Chapter 22- Saved by the Bell
This… This wasn't fair! Victory was in her hooves! She had every ace, every circumstance aligned in her favor! She had practically won! Just one more second and she would have won!
HOW COULD RUMBLE DO THIS TO HER!? HOW COULD HE TAKE EVERYTHING AWAY LIKE THAT!?
"You don't have to…" she tried. "I've never blamed you. It's her fault." She pointed at Twilight.
"But I blame me," Rumble said. He smiled a little. "It's cool, Cozy. Really. This is for me too. I don't wanna live with having hurt you and then not tried to make it better. It just wouldn't be fair."
Why was he so kind to her? She did not want that kindness! She just wanted him out of the way! He could repay her by still being her friend when she was a princess instead. That would have made Cozy happy. Not this. This just made her confused and scared. She felt her victory slip through her hooves!
She was not going to talk him out of it. She would have to hit him too.
She…
She had to take Twilight's magic. She needed it! She had done too much and come too far to end up with nothing! Not because of some colt!
Cozy had always prided herself on her coldheartedness. She was willing to go to any length, do anything for power. Removing the magic from Equestria would have caused a social upheaval, as would her conquest of Canterlot. But she had not shied away. She had gone through with both of them. Greatness, at any cost.
So why was this so hard? Why did she even hesitate! He was just one naïve colt! One stupid colt was all that stood between her and reclaiming her glorious status an alicorn! SO WHY WAS THIS SO HARD? If it had been just Twilight she would already have her horn and glorious wings back!
Greatness, at any cost. Or, so she thought. But in truth she didn't want to see it happen. Not with him. Twilight was fine. Cozy would love to see her look turn to surprise and then horror as she realized what was happening. Twilight deserved it. But she didn't want to see it on Rumble's face too! He was the only pony who had supported her against Twilight. He might just be the only pony in Equestria who had put any blame on Twilight at all. He had even gone so far as to help Cozy escape Twilight's grasp. He had defied the words of an immortal, all for Cozy's sake.
Nopony had ever done something like that for her.
Why was he doing this? Didn't all they had been through mean something to him too?
"Cozy?" Twilight's voice reached her from someplace far away. She startled and returned to present time. She, Sweetie Belle, Rumble and Twilight stood alone in their forcefield, but the shield was not necessary anymore. The entire room was silent. They were watching, waiting.
"Are… you okay?" Sweetie Belle asked. She looked concerned. "Can I help you somehow?"
"No…" Cozy said, to Sweetie Belle and in a simple denial of her hopeless situation.
She didn't want to make this choice. She couldn't make this choice! She didn't want to hurt him too! She had never struck down a pony she liked before! She didn't want to see this.
Everypony else she ever hurt… they were nothing to her. Nameless, faceless ponies in a memory long since forgotten. But she knew him. She had laughed with him!
Why did he do this?
Her hooves were shaking. She didn't want this. She lifted the bell and aimed it.
Then she looked deep inside her heart for the catalyst she needed. Scorn, anger, hate, malice… feelings befitting the maker of the bell. To wield its power, she needed to harness the darkest parts of her persona. She needed to take them into her soul, let them fill her and become part of her. Then and only then the bell would answer and grant her what she wished for. It had been so easy the last time, when she just had to think of all that Twilight and her friends had done to her. How much they had taken from her. Finding the darkness in her had been so easy.
It still was, but her feelings for Twilight were so small, so woefully tiny next to the swirling maelstrom of other, confusing feelings that assaulted her mind now. She wanted Twilight's power. She wanted it so much! But Rumble was her friend! Friends were power too! If there was one thing Twilight and Cozy could agree on, it was the power of friendship.
The conflicting ideas and alien emotions pressed against the inside of her skull. She had to choose! She could not delay forever! She screamed as the great uncertainty boiled over. She could not contain it anymore. She didn't know! She just could not make this choice!
The bell rang with a bright, clear sound as its hunger was finally unleashed to devour the magic of those who stood before it. The black and yellow mist appeared and swirled in front of her. Cozy could not see past it, but she could feel the magic filling up the bell. A ripple passed over the shield Twilight maintained.
Then, as sudden as it came, the vortex died down.
It disappeared after just a few moments. Cozy lowered the bell on to the ground with an empty expression. Her cheeks felt damp, but weather from relief or disappointment she could not say.
She could not make the choice. So the bell had made it for her. It had judged and measured the evil in her heart, and the result sat before her, clear as day.
Twilight's shield still remained. She still had her magic. Cozy's wish to not hurt Rumble, her friend, had been stronger than her desire to get back at Twilight. No matter what she thought, what she said and what she did, deep inside her heart, that was the truth. The bell had passed its judgement, and nopony could argue the bias of that judgement. It was just an artifact. It drew power from the darkness in her heart.
This was all the power that darkness could muster.
"Did… did it work?" Sweetie Belle asked. Cozy felt a hoof shake her a little.
Cozy nodded. Without thinking, she turned the bell upside down and released the magic, let it wash over her.
It was… bleak. Just a small trickle next to the tidal wave of power she had felt the last time she did this. She had failed. She was not an alicorn. She was just a small pegasus filly.
"Cozy! Look! Your hoof!" Sweetie Belle squeaked happily.
Before her eyes, the red mist around her hoof began to disappear.
"It must be the alicorn magic…" Twilight said. "Our magic gifts us with great resilience. I guess it can also heal magical injuries."
Twilight removed the shield. Cozy sat with the bell in her lap and shrank down a little. Now she had undeniable proof that she was not the same pony who once had tried to lock Twilight away. But then, who was she, really? She felt lost. The goal she had strived for was gone. What did she do now? Who even was she now?
All she had desired had been at the tip of her hoof. Everything. But she had not had the conviction to take it. And now… it was too late. Twilight's magic enveloped the bell and it slipped from Cozy's grasp, back into its box to be returned to Mount Everhoof.
Only then did Rumble leave Twilight's side. Cozy looked at him, and he looked back. She could not quite read his expression.
Twilight began talking again, addressing the entire room. "You all saw what just happened. Cozy Glow had the opportunity to strike me down if she wanted. She did not, and therefore I am now certain of her integrity and honesty. Cozy, I want you to become my personal student. I think the friendships you have made are as strong as the ones I have with my friends. I want to help you preserve and develop those friendships, if you would let me."
Cozy looked up at the pony she wanted to hate. The lilac eyes found hers. "What you just did proves you value your friends more than you too thought. But there is much you do not yet know about friendship. I can help you, Cozy. I can make you a happier pony than you were before, together with your friends. I promise."
"Say yes!" Sweetie Belle squeaked, all smiles.
She glanced at Rumble. Something… fluttered, deep inside her chest. It was an unfamiliar feeling, similar to the calm, safe understanding she felt around Sweetie Belle, but different somehow. It was a bit like friendship, but it had another dimension to it. "I'll cook for you every day if you say yes," he said.
She sighed, but it was not because she was sad. She still felt lost, but her friends were still there. They knew a way forward. She just had to trust them to guide her right. And she did trust them.
"Golly… yes."
Step one of her plan had gone more or less perfectly. Twilight had not expected Rumble to jump in like that, but in hindsight Twilight realized it was a fantastic stroke of luck that he did. It had always been a gamble to let Cozy use the bell, but she realized only after the fact exactly how dangerous it was. Cozy absolutely had planned to betray her. Her face when Rumble went to stand next to her had shown that all too clearly. It was only because of his quick thinking that it had worked at all.
But it would have to be enough. When all was said and done, Cozy had made her choice. She had not stolen Twilight's magic. She had accepted to become her student. Even if she did not do it for Twilight, she had done it nonetheless. For the moment, Twilight would be content with that. Now she had the real work ahead of her: working together with Rumble and Sweetie Belle to actually reform Cozy Glow. What had happened today was not some miraculous transformation where Cozy in a moment of clarity saw her way forward like Starlight had done.
No, this was just Cozy agreeing to give them a chance. There would still be hard work ahead of them all before Cozy Glow had left her past behind.
Her first task was to get Cozy to not hate her. Or, if she couldn't, at least earn her respect. And there were a few things she knew Cozy respected.
Twilight respectfully knocked on the door to Cozy's room in the castle. Even though she was free to go where she wanted now, Cozy had returned here with a dazed, lost expression on her face. Twilight guessed she was just as surprised as everypony else that she had not stolen Twilight's magic.
"Come in," Cozy said with a sigh. Twilight opened and found Cozy splayed out flat on the bed, every leg in a different direction and her wings straight out from her sides.
"You owe me a game of chess, you know," Twilight said mildly.
Cozy looked up uncertainly at her. "I do?"
"Yep." Twilight said. "Don't you remember the morning when Rumble and Sweetie Belle came to collect you for your outing? In what I assume was a moment of weakness you promised me a game later that day. But I'm happy to play now instead."
"I… guess I did," Cozy said, flattening her ears against her head.
"Great," Twilight smiled. "Come. I have a little surprise for you first. A gift for my new student."
Cozy hopped from her bed and went through the door and to the common room. Twilight grinned behind her back. She had prepared something Cozy was sure to love.
They stepped into the common room. A chessboard was already in place, and a pony sat behind the black pieces.
He was cream-white and had a cropped black mane and wore a black suit. He sat with his side towards them, so his cutie mark clearly visible. A Knight's piece above four squares, two black and two white.
The reaction was immediate. Cozy stopped and stared, then clasped both her front hooves over her mouth to almost suppress a fangirl-esque squee. Twilight smirked. If there was one thing she could do to gain some favor with Cozy, then it was to let her play against the best of the best. That meant Checkered Square, the reigning Chess Grandmaster.
"I wanted you to have a game to remember, Cozy," she said. "And I think this would suffice. We can play later, if you want, but for now…"
"Oh golly…" Cozy almost reverently sat down across from Checkered Square. He studied her with a cool, collected look. There was something with Cozy's posture that Twilight had never seen before. An open, honest admiration for the pony in front of her. "Are… you really going to play against me?" she asked. The wonder in her voice was that of a filly at the Hearth's Warming Eve of her dreams.
"Princess Twilight asked that I did," he said. His voice was silent and calm. "While normally I only play against opponents who have proven their skill, I will make an exception for you. I think facing a pony like you would be something to remember." He made an inviting gesture with his hoof. "So please, make your move."
"Don't hold back!" Cozy blurted. "I want to see you at your best."
"I never hold back. Not playing at your very best is a disrespect to your opponent," Checkered said.
Twilight's saw Cozy's hoof shake a little when she made her first move. Checkered barely needed time to think and instantly moved one of his pawns. Twilight guessed he must have some favorite way to start. She didn't really know what to do for the game, so she decided to sit down between the two of them and just watch. Cozy did not seem to mind her presence right now.
The game proceeded rapidly, and even if Cozy was careful, it was completely one-sided. Even the turns when Checkered did not capture any piece were instrumental in just how he moved his battle-line forward to restrict Cozy's options. It was far from the immediate dominance Twilight had expected, but more a subtle, constricting way of play. It was like he was choking her out. Not only were his own moves impactful on their own, but he also forced Cozy to make poor moves on her part just to keep one part of her board from crumbling. It did not take too long before Cozy simply did not have enough pieces left to stop his advance.
"I see a mate in three," Checkered stated cooly after a while.
"Oh yeah!? We'll just see about that," Cozy said. She sounded irritated, but not enraged.
But true to his word, the game was over three turns after. "Check mate," he said.
Cozy looked around her board before concluding the same. She leaned back and exhaled like she had just been running. "Do… you think I was any good?" Cozy asked. She looked almost bashful. Twilight looked on with rapt attention. This was a side of Cozy she had never expected to see.
"I have met plenty worse players… and plenty better too. But few of the latter were as young as you."
"Oh golly…!" Cozy snickered under the praise. "Wait!"
Cozy abruptly rushed out of the room. Twilight heard her hooves out in the corridor. She was back seconds later, carrying a small piece of cloth in her mouth. Twilight saw it was one of the castle linen napkins. "Would you sign this for me?"
"Sure," Checkered said and picked up a fountain pen from his pocket. He quickly wrote out his signature on the napkin and passed it back to Cozy. She folded it and put it inside her mane.
"I will admit, I thought the Princess was joking when she asked me to play chess against you," Checkered said. "But she wasn't. And while it was not a difficult match, I will say it was one of the most fascinating matches I have ever played. Few opponents have a history like you."
"I'll never forget playing against you," Cozy said, real reverence in her voice.
"You may not be… well, anywhere near the skill level I usually play against, and the game itself was nothing special to me, but I am glad I came here. It was… enjoyable." He stood up. "Continue practicing. Perhaps we will meet again, someday."
Cozy nodded. "I'll… be better than you, one day!"
Checkered smiled cooly. "We will see." Then he left the room. Cozy stared after him all the while. Twilight subtly rearranged the pieces on the board.
"Well, now that you've had a warmup round…" she said, causing Cozy to startle and look away from the empty doorway where Checkered had left. "Will you play with me?"
Cozy looked surprised, but then she hopped back up on her chair. "If I'm gonna be better than him, I need to train… so I might as well start by crushing you!" Cozy moved a pawn.
Twilight smiled. It had not been a clear, straight path, but she would get through to Cozy yet, one careful move after another.
Cozy won two of the three games they ended up playing, but it was a near thing. Twilight was a keen, clever player and Cozy had plenty of times where she had to think both twice and thrice to be sure she understood what Twilight planned.
Twilight thanked her for the games, collected the pieces and took the board with her out. In the doorway, she looked back. "Time for something to eat. I will be in my study if you want to talk after. If not… well, you can go do whatever you want now. But be sure you are back tomorrow morning. I think we should have your first ever private friendship lesson tomorrow after breakfast."
Cozy nodded, submitting to the humiliating fate. But she could not be all sad about it either. She was free, after all. Besides, just because she lost this chance to steal Twilight's magic it didn't mean there would never be another. And who knew… if she worked hard, maybe she would not even have to steal it.
Rumble came through the door, balancing a silver tray with a round lid on both his wings. "As I promised! I'll cook for you every day when you are her student! So even if you don't like spending time with her, you can always have something to look forward to."
"Thanks," Cozy said.
He went inside properly and sat both the trays down at the table. "I can stay, right? I wanted to tell you something."
Cozy nodded. "Go ahead," she lifted away the round lid of her tray.
Asparagus with hazel nuts and those tomato sandwiches she could not remember the name of. It was the same food he had made when he wanted to make amends after their meeting in Cloudsdale.
"I just wanted you to know that I still wanna be your friend," Rumble said carefully. He had a much less extravagant dish on his own plate. "If you'd have me."
Cozy startled a little. How had she forgotten that he was the sole reason she was still a pegasus, rather than an alicorn? Why wasn't she angry? Normally she was quick to anger, so why did she feel… that fluttering feeling from before? What was it, anyway? "I… gave up being an alicorn because you were my friend. You had better believe I want you to be my friend after that!"
Rumble smiled wryly. "So you would have done it? If I hadn't stepped forward?"
"Yes," Cozy said. She shook her head. "Golly… I don't even get what is happening to me. I should hate you too for this, but I don't. Even if you basically took just as much from me as Twilight did. Am I sick?"
"Or maybe it's just like Princess Twilight said," Rumble suggested. "That you simply care more about your friends than you want to admit. Maybe you are just kinder than you think?"
Cozy blushed a little. Nopony had called her kind before. "Do you really believe that?" she asked coyly. "Maybe I'm just playing you to get back at Twilight?"
"Hah!" Rumble laughed. "If you really did, then you wouldn't have asked me that. You would have agreed and cried a little to get my sympathy. You already tried to use me like that once, remember?"
"Well… I guess that's true," Cozy said. "But maybe I'm just changing my strategy? Trying out a better way to be bad?"
Rumble shrugged with a smile. "Then maybe I'm wrong, but I'm just gonna bank on you trying out a better way to be good instead."
"Golly, you're hopeless," Cozy said with a content sigh. A pony who believed in her… who would have thought?
"Maybe, but I can cook at least," Rumble said. "Eat up. Since you're not an alicorn, I bet you wanna get out and fly. If you don't after being cooped up so long, then you really must be sick."
…!
Her wings suddenly felt ticklish and itchy. She absolutely needed to fly! How could she have forgotten that for this long? It felt a little disrespectful to just wolf down his food, but she really wanted to fly. Right now. With him!
Still, his food was just as good as she remembered. Especially since nopony else had ever made something with their own two hooves just for her. But she wanted to fly now, more than she wanted to eat. She didn't think Rumble would fault her for that. He understood her in a way nopony else quite seemed to. But then again, she had precious few friends, and only one who could fly. Only one who could really appreciate the freedom of the open sky.
So they finished their meal quickly, then went out of Twilight's wing. Just the feeling of pushing the door open made her smile. She was… in a way, free. She still had to attend Twilight's lessons, but she could live with it for now. Spending time with Rumble and Sweetie Belle would brighten her days until she had knew what path she wanted to take from here.
They came to the castle gates and met Sweetie Belle there. She tagged along to the royal castle garden. There were other ponies there, but most didn't pay three foals any mind, even if a few stopped and stared at her. The news of Twilight's choice of personal student would spread over the next few weeks. Then, hopefully, they would stop staring.
Cozy tuned them out and flapped her wings tentatively. She raised just a little before settling down again. "Will you continue to teach me your tricks?" she asked Rumble.
"You bet."
"And I will cheer you both on!" Sweetie Belle smiled.
Cozy was just about to start when something caught her eyes. She folded her wings and went over to the herd of ponies gathered around a special statue. Rumble and Sweetie Belle followed. As they approached, the ponies around the statue quieted down and shifted out of their way.
Before her stood Tirek and Chrysalis, forever cast in cold stone. Twilight must have moved the real statue back out in the garden. No copy could ever be this alive. She quietly flew up to Tirek's shoulder. A few small locks of her tail was still there.
"You've really come far..." Rumble said next to her.
"Yeah... soon nopony will remember how bad you once were," Sweetie Belle said.
Cozy just nodded. Then she looked away, up into the blue, open sky. She flapped her wings harder and flew upwards with her friend. A wholehearted laughter made it past her lips.
Unseen by the foals, Twilight looked on from a window in the castle. She smiled. In the end, it had not been her who got through to Cozy. This was entirely due to Sweetie Belle and Rumble. But Twilight was still happy with that. Their friendship flourished, with or without her help.
For the moment, all was right with Equestria.
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I went through over twenty different fix-fics, posted here, on pastebin and in other places, and I must say this one is so far the most enjoyable and realistic way to continue this mess of season 9 finale. Fixing something so damaged, switching from a Mach - 5 nose dive into a steady flight and back through the clouds, is not an easy task. Many writers struggled with justifying the protagonists, many went too far the other way - showing Legion of Doom as being completely innocent, but you managed to redirect properly the whole situation with one line:
And then the real MLP:FiM happened. Real Twilight Sparkle, real ponies, real Equestria. Your story inspired other writers and artists (and me) to create more. To write, to draw, to expand and stick to the spirit of the show. Today, your story is more canon to me, than most of IDW comics, and even some of episodes from season 8 and 9. Thank you for your work and delivering new chapters every week, it was really fun to wait for more!
I must say this has been one of my favourite stories on the site and I can't wait for the sequel.
Perfection.
I'm melting into a puddle of happiness. Such a great story!
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Agree with my man here vito, he summarized it all 💯
Great job, Silver. Looking forward to reading the sequel soon :)
I'm sorry for my misspelling but I don't know a lot of English, I just want to say that I loved the story, thank you