Childish Hope

by AnImbecile

Rating: mature
Tags: Drama, Original Character, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Suicide / Self Harm, Tantabus, Horror, Cozy Glow, Twilight Sparkle, Profanity, Gore, Violence, Dark, Death, Main 6
Length: 26348

Cozy Glow, removed from her legion by an entity that knows too much, desperately tries to convince Twilight and her friends she has reformed herself.

Cozy Glow sees the error of her ways amidst a great battle between all villains and the heroes of the country. When she is captured by the opposing side, she is desperate to prove her change of heart—and fix all she had broken for them—before it’s too late.

Published 2025-01-18 04:30:00 UTC
Last updated 2025-01-27 04:44:37 UTC

From Mighty to Minuscule

For the longest time, Cozy Glow had been a horrible villain. She’s been looked at as one of the most surprising and cruelly talented bad-examples in the history of Equestria. And now, she is working alongside seven of the other most vile creatures in the catalogue of evil: King Sombra, Lord Tirek, Queen Chrysalis, All-Mighty Grogar, the (now tamed) Windigos, the Pony of Shadows, and the Tantabus, not including the armies of creatures they have with them.

It was merely a year ago when Cozy Glow took over the School of Friendship. Sometimes Cozy Glow thinks back to those days, reminiscing how she had enjoyed those long afternoons forging new letters to send to Tirek, all in an attempt to get the keys to unlock the door to her destiny: Empress of Friendship. However, she had been caught, got a stern punishment, and left in the dust.

Even now, she gets herself riled about how cruel it was. She was only a child, at least to everyone else she was. And her punishment didn’t come without backlash, but it was eventually decided in less than two months that she deserved to spend the rest of her foreseeable future there. But now…

Here she was, atop of the world. She had an army at her side, as well as seven deadly villains with unknown capabilities. She felt mighty, strong, and almost unconquerable. Her dreams that were merely just dreams before she got busted out of Tartarus now seemed to be obtainable, within hooves reach kind of obtainable.

If she and her allies won this next battle, the country would belong to them, and they could shape it to fit their own political views, as well as achieve ultimate power.

If you were now told that, after all of this, Cozy Glow gave this up over night to become a slave of her enemies, would you believe it? Well, truth be told… that’s exactly what happened. But there’s more to it than just a snap decision and a twist of fate. It’s been brewing in her mind for over a month, a thought that she’d tried to desperately push down in order to keep her true goals and desires afloat in her conscious thoughts. But, like that one task you keep putting off, she can’t seem to get rid of the thought, or rather, the realization.

Late on night, whilst sleeping in a castle forged of Sombra’s dark crystals, Cozy Glow had a thought. A long, creeping thought that crippled into a depressing realization about her life. She had begun to understand that, even though she loved evil, she was wrong.

It’s good to admit when you have a problem, and Cozy Glow took a while to do so, but she did so nonetheless. Her problem was how guilty she felt upon realizing how much she had messed up. Her realization truly started when the thought of her possibly being wrong popped in her head. She then entered a rabbit hole of ideas about what might happen to her if she was defeated, and if her allies are redeemable or only worthy of a cruel punishment. She viewed them as distinctly evil and couldn’t imagine seeing any light within them. But for herself, however, she saw some hope, though that could be her own illusion.!

Cozy Glow reflected well that night. She slowly but surely picked apart her view on friendship in the most honest way she could, and it eventually hit her: true friends aren't just pawns in a game of chess; true friends help and care for you and others because they all have a special bond, and it’s not to take over the world, but keep it stable and friendly.

To accompany this was an overwhelming guilt. Cozy Glow had basically reformed herself, seeing how friendship truly worked (because she previously concluded friends were nothing but a source for power). But guilt came in the wake of this sudden shift for the filly. She realized that all she had done over the past year was all truly wrong. It didn’t take a genius to find out that a few things she did in particular were really cruel, and Cozy Glow knew this beforehand—however, with this new-found context, she now felt the reality of it weigh in.

It was miserable realizing that she had ruined such a good thing. It also seemed impossible to fix the problems she created and undo the harm she inflicted, but the filly was (blindly) determined to do so. She was a child, after all, so it might be easier to be forgiven than if she were a giant centaur whose record involves charges worthy of a prison worse than Tartarus and Alcatraz combined.

So with that, she had a new outlook on her career as a villain. And with that, she forged a plan that go horribly wrong—but she felt it was worth the risk.

October 30th, 2025 (the date in Equestria in human terms).

It was like any other day for the villains; Tirek scouted the castle grounds in search of foes with an army of enslaved guards; the Pony of Shadows (possessing an unknown body) paraded around in his study, thinking about ways he’d slay the Pillars; Queen Chrysalis was sucking the love out of enslaved guards whilst indulging in a good past time: putting pins in a Starlight Glimmer doll; the Tantabus (shrunk to the size of a mare) sat at attention in the dining room, seemingly in a world of its own; Sombra dabbled in black magic, trying to understand foreign spells to cast in battle if needed; and Grogar, the most fierce but calm villain of all, petted a windigo as he stared into his orb. He used his bewitching bell to summon a portal, and the winigo flew through, understanding his time was up. When the portal dissipated, Cozy Glow behind it with her most adorable look she could muster up.

Startled, Grogar jumped from his seat. The filly always managed to give him a heart attack, sneaking into his lair at the heart of their cursed castle.

“Hello, Grogar!” Cozy Glow said with glee. She flew up in the air and did a twirl.

“What do you want this time?” Grogar asked. Her presence never failed to annoy him. Truth be told, she was his least favorite figure to work alongside with. Her cute looks and unassuming personality (when she wasn’t being crazy) drove him slightly nuts.

Cozy Glow landed next to the orb, which was set on a crystal table. “Well,” Cozy Glow began. “Did you talk to that Tantabus thing about being more lively? Every time I go into the dining hall, it stares at me. It’s creeping me out.”

“I already told you I did,” Grogar grumbled. Her turned his gaze back to the orb, trying to imply that he’s uninterested in having this conversation again.

“You’re lying to me,” Cozy Glow taunted.

Grogar face palmed. “No, I’m not. I did talk to it, but it remained very quiet. It barely say anything. Now, please,” Grogar urged, “I’m trying to focus.”

“Focus, schmocus,” Cozy Glow brushed. “The Tantabus thingy is still staring at me whenever I walk in there. Even at dinner, and I know you’ve seen that.”

“I’m aware,” Grogar said through gritted teeth. “But for my sake, shut up. I’ll deal with it when I’m done.”

“You’re the boss,” Cozy Glow gushed, then patted him on the head to further annoy him. She then flew out of the room before Grogar could protest.

Cozy Glow wandered the castle halls, making her way to the dining room to see if the Tantabus left. She barely knew what it was; the being seemed genderless but it’s voice—of what little she heard of it—seemed feminine, as well as the form it took; Grogar briefly mentioned that it’s some kind of figment of princess Luna’s guilt, and at night, it plagues ponies dreams. Cozy assumed its goal was just that, so make nightmares every night and defeat Luna. But why it was so tame for it being basically being a flimsy-existing version of Discord was beyond Cozy Glow’s understanding. She assumed it was like a cobra, waiting for the right moment to strike. Just like Cozy Glow was, but of course, no one knows that yet.

The dining room was located south of the front door. Cozy Glow liked to wander the vast dining room because of the architecture and atmosphere. She never told anyone this, but she really liked fancy architectural design; if she weren’t a villain and weren’t a chess master, she’d absolutely could’ve became an architectural genius.

Sitting in their usual spot in the dining room was, as anyone could guess, the Tantabus. They barely moved from the room and barely spoke, but it was just likely due to the lack of social interaction it ever had. Cozy Glow assumed it might be shy, but nonetheless its astral appearance and lack of eyes or any features made it hard to even consider approaching.

The Tantabus sat at the far end of the dining room, right next to where Grogar’s spot was (he was the one freed them and United them, and was looked at as their leader). It gazed across the room at Cozy Glow. Sometimes, the filly wondered if the being could even see her, if it were just following Cozy Glow’s sound. It sure seemed to look at Cozy Glow in specific when the filly talked, like it knew her well.

“What’s up with you?” Cozy Glow asked not expecting an answer, which she didn’t get of course. “Great talk.”

Cozy Glow wandered the room. The chandelier made of Sombra’s dark crystals was a work of art. Cozy Glow flew up and looked at it closely. It had great detail for being made in mere seconds.

“You lying cunt,” the Tantabus suddenly said sharply. It startled Cozy Glow, but that was likely the intention.

“Wh-what the-?” Cozy Glow uttered, staring at the now standing up entity. Cozy Glow found her snarky self a minute later. “Look who finally spoke up,” Cozy Glow taunted.

Strike one.

The being stared for a moment longer. “You’re not evil,” the Tantabus continued. “I’ve been trying to sense it… and I can now smell reformation on your mind.”

“Me? Not evil?” Cozy Glow lied. Cozy knew she wasn’t evil anymore, and was keeping up the lie for a while longer to work up a plan. “Are you high?” Cozy Glow questioned.

Strike two.

“If you deny the truth one more time, I’ll summon your allies to come and exterminate you,” the Tantabus threatened.

“Woah—okay, settle down, please,” Cozy Glow whispered, lowering to the ground. “What is it to you?”

“You don’t belong here. Your intentions are against ours,” the Tantabus explained. “If you won’t speak the truth, I’ll make you.”

“Speaking of speaking…” Cozy Glow‘s voice wandered off.

Strike three. She was out.

The being went silent. Dead silent. It just stared at the filly, letting her realize that Cozy Glow—might have very well—fucked up.

“My bad,” Cozy Glow uttered. “Please don’t tell them, okay?”

As if on cue, Grogar stormed in.

“Not a villain?” He screamed.

Cozy Glow gulped. “What?” She asked, confused how he found out.

“The Tantabus just sent some weird transmission into my brain, saying you weren’t actually evil,” he explained. “Is this true?”

Grogar lit up his horns and yanked the filly over to him in a flash. In the next instant, Cozy Glow felt a burning pain. Grogar’s eyes were on fire, clearly upset by the news.

“I mean, I’m kinda, sorta, semi not… in a way?” Cozy Glow said, afraid to admit it full on. Any wrong words spelled out her doom clear as day.

Tirek appeared in the doorway. “I’ll be damned—you’re not a villain,” he said. “This is interesting news.”

“Very interesting,” Sombra said, following him in.

“Wait, I—“ Cozy Glow attempted to choke out, but she was quickly strangled by Grogar’s magic.

“Honesty shall save your life today, you fool. Now tell me,” he ordered. “Are you with us or against us?” He loosened his magic for an answer.

Cozy Glow wheezed, her throat feeling sore. “I am evil… I mean, I was,” she coughed.

Grogar grunted. “What does that mean?” He questioned.

“Well,” Cozy Glow began. “I was one… and I still am one, I swear! It’s just—“

Cozy Glow felt a tentacle creep around her mouth, shutting her up.

“The child is lying. She’s no longer one of us,” the Tantabus said, muting Cozy Glow’s protests.

By now, all of the villains had show up from the Tantabus’s psychedelic signals. None of them looked happy about the news, or yet at least.

Grogar edged Cozy Glow closer to him. The Tantabus’s tentacles retreated.

“Like I said,” Grogar said sternly. “Honesty shall save your life. ARE YOU WITH US OR AGAINST US?”

Cozy Glow didn’t know how to respond. Would the truth get her killed? But if she didn’t tell the truth, would they torture it out of her?

“Oh, you guys!” Cozy Glow started. “Do you think that I, Cozy Glow, the most deranged filly you’ve ever met, has suddenly gotten stupid? I was messing around with that Tantabus for always giving me a weird look. You know, trying to get a reaction out of it.”

That answer seemed to somewhat satisfy Grogar. “Is this true?” Grogar asked the Tantabus.

It remained dead quiet. The Tantabus didn’t respond for what seemed like half an hour, but it eventually spoke up.

“Yes, it’s true. She was just entertaining the idea to get a rise out of me,” it confided. “Sorry for wasting your time.”

Tirek rolled his eyes. “Bullshit,” he said. “I mean, not that you’re evil—but I wanted you gone.”

Cozy Glow laughed and flew over to him and landed on his head. “I’m like a cockroach: I keep coming back!”

Tirek groaned and moved out from under her and retreated to the hall. Everyone else just teleported away, annoyed by the event. Grogar instead left on food, but not without a warning.

“If you’re lying, I’ll find out,” he regarded.

Cozy Glow gave him her all-too cutesy smile, as typical of her. Then, he left without another word.

Cozy Glow then stared back at the Tantabus, who reminded completely idle, not speaking a word or even making a sound. It was like they were giving her a death stare. Then, it spoke—but not audibly, via a transmission, a psychic transmission.

“I’m plaguing your dreams tonight. And after that, I’ll strike when you least expect it. And strike again, until you’re no more, you lying little shit.”

Not exactly kind words. They definitely didn’t make bedtime the most anticipating event of the day, but nonetheless, Cozy Glow had snuck her way out of trouble—but the Tantabus clearly had other ideas. They gave up when Grogar began to believe Cozy Glow, even though she’s known to be a master manipulator.

The filly rushed out of the room, not wanting to go anywhere near the Tantabus anymore. It knew her secret, how she accidentally reformed herself upon an unsettling realization. And it might know more about her if it could read minds to an unknown extent.

Cozy Glow found herself in her room, staring up at the ceiling. It seemed like she’d have to form a plan sooner than later, but she’d have to be careful to not think about it near the Tantabus. If it figured out that she might want to escape, it might tell the others—or worse, finish Cozy Glow off.

The thought of the Tantabus being the final thing she ever might see deeply disturbed the child, but Cozy Glow shrugged it off and got to work on an escape plan.

The castle wasn’t a prison, but if anyone found out she was leaving, they’d get suspicious. Fleeing under the cover of darkness might be her best bet. No one would be up at that time.

Except maybe the Tantabus, but that would be less risky than during the day with everyone being up.

Where Cozy Glow would go was beyond her. The best idea she had was to hide out in the forest—after all, she was an alicorn, and she could survive easily. But it wasn’t an ideal idea.

Cozy Glow pulled a map from her desk. It showed the surrounding landscape, as well as the distance from there to Canterlot.

Canterlot… maybe that was a safe bet. Cozy Glow would only have to travel seventy miles, and by flight that would take about eight hours excluding stopping for air and rest.

They had previously attacked Canterlot, their guards taking out Twilight’s troops as the seven of them and their windigos attacked the leaders. It ended… well, that’s a detail for later. But it wasn’t pretty. But for Cozy (at that time) and her allies, it was glorious.

She assumed that some folk might be living there, and she could easily fight them off if needed. If no pony were there, it would be a solid fight. Considering the conditions it was left in, Cozy Glow concluded it was abandoned and planned to be repaired after the war.

So, it was set. Cozy Glow was going to head to Canterlot, and she’d go from there with approaching Twilight Sparkle.

Leave at night, head for Canterlot. It was simple enough, but there was something else that bothered her: bringing him along

In their last battle, they had kidnapped one of the heroes of Equestria. It was a way to keep Twilight from attacking their base, since they had threatened to kill him if the arrival of a siege on them occurred. It kept her at bay well enough, for it had been almost two months since the attack.

If Cozy Glow helped him out and borough him along, it could persuade Twilight into seeing that Cozy Glow has truly reformed.

But would he cooperate? It’s not like he could fight back. He was shackled and his mouth has a case around it, disallowing any talking or screaming. All he could do was groan, grunt, and do rude claw gestures for communication, only varying in volume for the latter two.

Assuming he cooperated and was able to fly okay, it was a done deal. Cozy Glow would sneak him out, helping her “enemy” team defeat the villains she found herself working with.

The plan was done. It seemed simple enough, and it’s not like they were forcing her to be there. She just simply obliged with helping them take over the world.

Cozy Glow felt happy with the plan and decided to take a nap. She’d need all the energy she could get for her journey. Sure, she could teleport to Canterlot around five-sixths of the way done with the journey, but nonetheless, it was going to be a long flight.

The filly settled into her bed, ready to make her escape that night.

The entire day was a blur after her nap. Dinner went by, and then she went to bed, not really paying any attention to everything going on. She was more focused on escaping, but she had to think about other things at dinner thanks to the Tantabus.

Finally, it was night, and Cozy Glow lied in her bed, thinking over her plan. She’d put into motion not too long from then, but she still had to wait to assure that everyone was sound asleep.

All except the never-sleeping Tantabus, that is.

Thirty minutes of intense boredom passed. Cozy Glow felt it was safe enough by then to head out and wander the halls, but she decided that, for extra measures, to wait a little while longer. Grogar tends to stay up late.

Again, minutes passed. Everything outside the door was quiet, and it was almost half an hour past midnight by then, so Cozy Glow finally left her room.

And came face to face with the Tantabus.

The filly tried to scream, but she was shut up by a magical force. The Tantabus then communicated to her.

“What are you doing up so late? I was trying to give you bad dreams.”

Cozy Glow was allowed to speak by then. “I couldn’t fall asleep,” she lied. “I was really dreading you giving me nightmares.”

It remained eerily silent in the room. The two stared at each other, and after a minute, the Tantabus entered the room and closed the door, ever so slowly so to agonize Cozy Glow.

“Don’t lie to me,” it told her telepathically. “We wouldn’t want an incident.”

“Ha… yeah, we wouldn’t,” Cozy Glow replied nervously, in a soft but trembling whisper.

The Tantabus made their way to Cozy Glow, and it began to change shape into the shape of an ink blot. Then, it regrouped itself, taking the form of some kind of lanky creature, with long arms, short and tender legs, and a head with sharp horns and teeth, all in the same astral shade of purple.

“Let’s stop fucking around, Cozy Glow. You’re trying to escape. I can taste the very thought in your conscious mind, and it’s VERY appetizing,” the Tantabus spoke telepathically.

“Yeah, but… uh…” Cozy Glow’s voice trailed off as she realized how little she could argue against the Tantabus.

It knew her intentions. It knew every thought that went through her mind, like how she felt screwed at the moment. She couldn’t manipulate her way out of this. That’s why it waited until now to strike.

“Understanding your doom now?” It said, now out loud. And then, without any warning, it used its magical abilities to blast Cozy Glow out of a window, it shattering against her delicate body.

Taken by complete surprise, Cozy Glow didn’t even process that she was falling until she nearly hit the ground. Thankfully, the Tantabus spawned below her, using the night to quickly swim through the currents of shade to blanket her fall.

Cozy Glow, stunned and confused, then plopped to the ground, and the Tantabus stood over her, proud of its work.

“Fuck,” Cozy Glow cried. “I-I can’t… woah.”

“The shock will die down in a few moments,” the Tantabus regarded. “And I’ll send you to meet your maker if you don’t promise me one little thing.”

“What?” Cozy Glow asked, still lying on the ground.

The Tantabus titled its head down to her. “You’ll extinguish all thoughts of leaving this place, and reconsider your lane carefully.”

“That’s two things,” Cozy Glow said. Her snarky self had kicked in.

“They complement one another,” the Tantabus explained. “They’re basically one thing, you brat.”

Cozy Glow stood up, her side having a slight ache in her side. “I can’t promise that,” Cozy Glow confided. “You know that I can’t. And besides, what’s the harm if I leave?”

“Forgetting something?” The Tantabus taunted. It then yanked Cozy Glow by her horn. “You’re an alicorn. You have power.”

“Oh,” Cozy Glow realized. Since she had powers, if she switched sides, she could he considered a threat.

The Tantabus turned to go inside. “You’re also planning to take him with you. I could taste it in the back of your mind,” it told her.

“Invade ponies’ privacy much?” Cozy Glow teased.

“I can also sense that you’re planning to make a dash for it,” the Tantabus spoke.

“Jeez, you’re a mind reader AND a cheater,” Cozy Glow said glumly.

The Tantabus turned around. “Neither. I’m me,” it confirmed.

Cozy Glow teased once more. “So… you’re a mind reader, a cheater, and yourself: a narcissistic being who gets off to picking on little girls.”

The Tantabus just stared. They seemed far out of it, not processing their surroundings and processing the information like a computer on low WiFi.

“I’ll let you leave,” it offered, “but you’ll have to let me fix that horn of yours.”

“Excuse me?” Cozy Glow questioned. She took a few steps back. “What do you mean fix?”

The Tantabus then disappeared, but not only that, the whole world disappeared before Cozy Glow’s eyes. She tried to speak, but the words couldn’t form because Cozy Glow’s body was gone, and so was her mind.

It seemed like hours had passed in the time Cozy Glow had spent seemingly not existing, but she found herself at the same place at the same time upon reappearing in the world of Equestria—assuming she even left.

One thing had changed though, and it was her horn: it was gone. Now Cozy Glow was a mere Pegasus.

“And if you’d like to keep your wings,” the Tantabus began, reappearing, “then stay in your own lane. Now go, you worthless cunt.”

Cozy Glow stared at the Tantabus a moment longer.

“You can’t take him to Twilight. Don’t even think about it,” the Tantabus warned.

“O-okay,” Cozy Glow responded. With that, she left. The Tantabus let her go off on her own—but Cozy Glow couldn’t really make a difference on the opposing side now, not being an alicorn and all.

Or so it seemed she couldn’t.

As for what happened next… a lot of walking. A lonely walk into the humid, nightly atmosphere. A walk… into the future.

After seven hours of flying with some small breaks and intermissions, dawn broke out into the sky. Cozy Glow had traveled roughly the entire distance there, but she still had about an hour to go until she reached Canterlot.

During her trip, she had some troubling thoughts. Since she wasn’t an alicorn anymore, could she fight off any pony who might still be living there that decides to attack her? And what if they had been affected by the war? Would they kill her?

The best case scenario, Cozy Glow concluded, was that it was barren and everyone had migrated to—what her old allies assumed the most likely scenario—to the Crystal Empire, which they haven’t attacked yet. However, it was nearly impossible to do so with everyone in Canterlot, so that implied some stragglers, which Cozy Glow had been worrying about.

About ten minutes before she reached Canterlot, she spotted it. It was just up the mountain, a short flight or an hour long walk away. However, Cozy Glow had sensed that someone was living up there.

More than sense, actually, when she looked closely and could’ve swarm she’d seen smoke trails. However, she’d already come this far; backing out was not an option in her predicament. So, she pushed on—for about a minute, until she walked right into a trap.

At the edge of a clearing, just below the giant mountain that housed the city she had sought out for, her leg caught on something. It didn’t take more than a second to recognize the work of a hunter’s trip wire.

In the next moment, an alarm went off in the forest nearby—and Cozy Glow was shrouded in a white glow as a magical barrier trapped her.

For a moment, nothing happened. The alarm blared on and on, and the magical encasement endured. Then, finally, a figure emerged in the sky, followed by a hoard of figures in similar attire.

They were Royal Guards. Cozy Glow was caught.

Failure to Cooperate

Three hours after her capture, and after a whole series of blurry events, Cozy Glow had been stuck down in a dungeon cell to await whatever was to come, assuming she wasn’t going to live the rest of her life down there doing nothing but regretting coming to Canterlot, where she thought no one would be—which is exactly what they wanted her think.

It was a cold, damp cell with no lighting whatsoever aside from the small window, of which was barred and led to a cliff so nothing that couldn’t fly could crawl out. Whilst Cozy Glow could fly, she was too big to squeeze through. She had tried the moment she came into the room.

The cell was decently spacious. It had a toilet, shrouded in darkness off to the right of the window, and a corner with a mattress, of which had stains all over it and a cup of who knows what next to it. Those were the only things of note; the cell was barren, and there was only a heavy-duty rusted door at the far end of the room, and not even bars to see through and taunt the guards from. Though one may foolishly assume this gives them more free rein to escape, Cozy Glow was due to have a tracker implanted in her body at some point in the near future. Plus, she’s Cozy Glow—they’re keeping an eye on her and have the whole cell area under security.

Taking in the moment, Cozy Glow wondered what was to come. Sure, things may have gone ahead a little bit different than she had hoped. Her initial plan was to come here and settle down for a bit, then move on and find Twilight and prove her forgiveness by returning the hero she and her old allies had taken hostage. However, the Tantabus totally ruined that by taking away her magic and disallowing her to take the hostage with her, as well as her now getting caught, now in a new dilemma: convincing Twilight of her reformation without the help of the hostage. He’s still stuck at the castle, and might even be dead now. The Tantabus could have pre-killed him listening to her plan.

Cozy Glow was screwed, or at least she felt like it. She didn’t see a way out of this, but she was desperate enough to beg. And so, when Twilight would come to see her, she’d do so, she decided. She didn’t have much of a choice now.

Minutes passed, and soon enough, an hour flew by in a while of troubling thoughts. And finally, at sundown, Cozy Glow got a visitor.

The door slowly slid open, making a full grinding sound as the stone floor squealed undue the rust-covered door that could give someone second-hand tetanus.

The figure that came in was, weirdly enough, surprisingly Twilight Sparkle. The door slid shit behind her, allowing some momentary privacy. And when the door closed, the area was shrouded in darkness, hiding Twilight from view.

Cozy Glow got up from the mattress. It was a shock to her that it not only took so long, but it was the least professional setting she could imagine meeting the princess in.

“Hello, Cozy Glow,” Twilight began. “It’s been a while.”

Cozy Glow gulped. “Before you ask, I was only coming here because I thought you weren’t here.”

“And for what?” Twilight asked. “Why would you come here if you weren’t expecting anyone?”

“It’s a long story,” Cozy Glow explained. “But I really wanted to tell you something.”

Twilight remained quiet for a moment. “I don’t want to hear another sick joke, Cozy Glow,” Twilight told her. “I want to hear where he is.”

“Yes, I’ll tell you,” Cozy Glow went on, “but please, let me tell you something important!”

Twilight revealed to be much closer in the darkness than Cozy Glow had anticipated. She stepped out and used her magic to grip Cozy Glow’s neck.

“Where is he?” Twilight asked sternly. She allowed Cozy Glow to speak.

Cozy Glow gulped. “At the crystal castle—it’s seventy miles out, I think, and he’s not dead as far as I know.”

“Thank you for cooperating,” Twilight confided, returning to the darkness. Cozy Glow headed scribbling, and she concluded Twilight was noting down the details Cozy Glow had given to her.

“I really, really wanted to see you… to tell you something serious,” Cozy Glow spoke up again. She stepped a bit closer to the darkness.

Twilight sighed. “Yes?” She asked.

“I… uh,” Cozy Glow started. “I’m not evil.”

“That’d explain the personality shift,” Twilight said.

“Wait, you believe me?” Cozy Glow asked, shocked.

“Cozy Glow, I don’t want to hear your jokes,” Twilight scolded. “You’re here for a reason, which we’ll find out even if it means torturing it out of you. And believe me, I really don’t want to hurt a child, but you’re a lunatic. You don’t become good overnight, no matter how much you think you’ve changed. So no jokes, or else you’re staying down here.”

Cozy Glow started to panic a little. “Torture? Please tell me you’re joking now, too,” she asked in a trembling voice.

“Whatever gets the truth out of you,” Twilight replied. “A guard will be in soon to give you some food.”

Cozy Glow hadn’t realized how hungry she had gotten. She hadn’t eaten in now over a day, since dinner the night of her escape.

“And Cozy Glow,” Twilight went on. She stepped out of the darkness, revealing a surprising look of sadness in her eyes. “I really hope you’re telling the truth about spike. If he is still being held hostage and you help us find him, well… let’s not get too ahead of ourselves.”

Twilight turned to leave. When she stepped into the darkness, Cozy Glow decided to tell Twilight one last thing.

“I tried to bring him with me,” Cozy Glow remarked.

Twilight stopped in her tracks and remained silent for a moment. “And what happened to that, if so?”

“I was stopped by someone. One of my old allies, of course one of my now enemies,” Cozy Glow answered. “Assuming you believe I’ve changed.”

Cozy Glow could sense something oozing around in Twilight. Call it blood, but it felt as if the presence of a severe hatred had entered the room. A hatred for Cozy Glow.

“Stop trying before I do something illegal,” Twilight said as calmly as possible. “Even though the law practically doesn’t exist anymore.”

She left the cell, but not without slamming the door, leaving Cozy Glow to sit with her thoughts.

She’d felt a stab of pain when Twilight left. It was as if she had ruined something, like dropping an ice cream. She seemed on the right track… but the mention of almost bringing spike and reconciliation of her being good now must’ve hammered away at something inside of Twilight. And Cozy Glow knew it was Twilight likely missing her adopted brother, but she’d have to keep that tucked away in her thoughts until the right time to apologize.

The evening turned to night as the next half hour passed. Cozy Glow had gotten dinner—soup, water, and a helping of berries—and gnawed and gulped it down hungrily. Before she knew it, it was time for some well deserved rest.

At the break of dawn, Cozy Glow awoke to a guard waking her up. He informed her that she was going to be moved elsewhere, somewhere more fit for living in for however long this was gonna go for, which could be for forever.

She prepared for ten minutes, doing usual morning routine stuff like combing her hair and brushing her teeth—with the shitty tools she was given to do so. But, nonetheless, the job had been done, and a group of four guards arrived to escort her through the castle.

The whole place was a maze, a blur of familiar and similar looking halls and rooms, but most notably she was brought through the main entrance area. She got stern looks from the guards she passed, but none made any rude faces nor gave her a piece of their mind in any verbal manner. If they all had telepathy, like the Tantabus, she would’ve likely learned a few new words worse than cunt and fuck.

Alas, she arrived at her room, which was the only room in this hallway, like reserved for special guests who need privacy. However, Cozy Glow was gonna have limited privacy with guards, well, guarding her door, the hall itself, her windows, and checking on her every half hour.

Upon entering her room, she was shocked to see that it was surprisingly barren; a small bed was in the room, as well as a nightstand with a small lamp. Aside from a bookshelf (mostly filled with dictionaries and romance novels) and, of course, a bathroom, the place was pretty bare bones. But what would one expect her to get? A master bedroom? Cozy Glow had been given a downsized bedroom that had only essential things like mild entertainment and a place to sleep, and somewhat deservingly so; she was the one who had the idea to kidnap Spike. She was the reason Twilight’s adopted brother had been taken, because she thought it would give them the advantage—which it did.

Cozy Glow was left alone in the room for a bit. She was able to make her bed and finally go to the bathroom in peace. She got to even catch of a glimpse of herself in the mirror, since her old holding cell never had one. She looked like a mess, and she could see the scar where her horn used to be. But this moment wouldn’t last. Eventually, whatever
was coming to her was gonna catch up—and it probably had something to do with spilling information.

For that present moment, Cozy Glow savored her time of peace to reflect on how to approach the idea of her being reformed once more to Twilight or her friends. If Cozy Glow could prove she was normal now, or at least more normal than before, she’d be saved. But there was no way at the time aside from convincing. She’d have to wait for a golden opportunity, one she’d hoped would arrive sooner rather than later.

Cozy Glow lied down on her mattress and began to relax for a little while, but not to long in her thoughts were interrupted by a guard entering the room to check on her. This was gonna be a reoccurring event.

They left quickly, making sure the door was locked. Cozy Glow wasn’t gonna have much fun falling asleep depending on how often they popped into her place—but she assumed that the check-ups would become less frequent during the night as to allow her some sleep. She was a child, after all, and Twilight knows that Cozy Glow is a light sleeper.

It was noon when Twilight came into the room. Cozy Glow didn’t even look up, assuming it was a guard. She continued to relax, but Twilight’s voice startled her.

“Cozy Glow,” Twilight announced. “You need to come with us.”

Cozy perked up, slightly groggy from lying down for so long with her own thoughts. “Oh, okay,” she murmured, getting up from the bed.

Twilight held the door open for her, and Cozy Glow walked out into the hall. Two guards kept her between them, disallowing much room for her and disabling and means of escape. Twilight let the lot of them down the hall and down a pair of stairs, then down another long hall to a door. The door screamed bad news, being shrouded in darkness and made of some kind of tough mineral.

“What’s going on?” Cozy Glow asked.

Twilight didn’t answer. She let the guards take Cozy Glow in, and she shut the door behind them. Twilight wasn’t going to be observing what was gonna happen, or at least not be in the room. Cozy Glow wasn’t sure why.

“Woah,” Cozy Glow gaped when the light turned on. A chair sat in the room, but it had straps in it to keep whoever needed to sit there in their place. And Cozy Glow had a pretty good idea who it was.

“I don’t think I’m up for this,” Cozy Glow said. “Can we try something else less… intimidating?”

The guards didn’t reply. They only moved her over to the chair, and it was clear she was gonna be forced into it. So, she reluctantly complied, allowing the guards to strap her in.

Cozy Glow knew it wasn’t an electric chair. It had no some above where the head would go, like you’d read about in books. The real threat here was yet to be revealed to her, but it was so in due time.

“I’ll tell you guys what you want to know,” Cozy Glow explained. “Just don’t hurt me, okay? I really will comply.”

They continued to not respond. The lack of any words being said to her killed her. But what came next made her heart sink.

There was a curtain at one end of the room, hiding something behind it. A guard pulled back the curtain and revealed… a set of hooks.

It hit Cozy Glow what was truly going on when she saw the ceiling had bars on it. The hooks seemed to be attachable to the ceiling. And to her internal organs.

“Wait!” Cozy Glow yelled. “You don’t have to do that! I’ll tell you what you want to know!”

“Calm down, Cozy Glow,” Twilight’s voice broke in, coming from a speaker across the room. “You won’t be harmed at all if you just tell us what we want to know. I personally don’t condone torture, but we as a collective deemed it necessary if you don’t cooperate. Any failure to cooperate now will spell out a world of pain, to for your sake, do so. I really don’t want to see you… well, you know.”

Cozy Glow’s heart pounds as the hooks were set on the table next to the chair. “Where are those hooks going?” Cozy Glow asked.

“Not in you if you cooperate. If you don’t, they’re going into your wingspan,” Twilight regarded.

Cozy Glow gulped. All she had to do was cooperate and tell them what they wanted to know. She was gonna tell them stuff anyways, but this wasn’t what she had in mind. Then, a terrible thought crossed her mind: what if it’s not something she can answer? They couldn’t torture her if she didn’t know, right?

“Tell us, Cozy Glow,”’ Twilight began. “Why are you here?”

“Huh?” Cozy Glow choked out.

“Why are you here? What was your intention coming here?” Twilight explained.

Cozy Glow remained silent, staring at the speaker with grim eyes. She knew that she had to tell the truth, but she already tried it once, and Twilight assumed Cozy Glow was just getting a sick kick out of claiming to be on their side now. But what if she lied now, and said she was coming to kill them all or infiltrate them somehow? It wasn’t her goal, but it was more believable.

“Please don’t make me answer that,” Cozy Glow pleaded. “You wouldn’t believe it.”

A guard raised a hook with their magic. “Don’t make me repeat myself, please,” Twilight boomed.

Cozy Glow gulped and proceeded to attempt to answer. “I… I wasn’t coming here for anything ill intended,” Cozy Glow choked out, fearing the worst. “I just wanted to help. I really have reflected, and I’ve seen where I messed up, so I came to help you all.”

The guard with the hook moved it towards Cozy Glow’s left wing. He he’d it steady in front of her wing, and proceeded to delicately spread it out.

“I was gonna bring Spike! I swear, I really wasn’t here to do anything bad, honest!” Cozy Glow yelled.

“Put it in her wing,” Twilight commanded.

Cozy Glow heart sank. “No, please! I’m serious! It’s the honest truth!”

“It can’t be, Cozy Glow,” Twilight explained. “You’re not good. It’s simply too hard to believe that you can change so soon.”

“But—“ Cozy Glow argued, but was cut off as an intense pain shot up her body. A hook had been stuck into her wing, blood gushing out over the chair.

Cozy Glow, expectedly, screamed and panicked. She recoiled in her chair, attempting to break free to zero avail. She was at the mercy of her old enemies—which, when it hit her, was an alternatively frightening thought, since they still assumed she was horrendously evil, putting on a stupid act.

When Cozy Glow had calmed down after having a mask that muted her slipped onto her face, Twilight’s voice returned.

“I’m sorry, Cozy Glow. I don’t want to see you like this, but it’s just how it is,” Twilight said calmly, trying to soothe Cozy Glow. Twilight didn’t seem to be liking it, but at the same time, Cozy Glow felt that horrible hatred towards her slipping back as Twilight went on.

“Let’s try again,” Twilight announced. “What’re you doing here? No more lies.”

The mask was slipped off Cozy Glow’s face by a guard, allowing her to answer—and hopefully truthfully, as they assumed she hadn’t been so.

“Please, Twilight,” Cozy Glow tried again. “I can’t answer that.”

“Do you want another hook in your already bloodied wing?” Twilight asked. It wasn’t much of a a question; it was more of a challenge.

“No!” Cozy Glow burst out. “I mean, no… I just… I don’t know.”

“Guards, another hook,” Twilight demanded. A guard used their magic to raise a hook to Cozy Glow’s right wing this time, ready to push it into her tender skin. They attached it to the ceiling, alike to the other one.

Cozy Glow burst out crying. She was trapped, with no foreseeable way out of this. She’d tell the truth, she’d get a hook in her wing. Her only choice there was to get through all the hooks without fainting and possibly not be able to fly for a year or so, assuming she isn’t killed tomorrow or whenever they try again with whatever method they go for next.

Then, as if a miracle had occurred, a voice popped into Cozy Glow’s head. It was the Tantabus.

“Listen up, you cunt. You need to tell them what they WANT to hear, because they won’t believe the truth. I need you in good condition. So tell them this: you were sent by Grogar to spy on Twilight to find out any information that could’ve been reliable.”

Cozy Glow’s eyes went wide. Somehow, the Tantabus knew exactly where she was, and it was able to send her telepathic messages. But Cozy Glow was grateful for the shocking aid from the Tantabus, though confused why they would help her out.

“Wait,” Cozy Glow cried. “Here’s the truth… I was sent by Grogar. H-he wanted me to spy on you, Twilight. But I was caught.”

The guard let the hook dangle and allowed Cozy Glow to relax her right wing. Then, Twilight spoke.

“Thank you, Cozy Glow. It seems you understand now,” she spoke.

Cozy Glow sighed in relief. The first hook hurt and still gave off an awful ache, but it seemed that Cozy Glow might get out of this without any more injuries than just the one.

“Now,” Twilight continued. “What is Grogar and the others planning?”

“Planning?” Cozy Glow questioned. She knew about an attack happening in two weeks, and was eager to share it. However, the Tantabus threatened Cozy Glow.

“If you tell them anything about our impending attack, you’re going to regret it for the rest of your very short existence.”

Cozy Glow gulped, understanding that she now had to lie, though unwillingly.

“We’re not planning anything at the moment,” Cozy Glow replied to Twilight.

A guard spread out Cozy Glow’s wing, preparing to stab the elevated hook through its tender skin.

“Not again, Cozy Glow,” Twilight groaned. “Lying will only land you in horrible pain, so please, for my sake, tell the truth.”

Cozy Glow felt the hook scraping her wing. It was going to impale her any second, assuming she remains quiet or chooses her words unwisely. She had to tell them, even if it meant a great disadvantage for the Tantabus and her enemies, as well as bad dreams.

“Okay!” Cozy Glow yelled, feeling the hook pressing into her soft tissue. “We were discussing something about an attack on you guys soon. I think it was two weeks from now.”

“There we go, Cozy Glow,” Twilight said soothingly. “Just two more questions, and then we’ll put some ice on your wings. And hey, maybe we’ll allow you something nice to eat.”

The guard let the hook go, and it dangled beside Cozy Glow. The hook in her left wing still burned, and she dreaded the idea of it being pulled out—a whole new pain on its own.

The Tantabus returned to Cozy’s thoughts in the next instant.

“You have royally messed up. I can’t allow you to be in bad shape for it, but you must not share information like that. You must follow my lead—a few pricks in the wings don’t hurt too much, right? If they really do, you’re going to fucking hate what I have planned for you if you don’t cooperate. Follow my lead, not theirs.”

Cozy Glow started to cry again. She was really getting scared now. Her miracle had quickly turned into a new problem of its own. She was now forced to either get a hook shoved into her wing every time she fails to cooperate with Twilight—or suffer an unknown pain from the Tantabus, whatever it’s planning and what it wants her for.

“Like I said,” Twilight said, acknowledging Cozy Glow’s distress and discomfort. “Two more questions. Then you’re safe. All you have to do is answer truthfully, even if it’s hard to do.”

Cozy Glow sniffled, allowing the tears to come to a halt.

“Please stop,” Cozy Glow pleaded. “I can’t do this… you don’t understand.”

“Two questions, Cozy Glow,” Twilight went on. “As much as you have changed, I know my #1 student is still buried down in there somewhere. So comply.”

Cozy Glow weakly nodded, ready to get this over and done with.

“Now,” Twilight resumed. “I asked you this yesterday, but I’m going to ask you one more time for absolute confirmation: where is Spike, and is he okay?”

“He’s fine, I swear,” Cozy Glow gaped. “He’s…” she then trailed off as the Tantabus burst into her thoughts.

“You already gave them details about our castle. Don’t give them anymore. Tell them he’s at a secret base in the Everfree Forest. It’ll buy me some time. And if you don’t, you WILL regret it. Don’t test my patience.”

Cozy Glow choked up a new response. “He’s trapped at an outpost in the Everfree Forest. It’s not far from here, so you can search there soon.”

Twilight remained silent. It seemed like a heavy weight was lifted from the room, that being hatred. However, residue was still present, and it wasn’t gonna go away without a proper rinse.

“Okay,” Twilight continued. “Now for one last question, and you’ll be out of here.”

There was a pause. In that pause, the Tantabus communicated.

“Whatever you do, don’t tell Twilight the truth on this one. You absolutely can’t. If you do, you’re going to regret it more than that second hook in your wings.”

Cozy Glow choked. This couldn’t be good at all.

“Where is Starlight Glimmer?” Twilight asked.

“Wait, what?” Cozy Glow asked, genuinely confused.

“She’s been missing before the war even started. No body, no trace, no nothing. What happened to her?” Twilight began to sound slightly hostile, which was probably an attempt to scare the answer out of Cozy Glow.

One problem: Cozy Glow didn’t know the answer to this. But the Tantabus sure did.

“We never filled you in, did we? Good. Now you can’t tell them the truth.”

Cozy Glow started to panic. “I… don’t know. I really don’t know, Twilight. Honest.”

Twilight wasted no time. “If you know something, we’re gonna find out shortly,” she declared. “Another hook, please.”

“No! I don’t know anything about her! I didn’t even know she was missing until you told me, honest!” Cozy Glow was getting ultra desperate. She was in tears when the hook grazed her wing.

“Just one more hook… and maybe you’ll talk,” Twilight decided.

With that, the guard put the to Cozy Glow’s upper most part of her wing—and pierced it through, making way for blood to rush out and dribble down her right wing, now injuring both wings and leaving them caked with her internal fluids.

Cozy Glow wailed in agony as it slid through, and then tugged on her wing. It was especially uncomfortable since both her wings were being stretched out to their fullest extent, and unable to relax in resting position to reduce any bleeding. If she didn’t get help soon, she’d need a blood transfusion.

Her cries were muted by the mask put over her muzzle once again. Twilight’s voice crackled to life on the speaker.

“I don’t want to have to do anymore. This isn’t what I want to do, honestly. But please, be honest: do you know anything about Starlight?”

Cozy Glow began to shed tears of distress. She was panicking and on the verge of passing out. But her wings aching kept her alert and in perpetual discomfort.

Why couldn’t Cozy Glow have been born an earth pony?

The guard removed the cap from her muzzle and allowed her to make her claim.

“No more… I don’t know anything, and if I did, I would’ve told you,” Cozy Glow claimed.

Twilight sighed. “Do you want another hook?”

“No more,” Cozy Glow whispered. “No more… no more… I need to lie down.”

Twilight had heard enough now to conclude Cozy Glow didn’t know anything, or if she did she wasn’t capable of breaking it to Twilight out of some kind of fear. Or maybe an in between. But either way, it was over, and she came into the room and ordered the guards yo let Cozy Glow out.

Taking the hooks out of Cozy Glow’s wings made her cry. A lot, actually. Twilight had to step out of the room as they did it; it was uncomfortable to watch, something a villain would probably get off to.

Eventually, she was ready to get out of there and heal.

The guards had to carry Cozy Glow back to her room, being a little too in shock to properly walk. No one spoke on the way back, and Cozy Glow as given proper care for her wings, with ice and bandages as well as disinfectant. Twilight really didn’t want to do it, but the majority deemed it necessary. They did get useful into out of it, though; they learned (or thought they learned) where Spike was, as well as knew about an upcoming attack (of which was a truth).

Cozy Glow was left alone in her room for the rest of the day. She did nothing but lie down and cry, awaiting someone to talk to—preferably a guard. However, any small talk she tried to make resulted in… well, no talking in return. They had orders not to talk to her, no matter what, probably out of fear of her manipulating them into helping her.

Finally, someone broke into her thoughts: the Tantabus.

“You messed up big time. You told them about our attack. And you got hurt, but I can’t blame you for that… however, you disobeyed my commands still. They know about the attack, so you must be punished.”

“No!” Cozy Glow cried, sitting up on her shabby bed. She gazed around her room, desperate to find a place to hide. It was dark now, and she had yet to turn on her lamp. However, she didn’t need light to see the Tantabus beckoning to her from the closet.

“I’m going to swallow your soul if you don’t comply,” it whispered out loud. And they meant it.

Control of Mind

Cozy Glow unwillingly approached her closet. The Tantabus—somehow—was right in her room, in Canterlot. It was beyond her how the Tantabus got in, but they happily answered her telepathically.

“I can use the shadows to travel. I am a figment of Luna’s guilt, and have gained power by feeding off her guilt. One of my powers is to become an ink blot in the darkness, my natural form, and now that I have escaped her mind, I can exist anywhere I want to.”

Cozy Glow gazed at the door to the hall. She then shot the Tantabus a look, thinking hard about what to do.

“I can read your thoughts, you know. If you scream, which you won’t, I’ll happily steal you now and eat your soul. Now come.”

Cozy Glow felt a magical force on her mouth, muting her from screaming. She was sure the Tantabus had no intention of murdering her, but nonetheless, Cozy Glow was super nervous about following the Tantabus into the closet. Something was up.

Reluctantly, Cozy Glow followed the Tantabus into the vast darkness. Yes, vast—because the closet ceased to exist, and instead there was a giant chasm shrouded in blackness.

“You’re in here with me now,” the Tantabus spoke aloud. “No one can hear you scream. And you can’t run for help, not unless I let you go. And I have no intent of doing so yet.”

“What’s going on?” Cozy Glow asked, now allowed to speak.

“I can’t give that away quite yet. But I need you breathing and in decent shape you little cunt,” the Tantabus explained.

“But why? What do you need me in good condition for?” Cozy Glow was getting more nervous about this by the second.

“You’ll see soon enough,” the Tantabus spoke, not answering her plea. It wouldn’t let on to what it wanted with her, but whatever it was couldn’t be anything good.

“Why are you telling me this if don’t want me to know?” Cozy Glow questioned.

The Tantabus remained silent, processing her question like a broken facts machine.

“You and I share one little thing in common,” the Tantabus explained. “We are avid partakers in the idea of entertaining evil. And I enjoy this, quite a lot in fact.”

The Tantabus started walking towards Cozy Glow. “And besides,” it rambled on, “I need to guide my meal in the right direction.”

Guide my meal? The statement shook Cozy Glow.

Cozy Glow stepped back, disallowing the Tantabus to get too close for comfort.

“Your soul isn’t ripe yet. Luna’s was, but she wouldn’t let me take more control… however, you’re no goddess; you’re a mere child,” the Tantabus said, hunger in its voice.

“Are you some kind of changeling?” Cozy Glow asked, frightened but wanting to make a stand.

“A changeling? Oh, I’m much more than that,” it explained. “If you compared me to a changeling, then they’d practically be extinct. If I were a changeling, they’d think I was their god. But our similarities end in disguise and hunger.”

“Gotcha,” Cozy Glow murmured, trying to keep the fear out of her voice. “Can I go back to my room now?”

“In a moment. I have an assignment for you tomorrow. Twilight is going to take you to Everfree Forest for you to show her where the outpost is. They’re going to bring an attack, and if they find out you’re lying, you’re going to be tortured again,” it explained.

“Oh, my,” Cozy Glow gasped. “What do I do?”

“Follow my lead tomorrow,” it continued. “I’m going to guide you to a trap where I will be waiting to slaughter all the guards.”

Cozy Glow stared in shock. “You’re going to murder the guards?”

“It’ll get her off your ass about the outpost, and give you more time for you to grow… ripe,” the Tantabus finished.

“But I can’t do that!” Cozy Glow yelled.

“But you will,” the Tantabus said. It wasn’t a question. It was a demand that she did as told.

“What if I don’t?” Cozy Glow asked.

“Well, you’re still due for a punishment for revealing our attack date,” the Tantabus reminded her. “Consider this a sample size.”

Immediately after hearing this, Cozy Glow started to fall to the solid black floor. She felt a roaring pain in her head. It felt like a hammer had been lodged into her skull and she was bleeding out acid, only she couldn’t scream; a spell bonded her lips shuts. She couldn’t scream, but she needed to scream. The only sound concerning her agony was the whimpers that could weakly be heard from her.

“That’s what’ll happen if you decided to not cooperate again,” the Tantabus warned her. “The only difference being that it’ll hurt all over and be amplified to a thousand.”

The pain was then extinguished, and Cozy Glow started to relax. The memory of the pain would be hard to forget, but Cozy Glow couldn’t be bothered to think about it. She needed to get out of there.

Thankfully, the Tantabus was kind enough to let her go then. A hole in the darkness revealed the closet. Cozy Glow scrambled over without hesitation, leaving the weird dimension of darkness behind. When Cozy Glow looked back, it was just a blank, white wall.

She exited the closet, thankful to have gotten out okay. The pain she experienced had done no real damage to her; she had only felt pain and hadn’t been physically hurt at all, though she was mentally petrified whenever she thought about it.

Not too long after Cozy Glow had fully calmed down, Twilight entered the room to talk with Cozy Glow before going to bed.

“Hey, Cozy Glow,” Twilight asked. “Are your wings doing alright?”

Cozy Glow wiped away dried tears. “They’re fine,” she whispered.

“That’s good to hear,” Twilight said soothingly. “Are you up for an adventure tomorrow?”

“What adventure?” Cozy Glow asked.

“Well, we need you to guide us to the outpost where Spike is at,” Twilight told her. “We need your help.”

“Oh, right,” Cozy Glow sighed.

“Get some rest, please. We’re going bright and early,” Twilight said. She turned to leave.

“Wait,” Cozy Glow whispered. Twilight stopped in her tracks and turned around to listen to Cozy Glow.

“You shouldn’t go out there,” Cozy Glow said. “It’s not going to be safe.”

“We know, that’s why we’re bringing a lot of the guards out with us,” Twilight explained.

Cozy Glow felt the sudden urge to tell Twilight the truth about how there was no outpost, and that it was made up because she wanted the guard to not injure her. Since there was no Tantabus telling her not to do so, Cozy Glow began.

“You don’t understand,” Cozy Glow started. “There’s no outpost. I made it up. But there’s going to be a trap tomorrow.”

“Excuse me?” Twilight gasped. “You lied about the outpost? I’ll have you know that we can bring you back to the chamber and get the truth out of you at any moment it’s necessary.”

“I did tell you the truth! But you didn’t believe it, and you were gonna hurt me, so I said a lie that sounded more believable,” Cozy Glow argued.

Twilight stared at Cozy Glow with a blank expression. A sinking hatred filled the room, though not so strongly as it had before. This hatred was aimed at Cozy Glow, and the one aiming was Twilight.

“Have a good night, Cozy Glow,” Twilight said, but definitely not meaning it. She left the room quietly, leaving Cozy Glow with her thoughts.

The Tantabus broke into Cozy’s conscious thought unannounced.

“You’re probably wondering why I didn’t stop you. Well, that was a set up. I knew you’d tell Twilight. And now, she’s starting to hate your guts again. Her negative thoughts on you ripens the flavor, like how Luna’s guilt ripened her for so long. You’re going to taste delicious the more you fuck up with Twilight. We just need you to be in good condition for when you’re ready for them.”

The words ringed in Cozy Glow’s tender ears as she tried to fall into a deep, deep sleep.

The morning rushed by in a blur. Cozy Glow was thankful to have gotten rest, but wasn’t looking forward to the day.

Now that Twilight knew the outpost was a complete lie, she decided to try to get the answer out of Cozy Glow again, but this time by literally asking for directions.

She brought Cozy Glow to where the throne room was. Was, because it’s no longer a room: it’s a balcony. The room had been destroyed in the event of the battle that had happened here two months ago, which resulted in Spike being kidnapped.

Cozy Glow sat at the edge, looking out on the land. It was a strange sight, seeing nothing but air and the city down below where there used to be a mighty throne and amazing architecture, of which Cozy Glow used to admire, but she had sadly destroyed.

Cozy Glow was ordered to point in the direction Spike truly was, and she obliged well, pointing straight ahead but only a little to the left. She had come from that way, and knew she could retrace her steps.

She was given a map of Equestria and was ordered to draw a line to where he was. She knew the base was just outside of Macintosh Hills, and a few miles out from Appaloosa. So, she labeled an area for them to search, explaining the castle design and how highly it was guarded. She also warned them not to attack, or else Spike would be murdered in an instant, which wasn’t news but rather a reminder.

Whilst all of this was okay for them to know by Cozy Glow, they still threatened it out of her, saying that if they returned and found no castle or no Spike, Cozy Glow was going to get a horrible punishment. She didn’t fear it much but the thought of them returning without any evidence of the base existing. The purpose of the trip was to find their base, not to attack it—yet, of course; they had to get Spike out before they attempted anything.

With all the information they could squeeze out of Cozy Glow, a group of sixty or so well-trained guards headed out to see if the base existed or was just a hoax for Cozy Glow to stall for time, which it wasn’t, but they didn’t quite trust her, but have gained a bit of trust in her word after seeing the state she was in after her torture yesterday.

Cozy Glow, Twilight, and the guard staff watched the search party head out from the throne room. Cozy Glow was nervous that something might happen to them, but knew that if the Tantabus were to infiltrate them, it would be clear that they were attacked by the enemy side. The Tantabus could only watch them, or Cozy Glow hoped it could; she didn’t know the extent of its powers.

After they vanished in the distance, Twilight ordered everyone to leave. Cozy Glow was then left alone with the princess.

“You better be telling the truth,” Twilight warned. “If they come back finding nothing, then you’re in for it.”

“What does that mean?” Cozy Glow asked, glancing at Twilight.

“You’re going to be in major trouble. And trust me, I felt bad doing the hooks yesterday, but if you’re lying about this, you’re going to get a wicked bruising,” Twilight counseled Cozy Glow. “So please, tell me right now if you’re lying.”

“I’m not lying,” Cozy Glow confided. “When they come back, they’ll have found it. You’ll see.”

It remained quiet for a moment. Cozy Glow thought about how good it’d be for her if they found the base. It might just be the golden opportunity she was waiting for to convince Twilight she’s changed for the better.

Her thoughts were interrupted when a familiar few ponies approached.

“Hey, Twi,” Rainbow Dash spoke, her voice its typical raspy self.

“Hi, girls. What’s up?” Twilight asked.

Cozy Glow turned to see Rainbow Dash and Rarity standing in front of Twilight, having a brief conversation. She had almost forgotten they were still around, having not seen them since the battle. Cozy Glow wondered why they haven’t seen her, but it was likely because they wanted to stay away from Cozy Glow until further notice. She couldn’t blame them. She’d done horrible damage to the land.

Rainbow caught her staring, and the three all turned their eyes to Cozy Glow shortly after. It went quiet, uncomfortably quiet, until Twilight spoke up.

“We had Cozy Glow help us locate Spike,” Twilight explained. “That’s why she’s up here.”

“What happened to her wings?” Rainbow Dash asked.

Cozy Glow got the weird urge to hide her wings, embarrassed that her old enemies had seen how she had been tortured.

Twilight sighed. “We had to get answers, so I left it up to the counsel to decide how to get them. They saw it fit that we hurt her to get them. They didn’t think she’d willingly cooperate.”

“I would’ve if you would’ve listened to me,” Cozy Glow blurted out. “I mean, I was willing to answers them without the… you know.”

Rarity stepped over and checked out her wings. “You really did a number on them,” she commented.

“The guards did that. I didn’t want to be in the room for it,” Twilight explained.

“They bled into the bandage well,” Rarity went on. “You might want to replace the wrapping soon.”

“I’m having a guard do it this afternoon,” Twilight continued. “I don’t want it getting infected. She deserves to be able to fly again.”

That comment made Cozy Glow feel a little more calm. Twilight seemed to have weird mood shifts with Cozy Glow, and the Tantabus loved the hatred the Twilight could give off because it ripened Cozy Glow’s flavor or whatever. Somehow, Cozy Glow could sense it when it occurred, but she couldn’t pin point why. That was a good question for the Tantabus, assuming it isn’t mad at her for leaking the location of the castle, though it could’ve very well got a sick kick out of it for whatever reason.

It was nice to see positivity to her, even though no one really trusted her. Yes, she couldn’t fly well at all until her wings got better and really couldn’t escape, so she wasn’t much of a threat. However, they were treating her well, and Cozy Glow hoped that’d last—and it would inevitably do so for the remainder of her time, if the Tantabus wasn’t trying to get her new allies (as Cozy Glow seemed them) to hate her guts more than they did during the time she had been truly evil.

“I wouldn’t say she does, but…” Rainbow Dash replied to Twilight, her voice trailing off.

Twilight shot Rainbow Dash a stern look. It definitely meant for her to pipe down.

Okay. So Rainbow Dash wasn’t a Cozy Glow fan, and no one truly was, but of the three mares she was easily the least big on the idea of a, well, at least slightly less than totally evil and powerful Cozy Glow.

Twilight escorted Cozy Glow to her room, where she was given some privacy before sending a guard in to change Cozy Glow’s bandages.

The guard arrived at the strike of noon, and they ordered her to sit on the edge of her bed as they changed her bandages. The guard washed her wings with soap and water, dried them, and then applied disinfectant to her wounds. Then, ever so delicately, they wrapped her wings up with a fresh bandage.

After the guard left, Cozy Glow went to go use the bathroom. She caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror as she passed it by, and saw that her hair was a bit of a mess. She needed to shower soon, but she quickly fixed up her hair in the meantime.

And that’s when she noticed it. The scar behind her right hoof. She had a similar scar where her horn used to be, and she knew why it was there. But this scar was something different.

The Tantabus must’ve been watching, because it broke into Cozy Glow’s thoughts.

“Admiring my work?” It taunted.

“What did you do?” Cozy Glow asked nervously. “Why do I have a scar there!”

“I did so to follow you. I knew you were heading to Canterlot, but I couldn’t run the risk of you fleeing or getting lost. I need you ripe, and this is so I can’t lose you.”

“What’s in my hoof?!” Cozy Glow cried.

“A tracker,” it explained. “Only a precaution. It’s hard to lose you, but I could let the other villains track you here and possibly siege Canterlot.”

“Don’t do that, please,” Cozy Glow. “I’ll cooperate. Just please, leave us be.”

The Tantabus didn’t respond. Cozy Glow hoped it had listened, and she carried on.

That night, Cozy Glow was due for getting a tracker put into her. However, she already had one, and was struggling to find a way to explain it to Twilight without it seeming like she was sent here as means to find where the heroes of Equestria are residing.

It wasn’t a good look for her, but she had to explain it best she can—and hopefully get it destroyed quickly.

When it came time for Cozy Glow to head down to the infirmary to get the implant, Cozy Glow asked to speak to Twilight alone for a minute. She had to tell her about the tracker, but prayed she wouldn’t lost her shit. To be fair, the Tantabus apparently hasn’t shared her tracking info with the other bad guys, so they were likely fine. But for how long?

Twilight stared at Cozy Glow as she sat in the hospital bed, ready to talk about whatever it was Cozy Glow was gonna share or ask.

“There’s something you should know,” Cozy Glow said.

“Do you puke under anesthesia? Because you were supposed to tell your anesthesiologist about that,” Twilight scolded.

“No, I don’t,” Cozy Glow replied. “But I do have something else important concerning… well, look.”

Cozy Glow turned her right hoof over and revealed the scar.

“What’s this?” Twilight asked.

“A scar,” Cozy Glow said.

“I know that, but why are you showing me this?” Twilight went on.

“I don’t really know how to tell you this without making you freak out,” Cozy Glow started, nervous. “But there’s a tracker in my hoof.”

Twilight went pale. “You’re joking, right?”

“I’m not kidding,” Cozy Glow answered. “It was put into me when I left, and I didn’t know about it until this morning… but they haven’t used it yet, I swear!”

Twilight stormed out of the room. She seemed upset, and it was evident at the sinking feeling of hatred creeping into the room.

“The spicy and tangy flavor of of hatred and guilt is a nice seasoning for the taste of children’s souls,” the Tantabus gushed telepathically.

Another win for the Tantabus. And judging by the Tantabus’s voice, it must’ve wanted Cozy Glow to tell Twilight about the tracker to upset her. And it worked in its favor.

In a flurry of events, Cozy Glow was hurried into the operating room and steadily put under anesthesia. Twilight watched as Cozy Glow drifted to sleep, allowing a feeling of hatred to slowly slip in and out of the room. It was clear Twilight entertained the idea of a good Cozy Glow, but she couldn’t quite get there thanks to the Tantabus manipulating. Or maybe it was because Cozy Glow looked adorable in her state of dreariness.

Whatever it was that made way for this mixed feeling in the room, Cozy Glow slowly slipped into a deep sleep. She didn’t realize it then, but this deep sleep not only meant that there was no turning back since she would forever be under the watch of Twilight with this tracker, but it also meant that she was vulnerable to the psychological mercy of the Tantabus.

As she slowly faded into the darkness of her own mind, the Tantabus transmitted a few words of wisdom.

“You’re gonna wish they cut you open awake when I’m done with you.”

The Longest Nightmare

When Cozy Glow came to, she didn’t actually wake up. She found herself in some kind of dark pit, where no light gave out and her cries were very muffled.

Then, the Tantabus appeared.

“We don’t have long,” it began, “but I’m going to make the most of your time under the anesthesia.”

“What’s going on now?” Cozy Glow asked. Then the words that the Tantabus whispered to her as she slipped into her sleep came back to her.

“I’m gonna guilt trip you, to put it bluntly,” the Tantabus said. “But it’s not for you to do anything, it’s just to ripen you up for us.”

“Who is us?” Cozy Glow asked, confused.

“You aren’t allowed to know yet,” the Tantabus replied. “Their orders. It might make you too scared, and letting fear beyond imagination sink in dampens your flavor.”

Cozy Glow ran. She didn’t know where to run in this dark, dreary and weirdly musty smelling black pit, but she just had to escape the Tantabus until she came to wake up in the real word.

But Cozy Glow didn’t get far at all. The Tantabus yanked her back, transforming a hoof into a long, nightmarish tentacle.

“Running won’t save you. It surely didn’t the night you were caught. Remember?” The Tantabus’s voice hung in the air.

As Cozy Glow was reeled back in, she saw the darkness make way to darkness of night as she saw the night of her capture.

Outside the School of Friendship, Cozy Glow saw herself surrounded by all of the students of the school. They had her trapped, so tried to fly another way to hopefully escape. However, now that magic had returned to Equestria, Celestia, the Chancellor, and Luna appeared quickly to detain her. She changed course and flew into the sky, only to be swarmed by guards.

She was trapped. It was the burning memory of the night she had been defeated and sent to live her life in Tartarus.

“You couldn’t run then, and you know you shouldn’t have. You deserved to spend your life in that musty, old prison cell,” the Tantabus counseled.

Then, the scene shifted to Tartarus. She saw herself in her prison cell, as well as Tirek, who was napping. Cozy Glow was, as always, playing with the litter and rocks around her cage. There was nothing better to do. Then, she vanished, and so did Tirek.

It was the day she was recruited for a war by Grogar and the others.

“You're only here now because the only person who deemed you worthy of being let out of your prison was someone far worse than you ever were,” the Tantabus spoke. “But you know you don’t belong outside of your cell. It’s your deserved resting place. You were meant to die in there, to rot and decay until your nothing but a pile of mold.”

Cozy Glow nearly barfed at the thought, but the scene shifted in time to reveal another moment Cozy Glow frowned upon.

It was the day she kidnapped Spike.

There she was, outside of the castle in Canterlot, having blasted the throne room apart with the help of her allies. When the ruins fell, everyone leapt for cover, just as she hoped—and she made a mad dash to snatch someone, and it just so happened to be Spike.

The villains rolled along with it. They began to make their retreat, claiming to murder him if they followed them home, and to make sure it was painful if there was a siege on them.

All Cozy Glow’s idea as she whispered it into Grogar’s ear.

“Please stop showing me this,” Cozy Glow moaned. “I don’t need to be reminded of this crap.”

“Oh, but you do. You’re not worthy of change, no matter how good your intentions are. Don’t you remember how much you destroyed?” The Tantabus then changed the scene and showed Cozy Glow blasting Ponyville to nothing but ash, leaving behind nothing but ruins. It had already been evacuated, but it didn’t make it any less horrible. A whole town—destroyed by a child in merely a minute.

Like a child playing with fire, only the child was a psychopath.

Cozy Glow’s shed a few tears then. The Tantabus soothed Cozy Glow, but not legitimately.

“Don’t cry, Cozy Glow. It’s in the past. It’s just who you are: an irredeemable and psychotic little girl.”

“I’m not irredeemable,” Cozy Glow said. “I can prove to them that I’ve changed. If you didn’t stop me that night, I could’ve proved I’d changed. You’re the reason I’m still evil.”

The words slipped out of Cozy Glow. She didn’t mean them, but she felt them.

“So you admit you’re not gonna change? That you can’t become better?” The Tantabus was getting a kick out of this now.

“No, I can change! I can change from being evil!” Cozy Glow cried.

Just then, the Tantabus changed the scene to show… Starlight.

“Starlight said the same thing,” the Tantabus droned on. “But she tasted delicious in the end. However, I never finished consuming her soul to allow a friend to come back into being.”

Cozy Glow thought for a moment. “You don’t mean…” her voice trailed off as she realized exactly who she meant.

“The Pony of Shadows needs to possess a body to become physical. It used Stygian for a long time, but after he was rescued, the Pony of Shadows was blasted into space,” the Tantabus explained. “So I allowed him to use Starlight. It’s not like she’s dead, but she’s never coming back after we’re done.”

“You did the same thing to Starlight before the war, and then you let her get possessed to allow the Pony of Shadows to return?” Cozy Glow summarized.

“A+ for you, Cozy Glow,” the Tantabus said, fading into the darkness. “If a grown mare couldn’t defeat me, how could you? Stop lying to yourself and let the guilt weigh in. It adds seriously good flavor.”

Cozy Glow sat down in the void, trying hard not to give in. But in her heart, she knew she felt horribly guilty, and rightfully so in all honesty to herself. The Tantabus didn’t lie.

“What happens now?” Cozy Glow asked.

The Tantabus didn’t respond from the darkness for a long while. Cozy Glow thought they had left, but they returned—and they were sure intimidating.

The Tantabus took the form of a lanky, tall being, with arms longe than their legs and a freaky large head accompanied by a ginormous row of sharp teeth.

“What happens is you wake up and do as told if you know what’s good for you,” they commanded. Their voice had shifted from the dreamy feminine voice to a deep, masculine voice.

Cozy Glow backed away from the huge beast. It was at least as tall as a small house, and looked just like the form the Tantabus took the night it infiltrated her escape, only much bigger.

“What do you want now?” Cozy Glow cried.

“When you wake up, you tell them what they want to know. They’re gonna torture you again,” the Tantabus instructed her.

“They’re gonna do it again? What for?” Cozy Glow yelled.

“The tracker I put in your foot isn’t actually tracker,” the Tantabus explained. “There’s no tracker. But there is capsule filled with Spike and Starlight’s blood.”

Cozy Glow found herself in the same chair where she had her wings tortured. The first thing she noticed knew what the bandage around her thigh. That was where they must’ve put their own tracker. The other thing was the bandage on her right hoof, where the tracker had been—or so she was initially told was a tracker, to allure Cozy Glow into a trap: having the doctors find a nearly unexplainable capsule of the blood from Starlight and Spike combined.

And Cozy Glow had a feeling that they found out whose it was when Twilight walked in with a clear capsule full of, believe it or not, blood.

“You’re awake now, I see,” Twilight spoke. “How are you feeling?”

Cozy Glow took a minute to fully let the anesthesia ware off, and it finally did. “I’m fine,” Cozy Glow said. “What am I doing here?”

“What was this doing in your leg?” Twilight asked, showing Cozy Glow the capsule. The blood bobbed around in it as it edged close to her face.

“I can explain, I swear,” Cozy Glow said drearily.

“We need answers now,” Twilight replied.

“WAKE THE FUCK UP AND START TELLING TWILIGHT HOW MUCH OF A PSYCHOPATH YOU ARE!” The Tantabus abruptly screamed telepathically, snapping Cozy Glow fully alert.

Cozy Glow’s blood pumped like crazy. She was scared out of her wits, and didn’t have to exact answers Twilight wanted. She opened her mouth after remembering being told Starlight’s whereabouts, but the Tantabus broke into her thoughts.

“IF YOU KNOW WHAT’S GOOD FOR YOU, TELL TWILIGHT YOU KILLED THEM BOTH. AND SAY HOW MUCH YOU ENJOYED IT.”

Cozy Glow started to freak out, and she began to cry. This was certainly a rude awakening, but it was if the nightmare had only continued when she awoke.

“Please, Cozy Glow,” Twilight went on. “Tell me why, of all things, was THIS in your leg.”

“I don’t know why Starlight and Spike’s blood was in my leg, I swear!” She yelled. Then she immediately realized her mistake.

Twilight went pale. “So you know whose blood it is, and I never told you,” Twilight murmured. “Now you can’t lie to me.”

“Wait! I can really explain!” Cozy Glow yelled. Finally, the words burst out of her—the ones that made her sound like a psychopath, but not of the kind the Tantabus wanted.

“The Tantabus put it there to make me look guilty of murdering them! They wanted you to find it, and they made me think it was a tracker! They’ve been manipulating my thoughts for the past few days so that they could eat me!” Cozy Glow ranted like a madman.

Her rambling was only shrugged off to her horror. “I don’t believe your crazy lies,” Twilight grunted. “Only a child as sadistic as you could think up such a crazy thing as that.”

“But it’s the truth!” Cozy Glow cried. Tears dribbled down her face.

Surprisingly, all the Tantabus said was, “You’re nearly ripe. Just a little push and you’ll be ready to harvest. You sound crazy, which adds great flavor.”

“SHUT UP!” Cozy Glow screamed at long last. She’d had enough of the Tantabus, and even if Twilight thought she was crazy, so what? Maybe she was a little crazy, but the Tantabus was even more insane for wanting to eat the soul of a guilt-ridden child.

Cozy Glow sure came off as a schizophrenic child then and there, and the room shifted from hatred to a mix of hatred and pity from Twilight Sparkle. If the Tantabus shared their thoughts on that, they’d probably have said how tasty pity was on ponies’ souls.

The princess left the room then and there, and in came two guards, one wielding a knife. A moment later, she speaker crackled to life.

“Please, my sake Cozy Glow,” Twilight began, “what was that capsule doing in your hoof?”

Cozy Glow had the weirdest feeling then. She’d felt feral, like something evil had slipped into her. As if possessed by a demon who wanted to do nothing but kill. Then, the Tantabus spoke.

“YOU’RE INNER EVIL IS BACK. NOW SHARE THE LIE—YOU MURDERED STARLIGHT AND SPIKE!”

Cozy Glow almost couldn’t control herself. She began to form the words in her throat, and they burst out of her is a rage of unjustified anger for Twilight, her new enemy.

“I KILLED THEM!” She screamed. “THEY’RE BLOOD WAS IN MY HOOF AS PART OF SOME CRAZY RITUAL I DEVISED. I HARVESTED THEIR SOULS, AND STOLE THEIR MAGIC WHEN I STOLE THEIR BLOOD. AND I ENJOYED IT!”

The loud speaker went silent. It crackled off, and it seemed to signal to the guards that it was time to hurt Cozy Glow.

The guard with the knife began to slice into Cozy Glow’s ear, resulting in some tears but not many due to the weird feeling of rage and despise inside her. But deep down, she knew she didn’t truly feel those things. She wasn’t really mad. The Tantabus had injected some kind of horrible emotions into her.

The knife hurt, but the stabbing pain of knowing she couldn’t ever be redeemed now hurt far worse.

It was the coldest midnight Cozy Glow had ever slept through. It had snowed, dropping the temperature in her room severely. Her ears still hurt from them being sliced open, but she was still in stable condition thanks to the pain medication, amongst thirty different pills they made her take.

She was deemed a psychopath and a murderer. Whilst she hadn’t ever killed anyone, she was starting to believe that she was an actual psycho. The taunting from the Tantabus didn’t help, either.

She’d been chained to her bed like they were gonna preform some kind of ritual on her, but it was just precaution so she wouldn’t run around murdering anymore ponies, or so they thought she had done.

The Tantabus broke into her thoughts once again to taunt about how good Cozy Glow’s soul tasted.

“The pity and hatred emanating around you steams your soul like a smoked salmon on an enclosed barbecue. In other words, you’re ripe, but it isn’t time yet. Your ears need a day to heal a bit before we eat you.”

“What are you?” Cozy Glow asked. “I know you’re a figment of Luna’s guilt, but what are you in reality? The devil?”

“It is true I am a figment of Luna’s guilt, and I always have been for as long as I have existed. However, no I’m a figment of multiple ponies guilt: your’s, Starlight’s, and Luna’s. Whilst Luna forgave herself, her guilt never vanished—it only left her. I am now a separate being from her, one that views guilt and hatred as a dish of power alongside the genuine food I find to be souls.”

“You’re a monster,” Cozy Glow declared.

“You’re one two, thanks to my work. And there’s nothing you can do to undo that. I’ll be coming for your soul tomorrow night.”

Cozy Glow didn’t respond and continued to stare at the ceiling. She’d basically accepted her fate by then.

The darkness in the room seemed to beckon to Cozy Glow, as if she were a part of it that had been lost for a while. However, deep down, she felt like turning into the darkness would scramble herself further from her true self.

Cozy Glow decided that she should try to sleep on it all and try to repair her image tomorrow, of course in a non-narcissistic fashion; she wasn’t gonna change her true self so people will be her friend.

Be her friend… it hit Cozy Glow that, for a long time now, she hadn’t had any friends. And without any true friends, she had felt powerful as all mighty hell in her battles.

Friends weren’t power. Suddenly, the night she reformed herself popped into her mind. She remembered how she realized that friends weren’t only means of getting power, how she had felt powerful without them.

It was such a good wake up call… it really opened her eyes to see the bigger image of friendship. It wasn’t just magic, it was a means to feel safe and loved, and to have a good laugh. Right now, she could’ve really used a friend.

Cozy Glow sat up, as much as she could against the chain, and stared at the door. She had this sudden urge, one that felt raw and untouched, to apologize to the guards, and to Twilight. To prove that she was not guilty of murder, that she was changed, and that she wasn’t going to allow the Tantabus to eat her soul.

A horrible thought then popped into her head: what if she killed herself? Cozy Glow really considered it for a moment, but ultimately decided it was foolish. That wasn’t gonna spell out the words sorry. And it’s not like she could even do it, let alone go through with it if she could.

Cozy Glow pondered apologies for another half hour, having returned to her normal state of optimism when she awoke from her surgery.

Then, Twilight entered the room. And the room filled with… more optimism.

“Cozy Glow,” Twilight began. “They’re back.”

Cozy Glow jerked up. “Who is?” She asked.

“The guards we sent out to find the base. They’re back, and they have news,” Twilight explained. “They found the base.”

Speak No Nonsense

Since Spike was next on the chopping block, there wouldn’t be a siege at the villains lair. It was too dangerous if it meant Spike would—very likely—be killed before they even reached the castle in the event of an attack. So no attack would go underway there.

However, that didn’t mean they couldn’t attempt to get Spike. It would be very, very risky, but a risk worth taking if it meant they could surprise attack their enemies a week in advance before any horrible battle went down.

How they’d get Spike was simple. They’d break him out under the cover of darkness using an invisibility spell cast by Twilight. However, they had to bring Cozy Glow along so they could locate Spike, if he even was alive.

The trip there took about ten hours, and it was almost night fall when they arrived. On the way there, Cozy Glow, strapped to a seat with her wings bound together, got to chat with Twilight about her… wise words.

They were riding in closed carriages, and Twilight sat with Cozy Glow. Other carriages held guards and equipment, and they were in the air for quicker travel, being led by Pegasi.

Cozy Glow had been giving Twilight a quick glance every now and then, and the princess seemed to have been in a world of her own, with a far away look in their eyes.

Twilight, finally snapping out of it, saw that Cozy Glow was uncomfortable with the mask on her muzzle; she squirmed a little in her chair, too, but she wasn’t going to get out of that until they landed. So, Twilight let her get some air. And get a word in.

“You don’t need this cap thing over my mouth,” Cozy Glow complained. “I’m not gonna go ballistic again.

Twilight gazed at the now set sun (it was winter time so it had gotten dark just then, and pretty early). She held the mask in her left hoof, and turned her gaze to the filly in the straight jacket.

“We do need this over your mouth,” Twilight replied. “There’s no point in arguing that you won’t start acting crazy again, saying someone is telling you to say things you don’t mean. You aren’t well, so why would we trust your word?”

“Because it’s true,” Cozy Glow argued. “I mean, not that I killed Spike and Starlight. They’re fine, I think.”

Twilight flashed Cozy Glow the mask. But Cozy Glow rolled her eyes.

“Alright, don’t listen to me,” Cozy Glow went on. “I’m gonna die tonight and no pony cares.”

“You’re not going to die,” Twilight groaned.

“You’re the one who poked holes in my wings and sliced open my ears,” Cozy Glow shot out. “And you tell me I’m not gonna die? Not like you’ve been enjoying killing me slowly.”

Twilight and Cozy Glow remained silent for a long moment, not talking to one another. But Cozy Glow could tell Twilight had been hurt by the accusation.

Cozy Glow turned her gaze to Twilight with her most serious expression. “Please believe me,” Cozy Glow went on. “I’m not crazy. I know I’m not, because I didn’t know that capsule was in hoof—because the Tantabus told me it was a tracker—and I got told by it what it was before you even clarified. How do you explain that?”

“You were lying,” Twilight reckoned. “Pretty simple. You knew what it was and it’s possibly part of some big plan. Heck, this might be one big trap!”

Cozy Glow sighed. “If I end up disappearing at around midnight, know my ribs are probably being eaten by the Tantabus,” she regarded.

“The Tantabus is back, I know,” Twilight went on. “But I don’t think it wants anything to do with you. From what I know, you came here to spy on me.”

“Oh for fuck sakes,” Cozy Glow groaned. “The Tantabus told me to say that too. I really came here because I’m reformed.”

“No pony believes you,” Twilight said. “Especially now.”

Cozy Glow went quiet. She didn’t know how to argue, until a thought hit her.

“What happened to Luna and Celestia?” Cozy Glow blurted out.

Twilight glared at Cozy Glow. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

“What?” Cozy Glow whispered.

“Oh, stop the act,” Twilight replied. “You don’t care. It’s who you are.”

“It’s who I was,” Cozy Glow whispered.

Twilight huffed. “We don’t know. They escorted most of Canterlot’s residents to the Crystal Empire and never came back. Will that satisfy you and your master?”

“I’m not working for anyone!” Cozy Glow yelled. Not a second later, Twilight slammed the mask over her muzzle to avoid her making more comments.

Cozy Glow quickly accepted that she had been silenced, not throwing a muffled fit or attempting to squirm out of her mask—as one would expect of her before she reformed herself.

They stared at each other for a while, and after a long time, Cozy Glow got bored and decided to try to sleep. However, Twilight snapped her out of it quickly when she had an interesting idea.

“Why don’t we play a game?” Twilight asked.

Cozy Glow perked up at hearing this. Her heart started to pound. The idea of ‘playing a game’ sounded like more knives and hooks disrupting her fragile figure.

“I’m not gonna hurt you,” Twilight assured her. “I don’t like it but I’m almost numb to the sadness it brings.”

It slightly settled Cozy Glow, but she still wasn’t sure she’d never be tortured again. Or worse.

“Blink once for yes, twice for no. If you answer yes three times, I’ll take the mask off your face so you can speak again,” Twilight explained. “If you don’t answer yes three times, don’t worry about it. This isn’t authorized by law. This is authorized by me. Understand?”

Cozy Glow blinked once. She understood.

“Good,” Twilight said. “That one doesn’t count.”

After a moment of hesitation, Twilight began her weird game.

“Were you with anyone when you came here?” Twilight asked.

Cozy Glow blinked twice. She hadn’t come with anyone—besides the Tantabus, but she didn’t know when exactly they came to Canterlot.

“Are you a spy?” Twilight asked.

Cozy Glow blinked twice. She truly wasn’t here to spy on Twilight.

“Have you lied to me before?” Twilight asked.

Cozy Glow just stared, unblinking. She wasn’t sure how to approach the idea of coming clean about having lied to Twilight.

“There’s gonna be no consequences if you tell me yes,” Twilight reassured Cozy Glow. “So be honest.”

Cozy Glow hesitantly blinked once. She knew she’d lied to Twilight, but about what exactly Twilight wanted to know was beyond her.

“Did you lie about Spike and Starlight? About you killing them?” Twilight asked.

Cozy Glow blinked immediately.

“Good,” Twilight went on. “One more honest yes and I’ll let you speak.”

Cozy Glow nodded.

“Is the Tantabus infiltrating your thoughts?” Twilight asked.

Cozy Glow looked stunned. Twilight asking that question wasn’t something she personally saw coming.

“Just be honest, Cozy Glow,” Twilight asked.

Cozy Glow slowly blinked once.

Twilight, on cue, sighed. It seemed Cozy Glow had disappointed her.

“So you’re a schizophrenic,” Twilight concluded. “That explains a lot.”

Cozy Glow shook her head in denial. She knew the Tantabus was legitimately messing with her, but she just couldn’t prove it. She looked crazy sharing it before. She’d need cold facts to prove the Tantabus is messing with her mind, not just wild claims.

Twilight wouldn’t remove the cap from over Cozy Glow’s lower face. She hadn’t believed Cozy Glow told her an honest truth.

However, she did believe that Cozy Glow was hearing a voice.

“When this is all over,” Twilight began, “I’ll get you diagnosed. See what’s up with you.”

Cozy Glow yelled something, but it was inevitably muffled down by the mask. The Princess thought Cozy Glow was crazy, but she wasn’t—or at least Cozy thought that she wasn’t.

A few minutes passed. The cool, crisp air of the Winter night blew a steady current into the cavity of the enclosed carriage as the royal guards soared through the darkness.

Alas, they started to descend. Twilight perked up upon feeling the drop in elevation, and it was evident that far in the distance were Macintosh Hills—where Cozy Glow had said the base was located.

The landing was smooth, practically gliding on top of the grass. Where they had landed was about five miles out from the base, or where Cozy Glow said it would be. From the sky, they couldn’t quite see a base; the mountains and hills disallowed much view, and so did the light snow fall.

Twilight used her magic to float Cozy Glow out of the carriage, and as she promised to Cozy Glow once they landed, some guards came over and undid her constraints. In a matter of a few minutes, Cozy Glow was on her hooves again, the only constraint left being the muzzle-cap used to silence her. Cozy Glow gaze Twilight an expecting look, and the mare rolled her eyes.

“Cozy Glow,” Twilight began, “I’m not gonna take off that muzzle cap.”

Cozy Glow went wide eyed.

“It’ll assure you cooperate more,” Twilight confided. “You understand, right?”

Cozy Glow did very much so, but someone wanted her to say so either way when her thoughts were interrupted by a familiar but discomforting voice.

“Nod yes if you know what’s good for you,” the Tantabus warned.

Cozy Glow nodded yes, letting herself relax a little visually whilst her heart rate spiked upon hearing her soon-to-be consumer direct her. Twilight walked away to a group of guards, letting Cozy Glow be as alone as anyone would allow. Guards watched from afar, and of course, Cozy Glow still couldn’t fly very well. If she tried, her wings would ache and pulsate, and the bleeding would continue in her wings. That wouldn’t be suitable for flying and get her wings sticky and stiff once the blood would dry, as one could expect. Flying away would be foolish, and against the wishes of the Tantabus.

The Tantabus telepathically chuckled, revealing a sense of humor. “I like seeing you like this,” the Tantabus said, amused. “Now you won’t be able to scream as I feast on your soul.”

Cozy Glow thought a nasty reply, but the Tantabus didn’t respond. A momentary silence for it but it would be back to mock her helplessness, whether it be outright wild laughter or describing her fate in ways that are designed to make her feel disturbed and uncomfortable.

Minutes went by. Guards scrambled to ready weapons and speedily set up camp, assuming they’d spend the night.

The weapons—mostly spears—were a precaution. They didn’t plan to attack the enemy, but if the enemy attacked them, well, better safe than sorry. Their only true goal was to get spike so they actually could attack the Legion of Doom (as they have been dubbed).

“Let’s prepare to head out,” Twilight announced. “Gather around Cozy Glow.”

One by one, guards surrounded Cozy Glow. All of them equipped spears (once again, a precaution), and Twilight obviously wielded her great power. Again, it was a simple plan: go in, get spike, get out. They’d be invisible, so they wouldn’t be able to be seen if someone approached or if they encountered a villain. And, according to Cozy Glow, you could walk right in; it was a secret base, not a secured base.

So, ten guards, Cozy Glow and Twilight headed out to (hopefully) locate Spike in the castle a few miles out. However, the Tantabus had some unkind regards about their trip.

“Do exactly as they say. They’ll find out soon enough that they’re walking into their own doom.”

The castle loomed in the distance, giving off an eerie sense with its dark crystals (formed of Sombra’s dark magic) barely reflecting light. It was structurally a lot like Twilight’s castle in Ponyville—before it was destroyed in the war.

The group was already under the invisibility spell, but they were able to see each other well enough; the spell works like that. Twilight gave some quick last-minute comments to Cozy Glow.

“Just lead us inside, navigate us to Spike, and you’ll be okay,” Twilight assured. “Please don’t make this hard for us.”

Cozy Glow looked down at the ground. She knew that this wasn’t gonna go well; the Tantabus, and probably the other bad guys, expected them. They knew they were coming, and there’s no way it was gonna go according to plan. Just what was actually gonna happen in the castle was all up in the air, up for grabs by the Tantabus.

In no time, she stood in front of the door, and Cozy Glow was supposed to walk right in, but hesitated. She thought that, maybe, an alarm was in place. Heck, an army could be right behind the from door. But she pulled it open, and it revealed… an empty hall casted in an eerie, dim light. Safe.

“Let’s go,” Twilight whispered. They quietly shuffled into the building, Cozy Glow first and Twilight second. The guards all followed and, slowly, the last guard slid the door shut. They were in, and now Cozy Glow’s purpose here could commence.

Cozy Glow didn’t waste any time. She knew exactly where Spike was, and wanted to prove she was truly cooperating and wanted to help, but she knew that something was up. But what? The Tantabus wouldn’t just out right ruin the surprise.

But she didn’t have to wait long.

After some short walks through spacious corridors and turning corner after corner, Cozy Glow found the door to the room: Spike’s prison, and presumably what could be his coffin.

The door wasn’t locked, but Spike was locked in a cage in the room last time Cozy Glow had been in there. It opened with much ease, and revealed only darkness. A light would be needed.

Twilight let her horn up as she entered the room after Cozy Glow, and it cast a purple glow over the whole scene. The very, very graphic scene.

Blood painted the walls as it tainted the paper on the floor. A struggle had occurred, and there was no sign of Spike aside from the dust imprint where his cage was. The room was barren, or so it seemed—until they looked up.

Twilight and Cozy Glow gasped in unison, and the guards wasted no time joining in. On the ceiling was… them.

The Legion of Doom. But they weren’t conscious, or didn’t appear to be so at the very least. They were trapped in some kind of dark matter of gelatinous consistency, their faces only sticking out of it. It was clearly the work of the Tantabus, who had overthrown the entire legion for—likely—selfish reasons.

“I was hungry,” the Tantabus grumbled out loud.

Twilight jumped and dropped the whole invisibility spell. She scanned the room swiftly, trying to locate the Tantabus. But the Tantabus was nowhere to be seen.

“Sorry about the mess,” it went on. “They barely put up a fight… I had been draining them of magic in their sleep.”

“Show yourself!” Twilight yelled. The guards got in a hunched position, ready to spring at the Tantabus.

Instead of revealing itself, it simply turned the light up. The room was much more revealed now, and it was clear that Spike wasn’t in the mess on the ceiling.

“Where is Spike?” Twilight demanded. The Tantabus only laughed in reply, still hiding in whatever darkness was left in the room now.

Cozy Glow got closer to Twilight, and the Tantabus gave her a stern demand.

“Cozy Glow,” the Tantabus said dreamily. “Don’t get all cowardly on me now. I need you to RUN so I can deal with these guys.”

Cozy Glow stared at Twilight, eyes wide. She didn’t know what to do.

“Cozy Glow isn’t going anywhere,” Twilight announced, and the guards swarmed around her. However, the Tantabus had other plans—and revealed itself.

It spawned in the light, as if being unhidden now from whatever shadow it was in. It took its most common form: an astral appearing mare with no distinct features aside from the outline.

In a flurry of events, the Tantabus yanked Twilight off the floor and swung her into the wall. The guards made a move to attack, but were instantly stopped when they were slapped by a blast of sharp, dark magic. They all crumpled to the floor.

Now it was just Cozy Glow.

The Tantabus didn’t bother hurting her and instead pushed her out of the room, then slamming the door. Cozy Glow was out of the picture for whatever the Tantabus planned to do with Twilight and her guards.

Cozy Glow stood there, stunned by what just happened. In the room could he heard a scramble, and lots of screaming from the guards as they attacked the Tantabus and were attacked themselves. Twilight fought as well, but it went quiet after a minute.

It was no use running for Cozy Glow. The Tantabus could travel around the world in a matter of minutes if it wanted to, or so it seemed. Anywhere where there was darkness was basically free rein for the Tantabus.

Finally, the Tantabus opened the door and stepped out into the hall. It immediately undid the muzzle mask on Cozy Glow’s face, letting it hang from her neck.

“You didn’t stop me,” it said. “How pathetically selfish.”

“Stop saying that,” Cozy Glow murmured. “I couldn’t have stopped you even if I tried my hardest.”

“Who said so?” The Tantabus asked.

“Logic and reasoning,” Cozy Glow huffed.

“Right,” the Tantabus confided.

The Tantabus led the way down the hall. Now knowing the place was entirely empty, and that Twilight was dealt with, left an eerie feeling in Cozy Glow’s heart.

“Please tell me they’re not dead,” Cozy Glow whispered.

The Tantabus snickered. “Oh, they might be, or they might not be,” it taunted. “Telling you would spoil your spice a little.”

“Oh,” Cozy Glow said meekly.

They walked in utter silence, slowly approaching what Cozy Glow knew would be the dining hall by the front entrance.

As they walked in, Cozy Glow saw an extremely unexpected sight. At the throne of the table, where Grogar would usually sit, was a prepared meal.

“Literal seasoning makes your physical composition more pleasant to consume over the course of the few months we spend breaking down your body,” the Tantabus explained, pulling the throne out for Cozy Glow to take a seat. “This dish is a bunch of pills, but all of which have tons of herbs and seasoning in them. I know you ponies can’t handle to swallow it bare, so I made this special for you.”

Cozy Glow nervously sat at the table in the small throne, unsure of what to make of the bowl in front of her. She had orange juice to the side, and the bowl was filled to the brim with red pills, apparently filled with seasoning. The Tantabus sure liked to make its meal taste good, whenever it would get to physically eat her and suck the soul out of her body.

Cozy Glow nervously began to the sip the orange juice. It tasted surprisingly really good, but that was probably because she hadn’t consumed anything at all for the past eight hours.

“You should start with your pills first,” the Tantabus said. It was a command, not a suggestion. So, Cozy Glow picked up a spoon and began to take the pills three or four at a time.

It took about twenty minutes of continuous pill-swallowing before the bowl was empty. Cozy Glow washed the pills down with one fill swig of OJ before continuing on with the night.

The whole event was… nerve racking. The Tantabus was gonna eat Cozy Glow, or in other words, murder her. Cozy Glow was gonna die, and here she was drinking Orange Juice. She was nervous, but didn’t know what to make of her weird situation. Part of her expected Twilight or someone to come bursting in and stop the madness in due time, but it didn’t happen.

Finally, it was time to get moving. The Tantabus led Cozy Glow to the fire place—and a dark portal emerged from out of the black smoke of the crackling fire.

“Where are we going?” Cozy Glow cried weakly.

The Tantabus glanced down at its side at Cozy Glow, who was clearly scared.

“To my place,” the Tantabus said somberly. “I’m having a party.”

The Tantabus and Cozy Glow both stepped into the darkness of the portal.

Live Feeding

Entering the portal back in the closet at Canterlot had led Cozy Glow to a dark, confined void. And it was no different this time, only the darkness was less prevalent and the dark void had a table.

Everything in the room was at a decent enough light level to be seen, including the creatures surrounding the long table. They all were blots of darkness that resembled that of the Tantabus’s physical appearance.

Across the table was a rather large entity, barely fitting in the chair and representing a fat, scrawny giant. It had sharp claws, tentacles where its legs would’ve been, and no facial features at all; only a bulb sat atop it’s head, bent over like a flower in the rain. The most obvious thing of all was its huge belly, which was reminiscent of a pregnant mare’s, only this thing was clearly not pregnant: it was gluttonous. A rather avid consumer. And, of course, the whole being was made of the same astral goo the Tantabus consisted of.

The Tantabus caught Cozy Glow staring in disgust at the strange creature, and it explained what was going on.

“That’s Gulosus,” the Tantabus explained. “They’re a friend I encountered in my mind. They don’t speak, but we’ve had a lot of discussion using telepathy. And they LOVE the taste of filly flesh.”

Cozy Glow gulped. “They’ve eaten children before?”

“Once,” the Tantabus recalled, stepping in front of Cozy Glow. “And they loved it.”

Cozy Glow looked at the other creatures sitting at the table, all staring at Cozy Glow with their expressionless bodies. They all just looked like blobs of dark mesh.

“Those spawned in nightmares,” the Tantabus explained. “They’ll grow up to be like me and plague dreams and feed off negative emotions. Of course, that means they need a hefty meal once in a while in their youth, and it’s a good thing that you’re here to oblige.”

Cozy Glow wanted to run, but no matter how anyone put it, she just couldn’t. Here, in this tight black box with ten different dream-born monsters, all hungry to consume her soul and physical body, Cozy Glow couldn’t run anywhere but to her doom. All she could do was hold off and fight, which she would’ve done if she could.

Before Cozy Glow knew what had happened, she crumpled to the floor, having gone completely limp but not numb. She couldn’t move a muscle in her body, but none were tense at all, just rubbery. She couldn’t fight back, thanks to whatever the Tantabus had just injected into her evident by the needle they had just then set on the table.

“Now you won’t be able to resist,” the Tantabus regarded. “You’ll endure everything.”

“What?” Cozy Glow yelled. The only thing that worked fine was her head, which was still decently weak but able to move enough.

“You’re going to be awake until the very last drop of blood leaves your body, until I digest your soul to the last molecule, till there’s nothing left of you. You will feel absolutely everything,” the Tantabus gushed.

“You’re a monster!” Cozy Glow screamed.

“I’m not a monster,” the Tantabus claimed. “I’m a living figment of pure unsaturated negativity with a sick sense a pleasure.”

The Tantabus used their astral magic to levitate Cozy Glow’s almost immortal corpse to the table. The filly pleaded and screamed, but the muzzle-cap was lifted back to her face to silence her cries. Even though the Tantabus loved it, the others weren’t fans of a whining meal.

Cozy Glow was sat on the top of a silver dish, big enough to hold a grown mare. That was the only thing on the table, but not for long as the Tantabus conjured up ten strange devices, one for every creature to have.

The contraptions all looked like straws with knives at their end, like a bendable syringe for drinking. To Cozy Glow’s dismay, that’s exactly what they were.

The Tantabus, without warning, stuck the sharp ends of the tubes into Cozy Glow’s chest. It was as if ten knives had been shoved into her most precious organs, but of course Cozy Glow couldn’t die. Her screams of distress weren’t heard, but the Tantabus—closest to Cozy’s head—leaned over the table to whisper to her.

“Hush,” the Tantabus said. “Save your screaming for when I eat your soul. We’ll have our own personal screening for that!”

Cozy Glow began to sob as the astral blobs, the Tantabus, and Gulosus began to suck Cozy Glow’s blood out of her body like vampires who’d been asleep for decades. The sharp puncturing feeling in her chest only worsened as they rid her of her internal liquids.

Gulosus reached a scrawny arm down behind its throne and pulled out a razor shape cleaver. This was a familiar tool, finally, but not one that comforted Cozy Glow in the slightest. Gulosus then steadied it over Cozy Glow’s right wing… and sliced it off clean.

The muffler disallowed anything but moans and groans to be heard as Cozy Glow began to let out a gut-wrenching scream of agony that would’ve made the rain-boom look minuscule. Tears rolled down her cheeks and onto the table, and to no surprise the Tantabus enjoyed the sight so much they began to slurp up Cozy Glow’s puddles of sadness in a disturbing fashion, only making Cozy Glow more uncomfortable as she wailed to little avail, felt her blood gushing in her chest, and experienced horrible pain in her middle portion. The filly almost pissed herself seeing Gulosus pick apart her right wing with intent, and then revealing its full mouth: a gaping hole, a throat pipe with at least a hundred razor-sharp teeth guarding it. A true behemoth of a supernatural predator.

The smaller critters slurped up Cozy Glow’s blood with joy. Cozy Glow tried to move but still couldn’t move anything besides her jaw and her head, of what little she could do with those thanks to the muzzle-mask.

The Tantabus finished drinking Cozy Glow’s savory tears and, of all things, got on top of the table. As the Gulosus mashed its teeth on Cozy Glow’s bony wing, the Tantabus got on top of Cozy Glow and began to speak to her telepathically.

“Enough stalling… I want your soul,” it reminded Cozy Glow. The Tantabus then started to morph into a blob-like shape, only more narrow as it slid over Cozy Glow’s face, under her mask, and into her mouth.

The filly choked the Tantabus’s form down her throat, to wherever Cozy’s soul would be. And, as if by miracle (but of course not to open up a great escape), Cozy Glow slid into a final nightmare.

From the almost unbearable consumption ever, Cozy Glow slid into an unbearable dream world. It wasn’t all that different from the void she was in before, it basically being a decently well lit black box, but it was definitely extremely dark. The only light source, of all things, was Cozy Glow; her chest burned a bright pink glow, casting strange light in the darkness around her.

She was inside some kind of dark dreamscape. She was… her raw form. Cozy Glow’s most pure and unmistakable form. A form one could judge by their cover, because the cover was gone.

Cozy Glow took the form of herself, but brighter and more colorful. The unmistakable feeling one would get looking at her was a feeling of safety. Cozy Glow was truly a changed pony, but no one could see it besides herself and the Tantabus.

“I’ve sent your consciousness to the nearest dark void I could find,” the Tantabus said from the darkness. “And I’ve taken the liberty of showing you your true self. Your unmistakable true self.”

“I feel so whole,” Cozy Glow spoke. “Like I’m the true me.”

“Enjoy it while it lasts,” the Tantabus said. “You’re in a state of limbo here. Time moves ten times slower. I’ll savor half of your soul for after your physically departed, but I’m eating the other half now.”

“Why do you do this?” Cozy Glow yelled, looking around the darkness.

“Natural selection, if you would be fine with that answer,” the Tantabus joked. “But I really do this because, well, souls taste good.”

“Is this what Starlight saw?” Cozy Glow asked.

“Yes,” the Tantabus replied. “This is similar to her fate… only not the same void.”

Cozy Glow thought for a second. “Isn’t the nearest black void inside the Pony of Shadows?”

The Tantabus didn’t reply. But someone else did.

“Cozy Glow?” Starlight called out of the darkness. Then, a faint light-pink glow came out of the darkness. It was Starlight’s soul—or what was a left of it.

The two souls both embraced in an awkward hug. Starlight knew Cozy Glow was pure of heart after seeing her spiritual composition, but she still had some less than pleasant memories with her—let alone Starlight had been trapped in darkness for ages.

“Looks like we have a mistake here… but no matter,” the Tantabus remarked. “I’ll have you BOTH now. I’ve been savoring Starlight in the Pony of Shadows for too long. And after I eat your souls, I’ll come back and eat both of your bodies until they’re nothing but scrambled molecules in the atmosphere!”

Cozy Glow and Starlight Glimmer huddled close as the Tantabus cast an eerie glow over the whole dark chasm, revealing its true form once more: a tall, scrawny being with rows of razor sharp teeth and knife-like talons.

“I’ll start with your… fuck it, I’ll eat you both whole!” The Tantabus yelled. It made a swift grab for Cozy Glow and Starlight—and in a shocking turn of events, their lanky claw was reeled back by… a lasso?

Applejack held the entity’s hand back as Rainbow Dash zoomed into the space from a blinding light—a portal to the dark chasm from the outside world—and bashed her back hooves into it’s chest, sending it tumbling backwards.

“What is the meaning of this? Can’t someone eat in peace?” The Tantabus attempted to fight back with their other hand, but Rarity used her magic to hold the other claw steady, disallowing it to slap or grab any of the heroes trying to kill it.

Twilight blasted the creature in the chest, leaving a nice burn mark. But it healed quickly.

Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie then came in to give the Tantabus a piece of their mind. Pinkie Pie climbed the Tantabus’s skinny back and bit it in the neck, making it shout in a burst of shock. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash then began to pound on its face and chest, beating it to a pulp.

This all allowed Cozy Glow and Starlight to make their get away, aided by Twilight out the portal. With one last look to the Tantabus, who was almost out of their constraints, the battle seemed to start to favor the Tantabus. Everyone then began to retreat, the first out of the realm being Starlight, followed by Cozy Glow’s soul and everyone else.

The Tantabus wasn’t dead, but it was surely pissed. And there was bound to be some upset dinner guests back in the other realm.

The first thing Cozy Glow noticed when she woke up was that she wasn’t back at that table being eaten alive and in constant unbearable agony. She was back at the dining room in the real world, also in constant unbearable agony.

Cozy Glow’s right wing—or where it used to be—was completely gone, and her stub that was left squirted and oozed blood. It was only slightly relieving to see she hadn’t died of blood loss… yet.

Her chest had ten distinct needle holes in it, all giving off a horrible ache. Whilst no bones her broken, it certainly hurt like hell.

And as a new, added bonus to her now mutilated form, Cozy Glow found she had been being cut up when she escaped. Her left hoof had a nice slice about an inch deep, and all of her main was unevenly cut.

She was a disturbed mess of blood, holes, and agony. She almost wished she’d die on the spot, but Cozy Glow got up and walked out of the room to find Twilight and her friends. The filly, even though she cried and screamed, was able to remember that Twilight was last scene in the room with all the villains trapped in the ceiling.

Somehow, Cozy Glow made it there. It was a horrible experience, but she arrived in time to see how exactly it all happened.

The Pony of Shadows—now dead on the floor—was cracked open by Twilight, who must’ve escaped her constraints. All of the heroes she’d come around on—Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Starlight Glimmer, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Applejack—all stared at her as she stood in the doorway, bleeding to death.

“I’m so, so sorry,” Cozy Glow choked out as she fell to the floor in a heap of blood and tears. Her consciousness slipped away as she passed out before them all.

Two days later, Cozy Glow sat in bed, chatting away with Twilight. She hadn’t miraculously died that night, but was damn well close to doing so. She had lost a lot of blood, but thankfully, Tirek had plenty to give, so he (not willingly) gave up some of his.

All of the villains who survived were in captivity in the dungeon of their own castle. Chrysalis slept soundly whilst Tirek bickered to the guards about being unfairly defeated. King Sombra, now as powerless as a mere slave, spent his days alone in a cell. The Windigos, all tamed, accepted their new leaders, whilst Grogar had retaliated. But everyone was put in their place, whilst the Pony of Shadows died without a host, returning to a state of pure dark matter in the cosmos.

But Cozy Glow spent her past two days healing and making it all up to Twilight and her friends as best she could. She had apologized about all her previous mistakes and behavior, as well as taking Spike away from them. She even got hugs in return. Truth be told, they all had come around to like her after realizing her stories about the Tantabus were true. They even had a decent laugh, but of course, the threat still loomed. The Tantabus hadn’t gotten to feed on her soul, so it would be back—and soon. However, guards always loomed in Cozy Glow’s room, and she wasn’t allowed to sleep alone. Let alone, they had gotten Smolder—who was one of the few dragons left in the city of Canterlot, now staying at the villain’s castle with her other young friends—to send a letter to the Princesses at the Crystal Empire that they have almost won, and that Luna should keep an eye on Cozy’s dreams for the Tantabus. They were slowly reforming the country with the villains mostly out of the way.

“Once again, I’m seriously sorry about not believing you,” Twilight assured. “It’s just… hard to believe that all of that happened.”

“I know,” Cozy Glow coughed out. “It was crazy sounding. I almost thought I was losing it, too.”

“But you weren’t,” Twilight added. “You really needed help, and I wouldn’t help you. I’m… sorry. I really am.”

Cozy Glow nodded. “It’s all okay now. The Tantabus will be back but I’m pretty sure we’ll be ready for it.”

“I hope so,” Twilight whispered.

Cozy Glow sighed. “That thing really likes to torture living creatures. It got a malicious kick out of seeing me get cut up.”

“I didn’t know it would become such a nut case,” Twilight said. “Before it escaped from the dream realm thanks to Grogar’s aid, it didn’t even speak.”

“Oh, it speaks,” Cozy Glow joked. “It’s got a sailor’s mouth.”

Twilight laughed. “Doesn’t surprise me.”

The room went silent. Twilight stared at Cozy Glow and pondered something in her mind. Finally, she got something off her chest.

“I never wanted to torture you,” Twilight insisted. “I’m really sorry that went the way it did. If we knew you were telling the truth, and that you were being controlled, we would’ve shut that down immediately.”

Cozy Glow nodded. “I understand.”

“The majority wanted to do it. I really didn’t, it’s just so… evil. So cruel. That’s why I didn’t come into the room. I could only hear you,” Twilight went on.

“Why didn’t you stop it then?” Cozy Glow asked. “If it was so horrible to imagine, why didn’t you stop them from doing it?”

“It was a group vote,” Twilight continued. “Since you damaged so many lives, I felt it was fair for anyone you hurt to get a say in how we got the information out of you.”

“And they decided that?” Cozy Glow cried. “That’s messed up!”

“They were scared of you,” Twilight explained. “They didn’t trust you. They didn’t think you would cooperate. And they certainly didn’t think to kindly of you aiding in the kidnapping of Spike!” Twilight ended with a stern yell, and the hate in the room began to boil, then cool.

Cozy Glow caught her breath. “I’m sorry we didn’t find Spike,” Cozy Glow soothed Twilight. “But please, calm down.”

Twilight having Spike taken away took a heavy toll on her mind. It made her mildly hostile to Cozy Glow, but of course her conscience fought back and kept her at bay from murder. She knew that the Cozy Glow from before her school-raze-rampage was still in the filly somewhere, but she felt herself also hating Cozy Glow momentarily and even being disgusted. The balance was complex but it was finally settling. The only thing that would make Twilight feel normal again with the whole ordeal would be getting Spike back, and for Cozy Glow, it was to be accepted as reformed.

None of them got that easy. But now that Cozy Glow was confirmed to be good now—as shown when they saw her raw soul in the weird dream void in the Pony of Shadows—Twilight wanted Spike.

The two ponies stare at each other for a moment longer, and then hugged, though awkwardly thanks to Cozy’s bandages and garment.

“I hope you get Spike back,” Cozy Glow confided.

Twilight smiled. “I hope you get well soon, friend.”

The Tantabus laughed to Cozy Glow psychically. “I hope you still taste good.”

Author's Note

Almost done! The story will conclude with the seventh chapter, “Blind,” in a final encounter with the Tantabus… stay tuned 🔆 👀 no promises when it drops.

Blind

Princess Luna always knew that some part of the Tantabus was not just a figment of her undying guilt. It was something that has existed for as long as the color black taints the world, and sadly, that’s one of two most common naturally occurring color phenomena.

The Tantabus has had billions of years to develop. It learned to eat emotions, to eat ponies, and to harvest souls. The only reason it took such an interest in Luna was because it was bored, as well as the fact that she was a constant source of food for the being, and the Tantabus was always hungry to create mischief and consume negativity.

When it was “defeated,” it managed to escape the guilt-free Luna by very slowly ripping the fabric of the dream world apart when Luna was asleep. It took many moons, but it eventually escaped—thanks to the last minute aid of Grogar.

When Grogar offered a position of great power alongside him and his team (at the time smaller than it became), the Tantabus was almost disgusted at the thought of working with other bad guys. It was always a lone villain, but it decided to take the chance; it could benefit itself, the Tantabus had decided.

It did very much so. The Tantabus fed off the manipulated-into-being guilt of Starlight Glimmer for a while, before finally offering up Starlight’s body to make way for a new ally: the Pony of Shadows. The Tantabus didn’t look at this as a kind gesture: the Pony of Shadows was just a refrigerator for their meal.

When Cozy Glow came along, it was a period of hunger for the Tantabus. But that was until it noticed the change in Cozy Glow. The reformation of her thoughts and views on what it meant to be evil, what friends were really about, and how bad she felt about everything she’d done.

After acknowledging this, the Tantabus conjured up their few friends from the dream realm in hopes of having a meal, which would happen when Cozy Glow was well-ripe. They obliged, and would come when called.

The Tantabus ate up Cozy’s emotions, and over the course of billions of years existing, became a master of foreseeing and manipulating—something Cozy Glow would’ve aspired to be.

Except the Tantabus was manipulating Cozy Glow to feel horrible about herself, to feel guilty about all she had done.

It worked… but ultimately, it was undone. Cozy Glow escaped the nightmare… but the nightmare wasn’t over. The Tantabus was still hungry, but it needed a bold approach to get to Cozy Glow.

Days went by. Cozy Glow began to feel a lot better. Medicine helped ease all the pain she felt from her wounds, but she was still not very well, but in a state of comfort with all the ponies around her being very positive around her.

Of course, Cozy Glow wasn’t entirely fond of her old self. Guilt and self-hatred would linger for who knows how long. Her past actions would remain noticed by herself, and she’d loathe thinking back to the time she was a villain. However, with her physical appearance healing and her guilt still remaining to some capacity, the Tantabus couldn’t feed on her—or so she hoped.

If it appeared in Cozy Glow’s room, the Tantabus would be sieged and killed immediately. If it tried to infiltrate her dreams, it would be kicked out by Luna, who watched over Cozy’s dreams at night.

It couldn’t get to Cozy Glow… but it could still talk to her. Obviously, Cozy Glow shared every word the vile creature uttered to her telepathically, but it wasn’t often nor were they important messages. It was all empty threads that the Tantabus couldn’t fulfill.

Or Cozy Glow hoped it couldn’t fulfill, that is.

About a week after the madness in the dream world that almost ended with Cozy Glow in multiple dream demons’ stomachs, Cozy Glow had her first dream encounter with the Tantabus.

It began in a dark, cosmic void of distant stars and galaxy clusters. It was a pretty sight, though something was clearly off when Cozy Glow noticed that she was in a lucid dream.

She soared around for a second, unsure of what was going on, but then came to hear the sound of distant cackling. It sounded like the laugh of a crazed old man getting a kick out of someone’s misfortune, someone absolutely losing it and having no idea how mentally unstable they have gotten. It was the laugh of a familiar lunatic’s true form: the tall, scrawny monster with rows of sharp, dark teeth, ghastly claws and little stubs for legs that was the raw look of the Tantabus, with it’s true gravelly masculine voice.

It appeared out of nowhere, right in front of Cozy Glow. The filly stopped short and gazed at the creature, shocked to see the Tantabus here. It knew better than to try and start a chat here, but its bold attendance in the dream showed how little it was afraid of the consequences. Luna would show up any second and slay the beast.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” Cozy Glow asked, bewildered at the sight of the Tantabus.

“You know well that I’m here to finish you off,” the Tantabus told her. “Now that Luna is out of the way, you’re trapped in this dream until you awake—if I let you live to see another day.”

“Where’s Luna? What did you do?!” Cozy Glow yelled.

“Luna isn’t dead,” the Tantabus explained. “They’re sleeping. I spiked their water with sleeping medication. It was easier than I thought it would be.”

“No!” Cozy screeched. She made a dash away from the monster, but was stopped short as it grabbed her by the wings.

“No need to fret, little one,” the Tantabus soothed. “You won’t feel a thing. You’re in a dream, remember?”

Cozy Glow scrambled out of their grip as best she could, but the Tantabus tightened their hold to ensure Cozy Glow wouldn’t slip out.

“You’re trapped in here until you awake,” the Tantabus informed her. “Plenty of time for me to consume your life force and leave your carcass behind as a warning.”

The filly squirmed to get their wings out (repaired in the dream), but to no avail at all. Out of desperation, they bit the Tantabus in one of its nasty fingers, which only gave Cozy Glow a disgusting and unrecognizable taste in her mouth.

The Tantabus chuckled. “Shall I eat you whole or bit-by-bit?” They tighter their grip even more, making it impossible for Cozy Glow to get out.

The child had a final desperate idea.

As Cozy Glow was slowly lifted to the Tantabus’s rows upon rows of mighty sharp teeth, she began to think of a different scene. A scene in a flower garden, a place from Cozy’s childhood.

Suddenly, Cozy Glow felt herself falling, then gliding as she caught the simple breeze in her wingspan.

Cozy Glow remembered that in one of Twilight’s classes, when they were on the discussion of dreams, she was talking about how she had a great battle with the Tantabus and was able to defeat it by having everyone in the ludic dream turn into their dream selves and shifting reality.

This was Cozy’s dream. The Tantabus can’t change that. So, Cozy Glow had control over everything in the dream.

The Tantabus didn’t take too long to make their presence know. Forming from the shadow of a tree nearby, the Tantabus loomed over Cozy Glow.

“I can control this realm!” Cozy Glow yelled to it. She got up and patted her chest. “ME! I’m in control of this realm, not you!”

The Tantabus remained silent for a moment, staring at Cozy Glow, slowly processing what she had said.

“That doesn’t mean I can’t infiltrate it,” it said meekly.

The Tantabus slowly reached their right arm across the field and grabbed ahold of the earth. Then, they slowly ripped it apart, ripping away the soil. Underneath was a layer of dark matter, the matter that made up the Tantabus.

Then, the whole scene started to shake, and they RIPPED the land apart. To Cozy Glow’s shock, everything started to shift into the same astral matter that made up the Tantabus. They were revealing the dream goo that made up the dream. They were manipulating the very existence of the dream.

Again, Cozy Glow thought of another scene. She imagined the Castle of the Two Sisters. She’d been there on a field trip once, and she found the architecture really neat—all that was left of it, of course.

Immediately, the scene shifted the torn-up ruins of that very castle. It was destroyed and quite frankly a wreck, but it was better than where she just was.

But again, it didn’t last when the Tantabus showed up to ruin it. They emerged from a dark corridor, now taking the form of their pony-like alter-ego.

“I’m not one to disappoint anyone, young one,” the Tantabus said flatly, “but your efforts are pointless. You won’t escape me anywhere on this planet. You can’t conceive a place where darkness can’t reach you, a place where I can’t pass. If there is darkness in the universe, I will remain existent.”

“Fuck,” Cozy Glow groaned. Quickly, she dodged as the Tantabus swung a tentacle at her from their side. They changed form again, now having multiple tendrils on their alicorn-like apparition.

“Defy me here, fine,” the Tantabus spoke. “But my reign of terror strikes more than just this little pocket of existence.”

“What?” Cozy Glow asked. She quickly prepared to dodge another strike, of which came right before the Tantabus went on.

“The real world is getting FUCKED as we speak,” the Tantabus informed her. “Canterlot is under attack by my ‘friends’ you met at dinner.”

“You’re kidding,” Cozy Glow asked.

The Tantabus sent another strike. “No, I’m not. So you either let me eat your soul now—or later. Which do you choose?”

“Never!” Cozy Glow screamed.

The Tantabus sent another blow—and it hit Cozy Glow in the stomach. The filly fell about four feet, then sprawled out on the stone floor. She wasn’t physically hurt nor did she feel a thing, but it did stun her momentarily.

The Tantabus wasted no time getting on top of Cozy Glow. They pinned her to the floor, ready to suck the life force right out of her, to consume her soul till her physical body was drier than a raisin.

However, Cozy Glow—once again—changed scenes. She didn’t care how long it, but she would change scenes over and over again, hitting a reset button again and again, until this nightmare concluded and she woke up again. And so she did.

Cozy Glow awoke with a gut-wrenching gasp for air. She was in a stone cold sweat and scared out of her wits. She’d been asleep for a while, and it was into the wee hours of the morning.

Immediately, Cozy Glow knew the Tantabus wasn’t lying. She thought that maybe—during their long, long standoff—that the Tantabus had lied about the siege, but she was gravely mistaken.

Screams rang out through the castle, and a ton of scrummaging could be heard just outside of the room she was in.

And the room she was in? Well, it wasn’t the same room she fell asleep in.

Cozy Glow recognized the throne of Grogar, or so it was previously, not belonging to Twilight for as long as she stayed here.

Cozy Glow wasn’t alone for long, either. Twilight entered the room in a panic, trying to escape whatever madness roamed the halls of the castle.

“Twilight? What’s happening?” Cozy Glow asked, getting up but barely able to walk thanks to her slit-open (and currently healing) leg.

Twilight gazed at Cozy Glow in a panicked frenzy. “We’re under attack,” she started. “The Tantabus sent monsters to try and capture you and slaughter the rest of us.”

Cozy Glow took in the chaos that she heard. Guards screamed as monsters roared. Chaos loomed over the place like it was the most pure form of it. The whole castle was in a state of unsaturated madness, that alike to the mind of the Tantabus.

“I was attacked by the Tantabus in my dream,” Cozy Glow shared. “I think they’re coming here, too.”

“Fuck,” Twilight murmured. She flew to the window and looked down below. Cozy Glow followed, and she saw that the entire front area of the castle with filled with… a blob. A gelatinous entity made of pure dream goop, the astral slop the Tantabus and all the other creatures of the dream world were forged of.

“What is that thing?” Cozy Glow asked.

“A bunch of little Tantabus-like blobs formed in that thing,” Twilight explained. “We’ve been trying to kill it, but it doesn’t even react to pain. It’s indestructible.”

“What’s in the castle?” Cozy Glow asked.

“Some fat, scrawny creature,” Twilight said. “Is it that thing you saw when you were almost… you know.”

“The Tantabus said its ‘friends’ were here,” Cozy Glow remarked. “I’ll bet the Tantabus is somewhere out there right now making their way here.”

“I’m already here,” the Tantabus whispered, making the two girls flinch. It was right behind them, and they didn’t even notice.

The Tantabus laughed. “Nowhere to run, children.”

“You call everyone a child?” Cozy Glow said, trying to stand her ground.

“Why not? You’re all minuscule compared to me.”

Twilight sent a blast directly into the Tantabus’s face, but it shifted its head to the side. A bad look for Twilight.

Again, Twilight blasted the Tantabus with her mighty powers, but the Tantabus would morph or shift out of the way, making holes or empty space where an attack went. It was almost no use, but it gave Cozy Glow time to run and hide.

She left the throne room, allowing the Tantabus to practically make fun of Twilight. Cozy Glow—as best she would could with her injures—made her way to the nearest closet. It would allow some quiet, but for how long until the Tantabus found her?

If Twilight couldn’t kill it, how could she? Some god would have to come save the day, and Cozy Glow was merely an injured child. She couldn’t beat the Tantabus—not alone, anyways.

Then, the door opened, and a familiar figure appeared. It was Starlight, only clearly in a crazed state. Without hesitation, she dove into the closet and lit her horn up. A soft glow filled the small space, allowing the two to see each other.

Starlight hugged Cozy Glow gently. It was a relief they found each other. The whole castle was awry with mayhem.

“They’re looking for you, Cozy Glow,” she said.

“I know, Starlight,” Cozy Glow started. “I don’t know what to do… I’m scared.”

“I am too, but we can’t hide here for long,” Starlight warned. “Where’s Twilight?”

“In her throne room, fighting the Tantabus,” Cozy Glow informed her.

“The Tantabus can’t be killed by magic,” Starlight cried.

“She knows that,” Cozy Glow whispered. “It was so I could escape.”

“But what will we do when it finds you?” Starlight cried. “It’ll eat you, then take over the planet or do whatever it wants to do!”

“I know, I know,” Cozy Glow cried. “But we’ve got to do something.”

“Okay, think,” Starlight said. “We both survived its wrath before.”

“Yes,” Cozy Glow commented. “We did.”

“So we know more about it than anyone else in this castle,” Starlight continued. “What have we learned about it?”

Cozy Glow and Starlight thought for a long moment. In their moment of desperation, it seemed that they might actually be onto something, but Starlight was drawing blanks on any potential fatigues or weaknesses for the Tantabus.

“Wait,” Cozy Glow started. “The Tantabus told me something about how it can’t be killed.”

“But it has to be killable,” Starlight groaned. “It’s a living thing. All living things can die.”

“I think it might be, or at the very least it can be banished,” Cozy Glow went on.

“What do you mean?” Starlight asked.

“Well, the Tantabus said that it can only come out when there’s darkness. If there’s no darkness, it can’t exist,” Cozy Glow continued.

“But there’s always darkness in the universe,” Starlight told Cozy Glow.

“Yes,” Cozy Glow said. “But what if it were somehow put into a place where everything was blindingly bright? A place it wouldn’t be able to escape from because it’s so bright and so large?”

“There’s no place in this universe like that,” Starlight said.

“Perhaps there is,” a voice spoke. It was that of a man, and it belonged to a very peculiar being harnessing the power of ultimate chaos.

“DISCORD?” Starlight shrieked.

“Ta-da!” He joked.

“Discord, where have you been all this time?” Starlight asked.

“Sleeping. Now, as I was saying, there does exist such a place,” Discord started. He stepped into the light, revealing his bizarre shape.

“It’s called the ‘center of the sun’, ever heard of it?” He asked.

“Oh, that might work!” Cozy Glow exclaimed.

“But how can we send all of this madness there to cancel itself out of existing?” Starlight thought out loud.

“Leave that to the filly,” Discord said, pointing to Cozy Glow. “And my magic, of course.”

“But I can hardly run,” Cozy Glow argued.

“Not a problem,” Discord confided.

Cozy Glow suddenly found herself outside the castle. She stood in the cold darkness, staring up at the tall and discomforting structure. She didn’t like remembering her recent past with it, even though it was now inhabited by her true allies, and the evil-doers were down in the cellar where they would rot.

A male guard approached Cozy Glow quickly. “What’re you doing’ out here?” He asked. “You know what, nevermind. Stay behind me.”

Cozy Glow obliged. She saw the massive accumulation of mini-tantapi in the near distance, disabling the escape of guards and assuring Cozy’s doom.

But not for long.

From inside the castle, a figure emerge from the doorway: a lanky, fat, goblin-like monster. The Gulosus.

Behind the Gulosus, the Tantabus—taking their normal form as another tall and scrawny figure, with razor-sharp teeth and disturbing claws, accompanied by the gruff man voice—made their way out to take on Cozy Glow.

Their astral compositions firmly fit the dreary atmosphere of the whole scene. The guards practically surrendered realizing they were all done for it they intervened. The deceased guards lying around the front yard of the castle served as a swift reminder to fuck off.

To say Cozy Glow shook with fear would be an understatement; the filly was rattling within every sinew of her frame and posture, her bones rattling in their respective natural placements. She was morbidly terrified.

“The scent of fear truly makes this scene… delicious,” the Tantabus croaked.

“Shut up!” Cozy Glow yelled.

“Be nice,” the Tantabus said glumly. They then revealed their grip on Twilight, to the dismay and shock of many guards. The princess was unconscious, having been shamefully defeated.

“If you want to bad mouth me,” the Tantabus warned, “I’ll squeeze her until she pops like a blister.”

Guards attempted to approach in hopes of getting Twilight out of their grasp, but the Gulosus stood at guard of the Tantabus. They swung their right arm out to attempt to grab a guard, but they recoiled.

“Let me take the child,” the Tantabus started, “and everyone here can live in peace… for now.”

Cozy Glow’s nostrils flared. “Fine,” she started. “Come and get me. I don’t care anymore.”

“You’re not gonna put up a fight?” The Tantabus asked.

“If it makes your astral cock hard, sure,” Cozy Glow cracked.

“I have no gender,” the Tantabus reminded her.

“You get the idea,” Cozy Glow said through gritted teeth. Her voice trembled as the Tantabus started to rapidly approach her.

Cozy Glow ran for it. She couldn’t run well, but she knew she wouldn’t have to run long. But she held up a steady sprint, even with the slit in her hoof, for about thirty seconds before Discord came to aid her.

All of the sudden, Cozy Glow felt a weird tug on her side, like she was being ripped apart but, of course, she wasn’t bound to anything besides the breeze of the cold night air. In a weird whimsy of sounds and feelings, Cozy Glow returned to normal—and so did the other sixty Cozy Glows.

Discord had (temporally) cloned Cozy Glow. Her clones didn’t have guts or a consciousness, but they served the purpose of confusing the Tantabus and its allies.

It worked like a charm. The Tantabus instantly grew furious at the sight of a multitude of Cozy Glows, stomping on them all to squash them and flinging them around.

The real Cozy Glow eased her way to the edge of the site and kept jogging around until everyone got to where they needed to be.

The blob at the edge of the field wiggled over the hoard of Cozy Glows clones, swallowing them up one by one.

The Gulosus aided the Tantabus in taking charge over the hoard. This thankfully gave the guards a chance to run around the hoard and make it safely back to the castle.

Amidst the chaos, Starlight had gotten to work forming a circle of magic around the hoard, now almost completely undone. Starlight walked around in an invisible state, undetected by their enemies, and she finished the circle with thankful ease.

Cozy Glow and Starlight met at the front of the castle the instant that every Cozy Glow remaining vanished. The spell wore off quickly, and so did the confused state of their enemies.

Then, Starlight shot a blast of magic at the circle she had formed—and a giant bubble formed around the Tantabus, Gulosus, and Tantapi-Blob. They were trapped under Starlight’s magic, but not for long; the shield could break in merely a minute if something wasn’t done soon.

Finally, Discord revealed himself, slowly forming in front of the giant magic bubble. He did a little bow, and got to work explaining to the Tantabus and its goons what they had done.

“Gullible fools,” he laughed. “Forget that I, the God of Chaos, exist on this planet as well? Well, you should’ve dealt with me before striking your old fort.”

“Let us out, you freak!” The Tantabus screamed. “You can’t keep us here! I have Twilight in my claw!”

As if on comedic cue, Twilight shot a blast through the Tantabus’s hand, making the being recoil in a burst of displeasure. The princess then sprang into action, fleeing their grasp and making their way to the edge of the portal, where Starlight—quickly—makes a tiny hole for Twilight to burst out of. A smooth escape.

“Now we have every reason to keep you there… or get rid of you,” Discord said.

Twilight and Starlight whispered to each other. Starlight was likely explaining the context of the strange scene.

Cozy Glow was about to tell Discord to blast them to the sun—but she remembered one more thing they needed to do.

“Wait!” Cozy Glow yelled. “Tell us where Spike is!”

Everyone went quiet. Twilight then chimed in.“Where is Spike? You’re the only who knows, Tantabus!”

The Tantabus started to laugh. A maniacal, distorted laugh the couldn’t imply anything positive.

“Oh my,” the Tantabus began. “You’ve all been on a wild goose chase to find the little dragon. But did you stop and think if it would even be worth it?”

“Cut to the fucking crap, dipshit,” Twilight screeched, using an unnecessary amount of vulgar language.

“He’s dead!” The Tantabus revealed. “He’s been eaten by the Gulosus, and you all thought he’s been held captive! I let him get eaten two weeks ago. He’s long dead.”

Twilight couldn’t even utter a response. She was in an intense state of shock, and with that state of shock, Twilight had one final question.

“Did he die painfully?” Twilight whispered.

“Brutally,” the Tantabus replied.

The last straw in Discord’s book of absolutely-fucking-nots. In an instant, everything inside the bubble was consumed by a portal of unbearable light: the center of sun, where there is NOTHING dark to grasp onto.

The monsters from the dream world were gone.
The monsters conceived of nightmares no longer spread their unimaginable reign of terror upon the land. They were… gone.

Four years ago, the Tantabus and its henchmen were evaporated and smiled out of existence. Four years later, a lot has changed.

Starlight is back on her hooves again, running the School of Friendship with her close friends.

Twilight is running Equestria still, but not alone; her close friends and the watchful eyes of the previous Princesses keep a keen eye on her, helping her along her journey as the returned ruler of the land.

But something is still missing. Spike, dead and long gone, still leaves an empty place in Twilight’s heart, one that couldn’t be fully replaced… however, the Princess found comfort in an old friend, foe, and frenemy: Cozy Glow.

The filly herself lives in peace, and though she may never be able to fly again, she‘a grateful to be alive—and to share that experience with her friends.

It’s all okay. Or, that’s what everyone hopes; there’s no evidence to say the sun killed the Tantabus and it’s allies, but there’s also nothing saying it didn’t.

It’s like trying to prove or disprove the existence of a god: you can’t. Unless they descended down upon the land, said their peace and retreated, then you can’t prove they’re real. But you can’t deny that they could be out there, watching, waiting, and maybe on their way right now.

As for the Tantabus, Cozy Glow hopes it’s dead. But you can never be too sure.

Author's Note

Thanks for checking out this story. I know I’m no artist or an amazing writer, but I’m happy with what I was able to cook up, and what I am currently cooking as well. Stay tuned for more Cozy content!