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// No Sign of Land 
// Story: And I Hope You Die 
// by Aquaman 
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There was a knock at the door.

Flurry had almost fallen asleep by then, and the sudden sound startled her like a half-awake dream of falling. She rubbed her eyes, waited until her pulse slowed again, then got up and opened her bedroom door. Cozy Glow stood outside, still in her cocktail dress. She smelled like river water and upturned earth. The edges of her fetlocks were stained and damp.

“I’m sorry,” she said quietly, staring at the ground.

“Good for you,” Flurry tersely replied, and she moved to shut the door. Cozy stuck a hoof out to keep it from closing, and she added something else.

“I’m sorry I lied about what I was thinking.”

Cozy was a long way from earning forgiveness, but to her credit, she’d at least aroused Flurry’s curiosity. Flurry swung the door back open, and Cozy silently filed past her, sitting delicately at the foot of Flurry’s bed so she touched as little of the mattress as possible. 

“You were right about me,” she said once Flurry sat down beside her. “I’m a perfect asshole, in every way and in every possible situation. It’s how I control things. If other ponies hate me, if I figure out exactly what they want and exactly how to ruin it for them, then I know how they’ll treat me, what to expect from them. I’ll… I’ll feel safe.”

Cozy fiddled with the hem of her dress as she spoke. In the dim light from her bedside lamp, Flurry could see it was wet like Cozy’s hooves were. “For my whole life, as long as I can remember, I’ve been like that. Even when I was a foal, trying to take over Equestria with half-cocked plans I was too angry to think about, in the end it was all just trying to get an edge over the world. I’d lie, steal, burn every bridge I could reach and every safe place in front of me, so long as I was the one holding the torch. So long as if anypony ever tried to hurt me, I could hurt them first.”

Cozy sighed, and Flurry could hear something sticking in the mare’s throat—something she was trying to say, and couldn’t quite force out just yet. “And then I met you, and I hated you. I mean, I didn’t really like anyone, but I hated you. Rich and powerful, lived in a castle, parents who loved you… everything I’d never had. And now I had to live with you if I wanted to live anywhere, and all I could do with that life was wait for somepony to decide I wasn’t worth the trouble after all and put me someplace I’d never escape from. So in the meantime, I just pushed everything… everyone away, and when you wanted to be a little teenage rebel, I thought ‘sure, Princess, I’ll drag you down to my level.’ I thought that for sure would get your parents to take care of me for good.”

Cozy sighed, and looked up at the ceiling, and laughed. “And then I learned who you really were, how you were so different from all the Princesses I’d known before, and from the world I knew them in. And way, way too late, I realized that I wasn’t angry when I was with you. I told you things I’d never told anyone before, taught you things nopony else would’ve taught you. I didn’t try to hurt you, and it… made me happy. I was happy in a way I never knew I could be. And that fucking terrified me.”

For the first time in her life, Flurry saw tears in Cozy Glow’s eyes. When Cozy turned to look at her, two of those tears slid down either cheek. “I couldn’t control you,” she said. “I couldn’t control how I felt about you. And the thought of you finding out who I really am, of ever giving up on me… I could handle everypony else, the whole world, but not you. So I did it myself. I ruined your night, and I said everything I knew would upset you the most, and I made moondamned sure you would see exactly who you’d wasted your time with. And then I…”

She didn’t say what she’d almost done next. Flurry didn’t make her. She’d pieced it together without it being said aloud—from the glistening droplets in Cozy’s hair and the mud in her fetlocks, a shade of brown she’d only ever seen on the bank of the river north of the castle. 

“I guess I just wanted to tell you why,” Cozy finished. “I know we’re done, and I’m… I’ll be okay with that. But you should… you deserved to know that I lied. And that I’m sorry.”

She sat in silence on Flurry’s bed for a few more seconds, then got up and walked to the door. She didn’t turn around until Flurry spoke up.

“Cozy…”

“Don’t.” Cozy Glow faced her with eyes as wide as the full moon. “Just… don’t forgive me just because of this. Don’t put yourself through that. You know it’ll happen again, that I’ll… that this isn’t over. You know who I am.”

Flurry stood up and closed the gap between her and Cozy. Her eyes never left Cozy’s. Cozy didn’t look away. 

“I do,” Flurry whispered. Her hoof brushed over Cozy’s cheek, gentle and soft and impossibly strong. “I know exactly who you are.”

Then she pressed her lips against Cozy’s, and Cozy kissed her back, and soon there was nothing between them but moonlight…