The Temple

by VentureCorp

Rating: everyone
Tags: Queen Chrysalis, Cozy Glow, Adventure, Discord, Slice of Life, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Length: 5486

Cozy and Chrysalis are tasked by Grogar to fetch an artifact from an ancient temple.

Wanting his servants to learn the power of teamwork, Grogar sends Queen Chrysalis and Cozy Glow on a mission together to the Temple of Faust to retrieve an ancient crystal.

While Cozy is mostly just eager to prove herself to Grogar, Chrysalis is more reserved about being forced to be around a pony creature, let alone being forced to work with them.

Regardless, the two must come together to survive the temple's traps and solve its puzzles if they're going to have any chance of delivering the crystal successfully to Grogar.......

Published 2024-04-05 19:20:00 UTC
Last updated 2024-04-05 19:20:00 UTC

An Important Mission

Queen Chrysalis groaned as she headed into the main chamber. She had wanted to disguise herself as Crackle Cosette to go into town and spy on those wretched ponies, but Grogar had summoned her urgently. Regardless of her personal complaints, however, Chrysalis was in no position to disobey Grogar’s wishes; she no longer had control of her former subjects, the Changelings, thanks to that traitor Thorax, and thus only had the support of Grogar and the other villains under him, Tirek and Cozy Glow.

Speaking of Cozy Glow, she happily trotted into the chamber as well. While her plans, which consisted of having tea and cupcakes, were also disrupted by Grogar’s summons, she could care less, as she was excited in the hopes that she could finally be given a task that took her away from this boring cave. Despite being, in her mind, just as bad as the other villains, she hadn’t had many opportunities to show it due to the others viewing her as just a child. “This is finally my chance,” thought Cozy Glow as she walked up to Grogar’s pedestal. “To show that I may be a pony, but I’m just as bad. Even worse than King Sombra; what a dummy!”

Chrysalis walked up beside Cozy Glow with an eyebrow raised. “What are you doing here, child? I was summoned here by Grogar.”

“I was too!” replied Cozy Glow as she flapped her wings excitedly. “Golly, maybe we’re here for the same reason!”

Chrysalis groaned as she facehoofed. “Just when I thought this day couldn’t get any worse…..”

The pairs’ thoughts were interrupted by Grogar’s sudden appearance. The blue goat roared and looked down at the exiled Changeling Queen and convicted Pegasus filly. “CHRYSALIS AND COZY GLOW! I HAVE SUMMONED YOU FOR AN IMPORTANT MISSION!”

Cozy Glow cheered while Queen Chrysalis gave Grogar an irritated look.

“SEVERAL MILES FROM HERE IS AN OLD TEMPLE, CALLED THE TEMPLE OF FAUST! INSIDE THE TEMPLE IS AN ANCIENT CRYSTAL, KNOWN AS THE AMETHYST CRYSTAL! IT IS SAID TO CONTAIN IMMENSE POWER; YOU ARE TO RETRIEVE IT TOGETHER AND BRING IT TO ME!”

Cozy Glow grinned immensely. “Golly, an adventure!? Just the two of us? Sounds like fun!”

Chrysalis, meanwhile, was less than enthused. “Why, exactly, do two of us need to do this?”

Grogar then shot Chrysalis a furious look. “YOU DARE TO QUESTION MY INSTRUCTIONS, WHEN I TOOK YOU IN WHEN YOU WERE ALONE AND POWERLESS?!”

Surprised by the sudden outburst, Queen Chrysalis cowed in fear. “O-of course not, Grogar. I-I just wanted to know why…. For this task in particular……. Why do you need two of us?”

Grogar snorted. “I WANT TO SEE HOW WELL YOU TWO WORK TOGETHER……. TO COME TOGETHER AND RESOLVE A GOAL AS COLLEAGUES…… AS TEAMMATES.”

Queen Chrysalis and even Cozy Glow looked annoyed at this. “Teammates!?” they both thought. “Why do you want us to learn about being part of a team?”

Grogar then summoned a map and handed it to Chrysalis. “Here’s a map to the temple; should only take you a couple of hours to get there.” A thin smile crossed Grogar’s face. “Do this….. and you will be rewarded.”

Cozy Glow nodded eagerly, and despite Chrysalis’ misgivings about the whole thing, she nodded as well.

“Good” said Grogar, who said one last thing before disappearing: “Complete this task at once, then!”

Upon Grogar’s departure, Chrysalis and Cozy Glow immediately set out for the Temple of Faust. While flying over the lands of Equestria below, both reflected on the task at hand.

Cozy, for her part, was ecstatic about the mission. Happy that she was finally given a chance to prove her capabilities, she was willing to move past her misgivings about being a teammate in the name of doing something for Grogar!

Chrysalis, meanwhile, was rather annoyed. While happy to finally get out of the cave, Chrysalis wasn’t big on the teammate aspect of the quest, and getting an old crystal from some forgotten temple was not how she wanted to spend her day.

Plus, she was stuck with Cozy Glow. While Chrysalis didn’t outright hate Cozy Glow, and actually admired the filly’s nearly successful plan to destroy all magic in Equestria, she found the filly rather annoying due to her voice and personality. Her insistence that she was just as evil as Chrysalis and Tirek also didn’t ring true in Chrysalis’s ears, as the filly was rather young and thus hadn’t had enough time to commit as many evil acts as Chrysalis and Tirek. Plus, Cozy had managed to be defeated by a group of non-pony youths; how could she claim she was powerful when lesser creatures were able to outdo her!?

Regardless, Chrysalis was willing to respect Grogar’s wishes. While he could be nonsensical at times (not to mention loud), he had taken in Chrysalis, Tirek, and Cozy when they had nothing, and as such she owed him his wishes. For now at least……..

After a couple of hours of flying, the pair eventually reached the location the map said the Temple of Faust was at. The temple was a decently sized, stone structure, hidden away in some jungle trees, which explained why nopony had found it. The temple center had a large steeple pointing out of it, with the remains of a statue that likely used to be a pony. The statue had been heavily weathered due to the elements, with the rain and jungle reducing the stone statue to just the lower body.

Cozy and Chrysalis flew down to the temple entrance. Gazing into the long, dark hallway filled with vines that awaited them, Cozy and Chrysalis glanced at each other.

“So…. You ready for this, Chrysalis?”

“We have no choice, child,” replied Chrysalis, who lit up her horn as she traveled into the temple.

“Right,” replied Cozy, who followed Chrysalis into the dark hallway that was partially illuminated by the latter’s horn.

While determined to complete Grogar’s orders, Cozy Glow flew nervously off the ground as she stayed close to Chrysalis. While evil, she was still a filly and as such was a bit nervous in the dark. Meanwhile, Chrysalis continued moving forward, illuminating the walls while also being slightly annoyed that Cozy was moving so close to her flank.

“Child, the darkness is not something you should fear. If you want to be a villain that’s taken seriously, you can start by- “

Chrysalis’ sentence was interrupted by her front foreleg tripping a long wire crossing the hallway. The floor suddenly caved, with Chrysalis and Cozy only being saved by their ability to fly.

Cozy gasped as she peered into the long, dark abyss below. “I’m not scared of the dark! I’m scared of what could be in the dark, like traps! Or monsters! Or that annoying pink pony who loves parties!”

Chrysalis rolled her eyes as she and Cozy flew down the hallway. “Being alert and being scared are two TOTALLY different things!”

“Hey!” cried Cozy as she and Chrysalis stepped onto the solid floor again. “It’s not like you’re doing a good job of being alert! Just like you didn’t do a good job of getting overthrown and banished!”

“HOW DARE YOU!” snarled Chrysalis as she slammed her hooves against the ground, startling Cozy. “I WAS WRONGFULLY OVERTHROWN THANKS TO THAT TRAITOR THORAX AND AWFUL STARLIGHT GLIMMER, AND I WILL HAVE MY REVE-“ Chrysalis’ sentence was interrupted again, this time by a loud rumbling. Cozy and Chrysalis turned around to see a large boulder coming out of the ceiling, barreling straight towards them.

Both of them shrieking in horror, Chrysalis and Cozy raced down the hallway. While Chrysalis was decently fast, Cozy struggled to keep up due to her tiny wings. She panted heavily in frustration.

“Chrysalis!?” shouted the small Pegasus filly as she started losing ground to the boulder.

Peering behind her, while Chrysalis was tempted to let the filly fall behind in retaliation for those horrible words she said only a few moments ago, eventually pragmatism won out. Intentionally falling behind, she grabbed Cozy and continued rushing down the hallway.

“Hurry, Chrysalis!” shouted Cozy Glow as she saw the boulder was still gaining on them.

“DO NOT TEMPT ME, CHILD!” yelled Chrysalis as she flapped her bug wings harder.

Finally, Chrysalis and Cozy burst through a small opening as the boulder crashed behind them. Exhausted, Chrysalis collapsed to the ground, setting Cozy down with her. Both the changeling ex-queen and the filly huffed and puffed for several moments from exhaustion.

Eventually turning up and looking at Chrysalis, Cozy nodded and said “Thank you…. Chrysalis.”

Chrysalis paused and snarled at the filly. “Don’t ever insult me like that again, child, or I just might LET the boulder crush you.”

Cozy nodded wearily. The pair then stood up, taking in the large room they found themselves in. An illuminated chamber thanks to the sunlight seeping in from the partially broken ceiling above, the stone room contained a small stone sphere on the ground, with a long railway-like track in the air leading to the top of a tall pedestal in the middle of the room.

Chrysalis laughed as soon as she saw the sphere and pedestal respectively. “What kind of amateur puzzle is this? Of course the sphere goes on top of the pedestal. A filly could’ve figured this out!”

Chrysalis then lifted the stone sphere using her magic; while heavy, the sphere was movable and as such was slowly moved up to the railway by Chrysalis’ telekinesis. Upon reaching around halfway up to the pedestal, however, the sphere suddenly fell as the railway flipped downwards with a hidden downward lever in the track. The sphere fell to the ground with a loud crash but looked none the worse for wear.

Cozy Glow chuckled. “It’s a puzzle in an ancient Temple, Chrysalis! Of course it wouldn’t be that easy!”

Chrysalis scowled. “Hmph. No matter, I’ll just do this the hard way!” Chrysalis then levitated the sphere in an attempt to lift the sphere up to the pedestal. As soon as it was about to reach the top of the pedestal, a sideway stone pillar burst out of the side, sending the sphere flying back towards the ground. Another attempt by Chrysalis to levitate the sphere further away from the pedestal only resulted in the sphere vibrating violently before suddenly becoming too heavy for Chrysalis to levitate, once again falling to the ground with a loud thud.

“Golly!” shouted Cozy Glow as she came up to the sphere to examine it. “This sphere must have some kind of sensor to determine if it’s too far away from the pedestal!”

“Terrific,” moaned Queen Chrysalis. “Darn ponies….. always making things complicated.”

Going up to the little section of the track that went downwards when the sphere went over it, Cozy Glow flew up and began holding up the section with her hoofs. “Miss Chrysalis?”

“Yes, child?”

“Try levitating the sphere up the rail with me holding up this section!”

Chrysalis raised an eyebrow. “And what happens if your support fails to hold?”

“I’ll be okay!” shouted Cozy Glow. “The sphere will go fast enough that’ll go over this section with my support with ease!”

Despite Chrysalis being skeptical of the whole plan, she agreed to do it (while holding her own forelegs against the railing as well for extra support). With Chrysalis’ and Cozy’s forelegs against the railing, Chrysalis levitated the sphere up the railing once again, while gaining lots of momentum as Cozy suggested.

Miraculously, the plan worked; the boulder sped up the railing, and while Chrysalis and Cozy did struggle to keep the rail up, the sphere went across the section without falling, eventually ending up on top of the pedestal. After a loud rumbling, a door to the right side of the room opened.

“Told you!” laughed Cozy, who stopped supporting the railing and rushed over to the now open doorway.

“Hmph” thought Chrysalis as she headed over to the doorway as well. “For such a young and naïve filly, that was actually pretty smart thinking.”

Coming into another dark hallway, Chrysalis once again illuminated the hallway with her horn. Unlike the last hallway, however, this one depicted several ancient pictures, with the most common figure in the pictures being a white unicorn mare with long red hair.

While Chrysalis paid no attention to the pictures as she trotted down the hallway (while surveying the floors and walls for any traps), Cozy Glow looked over the pictures with wonder. Based on what she could quickly view in the paintings while Chrysalis headed down the hallway, she guessed that the pictures depicted the following events:

· The white and red unicorn clearly had some sort of authority in the past, perhaps maybe as the princess over a region of Equestria.

· The unicorn and her region originally lived in harmony, despite her region of unicorns being separated from the other races; however, eventually a dark blue unicorn came along and threatened the unicorn and her region.

· The white and red unicorn was able to barely fend off the blue unicorn; she was ultimately able to do so at the cost of her horn.

· When the pony races united after Hearts Warming Eve, the white and red unicorn stepped down as ruler out of a sense of peace for the region; she disappeared soon after.

“Hm,” thought Cozy as she followed Chrysalis down the path. “The ponies didn’t mention this unicorn in their Hearts Warming Eve stories.”

Eventually the hallway separated into two paths. Both openings looked identical to each other, causing Chrysalis and Cozy to exchange a look.

“Golly….. which way, Chrysalis?”

Chrysalis pulled up the map in frustration. “Nothing on the blasted map says anything about a hallway opening. Did any of those boring paintings say anything?”

Cozy Glow shook her head. “Nope; just a bunch of stuff in the past.”

Chrysalis groaned. “Well…. One of these doors has to be right, so I’m going down the left door.”

Chrysalis started down the left pathway, but was interrupted by Cozy shouting “Wait!”

Chrysalis furiously turned to Cozy. “Yes, child!?”

Cozy gulped before answering. “It’s just…….. logically, if there IS only one correct path…. Then surely the right path is the right one?”

Chrysalis laughed in amusement. “What is it with you ponies and logic!?”

“HEY!” yelled Cozy in frustration. “I may be a pony, but I’m not like them! I’m evil!”

“Maybe so, but you still take after their traditions!” Chrysalis then started heading down the left path. “I’m going this way.”

“FINE!” shouted Cozy, who headed down the right path. “Then I’ll head down THIS path!”

The pair headed down the opposite paths, thinking that they had picked the right one. Unbeknownst to both Cozy and Chrysalis, however, they both arrived in separate rooms at the same time, which had a small pressure plate in the center of the room with doorways blocked by heavy stone doors. Both Chrysalis and Cozy happily stepped on the pressure plates, thinking they would unlock the doors.

Unfortunately for them, the pressure plates did not unlock the doors. The pressure plates had two triggers: one for just enough weight and the other for too little weight. Had both of them gone onto a singular pressure plate, they would’ve ended up in the room with the Amethyst crystal Grogar had requested.

Too little weight, however, caused a second trigger, which opened a hidden door to the side and caused a pressure plate to shove the being in the room down the new passageway. Despite Chrysalis’ and Cozy’s efforts (and screams), both were shoved down their respective passageways.

Cozy screamed as she was shoved into a waterfall which caused her to plummet down a long, natural waterslide. Unable to see anything, she eventually flew into another room, tumbling onto the ground with a loud thud. Shaking her now wet hair and tail in an attempt to dry them out, she shouted out “Chrysalis!? Hello!?” Her voice echoed out into the room with no response. Thankfully, this room was well illuminated, with several torches with magical fire lighting up the room. Looking around, she saw a series of metal blocks over by what looked like a closed marble door.

Picking up one of the smaller metal blocks, she noticed there were two scales on both sides of the door. Remembering that she once saw this puzzle from an old puzzle book the Cutie Mark Crusaders (curse them!) lent her back when she was a student at the School of Friendship, Cozy began carefully balancing blocks on both scales so their weight would even out.

While doing so, Cozy Glow reflected on the events that led up to this point. She had made friends with the CMC and infiltrated the School of Friendship. She had discreetly taken over the school, distracted the Mane Six, and nearly erased all magic in Equestria. However, thanks to the Student Six, her plans had been foiled at the last minute. Which led to her imprisonment in Tartarus until her breakout by Grogar, who had recruited her, Lord Tirek, Queen Chrysalis, and King Sombra for his plans.

“Chrysalis…..” signed Cozy as she struggled to handle the larger metal blocks. “She could handle these darn blocks so much easier.”

Despite her reservations about Queen Chrysalis, Cozy Glow did admire her for her near victories over Equestria and her ability to manipulate the pony masses. While Cozy didn’t exactly consider Chrysalis a “friend,” she was willing to work with her for the time being.

Eventually, after much effort, she pushed the last large metal block onto the right scale. Huffing and puffing, Cozy breathed a huge sign of relief as the door opened.

“Here’s hoping you got through as well, Chrysalis…..”

Meanwhile, Chrysalis also sped down a different water slide (though she was also screaming the whole time). Eventually crashing into a different room made of stone with a marble door, Chrysalis whipped her turquoise hair back to take in the room. Her puzzle, meanwhile, was an obstacle course: a long hallway filled with inverted walls (close enough to the ceiling so she couldn’t just fly across), army crawls, rings to fly through, and spikes coming out of the walls.

Chrysalis got over the inverted walls and crawled under the wire with ease, but her first attempt through the rings didn’t go so well. After passing through the first ring, she tripped a wire, and due to being a little too slow to pass through it, she triggered a marble plate that came up from above. Sending her crashing into the ceiling, Chrysalis barely managed to fly downwards and get through the second ring, which unfortunately triggered a second large plate that bashed into her, sending her flying towards the ground. After crashing into the ground, she managed to fly upwards, dazed from all the crashes.

Thankfully, while she did trip the third tripwire, she was able to avoid the last pressure plate, barely dodging the large marble plate. Continuing through a series of gaps and dodging incoming spikes and fire with ease, Chrysalis herself reflected on her situation.

She nearly had it all, three times. Then she lost thanks to Twilight Sparkle and the power of love, then to Twilight Sparkle again during an eclipse, and then to the traitorous Thorax and horrible Starlight Glimmer. That last loss was the hardest, as she lost her prestige and title as queen of the Changelings (regardless, she still referred to herself as Queen Chrysalis).

After another failed attempt to get even with the Mane Six (she would never trust clones again), she was recruited by Grogar alongside Lord Tirek, King Sombra, and Cozy Glow.

Regarding the latter, while she found the filly rather annoying, she (begrudgingly) DID admire the filly for her evil ways and manipulation, and actually pitied the filly for her lack of parental figures. While she would NEVER admit it, Chrysalis did like Cozy Glow.

“Just shut up more, filly, and I might NOT destroy you when I take over Equestria.” Eventually reaching the end of the obstacle course, Chrysalis proudly pulled the lever and headed through the opened passageway.

Cozy Glow, who had managed to finish her respective puzzle a few moments before Chrysalis, came across a short bridge over a chasm. Various openings in the walls signaled to Cozy that some sort of trap surrounded the bridge.

“Maybe it’s spikes again!” thought Cozy as she got closer to the bridge. “Or saws! Or saws with spikes on them!”

Peering over to view one of the openings, a giant swinging pendulum with a saw swung past, startling Cozy back.

“Golly, Faust! You sure were into lethal traps! I actually admire that…..”

Sticking out her hoof again, she saw that the swinging saws were indeed triggered by motion. Timing her jumps carefully, Cozy gradually hoped across the bridge while dodging the saws.

“Ugh….. all this hopping makes me feel like Pinkie Pie.”

Eventually making it across the bridge, Cozy found a pressure plate, which she happily stepped on. However, she evidently failed into account the pressure plate mishap from earlier and didn’t realize there was a second hallway leading to the bridge from the opposite direction. Like the previous pressure plates, this one had two triggers: one for just enough weight and the other for too little weight.

Cozy Glow once again triggered the too little weight condition, which caused the pressure plate to spring her back across the bridge. Screaming as she barely dodged the motion detected swinging saws, she was unable to control her momentum as Queen Chrysalis entered the chamber, having just completed her own test.

Unfortunately for both of them, Cozy Glow crashed into Chrysalis at high speed, sending them sprawling across the floor. Chrysalis groaned before seeing what smashed into her, causing her to fly into another rage.

“YOU AGAIN!? HOW DARE YOU CRASH INTO ME AT HIGH SPEED!”

Cozy flew up from the ground, getting in Chrysalis’ face. “Well, sorry! It’s not my fault you came into this room just as I got launched back across that stupid bridge!”

Chrysalis snarled as she bought her own face against Cozy’s. “WHY IS IT YOU INSIST ON COMING BACK!? I GET A REPRIEVE FROM YOU FOR FIVE MINUTES AND THEN SUDDENLY I’M BACK WITH YOU AGAIN!”

“I didn’t design this dumb temple!” cried Cozy. “I mean, we’ve barely made it through the traps, and save for the last one I’ve needed your help to-“

Cozy and Chrysalis then stopped, their anger disappearing as they realized what the traps were testing. Chrysalis facehoofed.

“Looks like whoever designed this temple, Faust or whatever, was fond of friendship…… blast these ponies and their darn friendship…….”

Cozy nodded. “I guess…….. we need to figure out these puzzles together. Otherwise the temple will punish us.

Sighing Chrysalis headed towards the bridge. “I’ll work with you, filly….. but we are acquaintances, NOT friends…… no matter what Grogar says……”

Cozy nodded, flying quickly to prevent Chrysalis from going across the bridge. “Motion sensor swinging saws; you need to time your jumps carefully.”

After managing to dodge the saws without losing any limbs (or hair), the pair stood on the pressure plate together. This time, the correct weight was triggered, causing the door to open.

Finding a large spiral staircase, Cozy Glow eagerly flew up the stairs while Chrysalis trudged up behind. “We better be close to that Amethyst crystal........ this temple and filly are really starting to test my patience….”

Chrysalis and Cozy eventually reached the top of the staircase, finding themselves in a massive stone room. The room was surprisingly well lit, with enough sunlight peering out of cracks in the ceiling to the point that Chrysalis didn’t need to use her illumination spell. Two closed doorways led out of the room, with the center containing the staircase entrance and a tall pedestal containing a cage with a large, glistening, purple crystal.

“This must be the Amethyst Crystal!” shouted Cozy Glow as she and Chrysalis rushed up to the cage. Their hooves were too short to reach the cage, however, and looking for any openings and Chrysalis levitating the crystal with her magic proved fruitless.

“Hmmm” thought Cozy Glow. “Since we’ve worked together so far to solve the puzzles in this temple, this must be some sort of final test.”

“Well, the Amethyst Crystal is right there,” snarked Chrysalis. “What do we need to do to get it open, sing a duet? Because I can do that.”

Their thoughts were interrupted by a loud clanging noise. Turning sharply, Chrysalis and Cozy looked to the dark corner of the room where the clanging came from. Their confusion turned to horror as a large, stone Earth Pony golem stepped out of the darkness. Standing twenty feet tall with a large stone meant to resemble a lance and lit up with magical energy, the golem bull rushed towards them.

Cozy and Chrysalis bolted as the golem rushed and leapt straight into the cage with a loud BANG. Falling to the ground, it instantly got up and began searching around for Chrysalis and Cozy, who were now flying several feet up in the air.

“You’ve GOT to be kidding me!” cried Cozy. “Couldn’t the final test just be a duet or something?”

“Nothing’s ever simple for the ponies,” sighed Chrysalis as she dodged a thrust of the golem’s lance. “Believe me I know.”

For several moments, Cozy and Chrysalis dodged the golem’s attacks while trying to figure out his weak points. However, due to Cozy’s small size, she couldn’t do much in terms of damage, and Chrysalis’s mind control and magic blasts failed to have any effect on the golem.

“Blasted creature likely has as much harmony and love as Cadence and Shining Armor” snarled Chrysalis.

While Cozy saw Chrysalis dodge another bull rush from the golem, she took another look at the cage. It still looked intact, but slightly out of place.

A light bulb going off above her head, Cozy yelled “Chrysalis! Trick the golem into attacking the cage.”

“What!?” shouted Chrysalis from across the room. “Won’t that risk destroying the crystal!?”

“Just try it!”

Despite her reluctance, Chrysalis agreed. Positioning herself in front of the cage, she baited the golem into charging at her.

The golem obliged, barely missing Chrysalis as she flew upwards. The golem again leapt through the air smashing against the cage, this time causing a loud audible CRACK. The cage was now slightly off balance, with the pedestal also showing signs of wear.

“Golly, I think it’s working Chrysalis!” yelled Cozy excitedly. “Keep doing it!”

“At least help me out, child!” yelled Chrysalis as she led the golem around the room. “I can't do this by myself!"

Despite her reluctance due to her small size, Cozy obliged, with her and Chrysalis taking turns into having the golem charge into the cage (and by extension the pedestal). The cage became more and more damaged each time, pieces of metal flinging off it onto the ground below.

“Be ready to levitate the crystal, Chrysalis!” yelled Cozy as she readied to bait the golem one last time. Carefully positioning herself just above the pedestal, Cozy held her breath as the golem charged against her again. Flying upwards, she gasped as the golem managed to knock her at the last second, sending her flying across the room.

However, the charge was effective, sending the cage flying off the pedestal. Chrysalis grabbed the purple crystal and after feeling a rumble, saw one of the doors open.

“This way, child!” yelled Chrysalis as she rushed towards the exit. “I have the crystal!”

Cozy attempted to fly towards Chrysalis and the exit but was stopped by a very angry Earth Pony golem. The absence of the crystal hadn’t affected the golem at all; if anything it looked extremely pissed off now.

Cozy tried to rush past the golem but was slammed into the wall by the golem’s lance.

“CHRYSALIS!” screamed Cozy. “HELP ME!”

Chrysalis paused to look back at Cozy and the golem. The golem was just about on top of the former, about to pound her into the ground.

Chrysalis smirked. “Serves you right, pony; shouldn’t have mocked me earlier.”

As she turned to leave, however, she thought about Grogar. He would have questions about Cozy Glow, and would be highly disappointed in Chrysalis if she returned back alone. Chrysalis didn’t have the faintest idea what plans Grogar had for Cozy Glow, but she was evidently important enough to include her in Grogar’s plans to take over Equestria from the ponies.

Also, while Cozy Glow might have annoyed Chrysalis, she didn’t want the young filly to die. Regardless of her being a pony, she was still a filly, and Cozy DID almost erase all magic from Equestria…….

“Ugh….” moaned Chrysalis as she set the Amethyst Crystal down and dashed back towards the golem. “You owe me for this one, COZY GLOW!”

Just as poor Cozy was about to be crushed by the golem, Chrysalis rushed up and slammed into the golem’s face with her legs. While it failed to do sustainable damage (and actually quite hurt Chrysalis’ legs in the process), it DID get the golem’s attention. The golem turned towards Chrysalis in anger for the attempted attack.

“Run, Cozy!” yelled Chrysalis as she distracted the Golem. Cozy, though weak, began rushing towards the exit.

Chrysalis distracted the Golem for a few precious seconds, and as soon as she saw Cozy flying near the exit, turned around to rush towards it herself. The golem charged with one last bull rush, steaming towards Chrysalis and Cozy.

With only a few inches to spare, Chrysalis, Cozy, and the Amethyst Crystal (levitated by Chrysalis’ magic) burst through the exit, with the golem crashing into the small passage behind them. Not stopping to look, Chrysalis and Cozy rapidly flew with the crystal down the hallway, eventually expressing relief as they found themselves outside the temple.

Breathing heavily, Chrysalis looked over at Cozy and said, “You okay, child?” Chrysalis was then taken off guard by Cozy hugging her.

“Golly, Chrysalis, that big golem almost crushed me! Thank you so much!”

Despite her reservations about……pony expressions, Chrysalis returned the hug. After a few moments however, Chrysalis glared at Cozy and said, “But you owe me for this, and no more bad talking about my wrongful overthrow.”

“Done!” yelled Cozy as she let go. “Hmm…….do you think we’re….. a team now?”

Chrysalis cringed, causing Cozy to sigh. “Guess we didn’t do our best for Grogar then.”

Chrysalis thought for a moment, then said “How about…….. close acquaintances?”

“Works for me!” yelled Cozy as she looked at the Amethyst Crystal. “This crystal is so large and shiny! I hope Grogar likes it.”

“Me too,” replied Chrysalis as she began levitating the crystal again. “Especially since we need to haul this thing back.”

After much effort, Chrysalis and Cozy brought the Amethyst Crystal back to Grogar’s cave. The latter was waiting for them and was quite happy to see they brought the crystal to him safely.

“EXCELLENT!” yelled Grogar as he took the Amethyst Crystal. “YOU TWO EXCEEDED MY EXPECTATIONS!”

“If you don’t mind me asking, Grogar sir,” asked Cozy as she raised her right hoof. “What was the point of all this?”

“THE POINT,” explained Grogar, “WAS TO SHOW THE VALUE OF TEAMWORK. AND TEACH YOU THAT NOT EVERYTHING CAN BE DONE ALONE.”

A smile crossed Grogar’s mouth. “Take the rest of the day and tomorrow off; you earned it.” And with that, Grogar disappeared along with the crystal.

“Well,” said Chrysalis as she stretched. “I’m going to have a soak in the waterfall and get some sleep. A queen needs her rest after such a tough quest.”

“I’m going to make cupcakes!” yelled Cozy, who turned to leave, but then said to Chrysalis. “Chrysalis? You’re going into town tomorrow right?”

“Yes,” replied Chrysalis. “I need supplies……. And information from the ponies….”

“Can I come with you? As a….. close acquaintance?”

After a short moment of silence, Chrysalis sighed and said “Okay, child….. just stick close to me and don’t break cov-.” Cozy rewarded Chrysalis with another hug. “Thanks, Chrysalis. Golly, you’re the best close acquaintance EVER!” Cozy then flew off out of the room.

Chrysalis scowled, but then smiled. “She may be annoying…… but she is a good close acquaintance…. Maybe even a good teammate.”

Discord lowered the Grogar disguise as soon as he teleported out. He held up the amethyst crystal with high regard. “Discord, you really outdid yourself. You bought two evil villains closer towards friendship and you got Spike a great birthday present! Hope he likes the taste of amethyst crystals!”

END

Author's Note

Wrote this as part of a Secret Santa gift exchange!