Scars To Her Beautiful

by flutterJackdash

Chapter 20 - Unexpected Consequences

Sunset wrings her hands for a moment, staring at the faded maroon door before her. It belongs to Twilight Sparkle, to a friend, and to her employer. Right now the line between them is blurred enough to leave her nervous. So, hesitating, but not long, she takes a deep breath and reaches for the doorbell to depress the button.

“Hold on. I’ll buzz you in.” Twilight says from the high tech intercom beside the door which is complete with a digital touch screen. Sunset hears a buzzing sound which means the door is now unlocked for her.

Sunset sighs, rubbing an arm before reaching out and taking hold of the door knob, then pushing the door in and stepping inside for herself. She is immediate struck by the scent of tea in the air and the clattering of metallic paws as K-9, the Sparkle home’s robot dog, lopes towards her. A digital face is lit up with a glowing smile and cheerful eyes.

“Come in, Sunset. Come in,” Twilight invites from within the kitchen before directly announcing that. “I’m in the kitchen and I made your favorite coffee just the way you like it.”

Sunset purses her lips, then replies, “Thank you, Twilight,” as she makes her way through the living room, navigating the burst of energy and enthusiasm from K-9 with some affection that feels awkward to her, and finds her way into the kitchen.

“Hey, Twi,” she continues as she walks into the kitchen, “What’s… what’s on your mind? You sounded pretty serious when you called me.”

“Indeed. Please have a seat,” Twilight requests from within the kitchen. Upon Sunset’s approach, she notices Twilight sitting at the other end of the upraised square kitchen table and waiting for Sunset there. She is blowing on her cup of tea which explains the scent Sunset noticed ever since she entered the house. Upon doing so, it fogs up Twilight’s digital glasses just slightly.

Sunset blinks, concealing a small smirk at the sight of Twilight’s fogged up lenses as she approaches the table and takes a seat, taking up the mug left there and swallowing a sip of it to start. K-9 finds a place to lay beneath Sunset’s seat.

“Well, so I’m here,” Sunset says, “Thank you for the coffee, by the way.”

“Let me start by asking you how you’re doing,” Twilight begins, “it’s been awhile since we just hung out as friends like this. With all the fiasco that’s been happening at school over these past weeks, I miss this. Our little get-togethers.”

“Oh, um,” Sunset stammers before taking another sip of her coffee and shakily setting it down, “I’m… Personally, I’m fine, no complaints. I’m worried, though,” she continues, “I can’t get a straight answer about Diamond Tiara. Spoiled Rich doesn’t even take my calls, so I’m left talking to Randolph, when I can even get a hold of that house. He’s nice enough, at least, but right now he’s not sure what’s become of her. He told me that she had been locked in a room, and denied any communication with people outside of it that weren’t staff. I know it’s affecting Sweetie Belle, and in turn that affects her friends.

“And I’m getting worried that Diamond is going to be left behind a grade without how much of her education she’s missing out on. She isn’t meeting any grade requirements anymore. It’s not as though someone can deliver homework to her to see that she can keep up with her studies. It’s just… she’s… flat out absent. Twilight, I don’t know how to handle this… Spoiled is her mother, she has her rights, but I’m worried that what she’s doing is not in Diamond’s best interest, but her own.

“And I hate to think that way,” Sunset continues, “It isn’t right that a parent should ever be thought to behave like that.” The shimmering of her eyes tells Twilight all that she needs to know about where her head is at.

Twilight frowns as she glances down at Sunset’s shivering hands that grasp the coffee mug. She passes that same expression back up to Sunset’s face as she goes on to say, “I’m so sorry I put so much pressure on you, but I hope you understand, now, why I had those concerns when I first set you on this mission to investigate those girls. Since then, I’ve accumulated even more reason to be concerned about Diamond in particular. While it is true that I have concerns about her being held back a grade, I currently have far more dire concerns. Diamond admitted to being the one in the hacked photo as she . . . um . . . did the thing in the girls bathroom.

“Based on my understanding of Spoiled as well, she is very concerned about the reputation of her family. I guess I’m not too surprised at her over reaction here, but I remain concerned.” Twilight then tilts her head a bit as she asks, “Are you now telling me that Diamond isn’t even home anymore?”

“She purged, Twilight. Let’s not put a mask on that,” Sunset says firmly, “She did that because someone is telling her she isn’t good enough, that she has to… have a certain shape, maintain a certain style, to be acceptable. And, yes, I am now telling you that Diamond isn’t home anymore, and that’s all that Mr. Randolph was able to tell me. Not that he wasn’t willing, he was very forthcoming otherwise, but he had no answer about where she is now. The way he tells it, she was there one night, and gone the following morning without ceremony.”

“This is terrible news, Sunset!” Twilight wails with a deeper frown. “Purging like that isn’t healthy for any young growing girl like that, but now I’m beginning to suspect she might be either hurting herself in other ways, or perhaps abused too, at least on a psychological front. I don’t suppose you have any information about that? You might not know where she is now, but I haven't heard much from you these past few weeks about what you’ve already uncovered. Anything you can offer might shed some important insight here and perhaps even help us to come up with a plan to help her.”

“Remember what I said about Spoiled Rich? I can’t even get to talk to her. She won’t take calls and seems to never be there when I knock on the door,” Sunset says. “She’s as distant from this as I’ve ever seen. I’ve worked with a lot of students, and usually the parents are quickly closely involved in situations that are like this, to the point where they are calling me regularly to either get insight or follow up, see how their child is doing in the school, with friends or anything else. Spoiled has never made that call even once, she’s never asked me anything, never demonstrated the slightest concern for Diamond’s wellbeing.

“Now that I mention it, the same can be said of Filthy. I haven’t heard from him at all,” Sunset adds angrily, “And I’m as scared as you are. Because she’s hurting herself in one way, there’s… no telling how far she’d go if… if pushed,” she pauses for just a moment before pleading, “do you understand what I mean? And we don’t even know what she’s going through right now, what new stressors have been introduced, not anything!”

A grim look sinks into Twilight’s face the moment Sunset asks, “do you understand what I mean?” To that question, Twilight answers, “I think I’m beginning to gather a decent picture here and I don’t like what I have seen so far.” A small hopeful look grows on Twilight’s face as she lifts her teacup closer to her face but pauses there as she asks, “I don’t suppose you were able to gather any useful insight on this situation with Silver or any of these other girls? Any of them might be more aware about what’s going on. Perhaps even Scootaloo since she was involved with an altercation with Silver several weeks ago. If you recall, that is why I requested you to go on this mission in the first place.” She smiles fondly at Sunset as she adds gratefully, “Which I am still very appreciative of, by the way. I know you didn’t have to do any of this. You are a very good friend.”

“Silver did come to me,” Sunset says quietly, pausing to take another sip of her coffee and close her eyes in an effort to gather her thoughts, “She’s scared. She tells me that there are expectations of Diamond Tiara. One of those is that she always wins at everything, especially politics. When she lost the election, that was when Spoiled came down hard on her. I was… proud of her for being honest, and admitting something like that to the whole school like that… That certainly had to cheapen the payoff for whoever did that to her, put that out there.

“Anyway, so Silver is convinced that Spoiled Rich has gone into full damage control mode, like this is a mess that has to be filtered from the public eye at any cost, like that’s more important than Diamond’s well-being,” Sunset says, “Scootaloo… oh she’s… that’s another bunch of issues altogether, and more worries that I have.”

Sunset puffs out her cheeks, “Twilight, of course I have to do this, it’s my job, these kids are my responsibility every bit as much as any of the teachers, or administrative staff. I just regret that I don’t have better answers, or better resources for finding them. Spoiled is… she’s a Rich, she’s very wealthy and has a lot of contacts, I’m sure of that, so trying to uncover anything she wants to stay hidden is going to be a monumental task for a seasoned investigator… Virtually impossible for me.”

“Not to mention that Spoiled Rich is President of the School Board,” Twilight adds with a frown, “in some subtle ways, I think I’ve been encouraged to keep things on the down low. Spoiled also used to be my greatest supporter on the Board. She even paid for the school's technology upgrades out of her own pocket when the Board voted it down.” Twilight scoots her nearly empty tea cup back a bit with a push of a finger before adding, “And I, of course, appreciate that … but my primary concern right now is Diamond. I don’t want to do anything that would risk my job, but if I have to … I just want you to know where my priorities are.” Twilight delicately places a hand on her chest as she adds, “As a mother myself, I find it very hard to relate with Spoiled right now. To put more attention and emphasis on the reputation of her family rather than Diamond’s personal welfare. I have never related to another human being less than Spoiled right now.”

“Back where I’m from, I had a mother figure, she was a Princess,” Sunset says, “There was no part of her job, or her reputation, that was ever more important to her than the wellbeing of any of her subjects… who, by the way, she never referred to as subjects. They were friends, they were her little ponies, and she knew all of their names. I know, it’s hard to grasp someone who can behave this way, to understand this kind of… of thinking,” Sunset says shakily, “But we know that, and I’m more concerned about Diamond’s welfare, as you said, than I am about making a case against Spoiled. I wonder if Filthy and Spoiled are even on the same page? He seems to be constantly busy with his businesses.”

Twilight says with a brief point at Sunset with her hands otherwise still on the table, “As to that, I know a little bit of information on Filthy. It’s not much, but I do have some friends who work with him. Some of them closely, and others from afar. For example, I heard he was Fluttershy’s biggest financial backer for Sweet Feather’s Sanctuary. According to her, Filthy is mostly busy either overseas or busy here in town. He seems to be primarily business focused from what I can tell, and considering the vast fortune they have accumulated, this can at least serve as a partial explanation precisely why they are so rich. As for his relationship with his daughter, I’m not sure other than it seems he trusts his wife to,” Twilight gives finger quotes now as she adds, “‘take care’ of Diamond.”

“And he’s out of town now, so there’s no getting a hold of him,” Sunset laments, “Alright, so what can I, or we, do at this point? How can we get any more information?”

Twilight takes in a deep intake of breath before she says somewhat trepidatiously, “While we’re on the subject, I think I should warn you that Child Protective Services has made a few discreet inquiries about Diamond in light of what happened at school with her,” Twilight announces then lifts her hands. “For the moment, I think it’s a bit premature to lean into this option heavily, but I want you to be aware that it’s there. At this time I’m more interested to get Filthy Rich’s side of the story here because there is a chance he’s not aware how badly things are proceeding on the homefront. Perhaps he’s been too distracted with businesses overseas. However, if he gets more informed about what has happened to his only daughter here, he might get much more interested.”

“Alright, I’ll find a way to get in touch with him,” Sunset agrees, “I just hope it won’t take too long, is all. I have no idea when he’s due back, or where he’s gone specifically, so I’m at quite a disadvantage. I’ll keep in mind that CPS is getting involved, but Spoiled could easily pay them enough to look the other way.”

Twilight frowns as she admits, “I can’t ignore that possibility either. Spoiled has pretty deep pockets and it seems clear to us, by now, that she has a strong vested interest to downplay this whole affair. However, Filthy's pockets are just as deep and he might be more helpful if we can get a hold of him. As to that, I could contact Fluttershy about this and she might be able to get a hold of him because he has a vested interest in her business. I also think the Belle family works for him too. Hondo in particular last I checked. I forgot the name of his sports goods store.”

“Maybe,” Sunset concedes, “Well, anything is worth trying at this point. I won’t hold my breath, though. Now, there’s more going on… Such as Sweetie Belle. Her studies are suffering now, her grades are slipping, and she seems disinterested in attending class any longer. Scootaloo is, well she’s always been angry, and I’ve been helping her to deal with that, but I fear there’s another toll being taken on her psyche now, and she doesn’t know how to deal with it… We know that Apple Bloom has got Big Mac, Sugar Belle, and Applejack to keep her grounded, she has a lot of support… but Rarity has traveled to the city, setting up her business, and Sweetie and Rarity’s parents have never been entirely… er… aware when it comes to either of their children, you know? It’s not that they don’t care, but it seems like Rarity’s been raising Sweetie more than Cookie or Hondo has, from where I’m sitting.”

Interest alights in Twilight’s eyes as she mentions, “Speaking of Sweetie Belle and the Belle residence, I once got a few text messages from Sweetie Belle a few weeks earlier just before she had her nasty accident down the stairs. Prior to that point, she mentioned that some big truck was blocking their driveway. Diamond was staying at their home at the time and Sweetie Belle mentioned, in her texts to me, that Diamond didn’t want to go with whomever was in that truck. I’ve heard very little feedback ever since then on that front, but that does tell me that Sweetie Belle and Diamond seem to be close now. She might even be aware exactly what might be going on with Diamond. After all, she seems to trust Sweetie Belle enough to spend the night at Sweetie’s house, and Sweetie, in turn, did not reject Diamond. Now you’re also telling me Sweetie Belle has been despondent of late. It seems pretty obvious to me that Sweetie cares for Diamond now. That might also mean she has more answers.” Twilight then shrugs. “What do you think?”

“I think I can ask her,” Sunset replies, “GIve her a chance to open up or, at least, bring any concerns or fears she has to me. Maybe she won’t have complete answers to what’s going on, but at least it’s a place to start.”

Twilight leans forward a bit as she presses both of her hands, which Sunset noticed has purple nail polish and tiny twinkling stars on them, to the table as she requests, “Sunset … please level with me about something. Do you think that Diamond Tiara is a threat to herself?”

“I think she could be with some help from another,” Sunset answers, “But… on her own? With the right help? No, I think she’d be okay.”

“You sure?” Twilight double checks, “I know you’re not allowed to use your magic crystal on any of them but I have some serious concerns about that girl and the others involved here. You might be able to get their permission for a mind scan. Perhaps it could help them recall something that even they have forgotten.”

“Yes,” Sunset answers, “I’m sure. If she’s pushed enough, she can and will be a danger to herself. She’s shown that to begin with. I’m also sure that with the right help, and support, she could do much better and be less of a danger to herself.”

“No,” Sunset adds firmly, “I won’t use the crystal, permission or no. I just don’t know what the repercussions could be for them, for their own minds. If it gets desperate, maybe? But I really don’t want to do that.”

“Okay,” Twilight says with worry lingering in her voice. “I just want to make sure that Diamond
survives all of this fiasco.” She frowns grimly as she adds, “Since you can gather memories even from objects, I suppose that does mean you can do a memory scan of her corpse if it came to that, but obviously we’ll push that reality as far away from ours as possible.” Twilight bangs on the table as she says strongly, “We can not let that happen! Diamond must be protected at all costs. It seems to me that the other girls are deeply involved in this issue too. I’m not even sure if Scootaloo would openly celebrate if the worst fate befalls Diamond at this point. If she also knows why this is happening, it might encourage her to be even more sympathetic.”

“You’re right,” Sunset says, “And I’m not even entertaining the possibility of that worst case scenario. It’s not going to happen. That’s it, as far as I’m concerned.”

Sunset collects her coffee and brings it to her lips, but ends up just staring into the half-full mug and mulling various things over.

The two women sit in silence for a little while as they each process what is said. Eventually Sunset breaks that silence by looking back at Twilight and asking, “So, I’ve been meaning to ask… How is Cozy Glow doing with all of this? How is she handling all of this difficult subject matter?”

“I’m not sure,” Twilight answers slowly. “I think she’s been in shock ever since the election speech. After all, pretty much everyone in that auditorium was,” she shrugs, “Other than that, I guess she kept herself busy with her academics and hobbies.” She smiles softly as she adds, “I don’t think she remembers this, but she once expressed an interest in a large aquarium at Fluttershy’s Sanctuary. I’ve been thinking about taking her there sometime soon. If I do, you wanna come?”

“Yes, that sounds like a nice getaway,” Sunset replies, “So she’s… okay? I mean, that revelation… it completely took the spotlight off of her victory, and, how does she feel about winning that way? I mean, I feel like she could have won without that… but I guess someone was less sure about that.”

“She’s been pouring herself into her work as far as I can tell, including other things she didn’t have to do like programming that sub program in CHS public Network. Checking for bugs, I guess, or at least testing it. I’ve been fairly impressed with it so far.” She pauses a moment as she glances down at the table then looks back at Sunset. “As for exactly how she won the election, as I said, I’m sure it was a shock to her and likely a disappointment as well. She worked so hard on that election. Clearly she was aiming to win, but to win this way? I imagine she’s felt somewhat hollow about this. Probably also concerned too.”

“Hasn’t she talked to you about it?” Sunset asks, curious.

“For the most part, no, but now that you brought it up, I am considering broaching the subject,” Twilight answers, “my darling Cozy knows she can come to me about any subject that she wants. I want to make sure she feels comfortable and safe about anything with me.”

“Me too,” Sunset says, “I’m a teacher, practically a counselor, and I’d like any student to feel free to talk to me free of judgment or expectation. Cozy has never approached me, though… Sometimes I think she’s avoiding me.”

“What?! No!” denies Twilight, “Cozy loves you, Sunny! Just like everyone at CHS. That’s why they approach and confide with you so often.” She lifts a hand and gestures between them as she adds, “Just like we’re doing right now.” She puts her hand back on the table and shakes her head. “I really can’t think of any reason she’d avoid you, but if that’s true at all, I am confused and disturbed.” Twilight tilts her head as she offers, “You want me to talk to her about that?”

“That… is a decision entirely your own, Twilight. She’s your daughter, not mine. I’m just telling you my concerns and nothing more than that,” Sunset answers, “As I said, she’s never come to me with anything. She’s often quick to leave my classes, even, but I’m not saying she’s a bad kid or anything. She’s really very good, her grades are, unsurprisingly, among the highest in my classes. I don’t care if she likes me or not. It’s just whether or not she’s okay that I worry about.”

Twilight gives a cheeky frown as she says, “Well, what I know is, whenever the subject of you comes up, which I’ll admit is not frequent, Cozy is always singing praises about you. Seems to me she regards you like a cool older sister or something. Not unearned, either. Remember the time you took her to the county fair when I couldn’t go?”

“It’s the only time we ever spent together, without you,” Sunset replies, “But it was a nice time, and yes I do remember it. I’m still not talking about how well we get along, Twi.”

“I just wanted to make sure there aren’t any problems here on that front,” Twilight explains. “Seems we got plenty of other issues to deal with as it is. I’ve had plenty of complaints from some of the other parents, too, about the state of affairs at this school. Seems like everyone heard about that election speech in some way or another.” She sighs and shakes her head. “And that’s all I need. More ammo for Neighsay to use against me.”

“Oh believe me, anything Neighsay has is no more effective than a gun full of blanks,” Sunset says, “For every complaint around your administration, there are dozens of those singing your praises. In any case, you’ve never done anything questionable, never stepped outside of the rules, and even know you’re very hands on when it comes to the welfare of a student. You called me here specifically to talk about Diamond, and there’s no way that can be ignored. Not even by him.”

In response, Twilight just gives an adorable blush before she continues as if to change the subject, “Well, in regards to Diamond, I guess we got a few cards on the table here. We’ll check with anyone we can get a hold of who has a good chance of getting a hold of Filthy Rich. Once we have his attention, we should share our concerns and see how he reciprocates. In the meantime we should also both keep an ear out in case any of our students has additional important information to share. Also, if you can, keep in touch with Randolph. He sounds like a nice guy and that likely means he’s also honest. If the situation changes, I’d like to be included in the loop as soon as possible because it may affect my plans going forward.”

“You’ll be in the loop every step of the way, I promise you,” Sunset says as she looks at her watch, “Wow… Time with you sure flies by. I didn’t know we’d been talking for so long, and I’m sorry, but I can’t stay to catch up more.”

“Oh! Certainly! Thank you for coming, and here,” Twilight gets up out of her seat, walks around the table, and approaches Sunset in order to hug her, and Sunset stands and happily returns the hug, squeezing a little for extra comfort.

“Regardless how grim the situation has been, it’s always so good to catch up with you, Sunset,” Twilight squeezes out with a bit of a wheeze thanks to the tightness of the hug.

Sunset releases Twilight, holding her at the shoulders, smiling tearfully and nodding, “We’ll have to catch up properly, and soon. Maybe invite the rest of our friends to join us for something, just, away from the stress and pressure of our jobs, you know?”

“Definitely!” Twilight agrees strongly and instantly.

---

Cozy Glow feels very refreshed after returning to her room from the shower. She is still toweling off her slightly less curly teal hair as she sits down and spins in her computer desk chair to face her computer. When she feels her hair is sufficiently dry, she drapes the towel on her neck then reaches forward to grasp her cup of tea she laid out for herself in advance then draws it to her lips. She takes a few sips before setting the cup back down then picks up her augmented reality glasses she had charging at her desk. Glasses which look like a normal pair of prescription glasses except the stem is a little thick. Once she put them on, the hidden screen on the inside of her glasses activates and adjusts for the shapes of her eyeballs in order to project a digital overlay of everything she sees beyond the glasses, thus the glasses auto adjusts her vision in order to correct it according to the information it gathered from a laser eye scan.

Cozy reaches forward on her keyboard and almost presses the power activation for her computer right away, but along the way, she pauses for a moment as she admires how cute her nightshirt, that she’s wearing now, is. That and nothing else aside from her glasses. On the front of that tall nightshirt, that extends just a little bit past her waist, she sees the image of three rook chess pieces. The one tilting left is black, the one tilting right is white, and the center is a red rook chess piece. Cozy fondly recalls the time she opened it for one of her Hearth’s Warming Eve presents then later learned Rarity made it personally. Back then Cozy recalls thinking that this seems a bit humble for an aspiring fashionista, but Cozy loved it all the same. No doubt the shirt was literally tailor made with the specific recommendation of Cozy's mother.

After Cozy recovers from her wave of nostalgia, she turns on her computer then sticks a mystery flavor lollipop into her mouth while the computer boots in a few seconds. Once it is fully booted, she seeks out the hidden audio and video file she has on her computer which has the uploaded file that came from their hacked robot dog, K-9. Quite a while ago, Cozy had secretly modified that robot dog with a tiny transmitter that could upload into Cozy’s machine any files that gets imprinted on K-9’s memory stick, and the animal-like AI of the adorable robot is no more aware of this than anyone else is, and thus Cozy has an unwitting spy in her own household that basically functions like an unconventional drone. She hasn’t employed this strategy often in the past but her mother told her that Sunset Shimmer would be paying them a visit this evening and her mother made it quite clear that she wanted this to be a private meeting. Cozy then pretended to cooperate while secretly planning on spying on this conversation because she sensed she might get some juicy details out of it. Besides that, Cozy had calculated an eighty-seven percent chance that this meeting would have something to do with Cozy’s primary and secret nemesis, Diamond Tiara.

On the pre-recorded video on playback, Cozy is able to track Sunset as she made her way into the kitchen. This is seen at the very low angle of the robot dog. After Sunset arrives at the kitchen and sits down at the very high table, it is quickly apparent that Sunset’s lap was too high for the dog to jump on no matter how eager the dog's artificial software encouraged the AI to be. As a result, the rest of the visual image of the video is basically useless for quite some time. All it really shows is Sunset’s legs and occasionally Cozy’s mother’s. Cozy isn’t interested enough in that subject matter to hold her attention to it.

As for audio, Cozy’s augmented reality glasses are secretly vibrating her eardrum, thus she can hear the video very clearly without anyone else in her room hearing a thing.

While the two women start to exchange pleasantries during their encounter, Cozy brings up another program to play some classical orchestra music. Once she has that file playing, she turns it down low so she can more clearly hear the two women’s conversation. While that is going on, Cozy absently lifts her hands and pretends to play on a classical air piano.

However, the two women get to the main crux of their conversion faster than Cozy anticipated. Her mother just started by asking how Sunset was doing and that it is nice to have these little get-togethers. Sunset briefly replied that she’s fine before admitting that she was worried. At that point Cozy’s hand movements on her invisible piano freeze as she widens her eyes a bit. She really didn’t expect the two of them to get to the main point so soon.

From that point on, Cozy turns her music down another twenty percent as she listens to their conversation more carefully. Right off the bat, Sunset quickly admits that Diamond seems to be missing from her mansion and that Diamond's mother, Spoiled Rich, is possibly responsible for this. One of the sources for this information is a butler named Randolph who seems very nice according to Sunset’s opinion. Because of that, Cozy privately suspects that this information might be reliable. Sunset Shimmer is a pretty good judge of character in Cozy’s estimation, after all. If Sunset trusts this man, then it is likely Cozy can trust this information as well.

This information alone was worth the eavesdropping. All of the sudden, in Cozy’s head, a large amount of images of chess pieces start moving across several mental boards that she is keeping track of. Each chess piece represents some specific bit of information that she privately thinks is important. The movement of each chess piece affects the rest of the board. Based on those calculations, she can more accurately gauge present, past, and future circumstances and plan around it.

“Purging like that isn’t healthy for any young growing girl like that,” said Cozy’s mother in the recording, “but now I’m beginning to suspect she might be either hurting herself in other ways, or perhaps abused too, at least on a psychological front.”

Cozy widens her eyes upon hearing that then pauses the recording. Her classical music continues playing, though, at its greatly reduced volume. From there, Cozy pulls up her legs onto her seat and hugs them beneath her nightshirt. She stares at the computer screen with thinly open eyes that have a deeply shrewd and shriveling look as if she’s staring at a bug that she’s contemplating to squash. As she stares at her computer screen, a glare of bright light reflects off her glasses.

Cozy knew in advance that Spoiled Rich very much cared for her reputation. Every source of information Cozy had gathered over the years, in order to eventually crush her nemesis, basically verified that one fact. That was why Cozy secretly hacked the CHS Public network and leaked that photograph that was taken by another one of her many secret school minions, of whom she had blackmailed via Cozy’s secret hacker alias, The Shadow Queen. The intention of that photograph was three fold. Number one; Humiliate Diamond Tiara. Number two; put Diamond at a social disadvantage in the upcoming school election, and Number three; put Spoiled Rich on the defensive. Cozy knew that Spoiled may be very wealthy, but she isn’t a genius strategist while Cozy is. Cozy knew that Spoiled would overcompensate for that social blunder and that would secretly put her right into the palm of Cozy’s hands where she can gleefully crush her opponent.

Cozy was also aware of Svengallop’s secret transmission to Diamond because she tapped into the signal then later jammed it in the auditorium after Diamond finished her turn. When Cozy took her own turn, she inwardly squealed in delight at the thought of Svengallop squirming at the other end of the line and helpless to do anything about it.

That was the plan, at least, but then Diamond shot herself in the foot at the end of the election speech by admitting she was the one in the photo. Ever since then, all of Cozy’s many layered and devious plans suddenly felt hollow. It wasn’t as fun defeating an opponent who was already crushed.

But the conversation Cozy’s been hearing so far put a new light on the situation. She really didn’t expect Diamond to admit to being the one in the picture herself, but since then Cozy started to contemplate why Diamond would do that. Most of Cozy’s conclusions led to one thing; Diamond was already hurting very badly, and that doesn’t feel satisfying to realize because Cozy isn’t the cause of this. If this was a fact that was already in place then it is important to understand why this is so.

So far, this conversation is leading Cozy to conclude that the most likely culprit here is Spoiled Rich herself. Cozy was aware that Spoiled very much cared about her fortune and her reputation, but does that also mean extending to abusing her daughter to accomplish that? If that is the case, then that puts a new spin on everything. Perhaps everything that Cozy secretly loathed about Diamond might have been because of Spoiled.

Upon realizing this possibility, horror starts to sink into Cozy’s soul because she spent many years now meticulously planning her vengeance. So much of her core personality is secretly bent on this one agenda, but if it turns out that her primary target was a victim herself and it explains why Diamond used to be such a bitch, then it sort of feels like Cozy is losing her religious beliefs. It is that scary and hard to let go of something she used to consider a deeply ingrained truth.

But Cozy also prides herself on being as close to an engine of true perfection as possible. To do that, she needs to rely upon accurate information. Learning just how far off target she might be is a hard pill to swallow, but if this is where her new source of information is going, it is important to pay attention to it and not let stubborn pride get in the way.

The stem of Cozy’s lollipop absently switches sides in her mouth as she resumes playing the two women’s earlier conversation.

Cozy does not have much of a reaction to the mention of Filthy Rich entering into the conversation. She was almost perfectly certain that man would come up at some point. She predicted that well in advance. What interests her a little more is mentioning the Cutie Mark Crusaders and their involvement with Diamond as of late. Cozy isn’t totally caught off guard by that fact, though. She planted a virus into many students' cellphones at school quite a while back which is how she was able to gather dirt on people and blackmail them into forced service for her hacker alias The Shadow Queen. Based on the text messages the Crusader’s have been passing back and forth lately, Cozy was able to stay apprised of various situations like that giant truck that parked in front of Sweetie Belle’s home, which had gone there for a very unwilling Diamond. Cozy was also physically in the car with her mother as her mother did voice to text chat with Sweetie Belle and vice versa because her mother was driving at the time.

It used to be quite a surprise to Cozy that the Crusaders grew so interested in Diamond and Sweetie Belle in particular. Based on many of the frantic messages lately, Cozy even suspects that Sweetie might have a downright romantic crush on Diamond. That’s … interesting … if true, but the exact reason for Sweetie’s heavy emotional investment might be more important here. Based on everything else Cozy is hearing about this conversation she secretly tapped into, it’s getting harder and harder to avoid the conclusion that Diamond might have downright been a threat to her own life recently and Sweetie Belle somehow found out about this. Basically in a panic ever since, Sweetie Belle probably felt compelled to jump into Diamond’s business as much as possible ever since. It also seems likely Sweetie was sworn, perhaps even threatened, into secrecy because she never outright told the rest of the Crusader’s this via text messages. Also, based on the way the rest of the Crusaders have been replying, it seems likely they still haven’t reached this conclusion definitely but they might secretly suspect it. That seems especially likely for Silver Spoon. Not only is that rich girl pretty sharp, but she knows Diamond especially well and the circumstances Diamond grew up with.

Cozy frowns when she thinks about it. Everything horrible in Cozy’s past about her otherwise perfect parents got ruined because of Diamond, but now Diamond is starting to sound a bit too relatable. To a rather spooky degree, in fact.

Cozy shakes her head, swallows her hurt and terrified pride, and refocuses on the two women’s conversation.

Cozy’s ears perk up a bit when Sunset mentions her former relationship with an alicorn princess from another dimension. Sunset seems so easy going and easy to relate to in this dimension that it’s sometimes easy to forget that Sunset was born and raised in another one.

Cozy recalls how, despite how much she loves her new adopted mother, she initially thought her new mother was downright crazy when she mentioned subjects like magic and the existence of alternate magical dimensions, but then Twilight proved her word by using her magical gem to levitate some objects. That information blew Cozy’s mind back then into accepting vastly more open alternatives about reality. That kind of information is still very difficult to “fit” into her normal, everyday kind of life, but it is still deeply intriguing to keep in mind nonetheless.

Cozy grins in amusement when her mother mentions the text messages she received from the Belle residence on the day the giant truck arrived. That’s not new information to Cozy except now she’s aware that Sunset is aware of that fact.

More importantly, a plan starts to form in Cozy’s mind as a result of this conversation so far. It looks like these two women can handle the situation insofar as attempting to contact Filthy Rich. They have a few options open to them and it’s not as if Filthy is some secret government spy who is in hiding all the time. On the contrary, the only types of people who tend to be in the public light more than multi-billionaires like Filthy are high end political and celebrity figures. Filthy shouldn’t be too difficult to track down for them because he virtually leaves very big footprints wherever he goes. If they continue to have too much trouble with him later then she might be able to pass on some secret tips to get them on the right track.

But, for now, it seems Cozy has more to gain by starting to ingratiate herself with the Cutie Mark Crusaders because they seem to be at the crux of this whole story. Even if she wanted to continue with her plans against Diamond, Cozy would have to get through to the Crusaders anyway. Since the Crusaders have become important to Diamond and vice versa, she’ll need to know their weaknesses to tear that relationship apart later on unless the information Cozy gathers leads her in a new direction. Overall, it seems clear to her that she needs more information and to gather more important social connections in order to influence the heart of this story.

As the conversation continues, Sunset claims that Diamond isn’t a threat to herself unless pushed. She sounded pretty confident of that too but Cozy remains worried. What if Sunset is lying to soften the blow for Twilight? She knows for sure how much Sunset cares for her mother and if Sunset is relatively convinced she can handle the true depths of this grim situation then it might be, in her estimation, that she doesn’t need to worry Twilight unnecessarily. Very likely, however, Sunset might change her mind if she sees the situation indeed growing worse beyond her control.

The next subject they bring up that really nabs Cozy’s attention is when Sunset said, “So, I’ve been meaning to ask… How is Cozy Glow doing with all of this? How is she handling all of this difficult subject matter?”

This new deeply personal subject matter caught Cozy half off guard, but because of the recent election, she quickly deduced why this was brought up aside from the fact she knows Sunset cares for her.

“I don’t think she remembers this, but she once expressed an interest in a large aquarium at Fluttershy’s Sanctuary,” Twilight eventually added on the subject. “I’ve been thinking about taking her there sometime soon. If I do, you wanna come?”

With rapt attention, Cozy carefully pays attention to Sunset’s reply. Incidentally, Cozy does remember that request and she feels giddy that her mother remembered it too. If Sunset says yes to this offer then she has even more reason to look forward to this event.

“Yes, that sounds like a nice getaway,” Sunset replied in the recording. Upon hearing that, Cozy momentarily felt like standing up and squealing in delight until Sunset added, “So she’s… okay? I mean, that revelation… it completely took the spotlight off of her victory, and, how does she feel about winning that way? I mean, I feel like she could have won without that… but I guess someone was less sure about that.”

In response, Cozy rolled her eyes as she privately mused that it is true Diamond stole her thunder at that moment, but she’s kind of come to expect disappointment often when it comes to anything involving Little Miss Prissy.

“She’s been pouring herself into her work as far as I can tell,” Twilight answered, “including other things she didn’t have to do like programming that sub program in CHS public Network. Checking for bugs, I guess, or at least testing it. I’ve been fairly impressed with it so far.”

“Why thank you, Mom,” Cozy says aloud in delight then privately muses that she’ll keep the rest about being the hacker to herself. For what it’s worth, though, that also means she really has been carefully monitoring the system to prevent any other hack job. This is the Shadow Queen’s territory. Only she is fit to rule here.

“Cozy has never approached me, though… Sometimes I think she’s avoiding me,” Sunset mentioned in the recording.

Hearing that suddenly spooked Cozy Glow. While it is true that she tried to subtly avoid Sunset in fear of her magic mind reading gem that could shatter all of her nefarious schemes, it also hurt to avoid someone that she honestly cared about. What spooked Cozy at that moment, though, is the realization that Sunset had noticed. That’s disappointing to hear but not too terribly surprising. Sunset is a very bright woman, after all. She wasn’t chosen as a personal student of a princess in magical Horse Land for nothing. But still, upon realizing that Sunset was aware of this, it might lead Sunset to falsely conclude that Cozy has personal issues against Sunset when the truth is the opposite. If anything, Cozy would actually like to get closer to Sunset because Sunset has definitely earned that right. If only that stupid magical gem wasn’t in the way.

Earlier, there had been some painful mental plots Cozy contemplated about getting Sunset arrested on false charges just to make sure Sunset remains out of way of Cozy’s revenge plot against Diamond, but now that she’s starting to understand Diamond’s upbringing a little too well, that plan no longer seems worth it. It would hurt Sunset, it would hurt Twilight, it would hurt their closest friends/family, it is a legal risk, and it would hurt Cozy herself. That isn’t worth it if Cozy’s priorities against Diamond are getting more muddied now. Perhaps she should concentrate more on Plan B; getting rid of that damn crystal itself somehow. Maybe even replace it with a convincing fake?

““What?! No!” denied Twilight in the recording. “Cozy loves you, Sunny!”

“Once again, thank you, Mom,” Cozy said aloud with the mist of tears in her eyes. She feels so grateful to be so well understood by this beloved woman and for her attempt to set the record straight to Sunset as well. Listening to Sunset’s doubts is painful even if it is understandable.

“Seems like everyone heard about that election speech in some way or another.” Twilight sighs in the recording. “And that’s all I need. More ammo for Neighsay to use against me.”

That comment draws a pained sigh from Cozy as well. She knew that hacking the CHS Public Network would highly likely draw that response from someone like Neighsay. At the time it still felt like a worthwhile sacrifice, but that was indeed a sacrifice. The last thing she really wanted to do was hurt her beloved mother in any way, but Diamond was right there, bleeding in the ocean that is secretly swimming with a shark like Cozy. That strategy also gave her several important tactical advantages in the election too, but after everything she’s heard in this conversation in conjunction with several others, she has to admit to herself that her resolve is really starting to crack now. Would she do it all again if she had to? The answer is starting to look like, “No, in fact, I wouldn’t based on this new information I have since received.” Realizing that is downright haunting to Cozy.

“For every complaint around your administration, there are dozens of those singing your praises,” Sunset had remarked.

“Okay. Now it’s your turn to be thanked, Sunny,” Cozy says with a smile. “Even if that fact is rather obvious.”

“Well, in regards to Diamond,” Twilight goes on in the recording, “I guess we got a few cards on the table here. We’ll check with anyone we can get a hold of who has a good chance of getting a hold of Filthy Rich. Once we have his attention, we should share our concerns and see how he reciprocates. In the meantime we should also both keep an ear out in case any of our students has additional important information to share. Also, if you can, keep in touch with Randolph. He sounds like a nice guy and that likely means he’s also honest. If the situation changes, I’d like to be included in the loop as soon as possible because it may affect my plans going forward.”

Cozy realizes that it seems like this conversation is being wrapped up. They got enough of a plan to go on for now. To double check, she checks the recording log which ended after K-9 noticed Sunset leaving their home, and indeed, it does look like this conversation is wrapping up.

Privately, Cozy thinks that their plans also set the course for herself as well. While they follow up on their own leads, Cozy will pursue her own. Maybe later those two courses will meet in the middle. She’ll keep tabs on that as much as she can in the interim.

Towards the tail end of the recording, K-9 finally got a better look at the women as they rose from their seats and hugged each other. In her mother’s case, she got hugged so tightly that it caused her mother’s comment to squeeze through a wheeze. Upon seeing this, Cozy giggled a bit and shook her head slightly at the sight.

“We’ll have to catch up properly, and soon,” Sunset proposed in the recording. “Maybe invite the rest of our friends to join us for something, just, away from the stress and pressure of our jobs, you know?”

“Definitely!” Twilight agreed strongly and instantly.

Cozy gives a devious smile at the computer screen as she agrees with a cunning voice, “Sounds like a plan.”

Author's Note:

Here's Chapter 20, and thanks a ton to Scroll for his MASSIVE help in writing this so far. Hopefully this hits right!

Comments

[Babroniedad]

Yes!!! Back! And two chapters in two days!
So happy to have you back and to get to read more of this wonderful story.

[flutterJackdash]

11636109
And I'm happy to be back and writing again! Thank you for your enthusiasm!