Cozy knelt down on the lawn in front of Twilight's tower, carefully digging a small hold in the dirt, trying to get it to match the one she had already dug the same distance from the tower on the other side. After a trip to three florist shops downtown, and a trip to the library immediately after, followed by a week of rather intense studying, she was now marveled at how Earth ponies were naturally talented when it came to gardening and agriculture. Just to get these holes dug the proper way far enough away from the tower took nearly a week of research. But now, it seemed she was finally ready.
Now that the hole was ready, she looked back to the wheelbarrow where she had carefully set two young saplings and a bag of nutrient mix. Next to that, rested the oak box with her family's remains. As she got to her hooves and walked toward the wheelbarrow, Twilight came floating down from the castle.
"Finally getting started? I know the feeling, wanting to thoroughly research a hobby before finally trying it out. I read my first chemistry lab kit cover to cover when I was a filly before I touched anything else in the box. What a read." The princess reminisced.
"This is much more than a hobby, Princess." Cozy began, carefully picking up the first sapling and gently setting it in the hole, going back for the box and nutrient mix. "After seeing the changeling hive and talking with Chrysalis, and seeing what was in this box, I knew this was finally a way I could start to move on." She explained, as she opened the box again, and took out one of the vials, containing the ashes of her little brother Nimbus, and sprinkled it around where she had set the sapling, before grabbing a small mound of nutrient mix with her bare hooves, and gently packed it down.
"It's a way I can take the lives my actions destroyed, and use what remains to help create something new."
With that, she set everything back in the wheelbarrow, and rolled it around to the opposite side, where her first dug hole was waiting. She repeated the process, carefully setting the sapling down in the center, sprinkling her mother's ashes around it, and then set the nutrient mix in.
"Cozy, that is an incredibly mature, and not to mention touching, way of looking at this situation. I'm proud of you." Twilight said, smiling down at her. Cozy smiled back.
"I also thought it'd be a good way to be reminded of the progress I've been making, and the progress I have yet to make. I can look down and see how they've grown on the days where I feel like I'm at a standstill. With your permission, Princess, I'd like to eventually make an entire ring of flowerbeds around the tower, connecting these two trees. A memorial garden of sorts."
"Absolutely. Consider the entire lawn around the tower your area to tend however you see fit." Twilight told her.
"Thank you so much, Princess." Cozy said happily, giving a bow before going for the watering can in the wheelbarrow.
Day 54
Cozy's progress has continued substantially, especially now that she's started a focus on gardening. Now, Cozy, and I, have a major decision to make. I've already discussed it with Princess Twilight, and she's on board, as long as Cozy agrees.
There's really nothing else to write down until I've spoken with her, and now seems a good a time as any.
Graymare stood at the coffee table, looking down at his open journal. After speaking with Princess Twilight last week, he had spent what little spare time he had getting everything squared away. He took a deep breath, and wondered how he should go about it. He didn't want it to seem rehearsed, but if he went out there and pulled it straight from the heart, he couldn't help but be a little worried that he was going to stumble through it a bit, regardless of all the medical diagnoses he had given to countless patients over the years.
Taking another breath, he closed his journal, left it where it was, and picked up the unsealed envelope in his magical grasp, and went up the stairs to the main entrance. He opened the door and stepped into the early afternoon sunlight. Down in the lawn, Cozy was giving her new saplings their first watering, with Princess Twilight overseeing.
He took another deep breath as he made his way down the stairs, and approached Cozy's north tree.
"How does it look, Doctor Graymare?" Cozy asked, eager to show somepony else her work.
"It looks fantastic. I can't wait to see them grow, and what else you do out here. But, I have something I'd like to give you. Something rather important."
Her trees now safely planted, Graymare now had her complete attention.
"Seeing how you've changed and grown these past few weeks has made me realize that I've been, well, missing something in my life. A void, if you will. I'm wondering if you'd like to fill that void." Graymare told her, floating the envelope over to her.
Her curiosity certainly piqued, Cozy stepped forward, and accepted the envelope from his magical grasp, lifted the flap, and pulled the folded parchment from within. After she unfolded it and began to read the printed and hoof-written text, her eyes widened, and her hooves began to tremble. After a moment, she tore her gaze away from the parchment, and looked up at Graymare.
"R-Really...? You... You want..." She asked, her voice shaking as she got choked up, and tears began to prick the corners of her eyes.
Twilight stood a few feet away, smiling lightly, wondering just how long this was going to take, and she was happy to be here for this moment, remembering how he had come to her with this idea last week.
A week ago...
"What sort of proposal, Doctor?" Twilight asked, as she noticed Graymare had taken on a bit of a look uncertainty.
"Your majesty, I'm not sure what your long term plan is for Cozy, but when we're done with her, I'm worried that she's not going to have anywhere to go. Her last remaining family wants nothing to do with her, and I'm afraid that will hang over her for sometime, maybe the rest of her life, unless we can give her some kind of an alternative. With your permission, Your Majesty, I would like to make a commitment to her that would prove beyond any doubt, that when she is done here, she is wanted and loved. Would you consider letting me legally adopt Cozy Glow and take her as my daughter?"
The Princess of Friendship's eyes widened, and Graymare took that opportunity to continue.
"My career path never really gave me time for a family, and seeing Cozy grow and heal once we got her out of that cell has been so incredibly rewarding to me, and I would like that to continue once we both feel she has progressed far enough. She'll need legal guardianship as it is once everything is said and done here. So what do you say?"
Graymare smiled down at the wide-eyed filly who was trying her best to hold back tears in her surprise.
"Yes, Cozy. Seeing how you have changed and grown has been one of the best feelings I've had in my life. I know you'll be here in this tower for awhile still, especially since you want to see your new trees grow. But when the time comes, I'd love to have you move back to Ponyville with me. My career never gave me the time to start a family, so if you'd like to give me my first chance at one, I'd be honored to give you your second."
Cozy couldn't stop the tears as her eyes returned to the Equestrian Certificate of Adoption, already having Graymare's signature, and Princess Twilight's as a witness. All it was missing was her own. Her shoulders heaved as she stepped forward and threw her front hooves around Doctor Graymare. Never in her wildest dreams, her highest hopes in the past few weeks, did she think she'd get a chance like this.
"I'm really hoping that's a yes." Graymare said as he put a hoof around her, nuzzling the top of her head. He felt her nod against his barrel, not letting go of the embrace.
"I... I don't know what to say. Other than, thank you so much. I hope I'm worthy of a second chance like this." She cried.
"You are, rest assured, Cozy. I know we have a ways to go up here, and I'll be there with you every step of the way. You'll keep learning and growing, along with these new trees."
He looked up at Princess Twilight, whose horn lit up as Cozy released Graymare from the embrace, and levitated an inked quill over to her, also holding the certificate steady. Taking a deep breath to calm her nerves, she took the quill in her mouth, and put her signature down at the bottom.
"I've got a frame ready for that inside." Twilight said.
"Thank you for this opportunity, Princess. I won't let you down." Graymare told Twilight as she passed them, taking the certificate inside the tower for framing. He looked down at Cozy, who was still wiping her eyes.
"I won't let you down, either, I promise." The unicorn told the filly.
"You never have. I wouldn't be here right now if it weren't for you... D... Dad." Cozy said, both of their hearts skipping a beat upon hearing that. "I'd say this is the start of a new adventure for both of us."
Now Graymare felt his heart climb up towards his throat as he came in for another hug.
"Well, I know you've been out here since just after breakfast, so let's go get ourselves a late lunch. What do you say?" Graymare said, levitating Cozy up and setting her on his back as he turned towards the tower to go join Twilight. Cozy leaned down and wrapped her hooves around his neck.
"Sure thing, dad."