Chapter 7- The Great War
"Sweetie Belle!"
The filly in question stiffened where she stood in Rarity's kitchen and looked for a place to hide. One did not need to be Rarity's sister to know she was peeved about something when she shouted like that. But since Sweetie Belle was, in fact, Rarity's sister, she had developed a keen understanding of how unpleasant it could be to be the object of Rarity's displeasure.
Sadly, hiding was a lost course. Rarity marched right into the kitchen, froze Sweetie Belle in place with a glare that was just as petrifying as cockatrice's. Then she magicked up Sweetie Belle's puffy winter jacket before the little filly. Once, the garment had been a pale pink and lined with goose feathers. Now it was wet and brown from mud, covered in gashes and tears, and feathers peeked out in several places. Rarity tapped one hoof slowly against the floor as she waited for Sweetie Belle to explain. The filly shrunk back.
Sure, she may not have been as careful with her clothes as she had promised… but with a wash, or five, and some new lining and repairs it'd be just as new… almost.
The hood of the jacket finally gave up, and the few threads that still connected it to the rest of the garment snapped. It fell on the floor with a wet and muddy "splotch".
"Uh-"
"Sweetie Belle," Rarity hissed. "What. Did. You. Promise. This. Morning?"
"That I'd… be careful. And not get dirty," Sweetie Belle said in a tiny voice.
"Then what pray tell is this!" Rarity shrieked. The garment quivered slightly in her magical grasp. "Do you have any idea how hard I worked to make you this for winter?! And after the first time you use it, it looks like you slogged through a battlefield!"
"But I did slog through a battlefield!" Sweetie Belle protested. "Some ponies from class decided to have a snowball fight up by the schoolhouse! We have even built a snow-fort and everything!"
"Snow I can understand!" Rarity snapped. "What I can't understand are the tears! And the mud!"
"Well… Me and my team were attackers. So we had to take the fort. Diamond Tiara said we should send a scout to figure out a weak spot. And since my coat is white like the snow and the jacket is also kinda white, I figured I could do it," Sweetie Belle said, squirming under Rarity's piercing glare. "So I… I took the long way around to come up behind the enemy… uh, so I had to go up the hill to the schoolhouse from the north… uh… about where Apple Bloom have their pigs…"
Rarity's left eye started twitching.
"And… and our enemy… spotted me, right on the slope…"
Sweetie Belle didn't want to remember the rest. It had been nothing short of a massacre and a war-crime of the highest severity. A veritable avalanche of snowballs peppered her from the fort, and she was completely exposed in the open. She might as well have had a target painted on her forehead!
And then… the airstrike.
Sweetie Belle shuddered.
With all the terror of a rising dragon, Featherweight and Zipporwhill had struggled to the air with a great basket of snow in their hooves and dumped it right over Sweetie Belle's head. The force of the impact had broken what little will to fight she had left. She had been sent to the ground under the smackdown of snow then whirled around and ran, completely spooked by the immense show of force.
In blind panic, she darted from the overwhelming force on the hill, straight through the muddy pig sty and back to her base. Her comrades had looked shaken when the husk of their valiant scout had returned, and only through intense counselling and hot cocoa from Commander Diamond Tiara's personal supplies had Sweetie Belle been able to recount her ill-fated mission.
She was then granted half an hour's permission away from the front lines, mostly to get new clothes.
"Oh nononono," Rarity said when Sweetie Belle was done. "Oh no! You are having the rest of the day for permission! Because you are grounded!"
"But I was ambushed! It wasn't fair; nopony was supposed to see me! How can I map out their weak spot if they don't even let me look!" Sweetie Belle argued, quite sensibly she thought.
"I don't care about the ambush, I care about not respecting somepony else's hard work! Now march up to your room," Rarity said, her voice sharp as a whiplash. "Your time in this war is at an end!"
There was no use in arguing, Sweetie Belle knew. And she did feel bad for having ruined her sister's gift like that… it had been so pretty.
She hung her head and ears to show she was ashamed and plodded up to her room.
The snow looked really pretty from up here. If she squinted, she could just barely see the snow fort on the hill from here. A tiny orange speck looked up over the battlements only to disappear again after having scanned the area.
Oh, well… there'd still be a tomorrow. Sweetie Belle just had to appeal to a higher power (namely their mom) and she could rejoin the front line by then.
But it would be nice if she could do something to make up for this fiasco. Not only had she botched her scouting mission, but she would also now be a deserter since she wouldn't be able to return after permission.
And Commander Diamond Tiara probably didn't take kindly to deserters. No, she'd need something to convince Diamond to let her off the hook.
Something like… reinforcements from Canterlot!
Sweetie Belle smiled brightly. She'd invite her friends! If Cozy and Rumble came, then she'd have brought two pegasi to their team. That had to impress Diamond. And if Flurry came… Well, then everypony would stop the war just to have a chance to look at her! Either way, this was definitely how one should celebrate the first real snow of the season. Winter was here in earnest, and winter meant you should spend time with all your friends. After all, that's how ponies kept the Windigos away!
She hopped up on a stool and started writing a letter. Hopefully Rarity wouldn't be too cross to deliver it to the post office later.
The further they travelled, the better Flurry felt. She had been a bit apprehensive about this at first, going to Ponyville with just Cozy to meet with Cozy's friends? She only hoped that Sweetie Belle didn't invite Flurry just because she was a princess. That's what everypony did back home in the Crystal Empire, even if Flurry didn't want them to. Also, that might make Cozy pretty angry too.
But at the same time, Flurry could not stay cooped up in the castle all day either. She wanted to be outside and play with other ponies, especially since the first real snow had just come! Rumble and Cozy were great friends - her very best friends, actually, but still, she wanted to meet more ponies. She glanced briefly at Cozy sitting on a bench in front of her. It was a pity Rumble couldn't come, since he was working.
"Hey…" Cozy looked up from the playing cards they were passing the train ride with. "Have you done much snowball fighting before? The Crystal Empire's pretty cold right?"
Flurry nodded. "Yeah, there's snow all year. But I have never had a snowball fight."
"Your mother didn't want a princess fighting, or what?" Cozy asked with a tiny smirk.
"No, that's not it. We just don't have any snow in the Empire," Flurry replied. "The Crystal Heart protects us from the weather, so no snow gets inside. And they don't let us go outside the barrier. Too cold and too dangerous with the blizzard and beasts that sometimes come down from the northern mountains." Or that's what everypony said when Flurry asked anyway. She had never seen the beasts of the North herself.
"Oh." Cozy tilted her head. "Well, then at least we're both beginners at snowball fighting."
"Hope nopony gets angry with us," Flurry said, slightly worried for a whole new reason.
Cozy rolled her eyes. "Golly, that's a silly idea. If they do, you can just say that they're all wrong and you're right. You're a princess, so it's not like anypony can say anything about that."
"But that's not right! I can make mistakes! You know that!" Flurry protested with a frown. In fact she was very keen on avoiding being called infallible. Then everypony would be mad when she did, in fact, fail at something.
Cozy sighed and adopted an explanatory posture. "Sure. I know that. But nopony else does. So if you just let them think you are right, they will think you are. Because that's what they want to think." Cozy played a card from her hoof.
Flurry mulled over this as she dipped behind her playing cards again. Was that true? Did ponies want to think she was always right, even if she wasn't? That was... just stupid. And weird. "Hmm… I dunno," she said meekly. Whenever she asked Cozy about this sort of thing, her solutions were always so… Well, sometimes they made Flurry feel like she was doing something bad, even if everypony was happy at the end. It was strange.
"I do!" Cozy chirped with certainty. "Just leave everything to me, and I promise nopony will be mad, even if you hit our teammates more than the enemy. Besides, you have both flying and magic. That's got to help you anyway."
Flurry perked up at that and extended her majestic wings to look them over. She could fly well. Everypony said she had big wings for her age, and her magic was getting better too under Twilight's tutelage. Maybe being a princess might help her in the snowball fight! She saw and sensed Cozy's pang of jealousy at her majestic wings and quickly folded them back.
"Just a few minutes left," Flurry said, by way of moving on from unhappy memories. "Let's pick up our cards and get to the doors, so we can get off quickly." Else, odds were everypony would want to stop to pay their respects to her and they'd never get anywhere. She had experienced that problem one too many times already in her life. She scooped up their unfinished card game and put the cards away in a small box which, in turn, went into her saddlebag.
"You know where Sweetie Belle lives?" Flurry asked.
"Uh-huh. Or, at least where her sister lives, and Sweetie usually stays with her," Cozy said. "Golly… it'll be fun to see her again. She's really kind. And her big sister has really helped me a lot before."
"She brought you a gift for your birthday, so she must like you too," Flurry pointed out.
The moment the train pulled to a stop and the conductor opened the doors, both fillies bolted out of the train and away from the ponies at the station. They slowed to walking pace on the street outside, then Cozy took point to Rarity's boutique. The dirt roads were not nearly as neatly plowed as the streets of Canterlot, but the thatched roofs and snowponies that decorated several lawns surely made for a pretty sight. When Hearth's Warming came closer, there'd also be a lot of lights and ribbons and wreaths too. Flurry had celebrated many of her Hearth's Warmings with auntie Twilight here… in fact, this year would be the first time she wouldn't.
Sweetie Belle opened the door for them just moments after they had knocked. She was already dressed in a fluffy orange jacket that looked like it had been patched and altered in haste, and was still a bit too large. "Hi, Cozy! I'm so glad you could come. Now Diamond Tiara just has to forgive me for accidentally deserting my post yesterday."
"Daddy said deserting is really bad," Flurry pointed out with raised eyebrows. "Why did you do that?"
Flurry was about to ask why Cozy suddenly ducked and clutched her ears before a squeak from Sweetie Belle nearly gave her heart attack. "OHMYGOSH! You brought Flurry too?! She actually wanted to come?! This is so great!"
"Sweetie Belle, manners," Rarity called from further inside. "Let your guests inside like a proper hostess."
"Oh, right," Sweetie Belle said sheepishly and moved out of the way, allowing both Cozy and Flurry to come into the warmth. Sweetie Belle immediately started taking on a quartet of boots and lacing them, in part with her magic and in part with her mouth.
Flurry noticed Rarity working on some kind of a jacket on her sewing machine. It looked like it once had been white, but now there were splotches of mud that hadn't quite disappeared, and soft feathers poked from several rips in it. The unicorn looked up from her work and greeted both fillies with a warm smile.
"How lovely to see you both, Flurry Heart and Cozy Glow. I hope you had a pleasant trip here?" Rarity asked, as she pulled an already sawn piece of cloth out of the sewing machine.
"Uh-huh! Thanks for letting us come over! That's really kind of you," Cozy said. She even dipped her head in a small bow. Cozy must really like Rarity, Flurry noticed. She didn't bow like that even to Twilight back home.
Rarity waved her hoof in an elegant manner. "That's not a problem at all, girls." Then she stood up from the sewing machine where she sat. "However, if you would be so kind, perhaps you could keep an eye on Sweetie Belle for me? Yesterday she made some… questionable decisions that I'd very much like to avoid this time around." Rarity glanced at her little sister with a raised eyebrow. "She is absolutely banned from any mud, dirt, silt, sediment, slime, muck and/or grime. Would you do that for me?"
"Hey, I've said it was an accident!" Sweetie Belle said with an offended huff. "And I still don't think it was fair of them to spot me like that."
"Well, I hope that you will endeavour to avoid such 'accidents' this time," Rarity said. "Because only neat ponies are allowed back here, for hot cocoa and cupcakes."
"Thank you, Mrs. Rarity," Flurry said formally, mimicking Cozy's little bow. It seemed like what a proper mare should do. She noticed Cozy stifling a giggle, and that Rarity suddenly had a scrunched expression on her muzzle. "W-What?" Flurry asked in confusion. "Mommy says that to my teacher back in the empire, when she does kind stuff!"
"'Mrs' is only for married ponies," Cozy explained. "It's 'Miss Rarity'."
"Oh… Oh! I'm sorry!" Flurry stammered. "Miss Rarity." She dipped her head again. At least it was not a big mistake.
"It's… quite alright, dear,” Rarity said, though she suddenly looked herself over with a small frown, ears hanging down. Suddenly there was a feeling of… aching sadness about her, though Flurry did not understand why. "Well… I have some work to get back to… and a tub of ice cream to open. You enjoy yourselves now."
The three of them left Rarity's boutique in short order and made their way up on a hill a bit outside the town. On the top, outside a small snow fortress, a herd of maybe ten or so fillies and colts were already waiting. They were gathered around a pair of earth fillies, one pink and the other gray. By the appearance of their clothes, they were also from rather wealthy families. Of course, they were nothing compared to Flurry's jacket, which was lined with genuine phoenix down. Cozy had a pink jacket and a winter hat with a pompom.
"Oh, so there you are!" The pink pony growled and marched right up to Sweetie Belle with an angry scowl. "Come to beg forgiveness? Thanks to your disappearance yesterday we were left sitting in the cold for an hour! And then Silver Spoon and the defenders of Fort Snowpoint attacked and routed us!"
The gray pony with the pretty glasses and braid looked very proud about that, pushing her chest forward.
"Oh, uh…" Sweetie Belle began, ears folded down and tail tucked close to her belly in submission. "Sorry, Diamond Tiara. Rarity grounded me and I couldn't do anything about that! But I've gotten reinforcements! See, from Canterlot!" She gestured eagerly at Flurry and Cozy. "They are my friends, Cozy Glow and Princess Flurry Heart!"
Flurry could both feel and see how her words mentally floored everypony listening. Every pair of eyes immediately snapped over to her and Cozy. Though mostly to her. Silver Spoon's mouth actually fell open. "P-princess… the princess…" she stammered incoherently.
"Hi, everypony," Cozy said as Flurry took a small step back from the prying stares. She was glad to have Cozy with her for this. She somehow enjoyed ponies looking at her, even if the mood quite changed as the foals focused at her. When Flurry made them stare in awe, the looks Cozy received were mostly of wariness.
"Uh… we have to remake the teams," Diamond Tiara said lamely, breaking the uncomfortable silence.
"And the Princess should be on the defending team," Silver Spoon said. "'Cause she should have a castle!”
A murmur of agreement spread among the other ponies. Flurry flicked her ears backwards in displeasure. Why did everypony always say things like that? Couldn't they at least ask first?
"Okay, and I'll be on her team too, since I'm her best friend here. Right, Flurry?" Cozy said. Flurry nodded energetically. That way she could be sure to have her friend on her team!
"Me too?" a small, pinto earth pony asked with a thick accent.
"Me too!" A purple filly with straw-blond mane squeaked and raised her hoof.
"Me three!"
"That's not going to work! We can't have everypony on the same team!" Diamond Tiara said, stomping her hoof in annoyance.
"But then how do we make the teams?" Silver Spoon asked.
"I suppose we'll just have to toss for it," Diamond said. "Everypony tosses a bit. Those who get heads are on the princess's team, and we'll see how it turns out. We have… thirteen ponies here. And since one team has to be one more, it should be the attackers. Since the defenders have a princess on their team."
Flurry and Cozy looked on as the rest of the fillies and colts gathered together to try and figure out the teams among themselves. "It'll be fine once we start," Cozy whispered to Flurry.
"Hope so. And I'm not a princess yet, just because I'm an alicorn," Flurry huffed.
"But now you will at least have a fortress of your own," Cozy said.
"I guess…" Flurry said, uncertain if that was a good thing or not.
It took a few minutes, but soon the teams were made. Their four team members guided them into their snow fort, all smiles -clearly they felt extra lucky to spend time with the princess. Flurry did know Scootaloo from before, but the other three team members were new to her. The tiny earth pony was apparently named Pipsqueak, and finally there were two earth pony sisters named Sunny Daze and Peachy Pie. Thankfully their cutie marks made it easy to tell them apart.
"Fort Snowpoint" was really not much more than a ring of large snowballs plastered together with snow around an open area. Somepony had raised a heavy branch in the middle of the ring with what looked like some sort of tablecloth at the top as to make an improvised flag. They had also made slopes, up to the crests of the snowballs, so the defenders could throw downwards at attacking ponies. It was really not a big difference, but in Flurry's mind, she was really standing on the battlements of the Canterlot Castle, ready to repel any invaders who threatened their kingdom. Then the fantasy dissipated when Scootaloo called her down for a strategy meeting.
"Okay, so the rules are simple," Scootaloo started, looking at her. "If they bring down our flag, we lose. We have to hold out until we go home. Right now they're not allowed to attack for another fifteen minutes, so we have some time to prepare."
"Prepare how?" Flurry asked, looking quizzically at the orange pegasus.
"Yesterday we brought as much snow as we could inside so we'd have plenty of snowballs," Scootaloo pointed at a small pile of snowballs left over from the last siege. "But if you have a better idea, we'll just do that instead!"
"No, I think it sounds smart," Flurry replied.
"Right, everypony! The princess said we should gather snow!" Pipsqueak said and dashed out of the fort as fast as he could. Sunny Daze and Peachy Pie followed.
Flurry sighed, looking at the foals eagerly collecting snow. "Why do everypony always do this with me? Sometimes I wish I could take off my wings and horn so nopony thought I was anypony special."
"If you find a way to, then maybe I can borrow them?" Cozy sat next to her with a playful smirk. "But until then, might as well use them for something good."
"What do you mean?" Flurry asked.
"I mean that everypony on our team would do anything you ask of them! That's really useful for dangerous stuff."
"Oh… but that's not nice, is it?" Flurry asked with concern, looking at Cozy's determined face.
"Winning is nice," Cozy said dismissively. "Anyway, since there's nothing happening right now, think you could help them with the snow? I've got… some other plans."
Sweetie Belle's team found themselves on the other side of the school building, huddled close as they tried to come up with a strategy. Storming Fort Snowpoint yesterday had been hard. Storming it today, with an alicorn defending it, would be impossible. This was going to need some serious thinking beforehand. To that end, Silver Spoon had drawn up a crude map in the snow, outlining the fort and the surrounding area. Most interesting, there was a small copse of trees nearby. They should offer some protection from any snowballs or divine punishments that might come their way once the siege began.
"But only one, max two ponies can hide behind the trees," Apple Bloom pointed out. "An' Ah sure don't wanna stay out in the open for very long."
"But we've got to figure out something!" Diamond huffed in annoyance. "We can't just rush them, or Flurry is going to bury us all in snow with just a wink of her horn!"
"Ah don't s'ppose you two can do anythin' about that, can you?" Apple Bloom asked Dinky and Sweetie Belle. They both shook their heads. While Sweetie Belle didn't actually know how powerful Flurry's magic was, she did not feel like gambling her own, still inchoate magic against that of an alicorn trained by Princess Twilight. Clearly Dinky thought exactly the same.
"Well then we're going to need some sort of way to get up close to the fort without being hit…" Diamond said.
"Zipporwhill and I can fly in," Featherweight supplied hopefully. "Uh… but then everypony will throw their snow at us before we can do anything."
"An' even if Scoots can't fly, both Cozy and Flurry can," Apple Bloom pointed out. "So it ain't like y'all will have too big of an advantage."
"But then, could you two distract them?" Silver Spoon asked and pointed at the pegasi. "If they were throwing snow at you, then maybe the rest of us could gain some ground?"
"Hmm…" Diamond Tiara put a hoof under her cheek. "If we can have two ponies sneak in behind the trees, and then you two," she pointed at Featherweight and Zipporwhill, "could start the distraction. If the rest of us stay here, maybe we could come at them both from the school, the trees and the air all at the same time?"
"And Sweetie Belle and I can throw a lot of snow at once if we prepare!" Dinky said. "For extra cover while you run!"
"Right, an' Ah bet that if you, me an' Silver Spoon all kick at the snow fort at the same time, we could smash through it! That'd help a lot; we'd just have to rush in and topple the flag!"
"We're still facing an alicorn, though…" Sweetie Belle said quietly.
"Well, unless we give up, that's not going to change," Diamond replied, though Sweetie Belle could hear she was not exactly happy about it either. "Might as well try to do the best we can!"
"But… if we win, what if she gets angry with us?" Silver Spoon pointed out. The rest of their team mumbled their agreements.
"Flurry is kind though," Sweetie Belle quickly added. "I've met her earlier. We did the running of the leaves together… before she ran ahead of me, but she is kind!"
"My mom says all princesses are always kind ponies," Dinky piped up. "So I don't think we have to worry."
Silver Spoon nodded, looking a little bit put to ease by this fact.
"So… are we ready to begin?" Zipporwhill asked.
"Ah guess so," Apple Bloom said with a shrug, looking around at others.
"Golly, that sure does sound like a good plan, doesn't it?" A sweet voice came up from above them. All foals looked up to see a giggling, freckled face of a small pegasus peeking down at them. "But you really should have been quieter. See you soon!" Cozy Glow waved at them, then kicked down an avalanche from the roof right over them. Sweetie Belle yelped and jumped away, narrowly avoiding being buried. When she looked back, Cozy was already gone.
For a moment, all foals just looked dumbfounded at the roof of a schoolhouse. "That's-" Diamond Tiara flushed red with anger. "Okay, that's it! No prisoners! And that pegasus filly is mine, you hear!"
Sweetie Belle swallowed. She had expected to be part of a war, but this was not going to be just a war. If Diamond had her way, this was going to be an extinction campaign.
Cozy got a good giggle at panicked shout that erupted behind her when she kicked the snow loose, but she didn't have the time to enjoy it for too long. She hopped from the roof and flew back to the snow fort. Thankfully, her teammates (a.k.a. minions) had done a good job of storing up plenty of ammunition (a.k.a. fresh snow) in a pile in the middle of the fort. Everypony looked up when they saw her approaching. Hopefully everypony was ready, because their time was up.
"Everypony, man the towers! Raise the drawbridge!" she squeaked with excitement, as she landed. "I was spying from the roof! They are going to split up their forces and try to come at us from all sides at the same time. But their earth ponies are the most important, since they'll try to break down our wall!"
"We can't let that happen," Flurry said decisively. "Daddy says that you have to defend your castle with all your might, else it will be really hard to get it back!"
"You heard the princess!" Sunny Daze called to everypony. "Nopony sets one hoof inside our fort… uh, except for us, since we are on the defender team."
"Okay," Cozy said, all pleased by taking command. "But we still have to stop their attack. Flurry, do you think you can use your magic to hold the wall steady? No way they can break it then!"
Flurry nodded. "But I have to concentrate on just a small part… and if I come up there to see where they are attacking, they'd just hit me with snow."
"You stay down there," Cozy decided. "I'll tell you where to hold with your magic. The rest of you keep them from aiming at me, okay?"
"We've got you!" Scootaloo said, jumping up and down with excitement. "We help you, you help Flurry and Flurry helps us! Great plan!"
"It's time to test it in practice!" Peachy Pie squeaked, pointing towards the schoolhouse. Cozy just realized she was the only pony who actually kept watch right now. Thank goodness she did. "Here they come!"
Cozy flapped her wings hard to get airborne. The enemy charge truly was a sight that could send even the bravest pony running. The seven fillies and colts on the opposing team seemed to have abandoned the original plan and opted for a frontal charge instead, rushing forward with a small cloud of upset snow behind them. Especially the pink pony in the lead was rushing with the mania of a yak seeing something that was not perfect. Cozy swallowed. She was not a stranger to confrontation, but she usually made sure somepony else did the fighting for her or she had some trick up her mane. Now she didn't. Now it was just the little filly Cozy Glow against a pack of angry foals. Their two pegasi flew up and ahead, snowballs in their hooves.
A pair of snowballs whizzed past her ears and flew towards the approaching enemies. Zipporwhill was fast enough to dodge, but Featherweight got hit right in the face and careened off course, flailing wildly to get the snow away from his face.
"Yeah! I got him!" Peachy Pie cheered from below.
Right… She was not all alone.
"Cozy, where are they?!" Flurry shouted from below.
Cozy dodged past a snowball from the pink pony. She dashed towards the closest wall, and her friends quickly followed.
"There! There, hurry!" Cozy shouted and pointed.
"Hey, DT! Catch!" Scootaloo jumped from the ground, high enough to clear the wall and send a snowball down at the running ponies, all in the span of seconds. They all jumped aside, but it did buy them the extra moment Flurry needed to wrap her topaz magic around the right segment of the wall.
The three earth ponies whirled around, planted their forelegs and launched a backwards kick into the snow.
The reinforced snow gave a mute sound, but didn't yield one bit. Instead, the odd stance toppled all three ponies who had tried to kick the wall down.
"What in tarnation!?" Apple Bloom shrieked in surprise. Another well-aimed snowball from Scootaloo quickly silenced her.
Cozy swooped down, gathered up some snow and sent her own snowball at Diamond Tiara. She was already angry and clearly the enemy team's leader. If Cozy got her a bit more riled up, she'd make stupid decisions.
She hit Diamond on the head, knocking the tiara clean off. Sunny Daze and Pipsqueak followed her lead, capitalizing on their prone enemies.
"YOU-!" Diamond roared and started slinging every bit of snow around her with reckless abandon. Both Peachy Pie and Scootaloo hit her again, but Diamond was past caring right now. She didn't even flinch; she just kept her eyes on Cozy and hauled more snow.
Thankfully aiming was not her top priority. Most of her snowballs went wild, but Cozy still had to fly about and around to try and avoid it all.
"Behind!" Pipsqueak suddenly shouted, pointing away towards the nearby trees. Cozy snapped around to look.
Sweetie Belle and the purple unicorn both peeked out of the bushes, horns aglow. Then they launched a veritable bombardment of snow over Cozy and the defenders up on the battlements.
"YES! You didn't see that one, coming, did you?" Diamond Tiara shouted triumphantly. "Silvy, Apple Bloom, let's bring down the wall!"
"No! Flurry, magic on me, now!" Cozy shouted and snapped her wings shut so she landed on top of the snow wall they were aiming to smash. She barely remained standing for a second before both Sweetie Belle and a still somewhat dazed Featherweight both nailed her with snowballs from above. She lifted her wings to try and keep the snow out of her eyes.
But the gamble had worked. The magic incased the snow underneath her, making it stone-hard again.
"Ready again!" Dinky shouted from the trees. In her magic, Cozy could see at least a dozen snowballs ready. Whoever that filly was, her magic must be very developed for her age. Cozy would have been impressed, were it not for the fact that her power was about to put Cozy in a white and cold grave.
Unless…
"Everypony, throw on the trees!" Cozy shouted and pointed before she had to duck back under her wings.
Nopony answered. Why didn't they answer?! They couldn't afford to wait!
Then Peachy Pie's voice cut through the battle. "Oh, I got it. Sis, do as she says!"
The two of them gathered up their snowballs and released just as Dinky set loose her barrage. Cozy covered as best she could behind her wings, but the onslaught was brutal enough to topple her down from the wall. She landed on her rump on the outside.
The last thing she saw was Sunny Daze and Peachy Pie's snowballs hitting the branches above the sneaky unicorns and sending a smackdown of snow from the branches down on their heads. Her smile lasted for a whole of one second, before she met the eyes of Diamond Tiara. Suddenly Cozy didn't feel like the idea to anger her had been all that good. She hopped backwards, but the snow fortress blocked her escape, and Diamond was too close for Cozy to take off.
"Well well well…" she snickered. She held out a hoof, and Silver Spoon passed her a large snowball. "Any last words?"
Cozy tried her best innocent little filly look, fighting hard to suppress a mounting panic. "Golly… you aren't angry, right? I was really just trying to polish your tiara! Honest!"
"Heh," Diamond smirked, though she still looked furious. "Well, then I'll just 'polish' you in return."
"LEAVE MY FRIEND ALONE!"
Suddenly, the wall behind Cozy disappeared. She toppled backwards… and as she laid on her back, she saw the entire wall of the fortress fly above her, caught in yellow magic.
Diamond Tiara looked absolutely gobsmacked, staring in awe at the alicorn filly holding a truly massive amount of snow in her magic. But it was not just that fact that made Diamond look up in terror, but Flurry's sparkling horn and fully erect wings. The visage of an alicorn, even a foal, in all her splendor was enough to stun anypony.
Before Diamond could even squeak, Flurry unceremoniously dropped the entire mountain of snow over her. Cozy herself nearly jumped in surprise. She hadn't thought Flurry would do something like that. She had practically executed a pony in cold blood! Or cold snow!
All because she felt Cozy was in trouble? Cozy looked at the alicorn and it hit her how determined she looked.
She looked like a Princess. Like somepony with her own ideals and convictions. Just because she was naïve and meek it didn't mean Flurry would sit idly by when something threatened somepony she liked. Even if she didn't use her powers and didn't want ponies to notice them, Cozy realized that Flurry must be very aware of what she could do. Cozy could practically feel her respect for Flurry grow.
The entire battle had stopped.
Everypony stared at the huge pile of snow in shock, unsure of what to do.
Then, with a cough, Diamond Tiara poked her head out, dazed and confused.
"Uh… well, we brought down the wall… Ah guess," Apple Bloom peeped silently, though she didn't look too keen to capitalise on the breach.
"Sorry! I'm so sorry! I didn't think it was that heavy!" Flurry galloped out of the fort and nuzzled Diamond carefully, trying to pull the pink filly out of the snow.
"It's… alright,” Diamond said, heaving herself out and shaking away the snow. "Uh… in light of this development, I propose a truce. And we need to rebuild Fort Snowpoint before we go home, else we can't have any more battles," She added, looking at the hole in the wall.
"Yeah! And now that the Princess herself is here, she can decide how it should look!" Pipsqueak said, jumping up and down on a piece of the intact fort.
"No, wait!" Cozy shouted. Flurry had just saved her from Diamond's wrath. Cozy wanted to do something for her in return. Because that's what friends did!
Fortunately, she knew how she could make Flurry enjoy this day a little bit more. Flurry didn't want other ponies to treat her as a princess (for some reason) so if Cozy could make sure they didn't, that should help her relax. "Because Flurry Heart placed the command of Fort Snowpoint in my hooves! And as… High Commander of the Fortress, I command you to follow my design! That goes for Flurry Heart too!"
The silence that followed was even vaster than after Flurry's attack. But Cozy understood why.
Somepony had demanded an alicorn to serve them. They probably couldn't even conceive a pony doing that; it was impossible in their little world. Not that Cozy could blame them - she knew that everything she had seen and done had made her see the alicorns in a way almost no pony did.
Nopony looked at Cozy. They all looked at Flurry. And Flurry looked at her with a quizzical look.
Cozy gave her a wink and a small smile. Hopefully Flurry would catch on.
Her whole face brightened. "Yes! We do what Cozy says! And I'll work with you, like anypony! Because Cozy decides! So… nopony asks me anything!" Flurry clapped her hooves and pointed at grinning Cozy.
The other fillies and colts looked confused, but just like Cozy had expected, they would do whatever Flurry wanted. Including not doing what she wanted.
"Okay!" Cozy rubbed her hooves together. She already knew how she wanted the new fortress to look.
They ended up fighting one last siege after the fortress had been rebuilt. But they agreed to exchange Flurry Heart for Dinky, so the Princess could be on the attacking team as well. Cozy even got Flurry to promise she'd not use her magic to break the castle again.
The fighting had still been brutal though. They managed to get inside and rush the flag, with Flurry leading the charge, but then suddenly Cozy had jumped out from the ammunition pile around the flagpole and slammed right into Flurry, toppling her and shoving a snowball straight into her face.
Sweetie Belle had wanted to do something to save her monarch, but she had been too frozen by the sacrilege and just… watched how Cozy defaced the living deity, shoving snowball after snowball into Flurry's face.
Then the rest of Cozy's band had descended from hidden alcoves and corners and turned the siege into a swirling melee that didn't end until Diamond Tiara, with the last of her powers, managed to topple the flagpole. By then, the sun was already setting.
Everypony said their goodbyes after, bowing down to Flurry as was customary before going home. Ponies would speak of this snowball fight for years to come -the siege of Fort Snowpoint, where the Princess herself joined the battle!
Now the three fillies pushed through the freshly fallen snow up to Rarity's boutique. Sweetie Belle knocked, and after Rarity opened, she instantly blocked the doorway.
"Didn't you say a proper hostess should let her guests in?" Sweetie Belle teased with a smirk. In return, Rarity offered a sly look.
"A proper hostess must also keep her promises. And I recall promising hot cocoa only to neat and clean little fillies who keep their promises. Let's see if you are one." She unbuttoned Sweetie Belle's jacket and inspected it with scrutiny. Sweetie Belle was left trampling on the spot for some warmth. Cozy and Flurry was behind her. At least they both had warm, fluffy wings…
"Hmm… I suppose you pass." Rarity stepped aside. She only cast cursory glances at Cozy and Flurry though. Sweetie Belle was just about to let her big sister know what she thought about that when she picked up on the sweet smell of cocoa. She decided that maybe she could wait with her complaints until tomorrow. Or at least until she had drunk her fill.
"Now, everypony," Rarity said with certain authority when they were all inside. "Since our dear Rainbow Dash transferred to the Wonderbolts and reduced the time on the Ponyville Weather Team, I must admit that our town's weather management has been rather lacking. Case in point, we have just received twice the snow we should have. As such, the trains have stopped for the night."
"Oh… do you think Twilight will teleport to pick us up?" Flurry asked with concern. Sweetie Belle found herself grinning, because she had a feeling she knew where this was going.
"She has already been here," Rarity said. "But I convinced her to let you stay the night… if you all behave."
All three fillies grinned and nodded in unison. Rarity seemed pleased. She has led them to the kitchen "While I realize my cooking won't be as nice as what you get in the castle, I hope it will suffice," the unicorn said, as she offered them a small mountain of muffins and three steaming mugs of cocoa.
Before Cozy of Flurry could say 'thank you', Sweetie Belle darted forward and hugged her sister. "You're the best, sis. You really are."
Rarity smiled back at her.
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Someday Flurry is going to snap.
Very cute chapter. It's always nice to see Cozy doing normal filly stuff and that the others were willing to let her join in as well without any complaints. It seems that she underestimated just how similar Diamond Tiara was to her. It does make me wish for a future chapter featuring the two specifically. The ending was also neat.
I see Shining is still a military stallion.
That is simultaniously sad and hillarious.
I love the image of this, and I really love how Cozy treats Flurry like a normal pony, like she doesn't give a damn about her status, when nopony else would even dare. It's really cute.
10801621
Fair enough. It just makes me wonder what kind of age gap we are dealing with is all.*
Since Flurry is aged up so drastically, there's a disconnect where I have no real frame of reference for how old everyone is in story.
Plus Cozy Glow would've lost time in the stone while Rumble aged which makes it even more confusing, because I don't know what time she lost or how old she is, relatively speaking.
*I also find myself wondering how long she actually spent in the stone, since the story itself isn't entirely clear on that point.
So we are getting answers to that then? Because I honestly thought it was going to be one of those mysteries that doesn't get resolved.
Yes yes it is. But that's people for you.
This really made me feel bad for Rarity when I read it, and it really puts into perspective how depressing the final actually was. Good job.
Love that you've showing Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara here. Really makes the town feel like a actual place having them present.
Could be worse. Nice to see they are giving her a chance at least.
Because ponies are suck ups.
Incidentally Twilight and Flurry need to talk about this and compare notes. I think it would be good for both of them.
Very clever. Keep Flurry calm and happy while using her title as leverage to avoid critique. Makes me wonder how far ahead Cozy actually plans this stuff.
Huh. I can't remember who but someone was making the case that Sweetie Belle actually had some powerful magic once upon a time. Also I just found out that "inchoate" is a word. Neat!
This scene sets up all the things I love about Cozy Glow as a antagonist in fantastic fashion.
And that's when the greatest rivalry Ponyville has ever seen was born! Trixie and Twilight? Ha! Not even close! Lighting Dust and Rainbow Dash? Laughable! Twilight and Discord? Peanuts! By the time all was said and done Ponyville would know the true meaning of chaos!
Now put those sharpened tree branches over here! Good, good! I am starting to think that giving you control of this project was a bad idea. Relax! Now help me unpack these armor sets and spears I bought from a indeterminate seller!
I just don't understand how Cozy Glow could've started a armed revolt in Ponyville! With weapons and armor from the royal guard's armory no less!
Yeah! Heh. Weird.
... Zephyr Amery Breeze do you have something to tell me?
So do I! Slumber party! If only we could've gotten a chapter of that.
She really is.
Well done, Flurry. Way to go. :/
Don't be sad, Rarity. Many creatures love you.
10809852
Thank you... I think?
I have no clue of their relative strengths, really, but with how revered alicorns are it makes sense that Sweetie Belle wouldn't want to bet against Flurry, I think. And remember that within the first minute of Flurry's introduction to the show we saw her evaporate several floors of the Crystal Empire Castle with a sneeze.
FYI - small typo
Rarity glanced at her little sister with a raised eyebrow. "She is absolutely banned from any mud, dirt, slit, sediment, slime, muck and/or grime. Would you do that for me?"
Likely silt or sleet
10852094
Fixed, thank you.