Empress Cozy Glow part 2: The Reckoning

by Betty_Starlight

Chapter 6: The Prodigal Crusader

Apple Bloom looks at me with the other Crusaders in the room as Scootaloo takes off the side and I get off the bed, and says in her country drawl, “So, what are we all gonna do?”

I stare at her, “Oh golly, how would I know? You all came here!”

Scootaloo looks over at the other two fillies from the left, “She’s got a point! We really should have a plan when we come down here!”

Sweetie Belle widens her chartreuse eyes from the other side, “Well, this just gives us another opportunity to be creative!” she nods, “I’m sure between the four of us, we can figure out something fun to do!”

Scootaloo turns her head left to look at her past Apple Bloom, “Well, what about the park?”

Apple Bloom looks at the burnt orange pegasus, “Yeah, but we went there two days ago!”

Scootaloo turns further left to the earth filly, “So? We didn’t have Cozy then! Lets see if she wants to go to the park!” before turning her head right towards me and grinning brightly.

The other two fillies turn to stare at me with equally strange grins on their faces and I stare back at them wide-eyed, “What? Why would I want to go to the park?”

Apple Bloom nods, “Because you have friends now!”

Scootaloo adds, “And you want to play with them!”

Sweetie Belle smiles, “And have fun!”

I stare back at these other fillies and frown… “I do?”

Sweetie nods, “Of course, Cozy!”

Scootaloo adds, “You don’t have to be alone all the time, Cozy!”

I continue frowning before asking the obvious question, “Okay but, am I still Empress of Friendship?”

<*****>

The yellow filly stares at me with enormous orange eyes in between her friends on their side of the desolate playground as the wind coldly blows the swing set to my right and I see the red plastic swing there move a few inches, “So, your mom’s dead?” as the burnt orange pegasus on the left snorts and the white unicorn on the right stares onward with a blank expression…

I’m not really sure what to say? “You act like you’re surprised by this?” Or maybe I am? “You know, I don’t exactly act like anypony’s in charge of me, right?” I then blankly gaze at these three worried fillies…

Sweetie says, “Well, we knew Twilight was your new mom, or whatever, but uh, we didn’t know… Um…” before looking down with a timid frown on her face…

Scootaloo blinks towards me and stammers out while leaning forward slightly, “About your first mom!”

Apple Bloom looks at me and stutters, “Yeah, about how uh…”

“How she died?” I finish her sentence while staring at her coldly and wind blows a few leaves toward my left…

Apple Bloom blinks and gulps, “Um, yeah! That!”

I give an exasperated sigh as I stare towards the sky, “You know, this is exactly why I don’t like talking about this!”

Scootaloo starts, “What?”

I nod and stare down at the fillies, “Because everypony always feels sorry for me!”

Apple Bloom says, “Well, you’ve been through a lot, Cozy!”

Sweetie says, “Yeah! We want to make sure you’re okay!”

“I’M FINE!” I scream before fluttering my wings and glaring at the three fillies with a HARD scowl…

“She’s losing it! We need to hug her!” Scootaloo says before springing at me from the left!

The other two fillies follow suite and I only manage to turn around and just begin to flap my wings before the orange filly crashes into me and I feel her forehooves going over me for a loving embrace from behind!

“HELP! I’M BEING ATTACKED!” I yell out to anypony who would hear me in this desolate playground with no other ponies around… I’m kinda doomed, huh?

I feel more hooves embracing and holding me now. White hooves from the left and yellow now coming from the right… I wonder if I truly need this?

I suddenly feel enveloped in love and support… And after all this time, I begin to wonder if this is what I truly needed? I finally told the story and now, after all this time and all these years, I started to think that maybe running away from it was what caused all these problems in the first place?

… NAH!

<*****>

I stare at the red rubber ball on the pavement of the sidewalk, roughly 8 inches in diameter and 2 feet in front of me and widen my eyes, “Oh, golly! So, we’re playing ball now?”

Scootaloo smiles from the right, “Yup! And we’re gonna talk!”

I stare at her wide-eyed, “Not about my mom, right?”

Scootaloo frowns, “What’s wrong with Twilight?”

I blink and realize she doesn’t know what I’m talking about, “Uh, never mind!” before taking a few paces forward and getting the ball on my snout to launch it at the orange pegasus.

Scootaloo catches the ball and balances it on her nose, “Oh! You don’t wanna talk about your other mother! Okay, sure thing, Cozy!” before launching it to the white unicorn foal at her far left beyond the earth filly.

Thinking that’s probably as good as it gets, I say, “Thank you!” before watching the unicorn bounce the ball my way with her right forehoof.

I use my forehoof to bounce it to the earth filly between the unicorn and the pegasus…

Apple Bloom bounces the ball left towards Sweetie with her head before looking at me with those orange pupils of hers, “Well, if you ever need somepony to talk to about that or ANYTHING else!”

Scootaloo turns right towards me, smiles, and adds, “We got your flanks Cozy!” as Sweetie knocks the ball my way with the left side of her head…

I decide that hitting the ball with my horn is probably a bad idea when I use the left side of my own cranium to hit the ball and make it go towards the yellow filly, “Okay uh, so what’s new with you Crusaders?”

Apple Bloom bounces it right towards Sweetie while Scootaloo says to me, “Well, we’ve been talking a lot about you!”

Sweetie knocks the ball my way with her right forehoof while I say, “What? Me? What about me?” before using the left side of my head to bash it into the air back towards the other pegasus.

Apple Bloom says from the front, “Well, we need to know how you’re adjusting, so we’ll better understand how to help you!”

“What? Why?” I say while Scootaloo kicks it back to the apple filly.

Apple Bloom knocks it back to Scootaloo and looks at me before saying, “Well, we care about you Cozy!”

I look at her while Scootaloo headbutts the ball towards Sweetie, “You do?”

Scootaloo stares at me while Sweetie kicks the ball towards the yellow filly with her right forehoof, “Well, duh!”

Sweetie looks at Scootaloo while Apple Bloom headbutts the ball towards me and says in her musical voice, “Didn’t we make it obvious?”

Scootaloo looks back at the white unicorn, “Well, we did everything but come out and say it?”

By this point, I’m holding the ball up in the air with my magick and staring at these three outrageous fillies… They care about me? Really? “Why would you care about me?” I narrow my eyes, “What’s in it for you?”

The filly before me widens her orange eyes, “How about knowing our good friend Cozy Glow is doing okay?”

Scootaloo stares at me and smiles, “Yeah, you’re like, the prodigal Crusader now!”

Sweetie smiles at me, “Lost and found again!”

Scootaloo says, “And safely returned!”

I frown at these three grinning ponies while the ball continues to glow and float 6 feet off the ground, “Why are you being nice to me?”

Sweetie says, “Because we’re your friends!”

“You are?”

The earth filly says in her country drawl, “Come on now, Cozy! You were never THAT dense before!”

“You know, you never told me why you’re my friends now?”

Sweetie says, “How about because you need us?”

Scootaloo says, “Yeah, so you’re not alone all the time! You gotta get bored when it’s just you and Twilight, right?”

I stare back at the smiling foals while my mind processes all of this, “And in exchange for that, you get to be around me, b-because you uh, you like spending time with me?”

The yellow country filly exclaims, “It’s like pullin’ alligator teeth! You sure yer okay Cozy? You didn’t hit yer head or anythin’, right?”

At this point, I grin at Apple Bloom like a madpony and cheerfully say, “Oh, never better AB! Oh, golly! It sure is swell to have friends now, golly gee! And that’s just swell, yes!” before glancing back, “Uh, you’re not going to hug me again, are you?”

Scootaloo stares blankly, “I don’t know? Are you okay, Cozy?”

My mouth trembles as I decide threatening to break her legs is probably not the best response to my friend? I nod instead, “Oh, I’m just swell, Scootaloo! Everything is swell! Yes!” before smiling widely again, “Let’s play some bouncy ball!”

<*****>

I stare at the purple alicorn as she used her magick to take a bite out of her pineapple casserole… “Mom, why did you tell the Crusaders about how my first mom died?”

She chews and swallows before looking back down at me as her fork floats towards the table, “Well, they asked me about your first mother!” and stops glowing once it lands next to her plate.

“And you didn’t lie to them?” I asked with an annoyed frown on my face.

Her purple eyes widen, “What? No! Why would I do that? They asked me what happened to her and I told them she got sick and died in front of you!”

My eyes widen and I point at her with my right forehoof, “There! THAT’S the problem!”

She frowns, “What?”

I sigh and look down while lowering my hoof, “I just don’t think you’d understand?”

“That you’ve been through trauma and you don’t like talking about it because you don’t want ponies to feel bad for you?”

I stare at her suddenly wide-eyed, “NO!”

“Cozy, it’s okay to feel pain and it’s okay to need help! That’s a lesson I once had to learn long ago!”

“I’m fine!” I bark before fluffing my wings in irritation!

“Cozy, you don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to!”

“They told me the same thing!”

Her eyes widen in confusion, “So what’s the problem?”

I let out an exasperated sigh from my snout,“Why did you tell them?”

“I already told you they asked?”

I look down, “I uh, I don’t wanna talk anymore… I want to go to my room…”

“Cozy, it’s obviously still bothering you, even after all this time!”

I stare at her, “Yeah, and it’s going to continue to bother me until I’m dead! Your point?”

“Cozy! Ignoring it isn’t going to make it just go away!”

I frown, “And you’re gonna help me, whether I like it or not?”

She sighs, “Cozy, we only want what’s best for you!”

“They said that too!”

She frowns, “I’m still not sure why you have a problem with this?”

I stare at her for a long time before finally saying, “I don’t like to be weak…”

“What Cozy?”

I say in a louder volume while frantically throwing my forehooves over my body and moving my head side to side, “I don’t like being weak, okay? I’m supposed to be this strong alicorn! The mighty Empress of Friendship! Powerful beyond belief! I’m not supposed to need help!” I lower my hooves and stare at her sternly, “I don’t need any help!”

“Everypony needs help sometimes, Cozy!”

I narrow my eyes at her face, and I see a gentle loving smile form on her face... I finally ask the obvious question, “Mom… am I still Empress of Friendship?”

She smiles and giggles, “Of course you are, Cozy!”

I continue to stare at the grinning alicorn, “And um, does the Empress of Friendship HAVE to be a Cutie Mark Crusader, too?”

“Well, it would probably be good for you to make amends with these fillies, first off, and secondly, you really should have fillies your own age as playmates!” She leans forward, “But I can make it a law, if you like?”

I widen my eyes all the way, “Uh, that won’t be necessary! I guess I’ll just become a Crusader now?” before frowning and looking down at my plate as I suddenly begin to wonder what pineapple casserole actually tastes like?

(To be continued…)