-EQUUS, THE CRYSTAL EMPIRE, THE CRYSTAL STADIUM-

Fleeing citizens of The Coalition were now hastily leaving the stadium by air and land as the unified force leaders now stood against the abomination: Blueblood. The aforementioned traitor was now a mockery of an octopus, his dismembered head with tentacle-like appendages coming out of his neck region. Also, what was once his body was now an Eater Of Souls.

……….

As this goes on and still positioned high above the stadium, Cozy Glow, Gallus, and Smolder watch on in horror at the event taking place down below.

“This is messed up! H-his head,” Gallus states in disbelief, “It’s… he’s still alive!”

“Come on! I say we go down there and help the adults!” Smolder exclaims.

“Are you crazy?!” Gallus questions, “We’d only get in the way!”

“Oh, I think Smolder’s onto something…” Cozy Glow comments, but with a dark tone and mischievous features, “I think all the kids throughout The Empire should help us.”

Cozy Glow simply cackles, and before either of the two young individuals before her could say or do anything, a powerful purple aura emits from the pegasus’s body as she shouts:

“Come, my precious friends! Let’s show everyone the true meaning of friendship!”

The aura that was surrounding Cozy Glow shoots outwards in multiple directions. This phenomenon looked as if numerous beams of light and darkness were being shot up into the skies and began to spread throughout The Empire. Among them, two beams shot right into both Gallus and Smolder as they began to struggle against it.

They both fall onto the floor, with Gallus saying:

“C-Cozy… w-what are you… d-doing?” The griffon grits his teeth and struggles with both of his foreclaws against his head.

Smolder fared no differently as she roars out: “Y-you’re working w-with… them?!”

“Hook, line, and sinker! You bunch of dummies! And thanks to the power that Lord Ocram has given to me, all kids throughout this stupid empire will bow to me!” Cozy Glow shouts as she then starts to float high into the air with multiple flaps of her wings, “I could’ve taken over the minds of the adults, but who would ever attack a poor child, right?” Cozy questions mockingly as she was now positioned high above the stadium.

Cozy Glow extends her forehooves in either direction and exclaims:

“Come to me, my friends! I command you to stand against these fools of The Empire!” Cozy chuckles, “I mean, after all, friendship! Is! Power!”

---

Sometime before Cozy Glow uses her ability:

The abomination of Blueblood and his Eater Of Souls ally born from his body now faced off against the combined might of Luna, Cadence, Shining Armor, King Domihaus, King Thorax, Pharynx, Chrysalis, Prince Rutherford, General Seaspray, Gilda, Prince Zaku, and his zebra warrior: Zalan.

“Hahahahaha!” Blueblood laughs out, tentacles thrashing about, “It doesn’t matter how many of you stand against me! You’re all going to die for what you did to me!”

“What we did to you?!” Cadence roars out in response, “My aunt Celestia only ever showed you love and care! I even respected you as my cousin!”

“Don’t waste thy words on this foul cretin, dear niece,” Luna comments with her scythe at the ready and floating it within her aura, “Any love he hath for Celly or any of us was snuffed out the moment he aided The Corruption,” Luna points her scythe at the abomination, “Look at him… he’s not even a pony anymore.”

“Domihaus cares not for what he is!” The minotaur king then raises his battle axe forged from the Demonite Ore, “Who he is, is Blueblood! The Traitor!”

“Yak smash traitor pony!” Prince Rutherford roars out as the two behemoths rush towards their foe, shaking the local area in the process.

“Pharynx! Thorax! Come with me!” Chrysalis roars out as she flies into the fray with the two changelings following close behind her.

“Cady! You and Luna need to activate The Crystal Heart!” Shining Armor roars out, then turns his gaze, “General Seaspray, Prince Zaku, Zalan, we shall engage with that Eater Of Souls!”

The aforementioned trio nods in response and goes forth to combat the soul eater. However, Cadence roars out:

“I’m not going to leave you here!”

“You’re not leaving me, Cady. I’m telling you to go back to the castle and activate The Crystal Heart!”

“B-but, I can’t jus-”

“We must go and perform our duty, dear niece,” Luna interjects, “We wish to stay as well to deal with Blueblood, but the safety of The Empire and its citizens are far more important.”

Cadence was still noticeably hesitant, all while the nearby battle was commencing, as she finally narrows her features and shouts:

“Please be careful, Shiny!”

“I will, Cady. Now go! Activate the heart and throw these monsters out of The Empire!”

Both alicorn Princesses nod in response before spreading their wings and taking to the skies. Shining Armor watches their distant forms as he comments:

“Good luck, you two,” He turns to the nearby battle and brings forth his sword crafted from the Demonite Ore, “For Equestria! For my wife and child!”

However, Shining Armor’s gaze shoots upwards as he hears the exclamation of Cozy Glow:

“I mean, after all, friendship! Is! Power!”

---

Present:

The purple beams of light and darkness that Cozy Glow let loose begin to spread throughout The Empire and hone in on specific individuals. Disturbingly, these mainly consisted of young individuals of every race.

Absolute chaos soon follows as various scenarios play out as a result for all the children of The Empire suffered the same fate as Smolder and Gallus:

The Cutie Mark Crusaders could be seen causing all forms of aggression as the trio attacked various adult figures, despite said adults trying to call out to them. In one instance, Granny Smith attempted to appeal to Apple Bloom, who cruelly pushes the old mare down to the ground.

“Mah’ baby girl, what in tarnation’s got’n into ya?!” Granny Smith says with a raised forehoof.

As Apple Bloom slowly walked over to the downed old mare, she repeats: “Friendship is power… friendship is power… friendship is power…”

“Apple Bloom… is this how ya’ plan on treat’n yer’ grandmare? Mah’ final moments to be snuffed out by mah’ own baby girl?”

Hearing those words, Apple Bloom hesitates for a mere moment, “G-Gra… nny…” Then, the filly loses control once more but walks away while saying: “Friendship is power… friendship is power…”

..........

The shelter that housed most of The Empire’s children was in anarchy as every single child of every species was now at war against their former caretakers. Among them were Yona, Ocellus, Silverstream, and Sandbar.

..........

Out on the Empire’s streets was a marching army consisting of the children, one of every species. All the while, various adults, guards, and caretakers were pleading for the army to stop but to no avail. Hesitation overtook several guards as they tried to stop the ever-encroaching force as a yak guard shouts:

“How do we stop children?! Yak can’t attack younglings!”

“I… I don’t know! J-just try to hold them back!” A pegasus guard shouts, but his gaze is taken away by an approaching pegasus filly with the most peculiar stripes. In a fit of panic, the guard lifts his sword forged from the Demonite Ore in response, but the filly calls out:

“Hey, hey! Cool it, dude, I’m not possessed!”

This shocks the guard, “W-wait, you’re not?”

“No, I’m not, trust me. I’m Ambient Light, y’know, the one who was gonna be executed by that Blueblood traitor? Listen, I’m here to help,” The filly says, stripes a slightly darker red than the rest of her fur, though with a bit of black mixed in.

As this exchange goes on, the army of youngsters progresses towards The Crystal Stadium.

“Wait, he was going to execute you? I had no idea this was even going on!”

“Let’s try to survive before I explain, okay? Judging by that,” She says, pointing a wingtip at the approaching army as her stripes shift from red to black. “You’re going to need all the help you can get.”

The pegasus guard from before ponders on this momentarily and says: “Kid, if you’re truly immune to whatever’s going on, then consider your crimes absolved as captain of Canterlot’s pegasi squadron. Then again, whatever Blueblood accused you of is likely fabrication anyway. All things considered.”

“Yeah, thanks for the opportunity, now LOOK OUT BEHIND YOU!” She yelps, flapping her wings and causing a gust of wind to blow back a couple of foals trying to attack him. Her stripes appear to shift to a vibrant blue as she does so.

Before the pegasus guard could thank Ambient, the yak guard retaliates against the army, but not with lethal force, by acting as a makeshift wall and holding them off while saying:

“You two need go to stadium, find out what happening! Yak and other guards hold off children!”

..........

Unbeknownst to them all and thanks to her connection those she controlled, Cozy Glow had taken notice of this particular scenario as she shouts from high above The Crystal Stadium:

“What the?! There’s a filly here that’s immune to my powers?!”

“Queen Cozy Glow,” Gallus and Smolder say in unison; under her trance, “How may we serve?”

“You two! Go down to the field and help Blueblood!” She orders, and they obey, “I want to see this for myself!”

With a flap of her wings, the young pegasus rockets towards the strange scenario taking place not too far away from the stadium.

……….

Cozy Glow now hovered over her army of mind-controlled children and instantly spotted two pegasi, a guard and a filly, along with a nearby yak guard. Incidentally, it was the filly who interested her most as she shouts:

“Hey, you! Red filly with the stupid stripes!”

The filly in question grits her teeth in anger, stripes turning black with the same blue mixed in, as she says:

“Just ignore her, Ambient… Everyone makes fun of the stripes. What are we doing here, Cap?”

“I’m talking to you!” Cozy angrily exclaims as the guard responds to Ambient’s inquiry:

“You’re the only filly who’s immune, and judging by that filly’s sudden appearance… I surmise she’s the ringleader of this phenomenon. Plus, I saw what you did to save me from those mind-controlled youngsters. In short: Go and take her down!”

“...I should warn you. I’m not good at resolving things without killing the opponent. But I’ll try.” Ambient comments.

“Yak think that filly is beyond worrying about her death. She help corruption, she pay price!”

“I like your way of thinking, yak,” smirks the red pegasus.

“I must agree,” The pegasus captain said as he looks upward, “It saddens me to see a filly like that become so corrupted… but she’s made her choice,” He looks back to Ambient, “And I can’t believe I’m sending another filly to deal with this. But you seem to have some sort of special power.”

“So lethal force authorized, then?” Ambient questions.

“Consider that Captain’s orders, soldier.”

“Well, then…” she says, locking eyes with Cozy as her stripes take a malevolent black, red, and blue.

“Come on! Get up here right now! I’ve got some questions for you, stripes!” Cozy roars out.

The filly laughs as she flies up and hovers in front of Cozy.

“As you wish, ‘Queen.’ Let me see if I can answer them with fire.”

“Go ahead, Stripes, I’ll respond with your death!” Cozy exclaims as she extends her forehooves and calls upon a trio of pegasus fillies from the army, “Come to me!”

“Such cowardice!” The pegasus captain shouts, witnessing Cozy’s actions.

Ambient seems to take a fork of some kind out of her mane as it begins to float by itself.

“Alright, Lucy… let’s get you a fresh soul for you to eat,” she says as some kind of shadow emerges from the utensil. She points a hoof at Cozy and mutters something in a rather exotic dialect before turning her attention to the three fillies.

The three pegasi attempt to mob Ambient, but she barely manages to dodge the trio as they, in turn, collide into one another.

“Bit clumsy, huh. Might wanna work on that,” says Ambient, floating on what appears to be pure wind.

With an irritated grunt, Cozy comments: “If you want something done, you do it yourself!” The empowered filly then rockets towards Ambient.

“That’s the spirit!” says Ambient, causing a wall of fire to form in front of her, swirling.

“Hah! Fire? That the best you- wait…” Cozy then dodges the flames as something about them causes her senses to go crazy.

“Heheheh… Guess good ol’ Ocram wouldn’t make it too easy, huh,” she says, her stripes turning yellow, as if laughing at the situation.

After gaining some altitude after dodging the strange red filly’s attack, Cozy screams: “Who are you?! Why are you this powerful?!”

“Oh, stop complaining. You haven’t even touched any of my attacks… Granted, you’re too weak to play with for long, so I do have to go easy on you.”

Hearing this mockery, Cozy growls angrily and shouts: “Weak?! I’ll show you true power!” A powerful lavender aura escapes Cozy’s form as every child in the army turns their gaze towards Ambient. However, something was different this time, for it wasn’t just the children… Cozy had also controlled the minds of the guards down below as she comments:

“I only chose children because, well, who in their sane mind would ever attack them?” She smirks, “I never said I couldn’t control adults too.”

Ambient leans forward, as if interested.

“Do go on. I really, REALLY want an excuse to show off after all.”

“Fine! Let’s start with that nice pegasus captain; wanna kill him? Go ahead!” Cozy exclaims as she orders the former pegasus captain to draw his blade forged from the Demonite Ore.

“...Demonite? Kinda weak to use against me, no? Eh, whatever,” Ambient says and shrugs her shoulders.

The pegasus captain closes the distance and attempts to swing at the red filly. However, she catches the blade with her left forehoof, much to Cozy Glow's shock.

“So you really haven’t ever been there… Hm. Ocram really fucked up,” Ambient says, snapping the blade in two as the captain flies away to avoid retaliation.

“Wait, how the hay did you know his true name?!” Cozy Glow exclaims in shock.

“Because he was the one who tried to have me executed through Blueblood.” Ambient answers.

This momentarily threw off cozy Glow. Why would Ocram want this pathetic filly to be killed off? He certainly never told Cozy Glow about her. However, she then remembered something that The Hivemind did mention, as she recalls his words:

-When we first breached this world, we were surprised to sense a familiar presence among your kind who could rival our might. There are multiple of them, in fact. Fortunately, Blueblood’s already dealt with The Primordial’s host.-

“Aaaaand realization in 3… 2… 1…” Ambient said.

“T-that was you?! You’re The Primordial’s host?!”

“Host isn’t the best term. You should probably have asked if I WAS The Primordials first.”

Cozy bares her teeth in response and growls, “So what?! I’ll just finish what Blueblood failed to do!”

“I absolutely LOVE your enthusiasm! You got this!” says Ambient with a slightly mocking tone.

Raising her forehoof, Cozy Glow declares: “Forget my last command, go on to the stadium,” She then narrows her eyes, “This filly is mine!”

Cozy rushes forth and unleashes a powerful lavender blast with her left forehoof. As she does so, the waiting shadow erupts from behind Cozy and charges, as a black shield rises in front of the filly, whose stripes have turned to blue once again. Upon hitting the shield, the blast seems to rebound downwards, narrowly missing the army below.

During this time, the pegasus captain was floating idly by and took the opportunity to strike at Ambient. However, the remaining piece of the blade she had snapped before ended up completely shattering against her side as she comments:

“Again, I have to ask, why Demonite? You could’ve used Hallowed, Chlorophyte, anything, but you chose THAT.”

“What are you even talking about?!” Cozy Glow roars out, then shakes her head, “It doesn’t matter, kill her! You useless captain!”

The shadow closes in on its mark, slamming against Cozy Glow as she feels a horrible chill pass through her, as if death itself had brushed up against her. As a result, both the pegasus captain and the entire army beneath him were momentarily freed from their mind control. Unfortunately for them, Cozy regains her composure and roars out, which not only reaffirms her grasp on their minds but also unleashes a powerful shockwave. The windows of nearby buildings cracked in response.

“Man, I am NOT taking responsibility for this one!” says Ambient, stripes now a vibrant red, before changing to a vibrant blue as a calming, feminine voice speaks. “No need, Slag. I’m sure they’ll understand. Omni, be a dear and join us, will you? I believe it’s about time to show this Empress wannabe our true power.”

Upon hearing the feminine voice, the shadow pauses and mutely seems to nod, rushing towards Ambient and disappearing into the stripes. The stripes glow black as an eerie voice speaks.

“Ahhh… I shall eat her soul when we are finished… So as to truly destroy her existence…”

“Yes, yes, Omnicide. Now, Cozy Glow… I apologize, but you must die. After all, no one lives after threatening us,” says the calm voice.

“Hah! Me? Dying? Get a load of you!” She then gathers all of her strength as streaks of purple lightning are let loose from the gathering of energies, “You know what?! Buck everything about this empire! I’m going to blast you all with it!” More energy is gathered as even the captured children and adults become freed, “Buck Ocram’s plans, buck The Corruption, and you know what?! BUCK YOU!”

Ambient seems to glow as primordial energies blast out of her stripes, her body separating into multiple entities. The new entities gaze towards the filly as if waiting.

“DIE!” Cozy Glow roars out from high above as she unleashes a powerful energy beam; capable of unleashing incredible destruction to The Empire and its populace with its gathered prowess.

“A debt owed must be repaid! Brothers, attack for the honor of Rajah Rabbit!” cries the blue entity as power gathers around each of them. All three attack at once, blast meeting blast with a light show the likes of which the Crystal Heart itself could never cause.

Cozy grits her teeth as her blast struggles against The Primordial’s. With a roar, the filly tries to enforce more power into the blast by reabsorbing the energies she used to mind control The Empire’s denizens. However, her eyes widened when she realized that her beam didn’t force her opponent’s back one bit, even with the boost of power.

“W-what?! How?! I am the strongest!”

“Ha! You’re nothin’ but a maggot to us, kid!” yells the red entity enthusiastically, putting even more strength into his own blast.

“Ngh- No! No, no no no nooo!” Cozy roars out but fails to push back against her opponent’s blast as it slowly but surely consumed her own.

“I can taste your soul, child… You will be MOST delicious…” says the green entity, appearing to lick its ‘lips’.

“Sh-shut up, you edge lords! I… can’t… be… beaten!” Suddenly, something steals Cozy’s attention as it speaks into her mind. But most interestingly, it wasn’t Ocram.

“And you will not be… This time. Come to me, Cozy Glow,” says a mechanical voice using telepathy as light surrounds Cozy’s form. The filly suddenly disappears before everyone’s eyes, much to their own confusion.

---

-???-

Sometime Before Cozy’s Disappearance:

“Hm… How interesting. Something new after all this time…” says the mechanical voice, its eyes appearing to be closer to the chessboard, as if enraptured by it. It seemed to be gazing at a piece similar to Cozy Glow, which was currently engaged with a piece showing The Primordials' likeness.

“I cannot in good conscience allow such power as yours to be destroyed without a trace, young filly.”

A clawed hand moves Cozy’s piece next to a piece showing an amalgamation of fur and metal with two purple glowing eyes.

“Come to me, Cozy Glow.”

---

-???-

Present:

Cozy Glow slowly opened her eyes as the filly was sure that she had met her end. Absolute shock and confusion overtake her as she takes in her surroundings. She could only see darkness all around her, a quiet dripping of water somewhere to her left.

“Wh… what?” She looks herself over once more, “I’m not dead?” She then looks around and shouts: “Hello?! Is someone there?!”

A mechanical, yet ghostly voice seems to call to her over a distance.

“Empress Cozy Glow… A pleasure to make your acquaintance. Apologies for not interfering sooner.”

“Wait… it’s you… your voice was the last thing I heard before I… died?”

“Before you NEARLY died, young one. I saved you from what would have been an excruciating end. The power of The Primordials is not to be trifled with.”

Cozy snarls, “I hate those stupid things! And that filly! I hate them, I hate them, I hate them!”

“Peace, Cozy Glow. I cannot make you stronger with such complaints.”

This instantly stops Cozy’s angered exclamations as she questions with interest: “M-make me stronger? Even more than what Ocram has given me?”

“Ocram was a fool… Using you simply to take over a mere Empire. What I believe you are capable of… is far, far more, my dear.”

“Weeeell… he had me set up these stupid rune things and told me not to destroy The Empire just yet.”

“My point, your Majesty, is that he used you. And how dare he… You deserve your own Empire, your own servants…”

“Yes… yes… whenever I asked him to take over the rest of the world, he was just so focused on Equestria and that stupid empire. I want it all!”

“Indeed… And that is why you are here. What if I told you I could make you strong enough to take over even bigger lands than Equestria? Even bigger worlds, perhaps?”

“Wait, he often talked about some strange world called, um, Terpia? Or was it, Terrania?”

“Ah, yes… A world filled with lands ripe for the picking… So many servants… Why, I even have a few of my own. This land is Terraria, Cozy Glow, and I want to give you the power to rule over it however you please.”

“That’s the name! Tirek always goes on and on about,” Cozy deepens her voice, “I must feed on terrarian magic!” Her voice returns to normal, “Big dumb idiot. Anyway, how can you give me more power? What do I have to do?”

“Do? Nothing, my dear. Once I give you the power, I will release you into the lands. There is nothing I desire. However, to grant you power, I must request permission to take your soul. After all, soul magic is much more powerful than even The Primordials.”

This offer certainly enticed the pegasus filly as she couldn’t help but admire the simple cost of such power. Unlike with Ocram, who had made her perform ridiculous tasks and treachery, all this entity wanted for what was easily more power she could ever gain from Ocram was her soul. At least, that's what she believed.

With a pondering forehoof, she shrugs, “Just my soul? Go on and take it! I want even more power!”

“Then stay still, my dear…” says the entity, revealing itself as a bipedal, tentacled creature. “This won’t hurt a bit.”

“I can’t wait to make that wretched filly and her dumb Primordials pay!”

The entity draws closer, a sinister smile on its’ visor. In a hidden tentacle lay Cozy Glow’s chess piece. He lays a gentle hand on the filly’s back and speaks a few words. As Cozy Glow’s soul leaves her body, she collapses without a sound, her chess piece shattering into fragments.

“I do love prideful fools. They never read the fine print,” it says, visor opening to reveal a single eye and many fangs as it devours the soul.

It returns to the chessboard, placing a strange-looking artifact on it.

“Soon… Soon you will be used, my dear Terminus. Patience is what we must have,” it laughs. “Draedon’s work on us shall not go to waste… The old fool’s memory must be honored, after all.”

Next Chapter: Chapter 10 - War In The Crystal Empire Pt: 3 Estimated time remaining: 20 Hours, 4 Minutes