//------------------------------// // Chapter 10: Cozy Glow and Sweetie Belle's Really Neat Adventure, part 1 // Story: Empress Cozy Glow part 2: The Reckoning // by Betty_Starlight //------------------------------// Sweetie Belle widens her green eyes as she stares at me from the other side of the table and frowns, “So, why am I here again?” I smile at her from the other side of the purple dinette set, “You volunteered, remember?” “No!” I frown too, “Well, you did! Trust me!” “I don’t trust you!” I turn my face to a serious expression and say, “Well, I’m Empress of Friendship and I order you to stay for this dinner!” before wondering why I said that? She stares at me blankly, “O-okay Empress Cozy Glow!” I sigh, “Okay, Sweetie Belle! You don’t have to stay if y-you don’t want to… I uh, I shouldn’t do that to you and I shouldn’t force you… “and then look down… She stares at me carefully and I don’t know what my face looks like? “You want me to stay, don’t you?” Maybe it looks nervous? I look up at her and sigh, “Yeah, I kinda do, really… I don’t like the idea of being alone with mom and” I gag.” romance! I mean, it’s just so golly gross!” She smiles and giggles, “Well, they say we’ll all like it when we get older?” I look at her, “Well, that’s then and this is now! And now, romance is nasty!” Her eyes widen, “Well, we can both be grossed out together then!” I glare at her carefully… “Because you’re my friend?” She keeps her grin and nods, “Yup! And we should have ice cream when we’re done!” I frown again, “You just want me to use my position to get us ice cream, huh?” Her mouth flattens, “Well, yeah! Rarity never has any at the boutique unless she’s depressed and even then, she’ll just be eating it all out of the carton! I never get ice cream!” I stare at her carefully before finally replying, “Then you shall have all the ice cream you want!” Her face lights up with a smile! “Thanks Cozy!” “Right!” I nod, “And I totally won’t skin you alive or stab your eyes out or hang you or anything like that!” Her eyes widen again, “WHAT?” I shake my head, “Uh, n-nothing! What time is it?” I see her tilt her body slightly to the right and she says, “Uh, it’s five twenty-four!” “Oh, golly! We got six minutes!” I suddenly hear a raspy voice from behind the door to Sweetie’s rear, “Uh, Twilight? You around here?” I widen my eyes, “Or Dash is already here and I need to deal with her now! You go get mom!” “You mean Twilight?” I lower my gaze and furrow my brow, “Who else would I mean?” Her eyes enlarge again, “Oh! Right!” <******> The blue pegasus stands in the middle of the stone throne room amidst the pillars with a frown on her muzzle, “Uh, where’s Twilight? You said dinner was at five-thirty, right?” before turning her head back right towards me and I witness the many chromatic colors of her vibrant mane flowing to the side as her magenta eyes lock onto me… I smile at her as I trot her direction as I know it’s now time to go to work! “Of course, Dash! You’re right on time!” “I am? Where’s Twilight?” She says to me before glancing around the stone throne room… You know, that mane goes places! “She’s in her room! Sweetie Belle is getting her as we speak!” I say before I stop trotting, 10 feet from Dash. When suddenly, Dash opens her mouth and her muzzle and body suddenly stop moving before she can get a word out! Dash is frozen in place, like a statue, with her mouth agape like she is about to say something, when suddenly, I hear a familiar feminine voice, “Cozy, I know you mean well! But this is way too fast and I’d be more comfortable if we took a step back here!” I say, “Tell the Crusaders that! I don’t even wanna be here!” “Then why did you not decide to leave and have a pizza party with your friends instead?” I glance to the right side, “Because well, it just seemed like you needed me?” I turn my eyes to the floor in a gloomy way, “I didn’t want to leave my mother alone if I felt like she needed me!” The purple alicorn trots up to my left side and looks down at me lovingly with her violet eyes as I turn my head and look up to her with a sad frown on my muzzle, and says, “Cozy, I know you mean well, but love just has to take it’s course!” “Well, what does Dash think about all this?” I say before blinking. She frowns, “How would I know?” “You know, you just froze her right there.” I motion my head towards the frozen pegasus, “Why don’t we ask her?” Twilight giggles and smirks, “Oh! Right!” before turning her head back forward to Dash and forcing her horn to glow blue, and suddenly, Dash’s body begins to move again as she breathes… She stares at Twilight with large magenta eyes and says in an exasperated, albeit grating tone, “Was that really necessary?” Twilight frowns, “Well, I needed some way to speak to Cozy Glow!” Dash frowns, “I’d never get in the way of that!” Twilight sighs and looks down, “I-I know… It’s just that well, “she looks up at Dash, “I uh, I don’t know how you feel about me… “ Dash widens her eyes and speaks in an even more flustered tone, “You could always just ask?” Twilight’s eyes widen, “Oh, wow! I uh… “she blinks, and a frown soon forms on her muzzle... “You know, I uh, never really thought about it? Um, how do you feel about me Rainbow Dash?” Dash finally smiles warmly, “The truth is Twilight, I’ve kinda always liked you… I mean, sure your a nerdy egghead, but that’s probably what’s so cute about you!” she giggles. “Remember when Rarity got you and I had to clean you up?” “Oh gosh!” Twilight turns her head right quickly and blushes! I stare up at her and I think that’s the first time I’ve ever seen her cheeks red! I quickly turn to Dash, widen my eyes and whisper, “Now! Do it now!” Her eyes widen at the purple alicorn, “OHMYGOSH! OHMYGOSH! OHMYGOSH!” I close my eyes at this disgusting scene, “I’ll uh, I’ll be back later! Right!” and force my horn to glow as I teleport out!” <*****> “What’s happening? Where’s Twilight and Rainbow Dash?” Sweetie asks me from her usual side of the table… Wait, when did she get a usual side of the table? I widen my eyes, “They uh, needed to be alone!” She smiles brightly! “For romance?” I cringe at this horrifying thought, “Uh, yeah! That!” and stick my tongue out to the side. She smiles, “That’s okay, Cozy! You’re Empress of Friendship, right? Just order us some food from the kitchen!” before her grin suddenly turns to a frown, “But uh, why are the walls behind you bleeding chocolate?” I widen my eyes at her, “How would I know?” before turning to see that the walls behind me are in fact, bleeding brown and white chocolates out of the stone orifices between the bricks! I then see a familiar serpentine form materialize in front of me with green energy as he stares down at me with his yellow and red misshapen eyes and sneers his snaggle tooth mouth, “I would think a dark and white chocolate fountain walls would be cause for celebration, hmm?” I gaze at the strange creature starkly, “We literally just noticed them! Who are you again?” He rolls his eyes, “Discord! And why didn’t your mother enlighten you as to who I am?” I stare forward blankly, “Another question I can’t answer!” and adjust my gaze back up to him, “Well Discord, we’re busy here! Go away and take your chocolate walls with you!” He glowers harder, “I don’t think I can do that, Cozy Glow… “ I frown, “But we don’t need you here! They’re having a romantic get together and me and Sweetie are emotional support… “ He raises an eyebrow, “Emotional support?” I smile and nod, “Yup! We’re all here for my mother! And you need to go away now!” “Oh, for goodness sake!” The creature exclaims before wiping down his face with his lion paw. He points it at me, “Look! We’re all just led to believe that you’ve truly changed for the better, even though you have a legacy of torture, death, tyranny, and even deception behind you! And now, you’ve been lovingly adopted by Twilight Sparkle! Do you really expect me to believe that an evil manipulative filly like you isn’t planning something devious, hmm? How do I know you’re truly safe?” I normalize my face, “You know, I didn’t have to release anypony back there! I could’ve easily stayed Empress of Friendship and continued ruling Equestria!” I say before widening my eyes and pointing my right wing at him, “And furthermore Discord, if you care so much about Equestria, then why didn’t you intervene earlier when I was terrorizing it? Why show up just now, after you’ve helped me restore the normal order of things? It makes no sense!” He smiles and I see his tooth go back up as he says sardonically, “Oh, make sense? What fun is there in making sense?” before clicking his eagle talon in the air and forcing us all to disappear! <*****> Me and Sweetie are now standing on a cliff face and facing an enormous raging waterfall, maybe 40 feet away from us… I notice Sweetie to my left in my periphery and I also see the brown serpent floating off to the left and I also can’t help but notice two ponies being held upside down by rope that’s also tied around their legs and wings, so they can’t escape! The pony on the left is blue and has many colors in her mane and tail while the other one is purple and has a blue mane with two different colored streaks going vertically through it… I turn to Discord, “What is the meaning of this?” He grins and places his eagle talon and lion paws together, “Welcome to our little game Cozy Glow! This is your trial by fire! Or maybe I should say, trial by water?” I frown, “Okay, stop!” His misshapen yellow eyes widen as his upper appendages loosen their bond with each other, “What?” I smile at him, “You need to test me, so you feel necessary or needed, right?” He frowns and I see his snaggle-tooth go another direction, “And what if I do?” I chuckle and nod, “Oh, golly! It’s so obvious! I restore Equestria and everything is just fine! So of course, you have to come in and ruin it, huh?” He furrows his differently shaped brows, “I’m the Lord of Chaos!” I blink, “The unwanted and unnecessary Lord of Chaos!” He points his talon at me, “Enough Cozy!” “Besides, I know that whatever happens, you can’t hurt my mom or Dash! This is all just meant to look scary!” The serpent furrows his brow and fixes his eyes on me carefully, “Choose your next words carefully filly…” I beam up at the brown creature, “Discord, what if I told you there’s a way to do that without involving my mother or Dash?” Sweetie stares at me and whispers, “What are you doing Cozy?” I turn to face the white unicorn, “Relax Sweets! I got this!” She frowns, “Sweets?” I turn my gaze back to the brown serpent as he says tentatively, “I’m listening?” (To be continued… )