Late at night, Chrysalis was wandering in a rock quarry.
"The first step to reclaiming my hive, is I must rebuild the throne. Once my spell is put back in place, the Changelings will fall like dominoes, and they'll all revert to their old selves!" Chrysalis said to herself. "I'll construct this new throne out of anorthosites. But where am I expected to find a large collection of anorthosites?"
Luckily, she wasn't alone. There was an expert on site. A rock expect.
"You there!" she exclaimed.
She caught the attention of Maud Pie.
"Tell me where I can find a large deposit of anorthosites!" Chrysalis demanded.
Maud Pie blinked, without replying.
"I uh, for personal gain of course." Chrysalis added.
"Anorthosite can be found in large deposits underneath that mountain over there." Maud replied.
She pointed to the nearby mountain, with an entryway to a mine.
"Many thanks." Chrysalis thanked.
The two were about to go their separate ways, but then something came to Chrysalis' mind.
"Oh, one more thing. Between you and me, I'm not exactly made of muscles. Heavy lifting is so hard, and I need to get all these rocks to, oh I don't know, the Changeling kingdom." Chrysalis said.
"Fortunately, there's a railway that leads from this mine to most major locations in Equestria. Including the Changeling hive."
"Thanks once again." Chrysalis was about to head out once again, but this time Maud chimed in.
"Wait." Maud said.
Chrysalis screeched in her tracks, and turned around.
"I had no idea you of all creatures would be interested in rocks, Chrys. Would you like to join us?" Maud offered. "Mudbriar and I discovered some dense rocks that glow under UV light. We think they have unique properties. They emit energy on their own, but it doesn't seem to the result of a chemical reaction. It could revolutionize energy consumption in Equestria, I just hope they're not to dangerous..."
"Uh, no thanks. I'll pass. It is of the utmost urgency that I... what did you call me?" Chrysalis asked.
Before she got an answer, Maud Pie was already many meters away, heading in the other direction.
"I must've misheard her. I should cocoon her, but I can't afford to cause a scene. Just think of the goal. Rebuilding your glorious throne..."
Chrysalis reminisced about her throne, and her kingdom. Her throne sure was big, which meant, it was going to take lots of rocks to rebuild it...
"It's going to be a long night..." Chrysalis moaned.
The next morning, in a quaint little distant village, a caring father was caring for his daughter. The daughter was a little unicorn with pale skin, freckles, and a flowing blue mane.
"Pappy, can I have some more soup?" asked a little filly.
"Of course, little Amber, I'll be right back." her father said.
The father walked into the kitchen, leaving the filly unguarded. Unbeknownst to either of them, they were being watched. Outside the window, one wicked equine was appalled at what she saw inside the house. But as to not be out down, she thought of a scheme, and she thought of it quick.
The father returned, and made a horrific discovery.
"Now, dear. Be careful, it's a little hot, and-*gasp* what the?"
He walked in to a most horrific sight. His daughter, dead, and hanging by a noose in the middle of the room.
*gasp*
*crash* The father dropped the soup.
"Amber! No! Not again!" he cried.
The father's legs collapsed, and he wept.
Eventually, he mustered the strength to look up, and gaze at the horrific sight. But the more closely he took in the details, he noticed something wasn't right.
"Wait a second..."
The filly in front of him looked a lot like his daughter, but it wasn't! The dead filly in front of him was a pegasus, not a unicorn like his daughter. His daughter was also a blank flank, and the body in front of him had a rook cutie mark. The pony hanging in front of him was none other than...
"Oh my god..." he said under his breath.
"Heh heh heh." giggled somepony.
He wasn't alone in the room. There was a somepony in a chair, facing away from the stallion. The chair turned around, revealing Luster Dawn, as an alicorn, with the bewitching bell. His unicorn daughter sat in her lap, tied up.
"Hello, Pappy." Cozy said, who was mind controlling Luster Dawn. (Cozy's consciousness lived in Luster's body).
Pappy was completely shocked at this insane sight.
"What's going on?" he asked
"Surprised to see me? I know I may look a little different, but I am still your daughter." Cozy said. "See that filly hung by the noose? That's me! Or at least it used to be me. Sure, you tried to kill me, and you failed, but death eventually caught up to her. But you needn't to worry. Luster Dawn here was kind enough to donate her body to my cause! Now, Cozy Glow's life and soul lives on in the body of Luster Dawn!"
"You know Cozy Glow isn't your name, right? Your real name is-" Pappy started.
"Enough about me! Let's talk about you!" Cozy said, holding Amber. "So, one child wasn't enough? You just had to raise another to eventually kill?"
"Stop it! Give Amber back this instant!" her father exclaimed.
"So, Amber, is it? I don't deem you as fit to raise a filly, so I'm officially adopting her myself!
"So now, little one, your name is now Amber Glow." Cozy said.
Cozy stroked Amber's mane. It was remarkably similar to her old mane.
"So, who's the lucky mare? If mama's dead, how in Equestria did you conceive of another filly? Let alone one that looks so much like the old Cozy Glow?"
It was true. Amber Glow looked almost exactly like Cozy Glow! In appearance, she basically was Cozy Glow, but with no cutie mark, different mane style, and most distinct different of all, Amber was a unicorn, not a pegasus.
"Pappy? What's she talking about?" Amber asked.
"You stop this right now!" he exclaimed.
"You don't know what our daddy did to me?" Cozy asked. "He's just going to do it to you too! It's like a rite of passage when Pappy tries to kill his daughter."
"That's enough! Unhand my daughter and-"
*ZAP*
*a beam of magic connected to Pappy*
"Why don't you show us exactly what happened that day!" Cozy said.
A magic stream flowed from her dad, to Luster, and then it projected an image to the wall for everyone to see exactly what happened to Cozy Glow on that day.
The traumatic events that inflicted Cozy replayed.
"Come out and look me in the face! Don't you wanna know how my last day of school went?! I got f****** expelled! They're holding me back a grade! But don't fret, Princess Twilight Sparkle has her own school! I think it's the perfect match for me!" Cozy exclaimed. "If Princess Celestia can make Twilight Sparkle from unicorn to alicorn, then she absolutely can do the same to me! And if she doesn't then we'll force them to! Against their will! We'll force them to relinquish all their magic to me! And I'll become the most powerful alicorn princess to ever-"
*SMACK* *SHATTER*
The door swung open when the dad forced it open.
"What do you want now?!" Pappy exclaimed.
He looked around, but his daughter was nowhere to be found. He looked around the corner to where the door flew open, and saw a shattered window.
"Oh no!" He looked out the window and saw- *gasp*
The opening of the door had slammed against Cozy's head. The force of the impact forced her through the window, shattering the glass, and then she fell down an entire story.
"No no no!"
The dad rushed downstairs to his daughter. By the time he had arrived, the authorities had already arrived. They were surrounding the fallen filly. She laid unconscious on the ground.
"Do you know what happened here, sir?" the chief asked.
"That's my daughter! And I-"
"So you're the one responsible for this gruesome crime?" one of the deputies asked.
"Well, yes technically, but not intentionally, I-"
"I think you better come with us." the sheriff said.
They arrested the dad on the spot, and carried the inured pegasus away.
"Don't worry. Your daughter will be in better care soon." the chief assured.
Pappy looked around in shame. He knew he was neglectful of his daughter, but he never could have imagined that his actions would lead to this.
*the flashback concluded*
"Tsk tsk. So reckless." Cozy said. "And they still allowed you to have a child after this? Pitiful!" Cozy said. "So who is her mother?"
"It's a bit more complicated than that." Pappy explained. "If you paid close attention to the flashback, you would have noticed I kept a clump of your hair. I frankly wasn't sure if you were going to survive. I know I can't take back my mistakes, but using a sample of your genes, I was only recently was I able to successfully create Amber."
Cozy was quite shocked at this revelation.
"So you nearly killed me, so you cloned me so you could try again?" she asked.
"Well, golly! I have an identical twin sister! (who was born many years after me)" Cozy said.
Cozy flicked Amber Glow's horn.
"You're so cute. You look almost exactly like the old me! Except... why is this little girl a unicorn?" Cozy asked.
"Exact copies practically don't exist. There's always genetic variation." the father said.
"So if she's a unicorn, but she came from my genes, that means I almost was an alicorn after all?" Cozy asked. "Unfortunately, almost doesn't cut it."
"You have us at your mercy, so what are you going to do?" the father asked.
"I'm going to make you suffer." Cozy said.
Cozy got out of the chair, and tied Amber to the chair. She walked forward, threatening her father.
"Now what is an appropriate punishment for attempted filly murderer? There isn't a punishment worthy enough for you!" Cozy exclaimed in a mocking tone.
Multiple Luster Dawns appeared and whispered around Cozy.
"Hmm, that does seem fitting." she said mockingly.
Her horn lit up, and the walls around them collapsed, revealing they she had teleported them to Tartarus.
"Welcome to Tartarus, home to the most vile creatures in Equestria, and so I think you'll fit right in, Pappy. Now, what to do? Caged in Tartarus? Stone? Caged in Tartarus as a stone statue?" Cozy pondered.
A giant cage fell from above, and landed, trapping Pappy inside.
"I pick all of the above!" Cozy exclaimed.
*ZAP*
Cozy zapped her dad, and he started to turn to stone.
"You can't do this! You're not Queen of Equestria!" Pappy exclaimed.
"Not yet. But I will be very soon!" Cozy stuck her head in the cage and gave him a nasty grin.
His body turned to stone from bottom up. Cozy walked forward, and stuck her head through the cage, watching her father turn to stone.
"Do you have any last words before nopony hears from you again?" Cozy asked.
"I just want you to know that I loved your mom dearly." he said.
"Is that what you told her before her last dying breath?" Cozy asked.
"I told her that our daughter was going to be the most special pony in Equestria..." he said.
"Well, mission accomplished." Cozy grinned
Her dad had completely solidified in stone.
Cozy noticed her corpse was still here. She took her corpse, and hung it inside the cage with her father.
"Together with his daughter forever. I can't think of anything he'd want more." Cozy said.
Cozy then pivoted her attention to the little girl. She was terrified.
"And as for you, little Amber. You needn't be afraid, I have big plans for you." she said.
*clap* Somepony clapped their hooves together.
"Well done, Alisha." said somepony.
"What are you doing here?" Cozy asked.
"I came so that you could thank me for all I've done for you." she said.
"What have you done for me? Besides push me out of your birth canal, and then swiftly dying soon thereafter! You gave birth to me, that's all you did! Don't act like anything you did influenced my life!"
"I've been here this whole time, guiding you." she said.
"Shut up! That's not how it works! I did this on my own! I'm the most powerful alicorn in Equestria! And it's no thanks to your and dad's wishful thinking! It's 100% down to my ambition!" Cozy ranted.
"But at what cost?" she pointed to Cozy's original body. It was now an empty corpse.
"A necessary loss! You and dad gave created a weakling. And then the old body was poisoned. Now I have a new body! I am immortal!" Cozy said.
"You are lost." they said.
Cozy got very mad.
"I'll show you!" she exclaimed.
Cozy started forward, but a different pony reached from behind and embraced her. It was Cozy's sister, Amber. he gave her big sister a big ol hug.
"Please stop, Cozy!" she pleaded.
Her legs collapsed, and she fell onto her hind legs. Cozy's tears ran Luster's face.
"How could you love me? I'm a monster..." Cozy sobbed.
"You're my sister. I want you to stop, and to be happy." Amber said.
Cozy looked into the cage, seeing her own father encased in stone brought back horrific flashbacks of being sealed away in stone by Discord. And seeing her corpse beside her dad reminded her of her time on the isle of shroud, where a poison dart hit her, and sealed her fate. She looked at Amber, a filly who looked just like Cozy, except she was fresh, meanwhile seeing Cozy, who ultimately lost her body after a series of punishments, and hardships.
Amber embraced Luster's body tighter, filling Cozy with even heavier emotions.
*sniff* "I promise that I'm not going to let anything bad happen to you." Cozy said. "Little Amber, so young, so pure, innocent. Such a blank slate..."
Cozy realized that Amber really was a clone of herself, except without any experience. This gave Cozy an idea.
"Would you like to play a game with me?" Cozy asked.
"Yes, anything for you, sister." Amber wept.
"Let's play pretend. You'll be Cozy Glow, the most feared pegasus in all of Equestria. And I'll be Luster Dawn, Twilight Sparkle's most faithful student. At least for the time being. *giggle* She's not going to like what I'm gonna do to her, but I guarantee it'll be fun for both of us." Cozy grinned.
"Will I make you happy?" Amber asked.
"Yes, little one. Our happiest times are yet to come!" Cozy exclaimed.
To be continued...