crowned in secret, with a piece of paper. Am I really a Princess, or is this not all just a play from her? I'm being treated like a pawn. If anything, she may have found some other fact which makes me a Princess, and she's now trying to cover it up."

Another murmur shook the room again.

Twilight took a deep breath. "I-"

"What? What other lies do you have to feed them? The facts are against you, Twilight!" Cozy yelled.

Something snapped inside Twilight, just for a moment. "You were an alicorn at that time, and I can prove it!"

"An alicorn?"

"Yes."

"Me?"

"Yes!"

"And you can prove it?" Cozy asked, suddenly calm.

Twilight wasn't sure what unsettled her the most. The filly's smile, or the rustling sound of pages from where Sunburst sat. The scene suddenly became distant, and she barely heard the orange unicorn as he stepped in and asked to interrupt the trial momentarily.

On the Edge // Can't go back // You can pretend it ends here too.

The doors had closed behind Celestia. Cozy herself had asked for her presence, after Sunburst had put a stop to the trial, and she'd sent her holographic projection faster than Twilight would have expected her to. It was always strange, having to look down to see her. She wasn't nearly as tall now that she wasn't moving the Sun herself. She seemed to like it, actually.

Twilight had other things to focus on. She'd made a mistake. A very bad one. One Cozy had planned for her to make, and she had to admit it had worked. Sunburst's words still echoed in her ears. She'd claimed Cozy had been an alicorn, and claimed she could prove it. Now she had to do it. Otherwise, Cozy would claim she'd lied during a formal trial, and void her position as a Princess.

There was one major problem with proving that was the truth. In Order to turn Cozy into an alicorn through the bell, an alicorn was needed. She'd done her experiments and studies on Grogar's Bell, unicorns wouldn't do the trick. And the only other alicorn there had just left the room. The biggest problem wasn't giving Cozy Glow her powers. It was the risk of her claiming Twilight's title had been passed along with them.

Which, in all likelihood, she would do. There was no working around that. Twilight would lose if she backed out, and none of those present in the room would trust her afterwards. And that left only one alternative. Give Cozy her powers. Prepare for her to attempt to take over Canterlot again. It wouldn't be the end. She had been stopped once, others would stop her again. Twilight had to play the mentor's role for once, and that involved getting taken out of the equation early on. Luster would be ready, or so she hoped.

"So, Princess Twilight," Silver began. "You claim you can provide proof of Princess Cozy Glow having been an alicorn."

"And failing to do so would prove how you're lying," Cozy chimed in. "We can't trust a lying Princess, can we?"

"I can," Twilight answered. "I can and I will." From under her chair, she fetched the book detailing the spell used to activate the Bell, which Sunburst had provided her with during the brief pause. "May I request the assistance of a member of the jury? Someone capable of using magic."

Glances were exchanged, and eventually all eyes set on Pumpkin. Muttering something about wings, the unicorn lifted herself up in her magic and levitated to Twilight's position, where she took hold of the book.

The guards stepped aside, and the seals were removed. Pumpkin Cake grabbed Grogar's Bell with her magic, then began to study the book. After a moment, she looked at Twilight, then at Cozy, then at Silver.

All three nodded, the first with some hesitation.

Taking a deep breath, Pumpkin charged her horn, then fired a shot of magic towards the Bell. It lifted higher in the air, and began to glow by itself. Pointing to Twilight, it gave a single ring, and a stream of black and yellow energy poured from it.

Twilight flinched, feeling her powers and magic being drained from her. A moment later it was over, and she watched as the Bell spun around to point towards Cozy. Another ring, and energy poured forth from it once more, encasing the filly.

For a moment, Cozy couldn't be seen. Then, the light faded. Pumpkin set book and Bell on the table, and floated back, as everyone stared at the filly.

Twilight would have expected her to speak immediately. Instead, she just sat there. Her large wings moved up and down, her horn jutted through her light-blue curls, and her eyes remained closed. She only breathed in and out, slow and vibrating breaths that made her whole body subtly shake. There was a twitch in her lips, and behind it a barely noticeable hint of teeth clashing in excitement.

Finally, after what felt like hours to the purple alicorn, Cozy opened her eyes. She gave one last slow breath, and looked at Twilight. Then she smiled, and turned to the jury. "Princess Twilight has just given her powers to me. In accordance to the Codex Solaris Lex Æquestrian, this means I am now the rightful ruler of Equestria. Is that not right, Twilight?" she asked, throwing the pony in question a sideways glance.

Twilight sighed. It was the truth, and lying would not have helped. "It does, Princess."

The look Sugarcoat threw her carried a weight words couldn't express in any short amount of time, but the meaning of you messed up shone through rather easily.

Cozy smiled, rocking her head from side to side. She floated out of her chair, and fetched the book under her pillow. "Hey bookhorse, do you know what this is?"

Twilight had only a moment to look back up, before a wave of darkness washed over the room, seemingly leaving only her and Sunburst unaffected. Every other creature went still, eyes glowing a bright green.

Cozy threw the book she'd stolen from the archives on the ground. It had been easy to sneak out of her cell at night, those windows hadn't been designed to stop a foal, and with the guards focused on her the archives had been as unguarded as ever. She tilted her horn, and a cage of stone sprouted from the ground, encasing Sunburst. Then she turned to Twilight, and began to walk towards her.

Just then, a voice came from behind her. "Not so fast."

The small alicorn turned, and Twilight too stared at the pony behind her.

Silver Swirl stood up, the green glow absent from his eyes. A moment later his form began to shift, and Discord emerged from it.

"Hi." Cozy placed a hoof on the ground, then flicked a pebble at Discord.

The draconequus blinked in confusion for a moment. "Okay then." He snapped his talons.

Nothing happened.

Discord looked at the small piece of stone. "That is-"

"A piece of Chrysalis's throne, yes," Cozy replied, as vines of stone emerged from behind the draconequus and trapped him there. "I took it from the archives." Then she turned back to Twilight, and took one slow, long step forward. "I've waited for this," she said, taking the de-powered alicorn in her magic and bringing her forward, lifting her down to be face to face with each other. "I've waited for this a long long time." There was a flash of red light, and a moment later Twilight's entire body had become stone. Cozy looked at it, and grinned.

Then, still smiling, she lifted the petrified alicorn into the air. And with a flick of her horn, she sent Twilight against the nearest wall, shattering her.

Down Down Down

"What do you think suits me better? Silver or gold?" Cozy admired her form in a mirror, held up in the red glow of her magic. "Or maybe red gold? Or whatever that black thing was that Luna... Are you even listening?"

Sunburst looked up towards the tall alicorn sat on the throne. "I am, yes," he replied, moving a hoof to hide the suspiciously head-shaped fragment of rock he was keeping to his side.

Cozy huffed, then threw away the mirror, which landed on the pile of Twilight's petrified remains. "I think I'll go for diamond-encrusted platinum. What about you, what do you think?" she asked again, looking up this time.

From his position tied to the ceiling, Discord stared back at the overgrown filly. "I think paper suited you perfectly fine. You should consider going back to that. Also, you looked better without a horn."

A grunt came from Sunburst.

"What?" The draconequus looked down towards him. "I'm trying, okay? Not much I can do right now."

"Oh, now you're trying." Sunburst sat back down, and returned to focusing on the upper half of Twilight's head. "You let all this happen, but now you try."

Discord rolled his eyes. "Now how was I supposed to know any of this would happen?"

Sunburst stopped, and silently looked up at him.

There was a pause, the only sound that of Cozy's annoyance at being ignored, and the twitching of eyelids it carried.

"Okay, fine," Discord admitted. "I'm sorry. I should have told Twilight I'd influenced the creation of the Codex, and I should have disposed of it, and I definitely shouldn't have let myself get beaten like that. I just thought Purplesmart over there would have found a solution. Or, you know, any of them." He threw a glance to the side of the room, where five statues of five mares overlooked the scene with various degrees of fear and disappointment.

"Speaking of that." Cozy pointed her horn towards the draconequus, and a bolt of red later his body was turned to stone. His expression was what one could expect given it was his third time. Not uncaring like the first time around, when he didn't know what was happening, not scared like the second, when he didn't want to go back. An expression that asked, when he would eventually be freed, to still be invited to the next dinner together, and to not be too harsh on him, he'd done his best.

"Well, we have to hope Starlight makes it now," Sunburst whispered into Twilight's ear.

The door slammed open, and Starlight was thrown into the room, tied up and with a ring around her horn.

Feeling compelled to, Sunburst's shifted Twilight's head as to make it appear like she was staring at him with annoyed eyes.

"Oh." Cozy stared at Starlight for a long moment, eyes wide in fascination. "Golly." She grabbed Starlight's body in her telekinesis, and levitated her to the centre of the room. Poking her head to the side, she spoke to the guards outside, "What was she doing?"

A unicorn stepped in, followed by Gallus and Sugarcoat. "She was found in Ponyville, trying to infiltrate your castle. We spotted her just as she was trying to climb a window."

"Gallus spotted her. Sharpspear is only here because he happened to be nearby," Sugarcoat said in a flat monotone.

Cozy looked back at Starlight, and lifted her up with her magic. "What were you doing there, huh?"

Gallus stepped forward, holding a piece of parchment in his talons. "She had this with her. She tried to eat it after we put the ring on her."

Cozy took hold of the scroll, and her eyes began to run over its contents. A single sound of interest left her mouth, and it was quickly followed by a laugh, while Starlight stared at the ground in desperation. "Time travel, huh?" Cozy asked. She smiled, standing to her full height, and a moment later both her and Starlight were gone.

Sunburst looked down at what was left of Twilight. "Well. Can't go much worse than this now."

And then the sky ripped in half.

Not with a bang, not with a whimper, and not with anything really, as there is no sound in the empty vacuum of nothingness.

"Well, you know what they say. Every good story starts with an old book of law and ends with the destruction of reality."

"Nobody says that, and you're not helping."

Sunburst frowned. "I was just trying to lighten up the mood." He looked into the distance, at the endless sea of blackness beyond the confines of the chunk of rock he and what was left of Twilight sat on.

Twilight's head stared at him with her permanent, petrified expression of worry. "You really shouldn't try to do this. There's nothing to be happy about in all this."

Sunburst patted the grey piece of stone lying in front of him. "Yeah, but there's nothing we can do either. Might as well try to find a way to enjoy ourselves."

"That's a pessimistic view of things," the rock replied.

"It's a realistic one, Twilight." He looked into the distance again. "The magic we have is barely enough to keep you talking. We're stranded here into nothingness, and there's nothing in sight for miles."

"You never know, Sunburst. We don't have to believe this is the end. There's always-"

Just as she was saying that, the rock shook for a moment. Then, a grey pony slowly poked her head from beneath it, a letter in her mouth. Her eyes stared in opposite directions, and neither of the two towards the ponies, yet it was somehow clear she was looking at them.

"Ah, hello Miss. We were just talking about you," Sunburst greeted her. He stepped up and grabbed the letter from her mouth with a hoof, then returned to Twilight.

"What does it say?" the mineralised remains of Twilight's head asked.

Sunburst gave a short, sharp sigh of resigned annoyance. "You know I can't read that griffon's writing. Here," he said, lowering the letter and turning it towards Twilight.

As the alicorn's eyes ran over the parchment, Derpy lifted herself up on the floating rock, and tried to walk towards the duo with her back on the ground before her sense of gravity finally caught up.

"So?" Sunburst asked, taking back the letter and fetching one of Twilight's quills, now stone as well, from its place at his side.

"Nothing," answered Twilight, in as defeated of a tone as her unnaturally replicated voice allowed her. "Still nothing."

"At least he's alright." Sunburst scribbled something on the letter, then passed it to the mailmare. "To Gallus the griffon, member of the Royal Guard," he instructed.

The grey mare gave a salute, then took off, flying upside-down in the direction opposite to the one she'd come from.

Sunburst sat there, observing her for a moment, and pondering if she knew something he didn't about the way the universe worked when torn apart or if they'd merely been unreasonably lucky.

"Hey," Twilight called him. "Is everything alright?"

Sunburst looked down after a moment, and stared at the broken fragments of what had once been a Princess, now stone. "No. I would say nothing is alright, Twilight."

Shadows of a Different Future

"Did you really expect me to sit idly by while they all basked in your pre-"

Luna's speech was cut short, as a tall pink alicorn with a curly light-blue mane landed over her from a portal which had just opened in the air.

Celestia stared at the scene for a moment, very unsure of everything.

Cozy stared back, not removing her hindquarters from Luna's back.

A few seconds ticked by, dripping with an awkwardness so thick it could be smelled.

Finally, Celestia broke the silence, raising a hoof. "What-"

Cozy pointed the Bell at her and activated its magic, draining the white alicorn.

Days of Future Fall

"And is it true that you took part in the process of writing the Codex, and approved of its contents?"

"Well, it was centuries ago, I-"

"Answer the question," the changeling interrupted her.

Celestia subtly shook her head in annoyance, and moved a strand of her multicoloured mane out of her face. She looked a bit out of place in the large wooden chair, not being as tall as she'd used to be back when it had been built. "I did," she replied, her tone as flat as millennia of diplomatic experience could make it.

"Good," the brightly coloured insectoid replied. "And is it true that going against the Codex would be equal to going against your will?"

The once Princess seemed to bite her tongue to stop something rushing from her mouth. Though maybe Twilight had simply imagined it. Instead, Celestia continued with the same calm and detached tone, "That is what it says in the Codex, yes."

"And you approved of it," the changeling pressed on, peering at her over his glasses.

"I did," Celestia admitted again, repressing a sigh of frustration.

"Then I will ask again. Is it true that going against the Codex is equivalent to going against you?"

There was a pause, and the only sound in Twilight's ears was the subtle clicking of her own teeth.

"Evidently so," came Celestia's reply, and for a moment Twilight pitied the changeling for being on the receiving end of the stare that accompanied those words.

A murmur moved through the crowd, and Twilight inwardly flinched.

"Very well." Antenna stepped aside, and bowed slightly, pointing to the exit. "You may go now, Princess."

"I have not been a Princess for many years now," Celestia said, stepping down from the platform. Her naked hooves clacked against the marble floor as she walked through the room. For a moment, it looked like she'd disappeared, or had become invisible. "In fact, I believe you had yet to be born when I stopped being one." She reached Twilight's seat on her way to the exit, and looked up at the taller alicorn with a worried expression. Then she looked away, and the heavy doors closed behind her as she exited the room. Behind them, unseen, her form dissipated and faded away, and in her home the alicorn sighed.

Twilight swallowed, nervously shifting her wings.

On the other side of the room, Cozy Glow smiled at her.

Her name was called, and, hesitantly, she got up from her seat.

Queen of Eternity

She moved across the cosmos, drifting through universes and timelines. Wherever she went, she consumed all she could find. Magic of any kind, all sorts of energy, any amount of matter that she could convert into power. The structure itself of the realities she visited was strained by her mere presence, the essence itself of creation collapsing onto her.

Cozy was happy. There was so much power to be had, and so much more beyond that. It was like a feast, a never-ending banquet just for her. And she could eat whatever she wanted, how much of it she wanted.

Her thoughts shook and shaped reality. Her form was inconceivable to the minds of common creatures, oftentimes driving them to madness as they witnessed her. Her will was action, her powers unmatched by anything she encountered.

It had been a long journey. She'd started by draining other alicorns individually, oftentimes having to ambush them, but had slowly expanded her range as her powers had grown. Draining whole buildings, then towns, then nations, planets. She could and would syphon all of a world's magical energy by simply passing near it. It tasted good, and it made her happy.

But that too was growing tiring. The more powerful she was, the less new worlds satisfied her hunger. They were always more or less the same, and at that point like a grain of sand to the mountain that was her power. She needed more.

So she began to seek the only thing that could compare to her own energies, the only thing that could sate her hunger. She began to seek herself.

Somewhere out there, she knew, in the infinite vastness of endless possibilities, another her had reached the same state. Multiple others, perhaps infinite other hers. And perhaps not her, but others. Moving across worlds, consuming their power.

Universes were crushed, destroyed, torn apart, as Cozy moved through them in search of herself. Realities shattered, worlds left in pieces drifting through the void.

Then, at last, she met herself. Their powers combined, they both fed each other. They united, and their minds became one. They were one and the same, after all. There was no one or other creature, only Cozy.

Cozy knew, as she became one with herself, that she existed too in infinite other fragments. She would find herself, and reunite herself into one.

Blazing across the multiverse, infinite fragments of Cozy searched for each other, consuming everything in their wake. All magic, all power, all energy of the worlds they passed through became part of her, and so she became the representation of those universes.

The fragments united again and again, creating greater and more complete pieces of Cozy. There was no conflict, no discrepancies despite the differences between the fragments' memories or experiences. They were all part of the same, all different reflections of the original image.

They were all Cozy. There was no strife between them, no need for words or thoughts as they silently returned to existing as one original being. There was only Cozy.