“We need to talk Tirek!” Cozy says with fierceness reignited in her brown eyes.
“Ugh!” Tirek exclaims as he shifts his body to the filly while standing on the cement platform. He speaks in his irritated raspy voice, “Fine! What do you want to talk about Cozy Glow?”
“I wanna talk about you and how I did everything you told me to do!”
“Yes, and?” Tirek raises his right eyebrow.
“You know what that got me Tirek?” Cozy says at a higher volume, “That got me trapped in stone!”, before ruffling her wings
Tirek widens his eyes, “What? Me? I never trapped you in stone Cozy!” he points to Twilight with his right claw, “It was those ponies who did that to you!”
Cozy narrows her eyes, “Oh please, Tirek! We tried to overthrow them, crush their way of life, and take all the power for ourselves! Honestly, I’m surprised they didn’t kill us all by that point!”
“Well, how is that my fault?” Tirek says while spreading his arms to the sides. “You could’ve said no at any point!”
Cozy corrects her eyes and raises her voice to the centaur, “And go where Tirek? And do what?”
“How should I know?”
Cozy blinks and flinches before facing the once mighty centaur again, “The point is, Tirek, that you were supposed to be my friend…” She closes her eyes and flinches before correcting herself, “I wanted to help you do these things because I felt that was the only way I could ever be happy again… I…” Cozy faces the ground and closes her eyes.
Starshine looks over to Cozy at her left, “Are you alright Cozy?”
Cozy stutters in a much lower tone, “It was very hard Starshine… My entire world was gone…”
Starshine stands stunned while looking at Cozy and Little Snack glances from the other side, wide-eyed and unsure of what to do.
Cozy looks back up to the elderly centaur with fire back in her eyes, points at him with her right forehoof, and shouts, “And you took advantage of that, didn’t you?”
Tirek looks indignantly at Cozy with his black eyes, “Uh, I’m a villain! Of course, I used you! I wanted revenge on those accursed ponies!”
Cozy brings her hoof to the ground and looks up harshly, “This is about more than that Tirek! I trusted you! I thought you wanted to make my life better!”
Tirek widens his eyes and lifts his arms at his sides slightly, “And it would’ve been better too, had you succeeded!”
Cozy narrows her eyes, “I don’t believe that anymore Tirek… I believe that I would’ve had just followers…” She looks back to her right at Starshine and smiles, “But no real friends!”
Starshine looks back at Cozy with her bright blue eyes and smiles, “I love you too Cozy!”
Tirek sighs and looks skyward, “Oh no! It’s happening again!” He looks back down to Cozy and points with his right claw, “You’re just like my brother, Scorpan now!”
Cozy glances back up at him and smiles with her auburn eyes open wide, “You know, I believe in true friendship now, Princess Twilight and all her friends believe it, most of Equestria believes it, and I’m pretty sure Scorpan also believes it…” Cozy widens her eyes even further and leans forward, “You ever think maybe you were wrong?”
Tirek starts and narrows his eyes while relaxing his right arm somewhat as he had never considered that, “I uh…”
“What’s the matter Tirek?” Cozy says whimsically while tilting her head slightly to the left. She corrects it while leaning forward and raises her voice critically, “Never thought about that, huh?”
Tirek regains his vigor and stares down at the filly harshly while strengthening his control over his right claw and pointing, “Now you look here you little twit! Yes, I used you and no, I don’t really care about you and never did!” He opens his arms wide, “But so what? I’m a villain! It’s what I do! It’s how I am!” He puts his arms down.
Cozy leans forward and widens her eyes again, “But you don’t have to be Tirek! You can do better! Like Scorpan!”
“How dare you!” Tirek indignantly says while narrowing his eyes, “Take that traitor’s name off your tongue twerp! I’m not like him! I’m better!”
Cozy smiles in triumph and snidely says, “Oh, remind me again which of you two ended up trapped in stone and which is happily living in their own land? I forget sometimes!”
“That’s not my fault! I didn’t trap me in stone!”
Cozy narrows her eyes and raises her voice, “Yes, you golly well did Tirek! And that’s what you need to understand now! Your actions costed you your freedom! It was you who decided to move against the ponies of Equestria and you shouldn’t be surprised when they don’t like that!” Cozy smiles up at the centaur smugly, “It was your fault that you were trapped in stone…”
Tirek can only stand in silence as this adorable filly smiles up victoriously at him underneath those familiar bluish white curls.
“Now!” Cozy exclaims while ruffling her wings, “I’ve said what I needed to say to you… Goodbye Tirek!” She turns her body to the left side and glances back sideways at the centaur, “Now go get reformed already! Or don’t! I don’t really care…” she turns all the way around to face the opposite direction and says to her back right, “And don’t bother trying to find me! I’m not your friend after all!”
She takes two steps forward towards Little Snack and Starshine, now that she faces them and looks at them, and says, “Thank you so much for being there for me when I faced him girls! I love you both so much! But please understand that I need to fly home alone now!” before turning back to her left towards the east, squatting, and launching herself off the ground and flapping off with her wings.
Little Snack turns to face the unicorn filly, “We need to go check on her, don’t we?”
Starshine turns her neck to the earth filly and widens her blue eyes, “You are correct!”
Little Snack looks up before down at Starshine and nods, “Yeah! We need to check on her!” She gulps, “Well, we should probably get hoofing over there?”
<*****>
\
Cozy lands in front of the cottage and barely manages to look at the door on her right before a frantic blue unicorn with purple eyes comes outside to embrace her in a tight warm hug! “Oh, my baby! How did you do? What happened?”
Arduously, Cozy turns and manages to return the embrace with her own forehooves and grumbles lowly while gasping for breath, “I told him why he’s a jerk!”
Trixie separates from Cozy and looks down into her brown eyes, “Now I’m gonna get you some ice cream and you’re gonna tell me all about it!”
Cozy widens her eyes, “It’s 10:15 in the morning!”
Trixie frowns, “So?”
Cozy is silent for a moment before narrowing her eyes, “I like chocolate!”
<*****>
For what seemed like the 50th time, Trixie asks Cozy, “But you’re okay now?”
“Yes mom! Geez!” Cozy says before she finishes licking up the chocolate from the bowl she’s holding in her forehooves while sitting on the beanbag couch. Suddenly, the pegasus filly’s prayers are answered when there’s a knock on the door! She looks over to the back left at the door and says, “Oh golly! That’s probably my friends!” before throwing her empty bowl of chocolate ice cream to the table where it lands with a clatter and she gets to all fours on the chair to take off with her pegasus wings before flittering over to the door to quickly to answer it. She turns the knob with her right forehoof in mid-air and floats back down to the floor to face the two fillies with her bright auburn eyes on the other side while on her hooves. “Hi girls!”
Outside, Starshine is standing on the right and Little Snack to the left.
Little Snack exclaims as her pigtails vibrate, “Well, we weren’t gonna leave you alone after that!”
Starshine smiles, “We’re friends now!”
Cozy leans forward and whispers, “Now get in here! Mom is driving me nuts!”
Little Snack comes in first. She sees Trixie sitting on the red chair on the other side other side of the room and rubbing her hooves together. She looks over while her pigtails sway the other side, “Hiya Miss Trixie!”
“Little Snack! You’ll tend to Cozy and make sure she’s alright!”
Little Snack widens her green eyes, “Um, yes!”
Cozy trots up to her right side and whispers in her floppy orange ear, “Come with me to my room!”
<*****>
Cozy’s room is small and has a wood panel floor with white patchwork textured drywall walls. The fillies see three posters of The Great and Powerful Trixie on her walls except for a Wonderbolts poster that’s on the other side of her bed on the left wall coming in.
Little Snack stands in front of a big poster with Trixie’s likeness, “Uh, what happened? What’s going on?”
Cozy sighs on the other side, “You where there, remember? I faced the old demon and told him exactly why he’s wrong and how it’s his fault he was turned to stone… And now, mom is freaking out!”
Starshine frowns to the right of Little and says, “Well, you already told Tirek off and it’s over with, right? So just let her be frazzled for awhile and she’ll get over it! No problem!” before smiling.
Cozy looks at the unicorn, “Well, obviously! There’s not much else we can do…” she widens her eyes and leans forward slightly, “But until that point…”
Starshine smiles, “We’re here for you Cozy!”
Little smiles as well, “Still beats kicking my ball around outside by myself!”
And so, the three fillies relax and play games. For awhile, Starshine has fun with Little Snack by bouncing a rubber ball back and forth while Cozy tried to run interference with her wings. Trixie typically checked on them about once an hour or so, until later that evening, right before dinner:
Cozy looks up from her coloring book while on her stomach on top of a white pillow on the floor and says around the red crayon in her mouth, “You know, reformed changelings require more crayons!”
Little puts her head down into her coloring book on the other side from Starshine and Cozy, “I’m bored! I wish there was something fun to do?”
Starshine looks at Little from her left and across from Cozy, “Well, we could always tickle Cozy?”
Little looks up at the pegasus, “Yeah, tickling Cozy is fun!”
Cozy glances up wide-eyed at Starshine and then Little, “Uh, hey wait! What about how I feel about this?”
Starshine looks over at Cozy, smiles, and jumps at her, knocking back her coloring book and causing it to close on the floor before bringing her forehooves into Cozy’s sensitive pits and begins to tickle her!
“Hey! Cut it out!” Cozy squeals.
Little gets to her hooves and Cozy notices, so she jumps back from Starshine and tries to squat to take off with her wings.
Starshine sees this and pushes herself forward with her hind legs to hug Cozy while screaming to Little, “I got her Little Snack! Come and tickle her now!”
“THISISN’TFAIR!” Cozy bellows as Little Snack grows a mischievous grin.
Little then screams, “PONY PILE!” before bounding to the unicorn hugging the pegasus and leaping at them!
Now, what happened in the next 10 seconds is as follows. Little Snack knocks both pegasus and unicorn back as Cozy screams, “AAAAAAHHHHH” and Starshine yelps, “EEP!” And yet, Little does manage to get each filly inside one of her forehooves, Cozy on the left and Starshine on the right as she tumbles to the ground while laughing and giggling!
Just then, the doorknob glows blue and it swings open to the left quickly so that a concerned blue unicorn with white hair can be seen on the other side. “I heard a crash! Is everything okay?” Trixie says while trotting in and looking around. She then looks at the three fillies sprawled out on the floor and can’t help but giggle, “You three are adorable!”
Cozy slowly gets to her hooves while her two friends do the same, Little just to her right, and Starshine beyond that. They stand on the opposite side of the room from Trixie as Cozy says, “Yes! Cute, I’m sure! Fun for all ages!” before slightly shaking her head to re-assert herself.
Little Snack looks onward with her green eyes at Trixie, “Uh, anything we can do for you Miss Trixie?”
Trixie frowns, “Uh, no! Not really! I was going to tell you I made a hayloaf for dinner with bell pepper and onion!”
“Oh gosh Miss Trixie! That sure sounds yummy!” Little says before swishing her tail.
Starshine looks to her left at Little Snack, “Yeah, but you’ll eat anything!”
Little frowns and looks up before saying, “Well, yeah! That is true!” and then nodding her head.
<*****>
Cozy sits on the far side next to Starshine in the corner of the dining area, while Little Snack sits across from her, and Trixie sits on the other side of Little. She begins to put her blue grasp on the carving knife in the center of the table with the big steaming delicious hayloaf there with bell pepper and onion visibly on the top, just below the surface and smiles as her eyes narrow in concentration and she gets everypony’s food to their plate.
Little Snack is the first served and as her hayloaf is dropped onto her plate, she looks at Cozy and asks her, “Okay, you had some time with us now! Feeling better Cozy?”
Cozy glances at Little while Trixie magically loads her plate, “Golly, yeah! I guess I just needed to get away for a bit, huh? Too much seriousness kinda gets to me sometimes and I need to recharge!”
Starshine looks over to her left at Cozy, “Well, that’s pretty much the story with me too and anypony really! I think Professor Pinkie Pie talks about it at the school. Which reminds me! We all go back next Thursday and you’re already in! That’s only thirteen days! Excited, Cozy?”
“Oh golly!” Cozy says to the unicorn while widening her eyes, “Yeah, I’m just glad Tirek isn’t an issue anymore… We can all just live our lives as friends now!”
Trixie looks at Cozy on the other side of the table with a serious expression in her purple eyes, “But, you’re okay now after facing that nasty scary monster earlier?”
Cozy looks to her mother, “Oh, golly mom! Without draining any magic, he’s just an old decrepit centaur! Hardly a real threat!”
Trixie nods, “Right! After you left, they put a special collar on him that keeps him from absorbing magic.”
Cozy narrows her eyes and frowns, “Well, that makes him pretty much harmless, huh?” She smiles and normalizes her eyes, “Yeah, Tirek won’t be an issue anymore!”
Little Snack finally blurts out from her side of the table, “I wanna go to school with you two!” Before widening her green eyes and slapping both of her forehooves over her mouth.
Cozy looks at Little from the other side, “Well, why didn’t you just say so Little? I mean,“ she looks at Trixie, “we do kinda have a direct line with the headmare?” She widens her eyes and speaks up to Trixie, “Hey mom! Is it too late to get Little Snack enrolled in classes this semester?” before pouting, looking down slightly, and narrowing her sandy eyes to a sullen expression.
Trixie smiles at the pegasus, “I’ll see if there’s any vacancies! Usually, a student or two has to pull out at the last minute and we could get Little in that way?”
Cozy’s expression brightens as her ears perk up and eyes widen, “Well, golly gee mom! That’d be just swell!” She looks back at Little, “See? We can get you in, no problem!”
“Awesome! But uh…” Little’s eyes go back to the floor, “I don’t really know much about friendship?”
“Uh, isn’t the whole point of the School of Friendship, to teach you about friendship and how it works?” Cozy says while frowning.
Little looks back up to her and says, “Well um, yeah! That makes sense!” before nodding.
Cozy smiles, “Exactly! And now, we can all learn about friendship, together!”
“Yay!” Little chimes in.
<*****>
That night, little Cozy slumbers peacefully in the fetal position with her head on the pillow and her long wavy mane sprawled out behind her while she snuggles her precious dolphin to her chest. The filly stirs as she begins to dream…
Cozy emerges once again in a fog. She frowns and says, “Luna again, right?”
The fog eventually clears, and she sees she’s now standing in a wide open field while the same familiar tree line is behind her. She no longer sees her old cottage, fence, or any trace of what was once there, but she does see the tall dark blue alicorn approaching her in the sunlight.
Luna trots to get closer and stares down at the pegasus while smiling, “So, you faced your monsters I see!”
Cozy stares up to Luna bright-eyed with her ears perked that direction, “Well, golly gee! I just told Tirek why he was wrong and left! I really don’t see why everypony is making such a big deal out of this?” before looking off to the right side while her ears return to the sides of her head.
Luna frowns, “He was the impetus behind all of your evil actions in the past and you rejected that now. You truly don’t see what this means?”
Cozy looks back at the princess while perking her ears again, “Well, I’ve been good for awhile now princess! I don’t need another reminder!”
“Ah!” Luna’s eyes widen as her expression perks up, “You can’t see the significance as you are too caught up in the thick of things. This is normal!”
“Did you just call me here to make observations of the obvious or was there a point behind this?” Cozy says before frowning.
“I wanted to see how you were doing little Cozy! And to warn you, the path ahead is treacherous!”
“Huh? What do you mean?” Cozy asks, leaning in again.
Suddenly, Cozy is enveloped in a fog again as she screams, “Wait! I wasn’t done talking to the princess! AAAAAAHHH!!!”
<*****>
Cozy wakes with a start the next morning as she hears a hoof rapping on her window. She stirs before turning to lay on her back and staring to the window behind her from her current position and starts as she sees a mauve head there with dark blue insectoid eyes. She mutters to herself, “Almost forgot Chrysalis looks like that now! Well, I should probably call her Crystal Heart?” before swaying her body to the other end and then quickly getting to her hooves on the floor. She then trots over to the window and opens it with her right forehoof, “Um, Crystal Heart? Can I help you?”
Crystal has a dire expression in her eyes, “Cozy! We need to talk! It’s about Tirek!”
Cozy starts as her eyes widen and mouth scrunches while her ears go back to the sides of her head, “Oh golly!” She sighs, “Go around Crystal! I’ll let you in and I guess we’re gonna talk about Tirek now!”
(To be continued…)