Flurry Heart stuck close to the ground, flapping her powerful wings harder than she had ever done before. Hedges surrounded her on both sides, adorned with flowers of all sorts of colors. Gallus was calling after her, but she wasn’t listening. He wouldn’t catch up to her. Nocreature less than a Wonderbolt could.
Part of her felt guilty. She had never run out on a bodyguard like this before, and because Gallus knew her father personally, he was probably going to be chewed out twice as hard by him. The poor griffon was going to feel pretty bad about himself afterwards.
For the first time since the night previous, Flurry began to seriously consider going back on her plan.
She turned a corner, and another corner, and another. On a normal day, she’d spend hours here, admiring each and every rose and lily that she came across, but today wasn’t normal, obviously. Today was the day she was going to prove herself as a strong, capable princess that didn’t need to be constantly coddled and fawned over. Strong, like her aunts.
First, Flurry had to get Gallus off her tail. She made a few more turns, delighting in how the Canterlot Gardens had such a wonderful labyrinth in its confines, and making a mental note to thank her Auntie Celestia for not only designing such a thing, but commissioning Auntie Twilight to add roof trusses to half of the hedges, making it difficult for Gallus to gain a high altitude and watch where Flurry was going from there.
When she had gained a considerable lead on the griffon, she landed, stuck close to one of the hedges, and channeled her magic.
The moment she turned invisible, Gallus flew right past her. Flurry waited until his frantic yelling of her name fell out of earshot, and then she dropped the spell. She then cast a new one, focusing on a single object in her mind. Divination had never been her strong point, but she was sure that she could find what she wanted if she only had the courage to chase after it. That’s what Auntie Luna had always said, anyhow.
It was a matter of minutes before Flurry came across an opening in the maze, and saw the statue she had been looking for.
It sat in the middle of the garden, under the open air, surrounded by flowing curves of white roses that circled around it like it were the centre of a floral hurricane. Flurry checked behind her, making sure that Gallus hadn’t secretly caught on, and was sneaking up on her. When she saw that he was neither in the skies nor lurking behind a corner of the hedge maze, she took to the air.
Flurry bounded across the roses, landing daintily in front of the statue, and for a moment was awed by its form.
On a pedestal stood an enraged changeling, as tall as her Uncle Thorax, but with holes in her hooves and pony-like eyes. Behind her was an emaciated centaur, cringing away from whatever was in front of them at the moment of their petrification. Above those two was—was a filly. A plain old pegasus filly, looking terrified.
Flurry was surprised. She figured that the legendary Cozy Glow would have been a little taller. Instead, she seemed to be of the same build as her: in decent shape, but with a tiny bit of foal fat still adding some pudge to their bodies.
Flurry eyed the changeling, Queen Chrysalis, and the centaur, Tirek, wearily. They were as tall as she was expecting, maybe even more than she was expecting, and they seemed…
They were scary. Flurry backed away a few steps, never failing to take her eyes off of the statue.
Flurry had to think of another plan of action. She couldn’t possibly fight them all at once.
Maybe she could defeat them one by one? That would still count, wouldn’t it? Sure, it would be a little easier, but sometimes cutting corners couldn’t be helped.
Flurry nodded. She was still going to do what she intended. Just in little bits, instead of all at once. Plans sometimes changed according to unforeseen circumstances. That was a part of ruling, and one of the key things that her Aunt Celestia had made sure to teach her.
She crouched, focusing her attention on the pegasus filly at the top of the statue. Magic built up inside of her like a winter wind through a winding gorge, channelling into her glowing horn as it grew in intensity, until she had to shut her eyes.
Then she let the spell loose, keeping Cozy Glow at the forefront of her mind. She felt her magic hit the filly, immediately threatening to spill over and affect the rest of the statue. Gritting her teeth, she pulled back on the amount of power she was putting into the spell, still thinking only of Cozy.
The magic stayed put, and the telltale splintering of rock cracked through the air, echoing through her ears until the spell had nothing left to undo.
Flurry nearly collapsed as she ceased her magic, but she willed herself to stand.
There was a peachy pink pegasus on the ground in front of her, looking around with wide eyes.
“What—whuh?” Cozy blubbered, fearfully examining her surroundings before focusing on Flurry. “Golly! An alicorn? Who are you?”
“Princess Flurry Heart of the Crystal Empire,” announced Flurry, flaring her gigantic wings; something else she learned from Celestia. Shock and awe were always a cool way to introduce yourself to somepony you were wary of.
“Flurry…” Cozy squinted as she tried to process this. “The foal?”
“I was a foal twelve years ago,” said Flurry. “Back when you were still...warm-blooded.”
“What do you want with me?” asked Cozy, glaring at her. “Has Princess Twilight finally decided that I can be ‘redeemed’?”
“No,” said Flurry, tilting her head. “I’m going to defeat you in single combat.”
“Oh,” said Cozy. “Well, I can’t fight.”
“...What?” asked Flurry.
“I can’t fight.”
Flurry furrowed her eyebrows. “But you nearly took over Equestria.”
“Oh, gosh, it’s really flattering that you think I did that with raw strength, but honestly? Most of it was trickery and deceit!” Cozy said. “Just a little bit of...of sleight of hoof, you know? Kinda like this!”
Dirt and grass pelted Flurry’s eyes. She screamed in surprise, rearing back and flapping her wings on instinct. Cozy broke out into manic, shrill laughter—laughter that was sounding like it was coming from further and further away by the second. Cozy was making a break for it.
Unfortunately for Cozy, Flurry was the first natural born alicorn since a lost age of time, set before Celestia and Luna.
With a groan of agitation, Flurry reached out with one third of her natural telekinetic field, grabbing every single flower, blade of grass, insect, fleck of dirt and villainous pegasus filly within half a mile.
She focused in on the pegasus as she rubbed at her eyes, and launched Cozy Glow towards the ground. She listened closely as Cozy’s voice turned from laughter into a shrill scream as she descended down, waiting until the last second to teleport the pegasus in front of her, cancelling her magic and letting momentum slam Cozy into the grass where she started with a pained yelp.
When Flurry opened her eyes, she saw Cozy Glow sprawled out on the ground, bruised and cut where she had grazed a few thorny rose stems, glaring at her hatefully.
Flurry’s tail swished. She had never done anything more than annoy somepony before.
“Welp. You’ve defeated me, Princess,” said Cozy sardonically. “Now what?”
Flurry began to answer, but realized that she didn’t have one. She put a hoof to her lips, thinking hard. “I don’t know. I didn’t think this far ahead.”
“What?” Cozy balked. She threw her head back, cackling. “You came to defeat me and my two teammates over there, but you never thought about what you were gonna do after that?”
“I guess I have to cut off your head?” Flurry asked.
Cozy’s eyes widened. Her laughter ceased. “What?”
“That’s what everypony in my Pegasopolis Myths book does. The hero cuts off the villain’s head and presents it to their general as proof of their triumph. So I guess I have to do that to you, right? Because you’re a pegasus? I guess I have to cut off your head and then give it to my parents.”
Flurry took a step towards Cozy.
Cozy squeaked, rolling over and quickly trying to make a break for it, but before she could get mid-air again Flurry grabbed her telekinetically, dragging her closer.
Cozy turned back, eyes wide. “Wait!”
Flurry stopped trying to teleport the contents of Canterlot Castle’s armory to the gardens. “Yes?”
“Y-You...why are you doing this?” Cozy asked. “Has Equestria really changed this much? Ponies just cut other ponies’ heads off?”
Flurry giggled. “No, that’s a totally weird thing to do normally, but I feel like with a deadly villain like you it’ll really make a statement. My parents won’t be able to do anything but take me seriously if I hand you over to them!”
“You’re…” Cozy said slowly. “You’re trying to get back at your parents?”
Flurry levitated Cozy into the air, floating her towards her. “Yes. All they do nowadays when they’re not teaching me about ruling is assign me a guard and leave me to do nothing, because my guards are always scared to death about losing me and getting fired, so I have to do what they say so their feelings don’t get hurt, and I want to show them that I don’t need any guards anymore.”
“You can do that without cutting my head off, Princess,” Cozy snapped. “Like, why don’t you just run away?”
“I did run away. For the first time. Today,” said Flurry. “And now I have to do something with the time I have left alone.”
“Why don’t you just keep running?”
“And disappoint my parents? Why would I do that?”
Cozy opened her mouth, but no words came out. She seemed to be absolutely appalled.
But that wasn’t Flurry’s problem. “Look, if you have nothing else to say I’d really rather get on with this—”
“Wait!” Cozy interjected. “Why don’t you just put me in a different position in the statue? Then they’ll know that you freed me and defeated me and then detained me as well!”
“Too easy.” Flurry rolled her eyes.
“Fine, then!” Cozy sighed. “Look, if you’re gonna kill me, would you at least let me have a last meal?”
“Where?” asked Flurry.
“Hayburger. I haven’t had a burger in—I don’t even know how long.”
Flurry narrowed her eyes. “But that’s in the city. I would have to let you fly.”
“Teleport us there.”
“No!”
“Why not?” Cozy asked, tilting her head. “Because your parents wouldn’t like it?”
“Yes!” Flurry snapped.
“Well, they’re not gonna like you doing this anyway, so what’s to lose? Maybe they’ll even see that you’re capable of hanging out on your own without you cutting my head off. Wouldn’t that be nice?”
Flurry snorted. “I…”
Cozy’s voice reminded her of a chocolate cake. A way too sweet chocolate cake, but one that you just couldn’t stop eating. One word out of that voice let you into another, and another, and then Flurry realized that she was trapped. She knew that she could never go through with the decapitation, but she knew that she could eat a burger with Cozy Glow, and that could possibly be enough.
“Run away with me,” said Cozy. “It’ll be fun. I promise.”
“Fine,” Flurry scoffed. “But I’ll have to cast some disguises so nopony sees us.”
Cozy Glow let out a sigh of relief.
Flurry took another bite of her double hay burger with extra hot sauce, relishing in the tangy heat that it provided.
“This is great,” she said.
“Oh, I know,” moaned Cozy, an identical burger gripped in her wings. She took a loud, wet bite, chewing obnoxiously as she savored the intense flavors. “It’s been so long since I’ve eaten food...I totally forgot how delicious it is!”
The disguises that Flurry picked out were simple. She simply switched her own coat and mane colors with Cozy’s, and then hid her wings behind invisibility. They now appeared to be a pink and blue unicorn hanging out with her purple and white pegasus friend. Around them, nopony paid them any mind. Ponies of all ages were lining up, placing orders and retrieving them from the front. Flurry Heart and Cozy Glow had gone from two adversaries to two normal fillies hanging out at a Hayburger. Flurry had never felt more mundane.
It was exciting, in a way.
“This is definitely as good as the stuff I’ve had from the palace kitchens,” Flurry said. “Maybe I’ll ask my parents and aunt if we can open up a few chains inside of the castles—the guard probably won’t complain.”
“Oh, golly…” Cozy trailed off. “Would they really do what you want like that?”
“No,” admitted Flurry. “I don’t think I’ve ever had an idea approved by my aunt or my parents. Even Uncle Thorax never listens to me…”
“It’s because you’re so spineless!” Cozy giggled. “You need to learn how to stand up for yourself, Princess!”
“I beat you pretty easily,” Flurry countered.
“Wow, beating a pegasus filly without alicorn magic,” Cozy snarked. “So hard. I bet if I got my hands on Grogar’s bell and became one of you guys again, I’d wipe the floor with you.”
Flurry rolled her eyes. “Are you done yet?”
“Not really,” Cozy said with a smile. “You know, you could defeat anyone who stood in your way, if you wanted. Princess Flurry Heart: Queen of the World. You’re an alicorn! And you’re really, really strong! What’s stopping you?”
“Common decency,” deadpanned Flurry. “That, and I like the world the way it is.”
“No one likes the world the way it is,” said Cozy. “Everypony has something they want to change.”
Flurry had no response to that. She took another bite of her burger.
“So!” Cozy chirped. “What are you the princess of?”
“What do you mean?” asked Flurry.
“Twilight’s the Princess of Friendship. Celestia and Luna are the Princesses of the Sun and Moon...what are you the princess of?”
“I’m just a princess,” Flurry said. “I haven’t really settled on anything yet. Mom says that that’s going to come when I get older. Or something. I’m not actually sure if she’s lying or not. But I have to believe her.”
“That sounds lame,” Cozy said, putting a hoof-full of fries into her mouth. “You know, with your power and my brains, we could run this whole operation.”
“You must have not heard me earlier when I said I like the world just fine,” Flurry said.
“Oh, I did! I just figured that you were really just scared of being too stupid to rule the world, and then I was like, hey, you know who is smart enough to rule the world?”
Flurry glared at the pegasus. “Okay, I think it’s time for you to—”
The patrons of the restaurant all levitated into the air simultaneously, glowing faintly with purple hues before they were all teleported away, leaving Flurry and Cozy as the only ponies left in the Hayburger.
Flurry turned her head just in time to see her Aunt Twilight and her father strut through the front doors.
Shining Armor had a furious look on his face. Twilight simply looked disappointed. Both of their horns lit up, stripping the two fillies of their disguises.
“Oh, Twilight!” Cozy Glow laughed nervously. “My old friend! I’m so happy to—”
Twilight raised an eyebrow. Cozy stopped talking, letting out a tired groan.
“You!” Shining Armor roared, feverishly trotting up to Flurry, glaring the entire time. “What. Were you. Thinking? Breaking a villain out of her prison? Running from Gallus? What’s gotten into you?”
“S-She’s really not that bad,” Flurry said quickly, earning a shocked side-eye from her companion.
Cozy grinned, wrapping a wing around Flurry. “Yeah! We were just hanging out. I wasn’t going to do anything bad. Right, Flurry?”
Shining’s eyes widened, and his horn glowed purple. “Don’t you touch my daughter!”
“Or what?” Cozy asked, tone dripping with honey. “You’ll turn me to stone again? Go ahead!”
Flurry looked between the two, biting her lip before she lifted Cozy up with her telekinesis, placing the pegasus behind her as she charged her own spell. At her own father. She was going to get in so much trouble for this.
“D-Dad, I’m telling you that she’s not bad.”
“Don’t you raise a spell at me!” Shining roared. “She’s manipulating you, Flurry. Can’t you see that?”
“Even if she is,” Flurry said. “I don’t care. We’re friends.”
Cozy giggled. “Yeah, Mr. Armor! We’re—wait, seriously?”
Flurry was trembling. “Dad, you never let me go anywhere on my own. I always have to check in with you or Mom and I can never go where I want to go. I thought that defeating Cozy, Tirek and Chrysalis would make you see that I can handle whatever comes at us, but Cozy really isn’t a bad filly! You and Auntie Twilight are just ruining our day together! You always act like I’m—I’m stupid or something!”
Shining’s expression darkened. “You’re definitely not the smartest alicorn in the celestial sphere. Put your spell down, Flurry. You’re done. We’re going home, and we’re going to have a long discussion about this.”
“I…” Flurry started to talk. But she couldn’t think of anything to say.
It was over.
She hung her head, stepping out of her chair as her father led her toward the doors, where she could see her mother standing with a worried look on her face.
“Cozy Glow,” said Twilight. “You’re going to have to be re-petrified.”
“Darn it,” groaned Cozy. “Fine. Would you let me order another burger first?”
“No.”
Cozy protested, and Flurry listened to her and Twilight squabble until she was nearly at the entrance.
Then, in a moment of inspiration, Flurry turned around.
“Cozy!” she said, turning Cozy and Twilight’s attention to her. “I’ll come back for you!”
Cozy blinked a few times, then smiled. It was a patronizing smile, one that you gave to a tiny foal vowing to make a million dollars with their lemonade stand, but Flurry knew better. She turned around exited the hayburger, head held high.
The night sky was soft and velvety, and the stars looked like sequins needled into a dress. Flurry admired them, looking for every constellation that she could identify until she accidentally stepped on a rose.
Thorns pricked her frog and she yelped, alarming her Aunt Twilight, who turned with widened eyes. “Are you okay, Flurry?”
“I’m fine,” Flurry said hastily. Her horn glowed faintly for a few seconds as she healed the minor wound. “Okay, let’s keep going.”
It had taken her a month. An entire month of hard work, and yelling at her parents, and arguing with her parents, and arguing with Aunt Twilight, and then more arguing with her parents. Yelling at the three of them over and over again, because what made Starlight Glimmer, who taught her how to cast half the spells that she knew, so special? What made Discord, who threw her last birthday party, so different?
Cozy Glow deserved better. She could be redeemed. Flurry could see it, and she had finally made Twilight see.
They walked up to the statue showcasing the Terrible Three, as the media had often called them. Since becoming petrified again, Cozy had chosen to take up a new spot on the statue, reclining leisurely on Tirek’s back with a relaxed look on her face.
“Are you ready?” Twilight asked. “Once I do this, I’m not going to put her back. You’re going to be responsible for what happens to her. What happens to you.”
“I’m ready,” said Flurry.
Twilight waited for another moment, then she shot a beam of magic at the statue. Flurry watched as the purple wrapped around Cozy, and the rock shattered bit by bit until the filly was completely free.
Cozy Glow blinked, and stretched one of her legs out experimentally. Upon seeing that she could, a laugh rang out of her, and she got on her hooves, turning to look at Flurry and Twilight.
Flurry met Cozy’s disbelieving smile with a wide grin.
“I can’t believe you actually did it,” said Cozy.
“She did,” interjected Twilight, picking the pegasus up in her magical grip and floating her closer. “But there is a price to pay here, Cozy Glow. If you give anypony—anypony—a reason to believe that you’re not going to play nice, you’re coming back here and you’re not coming out for a really long time. Flurry has agreed to watch over your redemption, so you two are going to be spending a lot of time together.”
Cozy opened her mouth, clearly intending to say something smart, but her gaze drifted to Flurry, who was looking at her with sunny, hopeful eyes.
Cozy exhaled through her nose softly, and nodded at Twilight. “I think I can do that, Headmare.”