//------------------------------//
// Second Canto: Love 
// Story: Devotion's End 
// by Undome Tinwe 
//------------------------------//



VII.



Thus the pair continued so
The months turned slowly into years
As time went on, so both did grow
And Flurry preached to all who'd hear

"Faith shall set you truly free
A cause to die for gives us life
So find what makes you come to see
The joy that outlasts any strife"

Soon enough she'd then become
The apple of the people's eye
The lost would seek from her a home
And council she would then apply

"What do you love most of all?"
She'd ask the ones who did not know
And then she'd help them to recall
What lit the fires in their souls

Reputation spreads afar
As all across the world they came
And youngest princess turns to star
While giving purpose all the same

At her side does Cozy stand
Advising alicorn when asked 
So her renown spreads through the land
As one who overcame her past

But in private she does rail
Against the one she rose beside
"Is it your wish that your plans fail?
These ponies that you choose to guide

"Loyal servants would they be
But you instead have them take flight
A solider lost with each one freed
By finding cause beyond your sight"

"None should bind themselves to me
All worshippers I shall but spurn,"
With calm does Flurry repartee
"For I wish not their faith to earn

"Freedom is the cause I choose
From tyranny of alicorns
To use the faith I have let loose
Myself would I have naught but scorn"

"Foolishness shall be your fall"
Says this and more by Cozy Glow
But secretly is she enthralled
For Flurry's will respect bestows



VIII.



Time does pass, until the day
Atop a hill two ponies sit
A game of chess they both do play
Diversion as they chat and chit

Often do they both engage
In games of skill, and games of chance
Today, however, seething rage
Does cloud this intellectual dance

"Queen takes rook," a gambit made
As Flurry fights to keep her calm
But slip of tongue she can't evade
As acrid query shows her qualms

"Would you kindly please explain
Your tantrum earlier this week
Our diplomatic ties are strained
With Maretonia peace we seek"

"This I know." So Cozy shrugs
"But more than peace the duke would see
With kiss upon your hoof he wrongs
Your royal hospitality"

"'Tis your move," reminds her foe
"And I had plans to make him pay
For know we both he fancied more
But it was not your place to say"

"I am your advisor first"
A piece she moves in enmity
"My rook takes queen, my heart did thirst
To safeguard royal dignity"

"Know you well I always have
And you had more than pride to sate
Or else you would not fail to stave
Distraction off and miss this mate"

Cozy swears; her king is trapped
And Flurry sees too well her heart
But not so well to know she kept
A secret that she'll now impart

"Fie on you, who art so fair!
If truth you seek, then choke on mine
For I have fallen past repair
And now my heart is wholly thine"

Silence stretches 'cross the board
As Flurry reckons with the lie
They both have guarded in their hoards
A single word she speaks now, "Why?"

"Why, she asks, the perfect mare
Who saved me from eternal sleep
With wit and will I can compare
And beauty that makes angels weep

"Long have I admir'd your cause
Though fool I still believe you be
But admiration grew to house
A love for you that you now see"



IX.



Sweeping board and bounds aside
The princess steps towards the mare
"A secret I as well did hide
And in return I shall now share

"But before I doom us both
A warning I will give you once
To love me is to swear an oath
That you will be what sorrow hunts

"Destiny I chose myself
Will not be swayed by love alone
My cause I'll see until my death
Regardless what my heart hath known

"Knowing this, I shall now say
That longer still I loved you back
As even 'fore that fateful day
When cage of yours I went to crack

"Study you I did at length
And chose you for my rightful heir
Because of courage and the strength
Displayed when you faced down those mares"

Passion blazed between the gap
That separated two from doom
With one swift step did Cozy trap
Herself into a life of gloom

"Even now, your beauty shines
The strength of will to hide your love
Is proof of quality divine
That I have sought from stars above

"With this kiss I seal my fate
An end for one, a start for two
Your warnings have come far too late
A princess now becomes my due"

Lips meet lips, and tongue now dance
As sacred union has been forged
The spark ignites a fiery trance
And lust the pair does plainly gorge

Once they part, regret slides in
But quickly is it purged again
And so a chapter new begins
As Cozy, Flurry, are now twain

"What shall we to tell the world?"
Asks Cozy after doomèd kiss
"And what of our goals deferred
Or current friendship that exists?"

"Nothing changes," is reply
"The alicorns will fall as claimed
And you shall be the queen on high
To usher in an age untamed

"But if you would have it so
Until the reckoning is nigh
I would not want us to lay low
When all the world could see us fly"

"Let it be so, as you've said"
Agrees the other mare with glee
"Another kiss will tie the thread
That binds our hearts for all to see"



X.



Kisses shared, and vows remade
As era new dawns on this day
A courtship broadcast unafraid
As hoof in hoof without delay

Princess and her trusted steed
Atop the world, on balcony
Announce that they have both agreed
To serve the people honestly

By this time the princesses
Have learned to trust the pegasus
So she their blessings does possess
For now until she breaks their trust

Tangled legs in summer heat
Sweet nothings whispered in the night
Caresses shared beneath the sheets
Suffused in everlasting light

Afterwards, in afterglow
When face-to-face on pillows deep
Conspire still as they both sow
The seeds of ruin they shall reap

"Power grows within my soul"
Does Flurry promise with a kiss
"Forbidden strength to see our goal
Moves closer to us with each miss"

"Knowledge of the earthly things
I've mastered well, like laws of state"
In winged embrace does Cozy speak
"And matters royal small and great

"When the time should come at last
And find you well the magic dark
So that the final spell be cast
To end them all, and make our mark

"Worthy I shall be to rule"
To this does Flurry sigh in bliss
"Though future may be far too cruel
On this we'll fondly reminisce"

Day by day, does Cozy change
Conquer all, they say love does
And so does she fall furthermore
In love with she who gave her cause



XI.



Then it happens, as was feared
One night as they lay intertwined
And Cozy stares at one revered
By more than just the common mind

"Finally I understand
Devotion's call, the lure of Faith
For I have found a cause so grand
That I would walk another's path"

Flurry stills, her breath cut short
Within her eyes a storm does churn
Disaster now she might have court
With care does she response return

"Glad I am you understand
The fire that my soul does tend
To see a pony take a stand
The pleasures earthly do transcend"

"Truly does it feel like such
The void you spoke of in my heart
Denied I did, yet it hurt much
And now this flame I can't revert

"Ev'ry morn and ev'ry night
From dusk 'til dawn, in sick or health
My soul is filled with sweet delight
By goddess true that is yourself"

"Goddess, no! Do not believe
That dreadful moniker of me!"
Denounces princess fervently
"For know you well what I've decreed"

"I know well that what you speak
Is not the absolutest truth
For all my life I knew I'd seek
A greater strength that I in youth

"Wrongly thought I'd take myself
But through these years, I've watched you shine
Much brighter than I could in life
So Goddess are you, lover mine

"Thus I pledge myself to you
When time does come for us to rise
And all the tyrants we eschew
Instead of I, you'll take the prize

"Consort only I shall be"
A peaceful sigh, a mare content
With lover's kiss, to bend the knee
To she who taught her Faith's intent



XII.



But her joy does not impart
On Flurry Heart, who turns away
Across the bed, yet miles apart
With desperation does she say

"You must rule once blizzard ends
When deed is done, and storms disperse
Upon the throne must you defend
The freedoms that they have reversed

"Alicorn cannot divest
From us immortal tyranny
Should I become what I resist
You'll all do well to turn and flee"

"Rule alone, I shall refuse
And should you love me as you say
Then let me worship as I choose
And all your fears I shall allay"

Silence then does fill the night
As wills of steel clash in impasse
The air grows dense, on edge of fight
Then Royal voice, as soft as glass

"Never you have you played me fair
Command that you deny your love
I could, and yet, I am aware
That would destroy my soul thereof"

"Know you best, my guiding light
Because of this I tell you true
That I shall be the acolyte
To you, and you shall not rebuke"

Smugness wafts now from the mare
Who knows her better than herself
At last she has in time ensnared
An alicorn, yet not with death

But instead with strings of red
That binds more tight than any chain
For though the path that Cozy treads
Is not unique, forsooth, in vain

Others tried to serve as well
But Flurry saw their love was weak
For they did not perceive what dwelled
Within her mind, and heart so bleak

Only Cozy understood
Why Flurry did not want a church
And only Cozy knew she would
Be most deserving of that charge

"I see too well, the flame is lit"
A sigh from Flurry as she turns
"Within your soul, you cannot quit
But I can choose command to spurn"

Smirking, Cozy strokes the cheek
Of one she'd serve, and one she'd kiss
"Obedience I do not seek
My faith does not extend to this

"But instead I always will
Devote myself to serve your needs
Above my own, for greater still
Are you than I, in word and deed" 

With a sigh, and sorrowed smile
Does Flurry take her lover's lips
A kiss is shared, and all the while
A princess does rewrite her scripts

"Only you would find a way
To disobedience define
As loyalty to cause you pray
For now I can't but make you mine"

Argument dissolves in bliss
As pleasure overwhelms them both
Forget for now, enjoy the kiss
For one day they shall test this troth



XIII.



Once again, the seasons pass
On cusp of victory they stand
But first does Cozy have one task
She must complete before the grand

Finale comes at last to claim
The throne where they will both reside
And when the spark ignites the flame
So future come, the past elide

But before that reckoning
A final trip into the past
As Cozy leads in trespassing
And takes her love where die was cast

Perfect was the day as planned
A day of rest, where both enjoyed
Together roaming ‘cross the land 
In carefree travels was the ploy 

After taking in the sights 
And then enjoying modest meal
Of bread and wine, did Cozy lead
Her love towards the doors concealed

Gasped in outrage Flurry did
When recognition lit her brain
“Accursèd place that I do bid
You leave behind this fount of pain”

“Leave in body, long ago
Did I, and yet, my soul had dwelled
In part within these walls of woe
Comes now the time my pain is quelled"

Stolen key slips into lock
And icy chill creeps up two spines
The first to enter, slowly walks
Into the prison so confined



XIV.



Once again within the cage
Does Cozy beckon paramour
To join her up atop the stage
Where did begin a love so pure

"Anger trapped me in this stone
A cause to kill for kept me sane
But now I do not live alone
For you have shown me your domain"

Bending knee, her faith renewed
"My goddess true, I come to you
In worship and in servitude
To ask eternity that's due"

Hidden box, beneath her wing
Now opens up, to one in shock
To see a perfect diamond ring
Held close in hoof, that jeweled rock

Glistening beneath the sun
Portending naught but misery
And Flurry, helpless, can not spurn
The future queen’s cursed inquiry

“Marry you, I can't refuse
Your heart I did not mean to win
But company of yours suffused
These years of toil with joyous grins"

Love's embrace in Death's cold shade
As fates are sealed with just a kiss
The celebration unafraid
Lasts 'til the morn, and end of bliss