Creative Names
Glass shattered. Luster’s reflection flew past. In her peripheral vision, under a foggy somnolent play of consciousness, she saw a hoof stomp the gut of the changeling. It coughed out a cloud of pink stuff, cleared its throat, and hissed. Another stomp was blocked by its hooves. Another hiss.
The doppelganger of Luster got up from the wall it struck, and looked at the other drone, then at Butters, and was hesitant to join in because something felt off about her.
It was thankful it didn’t.
A swipe down her bow and a wave of flames brought Cozy Glow back to light.
The room was silent, save for the crackles of fires to be bridled by the clouds Cozy brought along. They seeped through the new hole in the door and suffused across the ceiling, producing a drizzle.
Water dripped on the drones' faces, but they were too scared to wipe it off. It was as if any movement would startle the predator standing in front of them, whose house was half burnt by them.
Cozy glared at the doppelganger, who got the hint and turned back into its original form. It was unsure if it should brace itself or genuflect.
Meanwhile, the other drone, the one that chased Luster, stomped on tiny flames, as a desperate gesture for forgiveness.
Cozy looked at the floor, at a broken framed picture of herself and Luster in the skies she took, and at Luster herself, covered now in burn marks and a bruised head.
“Chrysalis will hear about this,” Cozy promised.
She didn’t dignify the reaction with even a glance, and walked to Luster, whilst the two drones looked at one another, sensing each other’s fear. It was as if they were hoping for a sign that this was all just a dream and that they’d wake up in their cocoon beds and forget about it an hour later.
Where is Hope? Cozy thought and groaned.
“Mom?” Luster murmured in a voice too weak for the drones to hear, even if they weren’t poking themselves.
Cozy flapped a short but powerful gust towards Luster, and picked her up by her legpits. It was a difficult sight, and it did a dent in her self-confidence at being a mother. She held Luster like a baby, aghast by the injuries, although light, and used her wings to shield her from the indoor rain. Sensing her body might’ve been too warm for a filly with fresh burns, she decided not to wait for Hope.
Pegasi had deep lungs, as Masters of the Skies, used to blow away clouds and create brief winds.
Cozy filled her lungs up completely. When she was finished, she inhaled a few more gulps. Pitching her lips as if about to whistle, she blew a concentrated channel of frosty air on the burns hidden under Luster’s coat.
Air cooled as it expanded, especially when pushed through a tight nozzle, and when you were a filly left in Tartarus with only a neighbor and two ribbons, there wasn’t much else to work on but yourself.
Once she was done, all that was left was the final step: a mother’s kiss on her boo-boo, and that was the last thing Luster saw before dozing asleep.
Luster woke up an hour later.
Stretching the muscles side of her neck, she looked around to figure out where she was.
She jumped in her seat; it was the changeling from before. Except it was completely tied up, in strings that looked identical to the magical construct conjured by Hope. They were thick, bulky, and loose. Considering they were shapeshifters with fangs, it didn’t look difficult to break out of. It was tied by a knot through one of the holes along its leg, wrapped around its body and horn twice like Hearth’s Warming Decorations, went through three other holes, and was tied to the leg of the table.
A similar rope was used to keep its mouth open as sparkling, pink drool leaked out, emitting an ethereal vapor that gravitated towards Luster.
Left of it was a door on the other wall, and along the wall was another changeling, tied only by a single leg around a door handle, with a ball of yarn in-between in case somepony opens it.
Her backrest tilted forwards, but a hoof kept her secure. Only then did Luster look up.
“Golly! You’re awake,” Cozy exclaimed, left-wing to a quill penning a letter, whilst her right squished Luster mercilessly into her stomach, who sat between the mare’s thighs on a chair, in the latter’s room. “I am so sorry!”—her forelegs further choked the filly as she planted endless kisses—“I thought Equestria was a safe place to raise a foal, but apparently not! Hmph! I should write a letter to Twilight about this.”
Cozy pulled a bowl of cereal from the ends of the table. “Hungry? It came with a toy.” She pulled out a cheap Flurry Heart plastic figure from a bin whose only other contents were burnt windows. She squeezed the toy’s back, which made its horn glow.
“What happened?” Luster asked as she looked up, horn poking Cozy slightly but she didn’t mind.
“Pressing the button closes the circuit,” Cozy said, dipping her quill in red ink. She signed her name on the bottom-right of her letter, written in symbols Luster had never seen before, except for the signature: ‘Cozy’, ‘Y’ branching into a heart.
Underlined, Cozy pulled out a lighter.
It had an intricate design of a golden four-legged dragon, head on top as the lid, body across a thinner side, tail wrapped around the base, and a glass body that housed a liquid. Jewels were used for its eyes, glowing as Cozy flicked it open. She allowed it to touch the corner of the letter, and pink flames disintegrated it completely, spreading faster than any fire Luster had ever conjured. The cloud of remnants disappeared.
“Sent,” Cozy stated, booping Luster’s muzzle.
“What was that?” Luster asked as she hovered a spoonful of cereal into her mouth and took a bite, dripping a bit of milk on Cozy’s thigh on the way back to the bowl.
“Oh, it’s nothing you should worry about,” Cozy said as she patted the filly’s mane. “Just another letter to another friend!” She glanced at the two drones, who stared into space. “But it does mean somepony has to chaperone these two naughty troublemakers to the Hive.”
Lowering to Luster’s level, she whispered: “And if you ask me, it should be Hope since her love was so easy to track. Don’tcha think?” She shook Luster's shoulders to coerce a response.
“So, it wasn’t your evil friend’s fault?”
“Who, Chryssie? Golly Lustie, of course not! We’re friends. There was no way she could have predicted that two of her drones would go after my Lustie—andnotsomeponyelse’sfoal. It was nocreature else’s fault besides these two drones—andmaybeHope’s—isn’t that right?”
They gave no response until Cozy gave a side-glare. They nodded.
Cozy shrugged. Good enough.
Luster looked in the same direction. The door was now wide open. It revealed the aftermath of the fire.
It was as if somepony had painted the hallway black and sprinkled over it ash and soot. There was a path of no debris that led to the stairs, likely caused by Cozy’s habit of hovering, and another clean circle, possibly caused by Hope’s teleportation. It all made Luster question:
“Are we going to be homeless?”
Cozy gave her a serious look, her curls dangling over her forehead. “I’m afraid so… I didn’t know how to reveal it to you, but we’ll have to stay at the Hive for a while until Mommy can get back on her hooves. Maybe I’ll have to find a job? But what sort of job would hire a remorseless, apathetic psychopath who cares more about bits than customers?”
Luster hugged her mother, who looked as if she was about to cry. Cozy returned the gesture, and only after the moment was over (a minute) did she burst out in laughter, slapping her brow with both wings.
“Of course not! I wouldn’t do that. Customers are potential friends! Also, I’m not worried about bits, so you’ll still get presents this Hearth’s Warming if you act nice—to me!”
The relief Luster felt nullified any potential anger she might’ve had. “Where do you get all your bits anyways? This is—was—I mean—still is a pretty nice house. With some cleanup…”
“You mean besides the handsome salary Flurry used to pay me? Y’know those—ugh—‘Comfy Shine’ toys they sold while I was losing my marbles as a statue?”
“No.”
“Oh.” Awkward silence. “Well~, let’s just say I retroactively ‘negotiated’ a cut from a certain pair of brothers who I happened to notice showed up on a particularly distressing day for me. Y’know, even after I helped them start their stupid University free of charge, all they ever care about was bits, bits, bits, and perhaps a bit of Starlight’s Egalitarianism rubbed off on me because I wasn’t really having it with them treating me like I was some sort of pawn in their—”
Cozy looked at Luster, who resembled a turtle with the way her head scrunched between her raised shoulders, nervous by her mother’s rising tone.
Cozy cleared her throat. “I have bits, and I’m sure Hope knows a dandy ol’ repair spell—”
“I don’t,” Hope shouted from below. “Not for fires caused by magic!”
“Golly Luster, your cereal is getting soggy,” Cozy pouted. “Y’know they made a Cadence version? Actually, I shouldn’t have said that aloud. These drones might get hungry. Better hide it in your tummy quickly!” She tapped Luster's stomach like a bongo to reiterate and hovered towards the door.
“Now Lustie, I promised that I’d never ever, ever, ever let you leave my sight after what happened today—and I’m keeping that promise because today’s not over. I have something really important that I need to do with Hope, and I’m afraid downstairs will be a no-filly zone until further notice. But, since the door is gone, you can come and check out your room now!” She tapped the wall to indicate it was the one next to hers, previously locked.
“It’s empty, and burnt, but as it just so happens Mr. Fire completely missed the catalogue I left out for you!” She winked. “You can pick whatever you want—that fits in your room, and also you can only pick one of each type of furniture. Except chairs, we both need one in your room since I’m homeschooling you. Monday’s second lesson is fire safety by the way. But if you ignore those few rules, I think you’ll find it to be the perfect canvas to express yourself!”
Luster got up and rushed to the door. She tried to be cautious and alert around those two changelings, in case they suddenly tried to attack, now as a pair. Cozy sensed her uneasiness. After Luster was a few steps away from the door, she brought her far enough that the drones couldn’t hear, and whispered under her wing:
“Listen. Reading the board is one of my special talents, so trust me when I say that I doubt those two will cause you any trouble, but if they do, don’t be shy to ask for help! You have a supervillain and Equestria’s best healer just downstairs. All you have to do is shout. Got it?”
“Got it! Thanks Mom.” Luster hopped to her room, but feathers blocked her.
“One more thing. Don’t try to be friendly to them. Their job is to suck love, not engage in love. Okay? They don’t have names, so don’t even talk to them. Got all that?”
“Got it! Got it! Got it!” Three ‘Got it’s. That was enough assurance for Cozy, so she let Luster off towards her catalog.
The drone who attacked her daughter, whose mouth was now dry, was lucky that Hope happened to be around. She was able to heal Luster’s burns and bumps, though couldn’t fix the marks on her hair—and she had a soft spot for dissident drones.
Cozy landed and grabbed the ear of the other drone and pulled them both together. Lowering her head between their ears, she warned: “If anything happens to the filly, I will pike both of you myself.”
Cozy got up and shouted: “Lustie, you forgot your cereal!”
She thought she’d fly and hoof the bowl over, but as she entered the hallway it was encompassed by a glow and levitated into the filly’s room. Luster peaked a smile around the corner.
“Now what happened to the filly who couldn’t control a fork yesterday?” Cozy squinted around with a hoof across her forehead. “Keep it up, Lustie,” she praised, saluted, and left.
Luster found the catalog in the middle of the room’s floor. To her, it felt like a jewel on a pedestal left in a ruin.
Simple, modern, beautiful, and lined with bent corners; Cozy’s bookmarks.
One bookmarked page was for a rocking-chair—well, it wasn’t the only item on the page, but the idea of Cozy using it made Luster giggle. Her mother styled herself and talked as if she were an actress out-of-style eighty-seven years ago, so it wouldn’t be completely out of her aesthetic. Luster wanted to buy it, just to see her mom sitting on it, but would that hurt her feelings? To imply she was old. Luster contemplated as she turned to the next page.
It was covered in sticky note drawings of Luster over furniture—in the baby section. There was a drawing of her being pushed on a pram, another of her asleep on a crib, one of her sitting on a highchair, hoof-fed a potion, and text that said: “Hi Lustie XX! Any ideas?”
For some peculiar reason, Luster no longer had any compunction with a rocking-chair purchase. A chair for each of us, huh?
As for an actual bed, it was too complicated: single, twin, queen, king, Princess. There were duvets and covers and frames and mattresses and colors and compartments and stickers and curtains and it was all too much! Next page.
“E-lec-tron-ics?” Luster pronounced. Her eyes widened at the numbers. That’s a lot of bits for something hoof-sized…
Her discovery was halted by cries; subtle.
Shaky gasps and sniffles from a creature failing to hold it all in. There were only two plausible sources.
‘Don’t even talk to them’ was what Cozy told her, but those sounds were difficult to ignore.
Well, I can’t not listen, Luster rationed. Surely if I stood next to the door it wouldn’t hurt…
A peek revealed the attacker drone with a void mind, empty, not the source of the sobs. It was the pretender drone. It—or he—lied on his side, top edge of his temple to the floor, face covered by his hooves. Through one of his holes, he looked at his partner.
The drone could taste it—the guilt.
Luster mentally referred to him by the creative title of ‘Atty’ short for attacker, and the other ‘Prety’ for pretender, though only by placement could she tell them apart.
So consumed by guilt was Atty that he sat motionless, pretending he didn’t exist. He wanted to detach himself from reality, but he didn’t have such power. Not magically, nor over his own mind.
How could he have attacked Cozy Glow? Out of all the ponies in Equestria. Could he have known? He was supposed to watch Hope; who else could Hope visit? He wanted to apologize to his partner, but didn’t want to acknowledge life.
The sobs continued.
Luster was scared of the pair, but the pair seemed more scared of her mother—or their mother. It spoiled her chances to go back to the catalog; there was no way she’d be able to focus.
In increments, she came closer. First, she peeked an eye, then her head, then a hoof entered the room’s territory, and failed to win a glance.
Dread must’ve killed their appetites.
Cozy’s giggles from downstairs didn’t make them feel much better. Those were followed by a different voice: “But you don’t actually blame me, right? It’ll only be for a few nights, and I’ll find a spell right now that’ll hide my… hope.”
Instead of Atty who tried to perceive time more slowly, Luster paid her attention to Prety; a mess on the floor. At a leg’s distance, Luster started to have second thoughts. She had to prepare herself before she spoke. But the drone smelt something odd, looked up from his hooves, and jumped.
The tables had turned; the drone was the one backing from the filly.
The shocked poked Luster to ask: “Why are you crying?”
Silence. Perhaps he couldn’t talk.
Luster spoke again. “Why did you two attack me?! You tried to eat me!” she scolded Atty, trying to bury her sympathies.
After a moment’s hesitation, Prety responded: “I’m sorry…” and fell against the wall to the floor.
“…You are?”
“We didn’t know you were Cozy Glow’s pet,” He sniffled.
Luster would’ve refuted that categorization if Atty hadn’t spoken. “Cozy Glow’s going to kill us.”
“What?!” Luster gasped. “She wouldn’t… Well, I mean…” She would. “Maybe she’ll forgive you if you apologize?”
“That’s not funny.” Prety sniffed up her runny muzzle. “Not every drone is lucky enough to be on her friends list. We had one job and we failed…”
“I know her super well, I’m sure if you asked really nicely…” Luster stopped once she realized how dangerous her suggestion was.
“We know her too,” Prety responded. “Well, kind of I guess.”
“What do you mean?”
Prety looked left and right. “Was I allowed to tell you that? You’re not going to tell on me are you—please don’t!”
“I won’t! I’m just a bit curious. I spent a long time ‘living under a rock’.”
“You mean like a nest?”
“Uhh, maybe?”
Prety turned towards his partner, who shrugged. “I don’t know if I should really be telling you about those sorts of things. If you end up escaping and told anycreature else—oh, Cozy Glow won’t kill us. She’ll keep us alive!”
“Um, I won’t tell. I promise!”
Prety was silent in doubt.
“Well, it’s okay. I can always ask her,” Luster said.
“Wait,” said Atty, now on his hooves. “Don’t. I’ll tell you!”
Prety walked over and whispered: “Are you sure about this?”
Atty whispered back. “She’s clearly important to Cozy Glow. If she gets angry…” He wasn’t brave enough to specify what he thought might happen.
Prety sighed. “We knew Cozy Glow since we were hatched.”
“We? Are you two brothers?”
“We’ve only just met,” Prety replied. “But I guess biologically speaking every drone is related.”
“Even the ones in the Captured Hive,” Atty added.
“Captured?”
“Yeah,” Prety said. “The old one that you ponies know about. Where wimps like Thorax are elected to rule.”
“Is he a drone?”
Atty sighed. “Technically…”
“So he’s your brother?”
The pair looked at each other wide-eyed. “Can we change subjects?” Atty asked.
“Oh, okay.” Luster thought for a moment. “So what was Cozy like?”
“She was fun,” Atty said.
Prety checked the window and door. “Except when you caught her on a bad day. If you bumped into her during one of her tantrums you were lucky to keep your legs. She got ‘better’ at controlling her anger, but it cost an entire class of drones…”
Luster gulped. “She killed them?”
“Maybe. Mom didn’t let most of them switch roles. It became a problem when they needed to train therapists for the therapists, and they say that most of the others have never been heard from again.”
“Woah,” Luster gasped. If Cozy had kept her shorter fuse Luster knew she wouldn’t have been here. “How did your mom take care of so many baby changelings?”
“I guess we grow up quickly,” Prety explained. “We had to start training a year after we were hatched. On the first day, we weren’t allowed to sleep until we were able to keep our pony forms, but it’s mostly instinctual. Mom couldn’t risk any of us getting caught. We didn’t know Ponish at the time, but she had very strong emotions, so we sorta pushed ourselves…”
Atty sensed a nostalgic bliss in his partner, even though their memories from that age were blurry. Despite how grueling those two months were, it was before they elected drone leaders, so Chrysalis was always present for the drills. “It was necessary! There’s no end to the cruelty of ponies! We learned all about how ponies used to imprison the Changelings before and would’ve turned our species mad as a mare if we hadn’t escaped. Forced to feed on our own pride—and over what? The stolen love of a few million ponies from some random civilizations?”
“And ponies will even go as far as to imprison a filly of their own kind in Tartarus!” said Prety. “I can’t imagine what they’d do to us! Luckily Cozy Glow taught us all about how to fit in.”
“Those were fun classes,” Atty admitted.
“Remember that time she taught us how to bake pizza?” asked Prety.
Whilst she didn’t doubt her mother’s abilities, Luster interrupted and contested: “But, you two got caught?”
The pair acted an emotional slideshow as they formulated a rebuttal; by Prety: “That’s only because we were supposed to follow Hope—and maybe get a snack along the way...”
“I’m not food!” Luster shouted, a bit too loudly.
“Lustie, is everything alright up there?” Cozy asked from below. “They aren’t causing you any trouble, are they? Want me to come up?”
Cozy’s suggestion made the pair’s necks tense and backs arch forwards. They had been reminded of the monster that lurked downstairs—one whose backstory proved that punishments worse than death do exist, and re-awoke a chronic pit in their stomachs.
The filly’s words were royalty. All it took was a ‘yes’, a ‘yeah’, or silence, and at her behest, Cozy would sentence the drones to who-knows-what fate; her threat of impalement didn’t paint a bright outcome. And in the two’s minds, they questioned why Luster would even care, and failed to form a reason, yet they could sense as well as each other that she did:
“No!” Luster responded. “It’s fine!”
“You sure?”
“I’m sure!”
“Okay, good!”
A minute of silence proved Cozy took Luster’s word, and the pair sighed a breath of relief. They tasted love plenty of times before, in all of its flavors, but never had they willingly ‘received’ such an emotion: empathy.
The bleak future might’ve caused Prety to feel a bit kinder that day. He suggested, for Luster’s sake: "Maybe we shouldn’t talk anymore…”
“Aww, why not?” Luster asked. “I want to learn more about the Hive.”
(New) Drones never had to ‘teach’ others about their Hive before, both because hatchlings learned on their own and because of its secrecy. But changelings were curious creatures, often outed in the past by their fixation on streetlights. They had to implement a tolerance test because of it.
Revealing information about the New Hive to outsiders carried the harshest penalty of any offense. The specifics were unknown, to let the minds of dissatisfied drones fill the void with their worst fears, but their mother and Queen told them to rest assured that the punishment was far crueler than what any of them could imagine—it was designed by Cozy Glow.
But Luster wasn’t an ‘outsider’; she didn’t feel that way to Prety, and because she was Cozy’s pet, why not sate her curiosity and indulge in an artistic outlet known as ‘theatre’.
“Well, I have performed in plays before…” Prety said, transforming into a Sparkly-Eyed Pegasus: tangerine coat, wavy black mane and bread, a golden crown—here, a brittle magical illusion—and a colorless cloth around his neck; “Do you know who King Orion is?”
“No.”
“Oh. Wait—that’s perfect! This’ll be your first time! I mean, it’ll be difficult without any sets, and there aren’t a lot of actors, but—”
“Actually,” Luster interrupted, “since you said you met Mom before, can you show me what ‘Silver Seraph’ looked like?”
“Cozy’s old alter ego?” Prety gulped.
Cozy and her disguises are some of the few forms drones aren’t allowed to turn into willy-nilly. There were rules and restrictions on the portrayal of her likeness, especially in reenactment, imposed by Chrysalis for their protection. Breaking the taboo felt immoral, especially when Cozy was just below her, but for her pet, and with Atty on the lookout through the door, a quick display wouldn’t hurt anycreature.
Green flames were brushed off by the swipe of snow-white feathers, and thus in-color Silver Seraph was revealed, Butter Skies’ predecessor. The color of her feathers extended to her coat. Her mane was silvery, eponymous to her title, with a sparkle to it, as if somepony mixed glitter into her shampoo. The end of her tail had a diagonal cut, longer laterally, and was tied at the base by a familiar ribbon, no bow. Her cutie mark was of a dagger, pointed at an angle southwest. But the feature that struck Luster the most was her eyes: blood red. Perhaps it was an optical illusion caused by the contrast of an otherwise monotone palette, but her irises appeared darker than they did on Cozy or Butter S.
“She looks… not as chubby as she does now,” Luster commented, eliciting shocked faces from the other two. She was either brave or stupid to insult Cozy, but who were they to lecture; indeed, Seraph was more suited to the physique of a Royal Guard.
“Well, that’s because Cozy—Seraph, had to work up the ranks before she could even be considered for the role of Personal Guard to Princess Flurry Heart,” Prety explained. “We can reenact the post-anointment informal scene, but I’ll need the help of a fellow drone.”
Atty captured a deep look down the hallway, trying to tune into the sound of Cozy’s flutter before he turned and saw Luster’s face: begging. He hesitantly complied. “Okay, but you have to keep a lookout.”
Luster budged to the door, whilst Atty transformed as he got up. Princess Flurry Heart, equipped with all her royal slippers. The interaction happened quite late, according to official reports and Cozy’s testimony, so no regalia.
It was supposed to take place in a dimly lit, crowded room, with Seraph sitting alone in the corner, but with burnt curtains and no sets, accuracy had to be sacrificed.
Without further delay, they started their act to the eager audience of one:
“My majesty, Princess Flurry Heart!” Seraph bowed.
“Yeah yeah, that’s me,” Flurry said. “Listen, you’re one of my guards now, so don’t do the whole ‘your majesty’ act every single time I enter a room,” she added with a playful roll of her eyes.
“As you will,” Seraph replied. “So, what do I owe the honor of your grace?”
Cozy sure acted differently, Luster thought but resumed her attention.
“I just thought I’d check up on my replacement guard,” Flurry explained as she inspected the room. “Not a lot of privacy in here, huh?”
The pair looked at Luster, as a quirk of the play. In real life, the room housed a troop of guards, underground, semi-detached from the castle. In the proper version of the play, many actors were cast as off-duty guards.
“Heh, it’s not that bad,” Seraph assured. “I’ve slept through Tartarus before. Honestly, I’m just glad I can sleep! Though it’ll be a bit difficult after you’ve been bestowed the most sacred honor throughout all of ponykind...”
Princess Flurry chuckled at Seraph’s response. “Noisy neighbors? Tell me about it. I learnt a noise-canceling spell on an out-of-kingdom visit. Speaking of which, you really should try to catch some. Us and Dad are gonna travel to meet Uncle Thorax at the Hive tomorrow,” and she whispered: “Usually it’s the ‘newbie’ that has to pull the carriage.”
She winked and smirked.
“Oh,” Seraph responded. “What a privilege…”
“It’s either that or night watch,” explained Flurry. “Anyways, if you need anything I’ll be awake in my room.” She turned and trotted away.
“Uhm, thanks,” Seraph replied as she bowed her head: “Your majesty.”
Both characters turned to face Luster, fully immersed in the act.
“And then what happened?” she asked.
“Umm, and then a guard told her to not knock on the Princess’ door by herself or without permission because it might make her angry,” replied Seraph. “It was only really intended to be a short pre-show warmup. That’s why it hasn’t been edi—I mean, nothing!”
“Oh,” Luster murmured. She looked at her hooves and recalled when a bunch of creatures, bucks in grip, chanted around two griffons clawing at one another, so Luster clanked them together; she clapped.
The pair knew more about theater than the filly did, and experienced more of Equestria via love-gathering expeditions, but never had a creature shown appreciation for one of their acts. It was considered too dangerous by Chrysalis.
“You—like it?” Seraph asked.
“Well, yeah! You two are really good actors. You should perform for our neighbors. They’d love it! Well, if you didn’t have to go back to the Hive…” Luster frowned.
“I mean”—Seraph turned to Flurry—“we don’t have to go…”
“W-What?!” Flurry whispered with the rhythm of a shout. “Are you suggesting we defect? From Cozy Glow and Mom? Have you considered what will happen if we get caught?”
The thought stressed him to the point where he reverted to Atty, a more comfortable shell, with Pretty following suit.
Luster empathized fully. She knew those phases, those thoughts. They were all the internal conflicts she cycled through before she made her move to escape Kludgetown. What if I got caught? What would they do to me then?
“Well, I only came to Equestria yesterday,” Luster revealed with a faint smile, and now it was the drones’ turn to pay attention, and they did. “I used to work in a terrible factory, making clothes all day without any rewards other than a warm pillow in a humid room, just to wake up and do it all over again. It sucked, really. It was bright, tiring, miserable, stuffy, and I wasn’t the only creature stuck there. I also wasn’t the only creature who wanted to escape. But do you know why I’m here?”
The two drones shook their heads. Luster revealed: “It’s because I tried. I had to leave a lot, even my best friend, and I nearly got caught in every step of the way, but I made it! Now I get to enjoy all these new things, like flying and plays and cereal, that I never would have known existed if I didn’t try!”
“But there must have been lots of failed attempts,” Atty argued. “Those must’ve been punished pretty badly…”
Luster knew that was true, and the possibility her coat would have sold at a stall if Cozy didn’t happen to pass by was an eerie thought. She answered with another question—a morbid one: “Aren’t you going to die anyways? I mean—you’re both shapeshifters! And Cozy was on the run since she was a filly. I’m sure you two will do just fine on your own! If you tried.”
The pair looked at each other, voicelessly, to reach a consensus whilst they read each other’s emotions. They weren’t novices in their abilities, and if they tried it was possible they’d be able to assimilate into another society. They’d have to go someplace remote, or otherwise ask Cozy how she forged her legal documents.
…
Remote it was! Still better than what awaited them back home.
“Okay, maybe for just a week,” Atty caved. “I mean, maybe the whole letter and impalement thing is just another one of her tantrums.”
“Yeah. Just for a while,” Prety agreed. “But… how do we get out?”
As the pair pondered, Luster opened the window.
“Oh, it wasn’t even locked?” Prety said, a bit disappointed. Part of him wanted to venture around a bit longer. “Well, I guess...”
Now came the awkward moment; it was time to depart. Time was ticking, and their lives were potentially on the line, but they couldn’t leave yet. They had to do something.
A ritual performed by family and friends to showcase affection, once only served as means to suckle love from their victims, now used as it was intended.
Prety was first. She extended her forehooves and delicately squeezed Luster in his grip. His outside might’ve been an exoskeleton covered with sensitive bristles, but the conjunctions were soft, so to Luster it felt natural when she hugged the drone back. It might’ve been the drone that tried to eat her—It wasn’t—but she couldn’t tell. That drone joined in too.
“Thanks for not being too mad about that whole ‘trying to drain your love’ thing,” Atty nervously chuckled.
“And sorry about your house,” Prety added.
“I’m sure Mom will handle—” Luster was stunned by a bright light. It beamed not from the windows, not from the doors, but from the hearts of the two drones.
It wasn’t one of their typical transformations; this one was a bright spectacle of emotions and magic and emotional magic, powerful enough that Luster could sense its ethereal glean. It was rebirth, a new chapter, likened in Luster’s mind to when she got her cutie mark.
Their bodies floated independent of wings, as mindset brought a new form, of those ‘garish colors’ Luster had heard about.
For Prety it was a turquoise shell, red wings with orange underneath; for Atty it was a light green, indigo wings, dark green under. Both of their eyes were teal, and the holes in their legs—which new drones only wore to reflect the tragedies brought against their mother—had vanished.
There was no going back to the new Hive now. They had become what Chrysalis had feared, and it took a moment before the significance of the event was processed by the trio.
Prety was the first to say it: “Did you just call Cozy Glow ‘Mom’?”
“Luster Dawn!” shouted Cozy Glow, appearing at the door with Hope by her side. She did not share the three’s wonder. Worse to the pair than a glare towards them, Cozy was focused on Luster.
“M—Mom! I—”
“When I left to go downstairs, what did I tell you?” Cozy asked, sternly, and Luster was stuck. She couldn’t face her mother, not until Cozy used a hoof and forced her head upwards. “Look at me when I’m talking to you.”
The face she pulled when she asked ‘what possessed you’ back at Kludgetown was not a candle to how Cozy looked now. That was just a bit of irritation; this was genuine anger—disappointment drowned by rage. Cozy had to do breathing exercises to control herself, and that made Luster feel guiltier because her mother looked as if she was due for an aneurysm.
“I was there when Chrysalis hatched a new generation of changelings, and with every rule I proscribed alongside her, there were two values we had in mind: the secrecy of the Hive, and the well-being of the drones. And in all those years, before you were even born, I have never, ever had a case of a drone metamorphosizing.”
“W-We”—Luster wanted to look away, to not cry in front of the others, but was denied—“We were just having fun?”
She knew that was a stupid answer—Cozy knew—but what else could she say? Luster didn’t know what the Hive looked like. She didn’t know who Chrysalis really was, but the blurry recollection of conversations she overheard long ago wasn’t comforting. It was only corroborated by the fact she was friends with Mom.
“I promised Chrysalis that either I or Hope would go to the Hive and return two normal drones,” Cozy stated. “What should I tell her now, hm?
“I—I don’t know…”
“You don’t know?”
“…Sorry?” Luster wanted to wipe her teary eyes but was scared to disobey Cozy command for eye contact.
It was tense for the three others, though all comprised ‘Team Luster’. Hope had her horn on standby. She didn’t know what the actual relationship was like between Cozy and the filly. As smart as she acknowledged the former to be, Hope didn’t believe she knew the first thing about parenting. How could she? Both of them were orphans.
“Am I being too nice to you?” Cozy asked. “Do you not appreciate my second chances? Do you think you can just do whatever you want, and that I’ll let you off scot-free? Do you think you can take advantage of my love?”
“Cozy, calm down,” Hope said as she pulled Cozy’s hoof back. “It’s not… well…”
Both had met Chrysalis. While Hope could never understand why she had any of her rules, Cozy co-wrote them. Was there something she didn’t get? It would’ve been easier to form a response without her stare.
Cozy turned back towards Luster and raised her hoof.
The filly covered her head and braced, not wanting to use magic against her mother. The drones jumped at the movement, and so did Hope take a step. But Cozy only did it to point.
“You better know I don’t normally do this: you have two options,” Cozy stated. “Either I bring these two drones back to Chrysalis myself—I’m sure she’d love that—or you come with me and explain to her directly where her two drones went.”
“No!” shouted Prety. Cozy turned. “I-I’ll go.”
She turned to Atty. He growled. All this time he’d been scared, yet what had Cozy done? When she told him to stay, he complied, like a pet collared by fear. He had had enough of it. He wasn’t going to let Cozy Glow drag a filly as sweet as Luster to Chrysalis’ quarters.
He transformed—into a manticore.
Cozy’s wings spread, for readiness and to appear tough. Bluffing, a primal response, though in this case, it was a warning for the drone to turn back and stand down—he didn’t.
He charged at Cozy. His partner was shocked.
She fended with her hooves. Front wedged her face from the manticore’s open jaw, hind pressed against the wall. It was a showcase of strength, a tug of war between drone and pone.
Cozy remarked, “Gross,” as his breath brushed her mane, and tilted her head so drool wouldn’t stain her bow.
She walked, dragged her hooves, up the wall, struggling to keep her forelegs straight.
Right-wing spread, Cozy looked into the manticore.
She smirked. He was confused.
Perfect.
She grabbed the bottle of ink and splashed red over his vision. With a flap upwards, she slipped past the beast’s grip. Blinded, he had pushed his paws to the wall, whilst Cozy had her forehooves bent against the ceiling. Her mane smudged against it and calculated where to strike.
Her hindlegs were bent.
She boosted herself from the ceiling, downwards, and struck the manticore’s legs with a kick. He screamed.
It all happened so quickly, thus was the trait of the tribe—and now Cozy would showcase to Luster why she called herself ‘Silver’.
Guessing where his head would turn, she flapped and kicked herself back towards the wall opposite, which gifted the manticore a secondary shock of pain. Her left wing’s wrist extended, pronated, at an angle, winded backward and built itself to charge.
Perfectly preened feathers of a creature capable of Mach speed were as sharp as daggers.
All her legs touched the wall, save for her left wing’s front, for it served as a torque, alongside a tilt of her shoulders, and she pounced.
Her predictions came true; she was at a perfect angle to his jugular.
I wonder what color will gush out?
She slashed a polyhedric shield of light blue. Magical shards showered Luster, whose magic fettered Cozy’s right hind leg. So did icky changeling slime glue her offending feathers to Hope’s shield. The colored transparency allowed her to see how badly they’d been bent by that impact, for nothing. She aimed to have only their vanes slice through, but Hope’s shield was a few inches in front of the now-transformed-back-to-normal drone’s neck, so she struck her bones. It hurt a bit.
“Mom?” Luster called. “Are you okay?”
Well, I am stuck in midair. “I’m fine. But if you need to use the bathroom, go now. We’re leaving in a minute. Right, Hope?”
Hope undid her spell, and so did Luster, and Cozy landed on her hooves. She tried to flick the goop off her wing and failed, so she rubbed it off against the wall. Most of it came off, but a thin layer kept it colored green.
“You can’t go to Chrysalis,” warned Prety, who attended to his partner hissing from pain in both his eyes and leg. “Lustie—”
“Luster,” Luster corrected.
“—Luster doesn’t deserve to be eaten!”
Cozy stared. “Doesn’t deserve to be eaten? What are you even trying to say? To think we once baked pizza together.”
She remembers that? Does she actually recognise us? The possibility was both a tear-jerker and cruel. They never could have guessed by the way she acted. It was as if she was didn't value their lives.
“Hope, will you please put them down for me, pretty please?” Cozy wore her 'angel' face.
“What?!” Hope gasped. Sometimes she wondered why she remained friends with a psychopath, other than all the connections and shared interests and benefits and whatnot. “Umm, okay… sure…”
Prety turned. “Wait, wha—” He caught himself as he fell to the floor. His head rested on Atty’s back like a pillow as both fell unconscious.
“I didn’t know euthanized drones still breathe,” remarked Cozy, still scraping her wing against the wall.
“They’re, uhm, bugs—so their muscles spasm for a few hours,” Hope ‘explained’.
“I feel like I would’ve known a fact like that,” Cozy said. “Luster you better not have escaped out the window again! We’re leaving.”
Luster joined in on Hope’s side instead of her mother’s and took a confirmation glance at Atty and Prety so she wouldn’t be left wondering if they actually had been ‘put down’, as Cozy’s requested.
Hope bent her head down next to Luster, and whispered: “escaped out the window ‘again’?”
“Hope!”
“Alright, alright.” She placed her forelegs over Luster and Cozy’s backs and teleported.
Luster still didn’t understand what she did wrong, but could only wait and pray that Queen Chrysalis wasn’t as cruel as she was led to believe. Maybe Mom’s the reason the changelings were so scared?
Who knew being Cozy’s daughter would’ve been so hectic?
Stats
Page generated in 0.017 seconds
Total duration
962 users online
283,577 hits today, 2,364,530 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Yikes. First big fight Cozy has had with her new daughter. It had to happen eventually, but it hurts to watch either way.
At least Luster had her fun with her two new friends.
EYE
Looks like Cozy's finally learning that raising a filly isn't all sunshine and rainbows. At least she didn't actually hurt Luster, although she did manage to prove to her why she was considered a scary supervillain. I also find it interesting that Chrysalis just let her essentially co-found a hive. Makes me think that she earned some respect from the queen.
Cozy was pretty scary here. Let's hope she won't keep that up for Luster's sake. I do like that though, it still shows that she's Cozy Glow and not some benevolent OC. No one ever tried reforming her in this universe, after all, so she has no reason to be 100% good.
Now I seriously wonder what letter Cozy would write to Twilight.
Do I even want to know what those toys were like?
Sad thing is, that this propaganda is based on truth.
I assume it was designed by Cozy at her worst? I shudder to think what she would have come up with at, what I assume, was at the time her at her most vengeful.
Man, changelings are shockingly easy to reform.
Well, at least she's trying.
Can't wait to see the meeting with Chrysalis! I wonder if she became less evil over time.
Why did luster so hellbended on friendship bullshit when she was abandoned by Equestria her whole life? Was their propaganda that potent?
I got the feeling that she was brainwashed, like a stockholm north korean.
11631577
Hey, only took Thorax 2 minutes.
ARGH! This is such a feel-good story I can't take it