In her time, Cozy Glow had known many forms of punishment. A cage in Tartarus, a petrified pedestal in the Canterlot Sculpture Gardens, and even this padded sunless cell.
Luster Dawn was worse than all of them combined.
"How handsome was Sombra? Is Tirek as buff as the history books make him look? Is it true you once absorbed the entire reserves of the Bewitching Bell and became a gaudy over-designed monster mare? How come you don't ever answer me? Don't you wanna be friends? Friendship is power, you know. And I know you know, because you were the one who said so."
The only saving grace, the sole reason Cozy hadn't broken off her petrified parts and stuffed them in her ears yet, was the fact Luster did, occasionally, run out of steam and fall silent. Always whenever Cozy was about to (literally) crack. Always at the very moment before Cozy tested whether her tail had grown long and fibrous enough to strangle another mare, Luster Dawn would grow bored of talking and recline against a cushioned wall. There she'd either rest her mouth or nibble on one of the flavorless bran biscuits that slid through their shared door's food slot three times per day.
In her more frazzled moments, Cozy wildly guessed that Luster was doing this all on purpose. Then she'd promptly shoo the thought away, miffed to have let a twit like Luster get under what remained of her skin. She was Cozy motherbucking Glow, Equestria's greatest criminal mind. This cell was her domain, and she sat in the center of it. Nopony could match her in cleverness, trickiness, or emotional manipulation. Luster herself said so. Repeatedly.
Yes, every so often a compliment would spill out alongside the endless questions in Luster Dawn's guileless drivel. Waiting to hear praise from her nitwit cellmate was slowly becoming Cozy's favorite part of the day.
Her favorite part of the week however, remained unchanged. And on the morning of sixth day of her new tenure with Luster Dawn, Cozy tipped her hoof.
"Hey," she ventured with carefully concocted innocence.
Luster, who'd seemed fast asleep moments ago, sat bolt upright and folded her hooves under her chin, eager to hear whatever info Cozy had deigned to share.
"So... its Wednesday today," Cozy observed. As she did, she opted to twirl her mane with a front hoof. The left hoof, since it had more organic bits than her right did. "Wednesday is when State-Mandated Recreation time happens. Do you know what that term means?"
Luster shook her head, ponytail bouncing. "What's it mean, Cozy? Something good, I hope."
Cozy grinned and nodded, then hastily buried her genuine cheeriness with affected coyness. "It does mean something pretty good, yes. It means we get to go outside for an hour. Mingle with other prisoners in the yard. Even look up and see the sky for awhi- ahem!" Cozy redoubled her mane-twirling efforts, and aside from a vacant tilt of the head, Luster Dawn didn't react to the slip of tongue.
"Anyway, the guards'll be here to take us outside soon. Real soon." Cozy gave an exaggerated glance at the door. "And when they do, I want you to behave, okay? No yelling or embarrassing yourself. And no mentioning your crime when we're out in the yard with the other prisoners."
Luster Dawn giggled like an oblivious school filly. Cozy hardened her tone.
"I have a big reputation in this place," she lied. "So other prisoners might be jealous when they see you're my friend."
Luster's eyes widened. "I'm your friend? For real, Cozy?"
Semi-stone teeth were grinding in frustration.
"Of course you're my friend, Luster. But remember that friends keep each other's secrets. And there's no bigger secret than how to remove magic from Equestria."
Luster Dawn's ears were going from pink to red. "And that secret is..?"
Cozy's answer was interrupted by the cell door unlatching. Two guards flanked the exit, wielding spears and scowls.
"Recreation hour," one of them announced. "Any kicking, insulting, or biting of the staff or other prisoners will result in a disciplinary meeting with The Warden. Consider this disclosure your one legally required warning."
If Luster Dawn could grade her performance over the last week, she'd go with a modest B+.
Her train ride to Manehatten had been one Tartarus of a cram session. She hadn't studied so intensely since Finals Week in the School For Gifted Unicorns. Twilight had certainly sent Luster on her way with plenty of info on Cozy Glow to take in. The forensic scroll, some old newspapers detailing Cozy's first arrest, and (most curious of the lot) plenty of peer reviews written by old School Of Friendship Students about one another. Cozy's old classmates had held very illuminating opinions on her. One (who curiously had the same name as the current Captain Of The Canterlot Guard), described Cozy as "helpful, always around, and kind of clingy if I'm being honest." Another, less legible note claimed "small winged pony makes big smiles at Yona, but smile never quite reaches up to pony's eyes."
In short, Luster Dawn had formed a pretty good image of whom she'd be meeting by the time her train rolled into Manehatten and she remanded herself to a pair of confused but compliant guards. Princess Twilight had promised to write ahead, to explain the sting operation to whichever pony was in charge of Manehatten Penitentiary, but mail moved slowly in post-magic Equestria. Slower than Luster's plan could afford. So, for the past week, she'd simply played the histrionic fool to the best of her university-honed abilities. By now Cozy saw her as a loyal pet. Which was good. Egomaniacs trusted no one, but they certainly loved their pets.
A metallic clang of heavy duty hoofcuffs snapped Luster Dawn back to the present.
"Aw, for me?" Cozy was examining her restraints like a Canterlot noble examined fine jewelry. "These are - urgh heavier than last week's pair. Worried I might fly away on these useless raggedy wings? I'm flattered, boys. Really I am."
The first guard, the one tightening the bolts on Cozy's shackles, was tightlipped and avoiding eye contact. He'd definitely learned the hard way not to verbally spar with Cozy Glow. She giggled at him anyway before setting off down the hall, hoofsteps clanging.
"C'mon, friends! The hour isn't getting any longer!"
The guards hadn't put any restraints on Luster yet. She decided not to loiter until they did. A few brisk gallops caught her up to her slow-moving cellmate, and the guards followed behind. There was nowhere to go but forward. Double doors to the courtyard ahead, rows of empty barred cells on the sides.
"There's nopony else here," Luster observed as they passed.
"All outside already," Cozy giddily guessed. "They always save the best prisoners for last." And with that, she hoofed open the doors.
Luster squinted in the midday sun. She'd once been a background character in a play about prison. Her role was to cheer as the protagonist beat up the biggest scariest pony in the yard to prove his toughness. Luster wasn't keen on doing any fighting, but as her eyes adjusted, she saw Manehatten Penitentiary wasn't at all like the jails she knew from fiction.
Prisoners mulled around the grassy courtyard. Some were chatting in groups of twos or threes. Others were grazing a respectful distance away from one another. None were big burly clydesdales with gang brands or fight scars. Just ordinary ponies that looked a bit rough. Disregarding the patrol guards on the roof, Luster felt an odd nostalgia for recess in middle school. Must've been the pair of picnic tables near the yard's center. Cozy Glow had claimed one of them, cuffed forelimbs resting on the tabletop, but hinds kicking in a carefree way as surveyed the area. With nowhere else to go, Luster trotted over.
"Hey hey, there you are. Nice patch of soil, isn't it friend?"
Luster Dawn consciously shifted into dimwit mode.
"It's... bigger than the cell."
"Forty-nine paces from one corner to the opposite," Cozy confirmed. "It also has better lighting." She tilted her head back to gaze blissfully at the drifting clouds above. Luster Dawn also peered at the sky, quizzical and feeling no bliss of her own. Then a tickle on her shoulder showed that Cozy Glow's feathers were unconsciously flaring.
Pegasi had, ten years ago, come together as a tribe and agreed to give up their power to fly. It was a necessary side effect of the Unity Crystals, and Luster herself was an encouraging public icon, being the unicorn who willingly proposed giving up her tribe's own power to spellcast. The lives that got saved were deemed to be worth it.
It only just now occurred to Luster, here at this picnic table, that Cozy Glow hadn't been privy to that old agreement. Cozy was a mare out of time, kept boxed and oblivious to the noble sacrifice of her ilk. All Cozy knew was that one hour per week, she was allowed outside to gaze up at the place her deepest instincts told her she belonged. All while the ward of crystals and the weight of iron kept her rocky body firmly on the ground.
Luster Dawn felt... regret? Responsibility? Some sort of complicity for Cozy Glow's stagnant life in a padded cell?
Why?
Cozy was a bad pony. And the Unity Crystals had been necessary. Giving up magic had been necessary, since there was no other way to cure Destabilization Syndrome. Except Luster's mission here was to see if there actually was another way to cure Destabilization Syndrome. In which case, she needed the ignorant aid of the pony who was arguably the biggest victim of her life's work. In which case, Luster's feelings of guilt really were warranted. In which case, maybe she should go with the original proposal of coming clean and appealing to Cozy's sense of decenc-
"As I live and breathe, is that Luster Dawn down there? A prisoner of my humble little cellblock?"
The crowing, condescending call interrupted Luster's private guiltfest and Cozy's quiet cloudgazing. But while Luster was struck with stunned confusion, Cozy had snapped to grim, bitter awareness.
"Oh golly. I guess Warden Flurry Heart felt like showing up to work today."
A wide shadow went over the prisonyard, cast by the giant wingspan of the Warden. Though flightless as any modern pegasus, Flurry Heart was a full-fledged Alicorn, with feathers long and thick enough to slow any descent. Presently, her leering predatory glide began amid the rooftop guards and ended atop the tables in the recreation yard. She was short and young, but her head was still highest thanks to her perch. The other prisoners had quietly but urgently moved to the walls, as far away from their tyrant as possible.
Only Cozy Glow refused to flee from Manehatten Penitentiary's supreme authority. She simply sat in her spot, eyes narrowed and wings refolded to be tight and tense at her sides. Luster Dawn stayed put too, but less from bravery and more from sheer dumbfounded disbelief.
"F-Flurry Heart? I haven't seen you in-"
"Ten years? Yeppers, I believe that's how long its been. Back when your science project got greenlit and a certain magically protected northern Empire had to be abandoned."
Sweat was beading on Luster Dawn's neck, shoulders, and armpits. This had to be a nightmare. A horrible, impossible nightmare. Flurry Heart continued lording over Luster and Cozy, wings fully extended and trembling at the edges with an emotion that definitely wasn't fear.
"But hey now, antimagic mare, it all worked out in the end. Real shame that my birthright kingdom is lost to the snows of time," (if words could cut, Luster would currently be saddled-up sashimi) "but this Penitentiary is sort of like the Crystal Empire, isn't it? Ya know, a big patch of grass with walls all around? What'd you do to get tossed in here anyway? Other than ruin my life, I mean?"
"Oh gee willikers," Cozy cut in, trying to reclaim attention. "You're not normally this chatty, Warden. Must be plumb awful meeting the pony who hurt you so bad so long ago. Do you need a friend? Somepony to help you through this tough old time?"
"Not in the bucking mood, right now, Cozetta!" Flurry Heart wiped a strand of purple drool from her mouth. "I've been feeling really under the weather lately."
"Mm-hm. More 'under the weather' than your old Empire, though?"
Flurry Heart aimed stomp at Cozy's forelegs, but a timely muscle spasm and Cozy's own quick reflexes made sure it missed.
Luster Dawn was a helpless bystander in her own story. Her prying open of Cozy's shell, her carefully concealed real self, all the hard work of the last week was being torn to shreds by Flurry's disastrous Destabilized ranting.
"Flurry, please... like Cozy said, you're not yourself right now."
"And what do you know about me, antimagic mare??"
Cozy harrumphed at losing attention again. "You already used that insult, Warden. Plus, she knows plenty."
Luster locked eyes with Cozy, wordlessly pleading for silence. However, when it came to keeping a friend's secret or making a cheap jab at a perceived bully, Cozy's priorities were clear.
"Be nicer to us, Warden. Like you said, it was Luster Dawn who did what I couldn't. She's the pony who got rid of magic from Equestria."
Murmurs kicked up amid the other prisoners. They were not friendly murmurs. Flurry Heart wasn't the only pony whose life had been derailed by the Unity Crystals.
"One more word, Cozetta," Flurry's purple saliva was laced with venom, "and I'm revoking your weekly hour out here."
For the first time since Luster met her, Cozy Glow looked genuinely horrified. The Pegasus glanced longingly skyward, then back at Flurry's sadistic mug.
"But... I have rights..."
"That was four words, Cozetta. No more yard for you. Ever." Flurry wiped her mouth and cleared her throat. "Guards! escort Miss Glasgow back to her cell." Several spearholders on the roof began moving. They couldn't glide down like Flurry Heart had, but stairs were nearby.
Cozy's face had gone pale. It almost matched her petrified skin patches. Eager to twist the knife, Flurry leaned in.
"Oh, and about Luster getting rid of all magic? She didn't do a very good job, did she?" The Alicorn's horn sparked to life.
"Flurry, no!" Luster had given up all pretenses by now. Once a pony was Destabilized, the absolute worst thing they could do was attempt to spellcast. Flurry had already lost her sanity. She might soon lose her life.
"I'm not talking to you, Luster!" Flurry threw an angry glance at her nemesis. "You and I can have a on-on-one chat after Cozetta is out of my-"
Flurry was wracked by a muscle spasm and lost control over her horn. Her blast of stun magic hit Luster point blank.
It wasn't a strong spell, but it was stronger than anything cast in the past ten years. Mana flared through Luster's vulnerable body like hot water through a cold unready pipe. Luster splayed out in the grass, flat on her back with her horn reflexively sparking to expel as much of Flurry's invasive tainted magic as possible. There was yelling. Likely from other prisoners. The guards had arrived, steadying a mercifully alive Flurry Heart while herding a catatonic Cozy away. Luster's body was numb. All she had was her sight to confirm that she too was moving in the direction of the indoors.
Then, Luster felt cushions. The stun spell was wearing off. Nausea and vertigo gave way to awareness. Mostly of Cozy, because Luster Dawn's cellmate looked gutted. As if she'd left her soul back in the courtyard.
"You..." Cozy's voice cracked like a pubescent teen. She stumbled to cell's center. Too stubborn to cry, but not tough enough to stay collected. It was the hysteric persona Luster had gone for when she'd first arrived. But for Cozy it was achingly, nakedly, real.
"You... and I..." Cozy made it to the center and collapsed, legs folded beneath her. That was her comfort spot, Luster had deduced. Right now, it seemed to be Cozy's only source of strength.
"You and I are escaping from this place. Tonight."