//------------------------------// // Chapter 35: Wax Figures // Story: The Night Janitor // by Knox Locke //------------------------------// Cozy had not yet noticed that her shaking had stopped, for she was filled with rage. She couldn't just stand here and witness the destruction of this object. It was so much like her: so realistic, yet so fake. Eternally suffering through the endless stillness Cozy herself had suffered through for so long. Her heart yearned for it to move, to avoid the flames that threatened to destroy it, but she knew it was not going to happen. She felt herself begin to tear up as she spread her wings. [Cozy's Perspective: Earlier That Day] When Sweetie arrived at Knox's place earlier that afternoon, Cozy was relieved. Sweetie was about an hour late, and Cozy had been worried her friend had forgotten they were meeting up today. "You're late," she said darkly as she opened the door to join Sweetie outside. Sweetie looked shocked at the rage-tinted tone used by her friend. Then, her face brightened up and she laughed. "Oh, you got me!" she said through bursts of laughter. This broke Cozy's resolve. She rolled over onto her back and started laughing too. They just stayed there for a minute, two little fillies just laughing away. After a while, though, they both began settling down. "So," said Cozy, still chuckling lightly, "why were you late, anyways?" "Yeah, sorry about that. I was helping out at Sweet Apple Acres and lost track of time. Speaking of which," she paused as if trying to remember something, "Granny Smith asked if we'd meet her at the wax museum." "Granny has a wax museum?" asked Cozy, genuinely intrigued. "Yeah, and she wants to see us there in a little while." "Well, golly, I haven't been to a museum in a while..." she trailed off. "Sure, why not." Not long afterwards, the duo had made their way to Granny Smith's Wax Museum. Granny had met them at the front door, but had surprisingly led them around the back of the building to a small back door. "Well, come on in," she said as she held the door open for the two young fillies. Inside, there was a small balcony-type platform overlooking a somewhat small room. They were too close to the door to see into the room right now, but they could see Applejack leaning her head over the railing to observe the room below. Applejack turned around when she heard the door shut behind Granny, and she seemed very surprised to find Cozy and Sweetie standing beside her grandmare. "Granny, what were you thinking?" she said, walking up to Granny. She gestured towards Cozy as she continued, "You know how sensitive Cozy Glow is right now!" Granny knocked Applejack's hoof down before proclaiming, "That's exactly why I thought she'd want to see this!" "See what?" asked Cozy as she stepped to the edge of the balcony to look over the room. In the room below, there was what seemed to be some kind of furnace, with a large opening in the front. Attached to the furnace was a short conveyor belt, apparently meant to move objects into the furnace. She could tell that there were flames within the furnace, for there was a slight glow emanating into the dim room. A few feet away from the opposite end of the conveyor belt, there was an object draped in a brown tarp. She couldn't quite make out the shape. "What's going on?" asked Sweetie as she appeared by Cozy's side. "Well, you see," started Applejack as she descended the stairs into the room below, "this here is the furnace we use to melt down old figures so we can make new ones." She went over to the conveyor belt and started it up. "And we have a figure we haven't got rid of just yet," added in Granny, "and I thought you might like to see it." Cozy was still watching Applejack's actions intently. It seemed to her that Applejack still wasn't convinced she should be here. "Why would I want to..." she was cut off by her own gasp of shock as the brown tarp was pulled back to reveal: her. Under the tarp was an exact replica of Cozy Glow, from head to hoof. It shared her happy smile, which was currently not on her face. It's mane was nearly identical as well. From here, she couldn't even tell if a single curl was out of place. Even its position was one she commonly found herself in. 'At least it got frozen in a more comfortable position than I did,' Cozy thought to herself, 'but why would they bring it down here? Unless...' She felt her hooves start shaking and her breathing quickened. 'They can't be planning what I think they're planning. Can they?' Her hooves started shaking even more as Applejack reluctantly placed the sculpture Cozy identified with so much on the conveyor belt. The belt was still running, so the sculpture was slowly moving towards the flaming furnace. 'Keep yourself together, Cozy' She watched in horror as the object she couldn't look away from inched closer and closer to its imminent destruction. Then, the one emotion that could quell her panic came at full force: anger. 'How dare they.' Cozy had not yet noticed that her shaking had stopped, for she was filled with rage. She couldn't just stand here and witness the destruction of this object. It was so much like her: so realistic, yet so fake. Eternally suffering through the endless stillness Cozy herself had suffered through for so long. Her heart yearned for it to move, to avoid the flames that threatened to destroy it, but she knew it was not going to happen. She felt herself begin to tear up as she spread her wings. Before anypony else knew what hit them, Cozy had taken off like a shot towards the wax figure. She flew dangerously close to the flaming furnace as she gently lifted the figure off of the belt and set it on the ground a few feet away. Tears were streaming down her face as she hugged the sculpture she'd just saved. She was careful to not put to much pressure on it, though, for wax is somewhat pliable, even when not heated. The last thing she wanted to do was harm the wax figure in any way. She sat there in the dimly lit room, hugging a wax version of herself defensively, for a good ten minutes before she calmed down. Later that day, Cozy was sitting with Sweetie in her bedroom at Knox's house. They were chatting about stuff neither of them actually cared about. She casually glanced over to her closet a few times, taking comfort in the fact that an inanimate replica of herself was safe beyond those closed doors.