//------------------------------// // Excerpt 4 // Story: Glow in the Dark // by Shadow Spector //------------------------------// Excerpt 4: “Wait up,” Cozy called out to the white pegasus rushing in front of her down the city. “You’re too fast.” “Why so slow?” Troth asked as she proceeded to a grand building. “Oh my gosh, where are we now?” Cozy examined the colossal building ahead of her, too distracted to notice that Troth had already stopped, resulting in a 2-mare pileup.  ”Oopsie,” Cozy flushed. “Sorry.” Troth giggled before examining the building as well. “Isn’t it a sight? Town Hall was one of the first buildings created here, and it was designed to last through anything. Now, thanks to the leader here, we all can too. Let’s hurry up. I didn’t think we’d be able to get to hear the conference today, but I think we might just make it.” The two pegasi walked through the door where the sound of a speaker soon accompanied them through a dark hallway. Cozy winced her eyes slightly at the bright light at the end of the hall, but Troth was unaffected, remaining giddy throughout. “Get ready for the best communicator you’ve ever seen in your short life.” The two finally emerged into the light to find themselves in a colossal room, completely filled with ponies cheering. Cozy looked around to the seats within her surroundings to notice the equines. “Wow . . .” Cozy admired. “I’ve never seen so many ponies. But where are the other creatures that you talked about?” “They sit elsewhere. Security mandates it for safety.” Troth looked around, hoping to locate a place to sit down, but the excessive population forced her to just stand where she was. Cozy followed suit, trying to listen in to what the speaker was saying. On the stage in the center of the room stood a blue unicorn dressed in all purple attire. The sight of another unicorn made Cozy shudder, but she took comfort in the distance she had from him, making her well enough to listen. “. . . And it's not looking good,” the unicorn was saying. “The princesses of Equestria have all lost their magic and the Equestrian Defense Force has been dealt with like flies. Ponies everywhere have been losing their cutiemarks, losing their magic, and losing their ability to fly. It's especially times like this that this community should be secret, completely closed off from the rest of Equestria to make sure that we are all safe. Without anypony knowing about this place, we are completely separate from any harms that Equestria might encounter. And I plan to make sure this beautiful city we've built up stays safe for as long as possible, especially from the current threat of Lord Tirek.” The entire crowd cheered, causing Cozy to cover her ears from the loudness. “Yes! I, Emperor Contume, will do everything in my power to keep you all safe. Goodnight, everypony and Celestia bless.” He spoke his words despite the fact that there were more than just ponies in the crowd, and with that note, the royally dressed unicorn trotted off stage into the darkness. “Was that all?” Cozy asked. “No, we missed most of the speech because we were late,” Troth said. “But you did hear a good part of it. What did you think? Isn't he a great speaker?” “I guess I just have one question: who's this bored Turkey?”  “Tirek,” Troth corrected. “He's this evil Centaur being with the power to drain magic.” “Magic’s annoying.” “He also steals pegasus flight.” Cozy glanced at her wings; she did appreciate flying. “That is kind of scary.” “Well don't worry. Emperor Contume is going to keep us all safe. Let's go meet Lenia at the Hayburger and get our minds off this.” The two pegasi barely flew for a minute out of Town Hall before Cozy’s stomach growled. “How much longer is it away?” She asked. “Be patient, Cozy,” Troth answered. “Patience is the key to success.” It only took that one sentence to shut Cozy up for the rest of the fly.  From in front, Troth adjusted her flying angle to lower herself towards the ground, moving closer and closer to a restaurant. “Lenia should already be here. She's usually excused from going to the town meetings.” Troth scanned the front of the restaurant multiple times as if shopping for a nonexistent product. “That's strange. This morning, I told her to meet me here.” Cozy followed Troth as she led the way inside the Hayburger, heading straight towards an employee as if she were on a mission. “Hello, excuse me, good sir,” the white pegasus began. “Have you seen a small, 9-year old, light-green earth pony with no cutie mark come inside here recently?”  “Yes, she arrived here about 10 minutes ago,” the employee replied. “Are you two with her?” “Yes. I was supposed to meet her out front, but she's already seated so is it okay if I can just go find her?” “Go right ahead, Ms.” Troth proceeded forward, but Cozy stopped for a moment, facing the employee. “Thankyou,” she said positively, knowing the routine she's always been taught before turning to follow Troth again.  When Cozy’s eyes returned to the other pegasus, she caught a glimpse of her standing next to a nearby table in front of the pony that matched the description Troth had listed. She was sitting on one side of a booth while three creatures - a griffon, a dragon, and a yak - sat on the other side. “Lenia?” Troth began. “What's this? I thought that we were going to hang out.” “Oh, right, yeah,” the green earth pony answered cautiously. “We still can. Um, I thought that maybe I’d invite my friends. I mean, my other friends . . . and we could hang out . . . like friends . . .” Troth regarded Lenia with subtle disappointment before her mood finally lit up. “Okay, well I brought a friend too. Everypony, meet Cozy Glow, also known as Cozy.” Cozy trotted towards the table carefully and uncomfortably waved her hoof before she was cut short by the yak. “Ooh, yak like pink pony’s flank.”  Cozy immediately put down her hoof and shied away. “Shut up, Droll!” the griffon scolded. “You're 13 and she's, like, 6, you weirdo.” “No, no. Yak mean pink pony’s cutiemark is cool. Rook piece is best chess piece. Yak knows because yaks best at chess! Yak call pony Rookie now.” The griffon rolled his eyes in annoyance before he turned to Cozy. “Disregard Droll. His jokes are almost as much of a waste of time as he is. The name’s Candid. I'm not sure if you're worth my time either, but I'll give you a chance.” Candid reached out his claw to greet Cozy to which Cozy backed up just out of reach of him. Despite the griffon’s somewhat friendly greeting, Cozy remembered the stories her parents told her of what griffons could be like. She could not escape the thought that she shouldn't be accepting anything from him, not even something as small as a shake. Candid’s arm fell to the ground in disapproval. “What? You think I'm gonna jump out at you or something?” Cozy looked away in guilt, but decided to stick to her decisions without saying anything more regarding the matter. She felt way too uncomfortable with the situation, wanting nothing more than to get away. Finally, she thought of an excuse to help her leave.  “Oh no, I don't have any bits. I can't pay for anything here.” Candid humpfed. “Good riddens.” “Oh, nonsense,” the dragon said, completely ignoring Candid. “You can just have some bits from me.” From a bag similar to Cozy’s, the white dragon pulled out an excessive amount of bits, handing them over to Cozy. “My name’s Opul.” “Isn't she great?” Lenia whispered to Cozy. Cozy regarded the bits in absolute confusion. Finally, she reached out a hoof to accept the bits, pocketing them in her saddle-bag before thanking her in an uncomfortable tone. Opul tilted her head in confusion. “Is there something bothering you?” “Maybe Dragon bothering pony,” Droll said. “Shut up, Droll!” exclaimed Candid. Cozy forced her eyes to meet Opul’s. It took her a second to give the dragon an answer. “Um, well I've always heard of dragons taking and taking. I've never seen a dragon give anything except dirty looks.” “Oh, here we go again,” complained Candid. “No, it's okay,” Opul reassured. “There aren't many white dragons where I came from and that's because they kicked white dragons out. My parents were able to hide me when I was born but the truth was revealed by the time I turned 3 and I was kicked out to live on my own. I would've died out there - I should've died out there - but I met a small creature that helped me. His openhandedness provided me with gems and saved my life. And then -.” Opul stopped for a moment, subduing a thought in her mind before continuing.” 11 years later and I’m still alright.”  “Blah blah blah,” Candid started. “Nobody cares about backstories.” “Candid not right,” Droll cut in. “Yak know of many that like to hear that.” “Since when do you have anything valuable to offer?” Candid shot back. “Hey,” Lenia said quietly. “We’re all friends here. Can we calm down a little bit?” “I am calm. It’s just Droll keeps on offering pointless statements. What’s he know besides how to roll around in mud?” “Droll no roll around in mud. Yak fur naturally brown.” “Right, and the reason my fur is orange is because I dye it every morning,” Candid said. “It’s all a bunch of fertilizer." The arguments from the two non-ponies was beginning to make Cozy more uneasy. She sank back from the table, worried about whatever violence she was about to see. Candid continued. “Just like when the guards told me that I’d get my belongings back eventually when I first got here.” Instantly, Cozy’s interest sparked and she approached the table again. “Wait, did you say something was taken?” “Stay in your own conversation, Cozy,” Candid scolded. “Rude of you to interrupt.” Cozy looked away, ashamed, before she remembered the second rule she learned. Stand up for yourself. “Hey,” Cozy’s voice quivered. “You - you shouldn’t talk like that.” Lenia tensed as she turned her attention to the orange griffon.  Candid harshly stared down at the pink filly. “Wow, you really are a kid.” Cozy broke eye contact before remembering what she wanted. Finally, she spoke with as much confidence as she could summon, taking a quick deep breath. “You said that you had items taken from you when you got here. Do you know where they went?”  “The same place where all the other items go.” “Droll miss family picture,” the yak chimed in. “My pet was taken from me when I got here,” Opul said. “I lost my camera when I got here,” Troth added. “I didn't have anything when I got here,” Lenia said. Everyone at the table directed their attention to her. “. . . Sorry.” Instantly, Cozy was reminded of her run for Student Pony President, and she subtly smiled to herself as she developed a plan. “We don't have to be without these items for much longer. If we go to where the items are being held, we can go and get them back ourselves.” “I don't know,” Lenia said. “That sounds risky.” “And exciting!” Troth cheered. “Count me in.”  “Droll do anything to get family picture back,” Droll admitted. “I miss my friend,” Opul said. “It doesn't have to be this way though,” Cozy said, filling the room with hope. “If the guards were going to give them back to us, they would've done it already. We need to take action, and we can do this tonight when we sneak over to reclaim what's ours.” “Only one problem with that,” Candid announced. “We’re all just kids, and we would be sneaking in to Emperor Contume’s storage room. There are strict rules here, especially on nonponies, and one of them has to do with curfew. I mean, I'm the oldest one here at 15, and even I'm still too young to be wandering around at night.” “That's why we sneak around so nopony can see us. With the amount of ponies I've seen here already, I'm sure this Emperor Whatnot won't notice 5 things missing.”  Opul started to become more hopeful as she smiled and nodded. “I'm in.” The rest of the group agreed except for one silent Lenia.  “B-but” Lenia stuttered, “what would I be there for? It just sounds scary.” “The more the merrier,” Troth said, smiling at Cozy. It took 5 sets of eyes staring at Lenia for her to finally submit. “Okay fine . . .” “Perfect,” Cozy cheered. “Troth, come with me.” Cozy left the table as Troth followed her out. “Okay, how many do we have here?” a waitress asked, trotting up to the table with a clipboard. “What will it be today?” Opul looked up in frustration. “Little bitch took my bits.”