Dinner
The first thing I felt was a sense of warmth flooding into me. A bright light, blinding, suddenly waking me up – I hadn't even realized I was asleep.
Then the light went out, and I fell to the ground.
"Owww! Hey~!"
As I stood up and rubbed my rump, I opened my eyes and saw a grey-coated unicorn stallion with a black mane and a dark red cloak looking down at me. He looked... bored?
I was about to ask him where in Equestria I was when he turned on his hoof and casually strolled out of the room. I was still getting my hooves under me, and his total lack of interest honestly took me so much by surprise I didn't manage to get a word out. Instead, I looked around.
Is this some kind of... mansion?
I was in a dimly-lit dining room of some kind. Somepony had drawn all of the drapes closed, and only a single candle kept the room from total darkness, off in the corner. There was a long, oak dining table surrounded by fancy chairs, with silk cushions.
Somepony had set two places with what I dully realized was actual silver tableware.
What in Equestria is going on? How did I get here?
I thought back, and that's when it hit me: the students from the school, the elements of harmony, Discord, Celestia, Luna, all of us turning into stone... all of it.
We had lost.
We lost.
Even with all the power of Grogar, even with the bell, even though Equestria was torn apart at the seams and the windigoes were swarming-! We'd even taken all of the magic from the princesses, Discord, the pillars! Nopony should have been able to stand up to us anymore!
"GRAH! How could we still lose?! We totally had it! This is so... that was so unfair! It's ridiculous! Stupid... cheating... RRR!"
I couldn't take how angry it made me feel. I yelled and kicked over a chair, snapping one of the legs off of it in the process, and bucked the table for good measure – which mostly just hurt my hooves.
Yeesh, that thing is seriously sturdy! SOMEPONY didn't skimp on the furniture!
I was on the verge of hunting down something more distinctly smash-able when the dining room door opened again. I quickly tried to get my temper under control; I could hardly try to plead my case with the newcomer if I looked like I wanted to bite the head off of something.
The unicorn I'd seen before strode into the room, and to my surprise he didn't seem to have heard – no, he MUST have heard – my temper tantrum, or at the very least he didn't care. He didn't even glance at the broken chair. I saw his horn was glowing a pale blue, similar color to his eyes, and I saw two covered saucers float in behind him. He idly set them down at the set places on the table, and took a seat at the head of the table, with the other dish going to the space to his right.
Through all of this, he didn't spare me so much as a glance. Part of me was angry at that, but more than that I was just... confused.
I was freed from the stone prison! Shouldn't there be... either some kind of villain, or some kind of hero here? Some guards? Something?
I just shook my head and looked up at him. "What's going on?"
The stallion looked at me with that same, semi-lidded, bored expression. "Dinner."
I looked at the covered saucers on the table, and back at him, and I very nearly lost my temper again.
Gotta keep my cool. He clearly has no idea who I am. I can work with this!
I started to put on my best pouty face when he interjected.
"The spot on my right is for you, Cozy."
Wait... what?
I blinked at him in confusion a few times. I felt my stomach growling; it had been a while since I had eaten even before I was put into stone, and it seemed like breaking free of that prison had drained me even more. Still, I felt deeply suspicious of... well, everything, actually!
"Who are you? How do you know my name? What do you know about me?"
The stallion gave a very slow shrug.
"I'm your caretaker. I know everything about you. Now please, eat."
I eyed him suspiciously, but made my way around to my place at the table.
Caretaker? What in Tartarus is he going on about?
I got into my chair and removed the lid from the saucer. The scent that hit me made my mouth water; we were having a beansprout and cherry tomato salad with artichoke hearts and some kind of vinaigrette I was positive would be too expensive for me to have tried.
That just made the alarm bells ring louder in my head. I fixed my gaze on the stallion with all of the severity I could.
"Okay, you telling me you're my caretaker doesn't really answer my questions. Why am I here?"
The stallion, who had been about to take a bite of his meal, lifted his head to stare at me and slowly raised an eyebrow.
Oh, so he CAN make expressions.
"This is your home. You are here because it is safe here."
Well that just made my head spin with even more questions, but I seized back on my original thought.
"No, I mean how did I get here? Who brought me here, and why?"
"I did. Because this is where you are to live, now."
I grit my teeth and tried not to snarl at him for being so obstinate.
"Okay, but why do I live here now? Is this some kind of..."
I waved my hoof around at the room around me.
"... super fancy prison? Some kind of punishment?"
"Yes."
And just like that, he started eating, very slowly and silently. I just stared at him in dumb shock for a moment before rolling my eyes.
"So, what, you're supposed to reform me, or something? Is that it?"
The stallion took a moment to chew – seriously it's creepy how quiet he is – before answering.
"Do you wish to be reformed?"
"NO!" I practically exploded on him, and then reined myself in. I immediately regretted that; I needed to play along with whatever this ploy was if I wanted to get free! Now they were going to lock me in stone again!
But to my surprise, the stallion just shrugged.
"Then I guess not."
I stammered for a second at that.
"What? You... are you saying it's fine if I don't," and here I made little air-quotes with my hooves, " 'repent my evil ways' or whatever? You don't care?"
The stallion shrugged again. "I am your caretaker. I will not force you to do or say anything you don't want to do."
"Well that can't possibly be true! Like, like you said this was a sort of prison, right? So like, I can't just leave, right? You'd stop me then!"
The stallion shook his head. "It could be considered something like that, but I'm not going to force you to stay. It's safer here, though."
I groaned and rubbed my head. "Twilight sure did hire a weird pony to be my jailer."
The stallion ate in silence for a moment before I realized I had made a questionable assumption.
"Twilight did do all of... this, right?"
The stallion shook his head without responding. My eyes widened.
"Wait, but then... who did?"
The stallion glanced at me. "I did."
"Wait, you're saying this was your idea? But, well, pfft, obviously with Twilight's approval, or something—"
The stallion shook his head. "Nopony else knows you're here, Cozy."
I reeled back at that, and actually took flight reflexively. The stallion had started eating in silence again, unperturbed, but I needed answers.
"Wait, you're saying you snatched me away, took me here, and freed me in secret? What do you want from me?! Are you some kinda weirdo?!"
The stallion sighed. "I do not want anything from you. I am your caretaker."
"Yeah, yeah, you keep saying that! What does that even mean?!"
"It means I will see to it that you are safe, fed, and provided-for within these walls. Nothing else."
I took a second to digest that, really trying to think over the implications. The stallion didn't even resume eating; he just watched me process what he'd said and waited for the followup. I stammered a bit as I tried to formulate it.
"S-so... what you're saying is that it's not safe outside of here, because, like, Twilight and her friends will find out I'm free and they'll come after me, right?"
The stallion shook his head. "No, they won't. They're gone."
I reeled back in confusion. "What do you mean, gone? Gone where?"
The stallion gave another passive shrug. "Nopony you knew before is still around, Cozy."
I felt my heart drop into my stomach at that.
"... What?"
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This is certainly intrigueing. I wonder if the outside danger is due to Twilight and co. messing up or something that came after they died of old age.
Sombra?
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Only issue is Twilight would still be alive
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Cozy would recognize Sombra, and he had red eyes. Plus a lot of other distinguishing features. Also, a cape, not a cloak.
... the fuck.
I just... excuse my in ineloquence as I have just awoken and am using my phone, but everything is ominous as shit. Like, the whole thing is weird and creepy. Home dude might actually be a decent person, just kind of detached and a poor speaker, but right now this whole scenario is at least mildly creepy.
Well colour me intrigued.
I am very curious about exactly who this stallion is. Cozy obviously doesn't recognize him and nothing is coming to mind about who this could be. Then there's the question of why he would release Cozy from her stone prison and be her "caretaker". I wonder if similar to what Princess Celestia had done with Discord, Princess Twilight Sparkle ordered someone to....
….well, damn it. Guess that's out. Well, not gonna figure this out any time soon, so best way to get answers is to keep on reading. I am quite intrigued by this story, though.
On first glance, this looks like a different Cozy Glow. But I know this is related. I shall… endeavor to discover more… You’ve already gathered my interest with the mystery element.
I like you. But you unnerve me.
Concerning. Also, continually unnerving. I like the new tone. It still has its identifiable quirkyness, but there's something beneath the surface here...
I wonder if it’s Fallout Equestria outside.
Well, I'm hooked again.
-GM, master of HOOKS n FISH.
Okay, I gotta ask, even though I know I won't get a straight answer. Is this Cozy Glow the same as the one from the previous stories?
No teasing, please, or some fakeout behind spoiler bars.
Yeah if I was Cozy I would have booked from the creep.
*balances upside down on his own shadow and discovers this still makes less sense than Discord.*
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From what I can remember of the Isekai chapter... it's complicated.