//------------------------------//
// Perfect Killer 
// Story: Dawn Adopted 
// by Idyll 
//------------------------------//

The Queen of the Changelings; Nature’s perfect killer. One of the three Legion members who comprised the paralyzed trophy of Friendship’s victory. Socially isolated, yet publicly showcased. Punishment was swift, without warning nor trial, when they were dealt a fate worse than death. Only between realizations were their pictures taken for the history books. Tirek’s body was too weak to face the light. Cozy’s face was contorted by fear, though tour guides dismissed it as a desperate trick. But Chrysalis refused to forfeit dignity, and with her last breath pounced at her executioners. One perforated the holes in her legs. The other tried to conquer Equestria twice before. And the last one brought her into this mess: his plan, his friends, his fault—but does he of a thousand pardons care? 
 
A Princess could only count in centuries, but the Changelings were an adaptive race. Nature didn’t intend for her subject to lose her sanity, whom she birthed to be the Predator of all Ponies. Thus, she included a failsafe, one imbued by internal magic and intended to aid resilience against ponies’ sick desire for long and solitary punishments. 
 
After it became clear that she wouldn’t be let out, Chrysalis entered a phase of hibernation, but only once she forgave herself for cowardice. The day after the conflict’s conclusion, drones that entered the soon-to-be park were introduced to the scent that questioned empathy. The site afflicted them with guilt, not only due to it being the grave of their mother, but also from that filly. She looked scared, and they felt her fear. Her howls were loud, but silent to non-drones. Canterlot assured it to be a simple quirk of Discord’s chaos magic, and that Discord was a peculiar case due to him being the God of Chaos. Cozy was only a filly. Drones forced themselves to ignore it, and nicknamed the statue ‘The Legion of Gloom.’ After a year, the sobs stopped.
 
Only Chrysalis could recall the months that followed release. If it hadn’t been for that divine accident, Cozy never would have grown her wings, or touched another cloud, or watched the sun rise over the horizon, and Chrysalis never would've been able to continue the mission assigned to her by Providence through the constitution of instincts: to rule the Changeling tribe, to indulge in the pleasures of love, and to trample over every—single—kingdom that showed up that day, when Cozy was cast from the heights of Canterlot to the depths of her own mind.
 
Oh, and Tirek too I guess, Chrysalis shrugged.
 
Luster didn’t expect Chrysalis to have irises, or hair, or to be so tall. The filly wasn’t even at the height of her knee. Even characteristics that should’ve made her less frightening, such as fangs shorter than her drones’, only exacerbated the scent of her fear.
 
Chrysalis spoke: “Cozy! What a pleasure it is for you to visit.”
 
“Jeez! Has it really been so long?” Cozy said as she flew up for a hug.
 
“You left for Kludgetown over a month ago and I was worried sick. You know that place is a cesspit of depravity and violence—unbridled... It could use new rulers.”
 
“I completely agree!”
 
“And I really am hoping you’re not about to say you’ve lost the Alicorn Amulet—the one that I lent you?”
 
“I wouldn't even fake it! It’s safe and sound in my bag.”
 
“Good… Because I heard that Cadence went with the Chaos God to the Mysterious South to investigate a certain anomaly. Care to explain why I shouldn’t be worried?”
 
“It’s just a teensy-weensy hiccup. They’ll find nothing but ruins caused by this little filly!” With a wave of her front hooves, Cozy showcased Luster Dawn to Queen Chrysalis. “Go on Luster, don’t be shy! Introduce yourself.”
 
Chrysalis looked at the filly next to Hope, who felt bad since her love was the beacon that brought those two drones to her house. The queen stepped forwards; Luster could hear the heavy hollowness of her legs. But the filly had to look up. She knew she had to act confident, like her mother was with Cadence. Otherwise, she might end up wishing she stayed at Kludgetown.
 
It became a staring contest. You had to be Cozy or a changeling to read Chrysalis’ emotion. 
 
“Um… I’m—Luster Dawn…” she said. She extended her hoof.
 
Chrysalis stared at it for a few seconds, glanced at Cozy, back at the filly, ignoring Hope. “Luster Dawn… What an unfortunate name.”
 
“W-What?”
 
“I think it’s a wonderful name,” Cozy asserted. “I take credit for the ‘Dawn’ part.”
 
“Yes, but it’s just something I’d name my cattle,” Chrysalis said. “Is she cattle? Or a gift? Or perhaps that Starlight Glimmer’s secret daughter?”
 
“She’s my daughter!” Cozy revealed with a gleam, right in front of Chrysalis’ face.
 
She swiped Cozy to the side. “Even for a pony of your mental acuity and fortitude, you’re still but a pony. I guess being a co-ruler of a dormant hive isn’t as ‘big’ as you like to think. So, in order to fill the void left by Tirek and those subjects you ruled along by King Sombra, you foalnapped a filly and will attempt to shape her into your next partner. Am I correct?”
 
“I rescued and adopted her!” Cozy said, as a matter-of-factly. 
 
Chrysalis rolled her eyes.
 
“As for the partner part, I’m just going to let things play out by themselves. Y’know, see where it goes. After all, if every filly was as evil as me, I’d be out of a title,” Cozy replied. “Who knows? She might grow up to be Twilight’s next protege!”
 
Chrysalis laughed. Cozy giggled. A few guards snickered. 
 
Luster didn’t get what was so funny, though to her, Twilight was only a name that gets tossed around. 
 
“Perhaps we should head to a more suitable location? I’ve already informed the chefs of your arrival.”
 
“Hmm… Luster, we can stay here for as long as you like, but wouldn’t you feel so much better if you got it over and done with?”
 
Chrysalis turned to Luster, awaiting elaboration. 
 
“I-I-I accidentally—unknowingly…” Luster saw Cozy’s supportive face, inwardly circling hooves, and felt Hope’s slightly-cool leg around her neck. “I accidentally…”
 
Chrysalis furrowed her brow and squinted.
 
“...killed your drones?” Luster braced herself. She looked away, eyes closed, but after ten seconds of nothing, looked back at Chrysalis.
 
“Okay?” Chrysalis said.
 
“I’m sure you got my letter,” said Cozy. “But a little accident happened after that, and the guilt has been eating this poor filly up! She just had to apologize to you in-pony.” 
 
Well, I didn’t do anything, Luster thought. You’re the one that’s making me talk to your scary friend about—wait, what if she can read my mind?! 
 
Chrysalis looked at Cozy, who hovered at her eye level. “What are you talking about?”
 
“Didn’t you send two drones after Hope?” Cozy asked.
 
“Yes, but I never received a letter.”
 
“What?! But I definitely sent one! Lustie can attest to that, can’t you sweetie?” 
 
Luster nervously nodded.
 
“I…” Hope muttered. “Might’ve also accidentally—halted delivery…”
 
Cozy and Luster looked at her.
 
Chrysalis hmphed. “I’m not surprised by that at all. But for those two scouts to have lost to a filly is quite an embarrassment. Perhaps I should have the first generation of scouts reevaluated on their competency?” 
 
If Atty and Prety heard that, Luster knew their hearts would’ve shattered.
 
“Maybe I’m simply a good fighter?” Luster blurted.
 
Chrysalis looked at the filly and turned to Cozy. “Shall we go?” 
 
“Of course!”
 
“But I thought that was it!” Luster shouted. All eyes were on her, and she realized the scene that she had caused.
 
“Excuse her. She didn’t have a proper breakfast, so she’s a little bit grumpy,” Cozy said.
 
Chrysalis stared at Cozy for a moment and looked at Luster. “If it’s only over the plight of hunger, then I won’t sacrifice the mood to discipline this filly some manners.”
 
Luster got caught in a tractor beam emitted from Chrysalis’ horn. The queen wrapped a hoof around Cozy and teleported. 
 
All but Hope reappeared, each on one of the four chairs tucked into a white, circular table, in a room that looked as if it were taken from a Victorian home. Beyond white-over-pink floral wallpaper were display cabinets that encased valuable memories, from a Cozy lookalike plush that bled stuffing through its bitten-off head, to shelf-sized sculptures of Cozy’s Alicorn form, to plastic figures of Silver Seraph, the ones native to cereal boxes and Hayburger meals for foals. The wall had newspaper cutouts of articles reporting Cozy’s run-ins, her portrait as a royal guard for the Crystal Empire, and the one Twilight had on her desk, stolen from an exhibit, back when she swore, “Cozy’s the most polite, innocent, and kindest filly you’ll ever meet!” 
 
It all looked so—Cozyesque. There wasn’t a speck of Chrysalis or Tirek anywhere. It was only her.
 
“Is it just as disgustingly sweet as you remembered?” Chrysalis asked as she pulled a green-wrapped rook pillow from her bottom to her lumbar.
 
Cozy stretched her wing to grab the backrest of Luster’s chair and drag it closer towards her. “It’s perfect!”
 
A drone swooped by and, in the center of the table, placed a pastry stand loaded with butter cookies that sandwiched a viscous strawberry jam; each had a red circle cut through the top layer and a secret ingredient that had Chrysalis magnetized. 
 
A second drone brought a silver tray that had on top a steaming teapot, a bowl of sugar, a creamer, saucers, and porcelain cups, each with a teabag and teaspoon. Handel in mouth, it went on to pour water into each of their cups, whilst Cozy added her own sugar. She sipped, and while she did, Chrysalis hid her cup under the table. Behind the back of the first drone, a sparkly pink liquid poured from a pocket flask.
 
“Is that other mare carrying your bag?” Chrysalis asked.
 
“Oh, no! I just left in such a rush that I forgot to bring it.” Cozy bit into a cookie. Her visit was the first time in over a month that top students of Cozy’s old baking class were able to express their talents, and it was the ‘easiest’ way to earn Cozy’s respect. And Chryssie called it a waste of time. These are almost half as good as mine! Almost. Maybe.
 
“So that ‘apology’ was the only reason you came to visit?” Chrysalis sighed. “That’s disappointing. You usually come back with presents.”
 
“I’ll be sure to bring a big stack next time! But I should probably focus on integrating her into Equestrian society before I promise any sleepovers.”
 
“So, you have no plans to move back?” Chrysalis kept her eyes on her tea as she stirred, her expression blank. 
 
“Maybe you could ask Hope to keep you company?” Luster suggested.
 
Chrysalis paused her stirring. “She won’t have me play into her ridiculous plans. All it would take is a single sophist to trick her into friendship, and she’ll have our corpses next to the topiary.”
 
Both her eyes and Cozy’s turn towards the mare they mentioned, who stood frozen. Chrysalis could not have cared less that she heard that. Cozy cared about Hope’s feelings—or at least the closest emotion she expressed for others that matched Care’s description—but her plan was to deal with this later tonight, outside the Hive. 
 
Luster thought it was bogus. “Hope wouldn’t do that. She’s nice.”
 
“That’s the problem.” Chrysalis withheld calling the filly a ‘grunt.’ 
 
Hope wasn’t sure if she should leave. Where would she go? Drones dug every tunnel and room with only themselves, Chrysalis, and Cozy in mind, and Hope was denied magic to compensate. Each second of inactivity only amassed her additional stares, from the trio and the drones: those two butlers and the ones that passed by. She walked up; without confidence, it looked as if she only intended to loiter. The side of her hoof pushed the front of the chair’s seat, all whilst the conversation was yet to resume. Second hoof embarrassment was bad enough as a pony. How would it feel for creatures whose sixth sense was emotions?
 
“You’re pitiful,” Chrysalis remarked.
 
Cozy mixed a cup of tea to Hope’s exact preferences and slid it over a coaster to her, along with the cookies. “No need to be a mopey mare.”
 
Hope smiled. “Thank—”
 
“May I excuse myself?” Cozy floated off her seat. “Watch over Lustie for me, will you?” She winked.
 
Panic struck the filly. “Actually, I need to go to the toilet too!”
 
“Hope, can you please help her out?”
 
“Mom, can’t I just…” 
 
Cozy was already gone. 
 
Great, Luster thought, I’m stuck here with the scariest supervillain in all of Equestria, her thousands of love-thirsty drones, and Hope and I don’t even have our magic…
 
Chrysalis drank until her cup reached sideways. Licking her lips, she got up, and circled around the table, until she arrived at Luster’s spot. No words were passed, only the expressions of creatures whose eyes tilted upwards. Except the filly’s. If she stood on the seat and tipped hoofed on her hind legs, the peak of her horn would barely scale the queen’s chest.
 
She could command a room by her presence alone. None of her drones had bad posture. That would’ve conveyed they didn’t care; ergo, not true drones; therefore, gone. Hope didn’t offer much comfort; if anything, her fear pervaded more than Luster’s. She felt smaller than a bug in the Hive. Why couldn’t she have gone home like Cozy offered? But she was reminded why: Luster. She didn’t know what Cozy truly intended, and she didn’t trust Chrysalis to be left alone with her. 
 
“You two, keep your eyes on her,” Chrysalis commanded the butler drones. The seat turned empty as she teleported herself—and Luster. 
 
Hope jumped off the chair; the drones jumped onto the table. As she searched for a green flash through the hallways, before her mind calmed to think, she was never more than a table’s length away from her overseers. 
 
It was pointless. If her magic was fully restored and Chrysalis’ half-muffled, Hope would still lose a duel. She was a healer, not a fighter; all she could do was resign herself to tea with the drones.





Luster’s view shifted; from the comfort of lavish tableware to the dark walls and pillars of the throne room.
 
“Why’d you bring us back here?” Luster asked. 
 
Chrysalis flew a boxing ring’s length from the filly.
 
Luster’s brow scrunched. Oh please, no.
 
“Your ‘mother’, as you claim to put it, is a reckless mare!” Chrysalis stated. “For as many misfortunes as she might’ve suffered, she’s lucky they haven’t crucified her by the wings yet! She lacks the ability to cast spells, and though her reluctance to use the Alicorn Amulet’s is justified, she was completely brain-dead to—well, even to go to Kludgetown, but to bring one of the most powerful artifacts known to any of us there? And not here?! It’s absurd.”
 
Luster looked around to confirm that the speech was for her, then nodded to the prompt of the other’s silence.
 
“You’ve killed two of my scouts,” Chrysalis said. “Show me how.” 
 
Luster stepped back—and met an invisible wall. One hind leg lost balance. The other tripped on her tail. She fell on her bottom. Not wanting to test the queen’s patience, she tried to get back up but slipped on her heel. Enough seconds passed before a ring of aura formed around her and lifted her to her hooves.
 
“I’ve granted you permission to use the full capacity of your magic,” Chrysalis said, “I want to see what you’re capable of.” 
 
All Luster could conjure was an excuse: “Uhh—I had to use a lot of furniture to destroy those two. And, umm, surprise! The element of surprise!”
 
She didn’t respond, only squinted.
 
The filly took a page out of Cozy’s playbook. “I couldn’t possibly defeat a queen, could I? I mean those were only drones. You’re like, Equestria’s most powerful-est supervillain!”
 
Nothing.
 
Luster sighed. “The truth is, Cozy defeated them. One of them was halfway through eating me before Cozy showed up... I didn’t do anything. Once she sent you her letter, she left me alone with the drones, and then I… I, umm… I defeated them?” She quivered a smile.
 
Chrysalis wasn’t sure she heard that right. “So, you defeated them after they had already been defeated?” 
 
“...Yes?”
 
She scoffed and teleported. 
 
Luster blinked. She spun in a circle, head searching aimlessly, trying to figure out where Chrysalis went. She couldn’t have just left, could she? Maybe she got bored? To a guard in a far-off corner, it looked as if the filly was chasing her own tail. 
 
Chrysalis came back—with Cozy’s neck between her magic’s grip. “You said she was your ‘mother’ now? Hmm?” She grinned, pitched the tip of the wing closest to her, and fiddled it in circles, inspecting her preened pink feathers.
 
“Oh jeez, golly! What’s gotten into you, Chryssie?” Cozy asked.
 
“You’ve exhausted your usefulness to me.”
 
“What?!” shouted both mother and daughter in unison.
 
“You abandoned the Hive, signed up to become Princess Flurry Heart’s plaything, all to accomplish your third failure to usurp Twilight’s throne. And then you adopt this filly? You've clearly gone weak. I believe it’s best we end your life on a—high note.”
 
Her telekinetic grip around her neck and wing tightened. Chrysalis stretched her neck, looked at the filly, grinned, and all at once, tugged.
 
Cozy let out a scream so loud it ruffled dust off the roof; one so high, that Chrysalis dropped her. 
 
A single feather swayed to the floor. 
 
Her head to the side, Chrysalis inhaled. “Over a feather?” She sucked in her lips, filled her lungs, ready to scold and label Cozy an adult brat; but when she turned, her face met a balloon of liquid fire. It popped and splashed on her shield, an inch away from her muzzle.
 
She was the cardinal changeling. Thorax couldn’t cast a candle to her magical prowess. Her ancestral birthplace was a swamp of dead creatures, whose genes Nature snipped, knitted, and tailored into a being that rivaled Gods. But her eyes weren’t compound eyes. They were closer genetically to pony eyes; they lacked a waterproof layer of chitin. In the long run, it didn’t matter; she possessed a tremendous ability to heal herself and cast spells, but pain would invite a window, and with the opponents she usually went up against, that’s all they needed to win.
 
A round stalactite from one of the top edges of the room flung towards her—by the filly. It exploded. Cozy let out a yelp as an amber aura pulled her back by her tail, away from debris.
 
With a swipe and glow of her crooked horn, Chrysalis magicked away the dust. 
 
“Love is such a potent motivator,” she said. “So, you’re like a guard dog, biting at whoever touches Mommy?” A green glow pinched Cozy’s left cheek.
 
“Stop it!” Luster shouted. “Leave her alone!”
 
“What? She’s lived with me for so long that I’m no different to her than a mother! And where would she be without me? Her body was so lifeless when she exited stone that they likely would’ve used her gaping mouth as a birdbath for that Fluttershy’s porch! She owes her life to me. I’m simply taking it back.” 
 
Chrysalis took one step forwards. Luster engulfed her in a field of her signature spell, transforming the area into an inferno, one ruled by a demon filly, who herded an ardent conflagration as if it were cattle. 
 
“Oh, Lustie. Why is it always the pink and purple ponies that cause all the problems in the world? Twilight, Starlight, Flurry Heart, Cozy, and you! And you even have that name, ‘Dawn.’ Celestial motif. But I’m afraid you can't defeat me by spewing flames out of your horn haphazardly. Use a different spell.”
 
Does she want me to beat her? Luster thought. She didn’t want to play into Chrysalis’ hoof, but couldn’t deny she was right. She had yet to win a single fight, always being swooped in and saved by her mother last minute. But now her mother lay hurt, thousands of hooves underground, in a maze that muffled magic, and Hope was who knows where. 
 
“I’m waiting,” Chrysalis said. Her horn glowed; the invisible barrier that prevented Luster from leaving inched forwards.
 
Luster's flank flew over her head as the wall forced her closer to Chrysalis. On her back, she tried to wedge her legs to the ground but knew that would only cause her to crush her hooves.
 
A look to the side, she saw Mom. She didn’t look all that worried. Perhaps in denial that Chrysalis would betray her, or maybe because she never let fear control her. She always bounced back up, made do with what she had, and never accepted her place, even if it led her to the pits of Tartarus or a bleak eternity as stone.
 
Luster had to do something. She knew she could. A spell. What spell? What could I possibly cast? This is Equestria’s biggest baddie. There must be something I’ve seen before. Something that could get us out of this mess. 
 
The hero’s instinct was a powerful magic. In times of desperation, when all seemed to be lost, when one was stripped of all they owned, would a faint glow of hope present itself in the deep, turbulent oceans of dread. When fate seemed to be set in stone, and concern for one’s self—brutality, egotism, and greed—were nullified by loss, could the mind break to leak one’s purest beliefs and desires. Despite its name, it didn’t exclusively infect heroes.
 
Life was nothing but a snack for Chrysalis. She saw herself above the Alicorns, and lived her self-granted right to feast on the love of whatever creatures she happened to stumble upon. She only ever needed herself.
 
Yet, when her eternal confinement was interrupted, and she felt her solid insides crumble into lifeblood, hidden by an intact layer of rock over her skin—she could’ve immediately left. Cozy’s corpse captured the full attention of the Filly Princess. If she had turned into a critter, chipped away a hole, and left Cozy to deal with her own species, they might’ve never noticed she was ever gone. 
 
Cozy is reliant on surprise, she thought in those moments. Now she’s the face of the most villainous pony. What use would she have?
 
But Chrysalis rescued her, never regretting her decision to do so.
 
Until now apparently. 
 
Now Luster sat here, her temple against Cozy’s fluffy chest, soothed by the motions of her breath—a reminder that they were still alive.
 
I’m a unicorn! There are books of spells I can cast! I just need one. What have I seen before? What could get us out of this…
 
A spell only cast by mages and toddlers, not those in between. Performed by Cozy, Hope, and Chrysalis—a leg’s length away. 
 
Luster’s horn lit up the room. It was so bright, her amber aura shifted to white, and Chrysalis flew back as her mind was flooded with memories of the last time she saw such a light; hot, it turned the room into an oven, and the drones that gathered to witness the ordeal fled, ditching their armor plates if they had any; Cozy, it was a lot for her to handle. She covered her eyes with her wings and hooves, but Luster knew she could take it; Mom was the strongest mare she knew. Luster wrapped her hooves around her mother, squeezing her tight for comfort, focus—and for the spell to work.
 
At the apex of its radiance—they disappeared.
 
A black scorch mark was left where the two once sat, and the flames she once controlled vanished.
 
Chrysalis turned to the nearest guard. “Do you think she’ll be upset about this?”





“Did you hear something?” asked a drone with a chef’s hat as Cozy pulled, with mitten-clad hooves, a tray of cookies out of the oven.
 
“Nope!”
 
“Are you sure? It sounded like a pretty loud scream. Sorta like a you scream.” 
 
Cozy closed the oven with a flick of her hind leg. “Well, if it’s a me scream, then it can’t possibly be me, now can it?” Placing the tray onto the countertop, she siphoned the cookies into a paper bag with her nerveless hooves.
 
She cast a glance at her two diligent co-bakers. With only three cookies yet to be packed, she folded the tip of her left wing into her mouth to whistle. Attention properly grabbed, she tossed two cookies into the air. Both drones caught one each and, hovering in the air, looked at Cozy for confirmation. A wink. That meant they were good to go.
 
That cookie contained Cozy’s love, a type known as ‘respect,’ more specifically an exclusive delicacy known as ‘Cozy’s respect.’ It was odd; anycreature that knew Cozy’s history would assume her personality to be empty, yet just one of these cookies could feed a drone for days.
 
Brewed by her vigor and the volume of her personality, a ‘soft’ quality was mixed into their bites. Respect melted in their mouths alongside chocolate chips. You couldn’t sell these; you had to be the intended recipient. That made it all the more satiating.
 
One of the drones swallowed. “Thanks, Cozy! But, what do you want to do with the chocolate—”
 
The co-bakers turned to find Cozy licking her chocolate-covered hooves. They all looked at each other with blank expressions, until Cozy slid the bowl over. It did seem a bit unhygienic to use uncovered hooves, and they could’ve sucked the respect out of the bowl without the risk of contamination. But Cozy’s respect was one of the highest honors, and she offered them a taste of the mix. How could they say no?
 
The drones stuck their hooves into the bowl and held them high to catch in their mouths the chocolate that leaked below.
 
Cozy joined the two bugs, and for five minutes they engaged in disposing of the leftover mix until a shadow blocked Cozy’s view; she turned her head back.
 
Hope looked down at her, a disgusted and concerned look on her face, mimicked by her two overseers. Similarly, Cozy’s drones mirrored the baker’s actions: utterance of an incomprehensible excuse before gulping. They wiped chocolate off their faces and Cozy walked up.
 
“Hope, I promise it’s not what it… well.”
 
Hope stepped back from the pegasus painting her thighs with chocolate.
 
“Oh, come on. You’re an overly obsessive germaphobe! That’s who you are...”
 
“I saw chocolate leak from your chin onto the bowl, then you shared it with those two... Did you even clean your hooves?”
 
“Well excuse me for not being able to move things with my mind!” Cozy hmphed, and shifted: “By the way, can you hurry back home and carry this with you?” She flew to the countertop and tilted her spine backwards to carry a white box that was larger than it was heavy, with a bag atop, plopping it onto the hooves of the two butler drones. 
 
“So, is that my permission to leave?” Hope asked.
 
“Yep. Permission granted!” Cozy straightened her foreleg down like a rail gate. 
 
“Okay,” Hope said.
 
“Wait.” Cozy flew up to her. The chocolate on her coat was now sufficiently suffused that it wouldn’t rub off, though it shifted her colors a tint. She handed her a cookie, one of those big, soft, and chunky ones that Hope adored, freshly baked from the oven. “Sorry about Chrysalis. We can talk about it later tonight.” 
 
Hope grabbed the cookie in her aura and smiled. “Did you make this before or after you ducked your face into the bowl?”
 
“A million percent after! Right guys?” Cozy turned to the baker drones, who nodded with the expressions of angels.
 
Hope took a bite and followed the drones outwards. 
 
“Wait, one more thing!” Cozy shouted, and Hope turned. “Can I borrow a few bits?”





Well, since I’ve settled all that stuff out, all I need now is—
 
Cozy was halted by a flash of light, and out of that light popped out—
 
—“Lustie! How’d you find me? Wait, don’t tell me you can smell my love too? Golly, I really need to order some—Oof!”
 
Luster jumped up to hug Cozy around her neck. 
 
A bit pointy with her horn, but Cozy returned the kind act and caressed the back of her head. “Who’s your friend by the way?”
 
Luster didn’t really want to break from her warmth, but glanced an eye back and realized: “Who are you?”
 
The other Cozy was blackened by scorch marks. It was one thing to teleport; it was another to teleport whilst carrying a passenger.
 
“Spatial awareness is very important for a successful passenger jump,” Cozy explained to Luster. “And you!” She pointed to what was obviously a drone. “I’m in a good mood, so turn back now and hope Chrysalis didn’t see you, and we’ll all pretend like nothing happened.”
 
“But Chrysalis was the one who must’ve made her do it!” Luster said. “She teleported off and came back with her and said she was you! I thought she was about to kill you…”
 
Cozy used her gentle wings to prop Luster’s head closer to her own, her forehead touching the filly’s temple. “Oh Lustie, dear, Chrysalis would never do that to me. I’m basically like a daughter to her! Has she been acting mean?”
 
Luster's depressed head rubbed up and down against Cozy’s cheek.
 
“Right. I’ll make sure she doesn’t do that again. All I wanted was for you to apologize, not be tricked into thinking I was about to die. I'm sorry and I promise to make it up to you.” Cozy pecked her daughter’s cheek. “Now I couldn’t help but notice that the teleport I’ve just seen didn’t have a green color… I wonder who could’ve cast it?”
 
“I did...” Luster shyly admitted.
 
“Phff! A filly your age casting a teleportation spell?! You’d have to be some sort of Starswirl to do that!” Cozy whispered: “Seriously though, he’s a bit underwhelming in real life.”
 
“Am I interrupting something?” asked Chrysalis, who appeared from the corner of the tunnel.
 
Cozy placed Luster on her back. “Now Chryssie, somecreature told me that you’ve been acting a bit mean to my daughter. I want you to apologize to her.” She crossed her forelegs. 
 
Chrysalis stood still. “You’re kidding, right?”
 
They engaged in a showdown of stares.
 
Cozy sighed. “Alright, fine! I’ll wait until we’ve all calmed down. But I expect a proper apology when we come back for Hearth’s Warming.”
 
“Hearth’s Warming!” both Chrysalis and Luster repeated in unison, with opposite emotions.
 
Chrysalis added: “Oh, I can’t wait! I appreciate your visit, Cozy.” They both shook hooves. “If you are serious about being a mother, then there are worse choices than this filly.” 
 
“Gee, thanks.” Luster rolled her eyes.
 
“Raising a child can be an incredibly gratifying and fulfilling process!” Chrysalis declared and whispered into the other’s ear: “Until they get brainwashed by Twilight and her friends. Then they’ll betray you, denounce you, strip you of your dignity, leaving you with nothing, only so they can come back and smirk once you’ve been defeated. Then, only once you’ve been rendered harmless, will they turn your body into a paralyzed, mute, blind statue, for all to laugh and gawk at. Guards will spit on you, and you know first-hoof they won’t see your tears. Or maybe they’ll think you’ve caused too much trouble, and shatter you like the Storm King or Princess Amore. Say, didn’t you tell me Sombra had no clue whether Amore was still conscious?”
 
Chrysalis looked the newfound mother in the eyes. “Have fun parenting, Cozy Glow.”