Chronicles of the Reformed

by The_Darker_Fonts

Chapter 13: Negotiations

The moment of silence after the door clicked shut left Cozy uneasy, but as always, she refused to let it show. She was outnumbered here, three full grown ponies against her, though she had a sneaking suspicion that she could get at least Aspen on her side. The mare was kindly and soft spoken, though incredibly confident in carrying herself unlike other quiet, kind mares. Cozy wasn’t quite sure about Oak, the unicorn stallion a bit tougher physically than his wife, and while he had never been gruff or even dismissive, she couldn’t quite get a read on him.

Starlight, of course, already had the advantage. She had clearly been able to talk to and plan with the parents, though from how they had reacted to everything, it hadn’t gone according to plan. Eyeing the hated unicorn mare, she kept near the door, subliminally flexing her wings just in case she did have to flee. There was a small window above the kitchen sink, but given the kitchen was so tight and cramped and Starlight was right there, there was no chance of escaping through it. Unfortunately, Star’s kindness was for naught, giving her at best a chance to fly away if she escaped the kitchen.

“Cozy, I want to make something clear,” Starlight began, rubbing a hoof on the back of her head. “You’re right that you did nothing by leaving or staying gone. In fact, I expressly told you that you could and gave you no rules or limitations. You took advantage of that and we had no justification for treating you like you broke any rules.”

“Well duh,” the filly exclaimed, throwing up a hoof in exasperation.

“However, you hadn’t really proven yourself a reliable or changed filly yet, so you still presented a hazard to Equestria,” Starlight added patiently. “While I trust that you have good in you and that the Elements were correct in releasing you. You’ve only been free for less than two weeks, so it’s unfair to judge as unprepared or unchanged, especially considering I haven’t really begun trying to help you and you’ve still been aloof to the idea. We couldn’t have you out in the world again without warning and sending Equestria into a panic.”

“Yeah, bad PR’s gonna bring the whole place down,” Cozy exaggerated, rolling her eyes.

“And a bout of good news could lift it up,” Starlight rebutted, sitting down. “All I’m saying is that you’re lucky that you ran into this wonderful family instead of anypony else who might not have been so kind.”

“Yeah, you’re right, I am lucky to have met Star, because the way had it going in that dinky old mansion, I woulda been lonely and bored forever,” Cozy exploded. “Star’s been the only pony in all of Equestria that lives up to what your twisted School of Friendship preached would make its students into. He’s been the only one to not label me as a ‘villain’ and treat me like an actual filly! Thanks to him, I was able to stay here and have a warm place to stay. Thanks to him, I think he has the best parents in Equestria. Thanks to him, I started to believe what you said was true!”

Starlight’s eyes widened, but this time she managed to keep her jaw shut at Cozy’s outburst. Slowly nodding her head, her eyes flitted to the couple who had remained thus far silent. They shared a look with her as well, and in a silent moment of understanding, they took over the conversation.

“We know that you’ve already befriended our son, and we also believe it’s genuine,” Aspen delicately started. “In fact, we can say with full confidence that he considers you a friend. Never in his life has he raised his voice or shouted at anypony, but as soon as he thought you were in danger he didn’t even hesitate. He was defending you because- even though he knew you were Cozy Glow- he believed no harm should befall you, no matter what.”

“More importantly, we saw how you defended him,” Oak added, holding his wife’s hoof. “You jumped right in front of him even though you didn’t know what type of spell was flying at him. I’ve never seen anything so brave in my life, and we’ve only known you for two days, if you’re being generous. In our eyes, you are somepony good, no matter your past. If you were that Cozy Glow that once terrorized Equestria, there’s no reason you would’ve taken that risk, right?”

Stunned, lips pursed as she realized she had accidentally won the couple’s favor, she simply muttered, “I guess. It wasn’t really that smart in hindsight.”

“But it was selfless,” Starlight concluded, instantly souring Cozy’s mood. Giving the unicorn a narrowed stare, she bit back her tongue and let her continue. “It only goes to prove that, as a matter of fact, there is more than an inkling of good inside you. While it was wrong of us to attack you like we did, it did accidentally prove us wrong of mistrusting you. We formed our biases on who you were, which is a very Equestrian thing for us to do. While I can’t speak for Sunburst, I’d ask you to forgive me for doubting you.”

“Hmmm, while I would like your forgiveness, it’ll just get me sent back to your mansion,” Cozy pointed out. “You’ll say that you’ve learned a lesson in teaching me and will take a different approach from now on. You’ll propose some tempting-sounding offer that I’ll either have to take or go back unhappy. You’ll win and I’ll lose the first friend- no, friends- I’ve ever made in Equestria. That doesn’t sound too good for trying to teach me about the ‘magic of friendship’, now does it?”

“Well, what do you propose then,” Starlight questioned, looking slightly dismayed. At least she was being compliant.

“If it’s alright with Oak and Aspen,” Cozy slowly stated, giving the pair a humble glance, “I’d like to stay at the hotel with them and Star. I’ll stay out of sight and learn more about friendship and whatnot firsthoof. It’s a win-win. You get to return to your little School of Friendship without having to worry about me and I get to stay in a nice little place away from anypony who shouldn’t happen across me.”

“Cozy…” Starlight skeptically began to softly protest.

Before she could get any further, Aspen quickly stated, “We usually have open rooms on the fourth floor, out of sight of the normal guests, and Star can entertain her in the forests when there’s many around like during the holidays.”

Oak gave his wife an incredulous look at his wife’s sudden proposal, to which she defensively declared, “We’ve always wanted a daughter anyways, and Star’s always wanted a little sister. This is the opportunity to complete our family and help Cozy become a better filly. We need to play our part in helping her out, and if it’s a room and hot food, then who better than us?”

“You’re right,” Oak realized with a slight smile, before looking over to Starlight. “We can handle her, if she really wants to stay!”

This time, Starlight couldn’t keep her jaw from dropping, and Cozy was almost there with her. She hadn’t expected the couple to be so open to letting her stay, especially after she had blatantly hidden the truth from them. While they had seemed like parents that matched Star’s generosity and kindness, it was only now that they demonstrated how they had raised the colt to act. Smiling gratefully at the pair, unable to hide her excitement of getting to stay with them and Star while avoiding the shocked unicorn staring at them, she practically shouted, “Thank you!”

“We’re still hesitant, Cozy, because you haven’t been honest with us yet, but Star trusts you and we trust him,” Oak stated factually. “We want to trust you, but you haven’t done anything to prove that we can trust you, only that you’re already close friends with Star.”

“I promise you that you can trust me by the end of the week,” Cozy boldly declared, refusing to let there be anything to come between her and staying at the hotel.

“That’s well and good Cozy, but I still need to check in on you,” Starlight informed her, earning a glare from the filly. “Look, I want to leave you alone because you clearly want nothing to do with me, but we can’t just have you anywhere in Equestria without checking in on you now and then. Firstly, we have to make sure you’re really changing, and secondly, we have to gauge the possibility of reintroducing you to Equestria. Either you’d have to deal with me or Twilight, and considering she’s awfully busy now, it wouldn’t be plausible.”

“We can arrange for days for you to visit without anypony noticing,” Aspen offered, distinctly stepping between a cautious Starlight and absolutely steaming Cozy.

Of course! Of course the moment she thought she might actually get away from this fiend of a mare once and for all, she had to impose yet again and darken her freedom with her presence! It was as if the mare had made some twisted promise to never let Cozy be free of her, even when she was doing exactly what the hypocritical unicorn wanted! Growling under her breath at the bitter idea of having to see her again and again, interrupting the peace she had been looking for, she turned away before she could say something she would come to regret.

“Fine,” she spat angrily. “Schedule your checkups.”

“You have a say in it too, Cozy,” Starlight offered, attempting to extend a branch of peace.

“Oh, in that case, let’s not do it at all,” she declared venomously, snapping it. Taking a breath, closing her eyes so she didn’t have to stare at the mare any longer, she managed to calm herself down enough to mumble, “Just don’t make them too frequent…”

“Thank you,” Starlight demurely replied, her voice a whisper. Cozy was struck by how stung she sounded, as if she weren’t one of the main problems in the filly’s life, both before and after her stone imprisonment. Aspen looked between the two, clearly dismayed and slightly uncomfortable while Oak stared at a spot on the floor.

Feeling slightly embarrassed for lashing out, Cozy sighed and took a step toward Starlight, moving away from the door for the first time. She wouldn’t be needing it anyways. Setting aside her anger for Aspen and Oak’s sake, she blandly asked, “How long do you think you’ll need with me?”

While she wasn’t looking directly at her, Starlight’s legs straightened and her voice sounded cheerier as she replied, “I don’t think I’ll need more than thirty minutes, but we do need to discuss how often I think I should visit, and how often you think I should.”

“Alright then, let’s work this out,” Aspen said excitedly. Sighing again, Cozy reluctantly sat down and prepared herself for the arduous task of scheduling with Starlight.

---

Sunburst was not a very patient stallion when he was nervous. Then again, he guessed that nopony really was. It was ridiculous to try to be patient while also being anxious. Sometimes his thoughts weren’t as smart as other pony’s thought they were. He was just some nerd who’d read enough to be smart. He actually didn’t know what he was doing ninety-five percent of the time… as today demonstrated. Nervously, he glanced at the colt in the room, wondering if he was thinking of Sunburst’s screw up right then.

He was just sitting there patiently, staring intently at the door and clearly straining to hear whatever conversation was going on behind it. He wasn’t the largest colt, but the way he had acted just now, trying to protect Cozy Glow from him and Starlight, had made him seem much larger. Now that he was seemingly calm, Sunburst was able to see the intelligence in his eyes, something he had come to find himself looking for more and more in his students at the School of Friendship. Everypony had one of course, but most ponies had dim, soft, or sharp looks to their intelligence. This colt’s eyes were something he had never seen before, and he decided that was a good enough conversation starter.

“That was impressive, getting rid of my spell like that,” Sunburst nervously told him.

The colt slowly glanced at the unicorn from out of the corner of his eye, before finally mumbling a soft, “Thanks. I just did what I thought worked.”

“Well, you’re lucky you did it right, because if you had messed it up, you might have twisted her wings,” Sunburst joked.

“I could’ve what,” the colt yelped, standing up with a panicked look.

“Only if you had really messed up,” the stallion fruitlessly attempted to amend. “If you had tried to release the spell from within the muscles of Cozy’s wings you could have accidentally relaxed them into a space they didn’t have, causing them to bunch and twist.”

“That’s kinda what I figured,” the colt replied, slowly sitting down again as he explained, “I felt the spell wasn’t a paralysis spell since there wasn’t any tightness in the skin or muscles. In fact, I was a little confused at first because there weren’t any telltale signs of you freezing her physically, so I didn’t understand how she couldn’t move her wings. Then, I realized you have placed a barrier that perfectly laced her feathers to prevent movement but not restrict blood flow on accident. From there I just tore it away and dispersed it.”

“Very smart,” Sunburst commented thoughtfully. “I didn’t dare try to use a paralysis spell since I haven’t had the chance to practice on anything living and didn’t want to damage Cozy’s wings. I didn’t know it could be so easily removed, though you discovered it quickly enough that I didn’t realize you had removed it until I saw Cozy’s wings twitch when she walked through the door.”

“Well, it wasn’t quite easy,” the colt humbly informed with a shrug. “I spent a good deal of time poking and prodding while we were still talking, and once I realized it was a barrier and not a paralysis spell, I needed to be close enough to draw the spell away. It’s probably the hardest thing I’ve done with magic in a long time. I’m not much of a mage.”

“Really, I thought you had to be at least a skilled year five in order to discover and dissolve a barrier such as that,” Sunburst said, surprised.

“No, I graduated last year on a year four level of education,” he stated, smiling slightly.

“Huh, so that exam was the most difficult magic you’ve had to do,” Sunburst asked, curious about the colt’s true skill level.

“No, I uh… I had to heal a broken leg eight months ago,” he admitted, rubbing the back of his head with a hoof, glancing away.

“That’s incredible,” Sunburst exclaimed, standing up in excitement. “Most level two mages can’t do that! How’s the pony’s leg now?”

“Fine,” the colt said, before suddenly extending his hoof. It took a moment for Sunburst to realize that he was showing him the healed leg.

“You healed your own hoof,” Sunburst giddily inquired, stepping in for a closer inspection of the healed wound. “I’ve only known two other mages who were able to do that! It takes an incredibly strong mind to be able to focus through the pain and meticulously restructure a bone.”

“Especially when it’s sticking out your skin,” the colt added with a nervous laugh. Sunburst’s eyes widened, prompting him to quickly explain, “I’m a kinda reckless colt when it comes to the outdoors, always on the to the next hill or up the next branch. Unfortunately, ponies weren’t really made for climbing trees, and eventually you push your luck too far and- *snap*- suddenly you’ve fallen back to the bottom of a decently sized pine.”

“No discernible scar beneath the coat,” the stallion noted, impressed. “I’m no clinician, but there’s no signs that this was ever even damaged in the first place. You seem to have perfectly returned the wounded area. Honestly, that’s some of the greatest magic I’ve seen from somepony that isn’t an alicorn. You have a real talent for arcanery!”

“Oh, why thank you,” the colt replied, pushing his hoof forward for a shake. “My name’s Star Scout, by the way. Nice to meet you Professor Sunburst.”

“Excellent to meet you as well, Scout,” Sunburst said with a broad grin. Feeling curious, he asked, “With such clear academic and arcanic talent, why haven’t you joined any prestigious schools in Canterlot, Manehattan, or Baltimare? They would accept you without a moment’s hesitation with your impressive history.”

“I like the forest more than I would working with Princess Celestia,” Scout answered with a casual shrug, before anxiously adding, “Not that I don’t think it would be amazing to work with the Princess. I just don’t really like the idea of streets and streets of buildings on the top of a mountain with four hundred thousand other ponies in such a compact area. Here, the forest is close and tight like a well packed blanket that offers you infinite freedom so long as you respect it. The hotel is a nice home big enough to feel like a fortress defended by the forest, a nice little spot hidden from ponies that don’t want to find it.”

“Honestly, that’s very respectable of you,” Sunburst told him with a nod of approval. “You’re very mature for your age.”

“Not really,” the colt laughed, shaking his head. “I’m just making excuses not to grow up and keep playing in the woods.” Falling silent for a moment, the colt thoughtfully mumbled, “Maybe it’s why I’m hoping Cozy gets to stay with us, so I have a new friend to keep being a kid with.”

“Wait, you want Cozy to stay here,” Sunburst asked incredulously. “I knew you two are friends, but I would’ve thought that having her stay around for too long would be kinda… nerve-wracking, you know. Even if you trusted her, what if the rest of Equestria somehow found out?”

“We’d be there for her,” Scout replied firmly. “If they didn’t like it, so be it, we’ll just stay in our hidden spot in the forest and protect her from whatever everypony else wants to say about her. She’s changed and I realize Equestria can be blind to such things.”

“You really think she has,” the stallion asked hopefully.

“With all my heart,” the colt firmly nodded, affirming Sunburst’s suspicions. No matter what Starlight came out of that room saying, he was solidly in the colt’s corner. He was a true, smart, and kindly pony who only wanted what was best for everypony, and if that went against Starlight what thought, maybe that wasn’t so bad. They could disagree on this one point, right?

As if to answer his question, the door began opening, a disgruntled but placated Cozy walking out of the room. Without a moment’s hesitation, Scout rushed over to her to give her a quick hug as he whispered something indiscernible to her. Whatever it was made her smile as she wrapped a hoof around him as well, before they pulled apart. Her eyes flitted to him, and Sunburst froze as he saw the intensity in them. For the life of him, though, he couldn’t tell if it was in malice or not. She quickly looked away though, stepping out of the way of the door even further to let the couple and Starlight through. Her eyes met his briefly, instantly telegraphing to him that a conclusion had in fact been made… one that left Starlight uncomfortable.

“Well,” Scout slowly asked, his eyes wide and inquisitive, glancing between his parents and Starlight.

“Cozy will be staying with your family for the time being,” Starlight stated, “and occasionally will be visited by me every few weeks to ensure that everything is going well and so that we can ensure nopony’s gotten news of Cozy before we anticipated. There are some rules and boundaries she has to follow, but I’ll let Aspen and Oak explain that to you so we can get out of your mane. Thanks for your hospitality, and good job Cozy.”

“Thanks,” the filly replied coldly, remaining close to Scout. The colt looked uncomfortable at her harshness, glancing at Sunburst. The stallion didn’t have the time to say anything to the colt before Starlight walked past him, drawing him to the door without even touching him. Instead, he simply gave the colt a nod, and turned to follow her.

Once they had exited the front door, Starlight released a massive sigh, halting only a few paces onto the dirt road. Pausing beside her, he quietly asked her, “Well, how did it go?”

“Oh, it went wonderfully,” she answered tiredly. “These ponies trust Cozy and were willing and even offering to take her in to help her on her path. She genuinely cares about them as well, and it’s clear she’s had a massive change of attitude in just the past couple days…”

“But...” Sunburst softly pushed, resting a hoof on the mare’s back.

“But she still hates me,” Starlight finally sobbed, a few tears dripping down her face in the cold autumn night.

Author's Note:

Aw, poor Starlight, but hey, Cozy's got some rights now let's go! As always, questions, comments, and concerns welcome and wanted!

Comments

[Ryebuck Coppercap]

Poor Starlight...

Cozy can't even fathom the idea that Starlight has truly let bygones be bygones in regards to how Cozy has treated her in the past, and only sees her as an enemy...