Twilight gets an unexpected visit from a very peculiar filly. This strange pony will make the young princess question everything she thought about a certain little villain, and whether or not she truly made the right choice after they defeated her.
Twilight thought she was coming into her own as Princess of Equestria.
With each passing day, she grew more confident in herself, her choices, and her ability to rule. She even began holding her own court these days, and enjoyed hearing out problems and working on solutions for her subjects.
Yes, she really felt like she was getting a handle on it all, and could deal with just about anything her subjects and the position of princess could throw at her.
Then a little green filly waltzed in and threw her one heck of a curve ball.
"I believe Cozy Glow should be freed."
Excuse me, what?
Twilight had no idea what she was in for, and all the aspirin in Equestria wouldn't be enough to sooth the headaches to come.
Was there something in the Equestrian water supply that was turning cute fillies into devious little monsters, or is she just that unlucky? Well, at least this one didn't seem bent on world domination. At least, Twilight hopes she isn't. This green nightmare might be even harder to stop than Cozy Glow if she ever put her mind to it.
This is not a "Cozy did nothing wrong and the main cast is evil," fic. Just a little filly who may or may not be more than they seem offering a different perspective on the whole situation involving an evil little villainess and what is the best thing to do with her.
Twilight looks down at the little filly and blinks, processing what has just been said. She's still getting into the swing of hosting her own court, but she thought she was getting the hang of hearing her subjects' requests or problems, and hashing out solutions, but this...
"Excuse me?" Twilight asks.
The filly responds in a squeaky voice, "I want to discuss the imprisonment of Cozy Glow." Her wings ruffle at her side, green and still spattered with the downy feathers of foalhood. It makes her age hard to determine, as she looks too old to still have such feathers, clashing with her confident and clear way of speaking. Her messy black mane frames a face that looks a bit too thin for what one would expect from a well fed foal, and her dark green eyes hold a weariness Twilight has only seen a few times from her mentor before Princess Luna was returned to her. She leans slightly in her throne to get a glimpse of the filly's flank, and sees a a black question mark there, so she at least isn't that young.
"Right," Twilight says, siting straight once more and looking to the side at her friend. She likes to have at least one of them present during court to serve as advisors, and today has Rainbow Dash beside her. She meets her gaze and shrugs, so Twilight continues. "What do you want to discuss?" she asks.
"Do you plan on ever freeing her?"
A frown tugs at Twilight's lips. "I'm afraid not, Miss-"
"Anonymous is fine," she supplies, and Twilight has to admit it at least matches the cutie mark.
"Is that your name or...?"
"Might as well be. You can call me Anon for short. Anyway, so if you don't plan on releasing her, why not just kill her?"
"What?!"
"Yeah, I mean, she's not conscious in there, right?"
"No, but why would I kill her?"
"Why not? What's the difference between being dead and being petrified forever? It frankly just seems irresponsible if anything. Like, since when has a banishment or imprisonment ever held forever, anyway? Seems inevitable that something somewhere down the line will end up freeing those three, and you'll probably get caught off guard when that happens, so why not play it safe?"
"We do not execute prisoners in Equestria," Twilight says sternly.
"Attempted petrification forever seems close enough, but whatever. I don't really care, just pointing out the obvious. I didn't come here for that, anyway. do what you want with the other two, but I believe Cozy Glow should be freed."
"That kid nearly destroyed Equestria!" Rainbow says with a glare. "Why would we do that?"
"Because she's harmless without the element of surprise or stronger bad guys helping her," the filly says with a shrug. "And she's a kid. If you need a more logical reason though, then she's a normal pony with a normal lifespan, so if you just put her in a regular prison, she'll eventually die of old age and then you don't have to worry about her getting loose in, like, a thousand years and causing problems." She sniffs and adds, "Unless you don't think Equestria is up to the task of containing one regular pony for sixty or seventy years. With how dumb the guards are, that might be true."
"Young filly, I don't know what your parents have been teaching you, but it's not nice to call others dumb."
Anon rolls her eyes at Twilight's admonishment. "Whatever. Are you going to free her or not?"
"Cozy Glow will stay where she is," Twilight says with narrowed eyes. Who is this filly? A friend of Cozy's? An ally, maybe?
"That so? Out of curiosity, did Cozy ever get a proper trial, because if not, she's entitled to one, you know."
"Why would she be?" Rainbow asks angrily, causing the filly to deadpan back at her.
She speaks as if to a foal as she answers, "Because it's literally Equestrian law, you idiot."
Twilight opens her mouth to reprimand the filly again, but pauses as she thinks that over. It's... technically true. "That might be so, but you do understand that there isn't a jury in Equestria that would find her not guilty, correct? She wouldn't go free for long."
"Yeah, this kingdom is kinda messed up. Especially your law books," Anon agrees with a sage nod. "That's why it's taken me a whole year to read through all that crap, and it's also why, since Cozy hasn't gotten a trial yet, that I'm taking it upon myself to demand one for her, and to defend her."
"You need a law degree to defend another in court," Twilight says with a furrowed brow.
"Not for trial by combat, anyone can step forward to champion for another."
"Trial by what?" Twilight asks, bewildered. "Equestria doesn't have trial by combat!"
"Actually, it does, as of subsection two of the Sky Spears doctrine."
"Sky Spears? Isn't that some old Pegaloplis thing?" Rainbow says. "That's ancient history."
"Mhm, but since Pegalopis was absorbed by Cloudsdale, which then became part of Equestria, their laws were never technically removed. Something about keeping some pegasus nobles happy I think," Anon says ponderously, then shrugs. "Regardless, it's legal, so I'm doing it."
"This is ridiculous," Twilight says. "Even if this is true, which I'll be looking into soon enough, do you really think you can beat any pony I choose for you to fight?"
"Yep!" the filly chirps cheerily. "You'd be surprised at just what I'm capable of."
"Kid, you look like a strong wind could blow you out of the sky," Dash says flatly.
"Yeah? And yet you're all afraid of Cozy Glow, a little filly. Maybe looks are deceiving," Anon says, meeting Rainbow's eyes unflinchingly, a smirk pulling at her lips. "Maybe you'll find out what I really am if you end up being my opponent, eh? It'd be a shame if your Wonderbolt career got ended so soon because Twilight decided to let you fight her battles for her." The filly licks her lips and her posture almost becomes predatory as she continues in a deeper tone, "I've always loved wing-meat, after all..."
Twilight's wings flare and she stands, eyes hard. "I'd be the one to fight you. Do you really think you can defeat an alicorn?"
The filly smiles wider. "Nothing would make me happier, Princess. So when's the fight?"
The mysterious filly left soon after once they discussed a place and time, and an hour later Twilight had to explain to her friends save Pinkie who was stuck at work, why she had agreed to a duel with a foal the next day at high noon.
Rainbow, bless her loyal heart, tried to help her make her case. "Seriously, this kid is weird with a capital 'W'!" Rainbow says. "Like, she was looking at me like a timberwolf looks at a rabbit for a second there."
"And she was dropping some serious hints, too," Twilight defends.
"Yeah? Hints about what?" Applejack asks skeptically.
"That she's not a filly at all."
"What else could she be?" Rarity interjects. "The changelings are good now, and if she were an unreformed one, surely she'd care more for freeing Chrysalis than Cozy Glow."
"Um, if she is just a little filly, you aren't going to hurt her, are you?" Fluttershy asks.
Twilight rolls her eyes. "If that is the case, then of course not. Why would I have to? I'll just pin her with magic until she gives up. It will be eas-"
"Twilight! Is it true you're going to fight that cutie little green filly tomorrow?!" Pinkie declares as she bursts into the map room of the Friendship Castle.
"Pinkie? I thought you weren't out of work for another few hour?"
"I wasn't, but Mrs. Cake let me go early to find out if what that filly is saying is true, and that if it is, I'm supposed to send you her way so she can yell at you for threatening foals."
"What?! She challenged me!"
"So it's true?"
"Wait, what's Anon saying?"
"She's at the center of town telling every pony to come to Whitetail Woods to see her kick your butt. She seems really confident."
"Why that little-"
"Twilight! She's a child!"
"Possibly a child, Rarity, and she's trying to free one of Equestria's greatest villains."
"That is a might bit strange," Applejack concedes. "Wonder why that is?"
"Ooh! Maybe she's Cozy's foalhood friend, or-or maybe she's Cozy's sister!" Pinkie supplies. "If one of my sisters were turned to stone, even for doing something super bad, I'd still try and help them."
Rarity and Applejack share a concerned look, then turn to Twilight. "Um, Twilight, darling, Cozy Glow doesn't have any siblings, right?"
"No," Twilight says, then stops herself, looking flustered. "I mean, I don't know. I, and the ponies I've tasked with looking into her, have yet to actually figure out where Cozy Glow came from."
"So she could be Cozy's sister," Rarity says.
"Oh dear, that's so sad," Fluttershy says, holding her mane and stroking it.
"Could be," Twilight says with a stomp. "Or she could be a monster, or a co-conspirator! Come on, girls, don't let her turn us on each other. I'll beat her in our duel tomorrow without hurting her, then we'll get to the bottom of this, alright?"
"You know best, Ah guess. Just be careful."
"Of course I will be. Even if she's something more than meets the eye, I'll still win. I've been taking classes with Tempest, and Dash says I'm getting better with my wings."
"Yeah, she can almost fly as well as I could when I was twelve years old."
"Gee, thanks."
"Hey, that's a compliment."
"With how full of herself she is, I think she means it."
"I'm not full of myself, I'm just that awesome."
"Regardless, there's nothing to worry about. I can handle a her just fine, and if I can't, well, I'll have you all there to help me. If three of Equestria's worst villains couldn't beat us, this one filly won't be able to."
"I hope you're right, Twilight..." Fluttershy mutters.
Twilight's confidence takes a blow the next day when she arrives at the agreed upon location for her dual and she sees the large crowd of ponies that had gathered there. It seems Anon had been quite busy spreading the word the day before, and Twilight saw more than a few judgmental gazes being leveled her way.
Why are they looking at her like that? She's not the one trying to free a known criminal! She's trying to protect these ponies!
... By beating up a little filly. Twilight is really starting to hate this Anonymous pony, whatever her name really is. She almost hopes that she does turn out to be a monster in disguise, not only so others will stop judging her like some sort of foal beater, but also so she can get the satisfaction of blasting said monster in the face.
Speaking of. "I'm kind of surprised you showed up," Twilight calls as the filly touches down clumsily from a flight. Twilight looks up to see the cloud the little pony descended from, then down at the filly rubbing at her eyes and eating the last of what looks to be a granola bar. Did she sleep here last night?
"Why wouldn't I?" Anon calls back.
"I was hoping you were just doing this to impress some schoolmates or something," Twilight answers. "And that you hoped I wouldn't have actually agreed to the duel so you wouldn't have to fight me."
"You wish," she shouts back as the crowd murmurs among themselves. "I'm here to fix your mistake and set Cozy Glow free."
"It wasn't a mistake, and she's not going free," Twilight says determinedly. "The sooner this match is over, the sooner you'll hopefully see that."
"Sounding pretty confident," Anon calls back. "Looking forward to beating up a little filly that much? Guess I shouldn't be surprised considering what we're even fighting over."
The crowd's murmuring picks up, and Twilight feels her cheeks burn red as she scowls. "Let's just outline the rules of our match and get on with it."
"Sure thing," Anon says agreeably. "Rule one, no magic."
"What?! Why not?"
"Because it would be unfair otherwise. I don't have a horn. Besides, it's an old pegasus law, right? Why not honor tradition?"
Twilight frowns. "I read up on the law last night, and there are no rules against using magic."
"Sure, but the law wasn't written with alicorns fighting regular pegasi in mind. Besides, do you really need the advantage that much?" Anon calls back in challenge. "You're what? Three times my age and four times my size. You need to have magic too? Are you a coward, or just that petty?"
The crowd's tone becomes disapproving and Twilight grinds her teeth, eyes flicking to the ponies around them to see that only her friends are not giving her dirty looks. Stepping forward so they can't hear, she asks in a lower tone, "That logic only works if you're a real filly, right? What if you turn into some sort of monster or you're an alicorn in disguise? Am I still expected to not use my magic then?"
The filly merely rolls her eyes. "Paranoid much? Tell you what, though, if you agree to not use any magic, I can guarantee that how I am now is how I'll be the entire match. No transformations or secret horn. That sound fair to you?"
Twilight huffs through her nose, but nods jerkily. "Fine," she calls out more loudly. "I won't use any magic on threat of forfeit. The end of the match will be determined when one of us surrenders or is unable to continue fighting."
"Sounds good to me," Anon agrees, holding up a hoof. "Let the best pony win."
Twilight stares at the hoof for a second, then reaches out to meet it, her own hoof eclipsing the smaller one of the filly. "Let's just get this over with."
Then the filly leaps into the air and hovers, reeling her foreleg back with a smirk. "One-hundred percent agree," she says, and the next thing Twilight knows, a hoof is colliding with her cheek.
She stumbles back, more out of shock than actual pain as the crowd gasps. Blinking her eyes rapidly, she sees the filly already ascending higher into the sky, and she growls, wings flaring out to give chase. Anon is just reaching the the peaks of the surrounding tree canopies as Twilight rockets up to meet her, intending to grab the brat in a movement constricting bear hug and demanding she surrender, but then Anon's wings clamp to her side and she enters free fall.
Twilight is dumbfounded for all of one-point-five seconds before an elbow drops into her left eye. Unlike the pitiful punch from earlier, this hurts like Tartarus and she yells out as Anon rolls off of her face as her wings spring back open. Holding her no-doubt rapidly swelling eye, Twilight watches through watery sight with the other one as the filly clumsily rights herself in the air and turns to look at her with a smile.
She sticks her tongue out and blows a raspberry, and Twilight screams. Flying forward, she reels her hoof back and sends it right into the shocked face of the filly, who's sent hurdling backwards with a yelp. Twilight is breathing heavily as she watches Anon drop several feet down before eventually returning to a hover. There are surprised gasps from below and Twilight's eyes widen upon getting a good look at the filly, who's head is hanging down, allowing twin streams of blood to pour from her nostrils unto the ground.
"Dang, you really didn't hold back, did you?" Anon says in a nasally voice, wiping fruitlessly at her face and smearing her foreleg with blood. "I guess I can't act surprised, considering I'm the one who picked this fight." She looks up to glare at the princess as she adds, "I'm still pissed off though."
Then she unleashes a battle cry and flies forward at, what Twilight has to admit, isn't a very impressive speed. The sight of blood has diminished much of Twilight's ire and is making her more than a little squeamish, so she doesn't outright smack the filly away, putting up her hooves to instead create some distance between the two. Instead of another strike however, Anon latches onto one of her forelegs and bites down.
Twilight yelps in pain and instinctively smacks at her attacker with her other foreleg, hitting her on top of the head and causing her to bite down harder. Twilight begins to flail, and Anon, who weighs barely anything, is whipped about in the air, eventually coming loose to soar a few feet higher up. Then she comes down in a graceless heap onto Twilight's back, and doesn't hesitate to sink her teeth into a bundle of wing muscles between Twilight's shoulders.
Anger now returned, Twilight releases another scream, both of fury and pain, and rolls midair. Losing her grip, Anon falls off, and is struck by one of Twilight's blindly thrown kicks. There's a pained grunt, and as Twilight rights herself, she spots the filly in a jerking descent towards a nearby cloud, which she collapses upon in a heap, panting. Twilight has to resist the urge to fly after her and deliver another kick, instead catching her breath as Anon gets up and turns to glare at her, one of her wings hanging limply at her side.
The sight gives Twilight pause, not seeing an enemy in that moment, but instead a small filly with an injured wing and nose that's still dripping blood. "Just give up!" she tries. "Look at you! You're clearly not going to win! Cozy Glow isn't worth all of this trouble."
Lips forming a thin line, Anon glare a few seconds, then lets out a huff. "You really think that, huh?" she says looking off to the side. "You sentence a child to eternal imprisonment and then pat yourself on the back like you're a big hero. Can't blame you, I guess, what with all those folks down there cheering you on when you did it." She says this as she steps closer to the edge to look down at the crowd. "All those ponies, and not one of them questions whether or not that was the right thing to do. Maybe it is pointless then, for me to try and be the voice of reason in this insane kingdom."
Twilight is confused now as the filly rambles. "You're all perfectly happy to take a kid's life, just because the alternative, of actually trying to help her, is too much work for you. I must be a real nuisance then, right? Little green pony, rocking the boat. How long before you turn me to stone I wonder?"
"I wouldn't-" Twilight tries to say, but freezes as she sees Anon step even closer to the edge, part of the cloud breaking off under her hoof.
The filly looks at her limp wing, then up to her and shakes her head. "I'm done. Let's save everyone the trouble, you won't have to deal with me, and I won't have to live in a place that would rather bury their problems than solve them, even when a kid's life is on the line."
"Anon, whatever you're thinking, you don't need to do it," Twilight says slowly.
"No I... I think I do," the filly replies tiredly, shoulders slumped before she manages to flash a small smile up at the princess. "At least I can go out knowing I gave a tyrant a real shiner. I hope someone down there has a camera to immortalize that black eye, and has the thought to snap the picture instead of gawking at a dead pony." Then she takes another step forward and begins to plummet, good wing held tight to her side while the injured one flaps about like a windsock.
Twilight is on the move before the ponies below even know what's going on, but she still isn't fast enough. There's a scream of horror as someone seems to realize, and Twilight is pushing her wings as hard as she can, but she can tell she won't reach the filly in time. Her wings can't carry her fast enough, but her horn can reach.
A lavender glow ignites and wraps around Anon, slowing her descend just enough to stop her a few feet away from the unforgiving ground. Twilight doesn't come to as gentle a halt as she strikes the ground with a thud, landing hard and sending soil into the air and jolts of pain up her legs.
Panting, she starts to yell, "What is wrong with you?! Are you insane?!"
Anon, who's floating gently in Twilight's magic, smiles, her limp wing suddenly folding up easily against her side. "Insane? No. The winner of the duel? Oh yeah."
Twilight blinks stupidly, dumbfounded. "What?"
Anon reaches forward and boops the mare on the nose. "The rules of our little match, remember? If you use magic, you forfeit, and in case you haven't noticed..." She gestures around herself at the glow enveloping her.
Twilight's jaw hangs open for a momeent before her face twists up in anger. "You... You tricked me! That was all just an act!"
Anon slow claps. "Congratulations, Twi, you're not a complete idiot... Or maybe you are. You were just outsmarted by a filly, after all. Two for two, in fact. Maybe Equestria should be worried about that." She shrugs. "Welp, not my problem. I'm more concerned with hashing out Cozy Glow's parole. We're going to need a place to stay once she's no longer stone, after all."
Twilight's eye twitches and she's very sorely tempted to toss this filly as far away as she can with her magic. If only this crowd wasn't watching them, all of whom are stomping and cheering Anon on.
Come on! She's the bad guy, remember?!
Twilight feels a headache coming on. She guesses it's true; everypony loves an underdog, even when they're little scheming brats.
She feels her headache getting worse.
And now's there's going to be two of them on the loose.
Equestria is doomed.
"Oh hey, is that a nurse? Hey nurse! You mind helping me over here? I'm still leaking like a faucet!" Twilight relinquishes the filly to the Redheart, who gives her a glare as she ushers her latest patient off for treatment.
Her friends come up to talk to her, but she holds up a hoof. "I'm going home," she grumbles. "We'll talk later." For now, she needs to go ice her left eye and scream her frustrations out into a pillow , then order a bag full of hayburgers from her favorite restaurant, take several aspirin, and take a nap.
Something tells her this will be her last peaceful respite for the next few days after she sends a letter to her predecessors explaining why she'll need them to unpetrify a villain.
Twilight has a headache the next day. Putting off her royal duties the day before, not just for the dual, but also directing her investigators to expand their search to include an additional filly's origin, then trying and failing to calm down, meant she had to do a lot of catching up now. And her left eye still having trouble focusing is only compounding the issue.
Doing paperwork all morning, then court for several hours left her wanting to do nothing more than to chug a kettle of chamomile tea and take a nap, but her friends showed up wanting to discuss the previous day's events, even while she wishes she could pretend they never happened.
"Dang, she really messed your eye up," Rainbow says eloquently. "That filly can scrap."
"If I'd known it was so bad, I'd have brought a makeup kit," Rarity adds, wincing as she looks at the puffy black eye of her friend.
"If you're just going to make comments about my face, I could be using this time for better things," Twilight grumbles.
"Sorry, Twi, we all get you're probably a mite bit upset right now-"
"A mite? I'm furious!" Twilight snaps at Applejack. "Not only did I get humiliated and tricked by a foal, but she managed to make me look like I was the one in the wrong in front of the whole town!"
"And now we've got to let Cozy Glow free, too!" Pinkie chimes in. "Boy, I don't think I've ever been so conflicted on what kind of party to throw before. Congratulations on being freed, or sorry we had to free a baddy?"
"It's not so bad," Fluttershy mumbles, getting all eyes to turn to her, causing her to blush and shrink into herself. "Um, Anon was in the park all morning, answering questions, and I sort of listened."
"She was?" Twilight asks, surprised as she looks around the room, getting shrugs.
"I was doin' chores," Applejack says.
"Breakfast rush at Sugarcube Corner," Pinkie says with a grin.
"Why would I get up before noon on my day off?" asks Dash skeptically
"And a mare needs her beauty sleep," Rarity agrees.
Twilight rolls her eyes at her friends' poor prioritizing skills before she looks back at Fluttershy and asks, "What kind of stuff was she saying?"
"Well, a lot of ponies were sort of upset about Cozy Glow being freed too, but Anon wasn't mad. She talked about how, even though Cozy Glow is disturbed, that doesn't make her a monster, and, um, that foals need to be taught to be good, not punished and never given a chance." She starts tapping her front hooves together. "She started talking about something called brain plasticity and how it's actually easier for foals to change than adults, and that if ponies like Princess Luna and Starlight Glimmer can reform, then Cozy Glow definitely can. Nurse Redheart even showed up and agreed about the science stuff, which got a lot of ponies to start listening to what Anon had to say."
"Well that's a load of hooey," Applejack comments confidently, then starts to look uncertain. "... Right?"
Twilight rolls what she's just heard around in her head for a few moments, then sighs. "It's true that foals can learn and pickup skills far faster than adults."
"Oh..." is all Applejack can say in response to that, causing Twilight to hastily continue.
"But I don't know if that applies for behavioral alterations. It's not like I've studied foal psychology in depth."
"I'm sure we don't have anything to worry about," Pinkie says. "Back before we locked Cozy up in Tartarus and threw away the key, I bet Twilight and the other princesses consulted an expert of foal psychology, right?"
Twilight's ears pin to her head. "Um, actually, Princess Luna is the one who pressed forward with that decision on the spot. We just sort of... went along with it."
Pinkie blinks a few times, smile lessening, but it quickly returns in full force. "Of course! Luna must be an expert, then! Who'd of thought psychology stuff was so well known a thousand years ago!"
"Actually the field of psychology is relatively new, only really getting attention in the last hundred years. I, ah, remember having a talk with Luna about how, had they had psychiatrists a thousand years ago that she could have talked to, that she probably wouldn't have become Nightmare Moon."
"Oh... But she's really into it now and has been reading up lots because of that!"
"... She's been mostly catching up with all the things she missed... And getting together an Equestrian Postal Service fanclub."
"She even sent me an invite to that... Oh! But Celestia's an expert, right?!"
Twilight feels like if her head drops any further, her chin will be touching the floor. "She's actually come under fire since stepping down from the throne about the practices of her School for Gifted Unicorns. The entrance exam was designed to stress applicants, usually under the age of eight, to see how they handle it. Many of those ponies, especially those who didn't get accepted, have stepped forward and claimed that taking the entrance exams has become a traumatic memory for them in their adult lives."
"If I recall, wasn't there some articles suggesting your, ah, particular neuroses are a direct result of Celestia's teaching methods?" Rarity adds uncomfortably. "And the name of her previous student was being thrown around as well with her still being officially missing..." At Twilight's flinch, she quickly adds, "Not that I or any reasonable pony would believe such rags! Who even reads the New Yoke Times?"
"I'll admit, there's been some policy reforms to her school in the last few years," Twilight confesses. "And there has been a noticeable reduction of mental breakdowns and burnout as a result among the students."
Pinkie re-enters the conversation with, "Alright, so the other Princesses aren't the best ponies to ask about foal brain stuff, but at least YOU'VE talked to experts since turning her to stone and they agreed that it was the right call!" Twilight remains silent, and Pinkie's smile strains. "Right, Twilight?" When Twilight still doesn't answer, Pinkie's ears droop and she turns to Fluttershy. "I don't suppose Discord is super knowledgeable about foals, is he?"
Fluttershy looks away, and Pinkie slumps, smile wiped from her face. "Are... Are we the baddies this time?"
Rainbow opens her mouth to shout a retort, but a knock at the door stops her. Twilight calls for them to enter, and the door opens to reveal a guard. "What is it? If it's a petitioner, tell them they'll have to come back tomorrow when court reopens."
"No, Princess, it's the one calling herself Anonymous, she's come wishing to speak with you," he answers. "I know you asked not to be disturbed, but-"
"No, you were right to tell me. Send her to the throne room and I'll be there momentarily."
"Of course, your highness."
As the stallion makes his leave, Twilight looks to her friends in determination. "I think it's time I get some answers. You girls in?"
Of course they are, and soon the six mares are sitting in the large seats within the throne room Twilight had set out for them, all thrones in their own right as Twilight saw her friends as equals. They have barely settled in when the guard reappears, little Anon trailing behind him.
Anon nods at the guard, who returns the gesture before taking his leave, and the filly is left to be looked down upon by six pairs of eyes. "Sup?" she asks with a lazy wave, posture relaxed. "Didn't think I'd be seeing the whole crew."
"Whatever you need to say can be said in front of them," Twilight explains evenly. "And besides, I know we've all become very curios about you, Anonymous, if that is your real name."
"Oh, it's not, but I haven't settled on a name I like yet," Anon says with a shrug. "I've been thinking Green Hornet, what do you think?"
Twilight absently runs a hoof under her black eye and grumbles, "Fits pretty well, I'd say. You're a violent little thing."
"What about your real name?" Applejack cuts in with narrowed eyes. "The one yer parents gave ya?"
Anon, or Green Hornet, Twilight supposes, shrugs. "Don't know it. Never met 'em and they didn't leave a note with the orphanage. The matron calls me Green Bean, but that doesn't fit."
Fluttershy looks at the filly in sadness and asks, "You're an orphan?"
"No, I just volunteer there on the weekends," Anon says snarkily. "Of course I am."
"Which one," Twilight asks. "I hope you don't take offense, but I want to confirm your story."
"I'm hurt that you think I'd lie to you," Green responds in a completely unbothered tone.
"You said just a couple days ago that you wanted to eat my wings," Rainbow Dash points out angrily. "We aren't even sure you're actually a pony yet."
Green rolls her eyes. "Of course I'm a pony, I was just saying stuff like that to make sure Twilight would be the one who would fight me. She might not have the best moral compass, but I know she's a good friend and would rather put herself in danger than one of you. If she believed I was some sort of monster in disguise then she wouldn't want to risk one of you fighting me."
Twilight's eyes widen a little, then scowls. "Honesty is one of the Elements of Harmony for a reason, you know."
"Well, you weren't giving me a lot of options," Green shoots back. "You made it pretty clear you weren't going to free Cozy Glow any other way, and my best chance of winning a duel with an adult was tricking you like I did. I'd say it was justified."
"Why do you even care so much about her?" Twilight snaps. "Who is she to you?"
"An acquaintance."
The glib reply only deepens Twilight's frown, already anticipating the run-around the filly is going to put her through. "From where?" she asks tightly.
"We both lived in the Bright Side Orphanage in Hayseed Junction."
That causes Twilight to lean back in surprise. "Um, what?" she begins then shakes her head and narrows her eyes. "That can't be the truth. I've had letters sent out to all orphanages in Equestria asking if a pony matching Cozy Glow's description was familiar, and they all said she wasn't."
"Don't know what to tell you, except that maybe I'm not the only one who apparently needs a refresher about the importance of honesty."
"But why would any pony lie about that?!" Twilight nearly yells.
Green merely rubs her chin in thought. "Well... I do remember the matron acting pretty nervous for a couple weeks after Cozy Glow ended up in the newspapers. I never bothered talking to her about it, but if I were to make an educated guess, I'd say she was afraid that she and the orphanage as a whole would be held responsible for Cozy's actions."
"Why would she be afraid of something like that?" Rarity asks. "As long as there was no actual wrong doing on their part, I doubt this matron would have been arrested or any such thing."
Green looks at her and answers, "Sure, but ponies do tend to let their worries get the better of them and blow things out of proportion. Besides, she might have been afraid that ponies would think it was how the orphanage raises the foals in its care that led to Cozy turning out the way she did. If that ended up being the case, and considering that they rely on donations for everything beyond the bare minimum provided by the crown to operate, the orphanage might have ended up closed down, or needing to try and send extra foals out to other places. Now that I'm thinking about it, potential parents looking to adopt might be worried about getting a foal from a place Cozy was raised at, too, making it harder for the other foals there to be adopted." Green shrugs. "I'm just speculating, but it makes a certain amount of sense, doesn't it?"
Rarity nods slowly, looking concerned. "Yes... yes it does."
Applejack rubs the back of her head and looks away. "Ah'll admit ta thinkin' somerthin' similar in the past. Ah remember askin' myself how a filly the same age as ma sister could turn out like that, and eventually settled on it bein' the fault of whoever raised her. Figured if'n Ah ever found whoever that was, I'd give 'em a kick for it, too."
Green huffs a short laugh. "Matron Kettle might be kinda strict at times with the chores, but I wouldn't say she's a bad caregiver."
As Twilight listens, she tells herself that she'll be sending out a letter to confirm the filly's story as soon as their talk is over, and yet she finds herself believing Green all the same. Even the logic provided makes sense to Twilight the more she thinks about it, and she's embarrassed she never thought of that possibility to explain just why she was having so much trouble tracking down Cozy Glow's origins. "So you two grew up together, became friends, and now you're trying to help her," Twilight speculates, but Green shakes her head.
"Nah, I already said we were acquaintances, not friends. Sure we grew up together, and Cozy tried a few times to butter me up, but Cozy Glow isn't really one for making friends, not real ones, anyway. She'd rather have minions." Green sighs a bit dejectedly, a wry smile on her lips. "It always bugged the crap out of her that I saw through her cutsie shtick. All the other foals in the orphanage thought she was their best friend, but in reality they were just a source of extra dessert and hooves to pawn her chores off on. The fact that I never joined that fan club caused me all sorts of headaches if I'm being honest."
"Did she bully you?" Twilight asks with a furrowed brow, now more confused on just why Green seemed so intent on helping the other filly.
Green shakes her head. "She didn't have to really do anything when her little cult was more than happy to ostracize the odd one out. From their perspective, Cozy was the nicest pony there was and was friends with everyone, and so her not being friends with me must have meant I was bad, right?" She smiles sardonically as she says, "The apology card they all signed after Cozy got turned to stone was a nice gesture, and the bits from their pooled piggy banks is what got me a ticket here, so I told them they were forgiven."
"Wait, if Cozy Glow caused you all these problems, why are you here trying to free her now?" Dash asks, voicing the same question they all have. "Shouldn't you be happy she got what was coming to her?"
Green frowns at her and answers, "Would you be happy if you found out Gilda got turned to stone?"
Rainbow Dash's wings flare as she leans back, eyes wide, then narrows them. "Of course not! She's my friend."
"Sure, she is now, but I remember reading in that friendship journal you all published about when she came to visit you and ended up leaving on bad terms. What about then? Had something terrible happened to her back before you made up, even if she brought it on herself, would you have been happy to hear about it?"
"No!" she answers automatically, then looks uncertain. "I mean, I was really mad at her back then, but, like, I knew her since we were little and It's not like she was all bad even before we made up, and just..."
She trails off, and Green picks up, "If anything, even if she was bad then, she's better now, and it's because she got that chance to change. I want Cozy to have that chance, because just like with you and Gilda, I've known her long enough to know she's not all bad." The filly looks up at the ceiling as if remembering back. "Even if she was only using them, it doesn't change the fact that she made the other foals at Bright Side happier. She was a shoulder to cry on, someone who would listen to their problems and give advice. Honestly, I even think she saved a life back then for one of the other fillies by being there when they needed a friend." She looks back at them with a lopsided grin and adds, "I think she deserves another chance for that alone, wouldn't you say?"
The girls all share a look, long years of friendship allowing them to come to an agreement without words, and with a subtle nod, Twilight stands and descends the stairs. Green raises a brow, but gets to her hooves just in time for Twilight to lay a gentle hoof on her shoulder. "Green, since I've met you, I've been nothing but surprised, and I've been made to question myself and my beliefs more than once. Truthfully, I'm not fully comfortable with freeing Cozy Glow, but considering how many times you've proven my assumptions wrong so far, maybe I should put some faith in you."
Green looks surprised a moment, then smiles. "Yeah, that'd probably be for the best. I wouldn't want to give you another black eye, after all."
Twilight's soft smile drops as her friends snicker behind her. "Let's just work out what we're going to do with Cozy Glow already."
"Good idea, and the first order of business is the budget I'll be working with."
Twilight tilts her head in confusion. "Budget? Why would you need a budget, and how much would you even need?"
"Oh, not too much. The land we'll be using is probably dirt cheap I imagine, if not free, and we only need a house big enough for two ponies built. All in all a drop in the bucket for the crown."
Twilight already feels her headache coming back on as she imagines the disgruntled nobles lined up to complain about misuse of the tax payers money while asking for bits themselves to pursue their own vanity projects. She sighs and gestures for the filly to follow her to her office.
They're going to need lots of stationary.
Cozy Glow watches in horror as that traitor, Discord, whispers into the princesses' ears moments before they decide to fire a stream of magic at her and her comrades. The sensation of her body becoming stone is like ice crawling up her limbs, then her torso, and she looks up in terror one last time to see the cruelly smiling faces of Equestria's supposed heroes.
As the petrification makes its way up her neck, all she can think is, "Please, don't do this!" Her granite vocal cords don't allow for a single sound as darkness overtakes her, and her mind slowly goes blank.
Then, with the sound of cracking rock and blinding light piercing her eyes, she's collapsing onto the ground in a heap of trembling, but soft and warm flesh. She takes several deep, heaving breathes as she tries and fails to scramble to her hooves, her wings flapping uselessly at her side.
"W-what?" she manages through numbed lips, blinking her rolling eyes as the strange sensation overtaking her body scrambles her thoughts. It's like the feeling of a limb falling asleep, but everywhere. The touch of two hooves on her shoulders feels like static, but they help her into a seated position and slowly she begins to regain control of herself.
As her eyes finally settle in their sockets, they fall upon a green and black blob. For just an instant, she thinks she's looking at the belly of Chrysalis, but soon she realizes it's a filly a bit younger than her. Despite everything, she scowls upon realizing which filly in particular, and she shirks away from the hooves holding her.
"Green Bean," she slurs. "What are you...?" Her words are cut short as her front legs cross and catch, toppling her over onto her chest. The impact slams her mouth shut, rattling her skull, and when she opens her eyes, it's to see Green sitting there, hooves up in a shrug as she simply stares down at her impassively.
"Would have caught ya, but you didn't seem to like me touching you, so..."
"Smart aleck," she grumbles, pushing herself up and rubbing at her jaw. Her body is already beginning to feel back to normal and the fog is leaving her mind, allowing her to think more clearly on her situation. They're in a bare room with a window set in one wall allowing sunlight to filter in.
For some reason, when she looks down, she expects the hardwood floor to be littered with stone chunks, but she berates herself for the stupid thought. If the floor was covered in rocks, she'd be missing her skin. There is however, a gem covered in glyphs, roughly the size of her hoof next to Green, and her interest is instantly peaked.
She tries to divert her eyes in a way that's natural, brushing imaginary dust from her coat, but she frowns when Green picks up the gem and holds it up with a smirk.
"Curious what this is?" she asks, getting Cozy to scoff.
"Golly, I'm sure it's nothing special if you have it. Not like boring ol' Bean would ever have anything fun or interesting."
Green chuckles. "Right you are, this thing is practically worthless now. Doesn't even have its luster anymore without the magic inside." She tries to spin it on the tip of her hoof, but it topples off and bounces across the floor. The klutz ignores it after a glance and goes on. "A couple of minutes ago, however, and you'd have done anything to get your hooves on that hunk of rock. It was full of Celestia's, Luna's, and Discord's magic."
"What?! Why?! And why would a loser like you have something like that?!" Cozy blurts already looking down at the crystal and mourning the lost possibilities.
"It was basically the key to freeing you," Green explains as if discussing the weather. "The writing there is an unpretrifying spell-"
"Soft spell," Cozy corrects.
"Yeah, that, but since two alicorns and a spirit of chaos cast the initial petrification, only that kind of magic combo could undo it, but I figured you wouldn't appreciate the first thing you saw when you got out of there to be the faces of the ones who turned you to stone in the first place, so we settled on this instead."
Cozy shakes her head, trying to process this. "Wait, who's we, and why are you even part of this? Did you join some sort of villain group while I was away?"
"Nothing that exciting," Green says, standing to move towards the door while waving Cozy to follow her. "After you got yourself turned into a lawn ornament, ponies were pretty content to leave you that way, which I thought was pretty messed up." Green passes through the door, and after some thought, Cozy decides to follow. As she's led down a short hallway, Green continues, "So I decided to do something about it."
"Like what? You went and broke me off from the other two and dragged me to some secret hideout?" Cozy asks skeptically. "Pretty sure you're too lazy to go through the trouble."
"Would someone lazy challenge Twilight Sparkle to trial by combat to save your sorry butt?" Green snarks over her shoulder. "And as your current not-stone state should clue you in on, I won."
Cozy stops just as they enter what appears to be a small living room, gaping. "You're lying," she manages, causing Green to smile a little wider and move to the center of the room, gesturing out around her.
"Nope. I gave the book princess a black eye, and even had her pay for this house. Welcome to our new home for the foreseeable future." She points off to the side, adding, "Kitchen's over there, fridge and larders stocked."
Cozy looks to see a kitchenette. Green points behind the pink filly. "Our bedrooms are down that way; we're rooming together for now, just so you know, until we get your room set up the way you like it. That's the empty one you woke up in. Bathroom is down there, too." She directs a hoof opposite to the kitchen to a door. "And that's outside. We've got a pretty big yard for you, but don't go too far."
Cozy's brow furrows. She has so many questions, and no idea where to start. That part of her that hates being bossed around makes the decision for her as she asks, "Yeah? And why can't I go too far? What's stopping me from just leaving you here and going to figure out a way to take my proper place as Empress of Equestria?"
"Should I go down the whole list?" Green asks with a quirked brow, pointing at Cozy. "Or just the main thing. Surprised you haven't noticed your new necklace yet."
Cozy's hoof comes up to her neck and her eyes widen upon feeling a chain there. Her other hoof comes up and starts feeling around the whole thing. Small links of cool metal encircle her neck just tight enough to be pressed flush against her flesh on all sides. There are no clasps that she can feel which leads her to be believe it must have been welded closed on her while she was still stone.
"What is this?" she demands.
"Arcanum necklace with a tracking spell forged into it, along with another that will make the chain grow heavier the further you get from the parameter encircling the house," Green explains. "It was the only way Twilight would be willing to unpretrify you."
Cozy feels her rage boiling up inside. "What is this, then? A prison?"
"Pretty much, yeah."
"And you put me here?" Cozy growls, stalking forward to stand in front of the smaller filly.
Green simply looks up at her. "Hmm, I'm sensing some hostility here," she says, causing Cozy's eye to twitch.
"Ya think?!" she screams, a vein bulging in her forehead. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't buck you in the head right now!"
"You might get turned back into stone," she answers as she heads towards the exit. "There's also the fact that, well, just come look..."
Cozy is grinding her teeth as she follows the filly with stomping steps outside. She looks around, trying to spot just what Green wanted her to see, but as far as she can tell, it's just grass for a ways, then a dense treeline surrounding the small abode. "What? Trees? So we're in the forest?"
"The ones surrounding the base of the Appleachian Mountains, yeah, but that's not what I want you to see," Green responds, looking upwards and waving. "Yo! Anyone awake up there?"
Cozy steps out further and looks up. Directly above them floats what appears to be a cloud home, and over the edge peeks the head of a stallion wearing a familiar, and still very gaudy helmet. "Is everything alright, Ms. Hornet? The inmate hasn't harmed you, has she?"
"Nah, but she really wants to," Green calls back. "Figured I'd let her know you were here, though, so you could tell her what you thought of that."
The guard frowns and levels his steely gaze down at Cozy, who gulps despite not wanting to appear weak. "That would be... ill advised," he finally says. "There will always be two guards stationed at this post to keep the pair of you safe, and serve as messengers in the case of emergency. We also have strict orders to report any violence committed directly to Princess Twilight after detaining the assailant in the holding cell up here."
"Golly mister, I'd never hurt my best friend here!" Cozy shouts up at him, smiling wide as she pulls the other filly against her side in a hug. "She was just joking!"
The guard doesn't look at all convinced, instead looking over to Green, who nods. He returns the gesture and says, "Alright then. We will be checking in on you two periodically, but as long as you aren't committing any crimes, there won't be any trouble."
"You don't have a thing to worry about! Green and I are just going to be playing fun games and stuff, right, Green?" Cozy asks, tightening her forearm around the other filly's neck.
Green grunts, but nods. "Of course. Not like there's much else to do," she replies, looking back up. "I'll talk to you guys later!"
The guard nods and disappears back into his post, leaving Cozy to drag Green back inside and slam the door. "What the buck, Green Bean?!" she shouts as she reels on the smaller filly. "You've got your own guards, too?! What? Did you become Twilight's new patsy while I was stoned?"
"Me? A patsy?" Green repeats, actually looking offended.
Cozy smiles, glad to finally get a rise out of her. "Yeah, or do you want me to use the official title of personal student?"
Green snorts. "What would even be the point?" She taps her own forehead. "Magic is the only thing I think she could teach me, and I don't have a horn. And as far as friendship is concerned, I think I've got the gist of it already."
"Golly, you do? Then why did I have all the friends at Bright Side and you didn't have any?"
Green holds up a hoof as if giving a lecture. "I said I understand, not that I applied what I knew. I was fine being by myself, so I didn't bother trying to be all buddy buddy with the other foals. Plus I didn't intend to stay there much longer and didn't want to leave friends behind. Oh, and in case you didn't hear the guard, I'm going by Green Hornet now, not Green Bean."
"You can't just change your name because you feel like it."
"I totally can, and Twilight agreed it fit after that mean elbow drop to the face I gave her." Green counters, yawning as she heads towards the kitchen. She says over her shoulder. "Anyway, I'm going to make myself a snack. You want a PB&J? There's a furniture magazine on the coffee table there you can flip through while we eat. Twilight wants you to choose what you want for your bedroom and she'll order it."
Cozy takes a deep breath through her nose and lets it out slowly. Green was always an enigma to Cozy that she was never able to figure out, much to her frustration. She's smart, Cozy knows, but doesn't ever seem to do anything with it. She's a klutz, as many have often teased her about, but she's never cared about their opinions. Out of all the ponies she befriended at Bright Side, Green was the one that would never accept her invitation to be her friend, no matter what she promised. It stung, but she always told herself that it was the lack of a valuable pawn, not the pang of rejection that upset her.
Considering what the other filly has apparently accomplished on Cozy's behalf, that's apparently more true than she thought.
"I don't get you," she finally says. "What was the point of this? Some sort of elaborate revenge for me making your life worse before? Am I supposed to spend the rest of my life here until I go insane from boredom?"
"That could make for good revenge," Green acknowledges as she hops up onto a stool and gets to work. "It's even a real possibility. Though that depends on whether or not you can ever convince Twilight to let you go. But no, I'm doing all of this because I think it's right." She gestures around herself with a butter knife. "Plus I got a free house out of it. Beats sharing a bedroom with eight other foals."
"Right?" Cozy repeats.
"Yeah, right for you to get a chance to turn your life around. You're just a kid, after all, you still have your whole life to change. Maybe you'll change into something better?"
Cozy pouts. She'll change alright. She's going to become stronger and smarter than ever before, so that when she escapes, she'll take over Equestria for sure. And this filly is not going to stop her.
There's a loud growl from the pink filly's abdomen, and Cozy feels her cheeks heat up. "Um, can I get one of those sandwiches?"
"Already making you one."
"Oh, good."
"Can I get a thank you?"
"Not on your life."
"... I'm giving you grape jelly."
"Grape?! I hate grape! Don't you have strawberry?"
"Of course, that's what I put on mine."
"Then I want that one!"
"Even after I lick it like this?"
"Ew! You're so gross!"
As the two fillies bicker, one of the guards checking in by the window to ensure the prisoner hadn't attacked her warden yet can't help but chuckle. He hadn't been sure at first with the decision to let Cozy Glow go, but seeing her act like a foal, albeit a bratty one, did make him question Equestrian's initial choice of how to handle her.
Only time will tell if the decision was truly right or wrong, though he thinks he might just be rooting for little Green's success, even if that means facing the uncomfortable possibility that the rulers he's sworn absolute loyalty to aren't as infallible as he wished.
"A little to the left... No, my left, that's it. A little more... Perfect! Thank you, Silver," Cozy Glow says sweetly as the burly pegasus guard finishes setting up her large, queen-sized canopy bed. She turns to the unicorn who's applying a lacy, white wallpaper trim around the upper edge of the pink-painted walls and says, "You're doing great, Spellweave! Do you think when you're done with that, you could help me make the bed? It'd be so much easier with magic." The guard grunts, not removing his focus from his task, but nods, getting Cozy to beam smile #3 to show extreme appreciation and joy for the help.
"You know, maybe if you're not be able to make your own bed without help, you should have gotten something smaller. I don't think the guards will appreciate bed making being thrown on top of their duties."
Cozy's smile drops and she turns to see Green leaning against the door frame, eating an apple as she looks around the room. "You and Twilight are the ones who said to order anything I want, and now you're criticizing my choices?" Cozy says accusingly. "Golly, I just figured since, you know, this is going to be my prison forever, that I should at least be comfortable here."
Green shrugs. "Hey, if this is how you want your room setup, don't let me stop you. I'm just curious whether or not you actually wanted all this, or if you just chose all the most expensive stuff out of spite because Twilight was footing the bill," she says, gesturing with the half-eaten fruit. "After all, you didn't exactly leave yourself much space here."
Cozy turns to look over her new room, and has to admit that she might have gone a little bit overboard. The giant bed takes up most of the space, and what's left is occupied by a large mahogany desk, a seat more akin to a throne in front of it which, when pulled out enough to sit in will be pressing against the bed, and another wall covered by a large, mostly empty wardrobe, vanity mirror, and bookshelf. It's rather cramped, and as a pegasus, it clashes greatly with her innate love of open spaces. Still, while she can admit it to herself, she'll never admit to Green that she made a mistake, and so says, "It's perfect."
"If you say so, but I'm not pushing apart the twin beds in my room now that I've got you out of there, so don't come crying to me when you can't fall asleep in here."
"Like you'd ever catch me crying," Cozy grumbles.
"If you have the linen and comforter ready, I can help you now," Spellweaver says, finished with the wallpaper trim.
Cozy quickly pastes on another smile, saying as she points, "Thank you so much, Spelly! All the bed stuff is in the wardrobe over there!"
"Spellweaver, if you please," the unicorn responds blandly, though does use his magic to retrieve the bedding. Once they're done, the two guards leave and head to the cloud lookout above, the pegasus carrying his companion who primes a cloud walking spell during their ascent, leaving the two fillies alone once again.
They both wave goodbye, Cozy more enthusiastically so until they're completely out of sight. Once they are, she drops her cheery facade and hoof with a sigh. "Well, guess I'm stuck with only you for company again," she grumbles, plopping down onto the step leading up to the door. "If I'd known being unpetrified would be this boring, I might have just stayed a statue."
"It's not that bad," Green counters, finally finishing her apple and looking around for a place to toss the core. "We've got books and board games."
Cozy watches with a grimace as the other filly shrugs before sticking the core directly into her mouth and chewing loudly. "You're such a weirdo," she mumbles before speaking louder, "I've already read most of those books already. Seriously, I don't get why Twilight thought we'd be interested in books for little foals." Nearly taking over Equestria should be enough of a hint that she's far beyond her peers, and even Green is smarter than the average filly by a tiny bit. She adds absently, "And you're the worst pony to play games with, too."
"Yeah? Why's that?" Green asks around her mouthful of apple core, a seed flying from her lips to nearly hit Cozy's hoof before she jerks it away.
"Because you never care when I beat you. Seriously, what kind of pony gets decimated in Oligopoly and just shrugs it off? It's no fun if the loser doesn't flip the board and make a fool of themselves."
"Sorry for being a good sport, I guess," Green says once she's done swallowing. "You want me to start throwing tantrums when I lose?"
"It wouldn't be the same. What's the point of crushing your enemies if they don't actually care?"
"Suit yourself, though you should probably find something to occupy your time. Only a week in is too soon to be going stir crazy."
"Yeah, like what?"
"A hobby? Don't tell Twilight, but I slipped an order for a ship in a bottle kit into the list of purchases for your room."
Cozy can't help but look skeptical as she asks, "Why the flying feather would you want that?"
Green actually looks away, a rare sign of embarrassment from the passive filly. "I mean, it's no secret that I'm a bit uncoordinated, so I figured maybe building a ship in a bottle will help me work on that."
"Or get you so frustrated that you smash the whole thing on the floor after messing it up a million times," Cozy says gleefully, imagining Green finally getting angry. "Golly, I hope I'm there to see it."
"Gee, your faith in me is so inspiring," Green deadpans, causing Cozy to giggle. "I'm sure I can succeed with your cheering me on."
"What are friends for?" Cozy says cheerily. Green merely rolls her eyes and flops down next to her. Cozy's good mood only lasts a moment before boredom sets in again, the two left sitting at the door, staring out towards the forest.
Cozy hasn't even made an attempt at escape beyond taking a short walk pass the treeline to confirm that the necklace indeed started to grow heavier with each step. For all of her brilliance, the filly has yet to come up with a way to get the cursed thing off of her yet. Arcanum is harder than steel, so standard bolt cutters wouldn't put a scratch in them, and the mystical metal is famous for being able to hold enchantments for centuries without maintenance. In just about any other scenario, the necklace would have been something she coveted, its monetary value being nearly as great as the uses she could come up for such a precious material, if only it weren't stuck around her neck.
There's a certain irony in that, she supposes, and she vows that when she gets it off, she's going to stick it around Twilight Sparkle's neck and see how she likes it. The fact that it will be a couple of sizes too small for a grown mare just makes the thought more appealing. She lays her head down on her crossed forelegs and exhales through her nostrils, feeling both bored and angry now.
"Hey, I think I know something we can do for a bit of fun," Green suddenly says. "I'm pretty sure there's a ball in house somewhere, courtesy of Pinkie Pie."
"A ball?" Cozy repeats with a snort. "What? You want to play catch like a couple of dumb foals?"
"Yeah, it sounds like fun, doesn't it?" Cozy tilts her head to glare at the stupidly smiling green filly, who only smiles wider and adds, "Or do you have a better idea other than staring at trees all day?" Cozy opens her mouth to retort, but can't come up with anything, so just continues to glare instead. "I thought so," Green says smugly, standing to head inside. "I'll go find that ball."
"Go ahead," Cozy mumbles petulantly. "Waste your time, because I'm not going to play ball like some stupid foal. Not in a hundred years." Resolve set, Cozy trains her eyes forward and continues to stare at the trees. That is, until a kickball suddenly bounces off her head and rolls into the yard. "Hey!" yells the pink filly, sitting up and bringing her hooves to her mane to fix her ribbon. "What's the big idea?!"
"Sorry, ball slipped."
"You did that on purpose!"
"It was a complete accident."
"Liar!"
"Nope. You know how clumsy I can be."
"Oh yeah? Well let's see how you like it when I accidentally throw that ball into your face!"
"You can try, but be warned, I might just catch it and accidentally throw it at your head again."
"Golly, I don't think a klutz like you could pull that off."
"Only one way to find out. Come on, Dimples, show me what you've got, or are you helpless without a couple of real villains around to do all the work?"
"That's it! I'm going to destroy you!"
Silver Storm and Spellweave are sitting at the edge of the lookout, staring over the side when their replacements arrive for the afternoon watch. The second pair of guards, two pegasi this time, come to land behind them and one calls out, "What news do you have? Are the prisoner and her warden doing well?"
"Look for yourself," Silver says with a chuckle. "They're in the yard." The second pair share a confused look before being startled by a loud, violent, yet distinctly familiar sound.
PRANG!
Moving quickly to stand at the edge with the others, they see Green Hornet stumbling back, having just barely deflected a kickball upwards with her hooves before it could impact her face, and was now trying to catch it as it came down. She fails, the red ball slipping between her outstretched forelegs, but she grabs it as it bounces off of the ground and quickly reels back to toss it at her opponent.
Cozy merely hovers in the air, watching with her forehooves crossed over her chest, looking completely unworried. The reason why becomes clear as Green's throw goes wide, missing her by meters. Cozy smirks at her companion's abysmal aim before flying after the ball, having to push herself a little to reach it before it hit the ground.
Grabbing the kickball and spinning, she launches it back at Green in one smooth motion, who dives towards the ball this time, managing to catch it a second after it hits her chest with another loud PRANG! Wincing, Green rolls mane over tail, but manages to spread her wings to right herself and start to rise.
"She's trying to close the distance to compensate for her aim," Spell notes.
"Means she'll have less time to react to return fire though," Silver adds with a wince. "Not sure it's worth the risk. I remember those balls stinging quite a lot when they hit."
"To land a single blow on a more skilled opponent might be worth it, if only for pride's sake," says Spell with a nod. "Green Hornet truly has a warrior's heart."
"Shame she doesn't have a warrior's coordination. I'm starting to wonder just how she managed to give the Princess that black eye."
"The element of surprise is not to be underestimated."
"I suppose you're right."
"Excuse me, but how long have they been at it?" one of the new guards ask as they watch the fillies play.
Prang!
They all wince at the sound, but Spell answers, "Nearly an hour, now."
"You two will have a quiet shift, I imagine. They're going to be tuckered out after this," says Silver, looking over at them. "Did you bring their dinner?"
The other guard holds up a couple of bags of takeout in answer. While there's food in the house, no one expects a couple of foals to be able to cook themselves proper meals, and so when the changing of the guard happens, they've been ordered to bring breakfast and dinner from various restaurants, depending on what Cozy and Green asked for.
"They're certainly working up an appetite," says Spell as he shakes his head in amusement and turns his full attention to their replacements. Upon seeing the scroll clasped to one's armor, his expression sobers and he asks, "New orders?"
"Hmm?" The guard turns his attention away from the game below to the scroll, a look of realization coming to his face. "No, not this. It's a letter from the Princess for Green."
"Really? May I know what it says, if it's not confidential?"
"It's not," the guard assures as he unclasps the scroll. "Apparently the Princess has finally managed to find a foal psychologist willing to be Cozy's therapist."
"No joke?" Silver asks, turning a speculative eye towards the scroll. "What kind of pony would be willing to take that job?"
"Her information is in here for Green to look over. Apparently the Princess wants Green's input on the matter before the mare is brought in."
The other guard snorts. "Giving that filly a lot of say in the matter, isn't she? Feels strange knowing she's got so much rein over the situation. Makes you wonder what's going through Princess Twilight's head."
"Best watch your tongue there, it's not our job to question the Princess' decisions," reprimands Spellweaver. "And besides, the more I watch Green's interactions with the prisoner, the more I begin to agree with the Princess' rational." He looks back down at the fillies playing, even hearing Cozy laugh, and he smiles gently. "If any pony is going to help Cozy Glow get better, it will be her."
Silver nods in agreement, and the two leave the other guards to start their shift. They decide to wait a bit before dropping off dinner, the bags enchanted by Twilight herself to keep the food inside hot and fresh. No need to interfere with their playing until they're finished.
Besides, It's pretty entertaining to watch, and they don't get much of that on this job.
New Dawn sat within the sky carriage, eyes closed while she focused on her breathing. In any other situation, she'd probably be excited to be in one of these and watching the forest below fly by, but that would be if she wasn't being flown to some secret location to meet what would no doubt be the most difficult patient of her career.
Cozy Glow.
A name practically synonymous with equine psychosis at this point. Among her peers, there have been many discussions of just how and why a young filly could be so deranged. Without a detailed history, they could only speculate, with many assuming that there must have been a significant amount of trauma involved. Some event or circumstance that would drive a pony to obsess over power and be willing to do anything for it.
New Dawn's talk with the Princess herself about the case lent some credence to the other side of the aisle. Those who proposed that Cozy could have simply been born deviant. It was the age old debate of nature versus nurture, but from what Twilight Sparkle explained of what she knew, and even meeting the matron of the Bright Side Orphanage, Cozy's foalhood hadn't been horrible. Not particularly great, but certainly not full of abuse and neglect. At worst, Cozy Glow had arrived at the orphanage barely at the age of three after the death of her parents, and though she doesn't know the details of their passing, foals rarely develop memories that early. Still, it was an avenue to explore, though certainly well after she has developed a solid rapport with the filly.
Another source of potential insight would be the house's other occupant. Green Hornet, formally both Anonymous and Green Bean. And wasn't that strange? Not many ponies even contemplate changing their names, let alone go through with it before they've reached puberty. While Cozy Glow was her primary focus, Dawn couldn't deny being a little bit curious of the young criminal's friend, or acquaintance as Green insisted her relationship with Cozy to be. A filly willing to travel halfway across Equestria, challenge a princess to a fight, all to save another filly who by her own confession had only caused her problems before then.
Dawn would admit that the reasons Green had given for her actions were thoughts she herself had had when learning of Cozy's fate. As a mare who had dedicated her life to helping troubled foals, the filly's original punishment didn't sit right with her. Yet unlike Green, she hadn't had the courage to challenge not only Princess Twilight's, but Celestia and Luna's decision on the matter.
Green hadn't simply accepted the decision, however, and raged against it instead. How did such a strong sense of morality become entwined with the resolve to do whatever it takes, whether that's lie, cheat, and even hurt others? It's abnormal to say the least, and is another mystery Dawn is tempted to explore, no matter how much she tells herself that Cozy's mental health is to come first.
The sensation of her stomach lurching indicates that they were now descending, and the earth pony mare finally opens her eyes. Looking over the edge, she sees a clearing in the woods and a mountain range in the distance. The small house within the middle of the clearing looks newly built, which she imagines it is, and rather quaint. With the peaceful nature of location and the open yard providing plenty of space for a pegasus foal to enjoy, New Dawn feels better about Cozy's stay here, even if it is still technically a prison. It will be much easier to help the filly reform in such a serene location as opposed to a dungeon or padded cell.
As the chariot comes down, she can already see a green filly coming out through the front door, and by the time they land, she's only a few meters away, waving. "Hey, fellas, how was the flight?" she asks, and the two guards nod at her in acknowledgement.
"Fine," one answers, reaching behind himself to rub at his wing muscles. "The extra airtime did make it a bit more exhausting, though."
"Yeah, I figured, sorry for asking you to do that," she answers, gesturing overhead. "That's why Cozy and I decided to make you boys some fresh lemonade. We sent a pitcher up to the lookout already, if you want to go get a glass."
They both perk up at that, and the other asks, "You... and Cozy Glow?"
The skepticism in his voice is clear, and the filly who's obviously Green Hornet chuckles. "Cozy is always looking to earn brownie points; makes it more likely you'll do her favors later when she asks."
One guard rolls his eyes and chuckles himself. "Of course, I should have guessed," he responds. "Thanks for the heads up."
"Hey now, don't think that means you shouldn't play along," Green chides good-naturedly. "As long as she thinks it's working, she'll keep on insisting we make treats for you all, and that means extra treats for me, too."
"That's devious," he responds, still with some laughter in his voice.
The other looks at Green with disapproval clear in his expression, though it lessens when she waves them off and explains, "It keeps her occupied and from going completely stir-crazy out here. She's even requested a book on baking, and I think that's a pretty therapeutic hobby to pick up, don't you agree Ms. Dawn?"
Surprised to have all attention on her so suddenly, the mare stutters, "Oh, um, well, I suppose it can be. There have been some studies on the matter." She adjusts the red-rimmed glasses on her lemon-yellow muzzle. "It's been found to help some relax, feel creative, and indulges the senses, which can help one remember happy memories."
Green smiles a little wider and nods. "See, so it's actually in Cozy's best interest if we let her keep making us all snacks. You fellas will be helping in her recovery."
Looking mollified, the guards fly up to the outpost, leaving Dawn with Green. The mare brushes her two-toned, light yellow and white mane from her blue eyes. "So... you must be Green Hornet," she says. "I've heard a lot about you."
"That right? Nothing good I bet," she says with a wry smile. "How's Twilight's eye coming along?"
Deciding to match the filly's casual manner, she smiles and answers, "Still noticeable, but the bruising looks faded and it doesn't seem to bother her."
"That's good to hear," Green says, making what sounds like a genuine sigh of relief. "I'll admit to being pretty satisfied with the shiner I gave her at the time, but with how accommodating she's been since then, I've started to feel kind of bad about it."
Hearing that immediately puts Dawn more at ease. She can't deny having been worried that the filly she had heard about, intelligent, calculating, and not one to shy away from violence, could be another Cozy Glow in the making, and all that she did to free the other filly was merely part of a larger plan to rule Equestria or some such. Seeing Green look away and scuff her hoof in the grass makes her believe that she is merely a filly who wants to help and means no undue harm with her actions.
"Really? From what I heard, you showed quite a bit of condemnation towards Twilight's decision involving Cozy Glow," Dawn says with a tilt of her head. "You're willing to forgive her so easily?"
Green shrugs. "Twilight's not a bad pony, and honestly, it's hardly her fault for how things went with Dimples. Everyone was cheering at the time, and on top of that, it wasn't even really her choice to begin with. She might have upheld the decision, but it was the former princesses and Discord who did the deed. From what I understand, Celestia is practically like a second mother to her, so of course Twilight isn't going to really question Celestia's actions. Not many ever do, I'm guessing."
Rubbing at her chin in thought, Green adds, "That's something Twilight should work on. She's supposed to be the new ruler of Equestria. She should rely more on her own judgement first rather than someone else's." Dawn watches curiously as Green's eyes narrow in thought before she waves her hoof and says, "Bah, not my problem. I'm busy enough trying to get Cozy turned around." She meets Dawn's gaze with a sudden intensity and asks, "How about you, Ms. Dawn? What are your thoughts on helping Cozy Glow?"
Staring into eyes that seem far older than the filly they belong to makes Dawn feel nervous as she stammers, "W-well, I want to help her, of course."
"That so?" is the dubious response. "I don't recall hearing about any ponies stepping forward on Cozy's behalf before me. Not even a petition going around, not that it would have gotten many signatures, I imagine. Why are you only volunteering now?"
Dawn looks at the ground. "I can see your point. I guess the reason is... Well, it's like you said earlier. Celestia's been this infallible ruler for as long as I can remember. I did have misgivings about the whole thing, but I convinced myself that Celestia must have known best." She sighs, head drooping as she continues, "I can understand how you might not trust a pony having a sudden change of heart, but I've always just wanted to help foals, and that's still what I want to do. I didn't help Cozy Glow when she needed it most, but I can still help her now." Shining a hopeful smile, she meets the filly's gaze and finishes, "That's why I came here, and why I'm begging you to give me a chance to prove just how sincere I am. I'll even let you put me in shackles during my sessions with Cozy if that will make you feel more comfortable."
Green looks surprised. "Yeesh, lady, no need to go that far. I trust you enough to not pull anything so direct, anyway. Twilight's background check came up clean, and you've got too soft of a look for me to imagine you actually trying to throttle Dimples yourself." She shakes her head and turns around, heading towards the house, prompting Dawn to follow. "Besides, as far as you being a threat is concerned, I was more worried about you telling more violent ponies where she was being kept so they could do the dirty work."
Dawn sputters. "I would never-!"
"Yeah, talking to you, that's probably true. Guess having the guards fly in circles for a couple extra hours to make it harder for you to pin down exactly where we're at was a waste of time."
"Is that why that flight took so long? I thought I was being flown out to the middle of nowhere!"
"It never hurts to be cautions. Cozy's taking a nap, by the way. Squeezing lemons all morning for the guards tired her out, but I'm sure she'd be more than happy to cut it short if it means she can make a new friend. You might be able to help her escape, after all."
Dawn huffs, still a little upset about the flying-thing, but decides to drop it and focus on what Green just said. "I wouldn't help her escape. I'm here to help her overcome her issues, and hopefully leave this place a new pony, but that wouldn't be until she's proven she's no longer a threat to others."
Green merely hums in response as she pushes open the front door and shouts out, "Hey, Dimples!"
"Augh! What do you want, you annoying booger?! I'm trying to sleep!"
"We've got company!"
"Who? If it's Twilight Sparkle or any of her stupid friends, tell them to get lost!"
"Nah, this is a new pony. She's not even a guard. She wants to be your friend!"
Dawn opens her mouth to correct the statement, but stops when she realizes it's really not that far off. Cozy Glow yells back in a far less harsh tone, "Well, why didn't you say so? I'll be right out to meet them!"
Green gestures towards a couch in the living room and says, "Might as well get comfortable. She's going to take awhile to fix up her curls before she comes out."
Dawn nods and moves to sit on the couch while Green hops up into an armchair and curls up with her legs under her like a cat. As they wait, Dawn fidgets while the filly starts to preen a wing. Dawn manages a full two minutes of silence before she can't stand it anymore and says, "So..." Having not exactly planned her words, she stalls after that, and racks her brain for something more to say.
Green pauses her preening, tongue hanging out as she waits for Dawn to continue. When the eyebrow goes up, Dawn starts to panic internally, blurting out the first thing that comes to mind. "Your wings look nice." The judging stare doesn't waver, and Dawn feels heat rising to her cheeks as she tries to explain herself, "It's just, I've gotten to know quite a few foals, comes with the line of work, you understand, and so I know better than most how common unkempt wings are for them."
Green merely retracts her tongue and sits up straight, a silent signal that she's listening. Dawn fidgets, but decides to see if she can dig herself out of this hole instead of digging herself deeper. "Foals aren't exactly known for their hygiene or grooming habits as they're more focused on having fun or finding their cutie marks. Usually, when it comes to pegasus foals, it's their parents who preen and care for their wings, but yours look quite well taken care of." What she doesn't say is how often she meets pegasus foals with terribly cared for wings, and how it's usually the first thing she notices in cases or neglect.
"Thanks, I guess," Green answers. "You can thank Cozy Glow mostly, though. She helped me pick the last of my downy feathers and showed me how to use the fancy wing products she had Twilight buy her."
"Cozy Glow helps you preen your wings?" Dawn asks. "That's surprising to hear. I mean, social grooming is often reserved for family or very close friends."
"She said that if she was going to be stuck living with me, she didn't want me to be molting dirty, ugly feathers all over the place," Green explains with a shrug. "I figure she's either trying to butter me up or she's really that bored, but I'm not going to turn down the help. The matron was an earth pony, and had a bunch of foals to look after on top of that, so I never did figure out how to preen them properly. Never really cared that much, either, but Cozy obviously did, and I've gotta say I was missing out. They itch less and flying feels easier."
Dawn absorbs this information and files it away. While Cozy could have ulterior motives, wanting to help Green simply because she's growing to see her as a friend is a real possibility, and makes Dawn more confident in her reform. Just then, the sound of a door clicking open makes Dawn's ear twitch and she looks towards the hall to see a pink pegasus filly flutter into the room, mane immaculately curled and with a bright smile on her face.
The smile remains as her eyes rove hungrily over Dawn's form, but the mare's ability to read faces and body language allowed her to notice the smile lessen for a fraction of a second as Cozy looked to her forehead. She must have been hoping I was a unicorn, Dawn guesses. No doubt someone with access to magic would be far more useful in helping her escape than a mere earth pony.
Pushing this aside, she smiles in return and stands. "Cozy Glow, it's so wonderful to meet you!" As she approaches the filly, Dawn holds out a hoof, causing Cozy to flinch back in the air and her expression to flash worry for a second. When nothing bad happens, however, she smiles again and reaches out to meet it with her own.
"Golly! It's so nice to see a friendly face! The guards are always so stern and Green over there looks like she'd rather be taking a nap than doing anything else most of the time."
"Accurate," Green chimes in from her spot, accentuating the statement with a yawn.
Cozy rolls her eyes before quickly refocusing them on Dawn. "But you! Why, I can tell by looking at you that you're just a ray of sunshine, Miss..."
"New Dawn," she introduces, giving the tiny hoof a shake.
"Golly, that's a pretty name, and so fitting, too!" gushes Cozy.
"Laying it on a little thick, don't you think, Dimples?" Green teases. "You don't want to come off as desperate, even if you are."
Shooting a glare towards the other filly, Cozy snaps, "Golly, maybe I am a little desperate for good company after being stuck with you."
"Don't worry, Cozy, I don't think you're desperate," Dawn says, interrupting the foals before a fight could break out. "It's perfectly reasonable to want to interact with others. Ponies are inherently social creatures, after all."
Cozy turns back and smiles bright. "Exactly! Gee, you must be a real smart pony, huh, Ms. Dawn?"
"Well, she is a therapist, so that means she would at least have a master's degree, if not a doctorate," Green points out. "Which is it, by the way?"
Cozy's expression slowly sobers as she looks at New Dawn, and the mare answers awkwardly, "Um, I have a PhD in Counseling Psychology."
"Oh..." Cozy responds, emotionless at first, but anger quickly filling her voice. "So you're just here to try and fix me because I'm crazy, then." She scoffs, flitting back towards the hall. "In that case, you might as well just leave, because I'm not crazy!"
While Green makes a silent so-so gesture with a wing, Dawn takes a step towards Cozy. "Wait, please. I don't think you're crazy, Cozy Glow."
That gives the filly pause as she turns to look skeptically at the adult. "You don't?"
"No, I don't. I don't think you need to be fixed, either."
"Golly, then I can't figure out why a therapist would be sent here to talk to me," Cozy snarks. "Honesty really is the most ignored virtue out of the elements, isn't it?"
Dawn flinches minutely at the accusation, but rounds her shoulders and meets Cozy's gaze. "You want me to be honest with you? I will be. Yes, I was hired to be your therapist, and the belief that you need to be fixed is why I was sent here, but that doesn't mean I share that belief."
"Then what do you believe?" Cozy asks, still sounding skeptical, but curious.
"I believe that you're a very intelligent and ambitious filly with amazing potential," Dawn admits. "Potential, I think, for good, if you just try."
Cozy's brow furrows. "You expect me to believe that?" she asks, her voice slowly rising. "You expect me to believe any creature in Equestria thinks I'm good? You all just believe whatever your precious princesses tell you, and I know what they think about me! Big, bad villain, Cozy Glow! I'm sure you all threw a big party when you heard I was stopped, so don't waltz in here and lie to my face like I'm an idiot! You're not on my side! No one is!"
Dawn holds her ground as the filly screams in her face. When she's sure she's done, Dawn responds, "Green did. She took your side. She was the only one brave enough to do it, but that doesn't mean she was alone in thinking that what was done to you was wrong." Eyes dropping to the floor in guilt, she continues, "You're right about believing whatever the princesses say, to an extent. It's more like we want to believe in them, because we're afraid that they can be wrong. That's why when they are, even if we see it, we try to convince ourselves that we must be mistaken, that they know something we don't. It was different with you, though. What they did to you never sat right with me no matter how much I tried to convince myself that I just couldn't understand their reasoning. It wasn't until Green stepped forward in your defense that I was brave enough to do the same."
She takes a deep breath and looks back with determination at the stunned filly. "Tell me, Cozy. Why did you want to rule Equestria?"
It's Cozy's turn to look taken aback, but she quickly re-affixes her angry expression. "Because I would be the best! I'm smarter than Twilight Sparkle, and I'm better at making friends!"
"So you think you would be the best ruler for Equestria?" Dawn asks.
"Of course I would be!" confirms Cozy.
"So that means you believe it would be better if you were ruling. That it would be a good thing. That the citizens of Equestria would be happier with you in charge."
"Yes!"
"So you wanted to do good," Dawn states matter-of-factly. "From your perspective, you were doing the right thing to help everyone. That doesn't sound like a villain to me."
Cozy opens her mouth, but pauses, wings slowing until her hooves touch the hardwood. "That's right. I... Golly, I never thought anyone would understand that. Most ponies are too stupid to know what's good for them, and they're scared of change. That's why I had to go behind everyone's backs, because they would never have listened no matter how much sense I made if I just told them that I should rule." A smile pulls at Cozy's lip as she looks at Dawn in a new light. "Maybe you really are a smart pony, after all."
Dawn smiles, gesturing towards the couch. "I'm glad you think so. Now, would you like to continue our conversation, or should I still leave? I don't want to force you to talk to me if you don't want to."
Cozy gives her a long look, then shakes her head. "No, you can stay," she says, then looks over to Green with a pout. "But she can't be around while we talk."
Green frowns. "Huh? Why not?"
"Because I don't want you butting in with your stupid jokes every five minutes," Cozy says heatedly.
Looking offended, the other filly defends, "Hey! My jokes aren't stupid!" Cozy doesn't respond, merely narrowing her eyes instead. Dawn looks at the other filly, expression pleading silently, and Green sighs. "Fine, whatever, I'm going to go up to the guard post and hang out with the fellas. That way you two can have the living room instead of trying to squeeze into the claustrophobic mess that's Cozy's bedroom."
Eyes narrowing further at that, Green merely sticks her tongue out at Cozy before leaping into the air and lazily drifting towards the front door. Once she's gone, Cozy sighs, sagging a little, and moves to lay on the couch. "Golly, is that filly tiresome," she moans, flopping onto her back, head on the armrest. She looks over as Dawn decides to take her seat in the recently vacated chair and asks, "Hey, do you think your therapy powers could make Green less annoying?"
Dawn chuckles. "Green Hornet seems to be a very driven and stubborn filly, if what she went through to help you is any indication, so I don't think I, or any other therapist could make her change." She tilts her head and asks, "Would you really want her to, though? It's those same traits that led to her freeing you, after all."
Lips forming a thin line, Cozy stares for a few seconds then releases a puff of air, "I guess not. She's annoying, but she has her moments. Things would be even more boring around here if she just became naive like every other foal out there."
"Having someone you view as an equal to match yourself against is important for a smart filly like you, I imagine," Dawn agrees. "Speaking of other foals, why don't you tell me about your relationship with those at the Bright Side Orphanage? Were you friends with any of them?"
"Of course! I was friends with all of them. Well, except for Green, but that's because she's so stubborn. Heh, I remember this time Ruby Leaf pegged Green right in the head with a snowball because she refused to make snow ponies with the rest of us." Cozy pauses in her story telling, a strange look crossing her expression as she adds, "There must have been a piece of ice in it, because Green ended up having to get her forehead bandaged after. Golly, that's not as funny as I remember..."
And so the two ponies sit and talk about Cozy's life, Dawn listening and only giving opinions when asked. Cozy, for her part, enjoyed getting to talk about herself, glad to just have someone to chat with that didn't always make snarky comments.
Dawn will of course fail in "reforming" her, Cozy knows, but that doesn't mean she can't enjoy the company while the older mare tries.
After all, Cozy doesn't need to change. She's perfect, and no one will ever convince her otherwise. Not in a million years.
"I'd have figured it out eventually," Cozy growls the same answer again, hooves crossed as she lies back on the living room couch. Cozy had been enjoying New Dawn's company up until today, back when the mare was content to sit there and let Cozy do all the talking. Dawn was an excellent listener, only asking occasional questions as Cozy told her about her likes, dislikes, and her favorite anecdotes of times her plans worked out or her most useful friends.
On her third visit in six days, however, her line of questioning moved to less benign topics. She began to ask about how she had intended to rule Equestria, and insisted on digging for more and more details. "Did you already have a plan for moving the sun and moon? It was daytime when you first tried, right? I imagine it would have gotten quite hot with eternal day."
"Earth ponies wouldn't be able to grow as much food without their magic. What would have been your plan to feed all the ponies of Equestria once all the stores were empty?"
"If you, Chrysalis, and Tirek had won, would you have divided up Equestria between you? As Empress, it would be your duty to protect all us subjects, right? But your friends saw us as food and magic sources. Would you have fought them to keep us safe?"
It is making Cozy furious, especially because she doesn't have answers ready. She knows she can come up with them, but New Dawn decided to just spring all this on her out of the blue. "I would have found a way to get Chrysalis love without hurting ponies," Cozy says. "Like maybe a kissing booth?"
New Dawn tilts her head curiously. "But she wanted to make a whole new hive of the old changelings. Would a kissing booth have been enough?"
"Okay, a hundred kissing booths then!" Cozy shouts, throwing her hooves up. "Grownups love kissing and stuff like that, and it wouldn't even hurt them much to give up a little love as long as it's not being forced out of them."
New Dawn seems to contemplate that for a moment, then nods. "Maybe you're right. That might have worked."
Cozy huffs, crossing her hooves again. "Of course it would," she grumbles.
"And what about Tirek? Draining magic out of us ponies is quite dangerous. I remember feeling like I was going to die when he drained me of my magic during his first attack."
Cozy winces at that. She remembers what it felt like when that stupid rainbow nullified the bewitching bell and sapped away the the extra magic inside of her. That had merely reverted her back from being an alicorn, but even with her own pegasus magic intact, it made her feel weak. Had it not been for adrenaline and fear, she probably would have found it hard to even stand right after, so she can only imagine how bad being completely drained would feel.
She quickly tries to smother the emotions as she shrugs. "I would have let him have the stupid princesses, along with any pony else who tried to rebel."
New Dawn looks surprised at that, then a small frown pulls at her lips, though her tone still remains stupidly calm. "Wasn't your rule supposed to be better than Twilight's? The ponies you would be turning over to Tirek would still be your subjects, and your responsibility to care for."
"Well golly, of course my rule would be better... eventually. It would just take time for every pony to get used to the change and for me to get everything working the way I want. Things would be worse for bit, but once I established my rule and every pony starts doing what I say, Equestria would be better than ever."
"But not for those ponies who stood against you in the beginning," Dawn repeats.
"That's right!" Cozy snaps, sitting back up to glare. "And you know what, if you think that's wrong, then that means you have to think villains being imprisoned is bad, because what I would be doing would be the same thing. Why did those stupid sisters and Discord turn us to stone? Because we were a threat to how things are now. It's the same for them if we won, though. If we took over Equestria, then they'd be the threats to my rule." Cozy stomps a hoof on the couch cushion. "Rebels would only be slowing me down from making Equestria better, making every pony suffer more in the long run! How does that make them anything other than villains themselves, huh? Huh!?"
Left panting after her tirade, Coy scowls at Dawn, the mare's contemplative, yet calm expression only serving to infuriate her more. Finally, she answers, "I suppose that could be true from a certain perspective... What if Tirek isn't happy with just the ponies you deem as villains, though? I mean, his first plan was to drain the magic of every pony in Equestria. Are you so sure he'd be willing to limit himself so much just because you asked him to?"
"Of course he would because he's my friend!" Cozy declares, though a niggle of doubt enters her mind. She's sure he'd try, at least at first, but Tirek is just as ambitious as her, so could she really blame him for going against her wishes? And when he did, what would she do? Well, she'd fight him, of course, but she wouldn't be happy about it. Plus, depending on how much magic he ate up to that point, Cozy might have to ask Chrysalis to help her, but Tirek would expect that, and might make a deal with the changeling queen first.
Her thoughts begin to spiral and she's forced to shake them out with a unequine growl that her old partners would be proud of. She returns her glare to the source her of frustrations, and accuses in a harsh tone, "Golly, I thought you said you wanted to be my friend, but all you've done today is question every little thing I've done. How's that being my friend?"
Dawn actually gives a sympathetic smile at that and answers, "I'm sorry if my questions come off as mean-spirited, but it's not my intention to upset you, Cozy. As a matter of fact, I'm trying to help you."
"Help me?" Cozy repeats skeptically. "Help with what?"
"With your ability to plan, I suppose," she answers. "A good friend does more than just blindly agree with everything you do or say. I want to hear what your plans were, your thought process in making them, to help identify where you might have made mistakes."
"I don't need friends who try to make me feel like an idiot," snaps the filly, crossing her hooves. "Friends are there to do what I say, not try to tell me what to do."
"Hmm, I'm sorry, but I have to disagree," Dawn says as she rubs her chin in thought, getting Cozy to roll her eyes.
"Of course you do," she grumbles, and Dawn chuckles lightly.
"I'm sorry, let me explain myself better," Dawn begins. "Tell me, do you like games? Competitions? That sort of thing?"
Cozy looks curious of where this is going and nods. "Yeah, I guess."
"Right, and you like winning too, I bet."
"Golly, and here I thought I was the only pony who likes to win," is Cozy's sarcastic reply, which Dawn ignores.
"So that's a yes. Now tell me this, what sounds more fun, playing a game against someone who doesn't try at all and lets you win, or a pony giving it their all, challenging you, and forcing you to give it your all in turn to win?"
Cozy narrows her eyes and remains silent for a while, then sighs. "Alright, I see where you're trying to go with this. Of course I'd rather have a challenging game, or else I might as well just be playing by myself. You're saying that friends should challenge each other."
"Very astute of you. That's exactly right, and just like how playing a game against tough opponents will help you improve at that game faster than just practicing by yourself, friends challenging each other can help each other improve," Dawn says with a smile.
"Golly, I guess I see what you mean... It's still annoying, though."
Dawn gives a sympathetic look and responds, "I know. I'm the one saying it, and even I don't like being told I'm wrong or made a mistake. It's natural, but it's also important that we don't just shut those opinions down. Imagine if you were telling me about a new plan to take over Equestria, and I noticed something that seemed like a flaw in what you told me. Would you rather I speak out and annoy you because you'd already thought of it, or keep quiet and risk your plan failing because you hadn't?"
Cozy looks like she just ate something sour, but sighs and flops backwards. "I'd rather you say something, I guess, even if I probably would have thought of what you noticed already and didn't need your opinion. It's better to be safe than sorry, though."
"That it is."
"... So does this mean that you really want to help me plan for Equestrian domination, then? Is that why you're asking all these questions?"
Dawn rubs the back of her head and gives a sheepish smile. "I wouldn't say I'm ready to go full blown treason just yet. Sorry. I'm just helping you reflect on your old plans and getting to know you better at the same time."
Cozy rolls on her side to look at her, expression serious. "It wouldn't be treason if I won. You'd be a hero who helped the rightful ruler take her throne. There'd be a parade in your honor and everything. Golly, I might even make you my official advisor."
"Really? Not Green?"
"Pfft, she'd be lucky if she didn't end up in the dungeons for being so annoying."
"Surely you don't mean that. She's you're friend, isn't she?"
"She's a pest," Cozy grumbles, then adds, "Maybe she could be the court jester, though... or like my hoofmaiden if she promised to be less stupid all the time."
"That's nice of you. I wonder if she'd want either of those jobs, though."
"Why wouldn't she?"
"Maybe she'll want to stay here, or live somewhere else. She seems like a pretty easy going pony. Perhaps living in a castle as one of your servants would be too much for her."
"Ha! Like she'd leave me alone after she's done all of this-" Cozy gestures vaguely around them, "-just for my sake. She's obviously obsessed with me or something. Heh, there's no way that jerk would turn down my offer, even if I wanted her too." As she speaks, her expression loses some confidence, and Dawn barely hears her whisper, "Right?"
"Cozy?"
"Can we just talk about something else, now?" Cozy asks in annoyance, rolling onto her back to glare at the ceiling. "And not my old plans anymore, either. Even if you are just trying to be a good friend, friends talk about more than old attempts to take over the kingdom." She waves a hoof through the air. "Usually fillies will talk about dresses, or their favorite desserts."
"Or colts," Dawn says with a giggle as Cozy sticks her tongue out.
"Augh, don't remind me. I hoped when I got to the School of Friendship, the girls there wouldn't be like all the fillies back from Hayseed Junction and want to talk about actual important stuff, but nope, just more gross boy gossip."
"Sorry, I was just remembering my own foalhood, and how often the topic of colts came up with my peers," Dawn explains as she taps her chin in thought. "Hmm... Well, do you like chess?"
Cozy blinks and looks over at her. "What sort of question is that? I have a rook cutie mark, don't I?"
Blushing a little, the mare explains, "Well, yes, but I didn't want to presume. When I was making that earlier analogy, I was going to ask if you preferred a challenging chess match or not."
"Golly, if that ain't the truth," Cozy responds with a sigh. "None of the foals at the orphanage were any good, or Matron Kettle. There were a couple of old stallions that always used to play outside who taught me, but I started beating them after only a few months of practice."
"Oh? Is that when you got your cutie mark?" guesses Dawn. "When you finally surpassed your teachers?"
"Hmm? Oh golly no! Can you imagine getting your cutie mark at just six years old? No, I actually didn't get my cutie mark playing chess. Or at least not conventional chess."
"Really? That sounds like an interesting story."
"It is," Cozy confirms with a proud nod. "Do you want to hear it? Golly, what am I saying? Of course you do." Cozy takes a deep breath and closes her eyes, letting her mind go back to those days. "It happened when I was eight years old. See, there was this unicorn filly named High Light who was the daughter of the mayor. She was the popular, rich girl of our town. You know, the type every school seems to have? Well, anyway, she used to brag about how she was going to go to Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns and how she'd come back and make the town less of a dump with the magic she learned there."
Cozy pouts at the memory. "It was all a load of hooey. That filly had as much magical talent as a tree stump, but she was confident, pretty, and rich, at least by Hayseed standards, so other foals flocked to her like she was their own personal princess. It was absolutely pathetic." She shakes her head, frown easing as she continues. "Anyway, so for as useless as she was with her horn, High Light did at least know how to control ponies pretty well, almost as good as me, and part of taking control of a group is finding another to pit yours against. Ponies love their us versus them mentality, after all, no matter how much Twilight likes to pretend differently, and back then, us orphans made the perfect 'them' to mess with."
"Oh dear..." Dawn breathes worriedly. "I take it you and the other foals of Bright Side Orphanage were bullied?"
"Mhm. High Light spread all sorts of nasty rumors about us, like how we were thieves, which pretty much meant whenever some stupid foal lost a toy, they'd accuse one of us of taking it, then not even apologize when they found it under their bed or in a bush or something. I remember this time she said she caught one of us eating out of the trash behind the school because we were too poor to bring our own lunches. Golly, did that lead to some fun name calling for a while."
"That's awful," Dawn says with sympathy. "And the adults didn't do anything?"
Cozy looks over to give the mare a deadpan look. "When in the history of forever have adults ever stopped foals from bullying each other? I bet they didn't even do that when you were a little filly. And before you say that they did, that just means you were either not the one being bullied, or were one of the bullies yourself."
Dawn's mouth snaps shut. It's true, she never was bullied when she as a filly, though she certainly never bullied others either. She does, however, have faint memories of other foals being picked on, usually for getting their cutie marks later than their peers or some other superficial reason, and she has to admit, she doesn't recollect any of her teachers doing anything about it.
As a foal psychologist, she has had to build up the self-esteem of more than one bully victim over her career, so she knows how much of a persistent problem it is across Equestrian schools. She has thought about trying to set up some sort of seminar where she and other advocates would speak at schools to the students about the harm bullying causes and how victims should seek help, but it just never got off the ground. Considering the story she's hearing now, she decides to make it a top priority as soon as she can.
Cozy takes her silence as an answer and nods. "That's what I thought. Anyway, I figured that the only way I was going to get the bullying to stop would be if I stopped it myself, so I started to plan." The filly's smile becomes devious as she remembers the defeat of her first foe. "See, High Light always had the best parties. Her cute-ceañera was practically a town holiday. Of course, that's mostly because, in Hayseed Junction, the most interesting thing that usually happens is a farmer deciding to rotate his crops or the local store getting a new shipment of toys that were all the rage two years before.
"Being the mayor's daughter, and with a mom running the only floral shop, too, that meant that her birthday parties were pretty darn big and about the funnest thing a foal could do every year. A big cake made by the towns best baker, balloons in every color, and even a bounce house most years. Even I can admit that it was pretty great when she invited us Bright Side foals, even if she did frame it as pity for us poor, stupid orphans.
"Anyway, so one year, when she went a step too far by convincing one of her friends to take my favorite ribbon to toss it in the river, I decided that enough was enough. The first step in my plan was pretty simple, really. I gathered all my friends at Bright Side and started a fundraiser." New Dawn furrows her brow at this, which Cozy notices with a giggle. "Heh, yep, that's exactly what you should be feeling. Confused. I didn't want the grownups connecting what I was doing to what was going to come next, after all. So, the fundraiser was to raise bits to fix the playground equipment in town, which was really old and unsafe. Seriously, that place was like one big tetanus shot waiting to happen.
"We had lemonade stands and sold flower bouquets for snacking. Little things that would maybe raise enough bits in a decade if we kept at it. All that was really important was that ponies saw us being good, helpful little foals.
"See, because while we were doing that, High Light was talking up her birthday in a couple of weeks, and how great it was going to be and how all the foals in our class were invited. It was going to be pretty fun from the sounds of things, with plenty of party games and cake, until I had some of my own friends start to say it sounded lame. They'd ask why there wouldn't be any clowns, or why couldn't there be a petting zoo, or if she was going to have the same old tiny bounce house full of patches instead of a new one.
"Golly, you should have seen how angry Light was getting when the poor foals started accusing her family of being cheap. I wasn't surprised at all that she went crying to her parents demanding a bigger and better party, just like I wasn't surprised those saps gave into her tantrums and gave her everything she wanted. By the time her birthday rolled around, it was the biggest she'd ever thrown, and she had uninvited the Bright Side foals. Don't worry, though, we decided to have our own fun at the old playground. Sure, the equipment wasn't exactly safe, but we knew to be careful, and to not go down the slide that was rusty and had a piece of metal sticking up partway down.
"I definitely didn't hint at one of the colts that I knew had a crush on me that I thought it would be cool if somepony was brave enough to go down the slide even though it was dangerous. It's a shame that silly colt still did and got a really nasty cut. Luckily I was able to fly super fast to High Light's party to tell the grownups a foal had been hurt on the playground.
"Later, after they all rushed off to find and help him, we all started being asked why we were there instead of at the party, and I explained that High Light told us not to come. Golly, they were pretty mad about that, just like how they were mad at the mayor for not having that slide removed or replaced yet, and he said there wasn't enough bits in the budget. I decided that was a good time to mention how we foals we trying to save up for it ourselves and that we would give him the bits if he didn't have enough. Though I couldn't help but ask where the bits for the big party came from. I mean it's an honest question, and a lot of the grownups thought so, too."
Cozy snickers to herself as New Dawn stares wide-eyed. "Needless to say, the mayor didn't get reelected. Poor High Light was grounded for telling the Bright Side foals not to come to her party, too. Luckily, by the time the new mayor was elected, we had raised enough bits with our fundraiser to actually help pay for new playground equipment, and suddenly we poor orphans were like school heroes, and High Light was the bully that had tricked all the other students into picking on us.
"Finding out that High Light's parents no longer had the bits to send her to Canterlot for Celestia's School was icing on the cake when I was given the honor of cutting the ribbon at our new playground's opening, and it was that moment as everypony cheered for me that I got my cutie mark!" Cozy finishes her story with a proud smile as New Dawn gapes.
The mare clears her throat and adjusts her glasses. "Well... That truly was an interesting story. I'm honored you were willing to share it with me."
"You should be," Cozy agrees. "The only other creatures I've told the real story to are Tirek and Chrysalis. Golly, it is kind of nice to actually be able to tell another pony, though."
"I hope you don't mind me asking, but was the colt who went down the slide okay?"
"Oh sure, he was fine. Only needed a couple of stitches, and when I gave him a peck on the cheek at the hospital, the dopey grin on his face told me he thought it was worth it."
New Dawn actually chuckles at that and shakes her head. "The pains a colt will go through to impress a filly. Some things never change," she says, taking her glasses off to wipe with a cleaning cloth. Looking to the clock on the wall, Dawn begins to stand, stretching her legs. "It's that late already? I suppose it's time for me to go then," says the mare as she puts the cloth away in her bag.
Cozy sits up and gives a genuine moan of disappointment. "Already? I was just starting to enjoy talking to you again, too."
Dawn gives a wry smile as she pats the filly's head, saying, "Well, hopefully that goodwill carries over to our next session, then."
Cozy is a little peeved at her curls being mussed up, but also happy for the physical show of affection as she beams up to the mare. After that, the pair step outside and call up to the guard house, only to hear voices call for them in return from the backyard. Moving around the house, they come upon three guards standing around an in-use ping pong table that had been brought in on request a few days ago.
As for the two ponies currently using the table, there is a guard on one side, and a hovering green filly on the other. At a glance, there were other peculiarities also, like how they weren't using the paddles, and the cups set up in triangle formations on each side of the net. Green, tongue out and one eye closed, holds up a ping pong ball and gently tosses it through the air, and surprisingly gets it into one of the cups with a plonk. The guards cheer along with the filly who pumps her forehoof, and the guard on the other end picks up his cup and swallows down the contents, spitting the ball out when he is done.
"What sort of game is this?" Dawn asks as they approach.
"One Green came up with," one of the guards answer. "You see, you toss the ball at the other team's cups, and whichever it lands in, they have to drink. The first one to have to empty all their cups loses."
"Yeah, it's pretty fun, if a bit strange," another comments. "The ciders good, though, so I'm not complaining."
"It's a good way to pass the time," Green says as she touches down on the ground. "Though I'm guessing we'll have to call this one short. I take it your gab session is over?"
Cozy rolls her eyes and answers, "Sadly it is, which means I'm going to be left with your company for the rest of the night." Green smiles at that and hooves Cozy one of her cider cups, which she accepts and takes a drink from. One of the guards does the same for Dawn and says he and his partner will go strap in to take her home, leaving the others to empty the cups and clean up.
"What an interesting game you came up with," she tells Green, who shrugs.
"Eh, it's nothing. It'd probably be better with hard cider, I bet. You guys should try it some time." The guards in earshot share a look and a small smile pulls at their lips, telling Dawn they'll be doing just that soon enough. She sighs and wonders once again where Green learned of such things. She doubts, or at least hopes, she's not familiar with drinking alcohol.
Still, it's been a long day, and Dawn is honestly looking forward to some rest. She's happy to be helping Cozy Glow, but the filly can certainly be intense and she needs to unpack what they discussed today. It honestly fills the mare with hope to know that Cozy hadn't considered many of the consequences that would have proceeded her plans had they succeeded. It shows that she isn't as malicious as many believe, and more just rash and egotistical.
She's still self-centered and willing to resort to violence to achieve her goals, but perhaps if she learns to think of the full ramifications of her actions in the future, she'll be less willing to act out her plans. She doesn't want to harm ponies needlessly, after all, only willing to do as much harm as she thinks she needs to get what she wants, and justifies it by telling herself that it's for the greater good. Now the question is, can Dawn make Cozy consider that her being on the throne is perhaps not the best for everyone?
New Dawn climbs into the chariot and sighs, watching out the window as they ascend, pondering if it's possible, and how it can be done. "One step at a time, Dawn. One step at a time," she tells herself, watching below as two small fillies wave goodbye to her. She smiles back and returns the wave as they become specks swallowed by the forest. She feels her resolve strengthen at the reminder of how isolated and alone the pair are.
She will help Cozy Glow see the light so that she can rejoin Equestrian civilization where she belongs.
Cozy Glow tries to sleep that night, but that mare's questions keep bothering her. She would have found a way to make everything work out in the end, right? After nearly an hour of staring at the canopy of her bed without being able to solve all the problems Dawn had pointed out to her, she tells herself that she'd have figured it out with enough time, but the assertion isn't ridding her of the agitation, and she eventually decides that she needs a distraction if she's going to get any sleep that night.
Getting out of bed, she leaves her room and goes to the only other occupied one in the house. She opens the door, dragging her pillow behind her, and flies over to the vacant side of the two pushed-together twin beds. As she throws her pillow down and crawls under the blankets, she hears a groan and sees a pair of green eyes shine in the moonlight coming from the window.
"I'm sleeping in here tonight," Cozy declares confidently.
"Wha-? Why?" Green grumbles. "I told you this was going to happen with that crowded mess you call a room."
"I'm sleeping here because I feel like it," Cozy says. "And unless you want to try and wrestle me out of here for the rest of the night, you better just deal with it. Just remember that I'm bigger and stronger than you."
Green glares and says, "I could go ask one of the guards to come in here and kick you out."
"And we both know you're way too lazy to crawl out of bed and go all the way outside to do that. Not when you're warm under your blankets and it's cold out tonight," Cozy shoots back.
Green blinks a few times, then sighs and rolls over. "Whatever. I'm going to sleep. Do what you want."
Grinning victoriously, Cozy flops back and and snuggles down with the blankets up to her chin. Sadly, the joy of getting what she wants doesn't last long. Soon, those stupid thoughts come back to bother her, and she starts to toss and turn, trying to use the act of finding a comfortable position to sleep in as a new distraction.
There's another sigh from the other filly and Green asks, "What's wrong?"
"Huh? Nothing! I just can't get comfortable."
"You know, you could go back and sleep on your expensive mattress if that's the case."
"You wish."
"I do, yeah."
"Well too bad!"
"Cozy, just tell me what's up so I can go to bed."
"Augh, it's nothing, alright I'm just thinking about stuff is all."
"What stuff?"
"None of your business."
"Cozy..."
"Just some stupid questions, alright?"
"Details, Dimples."
Cozy pouts, not willing to admit to the annoying filly what is actually bothering her, so she instead tries to redirect the conversation. "Dawn wanted to know my cutie mark story, so I told her."
"And...?"
"It got me wondering, you didn't have a cutie mark before I left for Twilight's school. I guess I'm just curious on what it could mean."
"That's what's been keeping you up?"
"... Yes."
"Seriously, you wake me up for this..." Green grumbles under her breath, then adds more loudly, "My talent is making others ask questions."
"Huh? What kind of talent is that?" Cozy asks, and Green chuckles.
"See, just like that. Now go to bed. Hey!"
Cozy pulls her hoof back after giving the smaller filly a hard push and says, "Real funny, now I'm serious, how is that a talent? It's so stupid."
"It's not stupid," Green counters as she rubs her shoulder under the blanket. "I'm good at making ponies question all sorts of things. Questions are powerful tools."
"How?"
"You mean, like, besides the entire scientific field? Ponies questioning authority can lead to rebellion. Ponies questioning tradition can lead to innovation. And getting a pony to question their own sanity is probably one of the cruelest things you can do to them." Green trails off and rolls over. "Questions are powerful.... and dangerous. Uncertainty is a terrible thing. It can keep you up at night. Destroy your confidence. Make a pony question loyalties, friendships, or loves, and you can cause their lives to crumble under them."
Cozy looks at the other filly's back in surprise as she goes on, voice growing quieter. "And if you can get a pony to question something fundamental, one of the pillars they built themselves upon, they'll fall apart, and let you build them back up in anyway you want." The room grows deathly silent as Cozy stares wide-eyed at the filly, the silence only broken when Green exhales loudly and hunches in on herself. "Just... go to bed, Cozy, and stop asking questions. Just think of puppies or something."
Cozy wants to say something biting, but nothing comes to mind, and she rolls over, pulling the blankets closer to herself. Taking Green's advice, she forces the many questions out of her mind and tries to think of cute, fluffy animals instead. Surprisingly, it works, and eventually, her breathing evens out, leaving a pair of green eyes to watch her sleep from behind before closing themselves.
