//------------------------------// // Chapter 3 - Morning // Story: Cozy Hearts // by Princess Starflight //------------------------------// The next day, Flurry was up early. She hadn't forgotten the events of last night, not one bit! She was so excited that she accidentally teleported into her parents' room. Thank Celestia they were still sleeping! But in her excitement, she teleported again...right in front of the guest room. Cozy Glow was using that dusty room. Well, it used to be dusty. They had cleaned it last night. Flurry didn't feel comfortable with Cozy using her bed. Her parents agreed. Flurry decided to wake Cozy up. They were going to do a lot of things today. She slowly opened the door with her magic. Cozy was still sleeping. Flurry tiptoed over to the bed and looked at her. For some reason, she felt like she was doing something wrong! Surprisingly, Cozy looked kind of pretty in repose. And serene. Weird, Flurry thought. "Wake up! We're gonna do so many things today!" Flurry shook the pink pegasus. She knew it was rude, but it was almost eight o'clock and Flurry wasn't used to doing things late. "No...Mom...Ijustwannasleepintoday..." Cozy mumbled. Or at least that's what it sounded like. "Um...did you just call me 'Mom?'" Flurry asked in confusion. "Yyyeah...AH!" Cozy quickly sat up and struck Flurry in the face. "Oh, sorry!" Flurry was surprised to hear Cozy apologize, but she said, "It's fine. Are you okay?" "I'm..." Cozy shook her head a few times. "...perfectly fine, except for the fact that I was in the middle of a nice dream when you so rudely woke me up." Flurry sighed internally. "Sorry about that. I was just excited. Let's wake up my parents and then we'll have some breakfast." "Okay." Flurry flew to her parents' room and swung the door wide open. "WAKE UP WAKE UP WAKE UP!" she yelled delightfully. Shining Armor half-opened his eyes. "...Huh?" "Wake up! It's time to have some fun!" Flurry marched over to the bed her parents shared and climbed onto it. She jumped up and down a few times until Shining and Princess Cadence were fully awake and glaring at her playfully. "Oh, you will so regret that!" Shining yelled as he levitated Flurry off of him and grabbed a pillow. "Doubt it!" Flurry laughed. She grabbed a few pillows of her own. Her mother got some pillows in front of her as well. Soon the room was a battlefield of a full-fledged...pillow fight! The battle lasted for around seven minutes. Flurry Heart won, just barely, and screamed in triumph. "I get to decide what's for breakfast!" "Alright, but it better not be pancakes again," Shining said. "Actually, it is!" "Flurry, aren't you tired of having the same breakfast every day? Why don't we have some-" "Mom, I want pancakes!" Flurry insisted. "Alright, fine," Shining said. Flurry giggled. "Thanks, Dad!" She threw a pillow at him. Shining just chuckled and ducked. Flurry laughed too. But she stopped laughing when she saw Cozy Glow, still standing at the door, with a curious expression on her face. "So that's how a princess starts her day. Oh, golly," Cozy mumbled quietly. Flurry pretended to not notice and hopped off the bed. "Are pancakes good for you? Or do you want something else?" she asked Cozy. "Pancakes are fine." "Okay, great!" When the Crystal family and Cozy were seated around a table and happily (well, mostly) munching on pancakes, Shining cleared his throat and said, "Well, about last night..." "Right." Flurry sighed. She knew this was coming, but not so soon! "Can you give us the details of what really happened before your arrival at the castle?" Cadence asked. "Be honest. I can call Applejack and tell her to come..." "There'll be no need for that, Mom. I'll explain." And Flurry did. She informed her parents about the new things she had learned about Cozy (except for her suspicion that she wanted to change - Flurry didn't want to get their hopes up) while the pegasus glared at her, and she explained about the events that had happened, from freeing Cozy to falling from the sky. When Flurry finished, Cadence and Shining exchanged glances. They had a short, silent argument. Cadence won. "Flurry...there's something your father and I have been hiding for some time," Cadence said. "And I think it's time to tell you." "What?" "So, you know it doesn't snow in the Empire unless something is wrong, right?" Cadence began. "Yes. But then why was it snowing last night?" Flurry asked. "Well...there is something wrong. We're not exactly sure what, but your father suspects there might be an evil force lurking somewhere out there." "Whoa! Seriously? Is it Sombra?" Flurry asked. "Wait, wasn't he defeated, like, years ago?" "Yes. We don't think it's Sombra, not exactly, but maybe somepony who is related to him." "How can anypony be related to him? Uh, no offense," Flurry said. "I don't know. Your father and I are going to look into it more," Cadence replied. "Why didn't you tell me this earlier?" Flurry asked. "We didn't want to scare you. But there's no reason to be afraid anyway, so you don't have to think about this too much. Just be a little more careful and don't go out if it's snowing, okay?" "Okay. One more question, though. Were you talking about this when you had those meetings with Auntie Twilight and you put up a sound barrier?" Cadence looked guilty. "Ah...yes, Flurry, we were. And I'm sorry for keeping secrets from you. I know your father and I have been very protective for many years, and I'm sorry if you didn't like it, but please know that we were only doing it because we love you." Suddenly everything made sense. The secret meetings, her parents being overprotective, everything. Flurry suddenly felt bad for running away last night, but then she reminded herself that she had only done it to save Cozy from a terrible fate. Still, she promised herself that she would never run away again. Flurry smiled at her mother and they hugged. "I love you too, Mommy." Then Shining Armor went over and hugged both of the ponies tightly. Cozy rolled her eyes. "Seriously? I've only been here for, like, ten hours and there's already been two of these mushy moments," she muttered to herself. Cadence heard her. "Well, I am the princess of love," she said, chuckling slightly. Cozy shrugged. "Still. That was sooo cringe. I'm leaving." She headed towards the exit, but a pair of guards stopped her. "Hey! Let go of me!" Cozy squealed. Then she noticed that one of the guards was a unicorn. His armor(?) looked different, too. What's he doing here? He looks like one of Celestia's guards, she thought. Cozy kicked and thrashed. She smirked when she made a good-sized mark on the unicorn guard's face, but then he levitated her off him with his magic. "DON'T USE YOUR MAGIC ON ME!" Cozy screamed. The guard ignored her. Cozy kicked and screamed, but she was stuck in the magic. It felt so bad to be trapped and helpless like that! It almost felt like being in stone again! "Put her down!" Flurry shouted. The guard obeyed. He didn't set Cozy down gently; instead, he just dropped her down. Cozy hit the ground hard and groaned. "I HATE you!" she whisper-shouted at the guard. She got no reaction from him. Stupid guard! "I'm so sorry!" Flurry said. She helped Cozy up from the ground. "Whatever!" Cozy stalked up to the guest room, mumbling angrily all the way. Flurry sighed. "Poor Cozy. I guess she doesn't like magic because of...you know." "Poor Cozy?! Did you see what she did to that guard?" Shining Armor moaned and covered his face with his hooves. "My little sister is going to kill me." "Hey, why is Auntie Twilight's guard here anyway?" Flurry asked. "We need extra guards to protect us from the evil creature out there, so your Aunt Twilight kindly sent us a few of her guards," Cadence explained. Flurry almost groaned. She would probably have extra bodyguards now. "Please don't give me any more bodyguards. Please," Flurry moaned. She covered her face with her hooves like her father. "Alright, alright. There's no need to fret, Flurry," Cadence said. She chuckled. "Yay!" "So, what are you going to do today?" Shining asked his daughter. "I'm gonna take Cozy to Ponyville and introduce her to some of my friends. It'll be a good experience for Cozy and my friends would be glad to meet her - I hope!" "Make sure at least five bodyguards go with you," Shining said. "No!" Flurry protested. "Why do they have to go with me, anyway?" Cadence sighed. "Well, if Flurry doesn't want to take the bodyguards with her, that's alright. Make sure to stay safe, though, and be careful." "What? But--the evil force! What if it gets our daughter?!" Shining exclaimed. "It's probably not going to go all the way to Ponyville," Flurry said. "And I'll be surrounded by ponies who can help me." "Oh... alright then. Be sure to stay safe!" "Right, right." A few minutes later, Flurry went to get Cozy. She hoped the pegasus had calmed down by now. She knocked on the door. "Who's there?" "Flurry Heart." "Oh. Come in." Flurry went in. She was slightly surprised to see that the room was in good condition. No pillows were beaten up and the bed was made. Good. Cozy was not one to throw temper tantrums. "Um...so, I thought you would like to meet some of my friends. They live in Ponyville, and they're really nice. I'm sure they would like to meet you." "Golly! I would love to meet them!" Cozy said sweetly. Oh, no. "Okay, do you want to go now?" Flurry said cautiously. "Sure!" "Alright, then. We'll fly there." "Can I please ride on your back? My wings aren't working well," Cozy said. "Okay, fine. Let's go." And off they went to Ponyville.