Excerpt 3:
Beep. Beep.
The sound of a heart rate monitor woke Cozy up. Her eyes fluttered open before confusion set in.
“Mom? Dad?” she called out.
Cozy glanced around at her surroundings, unaware of her current location. She was lying in a bed hooked up to some form of machine beside her. Light shone in through a window to her left, and she squinted her eyes from the brightness, staring out at what seemed to be a city of sorts. Her bed was at the front of the room, only taking up a quarter of the space inside the room and to her right was a closed door.
Her eyes wandered down and she caught sight of the bandages over her right hoof. In a flash, the memories came back to her all at once, causing her to gasp for air. She immediately felt the panic again and she brought her hoof closer to her face to see where her rook should’ve been. Instead of seeing her saving grace, it was just replaced with bandages.
“No . . .,” Cozy denied, getting more panicked as she tore off her bandages.
From beside her, the heart rate monitor started beeping louder, becoming more and more frequent with each passing second.
“No, where is it!”
The heart rate monitor was beeping several times a second when the door finally opened. In trotted an earth pony stallion followed by a young, white pegasus.
The white pegasus rushed to Cozy’s side. “Okay, calm down. It’s okay. You’re safe.”
Cozy regressed back to the far end of her bed away from the white pegasus. She was able to steady her breathing, but she still stared skeptically at the two ponies.
The white pegasus smiled at Cozy and lifted her chin up, her red hair bouncing momentarily. “It’s okay. There’s nobody that’s going to hurt you. I’m here to help. Is there anything I can do for you?”
Cozy gulped before glancing back at her right hoof. It was perfectly healed without the bandages. “Do you know where my castle is?”
“Castle?” the young pegasus repeated before gasping. “Oh my Celestia, are you a princess where you come from?” She looked Cozy up and down. “Hmm, no. You’d have a horn if you were a princess so that’s out of the question.” The pegasus turned towards the stallion. “What’s another name for a ruler, Dr. Degree?”
The adult earth pony rolled his eyes. “Shouldn’t it be obvious?”
The filly stared in confusion for a moment before her eyes lit up. “Oh right, it should’ve been my first guess!” She returned her gaze back to Cozy inquisitively. “Are you an empress?”
Cozy lowered her eyebrows in deep thought, admiring the title.
“It’s a name given to the pony of a great deal of land,” the filly informed. “At least it should be, but the leader here uses that title loosely. Don’t tell him I said that though.”
Cozy shook her head to get back on track. “I’m looking for a chess piece.”
“A castle chess piece? You mean a rook? Does it look like that?” The young filly pointed down to Cozy’s flank.
Cozy hadn’t even realized the change in her appearance. When she looked down, she saw the sight of a rook that looked exactly like the piece she had taken from Pent’s domain on her thigh.
What happened to it? Cozy thought. Why does it look like that?
Cozy reached down to it, but her hooves hit against her skin. She tried again at the two-dimensional picture before she finally realized.
“I’ve got to say, that’s a cool cutiemark,” the pegasus admired. “Makes me wish I got mine already.”
“Are you two done?” Dr. Degree intervened. “Thank you. Okay, we were very concerned when we found you last week. You were suffering from dehydration and multiple injuries. You had a slight fracture on your leg, multiple cuts on your stomach and a sliced up hoof.”
Cozy blinked and widened her eyes at the information. “Did you just say ‘last week?’”
“I’m afraid so, but I’m happy to report that after your long, um, nap, that your vitals are perfectly normal. You have no infections and you just needed to be patched up. Assistant Nurse Troth will be looking after you until you’re fully back on your hooves.”
From beside Dr. Degree, the white pegasus beamed excitedly. “Hello! I’m Nurse Troth and I’m here to help!”
It took Cozy a second to fully grasp the situation. “Troth?” she repeated in confusion at the red-maned pegasus. “And you’re a nurse?”
“You’re darn tootin right I am! I’m the youngest nurse in this community at ten-years old. Others said I couldn’t do it but I proved them wrong.”
Cozy held her head, trying to process all the information. “Did you say ‘community?’ Where am I?”
“You’re in the best place in all of Equestria! Everybody’s saving grace. Founded by Emperor Contume, this community, built by the non ponies, has been a refuge for any creature that seeks residence. They’re welcome to stay as long as they want. You’re gonna love it here . . . um, what’s your name?”
Cozy took a deep breath and spoke with reluctance. “My name is . . . Cozy Glow.”
“Well, Cozy - can I call you Cozy?”
“Oh, um, yes, of course.”
“Well, Cozy, I welcome you here. I’ll be sticking by your side until you feel comfortable enough to be on your own. You should totally come hangout with me and my friend Lenia! She’s super awesome and it would be nice to hangout like three actual friends. We can all have lunch together.”
The thought of food reminded Cozy of her hungry days, and she instinctively agreed.
Troth raised her hooves in the air in excitement. “Awesome! Lunch is just after the town meeting that Emperor Contume has planned for today. Something about a villain threatening Equestria. You can go to that with me if you want.”
“Um, Troth?” Dr. Degree intervened. “Don’t forget that she still has to sign out of the hospital first before she goes. Maybe just let her rest for now.”
“Wait,” Cozy began. “I think I’m okay enough to go.”
“Sweet,” Troth cheered. “It’s great to have another pegasus to hang out with rather than being stuck with Lenia’s three friends.”
“Before you leave, Ms. Glow, you’ll have to sign something to show that you left,” Dr. Degree informed.
“Oh, golly, I don’t usually sign things. Usually it’s my par-.” Cozy stopped herself at the memory.
“So is that a yes?”
Cozy was silent until Troth cut in. “I can sign for her.”
“Oh, but it has to be Ms. Glow or a family extension.”
“Well, if I’m the one looking after her, doesn’t that stretch the extension to me?”
Dr. Degree stared skeptically at Troth. “I’ll have to hear audible surrender from Ms. Glow that she is voluntarily letting you do this.”
Troth turned to Cozy with a look of anticipation, and Cozy gave a deep breath before complying.
“I, uh, allow Nurse Troth to sign my . . . what is it? A release form?”
“That’s good enough,” Dr. Degree said, retrieving the paper slip with the ink container.
Troth cheered before dunking her hoof in the ink container and pressing it against the paper.
Dr. Degree disconnected Cozy from the machine, and Troth smiled at her excitedly. “Come on.”
“Don't forget your free take-home bag.” The doctor held out a saddle-bag towards Cozy. “Each patient gets one free their first visit.”
Cozy regarded the saddle-bag in apprehension before she glanced at Troth’s approving face, encouraging her to accept it. Cozy nodded in appreciation before exiting with her pegasus companion down a corridor.
When they were a safe distance away, Cozy turned to Troth. “Wait, that’s just it? I didn’t need to pay for anything?”
“Oh, not at all,” Troth replied. “Here, Emperor Contume has made it so all medical bills from ponies are all paid for. He really is something.”
“Wow, so nopony has to pay?”
“Well no pony does, but the other creatures here still do. The hospitals need to maintain cost expenses somehow.”
“What other creatures are there?”
“Yaks, griffons, dragons, diamond dogs. I hear Lenia has a pleasant story about a diamond dog that defended her. Haven’t heard the story yet though. Oh yes, and there’s even been a changeling here once too.”
Cozy’s eyes widened in surprise. “What? What did it do?”
“Oh, it just got a good meal, slept here a couple of nights, made acquaintances with some of the other creatures. We couldn’t tell Emperor Contume though because he would have never let him stay so his presence was kept a secret from the guards and everyone involved with them.”
“And you trusted him?”
“Well, we were skeptical at first but he made it known that he had no bad intentions and wasn’t involved in anything the Queen was doing. We couldn’t just cast him out on his own, but I’m glad we let him stay. He was very friendly. He’s off on his merry way now and I hope he’s doing well. Now come on. We’re already late for the town meeting.”