Cozy Hearts

by Princess Starflight

Chapter 9 - Darkness

Flurry Heart tossed and turned, getting tangled up in the sheets. Her bed was comfortable and very cozy, but she was having trouble sleeping. Her brain kept on thinking random, nonsense thoughts. Plus, it was so hot.

Did somepony cast a heat spell? I feel like I'm in an oven, she thought.

I'm hungry.

Can everypony hear my stomach?

Should I use my magic to cool myself down?

Should I get out of bed?

Should I go raid the fridge?

Flurry rolled her eyes at that last thought. She turned over and checked the time.

It was three in the morning.

Oh, ponyfeathers.

Flurry hopped out of bed, swung her door open quickly (slowly opening a door caused it to creak more likely, she had learned), and crept down the hallway. She tiptoed down the stairs. The sound of somepony's snores filled the air. Flurry smirked. They would never wake up even if she jumped and screamed and hollered. Well, except Apple Bloom, who was a light sleeper, but still.

Flurry was still cautious, though. No need to take unnecessary risks.

She opened the door and breathed in the fresh air. Stars twinkled in the night sky. Flurry closed the door behind her and smiled as she looked around Ponyville. Everypony was sleeping, except for her, and there were no lights on in any of the houses. It was kind of nice, actually, and pretty peaceful. She felt like the whole entire town of Ponyville was hers to roam.

Flurry started walking around. The refreshing night air helped her cool down, and she felt better, physically and mentally. She stopped sweating, and her brain stopped asking stupid questions and thinking stupid things.

Flurry closed her eyes and took a deep breath. The air smelled sweet. She sighed happily.

Her moment of tranquility was shattered by a muffled scream. Flurry's eyes popped open and she looked around to see where the noise came from.

She didn't see anything. Strangely, though, the air near her right looked darker and more ominous. She looked there, but didn't see anything except that strange darkness...

Then, as quick as thought, everything went black. Flurry's eyes went wide, but she didn't see anything except that awful darkness, blocking out the moon and stars and sky-

Did I pass out?

No, I'm still thinking and my eyes are open.

What happened?

Where am I?

Where's the moon and stars?

Am I dead?

Flurry blinked and blinked again. She moistened her lips.

She was pretty sure she wasn't dead, and was still conscious, but...what?

Flurry could only think of one explanation: this was all a dream. But then that theory was proven to be false when she slapped herself, and cried out in pain.

She didn't even remember what had happened. All she remembered was that there was a sort of darkness next to her, and then this happened. Did it swallow her? What was the cause of this darkness, anyway?

Suddenly, she heard a familiar voice. "I won't let you swallow me up, stupid dumb darkness thing!" It was Cozy Glow!

Everything and everypony hates you. Even the animals. You're a villain. The only reason that Flurry mare freed you was to impress her parents, a strange voice replied.

What? Flurry thought. No, that's not true. Well, I mean, the second part is partly true, but I also freed Cozy to...well, let her be free!

"Who are you? Who's there? And who are you talking to?" Flurry asked out loud.

The voice spoke to her. Well, well, well. Look who we have here. A young, vulnerable alicorn for me to take. And Flurry swore that it would've smirked, if it could.

Flurry flared out her wings. "I'm not going down without a fight!" She blasted magic at the darkness. It started disappearing in that area, and she saw a few stars in the night sky. But then the darkness was back.

Huh, Flurry thought. What if...what if I blast away all the darkness? She proceeded to shoot small blasts of magic everywhere around her. The darkness melted away, but only for a few seconds. But it was enough.

Flurry gasped as she saw a pony struggling against the darkness, which was swirling around her and whispering into her mind. That pony was, apparently, Cozy Glow. And Cozy didn't look scared or anything. Oh, sure, she looked frustrated, and really, really angry, but not even the tiniest bit of fear showed on her face.

Cozy thrashed and kicked and screamed and bit. She was putting up quite a struggle, but Flurry knew she wouldn't last long against this awful, magical darkness. It was up to Flurry Heart to save her.

With difficulty, blasting magic in front of her, she walked (though it was more like floating in the darkness) to where Cozy was. Somewhere in the back of her mind she wondered why the darkness wasn't attacking her like that. Wasn't she a better target? She was an alicorn princess, after all. And Cozy was only a half-evil, half-maybe-reformed pegasus. Also, what was Cozy doing here, anyway? But there were more important things to think about, and she pushed the thoughts away for later.

"...Cozy?"

Cozy glared at her. "Well?" she said, with the tiniest quiver in her voice. "Aren't you gonna do something, Princess?"

Flurry felt indignant. "Well, I'm trying to make a pla- AHHH!" Flurry screamed as wisps of darkness, like forelegs, almost, wrapped around her and started pulling her away. She spread out her wings and blasted magic. The darkness let go of her, but she knew it would come back soon. But she couldn't defend herself forever. Besides, she had to save Cozy.

Flurry screwed her eyes shut and surrounded herself with a ball of magic. That would keep her safe for a few seconds, maybe even a minute or two, and give her time to think. She hit her head repeatedly with her hoof. Think, Flurry, think, she yelled at herself mentally, but she had no ideas. She couldn't think straight. She was scared, confused, worried, stressed...

Then, suddenly, like magic, an idea popped into her head.

Once upon a time, when she'd been a little filly, she had read a book of spells. Most of them were impossible to learn at that age, even if the learner was a powerful alicorn like her, but there was one she liked to imagine herself performing those spells when she grew up.

One of them was a spell to transmit a portion of your strength to another pony. It couldn't be too much strength, for obvious reasons, but...still.

The spell worked best in life-or-death situations, which, more or less, described this situation.

Should I cast the spell? Flurry mentally asked herself.

She doubted she had enough strength to use more magic, let alone share enough strength to save Cozy, but she had to at least try.

Besides, time was running out. The magic was disappearing around her...

Flurry Heart's horn lit up, and she started casting the spell. She thought of Cozy Glow, and she envisioned a part of her strength leaving her and going to Cozy. Just enough to save her and get them both out of here, out of this darkness.

She channeled her thoughts into her magic and blasted it at Cozy. Cozy's eyes widened as she was filled with strength, and she managed to dispel the darkness around her. It was quickly coming back, though.

Then Flurry had an idea. Maybe, working together, they could make a hole in the darkness big enough for them to go out of! It might not work, of course, and Flurry thought it was a crazy idea, but crazy times like this called for crazy ideas.

She whispered the idea to Cozy, who seemed to think about it for a few seconds, and then nodded her head. "It's not such a bad idea. Heck, it might even work. Let's try it." She swatted away a tendril of darkness trying to wrap itself around her, and started punching at the darkness, making it disappear. Flurry also helped, blasting magic everywhere, until she realized something. They had to dispel the darkness at the same place, not at different places, or else they'd never make a hole big enough for them to go through.

She told Cozy, who nodded and facehoofed. "Stupid me. Should've thought of it earlier." And, without being aware of it, they worked as a team. It was tiring and hard work, but Flurry somehow felt really good. Finally, finally, she was kinda sorta being friends with Cozy! Or as close as friends you could be with somepony like her.

Eventually, after what seemed liked hours and hours, they created a hole just barely big enough to fit them both. Flurry smiled in satisfaction. A few more blasts of magic and she and Cozy could fit through. But suddenly, almost as quick as the darkness had came, Flurry's bright magic shut off. She gasped as a wave of exhaustion hit her. It was all she could do to stay conscious.

Flurry realized that it was the strength spell she had performed. She had forgotten something important to consider before casting the spell. Around ten to twenty minutes after you gave away your strength, you had to take on the same amount of the other pony’s burden. It only lasted a few minutes, and the spellbook had said, Flurry recalled, that it usually wouldn’t affect you. But it really depended on how much pain the pony receiving your strength had, and how much strength you had given him or her.

And Cozy Glow, apparently, had a ton of pain bottled up inside her.

Flurry could barely breathe. It felt like inhaling sharp thorns. She was too weak to even blast a little magic. She almost was too weak to think.

Also, she felt depressed, terribly angry, and so, so helpless and hopeless.

If this was only a fraction of Cozy Glow’s pain, how could she bear it all the time?

She forced herself to get up and tried to blast some magic, but she couldn’t. It was hopeless. She and Cozy were going to die out here, and it would all be her fault…

No. She couldn’t give up like this. She had to at least try. She wasn’t going to die like a coward.

“Cozy!” she yelled. “We’re going to have to jump out the hole! Now!”

She expected Cozy to ask some questions, but the brave pegasus simply nodded and attempted to squeeze herself through the hole. She barely made it. But the hole was getting smaller by the second…

Flurry leaped through. For a second, it seemed like she would make it, but the darkness started pulling her back, and she didn’t have enough strength to resist. She went limp and let the darkness take her.

At least she could die knowing she had saved Cozy. Flurry almost smiled at the thought. But then she sobered. She didn’t want to die! She’d had a whole life ahead of her. Why did her future have to be destroyed like that?!

Suddenly, Flurry felt herself being pulled away from the darkness by strong hooves. She gasped in surprise.

Cozy Glow was saving her! Slowly, painfully, Flurry was pulled out of the hole and she landed in the wet grass, panting and sweating. The darkness had completely disappeared, and Flurry wondered if she and Cozy had imagined it. But it had felt too real to be a figment of their imagination.

"Wow," Flurry said. "Um, thanks for saving me. That was really...nice."

Cozy shrugged. "Well, I couldn't just let you die."

Flurry was glad to hear that. At least Cozy wasn't completely evil. But she didn't have time to think about Cozy's progress, because there were a lot more things on her mind, and questions she had. She decided to start with the simplest. "So, um...do you know how you got that burst of strength?"

Cozy nodded. "A strength spell. It gave me some of your strength, and in return, I gave you some of my pain. Simple."

"How do you know?"

"I studied magic."

"When?"

"...At the school."

"What school?"

"The School of Friendship."

"Oh. Right. Why?"

"I needed to know stuff about magical artifacts, so when I finished learning all I could about them, I was bored and decided to read a spellbook. You know, to prepare me for alicornhood." Cozy smirked.

Flurry sighed. "Okay. Do you have any idea what that darkness thing was?"

Cozy shook her head. "No. But it was kind of giving out King Sombra vibes. Trust me, I know the guy."

It suddenly occurred to Flurry that this might be the Sombra relative her parents were talking about. She had almost forgotten about it.

This made her scared. If the Sombra-relative/darkness thing had come all the way to Ponyville to attack her and Cozy, what was stopping it from going to the Crystal Empire? Or anywhere, actually. And somehow, Flurry knew that if it attacked again, blasting magic and casting spells wouldn't work. Their magic would disappear, just like on that night she freed Cozy.

She had to warn her parents. She had to warn everypony. But she didn't want to. She knew it was the right thing to do, but if her parents found out about this, they'd never let her put a hoof outside the castle, and she'd have guards with her everywhere. Flurry shivered at the thought.

"Let's not tell my parents," she told Cozy. "Or, anypony, for that matter. Please."

Cozy shrugged again. "Okay. I wasn't planning to, anyway."

Flurry nodded.

They sat there in silence for a few minutes. Then Flurry asked, "What were you doing out here late at night in the first place?"

Cozy looked like she was panicking. "Um, same as you. Just taking a walk, clearing my mind. That kind of stuff. Of course."

"Oh." Flurry got the feeling that she was lying, but didn't press her. She doubted that Cozy would actually tell her the truth, anyway. "Okay."

There was an awkward silence. Cozy lay down on the grass and looked at the night sky. Starlight shone down on her face, and Flurry couldn't help but stare. Usually, she thought Cozy actually looked adorable, but now she just looked stunning.

She's beautiful, Flurry thought without realizing it.

Cozy's eyes flicked to Flurry. "Um, like, why are you staring at me?"

"I am?"

"You were."

"Sorry."

"Okay, but like why?"

Flurry blushed. The real question was, Why did she suddenly feel so weird around Cozy?

"I don't know."

"Oh. Golly. Well, okay, then."

Another awkward silence fell over them, like an uncomfortable, itchy blanket.

Flurry lay down next to Cozy and they looked up at the sky together. It was slowly getting brighter, and Flurry could feel the dawn coming. Phew. Flurry had never been scared of the dark before, but now she sort of was. Maybe she'd ask for a night-light or something when she got back to the castle.

The sun was rising now, and it made Flurry suddenly remembered something. "Oh, no. What time is it? We should really be getting back to the Cutie Mark Crusaders' house."

Cozy sprang up. "Golly! I totally forgot. You're right for once - we need to get back!" She went to spread out her wings, but realized they still weren't there, so she raced away on hoof, not bothering to see if Flurry had followed.

"Wait for me!" Flurry yelled. She flew after Cozy, quickly catching up with her.

The pair soon reached the house, and Flurry breathed a sigh of relief. But then she frowned. Something wasn't right. Why were all the lights on?

She and Cozy walked over to the door. Flurry was about to knock on it when she realized it was...open? But she'd closed it when she went out, she was sure of that!

Flurry and Cozy entered to see...chaos. Seriously, Discord couldn't have planned it better himself (or was he the one who did this?) Couches and tables were overturned, and cuss words were flying about. A glass vase had been broken, the fake flowers inside had been trampled on and spread all over the floor, and Flurry thought she saw a rock-shaped hole in one of the windows. Pictures had been knocked over, including one of Rarity and her little sister, one of Sweetie Belle's favorites.

And that was only the living room.

Flurry decided to go find the CMC and ask them why the place looked like a tornado had gone through it, but just then an orange blur flew into the room. It was Scootaloo.

When Scootaloo saw Cozy and Flurry, still standing at the door in shock, she gasped and her mouth fell open. Then she sighed loudly. In relief, probably, Flurry thought, but why?

Scootaloo yelled to the ceiling, "Apple Bloom! Sweetie Belle! They're at the door!" Soon, the two ponies came running from upstairs and to the living room. There, they gaped at Flurry and Cozy. Then Sweetie Belle got up on her hind legs and crossed her forelegs.

"Okay," she said sternly, unlike the sweet pony she was. "Okay. I need you two to explain exactly what is happening and why you two were missing and what you were doing in your absence. Right now. The whole entire truth. And if Apple Bloom here thinks you're lying, or if Scootaloo does, or if I do, I swear I will go get Twilight - at five thirty in the morning, yes - and tell her to lock you up in Tartarus. Both of you. And she might even do it, because she'll be so mad for somepony disturbing her in her sleep that she'll want to take care of the problem immediately and go back to her peaceful slumber. I actually will do it. So you two better just take it easy and tell the truth. And I want details."

"Now."

Author's Note:

Sheesh- calm down, Sweetie....

Comments

[MatTheBook]

Flurry heart learned friendship

[Princess Starflight]

11278121
Yeah!

[hmaf43]

Flurry should have made CMCs her mind slaves. Cozy should already known couple of good spells amd might be willing to teach her.

[Princess Starflight]

11364795
Whoa there! That’s just slay
Flurry is too much of a goody to do that though😶