A blazing fire melts a frozen heart

Hello everyone, it's me, Cozy Glow, the true Emperess of Friendship!

A lot has changed since we tried to take over Equestria for our own selfish gains and needs.

I am lying by the fireplace with a small filly next to me. Next to me is my little sister, Princess Corpora "Maple" Nymph the Changeling-Centaur. Except, for some reason, I have reverted to being a small child after 15 years of being in stone. Luckily, for me, she just happened to be born with the power to magically go through solid rock. Golly!

My family and I had been given the ultimatum that if we behave ourselves, we would be able to get out of our prison. We have not been released naturally yet, but since my little sister can cloak one creature at a time, she surprized me by practicing for when we eventually make out escape - naturally, or otherwise. Although, we do behave ourselves more often than not now - the less time here, the better. And don't worry - my sister made sure to bring me myself out of the statue, but it still looks the same from the outside. The same time that my sister used magic on us and popped me out of the stone unexpectedly, my parents stuck their heads out to taste the real air once again, and we were shocked to realize that the 15 years must have been in our heads because (once I snuck out and reported to my parents via Mom's hivemind) it turned out that Equestria and everyone's ages were the same - yet my sister was unaffected by the strangeness of it all. Weird.

My sister is she is able to be out and about because she was born a "good filly," she can come and go as she pleases. She must always come home to the statue, though - Mom's personal hivemind will drag her back if she wants Corpora home. She was extremely excited to have a connection with an inferior changeling again - especially when she was born. She is like a reformed changeling in its final stage of "friendship metamorphosis" with the physical skin of an original changeling. Queen Mom was quite adamant in hoping the little Princess would prefer to be adopted by who is biologically her big brother. Prince Thorax, but she (at least for now,) loves her mom too much to do that - despite how she has been treated by her. And Lord Dad has grown attached to Corpora and her loving ways, while also having enough love magic and love of snuggles to feed everyone via food or mental enjoyment. Although, she is started to think of another, more shadowy pony as her younger big sister now, I am jelly.

Princess Somber Hope Umbra, daughter of Radiant Hope and one resurrected-by-the-light-of-the-Crystal-Heart-and-it's-a-long-story's now purified and good King Sombra has been very kind to Corpora and has been teaching her about life - mostly how to stay happy despite hardships like the fact that mom does not want to feed her properly - keeping Corpora from being malnourished and emotionally crushed from the actions and thoughts of her mom and for now - lifeline so she stays alive and well. Sadly, she is closely tethered to her mom since she is a baby changeling, and is going to be a one for a while. I guess mom can't stand her because she hates what her ex-hive has become and is vexed by her colony - Corpora, dad, and I wanting to be something more than heartless monster - going against everything she used to stand for. Oh well. Anyway, back to what is going on to the present!

The glowing fire is crackling and there is light snow outside. Sure this Empire of Love cannot be swallowed up by the snow, but it still gets the occasional snowstorm - usually at night, like right now. I don't have to worry about THAT - I am warm and...well...cozy, and I have my sister with me, (who is kind and sweet, and nothing like her mother - or even her father - but she is ESPECIALLY not like mother despite having "original changeling" looks and powers. She even has a few extra ones of her own, such as passing through solid objects, turning invisible, spitting poison with an array of non-lethal uses, having a bite that can be turned venomous and stun foes, silk from the spineretts (from her small extra bug-like limbs) to wrap things in; as well as the ability to shed with the discarded skin having the ability to be recycled into steel-strong clothing. Dad and I love her, though Mom is really hard on her since she thinks Copora should be more like her.

Anyway, I am sitting by the fire, after a hecktic night, and there is another tiny pony beside me. Another Princess - Princess Flurry heart of the Empire. She apparently is strong enough to cry and cause the Crystal Heart to break! Though her magic is more stable now, she is still strong enough to blast me through an open window and shoot me a mile away from the castle. Oh yeah - my sister took me to the Crystal Empire to "learn something about love" or whatever she said in her baby talk. Oh - yeah, she ages slower than ponies and most changelings so she is still a baby filly - and while I was disguised as as being invisible and silent, I was taken on the train for the trip with her. After she paid the fare, she sat down quietly and behaved herself, staring out the window. She knew I could take care of myself so she was not worried about not paying attention to me while being mesmerized by the trip she had taken like a hundred times already.

I, however was not so well behaved. Since I could basically do anything, I ate sweets from
when I snuck into the cart without anyone knowing why they were disappearing. I smushed ponies' faces, and I ran about the cart under creatures hooves and feet. They thought there was a ghost on board! Golly!

After getting to the palace, my sister sought an audience with one Princess Cadance to alert her arrival as usual, and I flew up to the tallest rooms from outside the castle to snag a free high end room, and snuck in though an open window, past the guards who thought that I was was just a cool breeze drafting in. Wow, my sister is strong! As I was trotting, I started to come up with a plan to covertly steal the crystal heart and use it for ransom to make ponies beg for it back and give the Legion of Doom whatever it and-

Poof!

My progress was halted however, when across the beautiful crystalline floor, a angry, tired, tiny unicorn pony (with a huge horn by the way) waddled up to me with a small blanket covering her - like she had just been rudely awakened from a nap and was crawling out to see the intruder. She zapped me, undoing the non-detection spell on me and teleported two other tiny ponies on either side of her. Was I really about to be confronted by tiny babies?!

Yes, yes I was. And I was about to be beaten quite badly as well. What a surprise.

The two that looked similar rushed at me, the pegasus punching and kicking my body and the unicorn using magic to hold me steady. She then snuck up on me and nommed on my beautiful curled, chewing on my prized mane-and-tail ribbon! UGH!

I was useless since I couldn't do anything, except when the pink one leaped at me, I broke free from a sudden relapse in the yellow baby's interest in her magic, and the ever irksome extra interest in my hair. I tacked the pink girl before she could and the purple blanket was ripped off of her by my attack and I when I angrily turned to see my third attacker, suddenly realized my mistake. A grave mistake.

I recognized the babies when the baby love princess fluffed up her humunga-dunga wings in the regal that only alicorns can capture. The baby glared at me, and so did the other two since I hurt their friend for the (moment.) Oh no. Oh gosh, please no. Chaos save me!

They gave me a pummeling that I guess I deserved, with the white baby adding biting to the mix, the ridiculousness of the yellow one's munch-grip on my mane, and sleepy baby clapping me by slapping my face and body with devastating wing-slaps, she even flung me across the room and the windows (with great control and without damaging anything but me.)

And finally, she shot decimating energy blasts that pummeled into my soft, squishy, tender fur.

More happened, and it all ended with a shot that almost vaporized me. I guess that was revenge for almost destroying her auntie Twilight. I would rather not detail ALL the perils of my failure because it was quite embarrassing. Just know that it took an ice pack and begging for the princess to heal me that I am still here today. And the princess was not hurt. And she is a baby. It turns out that despite my uprising against kids, teenagers and adults, my biggest foe is still in diapers. Figures.

I did not know to be afraid yet, so I foolishly stumbled into her, thinking I could take her on.

She suddenly lit her horn, and BLAM!The princess had whisked her friends and I into what ended up being the past, whirling around the time stream. Good Golly!

I was happy to see dastardly ponies like me, despite being stuck in some sort of ethereal plane, but I realized how tragic a lot of their stories were, and how a lot of bad news becomes "I wanna destroy and control the world when I grow up."

I learned of most of Equestria's villains and their backstories, rises, falls, defeats, and most of them's repentance. These included Nightmare Moon, The Storm King, Tempest Shadow, Sunset Shimmer, Starlight Glimmer (woah.)

Mane, Discord WAS scary! The babies glared at me the whole time as the flashbacks scrolled by, as what I and my parents had done wrong FINALLY sunk in, FINALLY got though my fears and pride.

Friendship saves lives AND saves the world...and we...I...I almost destroyed it, and the mostly inncoent creatures of this world.

No wonder we were punished by both and the irony of friendship breaking. Our pursuit of power ruined us and our previous lives. Except for my sister's existences, of course.

...

We returned to our normal time, and I saw that being an awful pony or creature can not only make things terrible and complicated for creatures involved (something I did not care about until my sister came into my life,) but for the evil creature, too! Without the redemptions and defeats of villains like us, we would have destroyed the world we were supposed to thrive in - if all us villains and ex-cons had won, we also would have ruined the lives of any subjects we were supposed to rule over - bringing about ruin, depression, and rebellion. Overall, everything would have been terrible for every-creature. Besides, the world would have been way less colorful without the mane 6 to use the elements of harmony against some of those cretins. I guess I'll have to rule an empire based on love, friendship, happiness, and trust. Much easier to keep subjects and make then love me. Besides, the world would never have been big enough for all us baddies.

I could bear the thought of losing the sun, my flight, the world as I no it, the loss of the slow uprising of creature equality OR the bare traces of my freedom. Gosh, I finally get why ponies hate the changes to their ways of life when a bad guy comes prowling!

We were plopped on the ground safely, in front of the fireplace feeling the embrace of heat from a fire that had just been lit.

After the adventure, she made me "pwomise to be good" and I agreed. Even if it was for a selfish reasons, good golly darn it, I was going to do my best to actually be truthfully good for once - if only to stave off Flurry, Pound and Pumpkin's wrath!

Shoom!

Thankfully, we had done home just in time for dinner! Well, after a well-deserved rest and sending the Cakes' home, first! So that means that it was the evening, but before dinner. Also, wow - I an on one the first steps to friendship - I remembered their names!

I honest feel like Scrooge-pony after that experience. Whew! What a rough ride to stop saying "ba-humbug" and not caring about dominating the world while suppressing everyone into things I did not deserve!

It seems that you really can teach an old dog new tricks because I have been taught a valuable lesson about friendship and love, with it staying in my head this time! We have become friends and I am so glad that I was taken back to my time period and statue. I was surprisingly relieved to see that statue. I might get in trouble for leaving since that Discord seems to be very powerful, but oh well - I had a fun time anyway.

Even without my sister, tired after her own fun day, sensing me and teleporting herself into Flurry and I's cozy pile and cutely barging in on it, I knew that I would have to find her and I would have dreaded trying to track her down so I thanked her for that.

"Hi Glowy!"

"Hi, Maple Weaf!"

Flurry Heart stirred and opened her eyes, recognizing one of her few best friends.

"Hi Co-Co!"

"Hiya Snowy!"

The two of them cozied up to me on either side, I recovered Flurry and covered Copora in the fluffy-fuzzy blankets. The princesses that were born into royalty sighed cutely and drifted off to sleep in seconds, leaving me to scout out for trouble and look around the room, including Flurry's room to the right. The fireplace's fire crackled and glowed as I lovingly stared first at my sister, then at my ex-nemesis who had both saved me from myself, and my eyes remained on Flurry. The one who almost destroyed her family, subjects and home - accidentally, accepted me and was now my friend. Friend.

Wait, I can't believe it - that's an accomplishment! I do not know how she did it as she's barely two, but...I think that I was taught the magic of friendship!! Earlier, I thought that learning it would be a waste of time, given my prior gripes with it - not to mention the fact that we technically have to relive the past 15 years again with Princess Corpora somehow unaffected...

But...I think I am ready to face that fact and live as everypony I tried to destroy has been trying to get me to do! Knowing that time is so short, I am ready to protect these new beliefs and live right. The lesson finally got through my magnificent head - and I am glad it happened relatively quickly as I would love to prove my innocence and get out of our prison quicker. I till find it funny that I was so such a troublemaker that I am the only recorded mortal pony - much less foal - to think that even somewhere like Tartarus was a cakewalk that did not even scare me away from my previous goals, haha!

I am the fiercest pony alive - fear me!

OW - Flurry Heart just kicked me in her SLEEP for my silent declaration of throwing my hooves in the air...and it hurt! Can she read minds, too? Wow, I still cannot believe how NOT scrawny she is for a baby, alcorn or not! I am sure that before we became best friends we could have had the most EPIC showdown and would have given us a real run for our money! I do not want to think what would have happened if the little tyke had seen us defeat the most powerful creatures in Equestria, possibly only leaving HER left as the last defense! I have no doubt in my mind that she would have pummeled us in a minute - especially with that strong ice magic she has - all while defending with her protection bubbles...we would have seen true wrath if that day had come. Anyway, I'm glad it didn't, as not only would that have prevented me from having real friends that are not my parents, but I would not have met and learned to love my new baby friends who trust me enough to have finally earned my coveted title in their eyes. These little ones are smart and understood the danger I had a hoof in putting them through. After slapping my face as best they could with their tiny hooves (it still hurt a lot mind you, and it also serves me right -) in baby talk the baby trio said:

"U can be an empwess wike you wanted, but pwease wule your subjects with gwace and kindness."

"Awso, you have to be a weader of fwiendship."

"Natuwally! We'll be your fiwst if you pwomise to not be a meany-weany!"

After all, according to the them, I am an EMPERESS of Friendship. I actually want to keep those values and prove to every-creature that I can earn this title by protecting the ones my parents and I sought to destroy and reap eternal misery on. I guess it was a bit of a harsh punishment - especially since we thought we were all aging - but I guess Mr. Discord was right in getting us turned into stone. He really is super powerful, powerful enough to meet us in our pocket dimension and keep us company (partially due to his chaos magic, and partially due to him being trapped in stone before us - kindred spirits and all;) though the visits were not very welcome at first. He did not rub our suffering in our faces or delight in the fact that our presence in the world is basically gone. has even given us a lot of privacy recently, and only let's himself enter with out permission. He has been reading to us and entertaining us and giving us gifts (like my favorite pink plushie) from both inside and outside our stone prison. He even married married my parents! He even somehow had the 'power vested in him' to perform the private wedding truthfully and legally. While he was in stone with us, the event was projected for all who wanted to see, to see. The interspecies love only made a few creatures gag, Discord said. Before he could say the main phrase before the kiss, while my soon-to-be parents were lovingly lost in each other's eyes...the flower girl (she - me, moi) jumped up - surprising Discord, shouting:

"I now pronounce you mom and dad!"

That was a fun wedding, haha!

I just hope we didn't ruin this chance for happiness according to the creatures of Equestria - even all this time. Trust can be hard, sometimes impossible to get back. And I hope we can rectify everything somehow.

While first visiting us in our prison, Discord made it clear to us that he did not really intend to keep us there for a thousand plus years, or even one hundred - and actually felt rather sorry for us. He even bargained with my ex-teachers and the princesses to get us to be able to prove ourselves to be capable of starting our own reformation and possibly earning our way out of stone, so we did not have to suffer like him.

I hope that my mom's attitude about life and the fact that I temporarily escaped (though did not show the plunderseeds of evil) did not cause dad and I to lose our potential freedom. I would like ALL of us to be freed soon, grumpy bug-mom and all.

Knowing the other two thirds Legion of Doom, Lord Tirek would be the easiest to convince to change his ways, given the fact that he has learned to love the stuffing out of me and my sister - Corpora's love and sweetness are so contagious! Well, to most creatures, anyhow. Mom might ruin everything because her pride and hate despite her species needing love to survive, and the fact that dad and I's love keeps her healthy. Ponies (and Discord soon enough - I can feel it) are starting to get suspicious of how Corpora is being rasised by mom and constantly as if she is ok because she constantly needs love donations as she is stuck being dependent on mostly mom's love and her love alone. Lord dad and I can only help. Unbeknownst to her, due to her limitless flow of love, Corpora does not know how bad she has it with mom, especially for a Changeling - and a princess one at that. Mom can suppress her natural need to keep her biological heir alive and her obligation to save her one-brood clutch from possible starvation.

Above all, the Queen might end up and both drag us with her and destroy all that's good in our world.

As for me, I love being a big sister - even though for now I am more of a little big sister right now, tee-hee. It's just so sweet and warm while being cozied up next to her, having someone to protect,
nurture and see grow up into a beautiful spider-like butterfly - even if she is a bit oblivious and naive. She should enjoy that for as long as she can, actually. Furthermore, it's great having someone else to blame for extra food I have eaten since she herself has a big appetite. Also, yes, our prison's dimension runs on imagination, and we thought up our own cozy family scenario where our giant palace with changeling-like structures and towers is our home where we don't need food because of physically being in stasis; yet we eat because we are used to it and feel a sort of "ghost hunger." As we have strengthened our minds, if we think of there being key lime pie in the fridge, there is lemon meringue pie in the - just kidding - it's key lime pie! We really have to thank Mr. Discord for giving us a chance to have a comfortable life by warping out prison to be more bearable and feel like real life. He never had these basic amenities in his time in the phosphorus slammer!

It feels really nice to have a true family and friends for once, especially young, innocent friends who tolerate reforming someone that caused them so much pain. Despite their young ages, they knew what had happened to Equestria and how close they were to losing their livelihoods. There really are fifteen chances for creatures like me and my royal family.

Though I love cuddling with the peewee pink pony princess and my baby changeling sister, I had better wake Flurry Heart up soon, go back home on the train, and report back to mom and dad. It's amazing what you can do when you are not a convict. My sister can go anywhere she pleases and everyone will look out for her. I wish it was like that for me. I guess I will have to earn it. It's a good thing we will have help in these possibly impossible endeavors; up until my sister inadvertantly projected her feelings to me (and I accepted them,) being good was hard and still is hard! Gosh golly, is it still hard!

My, it feels good to be snuggled in blankets while being warm by the fire! The teeny bodies of my little sister and tiny friend are helping warm my heart and soul through and through!

Flurry's cloaking of all three of our presence as well as her creation magic are really unparalleled! Though, to be honest, the girl used a lot of magic today, and that projection in Flurry's bed will start to worry the nanny and the girl's parents, the latter who have been in meetings all day. They know that their little girl takes long names, but even the afternoon to the evening is a bit much and they will want to spend time with their tiny daughter. Same thing almost happened with the Cake Twins - Flurry teleported them back to their lovely parents in time for the sleeping projections their parents made them, too. I have convinced her that once Flurry learns to write, she really must start leaving notes for their and her parents to know where they are - she can't just go around making switcheroos like this; it's disruptive, tiring to accomplish, and risky to pull off. At least wait until she's older and can freeze time or something. Her parents have their work cut out for them, not to mention the Cake parents, with their powers being more than normal babies and their fast ability to learn new tricks such as the ones from Flurry Heart I saw them trying out earlier! I just hope that they will all come out well, stay well-behaved and remain the best of friends without causing trouble for anyone, being the best ponies they can be.

Oh wow, I finally cared about somepony enough to give kind, heartfelt advice and really mean it. Woah - am I a changeling or something? Who am I, and what did she do to the real Cozy Glow? Am I stuck in a gooey cocoon somewhere?

I think the little ones opened up my stoney mind to what can be possible in life. I guess you really are never to young to make a difference, in both mine and Flurry's cases. Flurry Heart thought that I was not a lost cause and even bothered to whisk me away on a short adventure to prove it and show that my life and the Legion of Doom's life could be SO much happier! Speaking of that...I guess we will have to rename ourselves the "Legion of Love" or something cheesy like that to start to prove the change to other creatures and work really hard to regain their trust we broke so long ago. Although, with my new friends' help, at least I am up for the challenge! I went from "ew, friendship," to "ooh, friendship!"

Oh, Golly! I think that when I tell my parents this, it will take a shorter amount of time to dad to jump at the opportunity. I just hope that mom does not end up ruining that for us...I like being trusted, liked, and treated as an innocent foal again...no matter how many times I use my cuteness to make someone fork over extra cookies. I do not care how many fake years or actual years it takes - I am freeing myself and my family - even if I have to force-feed mom friendship down her throat. Somehow without hurting her.

Since I am legally a princess now, maybe I could one day earn my rightful alicorn-hood the right way and become immortal like the rest of my family...I would hate to pass without them, or have them be sad without my amazing presence! This is slightly wishful thinking, but I could even be besties with Princess Twilight one day! Someday.

I hope you take to heart that I really have taken this lesson to heart, as in the end...I was bested by a true princess - a tiny baby somehow filled my cold heart with the fire of love!

"Zzz...buh!"

"Aw...such a cutie!"

Author's Note:

Where Corpora "Maple" Nymph's name comes from:

Corpus allatum (plural: corpora allata/allatum) it is next to the Corpora cardiaca and helps with larval molting (ecdysis), and metamorphosis to the pupa, and Maple loves maple leaves/the change in fall, and is a baby that exhibits both physical and mental traits of larva and pupa.

Thanks for reading! Here are a couple of pictures of what Corpora and Somber Hope look like at this. (Enjoy - other pictures coming on or before December 31st!)

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