//------------------------------//
// Act I: Flitterheart 
// Story: 16 
// by AlwaysDressesInStyle 
//------------------------------//



West Milfoil: eleven years, two months, and six days ago


As I styled my little sister’s hair, I couldn’t help but think about things my friends have said about their own brothers and sisters.  They talked about ‘sibling rivalries’ and it always made me wonder how family members could act that way towards one another.  My sister and I have been best friends since she was born. Maybe it helps that she was born less than two years after I was, so we’re close in age.

Since Mom wouldn’t let me play with scissors, the most I could do with her bright blue locks was to curl them. Her wings fidgeted at having to stay at rest for so long, but that was understandable.  Pegasi were meant to be soaring through the sky, not cooped up in a house.  But it was raining and neither of us wanted to be outside, even if instincts were hard to ignore.

Her hair was always a tangled mess.  How had this unruly mane not driven her up the wall?  I always hated having bedhead, even when I was her age.  I just couldn’t leave her pretty mane messy.  My hope was that she’d start taking more pride in her appearance.  As long as she didn’t go to the extreme like our cousin, Proudheart.  Her siblings’ number one complaint was how long she spends in the bathroom.

I painstakingly removed the curlers from her mane and tail.  It worked!  “Voila!” I hoofed her a mirror so she could see for herself.

“Golly!  I’m so pretty!”

“You’re adorable, sis.” I nuzzled her.  “I’ll teach you how to do this so you can take care of your own hair from here on out.”

“That would be peachy-keen!”









West Milfoil: ten years, eight months, and sixteen days ago


I stared at the chessboard in confusion.  The rules were complicated, yet my younger sister seemed to grasp them perfectly.  I hadn’t captured a single one of her pieces, but I was down to only a hoofful of my own.  It wasn’t a matter of if she was going to win, but when.

Oh well, if it made her happy, I was okay with losing.  Most of the time I let her win, anyway, so it would be a nice change of pace for her to win on her own for once.  I moved a piece, and she followed suit immediately.

“Checkmate!”

I looked at the board. I couldn’t see what she was seeing. I guess the castle looking piece kills me if I move there.  And the other castle piece kills me if I move to the other side.  “Good game, sis.  You’ve got a knack for this.”

There was a flash of light and I stared at her hindquarters.  “Your butt’s glowing!”

“You said the b-word!” She giggled.

“Cozyheart!  You got your cutie mark!”

She turned and looked at it. It was one of those castle chess pieces like she’d used to box me in.

“Oh!  A rook!  My special talent is chess!”

Not only had my younger sister beaten me at chess, she’d also gotten her cutie mark before me.  I wrapped my forelegs and wings around her. “I’m so proud of you, Cozy. You’re smart, and you’re going to go far in this world.”

“Oh!  Now your butt’s glowing, sis!”

I stuck my tongue out. “You said the b-word!”  But I looked down, and sure enough, there were two intertwined hearts on my rump.  “Wow!  We both got our cutie marks together!  I couldn’t have gotten mine without you!”

“And I couldn’t have gotten mine without you!”  She nuzzled me.

I nuzzled her back. “I think this calls for ice cream! I know where Mom keeps it.” Cozyheart buzzed her wings and followed me to the kitchen.  I flew up to the highest cabinets and grabbed a pair of bowls, which I hoofed down to her, then I opened the freezer and grabbed the tub of ice cream out.  We only had vanilla, but that was okay – I knew how to spruce it up a bit.  I pulled the whipped cream and chocolate syrup from the fridge, then set about looking through the cupboard for the rainbow sprinkles.

Mom came downstairs as I was squirting whipped cream on Cozy’s ice cream.  “Are you two having dessert without me?”

“Sorry, Mom,” we said in unison.

I grabbed another bowl from the cabinet and scooped some ice cream out for Mom too.  “We were just celebrating.  Cozyheart got her cutie mark!”

“And Flitterheart got hers too!”

We turned our rumps towards her at the same time, and she studied our newfound marks.  She smiled at mine, but her jaw dropped when she saw Cozy’s.  “A chess mark?”  She pulled out a scrapbook.  “I don’t think anypony in the family’s ever gotten a cutie mark that didn’t have a heart in it in some way, shape, or form.”

She hugged us both tightly as she flipped through the pages of the scrapbook.  There was a heart with wings, a heart within a star, a heart-shaped balloon with party favors and candy, a heart-shaped medal, etc.

Mom nuzzled Cozy. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know.  I would’ve given you a chess-related name. We can get your name changed if you want?”

Cozy nuzzled her back. “I like my name.”  Mom smiled at that.

We ate our ice cream while we looked through the scrapbook, but there were no cutie marks without a heart. Cozy was unique among our family.









West Milfoil: ten years, zero months, and seven days ago


“Flit?”

I cracked an eye open. The clock indicated it was just past two in the morning.  Cozy was hovering there in the doorway clutching her favorite stuffed toy, a gray tabby kitten she called 'Lucky'.  “Yeah sis?”

"I had a bad dream."

My heart went out to her. She’d been having a lot of bad dreams lately, though she never specified exactly what they were about, always saying I was better off not knowing.

“Can I sleep in your bed?”

“Sure.”  I wiggled over to make room for her, and she slipped in behind me.  I rolled over and massaged her back in gentle strokes, up and down, right between her wings. It always relaxed her, and this time was no exception.  Once she’d calmed down, I wrapped a foreleg around her.  “Sleep well.”

“You too.  Love you, sis.”  She wiggled backwards, pressing herself against my barrel as closely as she could.

I pulled her even tighter against me.  “Love you too, Cozy.”









Pumpkin Lakes: nine years, four months, and seven days ago


There were no major amusement parks near West Milfoil, but every year a traveling carnival set up in a field in the next town over, Pumpkin Lakes.  And every year Auntie Treatheart took us.  Keeping with family tradition, adorning her flank was an ice cream cone with a second heart-shaped scoop of ice cream on top of the first.

As can probably be surmised from her name and cutie mark, my aunt had never met a sweet she didn’t like. She and Uncle Braveheart never had any foals of their own, but she loved to spoil her nieces and nephews.  Every day of the carnival she’d take a different set of nieces and/or nephews, and she’d pig out on all the carnival food. Caramel apples, cotton candy, funnel cakes – whatever we wanted she bought, and she made sure to get some for herself, too.

Of course, traveling carnivals never had giant roller coasters or extreme thrill rides, but they did feature a number of smaller rides.  There was usually a mini-coaster of some sort, a Ferris wheel, bumper cars, merry-go-round, and a few rides of the centrifugal force variety.  Taking center stage was a midway featuring games of chance, with carnies eager to separate ponies from their bits.  It was the perfect way to spend a summer evening with a couple of fillies.

We wandered the fair for hours, playing games and munching on all the junk food.  First we had popcorn, then caramel apples, then cotton candy.  Auntie Treatheart had even managed to polish off an entire funnel cake all by herself. I’d won Cozy a giant purple penguin, and she was carrying it around on her back like a rider.  Neither of us faired that well with the bumper cars – the older colts ganged up on us and we could barely get a bump in edgewise.

The swing ride was more our speed, and we went on that a few times until Cozyheart wanted to move on to the Ferris wheel.  As we were stopped at the top of the wheel, I pointed out the sights to my sister.  The humidity of the day had given way to a beautiful summer evening with a pleasant summer breeze.  Truly a perfect night.  I looked down and spotted Auntie Treatheart buying a pizza for us all to enjoy. We made our way to the ground, one car at a time, and eventually it was our turn to be let out.  We dashed over to a picnic table, just in time for our aunt to set an extra cheese pizza out in front of us.  Cozy and I were good for two slices each, while Auntie Treatheart polished off the other four.  She even ate Cozy’s crusts.  I don’t know where she puts it all!

Next up was the Tilt-A-Whirl, but the carnie didn’t want to let Cozyheart on.

“That kid’s gonna puke.”

“I am not!”

“I ain’t lettin’ you on the ride.”

“Now let’s be reasonable here,” Auntie Treatheart stepped between them.  “I’m paying for them to go on this ride, and they’re going to go on the ride.”

“Fine, then you’re going on with them.”

“I don’t do rides.”

“Then they ain’t getting’ on.  Either one of ‘em.”

“Please Auntie Treatheart?” Cozyheart and I chorused.

She caved in instantly. “All right.  Three tickets please.”

We got into one of the cars, Cozy securely in between us.  Then the ride started and Cozy and I threw our hooves up, though our aunt kept a death grip on the bar keeping us secured in the car.  “Wee!”

“Woo!”

We spun this way and that way, but eventually the ride came to a stop.  I hopped out, Cozy hot on my hooves.  The carnie blocked our paths.  “I told you that kid was gonna vomit.”

“What are you talking about, mister?  I didn’t hurl.”

I looked to my sister and then back to the carnie.  “Yeah, she didn’t throw up.  She was having a blast.  So was I.”

It was then that Auntie Treatheart staggered off the ride and made her way over to the adjacent bushes. After that, we left the park.









West Milfoil: eight years, six months, and seventeen days ago


I saw the same colt waiting outside the school every day.  Electric Blue was in my class, and like me, he had a younger sister.  We’d wait around for their class to get out, then we’d fly our respective sisters home.  I could tell he was shy, but he eventually worked up enough courage to talk to me.

“Hi.”

Well, it was a start.

“Hi!”

“Come here often?”

It took all my effort not to cringe at that corny pick-up line.  “Weekdays, same as you.  Our sisters are in the same class.”

He nodded, just as our sisters bounded up to us.  We went our separate ways, and once we were out of earshot, Cozy blurted out, “Oh gosh! Flit has a coltfriend!”

“Don’t be silly. Colts have cooties.”

Cozy giggled at that. “They do not.  That’s just a story grownups say so fillies and colts don’t do anything they’re not supposed to.”

“How do you know that?”

She shrugged.  “I don’t know.  Ever since I got my mark, I just know things.  Golly, you know how Mom can always tell when somepony’s lying?”

“It’s her special talent. She’s not named Trueheart for nothing.”

“I can do that too, except I’m so good at bluffing I can even deceive Mom.  I tried, and it worked.”  Her ears flattened.  “I still feel guilty about it, but I needed to know.  And that’s not all of it, I see things.  Like, in chess, I can see all the potential outcomes of moving my piece to a given square.  Simultaneously.  And it works in real life too.  I can see the outcomes of various different replies I might give, and then pick the best one to achieve the happiest outcome.”

“That’s incredible!”

“No, it really isn’t. It’s terrible and I want to get rid of it.  Imagine this: There are three things I could say to that colt right now to make him go out on a date with you, guaranteed ‘yes’ to all three.  And fifteen different things I could say that would make him never speak to you ever again.  All you have to do is say the word and I can have him eating out of your hooves or out of your life entirely.”

“That’s… uncanny.”

“It’s horrible is what it is.  You want a teddy bear?  His little sister is in my class and just got a new teddy bear yesterday.  There are two different things I could say to him to make him trade her for it, just to give to you.  Does this sound like the kind of power ponies are supposed to have? There’s temptation everywhere.”

“Is that why you don’t hang out with your friends anymore?”

“You mean your friends. They were never my friends.  I was always the tagalong that no one minded. I…I could make them my friends.  I could make them despise you.”

“Why would you want to do that?”

“I don’t!”

“Why would you even think something like that?”

“I can’t help it.  And I don’t want to.  And I’m telling you this so maybe you can help me.”

“What do you want me to do? I’d do anything for you, sis.  You know that.”

“Just believe in me. No matter what happens.”

“Always.”

She cried into my leg. “Sis, bad things are gonna happen to me. The best case is I’ll succumb to madness before I’m ten.  After that I really don’t know what I’ll do.”

“Don’t say things like that.”  I hugged her tight and kissed her forehead.

I could tell there was more she wanted to say but she didn’t elaborate.  She just clung to me and cried herself out.  She whimpered.  “I’m a bad pony.”

“Shhh.  Don’t say that, Cozyheart.”

“Cozy Glow.”

“Hmn?”

“Cozyheart was a good pony. I think I’m going to take Mom up on her offer to get my name changed.”  That was the last she said on the subject.









West Milfoil: eight years, three months, and twenty-eight days ago


“Ta-da!”  Brightheart whipped a covering off his latest gizmo.

I stared at it, as did Cozyheart, Swiftheart, and Proudheart.  I scratched my head in confusion.  “What is it?”

“It’s a caring meter. I’ve been researching Princess Twilight’s Cutie Map and this is a portable version that seeks out ponies who need to be reminded of the fire of friendship.  The hope being that we can get there and restore these ponies’ faith in equinity before a dark entity like the Nightmare can fill the void in their hearts.”

Proudheart, Swiftheart, and I all looked at one another.  Cozyheart piped up, “It finds ponies who are sad and then we go cheer them up.”

Brightheart nodded. “Exactly, Cozy.”

“So is this going to make us all into friendship princesses or something?”  Cozy picked up the gadget and started examining it from all angles.

Brightheart chuckled. “No.”  Cozy put it back down in disappointment.  “But it will help us make new friends with the ponies when they need friendship the most.”

“So instead of letting evil spirits exploit the weak and helpless, we exploit them instead.  Okay, got it.”

I looked at my sister in shock.  “Cozy! We don’t exploit ponies.”

She shrugged. “Friendship seems an awful lot like a nice way of say ‘manipulating ponies into doing things for you for free’ to me.”  She started laughing.  “Golly, I’m just kidding.  You should see all your faces right now.”

“That’s not really funny, Cozy.”  I glared at her.  “We help ponies.”

“Golly, isn’t making ponies laugh helping cheer them up?”

“Are any of us laughing right now?”

“Proudheart’s right, little cuz.  Jokes are s’posed to be funny.”

“You guys just don’t have a sense of humor.”

I changed the subject. “So how does this thingamazooie work, Brightheart?”

Half an hour later, I regretted breaking the awkward silence.  My eyes had glazed over, Swiftheart had fallen asleep, and Proudheart had long since stopped paying attention and was nodding randomly whenever there was a slight pause in the conversation.  Cozyheart was the only one who seemed to understand any of what he was saying. For some reason, that was more disconcerting than it should’ve been.

“I think a test is in order.”  Cozy snatched the device from Bright’s hooves and started fiddling with it.

Swiftheart’s ears swiveled from Brightheart to Cozyheart.  The little sneak’s been faking being asleep.

“It works.  Come on, follow me.”

Cozy started galloping, but she didn’t make it far before Swiftheart swooped down and grabbed the caring meter from her.  “Yoink! Finally, some action!  Everypony follow me!”  She took off, flying at a rate of speed none of the rest of us could ever hope to match.  Brightheart, Cozyheart, Flitterheart, and Proudheart all get into a race with a pony named Swiftheart.  Who do you think’s going to win?

She was toying with us, flying far enough ahead to be out of reach, but never flying so far ahead as to shake us off her trail.  We’d been flying with her our whole lives – if she wanted to lose us she already would’ve done so.

Instead, we flew over suburban sprawl.  West Milfoil wasn’t far from Manehattan, and there were a number of other local communities in the shadow of the metropolis.  The city was only a few hours away by train, so the surrounding towns had turned into suburbs, oftentimes with just a sign noting where one town began and the next one ended.  We flew out of West Milfoil, through Pumpkin Lakes, Pumpkin Plains, and into Pasternson.

As we flew past Pasternson the colors started fading from the ground below us.  Buildings, streets, the ground, and even the ponies were all various shades of gray.

Swiftheart slowed to a hover, allowing the rest of us to catch up.  “Either this is the worst case of air pollution I’ve ever seen… or we’ve found our caring problem.”

Brightheart retrieved his invention from Swiftheart and examined it.  He blinked as he looked at the numbers.  “The caring meter is off the charts.”

“Is that good or bad?”

“Depends on how you look at it, Flit.  It’s bad for this town because there’s a definite lack of caring going on.  But it’s good for us, because we found the disturbance.  Which is really good, because that means it works.”

“Where are we?” Proud Heart asked.  “We’re not that far away from home, but I don’t recognize this place at all.”

Cozy pointed to a sign proclaiming the town as Drab City, the dullest place in Equestria.  Probably a safe claim, I can’t imagine there are too many other towns wanting that title.

We landed outside of town, where the houses were still colorful.  A filly Cozyheart’s age bounded out of one of the homes.

“You still have all your colors!”  The mottled grayish-brown earth pony examined us from all angles and blushed.  “I’m sorry, it’s just most ponies have gone gray.” She sighed.  “It didn’t used to be this way.”

“Like you?” asked Cozy.

Our new friend giggled. “Nope!  This is my natural coat color!  My colors are dull by nature, so maybe that’s why I’m still intact?  I don’t know what’s going on, but when ponies turn all gray they lose all their feelings too.  It’s like they’re nothing but zombies.  The dullness isn’t so bad here, on the outskirts.  My parents work in town and they turned all gray a long time ago.”  Her face fell.  “So did all my friends.  I’m Cinnamon, who are you?”

“I’m Flitterheart, and this is my sister, Cozyheart.”  She didn’t correct me with ‘Cozy Glow’ and I was thankful for that.  “And these are our cousins, Brightheart, Proudheart, and Swiftheart.”

“Pleasure to meet you.” Proudheart curtseyed.

“Oh, you’re fancy!” Cinnamon giggled and curtseyed as well.

After a quick tour of her house and neighborhood, all of which were still colorful, we headed toward town.  The further into town we went, the grayer things got.  In addition to the dulled palate, the condition of the neighborhoods declined with each block we traversed.  First it was just garbage littering the streets, and soon it was wagons sitting on blocks and buildings with broken windows.

Ponies gave us strange looks and gave us wide berths as we passed by.  Brightheart continued leading the way, his caring meter beeping as we went.

“Oh, and that’s my school!” Cinnamon pointed out a drab three-story building.  A few fillies and colts could be seen milling around the playground behind the fence, with a coach with a whistle hanging from her neck directing them in gym class.

“Why aren’t you in class?”

“Oh, I stopped going to school ages ago.  As you can see, school’s in town, where it’s all gray.  The teachers and all my classmates turned gray a long time ago, and none of them care if I show up or not.  My parents don’t care either, so I stopped going so I wouldn’t turn all gray too. Those are my friends, over there. The pony with the grayscale mane is Starr, and the twins are Ruby and Topaz.”

“Don’t you miss them?”

She nodded, sadly.  “I said my goodbyes to them years ago. They’re not the same ponies they once were.  My friends are long gone, and their bodies are nothing more than shells going through the motions.”

“That’s so sad.”  I wanted to cry, but held it in.  I had to be strong for Cinnamon’s sake and Cozy’s sake.

“It is, but there’s nothing that can be done about it except to stay far away from town.  We really should get out of here now.  Your sister’s already starting to change.” She pointed at Cozy’s hooves.

“Oh golly, she’s right.” Cozyheart was gray up to her hocks.

“We fly.”  Brightheart didn’t even look up from his device as he took to the air.

“What about me?” Cinnamon asked in alarm.

Swiftheart, Proudheart, and I all scooped up the earth pony in our grasp and followed Brightheart, with Cozy bringing up the rear.  Once we were airborne it was easy to see that our hooves had all turned gray, though Cozy had gotten the worst of it.

Being airborne helped mitigate some of the effect, but as we continued closer to the source, the grayness got worse.  We didn’t just turn gray, we started snapping at each other.  We started caring less and less.  We knew we were on an important mission, but it just seemed less and less important as we went on.

There was no more sightseeing, and even Cinnamon didn’t feel much like pointing out the sights in her hometown in our desperate race against time.  Then, suddenly, Cinnamon got heavier.  I was struggling to keep her aft end in the air, while Swiftheart and Proudheart carried her forelegs.  A glance to my side told me everything I suspected – Cozyheart was flying off in another direction, and Cinnamon’s other hind leg was dangling.  “Cozy!  Come back. Please!”

“What difference does it make.”  The grayness had overtaken my sister’s barrel and tail, leaving nothing colorful below her neck.

I looked down and the dullness had only claimed my legs.  “C’mon Cozy, I can’t support Cinnamon all by myself.”

“Who cares?”

“I care!  I care very much!”  Cinnamon was quite vocal in her displeasure.  “I’m terrified of heights!  Please, please, please come back.”

“Fine.  But be quick.  You’re heavy.”

“And you’re just a sweet ray of sunshine.”

“Stop fighting.” Brightheart turned around to look at us. “You’re making it worse.  The caring meter can’t decide if we should keep going forward to the source of the trouble or turn around and help the two of you. The longer this takes the less likely our chance of success…  I don’t want to be all gray, do you?”

Cozy shrugged.  “I don’t care.”  She grabbed Cinnamon’s other leg regardless.

“Let’s hurry,” I urged the others on.  I wasn’t sure how long we could keep Cozyheart’s mind on the task.

“That’s my line, cuz!”

“There!  It has to be coming from that construction site.”

We’d made our way to the outskirts of town, where the skeleton-like frame of a building had been erected in a field.  The area was fenced off, but that wasn’t a problem for pegasi like us.  We landed inside the site, next to a trailer proclaiming the work was being done by Cherrywood & Fettuccini Construction. Work had apparently stopped at some point, because everything was in disarray, and there’d even been some vandalism. The walls of the trailer were graffitied, and the fence was torn down in spots.  In a society where a third of the population could fly, some unicorns could teleport, and most earth ponies could buck it into splinters, fences were merely suggestions.  Something that was put up as a warning for legal and insurance purposes.  Something to indicate that the owners at least made an effort to keep ponies off their property.

Cinnamon was grateful to no longer be airborne, and she made a show of kissing the ground below us. “I’m never leaving you again.”

“Then how are you getting home?”

“I’ll hoof it. Turning gray is better than falling to my doom.”

“At least you still care about staying alive,” Brightheart noted.  “True apathy would be indifference to even that.  We just need to figure out what’s causing the problem. Now where’d Swiftheart go?”

“I’m way ahead of you!” Swiftheart was on the other side of the yard.  “I could be wrong, but this giant glowing gem might be the problem.”

The rest of us galloped to where she was hovering, and sure enough there was a massive stone emitting a sickly green glow.  The caring meter was going crazy and Brightheart confirmed that was the source of Drab City’s dullness.

“What are we going to do?” Proudheart asked.

“Why don’t we just dump the gem in the bottomless pit?”  Cozyheart pointed to a scar in the earth conveniently on the other side of the rock.

“There’s no such thing as a bottomless pit.  We live on a planet; a sphere spinning in space.  Theoretically, if this hole went all the way through the planet that would be the ‘bottom’ and you’d drop out the other side and into space.  But that’s impossible.  Gravity would stop you at the planet’s core.  That would also require the planet to be hollow.  Do you know what you’d get if you had a hole that reached down to Equus’ mantle?  A volcano.”

“Blah, blah, blah, Brightheart.  Are we gonna do somethin’ about this rock, or are we going to all go gray listening to you yack?  Literally.” Swiftheart lifted a leg to demonstrate her limbs had completely turned gray.

The six of us pushed against the gem to no avail – it was too heavy for us.  Our close proximity to the stone caused the effect to speed up. Cozyheart was the first to succumb, wandering off as soon as she completely turned gray.  Cinnamon wasn’t far behind.

“Retreat!”  Brightheart’s order came too late for me.  I could find no motivation to move from my spot leaning against the giant rock. Brightheart, being the least athletic of us, also fell victim to the dullness before he could put enough distance between himself and the gem.

That left Swiftheart and Proudheart as the only two ponies who could do something about the situation. I watched them fly off, and I couldn’t find it in me to care if they succeeded or not.  I couldn’t even muster the desire to go locate my little sister.

Swiftheart reappeared hours later, or maybe it was only minutes, I couldn’t say.  I just didn’t care.  I couldn’t even care that she’d somehow figured out how to start and drive one of the construction company’s bulldozers.  She’d gone completely gray too, but she was still on course.  The bulldozer slammed into the rock, pushing it into the pit.  Swiftheart, dull with gray, didn’t even care enough to stop the bulldozer as it joined the massive gem, plummeting into the depths.  If not for Proudheart swooping down and grabbing her, she would’ve gone down the hole with the dozer.

With the stone gone, color started returning to the world.  As soon as Brightheart’s purple coat was restored he was on his hooves, waiting by the pit, listening for a crash that never came.  “That’s impossible!  It has to have a bottom!”  He tried to fly down the hole but Swiftheart grabbed his tail in her mouth.  “What if there’s an aquifer down there?  What if we just dumped that into the town’s water supply?”

“If you go down there, you’re not coming back, bro.  I’m five times the flyer you are and I wouldn’t make it back.”

“But there has to be a logical explanation!  Holes have to have bottoms.  And why was there such a deep pit right next to the gem?  Gah!  It doesn’t make sense!  It’s too convenient!”

“Maybe it was a meteorite, and the deep pit was a crater?”  Cozy’s explanation was rational, but Brightheart shot that one down too, arguing that the rock’s composition wasn’t consistent with known meteorites, and also that a crater should be crater-shaped and not just a big hole.

Cinnamon found an excuse to run off and find her friends at school, while Cozyheart, Proudheart, Swiftheart, and I all had to listen to Brightheart explain how craters form, and the physics involved.  In great detail.  Then he ranted about how just getting rid of the strange rock shouldn’t have immediately restored color to everything.  He was right – nothing about the ordeal made any sense whatsoever.

We caught up to Cinnamon at the playground, where she was playing with Starr, who’s grayscale locks had turned into a rainbow, as well as Topaz and Ruby, both of whom shined in the afternoon sunlight, the former a crystalline blue and the latter red.  I hadn’t even been able to tell they were crystal ponies when we stopped at the school earlier.

They were playing and we didn’t want to intrude, so we headed for home instead.









West Milfoil: eight years, two months, and two days ago


Cozy and I looked absolutely adorable in our princess costumes.  Cozy had really started taking her appearance seriously.  I was thrilled that she’d kept the curls.  They made her look so cute!  I wished I could say the same for Uncle Braveheart, but at least he matched us.  He’s a goof, and I love him and he loves us, but oh stars, he makes an ugly mare.

I knocked on the first door of the evening and it slowly crept open.  “Nightmare Night!  What a fright!  Give us something sweet to bite!”

“Good eveeeeeeening.” It was our neighbor, Stage Fright, dressed like a vampire.

“Aieeeee!”

I turned to Cozy. “You don’t need to be scared, sis.”

“Wasn’t me.”

I looked behind us to find Uncle Braveheart in a tree ten yards away.  I couldn’t help but wonder if his parents had named him ironically.

“Really good costume, Stage. How’s Uncle Braveheart’s acting? Did you believe he was scared?”  I did my best to cover for him.

Stage Fright nodded as he levitated some candy into our fright-or-bite bags.

We went from house to house, adding to the ever-growing pile of candy in each of our bags.  Uncle Braveheart, meanwhile, was getting a lot of exercise.  Jumping in fright, wild wing flapping, hyperventilating, etc.  I fluttered my wings as I chuckled.  Our uncle’s just a big softie. How many other uncles would have gone to the extreme of dressing in a matching princess costume just to make his nieces happy?  Though perhaps he should dress in a Cowardly Lion costume next year.

We stopped at the local ice cream shop since they were giving out scoops of pumpkin spice ice cream for the holiday.  It was their yearly tradition to use up all their inventory so they could move on to the next seasonal flavor: peppermint for Hearth’s Warming.  Considering how much I loved their mint flavor, I started drooling at the prospect of that being available the next day.

The ice cream break was just enough time for Uncle Braveheart’s heart to stop racing.  Then, it was back to fright-or-biting.  When we rang the bell of the next home, the door was opened by a skeleton.

“Ahhhhhh!”  Uncle Braveheart leapt to the house’s roof, perfectly styled mane standing on end.

Cozy sighed.  “This is getting old.”  She took the skeleton’s skull mask off, revealing the owner of the local aquarium.  “See, it’s just Red Herring.”

Red shook a hoof at us as his wife, dressed as a Royal Guard, led him back into the house.  “And I would’ve gotten away with it too!  If it wasn’t for you meddling princesses. And that queen.”









West Milfoil: eight years, one month, and eight days ago


Cozy Glow.  I was having a hard time adapting to my sister’s new name.  Mom had made it official at the town hall earlier in the day. She’d changed – she wasn’t the happy-go-lucky filly I remembered.  She spent a lot of her time staring into space.  It was almost as if she wasn’t even there most of the time, like a toy that spent most of its time on a shelf.

But if you spoke to her, she’d spring to life with a syrupy sweet smile.  I’d made the mistake of initiating contact and I was already regretting it.  I never thought there’d come a day I would consider talking to my sister a mistake, or that I’d regret it, but my relationship with my sister seemed to be on a one-way elevator ride: all the way down.

I sighed as I helped her dye herself pink, hiding her beautiful purple coat.

“Golly!  Don’t you think I’m just the cutest thing ever, sis?” Cozy was staring at her reflection, her blue curls bouncing as she turned her head.

“You’ve always been the cutest filly, Cozy.”

“But I’m even more adorable now!  Pastel pink is 2.46% cuter than pastel purple.  Who’s a pretty pony?  I am!” She booped the nose of her own reflection.  “But for maximum adorableness I need these…”  She started drawing freckles on her cheeks.

“But… you have freckles naturally on your purple coat!”

“Purple’s just not cute enough, sis.”

“What about your cutie mark. How cute is that?”

She shrugged.  “Your mark’s way cuter, but I have to leave ponies some clues.”

“Clues to what?”

Cozy giggled.  “That I’m more than meets the eye.  That I’m not just an adorable face.  Though I’m definitely adorable.”

“I liked you better the way you were, Cozy.”  I didn’t add in that I meant that in more ways than just her new appearance.

“Living in the past, like always, Flit.  That’s why I’m going places and you’re not.”

Rude.  Cozyheart was never like this.  If this is new and improved Cozy, I’ll gladly keep living in the past and remembering the Cozy I loved.









West Milfoil: seven years, ten months, and twelve days ago


Things had been weird the past few days.  Magic had stopped working, and unicorns were panicking.  Then devices started failing.  According to the newspaper, magic was being drained out of Equestria.  Thankfully, the magic had come back the prior evening. If the newspapers weren’t sensationalizing things, we were mere minutes away from losing all our magic forever.

Disaster averted, it was back to business as usual.  I’d gone to school like I would on any other weekday.  It was a normal day until science class.  Halfway through class, the principal walked in and spoke with our teacher.  Then my teacher asked me to go with the principal.  I followed her back to her office, mind racing.  What did I do?  Nothing jumped to mind.  I’d always been a good student, and I’d never caused trouble.

She opened the door to her office and motioned for me to go inside.  Mom’s already here, so whatever it is must be really bad.  My panic turned to worry when I saw Mom had been crying.  I sat next to her and she immediately wrapped a wing around me.

The principal closed the door to her office, leaving me alone with Mom.  “What’s wrong?”

“It’s Cozy.”

“No!  What happened?  Is she okay?”

“She’s in Tartarus.”

I blinked.  Tartarus was the place bad ponies went when they died. “My sister’s dead?”

“It’s punishment for the wicked, but also a maximum security prison for the living.”  Mom hoofed me a newspaper and sobbed into my shoulder.  I read the headline and my stomach sank. Cozy had been responsible for the magical drain.  I read the article, tears blurring my vision.  At the very end it was mentioned that she’d been thrown in Tartarus for her crimes.  There was no mention of how long she’d be incarcerated for.

“Is there anything we can do?”

Mom shook her head, but I refused to give up on my little sister that easily.  The principal told me to take the rest of the day off, so I walked Mom home.  Mom had always been the strong one, and it broke my heart to see her so weak she needed to lean on me for support just to walk ten blocks.

Mom went to bed, while I made dinner.  Mom never let me use the oven, but we had bread and vegetables.  Cucumber sandwiches might not be the best meal in the world, but at least it was something to put in our tummies.  I hoofed one to Mom, then ate my own in silence at the foot of Mom’s bed.  I just couldn’t wrap my head around why Cozy would do such a thing.  The paper had indicated she was attempting to overthrow the princesses and be ‘The Empress of Friendship’.  What does that even mean?  Last time I saw my sister, she struggled with the concept of making friends.

“Flitterheart?”

“Yes Mom?”

“There’s a journal in the top drawer of my dresser.  Hidden at the very bottom.  Could you bring it here?”

I followed Mom’s instructions and found the book she wanted.  Mom flipped through the pages until she came to an intricately detailed drawing of my cutie mark.  “Oh! Pretty!  Who drew this?”

“I did, when I was pregnant with you.  Did you ever wonder how ponies end up with names related to their special talents when those special talents have yet to materialize?”

I shook my head.  I never thought about it, but now that she mentioned it…

“There’s a special bond between mother and child, and at some point during the pregnancy, a mother will get a vision of what her foal’s eventual cutie mark will be.  That’s yours.”  She flipped further forward in the journal to an image of a heart wearing a knit cap. “That’s Cozyheart’s.”

I blinked.  That was no rook.  “How?”

“I don’t know.  I’ve been trying to figure it out for three years with no luck.  There are no recorded instances of a foal earning a cutie mark differing from the one foreshadowed.”

“Something went horribly wrong somewhere along the line.”

Mom nodded, lost in her own thoughts.  She reached a cautious hoof to the sketched cutie mark as if it were a fragile vase that might shatter if she touched it too hard.

I returned to my room and buried my head in my pillow.  It isn’t fair.  Something happened to happy, loving Cozyheart that turned her into delusional, megalomaniacal Cozy Glow.  But what?

My somber introspection was interrupted by a stone hitting my window.  I glanced at the clock – school had just let out.  My friends were no doubt trying to get my attention.  I opened the window, but that didn’t stop the rocks from flying in my direction.  I ducked as my friends continued their stony assault.  I cringed as the rocks hit my Sapphire Shores and Songbird Serenade posters.  “Stop! Please!”

The rocks stopped and I dared to poke my snout out the window.  My best friend, Spice Cake, stood in front of the rest of our friends. “Spice?”

“Flit.  I’ll keep this brief.  Don’t talk to us.”

“But we’re friends…”

“Not anymore.”

As one, they turned their backs on me and flicked their tails to show their disdain.  Then they walked slowly away, out of my life with heads held high.  It hurt to watch all of my friends abandon me for something my sister did.  I wanted to hate them.  I wanted to hate Cozy.  But I couldn’t.  Deep down inside I knew something was wrong.  Nothing felt right; nothing felt like it was supposed to.  But I couldn’t put my hoof on what, exactly.

I closed the window and once more flopped on my bed.  My tears stained my pillow as I cried myself to sleep.









West Milfoil: seven years, ten months, and eleven days ago


I awoke to more stones hitting the window.  I blinked the sleep from my eyes and looked at the clock.  It was well past midnight.  Who do I know that would be up at this hour?  I opened the curtains to find myself face to face with a pegasus outside my window.  I shrieked and jumped back.

“It’s good to see you too, cuz.”

“Swiftheart?”

She rubbed her barrel. “The one and only.  Fastest pegasus in all Equestria!”

“Rainbow Dash? Wow!  To what do I owe the honor?”

Swiftheart huffed. “Is that any way to treat the pony who’s here to rescue you?”

“Rescue me?”  The memories of everything that had happened over the past few days flooded back to me.  “How?”

“We brought carts.” She motioned to her siblings, Brightheart and Proudheart, behind her.  “Put everything you value into these carts, and then we’re hightailing it out of here.  Mom and Dad are helping your parents.  No time to waste.”  She clopped her hooves together.  “Chop, chop. Move it!”

My body started going through the motions, piling the first cart high with toys, games, and mementos with sentimental value.  “Where are we going?”

“Tonight?  To the clouds above town.  Tomorrow we move.  I don’t know where.  I don’t think the rest of the family’s quite figured that out yet.  But we need to go somewhere nopony knows us.”

Proudheart and Brightheart climbed through the window and helped me load the cart that Swiftheart hovered outside my window.  With two carts loaded to capacity, I turned to the third.  I had everything I valued packed up, and I had another two carts waiting down there.  “C’mon.” I motioned to Brightheart and Proudheart to follow me.  I led the way to Cozyheart’s room.  It was at that moment I resolved to never use the name ‘Cozy Glow’ ever again. Cozyheart was my sister, now and forever.  Cozy Glow, on the other hoof, was an imposter.  An abomination that shouldn’t exist.

“I don’t think she’s going to need this anymore…”

Brightheart trailed off as I glared at him.

Proudheart nodded. “If it means that much to you, we understand.  You knew her better than we did.”  She started packing things into a crate.  Cozy had taken things with her to the friendship school, but it seemed as if she’d left her most prized possessions here.  Her plush kitty, Lucky, was sitting on the dresser, forlornly looking out the window.  ‘She likes to watch the birds,’ Cozyheart’s voice echoed in my mind.  Something definitely wasn’t right.  She never would’ve left this stuff behind.  It was as if she’d shed her entire personality when she left.

Swiftheart finally figured out what were up to and pulled the cart alongside Cozyheart’s window.  With her speed, she could probably clear the room faster than the three of us combined, but none of the rest of us had her wing strength.  We couldn’t keep a cart hovering in place for any length of time.  It would’ve been better if Brightheart had been the one outside, his dark purple coat would’ve blended in better than Swiftheart’s powder blue.  The longer we kept at it, the more I noticed Swiftheart keeping an eye out on the neighborhood around us.  Normally brash, confident, and cocky, it was unnerving to see her nervous, and that in turn made me nervous.

Once we’d loaded as many of Cozyheart’s belongings into the carts as we could, we fluttered to the ground. My parents and their parents were already waiting for us, four carts of their own filled.  Swiftheart wasted no time, not even bothering to land.  With a wave she flew out of sight.  Her parents, Loyalheart and Gentleheart, took off after her, as did her siblings.  My parents waited for me to get airborne, then took off themselves.

It was hard leaving our house behind.  It was the only home I’d ever known, and I doubted I’d ever see it again.  I circled it, taking one last look, before plunging into the night ahead of me.  It didn’t take long to overtake Brightheart, who was struggling under his load.  Nopony was ever going to accuse him of physically fit.

When we finally broke through the clouds, it became apparent that Uncle Braveheart and Aunt Treatheart had been busy while we were loading up our possessions.  They’d formed a crude, temporary house in the clouds for all of us.

We landed, adding our carts to the row of carts already parked around the house.  I did some quick math – there were more than twice as many carts as ponies to pull them.  How are we going to take them all with us?

“Get as much sleep as you can.  We move at first light.”

I heeded Uncle Braveheart’s command, and hunkered down in one of the rooms in the cloud house. There weren’t enough for all of us to have our own rooms, and my cousins joined me.  Snuggled up against them, I fell into an uneasy sleep as my Dad and uncles took turns keeping watch.









I opened my eyes slowly. Uncle Braveheart hadn’t been kidding about moving at first light.  The sun hadn’t even poked over the horizon before we were on the move.  All of us, together towing the section of cloud containing the house and the carts.  Some of us pulling, the rest pushing.

We continued on for days, heading west across Equestria until we reached Salt Lick City.  Not my first choice, but that was the point.  It wasn’t much to look at, but it was home now.  At least until things calmed down.

As far as attractions go, it has Equestria’s Biggest Ball of Cashmere Yarn.  Specifically cashmere yarn.  According to the proprietor, the largest ball of yarn in Equestria was in Whinnyapolis. This one was still pretty impressive, and even had a restaurant at the top with a landing balcony for pegasi.

And that was pretty much it in terms of attraction for the city located on a vast salt flat.









Salt Lick City: seven years, nine months, and twenty-six days ago


Dear Princess Celestia,

I’m writing this letter in the hope you’ll grant mercy on my little sister.  She’s been a bad pony, but I know her to be a kind and generous pony, albeit one who has trouble making friends.

If you could find it in your heart to remand her to our custody, we’ll keep her under house arrest and see that she gets the help she obviously needs.  I know in my heart she’s a good pony.

My sister’s name is Cozyheart, though she’s been using the alias ‘Cozy Glow’ for a while now.

Your faithful subject,
Flitterheart









Salt Lick City: seven years, two months, and two days ago


Months went by with no reply from the princess.  We’d already started making plans to travel to Canterlot during the Hearth’s Warming school break.  Not just me, not just my parents and I, but the whole family.  We thought that perhaps if the princess saw there was a support group ready to take care of her, she’d be more inclined to listen to us.

But any hope I once had of Princess Celestia freeing my sister from Tartarus were dashed to pieces by Cozy’s assault on Canterlot.  Incredibly, there were only three casualties: Tirek, Chrysalis, and Cozy Glow themselves. I wish that meant that her alias was dead and buried, and that I had my sister back for good, but no.  She and her partners in crime had been executed by petrification.  The magic-stealing centaur, Tirek, and the shape-shifting changeling queen, Chrysalis – their misdeeds were already the stuff of legends.  How had Cozyheart gotten herself mixed up with them?

Now they were all dead. Stone statues serving as the latest tourist attraction in the Canterlot Castle sculpture garden.  Where was the mercy shown to Discord?  To Starlight Glimmer?  To all the other threats to Equestria?  Instead they executed a filly, turning her to stone.  What kind of monsters do that? They didn’t even have the decency to give her a traditional pegasus funeral pyre.

I’ll never see my sister again.

I cried until I had no more tears left to cry.









Salt Lick City: five years, three months, and twenty-two days ago


I spent years going through the motions.  Cozyheart and I had been close.  Not having her there anymore hurt in the way losing a wing would’ve.  It was like part of me was gone, and nothing could ever make me whole ever again.  I had been a happy filly.  There hadn’t been a more loving, more caring family in all of Equestria than ours.

I wasn’t alone in wallowing in pity and bitterness.  It was sad to think about just how far our family had fallen.  We didn’t bother buying a house, instead we all pitched in to build a home in the clouds big enough for all of us.

Once it became apparent we wouldn’t be moving back home, we sent notice to Great Uncle Coldheart to sell our homes and remaining assets.  The only earth pony in a family of pegasi, his personality lived up to his name.  With a blue coat and white hair, he was an imposing stallion with an icy cold glare. One look at his cutie mark, a heart encased in a block of ice, was all it took to give most ponies a bad case of shivers.  He hadn’t moved with us – he didn’t need to.  Nopony was messing with him.  He was also a ruthless businesspony, and more than happy to take care of disposing of our superfluous assets in exchange for a significant cut of the proceeds.

But life went on. There was nothing more that anypony could do for Cozyheart.  Our final request that the princess turn Cozy’s statue over to our family so we could hold a proper funeral pyre for her went unanswered.  Just like all previous correspondence to the princess.

If we couldn’t get closure, the best that we could do was move on.  Back in West Milfoil, we’d been heavily involved with a number of charities. Everypony in town used to call us the Care Mares.  The stallions in the family took some ribbing for that, of course.

They’d never called us anything even remotely like that since moving to Salt Lick City.  It was finally time to change that.  I joined Habitat For Equinity as winter was approaching, and the demand was highest for new housing.

I already had a little experience building a house when we first moved to Salt Lick City, so I joined the pegasus crew, helping to build cloud homes in the sky for those pegasi unable to do so themselves.  Clouds might be soft and fluffy, but it was backbreaking work turning raw clouds into stable, sturdy buildings.

Swiftheart was in the middle of her daily flight practice when she spotted me.  Without a word she dropped to the clouds beside me and grabbed a hammer.  Word spread, and by the end of the day our whole family was on site, helping.









Salt Lick City: five years, three months, and twenty-one days ago


The next day our entire family was present, and we broke off into our own work crew, just like old times. Well, almost like old times.  We were still one member short, and rather than help Proudheart with the interior, like Cozy and I used to, I chose to help with the manual labor outside.  The only way I could get through it was to be outside.

It was a constructive use of our time, not to mention therapeutic.  Not only were we building homes, we were rebuilding our lives simultaneously.  It felt good to be giving back, just like it used to.  I’d missed this, and judging from the smiles on the faces around me, I think it was safe to say we all did.

We’d volunteered to build the biggest house, a two-story with eight bedrooms for a widow and her seven young foals.  Brightheart had immediately tweaked the design, adding two additional bathrooms to the home.  I chuckled at that – even after building a new home here where Proudheart was given her own bathroom, that was apparently still a sore subject for her brother.

Work was progressing at a good clip on the exterior.  Swiftheart’s speed was like having three extra ponies on the jobsite.  As I sat down for lunch I looked from the house to the family that was to occupy it and back.  All those foals.  Proudheart put a hoof on my shoulder as I sat staring at the house.

“The Cozyheart we knew and loved would want you to do it.  I’ll help.”

I smiled.  “There’s a trick to it…”

“I know.  I watched the two of you do it enough times.”  We grabbed the longest piece of rainbow from the supplies, then started flying in a corkscrew.  Tools dropped as everypony in the family stopped what they were doing to watch.  Mom broke down in tears and Brightheart took his cap off and held it over his heart.

When were done there was a spiral rainbow slide in the home’s backyard.  The foals quickly started taking turns sliding down it, while I collapsed, sobbing, into Proudheart’s hooves.

She stroked a hoof through my mane as I cried myself out.  Eventually she went back to working on the house’s interior as I sat there sniffling.  The young widow sat down next to me.  “I’m guessing there’s something very special about that slide.”

“It was my sister’s design. We… we haven’t made one since her passing.  But I saw you have foals and…and it’s what she would’ve wanted.”

She wrapped a wing around me and we sat there watching her kids enjoy the rainbow.  “It gets easier.  Eventually. It’s been five years, and there’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think about my husband.”

We sat there swapping stories of our lost loved ones for the rest of the day.  My family didn’t mind, even if it took them a bit longer to finish the house without my help.

I vowed to never again forget that I’m still alive.  No more zombie am I.









Salt Lick City: four years, six months, and one day ago


Proudheart, Brightheart, and I were lounging around the family room of our combined family house. We didn’t spend nearly as much time together as we’d used to.  Our family was fracturing – Cozyheart hadn’t been the glue keeping us together, but her absence was felt.  My parents blamed themselves and threw themselves into their work.  They’d worked the weather back home, and we’d ended up in Salt Lick City because the city needed an entire weather team.  With my aunts and uncles pressed into service, the Hearts became their new weather team.  It was likely my destiny to join them in a few years.  What ambition I’d once had to be a teacher was long gone.

There was significantly less enthusiasm in our household than there’d once been.  Even putting us all under one roof hadn’t rekindled the fire of love and the spirit of caring in our hearts.  If anything, the situation deteriorated further, because we were constantly around one another, and had fewer things to occupy our time other than get on each other’s nerves.

Brightheart turned a page in his book and Proudheart snapped at him.  “Can’t you turn those pages quieter?  Every minute, flip, flip, flip.  It keeps breaking my immersion.”

“If that means you can’t write lousy poetry, I’m doing the world a favor.”

“Hey now,” I interrupted. “Where’s the old Care Mares spirit?”

“We haven’t been the Care Mares since…” Proudheart trailed off.  “We haven’t been the Care Mares in over a year.  It’s painful, but you need to hear the truth, Flit.  We left the Care Mares name back in West Milfoil and it’s not coming back.”

“As much as I dislike that nickname, I disagree.”  Brightheart put down the book he was reading.  “We’re still the Care Mares Family.  We’ve all been coping in our own ways.  Swiftheart’s thrown herself into her training.  Flitterheart’s burying herself in nostalgia because living in the past is easier.  And speaking of needing to hear the truth, Proudheart…  You went from ‘mourning’ to just plain goth.  That makeup looks ridiculous, and your poetry isn’t edgy, it’s just awful.  You’re better than this, sis.  We’re all better than this.”

“You seem to be doing fine, ‘Mr. Know-It-All.”  Proudheart’s tail lashed.  Beyond an annoyed flick, this was more akin to an angry cat.

“I’m coping in my own way.” Brightheart patted the book he was reading.

“Like that’s different than normal?  You’ve always had your snout buried in a book since we were just foals.”

“It isn’t reading that’s out of the ordinary, it’s what I’m reading that’s changed.”  He flipped the book around to show us the cover: Evil Entities & Proven Possessions.  “I think Cozyheart may have been taken over by an evil spirit.  Like when the Nightmare infected Princess Luna and caused her to turn into Nightmare Moon.”

I gasped.  It made sense.

“I’ve been compiling data in the hopes of getting some answers.”  Brightheart sighed.  “There’s also…  Let’s wait until Swiftheart gets home from her workout session.  I only want to have this discussion once.”

Brightheart buried his snout back in the book he was reading, while the normally talkative Proudheart sat there, deep in thought.  I would’ve sighed, but I didn’t want to break the awkward silence.









Hours later Swiftheart entered, drenched in sweat.  “‘Sup?”

Proud Heart wrinkled her snout in disgust.  “You. Shower.  Now.”  She pushed her sister up the stairs.  The normally energetic Swiftheart was too exhausted to offer more than a token protest.

Brightheart opened one of his books.  “While we’re waiting for them, maybe you can answer some questions.  I have some basic ideas, but you were closer to her than any of us.”

“Okay.”

“Have you ever seen purple goo?”

“No.”

“I didn’t think so. But Hydia was one of the most powerful sorceresses of antiquity – she even fought Starswirl the Bearded to a standstill before the combined forces of Celestia and Luna drove her through a portal to another dimension.  Purple Smooze was one of her methods, though not the only one.  Still, she hasn’t been heard from in thousands of years, so it probably isn’t her.”

“Ancient evils pop up every few years, so you never know.”  I shrugged.  “Of course, that’s assuming it’s an ancient evil and not some new evil on the block looking to make a name for itself.”

He nodded. “True.  If a portal from that dimension opened to this one, it’s possible she’s returned, but it’s even more likely that this is an entirely new entity, something that nopony’s ever seen before.  There’s also the possibility she’s been possessed by the very same Nightmare that took over Princess Luna.  Her personality completely changed from when she was little to the time of… her departure.”  There was no nice way of phrasing what had happened to my sister, but Bright’s word choice was the kindest I’d yet heard.  “Did Cozy’s coat ever dull or turn gray entirely?”

I shrugged.  “She started dying her coat pink, so who knows.”

“Before or after her change to Cozy Glow?”

I spat in disgust. “Don’t call her that.”

“I’m not.  I’m calling what possessed her that.”

“After.”

Brightheart scribbled some notes down.  “Probably not Discord then.  Discorded ponies eventually turn grayscale.  Like that debacle with the meteorite in Drab City.”

“They call it Rainbow City these days.  I miss those days when we used to go on ‘caring missions’ and cheer up ponies. Did you ever finish that caring meter you were working on?”

Brightheart shook his head. “If it couldn’t detect…” he trailed off. “It was unable to detect a nearby evil spirit so it must have been defective.”

“It was so promising in the tests.”

“Lots of things are promising in early testing that never make it to production.  Moving down the list, did her cutie mark ever disappear? Perhaps replaced with an equal sign?”

“No, but…”  I grabbed a quill and paper and sketched a heart wearing a ski cap.  “This was supposed to be her real cutie mark.  She wasn’t supposed to have a rook.  Chess was never her special talent.”

Bright raised an eyebrow and jotted down some more notes.  “How would you know what her cutie mark was supposed to be?  Cutie mark magic is some of the most powerful magic known.  You can’t force a mark to appear, and only one pony has ever managed to unlock the secret of removing a pony’s cutie mark.”

“Starlight Glimmer,” I replied immediately.  Brightheart wasn’t the only pony who knew how to research things.

My cousin nodded. “You’ve done your homework.”

“Of course.  I want to find whoever did this, and I’m going to make them pay for what they did to my sister.”

“I want you to think long and hard about this, Flitterheart.”  He didn’t use my nickname.  The conversation had already been serious, but somehow it turned more serious.  Deadly serious.  “We don’t know for sure that she’s dead inside the statue.  Princess Luna was sealed inside the moon for a thousand years, and Discord was petrified for even longer.”

“They’re ancient magical beings and Cozy was just a child.  Maybe Chrysalis and Tirek could survive being stoned for eternity, but, really, is being petrified any different than death?”

“Yes.  Yes, it is.”

“Are you saying we could bring her back?”

“Possibly.  It depends entirely on what I’m about to ask you. There are… powerful magical entities. Evil spirits like the Nightmare. Some of them are even worse. These are spirits that look for ponies like you.  Ponies who are hurt, sad, angry, bitter, lonely, jealous… any negative emotion is like a beacon in the dark.  They make deals… the kind of deals that are sealed in blood.  The kind of deals that require blood.  There are magical beings, demons really, that could bring Cozy back from where they’ve sent her.  If she really is dead, it wouldn’t matter – her body is preserved in stone.  That makes things simpler.  But you’d have to be sure.  You don’t summon something like this and then change your mind – not without consequences.  If you’re willing to turn your back on everything the Hearts have stood for since the founding of the family… it can be done.”

“I…  That’s a lot to take in.  Are you talking dark magic?”

Brightheart nodded. “How bad do you want Cozyheart back?”

“With all my heart.”

“Are you willing to do what it takes, Flit?”

“I don’t know.  Ponies have tried to cheat death before.  They never come back ‘right’.  Cozy was already pretty ‘wrong’ when we lost her…”  I sighed.  “The best we can hope for is to have the ‘wrong’ Cozy returned to us and at worst…”  I shuddered.  “Let’s not think about what kind of eldritch abomination she might turn into.  So no.  I guess not.  Isn’t there any other way?”

Brightheart breathed a sigh of relief.  “I had to make sure you weren’t blinded by love… or corrupted by the same entity as Cozy.”

He whistled, and Proudheart and Swiftheart returned from cleaning up.  The former had washed away her eye shadow and other makeup, while the latter actually looked pretty.

I hadn’t been expecting that, and neither had Brightheart if his reaction was anything to go by.

“What?  You talk a lot.  We had some extra time.”

“But you…and her…and not goth…  Huh?”

“You’re right, dark and dreary just aren’t my colors, darling.”

“I think you broke his brain, sis.”  Swiftheart hoofbumped Proudheart.

“I think we both did, Swiftheart.”  Proudheart grinned.  “You do look quite stunning in that dress.  I knew you’d clean up well.”

“Of course I clean up well. Sheesh, why does everypony think I’m a tomcolt?  Am I not allowed to be pretty too?”

Proudheart shrugged. “If it was up to me you’d look this good every day.”

“No need to go overboard. One makeover per year is enough.”

“That.  That’s why everypony thinks you’re a tomcolt, sis.”

Swiftheart shrugged. “That’s legit.  So what did we miss?”

“Flit’s on board.”

“Oh good, so she’s not corrupted by an evil spirit.”

“Swiftheart!”

“What?  You were worried about that, weren’t you?  You made a big deal about having to make sure.”

Brightheart facehoofed. “Yes.  Anyways, we won’t be summoning any dark entities.”

I blushed.  “That option was never on the table.  I hope.”

“It wasn’t.  Yes, I’ve been researching evil spirits, but my goal is to stop them, not empower them.  Believe me, I want to bring back Cozyheart as much as you do, but not if she’s going to be an evil entity that needs to be stopped.  Again.  I don’t know if it’s possible, and that’s why I keep reading.”

“So what’s the plan, bro?” Swiftheart wasn’t known for her patience.

“There isn’t one.” Brightheart sighed.  “There’s just no way of bringing her back.  Not without compromising our beliefs and doing things we’d never forgive ourselves for.  Not without hurting innocent ponies.”

“So what now?”

“We move on with our lives. I’ll never stop looking – if there’s a way, I’ll find it.  But we can’t wait forever.  There’s a very real chance that there’s nothing we can do for her, so we have to do what’s best for ourselves.  I’ll keep studying.  Swiftheart, you keep flying fast.  It’s what you do.  Flitterheart, you’ve got to figure out what you want to do with your life.  Do you still want to be a teacher or not?  Proudheart, I have no idea what your ambitions are. Seriously, if I was going to pick the most likely member of our family to try overthrowing the government, it would’ve been you.”

“Totes legit, sis.” Swiftheart wasn’t one for wasting words. Or for using complete words, for that matter.

“Fine, fine.  I shall settle for merely taking over the eastern seaboard.  Happy?”

Despite myself, I couldn’t help giggling at my cousins’ antics.









Salt Lick City: three years, seven months, and twenty-six days ago


I’d spent the last few years rebuilding my life.  Progress was slow, but the important part was that I was making progress.  My cousins all had goals and plans for the future. Brightheart and Proudheart were planning on attending college, while Swiftheart still clung to her dream of being a Wonderbolt.  I, however, was just drifting through life, looking for purpose.

And then I found it in the newspaper.  A parallel universe had been discovered, and they were opening up the portal between our worlds to ponies who met certain requirements.  Learn a few languages?  No sweat.  More history?  Lay it on me.

Earth.  A place I could rest, then make a new start.  After everything that had happened, the idea of making a fresh new start without any of the baggage I’d been carrying around the past few years sounded extremely appealing.  I kept reading to get all the details – my mind was already made up, I was going.

There was no magic on Earth, but they’d compensated with technology the likes of which ponies had never even dreamed of.  Instantaneous communication with others around the world, no dragon fire needed. Brightheart would love that, he’s always tinkering on some gadget or another. I bet I could convince him to go with me… Oh, it says they’re only allowing mares for now.  There’s no way I’m convincing either Proudheart or Swiftheart to come with me.  Blah.

Oh well, either way, it’s a place where my sister isn’t considered the worst pony to have ever lived.  And that’s all right by me.









Cloudsdale: three months, and eleven days ago


My cousins had moved on with their lives.  Brightheart had been accepted into every college he applied to, eventually choosing to go to Equestrian Institute of Technology, or EIT for short.  Proudheart had accepted a full scholarship to Canterlot University.  Swiftheart, meanwhile, had turned down scholarships at three different schools to focus on applying to the Wonderbolts. 

Most of our family had turned out to see her tryouts.  Some of the other candidates had dropped out during the training, and a few hadn’t passed the exam.  Swiftheart had aced everything the Wonderbolts had thrown at her.  All that was left was her final evaluation – showing off her tricks and giving them one last reason why she should be on their team.

“All right, newbies, you’ve survived Trials Week for the Wonderbolts Academy.”  Spitfire commanded everypony’s attention.  “There’s just one last thing you need to do.  It’s really, really simple.  You’ve got five minutes to do anything you want, and all you have to do in those three hundred short seconds is impress me.”

Easier said than done, but Swiftheart’s got this.  She’s got more natural talent than anypony since Rainbow Dash.

“You’ll be judged on your speed, strength, agility, and technique.”

“You!”  Spitfire pointed to a yellow-coated stallion with red, white, and green hair.  “You’re up. Think you can impress me?”

“Yes ma’am!”  He saluted and took to the skies.  He started his routine by bucking a cloud, causing lightning to set one of the hoops on fire.  He flew through the flaming hoop to cheers from the crowd. There was just one slight problem – he’d singed his tail, and it was still burning.

He realized it about halfway through his routine.  A comedienne might even say it lit a fire under his rump.  At the very least, it lit his rump on fire.  He finished his routine with his still smoldering tail, leaving a trail of smoke behind him.

“Impressive.  It’s not often I have a recruit set himself on fire for me.”

She pointed to a nervous mare who shot into the air before Spitfire could even blow her whistle. Her routine wasn’t as death-defying, mostly because she didn’t light herself on fire.  She wasn’t as fast as the stallion, but she had agility and precision.  I liked her – she flew more like me, flittering here and there, turning on a tenth-bit.  While she made an impression on me, Spitfire looked underwhelmed.  Oh well, that’s why my cousin’s out there and not me.

Third in line was a black stallion with silvery streaks in his white and red mane.  Introduced as Ironhead, his routine consisted of smashing through any obstacle put in his way.  He seemed better suited for a demolition derby than a Wonderbolts rally.

“That’s one way to use your head.” Spitfire looked to the next recruit in line and my heart skipped a beat.  It was Swiftheart’s turn.

Come on, cuz, let’s see what you can do!  Proudheart and Brightheart were cheering her on, too, as was a good chunk of our family.  I looked around and realized Uncle Braveheart was missing.  Just his luck – what a bad time to make a pit stop!

Swiftheart started her routine slowly.  Obviously she’s building to something.  She went through the slalom course.  Come on, what are you doing?  She was making it a point to do the same basic drill that every pegasus had to do in flight school.  Everypony watching her could do that routine in their sleep.  Some of them probably have.

She finished the course with a double inside-out loop, the same way all of us had all those years ago. There was nothing at all spectacular about her routine.  Spitfire was yawning.  She’d already burned up four of her five minutes.  If you’re going to do something, cuz, do it now.

She returned to the starting line and flashed Spitfire a cocky grin, and then she was off in a blue blur.  She zipped around the same course again, completing it in less than a minute. More than a few jaws dropped at her performance.

Well, she isn’t named ‘Swiftheart’ for nothing.

Uncle Braveheart sat down next to me thirty seconds after Swiftheart finished her routine.  “Can you believe the refreshment stand isn’t open because this is only a try-out and not a rally?”

“Normally there are more ponies here for a rally, Uncle Braveheart.”

“Yeah, I guess that makes sense.  Did I miss anything?”

“…Nothing you haven’t seen before.”  Technically that was true.  He’d seen Swiftheart fly many times, and at some point in his past, Uncle Braveheart had to have done the flight school training course too.

“You know what would be really cool?  If somepony crashed through all the obstacles instead of flying around them.  Oh, maybe with their tail on fire.”

I guess he missed those recruits.  “You should uh, work on that, Uncle Braveheart.  If there’s anypony out there who could do a routine like that, it’s you.”  And he had. Albeit he’d never done both simultaneously.  Or, for that matter, intentionally.

“Gosh, you really think so?”

“Absolutely.  Or my Mom’s not Trueheart.”  I pictured him crashing through things with his tail on fire. It wasn’t a hard mental image to conjure.  Wait, what does Uncle Braveheart crash into more than anything else?  …Water. My visual ended with Uncle Braveheart splashing down into a lake.  ‘My tail done went out.’  “You know, on second thought, that sounds really dangerous, Uncle Braveheart.  You could get hurt.”

“Yeah, probably.  So, pretty much like any other day.”

I wanted to refute that, but it was too accurate.  Instead, I patted his withers.  “We love you, Uncle Braveheart.  You don’t have to be a Wonderbolt to be the world’s best uncle!”

“Aww, shucks.  I’m not the best uncle in all of Equestria.”

“Sure you are!  How many uncles would dress up like a princess to go fright-or-biting with his nieces?  How many uncles can shrug off adversity like it’s nothing?  You taught me the meaning of the word tenacity. You’re awesome, Uncle Braveheart.”

“Ten-ass-it-ee? What’s that?”

“Determination.  When you set your mind to something, you do it, no matter what gets in your way.”

“You’re right!”  He stood up.

“Where are you going now?”

“I’m gonna get a hayburger, and I don’t care if the refreshment stand’s not open.  Let me know when Swiftheart’s up.  Charge!”

I facehoofed.









Swiftheart had joined us as we watched the last half a dozen recruits left: Swervin’, Awesome Thrill, Lake Speed, Highline Flair, Smokey Skies, and Slick Trickle.  All of them stallions, and I couldn’t help but wonder if promising mare recruits had forgone applying to the Wonderbolts in favor of heading to Earth.

“I just want to say you’re my favorite Wonderbolt recruit!”

I blinked.  Angel Wings!?!  No way, one of the actual Wonderbolts just called my cousin her favorite.

The two bumped rumps, and I immediately saw why Swiftheart had caught her attention.  They both had very similar cutie marks: winged hearts.

“I think it goes without saying, but I love your cutie mark.”

“Are you kidding?  I love your cutie mark!”

They hugged, and my family wasn’t about to be left out, turning it into a giant group hug.

“I look forward to working with you, rookie.”  She paused and looked around at all of us.  “How do I get out of this group hug?”









Salt Lick City: sixteen days ago


I stood in my room, trying to decide what to pack.  Space was at a premium, as they’d limited us to taking only what we could carry.  But there was no limit on what could be mailed to us after the fact, which meant I didn’t really need to stress about it, and my parents had promised not to throw any of my things out.  When it comes to promises, Trueheart and Nobleheart are two of the best at keeping them.

I looked at my phonograph. Records were in the process of making a comeback on Earth, but they were considered an outdated format for playing music.  Humans and equines alike were hard at work digitalizing Equestria’s music history. I didn’t need to bring my music collection.  The same was true for my library.  Archivists had been prioritizing books for digitalization for years, and while textbooks and spell books had been given the highest priority, they’d already moved into popular fiction.  My parents were willing to send anything I’d forgotten, so I had the luxury of taking a wait and see attitude on that.

Most of what I’d packed was clothing, along with a few items of sentimental value.  Humans were almost always clothed, so I felt the need to pack accordingly.  But I still had some space left, and so I wandered into Cozyheart’s room.  When we first moved in, we were optimistic that she’d return to us again one day, so we’d built a room for her.  We’d never bothered unpacking her things, at first because we figured we’d let her set it up as she liked, and later because there was no point in making up a room for somepony who’d never use it.  So it had served as a storage closet for years, with Cozy’s belongings shoved to the very back wall.

I passed the exercise bike that Dad never used, old craft projects I’d made in art class or at summer camp, and the assorted other items that had accumulated over the course of our lives.  I blew a layer of dust off the first of the boxes, and started going through them, looking for a memento of Cozy’s I could take with me.

I could take her chess set, the one she’d used to earn her cutie mark by utterly embarrassing me on the field of battle.  But I refused to associate her with chess.  That was her false mark.  I kept digging, trying to find something suitable.

Her favorite book!  How many times did I read this to her when I was just learning to read?  I picked it up and opened the cover to read the inscription.  It had been a Hearth’s Warming gift to her.  Much to my surprise an envelope flittered out from between the pages.  The front had a crayon drawing of my cutie mark, so I opened it.

Flitterheart,

Traveling down memory lane again, you sentimental softie?  I knew you’d find this eventually if I left it in here.

If you're reading this, odds are pretty good things didn't go quite as planned.  I tried explaining things before, but I didn't want to burden you with this. There's nothing you could have done, so why make you worry?

Golly, where do I start?  Ever since I got my mark, it's as if life is a game to me.  Specifically, a game I have to win at any cost.  The smartest option would be to wait until I'm adult, and take enough time to build up a good network of loyal followers. But my brain won't let me wait.  I need to do this now; I need to win the game and prove that even though I'm still a kid, I'm the best and smartest pony out there.  You see the fallacy in this, right?  So do I. It's why I'm 90% confident I'm going to fail even though my plan's absolutely foolproof.  But there's no shortage of fools in Equestria, and I'm sure one of them will be along to foul up my plans with something completely unexpected.

Or maybe you're reading this because I succeeded and you're wondering why your Empress doesn't have time for her own family anymore. Quite frankly, it's because I love you, sis.  We have a wonderful family, and I love all of you so much.  I can't bear to manipulate you like I do everypony else.

That's why I changed my name, regardless of how much it hurt you, Mom, and Dad, but I did it to protect all of you.  Win or lose, I'm going to have a lot of enemies.  And a loving family is an exploitable weakness. In chess terms, since that's how my brain processes things, you're the pieces I'm unwilling to sacrifice.

I wish I could give you some heroic story about how I'm a misunderstood freedom fighter, but I can't lie to you.  You've lived in Equestria your whole life, same as me. The princesses are great.  But they're not me, and well sis, it's all about the power.  They've got it and I'm going to take it from them.

No matter the cost.

I know how much you love me.  I love you too, sis, and that's why I'm telling you to let go.  Cherish the memories, but I'm not the pony you used to know.

Love always,
Cozyheart

P.S. Look after Lucky for me.

Why, oh why, oh why did she have to include that postscript?  My heart broke all over again.  I dug through the boxes, searching for the little plush cat Cozyheart had taken everywhere with her.  Lucky had to be somewhere in the boxes, I packed her when we fled West Milfoil personally.  What better toy could there be to represent Cozyheart in my memories?  Especially since she’d taken almost every picture of herself with her when she’d left home for the School of Friendship.

The only pictures she’d left behind were the ones where one or more of the rest of us were in the shot. My hooves clinked against a picture frame and I pulled out a photo of Cozy and I on Nightmare Night.  Princess Cozyheart, how ironic in hindsight.  I kept digging and came across some pictures from the Pumpkin Lakes carnival photo booth.

Eventually I found Lucky, and I packed her and half a dozen of the photos I’d found in with my belongings.









Canterlot: yesterday


Some goodbyes were easier than others.  Parting with my family in Salt Lick City had been painful, and was made even more difficult by the long train ride that had immediately followed.  I had too much time to think, or more accurately, to dwell on the past.

With very few exceptions, portal access had been limited to mares.  Specifically, young, educated mares who’d passed the necessary requirements. The government was keen on sending the brightest and best Equestria had to offer to Earth.  It made sense – who better to learn from what they see and experience while there?  They were banking on us bringing that knowledge back to take Equestria to the next level.  That meant Swiftheart, Proudheart, and myself were the only ponies eligible from our family. Swiftheart was still focused on becoming a full-fledged Wonderbolt, while Proudheart had been accepted to Canterlot University.  I couldn’t blame either of them for following their dreams, but I couldn’t stay in Equestria. My heart just wasn’t in it anymore. That was why I’d come here.

Proudheart met me at the train station, and I was thankful for the company.  She was in her first semester of college, and she was as happy to see a familiar face as I was.  She led the way to a café near the railway depot, and we ordered tea and crumpets.

“How have you been?”

“Crazy busy.  College isn’t anything like high school.”

“As smart as you are, it’ll be a breeze.”

“Well of course it will, darling, but I don’t like to brag.”

“You’ve been here for a few months now.  Have you… gone there?”  I didn’t need to specify the location.  I don’t think I could’ve gotten it out even if I’d wanted to say it.

Her ears flattened.  “I keep her statue clean.”

I cringed.  “Yeah, I guess the birds make a mess of her.”

“Not really.  There’s a hawk that perches on Tirek and scares them off.  Vandals are the problem.  Whatever enchantment is on the statue prevents it from being damaged, but it doesn’t stop ponies from, uh, expressing themselves.  With spray paint.”

I hadn’t thought of that. “I think I’d rather hear it was birds.”

Proudheart nodded. “Love and tolerate everypony and everycreature.  Except for Cozy.”

“And her cohorts.”

“Funny how everyone claims that they were unrepentant.  I could be wrong, but I seem to recall Discord was a statue when he was released. Doesn’t sound very repentant to me.” She took a sip of tea.  “And according to the Friendship Journal, the only reason Starlight Glimmer turned over a new leaf is she was shown her actions led to the complete extermination of life on the planet.  Luna had no intention of stopping until the Elements of Harmony stripped the Nightmare from her mind.  Sunset Shimmer didn’t have any remorse for her actions until she found herself at the bottom of a rainbow-induced crater.  Yet, with the entire world watching, Celestia pronounced judgement and sentence.  No trial. Not even a chance to apologize for their actions.  Not that they would have, but it’s not like any of the others did either.  For all we know the rainbow laser beam purified them like it did all the rest.”

“You can’t reason with some ponies.  You should join me.  There are far fewer ponies on the other side.”

“I will.  As soon as I’m done with college.”  She shrugged.  “But you know; humans could be just as bad.”

“I’m willing to take that chance.”

We’d moved across country before Cozy’s rampage, so I’d never seen her statue in person.  But Proudheart had given me an idea.  We finished our tea and I asked the question I knew would get her undivided attention.  “Want to go shopping?”

Her eyes lit up. “Yes!”  Proudheart never turned down the chance to shop.  “But we should finish eating first, of course.”

“Of course.”

She daintily nibbled on a scone.  That’s my cousin.  Even when eagerly anticipating going shopping, she can’t discard being prim and proper for even a second.  At the rate she’s going, we’ll be here for hours.

It was then that a pair of light blue hooves grabbed me from behind.  I struggled against them as Proudheart giggled.  “Hey cuz!”

My eyes flew open at the sound of Swiftheart’s voice.  “What are you doing here?  Shouldn’t you be at the Wonderbolts Academy?”

“There’s a derby here in Canterlot this weekend.  I volunteered to prep the stadium.  You know, go through and clean everything up, make sure all our equipment’s working. Move things out of storage.”  She sighed.  “It was boring, but it was totally worth it to see you off.  It’s a good thing I can get three days’ work done in less than one.”  She buffed a hoof on her chest.  “It means I’ve got the next two days free.”  She grabbed a hoofful of the crumpets from the plate on the table, finishing them off.

“Oh good, the crumpets are done.  We can leave now.”  Proudheart clopped her hooves together.  The little sneak had been stalling for time until Swiftheart could finish at the stadium and join us.

Finding a hardware store proved more challenging than I expected.  We were in the tourist trap section of Canterlot, home to the exclusive boutiques that Proudheart loved.  The retail district was near the castle, and the homes surrounding it were the exclusive domain of ponies who hired other ponies to take care of menial things like home repairs.  In other words, if I wanted to find a hardware store, I needed to head downhill toward the working class section of the city.

Or perhaps a hardware store wasn’t necessary after all.  My eyes fell on a store likely to have what I needed, probably at thrice the price, but bits wouldn’t do me any good where I was going anyway.  I led the way into an art supplies store and my cousins followed. Swiftheart was lost, but Proudheart picked up on my plan as soon as she saw what I was browsing.  With her eye for detail, she was quick to point out the correct palette for what I needed to do.

Since Proudheart had a handle on what I was planning on doing, she led the way to Canterlot Castle, or more specifically the statuary.  I finally got my first look at Cozyheart’s petrified remains and my heart sank. From the expression frozen on her face, her last moments must have been absolutely terrifying.  Proudheart hadn’t been lying about the hawk perched on Tirek’s head – he didn’t even budge when we approached.  Once I confirmed there were no guards in the vicinity, I whipped open my saddlebags and brought out a can of purple spray paint.  Proudheart grabbed the can of blue and started on my sister’s tail.  Swiftheart finally caught on to what we were doing, grabbed a can of white paint and a paintbrush, and started detailing Cozy’s eyes and teeth.

It wasn't much, but if we’d forever be denied the chance to let her rest in peace, the least we could do was make her look like she used to.  Cozy had dyed her coat, mane, and tail after she left home.  Whether it was to look cuter, conceal her identity, or possibly a combination of both, I couldn't say.

Well, maybe not exactly how she used to look.  There was one change that needed to be made.  The image of Cozyheart’s true cutie mark was forever burned in my memory: red heart, with a purple ski cap.  Nopony was ever going to call me an artist, but I did my best to represent what she should’ve looked like.  And maybe, just maybe, it’ll be enough to remind ponies that she used to be a pony too, and they’ll think twice about desecrating her corpse.  Statue or not, that’s her body.  Whatever else she is, she’s still a pony.

“Goodbye, sis.  Love you, always and forever.”  With that, I turned and walked away.  One last kindness to the one I’d be forever leaving behind.  I needed this closure to completely move on with my life.  Tomorrow starts a new life in a new world.









Ponyville: today


Swiftheart and Proudheart joined me in Ponyville to see me off, but we had some time to kill before it was time for me to leave.  We trotted around Ponyville, taking in the sights of a town struggling to balance rapid growth with traditional down-to-earth wholesome charm.  Across town from the new School of Friendship was a one-room schoolhouse.  Those had been phased out in most towns across Equestria years ago, but this one still stood proud.

We trotted through town, and Proudheart let out a squeal of delight at seeing the original location of Rarity’s Boutique.  Of course we went in, and Proudheart tried on a bunch of dresses.  She even roped Swiftheart and I into trying some on. Well, I didn’t take much convincing, but Swiftheart looked like she hated every minute of it.  An act, of course.  I’d known her long enough to see through her tomboy exterior.

As we left the boutique, my eyes caught sight of something I never expected to see.  The sign on the building across the street proclaimed Cutie Mark Crusaders: Cutie mark problems? We’re here to help!  Ponies that specialized in cutie mark reading?  Curious, I trotted inside, my cousins hot on my hooves.

“Howdy!  Y’all got a cutie mark problem?”

“Not a problem, so much as some questions.”

“Well, come in and take a seat!  I’m Apple Bloom, and this here is Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo.  We’re the Cutie Mark Crusaders!”  They turned to bump their rumps together and I was immediately drawn to the fact they all had nearly identical cutie marks.

“Well, that’s something you don’t see every day.  How about you start off by telling me how you got your marks?”

As they explained how they got their marks helping a classmate understand her cutie mark, the gears in my mind were turning.  Maybe my sister isn’t the only pony to have had her destiny changed.  “This is a weird question, but do any of you know what your cutie marks were supposed to be?”

“Huh?”

“What else would it be if not for this?  I mean this is our destiny, right?”  Sweetie’s voice went up an octave on that last word.

“Yeah, we tried like, everything, to get our cutie marks.  Zip lining, mountain climbing, writing newspaper columns, monster truck driving…”

Sweetie Belle clunked Scootaloo upside the head.  “We didn’t even know about monster trucks back then.”

“Yeah, but you have to admit that monster truck cutie marks would be epic!”  Apple Bloom nodded while Sweetie Belle cringed.

“What did y’all mean about what our marks are s’pposed t’ be?”

“Ever wonder how most ponies are named appropriately to their special talent?  It’s because every mother has a dream while they’re pregnant, detailing exactly what their future foal’s cutie mark is.”

“I never heard of that, but it kinda makes sense.”

“Do any of your mothers live close that we could ask?”

“My Mom’s exploring Sire Lanka.”

“My parents died in an accident when I was a foal.”

I stammered out an apology.

“We could ask my Mom. But…  She’s not always the most accurate.  She told me babies come from storks.”

“A lot of parents tell their foals that.”

“I was a teenager.”

There was no appropriate response to that, so I kept my mouth shut as we all followed Sweetie Belle to her parents’ house.  We introduced ourselves, and Sweetie explained that we had a cutie mark question that the Crusaders weren’t qualified to answer.

With the attention of everypony in the room on me, I started explaining.  “To start with, did you have any dreams or premonitions about what your daughter’s cutie mark would be?”

“Oh yes, for both of them. Rarity’s came in exactly as expected, but Sweetie Belle, your cutie mark took me by surprise when I saw it.  It was supposed to be something more like this.” Cookie Crumbles sketched a heart with a swoosh and some sparkles.  “It’s why I named you ‘Sweetie Belle’ – like a sweetheart.  Once you started talking, and we heard that beautiful voice of yours, I just figured you’d grow up to be a popstar singing love songs and power ballads.”

It was like a weight was lifted off my shoulders, though I couldn’t help but notice this new information weighed heavily on Sweetie Belle’s mind.  This was the lead I’d needed, and I had ponies I could talk to about this.  For all of an hour before I need to be in the Everfree Forest.  I could see my cousins glancing at the clock nervously.

“I’m going to write to my Mom and find out what my mark was supposed to be!”

“I guess I’ll ask Granny Smith if she knows.  Maybe my Mom said something to her or my siblings.”

Sweetie Belle turned back to me.  “But why did you ask?  Is your mark different?”

I shook my head.  “Not mine.  It was my sister’s.”  I roughly sketched out what it was supposed to be, though it was nowhere near as detailed as my mother’s drawing.  But I hadn’t taken her sketch with me.  “This is what it was supposed to be: a heart with a knit cap.”

“And what is it?”

“She’s deceased.”

The Crusaders cringed. “Sorry,” they chorused.

“It’s okay, it was a long time ago.  And I really don’t feel right sharing what it was since it was this dubious new ‘talent’ that got her killed.”

“But if we don’t know, I’m not sure we can help.”

“That’s okay, you’ve helped enough as is.  It’s not like anypony can do anything about it now, I guess I just wanted to know if it was possible to change your special talent.  I just wanted some closure.  I’d say write to me if you find anything out, but I’m heading to Earth in another hour. But once I get settled I’ll write to you with my address, and if you ever make sense of this, please let me know.”

“Of course we will!” Scootaloo hopped up on the coffee table.

“And y’all’ve given us something to look into.  We’re the cutie mark experts, and we didn’t know about the premonition dreams.”

Cookie Crumbles laughed. “That’s because none of you are mothers yet.  Sweetie, honey, that reminds me.  I was talking to a handsome young stallion the other day, and he’s single.”

“Mother!”

Cookie shrugged. “I’ve given up on Rarity – she seems bent on not giving me any grandfoals because her career is oh-so-important, so it’s up to you to keep the family line going.”

My cousins and I quickly slipped out, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo right behind us.  The latter gave me a business card.  “It has our address on it.”

“Thank you.”

“No, thank you!  This is an amazing opportunity.  I can’t wait to find out what my mark was supposed to be. I bet it was epic!  Like lion tamer or maybe something to do with archery!”









Earth: today


Alone.  It was amazing how one could be alone in a bus crowded with ponies.  In the physical sense, I was surrounded by others. Mentally, I was as alone as I’d ever been.  I was far away from my family.  We’d always been strongest when we were all together, and now we’d fragmented.  It fell to me to make Earth a home.  And when the time came, the others would join me.

There were perks to having been one of the first ponies through the portal.  I’d had my pick of seats on the bus, so I picked the one directly behind the driver.  My hunch proved correct, as most of the other ponies sought seats further back in the bus. I wasn’t in the mood to be social.

Out of the blue I had company.  There were still plenty of other seats to pick from, but a yellow pegasus mare with a trio of suns on her flank sank down on the seat next to me.  “Hi there!  I’m Sunny Rays, nice to meet you!”

“Flitterheart.  Nice to meet you too.”  I smiled, and she smiled back.

“You look like you’re in need of a friend.”

I chuckled.  “There was a time I used to do that too.  Seek out the loneliest pony in any gathering, keep them company, and offer my friendship.”

“It’s a great way to make friends.  What made you stop?”

“Life.”

“You can do better than that.”

“My little sister got killed doing something stupid.”

Sunny Rays winced. “Sorry.”

“It’s been years.  The wound has healed, but it never truly goes away.”

Sunny nodded.  “It’s worse without friends.”

I couldn’t argue that. It had stung so badly when all my friends deserted me after Cozy’s first incident that I’d put up walls to prevent anypony from getting close to me again.  I’d withdrawn into the support group that was my family, and we’d healed one another as best we could.  “You’re right.”

She shrugged.  “I’m not telling you anything you don’t already know.”

“I was so hurt when my friends went away after my sister’s incident.”

“Then they weren’t friends. Whatever your sister did, it couldn’t have been that bad.  It’s not like she was Cozy Glow.”

I cringed, and from the look on her face I could tell she’d already put two and two together.  “Her name was Cozyheart.”

Sunny sat there looking at me, completely stunned.  I braced myself for what I knew was coming next: Sunny Rays making an excuse to get as far away from me as possible.  Then she’d probably tell everypony else on the bus my secret.  Some ‘new start’ this turned out to be.

I felt hooves embrace me. Sunny pulled me in close, hugging me tight.  “I’m sorry. I didn’t know.  The papers always said she was an orphan.”

“That was the lie she used to get into the School of Friendship.”

Sunny hadn’t let go of me. “Her crimes aren’t yours.  I stand by my original assessment: if your friends abandoned you because of that, they weren’t true friends.  I’m very sorry for bringing it up.  Can we start over?  Hi, I’m Sunny Rays and I have a bad habit of putting my hoof in my mouth.  Or, in this case, all four of them at once.”

“Hi Sunny Rays, I’m Flitterheart, and I’m carrying more emotional baggage than anypony you know.”