Honestly, a pony goes to the bathroom for one second and they miss everything.

Rarity stood outside the companion restroom as Twilight occupied it, since Twilight had understandable anxieties with public restrooms that Rarity could sympathize with, and she wanted to help her dear friend however she could.

And when the pair went to the restroom, everything was fine, yet when Twilight came back out and the two returned to the fair, they found ponies running every which way and screaming in panic while pillars of smoke coated the sky in a noxious black cloud.

“What in the name of—” Rarity muttered in awe, Twilight letting out an audible gasp as she saw the fleeing crowds and flaming wreckage of several machines.

“That’s right! Run! Run for your lives!” the shrill sound of an annoyingly haughty voice caught Rarity’s attention. She looked to Twilight for a moment and the two nodded before heading to find the source of the voice.

Surrounded by several overturned carnival games and food stands, with a couple machines wreathed in flame that billowed tall columns of black smoke, was a child, of all things. She was a pale pink pegasus with bright sky-blue curled hair, and she was looking rather smugly over the damage she had caused as she floated above it all.

Rarity didn’t know if the girl was looking for a fight, but she had certainly brought one upon herself. And while it did cross Rarity’s mind that perhaps engaging in a magical duel with a child wasn’t properly ladylike, allowing said child to continue her reign of terror was simply out of the question.

“If you beg for mercy from the mighty Queen Cozy Glow, perhaps I will find it in my heart to spare you!” the girl spouted melodramatically, before cackling and throwing a gust of torrential wind at an abandoned carnival game stand, knocking the stand over with a loud crash.

“A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Cozy Glow,” Rarity spoke as she stepped up to confront this mysterious ruffian, making sure Twilight was safely behind her. “But I’m afraid if you’re the one causing all this upheaval, I will be forced to bring you down.”

“Oh please,” Cozy Glow landed on the ground and spat in Rarity’s direction, causing her to scrunch her face in disgust. After all, it was one thing to be evil enough to attack innocent ponies, but must she be so rude on top of it?

“I don’t suppose you’d mind just turning yourself in?” Twilight asked pleadingly, and both Cozy Glow and Rarity shot Twilight bewildered glances, which made her cheeks flush adorably. “It was worth a try, I guess.”

“Look, if you guys aren’t gonna run,” Cozy Glow rolled her eyes and slowly walked toward the two unicorns, “then you can at least put up some kinda fight. I mean, I came to this backwater town to look for Bifrost competitors, but all these ponies-” Cozy Glow gestured weakly toward a few fair-goers that were running in panicked circles amidst the chaos- “are just pathetic.”

“You can’t just attack innocent people!” Twilight said indignantly and stamped her hoof on the ground. She was acting so brave, and Rarity was quite impressed!

“Uh, yes I can,” Cozy Glow scoffed. “I mean, that’s what I’ve been doing. Have you not been paying attention?”

“Enough talk then, I suppose,” Rarity whispered to Twilight.

“Right,” Twilight replied coolly, nodding her head and analyzing Cozy Glow.

As if sensing the change in demeanor, Cozy Glow buffeted her wings toward Rarity and Twilight, nearly toppling the two over with a strong blast of wind before Twilight raised a glassy barrier in front of them that sent Cozy’s attack back at her.

Cozy Glow was undeterred by her reflected attack and simply flew high into the air, sending another wave of wind at Twilight and Rarity. While Twilight raised the shield to protect against the wind itself, she failed to notice that Cozy’s attacked was aimed not quite at the two ponies, but around them; specifically, at several hunks of broken scrap metal that were now lying on the ground from busted machines.

The wind gathered several of these scrapped pieces and sent them flying at Twilight and Rarity from their sides. Rarity managed to jump forward to evade the attack and Twilight dodged backward, but now they were separated by a few feet which left Rarity open to an attack from Cozy Glow, who hovered just above her with a wicked grin on her face.

Twilight threw the glass shield at Cozy Glow, the improvised magical weapon shattering against Cozy’s head and resounding against her skull with a solid CLANG, disorienting the pegasus who fell to the ground and wobbled around on her hooves.

Rarity took a second to flash Twilight an appreciative smile before turning her attention back to Cozy Glow. Truth be told, despite all Rarity’s bravado from before, she was not much of a combatant. She was very good at sewing, and talking, and… well, and that was about it.

Still, a solid kick to the head hurts even when coming from a non-combatant and it certainly made its mark on Cozy Glow, who fumbled to the ground in a heap.

“Rarity, look out!” Twilight’s words caught Rarity by surprise, but not nearly as much as the sudden sting of sharp scraps of metal digging into her body from behind her.

Rarity let out a piercing scream and fell to the ground. Her vision blurred and for a single heartbeat she wondered if she was going to die. She wasn’t so used to being in an active battle zone, but Twilight? Twilight was more than prepared.

Before Rarity’s vision had even fully settled, she could see the scraps of metal that had pierced her hovering in the air surrounded by Twilight’s raspberry aura. Rarity looked at her wounded flank and saw not blood and injuries as she had expected, but the same violet glow bathing her fur and sealing the wounds effortlessly.

Cozy Glow clicked her tongue, but Rarity saw Cozy’s eyes widen as Twilight launched the several pieces of metal straight at her, almost as if she intended to gore her outright, though Cozy was able to miraculously dodge them all.

It was so unlike the Twilight Rarity knew to be so violent, but she could hear Twilight’s heavy, frantic breathing as she stood above Rarity in a defensive posture.

“Relax, darling,” Rarity said as she stood on her hooves, placing a hoof gently on Twilight’s shoulder. “Don’t lose yourself to anger; be calm and be vigilant.”

“Right,” Twilight said with steely eyes fixed on Cozy Glow, scraping a hoof across the ground as she stared Cozy Glow down.

Cozy Glow groaned in disgust. “If you think I’m going down that easy, you’ve—”

Before Cozy Glow even had time to finish her taunt, the shattered remains of a cotton candy machine fell on top of her thanks to Twilight. The pegasus crawled out from the wreckage and shook her head but before she could even speak another taunt, yet another machine— a popcorn one this time— fell atop her.

“Darling, I don’t think you want to give her a concussion,” Rarity said concernedly.

“Sorry,” Twilight said sheepishly.

“Yeah, okay, screw this!” Cozy Glow screamed as she bolted out from under the wrecked machines, flying off into the sky until she was a mere twinkle among the stars.

Twilight harrumphed and stamped an indignant hoof.

“You did marvelously,” Rarity said, brushing back Twilight’s bangs like a doting friend would do and making the younger mare turn her face away and reflexively bat at Rarity’s hoof.

“I guess,” she grumbled. “You’re not hurt, are you?”

“Thanks to you,” Rarity said charmingly, “I am perfectly well.”

“That’s good,” Twilight sighed, partly in relief and partly in frustration. Suddenly her ears perked up and she looked at Rarity in alarm, Rarity cocking her head confusedly. “We should go make sure Fluttershy’s okay!”

“Ah, of—of course!” Rarity said frantically, startled by the sudden reminder and burned by the shame of momentarily forgetting about her companion and the danger she could be in.

After all, Fluttershy was no more prepared for combat than Rarity was, and who knows what kind of danger the poor thing could be in if there were more ruffians about?

And of course, the knowledge that she was with Rainbow Dash didn’t make things any easier on Rarity’s psyche.

Oh, I just hope she’s alright…

Author's Note

i love that cozy glow exists. what a legend

Please feel free to alert me to any typos or errors.
Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoyed!