It was a funny thing how Flurry actually had the self-discipline to go to bed early and rise half an hour earlier the next morning, only to still end up about as late as yesterday. When she stumbled into the castle the saddlebags felt like lead on her shoulders and she was panting heavy enough that the guards looked concerned. One of them even moved to help her.
"No, I can manage," she said and waved him away. Hefting the saddlebags up again, she began to climb the stairs. The tall steps were a challenge for a foal like her in normal cases, and the load on her back did not help. Once up, she leaned against the cold stone wall and began to consider if it had been a mistake to stay with her grandparents. Living in the castle might be more comfortable. Or at least involve less running.
The door opened.
"Oh, good day, Princess," Rumble said, balancing the breakfast dishes on his head. He did not quite manage to hide his bewildered expression. Not that Flurry could blame him. Yesterday he had found her on the floor, and now he saw her with her head against the wall. She just had to look at him to feel the confusion he felt. He must think she was a bit loopy by now.
"This isn't what it looks like," she hurried to clarify, turning to him. "My grandmother never let's me leave on time, so I must run here every morning! That's why I'm always so exhausted when I come here. I'm not loopy," she added the last part for emphasis. She was already late for her lesson and should go, but she also didn't want to leave too bad an impression on a pony she needed help from.
Rumble brightened. "Your grandmother… sorry, I just never really considered that a princess like you had an overbearing grandmother, just like the rest of us."
"What do you mean 'like the rest of us'?" She ruffled her wings irritably. "Why does everypony think I'm different, just because I have both a horn and wings? I'm still a pony, you know."
"Yeah, I know that but…" Rumble flushed and shifted on his hooves. "It's not like you are just any pony. You'll grow up to do things nopony else can, right? You'll be a princess."
"Well, nopony asked me if I wanted to be…" Flurry mumbled. She knew it was unfair for her to say that. Her parents had tried to hide it from her, but Flurry knew virtually every pony wanted to be her. Everypony wanted to have what she had. For her to say she did not want it felt like a betrayal to everypony else. So she quashed those thoughts and hid them deep inside her heart, like she had ever since she found out how different she was.
"Sorry, what was that?" Rumble asked.
"Never mind," Flurry said. "You're Cozy's friend, right? I saw you flying with her yesterday."
Rumble nodded. "Yeah, we are friends. And I help her with flying too."
"Good, good," Flurry said. "Twilight wants me to be her friend, but it didn't really work out when I tried yesterday. I thought that maybe you could help me."
"Help you how?" Rumble asked.
"I want to be your friend too! So then she will want to be my friend when she sees I'm good!" Flurry explained. "So then we all get new friends!" Twilight must be getting impatient. She had been late two days in a row. "Uh…Just think about it, and we can talk more about it later. I've got to go! I'll see you later today okaybye!” She made her way past him and into the library. Her cheeks felt hot in embarrassment. He definitely thought she was loopy. She would think she was loopy if she had acted like that.
Twilight sat by the table, just like yesterday. She smiled brightly at Flurry. "Good morning," she said. "I take it my mom was not any easier on you today?"
"I got up half an hour earlier today, and she still made me late!" Flurry huffed. Twilight only smiled ever wider. "It's not funny!" she growled, her wings extending a little by reflex. It was not really nice of Twilight to sound so happy about this!
"Well, then you must be eager to begin your training now, aren't you?" Twilight asked warmly.
"I'm ready to learn!" Flurry said obediently and folded her wings down and joined Twilight by the table. A row of maybe ten rectangular boxes stood in front of Twilight, all made of wood.
"Good," Twilight said. "Now, you evidently know basic levitation from your demonstration yesterday, and there is no doubt about your magical power. Also Sunburst must have started to train your endurance a little, at least. However, before we start our lessons for real, there is still one thing about your current skill I want to determine. Can you guess?"
"Uh… something you still don't know about my magic?" Flurry asked. Twilight nodded. "If… how many spells I know?" Flurry guessed, even if her insides squirmed a little at the thought of that line of questioning. Flurry did not actually know any spells other than levitation. She had asked Sunburst to teach her once, but he had refused.
"No, I already know that," Twilight said. "Most unicorns only know levitation, and maybe one or two other spells related to their cutie marks. Studies of spellcraft are often extremely difficult for most ponies. If you had known anything other than levitation at your age, then it would be nothing short of a miracle."
"Oh… but you know a lot of spells. And mom and dad too," Flurry pointed out.
"And we have all trained very hard to learn," Twilight said. "I did not learn any spell other than levitation before I was older than you."
"So what is it you want to know about my magic then?" Flurry asked.
"Well, mages call it 'spell-splitting', which is just a fancy name for multitasking," Twilight explained. "That is, I want to know how many separate objects you can control at one time. Like this." Twilight lit up her horn, and the wooden boxes lifted from the table and arranged themselves in a floating ring. "This is not one spell, but ten. One for every box."
Flurry nodded. "Okay, I can do that."
"Wonderful," Twilight said mirthfully. "Please take your place."
Flurry Heart hopped from the stool and stood in the middle of the room. Yesterday she had to stand here for thirty minutes, just holding up the thick book.
"We will be using these," Twilight said and removed a small marble from one of the boxes. "Ready?"
"I think so," Flurry said and braced herself. She had never really tried to do this with more than two objects before, namely her two favorite dolls back home.
"Catch," Twilight said and threw a colorful marble at her. Flurry caught it easily in her topaz-yellow magic. It was not heavy. "And again," Twilight said after a few seconds and threw another marble. Flurry sent her magic to catch it, while still maintaining the psychic grip around the first marble. They both waggled a little in the air before she managed to stabilize them.
"And next," Twilight called and threw out a third marble.
It was not long before Flurry had to shut her eyes just to concentrate on the marbles. Her magic was flying in every direction, trying to keep all the marbles in place. It had gone just fine up until maybe five or six marbles, but now she had just caught the eighth, and it felt like her mind was torn between all of them, trying to keep them all afloat.
"Now for marble number nine."
"Oh, no…" Flurry thought. She did not even have the last one in control yet! Her system was shaky already. But despite her prayer, the ninth marble flew into her carefully constructed magic web with all the grace of a charging yak. She caught the marble, only to have another slip from her mind and tumble in her grasp. In wild panic she grabbed onto that one.
A soft tinkle let her know that all the other marbles had fallen to the floor. She opened her eyes and saw one of them roll against her hoof.
"Eight marbles," Twilight said and magicked them all up and back into the box. She made it look so easy, and her marbles were moving whereas Flurry just had to hold them still.
"Is that good?" Flurry asked.
"It's in about what most unicorns can do at your age with this trial," Twilight said. "No need to worry. It's something one must practice." She smiled. "Now, then. I like to think I have a good idea about what level you are at. Now your lessons can begin in earnest."
"Before we do that," Flurry piped up. "Did you find out why Cozy dislikes me so much? I still want to be her friend."
Twilight's face fell. "No… she didn't tell me."
"Oh…" Flurry was disappointed and hurt. Having a pony dislike you out of the blue like that was something Flurry had never experienced before. Sure, her parents had berated her when she did bad things, but with Cozy it felt more like a lingering ember of hate. It did not ignite because of something Flurry had done, and didn't go away with time. It was just there, searing and hurting inside Flurry's heart. And Cozy's too. Flurry could sense that Cozy too wasn't all happy about what had happened yesterday either.
All the more reason to enlist Rumble's help. Something inside her compelled her to get through to Cozy. Everypony wanted to make friends deep down. Cozy too. She just needed a little push to see it.
"Sorry, Flurry," Twilight said. "But don't give up hope. I think Cozy will come around in time, but for the moment she has asked to study alone, and as her teacher I will abide by what she wants."
"Don't worry, I'm sure she will come around," Flurry grinned, suppressing a giggle.
"But while your friendship lessons with Cozy might have to wait, why don't we start working on the other type of magic? While not as powerful as friendship, the arcane arts are still a natural part of a young unicorn's growth."
"But I'm an alicorn," Flurry heart said.
"And as an alicorn you have all the needs of a unicorn your age," Twilight explained. "Don't worry. Learning magic can be fun! Now look here…"
Well, this was awkward. Rumble looked down at the head of a cauliflower he had picked out for his dish, but he didn't lift the vegetable knife.
Flurry had taken off so fast from their meeting, he had not been able to tell her that talking again later today was not great for him. After work he had to catch an afternoon train to Ponyville, and his bags were still unpacked. But he could not leave if she wanted to talk! In fact, he was pretty certain that Equestrian law explicitly stated that refusing a meeting with an alicorn was an offense punishable by being sent to the moon.
"Tomtit, if you don't want to make somepony sick I'd suggest you start working before that cauliflower rots," Ramson snapped behind him. Rumble jolted awake from his rumination and started chopping up the cauliflower. Once done, he added it and a broccoli to the broth where some carrots and potatoes were already simmering, and started to work on a leek, peas and fresh sprouts.
He had to add everything at the right times, so that all the vegetables were cooked to perfection at the same time. It was a new recipe, so hopefully Cozy would like it. He did not know how long Flurry would be occupied, but he didn't think she would be done with her lesson yet. Hopefully that meant Cozy's mood had not been ruined by Flurry's presence.
There was another issue: he had to do something about her opinion about Flurry. If Flurry was going to stay in Canterlot, then the problem would not resolve itself like he had hoped. Clearly the young princess did want to befriend Cozy, but she seemed kind. It wasn't fair that Cozy refused to give Flurry a chance. Sure, he meant what he said to Cozy yesterday: some ponies just don't mix. Not everypony can be friends with everypony. But he still wanted Cozy to put in a little effort. If Flurry did, then it was only fair she tried too.
That was all well and good. The issue, as always, was to get Cozy to see his side of the story. Unless there really was something to Flurry's plan. The way Rumble understood it, she wanted to befriend him, so that he could act as a link between Flurry and Cozy. It sounded sensible… it was essentially what he already tried to do, only now he would have direct help from Flurry as well.
Or maybe that was just his adolescent, hormonal colt mind that had misunderstood Flurry's divine intellect… yeah, that was probably it, honestly.
No matter: he could still try to make Cozy see his side of things. If it didn't work, he could hear Flurry out later (hopefully without having to miss his train). Besides, he wouldn't say no to another friend himself, and Flurry seemed nice enough.
The soup was done, so he picked up a ladle and poured some into a bowl. Then he started up to Twilight's wing. He heard Flurry and Twilight talk behind a closed door, but did not intrude. Ramson handled their lunch and dinner personally today. He tiptoed past and instead knocked at Cozy's door.
"Huh? Come in," she called. Rumble pushed the door open.
Cozy laid on her divan with a book by her elbow and a sheet of paper in front of her. She had a crayon in her mouth. She looked up at him.
"I brought you something to eat," Rumble said and put the food on her bedside table. "What are you doing?"
Cozy spat out the crayon and stood up, stretching her back and her wings. "I'm going to show that goody four-horseshoes that she's not the only pony who can use magic!" She beaconed him over with a flick of her wing. "See this?" she asked with glee and passed him the sheet of paper she had been working on.
It was something of an anomaly. Written in blue crayon and a foal's clumsy hoofwriting was a schematic of some sort. Rumble came to think about the toy planetarium his brother had given him for his birthday. It looked like a hollow sphere made up by three rings, each one perpendicular to the others. At the crosses where two rings interlocked, there seemed to be a gemstone of some sort.
"That's… great," Rumble said. "Uh… what does it do?"
Cozy rolled her eyes, but her smile remained in place. "It's a a spell-lens! A magic trap. Normally artifacts use runes and magic stored in gems to do their stuff. A spell-lens is a way to trap a unicorn's spell and use it directly, without needing a gem or runes."
Rumble looked back to the schematic. The basic shape looked simple, but there were a lot of arrows painted in around it, pointing here and there with small notes around each. A small segment of the paper had also been closed off by a line, and on the other side was a table of symbols that Rumble had never seen. They were notoriously pointy, while normal ponish used smooth, squiggly letters. He guessed those were the runes Cozy talked about, but he decided to humor her. "What is this?"
"Unicornian runes. They're what we use to give artifacts their powers!" Cozy said. "For example, this one," she pointed at one of the symbols. It looked like a downwards pointing triangle, with a horizontal line at the tip. "This means 'light'. If I inscribe it on something that conducts magic, it will shine!"
"How…?" Rumble asked. "But they're just shapes! What do they have to do with magic?"
Cozy smiled wistfully. "Nopony knows. And nopony knows if there are more runes than these. The greatest artificers are those who discover new runes. But it was really long since that happened, and nopony knows how they did it. A pegasus named Scripted Thinking was the last discoverer, and that was almost a hundred years ago. He discovered these two runes." Cozy pointed at the two last small symbols, neither of which told Rumble anything.
"You really like this stuff, don't you?" Rumble said instead. He had never heard Cozy sound so passionate about something before.
"Golly yes! Now that I have books about it I'm getting better all the time. I've never tried to build something like this before, but I'm sure I will get it eventually! I have it perfectly clear up here!" She tapped her temple. "Even if I couldn't draw it very well…" she blushed and snatched back her schematic. She looked at it for another moment before stashing it in her mane. "So that's what I'm making. Now let's see what you have made!"
"It's a vegetable soup. I wanted to try something new with it." Cozy nodded and sniffed at the soup. Then she lifted the bowl and took a small sip, sitting on her large bed. Rumble knew he shouldn't stare, but he also wanted to see her reaction. The first, unfiltered impression was important. She glanced at him before picking up a spoon and started eating in earnest.
She looked like she was enjoying it. Satisfied, Rumble sat down and waited for her to be done.
"All the vegetables were really crispy," Cozy said. "How did you do that?"
"I added them at different times," Rumble explained. "So they all get to cook just long enough to be perfectly done."
"That makes sense," Cozy said. "It was really good. Thank you." When she did not say anything else, Rumble decided it was time to do what he came for. Hopefully he did not ruin her mood too much.
"Hey, Cozy… I've got some news you aren't going to like," he began carefully.
"Hmph," Cozy scoffed dismissively, but she did meet his eyes.
"You know how we talked about my brother's trying to become a Wonderbolt coach, rather than an active member?"
"Yeah, what about it?" Cozy sounded irritated, just like Rumble knew she would.
"Well, they've scheduled the first tryouts for next week already, so now my bro's had a meltdown and even took out some holidays to practice. And he asked me to come help him… and when I say asked, I mean that the letter looked like it had tear stains on it."
"Oh… is he that worried?" Cozy asked, even if she really did not look too sympathetic. Then again, Rumble could not remember Cozy ever being sympathetic to anypony.
"He worries a lot, but once it starts he'll do fine," Rumble said. "But I wanted to say I'll be gone for the weekend. Leaving this afternoon, actually."
"Hmm… okay, I guess," Cozy shrugged, even if she looked none too pleased with the idea of being alone for the days when they could normally fly together the most.
"And one more thing…" Rumble said. The most important part, and the one Cozy would be the most reluctant to. "About Flurry Heart."
"What about her?" Cozy snapped.
"Look, I get that you don't like her, but can't you at least put in some effort to make friends with her? At least then you can tell Twilight you tried. Maybe you'll even end up liking her."
"Or maybe she will stab me in the back and try to steal away my friends," Cozy said, venom dripping from every word.
"You mean me?" Rumble asked, tilting his head slightly. "You think she'd steal my friendship?"
Cozy opened her mouth, hesitated, then shrugged. "I mean… it could happen…" she mumbled, mostly to herself by the looks of it.
"No. No it couldn't," Rumble deadpanned. ”You can't steal friendships Cozy. For being so clever, you really say the strangest things sometimes, you know that?"
"Why does everypony want me to make friends with her anyway?" Cozy mumbled with an annoyed flick of her tail, like she was trying to bat away a particularly irritating fly. "I'm fine with my friends, and I don't need her!"
"But maybe she needs a friend?" Rumble said. He hoped he was right in that; he certainly did not have any business guessing what an alicorn needed and not.
"Tsk, then she can manage without me," Cozy huffed. "Are you done? I'm not going to talk more about her."
"A pity, because I will," Rumble snapped back, silently hoping he would not end up with a black eye. He knew he was treading a dangerous line when arguing with Cozy Glow. "Look, Cozy, you are my friend, but that doesn't mean I'm going to put up with you treating other ponies badly for no reason."
"Well, I have my reason!" Cozy bit him off and rose. Her voice had taken on a slight growl and her wings extended. "You have no idea what it feels like! I did… everything! I got trapped in stone just to get what she has! And she just… was born with it! And now she is trying to take away you too! And Twilight!"
Cozy covered her mouth with her hooves, as if to prevent the last words from leaving it. But it was too late.
"Twilight?" Rumble asked. "I thought you hated her. Why do you care about her?"
"I don't!" Cozy roared. "I misspoke, that's all! I don't care about her! Not one bit!"
"Now I know you are lying," Rumble said. "One good thing about your tantrums is that you tend to say what you really feel. Come on, Cozy. What's going on?"
Cozy glared, but she did sit down. "If you tell her what I tell you, I will murder you in your sleep," she said. Rumble was about forty precent sure she was joking.
"You know I can keep a secret, right?"
"Last time you ended up telling Twilight where I was hiding during my escape," Cozy pointed out.
"And thanks to me everything worked out," Rumble countered. "Come on, Cozy. I'm your friend. Just trust me on this, okay?"
Cozy took her glare away from him and instead looked straight ahead. Since she sat on her bed that meant she was looking over his head now. "I don't… like her. Twilight, I mean. I really don't, but… I'm her student. She actually listens to me. Even when she doesn't agree, she at least considers what I'm saying, and she never just dismisses me. She actually sees me for a smart pony, not just a silly filly. I didn't… expect that from her."
"Everypony who knows anything about you knows you are smart," Rumble said. That was nothing less than the truth.
Cozy flashed a thankful expression before she looked away again. "Not only has Flurry Heart stolen my dream, but she is trying to steal this, too. This," she swept with her hooves over the room. "This is all I have now. I don't want to like Twilight… and I'm still not sure I do, but she is the only pony who… sees me for what I could be. I know I'm smart. I know I can do big things! And she is the first pony to give me a chance. But she'll not pick me over her niece. I know she won't."
Rumble listened, then looked Cozy over. She was the same pink filly with off-white ribbons as when he came in, but somehow she felt a bit more… deep, now. This was the first time she revealed something about herself to him just because he asked and she trusted him. It must be a big step for her, trusting a friend like this. "Respect," he said. "Is that what you feel with Twilight? You don't really like her, but you can at least respect her for trying to help you?"
Cozy was thinking. Rumble could all but hear her brain whirr with activity. "That's… not wrong, I guess."
"You know," Rumble continued carefully. He felt like he was stepping out on a minefield. One wrong move and Cozy might well consider it a betrayal of this new trust. "None of those things are really Flurry's fault. She didn't ask to be born a Princess, and I can promise you that she doesn't want to steal Twilight away. She is just minding her lessons, like you are. If you only talked to her, I'm sure you could make it work."
Cozy was silent, but Rumble felt like he shouldn't interrupt her anymore. "Just… think about it, okay? Until I come back. Flurry is not your enemy."
Cozy sat still. "Okay. I'll… think about that…"
He nodded, and smiled. "Thank's Cozy. See you monday then, I guess."
"Yeah… be seeing you," Cozy said absently. "Thanks for the food. I really liked it…"
Her handbook on artifice did not give her the peace she had hoped for. It was twenty minutes since she had picked it up, and she had been reading the same three sentences over and over again. She still could not even say what they were about. She shook her head and tried again, keeping her eyes wide open and sounding the words out clearly in her head.
"It is important to master the most fundamental principles of magic stability in gemstones in order to handle the connection mechanism between the gemstones and the focusing array. Most precious gems can store only magic with a fitting magic resonance. This resonance depends on the type of magic and its power, in accordance with Silver Laurel's second law of Geomancy…"
Rumble was not a stupid pony- quite the contrary, actually. If he thought there was more to Flurry Heart than a rival and friendship-thief, then there might well be something more. And if there was, then she'd be a fool not to look into it. Friendship with Flurry Heart, if such a thing was possible, would be a powerful asset to have someday.
But even so, Cozy was still not wrong! It was not at all silly to think a friendship could be stolen. One could argue that she herself had stolen nearly every friend in Twilight's school that one time. She knew better than most how easily a friendship could be twisted on its head, if a pony put her mind to it. In that, she was certain she knew more than Rumble did.
"It is important to master … spell stability in gemstones in order to handle … and the focusing array. Most precious gems… on the spell type and power … Silver Laurel's second…"
Come to think of it, Rumble had spoken with Flurry during the dinner, and since then he had continued to tell her how kind Flurry was. He evidently wanted Cozy to accept Flurry as a friend. She trusted him, of course, but… what if, what if Twilight had put him up to this? She knew that if there was one pony Cozy listened to, then it would be Rumble. And he had already chosen Twilight over Cozy once before…
No! She could not doubt him. Down that path laid only madness! She had to trust everything he said was his own thoughts, formed by his own mind! That was what a friend should do, and they were friends.
"… Important … gemstones … focusing array… spell type … Geomancy…"
But a small voice in her head continued to whisper. She had never just blindly trusted like that… she had always strived to double-check her facts herself and move things in her favor herself if possible. She wanted to have control. Blind faith made her just that- blind and vulnerable.
But… perhaps there was a way to test all this.
Cozy could read ponies, and she had already deduced how nasty Flurry was. But Rumble was not wrong when he said she hadn't given Flurry an honest chance… If she were to try again, and really try to keep an open mind about it…?
She chewed on the inside of her cheek, her eyes glazed over. "I suppose it can't get worse from trying… and if she is a nasty orange-lover, then I had better make sure I know that soon, right?"
She put away the book and left her room, still filled with doubts. If Rumble was going to leave for ponyville, then Cozy had the weekend to see if she could not form a new opinion on Flurry. She had better start soon.
She left her room and peeked inside the common room. Twilight was alone, eating a sandwich and reading something. Hers and Flurry's lesson must have already ended. Twilight looked up. "Oh, hi Cozy. Can I help you?"
"Aren't you busy with your other student?" Cozy asked. She did not quite manage to keep the sharpness from her tone.
"No, I decided to let her go for the weekend," Twilight said. "Same with you. Since I heard Rumble was out of town for the weekend, I thought you should have today with him instead of discussing friendship with me. That can wait until tomorrow."
"Golly… thanks," she said, and she meant it too. Cozy was surprised Twilight would do that to her after their argument yesterday. "I'll go out a little bit then." If Flurry was already back home, there was little point in looking for her today.
"Sure," Twilight said.
Cozy waited for a few moments to see if she would say something else, but Twilight just returned to her book. Cozy decided to just follow Twilight's advice. She should tell Rumble that she was going to try to give Flurry a chance over the weekend. Maybe they could even squeeze in some flying time too before he left.
Cozy made her way to the castle annex on the other side of the castle gardens. It was a low, rectangular building with one wall entirely covered in roses. Originally it had been a bunkhouse for Princess Platinum's honor guard, but today it was where most castle servants from out of town lived.
She made her way inside quickly and started down the corridor to Rumble's room.
His door was open, and she heard his voice.
"Good that you came this early, I've got to leave in half an hour. Ramson kept me in the kitchen for way longer than I thought."
So then he was here. Good.
"So have you thought about what I said? Do you think we can be friends?"
Cozy knew that voice.
"I mean… I don't see why not, if you want to," Rumble answered.
Ponies, by their nature, were a forgiving bunch. The three tribes had founded their nation on the principles that they are stronger together than alone. The idea that they, together, had brought an end to the blizzard was the single most important idea in pony culture. Forgiveness was readily offered and readily received by most ponies.
Cozy Glow was not most ponies.
She nurtured an ember of rage in her heart that was more than eager to flare into a pyre of fury if given just a little nourishment. Indeed, if anypony had asked how she would act if she found out a friend had betrayed her they would all say the same thing: then her rage could blot out the sun with its radiance.
And very, very deep inside her mind, Cozy too was surprised by her reaction to hear Rumble accept Flurry's friendship. She did not shout. She did not tear Rumble's door off its hinges. She did not swear horrible vengeance.
She barely even moved. A weak sound of disbelief made it past her lips, but other than that, she stood stunned as if caught in the brights of the Friendship Express.
"Great! Twilight even let me have the weekend off! Perhaps we could meet up in Ponyville tomorrow? I've got to visit Sunburst anyway, so then maybe we could hang out in the afternoon?"
"I've got to help my bro with his flying but he can't overexert himself either, so afternoon would be fine."
"Great! See you then!"
Cozy did not remember how she got back to her room, but when lucidity returned to her she was laying in her cloud bed, staring up at the roof.
She had been right after all! Flurry was looking to steal Rumble from her! Her closest friend! The only friend she had in Canterlot! She had not been paranoid like Rumble though. It was he who had been naïve. So naïve that he did not even see what Flurry was doing.
But Cozy was not going to let it happen.
With that thought, her resolve seemed to crystalize. It became clear and sharp and cold as ice. A wall of frigid resolve that encased her heart. She was not going to lose his friendship. Cozy may be Twilight's student, but she was not going to sit idly by when Flurry tried to steal Rumble's friendship away.
She was still Cozy Glow, a pony who once struck fear even in the immortal alicorns.
And she promised herself that if necessary, another alicorn would learn why.