The Bad Steed

by TheInfamousFly

Rating: mature
Tags: Thriller, Changelings, Ocellus, Smolder, Horror, Cozy Glow, Violence, Alternate Universe, Young Six, Drama, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Length: 5804

Ocellus notices that Cozy Glow doesn't emenate love the same way as other ponies...

When Ocellus finds out that Cozy Glow's love is insincere, she tries to find out why. But Cozy is one step ahead of her...

Warning! Contains themes of bullying, depression, depersonalization, starvation, torture, racism and implied/referenced genocide.

Created for Contest #4 - Cozy Glow - Fimfiction using the prompt "It wasn't a problem until..."

Published 2023-08-21 03:20:00 UTC
Last updated 2023-08-21 17:08:44 UTC

Act I

"And this week's Most Generous Student is...Ocellus!" Rarity declared, managing to get a few rounds of polite applause out of the ponies in the classroom, and a roar of encouragement from Smolder, Yona and Silverstream.

Ocellus blushed and smiled at her fellow students as she trotted to the front of the class. She was almost there when a something flared up in her peripheries. As a changeling she could feel the love emanating from those around her, a warm, welcoming calm, like slipping into a heated bath.

And she could feel its opposite as well. A chilling reminder of a childhood defined by terror and starvation.

H A T E.

Never before, even when she was raiding villages with her hive, even when she was being chased off by the Royal guard, never had she felt so much of it in one place. It hung low over the entire classroom, obscuring all the friendliness she'd enjoyed just a moment ago. Its sound was piercing shriek and its stench was so pungent that she had to stop herself from gagging.

"Ocellus, is everything alright?" Rarity asked.

In the old days, the response would have been to swarm the source of the bellicosity and rip it to pieces. Ocellus had to fight every instinct to shift her form into something imposing and replace the loathing with fear. But that wasn't proper. It would scare her classmates. She'd never be able to explain to Professor Rarity that she had been defending herself either. Not when ponies couldn't feel to other creature's emotions with the same intensity. It would be like trying to describe color to a creature that saw in black and white.

"Darling...is something the matter?" Rarity asked, stepping over to her with a kind smile.

Ocellus let out a deep breath. "I have...to go." Was all she could say as she rushed out of the room and away from the hideous torrent.

Ocellus sat in one of the bathroom stalls, her wings curled around her abdomen and her legs drawn tight to her chest. She pressed her face to the nearest wall, feeling the coolness of the plywood radiating into her carapace. She took long, deep breaths, just like Starlight had taught her.

She'd known this was a mistake. Coming to this school. She'd made such good friends. She'd thought every creature here was her friend.

But what she'd just endured had been a potent reminder how vulnerable she was in this place. The intensity of the scorn was such that, had it been split up between her fellow students, they all would have been surely started shouting insults and hurling school supplies at her in disgust. But it hadn't been split up, and that was the chilling part.

It had all somehow come from one creature.

There was a pounding on the door of the stall, accompanied by a familiar, raspy voice. "Ocellus? We know you're in there."

"It's okay if you need to be alone, we just wanted to check on you." Called Silverstream.

"No! Not okay! Yona want to see friend!" There was another pounding at the door, this time strong enough to make the filly's room shake.

Ocellus let out another long breath and felt the love, sliding through the cracks to each side of the door and creeping over to her. The tentative, normally boisterous love of Silverstream. The unalloyed love of Yona, strong and deep as the mountains.

And the love of Smolder. Almost too bright to look at, almost too hot to touch. It bubbled like lava, and like lava, you could be forgiven for mistaking that it wasn't as thick as stone.

"I'm alright." Ocellus said, slowly uncurling herself and moving hesitantly to the door. Still shuddering, she unlocked it and peeked outside.

They were all staring at her, their eyes bright with concern.

"I'm sorry if I scared any creature..." Ocellus said, hanging her head.

"What happened?" Smolder asked, leaning down and trying to meet Ocellus' eyes.

Maybe...just maybe...they would understand. Maybe they wouldn't be angry at the idea that she always knew how they felt about her, no matter what they said or thought. Maybe they wouldn't be angry at her for being her.

She opened her mouth to explain.

Then the door to the bathroom opened and a little pink pegasus zipped over, wrapping her hooves around Ocellus' neck.
"Golly, I've been looking all over for you, Ocellus. You left before I could give you my award, silly!"

Each week Rarity would choose one student to give Most Generous Student to and at the end of the next week, that student was supposed to bring the award to class so it could be given to next creature she chose. She claimed it not only rewarded generosity but encouraged the students to share their academic achievements with one another.

And Cozy Glow was the last student to have won.

As Cozy released her, Ocellus glanced down at the thing which she'd left behind. What Ocellus mistaken for a hug, was actually the placing of the Most Generous Student award around her neck. It was a thin strip of purple fabric, from which hung a small, gold medallion with a diamond in its center.

Ocellus stared at her distorted reflection in the well-polished medal, before looking back at Cozy, who remained oblivious to the annoyed looks she was receiving from Yona and Smolder. "Oh...I'm sorry you went to all that trouble..."

Cozy Glow blinked. Then she grinned, almost grotesquely. "You don't have to thank me! It must be hard being a changeling in a school with all us ponies. Would you like me to get the school nurse?"

Ocellus frowned and then her eyes widened, and she began to shake again. Slowly, she shook her head, mouth still open, eyes not leaving the winged filly.

"Alright! You have a great rest of your day then!" Cozy said, flying over to the nearest sink and washing her hooves as she hummed a jaunty little tune.

Smolder turned to Ocellus to ask her something, but Ocellus lifted a leg, pressing it lightly to Smolder's chest as if to steady herself.

It wasn't until Cozy was long gone that Ocellus began to speak and when she did, it was in a terrible whine almost too low to be heard.

"Why?"

Starlight's office was always open. That meant this should have been easy.

"I-I don't think this is a good idea." Ocellus said, pausing as they approached the closed double doors and turning back to Smolder.

After explaining what she had seen, what she had felt, oozing out of Cozy Glow, Ocellus had just wanted to go to her dorm and wait for the weekend to start. She'd already missed the rest of today's classes, anyway, a thought that was depressing enough without the knowledge that somepony she barely knew absolutely despised her.

But Smolder had insisted that she go with her to discuss the matter with Starlight.

"Yes, it is." Smolder said. "Princess Twilight said we're supposed to be safe at this school. Did you feel safe in class today when Cozy started...feeling that way about you?"

Ocellus looked away. "She's just a filly, Smolder..."

"That doesn't make it okay for her to feel that way about you. You didn't do anything to her!" Smolder argued.

You don't know that. Was all Ocellus could think. She had been too young to participate in the raid of Canterlot. But she had been there, when Queen Chrysalis almost took over Equestria. She had witnessed the final confrontation between her, Starlight and King Thorax. What if one of Cozy's parents had been attacked by a member of Ocellus' hive? What if Ocellus had taken love from her, and couldn't even remember because she'd just been one more pony drained and cocooned in years of mindless hunger?

For most of her life, Ocellus had the monster that fillies like Cozy were warned about. Don't talk to strangers, because they might be changelings in disguise.

"I'm not going to badmouth her, especially after she was so nice to me..." Ocellus said, glancing down at the medallion.

Smolder flew to the other side of Ocellus. "That's the part that's concerning! If I was angry at you, I wouldn't smile and pretend that everything was alright!"

Ocellus didn't look her in the eye. "She's probably too scared to admit how she feels."

"Are you kidding me? The way she talked to you in the bathroom. Remember how she offered to go get the nurse, after she mentioned you were a changeling? Like she was implying there was something wrong with you! You can't let some pony treat you like that."

Ocellus shook her head and turned away. "I knew I shouldn't have told you..."

Smolder landed on the carpet, her glare disappearing as Ocellus buzzed off in the direction of her and Yona's room. A second later the door to Starlight's office opened.

"Oh, hello, Smolder! Is everything alright out here? I was just finishing up with Cozy Glow, but if you can wait a few more minutes, I promise we can talk to you about whatever it is you want."

Ocellus plodded into the dormitory, her head low, her sparkling wings flat to her sides.

"Did Ocellus talk with counselor pony?" Yona asked, from where she lay on the bottom mattress of their bunk bed.

Ocellus shook her head and flittered up onto her own bunk, where a stack of books she wouldn't be able to read tonight sat by her pillow.

"It okay. Ponies sometimes make fun of Yona for the way Yona speaks. Yona is yak and yaks not need guidance counselors."

Ocellus nodded, even though Yona couldn't see her anymore, her eyes focusing on the pastel ceiling. If she focused sometimes, when she was in her pony-form, she could almost forget what she really was, where she'd come from.

But then she'd get hungry, like always.

"Sandbar no make fun of Yona for the way she speak though. Yona like Sandbar."

That was the problem, the smoky, spicy taste to Smolder's love which had made her savor each bite. Smolder liked Ocellus, the same way that Sandbar liked Yona. Smolder like Ocellus, which meant she didn't think Ocellus had to change to be around ponies.

Smolder didn't understand how much Ocellus had already changed. How much Ocellus was always changing to make the creatures around her more comfortable, more...appetizing.

Ocellus stared down at the thing around her neck, the thing which Rarity had given to her because she thought she was a good creature, who shared things with others because they needed them. But Ocellus knew better. She could change her form as much as she wanted, but the thing which Rarity mistook for generosity and which Smolder mistook for kindness, it was the thing that Cozy hated. The thing that deserved to be hated.

Ocellus didn't need food or water like other creatures. Technically, this bed, this room were superfluous, since she could transform herself to endure essentially any weather. She was immune to the poisons and diseases which infected most other creatures. And that was because Ocellus was not like other creatures. Not like ponies, not like griffons or hippogriffs or yaks or donkeys or mules.

Not even like dragons.

Ocellus fed on love. Everything she did, everything she was, was just an attempt to get more of it. She didn't have real friends. She couldn't be generous.

She didn't deserve to be here.

She didn't know why King Thorax had chosen her to go to this place, to represent the hive and to learn about pony ways. But she knew he'd made a mistake.

With one leg, she tore the medallion off before the tightness in her neck turned it into a noose and stuffed it under her pillow. She closed her eyes and stuffed them into the too soft fabric, wishing she was home, safe in her burrow, surrounded by her siblings and cousins, listening only to the distant buzz of movement.

Safe. Warm. The facade of individuality softly smothered.

And far away from this place where she was forced to remember what she really was. Smolder didn't understand. Ocellus was a void, into which other creatures fed attention and love, a greedy grub that would never be satisfied no matter how many creatures cared for her.

Cozy's hatred was hurtful...but it wasn't unwarranted.

Yona knew something was wrong. She just couldn't remember exactly what it was.

She hated not remembering things, because it made it feel like the fillies who'd made fun of her were right. She had to remind herself that yaks were the best at remembering things and that the only reason why other creatures said that yaks were stupid was because they were jealous of how smart yaks were.

She was about to ask Ocellus for some tips on how to remember the things you'd forgotten (Ocellus knew about most things, which was nice, because Yona knew she'd never tell any creature if Yona had to ask for her help) when she realized what it was she'd forgotten.

Ocellus! Yona had meant to check on her, since she seemed so scared yesterday. Yona had wanted to go smash Cozy's room for making Ocellus feel bad. It was only Ocellus begging her not to which had made stayed her hoof. It was this kind of thing which reminded Yona of why yaks were the best at being smart. Other creatures got caught up in strange ideas, about when it was or was not appropriate to smash something.

A yak never had that problem. If a creature was mean to a yak's friend, they got smashed. If other creatures were only smart enough to understand this, they'd stop being so mean to yaks and to their friends.

Yona turned back to the top bunk and opened her mouth to say something. What was she going to say again? She'd forgotten. Again.

She sighed, only distracted from her own frustration by the fact that not only was there no creature on the top bunk, but the covers and the pillow were gone.

Hmm. Maybe one of the ponies who kept the school clean had removed them while Yona was sleeping? Yona shook her head and stomped out of the room, trying again to remember what it was she had forgotten and failing to spot the letter which had been placed in the center of Ocellus' bunk.

Act II

Ocellus was awoken by a stabbing deep in the center of her thorax and spreading through the rest of her body. She tried to shift form into something more durable, automatically. But her cells failed to alter, their mana utterly depleted.

And Ocellus was left only feeling hungrier and more exhausted for her trouble.

"I wouldn't struggle too much if I were you." Cozy said, appearing from the darkness, her smirk illuminated by the glow of the crystals which formed a hexagon around Ocellus. "It'll just drain you quicker."

"Cozy Glow?" Ocellus tried blinked as her eyes adjusted to the blue light emanating from the crystals. "What-what's going on? Where am I?" She tried to stand and was sent back to the ground with a cry as white-hot pain sliced into her wings.

"It's actually a spell that Starswirl the Bearded came up with." Cozy said with a smile. "Starswirl used it to trap changelings, so that he could discern their magical make-up. The circle of salt slowly draws all the energy out of the changeling, so they can't shapeshift or siphon any love from the caster." She said, pointing a hoof to the white powder encircling the crystals. "And the crystals, they create a ley matrix which harms any creature that tries to escape the enchantment."

Ocellus tried again to stand and let out another, louder cry this time. What felt like razor sharp fishing line surrounded her, keeping her pinned to the ground and to the center of hexagon.

"You know him and the other Pillars of Equestria used to kill changelings to protect Equestria? I wonder how many Rockhoof crushed on his shovel. I wonder if he ever misses the feeling of their guts sliding around under his hooves. The crunch of their heads popping off their spines." Cozy said with a thoughtful smile. "I wonder if he's ever thinking about that when he's telling stories to you and your obnoxious friends."

Ocellus whimpered and writhed against the invisible bindings, reciving more jolts of pain until her whole form was numb and aching and too tired to continue struggling. Instead, she lay down and stared up at the tiny pegasus. "Why...why are you doing this?"

Cozy's smile disappeared. Then she shrugged. "I knew you were going to win the award. I don't think Professor Rarity likes me too much. She's too darn smart, is the problem. I think she's caught on to my whole 'cute little filly' act. Anyway, I needed a bomb and there you were."

"Buh-bomb?"

Cozy rolled her eyes. "Golly, you're not as smart as every pony gives you credit for, are you? Where do you think all the love the crystals are taking from you goes? To limbo?" She tapped one of the crystals gently with her forehoof. "No, it gets absorbed. Starswirl programmed the spell to only be able to take a certain amount. But with some quick alterations to his formula, thanks to a trip to Headmare Twilight's personal library, I was able to adjust the spell so that the siphon had no upper limit."

She leaned close and lowered her voice as if sharing a secret. "Once all the magical energy has been siphoned out of your body, the crystals won't be able to contain it. The magical release should obliterate most of the school, which you'll notice we're right beneath at the moment." Cozy said, gesturing to the barely illuminated ceiling of the cellar they occupied. "I'm predicting every pony except Headmare Twilight will die, either in the immediate blast, or else crushed by the ensuing rubble. Then she'll have lost all her dearest friends and that stupid little dragon that follows her around."

Cozy paused to adjust the bow on her head. "Except for poor little Cozy Glow. She'll be so reliant on me, as her only remaining student...not to mention she'll be so busy persecuting a war against the changelings, she'll basically let me run all of Equestria."

Ocellus whimpered. "Please...no..."

"Aww, does that make you sad? To think that you're going to die and then all your friends are going to die too?" Cozy asked. "Just think, if you were big and strong like Yona or Smolder or even Gallus, you'd be able to just break out of there. You could defeat a poor defenseless pony like me easily. You could warn every student in the school and become a hero...but because you're a changeling, you're just going to lie there until the last drop of love gets sucked out of you."

Ocellus shook her head, tears in her eyes. "My...my friends will come looking for me."

Cozy let out a rough sounding laugh. "I very much doubt that. You see, the siphon doesn't just suck the love out of you, it uses you as a focus to suck out the love that every pony nearby has for you. Frankly, I'd be surprised if they even still remember your name at this point."

"Who?" Starlight asked as she adjusted the paperwork on her desk.

"OCELLUS!" Smolder snarled, showing her jagged teeth.

"Right. Sorry." Starlight shook her head. She thought she remembered every creature in this school. How could she have forgotten one? "What is wrong with her again?"

"She's missing!" Smolder said. "Some creature has to have to abducted her."

Starlight narrowed her eyes, focusing hard on the name "Ocellus" and trying to put a face to it. Then she shook herself again. "I thought you said she ran away."

"No! Some creature put this letter on her bed saying that she was running away to rejoin her hive." Smolder said, slapping an envelope down atop the table.

"And you know she didn't write this because...?" Starlight asked, picking up the letter and unfolding it with her magic. She was having trouble remembering what they were talking about. It had to do with this letter, right?

"Because she would never do that!" Smolder insisted. "She would never leave without telling me and the rest of her friends!"

Starlight nodded, slowly. "And...you want me to contact the Changeling Embassy in Canterlot?"

"No! I want you to cast a spell, figure out where Ocellus is!" Smolder said.

Starlight blinked. "I'm sorry, who are we talking about?"

Smolder slammed the door behind her as she stepped out of Starlight's office, smoke pouring from her nostrils and fire building in her chest.

She turned to her friends, who she'd expected to go into the office with her. "She thinks I'm making it all up! She said this was some kind of prank!"

Gallus frowned. "It must be worse than we thought...whatever it is..."

"It doesn't matter!" Smolder insisted. "We'll split up and we'll search the school. Whoever took Ocellus and cast whatever this weird spell is, they have to have left a trace somewhere."

"Please...I know you hate me...but don't do this! Don't hurt every creature because of me!" Ocellus begged.

Cozy giggled. She put her hooves to her stomach and giggled in midair as Ocellus lay on the floor of the cellar, feeling her limbs go numb as the lifeforce was drawn out of them.

"Silly Ocellus." Cozy said with a smile. "I hate every pony! I just chose you because I knew you'd be too polite not to take the medal from me. I enchanted it to teleport you into this trap. I didn't expect to catch your pillows and blankets too." Cozy said, gesturing to the shreds of fabric and feathers beneath Ocellus. "But I left a note to make it seem like you ran off. I figured that after you told all your friends how much me hating you upset you, it would be easier to believe that you just left."

Cozy drifted lazily around Ocellus' prison. "See, I'm smarter than any other pony in this entire school, Ocellus. I was smarter than my parents. I was smarter than the other pageant contestants and the judges. I'm even smarter than Headmare Twilight! She built this school because she thought it would bring different creatures together, but I know the truth."

Cozy landed harshly in front of Ocellus again. "Do you know what the real history of Equestria is? Because I do, I have a pen-pal who was around before Celestia and Luna crowned themselves and he remembers. He remembers when ponies and centaurs used to be staunch allies...and do you know why they were such good friends? Because they hated Griffons! The Griffons used to rule over half of what we call Equestria today. They used to steal little foals like me and eat them for lunch! Can you imagine? I bet Gallus gets hungry, being around us ponies all day." Cozy paused. "You know the only reason Celestia allow them to enter Equestria anymore is because we won. The griffon king died, and their whole empire fell apart. They're bigger and faster and stronger than we are...but there are more of us. And we're smarter than they are about getting what we want. The only reason we're nice to them anymore is because we know how pathetic they are."

She sighed. "The same thing has started with the buffalo and the deer too. We ponies are industrious types, don't you know? We'll turn their praries into forests and their forests into shopping malls. Pretty soon they'll be just as few of them around as there are griffons. And ponies will call it progress! Because we've taught them about our culture, about the importance of Friendship and of the six elements of harmony. It doesn't matter that the elements belong to us, as long as we can make our enemies want what we have, we control them. Soon as we can figure out how to terraform the arctic, we'll do the same with the yaks. But...you changelings...you're different." Cozy walked over to a little saddlebag on the ground and pulled out an extremely worn and yellowed book entitled An Essay on the Principle of Postulation; A repudiation of the optimism of Marquis de Condor and Gilliam Godwin by Pop Webhoof. "I read all about you. You breed even faster than us ponies do. You can build structures with your saliva. You transform into creatures ten times your actual size. You can cancel out magic that's thousands of years old. You can give birth to hundreds of larvae. You can hibernate for centuries, years without getting hungry too."

She turned back to Ocellus and walked over with the book under one hoof. "But why would you, now that you've got access to ample food? Because your queen was so selfish, she kept your population in check. It used to be that you'd destroy some civilization by turning them into an all you can eat buffet. Then you'd lay your eggs and die of before you could raise any of them. You'd starve too quickly to ever become a real problem...but nowadays?" Cozy shrugged. "With no resources to limit your growth, you'll just keep on breeding. Building your magic-dampening hives until we're relying on you to control the elements, to give us permission to work the land and feed ourselves. You'll turn us into livestock, fat and happy idiots for you to feed off."

She sighed. "It's just like Professor Fluttershy said, when she was talking about the Breezie. Sometimes you have to be cruel to be kind." She smirked. "Of course, when the Dragon Lord finds out that not only is the dragon she sent here to learn about friendship dead but so is the dragon who taught her about friendship...and that they were killed by a changeling selected by Thorax himself...well, the dragons will scorch your species out of existence and all of Equestria will have been saved by me."

Then she flew back to the saddlebag, stuffing the book beside a piece of blue fabric and a little medallion with a diamond in the center of it, before zipping it closed. "Well, now that I've crushed your spirit, I have to fly if I want to leave before you go off."

"You're not going anywhere..." Came a growl from the darkness nearby.

Cozy had one second to look the slightest bit startled before two orange claws closed around her and lifted her up into the air.

"Whatever you did...to me...to my friends...whatever you're doing to Ocellus...turn it off right now." Smolder snarled.

Cozy squirmed. "I-I don't know what you're-"

"Don't even try it!" Smolder snapped. "Turn off the spell, NOW!!"

Cozy glanced at Ocellus and then back at Smolder. "I-I can't! I had to steal artifacts from Headmare Twilight to cast it and I put them back when I was done. I-I can't do magic...I'm just a pegasus..."

Smolder's claws tightened. "You're lying...YOU'RE LYING!! Undo it! Turn it off! Right now!"

Cozy squirmed for a moment, then a smile crossed her face, all concern completely dissolving. "Go ahead...hurt me...I can't fight back. It won't save her."

Smolder glared down at her, but the intensity of her gaze dissipated, as she glanced at Ocellus' prone form.

Cozy giggled again, putting a hoof to her cheek. "You can't do it, can you? Even when it's to save the only creature you really care about...you can't hurt me. I'm just a kid, after all."

Smolder didn't answer, she just walked over to Ocellus' prison, still carrying Cozy with her. She reached out with one claw and yanked it back as the magics which kept Ocellus inside the circle, cut across her scaly palm.

"You can't hurt me, and you can't save her..." Cozy giggled, beginning again to struggle uselessly against claw still encircling her entire neck. "...you might as well put her out of her misery...burn her up before the trap activates and kills us both!"

Smolder stared down into Ocellus' wet, aquamarine eyes.

"Smolder...go...warn...the others..." Ocellus moaned, too weak to return Smolder's gaze.

Smolder's eyes narrowed. "I'm not going anywhere." She said.

Cozy continued to giggle, for a few seconds longer, before suddenly biting the section between Smolder's thumb and foreclaw.

If Smolder noticed the flat, grass-grinder teeth gnawing on her thick hide, she didn't show it. She just kept staring down at Ocellus, a little moisture forming in her reptilian eyes.

"You...you can't!" Cozy insisted, continuing to wiggle against Smolder's grip. "You'll die! Every pony in the school will die if you don't go and warn them now!"

Smolder shook her head. "That's not going to happen...because you're going to end the spell before that happens."

"I told you already!! I CAN'T TURN IT OFF!!" Cozy insisted. "If you knew anything about magic, you'd already know that!"

"Then we'll both die." Smolder answered, tightening her grip on Cozy's neck.

Ocellus tried to shake her head, but all she could do was groan. "No...Smolder...go..."

Smolder shook her head, then she lifted her still bleeding palm and wiped her eyes. "I'm sorry, Ocellus...I'm sorry I couldn't find you sooner."

Cozy continued to writhe against Smolder's grip. Then she closed her eyes and cried out. "THYZYA'AT-TAZ'AR-KURA'AD!"

The glow of the crystals faded. Releasing Cozy immediately, Smolder reached out again and this time, her claw went clear over the circle. With a shaky exhale, she scooped up Ocellus' horribly light form and held her close to her chest. Without a glance at Cozy's coughing, scowling form, she began to carry Ocellus to the nearest set of stairs. She was too busy stroking the horn atop Ocellus' head to notice either when Cozy slunk away, scuttling her tiny form out a cellar window and quickly fleeing the College of Friendship campus.

"You're going to be alright..." Smolder muttered, again and again, as the love which had been dwindling away suddenly surged back in with overwhelming intensity.

Ocellus rolled her compound eyes up to stare at Smolder. "How...did you find me?"

Smolder's nostrils opened and closed. "The letter that was supposed to be from you. But it smelled like Cozy...I didn't realize it until I wondered why if you had run away, you'd taken that stupid award with you. Then it all clicked...I just followed her scent until I ended up down here."

Ocellus smiled, weakly. "Thank you..."

Smolder shook her head, leaning down and nuzzling against Ocellus' snout. "Every creature was acting like you didn't exist...I started thinking they were right...I...I was so scared..."

Ocellus just smiled and tightened her grip around Smolder's sandpaper form, whom she refused to let go of until after the entire story of her disappearance had been relayed to Twilight and her fellow faculty and Ocellus' parents had been called. But when she did release her grasp, she felt no pang of separation, nor did she express a dread that Cozy might return to "finish the job." The terror of her predicament had been so acute as to have drained all ability for fear from her.

But that wasn't all.

Smolder's devotion and the devotion of all her friends even when under the influence of a spell which should have stripped them of all affection for her...it acted as a sobering reminder of what she'd overlooked in her guilt and shame. She knew then that she was real, that she had been missed and that she was as much a part of her friends, as she was part of her hive.

She was not sure who she was or what she would be. But she knew that she was.

Cozy skulked through the Everfree Forest, her shiny curls tangled and torn from quickness of her departure. She had exhausted herself, in her flight from Ponyville and as a result was forced to stumble and crawl through the thorn thickened hollows, her precious appearance spoiled by dirt and sweat, her adorable countenance shattered by desperation and infuriation.

If a creature had gazed into Cozy's mind just then they would have been repelled, not just by the parade of blood-soaked fantasies which occupied her imagination, but by the severe narrowness of thought in which she was trapped. Her mind was focused on a thousand tiny slights, almost all unintentional or nonexistent. And each expanded to represent a poisonous world intent on slaughtering all that was beautiful and intelligent.

And in the brilliant, yet blackened mind of the young filly, she was all that was beautiful and all that was intelligent and all that lay beyond her was a symptom of shambling, half-sentience. The cycle of insanity which repeated in the back of her mind, and which oscillated constantly between the agonized denigration of her enemies and the reclamation of the reverence she was owed was only broken up by the sound of a twig snapping in the nearby woods.

For the next few months, Twilight Sparkle and the Royal Guard would do all they could to locate the maladjusted filly. Eventually, when Cozy failed to re-emerge as a threat against Equestria, she would fade from public interest, into the tapestry of local lore. The eminence which she had wasted her life in search of and the empathy which she had fed on to further her unspeakable schemes, would never again touch her memory.

For all her brilliance, for all her research on the fabric of changeling biology, she had failed to account for the very simple principal of pheromone control. For all the time she'd tormented Ocellus, the changeling had been spraying her with chemicals which denoted her as an enemy of the hive.

If she'd been in the changeling lands, she would have been smothered by bodies, too enraged at the attack of one of their own to even listen to her cries for mercy. But she was in the Everfree Forest, and the changelings who had dwelled in Ponyville for generations, feeding and exchanging love with ponies, and who had not smelled that particular chemical since their exile from Chrysalis' kingdom, were much more subtle.

Slowly the half a dozen townsfolk, many of whom had children and friends at Twilight's school, enclosed around Cozy, their facades of ponydom evaporating. It could never be put to page, the things they showed her, the things they became to ensure she would never again threaten their fragile homeland.

But what could be described were the screams of a very small pony as for the first time in her life, she saw something more terrible than her.