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// Chapter 27: Ruby Rook 
// Story: Glowing in Everglow 
// by Darkmoon9 
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Diary of Chrysalis

I have seen a lot of strange things during my long life, one of them being the phenomena of glowing cutie marks. I had only encountered this event a couple of times in over a thousand years, but it usually came about when two ponies who had a connection met for the first time. It surprised me greatly when the first meeting of Flurry Heart and Cozy Glow triggered this phenomenon. Curious, but also worried about what this could mean, I decided to ask Twilight Sparkle, she had a quite peculiar reaction to witnessing these events, she clearly knew something I didn’t. This was why I decided to knock on the door of Twilight’s quarters at the castle, of course still in my disguise as Crackle Cosette. Hoping she could shed some light over what this meant for both Flurry Heart and Cozy Glow. I wouldn’t admit it at this time, but those two ponies I regarded almost like my daughters. 

After a few knocks, Twilight opened the door and I quickly got to the point, explaining why I was there. Twilight invited me in, while she got a book from one of the shelves. Both of us taking a seat by the only table in the room. As I expected of Twilight Sparkle, her room was little different from what you would expect from a student, only a simple bed, a desk and a single table with a couple of chairs for when she had friends over. Most of the room being dominated by multiple bookshelves, books Twilight probably borrowed from the castle library. The titles ranging from ancient grimoires of magic to social studies and seemingly random fairytales. But I could notice a pattern, as quite a few books had titles pertaining to interdimensional travel, maybe Twilight was trying to find a way back to Equestria? But if she had had any success so far, she had not mentioned it. I decided to ask her about this and what she told me confirmed my suspicions.

“Oh, those books. Yes, I originally came from another realm, together with Cozy Glow and Sunset Shimmer. But you already knew that didn’t you? Crackle Cosette. Yes, I remember seeing you back in Equestria. I also know that three individuals accompanied Flurry Heart to this world, I have already met Tirek, who told me that Chrysalis is somewhere in Vil. You can drop the act, Queen Chrysalis, I know it is you.”

Twilight’s observational abilities at first took me off guard, I tried to deny it, but I eventually caved to pressure and revealed my true form. 

“If you knew my true identity, how come you have not had me apprehended?” I told her harshly.

Twilight laughed before replying:

“If I didn’t witness what I did since I came to this world, I probably would. After all, you were perhaps the most dangerous villain in Equestria, your only competition being your co-conspirators, Tirek and Cozy. When I first came to this world, I didn’t think either of you three could ever change. But Sunset saw potential in Cozy and given who Cozy is now I must admit she was right, if this was the Cozy I knew back in Equestria, she would be a great asset to the crown, as she has proven to be here. Everypony knowns the valiant ´deeds of Knight Commander Cozy Glow. As for Tirek, last I saw him he was baking cookies for my niece,, something I didn’t think I would see in a million years, so surely there is some good in him as well. As for you, former Queen of the changelings, Tirek told me you fought at the side of my brother and Princess Cadence against Midnight and that during this conflict you earned the trust of Cadence to such a point that she left her daughter in your care. There was one detail back when we turned you to stone that was a bit odd. The Rainbow of Light usually either turns those It deems beyond redemption to stone, or eliminates them altogether, like in the case of King Sombra. Yet, you three were just robbed of the extra power granted to you by the Bell of Grogar. Sunset has argued that if you were meant to be turned to stone, the Elements of Harmony would have done that on their own. In retrospect, I think we did you a great disservice. The Spirit of Harmony recognized your potential, but we were too stubborn to see it. “

I couldn’t believe I would ever hear such nonsense, even from the mouth of someone like Twilight. If she continued to display such weakness, there was no hope she could ever defeat Midnight, no, she needed to get stronger, more ruthless, otherwise Midnight would dispose of her with ease.  

“You had it right the first time, turning us to stone was a show of strength, providing a warning example of what would happen to those who would defy your rule. If your people know that defying you has little consequence, more of them will turn against you. You need to be firm; you need to be strong.” I told her with disdain in my voice. 

Twilight just shook her head. 

“If I were to do what you suggest, how different from Midnight would I really be? No, we will find a way to gain the strength we need without sinking to her level. After all, if Sunset didn’t act, I would have quite a few less allies. But of course, I regret leaving Equestria in the first place, Midnight saw an opportunity to exploit my absence. But that means she wasn’t confident enough to launch an invasion of Equestria while I was still its monarch, she fears me and the power of friendship. That’s why I know we can and will defeat her. I know you reject the very concept of friendship, but I hope you will still stand by my side against a common enemy, while I had once forgotten, friendship is about compromise, both giving and taking, and I think we both get something out of this partnership, for we have something we didn’t have before, common ground. For I believe you hate Midnight just as much as I do. But this wasn’t why you came here was it? Let’s address the phenomena of Cozy’s and Flurry’s cutie marks.”

I knew she was in the right, not about friendship and redemption, all of that was nonsense. But however much I despised Twilight’s weakness. I hated Midnight more. Twilight proceeded to tell me all she knew about the glowing cutie marks and its many possibilities. One thing in particular among the explanations she listed caught my attention. Apparently, such phenomena could occur when long lost siblings met for the first time. Which awakened a long-forgotten memory within me. 

A long time ago when Princess Cadence was still a teenager, she was impregnated, by who, it wasn’t known. But even at the time the stunning stallion who was the brother of a filly she used to foalsit for was a prime candidate, the stallion she would later marry. Shining Armor, the Captain of the Royal Guard. The two had apparently been sleeping together during this period, or at least some say. Given Cadence’s reputation as the Princess of Love, she wasn’t opposed to fooling around with stallions who caught her fancy, even as a married couple, her and Shining had a reputation for being swingers. As this was before her relationship with Shining got serious, the father could be almost anyone in a long list of candidates. But whoever the father was, Shining decided to take the responsibility to help Cadence raise this kid, a child that they named Ruby Rook. I knew that the child of the Princess of Love would prove to be a strong source of nourishment for my people. So, I launched a plan to kidnap the young princess, replacing her with one of our own so soak up the love from her parents in her stead, like us changelings had a habit of doing. 

Things didn’t go as planned and the kidnapping attempt was discovered, I remember losing the young Princess Ruby Rook in a river not far from Canterlot. The Princess was never found, I had heard that Cadence and Shining grieved for months. I was also quite irritated to lose such promising prey. But I had a vague memory that the baby had a salmon coat and artic blue mane. Was it possible that Cozy Glow was none other than Princess Ruby Rook? I considered whenever I should tell Twilight about my suspicions, and after a moment’s hesitation I decided to tell her. After all, it would be entertaining to see her face after she realized that Cozy Glow, the pony that had been turned to stone while she stood on the sidelines and did nothing, was in fact her niece. Her reaction didn’t disappoint, as her jaw hit the floor. Having gotten the information I came for, I soon left Twilight to her devices, letting her digest the information. I needed to seek out Flurry Heart, she would be happy knowing she had a sister.  

Diary of Twilight Sparkle

I couldn’t believe it; how could I have been so blind? Both Cadence and Shining Armor were reluctant to talk about the lost princess. I didn’t find out until after their wedding, as I hadn’t seen Cadence for years before that point. Not since some type of event stopped her from foalsitting me. I realized now that maybe the reason she stopped is that my brother knocked her up.  Ruby Rook, at the time was believed to have been stolen by changelings, never to be seen again. Could Chrysalis’s claim be true? Was it true that she had lost the Princess and that the foal was found by someone and raised without knowing their true heritage? Was it true that Ruby Rook was Cozy Glow of all people? Wouldn’t Cadence recognize her own child if she saw her? Then again, I don’t think Cadence ever met Cozy during her coups, and she would have little reason to visit the garden where we kept her statue. She wouldn’t be recognizable to her anyway as a statue with all the color drained away. 

There were two primary details that seem to support this theory. Cozy’s cutie mark and her name. There were records of other ponies with chess related cutie marks, but most of them were from the Crystal Empire. Suggesting having one of these marks was a sign their family descended from the Crystal Empire. It wasn’t uncommon for common themes among cutie marks to be passed down genetically from generation to generation, an example being the Apple family or the Pie family, who’s marks generally seemed to follow a theme, even if Pinkie was an exception to the rule, like she was with many things. The problem being that before the return of the Crystal Empire, the only family that had Crystal Empire blood were the direct descendants of Princess Amore, who had fled the kingdom before it disappeared. The very same line Princess Cadence was a part of. The line had interbred with Pegasi and therefore the vast majority of the ponies of this line were Pegasi, this was also true of Cadence before she was elevated to Alicorn status. Cozy also happened to be a Pegasus, who also happened to have a cutie mark that most frequently occurred within a very specific family. Not to mention that I had witnessed Cozy display some of the powers of a crystal pony not too long ago when we were in the temple of chaos.

The other detail was that the names seemed to match; I always thought it was odd that the name Cozy Glow seemingly had nothing to do with that pony’s mark of destiny. Cozy was obviously a chess prodigy, so it would make sense her name would hint to her ultimate destiny. For that reason, I have long suspected that Cozy was either a fake name or a name she had taken as her own, not one she was given at birth. For when each pony was born, it was customary to use divination to determine the name, which would include a hint of that pony’s ultimate destiny. This was true of most ponies, as most had a name that somehow reflected the cutie mark they would eventually end up with. This was why ponies like Diamond Tiara had a name that so closely corresponded with their mark, as well as ponies like Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and Applejack. Granted, in the case of Applejack, her family had always had an apple-related cutie mark for generations, so it wasn’t exactly hard to predict. I couldn’t believe I didn’t realize until now what a perfect fit the name Ruby Rook was to Cozy’s cutie mark. It had to be her, and if it was, Cozy Glow was potentially my niece. I needed to confirm with my brother if he was the father to know for sure, if he was still alive that is. 

I felt sick to my core thinking that I was once willing to leave my own flesh and blood as a statue for all eternity without a second thought. Cozy might have done many awful things, but there was so much I didn’t know about her. Even if she was the lost princess, I realized I knew next to nothing about her past or why she was the way she was. But it did seem like she had a connection to Chrysalis from the very beginning, I wonder if she had a hoof in raising her, though she claimed to have lost her. That is, if Chrysalis could be trusted to tell the truth. Maybe she was just messing with my head. But the idea Cozy was Princess Ruby Rook made too much sense to just ignore. But given the speculative nature of all of this, I decided it was best to not tell Cozy about my suspicions just yet. But it might be time for me to ask Cozy herself about what she remembered from her past.