//------------------------------// // Trust Me // Story: Never Alone // by SoloBrony //------------------------------// I smiled warmly down at the nervous filly before me on the training field. "Of course I'll keep teaching you. I certainly won't have my niece going without her training, and I enjoy our time together." I nudged her with my wing, and Cozy smiled up at me – the kind of tired, weary smile that would fit the face of a much older pony, but worried me to see on a face so young. She's been forced to grow up much too fast... if only she could have gone back to the school after all. I cleared my throat. "I'm not questioning your decision, but could you explain to me why you decided not to go back?" Cozy nodded. "If I'm being honest, the main reason was something you taught me." I quirked an eyebrow at that. "Something about magic theory?" She shook her head with a light laugh. "No, no, just... the fact that you've been teaching me at all. You're not like Mom or Sunset, you didn't remember anything about me except the horrible things I'd done. But you chose to teach me anyway... and you didn't try to get up in my head or bombard me with questions. You let me open up at my own pace. It got me thinking... that sometimes the best way to be kind is to kinda withdraw. Like, be silent, or not get in somepony's face, or whatever. Does that make sense?" I hummed, tapping my chin. "I can see that. So you're trying to be kind to the students of the school by staying away from them." Cozy nodded, shuffling her hooves a bit. "Sometimes less is more. I mean, sometimes ponies need active help, obviously... but sometimes the best way to help is to leave somepony alone. Or somecreature. And sometimes we're not the right ponies to help somecreature." "I see. Well, I can hardly fault your reasoning, there. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't concerned about the attitude that the world is better off without you in it, though." Cozy waved her hooves frantically, prompting a smirk from me. "Nonono, that's not what I mean! I get how that's a bad mindset, I'm just saying it's bad for them to be—wait, are you making fun of me?" "Maybe a little bit." I snickered, and she pouted, sticking her tongue out and blowing a raspberry at me. She did laugh afterwards, though. "Okay, okay, you got me. Thanks for not treating me like I'm a time bomb or whatever." "Aww." I ruffled her mane. "Cozy, being a time bomb doesn't mean I won't poke fun at you." I stuck my tongue out at her, and she just balked with her mouth hanging open before she playfully swatted my hoof. "You're terrible!" I nodded hurriedly. "Awesome and terrible, that's what the historians wrote about me! It is incumbent upon one such as I to live up to my reputation." Cozy giggled at that, rolling her eyes. "Preeeeetty sure that's not what they meant." I wonder if this will be alright... I leaned in with a sly smile. "Oh, well, what do you expect? I'm just one of those magic types, so reliant on my special power I forget to use my brains, right?" Cozy stiffened, and then giggled again, sheepishly this time, while scuffing the ground. "Y-yeah, that was pretty rotten of me, huh?" I laughed at that, leaning back and shaking my head. "Not at all! It was actually a pretty good point... I didn't expect to be given constructive criticism in the middle of a battle, but there it is." Cozy brightened a little at that, and sighed in relief. "So much has happened I sometimes forget all of that stuff. Everything that came before I got turned to stone, I mean. It's kinda strange, at the time it felt like the Battle of the Bell was the biggest deal ever, and that there was no way anypony could ever move past it. And now it just feels... I dunno, smaller? It happened and now it's over, just like everything else." Looks like I really should trust her to handle some friendly ribbing after all. It's good to see she's got the confidence for it now. I nodded, and sighed wistfully. "I've lived long enough to see many such epic sagas come and go. Each one shapes the future, but ponies overestimate their importance... at the time my sister and I turned Discord to stone, we never could have imagined he would become an ally and a friend to Equestria in the future, yet here we are. As you said, things happen, and then they're over, just like everything else." Cozy smiled up at me with a warmth that took me off-guard. "That's because of you, y'know? A lot of it, anyway. You were the one who suggested Discord should be reformed, who wanted Luna to be rescued and set that up... you're the one who pushed ponies to be forgiving, so we can let go of the past. It may have been Discord and Luna who saved me, but neither of them would even be around if you hadn't done all of that. Made Equestria like that." I paused in thought, putting together what she had said, and slowly sat down to think it over. "I... had not truly considered just how far-reaching my own actions were in that regard, but you're right." Cozy shrugged, also sitting down. "Yeah, you were just trying to do what was right in the moment each time, right? It's easy to miss the big picture when you're doing that, but all those little good deeds sure pile up." I smiled back at her, feeling a warmth spread out from my chest. "They do. And if we're lucky, they come back to us in the form of friendship and family." I extended a wing to wrap around the filly, and she nuzzled into it with a giggle. After a few moments, she sighed and looked back up at me. "Speaking of forgiveness and stuff... I actually needed to talk to you about something." I put on a display of mock horror. "Oh, Cozy, do you need help hiding the bodies?" She stuck her tongue out at me. "Very funny. Seriously, though... it's about Sunset." I recoiled slightly in surprise at that. My mind raced a bit, but I just shook my head. "What about her?" "Well... you two have moved past your differences and all, but, isn't it time you actually, y'know... adopted her?" She made a visible effort not to give me puppy-dog eyes, and the result was an awkward cringe as she spoke. For my part, I was flummoxed. How did this conversation end up HERE, of all places? I cleared my throat awkwardly. "Erm... that's... well, I can't say I've never considered it, but... Sunset's a grown woman now, and we've been apart for several years. It wouldn't be... it would be very strange to suddenly..." I waved a hoof futilely as I tried to conjure a succinct way to explain this complicated situation to a filly. Cozy just rolled her eyes at me. "She's not even an adult yet, at least in the human world. And she'd be a lot happier if you did it, trust me. So would you, for that matter. I know you think it would feel... Uh, what was the word... forced, but seriously, at this point, why not?" I stared at the filly, momentarily lost for words as I considered the situation. I eventually scoffed. "You sound a lot like your mom, you know that? She was on my case about this as well, some moons ago..." Cozy smiled at that, sincerely. "Well, I'm glad to hear I'm becoming more like her, a little bit." I chewed my lip over. "What brought all of this on, anyway?" "Well... Luna did call Sunset my cousin one time, which kinda got me thinking, but, it's sorta complicated. Uhh... did Mom tell you about Sunny? The whole bar out of time thing?" I nodded slowly. Right, the strange pocket-dimension Cozy ended up in before returning to our world... run by an alternate-dimension version of Sunset Shimmer. I stiffened. "So, you discussed this with 'Sunny', then?" Cozy nodded sheepishly. "Yeah, I did. Uh, so, it seems like in some worlds, you adopt her, and in a lot of others, you don't... but you're both almost always happier when you do. You're apparently always awkward about it being so late in her adolescence, but, well... it works out. So I felt like it's worth a shot." I considered that carefully for a few long moments before I responded. "Of course, just because it worked out in other timelines or worlds doesn't mean it would work out in ours. It could be that in those worlds, it happens that way because it would work out." Cozy nodded and sighed. "I know, I know. It's not like we can just blueprint our lives off of those what-ifs, but... I mean, why not just ask her? Are you unwilling to go through with it it?" I balked but tilted my head and looked to the sky as I considered it. "I... no, I'd be willing. I do care deeply for her, I just... I..." I sighed as my words failed me. I looked down at the filly in my wing, who just waited expectantly for me to figure out what I wanted to say. Finally, after much deliberation, I cleared my throat and continued. "I never truly believed she saw me that way. For that matter, I never saw myself as a motherly type. After I... lost Luna, I started to throw myself into my work. I saw all of Equestria as my family, as though that would fill the void she left. And that self-image kept me from opening up too much to anypony else for a very long time. I... what Bree said to me held an unfortunate edge of truth to it, in that regard." Cozy cringed, but she nodded. "Yeah, I can get how that would happen. Self-image can really mess with your ability to bond with other ponies, that's one thing I know all about." I snickered and glanced back up to the sky. "The stories we tell ourselves, about ourselves, can be empowering and inspiring, or they can tie us down. Typecast us, so to speak." I shrugged and looked back down, rubbing Cozy's head with my wing again. "I will speak with Sunset about it. Thank you for your advice, Cozy." Cozy giggled. "Don't thank me, I'm totally being selfish – I just want a cousin!" I scoffed and rolled my eyes as I ruffled her mane. "Oh, you!"