//------------------------------// // Chapter 6: Twilight Sparkle // Story: Empress Cozy Glow // by Betty_Starlight //------------------------------// I buried my face in her soft warm chest fluff as she held me in her hooves… It kinda tickles my nose a bit and I giggled slightly before saying what was on my mind, “I’m an idiot!” Twilight giggles softly, “You’re not an idiot! Now just relax empress!” “I am relaxed! You relax!” She tightens her hold on me and for the millionth time today, I begin to wonder if I truly deserve this love and why she’s giving it to me? “I’m more relaxed than you!” “Are you okay, empress?” “Why are you doing this?” “What do you mean? You attacked me earlier because you were having a breakdown and now, I should take care of you…” I continue snuggling her chest and hold my tongue, before finally saying, “You’re not mad?” “No. Why would I be mad?” I raise my voice, “I attacked you!” “Because you’re scared, empress!” “I’m not scared! You’re scared!” She chuckles, “You’re scared to be cared for because you’ve been hurt!” “How would you know that?” She holds me tightly and begins to very gently rock me, “Look at the signs! The need for power and control. Anti-social behavior. Inability to forgive. These are all signs of previous emotional trauma… I’m silent as she’s holding me… “Have you been studying this?” She calmly responds, “Kinda, yeah…” “Why would you be studying this?” “Because I wanted to know why you acted the way you did, Empress Cozy… I wanted to understand you so I could serve you better…” “Why do I have trouble believing that?” “Because you don’t trust me…” “Well, I know that!” I snap with my face still in her chest floof… “Tell me again why you insisted that we hug before you answer me?” “Because I need you to understand that despite everything and despite the pony you seem to think you are, I actually do love and care about you…” I’m silent again before finally speaking… “You’re an idiot, Twilight! Complete moron!” She giggles, “Well, you agreed to this!” I bury my face even further, “Yeah, because we’re both idiots!” She holds me more tightly, “Shh! My empress! It’s okay, I assure you!” “The Empress of Equestria is insane!” I say while continuing to cuddle my assistant, “And she’s an idiot!” before burying my face again... The violet alicorn chuckles while continuing to hold me and suddenly begins rocking me back and forth… You know, for the first second or so, I was gonna protest, but now, this feels really nice… I really like this… Better not tell her that! “Enjoying yourself empress?” “No!” I snap back! “Why would you think that?” “Well, the way your muscles relaxed and the soft purring were pretty clear indications…” “I did no such thing!” I bark back while continuing to rest in Twilight’s hooves… “So you wish to stop then?” She inquires… “Um, n-not yet!” I say back to her… She’s silent for a moment before softly replying, “As you wish, My Liege…” * I cuddle my face to her floof some more… This moron… “How do you feel?” Again with that! “I’m fine!” I snap back… “Shh!” She soothes me while resting her head on top of mine and continuing to hold onto me with her forehooves… “It’s okay Empress Cozy Glow…” “Bunny brained, stupid, jerk-faced, moron!” I begin grumbling underneath her chest floof… “Shh!” She soothes me again while continuing to rock me back and forth… <*****> She lowers her neck to give me the white cup, now steaming with blond liquid inside before I grasp it with my right forehoof from her snout and bring it to my face as I set on my haunches there on my throne… She raises her neck right as I take that first cautious sip of coffee and frowns, “You never asked for coffee before?” I lower the cup from my face and swallow to stare back at her, “You never did answer my question, Twilight?” She smiles down at me, “Oh, didn’t I, Empress Cozy Glow? Think about what you asked me and what we did as a result of that…” I stare up at her as these facts begin to coalesce in my mind before grimacing at her, “You’re an idiot, Twilight!” She chuckles under her breath a bit, “I love you too, Empress Cozy Glow!” And I stared at the grinning alicorn for a moment as it suddenly began to dawn on me what she was doing… I squint at her, “I hate you!” Her eyes widen as her mouth begins to normalize, “But Your Majesty! I’ve shown you nothing but kindness and compassion!” “I know! And it sucks!” Before taking another slow easy sip of my hot coffee… It sure is yummy though! You know, I really like this French vanilla stuff, although I’m still not sure where it comes from? Her eyes normalize and view lowers, “So, tell me now, Your Majesty… Why does it suck?” I eye this other pony carefully and squint in frustration, “Oh, you know why?” She giggles, “Could it be because you don’t believe you deserve kindness?” My eye widen, “What? Why wouldn’t I deserve kindness?” She sighs, “Well, you obviously didn’t get it earlier, and now you’re wondering about a lot of things, aren’t you?” I furrow my brow, “You don’t know what I’m thinking!” Her snout lowers, “No, not precisely, but I can make judgments and assumptions based on what I’ve observed.” I frown in irritation, “And just what have you observed, Twilight?” She smiles again and nods, “I’ve observed an adorable, kindhearted, sweet filly trying to be evil…” I then stared at the smiling alicorn… I thought long and hard about the words she was saying to me… Kindhearted? Sweet? M-me? Before frowning, “Go back to your room Twilight!” She lowers her view and normalizes her face, “You need more time to ponder this, don’t you?” I scowl as hard as I can at her, “I need to think about a lot of things right now!” “Would you like a…” I don’t let her finish, “Yes please!” and nod… She then takes three paces towards me and hugs me in her forehooves… “What’s wrong with you?” I ask her before burying my face in her soft, wonderful chest floof again... “I’m giving you exactly what you didn’t get earlier, Cozy Glow… I’m showing you love and kindness…” “Idiot!” I mutter under my breath… “Shh!” She soothes me as she begins the rocking again… <*****> After Twilight left for her room, I spent the majority of the morning reading… I did call a servant and had him bring me a yummy spinach and mustard sandwich for lunch, although I hadn’t said a word to Twilight after that… I wrote in my diary: Well, she seems to be giving me genuine affection now and I’m still not sure why this irritates me so much? I mean, shouldn’t I want love and kindness from other ponies? Why is it different with her? Well, she’s Twilight Sparkle, my former nemesis and the pony who tried to keep me from my rightful position? That must be it! It really is annoying though, because I’d like to imprison her or put her in the stocks or something, but I just can’t find it within me to do that when she’s so kind! I know I need to face her again today, but not right now… Not yet… I spit the pen out on the desk and raise my head to stare at the wall and I thought about what she said to me… Kind-hearted? Nice? Just who the hay does she think she is, speaking to me like that? At the same time though… I blink when I thought about that farmer earlier with the sister who needed a liver transplant… Then I thought about the ponies near Ghastly Gorge and how I’ve been making sure they had water… Then, I thought about Fillydelphia and hoped we could find a resolution with the union there... What’s happening to me? I wrote in my diary again with my mouth: I just keep thinking about what she said to me… And then I think about how I’ve been running Equestria… I actually seem to care about everypony now? At first, I was a ruthless tyrant, but over time, I seem to have gotten softer? I keep asking myself if this is what I really want, but I can’t seem to act any other way? It makes me think of that amethyst thingy again! I mean, could I fight it? Should I fight it? I just don’t know and I don’t know who I am anymore! I spit the pen out and raised my head again to stare at that same wall… You know, I really should put a picture there… I furrow my brow when I think about what I’m going to say to her next… She seems to care about me now? Would it really be right to punish her? Wait! Since when to I care about what’s right? Oh, golly! I widen my eyes when I think that I don’t want to think anymore… I take a long deep breath in through my nose and out through my mouth, same as always whenever I got tense and then stared at the wall behind my purple desk… A smile creeps up on my snout as I think now is a great time to do one of my favorite activities! I scooted my chair back from the desk, got on all fours, and took off, before flying behind the chair towards my enormous bed with it’s MANY stuffed friends there, all waiting for me to cuddle! I smile happily as I crashed into the pile of plushies there, and I grab a red stuffed dog and a yellow giraffe and hold them to my chest as I lay there happily in the fetal position among my sprawled pals… So nice not to think anymore! I can just cuddle my stuffed friends now! <*****> I open my eyes to find myself somewhere deep in the woods late at night… I raise my gaze to the heavens and see all the pretty stars there, twinkling down on me… I smile when I see them because the night always brings me peace and serenity… Just staring up at the sky like that, I kinda forgot all the questions on my mind for a moment or two… I’ll admit that I truly felt at peace just standing there in the forest there… I breathed the cool night air in and out through my nose while staring at the stars, planets, and constellations… You know, I’m not sure which forest this is? It might be the Everfree, actually? But I don’t know for sure… And then, my dream became a nightmare when I lower my gaze back to the ground to see a dark purple alicorn there with an ethereal blue mane, flowing to the right and a sparkle in her olive colored eyes! I widen my eyes at the smiling winged horn-pony 15 feet in front of me, “YOU! How did you escape?” Princess Luna chuckles slightly, “Didst thou really think thou could imprison thy Princess of the Night for any real length of time?” I frown when I suddenly think that I’m probably gonna hate this… Her gaze and smile lower, “So, I understand thou had some concerns regarding Twilight Sparkle and your relationship with her?” And that’s when I knew, I’m definitely going to hate this! (To be continued…)