//------------------------------// // Chapter 1-2: Discordant Awakenings // Story: The Social Rejects Squad: Loose Ends // by Betty_Starlight //------------------------------// Cozy Glow felt the warm embrace of Starshine holding her from behind as she snuggled under the covers and sensed the comforting warmth of Little Snack in front of her. She felt so peaceful there, with her two best friends as she closed her auburn eyes and slowly drifted off to sleep that afternoon… Cozy awoke on the mat inside her cage deep in Tartarus. She looked around. There was no sign of Tirek’s cage? Just a lonely cave somewhere deep within the earth. Cozy gets up off to her hooves on the mat and looks around as she called out, “Hello?” She can see the door to the cage on her left, but there’s a brass padlock there! Cozy scrunches her mouth as she glares at it, “Okay! Just relax! This probably isn’t real? But the question is, why am I here?” “You are here because you choose to be!” says a soft feminine voice from behind her. Cozy turns to see the dark form of Princess Luna staring back at her from the other side of the bars maybe 3 feet away from them. She then loudly exclaims, “Look! I’m reformed! I did my time! Why am I still here?” Princess Luna smiles and says, “Only you know the answer to that question Cozy!” “Cozy! Wake up!” said the squeaky voice of Little Snack in Cozy’s head. The pink filly stirs as she remembers she was being held by Starshine earlier and Little Snack was right in front of her. But now, she can't feel anypony around her! Just soft blankets and cool silky pillows. She opens her eyes to see an orange earth filly with green pigtails staring at her from off to the side of the bed with a concerned look in her eyes. She also sees a white-haired purple unicorn filly standing further to the right. Little Snack finally says, “Uh um, Cozy Glow, I er, uh…” She then looks over to her left side and says, “Hey Starshine! Some help here?” before looking back at Cozy and nervously pawing at the floor gently. Starshine calmly closes her eyes and sighs before looking at Cozy as she says, “Cozy Glow, you have a unicorn horn…” “AAAAAHHH!!!!!” Cozy exclaims as she starts to scream with her eyes on the new horn, now jutting out of her forehead about 5 inches! The cloven hooved and motley form of Discord materializes out of thin air floating behind the two fillies, points at the filly on the bed with the cow hoof on his right foreleg, and giggles as he says, “Oh you should see the look on your face Cozy!” Cozy gets on all fours on the bed and yells, “Change me back!” at the draconequus as her two friends then turn to face Discord. Discord smiles and says, “Oh, but I can’t do that! You see, this is your test!” Cozy starts before Discord can say another word, “I don’t care about your test and I don’t care about you! Change me back right now and get out of here!” Suddenly, a zipper appears over Cozy’s mouth and zips shut as Discord mimics the motion in the air. Discord smiles and continues, “Now, where was I? Oh yes! Your test little Cozy Glow! You see, you wanted power. Well congratulations! I’m giving it to you! Now, you’re by no means a true alicorn and you’re definitely not a match for Princess Twilight or even Flurry Heart, but you’re certainly mightier than any unicorn in Equestria! Now, let’s see what you do!” before disappearing slowly revealing only a snarly toothed mouth and eyes as he softly giggles as that soon, disappears as well. Cozy’s mouth is suddenly free from the zipper as it disappears and she yells, “Jerk!” at the empty air and fluffs her wings. “Oh crap! Oh gosh! This is bad! This is very bad!” Little Snack says as she starts to paw at the floor again. Starshine looks over and says, “Relax Little Snack! No matter what happens, we’re not gonna make it better by freaking out!” Little stops and looks at the unicorn as she says, “Um, okay! You got a point there! But uh, Cozy is freaking all powerful now! What do we do?” Starshine giggles softly and says, “Well, we should probably start by seeing how she is?” “Um, makes sense!” Little Snack says before nodding and cautiously staring back up on the bed. She sees Cozy there, now with a horn and sitting on her haunches, biting her forehooves, with her eyes darting around the room. She finally says, “Um, Cozy? Are you okay?” Cozy starts and looks down at the earth filly as she slowly smiles and says, “Of course Little Snack! I’m swell! I’m great! I’m the best filly there is! I’m good! I swear!” “Um, Canterlot! We’re losing her!” Little Snack says as she mimics a space control center. Starshine says, “Cozy, first off, avoid concentrating on anything for right now. Secondly, if something is the matter, you need to let us know right now. We’re both cleared to spend the night tonight, since we both told our parents that you need us…" She nods and looks at the pink filly determinedly, "We’re here for you Cozy! You’re gonna be okay!” “Golly golly golly golly golly golly golly…” Cozy keeps repeating to herself. Starshine looks at Little and says, “Look! I don’t know what kinda time we have! You stay here and try to calmly talk to her! I’ll go get Trixie from the Friendship School! We need her here, now!” “Hey! Wait!” Little Snack says as Starshine begins to quickly trot to the door. Starshine opens it with her forehoof and says, “Little Snack! I know you can keep her calm! Just sit tight! I’ll be back as soon as I can!” before trotting out, closing it, and loud galloping hoofsteps can be heard growing faint behind the door. Little Snack slowly looks at the frantic half-alicorn. She says, “So uh, we sure had a lot of fun this morning?” and smiles dimly. Cozy looks at Little Snack and stutters out, “Um, yeah… Golly, we sure did huh?” she starts to giggle nervously as she continues, “You know, I haven’t played tetherball in over twelve years?” “Oh well, I guess you were about due then?” Cozy smiles and chuckles softly and says, “Yeah…” “Um, you holding up okay Cozy?” “Oh, golly gee! You know, by now, you’d think I’d be used to my life being weird? You gotta admit, losing everything I hold dear, failing to take over Equestria twice, getting locked in Tartarus, getting turned to stone, learning friendship again, and then becoming super powerful sure doesn’t happen to most fillies?” “Well uh, hey! It could be worse? You could be NORMAL! That would suck right?” Little Snack says as she tries her best to put on a happy grin for Cozy. At this point, Cozy could only stare at the orange filly dumbfounded and in shock. She then starts to smile and giggle maniacally! Little Snack then mumbles to herself, “Okay! Um, yeah! This is better! I think?” she looks up at Cozy and asks her, “Cozy! You okay over there?” Cozy smiles and says, “Why wouldn’t I be okay? I got power! I got lots of power! And you know, I didn’t even want it this time! I still don’t want it! I’m swell! I'm great!" before starting to giggle like a lunatic some more. “Oh gosh! This probably isn’t good! Um, think Little Snack! Think! Um…” Little Snack then looks at Cozy who’s still out of her mind and giggling hysterically. She takes a deep breath and says to herself, “Okay! Here I go!” before trotting over to Cozy quickly and embracing her in a tight warm hug. She whispers to Cozy’s left ear as she stutters, “It’s okay Cozy… You’re gonna be just fine… I promise…” Cozy begins to pant as she calms down and then looks down before saying, “Th-thanks Little Snack… You really are my friend, huh?” Little smiles while still holding Cozy as she says in a more composed tone, “You bet Cozy! Anytime!” Suddenly, Starlight Glimmer, Trixie (in her magician’s hat and cape), and Starshine all teleport to the center of the room. Starlight is on Cozy’s left and quickly sees Little Snack on the bed and hugging the shaking pegasus, with a horn now on her head. She says, “Oh crap! She’s an alicorn!” “I’m not an alicorn! I…” Cozy begins to scream out, “didn’t even want power!” as Little Snack starts and then holds the pink filly more firmly. Trixie, standing between Starlight and Starshine, curves her mouth and says, “You gotta admit, it is the sort of twisted and weird thing Discord would do? But no, this is not okay!” she says before stamping her left forehoof down. “This is my foal! I adopted her because I love her! That jerk has gone too far!” Starlight nods her head and says, “Agreed! You stay here and keep her calm! I’ll go get Rainbow Dash to fly word to Princess Twilight!” before teleporting out. “How are you doing baby?” Trixie asks before tentatively taking a few paces towards the bed. “You know, I still have no idea what all I can do? I can’t really focus on anything right now. Freaking out makes that kinda hard!” Cozy slowly says before softly giggling to herself once more. She then looks wide eyed at Trixie before saying, “I guess that’s a good thing, right?” and then giggling even more hysterically, when suddenly, a small bolt of lightning shoots out of her horn and passes over Trixie’s coned hat to blacken the door behind her… The room stops as Cozy looks up at the fresh burn mark and says, “Golly! Guess I shouldn’t focus like that huh? Well, assuming I don’t want a small bolt of lightning!” and then, softly chuckling to nopony. “Uh, right!” Trixie slowly and dramatically says as a slow grin forms on her face. “Why are you so happy mom? Equestria is doomed now!” Trixie scrunches her mouth and says, “Melodramatic much daughter?” as she tilts her head to the right, “I mean, you’re still a good pony, whether you have power or not you know?” “Golly! You really think so mom? I mean, I always thought it wouldn’t matter much if I messed up you know? But now?” her eyes finally move to see the horn on her head as it suddenly starts to fizzle with magical energy around it. It suddenly shoots a white bolt of energy through the ceiling of Trixie’s cottage! “AAAAAHHH!!!!” she screams! “I HATE THIS!” “Cozy! Get a hold of yourself! Now look at me… (Cozy begins to stare at the blue unicorn with wide brown eyes) You just need to learn focus okay? Look! There’s a big open field south of here! We can go there and practice, okay?” Trixie says while motioning with her right forehoof towards the south. “Um, open field? Nopony around huh? Uh, yeah! Yes mom! Let’s go there!” Cozy says while panting and nodding her head energetically. “Right! Little Snack! Starshine! You two stay here and If Starlight returns, let her know we’re in the south field!” Trixie says as she tilts her head towards the earth filly. “You got it Trixie!” Little Snack says before nodding her head at the blue unicorn. “We won’t let you down!” chimes in Starshine. Trixie looks back to Cozy and says, “Now Cozy! Focus on trotting and nothing else! Just walk to me, and we’ll carefully walk out to the south field, so I can teach you focus!” “Um, okay! Golly! I think I can do this! Golly!” Cozy says as she slowly gets off the bed for the first time in nearly two hours. Her left forehoof hits the ground before her right and as she slowly moves her body forward by trotting, her left hind hoof touches the floor shortly before her right. She looks up to Trixie and slowly and cautiously trots to her while doing her best to focus on trotting and nothing else. “See? That wasn’t so bad was it?” Trixie asks before smiling at the small pink filly who looks up and smiles back at her. About ten minutes later, the duo of unicorn and pseudo-alicorn walk out to the field near a knoll. Trixie looks at the knoll, “Okay! That knoll can take a lot Cozy! Focus on it and learn to control your magical blasts! Once you can control your destructive forces, you won’t be as dangerous and 'randomly destructive!'” Cozy glances to Trixie on her left and says, “You don’t want me to accidentally blow stuff up huh? Makes sense!” before focusing on the knoll. She concentrates and soon, her horn begins to spark with electricity. She then focuses on the knoll more and finally sends a white magical burst towards the knoll! It blasts the hillside and creates a small crater there in the side. She says, “You gotta admit, that’s pretty powerful! I didn’t even focus or use that much!” “That’s very good Cozy! Now focus some more! Let’s see what you can do!” Trixie says while leaning towards the knoll with an almost psychotic grin on her face. “Are you sure that’s okay mom?” Cozy says before nervously looking at Trixie. “Sure!" Trixie says as she shrugs, "There’s nopony for miles! We’ll be fine!” “Um, okay… “Cozy says before looking back at the knoll and focusing more heavily in that direction with concentration in her brown eyes before suddenly, her horn gives off a powerful white surge of energy that blasts an even bigger crater just to the right of the one she created earlier and blows most of the hillside to smithereens! She sees the big brown smoldering crater she just made in the landscape, smiles, and says, “Golly! That’s kinda fun! I like blowing stuff up!” Trixie looks back at her daughter, “See, it’s not so bad right?” “Well, maybe not mom? But you know, I didn’t even want it?” “Howdy there!” says a voice from behind. This startles Cozy and she screams “AAH!” and suddenly shoots a bolt of white-hot energy into the sky! She then watches it form vapor trails in the upper horizon as she asks her mother, “That’s not gonna come back down is it?” Trixie looks up and sees the small puffs of cloud in the distance from under her magician’s hat as the blast trails off, frowns, and says, “Um, I hope not?” Cozy looks behind her to see the tan earth stallion in a bent and disheveled straw hat with a brown mustache standing there as he smiles and says, “Oh I’m sorry little filly! I didn’t mean to scare you! I was just admiring your handywork on that there knoll you were just blasting!” “Well golly gee mister! You really shouldn’t startle ponies like that!” He smirks and lowers his head as he sheepishly says, “Oh um, sorry little one! Name’s Daniel and I herd sheep!” Trixie frowns and says, “Well yes Daniel! My name is Trixie and we kinda need this area to ourselves for now.” “Oh uh, sorry bout that Miss Trixie! I’ll just be on my way then! Uh, you keep practicing little pony! You’ll get it soon!” he says before softly whistling to himself and trotting back towards the east. After he’s some distance away, Cozy looks at Trixie and says, “Uh, mom? I think I got the hang of energy blasting and I don’t think I’m gonna blow things up out of nowhere anymore? Can we go back now please?” before smiling faintly. “Are you okay daughter?” “Um, yeah I think so? Can we talk?” “Sure Cozy!” Trixie says before turning to face Cozy and continuing, “What’s on your mind little filly?” Cozy turns her body as well, “Well golly! I’ve been meeting with you almost everyday for about a month, we get back, I get a few days off, and now something else weird happens to me! I just…” she closes her eyes, “don’t know what went wrong?” Trixie frowns and says, “Well, I can tell you exactly what went wrong Cozy! His name is Discord and he’s trouble!” Cozy opens her eyes and starts at Trixie, “Golly! What do I do mom? I just don’t know anymore?” Trixie trots over and hugs the foal as she continues, “Even when I was trying to take over the School of Friendship, it seemed simpler than this? Doing the right thing is a lot harder, huh?” Trixie whispers in Cozy’s ear, “Doing the right thing is often hard, yes… Especially when Discord is involved!” “Yeah… Um, thanks mom…” “You’re gonna be okay little Cozy! Mommy’s here now and she’ll make sure of it!” as she firmly embraces the filly slightly tighter. Cozy can’t help but notice the form of a larger purple Alicorn with a golden neck piece and crown upon her head trotting towards them from the wooded area to the North while she’s in Trixie’s embrace. She says to her mother, “Uh, mom! Twilight’s here!” “Oh!” Trixie starts as she lets go of the filly to turn around and face Princess Twilight Sparkle standing behind her at the beginning of the clearing. Twilight looks at the destroyed hillside, smiles, and says, “I see you’re teaching her how to control her destructive power! This is good!” Trixie smiles and says, “Well, since she’s got it, she should know how to use it right?” “You know, I’m right here!” Cozy says before stamping her left forehoof and fluffing her wings in irritation. “And another thing! I was actually under the impression that I was a horrible villain! Why in Equestria is me having 'destructive power' a good thing?” Twilight looks at Cozy, smiles, and says, “Well, you’re reformed now right?” “Golly! I sure hope so!” Cozy exclaims wide-eyed as her body jitters. Twilight smiles as she continues, “Exactly! So, what’s the problem?” Cozy says, “Oh, now you sound exactly like my mother!” Trixie looks over and smirks as she continues in a cutsie mocking tone, “'Oh, you’re still a good pony Cozy! You’ll be just fine Cozy!' What about what I wanted to do today?” Trixie suppresses a giggle, frowns, and says, “Well, you were probably gonna hang out with your friends and we’re about to go do that anyway?” Cozy starts and looks at her mother before saying, “Well um, okay that’s true, huh?” Twilight giggles as she shakes her head. She faces the pink filly and asks, “How do you feel?” Cozy glances back to Twilight and says, “Well uh, golly! I feel really energized! Like, I have the power to take over Equestria now! Heh heh! Funny true story, I actually don’t wanna anymore! Kinda ironic, huh?” Twilight closes her eyes and says, “Very! You’re to stay with your mother until further notice! Trixie!” she says before looking at the blue unicorn. “Yes Princess?” Trixie says while turning to look at Twilight attentively. Twilight continues, “You are charged with keeping little Cozy Glow safe and making sure she knows how to use her powers! I will go try to find Discord and get him to stop this!" Trixie smiles and says, “Well you know Twilight, I was gonna do that anyway?” Twilight smiles back and says, “Of course you were! Good luck! I’ll go see about finding Discord!” before trotting over to Cozy, looking down at her, and saying, “I know having power is new to you Cozy and I understand that you’re scared… But believe me when I say, you’ll be okay no matter what… I left your mother in charge for a reason. Over the last ten years, she proved herself very capable as a counselor and when the idea of you becoming reformed came up, I decided therapy was necessary to get to the root of why you did what you did… Now that that’s done, we need to get you okay again! You’re gonna be just fine filly! Equestria is behind you!” Cozy starts and says, “Well I know that! Of course, I’m gonna be okay! R-right mom?” before looking over at Trixie with a wide-eyed expression. Trixie looks at the filly and smiles, “Right!” “Okay Cozy! Be safe!” Twilight says before embracing Cozy in a hug. “Oh, golly yes! Of course! The hugging!” Cozy says as she does her best to return the hug from the giant alicorn with her little forelegs. Twilight gets off Cozy and says, “You need to know that we’re all here for you Cozy!” before turning and trotting away five paces before disappearing in a bright violet flash as Trixie starts and Cozy can only blink. Trixie says, “I’m still not used to that, even after all this time!” “Uh, mom?” “Yes Cozy?” “I wanna trot back home now… I don’t wanna blow up anything else…” “Alright Cozy! Let’s go home!” <*****> Trixie opens the door and trots in while saying, “Hello! We’re home! Uh, oh gosh!” She looks beyond the foyer into the kitchen area to see Starshine there with her horn glowing as she’s flipping a toasty bran cake that’s now frying on the skillet in front of her with a metal spatula. Little Snack, standing beside her, looks over at the Trixie and Cozy before saying, “Hey Starshine! They’re back! We should probably tell them what we did?” Starshine floats the spatula off to the left side of the stove, looks over at Trixie, and says, “I hope you don’t mind Miss Trixie, but I already started frying bran cakes for dinner!” “And I helped!” Little says before smiling. Trixie smiles and says, “Team of adorable fillies!” “Now with Ultra Pony!” Little Snack chimes in. Cozy grimaces as Trixie looks over to her on the right and says, “Go over to the table and sit down Cozy! Let us take care of everything!” Cozy trots over to table while muttering to herself, “Well golly! I sure am used to being told what to do and other ponies taking care of me by now!” Little sees this and walks towards the table while looking at Cozy and saying, “That’s the spirit!” Cozy gets to her chair and begins to sit on it while mumbling something about sarcasm as Little sits at the seat just to her right. Little Snack looks at Cozy and smiles as she says, “How you holding up, champ?” Cozy looks at the earth filly and says, “Well, I just learned to control my destructive forces, so I won’t randomly blow stuff up?” Little Snack says, “Okay so that’s good right? No more Cozy Bursts!” Cozy frowns as she says, “You already named it? I’ve only done it a few times!” Little just says, “Well it’s a burst and your Cozy? Wasn’t complicated!” before grinning widely. Cozy giggles and says, “Yeah!” while Starshine trots in from the kitchen area and sits down across from Cozy on the other side of the table near the kitchen. Starshine looks at the two other fillies and says, “Trixie said we did a great job Little Snack! She’ll be in with the food soon!” Little looks at Starshine and says, “Awesome!” Cozy looks at Starshine and asks her, “So uh, how are you? You gotta admit, when we met all that time ago, you sure didn’t see this coming huh?” Starshine looks at Cozy and says, “Look Cozy! I don’t know much about Discord, but I have heard stories. I do know a lot about you though…” She looks at Cozy with her bright blue eyes once more and continues, “You’re the nicest and most considerate filly I’ve ever met… Power or no, I’m your friend now! And you’re not alone!” Little Snack looks to her left at Cozy and chimes in, “Yeah! You got us now! You’re gonna be okay!” “Well golly! I sure appreciate what you two are doing for me but um… Well, I just don’t know what to do!” Starshine frowns as Trixie trots in while holding a big platter of four plates on it in her blue magic. As Trixie sets it down in the center of the table, she says, “Well uh, there’s not really a whole lot we can do until Twilight finds Discord? But we’ll be here for you as much as we can! Right Little Snack?” Little looks up, “Oh yes! Of course! Friendship! You’re our friend and we’re uh, not gonna leave you alone right now! That is what you’re supposed to do right Cozy?” “Golly yes! You’re supposed to support me AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE! Yes! I very much like that idea!” Cozy says while frantically nodding her head. Trixie sits down to the left of Cozy before using her unicorn magic to get everypony their plates, following with Little Snack to her left and moving clockwise until she finally serves herself. As she’s doing this, she snickers and says, “Wow Cozy! It’s almost like you need support from your friends and you’re getting it now?” “You know, I’d think best case scenario is not needing any support at all mom?” Cozy says as she looks at Trixie from across the table. Trixie looks back at Cozy and says, “Well, that’s another thing! Life will never go perfect and you’ll need support sometimes! And that’s another good reason why you should have friends!” “Oh yes! Lessons!” Cozy says as she grimaces. Trixie continues, “Cozy, I’m trying to teach you…” “Oh, I know that mom! I just wish things were simpler…” “Well, you can blame Discord for that one!” Trixie says before frowning and finally magically lifting up her sizeable bran cake and floating it over to her mouth to take a hearty bite. “Ugh!” Cozy says before she picks up her bran cake with her forehooves and starts eating it. Starshine and Little Snack both look at each other on the other side before Starshine lifts her bran cake with her magic and floats it over to her muzzle to take a bite. Little Snack sees this and picks up hers in her forehooves before happily munching on it quickly. Suddenly, a small energy burst flies from Cozy’s horn and zaps Cozy’s cake while she’s still holding it. She looks down at the browned cake and says, “Golly! Guess I’m eating mine extra crispy now!’ before munching on her cake some more while everypony else gives her a wide-eyed glare. “Cozy? Are you okay?” Trixie asks the pink filly. Cozy only giggles to herself as she munches more on her cake. “Um…” Starshine says as she glares at the Cozy eating her cake. Cozy is mostly done with her cake before looking at Starshine with a cold dead expression and asking her, “What?” Starshine starts before saying, “Well, we’re just worried about you Cozy. You gotta admit, you have been acting very strange?” (To be continued…)