Early the next morning, I wake up to find myself in bed, instead of at the side table I dozed off on late last night. Either I sleepwalked or Cozy Glow swung by my room while I was asleep.
Moving my ears some, I can still hear rain going on. That’s okay for now, because I won’t have to go out for a little while, at least until Cozy and Chrysalis are awake.
As I walk the halls to the throne room, I take a look around. I almost feel bad Twilight, Spike and Starlight had to move away, but they’re on to bigger and better things, Starlight with Sunburst, Twilight and Spike ruling Equestria.
But I also notice something during my autopilot walk: Cozy and Chrysalis’ scent trails are brand new, not even from an hour ago. “That’s odd. They’re not usually up until later.”
Upon entering the throne room, I can see Chrysalis and Cozy jump up from their seats from the sound of the door opening: Fluttershy and Spike’s thrones respectively.
“Sorry. Didn’t mean to scare you two.”
“That’s alright, Aita.” Chrysalis yawns. “Good morning.”
“Whoa…” I take a good look at them as they sprawl with their backs over the arms of their seats, and they appear to be really sleepy, bags and all. “Did you not sleep well?” They shake their heads.
“Chrysalis and I were kept up by the shower going on outside.”
I take a moment to think, tapping my cheek until something comes up in my head. “Why don’t I go get some cocoa then. That should help perk you up.”
I start to leave the throne room with the door open so that I don’t end up startling them again when I come back. However, Chrysalis gets my attention.
“Wait. Make it tea instead.”
I nod and head out of the throne room.
When Aita leaves the throne room, there is no more sound coming from our proximity, except… the rainfall has been quite persistent, and loud. Looking at Cozy on Spike’s old throne, I faintly feel bad for her. She really shouldn’t be cooped up in the castle like this. At least with Aita she has the excuse of ongoing duties as the new princess of friendship.
Cozy sighs. “I’ve lived on the east coast, and I’ve never seen rain pouring so hard.”
“I know… talk about climate shock,” I reply.
“But how come Aita managed to get her sleep when we didn’t?”
“Simple, Cozy. She’s from the real world. Storms can get quite violent since weather occurs naturally over there.”
Cozy Glow yawns right before Aita returns with the tea for me and Cozy.
“You know,” Aita interjects as she passes Cozy’s tea to her. “if you wanted, I could talk to Rainbow Dash and Lightning Dust about it.”
As my cup slides over before Fluttershy’s throne, I shift to a normal sitting position. “Thanks, Aita… we’d appreciate it,” I say, lightly tapping my cheek with my hoof.
Aita takes a moment to summon a scroll and quill.
Dear Lightning Dust and Rainbow Dash,
Late last night, a stationary rainshower appears to’ve kept up Cozy Glow and Chrysalis. Do you two think you could come over so we could look into this? I’ll explain more once you’re here.
Yours truly,
Aita.
Once Aita finishes reading aloud the letter she writes, her horn brightens up with a green magical trail behind it as she moves it to touch the scroll. In a blinding flash, Aita has produced a second copy of the fresh letter before she sends one each to their recipients.
“Alright. I’ll be in the lobby if you need me,” states Aita, as she heads out of the throne room, once more leaving the door open and leaving me and Cozy to enjoy our tea.
At the main entrance, Rainbow Dash and Lightning Dust burst inside as I approach.
Lightning Dust is the first to speak. “We got your letter, Aita!”
“We got here as soon as we could!” Rainbow adds, both of them pausing to shake off the water from the rainshower. I shield my face from the water droplets with my leg.
“Thanks for coming, girls. Cozy and Chrysalis are in the throne room.”
I lead the two to the throne room, where they see our subjects. Rainbow and Lightning’s eyes widen at the sight.
“Whoa. You don’t look so good,” Rainbow notes. “Did those clouds keep you up at night? Don’t worry. Lightning and I have this under control.”
Chrysalis lets out a relieved sigh. “Thank you in advance, Rainbow Dash. At least it won’t be hard to fall asleep tonight.”
Rainbow beams and nods, leading Lightning Dust outside. With me, Chrysalis and Cozy now alone, I walk over to Chrysalis and hug her. She responds by wrapping her hoof around me meanwhile.
We all listen to the outside as the rain is now accompanied by Lightning Dust and Rainbow Dash’s grunting as they engage in their classic cloudbusting. I can imagine this must feel like old times to them. I remember they were teamed up at the academy. As time passes, the rain begins to taper off, and the room becomes its usual bright self.
Before I know it, I can hear Chrysalis purring before the sound of it startles her awake. In turn it also startles Cozy as well.
“I-I guess I’ll be right back,” I remark.
Now that it stopped raining at the castle, I can finally do my daily errands. Outside, I have with me two short to-do lists: mine and Cozy’s, not to mention saddlebags for me to stuff them in for safe keeping.
I go over the lists in question. “Okay… for me, I’ll need to go to the hardware store in Canterlot, and later on a tour of some sanctuary I apparently missed all this time. For Cozy, there appears to be a party she was supposed to help out with as well as meet up with the Happy Foals school board.”
When I arrive at Sugar Cube Corner, I hide the saddlebag on the side so I can safely transform into Cozy Glow. As her, I take back the saddlebag and look inside. Only one customer here: Bon Bon, who is walking out with a sweets box that was already closed by the time it came into view. Running the register is good old Pinkie Pie, who quickly spots me.
“Oh hi, Aita. I thought Cozy was gonna help out here.” I freeze right where I am and drop my jaw. How did she know? I didn’t have a chance to properly imitate Cozy. “Aw, don’t be so slackjawed about it. It’s okay if she’s didn’t get much sleep last night.”
The ever amplifying shock in me gets me to impulsively revert to my natural form. “How did you KNOW all that?!?”
Pinkie laughs. “Oh silly, nopony expects to be identified with the help of a trap from three years ago.”
I tilt my head left and right. She does have a point there. But Chrysalis replacing Pinkie, her friends and the royal family seems to come up short. Let’s see if I can figure it out. “Hm. Lightning Dust and Rainbow Dash knew because they saw it. Did they swing by and tell you about Cozy and Chrysalis?”
Pinkie Pie gasps. “Wow! How do I keep missing that?!? As if defending Discord and becoming Sibling Supreme wasn’t enough! Do you think you could help me with preparing Chrysalis’ anniversary?”
I nod and follow Pinkie as she leads me upstairs to her room.
After helping Pinkie Pie prepare for tomorrow’s party, I teleport to the front yard of Happy Foals Schoolhouse, but not before changing into Chrysalis. This far out, nopony knows about her bun, but I include it anyway as well as her lack of crown because I’m so used to it now.
Heading inside, I’m almost immediately spotted by Heavenly Luck, as well as a pegasus and unicorn behind her.
“Q-Queen Chrysalis?”
“Former queen,” I correct in my best Chrysalis impression. “I care for Princess Aita at the Castle of Friendship now. Heavenly Luck, I presume? I’ve heard about you when Interpolation explained your situation with Cozy Glow, and what the EEA had to say about it.”
Heavenly Luck nods, prompting the two other ponies to look past her. The pegasus mare has a orange coat, and a mane and tail closely resembling Cozy’s, with a radiator as a cutie mark. The unicorn stallion has a salmon coat with a red mane and tail with a cut similar to Twilight’s when she first time traveled.
The stallion is the first to approach me. “So it is Chrysalis! Thank you so much for helping our daughter out!”
So these are Cozy’s parents? Huh… “Don’t necessarily thank me. Thank the tree of harmony. I was on a map mission after all. So, we all know what this meeting is about, right?”
Heavenly Luck nods. “We are to assure Amber Glow and Tight Knit here of the comfortable life Happy Foals’ old top student now leads under your care.”
This news actually surprises Amber Glow. “Wait! She’s staying with you? And Aita?”
“Of course,” I reply. “No offense, Heavenly Luck, but it was clear to us that had it not been for news of Canterlot High School reaching Fillydelphia, this school would’ve bred a dark path for Cozy.”
“None taken, Chrysalis.”
As Heavenly Luck steps to the side I sit down right next to Amber and Tight Knit. “But now that Cozy has two good influences around her, she can use everything she learned here for the better of Equestria. And just because she lives away now doesn’t mean she won’t have the option to return home. If you wanted, you could even visit her in Ponyville.”
Honestly, this is something I know Chrysalis would be okay with, but being the princess of friendship, it’s really more up to me now. Amber and Tight Knit’s response? They flash excited, squealing smiles, the former of the two racing to embrace me.
“Thank you so much, Chrysalis!”
“So, will that be all?” I kindly ask, to which Heavenly Luck nods yes.
She, Amber Glow and Tight Knit wave goodbye as I take my leave. Once I’m out and in hiding I peel away my Chrysalis disguise.
When I arrive home from all the errands I’d covered for all three of us - me, Chrysalis and Cozy Glow, I carry with me multiple different screwdrivers I got from Handy Wrench in Canterlot before the tour of Sweet Feather Sanctuary. By this point, it’s getting dark out, so I can’t be up for too long.
As soon as I go into my room, I set the screwdrivers onto the pile of spells I have yet to finish studying. However, taking my DS out, my ears twitch as rather close, but almost inaudible clicks on the crystal floor are picked up. These steps grow in volume until I feel a pair of paws beneath my right wing.
I turn my head toward the source in a half second. A red fox pup roughly half my hind leg standing height is by my side at the moment. Off and on, I’d seen videos back home of pet foxes, but I never thought I’d actually see one in the flesh. As soon as it realizes I can see it, it backs away a few inches.
“Y-you’re okay, there,” I assure the pup. It inches back to me. “What’s up?”
The pup sniffs me and dramatically lifts its head, looking like it wants to change like I can.
“Wait. Did you see me transform at the sanctuary?”
It scampers off to the side table I have across the room and tries to climb. Of course, climbing fails because the wood is relatively slick, but I think I know what the pup meant.
“Oh! You saw me holding those screwdrivers, huh? With magic?” The pup begins panting excitedly at me. “It’s already dark out. If you wanted, you probably could stay here, at least for tonight. Follow me.”
So, I lead the pup out of my room, and into Starlight’s old room. It’s a good thing I used to watch fox videos. If that pup and I stayed in mine, my mattress would be done for, so nest it is.