I don't retreat into my mindscape again: now that I'm starting to question my own sanity, it seems more like a trap than a reprieve. Instead I just stare at the gardens as the shadows slowly lengthen and the sun slips below the horizon. It's a moonless night, so the only light is from the windows of Canterlot Castle and the distant lamps of the city proper. I can't sleep, exactly, since I was petrified, but I do begin to slip into a kind of torpor, where hours pass like seconds. The sound of hooves crunching on the gravel path snaps me wide awake. Somepony is coming...

Two heavily-built earth pony stallions, each holding a hooded lantern in their mouths. Something is strapped to their back: I strain to see. Tools? Yes... sledgehammers and shovels. They're big ponies, but the third visitor matches their height: I spot lavender fur, expansive wings, a long horn glowing dimly: Twilight Sparkle, the Princess of Friendship, ruler of Equestria.

The first few months after I was imprisoned she used to visit regularly. Early on she would give the three of us a little lecture on 'why Friendship will always prevail' or 'what we never understood' about her stupid philosophy. Later on she seemed to fixate on me in particular, staring at me and asking silly rhetorical questions like 'what made you so evil, Cozy?' or 'how could a mere filly have done all those things?'. Then she stopped coming altogether: I think it's been a year now since I've seen her face.

Fear knots in my stomach. She's here now... with lackeys bearing sledgehammers and shovels. So that was Discord in my mind, and he hadn't been lying. Twilight's really come to... to smash me to gravel, to bury what remains of me in a dark hole. Absolute monsters, the pair of them. Discord warned me, just so he could see me cry, see me vulnerable: pretending to be a young hippogriff with a plan to rescue me, trying to get my hopes up just so he could see them dashed. I'd be enraged, if I wasn't too busy being terrified. Twilight is about to inflict a fate worse than death, and I'm completely helpless. I try to scream, but my stone lips don't move a millimetre.

Twilight stops right in front of our statue, with her minions keeping a respectful distance. Something is floating along beside her, caught in her magic: the stone replica of me. She sets it down on the ground and then stares up into my eyes. The moment seems to stretch endlessly, but there's no lecture, no presumptuous questions this time. Instead, the princess's face contorts into a series of expressions. Fear, anger, disgust, frustration... guilt? Twilight's never been able to manage a poker face. Despite her conflicting feelings, when she does finally speak it is with conviction.

"Cozy Glow. You are charged with sedition, destruction of royal property, assault on the Celestial guard, high treason against the Crown, and unforgivable crimes against Harmony, the Natural Order and the Equestrian Way. You have shown no remorse and no pity."

'Because you never let me!' I try to scream. No pity? I had all her friends at my mercy, under the castle, and despite being some kind of supreme villainess I never killed anypony.

"Due to your... unnatural persuasive powers, I cannot risk a trial or an appeal. On the authority granted to me by Celestia Sol Invicta and Luna Custos Noctis, I hereby- I hereby sentence you to... death."

Twilight recoils slightly, as if surprised to hear those words come from her own lips. She gives a slight shake of her head, then lights her horn. I feel the princess's magic taking me in its grip, just like the time Luna threw me into the cage in Tartarus, just like all the times Prim Proper dragged me back to the orphanage. Except this time I can't even struggle.

Even this secret pronouncement is a lie, if Discord's vision was true. Death would be a mercy, compared to being smashed and buried alive. I can feel magic energy building up, seeping into my frozen body. My heart would race, if it wasn't a frozen chunk of stone. I thought she'd at least let me plead my case. Turn me back to flesh for just a minute, so I can make one last appeal for mercy. Try something, anything... but no. My fate is sealed.

With a crack my body breaks free of the rest of the statute: my little perch on top of Tirek where I've been stuck for three years. Twilight's face looms larger as she levitates me down, and I can see the worry, all the sleepless nights, in her expression.

She's really scared of me, isn't she? The Princess of Friendship isn't going to let me speak, because even with all her power, she thinks I might have a trick up my sleeve: some way to bewitch her, or turn her underlings on her, or something. That realisation gives me a tiny sliver of satisfaction, even as she levitates me onto the back of one of the earth ponies. The other pony throws a rope over me, securing my stone form to his companion's back.

"Take her over there, behind the pear trees." Twilight gestures with a hoof. "You know what you have to do, right? I don't want any pieces bigger than a marble."

"Yes princess!" "You can count on us!" The lackeys sound quick to obey; eager to please their princess. Typical ponies really. They must have bought all Twilight's swill about me being some primordial evil in the shape of a filly.

The alicorn princess nods, wrinkles her nose in disgust and then trots away into the night, heading back towards the statue. Presumably to install the copy so no one will know that I'm gone. So she's not even going to watch? See this through to the end? Coward, I think.

The two earth ponies look at each other, shrug, then start making their way to the orchard. "You gotta tell me if you start feeling funny, Trowel," the other pony says fearfully. "'Cause that's some grade-A nightmare fuel you got on your back. She could start messing with yer mind, any moment now!"

"Nah! You gotta trust the Princess!" 'Trowel' says confidently. "She said demon filly can't do nothing, so long as she's just a statue."

Unlike Chrysalis, I'm not too proud to beg for mercy. If I could, I'd scream and call out to Twilight. Promise her my eternal loyalty if she'd only spare me. I'd try and sway her servants: offer them secrets, hidden treasure, magical power. I'd promise anything, anything at all to prevent that sledgehammer from falling on my helpless stone form. These idiot earth ponies are everything I despise in ponykind: blindly trusting in their princess, following her orders even to the point of murdering a helpless child.

My mind races, searching desperately for a solution, but I come up with nothing usable, just silly fantasies. We're moving through the trees now: I'm on my side, tied to the back of the stallion, lanterns casting just enough light to see where we're going. The journey could only have taken a few minutes, but it felt so much longer.

The workers stop, and the second earth pony undoes the rope, then heaves me off his companion's back. I'm lying on the ground, staring up at them in the same frozen expression of horror I've had since the day I was petrified. It's just as appropriate now as when I felt Celestia, Luna and Discord's magic crawling over me, calcifying my flesh.

"So what, do we dig the hole first, or smash it then dig the hole?" 'Trowel' asks.

"Princess didn't say, but I don't want that thing watching us while we work. Gives me the creeps."

"Yeah, that's a fair call, Steady. We smash it first." The stallions pull the tools out of their packs, dumping the shovels on the ground and taking the sledgehammers in their mouths. 'Steady' raises his hammer high above me, about to bring it down on my brittle stone face.

No! I don't want to die! Or worse, survive this somehow and be in agony for eons! This is it. After all my schemes, all my dreams of grandeur and conquest, I'm going to be shattered. A pile of gravel and dust, in an unmarked grave. Ponies have attacked our statue before, trying to smash one of us, but the spell had protected us from such mundane assault. Now though... Twilight has weakened it enough for these brutes to put an end to me. No third chance, no coming back. I can't even close my eyes as the hammer comes down on me.

Except that the hammer never falls. My assailant freezes in mid swing, staying absolutely still. The other earth pony remains motionless as well. I hear strong wings beating the air, and see a flash of deep blue feathers on the edge of the pool of lamp light, and then...

"Chin up, old girl! The cavalry has arrived." Pacific Dream fills my vision, his wings half-spread and his beak open as he smiles down at me. "Just a moment... we need a decoy to satisfy these meat heads."

A mixture of shock, joy, terror and relief washes over me. One thought is stuck in my head: he's real? He's not... Discord, or a figment of my subconscious? He's actually come for me!? I couldn't care less if he's a clockwork construct or a disguised changeling or whatever: for once in my life, somepony has actually come for me! I try to call out, 'you're really here?!', but of course I can't. Simultaneously the logical part of my mind is working overtime: decoy? What did he mean, 'decoy'?

Pacific Dream turns side-on to me and his back opens up. A golden bird pops out, lifted up on struts and trailing thin wires back into his body. The Genesis Bird... so that was all real. He is truly a replica, animated by intricate mechanisms. The clock face on his hip - the Clock of Chronorius, just like in my mindscape. The golden bird spreads its platinum wings, scrutinising me with glowing emerald eyes, then swivels away with a jerk.

Green light flashes and a small grey form appears: a statue of me. A perfect duplicate of my petrified form, just like the one Twilight had. That expression of utter terror, with my eyes wide and my hooves pressed to my face, has never been more appropriate.

"One thought we might turn Twilight's trick back on her. Give her the old double-Cozy switcheroo!" Pacific says. He picks me up, and... the feel of his strong claws on my stone body is somehow frightening and comforting at the same time. The golden bird disappears back into his back, and quickly the hippogriff puts the duplicate exactly where I was lying on the ground. Then he flies up into the air, into the moonless night.

The sensation of lifting into the air is an incredible relief: the urge to take flight, the primal pegasus instinct to get away, to get airborne, had been overpowering. The bird-horse stallion holds me so that I can watch as the time distortion ends, and the sledgehammer comes crashing down. My cute curls shatter and an ear flies off; well not really my curls, just the stone copy's. The first blow seems to break the ice and after that the two earth ponies really go at it, smashing up the replica, while I hang here in mid-air in the dashing hippogriff's claws.

Shock, elation and disbelief battle for control of my brain. I stare down out of the darkness, watching my stone self getting smashed to pieces by the brutal assaults of Twilight's lackeys. Of course they don't look up, earth ponies never do. I feel a dark sense of satisfaction: the Princess will think she's won, but I've escaped her grasp.

I'm still terrified, but it's beginning to subside, as I let go of disbelief and finally allow some hope. Pacific Dream rises higher, holding me close to his chest as though I'm precious, as though I'm... important. I want to laugh, cry, cheer, thank him, but of course I can't. All I can do is wonder where we're going, and what our next move will be.

The lights of Canterlot are spread out below me as the hippogriff flaps through the night. I catch snatches of music, singing, ponies making merry, before we leave the city behind. With strong and perfectly regular wingbeats, the stallion circles around the Canterhorn mountain, steadily gaining altitude. At last his wings become steady and we glide down towards an opening in the high cliffs. I can barely make out the cliffs themselves: the cave is a pit of utter blackness. Until...

Magical lighting snaps on and the cavern is fully illuminated. It's nearly filled by something like an enormous egg... no, a teardrop shape, scalloped and pearlescent, the size of a house. Set into the contours of the hull are portholes, pipes and hatches, while extending from each side are a pair of curving golden spars. The light is coming from the ship itself: a constellation of spotlights and navigation beacons, reflecting off the cave walls. A hippogriff airship: a corvette, as Pacific described it.

"There she is," Pacific Dream says, with a note of pride in his voice. "The Dauntless."

I can't help but gawp at the incredible aircraft. The hippogriffs really 'decommissioned' her? To me she's the most beautiful thing in the world. And the name! Dauntless: fearless, never giving up, never losing hope. Her engines are dormant, but I imagine the ship to be fast and graceful, streaking through the clouds. I'm not just escaping, I'm escaping in style!

Pacific sets me down in the cave for a moment, as he flaps over to fiddle with a set of buttons. There's a chime, then a hatch opens in the side of the hull. The clockwork hippogriff carries me inside: just as I'd seen in his memory, a cramped space full of machinery, tools and supplies. There are still touches of elegance in the decoration and curving lines, but this is clearly also an outlaw's hide out and the living space of a young stallion.

Moving awkwardly on three legs, Pacific carries my petrified body through a short corridor and onto the flight deck. I see a wide array of gleaming brass dials and controls, below wide windows that show only darkness.

"Now then... mana batteries to power... interociters to speed." Pacific pulls levers and flicks switches: a hum builds up in the bowels of the ship, then a rising whine. "Levitation arrays on, running lights off."

Parallel beams of light fan out to each side of the ship, connecting to the golden spars like giant harps. The deck trembles, and the vessel gently lifts off, slowly emerging from the cave where it has lain hidden, then accelerating into the sky.

My excitement peaks as the ship comes alive and the vibrations travel up into my stone form. I want to cheer, sing, rush around asking what every one of those buttons does... I've never been so frustrated about being stuck in stone. I can't even nod to Pacific, or thank him.

My mood is dampened as I recall how I'd accused him of being a figment of my imagination, or worse, Discord in disguise. Stupid! Even if my suspicions were reasonable, what good did it do to accuse him? Why had I lost control like that? He probably thinks I'm a horrible, ungrateful filly.

If so, Pacific Dream doesn't show it: when he turns to me he seems happy, and relieved. "I imagine you're wondering how I plan to restore you to flesh and blood. I've identified a few possibilies, but only one that combines privacy with a strong chance of success. Not without an element of risk though, so there will be a decision to be made in the morning."

He turns back to the instruments, watching the compass and altimeter as he puts the ship on course for some unknown destination. "With a little, ah, tempus fugit, we'll be there by daybreak. No sense going faster: we need daylight for this. Sit tight, Cozy Glow... I promise I will explain everything once we arrive.

Sit tight? I don't have any other option. I can hardly relax: after years of boredom, the last few hours have been a volatile mix of hope, excitement and pure terror. My stone body feels so cold as the ship heads off through the night. Risk? What kind of decision, and what are these other possibilities? Not being able to ask is infuriating, but Pacific begins to tell me stories of his other adventures, of searching for artefacts, then of silly antics he'd gotten up to in the 'Royal Junior Cadets' as a colt. His voice and the low hum of the ship's engine combine to soothe me.

The suspicious part of me is back, whispering in my head. Telling me I can't trust him, that he must have some secret motive, that my rescuerer isn't even a 'him' at all, just a realistic golem. That I need to escape, or at least find out what his - or its - agenda is. I can't ignore them, but I won't let those thoughts control me. After this impossible rescue, I... I want to believe. That maybe good things can happen to me.

The Dauntless rises through the clouds, revealing the stars spread out above us. The airship streaks through the night for hours, while Pacific occasionally adjusts the controls and continues to keep me company. His stories really are quite entertaining, if sometimes a little surreal. I feel like I'm missing a few points of reference for hippogriff culture. A lot of what he describes could be any group of pony foals, but there are parts that feel completely alien. Or avian, I suppose.

When dawn finally breaks it reveals a undulating carpet of dense vegetation below us. Tropical forest, not quite jungle. Definitely not the Everfree: as I statue I can't really feel the air temperature, but I'm guessing we're further south.

Pacific takes the ship lower, skimming over sparkling streams and vine-covered trees. He guides our vessel down into a river valley, then banks left, turning off into a box canyon. The Dauntless comes to a stop facing an ancient stone structure, right at the end of the canyon. The lower parts are stepped, like a truncated pyramid, while a great dome rises from the centre.

Stuck on the floor of the flight deck, I can't see properly until Pacific Dream lifts me up and sets my statue on the control panel. Despite the considerable size of the temple, it's almost hidden by masses of overgrowth and dirt. It seems like nopony has been here in decades, if not centuries. I make out masses of intricate carvings, visible in the gaps between the moss. The great stone doors are closed, probably sealed.

"And here we are," Pacific says casually, like we're out for a little jaunt in his new wagon, "at the Stair of Quao-Tshun".

Yes... this is exactly the kind of thing I'd hoped for. I was worried that Pacific Dream might be taking me to some zebra selling a magical salve, or a griffon with a trained cockatrice, but this is much more my speed. Lost temple probably filled with forbidden magical power: he did say it was risky.

I try to imagine just what the inside will be like. A thousand questions rush through my mind. What this building is, who built it, how it can help me, how Pacific found it, if he's been here before? I wish I could reach out, grab him and shake him until he satisfies my curiously, but of course I'm still petrified.

"Sealed tight, naturally. No doubt Twilight Sparkle would have a spell to unlock it. Fortunately the Dauntless provides other means of entry."

Pacific Dream goes below for a moment, leaving me alone on the flight deck. I can only stare at the overgrown stone as clunks and whirring comes from somewhere deep in the ship. Then something begins to hiss... and a blindingly bright beam of crackling energy spears out from our vessel, striking the stone doors square in the centre. Magic flares out over the carvings, then shatters into motes of light. Shrapnel zips out in every direction. When the dust clears I can see that the beam cannon has blown a gaping hole through the gates of the temple.

Pacific Dream reappears with a big smirk on his bird face. "Never be afraid to resort to superior firepower, that's how we do it in the Royal Navy!" he says, seemingly forgetting for a moment that he's now on an outlaw on the run from Queen Novo's fleet. He grabs me in his claws again, dashes through the cargo bay and leaps out of the hatch, flapping through the jungle towards the breech in the temple.

I want to laugh with glee. This is crazy, we're breaking into a dangerous ruin, overpowering unknown enchantments with raw magical force... and it's the most magnificent thing I've ever seen! Why don't ponies have weapons like that? Foolish ideology, complacency, or because the Princesses don't want to be upstaged? Or because despite their honeyed words, they don't trust others with such power? I know I wouldn't, since it seems like even odds that any given unicorn archmage will go rogue.

I just wish... that I wasn't a statue, that I could explore this place next to Pacific. It's kind of nice, being held in his claws, but still frustrating. It's a tight fit through the hole: the stallion has to fold his wings and crawl, pushing me in front. Pacific clambers awkwardly over the rubble and we emerge into a dark stone hallway. The sealing spell must have been keeping the plants and wildlife out, because other than the damage we just did this place is pristine.

Diffuse light is coming from somewhere deeper into the temple. Pacific Dream carries me awkwardly through the corridors, past elaborate mosaics and still pools and statues of... unicorns? No, they have cloven hooves and weirdly shaped horns. They're kirin... this place was built by the kirin? We emerge into a huge space, the size of Canterlot throne room but circular. Most of it is filled by a golden structure: a staircase, spiralling around and around as it rises into a dais at the very centre. Sunlight spills down from an oculus in the dome above: the golden stairs shine in the light.

Pacific Dream sets me down on the flagstones. There is no life, no movement, but I can feel power here. The great hall is ringed by statues of tall, regal kirin, all staring at the central platform. I'm trying to make sense of it all, work out what this place was for, when my view is blocked by Pacific's face. His eyes flash, and...

I'm back in my mindscape. Grey mists in every direction and the blue-and-indigo hippogriff, or at least his mental projection, is right in front of me. "How are you holding up?" he asks. "One does hope... you aren't disappointed."

I blink in shock. "Are you kidding me?!" I rush forward... and suddenly my forelegs are around Pacific's neck, and I'm hugging the big dumb stallion tightly, and I didn't even mean to do that but it's such a relief and I don't care if I look like a silly filly. A part of me is protesting, telling me to play it cool, maintain some distance, but it's too late for that.

Still, I need to be confident, collected. I let go and back up a bit. "Golly, that was... it was really something! Making a duplicate of me so Twilight doesn't suspect a thing! And your airship, just, wow. Wish I'd had one of those when I took on the princess!"

I want to say more, but I can't forget that I'm still a statue, still at Pacific's mercy. I'm... not afraid, exactly, but anxious about what he'll do next. What's this big decision he mentioned? What happens if I reject?

"So... the Stair of Quao-Tshun, huh? I'm impressed. Lemme guess: built by ancient kirin? Full of magical power that can turn an unfairly imprisoned filly back into flesh and blood?" I say hopefully.

Pacific Dream smiles as I embrace him, then nods at my guess. "Indeed it is, but I fear there may be side effects. Cozy, how familiar are you with the kirin? Do you know of the qi-lin? Of Rain Shine, and her ilk?

I think back to the school, to long hours in the ridiculous cutesy classrooms listening to the Element Bearers ramble on... Applejack told us about the kirin. She'd gone to one of their villages, fixed some sort of curse by making a potion: though she claimed it was with 'friendship' of course, because under Twilight's dogma that's the answer to everything. Twilight was fretting about whether she should invite some to her school as students... oh right, because they have a habit of catching fire when they get angry.

"I know kirin are like unicorns with floofy manes and split hooves and funny shaped horns. Rain Shine... she's like the queen of the kirin, right? She put them all under a curse because she was sick of them arguing and catching fire and burning everything down." Not that regular unicorns are much better, with their bickering about minutiae that frequently ends in a magic duel.

"Indeed. Rain Shine is in fact a qi-lin: the kirin equivalent of an alicorn. Just like an alicorn they live for millennia, grow a head above their peers, possess substantial magical power and can fly, though by sky-running rather than wings. And I believe this place..." Pacific gestures at the temple, visible as an image in the mists "...is where they come from. The kirin say that Quao-Tshun was the very first qi-lin. If I'm not mistaken, he achieved that via the Stair: it's a rune array with the power to transform a regular kirin into a qi-lin."

He frowns. "Rather more straightforward than alicorn ascension, isn't it? Or perhaps not: none of us non-ponies can say how that works." Even in my mindscape, Pacific comes off as just a little stilted, his movements too precise, betraying his clockwork nature. I don't want to think about that now: I'll just act like he's real.

"I've been an alicorn." I say quietly. It was... glorious. There's nothing I wouldn't give to experience that again. "The official story is that you have to be a 'champion of harmony', an 'exemplar of ponykind', but that's just nonsense. Propaganda." My voice has turned bitter: this is another ugly truth I've discovered.

"You want the real story? All you need is an infusion of refined mana: a whole boatload of it. I bet Celestia had the spell ready for centuries, just waiting for a- a 'faithful student' so blindly loyal, so easy to manipulate that she could be moulded into a perfect replacement."

And thus Twilight Sparkle became ruler of Equestria, and Celestia and Luna could finally go sip fancy cocktails on a beach somewhere. I stare at the golden spiral, glittering under the sunlight in its great, silent chamber. It feels like it's waiting for something, and has been for a very long time.

"So why don't all the kirin go for the upgrade? Is Rain Shine keeping this place secret, so none of the other kirin get powerful enough to challenge her rule?"

"I can't say for sure. The little I know about this place comes from a ruin I discovered, near the exit of this valley. There were a few intact murals, carvings and set of tablets I, err, recovered." Pacific Dream explains. "I believe it takes at least a century for the shrine to recharge after each use, possibly several."

"Also there's evidence of some pretty epic clashes between ancient qi-lin, on the scale of the battle between your sun princess and your moon princess. That may be why kirin civilisation fell into decline: you've gone from medical leeches to railroads under Celestia, while they abandoned their cities and scattered into small villages."

"Guess they were fluffy unicorns after all. The kirin had the world at their hooves, and they lost it all because they couldn't stop bickering." You weren't supposed to say things like that in Equestria - but it's true. Unicorns can't agree on anything, while earth ponies are the opposite: they just go with the herd, don't think for themselves. That's why it should be a pegasus who takes the lead. We know how to work together without losing our initiative.

"So... just how much of a side effect are we talking about here? If you zap me with that thing, am I gonna turn into a kirin? Or a.. a qi-lin? Or am I gonna do that thing where I catch on fire when I get angry? Or..." I could barely dare to say it: "...will I be an alicorn again?"

Pacific Dream dips his head. "I'm sorry Cozy; I don't know. The ceremony is supposed to 'heal all injuries, lift all curses, make the one who ascends the stair a... uh... vision of perfection?' Something like that: the kirin I took the tablets to had a hard time with the translation. I'm pretty sure it will de-petrify you, but beyond that... your guess is as good as mine."

The stallion puts a claw on my shoulder. "This was my second to last lead, before I found the clock. I can't say I wasn't tempted to try it myself: I was getting desperate, fearful of returning home with nothing. Being forced to admit I was nothing but a foolisher dreamer."

Pacific pauses, gazing thoughtfully at the golden stair for a moment. "What stopped me... well, firstly I didn't have a way to get into the temple. Perhaps I could have found one, but more importantly I didn't know how the kirin magic would react to a hippogriff. It might have rejected me, burned me alive. As a pony you have a better chance, but... it might reject you. Perhaps violently."

"Cozy... you don't have to do this. We can look for other ways. I heard about a zebra who lives in the Everfree forest: she's supposed to have an ointment that can reverse the gaze of a cockatrice..." Pacific seems... uncertain. Because of what happened to him with the Genesis Bird? Plundering magical artefacts is a risky business, there's no denying that.

"Zecora? No way I'm going to her! She'd rat me out to the princess, for sure." I look at the golden steps... no, this feels right. It feels like destiny. Sure it's a big risk, but I've never shied away from those. I didn't hesitate when I made contact with Tirek. When I pushed Starlight into her magic prison. When I flew through that tiny hole into the forbidden cave and found the Bewitching Bell.

"I'm not spending another minute as a-a statue." I leave out the word 'helpless'. "You say this thing might turn me into something strange, something powerful? Well... good. This is my last shot. I'm not gonna back out now."

Pacific Dream nods, then smiles. "As I said: you're a brave mare, Cozy Glow. Here goes nothing."

My mindscape vanishes, and I'm back in the temple. The hippogriff flaps into the air, taking me in his claws for a final time. He skims over the spiral stairs, holding my stone hooves just above the surface. A wave of glowing energy seems to follow us as we circle: as we approach the centre a sort of pressure builds up, and Pacific has to flap harder and harder to push through it.

We turn tighter and tighter and at last we reach the altar: the stallion places me carefully at the exact centre and then flies away. I hear a resonant sound building, like a struck gong that gets louder instead of dying away. The golden stairs around me glow brighter and brighter, and I feel... a warmth, as energy begins to flow into me. A trickle at first, then a rush, then a torrent. Like the Bewitching Bell, but hot and thrilling, rather than cold and sinister. Sensation floods back into my long-dormant limbs, and my heart begins to beat.

It's not a painless process: there's some burning, stinging and the sensation of being stretched as my body changes shape. The discomfort is lost in the pure glory of the hot, rushing power filling my very soul. Every kind of feeling returns in full force, and then some. I'm back in the real world, and my senses are sharper than ever. I feel... so alive, so warm. So... fluffy?

A moment of panic as I spread my wings... I still have wings? I do! They feel strong, bigger even than when I was an alicorn before, nearly as big as Pacific's huge pinions. A strange feeling on my forehead... I can sense the magic of this place so much more clearly now. A horn? I have a horn again!

My heart is pounding; I laugh with delight, as I spot Pacific Dream at the edge of the hall. One strong flap and I'm gliding over to him. The last flakes of stone fall away from my fur, crumbling to dust as they touch the floor. The rush of air, the scent of musty stone, of the jungle outside... I drink it all in. The handsome blue hippogriff seems happy to see me.

"Golly, I feel... I feel amazing! How do I look?" I ask, giddy with magic and power and the sheer joy of movement.

Pacific stares at me for a moment, before answering with a kind of croak: "In a word, stunning. Here, see for yourself."

His back opens up and the Genesis Bird pops out: right, in all the excitement I'd forgotten that he's basically two magical artefacts pretending to be a hippogriff. The golden statuette pivots around to face the wall, then its eyes glow green. A grand mirror materialises out of thin air: taller than a pony and bordered by an ornate frame, it's fit for a princess.

I stare into the glass, and looking back at me is a tall, teenage... alicorn? Not quite: my horn is thick, striped and branched into three, and my baby blue mane has been replaced by a huge mass of coppery curls that wraps around my neck. My feet feel funny: I look down to see my hooves split in two and my shins trailing orange fetlocks. I spin around and look over my shoulder: a coat of gleaming purple scales covers my back, and my tail is long and tufted. It's a big change, for sure, more than last time: but I'm still recognisable as myself. I breathe a sigh of relief as I see my crimson rook cutie mark still there on my flanks.

I can't help it: I squeal with delight as I take in the reflection. I still look like me, but not a cute little filly any more: a beautiful, powerful princess! A little filly's dream: it's like every nagging insecurity I ever had about my looks was magically wiped away. It's almost too much. "Oh... Oh, I look... wow."

I prance, I strut, I turn around to admire the shiny scales and wiggle my split hooves. I swish my tail and toss my mane, letting the coppery curls spill over my back. Then I turn to Pacific Dream. "Well? How do you like it? I guess I'm all caught up... I'm supposed to be sixteen now, if I hadn't been stuck as a statue!"

My voice has an easy confidence that I haven't had since... since I beat Twilight in the throne room. My wings flutter excitedly: I feel so light! So free! That annoying little part of me is saying that I should be more freaked out about these changes, but this isn't my first magical ascension rodeo. If I learnt anything from my former stint as an alicorn, it's that you've just got to go with it. Don't doubt yourself, and don't hold back.

"My dear, you are positively ravishing. Such a glow! Even queens and princesses cannot compare." Pacific's wings have spread of their own accord, and he's staring at me as if bewitched. "Shall I return you to Equestria? Or perhaps... we could travel together for a spell," he says hopefully.

The look on the handsome stallion's face makes butterflies dance in my stomach. He's entranced, utterly captivated by me... and I could get used to that. I'm feeling things that I've never felt before. I want him, and I love that he wants me. "Oh, we're definitely going to travel," I say, turning my best smile on Pacific Dream.

"There's a whole world out there! All these places I've never seen! Feels like I've been cooped up forever..." I take a couple of steps, enjoying the way my new longer legs carry me effortlessly. Then I swish my tail, making the flag at the end brush against the hippogriff's flanks. "...and maybe I want to get to know my saviour a little better. You said you wanted to do something nice for me, huh? Maybe I want to do something nice for you."

The words just spill out of me. It's not like I'm some cunning seductress or... I guess maybe I am? I've always found it easy to get ponies to do what I want. I'm a teenager now: I'm done with the 'cute little filly' thing, and it's time for a fresh approach. I'm thrilled at the possibilities.

Pacific Dream freezes for a moment, unable to take his eyes off me. Finally he manages a stiff: "It would be my pleasure."

He looks around and frowns: the golden aura is gone, and so is the feeling of power in the air. A swish of my horn tells me that the complex spellwork around and below us is quiescent, sleeping. The Stairs of Quao-Tshun are just some flashy-looking steps now, and will be for another thousand moons or more, until they've had a chance to rebuild their energies.

"Shall we return to Dauntless then?" The hippogriff gestures at the oculus above: now that the protective spell is disabled, it provides a convenient means of egress.

I nod excitedly and take wing, flying up towards the hole in the top of the domed chamber. I feel a little pang of sadness: the kirin temple is... significant. Beautiful despite being overgrown and abandoned, or maybe because of it. I'd always felt a thrill exploring abandoned places, particularly places of power... and the power here is gone now. No: it's inside me.

I burst out into the bright sunlight and laugh with glee, drinking in the feelings of flight: my muscles pumping, the air ruffling my feathers, the view of the jungle from above. Feeling like this was always absent from my mindscape, and it reassures me that all of this isn't a hallucination. A huge smile is plastered on my muzzle as I begin to glide over the trees. I look back to see Pacific Dream powering out of the temple with strokes of his huge wings.

It's another kind of thrill entirely to see him catching up with me. Hippogriffs are just close enough to a pony, but exotic with those bird faces, clawed front feet... I'm feeling those butterflies again. I guess I'm a xenophile, huh?

The Dauntless is parked there in the trees, mostly hidden under the canopy: an enormous streamlined pearl flanked by its harp-like levitation devices. It's gorgeous, but I don't want to go inside just yet. Using my wings is a thrill, but I'm itching to try out by new horn. I glide down to land in a clearing, just in front of where the hippogriff blasted the gates open.

Pacific Dream swoops down to land nearby, watching me curiously. In fact he can't seem to take his eyes off me. The clockwork hippogriff's movements are smooth, regular, sometimes almost jerky, although I remember that even regular griffons and hippogriffs like to twitch their heads around - they are half bird after all. I remember Gallus and Silverstream flirting in the dorms, cooing and squawking like oversized lovebirds.

"Nothing like a good flap about to get the blood pumping, eh? Or gears turning, in my case, but never mind that now." Pacific grimaces: probably regretting reminding me of his condition. "How are you feeling, Cozy? Any side effects of the petrification spell? Or the transformation? You did just aquire a trident-shaped horn and a rather fetching coat of scales on your back."

I make a point of turning around to let him admire my scales (and my rump, while I'm at it), enjoying the way he follows me with his eyes. I stretch my oversized wings to their full extent and swish my tail again.

"I'm sort of a chimera now, huh? The first pegasus-qi-lin? It feels incredible! Like I could do anything." The feel of all the curls of my mane caressing my neck, the comforting weight of my scales protecting my spine: it's perfect. Before the world seemed so huge, full of danger, but being so much taller makes me feel like I'm ready to take it on. I imagine if I'd been like this back in Grogar's cave: no bribing monsters with cupcakes, they would've had to take me seriously. In fact Sombra probably would've tried to make me his bride. I can't help but laugh at the image.

Still feeling light-hearted, I prance away for a few steps and concentrate on a mossy boulder. With just a little concentration, I wrench it out of the ground and float it into the air. The magic is surging through my horn and it's even more of a rush than flying! I giggle with delight and toss the huge rock away: it crashes into a tree, splintering the trunk and making it topple over with a crash. My feeling of being a new, powerful creature intensifies: just like the first time I turned into an alicorn, it's an incredible rush of conviction that I no longer have to be afraid of the world: instead, it should be afraid of me.

I need to judge the strength of my magic. I try firing a laser: regular unicorns (and presumably kirin) can only manage bolts of magic, only alicorns and the strongest unicorns can fire beams. The beam shoots out into the undergrowth, cutting down a bunch of ferns, and I laugh again. Power is there, aim is a little out of practice! I fire again, blasting the boulder I tossed earlier: it explodes into pebbles. Hard to say how this stacks up to my former alicorn abilities, but I'm in the same hoofball park at least!

I spin around to grin at Pacific Dream. High on power and without thinking it through, I shout: "Think fast, Pacific!" and shoot a beam at him. Not a strong once, just enough to knock him back a bit: we can spar for a while, right?

Pacific Dream flickers and seems to teleport: one moment he's in my sights, the next he's on the other side of the clearing. My beam slices harmlessly into the undergrowth: I line up on the blue hippogriff for another shot, and he again he blurs and shifts out of the way. No, not teleportation: he must be warping time, moving faster than my eye can follow.

I begin to charge my horn, but Pacific shifts position again. In the blink of an eye a golden shape has appeared over his back: the Genesis Bird, a golden statuette held up by struts and trailing wires. The eyes flash with emerald light, and before I can get my shield bubble up something happens to my horn. It's been coated by some substance that interfers with my magic: I panic and instinctively raise a hoof to try and scrape it off-

Without warning something fast barrels into me and knocks me clean off my feet. My wings extend reflexively, but then a heavy body is on top of me. My scaled back slams into the mulch and I find myself staring up into an eagle face: Pacific Dream, pinning me down. I'm stunned, frozen by his glare as his sharp beak dips towards my neck. All my fears come rushing back: despite my power, I was blindsided like it was nothing, and now this giant bird of prey is inches from my jugular.

The stallion's hooked beak opens as he whispers into my ear: "Is this your sudden, yet inevitable betrayal?"

Author's Note

Well, I promised wish-fulfillment for Cozy and I hope we can agree this qualifies.

I like to imagine that while the ponies tend to manifest their innate harmony magic as catchy showtunes, the hippogriffs audibly manifest their (different flavour of) harmony as thrilling backing drums. So the first time she laid eyes on the Dauntless, Cozy probably heard something like this.

Writing in first person is, of course, a time-honoured tactic for elicting symapthy for villain characters. My favourite example is Austin Grossman's Soon I Will Be Invincible.

P.S. Hopefully this is obvious, but to be clear: just because Cozy believes something doesn't make it true. For example her conviction that 'alicorns are just ponies who got a massive power boost' - that's how it worked for her, and deep down she's a bit insecure about the idea that she 'was never a real alicorn', so she assumes that's how it worked for Twilight and Cadence.