//------------------------------// // Chapter 33: Removing the Mask // Story: One Thousand Years Ago // by Scroll //------------------------------//     A knock on Cozy's bedroom door interrupts her gossip with Cheese Pie. Cozy glances at the door for a second then looks at her friend at the foot of her cloud bed as she asks, “Expecting somepony?”     “Even if I did, why would I tell you and spoil the surprise?” Cheese answers Cozy's question with a question. “Opening the door to a mystery guest is like unwrapping a present.”     Cozy sighs in annoyance, then grunts, “You are useless,” before looking at and calling to the door, “Come in, whomever you are.”     The door proceeds to open. On the other side stands Rumble who is wearing his wraparound shades again.     Immediately upon sight of him, Cozy's eyes widen, her ears perk up, and her little heart starts beating much faster. Unconsciously, she swishes her ponytail fairly rapidly.     “Thank you, Your Majesty,” Rumble says as he steps inside. “Since we're going to be traveling together in a small boat in the sky for quite some time, I figured it was time we have ourselves a little chat.”     Cheese smiles deviously at Rumble then passes that same look to Cozy.     “Quick, Cheese, tell me . . . how's my mane?” Cozy asks her friend in ecstatic excitement mixed with panic.     “Adorable as usual,” Cheese answers as she stands up. “And, with that, that's my cue to bounce outta here.”     “What?!” Cozy screeches as loudly as a whisper can get. “Don't leave me alone in here . . . with him!”     “Oh, you'll do fine,” Cheese assures while giving Cozy an affectionate pat. “You're such an expert at friendship, right?”     Cozy suddenly glares at her friend.     “See ya!” Cheese cheers as she hops out of the room.     “We'll be traveling with each other too,” Rumble mentions as his gaze follows Cheese out the door. “I was hoping we'd have a talk as well.”     “We can do that later,” Cheese says with a dismissive wave of a hoof back at him while her surprisingly dexterous prehensile tail wraps itself around Cozy's doorknob from the outside. “Besides, we already know each other pretty well so there's less of a surprise there. You two, however, have issues to work out so I'll leave you to it.” She waves goodbye. “Ciao.”     With that, she bounces out the door and uses her pink, puffy tail to shut the door behind her.     “I can't accuse that pony of lacking her own sense of style,” Rumble mentions while still regarding the door. “Of course, I'm one to talk.”     Rumble looks back at Cozy. Doing so causes him to notice how flushed her face is. Her head quakes with excitement as she absently coils some of her curly locks around her right hoof.     “Make yourself . . . um . . .” Cozy can't finish her statement. A burst of giddy giggles interrupts her. She trembles with excitement. She can't believe that thee Rumble is actually standing there in her room. This is a dream come true for her.     “Well,” Rumble looks around. “It's certainly very girly in here. I suppose that’s . . .” he grins at her coyly, “. . . very cozy for you here.”     Cozy applies both of her hooves in front of her mouth to restrain herself from bursting out in excited laughter. The joke she could easily shrug off, but wow! Rumble is standing in her room! She can't get over that!     Observing her behavior, Rumble sighs as he reaches to pull off his goggle/sunshades.     “Okay. We definitely need to talk,” Rumble observes. “I'm glad I paid attention to my instincts, because this,” he gestures to her, “is quickly going to be an issue on this mission.”     “What issue?” Cozy asks as she tilts her head with a cute expression on her face. She flutters her eyes at him.     “This.” He gestures across her. “This fan-girl mode has got to stop because, where we're going, we'll need concentration. In a potential life or death situation, I'm not going to pretend to be the cool kid anymore. Since we need to take this seriously, I think we're going to need to understand each other.”     “What?” Cozy looks taken aback. “But you love your fangirls, don't you? I saw the way you winked at them. You enjoy having young fillies and mares swoon over you. Don't deny it.”     Rumble shakes his head slightly as he admits, “No. I won't deny it. Actually, I thoroughly enjoy it, mainly for two reasons.     “Number one; I enjoy the attention.” He stomps his left hind hoof on the ground, but not too hard. “I work very hard doing what I do, and it feels nice to have some validation for it. It's nice to feel appreciated, and I certainly won't deny that my ego feels satisfied to be noticed.” He applies a wing to his chest. “I'm a very social pony, so it feels great to have the attention I crave. Even if it's too much to spend quality time with each one, it feels great to know that I have that many options just in case I do choose to get closer to some of them.     “For all of those reasons, I feel the jealousy others feel towards me is extremely well justified. Most ponies can't even imagine how good this feels.     “Number two; I am an entertainer, so I enjoy pleasing others. I feel genuine warmth inside of me when I behold the joy in others whenever they see me. I know what that feels like because I have my own heroes, too. I'm happy just to make them happy, even if it's just for a moment. All of my work and all of the effort that I apply to showboating is specifically for that reason. I know that's what my audience wants, so I'll give them what they want just to make them smile.”     He sighs again as his gaze trails off to look outside Cozy's window.     “But, at the end of the day, that is not me . . . or rather to say not the whole me. Putting on an act for others may feel rewarding for a moment, but eventually I just need to relax and take my 'entertainer' mask off. It suits my purposes when I need it, but I can't wear a mask forever. It's too hard to breathe under a mask all the time.”     He looks back at Cozy questioningly. “Don't you feel the same way sometimes?”     Cozy squints one eye at him as she asks, “How can you be sure I wear a mask at all?”     He shakes his head slightly as he says, “You know what I mean. Not a literal mask but a figurative one. The act we put on for others to hide our true feelings.”     Cozy makes no response. She just stares at him.     “Fine. Keep your secrets. I'm sure you have plenty of reasons for holding up your guard,” Rumble accepts. “But, if you want to be friends with me, you'll have to open up a little.”     “Friends?!” Cozy chirps excitedly.     “The offer is on the table,” Rumble informs her. “After all, if we're going to be working together for such a long time, in such a small place, and going to such important places, I figured a certain degree of trust and rapport would be useful to build between us. That, in turn, can lead to a more beautiful relationship, and I enjoy those too. I'm not as shallow as I seem. I enjoy friendship as much as the next pony. It's part of who we are. We are herd animals. It's in our nature to travel in packs.”     “YES!” Cozy cries excitedly. “I would love to be your friend! Please be my friend.”     “I'm certainly willing to offer, but in order to allow me to get that close to you, you're going to have to make a choice,” Rumble warns.     Cozy tilts her head back as she asks cautiously, “What choice?”     “You're going to have to promise to disengage your fan-girl mode to me,” Rumble told her. “You're going to have to choose. Am I your idol, or your friend? I can't be both.”     “Why not?” Cozy asks with a slight frown.     He shakes his head as he says, “It just can't be done. I may enjoy my fans, at least sometimes, but I don't always trust them. Some fans even creep me out, for a fandom certainly has the capacity to get excessive and possessive.”     Cozy instantly blushes with embarrassment, for she knows exactly where she is hiding some of his magazines with his pictures in them. She has hugged them, kissed them, sang to them, and even slept with them next to her pillows. She vowed that she would possess him all to herself someday. Hypothetically, if she had the opportunity to stalk him before, there is a very high probability she'd have the motivation to go through with it.     But, when she imagines some other pony doing that to her, she has to admit to herself that a chill really does creep up her spine. As a herbivore species, which is traditionally prey, survival instincts ring quite insistently when she senses danger.     “Cozy, look at me,” Rumble requests. When she does so, she notices him standing before her in a very open way, including spreading his wings as far as they can stretch. “It's me, Cozy. It's just me,” he coaxes. “I'm just a pony who is standing before you, naked before your eyes. This is who I am. I'm flesh and blood, just like you. I am not some perfectly chiseled marble statue on a pedestal.”     Cozy glowers at Rumble for that comment until she sees him wince in sudden intense pain as if he just suffered a splitting headache. Annoyance shifts to sharp concern as she worries if he'll be okay and wonders why he is in pain.     “Ouch!” Rumble exclaims. “Oh wow, that comment was painful.” He cracks his eyes open at her which reveals some embarrassment. “Very poor choice of words considering your past. I'm sorry.” His expression softens. “Really I am. I didn't intend to insult you.”     Cozy squints as she shifts her eyes to the right. She sighs, then says, “It's fine.”     “No, it isn't,” Rumble denies. “I can tell that that experience deeply hurt you. I'm sorry for the reminder.”     Cozy shifts her face to the right but locks her gaze on him. Honestly, that comment had stung, for it was positively the worst experience she had ever suffered in her life.     “But, on the bright side, I think I can use that blunder to make a valid point,” Rumble figures. “While I truly did not intend to insult you like that, it does reveal something very important about me. I,” he applies his left wing to his chest again, “am not perfect . . . and I never claimed I was. But, for some reason, that is exactly the way most ponies think of me. Many ponies think I am some perfect god who is the master of all skills.”     “Aren't you?” Cozy asks with surprise. “That's what the newspapers and magazines say about you all the time, or they at least imply it. They say you are a master of any skill or ability you attempt, even if it's your very first time.”     Rumble closes his eyes for a second as he shakes his head. When he opens his eyes again, he says, “That is just a rumor. A superstition and legend about me and anypony similar to me. They think it means we're an instant master at absolutely everything, but that isn't the truth. I'm not like that, and I don't believe anypony else is, ever was, or ever will be. That isn't what it means to be mortals in this world.     “The truth is I am just like every other pony, at least at first. I don't know everything and I can't do everything. Instead of that, I learn as I grow. When I encounter something new, some skill I've never attempted before, I make a lot of mistakes at first. To get better at it, I have to do what every other pony does, and that is to practice. I have to apply serious effort to learn the skill. I have to want it, and I have to take the steps that are required to get better. I have to be willing to learn and grow. The same as any other pony.     “The only difference between me and any average pony is that I learn super fast, and that applies to any mental and physical activities. The main reason for that is I have super good memory,” he says as he taps his head. “But not just up here. I have super good muscle memory as well. That is why I also excel at physical sports and the like.     “Incidentally, I also have excellent kinesthetic sense. Do you know what that means?”     Cozy nods as she says, “I do. My mother shoves a lot of reading material my way. It's one of the few things about her that doesn't annoy me, for I enjoy accumulating information.” Her expression sinks into wicked satisfaction. “Because information is power, and these fools are just hoofing it to me willingly!”     “There you go! Now you're getting the hang of this,” Rumble cheers. “That thing you just said is not information you'd trust to just anypony. You'd only tell a friend that, and that is how I need you to talk to me.”     “Ah . . . well,” Cozy blinks as she blushes a bit. “To prove my point, I'd just like to mention that kinesthetics evolves a sense of balance a pony has. If it's poor, a pony might not be able to trot because they’re dizzy and unsteady all the time. Conversely, a pony with superior kinesthetics could potentially become the world's best parkour master.     “Come to think of it, I suppose that ability really came in hoofy with some of the previous skills you said you mastered such as flying, martial arts, and playing Buck Ball.”     Rumble nods as he says, “Agreed. Pegasi naturally seem to have a heightened sense of kinesthetics and the truth is they need it. Having a very good spatial orientation is very important in 3D movement like we do in the air. As a species that finds it necessary to remain constantly aware of everything around us, that extends into naturally good kinesthetics.     “But that is it.” He spreads his wings apart again. “That's who I am, and that is the answer to the mystery of me. I learn fast. That's the secret to my success.     “But, in order to do it, I have to make a genuine effort to learn. I can't just wave it off. It takes serious effort to learn a new skill and it also takes time. Granted, it takes me less time than it would for others, but still . . . I have to be willing to put in the time and effort. Until then, I'm just as bad as anypony else who’s never attempted the skill.     “That goes for everything, too. Talking to new ponies and building a relationship is also a skill. One I could make a lot of mistakes with at first because I have to figure out and adapt to each individual’s personalities and various quirks. There is no single rule that I can apply to everypony because everypony is unique. I learn as I go. In time I could get to know that pony really well and can influence just that individual very well, but that takes time and effort, just like anything else.”     He pauses for a moment as he gazes up at the ceiling, then looks back at Cozy as he says, “There are also drawbacks to my lifestyle which I don't personally think is too bad, but I have met other ponies who seriously regret this fact about me, and that is the fact that I can never settle.”     Cozy widens her eyes at him slightly but otherwise says nothing.     Rumble folds his wings neatly on his back as he stands up straight with a very earnest and honest expression on his face as he says, “I'll never have a home or a family in any one fixed place. I'll never stick with one career and one path. My talent not only grants me the ability to learn any path, it downright demands that I do so.” He waves his right wing to his right. “That is why I left the Wonderbolts even though it was such an intensive dream for me.” He folds his wing again. “It felt so weird to leave them when I was doing so well . . . but something, deep down, insisted I do so. Some part of me always kept wondering if there was more to my potential.     “So that is the blessing and curse of a jackknife cutie mark. We can never settle because our path is a commitment to eternal experimentation and learning.”     “Does that include relationships?” Cozy asks with a frown. “Does this mean you're going to leave me?”     Rumble sighs as he looks down, then lifts his head to look back at Cozy as he says, “I know it might be painful for you to hear this, but the truth is the answer is a solid yes. I'm the eternal wanderer. The road itself, and the journey therein, is my true home.     “This applies to skills as well. I can't settle on doing one thing or else I'll get bored with it. So, while I pick up a skill really fast, I can't stick with it or I'll actually end up losing it.     “I've noticed a trend as I keep practicing new skills. At first there is a sharp up climb as my skill with this new thing gets better and better, but eventually it peaks. When that happens, it tends to do nothing but go downhill after that. The longer I stick with it, the worse it gets. Eventually I think I'd lose the skill as if I never practiced it in the first place. I think, if I keep on going, I'd steadily get worse than a pony who never attempted it before. Any attempt to continue would only produce results that are unusually bad to be statistically and realistically possible.     “Stagnation, apparently, is the bane of my existence.”     He grins as he recalls something. That amused expression is still on his face as he approaches and looks out Cozy's bedroom window.     “The funny thing is, a lot of ponies accuse me of innate and constantly natural perfection, but the thing is . . . I know why they say that. I'm not a perfect pony myself by any means, but I do believe in the existence of perfection as a conceptional idea because I've experienced it before.     “Some ponies say that perfection doesn't exist, but the meaning of the word is, 'without flaws', and I have experienced it enough times to prove to me, at least, that it can and does exist. Whenever it happens to me, I call it, 'The Zone'.”     “'The Zone'?” Cozy echoes curiously. This subject sounds interesting to her so she'd very much like to hear more.     While still standing next to the window, he looks back over his right shoulder at Cozy as he explains, “The Zone is a state of being that all of my work and practice was and is building up to. For me, everything is done super fast . . . and that includes reaching my peak potential. However, moments like that come for me only briefly, and only once in my lifetime for each skill individually with a few exceptions. To date, flying and cooking are the only two skills I was able to enter The Zone multiple times in my lifetime. Maybe other skills will pick up this potential eventually. How passionate I am with the skill does seem to be a factor, but overall, this is a state of being I can't control. I can't summon it whenever I feel like it. It just sorta . . .” he shrugs, “. . . happens.     “In the past, achieving a Zone state is a signal to me that my potential with this particular skill has peaked and it's time to move on to something different. If I defy this, my abilities with that skill will only get worse and worse if I stubbornly press on. To preserve a skill, I actually have to abandon it and only dabble with it on occasion whenever it is necessary to practice some other profession. If I do that, my expertise with the previously mastered skill drops a little in efficiency.     “But the Zone! Ah!” He looks the out window. “How can I describe it?”     He closes his eyes and gets a soothing expression as if he's savoring something.     “The Zone is . . . Well, for me it is a state of being. It is a trance. It is a moment of utter perfection. During that time, I'm unable to dwell on the past or worry about the future. I am wholly in that moment. I absorb it. I own it! I am fully there . . . and I have never felt so alive in any other moment!     “Gah! It is such a rush! An exhilaration! I wish you could experience it!”     He pauses a moment as he looks down while he tries to sort out his feelings in a way that he can best describe it.     “Most other ponies can go their whole lifetimes never experiencing a state of mind that powerful,” Rumble expresses. “But, if they do, chances are strong it will involve whatever is relevant to their cutie mark destiny. Whatever that one thing is that makes them special, what puts them in The Zone will have something to do with that. One perfect moment of absolute clarity, confidence, and perfection. It is a kind of state where one does not even question the possibility of failure. In that state, it just feels absurd, or more likely they're not thinking about it at that moment. They just know they'll succeed before they even attempt it, and they actually do succeed spectacularly when they try.     “The really fascinating thing about The Zone is other factors I can't control also work out perfectly on that day. Like this other time when I entered The Zone for a photoshoot with a fashion model. On that day, when I was in The Zone, the weather was perfect. The lighting was perfect. The wind was perfect. The costume designers and makeup artists were on the top of their game that day. Most peculiarly, the model I needed canceled on me a few days prior, but on that day she still miraculously showed up and claimed her other appointment got canceled.     “On any other day, I would have questioned that fascinating coincidence, but when I'm in The Zone, it doesn't even occur to me that should be unusual. I just accept it and move on.     “When I'm in The Zone, I can move without thinking. This is especially helpful if the activity involves a lot of physical movement. I just sink into an ultra-instinctive mood. There is no need to think unless the activity itself requires social interaction or cerebral thought. Even then, I do exactly as much that is required to not just succeed, but succeed with the best possible results. No more, and no less.”     He pauses for a moment. He smiles when he recalls a fond memory.     “The model I was shooting was at the top of her game that day as well. When I was done, I held in my hooves a picture worthy of being called a magnum opus. The type of work so legendary that such things tend to not be forgotten in history.     “When she saw it . . . I remember she cried on that day with tears of joy. She said to me that she didn't think anypony could capture her inner glow and fire like that, but there it was. There was the reason she became a model in the first place, but deep down, she never suspected it would actually happen. It was a goal too lofty to consider realistic, but miracles can and do happen.     “She said I inspired and empowered her. She said a copy of that picture will never come down from her wall, and that her children and children's children will gaze upon it for generations to come; a trophy to commemorate the day when her soul fully shone on film.”     Rumble pauses again as he smiles softly and fondly at the memory, then passes that same look to Cozy.     “This is why I do this. This is why I trot this lifestyle. I work my butt off to taste those brief moments of glorious perfection, and when I do . . . others are there with me and share in the experience. They learn that such things are not a myth. That it can be done as long as everypony involved is willing to throw themselves into the activity with gusto and genuine passion.     “Everywhere I go, I sample this new thing I am trying until I achieve that perfect moment, then I move on. This differs greatly from others who actually are dedicated and settled on the activity.     “For example, there is a pony where I grew up named Chip Cutter. His cutie mark and special talent in life is to sculpt things, traditionally from stone. Now I can do it until I achieve something so great that it will be considered a masterpiece throughout the world and for all time, but if that ever happened to Chip Cutter, then he can do something that I can't . . . and that is to continue sculpting. One moment of perfection, even if he experiences it about his primary profession, won't stop him from continuing his dream. And, unlike me, at least he has a chance to experience that Zone about his profession multiple times. To have it even once tends to be a once-in-a-lifetime experience, but if it's possible to happen more than once, then Chip has the best chance to experience this, at least when it comes to sculpting.     “For him, there is nothing else that needs to be added to complicate his life. He's found his calling and he's perfectly happy to settle on it. Other branches of interest pick up over time. Rarely is a pony wholly dedicated to one thing, but that one thing their mark is for does tend to dominate most of their time, energy, and soul.     “But, in my case, my purpose in life is to just keep on learning new things. It gives me fulfillment to keep expanding my horizons and experience. That, in itself, is enough for me, but it comes at a cost that sometimes even I regret, but I tend not to dwell on it because I don't want to depress myself.     “I might sire children, but I don't think I'll ever truly be a father because I won't be there to raise my foals. I'm too busy exploring what's over that next horizon. That's a never-ending quest.”     When Rumble falls silent again, it gives Cozy a chance to thaw her mind from her stunned silence. She has to wet her mouth again before she speaks. When she does, she asks, “Have you told anypony else this?”     “There are a few others,” Rumble admits. “But this is not something I tell just anypony.” He looks at her meaningfully. “Only my friends know this about me because I want them to know me. To be a friend is to be accepted for who we truly are. Anything less is just superficial.”     I know what that's like, Cozy thinks to herself. I spent most of my life holding my guard up. I feel like I have to in order to protect myself from being abused again, but I must admit . . . it feels lonely.     Rumble is just like me in some regards and in the most important ways. He's someone who doesn't want to be alone.     Celebrities are ponies too. Ponies who want acceptance and understanding. I believe I can sympathize.     “Rumble,” Cozy expresses with a soft smile. She flies over to him and proceeds to hug him. As she does so, she says, “Thank you for telling me. I think I've learned a lot today.”     “That's another reason I trot this path,” he says with a smile. “Doing so helps to inspire and empower others. I truly enjoy that.”     “Huh. Then you really are a member of the CMC.” Cozy releases Rumble and flies backwards enough to see his face. “I take it they know this about you too?”     “Yeah,” he says with a sheepish grin. “They knew me even when I used to be a jerk to them. They sure had a lot of tolerance and patience to help somepony as stubborn as I used to be, but in the end . . . it paid off, and I was eventually proud to call them my friend. After all, we had a surprisingly similar purpose. We go about it in different ways, but the results are the same, and so are the reasons.”     “Tell me,” Cozy asks with a hopeful grin, “is the fact that we'll be traveling together the only reason you're telling me this? Why do you wish to be my friend? You approached my room today, so you made the initiative. I'm not complaining or anything!” Cozy frantically assures, then says in a more relaxed way again, “But I am curious as to why.”     He looks up as he says, “I mostly accepted this job because of where we're going. The chance to explore new and uncharted lands sounds very exciting. It sounds like the kind of mission I was born for.” He looks back at her. “Cheese also told me that you're a fan of mine. When I saw you, I realized she wasn't exaggerating. Normally I wouldn't consider that a problem if it's just a passing acquaintance, but if it's somepony I'll be working closely with for a while, I want a softer relationship rather than pretending to be a famous star all the time. It's too exhausting to maintain that charade indefinitely.     “But . . . I know what you want to hear, and I won't disappoint you because those reasons are true as well.”     When he touches her nose, he provokes a reflexive squee sound from her.     “The reasons I just told you could have applied to anypony,” Rumble goes on to say. “The situation itself demanded a more comfortable relationship, especially if it might be a life or death situation.     “However, beyond that, I am personally interested to get to know you as a pony too, Cozy Glow. You've had quite a colorful history as well, and that intrigues me. I want to know how a pony like you ticks, and the best way I can think of is to become your friend so you'll willingly admit anything I want to know about you.”     “Are you scared of me?” Cozy checks. “A lot of other ponies think I'm still just a villain waiting to happen.”     “Well, in that regard, I prefer to reserve my judgment,” he tells her. “I remember what happened to our world when you went on a rampage. It's not an experience I want to repeat, but if you're asking if I'm afraid of you, then the answer is no. The reason for this is because I'm convinced that I'm smarter and more skilled than you. If you get out of line again, I think I can take you down.”     “Hey!” Cozy complains with a frown.     “That's not my goal, however,” Rumble assures. “Rather than that, my plan is to make sure you have no motivation to hurt anypony again. One way for me to do that is to give you my friendship. Once you have that, you won't want to lose it.”     “Oh. I see.” Cozy crosses her forelegs in front of her chest as she continues flying in front of him. “You're going to use the same trick on me that Fluttershy used on Discord. She taught me that in class.”     “Even if I say yes to that, would you really complain?” Rumble checks. “Just because a plan isn't surprising, doesn't mean it's ineffective. Predictable can still be sufficient for an agenda, and it's not like you are gaining nothing. I get to brag to all the rest of my friends that I am now friends with Cozy Glow, and you get to honestly brag to your friends that you are now friends with Rumble.     “Admit it . . . you dreamed about that for years now.”     “Ah,” she rubs a hoof behind her neck as she blushes, then admits, “yeah. I did.”     “Well now your dream is a reality.” He extends a wing forward. “To the start of a beautiful friendship.”     She reaches back with a wing to shake his wing. But, while she does so, she has a worried frown. She complains, “But if I do this, aren't I forming an attachment with someone who just told me he's going to leave me?”     “I still cherish all my friends, Cozy Glow,” Rumble assures as he folds his wing on his back again. “They feel the same way.     “Plus, even a temporary relationship with me can have lasting value. The things you learn about yourself and me during the relationship can change your outlook for the better for the rest of your life. When we move on, it is my hope that you'll feel a little older, wiser, and stronger in your heart. You'll grow, just as I will. That, in turn, will make you feel and be more prepared to face other challenges in life.     “Also, let’s not forget that there are methods to contact my friends from a long distance. If worse comes to worse, I can just visit them personally. I'm a really good flier, after all, so the distant corners of Equestria shrink considerably to a pony like me.”     “Can you teach me that?” Cozy asks hopefully. “Better flying, I mean? I'd really like to learn from a true professional.” She blushes. “Especially from a stallion like you.”     “Your Majesty,” he bows his head, “it would be my honor to teach you.”     Cozy half frowns at him, then proposes, “Okay, let's make a deal. I'll treat you less like a celebrity and more like a friend if you stop treating me like a princess. To you . . . I'm just Cozy Glow.”     He smiles happily up at her as he says, “I can live with that.”