Flurry Heart smiled brightly when she opened the door to Twilight's wing. After her return from Ponyville yesterday, grandmother Twilight Velvet had given her so much food she thought she'd burst, but it had been the spark Flurry needed to test her grandmother's limits. Or maybe hearing about Cozy's guile and bravery had inspired her?
Anyway, Flurry had decided not to get out of bed in time this morning. It was weird, seeing the clock tick forward and know she had to rise, but instead just pull the covers back over her head. It was weird, and exciting… the thrill of mischief. It was a thrill she was starved for.
Eventually she heard Twilight Velvet's hooves outside her room, and quickly pretended to be asleep. When Twilight Velvet "woke" her up, she was stressed enough to quickly usher Flurry down to the kitchen and quickly make some toasts for her before sending her off.
In short, Flurry had managed to stay in bed for another forty-five minutes and still not be a minute later to her lesson than normal. In her own humble opinion, she was a genius. She had even remembered to bring her saddlebags, where her little gift to Cozy laid in waiting. Today was going to be a good day, she just knew it.
Like always she found her teacher waiting for her in the library. This morning Twilight was reading a letter of some sort. She looked happy about something. Flurry was about to give a holler, but then remembered that the guards back home always pretended to cough instead. And since Flurry was a big pony, she should probably do like the big ponies did. So she faked a cough. It felt silly, but Twilight did look up.
"Oh, good morning, Flurry. Did you enjoy your day in Ponyville?"
Flurry nodded vigorously. "Sunburst was really happy to see me again, and I think Starlight would have been really impressed with my magic too, but she didn't like it when I tried to show her. But I swear I'd have been careful! Her plant would have been just fine!"
Twilight nodded. "I see. Well, she can be a bit protective of her Phyllis, but maybe you could return to Ponyville sometime so you can show her your progress then instead." Twilight folded the letter she had been reading and stood up. "But for now I think it's time we continued your lessons. Now that I have a clear idea of your current level, we can proceed with the actual training."
"More spells?" Flurry asked hopefully. Both of her parents could do really amazing things with their magic, and Flurry wanted to learn. So far, all she could do was to levitate stuff. Her parents had told her that when she was little she also used to send blasts of raw power around her, or protect herself with a shield, but now she was not able to do those things anymore. Sunburst had explained that they were defense mechanisms, just like how pegasus ponies took flight when they were surprised.
Twilight shook her head. "Spells are still too difficult. You will learn to master levitation first, and then, slowly, I will teach you more advanced magic. But not before you have your cutie mark. No doubt it will reveal more about what type of magic you are the best at, and that will help us determine what type of spells can be fitting for you."
"Oh…" Flurry dropped her ears.
"Don't worry, levitation can be fun too," Twilight smiled. She retrieved the same marbles they had used for her tests and levitated one up, alongside a ceramic plate with concentric rings painted on it. "Throw the marble at the middle of the plate, as hard and fast as you can. This will train you to aim with magic." Twilight sent the small ball in a lazy arch over the room and Flurry caught it effortlessly, then she sent it rocketing back at the plate, as hard as she could.
Despite reaching the target in just a fraction of a second, Twilight caught it easily just before impact. Then she moved the target a small distance upwards before sending the marble back to Flurry. "Good. Again."
They continued back and forth for a while. Twilight moved the target between almost every shot, forcing Flurry to use her magic to redirect her own shots in midair. Just as she started to feel tired from the bursts of magic, Twilight didn't throw the marble back. "I think it's time to change exercise. This next one is a classic unicorn lesson, aimed to improve your precision." She moved the target, so it hovered just in between them and then gave Flurry the marble. "Put it against the plate, in the middle."
Flurry obeyed. The plate clinked brightly when it touched the marble.
"Now, try to keep the marble in the center of the plate." Twilight levitated the plate upwards, and Flurry tried to follow it with her marble. Twilight moved in slow arches and long curves, always keeping the target aimed at Flurry so she could see it but it was still difficult. Either she was too forceful or too slow, or she was caught by surprise when Twilight made the target curve.
"I think that will do for today," Twilight said after maybe an hour or so. "As your magic develops we can do longer sessions, but it's better to take it slow in the beginning. But I'd love to demonstrate some more magic later, if you are interested."
Flurry nodded. "Okay. I'll be back a bit later then! I've got some… things to do," she said. Twilight looked curious at that, but nodded without asking. Flurry left the room and glanced back at her saddlebags before proceeding to Cozy's room.
The door was ajar, so she peeked inside. Cozy sat by a low table and was peering through a microscope of some sort. Flurry shied back a little. She wanted to talk to her, but she could not disturb her when she looked so concentrated. Just as she was about to leave and come back later, Cozy stretched and hopped down from her stool.
Flurry took her chance and knocked. Their eyes met through the gap between the door and wall.
"Oh… it's you," Cozy said. She sounded disinterested, but not openly hostile. She gave a curt flick with her wing as an invitation. Flurry opened the door quietly and went in. She stopped just a few steps inside, unsure if Cozy would allow her to come closer. Her eyes were just a little narrow, her body position just a little turned away, enough to create a feeling of distance.
"Hi, Cozy," Flurry said. Her voice felt loud in the room. "I… I brought you a gift. So we could try to be friends again, if you want."
Cozy's face betrayed nothing of what she thought. She nodded once, her neck stiff. "Yeah… I was really rude last time so… we could try again, if you want."
Flurry nodded and dug out her pouch of candy. "I was in Ponyville for the weekend, with Rumble. He said you liked sweets." She offered the bright, colorful paper bag to Cozy.
"He did, huh?" Cozy said. "Well, he isn't wrong. Thank you." She took the paper bag and picked out a piece of gumdrop. Then she put the sweets on her bedside table.
Flurry looked at Cozy, but still could not decide on what she might be thinking. Her tone was cordial, but not really friendly, and her eyes looked completely devoid of emotion. No anger, but also no happiness. The two fell silent. Flurry wondered what to do now, and Cozy simply looked at her impassively.
"Do you want to play some chess?" Cozy suddenly asked. "I'm pretty good at it, so maybe I could teach you something, if you want."
Flurry felt like a weight had been lifted from her shoulders. She had managed to break through to Cozy, at least a little bit! "Yes please! I'd love that."
Cozy turned away to fetch her board, and Flurry took the opportunity to finally walk further inside. She sat down on the rug in the middle of the room and glanced around. The bed was large, far too big to have been intended for Cozy. It was also still unmade. On the other side of the room stood the strange microscope she had found Cozy by. Also on the table there was a feather.
"Do you want to be white or black?" Cozy asked, causing Flurry to snap back to her. She didn't want anypony to think she was looking through their room, especially not Cozy.
"I'll be white," Flurry said. "Mommy says white fits me."
"You know, the white player is thought to represent Princess Platinum, last of the unicorn Princesses." Cozy said. "Nopony really knows who the black player is, but it's usually held to represent a dark king who wanted to get rid of her and take her title."
Flurry didn't actually know that, but it only made it fit even more. Since she was a princess, it made sense that she played as Platinum. Though it was silly to think that Cozy would want to get rid of Flurry to be a Princess herself. She smiled at how silly it sounded. Cozy smiled too. Then their game began.
"How do you like studying with Twilight?" Cozy asked after a few turns.
"It's great! Twilight is a good teacher. She really likes magic, and teaching, doesn't she?"
Cozy nodded slowly, studying the chessboard. "She's always been good at magic, even when she lived in Ponyville."
"But you're her student too, right? Do you like studying with her?"
Cozy shrugged. "Some parts are good… I already know just as much as she, but it's good to have somepony to speak to. To get another point of view on stuff." Cozy moved one of her knight pieces forward.
"Uh-huh. Even when I think I have a good idea, it becomes even better when I ask a friend what they think! They see things I missed, and stuff."
"Or if you have some problem you don't even know where to start, a friend can bring you up to speed," Cozy pointed out. "Also, it's your turn."
"Sorry," Flurry said and looked over the board before making her move. "You know… Actually, I asked Rumble for advice about how to get closer to you," Flurry admitted. Hopefully Cozy didn't think it was weird.
"I figured," Cozy said. "Since he knows me, it makes sense you went to him... especially since I didn't help at all, last time you tried to be my friend."
"I'm really happy I went to him for help. Now I won't only get you as a friend, but him too. He even helped me to learn bowling when we were in Ponyville. I think he enjoyed it too."
"Golly, it sounds like you are really getting along well, aren't you?" Cozy smiled, but there was something in her eyes that made Flurry uneasy, even if she couldn't put her hoof on what.
She beat the thought away. Cozy was just asking to be friendly. She nodded. "Yeah, we're getting along really well."
Cozy nodded and looked down on the chessboard again so the bangs hid her face. They played on in silence for a little while. Flurry was doing great. She captured plenty of Cozy's black pieces while steadily moving her battle-line forward, except for some pawns to the back, which protected her Princess. Flurry wondered if maybe Cozy was letting her win, but she had kept her head down since they stopped talking. Then again, chess was a thought intensive game, so it made sense she didn't want to talk a whole lot when they were playing.
"Check," Cozy said suddenly.
”Oh…” Flurry studied the board and bit the inside of her cheek. From what she could see she was suddenly almost defeated. In her eagerness to push forward, she had accidentally left a clear path open for Cozy's rook to sneak all the way back to threaten her Princess. The pawns in front of it suddenly blocked her escape rather than protecting her. She had only one space where she could move, so she did that. Cozy kept the rook where it was and moved her last knight instead, threatening Flurry's Princess again.
That was the beginning of Flurry's end. She was forced to hop around with her Princess Piece most of her turns just to avoid losing, and in the meantime Cozy managed to pick off most of her pieces. And eventually, Cozy had her caught.
"Checkmate. But it was a good game."
"You're really good at chess," Flurry offered. She had hoped to win, but at the same time she could not be too surprised. With a cutie mark like that, Cozy would not want to lose on purpose.
Still, she must be much closer to being Cozy's friend now than she was this morning! And when she was, then her teacher would be really proud! Then Flurry would have made a friend all on her own- no, two friends, with Rumble as well! She just had to be patient and keep working on Cozy, and it would all be perfect!
Flurry waved a few short moments before stepping out of Cozy's room and closing the door behind her. Cozy heard her hoof steps recede outside her room. When she couldn't hear them anymore,she opened the door and peeked out, just to be sure Flurry was actually gone.
Only when she had confirmed the coast was clear, she allowed herself to drop her mask. She exhaled heavily and was left panting to herself back in her room. Then she went up to her bed and allowed her face to twist into a grimace of fury as she bucked her cloud mattress as hard as she could, a growl tumbled over her lips. Then she kicked again, and again, before she felt the most explosive feelings run off from her, leaving only her rage.
As always, the rage served to sharpen her mind. She sat down on the middle of the carpet to think. She would have preferred to sit on her bed, but if she touched the cloud when this angry, it would become a thundercloud, and it would be hard to hide from Twilight.
It had been humiliating and hard, but she had managed to learn some useful things about Flurry from their chat. By far the most important was that she absolutely was still a threat to stealing Cozy's best friend (and hopefully soon-to-be more than that). Cozy already knew they spent the time in Ponyville, but she didn't know that Rumble seemed to enjoy it so much! If he did, soon he'd seek out Flurry of his own volition.
No more flying together! No more just spending time and talking and… letting her guard down. She couldn't talk to Rumble as freely and as safely as she wanted if he might tattle to Flurry Heart! And she definitely could not…
Cozy blushed, even by her lonesome, just thinking about it.
Ask him out.
She couldn't do it, if Flurry was that close to him. What if he rejected her? What if he started seeing Flurry Heart instead? Cozy didn't know what she'd do then. The mere thought left her feeling nauseated.
She could not allow it.
But then what should she do?
Well, the quill he had asked for was a good start. But she'd have to start over. The one she made earlier was not good enough. It was just a plain goose feather and the metalwork was still geared to function, and nothing more. She had to make it pretty. Cool looking and sleek. And she needed a new feather... or something. But where would she get that?
Of course, in theory, she could use a pegasus feather, but plucking one was painful and nothing Rumble would do. She could use one of her own feathers, but then he'd certainly become suspicious of her… and it was probably kind of gross to use pieces of herself for this.
That meant she had to find a pretty feather someplace else. She made a mental note to look around in the Canterlot market someday soon. An eagle or falcon feather would be so cool...
But even that would not be enough. If she wanted to compete with an alicorn she had to keep up the offensive! She needed to do more! And she knew exactly what she would be doing. Best of all, since she had already written a letter today, Twilight was not going to interrupt her this time.
Cozy opened her balcony door and hopped out in the air. If Rumble was not working, he'd be in the castle annex. She glided in gentle spirals down towards the rectangular house. Fall had started to come in earnest to Canterlot. The leaves began to shift into yellow and red, and some of the ponies down below had already broken out some heavier clothing. But Cozy didn't need that yet. Pegasi had thicker coats than unicorns.
She tapped down on the garden path and went into the annex and knocked on the door to Rumble's room. Just the thought of seeing him made her feel warm inside.
"Who is it?" his voice asked from inside.
"It's me! We should go fly now, before it gets dark!" Cozy said. If there was anything that could catch the eye of a pegasus, it was a skilled flyer. She just had to impress him.
"We should? But I was just-"
"NO! YOU ARE COMING WITH ME, RIGHT NOW!" Cozy shouted, her calm evaporated. She did not know how long she had before Flurry came and tried to throw a wrench in her plan. She was not going to let Rumble's loitering ruin this. Besides, it was for his sake too. Cozy was obviously a better match for him than Flurry was.
She heard some grumbling from inside. "Yeah, yeah… I'm coming." He looked rather peeved when he opened the door. That is, until she bodily pulled him away. Then he just looked surprised.
"The weather is great" So I thought we could have a race!" Cozy chirped. She felt like she could race the Wonderbolts themselves right now.
"A race? But we've never raced before," Rumble said.
"'Cause I didn't want to humiliate you," Cozy said. "But then I thought it could be fun for you to see just how great I am, so I decided it'd be worth it, even if you got completely humiliated."
Rumble's still somewhat sour look turned into a competitive smirk. "Oh yeah? Think you have a chance against me, do you?"
"I was just about to ask you the same," Cozy smiled. "But if you want to walk away, I suppose I wouldn't blame you."
"Oh, you are on!" Rumble said. "So what track are you gonna lose? Around the castle?"
"Pff, I could win that in my sleep," Cozy said with a dismissive gesture. "How about we race through the hedge maze? First pony who gets out on the other side wins."
Rumble looked a little dubious. "Is that really safe?"
"Chicken," Cozy said and swatted him with her tail.
Rumble nudged her back. "Fine. Just don't cry when you lose."
The two of them lined up at the entrance to the Canterlot Castle hedge maze with Cozy to the left and Rumble to the right. It was a pride and joy of the gardeners, and the largest of its kind in Equestria. It had been started soon after Canterlot's foundation and slowly expanded ever since. But some parts still followed the original design, even if all the hedge plants had died and been replaced many times.
They would not have to worry about getting lost though. A red band had been hung up through the maze to guide ponies through. Cozy and Rumble would just have to follow it.
"I'll count to three, and then we start," Cozy decided.
"No, I will count," Rumble said. "Else you're just gonna cheat."
Cozy huffed, but she really could not deny the accusation either. She adopted a low, smooth stance to quickly get into the air. She was smaller and lighter than him, so hopefully that would help her.
Oh, Cozy had no illusions about actually winning. He was a better flyer than her, and also plenty stronger. But goading him like this and then having him win was going to make him happy, and that was a victory for her. Furthermore, if she did well enough he'd still be impressed, especially since she had learned from him. Win or lose, she'd still get what she came for.
"Ready?" Rumble asked.
"Are you?" Cozy asked back and unfurled her wings halfway.
"One…" Rumble mimicked her stance. Low and with the wings slightly lifted and arched.
"Two…" She flicked her tail once.
"Three!" They both jumped into the air, neck in neck. Much to her delight, she saw the first turn was going to be to the left, which placed her on the inner curve. Maybe she could take the lead already!
Rumble was close though. He almost touched her as they entered the curve. Cozy felt her heart flutter a little, not all from the flying. The moment they passed the curve, she turned down to the new direction and beat her wings like mad. She wanted to conserve as much of her speed as she could, but she also had to change direction before she flew into the hedge wall.
Rumble was flying next to her, which meant he had a smoother curve to follow since she blocked the immediate path around the corner. Cozy saw him from the corner of her eye. He glided into the curve, smooth and natural, then pumped his wings in a few furious strokes. He all but shot forward, nearly passing her before she managed to pull up and follow.
Cozy maintained the inner position, but Rumble was about half a body-length ahead of her, and the next curve was already coming up. She flapped like mad, gaining on Rumble ever so slightly. She could not let him pass this curve ahead of her, or she'd never catch up again. She zeroed in on the corner and readied herself for the turn. If she was not careful, she was going to careen straight into Rumble instead.
A pony stepped out behind the hedge.
Both him and Cozy yelped in surprise. He threw himself on the ground the same time Cozy tried to gain some height and fly over him. She passed over his head close enough to feel his mane brush against her belly. But her concentration was broken, and she was too late to take the turn. Instead she flew straight into the thick foliage. She barely had enough time to throw up her forelegs to protect her face. Leaves and twigs scratched and swatted her all over and tangled up her mane and tail.
Then she was falling and landed on her back, hard. She kept her eyes closed for a few seconds, just to fight back the tears. Her forelegs felt like she had rubbed them with poison ivy and her back throbbed from the landing. She swallowed down her cries and opened her eyes.
She had flown straight through the hedge and landed on another path. She pulled herself up and looked herself over. She had plenty of small cuts and bruises, but nothing seemed too serious from what she could tell. Her tail looked like a bird had nested in it though, and while she couldn't check, she had a feeling her mane was just as bad. Thank goodness she had managed to protect her eyes, or she might well have needed magical surgery.
"Cozy?! Are you okay?" Rumble flew over the hedge and landed next to her. He winced. "We should get you back to Twilight. You need to wash your wounds!"
"And comb myself," Cozy said. Her voice was a bit shaky. She stretched her wings slowly. They felt sore and stung a whole lot, but it didn't hurt any worse when she tested to flap them. Good.
"I knew it was stupid to fly a race through the maze!" Rumble said, stomping a hoof in irritation. "It was just luck you didn't hit him! You could have hurt both him and yourself badly! Why did you even want to do this?"
Considering her real motives, Cozy didn't really have a good way of answering that truthfully. She felled her ears. "I figured that since you help me with my flying all the time we could do something you might like too... and with your brother a Wonderbolt, I figured you liked racing," she said. Hopefully he'd buy that excuse. "Are you mad?"
"No," Rumble said. "Come on. Let's get you patched up."
"Before that guy finds us and we get in trouble," Cozy added.
"That too." Rumble said and took wing. Cozy followed. They flew above the maze and back to her balcony. She had left it open, so they just went in. She went into the bathroom and washed her forelegs off in warm water. A glance in the mirror confirmed her mane was indeed a mess hours away from being presentable. She undid the ribbons in her mane and tail.
"Do you need help with anything?" Rumble asked from her room. He had not followed her into the bathroom.
She didn't want to appear weak. She wanted him to know she was a tough pony who could take care of herself. But on the other hand she didn't want him to leave. She deliberated for a little bit before he spoke again.
"Hey, is this the quill you were making for me?"
Cozy went back out to him. "Yeah… but it's not that good yet. I want to get a better feather, and stuff," she said, blushing a little. She didn't want him to see that quill! It wasn't good enough!
"Oh, okay," Rumble said. "But does it work?"
"Not yet," Cozy lied. She knew it did, but if he tried it and found out it worked then he'd wonder why it wasn't good enough to give him yet, and she couldn't answer that. "Uh… I think I messed up one of the runes and… stuff. I need to remake it. But It's easy. I'm really good at this. It was just a silly mistake," she was forced to add. She could not have him think she was stupid!
"Oh, okay," Rumble said. "I'll wait though. Having a self-writing quill is going to be so cool. I wish I had that for school."
Cozy nodded absently. A small twig fell from her mane as if to remind her that she was still a mess.
"Uh… I think I can manage myself," Cozy said. She still didn't want him to leave, but she didn't want him to see her like this either. She wanted to look cute and lovable like usual. "You were lucky, you know. 'Cause I'd totally have won."
Rumble rolled his eyes."Then how about a rematch later? I've got to get back to the kitchen now, after we could have a race around the castle."
Cozy nodded. Another few leaves fell from her mane. She batted them away angrily. "Okay. I'll… just clean myself up. You'll find me later, when you're done?”
Rumble nodded. "Sounds good." He looked her over with a small smile. "One thing's for sure. It's impossible to be bored when you're around."
With that, he left the room through the balcony. When she was sure he was gone, Cozy let out a small squeak of happiness. She had won! Even with her mane and tail full of leaves, she had still made a positive impression! This was great! It was easily worth it!
With a skip in her step, she returned to the bathroom and started combing through her curly tail, humming a tune to herself.