The Ghost of Cozy Glow- A Redux

by SapphireRose87

17) Betty's Birthday

{Norman}

It was getting close to Betty's birthday on Nightmare Night at 6pm. I was getting really worried though, because Betty hadn't shown up yet, ever since the day she ran off in anger. I kept trying to put Betty's being upset to the back of my mind and help Fluttershy and the others plan Betty's birthday party.

"I can't help it Fluttershy," I said, "I've never seen Betty that upset, not even before I left to go be with Dad!"

Fluttershy raised her right eyebrow. "Seriously Norman? She's never been that upset before?” She normalizes her eyes and frowns, “I find that hard to believe. I'm sure at some point in her life, she's been upset like that, but just chose not to show it in front of you."

"Yes, I can confirm that Betty doesn't really prefer to show her emotions in front of people. It wasn't until she started sitting on her tail that she did that." Discord said while floating in the air.

I titled my head to the left with my mouth agape. "Huh?"

Discord nodded. "Yup, every time I saw even a hint of emotion from her, she wouldn't let it out, not even in front of me. She would just go somewhere else and cry alone. I know, because I heard her a couple of times. I just chose not to let her know that I knew. She figured out to at least try to put her feelings out there by sitting on her tail. Even though it looks painful, I think she just got used to it?"

"Oh, I see," I said, "anyway, has there been any sign of her?"

Fluttershy sighed and stared forward blankly, "Yeah,I saw her come into her room two days ago. She's been awfully quiet."

Before Fluttershy could say anything else, we heard a couple of thumps back to back coming from Betty's room. Fluttershy looked into the direction of Betty's room, sniffed the air and smiled. "Don't worry Betty's not doing anything weird. She's playing a game of darts with the engagement rings Twilight's been sending her."

I snorted. "Nope, that's not weird at all! Hey, I'd rather her throw darts at that picture than throw them at me."

Fluttershy looked back at me and chuckled with a smile, "Right! Hopefully, I can get her to come out of her room on her birthday. If all else fails, we can send Pinkie to go cheer her up enough to get her to come out of her room?"

I looked in the direction of Betty's room and sighed, "I hope so. If all else fails we can send Dae in to bring her out."

Fluttershy nodded and we went back to putting the finishing touches on Betty's birthday party.

* * *

{Betty}

I've been back from the Castle of the Two Sisters for two days and tomorrow's that stupid party Pinkie said that was being planned for me at six o' clock. I don't know why and I could care less. But then, I realized why as I played my game of darts with Princess Twilight's engagement rings she's been sending me. The reason for the party was that it's my birthday tomorrow. That's the only thing I think it could be for? I sat on the bed and scrunched my brow while staring at the wall blankly with these thoughts in my mind.

I would throw a dart, and when I hit the forehead where I was aiming, just above the bullseye, I must say that I'm getting pretty good at this! Suddenly, I heard Dae laughing from behind me as I played my game, and at this point, I had half a mind to throw a dart at him just for the heck of it.

"It's okay Betty," said Dae soothingly, "I just came to check on you. Honestly, I think you need to be around people right now. Specifically the ones that care about you."

I sighed, "I really don't want to be around people at the moment. It's bad enough that I had a conversation with myself. I'm getting annoyed with people calling me the Child of Prophecy! Even if I was, it's getting on my nerves!"

"Hey guys!" Cozy Glow said.

I just about jumped off the bed, her voice startled me. "Hey Cozy Glow, what's up? I haven't seen you around lately. What have you been doing?"

Cozy Glow sighed from the other side of the bed, opposite to Dae, "I've been doing errands for Princess Twilight because Fluttershy suggested I find something to do other than float around aimlessly all the time. It's actually pretty annoying! I mean, not only does she talk about Dae all the time, but she seems more interested in you at the moment, Betty."

I groaned with my face skyward. "Great, perfect! So, any reason why she's so interested in me now?"

"Well, number one of course there's the whole Child of Prophecy thing," said Cozy Glow with a small nod, "then she wants you to accept her apology… And because she's the Princess of Friendship, she won't rest until you do! And somehow, Princess Twilight seems to think you're absolutely adorable at the moment."

Dae smiled. "That makes sense why the marriage proposals have slowed down for me lately. Looks like you have a secret admirer Betty. Aww, isn't that sweet?"

"Yeah as if," I said while shaking my head before turning to Dae, "like I'd go out with that spoiled brat! Besides, I'm not into females like that. To tell the truth, once Marble started picking on me for some reason, the girls in school thought I was gay and started sending me love letters. I wouldn't be surprised if that was because Marble said something to get them to do that!"

At that point, Dae began to laugh uncontrollably and he almost fell off the bed. I decided to ignore that as I looked at the ceiling again and groaned. I looked down, picked up a dart and threw it at the post picture I had set up with the different engagement rings. The dart landed in between Princess Twilight's eyes, where I had the bullseye set up.

Dae stopped laughing when he saw where the dart had landed. "So, how many points would that make?"

"Hmmm," I said, "I think I'll set that one at a million points although, if it were the real thing, I'd say it would be priceless."

Cozy Glow fell over on her back laughing. She would stop laughing in short intervals and start laughing again. The little filly was obviously overtaken with hysterics, before she finally stopped laughing enough to speak, "Anyway, I'm getting really sick and tired of Princess Twilight's gushing over you on a daily basis Betty." She started mocking Princess Twilight's conversation with her, "Oh my, wouldn't it be nice to be married to the Child of Prophecy? I mean, Dae's handsome and all, but Betty, wow she's beautiful! I wouldn't mind getting into bed with her! But she is only a pre-adult and that doesn't mean I can't marry her. The law says anyone pre-adult or older I can marry them. And if Betty says yes, then there's a good chance that Dae will follow suit and say yes to my proposal. (then she sighs) But Betty hasn't accepted my apology yet and it's very possible she never will. I don't blame her either. I don't think I would readily accept a pony's apology if some pony did what I did to her to me. I guess all I can do is wait. Oh well, I'm not giving up! I'll keep apologizing and proposing marriage. Normally, when it comes down to proposing to a mare you have to ask the fathers permission to proceed with doing it. But since I don't know where Betty's father is, I guess it's okay that I go through with it?"

I snorted at Cozy Glow's mock conversation. "Yeah, I'm not accepting an apology from her or a marriage proposal either! She can take her apology and marriage proposal and shove it right between her flanks!"

Cozy Glow gasped with her mouth open. "Wow."

Dae chuckled, "Well it looks like I have some competition. Works for me!"

"Hey!" I said while looking slightly over to him and sneering.

"So," said Cozy Glow, "are you going to the party that's being planned for you? I don't know what it's for, but I think you should go! It sure sounds like fun! And if Pinkie Pie's involved, it probably is..."

I sighed and looked down, "I really don't want to go to a party at the moment. But I guess I should go? I have a feeling as to why it's being planned too."

"Why?" Cozy Glow asked with a curious expression in her clear auburn eyes.

"Because it's my birthday at 6 o'clock, right on the dot tomorrow," I responded.

"Well, if it's your birthday party, that’s all the more reason to go!" Cozy Glow cheered. "Come on, are you all of the sudden against having fun? Because that's not the Betty I remember at our family reunions. But I didn't see you much at those events before I became a villain and decided to declare war on Equestria. I don’t really want to do that any more, so I don't know why I can't crossover?"

I shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine. Fine, I'll go to that stupid birthday party. To be honest, I don't think I'll have fun until I finish capturing the rest of those escapees."

Cozy Glow nodded. "I completely understand."

Dae added, "I think you should wear that medal you got for stopping Tirek too."

I groaned as I looked over at him. "Do I have to?"

"Well no," said Dae while lifting his left eyebrow, "but I think it's a good idea."

"Oh, I heard about that," said Cozy Glow, "you really need to recognize your accomplishment Betty." as she leaned forward with a smile.

"But how can I do that when I lost twenty-five of my teammates?" I said. "I-"

"Betty, you can't protect everyone!" Dae interrupted. "There's over a thousand citizens in Hell and even though I'm their ruler, I can't protect every single one of them. So if something happens to them, I'm not at fault, unless I was the direct cause of their problem."

"Uh-huh," said Cozy Glow nodding, "I think Dae’s right! I bet even Princess Twilight can't protect everyone in Equestria, even if she can stop a war before it starts. But a lot of times, even when she does that, she has help like she did when I was turned to stone. And now there's the military that's been set up, so that goes to show that she can't protect everyone all by herself. If she could, then she wouldn't need help ruling over a country, let alone taking care of the day and night."

Even though I knew Cozy Glow was right, I still couldn't erase the guilt and pain that I felt at the moment. "Okay I get it. I'll go to the party, but I'm not sure about wearing the medal I got."

Dae and Cozy Glow nodded. I picked up another dart and threw it at Princess Twilight's picture and that landed on the bullseye too.

Dae smiled. "I think you're getting way too good at this. Maybe you need a challenge?"

I shook my head. "Nope, the setup I have right now is fine."

* * *

The next day I went to Sugarcube Corner and it looked like it was closed for the day.

I shrugged and thought, Works for me, I didn't want to go to a party anyway.

When I turned to leave, I heard Pinkie Pie's voice. "Psst! Betty, come here!"

I turned around and rolled my eyes. When I didn't move in her direction right away, Pinkie came up behind me and yanked on my tail.

"Ow! That's my stupid tail you know!" I growled.

Pinkie giggled, "Oh Betty, you always say that when somepony yanks on your tail."

"That's because it hurts and it's attached!" I snapped at the pink pony. "I wish people would stop yanking on it! It's my tail and I can do with it whatever I want, but everyone else needs to back off!"

"Okay, okay fine, I'll stop." Pinkie said with an exasperated sigh. She paused, "Hey, where's that medal you won? Fluttershy and Discord told me about it and you should be proud to wear it, because you're a decorated warrior now! I know I would be proud of it."

I had brought the medal with me and it was in my pants pocket. I had no intention of wearing it any time soon. I took the medal out of my pants pocket and showed it to Pinkie. "It's right here." I mumbled. "But I'm not wearing it."

Pinkie tilted her head right. "Why not?"

"Because I don't want to," I quickly snapped back.

"Oh, okay then, no one's going to make you wear it if you don't want to," Pinkie said. "But come on into Sugarcube Corner anyway. I have a new recipe that I want you to try."

I raised my left eyebrow. "Uh-huh, sure you do."

Pinkie then nudged me forward with her snout. "Okay let's go, it'll be fun, hey maybe I'll name the new recipe after you! I'll call it, The Invincible Betty Jewel cake! You know, because of your spectacular defeat of Tirek!"

I rolled my eyes and thought, Sure whatever Pinkie wants to think about this. But hey it's Pinkie Pie, she's a nut anyway but she couldn't be more obvious! The Invincible Betty Jewel Cake? Seriously!"

I got reluctantly shoved inside Sugarcube Corner as I desperately opened the door, despite Pinkie’s insistent nudging, before the nudging abruptly stopped as I crossed the threshold. I rolled my eyes again, "Gee, I wonder where did Pinkie Pie go?"

"I'm over here Betty!" Pinkie called out.

"But I can't see you," I said.

"Okay here, let me turn on the lights!" Pinkie said.

The lights turned on and there was a sudden chorus of the word, “SURPRISE!” all around the room. I tried to force myself to smile, but it was actually pretty hard for me because I was still hurting from losing twenty-five of my teammates.

Norman came over from my right and gave me a big hug, but I guess he knew I really wasn't into this party as he said, "It's okay Betty, just loosen up and have fun."

Discord came by and had three oranges in his eagle claw and lion paw. When he juggled the oranges from apples to oranges. I remembered him doing this trick every time I felt down when I was younger and it always made me laugh. This was no different than before.

"Orange you glad you're at this party?" Discord laughed.

I smiled and laughed. "Now that's a trick that never gets old!"

"What? You mean you don't like my other trick?" Discord said.

I hope he doesn't- I didn't get to finish my thought before Discord snapped his claw and three pot belly pigs came flying out of nowhere.

Like many times before when Discord would do that trick, Fluttershy and Norman were on their backs laughing hysterically.

"Oh Discord!" Fluttershy laughed. "That trick never gets old!"

"Yeah, no." I said, shaking my head.

I turned around when I heard Dae say, "You really should wear this!"

"Hey," I said, "how did you get that?"

Dae had my medal hanging from his index finger. "I'm the King of Hell so I have a few tricks up my sleeve. I took it when you were distracted by Discord."

Dae took the medal and put it around my neck, then he kissed me. There was a chorus of the word 'awe' after Dae did that.

"It looks good on you," Dae said as he held me in his arms and smiled down at me.

Discord nodded. "Yup! I totally agree."

And so, that's how Nightmare Night started for me, a celebration of my birth.