Glowing in Everglow

by Darkmoon9

Chapter 24: The Fairy Tale Cottage

Diary of Twilight Sparkle

Since I first found myself in this realm, I had seen many things that I had once deemed impossible, both good and bad. One of them being the trajectory the life of archvillaness Cozy Glow had taken, becoming a hero of the people. I wondered if Cozy still desired to rule over others, whatever the case it seemed she had what she wanted now, being in command of her owntroops and greatly respected by both the common people and the royal family. Another impossible incident being the mysterious letter I was given supposedly written by a relative I thought was still in my home world of Equestria, my niece, Princess Flurry Heart. In some ways I was glad she wasn’t stuck living in a realm controlled by Midnight, for that might mean she would have perished at her hooves, or worse, but her presence here had other disturbing implications, what happened to my old babysitter and wife of my brother Shining Armor? Heck, what had happened to my brother? Whatever the fate of the family rest of my family, I was glad Flurry was still alive and well. I hoped I would see both Cadence and my brother in the place Flurry had told me to meet up with her. But who I would actually meet there I could not have predicted in a million years.

Flurry Heart written to me about how she escaped from Equestria 6 months ago when the Crystal Empire was overwhelmed by Midnight’s forces, she had since been living in a cottage on the edge of the Forest of Dreams, being taken care of by mysterious people only referred to as her mother’s trusted “caretakers” in her letter. She instructed me to meet her at the cottage and I was obliged to come to the meeting. At first, I wondered if this was some kind of cruel trick, yet even if it was a possibility, if this really was my niece, I had to see her. The cottage at the edge of the forest was like out of a fairytale, with a straw roof and smoke coming out of the chimney. A rounded door only increased impression that this cottage was like the dwelling of the halflings of fiction. Or the dwelling where Princess Fancybottom hid from her evil stepmother, the Enchantress during her formative years in the story of Sleeping Cutie, raised by the benevolent Fairy Godmother. I wondered if Flurry had such a Godmother, maybe it was her dear aunt, or whoever this mysterious caretaker was.

I knocked on the door and only moments later I was greeted by a familiar face, Flurry was older than I remembered her, she should have been about 12 at this point, a similar age to what Cozy Glow was when she originally tried to usurp me, but she was slightly larger, perhaps due to her alicorn status, looking more like an older teen than a filly. She had a soft pink coat, purple mane with stripes of artic blue set into an elaborate manestyle reminiscent of her mother, or perhaps even Rarity. Her light blue eyes gave off a glow like crystal. Her wings were big and healthy, perhaps bigger than was natural for a pegasus her age, same for her horn, that was almost already as big as mine, this was also natural, she was not a pegasus nor a unicorn, she was an alicorn, the first naturally born one in thousands of years. The aspect about her appearance that was the most unfamiliar to me was her cutie mark, a light-blue heart that contained a darker blue heart, her mark of destiny was reminiscent of her mothers, yet the differences were striking, and I wondered what they could mean. When Flurry saw me, she rushed forward to envelop me in the embrace of her wings, I embraced her back using mine. She had been much younger last I saw her; it was amazing to see she had grown.

Flurry gestured for me to come in and took me to the kitchen where I saw probably the last thing I expected to see. Tirek in an apron trying to use the oven to make cookies, it didn’t seem to be going especially well considering the cookies were horribly burnt. But I didn’t expect a figure like him to be doing something like that at all. My jaw dropped to the floor when I first saw him. Tirek seemed to be in a somewhat powerful state, not the fragile form he inhabited when he was imprisoned in Tartarus. Muscular and intimidating, but not the giant he was when I last faced him in battle.

“Uncle Tirek and Auntie Chryssi has been taking care of me in my mother’s and father’s absence. Together with my older sister Aurora.” Flurry blurted out like it wasn’t strange at all.

I had no idea who Aurora was, but this entire situation was madness, what could possibly have transpired that made Cadence and Shining Armor and trust their daughter to two of the most dangerous villains in Equestria?

“You don’t think it’s strange that him of all people are taking care of you Flurry? And who the hoof is Aurora?” I told her, losing my temper for just a moment.

It was Tirek who answered my question, his voice was surprisingly calm sounding:

“Aurora is Cozy Glow’s sister, they are not related by blood, but they did grow up together. As for mine and Chryssi’s presence, after a tyrant called Midnight took over Equestria, Starlight got desperate and freed us from our stone prisons. We both joined the Crystal Empire in the resistance against Midnight, overtime we proved our loyalty to the cause, enough so that Princess Cadence couldn’t think of any she trusted with her daughter’s life other than us two. Chrysalis was motivated by vengeance as Midnight was responsible for making the changelings extinct . As for my reasons to join the resistance? My time in stone had made me to reflect on my actions. The original reason I invaded Equestria was to prove to my father King Vorak that I was worthy to be called his son and that magic was equally valuable as strength of arms, if not more so. I intended to steal the magic of Equestria and make myself the most powerful being in the universe to prove him wrong, my brother Scorpan was as you know initially supportive of the plan but betrayed me in favor of the Equestrians. After spending centuries in Tartarus, my family were probably long dead while I was kept alive by sorcery, I wanted vengeance against Equestria for assuring that my father would never witness me achieve my goals. I wanted to destroy your kingdom, but I think I found genuine bonds among my latest set of co-conspirators, Chrysalis and Cozy Glow. You will probably find this strange, but while I denied it at the time, I started to consider Chrysalis as a partner and Cozy as a daughter and they granted me a reason to live beyond vengeance. While I lost Cozy and was not sure I would ever see her again, I still had Chrysalis. When I was freed by Starlight, it was my bond with Chrysalis that convinced me to join her in defiance against Midnight, her desires are my desires, she was the only one left I considered family, even if she might see things differently. The Crystal Empire might have fallen, but Cadence wanted to make sure her legacy would survive. Once she returns together with the true Princess Twilight, Flurry will be able to rally the people of the Crystal Empire behind her. I understand you will never truly forgive me Twilight, nor do I really care, but we have a common enemy. Which means that for now, we are allies as far as I am concerned. As long as Chrysalis desires the destruction of Midnight, so will I.”

It was certainly unexpected, but his explanation makes sense, I told him that as long as he refrained from hurting Flurry Heart, I had no quarrel with him. Midnight was my primary enemy right now as well, and I have already had evidence that a member of the old villain trio could redeem themselves, so why not Tirek and Chrysalis. When Tirek asked me about what I meant by this. I told him that his old companion Cozy Glow was currently an officer in Taralos and in the minds of some, the kingdom’s greatest hero. Tirek seemed intrigued by this.

“Aurora and Chryssi did see mention of someone named Cozy Glow heading a recruitment speech for the military. They went to investigate. I’m glad to hear that it was indeed the very same Cozy we used to know. I never imagined the three of us would be in each other’s presence and free to act without being stone statues ever again. Brings back old memories. But everything has changed from those times, hasn’t it? I don’t think any of us are the same person we used to be. Maybe that even applies to you, Twilight.”

“And that’s probably a good thing.” I told Tirek. I took one look at the burned cookies and asked him:

“Do you need help with the baking? I have been taught a lot from Pinkie Pie.”

I got the impression that Tirek wanted to decline out of stubborn pride if nothing else. But one look at the burned cookies made him relent and allow me to help. Mumbling something about Chrysalis usually being the one who did the baking in this household.

Comments

[Communist_Egor]

Hello! Your story really interested me! The concept of Cozy Glow as a hero, an excellent strategist and a talented commander is impressive. I also liked the theme of the redeemer Sunset, as well as Twilight revising her views on the concept of correcting villains, as well as Midnight, establishing Harmony and Order in a perverted sense with an iron hoof. A special plus for the high-quality development of unique backstories for Cozy Glow and Chrysalis.
And the narration in the form of character diaries as events unfold in a role-playing game format gives the story a unique charm!
Overall, this is a masterpiece! Looking forward to the continuation!
P.S. I wonder how all the villains of the new world will be defeated and how long it will take? And how will the heroes even defeat Midnight, who has already defeated Cozy Glow once with all her friends and the magic of Harmony? Overall, it will be interesting to see what you come up with.