The Ghost of Cozy Glow the Second Story

by SapphireRose87

8) In Memory of George and Betty

“Boy,” said Robert, “you sure slept like a log for the past couple of hours. Can’t say that I blame you.”

Now that I was awake, I really did not want to move. I wanted to pretend that whatever happened last night didn’t happen. But unfortunately, the evidence was stacked against me.

Great, I thought, now I’m going to have to choose between them.

“I have an idea of what you’re thinking,” Robert said, “that you’re going to have to choose between the both of us, we figured you might think something like that.”

“How’d you figure that out?” I said.

“‘Cause,” said Robert, “Sunset and I had the same thing happen to us. We don’t want you to feel that way at all.”

“Okay?” I said.

“Sunset and I both talked about it,” said Robert, “and we’ve agreed that you can have both of us.”

“So what happens now?” I said.

“It’s up to you if you want to make it official or not," Robert said.

It didn’t take me long to think about it. I’m still not sure how I made my decision so quickly even ‘til this day.

“You know what?” I said.

“What?” Robert said.

“Let’s make it official," I said.

“That was quick,” said Robert, “I’ll tell Sunset later.”

Robert then smiled at me, at this time I really wasn’t sure of what was going to happen next.

“I want to ask you something," Robert said.

“What?” I said.

“I know you enlisted after Betty died,” said Robert, “but it was really five years ago when you changed into someone else. Does it have something to do with George dying?”

“Do you know how he died?” I said.

Robert shook his head. “No, all I know is he was fine one week and then gone the next.”

“He committed suicide,” I said matter of factly, “and I was just as powerless to stop him as it was the same way with Betty.”

“It must’ve had a deep effect on you,” said Robert, “you to tell me what happened?”

“Sure,” I said.

As much as I didn’t want to talk about it I told Robert the whole story:

“Five years ago, was when I had met George right after graduating from the joint college high school program. That was right after I had broken up with my girlfriend Elisabeth.”

I continued, “George seemed to be a really happy guy. He was even happier when I said yes to dating him. To me he was my Knight in shining armor. We dated for two years when I made up my mind. I wanted to be with him forever. I bought an engagement ring for him and was going to propose to him the very next day. I wished I had done it the first thing in the morning, but I decided I was going to do it that afternoon. I was running some errands to get set up to propose to him.”

I took a moment to collect myself and continued, “When I got home that afternoon was when I found him. He was hanging from the balcony of the stairs. I couldn’t believe my eyes at what I was seeing even when his body was taken down and put in a body bag.”

“Ever since then, I kept thinking if I had proposed to him the day before, maybe it would’ve given him something to live for. I tried to move on a year later by dating men and women, but no one could replace George.”

* * *

That afternoon Sunset said she didn’t want to train me because it was a holiday. When I remembered what holiday it was, I had a pit in my stomach. It was Hearts and Hooves day, the same day George died. The two holidays I don’t like celebrating are Hearts and Hooves day and Nightmare Night because that’s Betty’s birthday.

At 11 o’clock I went to visit George’s grave as I do every year. This time when I visited however, I noticed Olivia was hovering over me.

So much for being alone! I thought.

“This is someone that was very important to you when they were alive, weren’t they?” asked Olivia.

“Yeah think?” I hissed. “What are you doing here?”

“Oh,” said Olivia, “I wanted to see if you wanted to come to the party today?”

“Party?” I asked, wondering where the conversation was going.

“Yes!” exclaimed Olivia, “it’s one huge celebration for Hearts and Hooves day! There’s going to be live music there too!”

“No thanks,” I said, “I don’t celebrate this holiday!”

“What, is it against your beliefs or something?” nagged Olivia.

I sighed. I was getting very irritated at this point. “No I don’t belong to any religion in Equestria! So, it’s more like, or something!”

“Hey, what’s this guy’s tombstone? It is a guy isn’t it?” Inquired Olivia.

“What do you think?” I scoffed.

“George Monterey?” Olivia asked. “I heard that guy died five years ago. He was a pretty healthy guy too. No one knows why he died. I take it you do?”

“Yes, he was my boyfriend five years ago and I’m not saying another word.” I snapped.

“So you’re gay?” Olivia said.

“Does it matter?” I said, “No, I’m bisexual.”

“I get it,” said Olivia, “so you date women too?”

I did a face palm and rubbed my temple. I really wanted to turn Olivia into a punching bag right now.

“The party’s not going to be that bad!” Olivia argued, “hey, maybe you’ll get a girlfriend out of it.”

“No thanks,” I said, “I have a girlfriend and a boyfriend too.”

Olivia’s jaw dropped, “When did that happen?”

“Yesterday,” I said, “I really don’t feel like talking about it.”

“Well,” said Olivia, “you can bring them to the party also.”

I didn’t have to turn around to see that Discord was right behind me.

“Discord!” I said, “What do you want?”

“Oh come on Norman,” said Discord, “call me dad for a change will you?”

“No,” I said, “for the last time, I’m not calling you dad! You’re not my father!”

“Actually I am your father,” said Discord, “Flutteshy and I adopted you right after Betty died.”

“And you’re telling me this now because?” I said.

“Oh I just figured now was the right time,” said Discord, “especially because you were busy with your friends. You can find the certificate of adoption at the Town Hall. Just like when you adopted Amethyst! Oh yeah, I also wanted to say this yesterday, Happy Gottcha day!”

I growled. “I’m going to have to talk to Fluttershy about this.”

“Sure,” said Discord, “whatever you want Ta-Ta for now!”

Just perfect, I thought, I’ll have to check out some paperwork at Town Hall now.

Olivia was looking at me with a concerned look on her face.

“You going to be okay Norman?” Olivia said.

“Olivia shut up and leave me alone will you?” I snapped, “I have to go check on something and no I’m not coming to the party!”

“Okay then,” said Olivia, “I guess I’ll just see you when we go back out to capture William then.”

I didn’t say another word, I just got up and walked away.

* * *

Later that day, I went to the town hall and talked to the secretary about the records on Cozy Glow and I.

“Ah,” the secretary said, “here you go Norman Jewel and here’s your adoption records for Amethyst Rose.”

“Thank you," I said.

“It’s no problem at all,” the secretary said, “I’ll just be waiting here when you’re ready to put those back in your file.”

“Sure thing..." I said.

The first thing I checked was my records and sure enough, on the top of the paperwork was a certificate of adoption. It listed Discord as my father and Fluttershy as my mother.

No wonder why he’s so persistent about me calling him dad, I thought, I’m still not going to because this is Discord we’re talking about here.

I then looked at the records for when I adopted Cozy Glow. It listed her as Amethyst Rose. Then I saw it having me listed as her father and the mother as “N/A.”

That’s fine because you only need one parent to adopt. It helps keep orphans off the streets as much as possible.

Why didn’t they tell me that I was adopted? I thought.

I brought the records back to the secretary and went home.

* * *

That very night, I was summoned to the Land of the Dead. Betty was there to greet me again.

“I brought you here because I wanted to talk to you about something," Betty said.

“What is it?’ I said.

“I understand you feel you couldn’t protect me right?” Betty said.

“Right?” I said.

“Follow me!” Betty said.

Went from the Castle in Hell and surprisingly there are libraries in Hell. Betty didn’t even have to ask the receptionist for the book she was looking for.

She found the book and handed it to me. It was a history book that I had to read in history class. It was a book about Betty and how she became the Legendary Death Walker.

“You recognize this book,” said Betty, “don’t you?”

“Yes I do,” I said, “it’s a history book that I had to read in history class.”

“Do you recognize who it’s about?” Betty asked.

“Yes,” I said, “it’s about you.”

“Do you think I needed protection back then?” Betty said, “I wasn’t a damsel in distress you know. Sure you weren’t there when I was growing up and you weren’t the only one…”

“Ah…” I said. I had nothing to say to her. I just stared at the history book.

“It’s not just me is it?” Betty said, “there’s someone else right?”

“It was a boyfriend I had five years ago named George Monterey," I said, “He did the same thing you did!”

“I thought you weren’t gay!” Betty said.

“I’m bisexual,” I said, “there’s a difference. What realm was he placed in?”

“He was sent to Hell…” Betty said.

“Can I see him?” I said.

Betty sighed, ”Unfortunately no, unless you’re royalty, it is forbidden for a citizen to leave their realms. And trust me, the royal family is huge in Hell.”

“I already fought a demon named Theodore,” I said, “I take it he’s royalty?”

“Yup,” said Betty, “he’s a prince unfortunately. A very arrogant jerk! I wish I could sink him into the abyss too, just like I did Lucifer!”

“Well,” I said, “I sent him back to Hell for you.”

“Well thanks for that,” said Betty, “but there is a possibility that he could leave again. I wish I could just throw him in a dungeon and strip him of his title!”

I laughed, ”He might be as bad as Jasper!”

“Who’s Jasper?” Betty asked.

“That idiot is the definition of the word coward!” I said, “I think that’ll be his nickname for the rest of his life! My superior John is about ready to have him sacked from the military! He won’t even be able to work on a police force if that happens!”

At that comment Betty and I couldn’t contain our laughter.

“So do you feel a little bit better about me dying?” Betty asked.

“I’ll work on moving on from that,” I said, “but it’s going to take a while.”

“That’s fine,” said Betty, “take as much time as you need. I’m not going to push you like people pushed me.”

“That’s fine,” I said, “but if you ask me, George is the very definition of the word jerk! I wonder if I had proposed to him a day earlier would he still be alive?”

“Well,” said Betty, “we can’t turn back the hands of time. Who knows what was going through his head? He probably had his reasons for not talking to you about it. You can’t feel guilty about that ‘cause he took his own life and you didn’t.”

“I don’t feel bad about him dying,” I said, “I just think he’s a big jerk for leaving me behind!”

“I understand,” said Betty, “it’s time for you to go now, it’s almost daylight in the Land of the Living.”

* * *

The next day, I finally got a chance to train with Sunset. I guess today’s lesson was about how to draw out my Death Walker abilities without using my sword. Sunset stood off to the side and took out of her pocket what looked like a pocket watch.

“This is a diff kind of watch,” said Sunset, “it’s a standard protocol watch that’s used to train death walker’s. This will help you draw out your death walker abilities. When you feel an attack that needs to be released go ahead and let it out. ‘Cause if you don’t it’ll do more harm than good. Got it?”

“Got it!” I replied.

Sunset then swung the watch back and forth. It was as if on cue it felt like I had a really bad case of heartburn and top of that it felt like I had swallowed a rock. There was no way I could’ve held that in. I let it out of my mouth and what came out looked like a small grenade. It hit the tree in front of me and cut the tree down. Sunset took cover by a nearby rock. After that I threw up right where I was standing.

“Well that was interesting,” said Sunset, “You know Amethyst can make arrows from her mouth so she doesn’t have to reload. From the looks of it there’s now way you could’ve held that attack in!”

“Yeah think?” I said.

I felt like I was going to be sick. Just like the first time I saw John take that dead body apart.

“Okay,” said Sunset, “that’s enough training for today. You okay?”

“Nope,” I said, “not okay at all…”

* * *

The next morning I woke up with Sunset on top of me.

“Yup,” said Sunset, “I knew you were going to wake up soon.”

I looked over to see that the bedroom door was open.

“Seriously dude,” I said, “could you at least close the door first?”

“Let me think,” said Sunset, “nah I’m good.”

“How’d you know I was going to wake up?” I said.

Sunset shrugged, “I just knew…”