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Prologue: The Greatest Mistake1,561 words
Chapter 1: No Longer Dead2,643 words
Chapter 2: Guardian Devil3,785 words
Chapter 3: A New Prison4,134 words
Chapter 4: Going Mad2,435 words
Chapter 5: Into the Woods2,288 words
Chapter 6: Meet and Greet3,546 words
Chapter 7: Who You Are2,395 words
Chapter 8: Help!1,908 words
Chapter 9: Defeat2,705 words
Chapter 10: Q&A2,893 words
Chapter 11: On The Hunt4,070 words
Chapter 12: Confrontation5,493 words
Chapter 13: Negotiations3,583 words
Chapter 14: There1,796 words
Chapter 15: Friends Secondly3,077 words

Chapter 12: Confrontation

Talking with Star Scout had left Cozy absolutely buzzing with excitement. The colt was smart, almost as smart as herself, maybe more so if she was being honest. It was a miracle that of all the ponies in the wide world of Equestria she could have run into, it would be him. It had been hours since lunch and all they had done was talk and talk and talk on the bank of the little stream. She hadn’t wanted to stop, the intriguing colt constantly bringing a new and exciting topic to the table to discuss, carrying them both into excitable conversation after excitable conversation.

The best part, of course, was that he hadn’t even once attempted to delve into her past or her crimes. He had been far more interested in normal things like school, nature, and cities he wanted to visit between long hikes. Whenever he asked her a question, it wasn’t to try to reveal more about herself he wanted to know, but rather her opinions on things. He genuinely listened to and cared about what she had to say concerning anything from travel destinations to math curriculums. The entire time, he was wholeheartedly engaged in conversation, somehow being naturally gregarious on top of all of his other traits. Cozy slowly found herself familiarizing with the completely different colt, envious of just how happy and good he was.

He had even shown her a few tricks about the woods while they talked. When she had grown thirsty after talking for a while, Star had picked some leaves from launa fern and made a weird straw out of them. After demonstrating how to build it in only a few minutes, they took turns drinking out of the cool stream with it. The leaves made it taste sweet as sugar cane while also preventing any dirt or bacteria from passing through. Genuinely impressed, Cozy couldn’t help but try to replicate the straw over and over, the new trick equally important for hiking and entertaining to try.

Now, however, as the sun was setting, Star had insisted that they needed to get back to the hotel, since he had promised they wouldn’t be late for dinner this time. Stomach growling from the energy she had burnt excitedly talking with the colt for so long, she reluctantly agreed. Standing up and taking his proffered hoof to help her up the slope of the hill, they made their way back to the hotel. She didn’t know why she was smiling with him as they silently made their way up the hill, giggling at each other as they did so.

Panting as she reached the top, she noticed a strange look on Star’s face as he looked down at the stream. The light of sunset gave a weird solemness to the forest, contrasting with how playful she had just been feeling. Frowning at the sudden change in mood, she stepped a little closer to him and softly asked, “Hey, what’s the matter Star?”

“Well… I don’t mean to be a downer,” the colt began reluctantly, glancing between her and the hotel. There was another moment of silence, and for a second Cozy was worried he wouldn’t speak his mind. However, with a short sigh, he looked her in the eye and asked, “Cozy, how long do you plan to be here?”

“What… do you mean,” she inquired fearfully. Was he afraid of her staying too long? Did something she say or do scare him? Was he-

“I’d really like it if you stayed a bit longer,” he admitted with a small smile that vanished after only a few seconds. “To be honest, it’s kinda lonely around here. I don’t have any friends, so it’s just me, my parents, and the forest out here. It’s not a bad life by any means… but having somepony else around is nice.”

“Aw, thanks,” Cozy replied shyly, eyes darting to the hotel. Did they really have to go yet? She still wanted to talk, and, hoping to delay the inevitable time that he would make them go inside, she asked him, “Well, why don’t you have many friends. I know the town’s a little ways up the road, but for somepony like you that wouldn’t stop you?”

“I’d… um… I’d rather not say,” Star mumbled, looking away from Cozy shamefully. Her gut wrenched at the sight of the kindly colt, usually cheerful and affable, frowning in sadness and shame. She wanted to push the point but let it go. After all, who was she to demand to know everything about him when he had so kindly let her keep her secrets to herself.

“Then again, it’s not much of a secret anyway, just a personal problem,” the colt suddenly added, startling Cozy and making her perk up.

“You don’t have to tell me,” she assured him, still hoping he would share. “Trust me, I understand perfectly.”

“Which is why I hope this might help you a little,” Star stated, voice suddenly determined. Pausing, he looked down at his shoulder, and following his gaze, Cozy was surprised to find her own hoof resting there. For a moment, she just stared as her cheeks flushed. She hadn’t done that consciously! In a panic, she looked back up into Star’s eyes as her own shrank in strange fear. Why was she afraid? He was harmless, but when his eyes met hers, it made her heart pound more than the thought of returning to stone. Before she could remove her hoof, he took it himself, holding onto it after he moved it down.

“Ponies… aren’t perfect,” he sighed, shrugging his shoulders sadly while staring at her hoof. Looking back up at her, he chuckled sadly and said, “But I guess you know that pretty well too.”

“What’d they do to you,” she asked breathlessly, inching slightly closer.

“Well… I try to do my best to be kind to everypony and never let anypony feel bad about themselves, but for one reason or another, some ponies aren’t so receptive to kindness,” Star sadly explained. “For years, I was made fun of and bullied in school for trying to be the best pony I could. I didn’t change a thing because I hoped that, when we all got older, they would understand I wasn’t trying to be condescending or manipulative. I just like helping ponies. One of the main reasons I wanted to graduate school early was to get away from them. After so many years of trying and failing, I knew I had to move on. Maybe when we’re all adults they’ll recognize I was just trying to be nice to them, but until then, I’m trying my best to stay away. Less harmful for the both of us.”

“So you used to fight back,” Cozy questioned in disbelief.

“No, of course not,” Star declared. “I wouldn’t lay a hoof on them no matter what. That doesn’t really track in some ponies’ minds though, and they would hit me from time to time. I got pretty good at dodging it or just tanking the hit. Either way, it’s better now that I’m not around them. I really hope they didn’t just move onto another pony to bully, though. I’d feel bad if me running away put somepony else in a bad position.”

“Wow, you’re kinda dense when you’re being selfless,” Cozy noted, anger bubbling in her stomach. With a growl, she exclaimed, “That right there is the problem with ponies, though! They present themselves as some righteous and noble species above intolerance and such, when in actuality they’re just as uppity and selfish as any dragon or griffin. They just have the arrogance to hide it behind a smile.”

“Well, ponies aren’t that bad, Cozy,” Star instantly stated, surprising her with how determined his voice was. In spite of what he had just relayed to her, he looked confident in what he said next. “Ponies aren’t bad just because they aren’t perfect, Cozy. You should know this as well as anypony else, because at the end of the day, there will always be that one moment in our life that we’re ashamed of. I think what makes Equestria a place of good and kind ponies isn’t the fact that they’ve never been bullies, but the fact that they are always encouraged to grow out of it. I believe that if we keep teaching ponies that friendship and kindness are the path to a happier life, then less and less foals will have to grow out of being bullies. It’s just hard with so much chaos in life, y’know?”

“And what’s your moment you’re ashamed of,” Cozy challenged, sitting down crossly. She wasn’t mad at him, but at the blatant lies he seemed to believe. She had seen exactly what friendship gave a pony, and it wasn’t a happy life like he was saying.

“Well, I don’t think I’ve had that moment yet,” he shrugged factually. Coming from anypony else, Cozy would’ve found it proud or conceited, yet from him it was probably the truth considering how much of an innocent colt he was. “Don’t get me wrong, I definitely think that someday I’ll have my bad moment, but I don’t think it’s happened yet. There’s nothing I’m ashamed of or that I wish had never happened. I’m content with my past. I’m guessing that sometime between now and my twentieth birthday, I’ll have a big ol’ slip up and have to clean up whatever mess I make. Honestly though, I’m looking forward to it.”

“What, why would you look forward to trouble,” Cozy questioned, a disbelieving smile escaping her. He chuckled at it, rubbing the back of his head with a hoof as he glanced away for a brief moment.

“Think of it like this: when you’re on a hike deep in the forest and you’re trying to get to a really cool spot like a hidden pool or hollowed tree, you know what you’re looking for, but you don’t know what’s on the way there,” he explained slowly. “Most of the time, you’re just stumbling your way to that incredible little spot in the woods, unfamiliar with your surroundings or what could be on your path. Suddenly, you trip over something and crush a little flower. It’s sad that the flower got crushed by your stumbling, but since you didn’t outright see it and decide to step on it, this whole situation was just an accident. Now you know to look out for those little flowers and be careful of roots and logs. From time to time, you might make similar mistakes, but that’s okay. You’re a trailblazer in the great woods, and no matter how much you like it, the woods aren’t so kind to you. It’s just how nature works. In my eyes, that’s life. A treasure hunt in the woods!”

“Bit of an optimistic way of looking at it,” Cozy grumbled, reflecting on her own misdeeds. If a normal pony’s mistake would be accidentally smashing a little flower, hers would be like burning down the entire forest.

Reading the filly’s dour expression, he gave her a cheerful smile and nudged her, stating, “I think I’m a little jealous of you, actually. No offense, but you’ve gotten that bad moment out of you already and you have so much time to learn from it! I mean, most ponies have to go through thinking what they know life’s like and then have their bad moment to really learn them. For you, though, you have the opportunity to be smarter than all of us when it comes to life! You get a lot of time to learn and grow while the rest of us fumble around for a bit first.”

“Heh, lucky,” Cozy scoffed quietly, shaking her head. “Lucky that I’ll forever be remembered as one of Equestria’s greatest threats?”

“Lucky because you get to change that narrative, Cozy,” Star exclaimed encouragingly. “Think! Chrysalis and Tirek will always be the villains that attempted to destroy Equestria, and you’ll be the one who decided to do something different once it was all over. You chose to learn and show everypony both how good you could be and how good they should be too!”

“So... redemption for an ‘I told you so’,” the filly frowned, raising a brow at the enthusiastic colt.

“Yeah, but not quite,” he backtracked, his confidence fading as he began stumbling over his own words. “I meant more showing than saying. Helping them get the point, y’know?”

“It won’t matter,” Cozy sighed, sitting back on her haunches in defeat. “Nopony’d ever see me as anything more than that filly villain. I don’t even know if I really want to change. After all, I’m not really a good filly.”

“Coulda convinced me,” Star mumbled softly, staring her dead in the eye. As always, he was telling the truth. Cozy could see it in the way his eyes were hopeful that she would recognize what he saw in her, and sad that she hadn’t yet. A lump formed in her throat immediately, knowing he did, in fact, believe she wasn’t a bad pony. Feeling a few tears beginning to form, she threw her hooves around his neck without warning, eliciting a short yelp from him.

“You’re the best pony ever,” she declared, holding onto him tightly. He let out a hesitant chuckle as he proceeded to wrap his hooves around her as well, returning the tight embrace.

“Thanks, but I don’t think that’s quite true,” he protested softly, sounding embarrassed.

“Oh, don’t kid yourself, Star,” she demanded, still holding tightly to him. “Even Twilight doesn’t have hay on you and she’s the flippin’ Princess of Friendship. Nopony’s ever been as kind, welcoming, or forgiving as you. Not in all of Equestria. I don’t know what made me run into you here, but I’m really glad I did because I’ve never had anypony like you in my life. In all of Equestria, I haven’t made a friend until I stumbled into you.”

“Aw, that’s the sweetest thing anypony’s ever told me,” Star gushed warmly, his own hug tightening confidently as he tucked his head against the back of her head. “I’m glad I could be your friend too, Cozy. You really are a wonderful filly.”

Hearing Star say that gave her a warm feeling in her entire body, like she had just stepped into the summer sun. Smiling brightly, eyes squeezed shut as she focused on just enjoying the hug she needed all too badly, they held the moment. The young pegasus felt like she could have remained there forever without a problem, but after what felt like only a few seconds, she felt Star suddenly stir slightly.

“Horsefeathers,” he exclaimed, suddenly tearing away just enough for him to look her in the eye. “It’s dark out now and I promised we’d be in before supper! They’re gonna be worried we aren’t back yet!”

“We can just tell them we got carried away,” she suggested with a shrug. “I mean, we did!”

“They may, uh… take that the wrong way…” Star pointed out with a cute blush.

Rolling her eyes, Cozy reminded him, “They think I’m, like, ten or something still. Unless you’re secretly a creep around your parents, they won’t have anything to take the wrong way. Hay, we could blame my ‘young’ age on a little misadventure or something.”

“Nah, it’ll be okay, we don’t have to lie,” Star quickly said, standing up and reaching out a hoof for her.

Smiling gratefully at him, she took it and let him gently pull her up. Though it was clear he was still worried about how late they had now stayed out talking, he was doing his best to hide it. Years of hiding her intentions and discovering other ponies’ had taught her it was probably to make sure she didn’t feel responsible if he got in trouble. Smiling even harder at the thought, she decidedly stood by what she had said earlier. He really was the best pony ever, not a single mistake or flaw in sight.

He really was what Equestria stood for, a perfectly accepting, kind, and flawless pony who strove for others’ happiness because it made him happy. How somepony like him could exist in such a hypocritical and disappointing world was beyond her. The way she had it figured, though, is that in a universe of so many possibilities, there was the possibility that Star was the one-in-a-billion pony that was perfect. It made her giddy for some reason, excited to not only be friends with him, but to do better. She wanted to be like him, carelessly happy and always eager to help. He had proven the Equestrian promise could be fulfilled. Maybe even someone like her could achieve it.

The task felt nigh on impossible, considering her past, but as soon as she began to doubt herself, Star’s kind words came to mind. She could change the narrative, and not through force like she thought she would have to before. Just a few months ago, the only way she thought she would ever be able to achieve even half the amount of kindness Star had shown her was through dominance. Friendship was power, after all. Nothing had changed her mind on that, but her ideas on power were beginning to change. She could feel it.

She had been powerful before, unstoppable by any creature in Equestria, even the Princesses, Chrysalis, and Tirek. But then they had all teamed up and stopped the three of them and removed their “power”. That had only again proven that friendship was power, but she was naive to think it could be conquered or controlled like a country. No, an Empress of Friendship was impossible when friendship was a choice ponies made. Until now, though, she hadn’t thought to use any other way to utilize it than force and manipulation, the tools that had built Equestria itself.

And maybe that was why Equestria was flawed in its promise.

It wasn’t a nation built by unity and friendship, but through a much more hidden and dark history. War had unified Equestria under Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, not friendship and magic. The threat Sombra presented to ponykind was enough to force it together, and after that threat was dealt with through blood, conquest, and power, it left a nation torn apart. How it remained together and became the relatively peaceful Equestria with docile and dim ponies was still beyond her, but the nation had not begun purely through kind words and eager promises. One day she would find out what had happened, and maybe with that information she could make the Equestria she envisioned, the one she had once…

The sudden gust of warm air from inside the hotel blowing across her face as Star opened the door for her interrupted her thoughts. She hadn’t realized how cold she was getting, her relatively thin coat unprepared for the oncoming winter. Being frozen in stone had done that to her, stopping her coat from naturally thickening and growing out like it should have at least a month back. Shaking herself out once she had stepped through the door to compose herself a little better, she glanced back at Star with a thankful smile. He was such a gentlecolt. How could anypony have ever bullied him for being kind?

“Sorry we’re home late, Mom,” Star shouted towards the front of the small hotel. The doorless entry to the kitchen was empty, and there wasn’t a response immediately, which left the colt giving Cozy a look of confusion.

“Maybe they… didn’t hear,” she suggested hesitantly.

“We’re in the kitchen, dear,” Aspen suddenly called back, immediately disproving Cozy.

“Or not,” she shrugged, smirking at herself. Watching Star’s worried expression dissipate at his mother’s voice, she felt a tug on her heartstrings. In spite of how affable the colt was, he had a hidden anxiety in him from losing his biological parents. She could see clear as day that, had his mother not responded, his calm demeanor wouldn’t have remained intact long. Shaking away the negative thoughts, both for herself and him, she nudged him and asked, “Shall we?”

“After you,” he insisted with a small smile. Returning the grin, she made the short walk to the kitchen with Star following closely behind. Maybe it was because she had forgotten, maybe it was because she was comfortable around Star, or maybe it was because she just didn’t pay attention like she should, but without a moment to look or listen, she stepped into the kitchen.

There were three things she noticed right away as she halted just inside the small dining area, Star softly bumping into her. Firstly was the nervous, almost fearful, expressions on the faces of Aspen and Oak as Cozy entered with their son. The way their eyes were merely pinpricks sent a cold shock through her. The last time she had seen eyes like that were when she had been an alicorn, falsified by chaos magic and power. Ponies would look up at her as if she were about to crush them with her little hooves.

The second thing she noticed was the pair of unicorns near the back of the dining area, where the kitchen truly started. Her eyes narrowed as she immediately recognized the purple, ponytailed Starlight Glimmer seemingly caught off-guard. Her presence shattered every positive emotion she had been feeling, leaving her tense, angry, and ready for a fight. She would not let that mare tear her away from happiness again. The other unicorn was an orange and yellow unicorn with glasses and a cape that practically screamed geek, and had it not been for the third thing she noticed, she wouldn’t have given him a second thought.

His horn glowed a bright golden light as he charged up a spell of some kind, and the way he was staring determinedly at them as they entered the dining area, there was no doubt it was for her. She had no time to think, no time to prepare, she just bolted into action.

“Oh, we have guests,” Star noted with a chipper smile as suddenly chaos broke out.

“No magic,” Starlight shouted, diving into the unicorn to try and stop his spell. He let out a cry of surprise as his spell suddenly shot from his horn, arching through the air toward the two younger ponies.

“Don’t hurt him,” Cozy screamed, leaping in front of Star as he yelped in surprise. The golden spell hit her head on, making her flinch back even though she didn’t feel anything. She blinked as she realized she felt no different, and glancing back at everypony else in the room, they weren’t any different either.

“I thought you said we were going to peacefully approach her,” Oak shouted as he held onto his wife, both of which had backed into a wall.

“You almost hit our son,” Aspen added, her voice shaking in fear.

“But you did hit her,” Star suddenly growled, his voice harder and angrier than she’d ever thought possible from the colt. He suddenly pulled her back behind him, making her yelp quietly as he stepped in front of her defensively. He was shorter than everypony but her, yet as soon as he blocked her from them, he seemed to loom over them all.

“What did you do that for,” he demanded, practically shouting. “She didn’t do anything to you!”

“It was a disarming spell, it wasn’t meant to hurt her,” the unicorn quickly explained. He sounded just as geeky as he looked, his voice shaking either in nervousness or shame, she couldn’t tell. “All it’ll do is stop her from flying away.”

Checking his claim, Cozy found that, as a matter of fact, she couldn’t move her wings at all. They simply rested against her back comfortably, as if nothing had happened to them at all. Rolling her eyes, she frowned. It was a little problematic, but it wasn’t like she was going to run anyways. She needed to face Starlight, even if she hated the mare. After all, if there was any chance of getting to stay with Star after this, it would be her call. For now, she needed to play nice with the mare.

“Hey, you okay,” Star softly asked, turning to face her. The worried look on his face made her little heart quiver like nothing else, knowing he was absolutely invested in her wellbeing.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” she assured him just as quietly, giving him her best encouraging smile. Seeing she was alright, he gave her a quick smile in return before facing the adults again, and even though she couldn’t see it, she felt the glare he was giving them.

“That was uncalled for,” he told them firmly, causing Starlight’s brows to rise in surprise. Cozy suppressed a chuckle at the sight, overjoyed with how the mare looked when her confidence was broken, and by Star of all ponies! It just felt the right way to know that her uptight, snobbishness could be halted by somepony as kind and harmless as Star.

“I agree, it was,” Starlight suddenly stated. This time, it was Cozy’s turn to be surprised by the mare’s admission, her jaw dropping a little. Recovering from the mare’s unprecedented confession, the filly glared at the two unicorns from behind the protection Star provided her. Glancing at Cozy, Starlight added, “Unfortunately, we’re rather jumpy. We don’t know exactly what to expect from you, Cozy, so we wrongly anticipated having to fight you. I’m sorry.”

“Yeah, that’s not really gonna cut it, lady,” she spat, beginning to step out from behind Star. As much as she appreciated the gesture, she didn’t like the idea that she needed his protection. She could face the two herself. “You told me I could leave, so I left! There weren’t any stipulations about me not returning.”

“There were if you were seen by anypony though, and you were most certainly seen by somepony,” Starlight replied, keeping her voice steady even under Cozy’s harsh glare. Cursing her stinted growth, she remained absolute in her hatred in the mare even as she tried to explain, “We didn’t want to chase you down to capture you again, Cozy, but to prevent a panic across Equestria.”

“Real convincing when your first reaction was to shoot me with magic,” Cozy snapped. Everything about Starlight enraged her, and it took the most restraint to not just storm out of the room at her self-righteous demeanor. “Even if- and I doubt this- you didn’t intend to just take me prisoner again, you guys have no trust for me. I mean, what did you do, scout the place out and decide the best time to ambush us would be when we were hungry and tired? Why not just confront us straight up, huh? I know why. It’s because you’re still scared of me, even after telling me over and over again that ‘I’m not what you thought I was’. All this time you were afraid of me lying to you, when instead it was you lying to me over and over again. You don’t trust me, and you don’t think I was any different from before I was turned to stone.”

“Well, we didn’t want to confront you like this, Cozy, please understand that,” the unicorn stallion tried to assure her. “If we knew what your reaction to seeing us would be, then all of this could have been avoided.”

“But she isn’t the same filly who went into the stone,” Star claimed with frustration. He stepped closer to Starlight and the stallion as he continued, “She’s kind and funny, but also lost and sad. She doesn’t need to continue being hounded for her mistakes but allowed to move past them and become better. She already has begun down that path, and ever since I first met her, I don’t think I’ve met a kinder, more intelligent filly her age.”

“Sweet as that is,” Starlight said, smiling sadly, “that’s exactly how she fooled everypony last time.”

“And if she’s pulling the same trick on me, then that’ll hurt… a lot,” the colt stated, undeterred. Looking back at Cozy again, this time he smiled at her as he declared, “But I know that isn’t what’s going to happen, because I know Cozy Glow isn’t lying to me about anything. She’s not telling me everything, but that’s her right. I know she trusts me, and I trust her.”

“Thanks,” she bashfully whispered to him, feeling her cheeks flush slightly as once again Star came to her defense.

“So, if I’ve made my point, then I think Cozy deserves an apology,” Star asserted. With a pointed look to his parents, he added, “From everypony.”

“Star, she could’ve done something to harm us,” Aspen tried to gently explain.

“But she hadn’t and hasn’t,” he replied, firm as ever. “And more importantly, she didn’t even try.”

“If I’m being honest,” Cozy spoke up, stepping forward to be beside Star, “it was less of me trying to manipulate Star into doing what I wanted and more of him tricking me into telling him everything he could ever need to know about me. Admittedly rather embarrassing… but ultimately pretty smart of him.”

This time it was Star who gave her a slightly shocked look at the double meaning of what she had said. Certainly, she had been surprised that the colt had unraveled so much of what she had kept secret from everypony else in a matter of days, but she wasn’t mad about it. Shocked, disheartened, and a little scared, but impressed more than anything. After all, she didn’t have any right to be mad that he had outplayed her in her own game. Slowly, the colt seemed to come to the realization of how Cozy felt, and nodded slowly, his fear of having hurt her visibly vanishing.

Behind him, the adults shared a couple of very thoughtful- and concerned- looks before Starlight suddenly said, “Cozy, could you please speak with Aspen, Oak, and I in the other room?”

“Without Star,” she asked, her heart dropping. She wanted to refuse altogether, but if there was any chance of her being able to stick around her new friend, it would only come through careful negotiation with his parents and the bucking unicorn that had started this whole mess.

“Yes, this is a discussion I don’t think will be healthy for Star to overhear,” the mare confirmed softly, glancing between the apprehensive filly and firm colt.

“Only if I can say goodbye to Star once it’s over, in case… I don’t get to see him later,” Cozy negotiated, choosing her words carefully. To be frank with herself, she had no real negotiating power beyond what Starlight’s morale compass dictated as “free will” for her. The worst part was that the pegasus could almost understand where she was coming from, having to deal with the delicate issue Cozy presented, trying to play both for Cozy’s side and Equestria’s. That was part of why the mare was so enraging, trying to be the good guy on both sides when she clearly couldn’t be.

“Deal,” Starlight immediately accepted, before glancing at the other couple and hesitantly adding, “though hopefully there’s a way we can work this that won’t be ‘goodbye’.”

Cozy perked up at that, and even though it felt as if she were following an Ursa into its den, the tempting offer presented by the mare was enough to make the filly leave Star’s side to follow the adults into the kitchen.

As she began walking towards the room, she suddenly felt a tug on her tail, and turned to see Star’s horn glowing. He pulled her back slightly and whispered, “I just undid that unicorn’s spell. If they try to hurt you in any way, get out of here.”

He carefully pushed her towards the kitchen before she could reply. None of the adults seemed to have noticed, Starlight and the unicorn stallion whispering briefly while Aspen and Oak entered the kitchen, only now turning back to see Cozy approaching. She was slightly surprised they didn’t flinch at her approach, though both had a new air of weariness with her. She guessed it was only fair for them, though it didn’t make her any less frustrated. Those two genuinely seemed to be just as perfect as the son they raised, though they now had the same judgment she had feared from Star initially.

Glancing over her shoulder as she entered the small room, she caught the colt’s eye for the briefest moment, but before anything could be said, Starlight quietly shut the door behind her, leaving him with the unicorn stallion and her with the rest. Biting the inside of her cheek, Cozy swore to herself that wouldn’t be the last time she saw her friend.

Author's Note:

Cozy being Cozy, Starlight being Starlight, Sunburst being Sunburst, and Star being Star. I just realized this story's got a lot of celestial names. As always though, questions, comments, and concerns welcome and wanted!

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