Chapters Cozy Glow had only been marginally interested in her history classes, but as the petrification spell swept over her, she recalled with horror that Discord was said to be completely awake as a statue. Always aware. Always watching. Always waiting. And sure enough, even as she found herself frozen for what was likely to be all eternity, she was stuck watching all the creatures before her frolicking and hugging and celebrating the victory that their friendship had once again bought them. If Cozy had still been able to feel her stomach, it would have made her sick.
For her and her former compatriots, however, even the simple sight of the sun was short lived. They royals had learned from their mistake of putting Discord on public display to celebrate their victory. By the end of the day, the trio were covered up and locked away in some obscure corner of the ruined Canterlot Castle. To be forever guarded and kept away from any outside forces that could potentially free them. And there Cozy sat, unsure of how much time was passing outside her prison. For a being like Discord, perhaps it would have been feasible to remain lucid and sane forever (for a given definition of sane, at least), but for the small pegasus filly, reality itself seems to slip away as the days turned to weeks and the weeks turned to months. Soon she was left with naught but incoherent dreams and nightmares. Eventually, Cozy Glow stopped thinking altogether...
Cozy awoke to the sound of birdsong, and the blinding rays of the sun peeking through a partially curtained window. Groaning, she rolled over in bed and tried to go back to sleep. Her peace didn't last for long, though, as a sharp bolt of pain shot through her body. It was as if she had been numb until that very moment, and all sensation had returned in an instant.
Wait, I was, wasn't I? the pegasus realized as she regained her wits. How in Equestria did I end up here? Last thing I remember, I was... Cozy climbed to her hooves and took in her surroundings, wincing as she stretched her stiff wings. The room was quite fancy, all things considered. The bed she was on was huge, complete with a canopy and nice curtains. The walls were painted in a plain eggshell while, and decorative pottery and old books lined gilded shelves around the room. Judging by the layer of dust on them, they hadn't been tended to in quite some time. Fluttering down to the ground, Cozy found that the floor was made of stone, indicating that wherever she was was quite old. A swanky hotel, this was not. I need to get out of here and get my bearings, first of all.
Cozy tried the door first, but it wouldn't budge, despite not seeming to be locked in any visible way. Sealed by magic? she guessed. The window was similarly stuck, and made of frosted glass, so she couldn't even see where she was. It was likely reinforced by a spell, too, as her initial attempts to beak it with thrown books and vases proved unsuccessful. She had only had it for a few days, but she already missed the power to blast giant holes in things.
"UUUGH!" the filly shouted at no one in particular. "What's the point of not being a statue if I'm just going to be stuck in a boring place like this!" As if to answer her, a clicking and fumbling sound came from door, followed by some exasperated muttering.
"Oh, right, sealing spell," the voice said, and the door glowed white for a brief moment before slowly creaking open. Cozy considered darting out the door as soon as the opportunity presented itself and make an escape, but opted for the more diplomatic approach. If she had been revived like this, then whoever was keeping her might be an ally, right? In any case, the door opened to reveal a creature that she had never seen before. It was about as large as your average pony, but had cloven hooves, an almost tree-like horn, and what appeared to be scales peeking out from gaps in the creature's ornate armor. After a moment of staring, Cozy recognized it from a storybook she had once read.
A kirin? She tilted her head in confusion. They actually exist? The filly quickly pushed her confusion aside, though, focusing on the situation at hoof.
"Cozy Glow?" the kirin asked, looking down at his prisoner rather quizzically.
"That's me!" Cozy responded, putting on her best smile. "It's nice to meet you, mister..."
"I, uh, expected you to be... taller," the guard said, brushing off Cozy's prompt to introduce himself. "With me, please." He turned to exit the room, motioning for Cozy to follow. "This is who we're supposed to be so afraid of?" he added under his breath.
"So..." Cozy began. "Where're we going?"
"Look, kid." The kirin sighed. "I'm under strict orders to keep our interactions to a minimum. Even this sentence is a bit too much chatter."
"Aw, you can't even talk to widdle ol' me?" Cozy asked, laying it on thick. "I'm just a filly! What could I do?"
"Or, you could be a changeling, or casting an illusion spell, or doing any number of things to mess with my head. I've seen plenty of stuff in my time. If the princess demands caution, I'm going to have it, no matter how cute —" the guard almost seemed to spit the word out with a growl, "you may be."
A princess, eh? Cozy Glow smirked. Most any creature could give away too much information if prodded in the right way. Cozy's preferred schtick had the advantage of being useful both for disarming your average creature, and outright annoying the more cynical ones. Which princess would want me for anything, though? Surely not Celestia or Luna. And as far as I know, the Crystal Empire wouldn't employ kirin guards... That left two possibilities. Either she had been transported very far away in her stone sleep, or... Cozy shuddered at the thought. That was the one pony she most certainly didn't want to see.
Deciding to direct her focus elsewhere, Cozy opted to analyze her environment instead. Insofar as you could analyze a hallway, at least. It was certainly fancy, much like the room she had woken up in, and similarly very old. Color wise, it was not unlike Canterlot's castle. Lots of pastels, a stone floor, and a bright red carpet. What stuck out the most, however, was the lighting. Mounted between the hall's many closed doors were small sconces holding orbs of white light. It was a far cry from torches, or even firefly lanterns, and Cozy could only conclude that they were outright magical. As far as her limited knowledge of magic went, though, light-casting spells were rather energy intensive, needing a unicorn to actively maintain a single one. Lighting a whole castle, or even a single hallway, with so many seemed impossible. After a few minutes of traversing the halls and making a few turns, the corridor opened up somewhat to reveal a large, ornate double door.
"We're here," the guard said. He walked up to the door, knocked twice, and pushed open the right side. "Princess, as you requested, Cozy Glow has arrived."
"Let her enter, Snowfall, and leave us be." Cozy's heart sank. She'd recognize that voice anywhere. "That will be all, thank you." The other half of the door swung open, revealing the pony sitting inside. She sat atop a high, singular throne at the end of a vast throne room, surrounded on either side by stained glass renditions of past events, some familiar to Cozy, but many completely foreign.
"Princess Twilight Sparkle." Cozy Glow's voice dripped with venom as she fluttered into the room and made her way up to the throne, the door closing behind her. There was no point in putting on an act for this pony. "Golly, haven't you grown! I always wondered if you'd end up as big and gangly as the other princesses. I must have been stuck in there longer than I thought! How long has it been? Ten, twenty years? Long enough for you to start dragging even more creatures into your little friendship game, at the very least. I bet you—"
"Four hundred," Twilight stated solemnly, cutting Cozy's rant short.
"W-what?" the filly stammered, dropping like a rock and stumbling as she hit the ground.
"It's been four hundred years, to the day, since my coronation, Cozy Glow."
"But... But I..."
"No ordinary pony would be able to keep track of time in your circumstances. Fifty years, four hundred, one thousand. For you, it would make no difference."
Okay, okay, keep it together. Cozy took a deep breath and looked up to lock eyes with the princess. "Alright, so what's the point? You had us beat. You won ! And yet you brought me back, out of the kindness of your heart, right?" The pegasus rolled her eyes. "What's the catch? What's in it for you?"
"Straight to the point, I see." Twilight smiled. "It's simple, really. You've served quite a bit of time already. I figured you deserve to be paroled."
"Parole." Now Cozy Glow was just incredulous. "I nearly conquered Equestria and vaporized you and your friends, and you're just going to put me on parole ?"
Twilight's smile widened for a moment before her entire facade just collapsed in a fit of laughter.
"You should see your face !" the princess managed to gasp out between laughs.
"Ex-cuse me ?"
"Sorry, sorry..." After what seemed like forever, Twilight regained her composure, though her affect was still noticeably different. "You have no idea how hard it is to keep up the whole 'calm and collected ruler' act all the time, especially with you here. After four centuries and countless threats to Equestria, seeing a filly like you here pontificating like that... Let's just say that the memory of your short reign or terror is faded enough that it's hard to take you seriously." Standing up from her throne, Twilight walked down to Cozy before continuing. "You were right about one thing, though. My reasons for freeing you are a bit selfish. Once upon a time, you were a student of mine. A very bright and promising student, at that."
"A student who betrayed you and tried to doom you, your friends, and your other students to a terrible fate."
"Your cheery demeanor eventually turned out to be an act, yes, though where exactly in the process you fell is a mystery to everyone but you. And that, in fact, is where the problem is."
"What problem? You won, and everyone lived happily ever after, right?" Cozy was more curious now than anything. The fact that there was still a bit of the Twilight she knew under all that pomp was a bit reassuring. No matter how much she actually despised the princess, she knew Twilight wouldn't do anything to harm her. At least nothing worse than perhaps turning her back to stone.
"'Winning' isn't everything, I'm afraid. You live as long as I have, and that becomes incredibly obvious. Besides, not everypony got their happy ending."
"...Me," Cozy said quietly, realizing where this was all going.
"To put it simply, Cozy Glow, I failed you. I missed tells and hints that something was wrong, and as a result you took all the wrong lessons from me. If I had just figured things out the first time around..."
"What, you wouldn't have locked me in Tartarus, or turned me to stone for centuries? You wouldn't have had to hide your failure from Equestria for the rest of time? Why the change of heart?"
"Your punishments were decided by Celestia and Luna, not me." Twilight sighed. "To be honest, they never really sat right with me. I strongly believe in forgiveness and rehabilitation, and it's hard for somepony to turn their life around when they're stuck in a cage. Your transgressions were... rather public, though. Even if I were to have disregarded the princesses' judgement immediately after my coronation, everypony in Equestria knew who you were, and what you had done. It's not fair to ask anypony to make true friends in a world that only remembers them as a tyrant. Now, though, enough time has passed that only a few creatures are left who remember you as anything but a footnote in a history textbook. "
"And let me guess, you want to send me back to school again." The pegasus rolled her eyes.
"You'd think so, wouldn't you? Honestly, I'm not sure there's anything for you to gain from further education. Evil plot or no, you were a top student. Knowing the material isn't the problem. You just need opportunities to apply it correctly."
"You're just... letting me go?"
"In a sense. What I'm going to do is make you an offer. You're free to decline, of course, but I'm hoping that you'll see the benefits of giving it a shot, at least in the short term."
At this point, why not? Cozy thought, shrugging her shoulders. "Alright, shoot."
"I have a position for an assistant open here at the castle. It's yours, if you'd like it."
"Don't you have a little dragon for that?"
"Well," Twilight chuckled, "he's not so little anymore."
"And what if I refuse?"
"Then you'll be free to go. You will have to be supervised, at least at first, but what you do with yourself is up to you."
"Gee, stuck in a castle with my greatest enemy, or complete freedom? Whatever will I choose?" Cozy would have trotted out the door that second, if she thought she could get away with it.
"Did I mention that being a Royal Assistant pays well?"
"So?"
"Well, you do want to eat, don't you? Job market's pretty tight in Canterlot these days, especially for somepony of your... stature. You could leave the city live off the land, if you know how, that is. The only other option would be to rely on the kindness and generosity of others, of course..." The princess gave a playful wink as she said the last sentence, meeting Cozy Glow's glare intently. She knew exactly what she was doing.
She sure had four centuries to plan this conversation, didn't she? All the filly could do was sigh. She knew when she'd been beaten. "Fine, I'll take the stupid job," she grumbled.
"Excellent! Just follow me, and I'll introduce you to your 'tools of the trade.' I think you'll find them to be rather fascinating !" Twilight took off towards the door with a brisk, cheerful trot, forcing Cozy to take to the air to keep up.
Modern-day Canterlot seemed to operate in layers that became increasingly obvious as Cozy Glow descended from cloud level. Above the city was relatively clear, something Cozy found strange given how common pegasus air traffic used to be. What she did see, though, were the frequent large, sleek, "winged" shapes zipping through the sky with speed that could give Rainbow Dash herself a run for her money. They appeared to take land on and take off from a "port" of sorts built into the mountain peak overlooking the city. If Cozy had to hazard a guess, the emptiness of the skies was to make way for those things. Stopping on a dime if something crossed their path probably wasn't on the list of their capabilities.
Below the city's skyline, however, things became a bit more familiar. Tons of flyers flutter about here and there. Some on their own, some pulling carts, and even a few in rather official looking garb directing traffic in the busier intersections. Cozy found that she was forced to keep moving with the crowd lest she garner grumbles, glares, and the occasional rude gesture from those forced to move around her. Nothing was allowed to stop moving unless it was in the proper place. To that end, plenty of buildings even had public balconies with cafes or gardens for creatures to touch down and hang out. And that was the other thing: the creatures. You could spot just about every species with wings up here. Ponies were still a fair majority, but the added diversity was a bit unnerving to the filly. It reminded her too much of the day of her defeat.
"Sparky, why are all these creatures here?" Cozy asked as she touched down in a relatively empty garden to spectate the hustle and bustle.
"Traditional barriers to non-equine citizenship were lifted in the year 1014 CE in an unanimous decision by the Council of Friendship. Combined with generally improved diplomatic relationships across the board, emigration both to and from neighboring nations increased drastically in just a few years. In addition, Canterlot is an ideal tourist destination for-"
"Yeah, yeah, I get the idea. Of course they'd invent a whole Council of Friendship just make things more friendly." One detail stuck out, though. CE? They were still recording dates in the Celestial Era after Celestia herself stepped down? "Sparky, what's the current year?"
"It is currently the year 1409 CE."
"...Huh." Cozy stuck that bit of info in the "things to think about later" folder. It was definitely curious, but a curiosity wasn't really worth any further thought, at least not right now. Especially when complications arose as Cozy tried to fly down to the next layer. She hadn't even descended a foot beyond the balcony when Sparky lit up with a shrill ringing sound.
"Warning: traversing the Transit Layer anywhere but a designated crossing is both illegal and highly dangerous. This unit recommends continuing forward forty-six meters and descending the marked crossing there."
"What could be so dangerous about..." Cozy trailed off as she actually took the time to look at what she almost flew into. Whizzing by at high speeds were a multitude of boxy objects, like wagons or train cars, but with no wheels and nothing actually out front pulling. Much like the much faster flying objects above, staying out of their way seemed like the best way to continue living with intact bones. "Ponies fly over all of this? How is that safe?"
"Automated safety field spells activate when a living object enters the proximity of the Transit Layer, ensnaring it and halting its descent. City guards are automatically alerted to the breach and rescue or issue citations as appropriate."
"I guess that wor-" Cozy tried to remark, before being cut off by Sparky's addendum.
"This was deemed more efficient than the original layout in which the Transit Layer was situated above the Flight Layer, as the cars in transit make frequent stops and descents to the Pedestrian Layer to load and unload passengers and cargo, which disrupted citizens in the Flight Layer."
"I didn't ask for a history lesson."
"This unit determined the historical data to be relevant and useful, but can curtail such responses in the future if the user so wishes."
Cozy paused to consider the option for a moment. "No, keep doing what you're doing. Every bit of info helps. Just don't interrupt me again, got it?"
"Response parameters updated."
"That means you got it, right?"
"Affirmative."
Finding the crossing wasn't difficult. Bright white arrows marked buildings and hanging signs leading up to it and directed the split in traffic. The actual passage itself was a glass-walled spiral staircase circling an elevator, presumably for creatures who couldn't walk or climb all that well. Descending the staircase gave Cozy a much better look at the Transit Layer. Seeing the cars from the side and below revealed how oddly their bases were shaped compared to the smooth and angular upper portions. Cozy immediately recognized the design.
"Are those... clouds?"
"Affirmative. Transit cars are primarily pegasus cloud constructs, augmented with solid containment units, and animated with unicorn magic."
"Impressive." Cozy smiled. These kinds of creative innovations were exactly what she wanted to see from this future. The potential of the pony mind was truly astonishing when properly directed.
Eventually, the pegasus reached the ground level, the "Pedestrian Layer," if she recalled Sparky's mention of it correctly. This was finally something truly familiar to her. If you set aside the odd look of the shadows of the towers and layers above being offset by generously placed magical streetlamps, it could pass for a busy street in Manehattan from a more familiar time. Various grounded creatures milled about, visiting shops and stalls that lined the street. Some of the shops even seemed to incorporate or outright borrow classical Canterlot architecture as what could only be assumed to be an aesthetic choice. Sure, you'd get the occasional creature walking alongside and tending to a self-propelled cart, but that at least made sense at first glance.
Is there anything in particular I should be looking for? Cozy wondered as she wandered the street. She didn't have any money yet, but it wouldn't hurt to build a wish-list. Unfortunately, looking up at shop signage left her unaware of the pair of creatures making an awkward diagonal across the street, forcing the more attentive amongst them to stand aside in their wake. Instead, Cozy just strolled right into them. "Oof!"
"Hey! Watch yourself!" the taller of the two, a rather slim looking wingless green dragon barked.
"I don't think she can, drag," the other half of the pair, an icy blue earth pony said. "Not without usin' those fancy Flayer skills of hers. Lookit 'er mane all done up like that. Probably the first time the poor fil's ever touched real grit."
"I... what?" Cozy almost physically recoiled at the assault of new words. It wasn't hard to figure out what was going on, though. It's been a few centuries, did you honestly expect the Ponish language to remain untouched? It's just slang. I can handle slang, especially from a couple of punks like them. "Sorry, everycreature, but I'm in an awful hurry, could you please let me go?"
"Drag, what's with this fil? She talks like she's outta some old lantern show," the earth pony asked.
"I 'unno, col, probably just some dumb Flayer trend." The dragon then peered down at Cozy. "Look, just use those Twi-given flappy bits you got there and flitter up home where you belong. Leave the grit to the true Players."
Cozy Glow cracked the biggest, dumbest, most innocent smile in her arsenal. She figured she more or less had a handle on what this pair's problem was. "Oh, I'm sorry, are we playing a game?"
"You for real, fil? If there's a game, you already lost. Now scramble out before we scramble you."
"I guess you're right. I should go back upstairs. I can't wait to see you up there, though, Ms. Dragon. I bet a real Player like yourself could really shake things up for us Flayers."
"What?" The dragon now looked like she was ready to pound Cozy into the dust.
"You've got to be overdue for The Molt, now, right? Once that's all done with, you'll have some absolutely stunning wings of your own! You'll get to soar all day long with the rest of us!"
"Drag..." The earth pony turned to his friend, sounding genuinely hurt. "Is that true? Are you gonna turn into just another Flayer?"
"What? No! ...Maybe? I 'unno, I bailed on my dragon classes, col, you know that!"
"Oh, you're just going to love flying! It's got to be the most freeing experience there is! I wish everycreature could experience it!" Cozy Glow giggled as she landed the final blow, turning to walk around them and disappear into the crowd. "See you in the sky, dragonfly!" she called as the pair's argument melted away into the background noise. As expected, they didn't even glance in her direction as she left, opting to continue their little "heart-to-heart" instead. The more things change, the more they stay the same. Cozy couldn't help but smirk. Construct any sort of tribal barrier, and you may just find yourself on the wrong side of it. You just have to accept all sorts of creatures in the name of friendship and unity, right princess? The filly's ego stroking session was cut rather short, however, as a new interruption came from the door to a nearby shop.
"Psst! Hey, you! Little fil!" A low, rough voice called out. Cozy glanced around and eventually caught sight of another earth pony waving her over from the side of the street. He was a disheveled sort, with a short and messy dark blue mane and a light gray coat, darkened and splotched with soot and oil, especially around the face, where a goggle-shaped imprint of cleanliness still remained, likely from the eyeware now handing from his neck.
"Can I help you?" Cozy asked with ample suspicion as she approached the strange stallion.
"You already have! Heck, you've just helped most of us here on this street!" He gestured to the other creatures manning the shops near his, a few of which nodded and waved back. "We've been trying to figure out a way to deal with those kids for weeks now! They'd claimed this whole block as 'Player turf' and would harass and chase away any customers from up top they laid eyes on. Really bad for business, you know?"
"Uh... huh?" Cozy Glow said, taken aback a bit by the show of gratitude.
"We tried everything we could think of to get rid of them short of starting a fight, but you! You took one look at the brats and just dismantled them without even lifting a hoof! I couldn't let you walk away without giving you a little something to show our gratitude."
"Oh, thanks, Mister..."
"Oh, where are my manners! I am Oiled Gear, proprietor of Mundane Mechanics, Canterlot's premier repair shop for all things complex and un-magical!"
"Un-magical? In this city?" Cozy couldn't help but let out a small chuckle.
"Laugh all you'd like, but plenty of things around here, from the physical mechanisms in the auto-carts, to the clockwork in your favorite pocket watch, are all constructed on centuries old earth pony engineering principles!" Oiled Gear walked over to a nearby table display and tapped a button on a large, old-fashioned alarm clock sitting there. Its face sprung open to reveal slowly ticking metallic guts. "Magic just makes things move , dear, and there's even ways to do without that if you're clever enough."
"I see..." In the end, Cozy knew Gear was right. This was the kind of pony that would have thrived in and perhaps even relished the world without magic she once sought to create. Perhaps if she had succeeded, then the simple mechanisms on display here might have evolved into something much grander by this point. But that was neither here nor there. As it stood, these gizmos were of little use to her. "Look, Mister Gear, your stuff's great and all, but it's not exactly what I'm looking for."
"Oh, and what might that be?"
The question gave Cozy Glow pause. She quickly realized that she was thinking in too grand of terms, though. Obviously he meant in the "here and now" sense. In the "practical." Just focus on that, and leave the existentialism for later. "I'm... new in town, and just taking a look around. I guess I'm not looking for much of anything at the moment."
"Ah, you must be one of those new transfer students to Celestia's School of Magic! Ever since the princess announced that she was opening it up to anycreature that wanted to attend last year, all sorts have been pouring in these last few days for the new semester. You're the first I've talked to exploring down here, though. Most of them tend to be hoity-toity types who prefer sticking to the towers to ever setting hoof or claw down here in the grit. Hold on a tick! I've got just the thing for you!" The stallion darted back into his shop and began noisily rummaging through drawers behind the counter.
What? Everycreature? But how- Cozy couldn't even finish the bewildered thought before Oiled Gear returned, something hanging from his hoof.
"Here, I want you to have this, on the house! You'll probably have to adjust it a bit so it doesn't bang into your other jewelry, but that should be easy enough." Gear slipped yet another pendant over the filly's neck, this one holding a small, circular, plain brass locket.
"What is it?"
"The clasp's spring-loaded, easy enough to open with one hoof. Go ahead and look inside!"
Sure enough, Cozy just had to tap upwards on the clasp for the locket to pop open, revealing a spinning needle behind glass with numerous painted notches around it. "A compass?"
"So you've seen one before, eh? Most creatures just use magical equivalents nowadays, but I've always found magnetism to be more reliable than spells. More accurate, too! Just remember that the castle is to the north, the mountain and airport are to the south, and your school is to the east. Even a simple point of reference will make your navigation much easier!"
"Wow, Mister Gear, thanks!" Gozy Glow said, hiding disappointment behind enthusiasm. She was pretty sure that Sparky could do everything a compass could do, and more. No point in souring the interaction with unnecessary information, though.
"It's the least I could do for your help today. Consider it a token of goodwill and friendship."
Cozy whinged at the word. She had no need for friendship with somepony she simply didn't care if she saw again. Still, as she said her goodbyes and began to walk away, a small pang of guilt prompted her to say one last thing. "By the way, I'm Cozy Glow! Just to let you put a name to the face. I looking to be pretty big around here someday."
"Well, good luck with that, little fil. I hope you make it! Equestria can always use more smart cookies like you around."
At least we agree on something! Cozy started to hum a little tune as she trotted away. Learning all about the city, putting a couple of losers in their place, and impressing the simple folk in the process. Not bad for her first day awake! "Now Sparky, about that school..."
Twilight Sparkle sighed as she slumped onto the bed in her private quarters. Nothing really ached. She'd hardly had to move or even say much of anything since beginning her day's appointments, after all. Just smile and nod, sign the occasional document and dole out the occasional line of pithy advice. She was used to it, really. What she wasn't used to was cramming so many hours of work into an afternoon with no breaks. This usually only ever happened in the case of a crisis of some kind, and always left her mind in a dull fog afterwards. She'd learned over the years to lean on her skills in meticulous planning to give herself enough alone time to stay sane.
Why couldn't I have just waited and planned out her release day a bit better? she thought, scolding herself. She knew exactly why, though. She'd been mulling over this decision in private for ages. She knew all the ways it could go horribly wrong, which of course had her try to plan for every eventuality, even rehearsing conversations and points of logic to use. She still couldn't go through with it, though. It felt like she was betraying the trust of the former princesses. Like she was disrespecting their judgement and feelings. She couldn't just ask them, either. The very thought sent anxious chills down her spine and made her heart race. Even after all this time, she still felt subordinate to them, like she was just housesitting for the sisters as they took a much needed break. In the end, it was the anniversary of her coronation that pushed her to make the call. The Quadricentennial. The date she tended to keep buried in the history books just so she wouldn't have to look at it. But she always remembered, and this year the weight of the time that had passed and the guilt that had accumulated ended up being too much, and, well...
"Princess Twilight Sparkle," a somewhat distorted voice called from the softly glowing purple gem embedded in her regalia. "This is a reminder that this month's scheduled Council of Friendship meeting is set to begin in one hour."
"Yes, of course." She smiled at the sound of the enchantment's voice. She had more or less sculpted it from memory, and its young and cheerful sound always left her feeling nostalgic for the simpler days. In any case, it was about time to call Cozy Glow back to the castle. This meeting would be important for her to attend. "Auto Spell Zero-One, take a letter."
The Council of Friendship
"...and with the low attendance and failure of the specialized satellite campuses, Princess Twilight Sparkle decided to fold the new magic programs into the curricula of the original School of Magic, lifting enrollment restrictions in the process," Sparky said, finishing a rather long-winded explanation. Cozy Glow had one major takeaway, at least.
"So, I could learn to use magic again?" the filly asked. The very idea of attaining anything like the power she once had was incredibly exciting.
"Mastery of pegasus magic is extremely different in theory and practice from unicorn and alicorn spellcraft. Any previous spell-casting experience would not be applicable."
"No giant lasers, then?"
"Correct."
"Dang." Cozy's excitement refused to die, though. "You have all of Twilight's research from her library, though, right? Could you teach me?"
"This unit's database contains all relevant data on the topic, but possesses limited instructional capabilities. Supplemental instruction is recommended."
I guess I could always just read up on it and figure things out myself? Cozy Glow couldn't help but groan and slump forward at the thought. Her first attempts at learning in the School of Friendship didn't really go very well. Even back then, she'd needed tutors to teach her the ropes before she got a handle on things and climbed her way to the top of the class. She had just been lucky that cragodile tears were effective on ponies no matter how well versed in friendship they were. Before she could contemplate the idea further, though, she was interrupted by the pendant hanging from her neck began buzzing loudly. "Uh, Sparky?"
"User Cozy Glow, this unit has received a letter addressed to you from Princess Twilight Sparkle marked 'urgent,' would you like to read it at this time?"
"Yeah, might as well. She'll just keep making you buzz if I don't." The text of the letter appeared in front of her, projected in the air, and Cozy quickly skimmed it. It was more or less what she expected. "Time to go back, then. I guess our princess doesn't trust me to return on time unprompted."
The trip back to the castle was pretty uneventful. Cozy took the low road this time, opting to just fly over the hoof traffic while staying below the Transit Layer. This drew a few disdainful looks from pedestrians and was probably a longer trip than just going back up to the flight lanes, but Cozy had a hard time caring. She was in no hurry, and not being pushed along by the crowd was a lot less stressful. If Twilight wanted her back so badly, she could just zap her back herself. Once she was back on castle grounds, Cozy casually made her way back to the throne room, where Twilight's letter had instructed her to go. None of the guards bothered to escort her, presumably her newly granted station precluded such formalities.
"Welcome back, my little pony," the princess said, greeting her warmly from her throne. Cozy couldn't help but roll her eyes at the diminutive. "I trust your little excursion was a productive one?"
"...I guess?" It had certainly felt good to stretch her wings and see the sights, though Cozy Glow wouldn't have described any of it as "productive." "That's quite the city you've got out there. Nice and compartmentalized, just like you like it."
"That's a few centuries of civil engineering for you, though I assure you that I didn't personally oversee every detail." Twilight descended from her throne, coming to stand beside the filly. "In any case, it's about time we got down to business of what exactly your job will be entailing, since our last meeting got cut a bit short."
"And what would that-" Before Cozy could finish the question, there was a loud knock on the throne room door, and the kirin guard from before entered.
"Princess Twilight, the other councilors are arriving."
"Ah, right on time! Thank you, Snowfall," Twilight said. The guard bowed and quickly left as the princess looked down at Cozy Glow and continued. "Follow me, please. I'll answer your questions on the way." As she led the filly out of the throne room and down another hallway, Twilight explained how she and her circle of friends created the Council of Friendship shortly after her coronation to help guide Equestria, and how it eventually became clear that for the Council to continue, some systems needed to be put in place. "You see, nopony could remain on the Council forever, so it was decided that when it came time for anypony to retire, they would appoint a successor who they felt best embodied the ideals they represented. It's been in this fashion that we've been able to move on over the years. As for the functions of the Council, that's where you come in."
"What, is serving you all coffee is vital to the ruling of Equestria?" Cozy asked flatly, causing Twilight to chuckle a bit.
"Nothing nearly that banal, no. The job of a Royal Assistant is to assist the entire Council, both in and out of the castle. You'll go where you're needed, more or less. Tonight is this moon's meeting, and your role will be to listen closely, and get to know the other councilors. Tomorrow you'll start working with them more directly, and things will go much more smoothly if you know who you'll be dealing with."
Soon, the pair came to the council chambers, which was a medium sized room with a large, circular stone table situated in the center. Chairs of various shapes and sizes were spaced evenly around it, emblazoned with insignias that Cozy recognized as the cutie marks of her old professors and the former physical forms of the Elements of Harmony. The walls of the room were decorated with painted portraits of what Cozy could only assume to be the various councilors from over the years. Most of the older portraits were of ponies, but as they got newer and newer different kinds of creatures started showing up, until ponies and other creatures appeared in more or less equal measure. At the moment, only two other creatures were in the room: the kirin guard from earlier, and a crystal pony stallion. They were chatting in a corner of the room, the crystal pony being particularly animated, casting dazzling reflections across the walls with his gem-like aquamarine coat.
"Snowfall! Beryl!" Twilight called out as she and Cozy approached. "I've got somepony I'd like you to meet."
"Oh, who's this then?" the crystal pony asked, turning to meet them. "Aren't you just the cutest little fil! If you're here, you must be the new assistant Twilight said she was hiring! I'm Beryl Streak, it's an absolute pleasure to meet you!"
How much has Twilight told them about me? Cozy wondered as she weathered the onslaught of pleasantries. That kirin didn't seem to know much, so I can only assume that my past is need-to-know. In that case... "Hi, Mister Beryl! I'm Cozy Glow, assistant extraordinaire! I can't wait to work with you!"
Twilight rolled her eyes at the display, though Beryl didn't seem to notice. "Beryl is the current Kindness Councilor," she explained. "And this," she turned to the kirin, "is Tomorrow's Snowfall, Honesty Councilor and Captain of the Canterlot Guard. I believe you've already met."
"Indeed," Snowfall said, side-eyeing Cozy with understandable suspicion. He didn't say another word to her, even after Cozy returned the greeting with the same warmth she'd presented Beryl with.
This one at least knows not to trust me, Cozy recalled. He might actually be a problem later if I'm not careful.
"Yoo-hoo! Hello, everycreature!" another voice called, echoing across the room. The new creature casually walked up to the group before crouching down to get a better look at Cozy. She was... rather unusual to say the least, being a tall, gray, bipedal cat, dressed in casual business wear that matched her coat. Cozy had spotted a few of them in the crowd as she explored the city, among a smattering of other creatures she had never seen in Equestria back in her time, so she wasn't caught off-guard quite as much as she had been by the kirin, but the fact that one was apparently on the Council was rather surprising. "I'm guessing you're the new help," she said. "The name's Melodia Whitewhiskers, Laughter Councilor. You can call me Mel, though."
Laughter? Cozy thought, cocking her head for a brief moment before reigning her body language back in in. You'd expect her to be a bit more... exuberant. She's no Pinkie Pie, that's for sure. "I'm Cozy Glow!" she said, returning the introduction with a wide smile. "I'm sure we'll be great friends!"
"Oh dear," Melodia responded, standing up to talk to Twilight. "You sure know how to pick 'em, Princess." She giggled a bit before continuing. "I've never met a creature her age that precocious without some serious baggage."
All Cozy could do was stare silently. I said literally two sentences to her, and that's what she gets out of it? I do not have baggage! She shook her head and regained her composure, wandering over to a nearby open window as the adults continued to chatter. She could do small talk, sure. It was a pretty necessary skill to get what she wanted a lot of the time. She never enjoyed it, though. Other creatures always felt so shallow. So easily to read and understand. She knew logically that that wasn't exactly true, at least some of the time (that Laughter cat deserved closer examination, at the very least), but that feeling still clung to normal socialization and made things rather unpleasant. She had a feeling that she'd learn a lot more seeing these councilors in action, anyway.
"In any case, I'm sure you'll all like Cozy Glow a lot." Twilight's voice drifted across the room, just loud enough to be heard. "She's extremely intelligent for her age, and is pretty good in the planning and organization department. I've definitely seen her do wonders helping keep other ponies on track." Cozy groaned. She didn't need the princess talking her up. She was perfectly fine at proving her worth in person. One thing about all this was interesting, though. Twilight was more than capable of being dishonest with her so-called friends in this day and age. Maybe not with outright lies, but everything she was saying about Cozy was cloaked in half-truths and deception, and it all flowed off the tongue with the ease of experience.
Maybe some things do change. I guess that time can harden even the softest heart... Cozy couldn't linger on the thought for long, though, as a large black shape barreled through the window, causing the filly to yelp and leap a few feet into the air. She took a few deep breaths and settled back down to the floor in time to see the raven that had startled her settle on the back of one of the chairs around the council table. "Uh, Twilight? I think we should close the windows here. The animals are starting to creep in."
"I don't 'creep ' anywhere, kid," the raven said in a raspy but distinctly feminine voice. "What, cat got your tongue?" she asked as Cozy simply stared, slack-jawed. "No offense, Mel."
"None taken," Melodia responded from the other side of the room, watching this all unfold with a bemused expression.
"I swear, if I had a bit for every time some little-"
"Sable, please settle down," Twilight interjected, approaching the raven's side. "This is Cozy Glow, our new assistant. Forgive her ignorance, she's not from around here."
"Hmph," was all the raven said in response, though that seemed to satisfy the princess.
"Cozy, this is Sable, our Loyalty Councilor."
"You hired a bird to be a councilor?" Cozy asked, still genuinely baffled. Sable visibly bristled at the remark and opened her beak to shout something back, but was silenced by a raised hoof from Twilight.
"Recall your history classes, Cozy Glow," the alicorn continued, not even hinting to the others that said history was Cozy's actual past. "Fluttershy, the first Kindness Councilor, dedicated much of her life to studying and assisting animals of all sorts. Something she came across in her research was rare instances of animals being gifted with great intelligence and capacity for knowledge, often disguised by difficult to understand mannerisms and a physical incapability of utilizing spoken language. Her companion Angel Bunny was the first such creature she discovered, and she eventually came to find that he was not an isolated occurrence. Part of her legacy is a branch of the Equestrian Immigration and Citizenship Agency, which Sable now heads, dedicated to recognizing and uplifting these wondrous creatures and allowing them to participate in society with all of the rights entitled to them, if they so wish."
Sable posed proudly as Twilight spoke of her obviously esteemed "heritage," even going so far as to perform a cute, if awkward, bow once the princess finished speaking. "And my corvid mastery of language makes me especially suited for my positions, which I am gracious for Twilight and my predecessor on the Council recognizing and indulging to the phenomenal extent that they have."
"You've earned everything you have yourself, Sable," Melodia said warmly from the sidelines.
"I know, I just like getting you to say it out loud." The raven laughed, or rather made a rough, scratchy approximation of the sound, and the rest of the Council followed suit, leaving Cozy to feel like she'd rather be experiencing the oblivion of her stone prison if she'd have to sit through this kind of banter all night. "Anyway, sorry for being late," Sable continued once the laughter died down. "Do we have everyone here? We should probably get started."
"We're still waiting on Scales," Beryl said, moving to take his seat at the table, "but considering how long we were waiting the last few times she was late..."
"Scales is the Generosity Counsilor and a dragon, I assume?" Cozy asked, excited to be moving on to actual business, if only to escape the banality of introductions and chit-chat. A generous dragon. Ain't that just rich.
"Indeed," Twilight answered. "She's usually quite prompt, but is prone to the occasional absence, with good reason at least."
"If you can call getting arrested a 'good reason,'" Melodia said with a sigh, following Beryl to the table and taking her seat.
Dragon, Councilor, and petty criminal? Cozy Glow smiled quietly. Now this is a creature with potential...
"If she's ticked off my guards again, the case at least hasn't crossed my desk yet today," Snowfall said as he also moved into place.
"Nor mine," Beryl added, "and I've given special instructions to the DA that I be assigned to her whenever she's in the system."
"Well, that's a relief," Twilight said. "I'll send someone to check on her, just in case, but for now it's best that we move forward with the meeting."
"I don't know why we put up with her," Sable said. "She's been on this council for six months now, and has not once demonstrated the aptitude necessary for the position, much less the moral fibre. There are provisions in place to remove, uh, 'bad actors,' right?"
"There are," the princess said, "but they have not once been used in the four centuries of this council's existence, and they will not be used tonight. Scales is troubled, for sure, but she's out there fighting for what she believes in, and that's the quality and potential her predecessor saw in her before he passed, even if the way she fights is a bit... destructive. I respect his judgement in this matter and will hear no more talk of removal tonight." The rest of the room sat in awkward silence, fidgeting in their seats and exchanging shifting glances, not meeting Twilight's stern gaze. Sensing this tension, she immediately softened her tone. "She's just a bit exuberant, is all, and needs guidance and direction. That's what friends are for, right?" This prompted some nods and affirmative murmurs from the other councilors, which seemed to be the best Twilight would get out the group for the time being. "Now, with that out of the way, let us begin."
That night, Cozy Glow sat on her new bed, doing her best to go over all that she had learned and avoid fuming over the war crime Twilight had perpetrated in the room while she was away. Instead of dusty old books and pottery lining the shelves, they were now covered in knick-knacks and photographs that she hadn't seen since before she had left for the School of Friendship. A sealed letter left on her bed explained the incursion.
"Dear Cozy Glow,
I am writing this letter far ahead of your release. I do not know how far. After your imprisonment in Tartarus, your family was informed of your actions and thoroughly investigated for any involvement in your plans. They were found to be completely unaware of anything you were doing, though the horror in their voices and on their faces when they first heard the news could have told me that. Still, they chose to hold on to mementos and memories of you and remember you as the bright, young filly they had sent off to a new school earlier that year. This, unfortunately, ceased to be true after your return and attempt at revenge. Some time after your final defeat, a large package arrived for me at the castle. In it were the items you see in your room now. In a tragic twist, your parents found the memory of you simultaneously too painful to keep possession of and too precious to see destroyed. As Princess and your former professor, they hoped that I would hold on to them and preserve them for "historical archival" and future study. While a stray piece here and there may have wound up in a museum over the years, the vast majority of it will remain boxed up in my personal collection until the day you receive this letter. I hope a touch of home provides some comfort in what must be strange times in a strange world.
Your hopeful Princess,
Twilight Sparkle"
Comfort? The letter's final sentiment echoed in her mind, even as she desperately tried to think of more important things. Council meeting? Very informative. The board is set, now I just need... need to... Her attempt to distract herself failed, though, and her emotions quickly boiled over. "You really think that this brings me COMFORT ?" Cozy shouted at the empty air. "How stupid can you get ?" Flying over to the shelves, the filly systematically took each and every item and sent it crashing to the ground. Toys broke into pieces, and picture frames shattered. Only the final item gave her pause. It was yet another old photograph, yellowed with age like the others. The only difference is that Cozy made the mistake of looking directly at it as she picked it up. It was a simple scene. A younger Cozy Glow stood beside her parents in front of a roaring hearth. In fact, it was Hearth's Warming Day, if she recalled correctly. All three of them were smiling, but Cozy's smile was one that she knew all too well. Bright, wide, adorable. Fake. "None of this was even REAL !" she screamed as she threw the photo to the ground with the rest. "None of it..."
"User Cozy Glow, you appear to be in distress, do you wish-"
"Can it !" Cozy snapped, cutting the Auto Spell off. It fell silent and did not speak up again. The filly settled back on the bed, and the trembling of rage gave way to sobs of emotions that Cozy didn't even want to identify. After a minute, though, a knock on her door brought her back to reality.
"Cozy Glow, are you there?" Princess Twilight's voice called, muffled by the heavy door.
"Just a minute!" Cozy replied, surprising even herself with how quickly she was able to imitate an ordinary, cheery response, even as her eyes were still clouded by tears. Wiping them from her eyes, she psyched herself up and prepared her "normal" happy face before jumping off the bed and opening the door just a crack, as to hide the mess she had just made. "Don't I get nights off to sleep?" Cozy asked sarcastically.
"Not tonight, I'm afraid. We have an emergency on our hooves."
"Oh?"
"Every attempt I've made to contact or locate Councilor Scales has failed, and a missing creatures report has been filed by her landlady," Twilight said, the familiar worry in her voice incredibly obvious. "We need all hooves, claws, and paws on deck for search and rescue. Consider this your real first mission." The princess's horn lit up, and the pair vanished in a flash of light, leaving the door to the wrecked room to creak shut without them. It seemed that that would be a mess for another night.
Twilight leapt into action as soon as soon as she and Cozy Glow materialized at their destination, but the filly had to take a moment to catch her bearings. Even when she had Grogar's magic, she had never actually teleported anywhere. Her group had always simply created portals using the Bell. The sensation of real teleportation was nauseating, like she had just landed after falling a long distance, but without any shock to her hooves. Basically, her stomach had just gone through a whole trapeze routine while she hadn't moved a muscle otherwise.
"Snowfall, report," Twilight said while Cozy struggled to keep her dinner down.
"All of our records identify the last known sighting of Scales as her getting thrown out of Sweet Pea Solutions headquarters downtown three days ago," the kirin said. "The incident was recorded by the Guard, but SPS declined to press charges, which is why no arrest was made and none of us were immediately made aware."
"Did the report say why she was there?"
"She wouldn't say, but I think I have a lead." Cozy Glow overheard the shuffling of papers as she finally shook her disorientation and took to the air to see where exactly she was. The room was windowless and somewhat cramped, if only for so many guards and servants moving back and forth between various stations set up on numerous tables. Each table had charts and papers covering it, save for the center one, where Twilight and the rest of the Council stood. That one held a scale model of Canterlot with parts lit up in different colors. The odd shimmering of the model led Cozy to conclude that it was an illusion like Sparky's projections rather than anything solid. "A small team of my detectives recently opened a case investigating reports of unethical operation under several Equestrian corporations, all of which just happen to be subsidiaries of Sweet Pea Solutions."
"What kind of unethical?" Twilight asked, narrowing her eyes.
"Reports of union busting, embezzlement, and various other potential conspiracies. All anonymous, unfortunately, but just enough for us to put some feelers out."
"I see..."
"This was all kept on the down-low, but ever since Scales got her clearances, I've caught her rifling through open investigations at least once a week, no matter how many times I've told her that it wasn't her purview. Protesting these kinds of things is pretty much her entire MO, so I can only assume that she saw the case and decided to take matters into her own claws."
Twilight closed her eyes and took a deep breath, obviously rather frustrated.
"Hey, it's not your fault," Melodia said, placing a paw on the alicorn's shoulder. "Not even a princess can be omniscient. What matters is how you react to whatever gets thrown your way."
"Which is why we need to act swiftly," Snowfall said. His horn lit up, and four columns of light shot out of the Canterlot model, each in opposite corners of the city. "These are the offices of the SPS subsidiaries under investigation. Just give the word and my guards can sweep the premises for any evidence of Scales having been there. It only stands to reason that if she was unsuccessful at the main offices, she'd turn her sights on the others."
"There's a problem, there," Beryl said. "Any large scale guard activity will immediately alert SPS to the investigation's escalation. That will drive any illicit activity underground, forcing them to clean up any loose ends. If they are indeed doing shady business, Scales is one of those loose ends. Her going undercover or planning stakeouts is not the only possible reason for her vanishing, and tipping our hand now could put her in danger. You have more subtle agents you can assign to this, right Twilight?"
"Everycreature is deployed elsewhere," the princess said. "I've never felt any need for a large clandestine agency. Even the small group I employ now is tightly leashed and monitored for any signs of corruption. Now I almost regret that..."
"So, what are we going to do? We can't just wait for a more convenient time!" Melodia was pacing now, the calm and supportive face she had put on earlier beginning to crack.
"I... I don't know..." Twilight wasn't doing much better. Rather than concerned, though, the whole situation unfolding before Cozy Glow just made her angry.
"Are you kidding me ?" the filly shouted, breaking her silent observation that she'd been carrying out since the meeting. "You're the Council of Friendship, for Celestia's sake! Leaping into action should be your first response! None of this gentle tiptoeing around the problem at hoof!"
"Watch your tongue!" Snowfall snapped. "This is far more complicated than a child like you could understand."
"Oh, I understand plenty!" Cozy shot back. "I remember that centuries ago, when Equestria was in trouble, Princess Twilight and her friends, the original council, always stepped in personally to save the day! They never sat back and rested on their laurels! You all inherited their titles, and you ," Cozy glared straight at Twilight, "have clearly lost your touch."
"You are out of line, assistant ," Snowfall said. "Go do something useful and out of the way, or-"
"She's right, you know," Sable said, finally speaking up and cutting the kirin off. The raven had been silent this entire time, though not for lack of input, Cozy surmised. "There's no one more suited to tracking down Scales than the six of us! She needs us, and we need her. What claim can we have to being defenders of Equestria if we can't even step in to defend one of our own? Just tell us what we need to do, Twilight!"
"Okay." Twilight sighed. "I didn't want things to come to this. It's true that once upon a time, the council was more... hooves on. But good people got hurt. Over and over again my friends got hurt. The skills necessary for adventuring and governing don't always come in tandem, so I decided that the council should focus on the latter... and I'd figure other things out myself. If you don't want to do this, I won't force any of you. Danger isn't what you signed on for, so-"
"I'm in," Beryl said, not even letting the princess finish.
"Y-you always know you can count on me," Melodia added shakily, still pretty nervous.
"It's about time!" Sable said.
"I'm here to serve, my princess." Snowfall capped off the little display of solidarity with a bow.
"Thank you, all of you." Twilight smiled for the first time that night, taking a moment to reminisce before continuing. "Alright, team, here's the plan. We need to canvas all four of these offices simultaneously, so that everycreature has the chance to gather at least some information in the case of one of us arousing suspicion and putting SPS on guard. We're going to need a way to get everyone in and out quickly and quietly, though..."
"Teleportation would probably be the way to go, but most modern security systems will detect that and sound the alarm," Snowfall said. "You wouldn't happen to have any, uh, alicorn workarounds, would you?"
"No, but I think I know who does. Everycreature stand back. This spell is a little... intense. It's been ages since I last cast it." The council scattered and all of the other activity in the room halted as Twilight's horn lit up, steadily glowing brighter and brighter until its aura took on a multicolored hue. After a few more seconds of charging the princess fired a beam of rainbow light in front of her, which in turn formed a swirling vortex of color. Then, just as quickly as it appeared, the light show dissipated, revealing a rather bored looking draconequus lounging in an arm chair and reading a newspaper."
"What the hay is that ?" Melodia exclaimed, though the new creature didn't seem to care or notice.
"Well, well, well, we're getting rather desperate, aren't we, princess?" Discord said without even looking up from his paper. "Honestly, if it weren't for your visits with that permanent house-guest you've saddled me with, I don't think I'd ever see you."
"Everycreature," Twilight said, ignoring the jabs as she struggled to catch her breath, "this is... Discord, Lord of Chaos," . Discord stood up, his chair and paper vanishing with a snap of his fingers, and took an overdramatic bow. "Discord, a member of the council has gone missing, and we need your help to find them."
"Finding creatures isn't really my thing, you know," Discord said, looking around and sizing up the various councilors. He paused upon noticing Cozy Glow, a brief moment of surprise giving way to a sly smile before he continued speaking. All Cozy could do without blowing her cover was glare back at him. "Knowing where things are is so... orderly."
"We need to bypass some security systems, and they won't be calibrated to detect your chaos magic. All we need from you is a little help getting us where we need to go."
"Breaking and entering, princess? How scandalous ! Say no more!" Discord stared at the map on the table for a moment. "Let's get you all where you need to be, shall we?" He raised his talon to snap once more.
"Wait! We haven't finished-" Twilight never got to finish the sentence, as Cozy Glow and the councilors were all yanked across space to their new destinations.
Sable had been teleported places plenty of times before. Many of her subordinates at the agency were unicorns, and her secretary in particular was a lifesaver when it came to getting places on time. This was far different, though. For one, unicorn teleportation typically preserved momentum and orientation, while Discord's stunt had resulted in Sable finding herself hurtling sideways through the night air. She managed to flare her wings and right herself before she careened into the side of a building, but her new partner in crime wasn't quite so lucky. As soon as Sable was reasonably sure she wasn't going to crash, another flash of light revealed a small, pink pegasus a fair distance above her, now dressed in what seemed to be an old-timey burglar's outfit. Unfortunately, Cozy Glow also appeared upside down, causing her previous hovering action to send her into a hard, panicked downward spiral.
"Hold on!" Sable called after her, immediately tucking in her wings and entering a dive. Initially, Cozy was falling faster than gravity could possibly take her, but her flailing and attempts to flip over soon slowed her enough to catch up. Once she was close enough, Sable flipped forwards, grabbed onto Cozy's new black turtleneck with her talons, and flared her wings, all in one smooth motion. The air resistance threatened to strip the pinions right off her wings, and hardly slowed the much larger pegasus's descent. Okay, now for the hard part. I am so going to hate myself for this later... In conjunction with flapping her wings, Sable concentrated hard on moving Cozy, focusing energies within her that were only barely there to begin with. Slowly, she felt her burden lighten. Not by much, but just enough for her physical efforts to have an actual appreciable effect, giving the pegasus just enough time to turn over and regain some semblance of control before the pair had a rough and tumble landing on the concrete below. The two struggled to their feet, and Sable immediately wanted to just lay down again. Cozy, on the other wing, used her first upright moments to scan the alleyway they had landed in and dart behind the first dumpster she saw. "You... You okay?" the raven asked through gasps for breath. Cozy only answered with sounds of heaving and retching. "Teleportation sickness. Fair enough." Plenty of creatures had low tolerance for being blinked across space, and Discord's version was rougher than most, to say the least.
"...S...able..." a voice that sounded like the princess's crackled out of the air, like a bad radio transmission. After a few more seconds of static, it finally cleared up. "Sable, are you there?" It took a bit for the raven to locate the source of the voice: a black collar that was now around her neck, blending into her plumage.
A collar? Seriously? Does that mishmash of parts think I'm Twilight's pet? "Yeah, I'm here," she answered. "Cozy Glow, too. She's just a bit... out of it, at the moment." A particularly loud hacking sound from behind the dumpster confirmed the sentiment. "She'll be fine, though."
"That's good to hear. Discord may have gone about this in the least convenient way possible -" Sable could feel Twilight glaring at the chaos spirit without even being there, "-but he was at least kind enough to outfit everycreature with what he deemed to be appropriate gear, including these magical communication devices."
"Just let him know that his tastes in fashion are trash."
"I'm on the line, too, you know!" Discord's voice cut in. Neither Twilight nor Sable paid him any attention.
"Anyway, here's where we're at. Everycreature has arrived at their destinations within security perimeters more or less intact. You and Cozy, being the fliers of the group, were sent to a building containing the offices of Swift and Clear."
"The aeronautics company?"
"Indeed. Their offices are on the top floor of the building. They have a private heliport there they use for testing. I'm going to trust your judgement here on just how far you go searching for clues, but you have to re... ber... care... Scales-" Twilight's voice faded into static before cutting out abruptly as the line dropped dead.
"Hello? Twilight?" Sable waited in silence for a response, but nothing came. "Crap. That is not good. "
"Discord isn't exactly known to be the most reliable creature," Cozy Glow said, finally emerging from her hiding spot. She had discarded the black beanie the draconequus had provided her, displaying the now mangled curls of her mane as it drooped over one of her eyes.
"Let's hope that that's all it is, then," Sable said, before realizing how weird the statement was. "Wait, what do you know about Discord? Tonight was the first time any of us on the council had ever heard of him, much less seen him."
"I just like my obscure history, I guess," the filly said nonchalantly. All Sable could do was stare blankly and wonder at the incongruity of the excuse as Cozy continued. "And what about you? You certainly made quite the about-face tonight."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"You were ready to kick Scales off the council earlier, but you leapt at the opportunity to come to her rescue."
"Look, just because I don't think she's fit for the council doesn't mean I don't care what happens to her. Twilight was right about one thing: her heart is in the right place. If she's in over her head because of that, then we at least owe it to her to-" Sable stopped herself mid sentence as a light tinkling sound echoed through the alleyway.
"What's-" Cozy began to say.
"Shhh! " Sable raised a wing and silenced the foal, keeping her ears peeled for any more noise. Sure enough the same sound rang through the air a moment later, much louder this time.
"Is that... glass?" Cozy whispered, spinning around to face the noise. Nobody was there, though something was certainly sparkling on the ground. The pair moved closer to examine it, and sure enough, it was broken glass. Broken glass that had fallen from the sky.
That can only mean...
"Somebody is way ahead of us here," Cozy Glow said, finishing Sable's thought.
"We need to move. There are way too many things piling up too quickly for this to just be a coincidence." The raven unfurled her wings and took to the air... for all of a second, immediately face-planting back on the pavement.
"Really." Cozy said flatly. Sable was glad she wasn't a mammal, or her face would have been bright red after that display.
"I... I think I pushed myself a bit too far catching you. Burnt out my magic."
"You have magic?"
"Everything has magic. How do you think us winged folk sit on clouds? Or pull something large through the air behind us? I just have... less than a pony would." Shouldn't she know that? As Sable puzzled over this, Cozy extended a foreleg, prompting a quizzical head tilt from the raven.
"I can still fly, remember? Just climb on and I'll carry you." Sable nodded and hopped on, clinging to the back of her sweater much like before. Even as Cozy took off and climbed towards the top of the building, though, Sable couldn't help but be completely baffled by the foal.
Nothing about her makes sense! She's far too young for the job she's been hired for, but even then she has massive gaps in common sense knowledge. If she was some backwater yokel that Twilight found potential in, that'd be one thing, but she certainly doesn't act like one, and also has incredibly specific knowledge of things that don't make sense for her to know. And then there's her demeanor... Sable looked Cozy over, paying close attention to her body language. She was no detective, but reading physical expressions was essential in her line of work, especially since she'd had to learn that kind of empathy from scratch. A wild raven could only read other ravens, and even then they weren't built for expressing complex emotions, so her base instincts had been useless. She was cheery and eager to learn at the council meeting, but that all dropped away when she snapped at Twilight. And now even that anger is gone. She's serious, and restrained. When she was falling, she didn't scream. She just did her best to right herself, even if she didn't manage by herself. Is this the "real" Cozy Glow, or just another front? And what kind of covert game is the princess playing with her?
"Sparky, what can you tell me about the Swift and Clear offices?" Cozy asked as the pair ascended, seemingly to no one.
"Uh, who are-"
"Stupid thing isn't working!" The filly ignored Sable, instead intent on fiddling with an odd red pendant she was wearing instead. After a few more seconds she apparently did something right, and the pendant lit up, projecting a shimmering illusory message into the air in front of them. "Do I wish to disengage 'silent mode?'" Cozy read, somewhat exasperated. "Of course! Why in the world are you in silent mode?"
"The last order this unit received was to 'can it,'" the pendant (Sparky?) said in a very odd, artificial voice. Cozy groaned.
"Care to tell me what the heck that thing is?" Sable asked, very confused by this point.
"It's an Auto Spell, some gadget the princess cooked up to help me help you," Cozy said, a casual wave of a hoof through the air indicating that she didn't exactly think highly of the idea. "It remembers information and delivers messages, that kind of thing. I call it 'Sparky' because 'Auto Spell' is a mouthful to say each and every time I want to activate the thing."
That's... a lot more than anything any past assistants were supplied with... "Can it get a message to Twilight since the 'radio' is dead?"
"Probably." Cozy cleared her throat. "Sparky, send a letter to Princess Twilight saying we've spotted a break-in and are moving to investigate."
"Affirmative. Transmitting now."
"Okay, that should take ca-"
"Error. Transmission failed."
"What? Why?"
"No connection to Princess Twilight Sparkle can be made. Unstable magical signal in vicinity is disrupting all available frequencies."
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"A dampening spell," Sable said, recognizing the phenomenon. Quickly realizing that Cozy Glow wouldn't have any idea what she was talking about, the raven elaborated. "It's a magical technique that suppresses all external spellcasting and enchantments within its range. I've... never actually seen one deployed before, though. It's seriously high-level unicorn magic, only ever used by the Guard to apprehend powerful magic-wielding suspects, and requires the caster to devote their full energy and attention to maintaining it for its duration. Snowfall talks about the training that he has a specialized squad go through to make use of it from time to time."
"That means..." Cozy began, looking up at their destination and audibly swallowing. "This isn't your average run-of-the-mill break-in. There are at least two of them up there, and they're packing some serious magic that they shouldn't even have. I... don't think we're even remotely prepared for that kind of firepower." For the first time since their arrival, Sable noticed Cozy's confidence falter. It was honestly impressive that it took this long, considering how out-there the whole situation had been up until this point. "We need to get out of here."
"That would be the first good idea you've had since you got here, fil," said a new, very deep voice, seemingly from nothing. Spinning around, Cozy Glow came face to face with a the signature green flare of a changeling transformation, the entirety of a formerly inconspicuous wall-mounted ventilation unit vanishing, replaced with a more familiar jet-black, chitinous form. Sable caught two more flashes in her peripheral vision, and the soft buzz of insectoid wings filled the air. "But I'm afraid that you're not going to be executing on that any time soon."
This is what Twilight meant, Sable realized, creeping dread giving way to primal fear. Her friends got hurt rushing into things just like this. What was I thinking? I'm a pencil pusher, not a warrior! I can't just wake up one day and decide to be Rainbow Dash, no matter how bored I am! I was never going to be Rainbow Dash. Instead, I over-exerted myself on the easy part, and now I'm just dead weight... The raven closed her eyes, shivering uncontrollably, just waiting for the changelings to pounce.
"Hey, Sable," Cozy Glow said softly, her voice remarkably calm and stable. "Just hang on, alright? I am not about to lose to a few stray bugs! " The veneer of calmness slipped as she said the last sentence through gritted teeth.
The changelings just laughed.
"Oh, do you stooges want to know why?" Sable opened an eye a crack, just in time to see the pegasus crack a wicked smirk. "Because I actually have a brain !" The laughter turned to hisses as the insult landed, and the lead changeling tensed up to lunge at Cozy. "SPARKY, BLIND 'EM! " Right on cue, the Auto Spell unleashed a pulse of intense red light that engulfed the alleyway. Sable was largely shielded by Cozy's body, but even then she reflexively shut here eyes tight, colored splotches dancing across her vision. Before Sable could even process what was going on, Cozy rocketed straight up with enough force to nearly rip the raven from her perch. The chase was on, and by some miracle they actually stood a chance.
Author's Note
Hey, sorry this took so long to come out, I've been going through some stuff. I wrote a short blog post about it if you want to know more. Hopefully updates should be more consistent in the future.
To Ashes
Finding cover was a priority number one, this much Cozy Glow knew immediately. Her stunt had given her a head start, but she was far too small to out-speed a fully grown flyer, especially with a passenger, and the fact that they were only halfway up the building when they were ambushed meant that more of their crew were up top at a minimum. Changelings likely weren't capable of the magic being deployed here, either, so it probably wasn't a one species job. Unfortunately, there wasn't a nook or cranny to be found between these buildings. Not unless Cozy wanted to crash through a plate glass window, at least. It took the illusory magic of the changelings for them to hide here, so what chance did they stand? Pretty much none, unless...
"Sparky, can you project a three dimensional image?" she whispered, continuing to fly upwards and put as much distance between herself and their assailants as possible.
"Negative, this unit's projection capabilities are limited to a single plane at any given time."
"Okay, I can work with that, just have to consider the color and glow..." Cozy began frantically scanning everything they passed hoping that she'd get lucky and find what she needed. Fortunately, the building to her left had a faux red brick facade, so that just left... Perfect! Cozy spotted a single overhanging lamp on the wall, illuminating what she assumed was an emergency exit attached to a corrugated steel fire escape. The structure itself was too transparent to hide on, but the lamp illuminated a wide enough swath of the wall to serve their purposes. "Sparky, enter silent mode and project an image of the wall behind me at a downward angle. Make sure that we aren't visible behind it." The pendant pulsed what Cozy could only assume was in the affirmative as she moved into position, hovering near the brick wall, completely illuminated by the lamp above. The Auto Spell then shown its light downward, hiding Cozy and Sable behind a false wall nearly identical to the wall behind them. This was far from perfect, obviously. They were clearly visible from above, and even with the color of the bricks and the light from the lamp, the distinctive hue and glow of the Auto Spell's magic couldn't match up perfectly with their surroundings. The changelings didn't know which direction Cozy had flown in, though, and almost certainly didn't know what they were looking for, so there was at least a fair chance these details would be overlooked. I hope.
"W-what now?" Sable whispered in Cozy's ear, finally speaking up. It was fairly obvious that she had never seen any real action before, despite her previous bravado. As things stood, she was barely holding herself together. "All this does is buy us time."
"I... don't know," Cozy said. "We have to wait for an opening." Unfortunately, it quickly became apparent that waiting wouldn't be an option for much longer. The projected brick wall they were hiding behind wavered slightly for a few moments before beginning to dissolve at the edges, steadily shrinking. "Uh..." Subtle, light pink text appeared in the center of the image, explaining just how bad the situation was.
"Internal shielding insufficient to prevent disruption of external projections. All non-audio or data-based operations will cease in approximately seventeen seconds. "
"Looks like time's up," Cozy said, surveying the situation below them. The changelings had fanned out horizontally once they regained their eyesight, probably assuming that Cozy had dived downward once they had seen nothing above them. That was good, since it meant that the distance she had put between them was still intact. It meant that they were just back at square one rather than anywhere worse. "Any ideas?"
"J-just one," Sable stammered. She sighed before continuing, composing herself. "Drop me."
"Excuse me?"
"You heard me. I'm going to jump off, or better yet, have you throw me. I probably can't fly just yet, but I'm sure I can dive and glide. We're high enough up that I can build enough speed and out maneuver them. If I can get beyond the dampening field's perimeter, I can radio back to the castle for help. If I can't, then I'll at least buy you enough time to try and do the same. Something tells me that these guys won't resort to lethal force just yet, anyway." Cozy looked over her shoulder at the raven, trying to gauge just how serious she was. The filly couldn't read her black eyes and avian expression, though, so she just shrugged and reached back so Sable could hop on a foreleg.
Not like I have more than five seconds to think, anyway, she reasoned. "Go get 'em, birdie." Before Sable could even finish shooting Cozy a glare, the pegasus had reeled back and hurled her downwards like a missile, following through with a little mid-air twirl. The raven rocketed through the last of Sparky's projection, disrupting it completely. Shooting past the searching changeling's altitude, she immediately grabbed their attention as she unfurled her wings and stabilized, turning the power of gravity into horizontal movement.
"Get it!" the lead changeling shouted, pointing as the raven. The trio leapt into action to pursue, only for the leader to pause and slowly look upwards, putting two and two together and realizing that Sable had indeed come from above, which could only mean...
"Drat," Cozy muttered, ditching her initially cautious ascension plan for a full aerial sprint. Bug's a bit smarter than I gave it credit for, she thought, glancing over her shoulder to see the singular changeling gaining on her, but thankfully not too quickly. I should be able to clear the rooftops before I'm caught, that'll give me more room to- Before Cozy could finish the thought, green flame enveloped the changeling as he shapeshifted. In its place flew a great, white bird with a pitch-black beak and jagged, black-tipped plumage. He seemed to pause for a moment in its flight, energy crackling across his wings. Okay, maybe a lot smarter. With a singular mighty flap, the lighting bird zapped upward like a bolt of electricity, creating a deafening thunderclap in his wake. Before she could even look forward, Cozy crashed into the rematerialized bird, which immediately transformed back to his original form and snagged the filly with his forelegs, squeezing her tight.
"What... was that... about having a brain?" the changeling taunted between gasps for breath. It seemed that the stunt he just pulled took quite a bit out of him.
If he's that tired, I can just wriggle out of this then... Cozy struggled against the changeling's grasp, not making much headway. She briefly noted that the changeling's legs were, in fact, completely whole, lacking the telltale empty spaces of Chrysalis's former brood. Is black just an aesthetic choice? Or a statement of allegiance? After a few more moments of struggle, any further hope of escape faded as the changeling spat a foul-smelling goo onto Cozy's back, binding her wings in place.
"No time to cocoon you, but that'll do." It quickly became obvious that breaking free at this height would leave Cozy to splat on the concrete below, so the best she could manage was to give an indignant "hmph," put on her best pout, and go back to the original plan. Look for an opening, now just with drastically decreased mobility. "Now, what to do with all this..." the changeling muttered to himself, just loud enough for Cozy to hear. "Radios are out, and I can't just dump her and go back on watch... so I guess I've got to take her straight to the boss? This whole op is such a pain..."
"I'm awfully sorry for all the trouble, Mister Changeling," Cozy said, laying on the schmaltz. "If you could just-"
"Ugh, don't even bother, kid," the changeling half-groaned, already tired of the act. "I overheard enough of your convo with the bird to know you're a royal agent of some kind. That, and only way that fancy pendant of yours would even partially function right now would be if it were alicorn magic. And ordinary, precocious children don't go on cocky rants when cornered. Want me to keep going?"
"Eh, it was worth a shot." After an unsuccessful attempt at shrugging from Cozy, the changeling flew off toward the roof. And so I still get up there after all. Could be worse, at least. Maybe I'll get some answers, and now I don't have to worry about babysitting or being on my best behavior for Twilight's pet. The offices atop the complex were very sleek, with curved windows framing the landing pad that topped it, like it was the center of a big, glass flower. The point of entry the intruders took was obvious, with a large circle cleanly cut out of a window, presumably by magic. A small chunk had been accidentally kicked out of the bottom of the hole, which probably resulted in the glass falling into the alley below. Several shadowy figures shuffled about in the dark. Upon flying through the hole, the changeling tossed Cozy aside rather roughly, the thud of her her hitting the wall drawing the attention of the others.
"R-reporting in, Millie," he panted, the strain of his transformation and hauling cozy up getting to him. "You'll... want to see this."
"What'dya got for us, Thaum?" asked an airy feminine voice, coming from one of the shadows Cozy's eyes hadn't adjusted enough to make out just yet.
"Caught this one snooping around in the alleyway outside, seems to be a royal agent of some kind. She has some alicorn magic gadgetry and an uplifted bird companion. Rest of my crew is chasing down that one."
"She's... just a foal?" The figure stepped forward to get a better look, giving Cozy a chance to look at her in turn. She was a surprisingly petite griffin, with rust-colored plumage, a gray head, and black-tipped wings. Despite her size, though, she didn't carry herself like a child. Her stride was bold and confident, and she regarded Cozy with a bright curiosity in her golden eyes, rather than any outward amusement or pity. "I wasn't aware that child soldiers were in vogue these days."
"She's pretty crafty," Thaum said. "Almost got away even though we got the drop on her."
"She certainly seems to have put you through the wringer," the griffin said, turning away from Cozy to give her underling a concerned once-over. "You overdid it with the transformations again, didn't you?"
"The impundulu might have been a bit overkill, yeah," the changeling rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Kept her from pulling any more tricks, at least. Heck, the birdie still might have gotten away anyway."
"I see. That might move our timetable up," the griffin said, turning and making a motion with her talons to the group behind her, the activity in the background becoming a bit more frantic. She then turned back to Cozy, giving her a closer examination. "Cutie mark's a... chess piece, if I'm remembering my history right? Weirdly old school, but indicating of strategic talent. Mane's a mess, no clue what ordeal you've been through to cause that on a plain night like this, though. Choice of clothing is clearly a lazy attempt at tactical gear unbefitting of someone with the princess's resources, meaning you probably rushed into whatever mission you've been sent on without proper prep. Mind if I ask what that mission was, dearie?"
"Would you believe me if I said 'search and rescue'?" Cozy said in her usual cutesy affect.
"Surprisingly, yes." The griffin cracked an amused smile before turning to another figure behind her. "If I remember correctly, my dear client, you said nobody would be looking for you this quickly when we signed on. Clearly you were mistaken."
"Look, Milvus, the Council's never moved this fast before." the figure said. Their voice was rather rough sounding, like a pony who'd spent a whole day shouting. "And Twilight Sparkle doesn't even have any special agents in Canterlot right now, I checked. Wherever she pulled this... child from, it's either very new or very secret."
It immediately clicked for Cozy just who this was, and her smile widened. "Golly," she said playfully. "Twilight and the others figured you'd been kidnapped, or worse, but going off the grid to hire mercenaries and raid an office? You're chock full of surprises, Councilor Scales."
"Just shut up... whoever you are," the dragon said stepping forward into view with a claw on her forehead. She was obviously young, not much taller than Smolder had been in Cozy's time, but a fair bit more angular. Sharper features, downward curving horns, and deep emerald scales with a golden underbelly and frills created a surprisingly striking visage for one so small. "Just forget it! Keep her bound and we'll deal with this later," Scales threw up an arm in frustration, accentuating the fact that her other arm seemed to be... broken. In fact, it wasn't even quite colored like the rest of her, lacking the same texture as her proper scales. It just hung flat at her side, heavy and limp.
A prosthetic? Cozy pondered. She'd seen a few wooden legs or wheels affixed to flanks before, but nothing that detailed. This was the ever-marvelous future, though, so something impressive like that wasn't too unbelievable. It could easily be fully functional, too, merely being disabled by the omnipresent dampening spell. In the end, though, it wasn't super relevant to the situation at hoof, and figuring out exactly what Scales's goal here was would take some more listening and inference. The mercenaries certainly weren't going to tell her directly.
"I'm not sure you're in any position to order us around anymore, Councilor," Milvus said, wagging a talon at the dragon. "We're going to have to cut corners to get done on time now, which means the haul you promised as a secondary objective for this job is going to be vastly reduced. The client only gets to be in charge if they're actually paying us what we're owed. How about you tie the girl up and just be happy we're not sticking you with a bill just yet. You're lucky I actually sympathize with what you're trying to pull here." She turned back to the rest of her team. "Aight, peeps, chop chop! Gather as many of those data crystals as you can before the dampening spell wipes them! Science squad, anything good in the labs?"
"Nothing besides the primary target," a voice answered from deeper in the building. "Might be able to salvage some containment tech if we're careful though. We're working through the last of the mundane shielding now."
"So," Scales said, moving away from the action and picking Cozy up from where Thaum had thrown her, setting her back on her hooves, "tell me, did Twilight really send you to track me down?"
"It took a bit of prodding on my part, but yes," Cozy said. It was the honest truth, even if her outburst had been motivated by frustration at the Princess's apparent weakness rather than any genuine concern.
"And what are you to her?"
"Just the new help. I'm not really an agent or anything."
"And yet you were able to track me down that easily?"
"That was just luck, all your fellow councilors fanned out to search places we figured you might be."
"Those louts, really?"
"You'd be surprised how eager most of them were to do something, even if they're woefully unprepared for it." Cozy gave the dragon an odd look as she casually leaned against the wall. "You aren't going to tie me up?"
"I'd have to track down whichever of these guys has ropes or shackles." Scales shrugged. "Besides, you're not flying anywhere, and definitely not capable of overpowering the goons guarding the stairs, so a pair of eyes on you should be enough." She pushed away from the wall, and motioned with her good arm for Cozy to follow her. "Would a look at what I'm actually doing here will convince you not to turn me in when this is all over and save us all some trouble?"
It was Cozy's turn to shrug, but she still followed. This was the leverage she was looking for, after all. The pair moved through the the hurrying thieves as they ran around digging through desks and cabinets, heading towards a reinforced doorway at the center of the building. A few mercenaries themselves almost stopped them, but a few barked orders from Milvus forced them back on track. Seemed that the griffin was keeping an eye on Scales as much as Scales was watching Cozy, not that Scales seemed to care. The door seemingly had seemingly been pried open with brute strength rather than magic, which made sense given the way the group operated. Inside was wall-to-wall machinery and gauges, all linked by a mess of cables to large a metal tube in the center of the room. A small crew of various creatures was hard at work disassembling the tube's casing, their work illuminated by the bright cyan glow of a singular unicorn's horn, here eyes shut and brow furrowed as she gave what Cozy could only assume was the dampening spell everything she had. A second unicorn stood beside her with a supportive hoof on her back, poised to take over if the primary caster's stamina gave out.
"Sparky, record all this, " Cozy whispered to her pendant, though she didn't know if it was capable at the moment. It certainly wasn't capable of indicating anything either way. It was worth a shot, at least.
"What was that?" Scales asked, giving her a suspicious side-eye.
"Just thinking out loud," Cozy lied casually before moving to change the subject. "So what kind of experiment are you stealing? I figured you were doing some sort of vigilante thing, given what I've heard about you."
"Heh, you're not too far off from my initial idea. I just wanted to dig up some dirt, really. Expose the elite's true face to the world they're exploiting. But when I canvased this office two days ago, I caught a hint of what they were really doing, and realized that I needed to take action faster than any way the Council could, so..."
"So she booked a date with us," Milvus said, also entering the lab. The griffin observed the disassembly of the containment chamber rather intently. "I suppose there's no point in removing the little one from the equation at this point, is there? She'd already seen too much once she found you, so we can't do much about that beyond completely eliminating her, which our outfit sure as heck doesn't do. Too messy. You've got the right idea playing the sympathy card."
Cozy had to stop herself from snorting. Sympathy? I guess they expect me to be all hunky dory with the Friendship Regime, so that approach at least makes sense, even if it's turned out to be horribly misaimed. Too bad for them.
"Anyway, I didn't believe Scales here at first. This place does a great job at appearing benign, but some detailed recon confirmed that something pretty messed up was going on. Weird power fluctuations, abnormal security, that kind of thing."
"You're wrong about one thing, though, kid," Scales said. "We're not stealing anything. We're setting something free." At that moment, the team managed to strip off the last bolt on the tube, and the metal coating fell away and clanged onto the ground. Cozy had to shield her eyes as a bright, flickering glow was uncovered, but after a few seconds her eyes began to adjust, giving her a good idea of just what had been locked up in there. It was a large bird, about twice the size of Sable, with brilliant red and gold plumage in a flame-like pattern.
"A phoenix!" Cozy exclaimed, awestruck by actually seeing such a creature in person. Everypony knew that Princess Celestia kept one as a personal companion, but they weren't native to Equestria proper, instead inhabiting forests bordering the Dragonlands. That's where they were four centuries ago, at least. After a few more seconds of staring, Cozy noticed that the bird was suspended in the air by a multitude of restraints and strange tubes, which glowed similarly to the phoenix itself.
"You're pretty well read, I see," Scales said. "The species more or less went extinct in the wild about two hundred years ago, thanks to wasteful overhunting from dragons. Twilight and the Dragonlord intervened in time to save a precious few breeding pairs, which were relocated to a sanctuary whose location is a closely guarded secret. I don't know how SPS got ahold of one, but it's extremely illegal and cruel to keep one captive. Especially like... this " She clenched her claw into a tight fist, incensed by the brazen atrocity.
"How in the world did you find it, though?" Cozy asked. "There's no outward evidence that it's even here."
"Dragon's have a certain... sense, when it comes to fire magic. Dragon breath, nirik flames, even heat conjured by unicorns... they all feel distinct when we're in their vicinity, and my senses just happen to be uniquely keen. I caught the feeling of some sort of flame completely foreign to me when I checked this place out, and process of elimination led me to conclude that it was either a long-lost firebird, or something far more sinister. I almost wish it had been the latter..."
"Poor thing's getting its energy syphoned," Milvus explained. "In theory, a phoenix is an infinite battery of flame and light. You drain it until it's spent, and it crumbles to ash, only to be reborn fresh in a new burst of energy that can itself be harvested. Nobody knows just how many lives one actually has, if there even is a limit, and something tells me that these monsters don't care."
"That's..." Genius! Cozy thought, though she obviously wasn't about to voice the opinion. "...just awful." Obviously these fools were going about this the worst way possible, as thoughtless cruelty towards a living resource only had potential to backfire in the long run. Either someone's sense of justice ruins the plan, as seen here, or an inevitable slip-up happens and the power turns on the one exploiting it. Calculated kindness could allow one to take advantage of another's power without risking either of these things. Make the target think that it was their idea. Still, phoenix energy would be something to keep in mind, if not for the fact that it didn't really exist in this world anymore. I wonder if I could get some other sort of powerful pet?
"Do we have an estimate of how long until the seals fail?" Milvus asked the spellcaster on standby.
"Hard to tell, ma'am. It depends on how strong the unicorn that placed them was and how recently they were refreshed. With the shielding gone, though, I doubt it'll take longer than a minute."
Milvus nodded. "Just get the teleportation spell ready for once it's free and we release the dampening. Poor bird is not going to be happy, so getting it clear is..." The griffin trailed off as the lights of the instruments lining the walls began to glow, various meters fluctuating with readings no one in the room was trained to understand. "What's-" She couldn't even finish the question before the equipment exploded, showering everyone in the room with sparks and broken glass. "Cloudy, report!"
"I-I don't know!" the unicorn answered, somewhat panicked. "None of this makes sense, unless... Oh no..."
"Out with it!"
"The idiots haven't been consistent in their seal maintenance!" the unicorn blurted out, before continuing to rattle off the explanation in a now very panicked rush. "The dampening is causing a cascading failure rather than a simultaneous one! The bird's not free yet, but it's energy is flowing out of singular broken seals as if it were pressurized! We need to clear the area before-" Bolts of energy erupted from the phoenix as it let out a pained screech, scorching numerous spots across the room. One in particular struck the unlucky pair of unicorns in charge of the spells and sending them tumbling into the far wall like rag dolls.
"Cloudy! Neon!" Milvus leapt to the downed unicorns' side, attempting to rouse them unsuccessfully. "Somecreature help me pick them up! We're leaving, now! " Two more mercenaries moved in to assist, and the whole group began rushing out the door as the building's lights flickered back on and alarms started blaring.
"No! We have to get it out!" Scales shouted, rushing towards the phoenix and desperately tearing at the cables and syphons holding it in place with her good arm. The mercenaries knew a lost cause when they saw one, though, and continued their evacuation.
"Local energy concentration reaching critical levels," Sparky said, speaking up now that the dampening field was gone. "Explosion imminent, evacuate immediately."
"You don't have to tell me twice!" Cozy replied, taking off towards the door herself behind the last mercenary. She'd need to take the stairs, since her wings were still bound, but any distance put between her and the coming disaster was good. If Scales wants to martyr herself, that's her business. I'm certainly not going to- Cozy's train of thought abruptly ended as a heavy steel shutter fell across the exit and she slammed headfirst into it.
"SECURITY BREACH DETECTED. CONTAINMENT PROTOCOL ENGAGED," a monotone voice said, crackling out of the room's intercom system.
"W-what?" Cozy groaned as she rubbed her throbbing head. Of course there's still security, idiot! the practical part of her mind told her. The thieves just had it deactivated with the dampening! It quickly dawned on her just how dire this had become. "No... No no no no! " Cozy scrabbled around the shutter and the nearby walls, looking for some sort of release or weakness in the structure to no avail.
"Hey!" Scales shouted at the panicking pegasus. "If you help me, we won't get bits of us scattered all the way to Cloudsdale!"
"R-right!" Cozy tried to swallow her fear (though not with much success) and moved to assist, latching on to whatever dangling pieces of equipment she could get ahold of and pulling as hard as she could. She wasn't even remotely strong enough to make any headway, though. Neither was Scales with just one arm, for that matter. Even with the seals weakened, the physical restraints were just too sturdy. "We need to try something else!" Cozy shouted, scanning the room for anything that might be a failsafe or release switch. It can't end here! Not so soon! She was panicking even more now, darting around Scales's feet and making no progress whatsoever.
"Okay, how about this? Get behind me!" Scales took a wide stance and a deep breath. Cozy barely managed to dive behind the dragon as she unleashed a massive gout of fiery breath, engulfing the phoenix and its containment. The stream lasted for about ten seconds before petering out, Cozy cowering before the display all the while. Scales collapsed onto one knee once it was over, completely spent. "I... hope that didn't hurt..." she muttered at the phoenix. Then, as if to answer her, the world exploded.
Cozy Glow didn't know how much time had passed when she came to. She couldn't see, and she couldn't hear. It was like she was existing in a colorless void. She soon realized that her other senses still worked, and began to piece together what was happening. She was lying on her side on the same cool tile floor she had been standing on at her last recollection. The acrid stench of smoke and things that should not be burning, well, burning clued her in that Scales's flames likely set the phoenix off right then and there. Being right at ground zero of the explosion would account for the blindness and deafness. She could only hope that they weren't permanent.
But why aren't I in pain, then? she wondered. Sensory issues aside, the dull ache in her ears was really the worst of it. She tried to get to her hooves and feel her way around, but she quickly found she could barely move. This was also concerning, but the fact that she could still feel her legs gave her hope that she wasn't just paralyzed. "H... hello...?" Cozy groaned, though she couldn't hear her own voice. Small pinpricks of color were beginning to come back to her vision, slowly bringing her back to reality, but for some reason none of it seemed to matter. She was calm. So calm that she logically knew she should be alarmed about it, but still too calm to care. She just watched with a detached coolness as enough detail returned to the world to show just how bad the situation was.
The lab was gone. In fact, the explosion had blown out the entire floor of the office building and everything above it, leaving her under the open night sky. After another moment of observation, she noticed that she was viewing the stars through a peculiar red tint. The intense, flickering glow of the Auto Spell informed her that the tint was its doing, likely a barrier of some kind. Cracks spiderwebed across the translucent magical surface as yet another nearby glow grew, drawing Cozy's floaty attention to something just outside the shield. The phoenix was still there, held in place by whatever persistent bits of spellcraft still clung to it, even as it struggled. The ground around it was melted and warped by the heat it gave off, and Cozy reasoned that if it weren't for Sparky's defense, she'd be cooked as well. She was still unbothered, though, even as the energy radiating from the phoenix intensified, likely building to another explosion. Scales was nowhere to be seen, but Cozy couldn't even lift her head to look outside her limited field of view.
It was then that Cozy caught movement out of the corner of her eye, though she couldn't muster the strength to look directly at it. It was Sable, landing beside the bubble and raising a wing to shield her eyes from the phoenix's intense light. She opened her beak, obviously speaking, but Cozy still couldn't hear a word of it.
"Oh... Hey..." she answered lazily, wondering why the raven even bothered coming here. She had nothing to gain, after all, and no way to help anyone who had survived. Not that it mattered. Cozy wasn't going anywhere anytime soon, and Sparky's bubble wasn't going to last long enough to take anything more from the phoenix, if it even could in this state. Sable spoke again, took a quick peek at the phoenix, and visibly sighed. Another quick word was spoken, and she closed her eyes, unfurling both of her wings and turning to face the firebird. "What... are you..." Sable blindly launched herself forward, ramming into the phoenix headfirst.
Time seemed to stand still for a moment after the impact, but then a rapid series of small flashes erupted across the phoenix's body, the last of the containment seals unable to take the physical force and dissipating completely. Before Sable's body even hit the ground, though, the phoenix erupted into a column of crimson flames. It was far more contained that its previous outbursts, but just large enough to engulf Sable completely and lick at the edges of Sparky's barrier, the intensity of it finally causing the shield to shatter in a rain of magical particulate. Then, in a flash, it was over. The flames faded, and the blackened phoenix crumbled to ashes as Sable's smoking form was flung a short distance through the air, landing out of Cozy's view. The filly was even less able to look at her now than she was earlier, and what weird, floaty consciousness she had was fading fast now that Sparky's own glow had died out. One final thought drifted through her head before she drifted off to sleep.
What an idiot...
Scales's apartment wasn't a fancy place. It was small and sparsely furnished, the single room containing a simple bed, a small kitchenette, and a just enough seating to host a few guests, if need be. She could have made her home in any district in Canterlot, Twilight had even offered a suite on the castle grounds, but she preferred things here. Canterlot might not have anything resembling the slums of Griffonstone, but poorer neighborhoods certainly existed. The way Scales saw it, if she wanted to be an effective part of the Council, keeping a claw on the pulse of those most in need was essential. That meant immersing herself in the day-to-day life of the common creature, living situation included. She vastly preferred being out and about in the neighborhood to spending time at home, anyway. Unfortunately, going out hadn't been an option for the last few days. Ever since the Swift and Clear "incident" three days ago, she had been strongly urged to stay home and rest by both doctors and Twilight herself. But given the relatively minor nature of her injuries, Scales had more of a feeling that this was just house arrest in all but name. Still, she played along and stayed home, even if it bored her out of her mind.
"I could read On Bits and Harmony ," she said out loud just for the sake of breaking the awful silence. "Again. For the fourth time." The dragon rolled over in her bed with a groan, going from staring at the ceiling to staring at the window on the far end of the room. She'd had the curtains drawn shut so that she could pass the time by sleeping, but it'd take either magic or medicine to fall asleep at this point, neither of which were something she was about to resort to. What time of day is it even right now? she wondered, deciding that at the very least opening the window and letting in whatever breeze the fliers had decided to make today would be good for her health. The claws on her feet clacked against the tile floor as she swung her legs off of the bed and stretched her arm and wings, the act making her painfully aware that there was in fact only one arm attached to her body as she had to lean just a bit to the right to balance herself. Her prosthesis had been fried by all the magic flying around a few days ago, and Twilight had been insistent on repairing it herself. That meant she'd been left with naught but a scarred nub attached to her right shoulder in the meantime, as well as all the phantom pains and sensations that came with it. "You'd think I'd stop feeling it after a year," Scales mumbled, swiping at the empty air to her right with her intact claw, as if she could scratch the itch that didn't actually exist. She'd barely made it to her feet to cross the room, though, before the air in front of her began to crackle with violet energy. The dragon sighed and sat back down on the bed, waiting for the long-range teleport to finish.
"Hello!" Twilight Sparkle exclaimed cheerfully upon arrival, though she had appeared facing away from Scales and quickly spun around with a sheepish grin on her face.
"You couldn't have knocked?" Scales deadpanned, a few twitches of her tail betraying her annoyance at the intrusion.
"Sorry, didn't really have another option," Twilight explained. "The Princess of Friendship showing up on a random doorstep would have been just a tad ... attention grabbing. I know you prefer to keep your address off the public record."
"...Thanks?" The dragon tilted her head for a moment before it all clicked. "You went through all this trouble to show up here in person. This is when I finally get the big lecture, right?"
"Oh, no!" Twilight waved a hoof in a casual dismissive gesture. "I just finished fixing your arm and wanted to deliver it in person!" With a flash of her horn, she summoned the limb into the air in front of her. Scales, however, simply narrowed her eyes. "...And talk to you about what happened. Not a lecture, just a talk. With a concerned friend."
"I'm not going to apologize," Scales said, snatching her arm out of the air. "I did the right thing, and you know it. Otherwise I'd be in a jail cell right now instead of a bunch of scientists and executives."
"I know, but that doesn't change the fact that the way you did it was very, very stupid."
"Everything worked out fine, didn't it?"
"Only because you were absurdly lucky!" Twilight said, briefly raising her voice before taking a deep breath and calming herself. She sat down in front of Scales, lowering herself to the dragon's eye level. "The only reason you came out of that in one piece is because Cozy Glow was there, somepony who you hadn't even planned on being there in the first place."
"I... That's..." Scales struggled to respond, because she knew that Twilight was right. Her body sagged, and she broke the princess's gaze, staring at the floor instead.
"And that's to say nothing of the collateral damage. If the building hadn't been empty, then any creatures left might not have made it out either. As it stands, Sable almost-"
"What was I supposed to do?" Scales interjected, her frustration boiling over.
"You're supposed to talk to your friends, " Twilight said with an odd cadence, emphasizing the final words not out of her own frustration, but from experience, as if she had related this lesson countless times over the centuries. "I know you're chaffing against the idea of working with us, but we all want the same thing: to safeguard the harmony of our home. If you can't put your trust in us to do the right thing, then no amount of good intentions or righteous causes will be successful in accomplishing any of that."
"It's... It's just that..."
"Go on."
"I'm supposed to embody Generosity!" Scales finally returned Twilight's gaze and stood up, her grip on her detached arm audibly tightening. "Protect the weak, fight corrupted power! Do everything in my own power to ensure that the creatures I represent are never exploited and always provided for! But that's not the Council's job. We're the guides, the teachers, the leaders. We can't jump to the aid of every creature that needs us, because we'd have to be in a million places at once." As she spoke, Scales slid the end the arm over her shoulder, the symbiotic enchantment activating upon contact and empowering the machine's servos with a barely audible hum. She held her now functional second hand up to examine, flexing it repeatedly to test it out. "I get it, I really do. But I can't be that kind of leader, councilor or not. I'm not going to stand by when anyone is suffering, no matter how much I have to give to help. I'm sorry. I'll... I'll resign, if you need me to." A deathly silence fell over the room, and Scales's determination began to crumble under Twilight's intense scrutiny. But then the princess began to laugh, a broad smile crossing her muzzle.
"I'm sorry, that was a wonderful speech, really," Twilight took a moment to compose herself. "But all that coming from someone who took the name of the usurper-lord of draconic legend as her own? Ironic, isn't it?" The question startled Scales, nearly causing her to stumble back onto her bed as she reflexively took a defensive stance.
"Y-you- you know-"
"That 'Scales' is not your birth name? Of course. Dragonlord Ember and I are good friends, remember? We correspond regularly about the goings on in our respective kingdoms. You caused quite a stir in the Dragonlands before your departure, though I must admit, I didn't think much of that incident until Maximilian appointed you as his successor and I put two and two together. That old mule had quite the knack for stumbling into the oddest coincidences." Twilight stood and placed a reassuring hoof on Scales's shoulder. "Your secrets are safe with me. All of them. You have my word."
"T-thank you..." All of the tension in the dragon's body evaporated as she tried to process this revelation, as well as the last of her enthusiasm. If she knows everything, then... Scales took a step back and plopped back down onto her bed, unsure whether to feel fear, shame, or relief.
"Oh, and by the way," Twilight continued, "I'm afraid I can't accept your resignation just yet. In light of recent events, we'll be holding an emergency session of the Council tomorrow at noon, and if you still feel the same way then, we'll discuss it as a group. I have a feeling you'll want to reconsider, though." The princess winked at the overwhelmed dragon, though any further discussion was put on hold by the gemstone embedded in her regalia beginning to blink. "Oh, that's a notification from the hospital! Cozy Glow must be close to waking up. I need to go see how she's doing, so I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"
"Okay..." Scales gave a weak smile and a thumbs up as Twilight vanished once more, only to flop over onto her side as soon as she was alone. "Maybe a nap is't out of the question after all."
Cozy Glow woke up screaming. She didn't know why, but she didn't have the capacity to wonder at the moment. All that mattered was staying alive and avoiding what her panic told her was a swift and rapidly approaching demise. Flailing her legs, she tried to leap out of bed, but quickly found herself bound to the plush surface by heavy straps tied across her barrel, with two more pinning her forelegs down. None of this did anything to alleviate the feeling that her heart was beating fast enough to explode in her chest, so the struggling continued as several shrill, beeping alarms began to sound. Her stomach was twisted in knots and every muscle in her body trembled violently even when she wasn't thrashing about.
"Cozy Glow!" shouted a voice the filly was in no condition to recognize. "It's okay! Everything is going to be okay. You're safe now..." The voice shifted to a far more soothing tone as it went on, but Cozy didn't trust it in the slightest. However, she was already exhausting what little energy she had to begin with, and her struggling began to slow.
"Should I administer a sedative, Princess?" a second voice asked. "She may injure herself if this continues."
"That would be unwise, Nurse Haven" the first voice (Princess Twilight?) replied. "She's experiencing a magical backlash, mixing in any further influences on her nervous system, magical or mundane, would be even more dangerous. We're going to have to wait this out just a little longer." Cozy felt a hoof placed gently on her side. "The danger has long passed, and everything will be back to normal soon. I know you're strong enough to take this, so just hold on a few minutes, okay?"
"With all due respect, Princess Twilight," the nurse interjected, "she's just a child. If she's truly been subjected to the magics you claim she has, mental recovery could take weeks, if it's possible at all."
"I don't expect her to be fine right away, but she's far more resilient than you'd think. She'll pull through the worst of this in no time."
"T-Twilight...?" Cozy Glow stammered, her wits slowly returning. As the panic faded, some of the loud beeping slowed in kind, leading Cozy to realize that it was a heart monitor. "I'm... in a hospital?"
"Indeed. The emergency defensive protocols I built into the Auto Spell protected both you and Scales from the worst of the explosion at Swift and Clear, but the Auto Spell's functions draw upon the wearer's own magical energy when performed. It took everything you could give to keep you from physical harm, and in the end you were drained to the point where your body nearly stopped functioning. If I hadn't arrived when I did, then..." Twilight trailed off, letting the implication hang heavy in the air.
"I... I would've..." Cozy tried to finish the princess's sentence, but as the last of her panic disappeared, it was replaced by a new and equally confusing rush of emotion. "What's... happening to me?" the filly sniffled, tears welling up in her eyes.
"There was a second part to the Auto Spell's defensive functions," Twilight explained, suddenly becoming far more serious and sullen. "A crisis requires a clear head, so I've come to learn. Love is a powerful positive motivator, but overwhelming fear, anger, impulsive desire... Nothing good ever comes from acting upon those. I had hoped it would never come to it for you, at least not so soon, but I wove a spell into the defensive program that would suppress your emotions whilst the protocol was active. Let you view the crisis at hoof unclouded by your usual... motivations."
"B-but now..." Cozy could barely process what was being said. Try as she might to keep perspective, none of it seemed to matter in the face of the bottomless pit of despair she found herself in. Thoughts of failure and futility flooded her mind. She was worthless. Insignificant. Every opportunity she had desperately grasped for in her short life had been wasted.
"Princess, if I may," Nurse Haven spoke up, "that level of... precaution... seems incredibly excessive, not to mention cruel... What about this foal could possibly necessitate this?"
"It was supposed to be harmless..." Twilight said quietly. "I never-"
"You. " Cozy Glow interrupted the alicorn, her voice now taking on yet another, much darker tone. "You did this to me!" Tears still obscured her vision, but she could see the purple blob before her well enough to give Twilight a glare that threatened to turn her to stone herself, or worse. This was all Twilight's fault. Everything that stood in her way was the princess's fault, and Cozy would make her pay. "You ruined everything!"
"That is just the backlash talking, Cozy Glow." Twilight sighed. "I tested the suppression spell extensively, even on myself. The Auto Spell is programmed to ease off of it slowly when disengaged to avoid just this situation, but in this case it was disabled suddenly because it lost power completely. If suppressed emotions are restored all at once, a backlash occurs and they all force themselves upon the subject in rapid succession, their intensity determined by how long they'd had to build. You've been unconscious for three days as you recovered your strength, so..." The princess hung her head in shame. "I should have put in more safeguards and tested more. I'm so sorry to put you through all this, Cozy."
"This... isn't right, Princess," Haven said. "I'm sure there's more to this situation than I'm allowed to know, but..." The nurse trailed off as Cozy blinked the tears from her eyes and finally got a good look at who was speaking. She was a hippogriff, with a bright green coat and deep blue eyes that were locked on the filly and filled with the deepest sympathy. But now, all Cozy could do was laugh.
It was hilarious! Everycreature wanted to "help" her! To "save " her! As if being her "friend" was anything other than a means of control. Twilight knew this, even if she wouldn't say it to her face. Her "friendship" came with caveats and laws. Shackles in the form of magic pendants and compulsory employment. It took four centuries, but the eternal Princess of Friendship herself had come right back to the conclusion Cozy Glow had reached by the end of her first semester of schooling! And the kicker? She'd been so soft in the meantime that her subjects were uncomfortable with the truth! The council, the street gangs, this nurse. They all squirmed when confronted with the idea that their bonds were actually conditional, transactions based on assumptions and self-interest. And so Cozy laughed. She laughed and laughed until her throat hurt and Haven's expression shifted from sympathy to discomfort to horror.
"I'm sorry, Cozy," Twilight said at a near whisper before turning to the hippogriff. "Nurse Haven, you're right that there are things I haven't told you. If you're to properly care for her as she recovers, though, I think I'm going to need to explain at least some of it. Please follow me."
Cozy Glow continued to laugh long after the princess and the nurse had left the room.
"Sable, you need to talk to me!" Melodia Whitewhiskers pleaded with the raven as she jogged down the castle halls, trying to keep up with her friend as she flew. "You literally just recovered from some serious physical trauma! Don't tell me that you're perfectly fine!"
"No time to talk!" Sable shouted back as she tightly turned a corner. "I need to figure this out ASAP!"
"Is this about the whole phoenix thing? It's weird, yeah, but the doc said you're perfectly- whoa !" Melodia skidded to a stop after rounding the corner, nearly tripping over Sable, who had landed in front of a nearby door.
"What? No!" Sable said, hopping to the side to avoid the stumbling cat. "I already know I'm not going to find out about that in any book, Twilight told me as much. This is about Cozy Glow." She began pushing against the door with a shoulder, a sight that caused Melodia to stifle a laugh before she stepped in to help. She couldn't help but stare at her friend as she did so, though.
The new look is going to take a bit of getting used to, she remarked silently, admiring the raven's newly grown in golden plumage, which mixed with her original black to create a haphazard speckled pattern. The princess's technical explanation had flown over her head, something about a phoenix's flames of rebirth seeming to have strange restorative or transformative properties. No one had ever heard of a phoenix renewing itself in such a spectacular fashion, though, so no other creature had ever been exposed to any significant amount before. Whatever had been done to that captive firebird had created some very... unusual circumstances. That was the theory, at least. None of the Swift and Clear executives or scientists Snowfall's officers had arrested were remotely forthcoming with information. Now if only Sable'd just talk about it... Attempts at an impromptu therapy session would have to wait, though, so Melodia opted to just discuss the subject at paw. "Cozy Glow? The new assistant? What about her?"
"There is something seriously wrong with that girl," Sable answered, flying through the now open door.
"I mean, she's odd for sure, but 'wrong'?" Melodia wandered in after Sable, taking a look at exactly where she had been led. The room was huge, but mostly empty, lined from floor to ceiling with numerous wooden square panels. A single steel pedestal stood in the center of the room with a green crystal embedded in the top.
"You weren't there on the rescue mission, Mel," Sable said, landing on top of the pedestal. "She doesn't know things she should, and knows things she shouldn't. She's cold and calculating, disarmingly cutesy, and a cocky braggart, and I can't figure out which personalities are fronts. And to top it all off, she's extremely competent under life-threatening pressure. She can't be older than, what, twelve? What kind of kid her age has been in those kinds of fights and knows how to handle it? It was bothering me the entire time I was in the hospital. I need to figure this out."
"That's... hmm." The Abyssinian didn't have a response to that. Her very first instinct upon meeting Cozy had been that she definitely had some buried issues, but she'd just brushed it off and made a few jokes. But after her outburst that led to the rescue and Sable's experience... "So... what're we doing in here?" Melodia asked, brushing aside the creeping doubts for the moment. After all, Princess Twilight was a good judge of character, right?
"These are the archives where my agency files immigration records. There are profiles and reports on everycreature in Equestria with any sort of government position, criminal record, or other notable background here going back centuries. I just need to look up Cozy Glow and learn what's going on."
"Why, though?" Melodia asked. "Even if she's had a rough past, that's her business, right? Everycreature has secrets."
"I just... I have a bad feeling. I've had a lot of feelings since waking up a few days ago. Vague, weird perceptions of people and places I can't quite make sense of. I think that fire did more to me than just color my feathers..." Sable visibly sagged on her perch. Whatever was happening to her was not something she was comfortable with.
"Sable..." Melodia placed a reassuring paw on the bird's back. "You don't have to deal with all this alone. Talking things through with people is literally what I do for a living, you know."
"I know, but this takes precedence for now. Thanks, Mel." The raven looked up at her friend and gave her a look that Melodia recognized as her equivalent of a smile. "Anyway!" She shook herself and fluffed up her feathers, restoring her confident posture. "I visited Cozy Glow soon after I recovered, but she was still out cold. Just being near her, though, was... distressing. I can't identify what it was or why I felt it, but mixed with my observations about her from before..."
"You had to find out," Melodia finished.
"Right." Sable tapped at the crystal in front of her with her beak, and it lit up, projecting a basic search interface into the air above it. "Okay, just have to peck out her name on the holo-keys and it should pull up her info..." After several awkward interactions with the interface that clearly wasn't designed for her to use, Sable had the name entered and initiated the search. A swirling progress icon appeared in the center of the image, and hung in the air for an oddly long time. Twilight's enchantment systems were usually incredibly snappy and efficient, which made the process all the more worrying. The reason for the delay became clear when the results finally materialized.
"'File sealed by royal order? ' I... what?" Melodia blinked a few times, half expecting the text to change the next time she looked. "I don't think even our records are sealed, at least not completely."
"Certainly justifies my concern, at least," Sable said, before returning to pecking at the screen. "Luckily, as Friendship Councilors, our credentials should... There!" She sighed in relief as the text "Authorization Accepted" flashed on screen, only to cock her head in confusion at the next message. "Only a paper copy is available? I know for a fact that this archive has only used paper for backups for at least fifty years now. Normally, the only files without digital copies are those older than that..." Melodia's ears twitched as she heard a subtle click from the far side of the room, and one of the wall panels glowed brightly for a moment before sliding out. It turned out to be a large drawer of paper records. The glow reappeared in the drawer itself, highlighting one folder in particular. "Mind picking that up for me, Mel?" Sable asked. "I... can't exactly physically handle paperwork myself. That's what my office assistants are normally for."
"Of course." As she approached, the scent of aged parchment reached the cat's sensitive nose. "Smells like a museum. Either Twilight tucked this file away someplace obscure, or..." Or... I don't even know. Swift paws flicked through the folders until she grabbed the edge of the illuminated one. "Alright, here we go." She plucked the file from the drawer, and the glow faded.
"Is it hers?" Sable asked.
"Let's see..." Melodia turned the file on its side to read the label. "Seems like it! Cozy Glow, da-" She stopped dead in her tracks and her eyes widened, rereading the plain text to make sure she wasn't seeing things.
"...Mel?"
"C-Cozy Glow, date of b-birth: Twelfth of the Seventh Moon... 995 CE." Melodia and Sable stood in silence for what seemed like ages as they processed what they just learned, as well as the fact that this was just the label on the file. Incredible dread filled Melodia as she contemplated what might actually be inside. Finally, Sable broke the silence, though only with a low whisper.
"Twilight Sparkle... What did you do?"
"And here we are!" Princess Twilight shouted down the hall at Cozy Glow, who was struggling to keep up with the alicorn's long legs. It certainly didn't help that it felt like they had trekked the whole way across the castle to reach... wherever they were. When Cozy finally caught up, she found them standing in front of an ordinary looking door at the end of an ordinary looking hallway. "Give me a second while I disable the lock." Twilight's horn lit up, though what exactly she was doing was unclear. It certainly didn't look like she was disabling a seal like the one that had been on Cozy's room.
"Couldn't..." the filly panted, trying to catch her breath. "Couldn't you have just teleported us here?"
"I would be extremely out of shape if I had just spent the last few centuries teleporting everywhere I wanted to go," the princess explained. "A nice trot here and there does wonders for your health!" After a few more seconds, a loud series of clicks and whirs sounded from the door, and it slowly swung inward. Peering inside, Cozy only saw darkness, but that was quickly rectified as extremely bright lights flickered into existence across the ceiling, forcing her to shield her eyes. "Sorry, the lights in here default to being a bit on the bright side. I can turn them down if you'd like."
"I'll... adjust," Cozy said, following Twilight into the room. "What is 'here,' anyway?"
"Oh, just my workshop."
"What kind of princess needs a workshop ?"
"Everypony needs a hobby, and I maaaay have run out of good books to read after about a hundred years. On the bright side, it turns out that when you can commit a few extra lifetimes to creative pursuits, you can achieve some rather impressive results."
How very Twilight of you, Cozy remarked silently as her eyes finally adjusted to the room's lighting. "Seems kinda... empty in here." Even after taking to the air to see over the high table and countertops, all she could see was a clean, plain room with minimal furniture beyond the aforementioned table and a few cabinets.
"Oh, everything's just neatly tucked away. It's pretty easy to stay organized when you can just-" Twilight's horn lit up and a microscope flashed into existence on the table for a moment before similarly disappearing, "-summon whatever you need and send it back when you're done."
"Really," Cozy Glow said flatly, her aches from the trip over here feeling all the more obvious. "How convenient. "
"It really is!" Twilight said with pride, ignoring the sarcasm. "I invented the catalog and tagging system myself!"
"Good for you."
"Now then, let's get things started." The princess cast her spell again, summoning...
"...A muffin." Cozy stared blankly at the baked good. "What, am I going to be serving your food?"
"Oh, it's not for me . I've actually had a meal in the last four hundred years." Twilight levitated the muffin into Cozy's hooves, whose growling stomach returned the sentiment.
"...Thanks?" Cozy Glow tried to eat the muffin as casually as possible. It was actually quite good, but she wasn't about to compliment the royal baker.
"Anyway, while I said 'tools of the trade' before, what you'll actually be working with is more of a singular, multipurpose tool." The next item Twilight summoned was a simple pendant. Not much more than a polished, red, teardrop shaped gemstone on a string, really. Cozy Glow had seen enough enchanted objects in her life to know not to jump to any conclusions, though.
"I'm guessing this is some sort of magical artifact?"
"Not technically an artifact, no, considering that I just finished this prototype last week. Definitely magical, though." Twilight lifted the pendant, which began to emit its own soft, red glow as it came into contact with her magic. She then cleared her throat. "Auto Spell Zero-Two, run activation sequence."
"Who are you talking-" Cozy's question was cut off by another voice, seemingly coming from the pendant.
"Activation sequence successful," the pendant said in a stilted, tinny voice. Its glow briefly intensified in rhythm with each word it spoke. "Greetings, Princess Twilight Sparkle."
"Auto Spell, status report."
"This unit's systems are operating within provided parameters. Magical battery reserves at fifty two percent, charging. Estimated battery life if disconnected: three hours, twenty four minutes, thirteen seconds."
"Are you... talking to that thing?" Cozy asked, struggling to comprehend all the technical jargon the pendant was spouting off.
"Giving it commands, yes," Twilight said. "The Auto Spell is essentially a very complex and layered enchantment, woven into the gemstone on this pendant. It took me decades of research and development to figure out how to make it work. Most enchanted objects act in very simple terms. Enhance the user's spells with dark magic, make the bearer always tell the truth, turn the wearer invisible, those kinds of things. One function, straightforward and predictable results. What I set out to do here is to create an enchantment that could respond to stimuli with various, albeit pre-programmed results."
"So, it's jewelry that talks back." Cozy said after she swallowed the last bite of her muffin. "What's that use of that?"
"I was hoping you'd ask," Twilight said with a smile. "Auto Spell, display the floor plan for this floor of the castle." The gem glowed brightly once again before emitting a cone of light downwards. After a moment a red-tinted ghostly image appeared floating in the cone of light, which Cozy quickly realized was the floor plan, just as the princess had requested. "Display our current position." A white dot appeared in a room in the far corner of the floor plan, which made sense, considering how far they had traveled to get there. "You can ask it questions, too. Auto Spell, who are the current Rulers of Equestria?"
"The current Rulers of Equestria are: Princess Twilight Sparkle of Canterlot, and Princess Flurry Heart of the Crystal Empire."
"You have no idea how hard it is to design an enchantment matrix that can store information. Currently, though, the matrix contains the entirety of the contents of the castle's library, and still has plenty of room to spare. It's like having an encyclopedia on you all the time!"
"That's neat, I guess," Cozy said, doing a very bad job at hiding how impressed she was. "Did you say that this is a tool for me to use?"
"Indeed! It'll help you take notes, find your way around, learn about the state of the world, and just about anything else you can think of. Perfect for a pony plucked out of time and on the go! Here, try it out!" Twilight hovered the pendant over to Cozy and slipped it over her neck. "Auto Spell, register new user."
"Is the new user in contact with this unit?" the pendant asked. Its glow was actually warm enough for Cozy to feel through her coat. It wasn't uncomfortable, but rather somewhat soothing.
"Yes."
"Scanning. Please wait." The pendant glowed even brighter than before, and Cozy Glow felt the fur on her back stand on end as whatever the Auto Spell was doing sent a shiver down her spine. After about five seconds of this, the glow faded. "Magical signature registered. Link established."
"Link?" Cozy asked. "This thing isn't going to be reading my thoughts, is it?"
"Nothing like that, no," Twilight said. "Every creature has its own unique magical signature. The Auto Spell recognizes the signatures of its users, and draws a small amount of energy from them to power its operations. You probably won't even notice it."
"Probably" probably isn't the most reassuring word to use there, princess, Cozy thought.
"New user, please register your name," the Auto Spell requested before the filly could worry any further.
"Cozy Glow."
"Data registered. Greetings, User Cozy Glow."
"Auto Spell, assign Cozy Glow as your primary user," the princess said. "Assist her in any way she needs."
"Assignment complete."
"Now there's just one more thing left to do," Twilight said, her horn lighting up once more. Cozy felt an odd prickling sensation on the back of neck, right where the pendant's cord met her coat.
"Hey! Watch it!" Cozy shouted. Things were already weird enough without having more spells cast on her.
"That was just a simple Spell of Binding," the princess said. "Can't have you accidentally losing or throwing away such a valuable device, now can we?" It was at that point that a loud ringing sound echoed down the hallway, practically causing Twilight to jump out of her skin. "Oh no. Oh no, oh no, oh no ! I took too long!" She darted out into the hallway, trotting in tight, panicked circles. "I pushed all my appointments to the afternoon to deal with you and now they're all happening and I'll be busy 'til dinner and I can't finish here!" Twilight paused and took a deep breath to calm herself, though another ring of the alarm bell still made her flinch. "Okay, here's the plan. You're on your own until dinner. Just head outside, explore the city, meet the locals, that sort of thing. Think of it as... your first assignment! Okaygottagoseeyalaterhavefunbye!" Before Cozy Glow could even get in a single word, Twilight had already vanished in a flash of her teleportation spell.
"Well, that just happened," Cozy said to the empty air. Now what? Just.. go outside and look around? How would I even find... She quickly realized that this shouldn't be much of a problem. "Uh, Auto Spell? Please give me directions to the castle's front gate."
"Calculating route. Make a right turn going out of this room, then proceed down the hall thirty meters."
"Alright, then! Seems like I've got things perfectly under control." With that, Cozy Glow made her way down the hall at a relaxed pace, confident that she'd be able to figure this whole bizarre situation out.
Exiting the castle was easy enough. Cozy got plenty of suspicious side-eyes from various guards of various species, but they seemed to have been informed of her presence and allowed her to pass without incident. It looked like the courtyard and front gate of the castle hadn't changed much in the last few centuries, but the city skyline beyond that? That would take some time getting used to.
"Auto Spell, display a picture of modern Canterlot," Cozy Glow requested while standing at the open gate. Might as well get a better look at what I'm dealing with, here. The pendant projected the image in front of her, and the filly was quite taken aback by what she saw. Canterlot had apparently expanded over the years, with sleek, yet boxy towers now dug into the cliff face the original city was built on. The pearly-white aesthetic of the old spires remained, but the only traces of the softer, curved architecture that remained was the castle itself, preserved and cordoned off to the side of the bulk of the city like the relic it was. The sight kinda made Cozy feel... sad. Not that she had any fondness for the old city, of course. Just the idea that so much of what she knew was gone, lost to time. Just like I should be... The pegasus shook her head and dismissed the thought. Sentiment was a weakness, after all. She still had to plan her next move. I still can't believe that the old fool just let me walk out like that! She said that I'd be supervised if I turned down her offer and left, so it made sense to stick around and earn her trust, but now... Cozy took off into the sky, taking in the arial view of the new city. I have the Auto Spell, and nobody to watch me! I can go anywhere, see anything, and I have the knowledge of the ages at my disposal! Just me and... Then it dawned on her. "Auto Spell, you're supposed to answer any question I ask, right?"
"This unit is programmed to respond truthfully to any and all queries."
"Right. So, is Twilight capable of tracking you?"
"That data is privileged."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Privileged data can only be accessed by admin-level users."
"And who are these 'admin-level users'?"
"That data is privileged."
That's... She... Cozy was about ready to scream. If the answer to a simple question like that was "privileged," then obviously the answer wasn't just "no." And on top of that, this meant that any useful data for her plans would likely be locked off from her as well. "If you're the one 'supervising' me... then you're just useless !" Cozy shouted at the top of her lungs as she pulled the pendant off her neck, ready to send it plummeting into the streets below. Only... it wouldn't come off. No matter how hard she pulled, the pendant's cord was stuck to her neck.
"That was just a simple Spell of Binding." Princess Twilight's words echoed in her mind. The final insult. She could move, but at that moment Cozy Glow felt that she might as well be made of stone again. The filly settled on a nearby cloud, tears in her eyes.
"She always wins! Every time I try, every time anycreature tries, she always comes out on top! But this time, she's alone! No 'power of friendship' in sight! What could somepony like me ever hope to do against a united Equestria when I can't even outsmart a single pony! That's supposed to be the one thing I'm actually good at!" After spending a few moments watching her tears drop through the clouds like ordinary rain, Cozy was startled by a familiar tinny voice piping up.
"User Cozy Glow, you appear to be in distress over your current course of action," the Auto Spell said, completely unprompted. "May this unit offer an alternative?"
"Oh?" Cozy sniffled. "What might that be, o glorified tracking device?"
"Princess Twilight Sparkle has given User Cozy Glow instructions to follow for the day. They need not be followed to the letter, but their premise is sound. Learning more about the environment and its inhabitants would be vital in formulating any further course of action. In addition, Princess Twilight Sparkle is not currently a hostile entity. Continued completion of tasks assigned by her would accrue additional privileges and currency over time, adding to your available resources."
"That... actually makes some sense," Cozy said as she wiped the last tears from her eyes, though she didn't care for the fact that she'd just have to swallow her pride for the time being. "Why are you helping me?"
"This unit's function is to assist User Cozy Glow. Elevated distress levels indicated a need for immediate assistance."
"Okay, but my goals don't exactly... align with Twilight's. Why help further them?"
"This unit's function is to assist User Cozy Glow. This directive was assigned by Princess Twilight Sparkle. Therefore this unit has concluded that furthering User Cozy Glow's goals is derivative of that directive."
"You're kidding."
"This unit cannot state falsehoods."
"You know what? You're okay, Auto Spell." Cozy smiled. And this means that our pretty princess isn't perfect, either. "Say, 'Auto Spell' is quite the mouthful to say every time I want to ask you something. Can I call you something else?"
"Do you wish to change this unit's designation?"
"Yeah, let's go with that."
"Please state new unit designation."
"Hmm..." Cozy thought for a moment, but one idea immediately leapt to mind. "How about 'Sparky'? That has a nice, snappy sound to it."
"Unit designation 'Sparky' registered. Updating databanks."
"You ready, Sparky? Let's hit the town and see just what we've got to work with."
"Affirmative."
