Flurry ruffled her wings and yawned. She was sure she had never been up this late before. Actually, she had gone to bed already, but then Cozy came into her room and told her that you could be up as long as you wanted on your cute-ceañera. Flurry had never heard that before, but she supposed it made sense. When you had your cutie mark you were a big pony, and big ponies didn't have to go to bed at nine o'clock. Besides… this was exactly the sort of thing she had wanted to do ever since she heard about Cozy's mischievous sides. Grinning like a silly pony, Flurry hopped down from her bed and followed Cozy back to her room.
They had worked a bit on Cozy's puzzle before Cozy had turned off nearly all lights. So Twilight didn't find them and got mad, she said. Flurry agreed - mischief was only fun until you got caught.
But with no light, they couldn't do any more puzzling.
"Maybe we could have a small candle?" Flurry suggested, whispering just to be sure. "We could read. I got new books from mom and dad, and they are just outside."
Cozy nodded. "Okay. You get the book. Since you are allowed to be up on your cute-ceañera, you won't get in trouble even if you get caught."
Flurry nodded and tiptoed over to the door and- "No, not like that," Cozy whispered.
"What? What did I do?" Flurry asked, looking herself over. She didn't see anything wrong.
"Don't tiptoe! Tiptoeing actually focuses your weight on a smaller point, so the floor is more liable to creak if you tiptoe. Just walk slowly instead."
That… made sense. Why did everypony tiptoe then when they wanted to sneak? Were they all wrong? Flurry decided to ask her dad the next morning. "Okay. So no tiptoeing."
She went up to the door and put her ear to the cool, wooden surface, listening for any and all sounds. Hearing nothing, she pushed open the door and fluttered her way through the open corridor. She landed on the carpet and carefully made her way over to the table where her presents still laid.
She grabbed the topmost book and held it pressed against her belly with her forelegs before quietly flying back to Cozy's room.
She let out a sigh of relief when she tapped down on the carpet. "I did it!"
"Great! What did you bring?"
Only now did Flurry look over the book. It was white and had six ponies around the Equestrian flag on the cover. "The founding of Equestria," Flurry read out loud. "I love that story."
Cozy shrugged. "Eh, I wonder what they're not telling us. No way everypony just become friends overnight. I'm sure there were a lot of problems after, even if nopony talks about it."
"No," Flurry shook her head with certainty. "The fire of friendship lit up every heart so much that nopony has ever had to be alone after that," she said, reciting what her mom had told her. Mommy was always right about that sort of thing.
Cozy rolled her eyes. "Sure." Flurry decided to consider that a win.
They laid down together, but not too close to each other, to start reading in the soft light of a candle. It was one of those enchanted ones that couldn't even burn on their own, they specifically needed candle wax to work. Twilight had banned regular candles from her castle to reduce the risk of fires ("To protect the book- uh, I mean, protect everypony!" as she had said).
"Are you done?" Cozy asked when Flurry was maybe only at half the page.
"No. You must be a really quick reader," Flurry said.
Cozy shrugged. "Somepony had me train until I was really good at it."
"That's nice. With teachers that help you so much. Like Twilight, right?"
Suddenly, Cozy's warm, relaxed mood dipped several degrees, filling Flurry's chest with coldness. "He wasn't really a good teacher," Cozy said at length. "Twilight's better."
"Oh… sorry," Flurry said, not fully understanding the change in Cozy's voice.
Cozy shook her head. "No, Never mind. You can just turn the page when you're done, since I read faster."
Flurry nodded and continued with the text. Cozy's demeanor soon began to thaw again.
They read on. Flurry felt her eyes beginning to sting soon after. The light wasn't great, and while she didn't want to be, she was getting tired. But Cozy also yawned. She should stay here until Cozy decided to stop. Flurry was a big pony now, she could definitely be up for longer than Cozy. She just had to concentrate.
She shook her head and forced her eyes open to read on.
"Are you tired?" Flurry asked soon.
"Are you?" Cozy said through a yawn.
"No!" Flurry huffed loudly.
"Well, me either," Cozy snapped back.
"I bet you are though," Flurry said.
"Am not!" Cozy said. "I bet you are just tired yourself!"
"Nuh-uh!" Flurry said.
"Yes you are!"
"Am not!"
Suddenly, the door opened.
"Girls? What are you doing up this late?" Twilight mumbled, rubbing her eyes and stifling a yawn. Her mane was messy. She had probably been sleeping.
"Cozy said you can be up as long as you want on your cute-ceañera," Flurry said.
"Oh, did she?" Twilight fixed Cozy with a stern look, even if Flurry didn't understand why. Maybe Twilight and her parents had tried to keep it a secret to get Flurry to get into bed earlier, even if she didn't have to? "Well, then I think I'm going to have a talk with her tomorrow."
Cozy swallowed audibly. "We were reading though!" Cozy said, indicating the book. "Keeping the book company and… stuff."
"Nice try," Twilight said.
"Can you read to us a little?" Flurry peeped. "It might help me sleep better! And we are just at the best part, when everypony has been frozen by the windigos and the three friends are about to thaw them!"
Twilight softened her frown, just a little. "Well, I guess since we are all already awake... Fine, if you want."
Flurry tapped the space between her and Cozy with a hoof. "Sit down here!"
Twilight did so, and Flurry cozied up next to her. Twilight was warm and soft, just like mommy when Flurry had nightmares and had to sleep in her bed. Peeking over to Twilight's other side revealed that Cozy had scooted further away than before, almost like she didn't want to be near. That was silly, but whatever; it was her loss.
Twilight took a deep breath, looking at the ornate pages and started reading. Flurry didn't even notice how the combination of warmth and Twilight's soothing voice slowly lulled her into sleep.
She should probably be raising the sun soon. But she also didn't want to move. This was... nice. It was warm and cozy, and the book was a surprisingly good read for being for foals.
The door opened, and Rumble nearly dropped his tray with hot cocoa when he saw Twilight and the two fillies curled up against her.
She shushed him gently. He nodded and slowly went in.
"I'll leave in just a few minutes," Twilight whispered. "I don't think Cozy would... like it if she knew about this."
"I'll keep quiet," Rumble whispered back. "Thought you might want something warm to drink today, since it's chilly outside. I'll get to work on your breakfast."
Twilight nodded and levitated up the mug. After Rumble quietly left the room and closed the door behind him, Twilight looked down for one last last time on the sleeping foals. Flurry was breathing slowly, nuzzled close to her left foreleg, with an innocent, happy expression on her sleeping face. Cozy was leaning against her right shoulder, nuzzled up in Twilight's mane with a peaceful look on her muzzle. At some point, when both fillies drifted off to sleep, Cozy had scooted closer for warmth and Twilight had wrapped both of her big wings over the fillies. After that, she didn't feel like leaving.
But it was time for her to start her day too. Sunrise was already late. With an almost sad sigh, she slowly removed her wings from Cozy and Flurry and pulled two warm, fuzzy blankets from Cozy's bed over them as to not let the chilly air wake them up. She nuzzled Flurry a little on the forehead, and after a moment's hesitation, Cozy too. Then she slowly tiptoed to the door. With a warm feeling in her chest and a heart as light as a feather, she left them to sleep for another few hours.
As she walked to her room with Rumble's mug of cocoa floating in her magic next to her, she realized she still felt the warmth on her sides where they had been resting. It filled her with a deep and a bit strange feeling of contentment, just that lingering warmth.
She smiled to herself. Today was going to be a good day, she was sure.