The rest of the walk home was spent in companionable silence. Mom kept giving me concerned glances, but I was too exhausted – on too many levels – to really be upset at that point.
You know that numbing over like that is only temporary.
As we got back to the house, I gave a bit of an exaggerated yawn, which became entirely genuine halfway through.
“I think I’m going to get some sleep. Don’t worry about me, I just need a little time to think.”
Mom nuzzled me, seeming concerned.
“Are you absolutely sure? I can stay with you, if you wish.”
I waved a hoof at her, doing my best to seem completely at ease.
“It’s fine, Mom. I mean… it’s not really fine, but just let me work through it. I know I can come to you if I need to.”
Mom eyed me critically for a few moments, but nodded. She gave me one last pat on the head before letting me go.
“You were brave today, Cozy. Many ponies never find the courage to stand up to the ones closest to them.”
I snorted as I trotted up the stairs. “Well, that was my secret. I got closer to a lot of better ponies, so she doesn’t seem quite so important any more.”
Mom smiled, and I smiled back at her before heading up.
That’s just a very pleasant way of saying that you barely overcame your hatred for Bree with your love for your new family.
And what’s wrong with putting something pleasantly? It’s not like I want her to worry.
That doesn’t change the fact that you have all of that hatred writhing around inside of you.
Well I don’t WANT to change that. I SHOULD hate her for what she did!
Isn’t that the sort of attitude a monster would have?
Monsters lash out at innocent ponies or hate ponies for dumb reasons. Like… like how I hated Twilight for getting in my way, before. It’s not the same thing.
But the hatred you have in you already makes it easier to feel that way about other ponies.
I sighed as I entered my room, and I sat up on my bed. I wanted to get some sleep, but there was just no way I could rest with thoughts like those kicking around in my head.
I looked around the room for something to do, and my eyes set on the mug I’d brought with me when I entered this timeline.
I should probably let Sunny know how I’m doing… and I guess it couldn’t hurt to talk a bit.
But you told your mother you were fine.
I just don’t want her to worry! With everything she’s had to put up with from me lately, she deserves a break!
I huffed and picked up the mug.
I wonder if that business card even really works?
I smirked to myself and looked at the mug.
“I sure could use a drink right about now.”
I glanced up, but nothing seemed different, at first. Then I noticed Sunset’s cutie mark was emblazoned on my bedroom door.
“Oh wow, this thing is good.”
I slipped the mug under a wing and made my way into the bar out of time.
The silver bell chimed and Sunset Shimmer checked the calendar. No events planned for today, so it was a personal guest. She quickly fished a menu and slid it onto the bar across from her, as she heard the steps get closer. Quadruped, hooves, short legs… a pony? Or a centaur? she mused, then her eyes lit up when she recognized the filly coming in, holding a familiar mug under her wing.
"Oh, hey Cozy," Sunset said, smiling at the filly. It seemed like she had lost her alicorn powers after all, but that was not the only change. She was a little taller than before, and without her armor Sunset could see how muscular she was; not bulky, like a bodybuilder, but rather having the lean muscles of a fighter. "It… seems some time has passed back home."
Cozy blinked up at Sunset, frowning. “Huh? It’s just been a few weeks. I’d have come sooner, but I wanted to make sure things were really okay before I did. You seemed… kinda worried about me.” She finished with an uneasy smile and a blush, like she was overstepping.
"Sorry, it's… you look taller, and the horn is gone, so it seemed like more time might have passed. It's been a few months here since I last saw you." Sunset smiled. "I'm glad things seem to be going better? And I am… well, was worried. How did things turn out? Were you able to convince Luna to use your memories?"
Cozy took the mug in her teeth from under a wing, and fluttered up to a seat at the bar, revealing some alarming black streaks through her wings in the process. She set the mug down on the bar and smiled up at Sunset.
“It turned out they’d already done that. The other, uh, you worked with Mom and Discord to transfer memories over from the other timeline, so I wouldn’t be alone. I actually have a house near Ponyville and everything.”
Sunset felt a sense of relief wash over her. "I'm very happy to hear that. I'm fairly certain that a memory transfer would have worked, but this seems a lot more natural and less invasive." She went around the bar to kneel across from Cozy, opening her arms. "Congrats?"
Cozy pounced into Sunset’s arms, grateful for the contact. “Thanks, Sunny. Your encouragement the first time we met really made things a lot easier for me. Even with Mom and the other Sunset, things have been pretty tough lately.”
Sunset gave her young friend a warm hug, letting Cozy be the first to pull back before nodding and standing up. "Well, since you're here, how about I get you something to drink and we can talk about it if you want?"
Cozy nodded hurriedly, parking back in her seat with a quick buzz of her wings. “Sounds good to me. I could definitely use it after a day like this.” She frowned. “I really put my friends through a scare this time.”
Sunset raised an eyebrow. What could she possibly do to get them scared like that? Did she conquer Yakyakistan? "Alright then, seems like quite the story. You might need something stronger than butter and rum."
Cozy waved that off with a smirk. “Sorry, I’m officially addicted now. That stuff is good. Besides, I’m not an alicorn anymore, so… probably better to keep it light.” She leaned back and frowned. “I just need a little help getting to sleep, anyway.”
"Then let's go with that for now," Sunset said, taking the mug and getting to work on the drink. "So, what's going on? I hope it's not trouble with your friends?"
Cozy considered that for a moment, then snorted. “The short version is, I ran into the mare that gave birth to me, and I managed not to stomp her into the dirt.”
Sunset blinked. "I see. So I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that your relationship with her is decidedly not pleasant." She poured the drink into a mug and placed it in front of Cozy. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry you had to see her."
Cozy snickered airily. “That makes two of you, I guess. Yeah, Bree is… she’s awful. Even now, she just brings the worst out in me. I seriously lost it, trying not to go after her. I ended up causing huge problems for Mom, huge problems for you – er, the other you – and just generally screwing things up. I think I might have even hurt Discord in the process? Honestly, it’s all a little bit of a blur.”
Sunset sighed. "Look, I can only really go from what other people that have visited this place have explained to me… I never really had parents, so my experience directly with this is… well, limited. But, those people that have talked about their pasts with abusive parents have generally felt bad about their anger, as if it's something that should be just simply snuffed away with time… but it's not. And it shouldn't be so easily dismissed. What happens in your life always shapes you into who you are today, and it takes a lot of personal growth to be able to manage that anger." She reached out to squeeze Cozy's foreleg. "I'm proud of you for not tearing her to pieces."
Cozy snickered, brushing the top of Sunset’s hand with her other hoof. “Thanks. I wouldn’t say I feel bad about being angry, though. Bree deserves it. I’m not ashamed of hating her; I just don’t want to hurt my Mom or anypony else because of it. And I know that probably doesn’t sound good, but… well, it’s the truth.”
Cozy smirked up at Sunset. “And it’s not like I could hide the truth about how I feel from you, anyway, right? I found out about your spell.”
"What spell?"
Cozy leaned back and furrowed her brows in confusion. “The whole… empathy, memory-viewing, telepathy, thing. Come on, you can’t tell me you don’t know what I’m talking about! The other Sunset’s got, like, all kinds of variants of it or something, too!”
Ah, so that's what she's talking about. Sunset sighed, reaching down and pulling her geode, setting it on the bar in front of Cozy. "You mean the empathy powers, right? I don't use them… my guests come from a LOT of different places as you know. Some of them have suffered torture, or things that are so personal that a casual image of that is… not okay for them." She paused. And sometimes from what they've told me, I really don't want to see. "When I opened my bar, I cast a general spell to put people at ease, but I also made a promise to not use this without warning of what exactly it does. In my case, I see it as an invasion of privacy for those creatures that come here. Not all of them would understand, or be comfortable with me looking into their lives like that. When you come here you share what you want to share, and no more."
Cozy took that in with a contemplative expression. “I guess the other Sunset doesn’t have as good of a handle on it all, yet. She activated her powers by accident, just by using her magic near me. But… I guess I’m glad she did. It helped her help me. I just hope it didn’t hurt her.”
Cozy gestured at her head and made little swirling motions with her hoof. “I don’t think this is the nicest place, y’know?”
"Well, I wouldn't worry too much," Sunset replied, "We Sunsets are generally resilient. Especially when it comes to being there for our friends and family."
Cozy smirked again, nodding. “Yeah, so I’ve noticed. Speaking of family… I don’t really get it, but it seems like Celestia has sort-of half-adopted the other Sunset? Mom slipped and called her my cousin at one point.”
She did, huh? Celestia never spared that grace for me. She took a deep breath. But that's not my Celestia. And that's not me, it's another Sunset. Good for her. "In some worlds… it happens like that. In mine… well. It didn't, but I'm happy for your Sunset. It usually takes a monumental effort for Celestia to admit to any parental feelings." She shook her head. "That mare represses and holds back so much I'm surprised Daybreaker is not a more common occurrence."
Cozy quirked an eyebrow at that. “Daybreaker? Wait, hold on. Celestia never reconnected with you?”
"Long story short? No. Oh, we met. I went there for help and she was nice, she said she missed me, hugged me. You know. Acquaintance stuff. I wasn't at my best at the time, and she was friendly enough after my… after the last time I saw her, so I counted that as a blessing and focused on figuring out how to get my friends to remember me. My real contact is with Twilight in my home universe." She frowned. "Universes."
Cozy grit her teeth. “But how could she not…? Guh, even Celestia can be so dumb sometimes. I mean it just doesn’t make sense! Why would anypony give that up?!”
Cozy took a few more seconds to breathe, getting herself back under control. Then she looked up at Sunset contemplatively.
“I guess most ponies can’t appreciate how important a good family is, though Celestia’s lost enough that I’d think she could. But she is the one who told me that knowing what’s right doesn’t mean a pony will necessarily go through with it, I guess…”
Sunset felt herself sag a little. "Look… I won't lie and say I didn't want it… but it's been cen—a long time. At least for me. At this point it would feel a bit forced. I've met my share of Celestias that think of me as a daughter. I guess that's the best I'll get, and I can't blame someone for not adopting me when they could just because I wanted them to. Sometimes… ponies are not ready to be parents."
Cozy sighed, shaking her head. “I guess. I think that’s why there’s awkwardness for Celestia and Sunset in my world, too; Sunset’s basically an adult, been on her own for years, and all. I still can’t help but think it’s kinda dumb, but whatever. I mean, Celestia’s millennia old, right? So who cares if you’re a century or two old. But that’s coming from somepony that just got a mom, so I guess I’m biased. And… sorry if I hurt your feelings.”
Cozy fidgeted in place, seeming a bit awkward.
Instead of answering right away, Sunset served herself a soda and walked around the bar to sit next to Cozy, giving her a friendly hug. "You didn't, don't worry. It's a hard pill to swallow when you find that ponies you care for – or wish to have a different relationship with – have other priorities at the time. I try not to take it personally."
Cozy leaned into the touch and nuzzled into Sunset’s side. “Yeah… I do know what you mean. Some ponies have been avoiding me since I came back, even though we were friends in the other timeline, and it’s just… well, it’s hard, but I just try not to hold it against anypony. But even if you don’t hold it against your Celestia, I will. I don’t care how old anypony is, you can’t tell me they don’t need parents.”
Despite herself, Sunset grinned. "Well, if you ever meet her you can chew her out if you want. Thank you, Cozy."
Cozy snickered. “Well I’ll at least go easier on her than Bree did… eugh.” She shuddered slightly. “There’s a difference between trying to talk sense into somepony and just trying to hurt them as bad as possible.”
"What did she say?" Sunset asked, feeling a sense of dread descending on her.
Cozy shook her head into Sunset’s side. “I don’t really want to recount anything about her. If you want to look for yourself, fine, but… I don’t want to repeat anything that mare ever said.”
Sunset glanced at the geode, still on the bar. She let out a long breath. "If you're okay with it and it'll help me understand what you're going through, I'll go ahead... " She reached out for it, hanging it around her neck. Her senses expanded almost immediately, as if resonating with the bar itself. Everything, from the posters on the wall, to her guitars, to the pictures in the corner of the room now shone with potential. She had never touched any of them while wearing her geode—never thought endemic memories would be something she could even see, but either through her own growth or with the addition of the bar's magic, it seemed her abilities were a lot stronger than ever before. I'd better not do this often. She carefully reached out and brushed Cozy's mane with her fingers.
The next thing she knew, she was on the floor, gasping, eyes wide, staring up at Cozy, who had jumped to the floor to check on her. "No! Don't touch me yet!" she almost shouted, hand flashing up to take off the geode. She staggered to her feet and placed it on the bar, away from them before sinking to her knees and pulling Cozy into a tight hug. "Oh Cozy, I'm so sorry you—I'm so sorry…"
Memories still flashed in her mind as she dealt with emotional impact of what she had witnessed and slowly comprehended what the jumble meant as they organized in her mind. She had seen it all. She took a deep breath, gulping. "I'm okay now…" she whispered. "I'm okay. I'm sorry you… that was…" she tightened her hug.
Cozy’s eyes were frantic as she held onto Sunset. “I’m sorry! I didn’t think it would be that bad! I shouldn’t have asked you!”
"No… it's not your fault." Sunset took a deep, calming breath, letting go and sitting back on the floor. She still shook a little bit. "It was a combination of things… I have been working in the bar for a long, long time now. And I've reached out and talked to many creatures over that time, with my bar's magical ambience active all the time. When I put on the geode again, it was… I knew immediately that I've reached a level I wasn't prepared for, but I figured doing something familiar wasn't going to be too bad." She snorted. "Go me. It was." She laughed, sighing and shaking her head. "It also didn't help that sharing your memory and experience of your Sunset using her magic as she did created a feedback loop. Basically she made the whole thing ten times more real."
Cozy chewed her lip, still obviously concerned. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know that would happen. I could have warned you if I did. I didn’t think having two ponies look at the same memories was bad, somehow; I mean, Luna and Sunset did it, right?”
"Slightly different thing… it was me reaching empathically to you while other me was empathically projecting herself to reach you." She slowly stood up and shook her head. "I saw what Bree said to Celestia on top of what she did to you… I have half a mind to gear up and hunt her down."
Cozy huffed, smirking. “Hey, no fair. If anypony gets to take revenge on her it should be me. I have dibs!”
"Yes, but they can't trace me." Sunset countered, smirking confidently. "Besides, I don't have to do it directly; I could just misplace her inside a locked room in Atlantis."
Cozy’s smirk faltered. “H-hey, I’ve just managed to come around to the idea of not hurting her. Don’t go making suggestions like that.”
Sunset sighed. "Fair enough. And I really can't say how proud I am of you… you are a much better pony than you give yourself credit for, Cozy."
Cozy fidgeted, opening her mouth and then shutting it, and then simply flew back up to her seat, looking at the bar. She fidgeted more in her seat, but didn’t say anything.
Sunset returned to her seat and watched Cozy carefully. "Hey," she said softly, "penny for your thoughts?"
Cozy opened her mouth and shut it again, and groaned, rubbing her head. After a few moments she blew out a huff and shook her head. “It’s just, you’re the second one to look in my head and say I’m not so bad. And I don’t… really know what to think about it all. I did terrible things, and it’s not like I just totally changed. I’ve just been trying to make good choices. And I was thinking, 'is that really all that it takes?' That’s what Trixie told me, but it’s not like I haven’t changed at all, either.”
Cozy shrugged, looking over at Sunset at a bit of a loss. “When I really think about it, a lot has changed. I don’t really think about manipulating other ponies anymore… instead, I just worry about myself doing it, rather than thinking about how to do it. When I started the hero thing, it was just… like a sort of idea. I was trying to live up to whatever I thought I was before, kind of going through the motions and being good at it, but it’s not like I emotionally got into it.”
She placed her head in her forehooves and rubbed her mane. “But it’s not really like that anymore. I don’t just think, ‘okay, what’s the heroic thing to do here?’ anymore, either. When I think Mom is going to get hurt by something, I legitimately panic. I don’t just worry about how ponies will see me anymore, I actually worry about hurting them. It’s like… the habits I had when I was trying to be heroic have become ingrained in how I think and feel, all of the time.”
Cozy slouched into leaning on the bartop, propping her head up with a hoof and playing with her mug with the other. “I guess all of those changes are good, but… they also caused a lot of bad. I wouldn’t have caused so much trouble today if I hadn’t just been so afraid, and so angry. I’ve never really been good at holding my feelings back.”
"Hm." Sunset tapped her fingers on the bar. "You have good reason to feel conflicted. Anger and pain is a driving force for all of us, just as worry and love are. You're judging yourself as a villain, when you're not anymore… you've changed, and you've internalized that change because you got a unique chance to also be the best you could possibly be under the circumstances. You did your time, you faced yourself, and now who you are doesn't match who you were."
She shook her head and gave Cozy a sheepish smile. "I don't know anyone that would simply ignore those changes and carry on without a care in the world. Being self-aware enough of your own failings is fine as long as you are self-aware enough of your successes. And you have plenty."
Cozy opened her mouth and closed it again, and then snickered to herself softly. She closed her eyes. “I know it’s dumb, but I kinda hate it when ponies – er, people – say nice things about me. I don’t want to say it’s not true, because then they’ll want to insist. I don’t want to agree with them, because then I’ll either seem arrogant or… well, I’ll be lying, because I don’t actually agree with them.” Cozy blew a raspberry. “I guess I need to learn to take a compliment. It’s not really fair to somepony else if they can’t speak their minds because I’ve got dumb issues.”
"If it helps, I also went through a period like that," Sunset offered, "and I'm sure your local Sunset Shimmer did too. It might surprise you, but it is really hard to accept compliments when you know, or at least think you don't deserve them. It's not just you, Cozy… it's a natural thing for someone who is really changing."
Cozy smiled up at Sunset, taking a deep breath. “Thanks, Sunny. It does help a bit. I guess it’s silly for me to think that this sort of thing is unique to me; I’m just used to being, y’know… different. I do hope someday I look back on all of this and wonder how I could have been so silly.”
Cozy leaned back in her seat, cocking her head. “In a weird way, maybe it’s good I ran into Bree again. It was awful, but at least I feel like I can move past it now. As upset as I was, as much as I still hate her… she’s just not that important to my future. I don’t ever have to think about her again, and I don’t think I would have realized that otherwise.”
Cozy huffed and shook her head. “I’d have always felt like I was still running away from her.”
Sunset nodded. "That would have probably left some lingering issues… still, I really wish you hadn't gone through that… or at least so unexpectedly. I guess you would have never planned to face her directly if you could avoid it, but that was one nasty surprise."
Cozy nodded, taking in a deep breath. “Yeah, but the real pain was all from before. It was already there, y’know? Just waiting to come out. And I guess that’s something; she can’t really hurt me any more. And seeing her helped me realize that. Though…”
Her face darkened considerably. “She had better stay away from the others. Really, I might take you up on your offer to help get rid of her if she doesn’t.”
Sunset laughed. "I'll always be around. But now that the others have seen her true nature, I think they'll be keeping an eye out for your siblings as well."
Cozy brightened at that. “Yeah, you’re right. I don’t have to take care of it all myself. It’s kind of easy to forget that.” She snickered. “I used to have portals and alarms set up all around Equestria, so I could handle disasters wherever they came up. Handling stuff on my own was kind of my thing, at least until the other Sunset came along.”
Sunset grinned, puffing out her chest proudly. "We Sunsets are something, I tell ya."
Cozy smirked. “You don’t have to tell me that. Makes me feel like we should look for a human counterpart to Sunset, complete the set. Golly, any new villains that showed up would be in for one heck of a ride then!”
"Didn't you plan to make an army of Sunsets before?" Sunset asked, snorting. "I don't think the multiverse—much less a single world—is ready for that."
Cozy blanched. “T-that was just a silly thought I had! It’s…” she huffed, puffing out her cheeks. “You’re making fun of me now.”
Sunset chuckled, smiling warmly at her. "Honestly, I'm flattered you think that way about us Sunsets."
Cozy glared at Sunset for a few more seconds, and then blew a little raspberry at her. “Like I have a choice. You just get a pass for being both nice and competent.”
She grumbled a bit more, but slowly came around to a smirk.
“I wish I’d met somepony like you before… well, before I screwed up so badly. That might have turned out differently. Though… I guess the way things turned out aren’t so bad as it is.”
"You met us now, and we're your friends, right?" Sunset pointed out. "Sometimes we have to roll with that, but for what it's worth, I wish I had met you sooner too. It's never too early to meet a good friend."
Cozy smiled, and then laughed. “We should find a world where we met up before either of us did any bad stuff, and see how that turned out. Though, knowing me at least, we might have just been even better at being villains!”
Sunset shook her head, "Probably safer not to find out. Knowing us, we would somehow outsmart our good selves and take over the multiverse." She grinned. "At least I'd be in good company."
Cozy snickered. “No way. I was…” she paused to consider her phrasing, and shrugged. “I was a dumb villain. I’m sure I’d make all of our schemes backfire somehow.” She snickered. “Like a pair of comic-book villains or something. Causing trouble every week, never amounting to anything, even when nopony bothers to stop us. I’ve already seen how a future where I ‘succeeded’ just blew up in my face. My life has definitely driven home one lesson: villains always lose in the end, one way or another.”
"Maybe our villainy would inadvertently cause good stuff to happen to others," Sunset suggested. "You know, overplotting how to rob the bank ends up saving the ponies in the bakery next door and suddenly we have no choice but to be heroes because others decided it was cool we did that kind of thing."
Cozy laughed. “Inertia and peer-pressure, huh? That sounds about right. Though, hmm…” She tapped a hoof to her chin, and her eyes lit up. “Actually, something like that happened both times I caused trouble. The first time, the students at Twilight’s school discovered the power of the Elements of Harmony. That ended up saving the day, later… and when I came back with Chrysalis and Tirek, it was the trouble we caused that united all of the different nations to stop us.” She coughed into a hoof. “And the, um, windigos we’d accidentally set loose.”
"Did you know there's a dimension where we're all windigos and legend has it that ponies would come to destroy us with friendship?"
Cozy stared at Sunset flatly. “You’re making fun of me again, aren’t you?”
Sunset's smile didn't waver. "If you say so. But I guess that doesn't matter…"
Cozy’s eyes slowly cross as she said, “But wait, how would that even work? They just have absolutely no love or friendship at all? How do they even have a society…? How can they even pass down legends in the first place?”
She snorted and shook her head. “No way. I don’t buy it. It sounds too crazy.”
"Welcome to the multiverse!" Sunset said with a laugh. "Where you're as likely to encounter a wasp-version of yourself as you are to meet a god. My point with all of that is that it's too big a multiple-reality to hold on to your past when you're trying to be a better pony. I'm just going about it in a really roundabout way. In the end, that plan – which I heard wasn't just yours, by the by – didn't work and brought ponies together again. Maybe they even needed that reminder again if it was that easy to convince them to distrust each other." Sunset shrugged. "Who you are now is someone who can look back on that and realize that, ultimately, it was a bad choice. And what do we do when that happens? We make up for it. Or we try and try."
Cozy nodded, fiddling with her mug a little more. “Applejack said something that got me thinking about that. At some point, it’s important to just let go of mistakes, stop getting punished or punishing yourself for them. I don’t think it’s exactly what she meant at the time, but… there’s really no point in looking back all the time. The future’s all we’ve got to build on. I mean, unless somepony decides to muck around with time travel again, but that’s like, the top class of automatic backfiring plans.” She snickered.
"Learn from the past," Sunset nodded. "I'm sure we've both heard that one often enough."
Cozy snickered again. “Or pasts in your case. Hey, in mine, too!”
Sunset made a fist and bumped it against Cozy's hoof. "One more thing in common."
Cozy sighed and leaned against the bar, smiling. “Thanks for… all of this. I didn’t want to unload my feelings on Mom; I’m pretty sure she’s got enough to freak out about as it is. Somepony said I was throwing around dark magic during the whole… thing today, and I’m sure that’s got her worried, too…”
"Yeah, a little earlier I was thinking about Luna," Sunset said, standing up to walk behind the bar and kneeling behind it. "So I thought to myself she might also need a drink." She shifted through the sub-space container until she found the small bottle she was looking for and smirked, standing up and placing it in front of Cozy.
It was crystal clear, except for Luna's cutie mark on it. The liquid inside glistened like moonlight. "Maybe you should give this to her when you get back. It's a special brew… distilled moonshine. I'm sure she'll appreciate it."
Cozy took the container in her hooves and tilted it to and fro, watching the shimmering liquid roll around. “Whoa. Magic drink.” She snickered. “The other Sunset had me play a game where you give magic drinks to people to make them happy, but I didn’t know it was a real thing.” She looked up at Sunset with a raised eyebrow as she set the bottle down. “You know she’s going to ask where this came from, right?”
Sunset shrugged. "She's your mom. She has a right to know who your friends are. And I don't see why you should hide it." She winked at Cozy.
Cozy fluttered her wings a bit as she leaned on the bar. “Oh filly, this is going to be a tough one to explain.”
Sunset made her best imitation of Cozy's voice. "Mom? I got this for you from my bartender friend from another dimension." Her voice wasn't quite the match, so she returned to her normal tone. "I don't see how that would be a problem." She tried to keep a straight face.
Cozy made a flat expression at Sunset. “You forgot to mention she’s a human, a sort of furless bipedal ape-thing, and her bar exists outside of time, and I can enter it with my magic business card whenever I want.” She huffed. “If we didn’t know Discord, I don’t think she’d ever buy it. I’ll just blame it all on him.” She smirked. “He’d probably prefer it that way anyway!”
"You have a Sunset Shimmer of your own, right? She probably knows what humans are by now." Sunset smirked. "Besides, you can always tell her that superheroes always get the cool friends."
Cozy snorted. “Yeah, that’ll fly.” She silently played with her mug for a little while, considering something, and she slowly smiled.
“Y’know… I’m glad to have a mom to explain myself to in the first place. And an aunt, a cousin… an extra-dimensional bartender cousin, too.” She scoffed and shook her head. “I didn’t have any family a year ago. I didn’t have any real friends… just ponies I was planning to use in some way.”
Cozy stifled a yawn with her hoof, settling back down into her chair. She smiled sleepily up at Sunset. “I complain too much. Look at how lucky I am! Even after everything I did, everypony really came together for me.” She sniffled slightly and looked back down at the bar.
Sunset reached over and ruffled her mane. "I'm sure I speak for the others when I say that we're also lucky. At least I know for sure I speak for other me." She stretched. "But—”
Cozy hiccuped, and covered her mouth. She leaned back away from Sunset and turned aside, her sniffling getting louder.
Uh… what did you do, Sunset?! Okay. Okay, nothing bad was said… "Uh… Cozy?"
Cozy sniffled and wiped her eyes, still averting her face. “Sorry, sorry, I don’t—it’s stupid, sorry. I’m okay.”
"Hey," Sunset said gently, moving around the bar to place a hand on Cozy's shoulder. "Hey, it's okay. Let it out."
Cozy squirmed, wiping her eyes and scoffing at herself. “I don’t—I-I’m not sad, I don’t understand why I’m doing this, I’m sorry.” She sniffled and wiped at her eyes in frustration, and laughed slightly. “It’s so dumb! Why am I crying? I’m h-happy!” She threw her hooves up in frustration and looked up at Sunset.
Oh gods. Sunset felt her own eyes tear up a little. "Cozy… you can cry when you're happy too, you know?"
Cozy fidgeted in place, sniffling. “Ugh, but… why? Stupid…” She sniffled again and grumbled, and then laughed again, trying to wipe her eyes. “I was j-just thinking, about you and Mom and a-all, and I thought about how I never have to go back.” She laughed and rolled her eyes as she wiped her face again. “It’s over. All of the stuff with Bree, worrying about them f-finding out where I came from at the school and sending me back, all of that’s over. And I’m glad it’s over!” She threw her hooves up and giggled nervously. “I don’t have to hide or r-run or anything! I have a future and it’s not terrible! And I just started crying like a foal! What the heck!” She groaned and rubbed her eyes again, harder than necessary, as if to force her tear ducts into submission.
Sunset sniffed, grinning like an idiot. "Come on, you're making me cry too." She reached and held Cozy to her chest, sinking her face into the filly's mane. "I'm so happy for you. You're free, Cozy."
Cozy laughed at that – a ringing, high sound, completely unlike her normal laughter. She sniffed and buried her head into Sunset and muttered back. “I really am.”
Sunset allowed herself to laugh as well, it felt like she was suddenly relaxing all of her muscles. The filly in her embrace exuded happiness and relief, and it was contagious. Slowly, Cozy's sniffling faded away, and Sunset felt the filly take a deep breath, followed by regular breathing. "Cozy?" she whispered, looking down at her friend, who was cuddled up to her with a smile on her face, completely asleep.
She must have been exhausted! It's been one hell of a day for her. She carefully slid off of her seat and, with the aid of some magic, levitated Cozy into her arms just to keep her stable; she then carried the young pony towards the door. She mentally ordered it to open silently, ensuring the silver bell would not chime, then stepped out of the bar and into Cozy's room.
Walking up to the bed, she laid the pegasus on it, making sure her wings were in a good position, and noticing with interest that the black lines from earlier were fading away into black crystalline veins of some sort that reflected the light with a rainbow glint. "Huh."
She shook her head, and summoned Cozy's mug and Luna's Distilled Moonlight, placing them on the bed stand. After a second thought, she also summoned a notepad and took a page decorated with her bar's cutie mark to write a simple note, leaving it next to the other items.
Making sure Cozy was comfortable, she gently traced her finger on the crystal on her wings, frowning. To her surprise, it was warm, and glowed a faint red in response to her touch. In a way, I guess it makes sense… she thought. I hope she doesn't freak out too much about it.
One look at the peaceful face of her friend seemed to push the concern away. "Good night Cozy. Sleep well… and you know where to find me," she whispered.
She made her way back to the bar and, with one last glance at the room (and a proud smile), closed the door behind her.