//------------------------------//
// The Interrogation 
// Story: Dawn Adopted 
// by Idyll 
//------------------------------//

Discord’s snap brought himself, Flurry, and the two interviewees to a restaurant filled with very important ponies. Directors of companies, CEOs, and wealthy clients sat nearby, a few of whom Cozy recognized; Flurry recognized no one. 
 
Cozy also noticed Suri through the windows. She eyed the menus and discussed with some other pony whether to eat here until she noticed her, Luster, Flurry, and Discord. “Actually, we should try somewhere else,” Suri’s lips read.
 
They all sat on cushioned wooden seats in a room lit by chandeliers and candles. Cozy sat opposite to Discord; Flurry, opposite Luster. The Lord of Chaos had a dark suit topped by a purple, polka-dotted tie with swirling green patterns resembling that of hydro dipping. 
 
Cozy realized she too was dressed. She had on a similar suit to Discord’s, but instead of a chaotic collage, her tie was her own head bow. Thankfully, her disguise hadn’t dropped. Her mane flowed backwards under a layer of gel, and her body smelt of cologne. 
 
Luster had on a school uniform: a white collared shirt with a chest pocket, a dark dress, light socks with Twilight’s cutie mark medially embroidered, and a weighted school bag. It looked as if she went straight from school to visit her mother and friends for lunch.
 
Flurry’s appearance hadn’t changed.
 
“Sorry for the casual choice of restaurant,” Discord said. “Dorsia was fully booked.”
 
He hollered for a waiter. 

In her mouth, a formally dressed mare laid a dish on the table and lifted the dome to reveal a notepad and pen. 
 
“Thank you.” Discord tucked a dollar between the waiter’s ears and mane, and slid the note-taking apparatus to the Princess. Flurry groaned, but she grabbed and clicked the pen with her aura. 
 
“So,” Discord said to Cozy, “I don’t believe you told us your full name? Care to speak up on that?”
 
“Butter Skies,” Cozy said. “I considered you and me friends after we had breakfast together in Somnambula. Thanks for the ice cream by the way. Lustie’s never had anything like it!”
 
Discord’s eyes glanced at Luster. “I can tell. And what’s your name?”
 
“Don’t you already know the answer to that?” Luster asked. “Don’t you have like, documents or something?”
 
“Of your records, no,” Discord said. “Somepony stole your particulars as well as a list of clients associated with that sweatshop back in Kludgetown.” 
 
He called for waiters again; two different ponies showed up and moved a chalkboard, covered by a blanket, to behind Luster's chair, in front of Flurry. Discord pulled a projector from the floor and plopped it on the table. “I do have a memory record of this.”
 
The projection showed Luster and Butter Skies with a sunhat eating at the restaurant at Somnambula: 
 
Luster: “Who’s that Alicorn?”
 
Cozy: “Don’t talk with your mouth full, it’s rude! Flurry’s mother, Cadance—she blesses families and stuff. Nothing important.”
 
Cozy stared directly at the screen to avoid Flurry’s glare. She could hear the Princess take notes of her comment. Golly, please…
 
Cozy: “Y’know I was really expecting Flurry to be here.”
 
Luster: “Why?”
 
Cozy: “Because she’s obsessed!”
 
Flurry stopped writing. 
 
Cozy took a deep breath and turned to Flurry. The Princess’ perfect posture and apathetic demeanor made Cozy feel meek. 
 
“Now, Princess, I meant nothing negative by the comment,” Cozy said. “You’ve suffered a lot and though you’re the most justified in your pursuit of that monster, we all worry about your mental well-being.”
 
Flurry kept silent for a moment; she spoke. “Do you have the slightest idea what she’s put me through?”
 
“I… happen to know a bit,” Cozy answered.
 
“She spent months cozying up to me, abusing my truth after everything I’ve offered her, all so she could poison and toss me into a cell for Sombra. You know that, right?”
 
“...I—you’re right. I hadn’t grasped the severity of your torment until you—”
 
“Sombra gave her a random percentage of his enslaved population and she brainwashed them into her own loyalists. Stallions, mares, foals—they’re all still causing me problems.”
 
“Those poor things—”
 
“She read my most personal diaries and stole all the ideas I’ve waited so long to implement. She stole them all and passed them off as her own!”
 
“And I—”
 
“All to upset me!” Every object in the room jumped as a shock wave of emotional energy escaped Flurry’s horn. “She tricked me into believing that my parents were dead all because of my refusal to give in to her commands,” Flurry said, her voice starting to break a bit.
 
“...I lit a candle for you that Nightmare Night,” Cozy said.
 
Luster assembled enough courage to speak up. “But that’s not the whole conversation.” She pressed a button on the projector:
 
Discord: “I have to agree! She is rather obsessed, isn’t she?”
 
Cadance: “A little… This place better be good.”
 
“See,” Luster said. “It wasn’t just Mom who said those things.”
 
They all looked at Discord, who shrugged. “What?” he said, pulling out a hand puppet of Flurry on his paw. “If greeting everycreature that walks into the room with, ‘any news on Cozy Glow?’ doesn’t spell ‘obsessed’, then I don’t know what does. BS over here has a point.” 

I really regret this name, Cozy thought.
 
Discord turned to Luster and said, “Flurry can hardly focus on her day without a report of that mare’s whereabouts every thirty minutes. Why else would Cadance not want her to come.”
 
Body leaning away, Luster nodded slowly. Her eyes were kept on her mother, whose forehooves were pressed together on the table. To any other pony, she’d seem calm and attentive, but Luster could sense Cozy struggling to keep it all together.
 
Flurry inhaled deeply. “Whatever. Can you just move on to the next question?”
 
“Yes, of course,” Discord said. “Ms. Butter Skies, if that is your real name, your house is pretty large for a family of only two, isn’t it?”
 
“I suppose,” Cozy said. “But a small family size only means fewer mouths to feed and more bits to burn.”
 
Discord jotted down a note. “Yes. What exactly is it that you do?”
 
“I come up with ideas for Flim Flam Co.,” Cozy answered. “You’ll find it all in my records. I assume you have those.”
 
“No,” Discord said.
 
“Oh… I can call them up now to send you a—”
 
“Just kidding, I do.” Discord unzipped a hole through the fabrics of reality and pulled out a file to flip through. “B, B, B, Ah! Here you are! ‘Creative designer’?”
 
“I’m a pretty good artist,” Cozy said. “Drawings and sculpting, mostly.”
 
“Ostensibly so…” Discord asked, “Why were you in the desert two days ago?”
 
Cozy paused for three seconds before responding. “The company wanted to make sure that all of our products were ethically produced, so I pulled a surprised check on our partners.” She looked at Luster. “When I discovered that they were using foal labor I was appalled! I managed to rescue this one, but how I do pray that those other ones are safe…”
 
Flurry seemed unmoved by her concern. “So you went to Kludgetown?”
 
Cozy responded, “Yeah, I know. I don’t exactly look like the type of creature that would wander into a lawless world of thieves and bandits, but the company needed a representative from higher up, and at the time I was by myself, soooo I volunteered.”
 
Discord asked, “And you wouldn’t happen to have encountered Cozy, would you?” 
 
“About that, I—”
 
“Wait,” Flurry interrupted. “I want to hear it from her.” She pointed at the filly. 
 
Luster gulped. “M-my memory is really bad. Sorry.”
 
“Oh come on,” Flurry said. “There’s no way you forgot you could’ve forgotten these past few days. You know, setting fire to the place, encountering Cozy Glow? We found your poster in her bin.”
 
Cozy sucked her lips and mentally kicked herself.
 
“Uhhmmm,” Luster murmured. “I—she might’ve foalnapped me and”—Discord looked up from his notepad—“she was totally awful! She grabbed me from the streets and fed me all sorts of disgusting poisons in her home! I escaped but she found me again and tried to drown me as a punishment, calling me all sorts of names like dirty and stinky and… that’s all I know.”
 
Flurry nodded. “No creature is too innocent to be her victim. What about afterwards? Surely you remembered how you met Butters.”
 
“Don’t call her… well, Cozy told me,” —and Luster said the next part in the whiniest, most insulting voice Cozy had ever heard— “‘Gee, I’m gonna take you to Chrysalis’ Hive to be used as cattle, Golly,’ and then she—”
 
“Wait,” Flurry said as she held out her hoof, “Chrysalis’ Hive?”
 
Luster could feel her mother’s eyes burn a hole through the side of her head, so the filly added, “Uhm, well, she never showed me or explained who this ‘Chrysalis’ even is…” 
 
“So if you don’t know who Chrysalis is, it couldn’t have been a mishearing,” Discord said.
 
“Well, I…” Luster stuttered. “I really hate all these questions.” She sniffled.
 
Flurry tapped the side of Luster’s back and hovered over a piece of tissue from the box at the center of the table. The Princess waited a moment. “You wouldn’t happen to remember which direction Cozy was heading, would you?”
 
Luster shook her head.
 
“Ah, okay,” Flurry said. “But sure you—”
 
“My apologies, Your Majesty,” Cozy said, “but your presence alone is already pretty nerve-racking for a filly. Her days have already been stressful enough without all these important questions, and I don’t want her to regret saying the wrong things to a Princess. She’d probably be up thinking about a fumble like that for years...”
 
The Princess looked at Luster, fidgeting, sweating, looking at the ceiling above Discord. Flurry sighed. “It’s not that nerve-racking.”
 
“Honestly, it is,” Discord said. “Though I don’t know why nopony seems to revere Discord.”
 
“Sorry,” Flurry apologized to Luster. “It’s just that there’s been no verified sighting of Chrysalis for years! If we can deal with her, Cozy will definitely come out of the woodwork.”
 
Perturbed by the Princess’ suggestion, Cozy spoke up. “Pardon my ignorance, but why would Cozy Glow care about what happens to Chrysalis? How do you know she wouldn’t celebrate her defeat? Wasn’t the fact those three hated each other part of the irony of their petrifications? But I’m no expert.”
 
“It couldn’t hurt,” Flurry replied. “But I know she cares about that so-called ‘queen’. Under her rule, she treated me like a punching bag, but Mom? Cozy wouldn’t lay a feather on her! Cadance was reserved for some other creature’s amusement… I think you see what I’m getting at. Maybe she had a trick in mind, but as far as I know, she looks out for her fellow criminals.”
 
Cozy would’ve admired how far Flurry’s acuity had progressed since they first met, had the mare’s anger not been bubbled by the Princess’ disrespect. 
 
Flurry finished the final bite of her cake. “This was delicious,” she said. “You really should tell a Princess the name of your baker.”
 
“I’ll have to ask them first,” Cozy replied.
 
“Fair enough.” Flurry wiped her muzzle. “Can we move on with the questions, Discord?”
 
“Certainly!” Discord said. 
 
He tapped his hoof twice against the ground, and the room went dark. A craw from behind pulled the head of Luster’s chair downwards, reclining and shifting it into a seat for dental operations. A surgical spotlight blinded Luster as Discord, and only Discord, reappeared in a blue gown and face mask. 
 
“Say, ‘AAAA’ for me,” Discord said. 
 
Luster was confused but complied. “AAAA—”
 
Discord stuck a lollipop into her mouth and used it to look around her molar teeth. “Oh dear. Have you heard of a purrifico flower?”
 
Luster, unable to move her teeth, tongue, or lips, managed to say, “No.”
 
“I was merely asking because you really should talk to a dentist about those.”
 
He grabbed onto his gown by his chest and pulled it off to reveal a detective’s suit, body completely monochromatic, donning a mustache, holding a pipe. 
 
As she grabbed onto the stick of her lollipop, Luster noticed that her seat had been turned back into a wooden one and that her forelegs were now resting on a table. 
 
Discord paced around the room and spoke. “There’s actually a patch of those flowers nearby.” Another spotlight shone on a seat to the side, revealing Cozy. Back facing the mare, Discord added, “They’re a protected species. Plucking. Strictly. Prohibited.”
 
“I had 'dental appointment' on my urgent to-do list,” Cozy said. 
 
Discord turned around and revealed Fluttershy between his top appendages. 
 
“And this over here is—oh!” Fluttershy said. In between her hooves stood a cage. Inside sat a mouse. 
 
Discord plopped Fluttershy onto the table and explained, “My dear Fluttershy here happened to be in the area when a mouse of an equally endangered species ran towards her group. It’s uncommon for them to wander so close to a snake’s den.”
 
Discord teleported to Cozy’s side. “The mouse claimed that a rook-bearing mare saved it from an owl. What was that saying? No good deed goes unpunished?”
 
Cozy remained silent.
 
“You wouldn’t happen to have noticed anything suspicious around your area of the woods?” Discord asked.
 
“Not that I can remember,” Cozy replied. “My mind has been too busy watching my daughter.” She looked at Luster. “Okay, maybe I haven’t been watching twenty-four-seven.”
 
Discord took down a note. “I admit, our cameras were tricked. Perhaps prioritizing action was a rare mistake on my part. Luckily for us, this mouse had seen Cozy Glow and claimed that she ventured into the light of the public. Even a pony who failed as many times as she wouldn’t have done so without the proper precaution. For example, a disguise.”
 
Cozy looked at the mouse. “Who knows…” 
 
There wasn’t much comfort to be found in the villain’s predicament. Out of a disdain for Twilight’s pet’s species, Cozy had rescued a mouse and used it as bait for the cameras to pluck that flower for Luster’s teeth. Now it stood as a witness to her bow’s transformation to Butter Skies, and if that comes out… She looked at her surroundings. Flurry was no doubt nearby, but hidden. Conscious of how intimidating she was to the filly perhaps? Discord was here too. Teleportation was out of the question… but what other options were there? Maybe Lustie had a point with the satchel, but are we even in the living room? …This is going to be awkward. 
 
Cozy thought about a few of her experiences as Flurry’s personal royal guard and vomited onto the floor.
 
Discord took a step back and snapped a bin into existence. “Maybe I am intimidating, Fluttershy.” He noticed Cozy hadn’t ‘stopped’ so he turned to Luster and pointed to a side of the darkness. “Your restroom’s over there.”
 
Luster got off her seat and walked her mother towards where Discord pointed. After walking a few meters, the room’s opacity went up and two appeared in their hallway, and Luster saw their bathroom’s room under the stairs. After her daughter closed the door, Cozy activated all the locks and looked around. She swallowed and rinsed her mouth of acid under the tap.
 
Luster patted her mother’s back between her wings.
 
“Thanks, dear,” Cozy said. “You okay?”
 
“Am I okay? You just puked all over the room!”
 
“It wasn’t all over the room...” Cozy was weary of either of those two’s ears on the door. “At least I got us a quick break.”
 
“…I’m a bit scared,” Luster admitted.
 
Cozy hugged her; Luster was slightly detached. She was already warm from the anxiety of two powerful creatures wanting to take away her mother. 
 
“Yeah. I’m a bit scared too,” Cozy said. 
 
Luster's face showed her doubts, so Cozy continued, “I am! Anypony would be petrified talking to the God of Chaos and Princess Flurry Heart, especially when they’re accusing you of being Equestria’s most wanted criminal. Mommy has years of experience keeping herself presentable under any situation.” She paused. “I love you, dear.”
 
“What’s up with that rat?” Luster asked. “Is it serious?”
 
“...It’s nothing,” Cozy lied. “But if anything bad does happen,”—she whispered into Luster’s ear—“try to pass me my satchel.”
 
“Didn’t you call that idea bad?” Luster whispered back.
 
“I didn’t expect it to go this badly. Your idea wasn’t lousy after all, I was wrong.” She turned towards the door. “Come on. Let’s get this over with.”