The Awkward Train Ride Home
Ocellus: Twilight’s most gifted student second to Cozy. Changelings had hunted ponies since before Sombra’s first reign, and after all the loveshed they’ve brought, all those civilizations lost to their hunger—Timbucktu, Trot, nearly Canterlot—Ocellus had a very important responsibility. Her species' reputation had not been tarnished, because there was no point in history where creatures felt less than fear and vitriol towards Chrysalis’ children. Without her hive or the comforts granted by a disguise, she had to convince the pony populace that the changelings had—well, changed.
Cozy’s antics didn’t help. Did she hate the changelings? No; in fact, she probably had a warmer opinion of them when compared to other ponies at the time. She didn’t know whether she was in one of the affected territories during Chrysalis' takeover—the one that led to her hive disowning her—because why would drones pay a resentful orphan filly much attention? Even in a cocoon, she would’ve embittered the hive.
Why did she pin ponies against non-ponies during her school takeover? Divide and solidarity simply worked well for her plan.
The winds outside picked up. Tree stems slanted diagonally. Orange leaves scraped the windows, whilst a layer of black hid the sun. The carriage had more creatures than any of the country towns they passed: more eyes to validate a Cozy Glow sighting. And the train had cameras, Cozy didn’t doubt.
Why can’t the universe just leave her alone? This was supposed to be a fun day out for Luster: an apology for what Chrysalis had done. Now there’s a metamorphosed changeling in front of her, one that had smelt Cozy’s love before and caused her downfall. One that probably laughed at the news of her Tartarus sentence. Foal Protective Services (FPS) would twist this into a tragedy.
Cozy’s ears subtly twitched at the sound of magic, and she looked down to watch Luster pull out a book from their plastic bag on the floor: Dummies Guide to Teleportation.
Between that and jumping out of a gateway connection, given they were seated right next to the door and the bridge to the next carriage, at least they had contingencies. But she never had to change somepony else’s identity. Cozy was lucid to the situation, but for an empathically-average foal, it’d be an unbearable stress. The FPS would see her as a victim, but would Luster believe that? Or would she fear they’d lock her up in Tartarus, or petrify her—right next to her mother?
“Pss! Mom,” Luster muttered behind her book. “What are these creatures?”
Cozy wanted to avoid talking, even though Butter Skies talked differently: less sugar-saturated for one. Her living amongst shapeshifters for eight years helped her control her voice; she could solo a choir. She felt odd falling to such irrationality, but Ocellus—those alien eyes glanced from the window periodically; otherwise, she was too invested in the black-and-white countryside. Ocellus was suspicious. All that creature needed was proof.
Silverstream looked at her, not even trying to hide it: her neck was bent at a right angle, downwards, with wide eyes.
Golly, she’s tall, Cozy thought. Do I want her educating my daughter?
“Lustie,” Cozy said before turning towards Silverstream. “She used to live under a rock.” She bent her wing around Luster’s right hoof and used it to point as she went, “She’s a hippogriff, she’s a dragon, and she’s a changeling.”
Luster stared at Ocellus. Ocellus stared back, and after a while stiffly waved with a crooked smile.
“So, she’s a new drone?” Luster asked.
An innocent question, but that language: ‘new drone’. No one calls them ‘new’ drones anymore. They didn’t even call them ‘drones’, just ‘changelings’. Ocellus didn’t look offended—luckily—but Butter S. had to fix her image.
“Call them ‘changelings’ dear.”
Luster turned to her, the ridge of brow scrunched and mouth folding a tiny ‘O’ shape.
Oh, frolicking Flurry, here it comes.
“But you call them drones.”
I really got to mind my language around her. Cozy inhaled. “Yes, but I was talking about the older, non-reformed changelings.”
“Older? But—”
“Sweetie, can we talk about this at home? It’s a bit awkward for Equestria’s heroes, the ones that saved the world twice.” Cozy smiled.
“You recognize us?” Smolder asked, grinning, glaring down at her claws to play it cool.
“Oh, it’s really no big deal,” Ocellus said. “Besides Gallus, none of us really do hero work anymore. The only thing we could really take credit for is that time we defeated… Cozy Glow…”
Why did she stress my name? And why is she looking at Lustie?
Ocellus continued—“Is she your—” but was interrupted.
A train attendant pushed a trolley of complementary pastries and snacks. Because they were at the front, the tray was full, so Luster hovered over two muffins, took a bite out of one, and continued reading her book on teleportation.
Only chewing and chatter filled the moment, until Ocellus tried again.
“Is she your—”
Both of Cozy’s wings pounced at her daughter’s shoulders. The filly flinched; a few crumbs fell to the floor. “You’re not just staring at the pictures, are you Lustie?”
“What? No! I’m just, like, getting an idea of it.”
Cozy glanced at Ocellus. Jeez, her butt’s not even on the seat, and the only one of them either… She definitely thinks I’m going to kill my filly.
Between Ocellus and Smolder lay a bag. Smolder’s eyes shifted as the other pulled out a phone. Her hoof on the backrest, she left her seat.
Oh gosh. “You wanted to ask me something?”
Ocellus turned. Cozy could tell by subtle muscles that the changeling was looking at the ceiling, assessing the situation.
Ocellus sat back down. “What’s your name?”
“Butter Skies.”
“Ocellus.” She pointed to her chest, then to the filly. “Is she your sister or nephew or…?”
“She’s my—”
“Daughter!” Luster declared, teeth gleaming. She pushed her head deep into her mother’s stomach, shifting to get comfy. Her mother shared her soft feathers with a wing around the filly’s chest, but her eyes remained fixed on Ocellus.
“Aww,” Silverstream cooed. “Doesn’t she just like the coziest filly in the Equestria?”
“Yeah… Cozy...” Ocellus murmured.
“You look a bit young to be a mother to a filly that big,” Smolder said.
Luster explained, “I’m her adopted daughter.”
“Since when?” Ocellus asked.
“Two days ago.” Luster took another bite out of her muffin, and noticed that Mom hadn’t touched the one she reserved for her. She attempted to feed Cozy. A muffin held by an amber aura poked the mare’s lips and twisted itself, raining crumbs. It wasn’t working. The filly stoked her chin; her horn shined in sync with her light-bulb moment. Her aura prodded Cozy’s mouth open—directly. With a putty of aura the size of two talons, Luster’s magic clung as deep as the backside of Cozy’s teeth, and pushed down—
“Alright, alright!” Cozy smirked, rolled her eyes, and bit into the floating muffin.
Silverstream giggled.
Ocellus looked confused, though cognitively she knew she shouldn’t be. Cozy could’ve been an actor—Cozy should’ve been an actor, she thought. As a filly, she could’ve been Equestria’s sweetheart, lover of creatures and critters. Outwardly lovely, rotten underneath: she would’ve fit right in. And if she had burnt out before she reached puberty, at least there would’ve been media spotlight.
Ugh! Focus. Ocellus looked around. Cozy didn’t have a bag, only those books. Next to that villain was a hippogriff (one and a half times her height), next to herself was a dragon, she was a changeling, and there were a bunch of other creatures around: mostly Canterlonians and Manehattaners. Considering Cozy once destroyed Canterlot, there was good reason to trust the former would help in a fight.
What am I worried about? She reeks of Cozy: morally empty, apathetic, villainous; that bow and those eyes. I would’ve thought she’d come up with a better disguise… And awfully suspicious for that filly to be ‘adopted’ the same day as the Kludgetown anomaly. Doesn’t have the same stench though. Probably isn’t evil. Though there’s no fear either, just—glee. It could be a potion, but why does Cozy have that... ‘motherly’ scent to her?
Ocellus looked back up at Cozy, and they both stared at each other. Cozy didn’t look hostile, and though it was hard to tell with her, neither did she smell hostile. What changelings recognized her by was more of a tinted prism than a light. If you remembered the scent of her light—emotions—by a wide enough range, you could cancel out the differences and realize her prism—her psyche.
“This’ll sound weird but, do I know you?” Ocellus blurted. She wanted to know how Cozy would deny it, and it wasn’t as if she could escape anyway. The mare was trapped.
Cozy’s freedom was on the balance. If the FPS gets a hold of Luster, they’d no doubt try to turn the filly against her. She didn’t want to imagine what would happen if they won, and if they lost, it would leave a scar on the filly’s mind. Luster already had to deal with Kludgetown. It wasn’t fair.
The mare sighed. “You might’ve.”
If Ocellus had eyebrows, they would’ve been raised.
Cozy hugged her daughter, and only then did Luster start to catch clues about the situation.
The mare continued, “When I was a filly, I ended up being something of a… street performer, you could say. I stood around all day, did nothing. But… it didn’t have to be that way.”
“So you’re a victim, huh?” Ocellus asked.
“Of myself, yeah.” Cozy ducked her head. “Before I ended up where I did, I used to live in an orphanage. My parents didn’t drop me off; I was found by strangers with a bow tied to my mane, and they took me to a pious mare—or that was what she told me. She was madly devoted to Celestia, and that inspired me.
“To cut a long story short, I received my cutie mark, and my caretaker wasn’t really that pleased. Probably mostly had to do with some boring old context: a bit of a fight happened. Anyways, she was super into the idea that cutie marks told how good a pony’s character was, even more than her devotion to Celestia, apparently. I must’ve caused her to forget about her loyalty for a moment.”
Cozy shifted her eyes at Ocellus and raised her head. “She wanted to bring me to a… I shouldn’t be saying this—pony, who specialized in that sort of thing. But I didn’t want to go, so I left.”
“You left?” Ocellus asked, less tonally exacerbated than before.
“I ran away, yeah.”
“So it’s your foalhood that turned you this way?” Ocellus asked, genuinely curious.
Cozy sighed. “I was always who I was; my foalhood only helped me figure it out sooner than most. After two years and some hard work, I earned everything I needed: warmth, food, a future, frie—” Cozy stopped herself. “You wanna hear a funny story about my street performance days?”
Ocellus slowly nodded.
“A mare passed me by once, or a few times actually. Oh, pity stained her heart. I didn’t see what she looked like, but from the way she talked, I would’ve thought we’d met before.”
“Wait, you heard her?”
“You bet,” Cozy replied in a tone that mimicked defeat. “She was with a couple of friends the first time. You want to know what she wondered?”
“What did she wonder?”
“She wanted to know if I was okay, probably because she felt bad, like she could’ve done something. And you know what? Before I ended up on the streets again, I was stuck in a bit of a box. Nocreature visited me, or sent me a letter, or even tried at all with me. I bet they laughed when I left, or threw parties, or danced; likely all of the above. When I got out of that place, no one knew—not until hours before I showed up. Before that, somecreature would fetch me the papers every day, and my name was never on it. It was Tartarus.
“So yeah, maybe she could’ve done something. But could I’ve told her that? Nope! Had to be dedicated to the role. I wanted to cry, y’know, or scream? How could creatures be indifferent to that? My mind tore in front of me, over the course of days and months and years. Maybe at some point… I would’ve told her that I was sorry, sorry for what I’d done to her, and her friends. If she had done something and given me that opportunity, I wondered how much differently my life would’ve turned out.”
“Hey…” Ocellus reached out a hoof to pat her, but was rejected by a scrawl, and a surge of spice in Cozy's emotions.
“That day has passed. Because I picked myself back up, and you couldn’t tell from the pony in front of you the torment I’ve been put through. When I got out I—made the same mistakes, fumbled, yes, and I can deal with the creatures I’ve angered. But now… I feel like I can finally retire, because a few days ago, while I was wandering around, I spotted a tragic, horrible fire, and nearby, under a tiny little hole in the ground, I found this filly.”
Cozy wrapped her forelegs around her daughter and gently shook her a few times.
She continued, “She was so vulnerable and scared, and I never really felt these sorts of obligations before, but it just felt so wrong to leave her there by her lonesome. After I patched her up, and a hilarious little misunderstanding, we left, then the next day when I woke up, something really magical happened. You okay with showing it off, Lustie?”
Cozy let go of her daughter. She knew what Cozy was referring to, so she stood up and turned to the side.
“Dawn,” Ocellus said.
“That’s exactly what I called her. At first, her name was just ‘Luster’; now, ‘Luster Dawn’. It felt like a new opportunity for me; the dawn of a new opportunity.” Cozy chuckled. “My caretaker always wanted a foal with a celestial cutie mark. Cadance never had one but, her being a pegasus originally inspired some false hope I’d have one. One of my friends told me that fate is a ruse, and maybe there’s truth to that, but when I look at my daughter, I see a part of myself, and when she’s a grown-up, I’ll get to discover what I could've been.”
A teardrop fell on Luster’s crown, opposite to the side her mane flowed. Cozy turned to Ocellus. “I want to give Lustie the foalhood I never got, and maybe prove to myself and my daughter and that mare from those years ago that… I could’ve been a good pony.”
Ocellus could sense the mare’s emotions; it confused her. She didn’t notice any changeling perfumes or spells being cast. Cozy is a manipulator. If that filly had won two decades ago, she, her friends, and Starlight would’ve spent the rest of their lives adrift in a void, and Cozy wouldn’t have cared; that night, she would’ve slept like a baby on her cloud of lies.
“If what you said is true,” Ocellus stated, “then I’m—I mean, that mare, would've been really proud of you.” She inhaled. “But she’d tell you to fess up.”
Smolder and Silverstream looked at Ocellus, who held hooves up, shrugged, and elaborated, “Her story’s vague.”
Cozy smudged off her tears, and said without sadness, stutter, or fear, “Well, if that mare was here, I’d want her to know that if I was a demon filly, she hasn’t met me as a mare. I’m trying very hard to fix my life, but I’ve had my mind shattered in silence whilst ponies held concerts in front of my corpse; forgive me if I’m a bit resentful. If she thinks I’ll let her toss me to pits she’s oblivious to, just for some petty drive to hear that I’ve suffered, then she better be aware that I’ll be crawling with a hole through my stomach before she’ll ever see me bow.”
Ocellus’ back and forehooves were against her seat, her head a tilt upwards. She looked at Luster, who was taken aback.
The other two looked at each other and clapped.
“A few odd metaphors here and there, but what a fiery speech!” Silverstream said.
“Yeah!” Smolder added. “Was it a bit too strong for you Ocellus?”
Ocellus gulped to clear her throat. “Well, I definitely—”
“Now arriving at Canterlot,” sounded a prerecorded voice through the train’s speakers. “Canterlot.”
“Well, see you two around,” said Silverstream. Both she and Smolder waved goodbye, and Luster returned the gesture. Smolder hovered whilst Silverstream walked because of the crowd and height.
Luster went to the edge of the seat but didn’t jump down yet. She turned back and saw her mother and Ocellus.
“Gosh, you look frightened! Was I a bit too intense? Sorry, it's just that it annoys me to no end when creatures assume that because I’m a bit—lacking—in certain, exclusively emotional, parts of my brain, that I don’t have feelings! I probably have more brainy connections in those regions than you to be honest.”
Cozy looked at the scurry of passengers remaining and continued, “Welp! We should probably get going. There’s nothing better than spending time with creatures you love, is there?” She extended her hoof.
Ocellus looked at the offer, glanced at her eyes, at Luster, at the door, bounced back a few times then sighed. She shook it, and left, staring at the filly as she did.
“Please don’t make me regret this,” Ocellus said in a clear voice with eyelids scrunched together, shaking her turned-away head.
“Oh, how could I possibly even dream of such a thing?”
Luster and Cozy walked out, but the latter looked at Ocellus one last time as they crossed the platform of the station. “Don’t make Mom sad, Ocellus.”
“Wait, what?! Is she—”
“Hey Ocellus,” said Gallus, Captain of Canterlot’s Royal Guard.
When Ocellus turned back, the mare and the filly were gone.
Cozy dashed. With Luster on her back, she galloped over the railings and off of the mountain. Maintaining her plane, her daughter grabbed onto her neck as her bottom lifted upwards, tail wafting. A second before impact, Cozy extended her wings. Maintaining the same altitude, the ground sunk, and blended into a valley sprinkled by forts. The skies around Canterlot were sunny. With only a zephyr against their manes, and after Luster had gotten a good view of the river, Cozy titled at a gentle angle towards home.
Cozy took a deep breath and exhaled through her mouth. Luster copied her.
“Oh fudge cakes!” The mare facehoofed. “I forgot our bag. Gosh, am I getting old? It’s not like me to—”
Pop!
Cozy stopped. She did not just—
The mare dropped an inch as Luster reappeared on her back, and showcased in front of her the bag she left.
“I showed up in the staff room for some reason, but they had our stuff there,” Luster said.
“Must’ve been their counter-teleport system redirecting you there,” Cozy explained, shocked. “Lustie, you’re scaring me.”
The mare felt her filly’s grip grow distant; she clarified, “In a good way!”
The filly’s grip returned, and she asked, “So who were those creatures back there?”
“Oh, just one of the students that sent me to Tartarus.”
“What?!” Lusted shouted.
“Yeah, and do you want to know something else?”
Luster climbed closer to her mother’s face and nodded.
“When I said ‘a mare’ in my story, I actually meant her.”
Luster gasped. “So, were you a street performer or not?”
“Huh? Oh golly, no. That was a euphemism for ‘statue’. Do you know what a ‘euphemism’ means?”
“This is too complex,” Luster groaned, rubbing the side of her head.
“Yeah, maybe on Monday I’ll make you watch a documentary on myself so you don’t make me sit next to creatures that want to see me cremated.”
“Oh… Sorry about that, Mom.” Luster mimicked what Cozy used to do and kissed her mother in front of her ear.
Cozy sighed. “It’s alright.”
Their house soon came into view, without any smoke this time.
Luster had an idea. “Hey, what if I teleported us home!”
“Uhm, Lustie a few hours ago the dro—changeling you teleported seemed a bit… crispy. I really wouldn’t mind if we just—”
“Phff!” Luster waved her hoof. “I’ve read every page of that guidebook twice!”
Flipped through you mean… “But dear, teleportation is an art, like painting or baking. You can’t just read a book and—”
Luster didn’t listen; they both teleported. She compressed two points in the fabric of space and brought their destination closer. Though the filly wouldn’t have understood the science if her mother drew it out for her, she didn’t have to.
Cozy was flung into the couch back home, covered in patches of black. The corners of her curls raised lines of smoke like incense. Her bow remained at room temperature, unfazed by means of enchantment. She didn’t want to suffer the side effects of undoing her disguise whilst covered in burns.
The bag hovering next to the filly: only a bit warm. Maybe I should’ve bubbled Mom in my magic… Luster looked up at her mother. She noticed colorful triangles up at the edge of the wall, and only once she reached the ceiling, she realized she would've fallen backwards if she continued, so she turned around—to an agape Hope—with a party hat on.
“Surprise!” Cozy said, frazzled, and fell to her side on the couch.
“A-A party? For what?” Luster asked as Hope magicked a hat over her head.
Cozy responded, “For your cutie mark, silly. That’s a big occasion for a foal. Why else would I have been so busy all the time?”
Luster jumped to hug her mother. Having a warm filly against your burn marks wasn’t the most pleasant experience in Equestria, but love drowned the sting.
“Well, aren’t you going to eat your cake?” Cozy gestured to the table stitched together by blue magic. “I baked it just for you, y’know. But I’m sure Hope would love a slice.”
Hope conjured a paper-sharp chef’s knife—and a shield. Luster teased her; she hovered the knife, but made her aura act like a rod. The distance between the object and her horn remained constant, and the two rotated in sync. Luster tilted her head upwards, shuffled her hooves, and jolted her head down. She cut the cake, and struggled to pull the knife out of the table.
Hope stepped in; the healer cast a spell that divided the cake into eight perfect slices, and made the knife explode into confetti.
She conjured paper-like plates of her aura’s construct and allowed Luster to present her mother with the first slice. The healer was second and the filly let herself be last. What a sweet foal, Hope thought.
“Cutie mark celebrations are much more special than birthdays!” Cozy ate her slice, earth-pony style.
“Do you even know when your birthday is?” Hope asked, spearing her slice with a light-blue fork.
“Do you?”
“Roughly.” Hope placed the cake-covered fork into her mouth. “It’s been a thousand years. Sombra probably remembers it though.”
Ding dong!
“How in Equestria did the fire this morning not destroy the doorbell?” Cozy asked.
Hope swallowed. “Strange. Some firemares tried to use it this morning and they couldn’t get it to work.”
“Lustie, dear,” Cozy asked, “can you please answer the door? Because, y’know, supervillains.” She gestured to herself and Hope.
Luster nodded and went towards the door.
Hope turned to the mare. “I think you meant supervillainnnn—singular.”
Cozy rolled her eyes and took another bite.
The filly left the conversation and entered the foyer. She telekinetically hid a pile of ash, once a horseshoe rack, to the corner. An amber sheen covered the handle, pressed down, and opened the door.
Luster gulped the cake in her mouth, wiped off stains of chocolate from her muzzle, and teleported.
Hope healed Cozy on the sofa, and the mare felt reinvigorated. She could handle anything: a bounty hunter, her old classmate, an overpowered daughter—the last of whom appeared in front of her.
“You teleported again!” Hope praised. “How’d you learn that so quickly?”
Luster rubbed the back of her head. “Mom, uhh—”
“Ah, don’t need to ask me!” Cozy shoved the side of the knife under the cake. “You can have one more slice before we put this all in the fridge—actually, does our fridge still work?”
“Actually, it’s about—”
“Oh, just tell those creatures my grumpy ol’ Mom told them to go away! They won’t blame you.”
“But Mom… Discord and Flurry Heart are at the door.”
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Oh shit.
I wonder why Candance is not here but only Flurry Heart
Are you ever going to specifically say what happened to Tirek? I'm assuming he died, probably from being to frail to survive the unpetrification process.
Cozy dipped the first chance she got. She could not handle being around ocellus any longer. But damn, wasn't expecting her to open her heart to Ocellus, just to convince her to let them go. also, Cozy is retiring? guess it makes sense since she's raising Luster, and any more evil acts would estrange her new daughter to her.
Also, Discord and Flurry? Not Cadance? Did Flurry set this up so she could see Cozy herself and not her parents?
This deserves more likes
Glad you managed to sneak in another chapter before I assume going on with your contest fic.
The train ride was neat! Cozy successfully managed to use words to escape capture. She certainly has a way with those. I wonder if every part of the backstory she told was a wrap-up of the last two seasons and afterwards. It also makes me wonder if Ocellus knew that she was awake as a statue. If not, then that realization could be the main reason she decided to let her go.
Sadly, that would not surprise me.
Hard to believe everything happened so far happened in only a 2 day timeframe. Cozy really got herself one hectic life by taking in Luster.
And now Cozy has to face the most evil creature in Equestria and Flurry. Murphy's law is in full effect with her today, isn't it? Either way, this should be another fun confrontation.
The tensions are high
Momma’s ex is here!
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In the last chapterCadence and Discord appeared, she said she would be too busy to continue the search, and she only let him takeFluryalong if Celestia and Luna were too busy (he assured her they were)