Enough
I cackled manically, my cape billowing in the wind.
"There is no escape, Trixie! Your days of being great and powerful end now!"
Trixie struggled in her straitjacket as she was lowered towards the whirring sawblades, the audience gasping in shock. The fact that she was upside down, suspended by nothing more than a thin hook from a crane, added to the suspense. As the straitjacket started to tear free from the hook, the audience gasped in horror, and I belted out another maniacal laugh and flailed uncontrollably.
"With you out of the way, there will be no one to stop the Mad Magician Cozy Glow from conquering Equestria's stage-magic scene, and soon, Equestria itself!"
"You'll never win, Mad Magician! You've forgotten a vital fact about Trixie!"
Just as the straitjacket tore free from the crane, Trixie sprang free from it and disappeared in a blast of smoke. I yelled in alarm and ran up, examining the sawblades that had been under her, consternation clearly writ on my face. Trixie's voice rang out behind me.
"Trixie... always has something up her new sleeves!" She gestured with her new coat at the audience, and then bucked me towards the sawblades. To all outward appearance, I turned into a cloud of bats and flew off into the sky, crying 'Curse you, Trixie Lulamoon! The Mad Magician shall have her revenge!', and then the curtains dropped to roaring applause.
Behind the curtain, Trixie and I shared a hoofbump and a laugh. She pranced a bit in place.
"Can you believe the turnout?! Trixie has not seen a crowd like this in years!"
I hoofpumped. "That dual-act idea really paid off! We'll have to think of some way to take things even further next time."
Trixie snickered as we started to make our way out from around the stage. "Well, Trixie does recall you saying something about using alchemy..."
I jumped slightly. "I thought you didn't want that stuff anywhere near your magic equipment, though!"
Trixie gave a shrug. "That was back when you were just an apprentice. Now that we've done a double-act, Trixie feels confident enough in your skills to... explore new options. Even if you remain the junior partner."
I rolled my eyes. "Come on, I only started practicing, what, a moon ago? Of course I'm still learning."
Trixie snickered and swatted me with her tail. "Careful, now. That kind of humility doesn't fit for Great and Powerful magicians such as we!"
I rolled my eyes in an exaggerated 'oh, you' expression, waving a hoof at her. "Whatever you say, Trixie. See you tomorrow for practice?"
"Naturally. See you then, Mad Magician."
As Trixie strode off, I took to the sky, trying to ignore the strain in my wings as I alighted on a nearby cloud. It does feel weird to be playing the role of a super-villain, even for fun.
"Hey, Cozy! Awesome show!"
I looked over to see a familiar rainbow-maned pegasus hovering next to my cloud, smiling at me somewhat awkwardly.
"Oh, hey, Dash. I didn't know you were watching!"
Dash gave a small shrug, alighting on the cloud next to me and settling in as we drifted back towards Ponyville proper. "Oh, I was watching from the air. Sitting still too long can make me antsy."
I snorted. "Oh, right. I remember you talking about that when you were in the hospital."
Dash leaned back and fixed me with a quizzical look, and I facehoofed. "Right, sorry, other timeline. We haven't really spoken since then, so I'm still sorting that out."
Dash frowned. "Hey, uh... sorry I haven't been around. I guess I had a lot of complicated feel—er, ideas about you, and then I just let it kinda slip away from me, y'know? It got kinda awkward."
I shook my head vehemently. "There's nothing to be sorry for! I'm the one who caused trouble. You don't owe me anything, y'know."
Dash laughed at that, confusing me. "I know that, Cozy. It's not a matter of what I owe somepony or whatever, it's just, like, what's right, I guess. Yeah, you did rotten stuff, but I also didn't manage to teach you better, right? And like, what good am I doing by avoiding you?" She gave a shrug. "I dunno, it just felt crummy of me. You were friends with me in that other timeline, right? It's not fair to you to have gone and made friends with me once, and then just have that yanked from under you and not even get another chance with me because I'm, y'know, awkward about this stuff."
I tried to process that. I failed. "Uhh... maybe I need more lessons, but that feels like it doesn't make any sense to me. Why should you care that I was friends with another you?"
Dash blew a raspberry and rolled her eyes. "I dunno if I can even really explain it, but I mean, it probably felt pretty awful for you, right?"
I hitched at that. "Well... yeah? But that's not your problem."
Dash fluttered her wings in annoyance, though I could tell it was more with herself than with me. "Yeah, well, it feels like my problem. Any time somepony feels like I let them down or didn't have their back, it feels like it's my problem."
"But I wasn't—I mean, I never felt like you let me down! I understand it would be unfair to expect you to just... roll with some friendship I made in another world."
Dash snorted and tapped me with a hoof. "Let me put it this way. If you're friends with Rainbow Dash, you're friends with Rainbow Dash, simple enough. Any world, any time, whatever's going on, you should know I have your back. And it sounds like we really were friends, so, that's that."
I gawped, trying to process that. "But that doesn't make sense! I—"
Dash silenced me with a hoof to my lips, and gave me a much more intense look than I associated with her. "So, Cozy... question. Let's say nopony at all remembered you when you came back. I mean nopony. Then you found out Luna was in trouble. Tell me...
Would you help her?"
I froze on the spot, like my train of thought had just crashed into a wall. I stammered for a moment before taking a deep breath and forcing myself to speak.
"O-of course. I mean, obviously! Of course I would!"
"And if you didn't remember her, but she remembered you, would you want that you to still help her? If you could somehow, I dunno, fling a memory into the future or whatever? Sorry, I know that's really weird—"
"Yes! Yes, of course! Don't worry, I get it!"
Dash sighed in relief and rubbed the back of her neck. "Oh, okay. Cool. Good. I didn't know if it would make much sense that way, haha!" She fluttered her wings again as she laughed. "I'm not the best at explaining that sort of thing, but that's how I feel. There was some me that wouldn't ever want me to forget about you, so, I'm not going to. Simple as that."
I laughed, shaking my head. "It's so simple, but it's so weird. Like how do you even explain the reasoning behind that?"
Dash guffawed. "Right?! Sometimes, if you can't figure out the precise way to explain something, it's best to just kinda roll with it. I'm sure Twilight would come up with something if I asked, but like... I don't feel like that's as important as conveying the feeling of it, anyway. Well, that's just me."
I guess, when Discord wanted to convince me I was wrong, he didn't just reason with me. He also impressed on me the importance of it all. Is that because I was irrational?
Well I was definitely that.
I shrugged. "I don't think that's a problem. And thanks for coming to see the show; I'm really glad you liked it."
Dash nodded vigorously. "Seriously! I actually dove in to catch Trixie when she fell towards the saws. I ended up getting an angle where I could see the trick, though, heh. Sorry."
I groaned. "Seriously? Dangit. We need better awnings for that stage..."
Dash shrugged and gave me a playful swat on the shoulder. "Hey, don't sweat it. It didn't make me appreciate the show any less. Kinda the opposite, actually; I can't believe it looks so realistic from the front!"
I snickered. "Forced perspective and layered backgrounds do some interesting stuff to how we see things."
Dash glanced up in the sky, rubbing her chin,. "Y'know, I wonder if the 'bolts could work some of that stuff into their show..."
My eyes lit up. "Oh, definitely! Because you guys perform most of your tricks above the audience, there's a predictable angle of view, which you can exploit in all sorts of ways! Like, look, I can show you what I mean!"
I took off, and Dash followed as I gathered together some clouds. I started shaping them and positioning them, making some of them concave and others convex relative to the ground. Once I'd finished lining them up, I led her to a specific point under the clouds and pointed up.
"Okay, see the illusion?"
Dash's eyes bugged out. "Whoa. It looks like they're all lined up, and if you moved that front one out of the way..."
"It would look like the one behind it suddenly got closer! Yeah! This is a really basic trick, but you can do all kinds of crazy stuff with simple tricks like this."
I was panting pretty hard from the flight, and I struggled to get back on the cloud we'd started on. I strained to get my wings folded again, and Dash looked seriously concerned when she landed next to me.
"Uh, Cozy? Are you alright?"
I panted and tried to stretch the cramps out of my wings. They just couldn't sit comfortably! "Yeah, I'm okay. My wings have just been really stiff lately."
Dash looked over my wings, a deep frown on her face. "I heard you had the crystal thing going on, but was it this bad before?"
I glanced at my wings. The crystallization had spread; every individual wing now had at least a little seam running through it, and several of my inner feathers were entirely encased now. The crystal was flexible enough that I could still move my wings, but there was a definite sense of strain to flying, now.
"No, it's been getting worse. Nopony's really sure why. Celestia's been pretty adamant nopony try to remove it; I tried preening one of the worst features off, and it hurt like crazy. She thinks it will get better, eventually, but I dunno..."
Dash winced. "W-well, she usually knows what she's talking about, right? She wouldn't just leave it if it was dangerous, right?"
I nodded slowly. "Yeah, I do trust her, and all. I just wish it didn't give me so much trouble flying, is all."
Dash considered that for a moment. "Do you know how to do proper wing stretches and exercises?"
I laughed. "Yeah, of course! You showed me!"
That got a facehoof out of her. "Of course I did! Well, have you been doing them?"
I frowned. "Not since I got back. I guess it would be a good idea to try, see if I can work this out..."
We both set off for the ground, and started going through the entire routine. A few wing-ups, some cloud-juggling, flexibility exercises – it was all harder than it should be, but I was getting through it. Then we came to the wingpower test.
Dash held me in place. "Okay, remember to angle so you 'fly' into the ground." I nodded. "Well, go ahead when you're ready, then."
I revved my wings, as hard as I could; the wingflaps were coming out much slower than the buzz I'd become used to, with each individual wingbeat feeling heavy and forceful, like I was bucking a tree. I could feel Dash straining to hold me in place.
"Well, your wingpower's not bad, but you're not angling it right." She grunted with effort as we slid aside a little bit, and I tried to angle my wings even farther up, to force myself further down.
"Sorry, Dash, I'm trying!"
Dash just nodded. "Yeah, I can see you've got a flexibility prob—OUCH! What the hay?!"
She dropped me and staggered, sucking on one of her hooves. I forced my wings closed with a wince and looked up at her in alarm. "What happened? Are you okay?"
Dash nodded, and removed her hoof and shook it irritably. "You shocked me! Were you trying to make a contrail, or something?"
I balked. "Do what now? I never learned how to make contrails!"
Dash cocked her head. "Seriously...?" She glanced upwards, then pointed her hoof there. "I want you to try flying, as fast as you can, in a tight circle. Maybe you're making contrails accidentally, or something."
I sighed and forced my wings back open, and took back to the air. I'm grateful for her help, but this is starting to really hurt. I started flying in a circle, but soon I heard her tutting from the ground.
"You've got to go a lot faster, Cozy! You should be beating your wings as hard as possible!"
I groaned and widened my circle; I didn't have the control to maintain any kind of tight circle at high-speed flight with my wings as stiff as they were. I felt myself start to pull forward, gaining speed, and I forced my wings to keep slamming against the air. The force of each beat rattled my jaw in my head, sent lances of pain up my spine, but I kept it up, until I'd hit my maximum speed. I just couldn't force any more power out of my wings.
It took me a couple of laps flying that way before I heard Dash calling me, and I gratefully descended, barely able to glide effectively. My wings felt like they were going to snap off, and I almost crashed; as it was, I staggered on landing and got a good face-plant for my efforts. I groaned, and strained to close my wings, but couldn't convince them to fold up. As I dragged myself up to my hooves, Dash ran up to me with clear concern on her face.
"Cozy, how were you doing that?"
I reached over with a hoof and tried to slowly massage one of my wings into closing. "Doing what? Flying really slow?"
Dash rolled her eyes. "No, not that! The sparks, and electricity, or whatever that stuff was!"
I was still struggling with my wing while I stared at her. "What the hay are you talking about? I didn't see anything like that."
Dash shook her head. "Every time you flapped your wings at full strength, you were shooting out these black, like... arcs. It was creepy. I was yelling at you to stop, but I don't think you could hear me over all of that."
I thought back and remembered some kind of weird noise as I was flying, but I'd chalked it up to the wind-rush. Plus, I was so fixated on blocking out the pain in my wings...
I shook my head. "I have no idea what that was, sorry. I didn't even know it was happening."
Dash frowned. "Well, you just make sure to show your mom, okay? And, if you want any help learning to get your pegasus magic or whatever under control, just let me know. I'm not really an expert on the theory of all that stuff, but I'm sure we can work through it all together."
I nodded gratefully as I finally massaged my wings closed. "Thanks, Dash. I think I'll need it."
Dash looked around awkwardly, and brushed the back of her mane again. "So, uhh... sun's about to go down, and I was going to see if you wanted to go for a little flight together, but given the circumstances, uhh... you wanna grab a bite to eat? I'll cover it."
We put on the show close to dusk so visibility would be a little more poor...
"Yeah, that sounds good to me. Thanks, Dash!"
She just smiled and shrugged, and we set off for Ponyville. She chewed her lip over for a minute before hitting on a topic of conversation.
"So, that magic show was really cool. You thinking of getting into that whole thing professionally?"
I shook my head with a laugh. "Heck no, it's just a hobby. It kinda reminds me of super heroics, y'know? Even though I'm playing a villain. Costumes, dramatic speeches, putting on a show, that sorta thing. It's nice. Plus, I'm picking up a lot of useful skills."
Dash nodded along. "Right, right... you wanted to be a hero again. I'd heard about that. I do find it kinda weird, though..."
I looked up at her in surprise. "You find it weird? Isn't heroing, like, your thing?"
Dash laughed uneasily. "Yeah, okay, sure, but that just sorta happens. Ponies need help and I go help them. It's not like I put on a costume and go look for trouble, though that is pretty cool. I guess I just find it a little weird, because it seems like you're sorta... fitting in, already? I dunno. I figured after the whole thing with the kirin village, maybe you'd changed focus."
I huffed. "Well... sorta, but that doesn't mean I've given up on being a hero. I want to help people. I want to do something."
Dash looked over at me quizzically. "Well, you did help those kirin, though. And you've definitely made Luna and Celestia happier, even I can see that. Isn't that enough?"
I frowned, and I thought it over in silence for a while before I responded. "It's not like I'm unhappy or anything... I just don't want to decide I'm satisfied and stop trying to do more. What would be the point of that?"
Dash walked in silence for a few moments, thinking it over herself. "I guess, uh... what I want to know is, what is it that's bugging you so much? Like, you say you want to be a hero, is that just how you want to be, or is there, like... some sorta reason?"
I huffed and adjusted my throbbing wings. "I don't know! It's just... like, if the map hadn't sent me, what would have happened with River and Pine? How many other ponies are there out there like that? How many more ponies out there are in trouble like I was with Bree? What if somepony is like I was out there in the woods," I pointed to the Everfree Forest, "and they don't have a Sunset Shimmer in their lives to help them back out of it?"
Dash looked at me in surprise. She studied me with a neutral expression, making me distinctly uncomfortable, and then nodded. "Okay."
I was a little thrown by that. "Huh?"
Dash shrugged as she looked back forward and we continued on. "Okay. That makes sense to me."
I scoffed. "That makes one of us... I can't figure out how I feel about it all myself."
Dash smirked at me. "Well, it's not that different from what I described earlier, right? I want to be there for my friends, even if they're not exactly my friends. You want to make sure that whenever there's somepony in the same situation you were in, there's somepony to answer the call. It's like... I dunno, it's like a promise we make. Or a decision, or whatever." She shrugged. "Don't know what to call it, but I get it. I think it's a good thing for you to work towards, and if I can help out, just let me know."
I was stunned silent by that. She really understands how I feel, even if I don't...? It seems like it just clicks for her.
How can she be so comfortable in her own skin like that? Can I be like that, too?
At length, I smiled back at her, and nodded.
"Thanks, Dash."
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Such a heel!
Good save.
Clearly there just needs to be more of her.
10048336
"And into her own reflection she stared,
Yearning for one whose reflection she shared,
And solemnly sweared not to be scared
At the prospect of being doubly mared."
10048436
I was thinking that, but then I remembered they sealed that up.
Well, I think they put a rock in front of the hole. So that's barred forever.
Huh, that was some of the best RD writing i've seen. Good job!
Awww yeah, what I desperately hope is cute and fluffy shenanigans.
Please be cute and fluffy shenanigans...
Okay, that was all fucking great.
Oh dear.
Excuse me while I get wine and my pipe. This should be good.
I see Rainbow Dash is an adherent of Timeless Decision Theory.
... Damnit, Solo, every time you do anything weird with formatting, I get paranoid.
I felt pretty cheeky with the Less Wrong pull, but this conversation got Less Wrong levels of trippy hypothetical real fast.
I mean... yeah...
Oh no. She's getting ideas.
Awesome ideas.
Pffft
Uh... what the fuck.
Celestia knows conversational judo, but Dash knows conversational Wing-chun. Just throwing blows and parries till she nails the target.
Man, I feel for you, filly.
Also... I wonder if Human!Dash's secret friendship plans play into to this, or if that shoe is still waiting to drop.
10056579
This story has a lot of mood whiplash, both for the characters and the readers. Cozy's life is full of swerves.
10056597
Problematic family was hinted at, but not brought up directly, because she didn't want to think about it and had no direct reason to. Take that for what you will.
Nooooo I ran out of chapters to read
10064009
I know right.
Trixie has a habit of forming iconic duos with just about everypony she meets, doesn’t she?
Something’s gone wrong here. This is the dream trick. Either the dark magic’s back or something’s messing with her. (Could be herself)
Today on “the part of pegasus magic nobody talks about” show. ..
Okay, I'm done. Which means...
It's time for a final review. Of everything. This has been quite the journey. All the way from The Hero to the Mirror to here, so much has changed. And we've been with Cozy through it all, and it's been a rough ride.
As a whole, all four stories don't appear to have any idea what they're doing. As I'm thinking to myself about recommending this series, I find myself struck with how much there's an audience disparity. Some people I would recommend the Mirror and not The Hero, and others quite the opposite. The people who I think would appreciate Never Alone would be people who really get into both and really appreciate domestic drama - a bit like a slightly-fantastical soap opera, really.
I laud praise on the Mirror, only really feeling as though the ending could have been better. It's the best of these stories for its cohesion, singular message, and an idea it stuck to the entire way, even if it was rather hopeless. It does what it set out to do, and does it very well.
The Hero comes next, because it's FUN. It's got some drama, but for the most part it's just a great delight full of laughs, fun times, and an aura I could see the actual show having. Here, at the end of Never Alone, I still miss those times and secretly want Cozy to get back to it just... well, for selfish reasons.
Never Alone is next. (the Christmas Special kinda fell flat for me, seeming to have almost no idea what it was doing.) And Never Alone... i'm conflicted. Not in the way I was conflicted with The Mirror, simply because it ran contrary to the Hero, but for other reasons. I've mentioned the pacing, which I still believe is all over the place - it feels more like I'm watching a clip show than reading a book, or even watching episodes of a TV show. And then we slow down and get into deep topics for longer arcs, and I love it. Even the arc with Bree, I loved in the end, simply because of how it managed to tie everything together at the end and address virtually every thought I had.
And in reading this last chapter, I finally realized something else that kept me from getting as into the story: it's turned into, largely, a domestic drama. Sure, it takes place in Equestria, but the story has since shifted to family interactions, trauma recovery, and the like. It's nothing like The Hero, and it isn't like The Mirror either. It almost feels as though the contract with the audience established in both those stories was broken here.
Is that a bad thing? I'm honestly not sure. For me, though, I've tended never to enjoy straight, domestic dramas. Or comedies, for that matter. I'm addicted to the fantastical, and that's entirely my taste.
In the end, you have a good story here, and I'll be hanging on -- I've gotten too attached to Cozy NOT to. I'll never say it's my favorite, but it does enough things and tackles enough issues and takes enough risks that I have to respect it on that aspect alone. Here's to seeing where you go next.
-GM, master of the League of Sweetie Belles.
And finally... caught up. At least for now.
Okay, overall? Congratulations. You managed to do for free what the show failed to do when paid. You did Cozy Glow good. You gave her a good backstory, reasons for why she turned out like she did, and managed to make it entertaining as I follow her throughout.
I won't say I've had problems or disagreements with some of the things in here. This is admittedly on me and my own real-life hangups concerning redemption, forgiveness and the like. And that sometimes it's hard for me to separate your Cozy from the half-dimensional cipher the show vomited out.
Seriously, I actually don't have much of a problem with her being petrified since I'm not entirely sure what she is. Great fuck-up, FIM!
Anyway... again, this has been a great ride so far.
Wait, this is the last chapter? Aww... And I was really getting into it, too...
Whelp, guess I’ll just wait for more chapters which will hopefully include Cozy Glow, Diamond Tiara and the Crusaders(and Silver Spoon, I guess...) going to Sunset’s Isekai for Frappuccinos.
10068757
Well, they could’ve purposefully left it open ended on that note for the sequel series or another movie set in FIM...
But, eh, just a theory.
10075861
I mean, the story is still listed as incomplete and I'm pretty sure I recall seeing a comment where Solobrony mentioned being in the process of writing the next chapters. I could be mistaken though. And I haven't actually been able to read for myself to see cause I've been busy as of late.
10075861
I'm still working on more chapters. My marathon-drive for this fic petered out at the same time a lot of other stuff came up to distract me, but I think about it every day and try to get the next chapter done. Hopefully I'll get some momentum again soon.
10082905
Glad to hear you’re still working on it(though that was not a worry of mine). Really looking forward to the next adventure!
10172304
Don't worry. It's easily possible for me to distinguish between fantasy and reality on occasion.
Thank you for your concern, however.
----
Edit: In all seriousness, I have no idea why I wrote that, since I don't think I've ever written a comment before on any story. Maybe I should get more sleep.
Has SoloBrony moved on from this story?
10221277
No, I just haven't been able to write for a few months.
10221613
Perfectly understandable, thanks for the reply. You are one of my favorite authors on the site by the way.
10223010
Aww, thanks! I'm glad all of it reached somebody. Hopefully I'll be able to get back to it soon.
10068757
Well, "pony" is right out because Discord doesn't turn ponies to stone.