It was funny to Twilight that being confronted by a child assassin who had tried to take her life and that of her son a while back didn’t even register as like one of the top five most stressful things that had happened to her this week. Though to be fair, part of the reason why is because Twilight knew exactly what to do.
Twilight’s horn lit up and she teleported herself, Rainbow Dash, and the child assassin—who was a dragon in the disguise of an orange pegasus with a ruffled purple mane—outside the restaurant, Twilight reasoning that an assassin dressed in plain clothes wouldn’t want to make an attempt on someone’s life in broad daylight on the side of a busy street, and just in case she did, the inside of the restaurant was too crowded and there were too many ponies around who could be hurt.
Though it did briefly cross her mind that perhaps the ponies of the Crystal Empire deserved to get hurt, but she quickly brushed that thought away, as that wasn’t the kind of person that Twilight Sparkle wanted to be.
“So,” Twilight said sharply, keeping the child subtly constrained with her magic, “what are you doing here?”
“Yeah, sure is bold of you to try and pick a fight with us in the middle of the day right here in the open,” Rainbow hissed, and while she didn’t seem to pick up on the irony of her statement, Twilight sure did. Rainbow was right, this situation made no sense for an assassin, but the child wasn’t saying anything to them, so it was hard to know for sure what—
“That’s cuz she’s not here to hurt anyone, sillies,” a young girl’s voice giggled nearby, and Twilight and Rainbow turned toward the source of it to see a small pegasus ‘filly’—really another dragon in disguise— with a cream colored coat and a sky-blue mane turned up in elaborate curls, her smile so big and wide it was almost farcical.
“And you are?” Twilight asked drolly, though she had an idea of what the girl would answer.
“My name’s Cozy Glow!” the girl said with exuberant cheer, throwing her arms over her head. “It’s SO nice to finally meet you, Twilight Sparkle!”
“Cut the crap, Cozy,” Twilight barked. “I already heard about your little plot to kill me and get in Di—er, that man’s good graces.”
“Eh, fine,” Cozy Glow shrugged and pulled out a cigarette, that she promptly put in her mouth and lighted with her fiery breath, taking a few big puffs of it.
“Twilight,” Rainbow pointed to Cozy Glow with a look of bewilderment on her face, “whomst?”
“This is Cozy Glow,” Twilight said, “one of the Dragon Lords, and the person who sent this little assassin after me.” Twilight pulled the assassin up by her scruff for good measure.
“Oh yeah, that’s Scootaloo,” Cozy said with an approving nod. “Good kid. Knows a lot about knives. Anyhoo, are you still mad about a little assassination attempt, Twilight? C’mon, it’s all water under the bridge.”
“Somehow I have a hard time believing that,” Twilight said flatly. She sighed and let go of Scootaloo, the child ducking behind Cozy Glow like a defensive wall, though Cozy just shoved her to the side.
“Things change, Twilight,” Cozy said. “I’m not interested in you anymore, or in Discord for that matter. That greasy old weirdo can huff my shits. I’ve got my eyes set on a different prize now, and I’m here to make peace!”
“I don’t suppose you want to start with an apology,” Twilight leaned against the wall of the restaurant with her arms crossed.
“Nope,” Cozy shrugged and took another puff of her cigarette. “I got nothin’ to apologize for, my conscience is as clean as a whistle!”
Twilight didn’t know what to expect from this Cozy Glow, so she didn’t want to let her guard down, but she honestly didn’t doubt the sincerity in Cozy’s words. Well, maybe ‘sincerity’ was a tad too generous, but Twilight figured that Cozy wasn’t acting in any way that made it seem like she wanted to pick a fight.
“Twilight,” Rainbow groaned, “why are we still talking to this girl?”
Before Twilight had a chance to answer, the door to the restaurant opened up and distracted her, which was just as well because she really had no answer.
Out of the door came Spike, who looked at the two dragons that were about his age and smiled at them.
“Hey, you’re the assassin!” he said pleasantly, pointing to Scootaloo. “How’s the assassinating going?”
“How come you’re not afraid of me?” Scootaloo asked, sounding halfway irritated and halfway confused and disappointed.
“Dunno, guess I’ve just seen scarier at this point,” Spike shrugged. “You’re just a kid, like me.”
“See, this guy gets it!” Cozy Glow said happily, putting an arm around Spike, who nodded in chuffed approval.
“Cozy, get away from my son,” Twilight growled, glaring daggers at Cozy who, to her credit, backed off immediately.
“Okay, give us one sec,” Rainbow chimed in, before grabbing Spike and Twilight and dragging them away for a huddle. “Alright, Twi. What’s going on?”
“Yeah, who are those two?” Spike asked. “Friends of yours?”
“I…” Twilight hummed. “I’m not sure. I’ve never met this Cozy Glow in my life, but honestly? I believe her claim that she wants to make peace. I feel like if she wanted to pick a fight, she could’ve just done that.”
“I guess,” Rainbow grumbled, “but also like? Assassins? Kinda puts a damper on the whole trust situation, y’know?”
“I do, I do,” Twilight sighed. “Give me one moment.”
Twilight returned to Cozy Glow, taking a moment to speak with her alone, without Rainbow Dash or Spike or even Scootaloo, the two sitting together at an outdoor table in front of the restaurant.
“Cozy Glow,” Twilight said flatly.
“Twilight Sparkle,” Cozy replied, batting her eyelashes.
“Give me a good reason to trust you,” Twilight challenged.
“Okay, if you must know,” Cozy conjured a bag out of thin air and rifled through it for a moment, taking out a letter and handing it to Twilight. “That’s a note from Tirek, from him to you. Like actually from him this time. You don’t have to be in a hurry to read it though, it’s mostly pleasantries.”
“Why do you have this?” Twilight asked cautiously, fingers anxiously tracing the paper in her hands.
“He gave it to me, to give to you,” Cozy chuckled, taking out her cigarette and flicking it onto the ground. “And that’s in the letter to, if you don’t believe me. I know you’ve been away for a long time, Twiggle Sparkle, so maybe you haven’t heard the news that we Dragon Lords are very slowly starting to put our differences aside.
“And it’s all thanks to you.”
“Me?” Twilight balked, unsure of how to feel about such… praise? Was it even praise? It almost felt like condemnation.
“Mhm,” Cozy nodded. “Look, the long and short of it is, I wanna take over the world, and I stand a much better chance of doing that with your help than by being on your bad side.”
“What makes you think I’m going to help you take over the world?” Twilight asked drolly. This kid sure didn’t lack for confidence, if nothing else.
“Well, you’re not going to on purpose, obviously,” Cozy Glow scoffed. “But if I want power for myself, I gotta go where the power already is, and it’s looking to be with you. So! I wanna be friends.”
Twilight had some pretty obvious misgivings. She couldn’t trust Cozy Glow as far as she could throw her, and yet she also believed now beyond a shadow of a doubt that Cozy wasn’t a threat to her or her family, which was all Twilight honestly cared about. She couldn’t realistically devote too much brain energy to worrying about a child’s attempt at world conquest.
So y’know what?
“Okay, Cozy,” Twilight held out her hand, Cozy gleefully shaking it with an almost infectious level of enthusiasm. “Let’s be friends.”