Cozy Towers

The Mage 6 all finally arrived at the top of the tower. Cozella had been eagerly awaiting for their arrival.

"Oh goodie! You all finally made it!"

"Stop this, Cozella! Let our friends go!!"

"Golly. I suppose I should deactivate my giant laser. But, Discord still hasn't yet told me the key to controlling chaos magic yet. I'm still itching to know!"

"Leave him alone!

"Well, I can't harm Discord, since I promised I wouldn't. But he is still my captive. Either it's the chaos magic, or it's the citizens below! 'Cause this laser is going to fire if you don't tell me your secrets!"

"You can't do this, Cozella!"

"Call this off! You're taking this way too far!"

"Oh, but blowing Spiketopia to bits will be just too much fun to pass up. But let's hold off on that for now. My laser still needs some time to charge up, and I already possess the keys to world domination as is. Because while you six were busy searching for power, so was I!"

Cozella held Twilight’s crown above her head, and put it on her head. The crown was decorated with all six Elements of Harmony.

“My crown! I mean, Twilight’s crown!”

“Oh please. You think everypony hasn’t figured it out by now? You’re not a humble mage. You’re the Princess of Equestria! But now, I’ve got your crown, along with the rest of the Elements of Harmony!"

"But I thought you already had the Elements. Err, somethin' powerin' that laser!"

"You all thought my weapon was powered by six powerful artifacts, but Garbunkle fell for my fake schematics! The laser has its own internal power source. The real power was inside you six all along. But now that power belongs to me!"

"You could've told us we were already equipped with the Elements of Harmony! That would've made wiping the floor with you from the beginning easier!"

"But, Cozella. Only the Element bearers can wield the Elements! They are of no use to you!"

"Oh, I don't need to wield the Elements! I just need to make sure you DON'T wield them against me! Same idea behind taking Discord's chaos magic! And now that you guys are powerless, allow me to reap the reward!"

Cozella opened a hatch on the side of the laser turret, and inside was the real source of its power.

*gasp* "The Squizard's beak!"

"Yes. But now the Squizard's dark magic shall be wielded by me directly! HAHAHAHA!!

Cozella cracked open the Squizzard's beak, like a walnut, and absorbed the dark energy that flowed out of it. The extra magic made Cozella grow more powerful!

"Not that I need the stat buff anyway. Without your special powers, you seven don't stand a chance against my superior intellect!"

"You know, Cozella. Seven heads are better than one!"

"Is that so? Well, in that case, I challenge you to a magical duel!”

“We accept!”

“A full party of heroines versus one big boss? Oooohh. I love a good climax. Alright, Twilight "TwiShine" Sparkle. Prepare to meet your game’s end!”

"Less talking, and more dueling!"

"As you wish. Let the mayhem begin."

Epic final boss music commences

Screen transition

Cozella versus TwiShine's full party, consisting of Garbunkle, Raremare, Ranger Dash, Applebarian, Beautyshy, and Ponkmo.

“I lead with Beautyshy and Garbunkle by my side!”

And indeed, out stepped Beautyshy, and Garbunkle to TwiShine's side.

“It’s my turn first.”

Cozella conjured up a 20 sided dice, and rolled.

Cozella rolled a 16.

“A 16! Higher than average, well, slightly below average for somepony with my amazing luck.”

"What’s she going to do?"

"I'll show you!"

*poof*

Garbunkle turned into a frog.

"I curse you with a frog stasis spell!”

"Oh *ribbit* come on! I haven't even gotten to do anything *ribbit* yet!"

"I'll keep the suffering to a minimum for now. I end my turn."

It was now the Mage 6’s turn.

TwiShine rolled her die, and got a 6.

"Now what, TwiShine?"

"I switch out Garbunkle for Ranger Dash!"

"Are you sure, TwiShine? I think I'm still quite capable of *ribbit*-"

Garbunkle was interrupted by the party swapping, and replaced by Ranger Dash!

“I enchant Ranger Dash with a Sharp Shooter enchantment, to boost her attack, and accuracy! Beautyshy also casts an enchantment on Ranger Dash, this one boosting her defenses!"

I can see clearly what you're planning here, TwiShine. You're relying on Ranger Dash to do massive damage. Let's see how successful you are with that plan.

It was Cozella’s turn again.

Cozella rolled an 11. Not particularly high by her standards, but plenty enough to do some damage.

"It's all in the wrist. Now, it's time to do some damage!"

Cozella cast a powerful shock wave attack, damaging all three party members at once. Beautyshy and TwiShine lost nearly half their health points, while Ranger Dash took reduced damage thanks to the guard spell.

"It's my turn again! And it's time we retaliate! Ranger Dash, take her out!"

"With pleasure."

Ranger Dash loaded her crossbow, and fired at Cozella.

The arrow *twing* bounced right off of Cozella.

*gasp*
*gasp*
*gasp*

"What? I just had a really high defense stat. That's all."

TwiShine and co still had their jaws dropped in disbelief.

"Anyway, now it's my turn again!"

Cozella rolled a 14, allowing her to cast powerful magic.

Cozella cast a lightning bolt down upon Ranger Dash! A critical hit! Piercing her defenses, and knocking her out!

"NOO!!!"
"NOO!!!"

TwiShine and Beautyshy ran to Dash's side.

"Ranger Dash! Speak to us!"

"C-C-Clobber that brat!!"

"Will do." *nods*

"I switch out Beautyshy and Ranger Dash, for Applebarian, and Raremare!"

Raremare and Applebarian appeared by TwiShine's side, ready to do battle.

TwiShine rolled a 14!

"A fourteen! Perhaps luck is on my side this time! I use this roll to boost Applebarian's attack power, and enchant Raremare with extra sparkly enchantment!"

"Okay. What are you gonna do? Sparkle me to depletion?"

"These sparkles, darling, allow me to cast more intricate spells."

*Pfft* "Intricate spells. Like what?"

Raremare increased the attack and speed of Applebarian.

Applebarian ran up to Cozella with her ax ready.

Applebarian swung the ax at their opponent. It was a direct hit, however, the only effect it had was leaving a Cozy Glow shaped indent in the blade, whilst Cozella remained unscratched.

"You know this duel isn't very exciting if nothing we do does any damage to you, Darling."

"I don't know what you mean. I'm having a blast with this breezy battle."

"But, Cozella. What's the point of winning if it's easy?"

"Just watching you ponies struggle to take me down is plenty enough amusement for me."

The ponies scoffed at Cozella's dark heart, twisted amusement.

"And besides. It's not like this was easy for me. The real journey started way before this. I played my cards right, and I wound up as the leader of Spiketopia! I even managed to outsmart all of you, and take your Elements away! It took hard work, and good planning."

With the beginning of Cozella's turn, she rolled a 12, and swiftly performed a wave attack. The attack miraculously missed TwiShine, but Raremare and Applebarian weren't as lucky. They were taking down with a one hit wonder!

TwiShine swapped her fainted party members for Ponkmo and Beautyshy.

"We're running low on options, TwiShine. What do we do?"

"Let's see um. I could have you cast a um... no. What if I... no."

"Step aside! I got this!"

Ponkmo pulled out her lute, and started strumming and singing.

"We may be a fightin'~~ But that's no excuse for tryin'~~"

"To eliminate your so-called foes~~!"

*epic lute solo*

"I just wanted to say ~~ we can still come together and play!"

"So, disarm your super laser of destruction, release Captain Wuzz, and we won't have to lay down the hurtin'~~!"

*dun dun dun* Ponkmo finished strumming, and concluded her song.

Everypony's jaw, even Cozella's, was wide open in shock. What the heck did they listen to?

"Oookay? If you're done messing around, prepare for-"

And then, all of the sudden, the song gave Ponkmo a massive stat boost!

"WHAT THE?!"

"My enchanted song boosts my stats all around, and I get an extra turn! So therefore, I unleash-"

Ponkmo ran off screen, and reappeared, with a-

"Super duper laser, meet the Super Duper Party Pony Cannonball Surprise!!!"

Ponkmo fired her cannon at Cozella, and then-

*KA-BOOM*

A large explosion emanated from Cozella's side of the battlefield. Her side was left clouded with smoke.

"Did we do it?"

As the smoke cleared up, they saw Cozella on the ground, panting for air.

Cozella did actually take damage! Only partial damage though.

"Wow! That hurt. I'll give you credit, Ponkmo, you're by far the strongest member of the Mage 6. But, you're still boned."

Cozella waved her hooves, casting a dark magical spell around Ponkmo.

"Beak of the Squizard! Clamp down on the bard!"

The Squizard's beak was conjured up, and it chomped down on Ponkmo, greatly damaging her, and knocking her down in a single hit.

With Ponkmo fainted, TwiShine swapped her out for Garbunkle, who was still a frog.

Cozella had a huge advantage over TwiShine. Her party's health was dwindling, whilst Cozella remained almost untouched.

"It's not looking *ribbit* good, TwiShine. Our party members are knocked out. We're low on items. Our own health points are low too."

"Um. I'm not fainted yet. I might be able to come up with something."

"We can't give up, Garbunkle. There's so much that's at stake."

"I don't want to give up, but I simply don't see a winning avenue for us."

TwiShine examined her inventory one more time. There was still her special held item.

"That's it! Garbunkle, I think I know how we can still win! And it's not going to take any luck or special dice rolls. Just a little convincing."

"Huh?"

"Cozy Glow! Why are you doing this?"

"Why am I doing what?"

"Why go to all these lengths to take over the land, and seize all this power?"

"This isn't just about winning the game. Once I win, I will be in control of Discord's chaos magic, AND the six Elements of Harmony. I'll be powerful enough to reshape reality!"

"Is that really what you want, Cozy? Is this really the path you still want to take?"

"What do you mean? I thought we were just playing a game."

"We're still just playing the game?"

"What, did you think this whole life-like game of Ogres & Oubliettes was a scheme to steal your powers and use them to take over the real Equestria?"

"...Maybe?"

"Silence! I'mma let you find out the answer to that conundrum, once you're defeated!"

"That's not going to happen, Cozella! I have something that is the key to your defeat!"

TwiShine pulled out her special held item.

"What the?! What is that? Another Element?! But I have them all! There's only supposed to be six!"

"There are more, Cozella But new Elements can still bloom when they are earned!"

"What? That's nonsense. And what is that anyway? The Element of Forgiveness? I already have your Element! You can't have two!"

"Oh, it's not my Element. It's yours!"

"WHAT?!"

TwiShine passed the gem over to Cozella. The gem magically bonded itself to Cozella, and formed a necklace, and the gem stone itself had changed its shape. It was now shaped like a little rook. Cozella was stuck, magically bound in place by her own Element.

The magic sent shockwaves through Cozella. The rest of the Elements flew out from Cozella's saddlebag, and attached themselves to their Element bearers. Being reunited with their Elements fully restored everypony's health points, and healed all status ailments. Garbunkle was also restored to his normal form.

"NO! What is happening?!"

TwiShine and all her friends held hooves, and charged up their Elements.

Their stats climbed to unbelievably high numbers!

Each of the six Elements beamed out, and latched onto Cozella one at a time, and wrapped her in a laser rainbow swirl. The rainbow Cozella was impacted by the powerful rainbow blast!

"You see, Cozy, friendship is powerful, but power isn't the reason we're friends. We're friends because of special spark!"

The power of their friendship was so great, it had pierced all her defenses, and her life points were depleted.

Cozella lay defeated on the ground.

Everypony looked over at the fallen filly, and approached her slowly.

"So, Cozy Glow. What'll it be this time?"

Cozella sat up. She held her Element in her hooves, and looked at it.

"Where did this come from?"

"It appeared after I turned back to normal. While I was in stone, I had a vision of you and I became friends."

"We did?"

"Mhm. You reformed, so I think this Element is linked to your reformation. It's your Element, since it's bound to you."

"Why in Equestria would I have my own Element though?"

"Even I am not totally sure. There are many mysteries pertaining to the Elements of Harmony. But I am willing to help you seek the answers you have.

"...Are you offering for me to be your magical apprentice?"

TwiShine nodded.

"But, after all I did. The tyrannical rule. The robbery of your Elements! The near destruction of your friends. Why would you forgive me?"

"Because if that Element formed upon the vision of your reformation, then I know there is good inside you after all. You may have been turned to stone, but there may be a heart of gold inside after all. What do you say, Cozy Glow?"

TwiShine extended her hoof out to Cozella.

Cozella was hesitant at first. But, TwiShine's offer seemed genuine. She'd already passed up friendship a couple times, and this may be her last chance.

Cozella accepted Twilight's hoof. The two came together and hugged.

"Woohoo!"

"Yay!"

*sniff* "Alright. I think that's enough play for now."

"I agree. Discord, take us home."

"That's not my name, you know."

"Okay, Captain Wuzz." ;)

"With pleasure."

Discord snapped his fingers.

The game was over, and everypony found themselves back in the Canterlot rec room.

Cozy started laughing uncontrollably. But it wasn't a sinister laugh. Her laughter was joyful.

"Are you kidding? Cozy Glow earns her own Element? Ridiculous!" Cozy said, laughing.

"It is kinda silly when you get down to it. Elements of Harmony are old news anyway." Twilight said.

"Realistic or not, that's the fun of Ogres & Oubliettes. You can pretend to be somepony you're not, and can even roleplay as something you'd want to be." Spike said. "And you know, for all the underhoofed tactics you did, Cozy, you were actually a really smart strategist. You should consider joining us again next time." Spike said.

Cozy thought back on her time playing the game, and how it felt getting lost in the imaginative aspect.

"Hmm... Nah. I'm good." Cozy said.

"You sure, Cozy? You looked like you were having the time of your life coming up with those scenarios." Spike said.

"Eh. It was fun for one night, but I can't see myself sticking with this nerdy game." Cozy said.

Spike looked at Cozy, with a sneaky grin.

"Okay. Maybe I did have a little bit of fun. But, it's just a phase, I swear." Cozy insisted.

But the truth is, Cozy couldn't wait to do it again. Maybe she'd leave dungeon master duties in charge of somepony else. Maybe she'd try to be a hero, rather than a villain.

"Alright. It's getting way late, everypony. Let's all head home and get some shut eye." Twilight said.

All of Twilight's friends nodded in agreement.

"Oh, but because of this game, I'm way behind on my reconstruction work." Cozy said.

"Don't worry, Cozy. I'll make an exception for tonight." Twilight said.

Discord was kind enough to open portals for Twilight's friends to make it home quickly. He, and everypony else left the scene, leaving Twilight, Spike, and Cozy Glow to themselves.

Twilight led Cozy Glow to her room. But there was something from the game that Cozy couldn't stop thinking about.

"...So, Twilight. Do you think I'll actually find my own Element?" Cozy asked.

"I can't promise anything, but I also can't count anything out." Twilight said. "If you stay on the right path, who knows how you might be rewarded in the future."

"And about all that stuff we said in the game, did you really mean it?" Cozy asked.

"As long as you did. I'm willing to forgive you, and teach you about friendship, if you're willing to listen." Twilight said.

Cozy nodded. "Okay, Twilight."

She was starting to warm up to the idea of friendship under Twilight's wing. And that, was not just a phase.