//------------------------------//
// Bonus Chapter: Don't Foals Come From Apples? 
// Story: A Cozy of Innocence 
// by Petalled 
//------------------------------//

With the wind hustling by all the autumn-coloured leaves from all the trees from Ponyville, birds were flying towards branches to build up a nest and lay their eggs. The Celestial fiery sun was gleaming bright high in the sky with the clouds being cleared up by the pegasi of Cloudsdale.

After that whole ordeal for the in-the-progress ex-lord and the former queen of the changelings, Pinkie Pie had seemingly taken a stretch out of her eyeballs and peeked over them to have a giggle alongside Celestia, Discord, and Fluttershy. They could not stop giggling about it until they took their laughs to their other friends.

They were all met in the throne room of Twilight's Castle, where the bearers of the elements of harmony, the princesses and draconequus were bursting out in a collective booming, energetic laughter.

Everyone, but one pony. 

''I don't get what's so funny, y'all?'' Applejack stated as she stood there with a confused blink of her eyes.

Soon, the laughter amongst the ponies had suddenly dimmed down except for Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie who were having a laughter wrestle before they stopped as there was silence across the room.

''What do you mean, A.J?'' Twilight asked, trotting next to the cowgirl.

''Well...'' The cowgirl shifted her hat backward. ''I just don't understand what's all the shrilly dally, like what's so funny that you're all laughing at?''

Rarity looked confused, then she huffed. ''Really, Applejack! If this is a joke you're playing on us, then it's not funny! How can you not find these two villainous creatures speaking of ''The Talk'' in front of a devious filly?''

''What is ''The Talk'' anyhow?'' Applejack questioned.

Everyone looked at her in disbelief.

Rainbow Dash chortled. ''Oh! I get it! It's 'cuz it's not in its name. Well, it's inferring where foals come from.''

''Yeah, and?'' Applejack raised an eyebrow.

Everyone just stood there quiet because they didn't know what else to say until a yellow pegasus trotted further with her face behind her soft, petal-smelling mane and broke the silence.

''Uhm, Applejack?'' Fluttershy spoke. ''Do you even know where foals come from?''

''What?'' Applejack said. ''Of course, I do! Granny Smith told Big Macintosh and me when we were merely kids, then we had to teach it to Apple Bloom next!''

''Then what is it?'' Pinkie Pie quizzed her as she sat on her poofy tail, bouncing it bubbly. 

''I thought you already knew,'' Applejack shrugged but answered her question anyway, ''foals come from apples, don't they?''

There was dead silence across the room and all they could hear were the princesses' manes flowing majestically as they all stared at the cowgirl in utter disbelief.

Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash, the two goofiest ponies out of them, had their cheeks puffed up with laughter and then erupted as they rolled onto their backs.

''Wow,'' Rainbow Dash uttered. ''And I thought Granny Smith and Applejack were just as smart as Twilight.''

Rarity nudged the blue pegasus in the side.

''That's unfortunately incorrect, Applejack.'' Twilight sheepishly rubbed an arm.

''What?'' Applejack sprouted. ''How? Are you callin' Granny Smith a liar?!''

''Well, no... but scientifically I learned that foals do not come from apples or either eggs. Except for dragons and birds. Foals are actually made when a stallion and mare get really close and-''

The violet alicorn was suddenly disconnected from her lecture as the tall, white alicorn conjured up a zipper over her mouth. 

''Please, Twilight. Don't make yourself ruin your friend's innocence because maybe her guardian lied to her as they were not ready to tell her yet?'' Celestia suggested, unzipping the mini alicorn's mouth.

Twilight opened her mouth to speak, but then solely shrugged.

A peaceful smile landed on the alabaster alicorn's lips. ''Although, Applejack, you may need to speak with your grandmother about this as you are old enough to know now.''

Twilight placed a hoof on her friend's shoulder. ''Look, Applejack,'' she said. ''I don't know why Granny Smith told you that...whatever. But I think you should listen to Celestia who's a wise ruler of Equestria and a teacher.''

Applejack looked at both of the princesses quizzically but obeyed them and trotted out the door solemnly.

''Well,'' said Spike, ''that was a bust.''

''Tell me about it,'' Rarity commented.

''Tell you what, Rarity?'' Pinkie Pie looked at her intriguingly.

''I...'' Rarity inspected the hopeful glow on her face. ''Forget it, it's merely an expression, darling.''

''Oh.'' Pinkie Pie's happiness dimmed and had her smile falter off.

Rainbow Dash continued snickering. ''I didn't know that Chrysalis and Tirek would be behaving as parents towards Cozy Glow.''

''We know!'' Luna conceded. ''So unbelievable.''

''I didn't even know Chryssy even had a heart,'' Celestia commented.

''Um... Chryssy?'' Fluttershy pointed out, glancing around her friends.

Celestia blushed. ''We may send letters back and forth ever since the whole Canterlot invasion.''

''You what?!'' Twilight jumped back, having her eyes widened out with shock.

Celestia resettled glasses on herself as she levitated a scroll in front of her as she conjured up a few from her Canterlot lounge. ''To say, she is so much less scary in scroll form.''

Everyone glanced around at each other.


* * *


On top of a hill made out of stone in Tartarus, three villains were looking unamusingly at a vision of the ponies laughing about their ordeal which Chrysalis had conjured up with her magic, even though it was not powerful enough to blast through the bars of their cage since Princess Luna had unreluctantly cast a spell on them as well to prevent them from escaping.

As Cozy Glow was aggravating everything worse than it already was by laughing at the two discomposed figures beside her, Chrysalis let out a displeased snort and glared at the centaur.

''I blame you for this!'' She sent an accusing glare at him.

Tirek was taken aback by this and put his hands up defensively. ''What? It was not me who wanted to know where foals come from because she was foolish enough to take over Equestria first instead of school.''

This made the young peach pegasus filly stop her teasing gestures and look at them displeasingly. ''Hey, you didn't go to school either! Um, did you, Trainwreck?''

''Um, actually I did.'' Tirek rolled his eyes at the sudden misspelling of his own good name. ''I had to be forced to learn everything in my land to drain ponies of their magic, but of course, my brother was too weak to do that, so he ended up betraying me instead.''

The filly stared at him. ''Seriously? You in school? Wow, I can't wait to see your graduation photo if we ever get out of this lousy dump. But golly, something tells me I shouldn't have dropped out of school and took over Equestria early because maybe that's why my plan had failed.''

Chrysalis tapped her chin to ponder. ''Hmm. Yeah, how would your parents think of you like this?''

''Golly!'' Cozy Glow looked anything but annoyed or sad at the mention of her parents. ''My parents were actually cheering me on when I told them I'm going to Twilight's sappy Friendship School to steal all the magic of Equestria.''

''Really?'' Tirek stared at her in disbelief. ''My brother ended up leaving me for my plans, but you ponies are against your own kind?''

Cozy Glow shrugged. ''Me and my parents just thought it would be fun, and it is! Being with Equestrian villains and having that much power is a pleasure!''

''Indeed.'' Chrysalis nodded. ''I heard that most unicorns of your kind are the mastermind of destruction and power since they are practically the only ones with magic.''

A cough was heard from the filly.

With a roll of her bug-like eyes, she added, ''pegasi only have magic to fly and walk on clouds. You just grabbed artifacts to steal magic all around Equestria. Any fool could do that.''

Cozy Glow grunted. ''But I overheard when I was still at Twilight's school that she told Guidance Counselor Starlight how lovely it was to be in the same room as Professor Rainbow Dash one day because she was so spectacular powerful and something else but I assume now that they were talking about sex.''

''Wait,'' the changeling paused. ''Twilight and Rainbow Dash? Really?''

''Yeah!'' Cozy Glow said. ''And that's how I got my hopes up that I could steal their magic!''

''Ooh,'' Tirek marveled. ''How devious! If I was in your position, I would have sucked their magic long ago.''

The filly deadpanned. ''Yeah, but I had to make sure that they trusted me with everything first and didn't think that I was bad so they wouldn't suspect it was me to be the one stealing magic but thanks to those six creatures I ended up failing!''

''Probably a bad ending,'' Chrysalis concluded. 

She shrugged. ''I guess villains are always meant to lose against the good ones even if they are cooler and that rainbow laser is getting old and pathetic now.''

''I. Never. LOSE!'' the former changeling queen burst out in a booming voice as she pounded her hooves on the rails firmly, astonishing the two figures beside her by her unforeseen act and lack of calmness.

''Yeah.'' Cozy deadpanned, glancing at the centaur then back at her. ''We know.''

Chrysalis took a deep death, trying to soothe her voice. Her ears soon flicked at the sound coming from the vision she had conjured up to watch what their enemies are doing.

BUZZ!

Cozy Glow hyped up and grabbed her rock sculpture friend, clutching it tightly as her eyes were watching intently at the vision with a hint of satisfaction in her red devilish eyes.

The centaur merely rolled his eyes and sat on the floor where he was far away from the two to enjoy the show.

’’Foals come from apples, don’t they?’’ They could hear a southern accent fluently spoken out of the Element of Honesty’s mouth and even though they did not personally know her, they knew when she was lying or not. Even if it were a joke she’d blabber the truth at the very first minute.

’’That’s unfortunately incorrect, Applejack.’’ Now they could hear a usually matter-of-fact tone coming from a violet alicorn who trotted toward her cowgirl friend to approach her sheepishly.

A few minutes into the show and they were laughing hysterically at the scene in front of them until they heard something that would change their lives forever.

’’I didn’t even know that Chrysalis and Tirek would be behaving as parents towards Cozy Glow.’’

The three most frantic villains stared at each other in complete and utter shock with a mix of disbelief.

Chrysalis spoke first, clearing her throat. She ignited her horn with a glow of green to dematerialize the vision. 

‘’I guess we can finally and eternally agree that that was something.’’

‘’Something indeed,’’ Tirek conceded, nodding. He glanced at Cozy. ‘’Can I ask you a question?’’

Cozy smiled innocently at him. ‘’You had never spoken nicely to me before.’’

‘’They are cursing us with friendship,’’ Chrysalis growled.

‘’That vision changed our life?’’ Tirek suggested, and shrugged.

‘’Sooo... what is it?’’ Cozy asked.

‘’Why are you not scared of us? Carry on being enthusiastic with us? Is this some sort of trick you are trying to get us reformed with?’’ Tirek kept asking, growling at the last one.

Cozy continued smiling. ‘’Because you two are cool. Like I said, having that much power is a pleasure!’’

‘’But we don’t have it anymore,’’ Chrysalis pointed out.

‘’Yeah, well...’’ Cozy shrugged. ‘’I see something within us like we were meant to meet each other and work together. I wouldn’t say it’s friendship since we are against that cringe, but...’’

‘’I feel it too,’’ Chrysalis conceded. ‘’Changelings can sense what type of love we are dealing with. The type that keeps all three of us combined is truly something like a spark that enlightened the three of us. We are stronger as a team even when friendship is what we are against.’’

She continued, ‘’it’s something that no one had ever had, not that I heard of.’’

Cozy looked at Tirek, then back at Chrysalis. ‘’I see that you are like a dad to me, Tartarsauce, and a mom to me, Queen Christmas.’’

Tirek would have growled at the misspelling of his name if only his heart hadn’t suddenly melted at the weight of her words. 

Chrysalis remained silent. She began pawing down at her hoof shown in front of her, then pushed a smile onto her lips. But it wasn’t a smile where she had declared victory evilly, but a smile that she used to give to her changeling army - children - something that felt sincere satisfaction.

‘’Very well.’’ Chrysalis nodded idly. ‘’We shall look after you and rule many lands together, my little filly.’’ 

They all chuckled darkly simultaneously, a beaming blue illumination from the giant door’s keyhole below shining on the three villainous bodies. 


* * *


Applejack entered through the gates of Sweet Apple Acres and trotted through the isle of trees in her orchard to reach a big, red barn to meet up with her grandmother.

As her hooves tapped as she went, a train of thoughts kept on racing through her mind as if she was paranoid. She felt humiliated and annoyed that everyone watched her not knowing where foals come from because her own grandmother didn't have the decency to tell her, she felt stupid but tried to make sure that the others had forgotten about that already.

She swayed the door open and made her way through to find an elderly green pony sitting in her chair in the living room, staring blankly in space and rocking about. 

''Granny,'' the younger mare spoke. ''Can I ask you about something?''

''What is it, Applejack?'' asked the elder mare as she continued rocking back and forth in her chair.

''Where do foals come from?'' Applejack asked, surprisingly confident as she wasn't sure what the answer would be. Granny Smith stared at her, then sighed.

''I guess it's time for the three of ya to know now,'' she replied.

''So... you lied to me?'' Applejack muttered quietly, a wave of shadow washed over her face. The elder mare nodded weakly. ''I don't quite understand, Granny. Why on earth would you do that?''

Granny Smith sighed. ''I wanted to tell y'all, I really did. But y'all were so innocent that y'all were still believing in the Great Seedling.''

''But that doesn't-'' Applejack stopped herself and let out a sigh. ''Okay, Granny. I'm ready to know now. Please? I'm old enough to know!''

''I know, hun. And I will tell ya.'' Granny Smith smiled at the mature young adult she had raised her whole life. 

She got up from her chair and sat down slowly on the couch and patted on the spot next to her for her granddaughter to sit down. ''Now, foals come from when a stallion and mare get really, really, really, really-''

''Okay. I get it, Granny,'' Applejack interrupted her but accidentally sounded a bit rude.

She cleared her throat. ''Right. It's just awkward knowing I have to teach my grandkids this at this age.’’

Applejack looked at her grandmother with a frown.

The elder mare dropped a sigh of unease. ‘’When they get really close, the stallion sticks his penis inside the mare's vagina, making the sperm swim all the way towards the eggs inside her body to get through the process, known as ‘fertilization’. The fertilized eggs soon form into foals inside the mare's womb, and eleven months later, the mare enters through labor to get her fully-form foal pushed out of her vagina, and then life is born.''

Her voice hung in the air for several seconds to settle some tension between the two grown-up mares.

Applejack stared at her expressionless, then she blinked. ''Wow,'' she uttered. ''Really? So that's how a foal is made? Why, that's not even embarrassing to tell me.''

''You still don't get it, A.J.'' Granny Smith looked at her unsettlingly. 

The cowgirl opened her mouth to speak but suddenly got cut off as a yellow filly entered into the living room wearily with her eyes groggily and her mind being dazed, indicating she had merely woken up from her sleep.

''What's all the commotion, y'all?'' asked the filly as she let out a small yawn.

Came behind her was a big, red, and muscular stallion who also let out a yawn and had his eyelids darkened due to the abundance of tiredness from waking up from his slumber.

''Ah! Big Mac, Apple Bloom!'' the elder mare called. ''You came just in time.''

''Uh, just in time for wut exactly?'' the youngest granddaughter asked.

The middle sibling answered for her before their grandmother could, ''there might be something wrong that Granny Smith or I told ya 'bout where foals come from.''

''Oh, yeah. They come from apples, don't they?''

Applejack blushed through her embarrassment, then darted her eyes back at her grandmother. 

''N-No. They come from in a more complicated way.''

Big Macintosh raised an eyebrow. ''Then how?''

Granny Smith smiled at her two left-innocent grandchildren and gathered them on the couch to get her awkwardness ready again to also tell them about ''The Talk''.


The Seriously End