Bizarre Happenings

Chapters

Chapter One: Starlit
Chapter Two: Chancy Twilight
Chapter Three: Twitchy Equestria
Chapter Four: Chess
Chapter Five: The Clash of the Crusaders
A Secret Chronicle, Chapter Five: Dirty Feathers
Chapter Six: Gallus's Faith
Chapter Seven: Black, White and Read All Over
Chapter Eight: Peanut Butter Cookie
Chapter Nine: Discord's Confession
Chapter Ten: Little Filly, Big Dreams
Chapter Eleven: A Red Rook Within a Dark Room
Chapter Twelve: The Normal Days
Chapter Thirteen: Ocellus's Struggle
Chapter Fourteen: The Unchanged Queen
Chapter Fifteen: The Timely Pardon
Chapter Sixteen: Star Gazers
Chapter Seventeen: A Gift from Luna
Chapter Eighteen: Always Changeling
Chapter Nineteen: Love
Prelude: Cold Stone

Chapter One: Starlit

Evening birds chirped all too peacefully over what most had started calling the Statue of Disharmony. The bright, twinkling stars above illuminated the clearing.

Tirek looked just as elderly as the first time Twilight and her friends had beaten him, and although Queen Chrysalis was lunging outwards with a spiteful gesture, her former hatchlings had made her a tiny shrine that nestled underneath her torso. One of the teddies that sat in the grass held onto a note.

It read, "Really wishing you had just taken Starlight's hoof all those years ago. You'd be surrounded by love, had you only known..."

Her hatchlings had never stopped loving her, even when she had forgotten how to love them. It's a morbid sight for anypony to see the three of them just laying outside the Canterlot walls and petrified in harsh stone. Some ivy had even began reaching all the way up Tirek's backside and was starting to touch the shoulder of Cozy Glow who still looked as if she were trying to get out of being grounded.

Every once in a while, a pony or some other type of creature would come and visit them and reflect on life before leaving them once again to the tranquil solitude of nature. This was to be the fate of ponies who just couldn't find peace within their hearts. They had no such shot at any type of redemption, either. Unlike Discord, Celestia and Luna had already made it quite clear that they were to never be released under any circumstances.

"Under any circumstances," Starlight said to herself while she stared sharply into those lifeless, gray eyes that belonged to Cozy Glow. "What if... I wanted to tell her..."

Her lips quivered as she tried to find the correct words. "To tell her..."

She looked away for a few seconds, but then, she looked back at Cozy, and said, "What if I needed to tell you how disappointed I am in you?"

She scoffed, and began groaning as she realized that nopony was even around to hear her explode.

"You... You..." A salty tear escaped, and that's when Starlight yelled, "I THOUGHT YOU'D END UP LIKE ME!" She writhed, "I thought you were going to reform, and be our friend, but I was wrong! I was so wrong!"

She cried to the statue for what seemed like forever, but when the tears stopped, Starlight still kept expressing herself. That's all she felt like doing at the time. "You were my student... You were... Twilight's student, too, and you... And then you..."

Again, Starlight scoffed, but no more tears came. "You never would open up to me about your past, either... You just... shut everypony out, or kept changing the subject, and only kept us at hoof length just to be able to tie us up with rope in the end. How? Just... how could a little filly be so evil?"

She placed her hoof on Cozy's chest, and longingly asked her question again, almost as if she expected an answer. "How?"

Of course, Cozy didn't respond. That would've been her response had she not been a statue anyways. Anytime anypony ever asked about her past, Cozy Glow would never open up about it. Nopony knew who her parents were, where they were, or how they went horribly wrong with their daughter. All Twilight, Celestia and Luna ever found out about Cozy Glow was just how cruel she could be. Any positive scraps of information about her existence were never found, making this filly virtually irredeemable.

Perhaps that was Starlight's biggest problem, though. Not knowing for sure how she might've been able to go about helping Cozy Glow in the first place. It's not as if nopony had tried. It's that everypony had tried, and nothing good was ever discovered about her. As time went on, ponies and creatures alike stopped feeling bad for the filly, and eventually, everypony came to accept just how vile she must've truly been.

Everypony except for Starlight.

She continued to stare at Cozy Glow. An odd sensation shot through her frame, and she thought to herself, "What if I freed ONLY Cozy Glow?"

She breathed and glanced around to double checked to make sure that nopony might see this. "It is the middle of the night," she said aloud. "Besides, she's a nine-year-old pegasus. She won't get away from me, and I'll just turn her back to stone once I'm done."

She beamed at that bratty look on Cozy's face and flared her horn. She had even brushed up on how to perfect her spell by making sure Discord wouldn't be alerted. All Starlight had to do was cast the spell. Magic was released from her horn, and as it broke away the stone pieces surrounding the filly's body, Starlight was surprised to see Cozy Glow lose consciousness immediately.

Cozy fell to the floor with a rather hard thud, but Starlight tried not to care all that much. "Well, that was... dramatic."

She waited from a response, but didn't get one. Something just didn't seem right. Cozy's eyes were closed tightly as if she were asleep, but the look on her face seemed even odder to Starlight. "Cozy?" she asked.

"Uhh," the filly managed to say.

"Good, you're awake." Starlight merely watched with an unamused expression as Cozy tried to stand up. "I brought you back in order to tell you... that..."

Cozy opened her eyes, and murmured, "Where... am I?"

Starlight rolled her eyes, and said, "Back in Equestria. You were turned to stone, remember?" Cozy didn't speak. Instead, she just kept staring at Starlight with a dazed and utterly confused look in her eyes. "As I was saying," Starlight voiced with an attitude, "I brought you back... to tell you just how disappointed I am in you."

Starlight gritted her teeth, but the words just weren't coming out as harshly as she had originally intended. The next words, however, to be spoken by Cozy Glow would be enough to send Starlight over the edge. "Wh- what're you t-t-talking about???" She took another couple of glances all around herself, and then said, "Why are you disappointed in me? D-did I do something wrong?!"

Starlight howled, "Did you do something... WRONG!?"

She then glared at Cozy with such rage that it made Cozy try to hide behind the statue while whining with fear, "Ah!" However, Starlight made sure not to give Cozy Glow a single chance at escaping. She grabbed Cozy with her magic and yanked her back to where she had been sitting rather forcefully.

"Where do you think you're going?" Starlight asked rhetorically. "I'm not finished with you yet! You..." She kept looking at the scared, trembling filly, and then said, "Oh, you're good."

With her hooves covering her head, Cozy Glow stated, "I don't know what you're talking about! I didn't do anything! I can't..." She blinked a few times, and finished, "I can't remember anything!"

Starlight laughed while once more rolling her eyes. "Please, don't even try it, Cozy. I've had enough of your acting!"

"I'm not trying anything!"

"You remember your name, don't you?" Starlight kept her attention aimed at Cozy Glow. "Don't you???"

It took her a moment to answer, but when she did, the filly's answer sounded all too convincing. "Well... yes, I remember my name... but... I don't know! The rest is all a blur!" She stood up with dirt smeared all over her hooves and muzzle. "I don't... even think I know who you are!"

Starlight backed away while a dark chill overtook her frame. She was starting to believe Cozy Glow, but still, it had to be a trap. At the time, there was no other explanation. There was nothing to support this odd story that Cozy Glow was presenting to Starlight, so with no other choice, she hastily planned to turn Cozy back to stone.

"I'm... not listening to you," Starlight said. "You're lying! That's all you do... is lie!" Tears began escaping. "I'm not going to let you manipulate me, and you should be ashamed of yourself!"

She ignited her horn with her sheer anger, and lightning surged around Cozy Glow. Starlight had at least expected her to end her shenanigans at the very last minute, but instead, Cozy Glow screamed with fright, and she had begun to cry as well. It was one of the most surreal feelings to see her tears start to turn gray, and while she sat there on the ground, Starlight's mouth opened ajar. She started to shake, feeling strange about what she had just done.

"No," she said to herself while tightly shutting her eyes and turning her head away from the statue. "It's a trick..." She opened her eyes, and felt even more tears run down her already moist cheeks. "I should... just go."

She turned away, and began her trot back towards the gates, but something stopped her. That something was the distinct pitter patter sound of water dripping onto the firm soil below. Starlight slowly turned back around to see what the sound could've been, but nothing could've prepared her for what she'd see.

Cozy Glow's tears were seeping right through the solid stone that encased her, and for a good minute or so, Starlight simply stood there, petrified by what was happening.

Then, nervously whispering, Starlight told herself, "Well, now I have no choice. I have to tell Twilight what I've done."

Chapter Two: Chancy Twilight

Starlight stood at Twilight's door and listened to the faint voices coming from the other side. She simply couldn't believe what she had done. "What was I thinking?" Starlight thought before proceeding. "How was I going to put her back the way she was? So of course, somepony would've eventually figured out what I had done, but then, the statue goes and..."

Starlight thought back to seeing Cozy's salty tears and shivered. "No, she has to be trying something."

She sighed and grabbed the door with her magic. "But, then again," she said while waiting before opening the door. "We could use magic to figure that one out... Still, I have to tell Twilight about what's happening with the statue all of the sudden."

She entered the room, and said, "Twilight? We need to..."

It was now in the middle of the day, and Twilight was right in the middle of tending to Spike's wings. This was yet another problem left behind from the most recent catastrophe. His wings had been stretched too far out, and Spike was still recuperating. With some consideration, Starlight was at a loss for words upon seeing this.

"Starlight," Twilight said merrily.

"Ouch," Spike said sharply as Twilight gave some pressure to his back. "Oh, hey Starlight."

"Come help me with this," Twilight said.

Starlight giggled sheepishly, and said, "Actually, I thought I'd speak to you in private, Twilight."

Twilight gave Starlight a curious look while holding on tightly to Spike's left wing. "What could be more important than making sure Spike's wings don't twist together?"

Starlight's muzzle scrunched, and she looked around the room nervously before finally letting it out. "Well, uh... Twilight? You know how Cozy Glow's a brat?"

Twilight rolled her eyes, and said, "Ugh, don't remind me." She then realized what Starlight was asking her. "Wait, why are you asking me this?"

Starlight sighed, and said, "I might've... released her..."

Twilight gasped, and asked, "You what?"

"And... then she began acting as if she had lost her memory completely."

With more stress in her voice, Twilight asked, "What?!"

"So," Starlight pressed on. "I decided to turn her back to stone, but then, something bizarre happened." Twilight and Spike's eyes became wider as Starlight told them, "Cozy Glow's statue began to cry... They were real tears."

The room had gone extremely quiet after those words. Twilight just sat there, still loosely holding onto Spike's wing. "What?!" Spike asked with shock.

Twilight seemed completely at a loss as to an explanation, but then, she shook her head, and said, "Whoa, whoa, wait a minute... The statue... was crying? As in... water was coming out of the statue's eyes?"

Starlight simply nodded with a guilty expression. "I think you should just come and see her for yourself." She gulped while looking away, and Twilight got up. As she approached Starlight, she heard her start saying while walking along, "I'm not... really sure if this is one of her tricks or not."

Twilight smiled despite what Starlight had done, and said, "We have a lie detecting spell for that."

Starlight managed to smile for a bit, too, and said, "My thoughts exactly."

Twilight looked back at Spike, and said, "I'll have to tend to your wings another time, Spike. This obviously turned out to be more important than I had anticipated."

Spike kindly waved to her while saying, "It's fine, actually. My wings are feeling better already!" He tried to stand up, but the left wing cramped up, and down he went again. "Ah! Hah," he wheezed in pain before sitting back down. "J-just... hurry back, okay Twilight?"

Twilight nodded at Spike before closing the door, and while they trotted down the halls of Canterlot, Starlight began to think that she had gotten away with her little stunt when Twilight questioned her, "So, are you going to tell me why you freed Cozy Glow in the first place?"

Starlight giggled sheepishly again, and gesturing with a hoof, said, "We don't really have to get into that."

Twilight laughed along, and then said, "Oh, yes... we do, actually."

Trotting through the grass, Twilight checked the sun, and said to Starlight, "Not bad, huh?"

Starlight looked up, and then back at the road they were on. "The sun's position today is perfect, Twilight... Look, I'm sorry for what I've done."

Twilight nodded while frowning, and said, "I know you're sorry. You've said it twenty times already. Just... Starlight? You need to learn how to control your emotions. I know how mad you must've felt at the time, but Cozy Glow is still a filly. Besides, if she really has lost her memories, and if we really do have a chance at reforming her from the ground up, then the last thing you want to do is ruin that first impression."

Starlight sulked, "That's probably already ruined, then."

Sighing, Twilight offered, "Let's just go see her."

The rest of the walk there was mostly silent. When the statue finally came into view, Twilight and Starlight hastened their trot. As Twilight got closer and closer, she'd see that Starlight wasn't lying. The filly made of stone was sobbing, and the grass below was completely drenched.

Again, silence overtook the clearing. All that could be heard was dripping water. Twilight looked at Starlight, and Starlight shrugged. Then, Twilight broke the silence by asking, "What should we do?"

Starlight gave Twilight a confused look, and said, "How in Equestria am I supposed to know?" She then looked at the statue, and said, "I figured that we'd just free her, and use the spell on her, but..."

Twilight looked at Starlight, and asked, "What is it?"

"You think we should call upon... Discord?"

Twilight breathed somewhat nervously, but that proposal didn't seem too bad of a suggestion. However, she shook her head, and said to the statue in particular, "No... It doesn't matter how charismatic Cozy Glow may be. Nopony can get by my lie detector spell." She looked at Starlight, and said, "Discord can explain all of this to us later, but that's only if Cozy Glow really has lost her memory."

While Twilight began using her magic on Cozy, Starlight asked her, "You don't actually think she's telling the truth, do you?"

Twilight looked at Starlight seriously, and asked, "How can you be so sure that something hasn't happened to her?" Starlight didn't answer, and instead, backed away so that Twilight could focus. That's when Twilight said, "I know it's risky, and we're taking a chance by releasing Cozy Glow, but the spell will tell us if she's trying to trick us. I'll even keep using it on her until I feel completely comfortable with whatever she has to say."

The wind blew her mane while she closed her eyes, and as if it were the passing of nature itself, Twilight's mane began to shimmer lightly. She rose from the ground, and unlike Starlight's spell, Twilight's magic was like a brilliantly white orb of warmth encompassing the entire surrounding. Only Cozy Glow came apart from the rocks that bound the three, and as she stood up while still crying, she looked all around.

Twilight opened her eyes, but her mane stayed glowing for some reason. She hadn't noticed it yet, and Starlight didn't say a word, so Twilight asked the filly while her horn glowed brightly, "Cozy Glow? Do you remember me at all?"

The filly stared with tears trickling from her chin. "I, uh... don't, actually." She huffed nervously after recognizing Starlight, and said, "Please, whatever I've done, I don't mean it!" While Twilight gave Starlight a dissatisfied look, Cozy mentioned, "I don't even know what's going on!"

Twilight looked back at the filly with raised eyebrows. She didn't say anything a first, so Starlight asked the filly, "Do you remember last night?"

"Well, yes, but-"

"Then what about anything from before that point? There has to be something you remember other than your name!"

She confessed, "I know... that I'm in Equestria, b-but... that's all! I promise!"

Twilight said sadly, "Starlight..."

"But," Starlight persisted. "You-"

"Starlight," Twilight said forwardly. The fellow unicorn looked back at the Princess, but didn't say anything. Twilight's surprised expression said it all.

Starlight stuttered, "S-she's telling the truth?" After a pause, and with a blink, she asked Twilight, "Are you sure?"

Twilight glanced down at the grass, and said, "That's all she remembers." The three ponies sat together mostly in silence after that. Cozy Glow looked from the Princess to Starlight, and said, "What... did I do exactly?"

Twilight and Starlight didn't answer. Instead, Twilight shut her eyes tightly while gradually getting louder with her call, "Discord!"

Only a moment later, they would see him plummeting to the ground below, striking the dirt head on, and after the impact, Twilight waited for the chaotic being to get himself dug out from the newly formed crater. "Honestly," he commented while yanking his leg free. "I wish Celestia and Luna had come up with a better way for you to summon me. This just feels like they did it because they knew it would irritate me!"

He gave Twilight a polite bow, and waved at Starlight, but then, he saw Cozy Glow. "Oh, yes, and hello... Cozy Glow?!"

"Eh... hehe..." Twilight tried to smile, but her lips turned back into a frown. "You'd better take a seat for this, Discord."

Snapping his fingers and laying out a sun chair for him to rest upon, he hovered some nice, buttery popcorn to his side, and said darkly, "Oh, this should be good."

They explained the situation to him while every once in a while, Discord would give Cozy Glow a wayward, unsure glance. When finished, all the draconequus would have to say is, "Twilight? Your mane looks absolutely divine today! Have you done something different to it recently?"

Twilight gave Discord a confused look, and said, "Huh?"

Starlight also looked at Twilight, and gasped. "H-he's right! Twilight, your mane. It's... shimmering!"

"Or, perhaps," Discord continued to say, "You've done something." His voice seemed sincere. "Something very good."

Twilight huffed, and said, "Something good? Discord, I just took the biggest chance of a lifetime by bringing Cozy back! How is that remotely good?!"

Laughing, Discord explained, "Because you did it for friendship. Don't you see? The statue was crying because they were real, actual tears. Celestia's and Luna's mane don't shine like that because they make it that way!" He latched onto some of Twilight's mane with his furry paw before speaking again. "It's a reflection of their good deeds, and it looks like you've done something grand, Twilight."

He let her go, and Twilight couldn't help but to feel content with herself. "But that still doesn't explain what happened to Cozy Glow's memories!"

He looked at the filly, stroking his thin beard in deep thought. "She, uh..." He then turned back around to face Starlight and Twilight, and confessed, "I don't actually know!"

At the same time, they both asked Discord stressfully, "WHAT?!"

He giggled, and said, "Well, what I mean to say is... it might be because this spell isn't like the one that's been used on myself. Thanks to my personal touch to the spell, they can't see or hear anything from the outside, and they can't communicate with one another either, but I'm fairly certain that I didn't wipe their minds! That is... memories."

Twilight suggested, "I guess that means we'd have to release one of the others so that we can find out if they're like Cozy."

Discord shook his head, and said, "Mmh, no, actually. See, I can hear them, but they can't hear me. Right now, for example, Chrysalis is cursing herself for putting her trust into Tirek and Cozy, and she's still plotting her revenge aimed at you, Twilight, for when she gets out."

Twilight and Starlight blinked at Discord several times, and then, Twilight asked, "So... you don't know how Cozy Glow lost her memory?"

Frowning, he said, "It's just as much of a mystery for me as it is for you. There's an ever so slight chance that my chaotic and unpredictable magic is to blame for this, but that's only if it was left unchecked." He allowed a few sparks of electricity to escape his claw, and stated mostly to Cozy Glow, "That's very unlikely."

Naturally, the filly was barely following along, and asked, "I was turned to stone?" She slowly looked behind her and saw the statue of Tirek while he cringed downwards at her. Cozy bounded back and bumped into Twilight while screaming in fear. Burying her muzzle, and hugging Twilight's two front hooves, she told them all, "I don't wanna be turned back to stone! That's the worst thing in the world! Please, you have to believe me! I don't know what any of you are talking about!"

Laying a hoof on the filly's wings, Twilight assured her, "We're not going to turn you back to stone, Cozy Glow. If you don't remember what you did, it just wouldn't be right to still try and punish you for it." With Cozy Glow's mane somewhat undone, she looked up at Twilight while the Princess offered her, "Do you want some ice cream to help cheer you up?"

As they headed for the front gate, even Discord would be surprised to hear Cozy Glow ask, "Ummm... What's ice cream?"

Chapter Three: Twitchy Equestria

It was impossible for Cozy Glow to keep track of how many different discomforting faces she saw that day. Walking through the afternoon bustle of Canterlot was hardly an enjoyable experience for her due to how many ponies stopped, and then simply stared at her.

Some of them even commented about it, saying things like, "It can't be."

Twilight even heard a rather charming looking mare ask her friend, "What's Princess Twilight doing with Cozy Glow?"

Twilight looked behind her, and at Cozy Glow. The filly asked, "Err... is everypony alright?" She looked around again, and asked, "Why is everypony acting this way?"

Twilight gulped, and just kept trotting faster and faster. "Cozy Glow," she said while rounding a corner. "I'll tell you what I can when we get to the ice cream shop." Eventually, they arrived at their destination. As they did, Twilight looked down at Cozy Glow, and said, "Just head on inside and sit down at the far corner. Can you do that for me?"

Cozy nodded at Twilight before leaving her side, and after she sat down, she watched as Twilight and her friends all got their own flavor of ice cream. Discord tried to order his scoop with spiderwebs inside of it which made Cozy Glow giggle, but they were fresh out. So, he turned whatever he got into spiderwebs instead.

Twilight came back holding two scoops, but Discord and Starlight sat at the other end of the shop. Sitting a bowl down in front of Cozy, she said, "I went ahead and got you tutti frutti. I saw you eating some of it when you used to attend my school."

Cozy didn't have anything to say. She simply started eating. Without smiling, she just slowly placed one small spoonful after another into her mouth and chewed.

Twilight continued, "I don't know much about you except... who you were before, and I hope this doesn't come off as too insulting, but the Cozy Glow that we knew... she wasn't exactly a nice pony." Twilight hadn't even placed a hoof on her spoon to try her ice cream. Instead, she put her hoof on her chest, and said, "Since all that has been erased, and you're free to start over, I just... I don't want to see you end up the way you were."

Cozy stopped eating her ice cream, and asked, "Huh?"

Twilight blinked, and asked, "Were you even listening?"

Cozy looked away promptly, and then returned her gaze to Twilight. "Sort of, but the taste of this... ice cream... is weird. Are you sure that you saw me eating this?"

Twilight nodded, and said, "I can't be sure if you even liked it, though, to be honest."

Cozy shrugged but kept eating it. After a few more bites, she said, "It's growing on me."

Twilight laughed lightly and watched as the filly continued to eat. Then, after a minute or so, she asked Cozy, "Are you sure you heard what I said?"

Cozy nodded, and asked, "What's a school?"

Twilight's smile went away, but nevertheless, she persevered, and explained what that was. After a few more lessons that followed, she'd be able to get to the actual story. Cozy listened rather politely, and once Twilight had finished, the Princess asked, "And you know what stone is, right?"

Cozy nodded. "Yes, Twilight..." She looked down, and some more of her mane uncurled. While it flopped downwards, and dangled in front of Cozy's face, she asked Twilight, "All that for... what again?"

Twilight grimaced, and said, "Revenge."

Cozy's face turned bleak. "Revenge?"

Twilight nodded, and said, "I just told you about it, but yes, that's what all three of you tried to achieve. You... misinterpreted friendship, allied with some of the worst, and most sinister villains in all of Equestria, all for extremely selfish gain. By then, your fate was out of my hooves, Cozy Glow."

The filly had stopped eating and placed the bowl down gently. She didn't necessarily look upset to Twilight. She seemed more as if she was still piecing together the puzzles. Either that, or she was trying to remember. "I, uh," she said with a raspy voice. She cleared her throat, and said again, "I'm so sorry... I don't really know what else to say." She looked away, blinking, and then asked, "Why can't I remember stuff?"

Twilight glanced towards Discord from across the room, and said, "Chances are... Discord's to blame."

Discord was busy laughing with Starlight at the time, which was something of a rare sight. Nevertheless, it was a welcomed sight to see by Twilight. Cozy Glow asked the Princess, "Why's that?"

Twilight looked back at the filly, and explained, "He likes to brag about how great his magic is, but we've seen what happens when he leaves his magic unchecked. Since he's also tampered with the spell, we can't necessarily dismiss the possibility that he's to blame after all."

Cozy nodded, and said, "Okay, but I really can't remember any of this."

Twilight nodded back, and said, "I know, Cozy. I'm planning on making an official explanation to everypony soon, but please, don't be alarmed if ponies react to you... differently." She sighed, and said, "Which brings us... to the next thing on our list."

Cozy asked, "What's that?"

Twilight looked out the window, and towards the east side of town. "Rarity's going to be your caretaker." Cozy stared at Twilight curiously. "She can be a bit... eccentric at times."

Cozy Glow sighed, and commented, "I don't see why she has to be my caretaker, then. Why can't it be you, Twilight? You're so... kind, and thoughtful."

Twilight smiled at those remarks, and said, "Thank you, but you'll come to learn that Rarity's every bit as kind as me, and more. She's my most generous friend." Twilight finally reached for her spoon to take a bite from her melted ice cream but stopped just in time. She then used her magic to restore its frosty texture and temperature. "Mmh," she hummed as she continued eating.

Cozy breathed in deeply before saying, "There has to be more."

Twilight nodded, and said in between her bites, "She has a sister, and she's visiting for about a week."

Cozy's eyebrows raised, and she voiced, "Oh... What's her name?"

Twilight then said, "Sweetie Belle, and she's about your age. You may want to start with apologizing to her for locking her in that closet."

Cozy Glow's face became animated, and she said, "You haven't told me about that, Twilight."

"Oh, sorry," Twilight said after gulping down more of her treat. "I forgot a few smaller details like that..."

Twilight wrapped things up with Cozy Glow in time, but by then, more ponies had come into the establishment, so Discord and Starlight came up to Twilight to see if she and Cozy Glow were ready. They made their way to the exit, but not before Cozy Glow got even more attention than earlier, so the group had to make it to Rarity's Canterlot Boutique in a hurry.

Twilight's group had finally arrived. Before knocking on the door, though, Twilight hesitated, and asked aloud, "Perhaps somepony at Ponyville will do instead."

Discord glanced at her while she continued.

"But, then again, on such short notice-"

"I'm sorry," Discord interrupted. "What are you doing?"

Twilight gave him an unamused look, and stated, "I'm trying to figure things out!"

He replied, "But why are you talking to yourself? Is that really necessary?" He looked at Starlight, and asked, "Who else does that? Am I right, Starlight?"

The unicorn chuckled sheepishly, and bluffed, "Oh, not me! Err, Twilight does it constantly."

He smiled at her, and then looked back at Twilight who said, "Oh, fine! Rarity will do." She knocked on the door and waited for an answer. "Besides, she'll understand that I've got too much work already to also be taking care of Cozy Glow."

Soon, the door opened, and Rarity invited them from inside, "Come in, Twilight! I'm in the back, and I haven't finished that dress for you yet if that's what you're here for."

Twilight smiled while walking in, and said to Rarity, "That's okay. That's actually not why we're here."

Rarity came around from the other room and stopped dead in her tracks the second she saw Cozy Glow. With a sharp gasp, and a look to Twilight, Rarity asked, "What is she doing here? Twilight, have you gone mad?"

Twilight shook her head, and said, "No, and try to calm down."

Before Twilight could get another word in, Rarity asked sharply, "Calm down?! Twilight, have you forgotten what she tried to do? What they might have done to poor Spikey Wikey's wings? She seemed perfectly alright with Chrysalis ripping them clean off his backside!"

Cozy Glow backed away nearly into the wall, and Twilight huffed at that remark, and had to nod. However, she replied, "That doesn't matter now, though. Listen, Rarity..." She stopped and stared at Twilight and the others. Just then, Sweetie Belle came around the corner, and heard Twilight tell Rarity, "Cozy Glow has lost her memory."

"What?" Rarity asked.

"She doesn't remember anything," Twilight resumed. "And I just got done explaining everything to her in an ice cream parlor. Look... I know how you're going to feel about this, but still... I need you to take care of Cozy Glow for me."

Rarity nearly gasped yet again, but instead, she kept herself just about as composed as she could've, and simply inhaled. "Oh," she voiced with closed eyes. "I... know why you're choosing me, Twilight, but..." She opened her eyes while rolling them, and said, "Why does it have to be me?"

Twilight giggled, and said, "I kind of need you for this." She looked towards Cozy, and said, "Besides, I've been testing her all this time, and my magic says that she's telling me the truth." She looked back at Rarity, and asked, "Do you think you can do this for me? It's not like I'd be very far away."

Rarity smiled, and looked at Cozy, and then at Discord. "Well... of course I'll do this for you Twilight. Although, I have to ask... Why is Discord here?"

Twilight looked from Rarity to Discord, and said, "Oh, uh..."

Discord jokingly said, "I think Twilight just likes having me along."

Twilight replied, "I do not! Starlight's the one who's been enjoying your company."

Starlight had wandered off and was looking at dresses. She poked her head out from the rows and rows of fabric to ask, "What's that, Twilight? You called me?"

Twilight snickered, and replied, "No, Starlight. Go back to what you were doing." She then averted her attention back to Rarity, and said, "Besides, Discord was just tagging along in case something... strange happened."

Rarity nodded with a smile while saying, "I know, darling. I was only teasing. Anyways..." She looked at Cozy Glow with a puzzled expression. "I suppose I'll show you to your room. That is, if there's nothing else..."

Cozy looked from Rarity to Twilight, and asked, "This is where I'll be staying?"

That's when Sweetie Belle ran down the halls all of the sudden. Rarity voiced to the others, "Uh-oh... She was probably eavesdropping. I'll go talk to her about this. Cozy Glow?"

The filly looked at Rarity, and nervously started to approach her. "Yes, Rarity?"

"I'll be with you momentarily." As she spoke, Starlight and Discord began showing themselves out. "Your room is upstairs, and to your left. It's the first door you see once you reach the second floor."

Cozy nodded contently, and then turned to Twilight while Rarity walked off. "Uhm... Will you come to visit me?"

Twilight gulped while thinking about the various duties she had. Modestly, she said, "I'll try, but I've got a lot of work to do. Don't worry, though. I'll visit you again as soon as I can."

Cozy nodded, and following that conversation, Twilight headed for the door. Before leaving Rarity's Canterlot Boutique, she looked back at Cozy Glow, and waved. The filly waved back with a slight smile, and then Twilight closed the door. Cozy's smile went away, and for the first time since being freed from stone, she was all alone. She looked around, and towards the stairs that would take her to her room, but for a second, she didn't move. She just sat there.

Slowly, she breathed, wondering to herself, "How am I going to fix all of this? Is that even something that I can do? Twilight's going to tell Equestria about my innocence, but... I managed to hide my feelings back in the ice cream shop, but... that was a lot of bad things that I've done!"

She stood up and started towards her room. While trotting up the stairs, she continued thinking, "I have a feeling that not everypony is just going to up and forgive me."

She closed the door behind herself and laid down on the bed to wait for Rarity to finish with Sweetie Belle. Rarity wouldn't get the chance to talk to Cozy Glow again that day, however, because upon entering Cozy's room, Rarity would catch the filly fast asleep, and snuggled up with at least six or seven pillows. Considering the kind of day Cozy Glow had just experienced, Rarity wasn't about to wake her up, and after extinguishing the lights, she left the filly to her peaceful slumber.

Chapter Four: Chess

Light shined dimly into the room that Cozy Glow occupied, and as she shifted, she opened her eyes, and blinked a few times before stretching. The room was somewhat cluttered with a couple of boxes stacked on top of one another against the walls. The only window was right next to the bed, and underneath was a nightstand. On top of that was a crisply planted, purple flower. Cozy Glow got out of bed and looked around some more. There was a closet with only a few dresses, a rather old looking makeup table for fillies, and something sitting on the ground in front of the door.

She walked by the makeup table, and thought, "I wonder how I used to do my mane. These stupid tassels kept pulling on me and woke me up a few times last night."

She yanked the last remaining pieces of cloth from out of her hair and huffed while looking into the mirror. She blinked a few times at herself and reached for the comb. A couple of knots got in her way at first, but those came loose after a few strokes forward in front, and then downwards in the back. She looked at her reflection and felt butterflies in her stomach. "Oh, wow," she said, shaking a little. "That's, uh... m-much better."

She smiled in the mirror and watched as a tear slid down her cheek. She hastily rubbed her eye and fought back her sobs. Breathing, she looked back at the box sitting by itself on the floor and came up to it slowly.

She read aloud, "Chess..."

The word rang in her ears as if she had heard it before, but that simply wasn't possible. She couldn't remember what the game was about, and as she sat, learning the basics on the back of the box, she began to find that she was bizarrely accustomed to it. She challenged herself in games, and soon, found herself in a delicate struggle for both sides.

Cozy just stood there, staring at the board with all of the little pieces on it. She blinked, pacing the floor, and then said while bringing a hoof up to her chin, "It's a complete stalemate..."

Her hoof lowered, and she sighed. She sat there for a moment longer, staring at the chess board with a curious expression. That's when the door knocked, scaring Cozy Glow, and nearly causing her to step on the board. She huffed, and said, "Yes, come in."

To her surprise, it wasn't Rarity. Instead, it was this nice-looking filly with a rather interesting looking cutie mark. She didn't smile very much, and after the door closed behind her, she merely stared at Cozy Glow with unsure eyes. She looked Cozy Glow up and down, and then looked at the chess board next to her.

"Uhm," Cozy spoke up. "H-hi..." Sweetie Belle blinked after looking back at Cozy, but she still didn't say a word, so Cozy Glow decided to introduce herself. "I'm Cozy Glow." Again, there was nothing but silence. Cozy Glow then looked back at the chess pieces, and then back at the filly, and said, "You... must be Sweetie Belle."

The filly across the room almost seemed to grimace, but then, she said, "Uh, yeah, but..." Cozy gulped as Sweetie asked, "Have you really lost your memory? I mean, I heard what Twilight said, but... is that really true?" Sweetie's muzzle scrunched as she asked, "Did that really happen to you?"

Cozy's mouth opened ajar, and as she tried to find the right words, more silence fell upon the room once more. Slowly, she said, "I've, uh... been trying really hard to figure out a way to say sorry. But..."

Sweetie started approaching Cozy. "But...?"

Standing right in front of just one of the many ponies she had wronged, Cozy admitted with tears running down her face, "I..." She shook, but managed to say, "I don't... know how to say sorry for something like this! I just... don't! Something... this wrong, and it's something that I can't even remember!"

Cozy started to collapse, but Sweetie caught her while saying, "Whoa, there! It's... okay, Cozy Glow."

"No," she said, hugging back. "It's not alright." She sobbed, "N-nothing's okay with this! I'm just... so sorry, Sweetie... for trapping you in a... a closet!"

She latched onto the young unicorn and although Sweetie Belle at first had her doubts towards Cozy Glow despite what Rarity had told her, those doubts were now beginning to wither away. She patted Cozy Glow on the back, and said, "You're taking it... too harshly." Cozy Glow whispered something, but Sweetie Belle couldn't make out the words, so she asked, "Huh?"

"I just wanna be accepted, you know? Just... start over."

Sweetie Belle breathed in deeply and pushed her dislike for the old Cozy Glow aside. "Sure," she said. Cozy Glow looked up, and into Sweetie Belle's eyes. "Of course we can start over." She then gave Sweetie a strong hug, saying, "We can totally start over, Cozy."

This helped Cozy Glow settle down a little bit, and Sweetie even felt a few tears escape, too, so she brought the two of them napkins with her magic to wipe their eyes with. Sweetie asked Cozy, "Umm, is this chess?"

Cozy nodded, and after pulling herself together, she said, "Yep! Uh, it's, uh... just a game that I've been playing."

Sweetie looked at the whole set up, and asked, "You do know it's supposed to be a two-player game, right?"

Cozy nodded with a shy expression. "Ye-yes, of course, but... I think I've gotten really good!"

Sweetie Belle said, "Well, that's cool, but... I hardly play chess, so I'd probably be a lousy challenge for you."

Cozy frowned while looking down, and said, "Oh..."

"But, uh, hey," Sweetie said in order to get Cozy's attention. "There are a lot more things to enjoy than just chess games. Have you seen the rest of my sister's shop?"

Cozy shook her head, and said, "No, just the front entrance."

Grabbing Cozy by the hoof, Sweetie Belle offered, "Why don't I give you the grand tour? I might even be able to fill you in on a few things along the way."

Cozy didn't really have time to agree, because they were already headed out of the room together.

The two fillies wandered into the backyard. Clouds overhead dimmed the setting, and as Cozy looked all around at the gates blocking her from the outside world, Sweetie Belle said, "Finally, we have my back yard! It's wide, not too much grass, and best of all... the highest fences! So, nopony except for Rarity will bother us here while we're playing. Isn't that neat?"

Cozy nodded while she walked around, and then asked, "Sweetie Belle?"

"Yes?"

Cozy hesitated, but then asked boldly, "How... long will I have to wait until other ponies forget what I've done?"

Sweetie Belle had been smiling, but after hearing that, she'd say, "Oh, well, uh..."

"Not that I think ponies just up and forget stuff all the time! What I mean is... Like, will I ever be accepted?"

Sweetie belle breathed and looked around as it started to sprinkle. "I... think anything is possible... That is, I mean..." She gulped before continuing, "I think I'm over who you were. You... You're just not her anymore." She looked into Cozy's eyes, and said, "If I can forgive you for your misdeeds... especially considering the fact that you don't even remember any of it anymore... I don't see why anypony else would hold it against you."

Cozy nodded, and asked, "Really?"

Sweetie nodded as well, and said, "Yeah, but you've gotta continue to prove to other ponies that you've changed. That... might be hard, but I'm willing to help you. You know... we're not staying here in Canterlot, right?"

Cozy's head tilted, and she asked, "Huh?"

Sweetie nodded with closed eyes, and said, "Yeah... You see, unfortunately, my sister just told me yesterday that we'll be headed back to Ponyville in a week, but we'll be back in Canterlot sometime! You should just, uh, because we're moving, try not to get used to it here. You know?"

Cozy sighed, and said, "Okay, I suppose."

"But, hey," Sweetie Belle said reassuringly. "I've got some friends in Ponyville that'll help us clear your name! It'll, uh, just take some convincing... Probably..."

Sweetie began leading the way back into the house as it began raining, and while she was lost in thought, Cozy Glow wandered towards the stairs. She looked at Sweetie Belle to ask, "Do you wanna come up stairs with me and learn how to play chess?"

Sweetie looked up at Cozy Glow, and said, "Eh, sure, why not? I can write my letter to my friends while we play."

She came up the stairs, and after finding some paper and a pencil to write with, she'd head on back and around the corner. Sweetie also mentioned to Cozy while entering the room, "I can also tell you all about them! So, how does this work? Is it anything like checkers?"

The door started closing slowly behind the two, and Cozy Glow could be heard from down the hall asking Sweetie Belle, "What's checkers?"

Their time together pressed on quicker than Cozy would've liked, but in only a week, she, Sweetie Belle and Rarity would be leaving Canterlot behind. In that week, Cozy waited for Twilight to visit her nearly every day, but Twilight never did find the time. She even had one of her guards come and pick up the dress from Rarity's Boutique for her. Despite that depressing her, Sweetie Belle helped distract Cozy at times. On moving day, Cozy Glow felt sad to momentarily put Canterlot behind her, but at the same time, she felt curious towards what her life in Ponyville would be like.

Chapter Five: The Clash of the Crusaders

A serene fog loomed over the town of Ponyville the day Cozy returned. Rarity was riding in her own Caravan, and Sweetie Belle rode along with Cozy Glow to keep her company. Strong rays of light awoke the pegasus while flickering in front of her tightly shut eyes.

So that the two fillies could sleep underneath the stars, their caravan tent had been taken down the night before, and as they went under a few tall standing trees that morning, Cozy got up from where she was nestled. She said to Sweetie Belle, "Hey, you awake? I think we're here."

Sweetie blinked her eyes as they ran over a rock and stirred. Sleepily, she asked her friend, "Already?" She rubbed her eyes, and then looked around. Cozy Glow thought that Sweetie Belle would be happy to see her very own hometown, but not a single smile was given. Instead, she just kept looking all around the city. She seemed worried, as if she had done something wrong.

After passing by the old Castle of Friendship, she saw Cozy Glow staring at her, and sighed, "I guess there's no holding back any longer... You know how I've been messaging those friends of mine that I mentioned earlier?"

Cozy thought for a second, and then said, "Uh-huh."

"Well," Sweetie Belle said nervously. "I have a confession to make... They haven't been messaging me back."

Cozy blinked from across the caravan, and asked timidly, "They... haven't?"

"No," Sweetie Belle replied slowly. "And what's worse is... I'm pretty sure that they got my letters. They've always messaged me back while I was away. I think..." She looked over as they went by Scootaloo's house, and finished, "I think that as soon as we're unpacked... Do you wanna go searching for them? This feels... kinda urgent."

Cozy gave Sweetie Belle a worried look, and asked, "You don't think... they just ignored the letters, do you?"

Sweetie gulped, and said, "I don't know, Cozy, but I hope not."

The rest of the ride to the Carousel Boutique was peaceful, though. Rarity woke up sometime after Cozy and Sweetie had stopped talking and came out to greet the two fillies. Birds chirped happily above the caravans as they were pulled along through Ponyville. A few early citizens were already getting busy with the day's work, and some ponies didn't stop yawning. Cozy observed Roseluck strolling along with a few flowers in her muzzle, and as the pony rounded a corner, so did they.

Cozy waited patiently for them to arrive at the boutique, and when they finally did, she'd be surprised to see how differently it looked compared to the other boutique that Rarity owned. They got out, and Cozy looked around while Rarity tipped the two ponies that had pulled her caravans along all the way from Canterlot. Cozy couldn't be sure why, but she had this strange feeling as though she were being watched.

"Cozy?"

"Huh?" she asked while looking away from the bushes.

Rarity stood before her curiously. "What is it, darling?"

She shook her head, and said, "I-it's nothing, really." As she started to walk with Rarity, Cozy Glow mentioned, "By the way, thank you for getting me that book. The dictionary is helping me a lot!"

Rarity smiled happily, and said, "I thought you might like it."

Entering the boutique, Cozy continued to say, "I even learned this one word... What was it called again?"

Rarity hummed along, tending right away to her many dresses. "Oh? What might that word be?"

Like a ghost from Rarity's past, Cozy Glow said, "Gollies!"

"Eep!"

Rarity shuffled a few times as she lost her balance and fidgeted with the rack. Cozy gasped, and then said, "A-are you alright?"

Rarity mumbled, "Y-yes, d-darling..."

"Like, right now. I'd use Golly to describe my surprise at what just happened."

"Cozy Glow? Precious?" Rarity asked. "Don't..."

Rarity got down, and just stood still for a moment. Cozy, innocent as ever, asked, "Don't what?"

Rarity didn't respond right away. She bleakly looked at Cozy, trying hard not to scowl. "Just..." She felt herself tremble as she held back her emotions. "Just don't... use that word, darling..."

She then held onto her muzzle dramatically while shutting her eyes tightly, and then, she ran off to her room leaving Cozy Glow alone with all the dresses and boxes still left to unpack. Sweetie came inside with a few of her things, and said, "Are you gonna come get your toys?"

Cozy walked outside with Sweetie following closely behind her. "Your sister is acting funny again."

Sweetie sighed while rolling her eyes, and asked, "Ugh, what is it this time?"

Cozy blinked, unsure of how she should answer this question. So, she merely stated quite bluntly, "I said Gollies to her."

Sweetie grabbed a few of her things while Cozy grabbed some as well. "I, uh don't see why... Oh, wait a minute."

They both stopped, and Cozy asked, "Huh?"

"It's because... I think you used to say that. Like, a whole lot."

Cozy blinked a few times. Smiling, she said sweetly, "Well, you have to admit, it's a nice term."

Sweetie shook her head as they went back inside, and said, "It's not about it's charm. You used it a lot, so if you start using it now... ponies might not think that you've really changed. Or that you're not going to change."

Cozy nodded while they went into Sweetie Belle's bedroom. There was another mattress and frame tucked away somewhere inside the establishment, but not any prepared quarters for Cozy Glow to sleep in, so the two of them had already agreed with Rarity on them sharing Sweetie's. "I suppose that makes... oh, whoa..."

Cozy looked around at the decorations and beamed at how many toys Sweetie Belle had. The unicorn standing across from her smiled, and said, "This... is what a real little girl's bedroom looks like."

Cozy observed Sweetie's large bed, and her mirror which had been coated with pictures of her friends. The walls even had pretty decorations on them, and the more Cozy looked at everything, the more jittery she felt. "It's... beautiful, Sweetie..."

She came up to the mirror while Sweetie continued to speak. "Yeah, well, now it's your room, too. Uh, feel free to check out some of my toys, or... play with my dressing table." She lost herself as she spoke, and accidentally whispered, "I've, uh... always wanted a sister that's my very own age."

Cozy hadn't heard that last part, and said, "These must be those friends you were talking about."

Sweetie came closer to Cozy Glow, and said, "Yup, that's them alright! These are only a few of the crazy adventures we've had." Cozy saw Sweetie with not just ponies, but she started seeing her with all these different creatures, too. She gasped suddenly and backed away. Sweetie looked at Cozy who was turning white as a ghost, and asked, "What? Cozy, what is it?"

Cozy looked from Sweetie to the mirror, and then Sweetie looked at which picture Cozy had seen. Her jaw dropped. She couldn't even really fathom how such a thing was still left hanging up there, but there it was. It was Cozy Glow's picture from back when she was attending the school of friendship, and she just smiled back at the camera perfectly. Her mane was done with those tassels keeping any strands of hair in place, and even her charismatic attitude shined brilliantly through the photograph. Sweetie didn't know what to say. That was because back at Canterlot, Rarity only kept Twilight's most recent post about Cozy Glow around. Cozy Glow had actually never seen herself from before being turned into a statue.

Cozy Glow, asked, "Is that... me?" She looked at Sweetie, and asked, "That's me, isn't it?"

Sweetie looked down and nodded. "Err... yeah, it is."

Cozy closed her distance with the picture once more and looked at it deeply. "Golly, huh? That's what I said all the time?"

Sweetie replied, "Uh, yeah. A lot, actually." She breathed, and said, "Look, Rarity doesn't let you see or read stuff about you because she's scared it'll upset you. To be honest, all things considered, I don't blame her for doing that."

Cozy looked at her friend, and asked, "Why?"

"Because," Sweetie said, looking down. "I know you can't remember it, but just consider everything that you've heard about yourself... Your old self, that is."

"Okay?" Cozy Glow answered.

"Good," Sweetie said slowly. "Now, I'm going to say this because... I care about you, and unlike some ponies that might be holding back, I'll actually tell you how it is. Okay?"

Cozy nodded, and said, "Okay..."

Sweetie huffed, and said, "However terrible you think you were... You were worse." Cozy blinked but continued to listen. "You were so... manipulative and focused on the negative that you didn't see any point in the true meaning of friendship. You thought that..." She grumbled, and forced herself to ask, "Has... Twilight t-told you what you thought friendship was? What it really was?"

Cozy shook her head, and said, "No, I... don't think so."

Sweetie looked back, and said, "You thought friendship was power at one point, but then, after that, from what I've heard... you just wanted revenge."

Cozy shook her head, and admitted, "I don't remember Twilight telling me about that. I mean, she told me about the school, and that I lost it, but... I guess that's what she meant when she said that I had really lost it completely." She frowned at first, but then chuckled, and said, "I looked so fantastic, didn't I?"

Sweetie nodded while looking back at the picture. "Yeah, you did."

Cozy then said, "Well, one thing's for sure... I'm never wearing my hair like that ever again!"

Sweetie laughed along, and asked, "You don't like it?"

Cozy walked away from the mirror, and hopped up onto the bed while saying boldly, "Who wants to go through all that work? I must've spent hours fixing up my mane just to look a certain way. I've been enjoying just combing it!"

Sweetie got onto the bed as well, and said, "Well, there's advantages to doing your mane a certain way."

Cozy nodded at that remark, and said, "I suppose so, but still..." Her mind trailed for a second, and she found herself asking, "I must've just been doing my mane to fool everypony, huh?"

Sweetie frowned, and said, "Yeah, probably, Cozy." They then sat there on the bed together silently. Rays of light shined visibly through the window curtains thanks to all of the dust that had just been scattered. "Say, Cozy?" Sweetie Belle asked nervously. "I-if it'll help you in getting over the old Cozy Glow... I can help."

Cozy asked, "How?"

Sweetie took a fairly deep breath before revealing her secret. "I know... where Rarity keeps a few old newspapers." She gulped, and looked at the door, but then she looked back at Cozy to say, "She hasn't thrown them out yet because we've been away, and most of them were about you. I might... also have some news clippings, and a few school newspapers tucked away in the back of my closet that Rarity probably still doesn't know about."

Cozy's eyes grew wider and wider the more Sweetie told her, and she asked, "You do? Where's the other news papers?"

Sweetie said, "They're in a box stashed away in our attic. You know the string that's hanging from the ceiling just outside my door? That's how we can get up there, but Rarity might hear us if we try, so... we'll just have to wait until she's away. Besides, if you're going to look into what you did, you should probably start with the beginning anyways."

Cozy agreed to that, but then said while bringing her hoof up to her muzzle, "Although, I wonder if I should even bother looking into something like this."

"Well," Sweetie voiced. "I hate to distract you, but we really should be heading on out to look for my friends. Remember?"

Cozy's cheeks went red with embarrassment, and she said, "Oh, yeah, I might've forgotten... I'm sorry, Sweetie!"

The unicorn pushed Cozy Glow playfully, stating, "That's what they all say! First, forgot who you are; then you forgot what we were gonna do today! What am I gonna do with you?"

Sweetie then swung a pillow at Cozy, but she caught it and began swinging it back at Sweetie Belle. As their pillow fight came to an end, they both giggled happily together, and Sweetie then said, "C'mon, we should go."

As Sweetie got off of the bed, Cozy followed behind closely, and said shyly, "Okay... Sounds cool."

Through the streets the two walked, and since Scootaloo's place was closer, they headed there first. They'd be surprised, though, to find out from Scootaloo's aunts that she wasn't home, and that they hadn't heard of any letters from Sweetie. Actually, they were quite surprised to see her back in town.

Headed out from the house, and thanking the two for helping them, Sweetie Belle said, "That... wasn't very comforting, Cozy."

The pegasus nodded in agreement, and asked, "Where do you think they are?"

Sweetie began trotting, and said, "We'll just have to check in at Apple Bloom's. If she's not there... We'll check the club house."

The trip to the Apple Family Orchard would prove just a fruitless as the one to Scootaloo's place. Again, Applejack had the same story, and seemed surprised to see Sweetie Belle, but not as surprised as she was to see her with somepony like Cozy Glow. "And what in tarnation're you doing with... her? Have you really... lost your marbles, little filly?"

"Memories," Sweetie Belle corrected. "And yes, she has, but that's not important right now! You haven't seen Apple Bloom all day?"

Applejack shook her head, and asked, "Why haven't you gone to the club house yet? Or did you already check there?"

Sweetie gulped, and said, "I just... thought this might've worked faster. Anyways, we should be off."

As Sweetie walked off, and Applejack got back to her chores, Cozy stood there for a second before following along. She then asked, "Say, Sweetie Belle?"

Sweetie looked to Cozy nervously, and asked, "Hmm?"

"You okay?" Cozy Glow asked. "I know how you must feel, but they've gotta be somewhere. Right? Let's just go check the clubhouse, and if they're not there, we'll figure something else out."

Despite the pep talk, Sweetie was still feeling unsure about all of this. Eventually, they would arrive at the clubhouse, and while they went up, Sweetie Belle mentioned to Cozy, "I'm not sure what's going to happen, but..." Cozy Glow helped her up, and Sweetie Belle finished, "If they really have been ignoring my letters..."

Cozy interrupted Sweetie Belle by saying, "I understand completely."

They both looked at the door, and Sweetie Belle walked up to it, gently knocked, and then asked, "Hello?"

From beyond the thin wood, they could head scuffling, and voices. Sweetie could even tell that it was Apple Bloom and Scootaloo in there, and heard Apple Bloom say, "Ah just... don't think this is a good idea, Scoots."

"Shh! They'll hear us."

"Uh," Sweetie Belle said, feeling offended. "We already did, and what're you two doing in there? We've been looking for you all day." A quick moment of silence went by, and then Sweetie asked nervously, "D-did... you two even read my letters?"

Again, only silence followed. Cozy felt chills run down her hooves, but despite that, she said, "Sweetie must've wrote you, like, every day. Why would you ignore her?"

Sweetie looked behind her, and said, "It's probably because they still don't trust you. Which... if you two had read my letters, you'd understand what's going on." She huffed, and said louder than before, "I thought we were friends!"

Scootaloo spoke up after hearing that, and pointed out, "We are friends, Sweetie Belle! But we're not friends with Cozy. She's... pulling a trick, or something! I got your letter, but I didn't need to read much to figure out what's going on."

Sweetie lowered her head, and asked coldly, "You didn't read much?" She looked back up at the door, and asked, "Well? How much did you read?"

At that point, they heard Apple Bloom say, "What? Don't look at me! Just... tell them, Scoots."

"Okay," Scootaloo said timidly. "I, uh... only read a sentence or two."

Sweetie Belle huffed again and backed away. "A... sentence..."

"And... then I panicked, and uhh..."

Apple Bloom spoke up after that, and said, "She wouldn't let me read my letters! Even though Twilight gave Equestria her word, for some reason, we still thought that we would've been brainwashed if we believed any of those stories made up about her, but this just doesn't feel right anymore. Scoots and Ah wanna know... Did she... really lose her memory? That's what Ah accidentally read in the news. Ah was really convinced when Ah heard her say that she was reading some dictionary! Sweetie Belle?"

Cozy Glow stepped up, and asked with concern, "Wait a second... You two were spying on us?"

From the other side, Apple Bloom could be heard saying, "Ah... might've seen Rarity's caravan pull up. Ah just, sorta... hid in the bushes." It went quiet for a second, and then Apple Bloom said, "Ah'd like to add that Ah really am starting to regret all of my recent decisions that Ah've made these past few days."

The unicorn just sighed, shaking her head, and said, "Scoots, Apple Bloom... You'd know it in your hearts that Cozy was harmless if you had just read my letters. Scoots, you shouldn't have freaked out, and Apple Bloom... You should've been more trusting of me." She blinked, and added, "Also, spying on ponies is wrong. I knew we did it a whole lot when we were really little, but we're grown now."

She waited a moment for a reply, and then Scoots said, "That's a little harsh on Apple Bl-"

However, she was cut off by Sweetie Belle yelling, "I don't wanna hear it from you two!" Cozy gasped, and backed away, but Sweetie Belle wasn't done. She turned around and bucked the door harshly. It didn't give way, but it certainly did startle the two fillies inside, and then Sweetie Belle said, "Cozy really has lost her memory, by the way, but I'd rather have her over you two, and do you know why? Because unlike the two of you, she hasn't gone completely crazy!"

She was in such a fuss that she actually managed to teleport herself and Cozy Glow right off of the clubhouse porch, and back down to the solid ground in front. They began walking off after that with Sweetie Belle leading the way, and Scootaloo and Apple Bloom came out hastily. They stood there watching the other two walking off, and Apple Bloom said, "Ah don't think that was well planned."

Scootaloo grumbled, and said, "Oh, alright! C'mon, we gotta go talk to her!"

As she took off, she heard Apple Bloom mention, "Ah hate to say it, but this might be our very first real fight. Isn't it?"

Scootaloo gulped and quickened her pace. "Can we really be sure, though? Can we really trust Cozy Glow? What if... this is all part of some huge, elaborate plan, and she's actually just playing with everypony again? Like she's always done!"

Apple Bloom matched the pace, and said with some sweat sliding down her cheek, "Ah think... we'll just have to take a leap of faith on this... We'll just have to take that chance."

Scootaloo commented, "That's easier said than done."

Sweetie and Cozy Glow were found together in front of a pink statue of a mare. They waited, but only because of something that Cozy Glow had said. It was almost enough to bring Sweetie Belle to her senses. Almost, but not quite enough.

"I don't want to be the one who broke you three up!"

With that said, Sweetie had stopped walking and stood while listening to the rippling water. "You didn't do anything, Cozy," Sweetie said as she shook her head.

Cozy replied, "I got involved with your life." A few passersby, and traders at their booths took notice to the two as they spoke. "That happened, and now, this is happening because of me. Don't tell me that I didn't do anything, Sweetie." She looked away, and said, "I know I've done things. Things that... I wish I could take back, but I can't. All I can do now is... try and make things right again... as best as I can."

Sweetie nodded, and said, "I know, but you're not the one who told them to ignore my letters. You're not the one who made that call for them. They made that choice all on their own. And now..." She looked off into the distance where she could see her fellow crusaders, and said, "Now... I don't know what to do."

Apple Bloom ran up followed by Scootaloo. "There you two are," Scootaloo said.

"Sweetie Belle?" Apple Bloom asked nervously. "Ah know we messed up. We're both really sorry!"

"Yeah," Scootaloo chimed. "We're, uh... even willing to give Cozy Glow a chance."

Sweetie had been looking at the grass beneath her muzzle, but after hearing this, she looked up at them, and said, "Are you really gonna give her a chance, though?" She shook her head, and said, "I just... find it hard to believe."

"Because, we-" Apple Bloom began to say, but she was cut off by Sweetie Belle finally exploding.

She spoke up, and louder than her friend, "Because I find it very hard to believe that anypony else but me, my sisters, starlight, and Twilight are going to really trust her!"

Cozy said, "Also, Discord. I suppose he counts."

Sweetie continued to get louder and louder. "Twilight used a spell on her to make sure she wasn't lying! You-" She stammered, "You should've seen her jump at her picture! I thought she was about to pass out. Oh, but nopony is going to believe it. You two didn't even bother to read my letters! It was even in the news from Princess Twilight herself! Instead of trusting me, you two panicked, and assumed the worst! What? That Cozy... brainwashed me?"

Apple Bloom hoofed at the ground with guilt, and admitted, "It's definitely... starting to sound silly."

Scoots commented, "Well, the whole brain washing was your idea."

"Was not," Apple Bloom said in shock.

"Yeah-huh," was Scootaloo's reply. "It was day one. You heard me say Cozy Glow's name, and..."

"Oh," Apple Bloom said with deep realization. "Yeah, uh... I remember that now."

Sweetie was then heard growling, and she yelled to the two, "I don't care who's idea it was! You're both equally at fault in my book!" Cozy Glow began to back up. "Although, you wanna know something interesting? I'm not the one you need to apologize to."

Cozy turned just as Scootaloo asked Sweetie Belle, "Huh?"

Sweetie said with an unpleasant scowl, "You need to say sorry to..." She looked at the filly who was now galloping for the Carousel Boutique, and finished, "Cozy Glow..."

Sweetie extended her hoof, but by then, the filly was too far away from them for Sweetie to catch up. She looked back at the two with tears, and rage in her eyes. As she began crying, she shouted at the two of them, "This is all your fault!"

She sobbed and collapsed to the ground. Shaking her head, she felt the hooves of her closest friends nearly catch her and embrace her in a hug. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo didn't say anything. They just held onto Sweetie Belle, and cried along, worried that their friendship could come to an end.

Sweetie Belle began to say again, "This is all-"

She was cut off, however, by Apple Bloom saying, "We know. We messed up, alright?"

"Yeah," Scootaloo said. "Is that what you wanna hear? Of course we'll go apologize to Cozy Glow, too." She squeezed Sweetie Belle, and said, "We shouldn't have doubted you in the first place."

"We shouldn't have doubted Cozy Glow, either," Apple Bloom added.

Sweetie sniffled, and calming down, she then said, "Alright, okay... You know that I'll forgive you. Just... go ahead. I'm worried about her."

The two let go of Sweetie Belle, and backed away while smiling, their cheeks wet with tears. Then, since it's where Cozy Glow seemed to be headed off to, they started towards the Carousel Boutique. Sweetie just watched, regretting that she had allowed her old friends as well as her new friend to see that side of her.

Inside the Carousel Boutique, Rarity was busy showing a customer her wares. When Scootaloo and Apple Bloom came running by, Rarity shouted out, "Be with you in a moment."

Apple Bloom replied before going upstairs, "It's just us! We'll be in Sweetie Belle's Room with Cozy!"

Hearing this, Rarity swiftly returned her attention to her client, and the fillies opened the door above her. Lying on the bed was the pegasus that they had come to see. Although she had her back facing them, that didn't stop Apple Bloom from entering followed by Scootaloo. "Heya," Scootaloo said first.

Apple Bloom got fairly close to the sobbing filly, and said, "We... came to hopefully try and patch things up."

Cozy turned around and got herself as comfortable as she could. Looking into Apple Bloom's eyes, and then Scootaloo's eyes, too, she asked, "You know what's funny?"

They both shook their heads, and Scootaloo asked, "What?"

Cozy looked down. She had stopped crying for the time being, and said, "Despite what you did... What Sweetie Belle thinks you did... I'm the one who should be saying sorry." She looked back at Apple Bloom, and said, "I'm the one who trapped you three in a closet. That was... you two as well, right? That's only one of many things that I should be apologizing for."

Scootaloo couldn't help but to glance away when Cozy looked her way, but Apple Bloom managed to find the strength to ask, "Is that why you ran away? You think that you should be the one apologizing?" Cozy didn't say anything. "You... did do a lot, but if you've forgotten... Truly forgotten... Ah mean..."

Scootaloo finished for Apple Bloom, "We'll just have to take that chance. Y'know?"

Cozy breathed, and said, "Thanks for that, but even if you still doubt me... even a little, just know that I totally forgive you, too."

Together, both Apple Bloom and Scootaloo chimed, "Aww!" Shortly following, they grabbed hold of Cozy Glow, and hugged her tightly, just as they did with Sweetie Belle. Cozy Glow returned the kindness with a tug of her own, and a sigh. She looked up and saw Sweetie Belle coming up to the door. Extending a hoof, Cozy gestured to her friend from across the room and invited her to join them.

As Sweetie Belle walked up, she voiced serenely, "That sounded... perfect from down the hall, girls."

With her latching onto the other fillies in the room, all four of them snuggled peacefully together for a few seconds, and even when the embrace had ended, Cozy Glow still couldn't shake this new, and overwhelming feeling of tranquility. She smiled at her new friends, hopped off the bed, and said, "I'm... really happy to have you girls as my friends."

The Cutie Mark Crusaders all smiled back at the pegasus, and Sweetie Belle told her, "We know we can sometimes be a ridiculous bunch..."

Scootaloo then inserted, "I mean, we're the Cutie Mark Crusaders! What she means is... really, really ridiculous."

Apple Bloom then said, "But, if you just give us a chance... we promise not to be overwhelming." Looking at the other crusaders, Apple Bloom then offered, "In fact, perhaps someday, Cozy Glow could actually be a Cutie Mark Crusader, too!"

Cozy nodded with a smile, and the others all seemed to agree that this sounded like an interesting proposal. She said to the three fillies in front of her, "Well, that's awfully nice. I promise, uh... that if you decide to let me be a member of your club, I won't be a bother."

Sweetie grabbed Cozy by the hoof, and pulling her out of the room, Sweetie assured her, "We know you won't! Now, c'mon, and let's go have some fun."

After a quick trip to the rest room in order to dry their eyes, the four of them all ran outside together. As they were rushing back to the clubhouse, Cozy's mind began trailing back to the attic located just outside Sweetie Belle's room, and all of the news entries that could be found up there, but that was for another day. For once, Cozy Glow was having too much fun while playing with her new friends to worry about such things.

Author's Note

A Secret Chronicle, Chapter Five: Dirty Feathers

Shortly following the incident that Cozy Glow had gone through with Sweetie's close friends, the pegasus laid in her room all alone. Her mane remained a thorough mess as did her tail. She sighed and got up only to look around. Her window curtains brushed lightly against her left flank, and she considered leaving through the window, but that wouldn't work.

"I... can't fly," she said sadly to herself. "I don't know how to... I don't really remember doing it, so if I want to be alone... more alone than just being inside my bedroom like I am now, I'll have to-"

She gasped and peered out her window. Just in the distance, and as if she couldn't be any luckier, a single, lone cloud had started to drift itself loftily towards her, and it was headed right for Cozy's window that morning. She gingerly opened it up for the cloud, and waved to it, saying, "C'mere little one! I'd love to catch..." She reached for it, and said mostly without thinking, "A ride...! Hah!" She felt herself grasping it tightly. "Gotcha... Now then... up I go!"

Tediously, she used both of her front hooves to keep it in place, and then, she used her lower frame to hoist and climb the rest of herself up and onto the summit. "Whew! I'm on."

She looked back at her window, and watched it get smaller and smaller, and further and further away. Cozy Glow was at the moment fairly aware of what she was doing, but just shrugged, and said, "I need time alone... where I c-can..." She looked down at her bitter looking wings, and confessed, "Where I can fix this... My mane, and my tail... That's one thing, but I've got to figure out how to clean my wings."

She rubbed one, and said, "I certainly can't fly if they're absolutely filthy the way they are right now... What do I do? Pick at them with my hooves or something?" She tried, but her tiny body was far too short to do the job adequately. "Ugh! I can't even reach! I'd ask Sweetie, or maybe even Rarity to help, but... they're unicorns." She shrugged, nibbled, and then hastily spat, "Yuck! That can't be the way to do this..."

After a while, she curled into a ball, and gave up while groaning, "It's helpless! This'll take me forever to fix at this rate. I'm starting to doubt that I ever even took very good care of them in the first place."

The filly stayed in the sky for hours that day trying to figure out how to clean and take care of her wings with outstandingly minimal results. Eventually, she started to look around, and could just barely spot Ponyville still slightly visible far off beyond the distant horizon. She thought about calling for help, but sighed instead, and said glumly, "The cloud will go down eventually, but I had hoped to figure out flight by now. I guess... I'll have to walk home... and it's getting late..."

She gulped, and whispered, "Help?" She then chuckled while tearing up, "I, uh, didn't think this move out very well, did I? Anypony...?"

She just drifted further, and further away from town until at last, the sun died, and the moon had taken its place. Still, her little cloud hadn't descended a bit.

She was falling asleep, and as she blinked tiresomely, she felt the hooves of somepony gently grabbing hold of her.

Cozy Glow felt lighter than air.

She rustled around in the puffy, cloudy blankets and sheets, and then, she thought that she had fallen off.

"Ah!"

She landed, but it didn't hurt in the slightest. That wasn't to say that she wasn't startled. She got up and looked around slowly. The room she was in was large and was made completely of fluff and vapors. "Huh... Wow," she voiced loosely, and then, she saw a pegasus rounding the corner only to enter into the room.

Cozy asked the spectrum pony, "Who're you?"

The mare said, "I'm Rainbow Dash... and you're... Cozy Glow." She didn't seem too awfully angry towards Cozy, but she didn't seem too much like a hostess, either. "Can't believe you're in my house, but... you must've really lost your memory, huh?"

Cozy just nodded, and looked down, and then all around again. "Yes, Ms. Dash, I have."

Rainbow scoffed, and laughed, "Miss??? Oh, wow, you've convinced me! That's... hehe, funny, kiddo... Now then, what were you doing up on that micro-nimbus? You know those things never float down, right?"

Cozy gulped, and asked, "What?"

"Yeah... I thought you had lost it or something, and that you were, like, running away from home, but then I saw how bad your wings were. I don't even think you could get yourself up and off of the ground like that." She scratched the back of her neck, and said forwardly, "I know you've been being parented by Rarity, so, what? Do I have to tell her what you tried to do?" There was silence. "What's really going on here, Cozy? Enlighten me a little bit."

The bottom lip of Cozy's mouth trembled, and she said, "I don't... rem- remember..." She began to cry her eyes out. "I don't... I c-can't remember how to fly, or how to take care of my own wings...!"

"Whoa, there," Rainbow said as she approached the trembling filly. "Ease up on the water works. You'll make my home start to rain."

"Huh?" Cozy asked with a sniffle, "W-we're inside... of a cloud right now?" She looked around again. "Oh, woah, I didn't even realize..." She blinked, and then felt Rainbow's hoof on the back of her shoulder.

"You... can't fly?"

Cozy looked into Rainbow's eyes, and she then realized just how much danger she had been in.

"You..." She told Rainbow Dash, "You saved me back there... Right?" Cozy Glow next hugged Rainbow tightly. "Th-thank you..."

"Oof, oh, uh... N-no problem..."

She was released, and Cozy then said, "Please, don't tell Rarity. I was only supposed to be gone for about an hour or two."

Rainbow asked, "So, were you trying to learn how to fly or what?"

"Not exactly..." Cozy explained, "I was just trying to figure out how I'm supposed to clean these darn wings of mine. I didn't get very far with that, though." Rainbow Dash invited her back up, and onto the bed, and looking back at Rainbow, Cozy told her, "I felt like... I couldn't go and talk to anypony about this. It's weird."

Rainbow shook her head, and said, "No, it's not." She extended her wings proudly. "The most important thing to a pegasus should be her wings. I have to be loyal to my feathers before I can truly be loyal to anything else."

"Oh," Cozy said.

"Look," Rainbow said while relaxing the filly, "I know what you're going through. Thank Celestia I happened along. I thought you were Discord's cotton candy cloud at first."

"Heh..."

"Now..." Rainbow very lightly tapped Cozy on her muzzle, and offered, "Why don't I show you what to do? It only seems right since I just so happen to be a pegasus as well."

Cozy sat still, and just nodded while voicing sheepishly, "Well... a-alright, I guess since you, uh... probably know what you're doing."

Rainbow gladly boasted, "It'll be a piece of cake. I won't tell Rarity that you were up to anything by the way. If I tell her that we were just preening our wings, she'll understand. Afterwards, we'll also do some flight training. Sound good?"

Cozy nodded, and replied, "Absolutely, Rainbow!"

"Go ahead and lie down on your belly. I'll get the feather cream and brush. You don't just start picking all that stuff out of there like a bird!"

Cozy blushed, and then Rainbow came back holding a tube. While uncorking it, she asked Cozy Glow, "Go ahead and extend your wings for me, okay?"

"Okay..."

"Don't worry," Rainbow voiced calmly as she began. "My mom was the best at this, and I learned everything I could about preening somepony's wings from her. That way, whoever helps you do this will learn how to do it even better from you, too."

"Oh," Cozy said. "I thought I could do it myself."

"You can," Rainbow assured, "but not until you're much older. Your body just hasn't grown into that yet."

"Mmh..." Rainbow plucked away and brushed lightly the whole time. "Say Rainbow?"

"Yeah?"

Cozy asked, "Who does your wings?"

"A pony named Fluttershy. She's been my go-to for years! She lives in that cute, little cottage just outside of town. If I'm ever unavailable, feel free to ask her for help. If you haven't met her yet, she might be... a little bit shocked to see you, but she'll be more than willing to help preen your wings for you." Rainbow huffed, and said, "There you go, good as new."

Cozy checked, and sighed, "Oh, golly, Rainbow Dash... This feels way better. Is there anything I can do to repay you?"

Rainbow got onto the bed, and said, "There sure is! It's my turn." Cozy once again blushed. "Like I said, you're supposed to be learning how to do this."

"Right..." Cozy Glow slowly picked up the brush, and then asked Rainbow Dash, "So? Uh... What'll I do first?"

Author's Note

Chapter Six: Gallus's Faith

Sunlight shined brightly into the Treehouse of Harmony. Birds were occupying the crystal lined windows outside, but inside was nothing but tranquil silence. No creature occupied the treehouse, and with it being shortly after noon, this was particularly off for the setting because of the Young Six practically always visiting after school. Instead, only one of them would arrive that day, and with his late approach, and the whooshing of the wind from up above, all of the wildlife that kept their eyes on the treehouse scattered away.

Gallus landed and huffed from his long flight. He looked around, and sighed, feeling odd that he ended up being the only one that was staying in Ponyville that weekend. There had been other times where it would just be himself, and perhaps three of his other friends, or just him and Sandbar. Sometimes, he'd end up being the one to not show up, but this time, Gallus was all alone. He opened the place up, and as he closed the door, he said, "Okay, well..."

As the gryphon turned around, he ruffled his feathers, and then said to nopony in particular, "I've got this whole place... all to myself." He chuckled, and said sarcastically, "I could, uh, catch up on some light reading... I guess? I mean, everypony sure did bring in a lot of books for our classes."

He hated to admit it, but the last thing he wished to do was study. Although Gallus had started to really appreciate studying, and learning at school, the day had dragged on and on for him without his friends, and he was too mentally exhausted to even look at another book let alone try and actually read its contents. As he made his way towards the latter that would bring him to his own part of the treehouse, he said aloud, "Maybe I'll just take a nap."

He reached his bed, and getting in it, Gallus yawned. He was just about to shut his eyes when he noticed a familiar glow coming from down below. He looked down and saw the one and only Spirit of Friendship. The image of Twilight Sparkle looked around curiously, shimmering lightly, and she then called out, echoing, "Is anypony... here today?"

Gallus hesitated and listened for a little bit longer.

"Any creature here? I have an important request for the six of you." Again, nopony responded. The treehouse returned to its tranquil, quiet nature for a few seconds, and the Spirit said, "I suppose... nopony came by today? They're all separate, too. Otherwise, I'd know where they are."

She took another look around and was just about to wither away when Gallus started making his way down. "Uh, sorry," he said sheepishly, coming up to the Spirit. "It's just me today. The others are all busy doing other things and couldn't make it." He smirked hopefully, and asked, "What's up?"

The Spirit looked at Gallus curiously, as if she wasn't sure how to even put it herself. She stood there in silence for a few seconds, illuminating the walls with her mesmerizing light. Slowly, she began asking Gallus, "You... know that Twilight Sparkle... that is, the real Twilight decided to release Cozy Glow, right?"

Gallus blinked, and backed up while saying, "Well, psh, yeah! Of course I do, and that, like, she lost her memory... Right? Err, what of it?"

The Spirit stood there, and for some reason, Gallus began to get the impression that she was nervous. "Look," the Spirit said sternly. "Since it's just you that showed up today, I want you to go and try to make friends with her."

Gallus tried hard not to gulp, and instead asked with a quick stutter, "You want m-me to... what?"

"I know how you and your friends will probably feel. In fact, perhaps it'll be better that it's just you for now."

Gallus backed away even more, and said, "I don't... think this is necessary, oh great Spirit... Thingie."

She came up to Gallus, and said, "But, Gallus, you're the leader. Now that I think about it, you're the best one for this task amongst your friends."

Gallus blinked suddenly, and his posture improved while he asked her, "Did you just say... that I'm the leader?"

The Spirit smirked at Gallus's practical confidence, and said, "Well, yes, of course you are. Although each and every one of your friends possess unique traits and abilities, you have leadership. You just haven't realized your potential yet."

Gallus backed away, and said, "Oh, whoa... Uh, Spirit? If you don't mind? I think I... need a moment to take all of that in."

The Spirit smiled blissfully, the same way she usually does, and said, "Very well, but seek her out soon."

Gallus grimaced at that, and said, "Right... Uh, about that, Spirit?"

"Hmm?"

"Look," He offered, trying his best to level with her. "I don't mean to be the one to point out the big elephant in the room here, but... this could be a trap, and I think that..." He watched as the Spirit's gaze wavered. Her smile then disappeared, and Gallus resumed, "I think that you know that... Don't you?"

The Spirit looked back at Gallus, but now, she showed her true emotions. She showed him her worry, and her concern for such a leap of faith. "Gallus," the Spirit tried to say, but the knowledgeable gryphon shook his head.

"No," he voiced. His mind flared as he came to the realization that they were both thinking the same thing. "You know what she was, don't you?"

"Yes, but-"

"An alicorn!" The Spirit stopped talking for a moment, and just remained silent. "Cozy Glow... was an all powerful princess! You know... You know what she was capable of, and yet... You want me to... to what? Make friends with somepony like that? Do you even remember what she put me and my friends through? What she put all of Equestria through?"

The Spirit gestured with a hoof, and pleaded, "Can't you put that aside?"

Gallus replied, "Don't you see? How can I? She was an alicorn! Couldn't she have... I don't know... Cast a spell on herself to make herself forget?" The Spirit looked down with doubt while Gallus kept going. "She could've even used a dispel enchantment, and that's why Twilight's lie detecting spell isn't working!"

The Spirit shook her head as she tightly closed her eyes, and said, "I... We can't, Gallus."

The gryphon looked at her, and asked, "Huh?"

"We just... can't assume that she learned how to control her magic like that so quickly." She looked up, and said even more sternly than earlier, "You should put your doubt aside, and give her a chance. Gallus, it's because... Well, if she really has lost her memory, then you should forgive her." The Spirit then came quite close to the creature, and said forwardly, "And if it turns out in the end to be nothing more than an act, or some elaborate ruse, then we'll have no choice but to deal with her if that time comes. Until then, Gallus, she deserves a chance at redemption just like so many others before her."

Gallus had been remembering all of the meaningless mischief Cozy Glow had brought to Equestria, and how many grueling challenges she had sent him and his friends through, but despite all of that, he knew the Spirit was right. He looked up at her, and just as a leader should, he said, "I suppose I should go seek her out, then."

The Spirit started to faintly smile once more, and said, "Thank you, and... do you think you'll be able to explain all of this to the others?"

Gallus had begun walking on by where the Spirit was standing, and as he made his way for the entrance, he comfortingly said to her, "Well, since I'm their leader and all..." He looked back at her shining brilliance, and said confidently before leaving, "Don't worry. You can count on me."

Meanwhile, Cozy Glow could be found with Sweetie Belle. The two were just outside of the Carousel Boutique talking about what else they wanted to do that day. Sweetie Belle offered another game, but Cozy was starting to get worn-out, and asked, "Actually, Sweetie Belle? Do you think we could take a break? I'm kind of hungry. Aren't you?"

Sweetie sighed, and admitted, "Just a little."

The two of them headed inside, and as Rarity prepared them something to eat, Cozy Glow also told Sweetie Belle, "I, uh... I think I'm gonna eat... by myself today."

Sweetie looked at her friend oddly at first, but then, she asked, "Why? Just need some time all alone?"

Cozy nodded, and said, "It's not that I don't wanna hang out with you... I just... have a lot to think about."

Sweetie smiled at her friend, and said, "I understand, Cozy. We'll still hang out later on, though, right?"

Cozy nodded happily, and said, "Sure!"

As she got her meal from Rarity, she began headed for the door, and she heard Sweetie say to her, "See you after lunch!"

Cozy went out the door after waving to Sweetie Belle, and she knew just where she was going, too. On the outskirts of Ponyville, where very few ponies went was a lake. It was a bit of a trot for her to make in order to get there, but the view was amazing to her, and worth it.

For as small as the lake was, it glistened so much that the hills behind it almost looked like tall mountains in the right light. Next to the lake stood an impressively large, though twisting tree. It bloomed the most beautiful, pink and red flowers at the ends of its branches which helped make the tree arch towards the ground.

Cozy Glow came up, and sat right underneath it, and laid down her blanket on top of the brownish sand. At that time, Gallus had found her at last and hid on top of a nearby cloud. He peered at her over the edge of the plush fog and watched as she ate. She even had some assorted berries with her, and as she munched, she thought about how Rarity always did pack a bit too much for her.

She looked up as she heard Gallus's wing ruffle, and although she failed to see him, she knew there was probably somepony spying on her from that one, single cloud that had drifted so very close towards her. Taking a chance, and flying as quietly as she could, Cozy Glow drifted on up to the cloud. Once she got there, she looked up to see Gallus looking down and blinking with confusion.

"Where'd she go?" Gallus asked, looking all around the picnic blanket. Cozy Glow laughed silently, and gently placed some berries on the cloud in a tiny pile. Luckily for her, it was dense enough to hold the berries for a while, and she quickly backed away just as Gallus was beginning to turn around. He didn't see the filly, but he did see the berries she had left him. With shaky talons, he brought a berry up to his beak, and before eating it, he said, "What if... it's poisoned?"

He shook his head, and popped the little, round bead into his mouth. As it broke open with his daring bite, he felt his heart begin racing, and he held his breath for a moment, but nothing bad ever happened. It was just a very sweet berry, and so were the others.

He looked downwards at the seemingly kindhearted filly who soon looked back at him, and she smiled innocently. That's when Gallus decided to fly down to her, but as he did, he meant to say something; anything, really, but while he looked at her in the middle of his flight, a few memories rushed back suddenly. Although Gallus was trying hard not to focus on such things, he was still finding it difficult.

He landed and looked at her from a fair distance. He walked up to her, and as he did, he felt his beak begin to open. No words came out, though. He just kept thinking about what he should be saying.

"You're... a gryphon, right?" Cozy Glow asked. Again, Gallus failed to say anything. His beak simply slowly started to shut while Cozy Glow continued speaking. "You're also probably going to ask me something, like, if I've really lost my memories or not. Most ponies do that." She looked down with a shrug. "I suppose it's okay, because from what I hear... I did some pretty terrible stuff."

She looked up at Gallus, and as he blinked, he said sarcastically, "Actually, first, I was gonna ask you what your name was." Cozy Glow blushed. Gallus then said, "Look, Cozy Glow... I think you're the real deal." He chuckled while looking out at the water. "My name's Gallus... See, when I saw you sitting here... I don't really know." He breathed, and said, "It's almost as if... the old Cozy Glow that we all knew was some sort of body snatcher, and somehow, with her being turned to stone, you're suddenly back to normal... not that I ever even knew what a normal Cozy Glow was, all things considered..."

Cozy Glow Frowned, and said, "But I don't remember... anything, Gallus! I don't remember anything from before coming to Ponyville, either." She shuttered as the wind hit her wings. "Do you... think that I should even bother with asking Twilight to help me recover my memories?"

Gallus scratched the back of his head, and said, "Whatever overall motive you might've had back then, or feelings you were going through, Cozy Glow... I think it might be better to leave all that negativity behind."

Cozy glanced at her new friend, and Gallus made eye contact with her. "No," she said, "I feel it in my heart." She looked back at the hills, and finished, "I think that one day... I'll have to recover my memory, but not right away."

Gallus asked, "Why not right away, Cozy?"

She replied, "Because I... haven't heard from Twilight for a long time. I know that Rarity's been messaging her, but she's probably too busy with being the Princess of Equestria, and forgot about me."

Gallus felt a sinking feeling in his chest, and although he still had his suspicions, he knew that he needed to let go of his paranoia. Slowly, and gracefully, he began holding onto her softly with his claw wrapping around her side. He also extended his wing towards her for comfort, and said, "Twilight hasn't forgotten. Her being busy... That's another matter, but I promise you, Cozy Glow... She hasn't forgotten about you."

The two of them stayed under the tree for a few more minutes while Cozy Glow enjoyed her meal, and Gallus helped her by finishing off her berries. As they got up, Cozy commented, "I sometimes don't eat them anyways."

Gallus began walking, and offered, "Say... now that we're friends, I've got a few pals that I'd like you to meet. They're all away for the time being, but they'll all be back soon enough. Also, I've got this cool clubhouse that you should come and check out."

Cozy Glow asked, "Clubhouse? Is it anything like the one that belongs to the Cutie Mark Crusaders?"

Having already seen the treehouse that Cozy Glow was talking about, Gallus snickered, and admitted, "I, uh, actually think that you might be a bit more impressed with ours."

Cozy Glow had started to follow along, but then stopped, and said, "Oh, wait a minute. I can't today, Gallus."

The gryphon looked back, and asked, "Huh? Why not?"

Cozy looked back towards where the Carousel Boutique should've been, and said, "I need to get back and check in, but what about us going there tomorrow?"

Gallus nodded at Cozy Glow's proposal, and said, "Okay, I don't see any problems with that."

Cozy Glow smiled happily, and said, "I can't wait! I live at the Carousel Boutique with Rarity."

Gallus started to walk off again, and said, "Sounds good. I'll be there in the morning."

Cozy Glow began walking in the other direction, and as she trotted along, she couldn't help herself from feeling all too giddy over making a new friend that day, and the trip she'd be going on with him. The Clubhouse of Friendship would prove to be quite breathtaking for her, and although at first it seemed more like a place for utter relaxation, and napping, Cozy Glow began to find some time throughout that day with Gallus to also start researching Equestria. With the given books she had from the School of Friendship, Cozy Glow had more than enough to learn even more about Equestria.

Just before departing, Gallus told her about how his friends might not be as open towards her as he was, but he also assured her that he'd tell them about her, and about what's happened. For the next few days, Cozy would spend most of her time playing with the crusaders and researching in Gallus's clubhouse. She'd also spend a lot of time wondering when Twilight was going to visit Rarity's Boutique.

Chapter Seven: Black, White and Read All Over

Cozy Glow sighed with plenty of hesitation while sitting in front of Sweetie's closet. It was the end of the day, and solitude was surrounding the troubled pegasus. She reached a hoof forwards, but then lowered it out of fear. Sweetie Belle then walked in, and looking at one another, Sweetie said to Cozy Glow, "If you're going to go ahead and read those papers... then do it, but I doubt anything good can come from it."

Cozy looked down at the floor with unsure eyes, and then, she said, "Did... you say anything bad to any of the reporters about me?" Sweetie didn't answer. Again, with the same tone as before, Cozy Glow asked, "Did... Rarity say anything..." She stopped, looking away. She already knew the answer.

"Everypony had something negative to say about you, Cozy Glow..."

They both just stood together in silence. Rarity was away that day and hadn't gotten around to throwing out the old newspapers yet, so if Cozy Glow was going to read any of them, she needed to hurry up and do it before Rarity got back. With these thoughts running through Cozy Glow's head, she sighed, and said, "That's... exactly what I'll find. That's what you're saying?"

Sweetie Belle shook her head, and said, "I don't know if you'll find anything at all in there. What I'm saying is... it's everything that you've already heard of from Twilight only more details than you probably need to know about."

Cozy Glow looked away, and towards the closet, and asked, "Was I really that bad?" She glanced back at Sweetie Belle, and again couldn't help herself from asking, "Was I really that terrible, Sweetie Belle?" Sweetie blinked a few times, and then thought for a few seconds.

"You... tried to be good... sometimes, I guess? Err, let me give you an example. At one point, I heard that you sent a team of royal guards through a portal while you were an alicorn, and into a moat of water. You could've let them fall from way up high, but you didn't."

Cozy smiled slightly. "Okay?"

Sweetie then pointed out, "However, one of them could barely swim due to the armor, and the captain had to save them."

Cozy's smile faded, and she voiced solemnly, "Oh..."

Sweetie breathed in sharply while giving Cozy a glance. "Look, the point is... I think that no matter how much you look into your past, all you'll keep uncovering is nothing but bad things. Why do you want to do that to yourself?"

Cozy looked right by Sweetie, and saw the closet, and said, "I suppose I'm... just curious about my past." She looked at Sweetie Belle again, and then back down. "Was I always that bad? There's a new word I know... I think it's vile. I mean... before I arrived at the school."

Sweetie watched closely as Cozy Glow's eyes wavered at the ground. Slowly, Sweetie sighed, and waited a moment before stating, "I don't think... anypony knows anything about before then." An eerie silence fell upon the room as Sweetie continued to speak. Even though she was talking, it was as if the noise coming from her lips was being drowned out by an unfathomable force.

Cozy interrupted whatever else Sweetie Belle had to say. "But... there's got to be something, right?"

Sweetie stopped and looked at Cozy oddly. "Uhh..."

Cozy then said, "I couldn't have just... appeared, right?"

Sweetie gulped, unsure as to how she was supposed to reply to that. She then offered, "Well... Cozy, of course you have a past, but... nopony has ever come forward about you. It's not like ponies didn't try, too. It was put up all over the news that you were put into Tartarus. We just... don't know who your caretakers might be, or even your birthday."

Sweetie grimaced suddenly and looked away while doing her best to get herself together. "What is it?" Cozy asked. "Are you alright, Sweetie?"

She looked back at Cozy, and said, "We... don't know when your birthday is. I don't think anypony has realized it yet." She sniffled, and slowly began crying. Despite all that fighting, tears still managed to arrive, and then, Sweetie hiccuped, "You're in luck, though. Pinkie Pie has this special t-thing that she does... I-it's super rare, but if you really don't know when your birthday is... then every single day is your optional birthday in her book."

Cozy felt Sweetie put a hoof on one of her own as she asked, "Everyday?"

She then listened to Sweetie as she said, "I don't think you really need to read all that junk. It'll just mess you up. You already pretty much know what's in those newspapers anyways. Right?"

Cozy looked once more at the closet and nodded at that. "Yeah," she said. "But... Still... I feel as if I should still be reading it anyways." She looked sternly at Sweetie Belle, and then said, "I have to do this, but I think... you've helped me just by talking to me. I'll try not to be hurt by what I read... I promise."

Sweetie Belle at first was going to hold her ground, and not allow Cozy glow to enter into the closet, but upon hearing her words, and seeing the serious expression on Cozy's face, Sweetie Belle had no other choice but to move aside. The door slid open very easily, and Cozy began yanking out a brightly painted, though tattered looking box. Needless to say, she began quickly reading its contents.

She could be heard quietly gasping from time to time at first, but even after the part involving Sweetie Belle in particular, Sweetie noticed that Cozy Glow just kept on reading. She wouldn't stop until she was done, and once that was through, she quickly headed out of the door. Without showing Sweetie Belle much emotion, she floated on up to the attic. Sweetie climbed up the latter that Cozy had pulled down, and for a few moments, she watched as Cozy read on and on.

She refused to stop, and anything that wasn't about her specifically was gently placed aside. There were interviews from Twilight, Starlight, Discord, Rarity, the Cutie Mark Crusaders, and so many other ponies, too. Cozy Glow knew a few of them, but there were just way too many pages for her to keep count. It was all put back into place quite miraculously, and Cozy proceeded to push the box inside of the attic back on over to where she had originally gotten it from.

She took a deep breath while still standing alone up there, but eventually, she climbed down sadly. It was thanks to the conversation she had with Sweetie Belle previously that possibly helped Cozy Glow overcome this challenge. Coming back into the room, she looked at Sweetie glumly. The closet was justly being closed up, and as Sweetie slid the door shut with her magic, she asked, "You alright?"

Cozy at first seemed as if she was going to start crying all over again. She didn't, though, and simply asked, "You and Scootaloo thought my mane looked funny?" She chuckled a few times before saying, "It's alright, so did I!"

Sweetie's entire frame relaxed upon hearing Cozy making jokes. "Oh, good," she voiced, chuckling along. "I was worried!"

Cozy hugged Sweetie tightly, and said, "It was... difficult at times to keep on reading, but I think it helped, actually." She looked out the window while letting go of Sweetie, and with the sun beginning to set, she said quite clearly, "I needed to know as much as possible about my former self. I still don't know what my true motives could've possibly been except that I might've been completely out of my mind at the time, but at least I know what not to do."

Sweetie asked bluntly, "And that is...?"

Cozy said with a slight giggle, "Don't be a brat! Right?"

They both laughed together, and it was possibly one of the most influential laughs that the two of them had ever shared together. Sweetie Belle couldn't help but notice just how much more relieved, and happy Cozy Glow appeared to be that evening. Although, from time to time for the rest of the night, Sweetie would also catch Cozy Glow appearing a bit sorrowful, and sometimes, she'd be seen looking back at the attic regretfully.

Chapter Eight: Peanut Butter Cookie

Ingredients were spread clear across one of the tables that could be found in the back kitchen of Sugarcube Corner, and with her mane somewhat powdered with flour, and her hooves splashed with the batter that she had been mixing in her bowl, Cozy Glow was busy making cookies with Pinkie Pie.

So much grief had befallen Cozy Glow recently that Sweetie was finally starting to take notice as well, and it was only getting worse ever since recent events, so she offered Cozy to go and visit Sugarcube Corner. Cozy failed to put up much of a fight, and soon found herself happily baking alongside with the party pony herself. For longer than she could remember, Cozy felt at peace with herself, and Pinkie's positive personality was helping her adjust to such a new and different activity.

The pegasus forgot about forgetting. She forgot who Cozy Glow was before being turned into stone and forgot what she had done to so many innocent lives. She began forgetting all of those negative things that still surrounded her, and just baked cookies for a change. The smile she wore would've been very difficult to remove from her face, and that was because despite it only being her first time, Cozy Glow was sure that her cookies were going to be the very best that anypony had ever tasted.

She looked up towards where Pinkie was, and said, "This sure is... tough work!" She huffed while whisking the bowl some more.

Pinkie nodded carefully as she balanced a carton of eggs with her muzzle and walked on over to the counter to place the eggs down. "It sure can be," Pinkie said, agreeing with Cozy. "It can also be rewarding. I just love it whenever I bake some goodies, and they come out even better than perfect!"

Pinkie wasn't showing it, but she was trying hard not to think about the fact that the last time she had seen Cozy Glow, she was right in the middle of fondly using her devastating party cannon to blast the tassels off of the unsavory villain. "Uh, hehe," Pinkie laughed as she remembered doing that. "Just... to make sure," Pinkie said softly. "You really... really don't remember anything from before being turned to stone?"

Cozy smiled despite Pinkie asking that question, and said, "Nope..."

Pinkie laughed again, and waited before asking, "And, uh... you haven't, like... read any newspapers, have you?"

Cozy looked away from what she was working on, and asked sheepishly while trying desperately to uphold her grin, "What do you mean?"

Pinkie stopped working as well, and said forwardly, "We all care about you, Cozy, and I think that I speak for pretty much everypony when I say... It's probably better that you don't remember those terrible things."

Cozy Glow glanced away. "Could she know?" Cozy Glow thought, still whisking along. "Could Pinkie have known that I read all those papers? But how is that possible?"

Pinkie continued, "I just... find it hard to believe that you haven't heard about... well, your past." By now, Pinkie wasn't smiling, and so, neither was Cozy Glow.

"I heard... stuff from Twilight... S-Sweetie's also..." Cozy Glow breathed calmly the best she could, and said, "Sweetie's also told me some things when I pried, but..." She gulped, and lied, "I don't know much."

Pinkie nodded and looked away. "Okay..."

While Pinkie continued her work, a smile eventually coming back, Cozy Glow somewhat slowed down her pace. That was because in reality, she knew about everything that she had done in the past. Right up to meeting the Cutie Mark Crusaders for the very first time. As the cookies went into the oven, she found herself wondering what times for her before then must've been like. She thought about who her parents might've been, and many other things.

"Did I run away? Did they not... want me anymore?" Most important of all, she thought, "Why doesn't anypony appear to even know where I'm from?"

She visited the bathroom for a few minutes, but coming back, Pinkie overheard Cozy saying to herself, "If only I could see Twilight. I'd be able to ask her..."

Pinkie asked the filly forwardly just before Cozy Glow got the chance to open the oven, "Ask Twilight what, Cozy?"

Cozy looked over her shoulder towards the slowly approaching Pinkie Pie, and said with a mumble, "About my past..." Knowing good and well that Cozy wasn't done speaking, Pinkie stayed quiet. "Not... when I tried to ruin Equestria... Before all of that." She blinked with tears forming in her eyes and fogging her vision. "I want to know... how all of this..."

Pinkie finished for her, "Happened... I know." She embraced Cozy Glow in a hug, and said again, "I know."

Cozy managed not to cry, but even after Pinkie had let go of her, and had opened the oven for her, Cozy still felt sorrowful. Pinkie inhaled deeply through her nose, and complimented, "Oh, wowie! Cozy! Your cookies smell really delicious. I can't wait to try some myself!"

Slipping a heat-resistant glove over one of the filly's hooves, Pinkie gave Cozy the tray, and then showed her to one of the nearby windows. Showing her where to put it so that Cozy's cookies could cool off, Pinkie said gently to Cozy Glow, "I, uh... don't think anypony knew that you needed Twilight's attention." Cozy placed the tray down and looked from the wafting vapors coming off of her sweets to Pinkie's glistening, and trustworthy eyes. "Did you... at least let anypony know that you wanted to see Twilight?"

Cozy shook her head, and said, "No, but... I don't know. I suppose I just figured she would've wanted to see me periodically."

Pinkie smiled perfectly as she said, "I'll be sure to letter Twilight as soon as I can. She'll be showing up in Ponyville before you know it! Just for you, too, but Cozy Glow... you have to understand something about Twilight. She's the Princess of Equestria, so who knows what she's gotten herself into. She's also still pretty fairly new at her job, but don't worry, because there's no way she could ever forget about you!"

Pinkie smiled on as she was questioned by Cozy Glow, "You're sure she hasn't forgotten about me?"

Pinkie answered, "Not a chance!" In the back of her mind, however, Pinkie was thinking, "Twilight had better not have forgotten about this tiny filly..."

While she finished thinking about Twilight, Pinkie rubbed Cozy's shoulder comfortingly, saying, "Everything'll be fine. Trust me..."

She walked away shortly after that, and thanks to her choice of words, Pinkie managed to help Cozy Glow feel more open towards other Ponies in her life, and more at peace with herself. Time went by while Cozy sat all by herself. She smelled the cookies she had baked as she waited patiently. "I wonder if peanut butter was a good choice for my first batch... I suppose I'll find out when they're ready."

She stood up to look outside, and nearly jumped upon spotting somepony hanging from the fence not a few steps away. It was a colt about Cozy Glow's age and size. He had a sleek, light brown coat, and a slightly darker mane color. His cutie mark, however, was what helped Cozy understand her situation just a little bit better. It was a cookie, but also from the looks of the cutie mark, it was also possibly the exact same flavor as the batch that sat at the windowsill just in front of him.

Cozy said to the colt, "You surprised me over there."

Just as she spoke, the colt with a cookie for a cutie mark was in the middle of sniffing the cookies once again. "Hmm?" He asked. "Oh, I did? Sorry about that, but your cookies... they..."

"Smell good?" Cozy asked, trying to complete his sentence for him.

"Good?!" He asked while one of his hind hooves swung over one of the wooden beams. As he made his way up towards the establishment, he continued to tell the filly, "I've never smelled peanut butter cookies quite like these!" He came up closer to Cozy Glow's face to where that the two of them could just barely start seeing one another's freckles.

"Oh," Cozy Glow said as she blushed, bringing a hoof up to her cheek. "You... Y-you r-really think so... huh?"

He looked down at them, smiling, and then up at her, and quickly said, "Yeah!" He then looked back down at the cookies, and mentioned, "I come by here nearly every day. Just when I thought Pinkie Pie had perfected her recipe..."

Cozy Glow then mentioned to the colt, "Actually..." He looked up at her curiously. "I made them... just now." Cozy Glow carefully grabbed the tray with her glove, and offered, "Would you like one?"

She could tell that he definitely wanted to accept, but he was soon shaking his head, saying, "Nah, they're not done cooling yet, and I'm not about to ruin these by eating them too early. I'll come inside in just a little bit and ask Pinkie for a cookie that was specifically made by you." He then began backing away, and said, "My name's Peanut, by the way, but most of my friends just call me Cookie."

For a second or two, Cozy stood there behind the open window in thought, and then finally asked, "Is your full name Peanut Butter Cookie?" The colt nodded to the filly as he once again hopped the fence, and Cozy Glow replied, "Nice to meet you... M-my name's Cozy Glow."

She had given him her name without even thinking of the possible consequences, but once it had left her lips, she'd realize what she had done.

"That's a lovely name," Cozy Glow heard him say. She had quickly looked away regretfully, but upon hearing his simple reply, she'd look back at Cookie. "See you around," he said to her while waving delightfully.

All Cozy could think of to do was to simply wave back at the grinning colt, so she did, and she then stood there feeling strange. "Could he not know who in Equestria I am or what I've done?"

Pinkie came around the corner soon after, and asked, "Are those cookies ready yet?"

Cozy looked from the cookies to Pinkie, and said, "Not yet, but when they are... there's gonna be this colt coming in soon." Pinkie just smiled happily, and intuitively as Cozy requested, "Please, Pinkie... Make sure he gets one of my cookies. Okay?"

Pinkie nodded understandingly, and joked with Cozy by asking her, "This colt friend of yours wouldn't happen to be the one and only Peanut Butter Cookie, would it?"

Cozy's reply came in the form of a small giggle followed by her trotting off towards the front of the store in order to gather her things. Just before she left Sugarcube Corner for the day, though, Cozy Glow made sure to grab one of those delicious looking peanut butter cookies that she had made herself for on the way back to Rarity's Boutique.

Walking along and all alone, and feeling the wind breeze against her mane, Cozy Glow excitedly anticipated her next upcoming encounter with that friendly colt from earlier. She also pulled out her cookie from her small saddlebag in order to take a few bites from it while wandering back home.

Chapter Nine: Discord's Confession

Spike wandered through the halls of Canterlot all by himself. In his claws, he held a note sent to Twilight from Pinkie Pie. He was headed towards the dimly lit room where Twilight could most likely be found napping. It was the only room that she had been occupying for the last two and a half days. To put things mildly, activities within the palace hadn't been favorable ever since Cozy Glow's release.

Firstly, Twilight began gradually slowing down on her daily tasks, and eventually, about a week later, she started passing on the less important duties to others. Following that, Spike found himself bringing Twilight all sorts of books. Books on history, and books about spells. Normally, this didn't bother Spike, but every once in a while, Twilight also had him bring her back the old copies and transcripts from the School of Friendship. Now, she only ever raises and lowers the sun and the moon.

Things started to add up in his mind at that point, but just when he was about to confront Twilight about it, before he could get to her, Twilight locked herself within the library and refused to come out, or hardly talk to anypony. To make matters even more questionable, and downright bizarre for all of the servants, guards and assistants working within Canterlot, she had locked herself in there with none other than Discord. Neither of them had left since Discord had arrived a few days earlier wishing to speak to Twilight.

Spike waywardly pushed forth the wooden surface of the door to see if it would open, and when it did, he came in slowly, and steadily. He was surprised to find out that Twilight had forgotten to keep the barrier up that night. A familiar purple figure could just barely be seen by Spike from beyond the silhouette shadows that painted the library walls. An ominous ray of moonlight shined downwards from the window, and the closer Spike got, the more he looked around, scanning his environment nervously. "D-Discord?" he whispered.

Twilight snored suddenly, catching Spike's attention. He glanced her way and saw her barely wrapped in what appeared to be a blanket, and her head dangled uncomfortably from a single pillow. There was also a book left wide open lying on her torso. Despite her position, Twilight was definitely fast asleep, and by the looks of it, she wasn't getting back up anytime soon.

She was also resting on a few other opened, and unorganized books. That's when Spike took another look around the room and realized that beyond all of the darkness coaxing the library profusely, there was a heaping mess of books littering the floor. They were practically all over the place.

Spike then heard a bleak sob coming from beyond the bookcases behind Twilight. He began walking around them, his claws scratching at one another timidly while he held onto the scroll, but upon finally seeing Discord nearby, he'd stop. It would take Spike a few seconds to recollect his thoughts given his petrifying situation, but he had to know what was really going on with the two of them.

He asked, "What did you and Twilight talk about that day?"

Discord shook his head disappointingly. He sat on a bench alongside another one of the library's windows looking out at the shimmering and majestic city below, and said, "I told her... I finally told her the truth, Spike." He looked the dragon in the eyes as he began crying, and said, "There's just no way... I just... don't really know why Cozy lost her memory, and it..." He sobbed, "A-and it is not... because of my chaos, but Twilight didn't believe me."

Spike hiccupped sharply at this revelation. He just gawked in Discord's direction, unwilling to believe what he had just heard Discord say. "You... said that it might've been because of your magic. You were... making it up?"

Discord released a prolonged sigh, and said, "Twilight was just as shocked when I told her. I was making up a lot of what I said that day. I know... that I had told everypony something completely different earlier, but I had to lie. Don't you see? Why doesn't Twilight get it?" He blinked, and said, "Cozy Glow somehow lost her memory... I had to say something! Spike?"

The dragon folded his arms in anger, but asked Discord, "Yeah? What else have you lied about? Did you make all that stuff up about Twilight's mane, too? About how whenever it shimmers, it means she's done a really good deed? Or are you just guessing?"

More tears escaped with him not saying a word at first. He just stared at Spike in defeat, and then nodded. "Twilight was about ready to banish me when I told her... that I had lied about practically everything. I know it might seem... selfish, but wh-what do you think... that little filly's going to think of me when she finds out that I..." A sudden strike of lightning crashed loudly from behind the glass, startling the two of them. After a few seconds of waiting, though, Discord would finish asking, "That I caused her to be trapped in stone?"

Spike blinked as well, but his eyes were more sunken by now rather than teary. "What do you think?" Spike asked boldly.

Discord didn't answer at first. Instead, he stared off towards the direction where he had seen the lightning strike. "I don't just mean offering that as her punishment to Celestia and Luna, you know..." Again, Discord sighed with deep regret. "I impersonated Grogar, and encouraged Cozy Glow to continue her evil ways in doing so."

Spike's arms unfolded. "You... did..."

"For all I know, her staying in Tartarus might've been the better option. Twilight might've given her a second chance, and then something else might've happened, but... not something like this, I don't think."

Spike felt himself clenching his fists with every word that left Discord's mouth. "Uh-huh..."

"And now," Discord said, hoping that Spike would understand. "It's come to this... I've lied, and got in the way, and... I think I've just confused everypony, and made matters worse!" He shook his head in self-pity, and finished, "I just... wish we could find out why she lost her memory." Spike's fists stopped clenching so tightly. "That's what's kept Twilight from leaving this room, Spike. She doesn't want ponies to know that she doesn't really understand what's truly happened to Cozy Glow." He furrowed his brow in anger, and commented, "She was so sure that it was my chaos that caused it..."

Spike stared at Discord, but said in agreement, "If it's a huge mystery, she's scared that ponies might stop trusting, and accepting Cozy Glow, and I can kind of understand that."

Discord then said, "I just can't imagine what I'll say to Cozy to try and explain what was running through my head the day I busted her out of-"

Spike mumbled as Discord spoke, "Wasn't too long ago that you did that little stunt right under our noses..." Suddenly, he felt his blood boil, and cutting Discord off, Spike first yelled at him, "And then, you go and lie to Twilight, and Starlight about her! Which was just recent, too!" Second, Spike did something that nopony could've seen coming.

Spike punched Discord right in his leg, although it was hardly felt by the all-powerful draconequus. Still, to see the tiny dragon blow up like that made Discord feel odd, and more like he had just been put in his place. He looked at Spike with surprised eyes for a moment, but soon, he looked down at the floor, knowing that he deserved it. Spike huffed, and shouted, "Don't... Do that kinda stuff!"

"A-alright," Discord stammered.

"No!" Spike persisted, "I'm being serious here! You made this, like... A whole lot worse for us! How do you think we're supposed to explain all of this to everypony when it actually does come out? You've been so vague with everypony!"

Discord once again stammered, "I d-don't... I don't really know. At the time, I suppose that I didn't realize what I was really doing! Spike, you have to believe me!"

"It's already been a wild goose chase for everypony trying to track down her true whereabouts, which still, nothing has come up... Look, Discord," Spike voiced with a calmer tone. "I know your heart was in the right place..." Discord saw Spike smiling for a change. He smiled back, but then saw Spike start to scowl at him again. "Unfortunately, as usual, your brain was all over the place."

Discord frowned back, and said, "Ouch..."

Spike took a second to consider his next choice of words wisely. "Stop doing things like that. You might think that you're making friendship magical, but this, Discord? This didn't help."

Discord would take the advice given to him seriously in time. For now, all Discord could do was frown again and look at Spike with apologetic eyes. That's when they heard Twilight coming around the corner. She stood a fair distance away from Discord with an unbalanced posture and brought up a hoof to rub the back of her neck.

Soon, she'd ask, "Discord? You're... really that sorry about what you've done?"

She looked from Discord to Spike, and then back towards the dreconequus. He stared back at Twilight, unsure as to how he should respond. So, he simply said, "Of course I am."

Twilight kept looking in Discord's direction, but then, she soon trailed downwards and stared at Spike again. "You... know you're not supposed to be in here, right?"

Spike seemed worried at first, but he stood his ground and said what needed to be said. "Twilight?" He voiced nervously. "Cozy Glow... needs you." He saw Twilight's lips part as he spoke. "Pinkie has just lettered me. It's been over a month since Cozy Glow has seen you... and... Well... Here."

He offered her the scroll which he had been holding onto the whole time, and as Twilight opened it, and read to herself, she hoofed for Discord to come near her. As he did, Twilight finished reading. She then gave Spike back the note and looked into Discord's eyes with ferocity. "You..." She inhaled sharply before telling him, "You will not... lie to your friends like this ever again. Got it?"

He responded fairly hastily, "You have my word, Twilight."

He nodded obediently, and then was embraced by Twilight. She rested the left side of her head against his shoulder while she held onto him. "Promise?"

Discord nodded, and said, "I promise, Twilight..."

Releasing Discord softly, Twilight told the two of them, "By the way, Discord... you must've made a really lucky guess about why my mane started to glow. I asked Celestia and Luna about it. I was really caught off guard, though, when they wanted to know how you knew about that!"

She giggled slightly, and Discord asked her, "They... what?"

"Anyways," Twilight quickly said. "I'd better be off to Ponyville. If I leave now, I'll arrive just at sunrise... I just hope Cozy Glow is alright."

Twilight summoned a tissue for Discord before leaving the room, and told him, "I'll be back by tomorrow... If you want, you could come along."

Discord shook his head narrowly, however, and said, "Not yet, Twilight... I'll talk with her when I'm ready, and when I know what I should say to her."

Twilight nodded to him as she headed out the door, and with Spike following the princess closely behind, Discord was left to his thoughts, and to think about the mistakes he had made. More importantly, though, he'd consider what he could possibly do to make things right again for Cozy Glow.

Chapter Ten: Little Filly, Big Dreams

An oddly designed book sat by Cozy Glow. She closed it, and Gallus blinked at her with an animated expression, but after what they had just seen outside of Ponyville, he had no choice but to believe her. He nodded, and said, "You're... gonna do it then?" He looked into those determined looking eyes that belonged to his newest friend, and asked Cozy, "You're gonna have Twilight release Tirek just so that you can show him this? Cozy, tell me that you don't actually, really believe that this is going to change that centaur's mind about friendship! Because it won't! For all we know, he might already know about all of this. Did you think about that?"

The other inhabitants of the Treehouse of Harmony somewhat took notice, but they also were preoccupied with their own activities. Gallus and Cozy Glow lowered their voices, and Cozy countered Gallus by saying, "For all we know, Gallus, this might be the exact thing that he needs to see in order for Tirek to come to his senses."

She took the book, and Gallus said, "H-hey! I need that for school, y'know."

Cozy ignored him at first and put the book in her saddle. After that, she told him, "This is a bit more important. How long can I have this, Gallus?"

The griffon scratched the back of his feathery neck while saying, "Uh, jeez... Like, Iunno, about... maybe a week?" He then pleaded to the filly, "I need to return it to the library before then or else my classes become a whole lot harder!"

Cozy nodded, and said, "I should have this back by then... assuming Tirek doesn't level Equestria once he's freed." She waved to Gallus with an all too familiar, welcoming, and heart-warming smile, and he waved back at her while trying hard to hide how nervous he suddenly felt about all of this.

Before she leaped down, and headed out the door, she'd also wave goodbye to Sandbar, and all of the others that were there that day. This was also the evening when Spike managed to break through to Twilight and Discord, and Twilight would be on her way to Ponyville at any moment.

It was surprisingly quiet within the Carousel Boutique that evening and entering into this irregular atmosphere felt beyond odd for Cozy Glow. She stood at the doorway all alone while holding onto her book, feeling strange, and walked forward a little as she also began remembering Rarity saying that she would be out running errands around this time. Words from her morning conversation with Sweetie Belle entered Cozy's mind.

"Are you coming with me to the clubhouse today?"

"No," was Cozy's reply. "I'm going to go hang out with Gallus and the others."

Walking by Rarity's dimly lit racks of clothing, and feeling a few of them with one of her wings, Cozy recalled Sweetie asking, "Well, will you stop by the clubhouse later on?"

"Probably not..."

Opening the book as she came up to the stairs, Cozy said aloud, "I'm really sorry, Sweetie... Apple bloom, and... Scootaloo, but this is more important."

She began going up the stairs, and as she went, she was already lively searching for the pages that she would need to study thoroughly. It would take up the rest of her energy, and by the time Sweetie would get back accompanied by her friends, Cozy Glow would already be fast asleep inside her own bedroom.

That night, she dreamed about the colt she had befriended previously, and about mostly all of the recent friends she had come to accept, and trust. She also dreamed about Tirek, and even Chrysalis. She had only ever heard of their vile deeds, but in some unexplainable way, she still felt attached to them.

Upon waking up, Cozy would move her messy mane out of the way of her vision and get out of bed. "Let's see," she said as she focused on her chess board and pieces. "I, uh, doubt very highly that Rarity would be open to moving back to Canterlot. I don't even think she'd want to visit seeing as how well her business is doing."

She loosely picked up a shiny, white chess piece with a hoof, and then placed it down on one of the far end black cubes belonging to a perfectly clear game board. "Twilight's apparently preoccupied with being the Princess of Equestria for the very first time. Not much surprise there." She picked up another piece, and using some paint, she coated it purple. It was set on the opposite side from where Rarity's piece sat. "Either that, or she's hopelessly wrapped up in trying to find out what's really happened to me and my memory."

Cozy picked up another piece, and this time, she painted it pink. Placing this one in the middle of the other two, she said, "It's... up to Pinkie Pie's letter... I wonder just how long it's going to take Twilight to come around... I'd be able to get to Canterlot if I could just reach her."

For just a mere few seconds, Cozy found herself blankly staring at the three chess pieces, trying desperately to figure out what she could possibly do to speed up this whole situation. That's when her door opened. At first, she thought it might've been Sweetie Belle, so she didn't look up right away, but once the tall figure came into her line of sight, and as she saw those brilliant, purple feathers, she gasped, and just backed away from the game board.

"Twilight?" Cozy asked suddenly with a fair bit of shock in her voice.

"C-Cozy... Glow?" Twilight asked as she blankly stared dauntingly at the chess pieces. "What... is all of this?"

Her hoof rose, almost as if she were pointing, and then the door slowly closed behind her. As for the filly within the room, she could hardly come up with a proper explanation at first. "I, uh... Well, you see, I just... umm..."

Twilight first picked up the pink piece with her magic, and then the purple one, and asked, "I-is this... supposed to be me?"

Cozy nodded timidly, and pointed out, "T-that one's Rarity's."

Twilight then brought her attention to the pink piece, and said, "Which means this one represents... Pinkie Pie?"

Cozy felt all too nervous, and simply mumbled, "More like... her letter... t-to you, Twilight. I was... just trying to..."

Twilight's eyes drifted away from Cozy as she said, "Oh... I see." Upon looking back, she offered, "You were just brainstorming, right?"

Cozy looked down, and nodded, but she also still felt nervous about this. "I... swear, I wasn't gonna do anything evil. I promise!"

Twilight's eyebrows raised, and she asked Cozy Glow wisely, "Why would you think I'd suspect you of anything evil, Cozy Glow?"

She glanced away, and found herself confessing, "B-because... I know about what I did. I know... everything that I did, Twilight." Cozy's heart raced as she allowed the words to leave her lips. Looking Twilight in the eyes, she said guiltily, "I managed to find lots and lots of old newspapers, and... I just had to know." She looked away, but said, "I just had to, Twilight."

The Princess wasn't sure what to make of this. So, she said with a smile, "I think... we should talk, Cozy..."

The filly looked up at the Princess, and asked timidly, "What do you mean, your Highness?"

Twilight led the way out of Cozy Glow's room and came down the stairs. It was still fairly early in the morning, so Rarity and her sister hadn't woken up yet. Sitting Cozy Glow down at a table, she offered the filly, "Good news, or bad news?"

Cozy Glow just looked back at Twilight with a confused expression, and the alicorn made them both something to eat. "E-excuse me?"

Twilight replied, "I have good news for you, and I have bad news." Pouring Cozy's juice, she resumed, "Which would you like to hear first?"

Cozy's answer came in the form of her trying to redirect the conversation. "I'd rather... you tell me why you're not bothered by what I just told you."

"It's because," Twilight said, "I think... that you knowing what you know is a good thing." She looked off, and out the window to say, "So far... according to Pinkie Pie, you've been behaving just like a normal filly should. You've made new friends... you're getting along with everypony, too, so... What's there to worry about?" Twilight shrugged before asking Cozy Glow while returning her attention to their meal, "Good news, or bad news?"

Cozy Glow gulped, and said, "I suppose, give me the bad news first."

Twilight sighed, and said simply while looking back over, and seeing a few playful fillies running by, "I, uh... couldn't figure out what caused you to..."

Twilight glanced at Cozy and saw this unfathomably emotionless face in front of her. Cozy Glow knew what was coming, and didn't care, but up until that point, she was still somewhat pretending for Twilight's sake. Twilight blinked but couldn't manage to finish her sentence. She just watched as time slowed down for her, and Cozy Glow looked away to say, "Yeah, I know you don't know what happened to my memory."

Twilight felt as though Cozy Glow had just seen right through her, and the Princess just blinked her eyes a few times before nodding and turning in order to finish making breakfast. "We, uh, tried... to find out from history books, and spells, and Discord even helped... It's... not because of Discord, by the way. What happened to you, Cozy, just... happened somehow."

Cozy nodded, too, but with less gumption. "I know, Twilight... It's alright." She glanced up and gave Twilight a shy smile. "I'll be alright. What about the good news?"

Twilight replied as she finished, and magically brought the food to the table, "The good news... is that I'll be visiting you more often." Twilight's voice was hopeful, and she saw Cozy Glow smirk as she started to hear Twilight say, "I'll be honest... I became a bit fixated on trying to figure out this mystery of yours that I forgot to check in on you and see how you were doing. I won't make that same mistake again."

Cozy Glow replied fairly happily in between bites, "Well, I sure am glad to at least hear that! I was actually gonna ask you about that." Cozy looked down for a second, and asked, "Umm, Twilight? I'm a little worried."

Twilight said, "Don't be, Cozy Glow, because I promise... I'll come and visit."

"It's not that..." Cozy glanced back up, but she just couldn't make eye contact, so she glanced away, and quickly said, "I... have bad news, too..."

Twilight stopped smiling. She also stopped eating, and asked, "Wh-what? Cozy Glow, what're you talking about?" She didn't respond right away. "Cozy Glow?"

"I... Want to..." Cozy Glow breathed sharply and closed her eyes. Twilight by then could tell that the filly was being all too serious with her. "Release... Tirek... so that I can try to reform him."

Twilight quivered, but didn't say anything at first. Her mind just circled with questions. Slowly, she breathed in deeply. As her breath left her shaken body, she coughed a little and tried as hard as she could to process what she had just heard. After a good few seconds went by, she openly asked, "Wh-why, Cozy? What makes you... want to do something crazy like this?"

Using practically the exact, same words as before, Cozy Glow told Twilight, "I'm not gonna do anything evil. I promise!"

Hearing this harsh truth, Twilight knew that she had no other choice but to believe Cozy Glow. That still wasn't enough to convince Twilight to simply allow Cozy to have her way, but she still asked her, "Why?"

Grabbing her Highness by the hoof, Cozy led the way this time, and back up to her room they went while leaving what remained of their meals. Cozy only needed to secure just one item from her room, and then, the two left Rarity's Carousel Boutique. Twilight didn't have anything to say. She simply followed the filly without any objections. She and Cozy Glow would remain quiet while trotting with one another until they reached Cozy Glow's pond. It was the same one that was distanced from Ponyville, where she and Gallus had first met.

All alone, and during the middle of the day, Twilight asked Cozy Glow, "What's this all about?"

Cozy stood still for a moment longer, waiting. It soon came time for Twilight to raise the sun, and as she did, she huffed. The light shined on their backs, but still, she waited for Cozy's explanation. In time, Cozy opened her book and allowed Twilight to read the appropriate page. Twilight read along the scripted passages within the very back pages of the book, and then looked far off at the bottom of the body of water in front of them to see just why Cozy Glow wanted to speak to Tirek.

At first, she thought it was a mirage, but eventually, she could just faintly make out what seemed to be a bird-like creature. She gasped deeply, and pointed with a hoof while saying, "It... That can't be... Scorpan?" She just stared, mesmerized by the soft waves, and what she could see beyond the many shimmers of light. "I thought he went back home, though."

Cozy voiced, "This book suggested otherwise, Twilight. I know it's all about obscured rumors, and I even thought what I was seeing whenever I ate my lunch way out here was just the sun's reflection, but I could still see it even when the sun went down at night. I asked Gallus about this, and together, we eventually found this book inside of your school for friendship."

Twilight read from the book aloud, "It's most widely believed that Scorpan left Equestria, to wander back to the lands from which he came from, but rumors lead to the less believable possibilities of him staying, as his ghost can still be seen floating at the bottom of a pond near Pony Village... Which was probably eventually renamed Ponyville."

She looked down at Cozy who nodded back knowingly, and questioned, "What else does it say, Twilight?"

Her Highness read the last sentences, "It was... a-also rumored at the time that such distant wanderers like Lord Tirek, and Scorpan might not have needed to invade Equestria in the first place. They merely needed to befriend us. Scorpan apparently claimed to his new pony friends that following Tirek's fate, as the years passed, the new bonds that they shared eventually began to grant Scorpan unimaginable, magical strength."

"See?" Cozy Glow asked boastfully.

Twilight continued to read, "It was because of this that Scorpan never left Ponyville. Even though he knew of what friendship could bring, he couldn't risk allowing his kind let alone the centaurs to have any reason of retaliation. After all, with Tirek locked in Tartarus, it would have been truly impossible to convince them to believe his story. Tirek would never come to know of the magic of friendship either, unless he befriended somepony, or if he managed to find Scorpan's hidden message at the bottom of the pond found just outside Pony Village."

Twilight glanced back out at the softly splashing waters, and then at Cozy Glow, and asked, "This is... why you...?"

Cozy nodded and heard Twilight sigh. "I want to... ask of you... to bring me to Canterlot somehow, Twilight, so that I can do this. Will you help me, your Highness?"

The Princess felt cold. She gulped and breathed in deeply before saying anything for a long, long time.

"Cozy Glow... I need... a lot more time to think about all of this. I'll, uh... I'll talk to Rarity, but..." She huffed, "Just, listen. What you're actually asking of me... is honestly ridiculous." The wind brushed Twilight's mane as she paused only for a second or two before finishing, "I just hope you know what you're doing."

As Twilight began walking back towards town, Cozy Glow followed closely behind with surprising confidence, and looking up at Twilight while they traveled together, Cozy remarked with a smirk, "I think I already have a plan!"

Chapter Eleven: A Red Rook Within a Dark Room

Rarity could be seen sipping her tea as she listened to Twilight from within the other room. She seemed uneasy with every nod that she made. Cozy Glow could just faintly make her out through the door's tiny keyhole. Sweetie stood behind her, and said, "Come away from there, Cozy. Twilight's talking to her right now."

Cozy blinked and squinted. "I know, but I wanna make sure... that Rarity isn't gonna-"

Sweetie lightly grabbed Cozy's hoof, and managed to pull her away from the door while cutting her off by saying, "That my sister isn't going to what, Cozy Glow? Stop Twilight from taking you to Canterlot?"

Cozy looked away, and said, "I'm not sure... I'm just nervous about doing this. Okay?"

Sweetie glanced away as well, and said, "Had I known that this was what you were up to, I would've asked you to let me help you, or to at least talk to me about it."

Cozy commented, looking back, "But I only just discovered this the day before yesterday, and Sweetie... I don't think you should be involved." Sweetie still wasn't making eye contact with her friend, but she looked down, knowing that Cozy Glow had a point. "This is Tirek we're talking about. I'm not even sure my plan will work."

Sweetie began to glance back towards Cozy as she asked, "What's your plan anyways?"

Cozy looked back towards the door slowly, but then calmly said, "I want to talk with him in a way that won't allow him to harm me, or Equestria. I want to convince him not to harm Equestria until he... at least is willing to give friendship a chance." She became a bit more animated while saying, "I think he might come around if he sees his brother."

Sweetie wished that she could respond positively to such a notion, but everything that she knew of the mighty lord was telling her that Cozy Glow was sorely confused. "Uhm..." she voiced, but Cozy Glow remained ever silent after that utterance, waiting patiently for her best friend's opinion. "You... think you can..." She stopped speaking for just a second to consider what she was actually saying, but continued, "S-s-seriously, Cozy... you don't really think that you can... c-convince Tirek to give friendship a try... Do you?"

Cozy was now the one looking away, and down towards the floor. "I... umm..."

Sweetie meant well, just as she always did, but she didn't want Cozy's hopes to be inflated over something that might very well go very wrong, and very quickly. Taking a deep breath, Sweetie Belle began telling Cozy Glow, "I know that what you're trying to do may seem... noble? But Cozy Glow... Since losing your memory, you don't really know him. You've never even met Tirek yet... He's a monster..."

Slowly, the pegasus looking at the ground glanced back up, but the expression on her face was cold. She seemed as if she knew what the word meant, but she had never actually heard it used before. With lips trembling, she asked, "M-monster? He's a... M-monster?"

Sweetie blinked and gulped. "Do you know...?"

Cozy shook her head solemnly. "What does it mean?" she asked, but truth be told, she could've answered her own question.

Sweetie said, "It means... he wants power. He wants to... destroy... just because he can." Sweetie then continued, "A monster is something with claws, and fangs, and horns."

Cozy whimpered on the spot, remembering what his pictures looked like. "He h-has... all of those things."

Sweetie nodded, and mentioned, "He's evil, and I just... I doubt highly that he'd ever be willing to give friendship a chance."

Cozy's mouth was now ajar, and she almost seemed as if she were lost as far as what she should be doing all of the sudden. She backed away from Sweetie, and the door, and simply said, "I don't... understand..." She breathed heavily, but asked, "Why?"

Sweetie tried to stand her ground, and not waver from her resolve. "I just... can't let you see him without knowing... It's... because..." She seemed lost in her words at first, but then, after a few seconds of them listening to the murmurs coming from the other side of the wall, she said, "That's just how he is... How he'll probably always be, Cozy."

Cozy Scoffed, and said shrewdly, "Not if he's like me, though..." Sweetie glanced at Cozy, fearful of what she had just said. "Not if he, like... loses his memory. Right?"

Sweetie shook her head, and said, "Cozy... that's... not the answer!"

"Then what is?" Cozy Glow asked hastily. "Ponies that have messed up, like I did... Ponies that just... they just..."

"Are evil?" Sweetie Belle offered.

At this, Cozy found herself nodding. "I, uh... suppose that's one way to put it."

Sweetie came closer towards Cozy Glow, and said, "Look... you're not evil, but erasing their memories... isn't the answer..." She sighed, and then offered, "Maybe... it actually is an answer, sure, but it's not an ethical one... Do you know what ethics are?"

Cozy Glow breathed in deeply, having read thoroughly on the subject. "Yes..." She scoffed once again, and forced out, "A-and... you're right, Sweetie Belle... I was just getting ahead of myself."

Sweetie nodded at Cozy's ability to keep her temper, and said, "If you're going to do this... I think you should know."

Cozy Glow looked sharply at Sweetie Belle's glistening eyes as she spoke her dangerous words. "What is it, Sweetie?" Cozy asked in anticipation.

Biting her lip, Sweetie nearly had second thoughts about telling Cozy Glow this, but she had to know. "You might even get hurt... Tirek has always been violent."

Cozy merely nodded, and said, "I know..."

After exiting, Twilight and Rarity both stood together awkwardly. Cozy didn't have a very good feeling about this.

She looked from Twilight to Rarity with disbelief forming.

"We've decided that..." Twilight began. "Cozy, we just can't let you see Tirek." There was silence for only a second. "It's too dangerous."

"But..."

"Cozy Glow," Rarity said with worry. "We talked, and I'm begging you... don't do this."

Cozy could only shake her head and tried not to cry. "But... I... know that I can do this...!"

Twilight tried to assure Cozy Glow, "You can't, though. You might get yourself hurt."

Cozy tried once more, "Twilight... Rarity... I'm also begging you... let me do this." She then firmly stated mostly to Twilight, "I know for a fact that I can do this. I..." She sighed, "I already consider him to be my friend."

There was another long pause, and eventually, Twilight looked to Rarity to say, "I'll ask you... for your permission one last time, I guess..." She blinked, and both mares hugged one another graciously. "P-please... I'll be right beside Cozy Glow the whole time that we're doing this... but Rarity... I won't go through with anything until you say... that it's alright."

Rarity unexpectedly gave Cozy Glow a sudden, but quick hug, and said dramatically, "J-just b-be... careful while dealing with that brute!"

It took some effort on Cozy's part to get Rarity off of her, but once she was freed, she came up to Twilight to thank her. "I, uh... really appreciate this."

Twilight smiled at first, but then, she sternly told the filly, "Just... pretty please, Cozy Glow... Please don't botch this."

Cozy simply nodded at the Princess, saying, "I promise, your Highness... I won't."

Twilight's horn glistened, and she remarked, "Okay... Here we go."

A brief teleportation spell later, and Cozy would find just herself alongside Twilight. They stood face to face with the statue that Cozy Glow had at one time been sorely acquainted with.

Twilight turned to Cozy Glow to ask, "Are... you... sure you know what you're doing?" She now stood right next to the statue mysteriously, and suddenly, Cozy Glow felt odd. The image of Princess Twilight standing there and asking her that question the way she did made Cozy Glow shiver, and glance downwards. The filly winced as she gave a glance towards Queen Chrysalis.

Twilight voiced very slowly, "What's wrong?"

Cozy blinked a few times and rubbed her eyes. "Nothing... Nothing's wrong, I just... I guess that I'm... a little bit nervous about doing this after all...! About confronting Tirek... That's all."

"If you don't really want to do this," Twilight began to say. "I'd understand. This is... a huge risk for us to be taking."

Cozy Glow watched as Twilight stood back. "No," Cozy Glow said, finally smiling. "I wanna do this," she said. "I have to do this... because... I just can't accept it."

Twilight's eyes became more and more worried as time went on. "You can't accept what?"

"I..." Cozy stopped speaking just for a second or two in order to breathe. "I can't accept... that he's hopeless, Twilight!"

The Princess then asked, "And what about Chrysalis?"

"H-her, too," Cozy exclaimed suddenly. "From what I hear, she might've bullied me around more than Tirek did... B-but I don't care about that! They can't... be completely evil... can they? I mean... Twilight, I know that I might've been just as... diabolic, if not worse, but didn't they basically befriend me?"

"Cozy, they... associated with you, I think," Twilight said, looking down at the filly.

To that remark, Cozy said, "Call it what you will..." An eerie silence came over the two ponies. They just stood there for a while, staring at each other, and soon, Cozy sighed. It didn't matter what anypony else said to her, and Twilight knew this. Cozy's perspective on the matter was locked, and her solution to what she considered to be a problem was simply to take charge of the situation, so Twilight conceded peacefully, and with a bow. She wouldn't smile for this event, however.

With Twilight's horn dimly shining, she waited for Cozy Glow to come up to the stone statue, and for her to give the command. The filly trotted closer, and as she stood right next to the statue, she managed to get a better view of Tirek's elderly features.

She looked down at one of her hooves, and in the frog was the old tassels that she used to wear in her hair. Slowly, over her left shoulder, she offered them to Twilight, saying, "Just one last thing. I, uhm... brought these along. Do you... think you can do my mane the way it was? A-and my tail, too, please."

Twilight merely smiled and grabbed hold of the tassels with her magic. While she got to work, she questioned Cozy, "Why, though?"

Looking back at Twilight, and almost scowling, she expressed, "I think it'll make it harder for him to try and bully me."

Cozy looked back at the part of the statue that belonged to Tirek, and asked, "He'll look like that, right? He won't be all muscular?"

Twilight shook her head as she finished with Cozy's mane, and said, "No." She then fashioned Cozy's tail as well.

"That's good, but still... he'll be taller than me... C-can he really hurt me in there?"

Twilight gulped before saying, "Yes... he can, so you've got to be careful, Cozy."

Sighing once again, Cozy lowered her eyes for only a second, but then quickly looked back up, and into that gruff face of Tirek. With Twilight finishing, she stood back, and said, "There... You, uh... look just like your old self now."

Cozy nodded, and said, "Good... I'm ready then."

Twilight seemed animated, but Cozy refused to look her way. She was transfixed on Tirek, so Twilight began to cast her spell. "This will," she said after engulfing Cozy Glow with her magic. "This'll make it to where..." she strained for just a second, but then continued. "T-to where you're physically, and mentally connected with him. I'm not turning you to stone, Cozy, but if he does anything to you..."

Cozy was the one who looked more animated now, and she looked back at Twilight one last time to say quite boldly, "If I have to scream, you break his statue into pieces!"

Twilight glumly nodded despite thinking about such a harsh reality. She didn't say anything else following Cozy Glow's statement, either. Twilight simply sent Cozy Glow into Tirek's prison, and once the filly's eyes had changed from it's usual, blissfully pink and red color to opaque, her Highness sat down, huffing from a little bit of exhaustion, and waited in suspense for the outcome.

Everything around Cozy Glow was utterly dark, and a feeling of sheer loneliness washed over her like an ocean. It was a familiar feeling, though. It was a feeling that she hadn't gone through in quite some time. Cozy Glow had been inside this odd space before and had felt its emptiness already. That didn't stop her eyes from widening while she strained to see anything at all from beyond the thick cloud of nothingness that completely surrounded her.

Memories began to surface. Cozy Glow hadn't even told anypony about what she went through when she was turned back into stone by Starlight Glimmer. She remembered crying in there, and crying, and screaming at the top of her lungs, but for what seemed like the longest time, she thought that nopony was coming to her rescue. Those moments were probably the worst, and most horrific moments of her life.

Cozy Glow suddenly wasn't precisely sure when it was exactly that she had begun walking, but with each step, she glanced around in search for Lord Tirek. The emptiness seemed so big, too, so how was she to find him? Cozy began feeling frantic, and although she was normally a fairly calm pegasus, the void was getting to her. Cozy Glow wasn't even sure how she managed to keep herself from running as soon as she had arrived. She just kept walking and observing her surroundings.

In time, she'd spot an irregularity within the harrowing silhouettes, and she'd be drawn to it like a moth to a flame. The closer she got, the more and more she could just faintly make out Lord Tirek's elderly facial features. The rest of his body was also wrinkly, and frail in comparison to when he's been at his best. Cozy stared at him from a safe enough distance and could hear snoring noises. She approached slowly, and saw his eyes were also closed.

Despite sitting straight up, Tirek was sound asleep, and even appeared content. Everything for Cozy Glow slowed down, and she thought just a little bit more about how she was going to persuade him. Although, deep down, Cozy Glow had this unshakable feeling that once this started, her control over the matter was inevitably going to falter.

A hoof rested on Tirek's knee, and the centaur stirred. He blinked a few times while not looking downwards one bit, but then he sighed, and frowned. Slowly, he looked, and finally saw who was holding onto his knee, and for a moment, he considered that he might still be dreaming. He probably would've fallen back to sleep were it not for Cozy Glow at last breaking the silence.

"Tirek? Uhm... I'm sorry for disturbing your sleep, but..." The centaur's eyes widened, and his yellow pupils seemed to scan Cozy Glow with every word that she spoke. "We need to talk."

His frown remained unhindered. "What is this?" He asked accusatively. "How did you get in here?" He stood for a moment, keeping Cozy Glow from responding for a few seconds. As he stretched, he claimed, "It doesn't matter, I suppose... Perhaps..." Sitting back down, Tirek told the filly, "If you're here... we might be able to escape this fate after all!"

He stroked his beard in thought, but as soon as her nerves came back to her, Cozy Glow attempted to correct the mistaken villain. "N-no, actually... umm... Y-y'see, Tirek... L-Lord... Tirek."

After rolling his eyes, and grumbling to himself, Tirek groaned, "Out with it!"

Cozy Glow winced. She had never been yelled at so ferociously, so naturally, she trembled before Tirek's booming voice. "I'm sorry!" She blurted out, "I've forgotten everything! I... I-I don't r-remember anything from before being t-turned to stone!"

Tirek began backing away from the young filly as these words entered his ears. "You've... f-forgotten?" He asked, somewhat annoyed. At first, he seemed as though he was ready to destroy his only visitor on the spot for revealing this to him, but then, he calmed himself down. Breathing, and stroking his beard, the centaur now found himself with even more questions. "Then... why... are you here exactly?"

This subtle, though sudden change in tone helped Cozy Glow to settle her nerves, too. She stared into those yellow eyes belonging to Tirek, wanting desperately to believe that she could make him reform. As calmly as she could, Cozy Glow said to Tirek, "I'm... uh... I'm here to try and make friends with you." Tirek's eyebrows had already been rising more and more with intrigue, but hearing this forced his arm to lower, and he just stared blankly into those soft, hopeful eyes of Cozy Glow as she spoke to him. "There's more reasons than you're aware of... for you to at least consider being peaceful towards everypony, and every creature for a change."

Tired's eyes slowly started to squint, and he questioned his visitor, "What reason could you possibly have for me to befriend you ponies?!" He began to laugh hastily and waved at the notion. "You can't be serious!"

Cozy Glow spoke up, "But I am being serious! Please! If you'll just... hear me out!"

The centaur turned, shaking his head. "You're out of your mind if you think I'm going to be anyone's... friend!"

Cozy followed him wherever he went, and said as they wandered in the darkness, "But why do you want our power so badly? You just want to use it to hurt others? Is that all you find enjoyment in?"

"Of course," Tirek said, turning sharply to try and shake Cozy Glow, but the filly followed closely behind, but never getting too close, either. "It brings me joy to see others flooded with sorrow," he said in a dull tone. "You should know this about me even if you've forgotten everything."

Cozy Glow countered by saying, "I do know that! But that's because... you only think stealing energy is the only way! Well, what if I were to tell you..." Cozy Glow gulped, her throat feeling dry all of the sudden. As Tirek stopped, so did Cozy Glow, and she finished, "What if I were to tell you... that you don't even have to steal it?"

From Cozy Glow's perspective, the words seemed to vibrate within Tirek's head. He stared incredibly blankly towards her approximate position, but at the same time, he almost seemed to be staring right passed her. However, slowly, he chuckled, and nearly tore Cozy's fragile heart into pieces just by saying, "That still wouldn't make a difference!"

Were it not for the fact that Cozy Glow could tell that he was lying to her, she might've taken him a bit more seriously. He laughed at her, and snickered, but the more she coldly stared back at him, the less and less his audible sounds of amusement became until they ceased all together. Cozy told him, "I'm being serious, Tirek..."

By now, she could hear something within the background of the two. For a good, long second, she thought it might've been the rough, and deep beat of a drum, but the more audible it became, the more she realized that it was the distinct sound of a heart beating faster, and faster, until it started to palpitate. Soon enough, she realized that this heartbeat wasn't hers, but Tirek's. His face was now contorting into sheer, unrelenting rage, and as he advanced towards the defenseless filly, she gasped with great amounts of fear.

Snatching Cozy Glow right up from where she stood was all too easy for Tirek, and he was even smiling as he did it. Even in his older form, his presence was far too intimidating for Cozy Glow to withstand. He had her tightly grasped by the neck with both of his claws, and he rose her higher and higher so that he could see the torment in her eyes that much more clearly. At first, Cozy Glow struggled, and bucked as best she could, but soon, she began to stop while Tirek began to strangle her.

In that moment, she slowly dangled her hooves, and her neck was completely enveloped by the palms of Tirek's claws, making it easier for him to choke her. That's when he stopped smiling at the filly that he was holding onto, and saw her disappointed stare, and heard her slight chokes. He loosened his grip, and through her nostrils, Cozy breathed.

"Go ahead," she strained to say. "P-prove... how petty you really are..."

The centaur blinked at her and became nearly paralyzed. It was as if he wanted deep down to say something back at her, and to hurt her that much more, but he couldn't. He just frowned, and then gave her a slight look of annoyance, but nevertheless, he didn't dare go any further with this violent act against Cozy. Slowly, he lowered his head in defeat, but then, he heard Cozy Glow say something else.

Through her strained coughs, she commanded, "Put. Me. Down."

He found himself loosening his grip more and more, until he almost dropped her. While doing as she told him, he placed her down gently and watched her as she cleared her throat. Holding on to her bruised neck, she asked with worry in her voice, "Can I... explain now?" Tirek didn't say a word. "Well?" Cozy Glow asked sharply, "Can I?"

He held onto his head, and seemed lost as she heard him say, "Y-yes! You may... explain..." He folded his arms angrily.

Cozy didn't quite look at him as she began. She merely looked downwards at his torso. For the longest minute, she just stayed there, waiting for her strength to come back, and staring at the useless gesture he had just made towards her. "I found a message from your brother."

Hearing this made him lower his arms at last. All of the sudden, Tirek didn't feel quite so tall, and towering above Cozy Glow anymore. He suddenly felt emptied of all his general knowledge and left with far too many questions on his shoulders. He thought he had everything figured out, but somehow, he now truthfully knew nothing at all. Giving him even more of a headache was this little filly wanting friendship from him when he's loathed her kind for so many, many years.

Cozy Glow continued to say, "You don't have to steal our magic in order to become powerful, either Tirek. Befriending us will do the exact same thing. It'll make you strong."

He looked at her with an unsure expression, but asked, "Why should I believe you?"

Cozy Glow replied, "Because... I can prove it." Tirek just stared at Cozy Glow with a glossy haze in his eyes. "If you leave with me, and promise to stop being so evil, you'll see... with what little magic I give you, and just by being your friend, too."

Tirek looked to his left and considered what Cozy Glow had just offered him. "But that... also means... You'd actually expect me... to start b-befriending others?"

He looked back at her, but for the moment, while she confirmed all of this, she didn't stop making eye contact with him. "Of course," Cozy Glow said, nodding. "You'll also gain more power with the more friends you have. The counter measure, though... The trick with it is that ponies can actually recall that power that they give to you at will, and that power is also somehow magically recalled as soon as your friendship with us ponies come to an end. If you try to steal it, then we're basically back where we started, and... I don't know exactly why you'd want to do that to us... or to me."

Tirek blinked and gave a very light sigh. It was almost as though he wanted to roll his eyes at her just one last time, but he finally understood just how childish he was really being. He sat there for a few seconds, pondering, and then asked, "What if I don't accept your friendship?" By now, Tirek was just as serious as the filly in front of him. "I... want to know."

Cozy gulped, and as the words left her lips, she could feel her whole entire body become as cold as her statement. "I'll have to have Twilight destroy your statue." Tirek remained silent. "Equestria simply can't put up with the chaos that you might still one day be able to bring, but I don't want it to come to that..."

Tirek said profoundly, "I... think that I agree with you for a change. I don't think that I want it to come to that as well..."

His left claw rested shakily on his right claw, and for the first time since Cozy Glow had arrived, Tirek was the one who seemed completely, and utterly without his defenses. He hadn't even been noticing it yet, but the more and more he talked with her, the more and more he sank down to the floor, until he was fair and leveled with Cozy's head. Tirek then felt the hoof of the filly rest on his knee, and she said, "Let me take you to where your brother has left the message for you. If you can't control yourself, though..."

Tirek stood back up, and taking a deep breath, he said, "I know what will happen... You needn't go any further, Cozy Glow."

The filly managed to give Tirek a thankful smile, and then frowned again. "Promise me... that you're not just doing this to be free of your imprisonment. Promise me that once we're outside, you're not going to attempt anything. Please, Tirek... don't make me regret all of this."

Tirek's lips felt dry, but with honesty in his tone, he assured Cozy Glow, "I promise."

His last words echoed throughout the never-ending plains of darkness, and with a fearful glance into the void, Cozy Glow said, "A-alright..."

Before his very eyes, she disappeared, but Tirek didn't have to wait very long before his entire surroundings morphed before his very eyes, and he then found himself positioned above Cozy Glow, and right next to the stone form of Chrysalis. His eyes widened, and a feeling of unexplainable euphoria came over him. Even though he didn't smile, he was happy to be out of the unrelenting darkness.

He came down and saw Twilight as well. She didn't say much to him, but just kept a stern eye on him. She glanced towards Cozy for only a second to ask her, "Are you... alright, Cozy?"

Tirek's eyes went from Twilight to Cozy Glow, and suddenly he felt his stomach start to tighten. She reached upwards and held her neck while responding to Twilight. In the light, the marks looked even worse than before. She coughed again, and said, "I'm... fine!" She then cleared her throat profusely before continuing to say, "I took care of it..." She looked back to Tirek, and stated, "Tirek promised to be my friend."

Twilight had redirected her sour gaze back at Tirek, but after hearing this, her eyebrows would raise, and her eyes would widen. She stared at him with a fair amount of surprise showing on her face, and she questioned him, "You... promised?"

Tirek started to nod. He still kept sulking during the conversation, though, and said, "Cozy Glow told me that in return... you two will bring me to my brother's message." He came up to Twilight and mustered a humble request. "Will you... take me to it? I... need to know..."

He became lost in his words, and Twilight asked Tirek, "You need to know... what?"

He had started looking down, but upon hearing Twilight ask him that, he looked back up at Twilight to say as if she should already know, "I-I... need to know... just how much of a fool I am."

Both Twilight and Cozy Glow looked at Tirek with surprised eyes, but they both were also at least happy to see him being overall a whole lot less destructive. Twilight huffed, and simply teleported the three of them to a hill nearby Cozy Glow's familiar, snack-time lake.

The impressively large, twisting tree still stood strong, although bare of its blossoms due to the seasons that had gone by. Tirek was the first to start walking towards the soft waters. As he did, Twilight followed along, and Cozy Glow behind her. Tirek squinted his eyes at first as he trotted along, but soon enough, he'd see the yellow ripples, and he wouldn't have to strain to see Scorpan any longer. He came up to the tree, and just stood there for a second.

Glancing towards Cozy Glow, he asked, "Well?"

Cozy Looked back up at the elderly centaur, and asked, "Huh?"

"Are we friends now?" Tirek asked while gesturing with a claw.

Cozy Glow then realized what he was asking for, and said, "Oh, umm... y-yes, I suppose we are." She smiled, and then saw a shimmer of light leave from within herself. It wafted into Tirek, and just like that, Tirek had regained a very little bit of his overwhelming strength and magical might. Twilight gasped upon seeing this happen, but she didn't interfere, and she was still hopeful that this would somehow workout.

Tirek looked at his lean physique in admiration, and although he still wasn't blistering red, it was enough to make him reconsider the true, and mysterious power of friendship. He gave Cozy Glow a nod, and then looked back at the lake before taking his two, strong claws, and clapping them together.

The shockwave was enough to evaporate the entire lake in one quick motion. It still wasn't enough to put Twilight on edge, but it was enough to make her bound back just a little bit from the display of sheer power. Where the lake once rested now was what resembled a barren desert with a thick mist flying away from it in the distance. Making sure his strike was powerful enough to leave the bed of the lake hardened, Tirek took the first step and began approaching the distorted image of his brother. While he came to a solemn halt before his brother, Tirek's face became animated.

Scorpan was translucent. Soon, Tirek learned that this wasn't Scorpan at all, but a spell made in his image. Tirek glanced from the spell of Scorpan to Cozy Glow, and then back at Scorpan, and asked, "Brother?"

Scorpan came alive, and said to nopony in particular, "Hello... My name is Scorpan, and if you've found this, do me a favor. I'd like for you to bring my brother, Tirek here. That is... if he's changed at all."

Tirek blinked, but listened, and so did Cozy Glow and Twilight.

"My brother... h-he wasn't the best individual. At this time, however, I have reason to believe he might've escaped Tartarus, and if this is true, I hope he discovers friendship. Maybe I'm just an optimistic birdie, but... well, I've made so many friends, and they've made me so strong! I don't know why, but outsiders like me... when we befriend these ponies, they're able to share their magic with us... Unfortunately, also, if that friendship ever ends, the magic will often leave us immediately. Uh, my brother, on the other hoof..."

Tirek voiced mostly to himself, and quietly, "Your wreck of a brother..."

"He got it in his head one day that the only way to obtain such magic was to steal it, and to take it by force... I... don't really want to get into the details, but if you find him, tell him to come here. Perhaps the aspect of friendship granting him this same power will appeal to him, and if it doesn't, perhaps this will..." The transparent Scorpan almost seemed to look directly at Tirek as he said, "So long as I am alive, and so long as I have these powers from the ponies, this message will remain in this clearing for somepony to discover someday."

Tirek blinked, and then shivered as the spell shimmered, and them restarted. "Hello," Scorpan said. "My name is Scorpan, and if you've found this..."

Soon enough, Tirek stepped away in order to properly think about what he had just heard. Cozy was right behind him, and as they slowly came to a stop, he asked her, "My brother's... alive? After all this time?"

Cozy blinked at him and nodded while appearing sympathetic for her new friend. "It appears that way... Now that you're out, and you have nothing keeping you from making more friends, I suppose you'll go visit him?"

Tirek gave Cozy Glow this look of disbelief towards what he was hearing, but then, he settled himself down again, knowing that she was probably correct on the matter. He drew a heavy sigh for himself, and replied to the cunning filly, "I suppose you... may be right after all, Cozy Glow..."

He then felt her hooves grace his knee again, and as he looked down to see what it was that she was doing, he found himself being embraced by her. Cozy Glow held tightly to Tirek despite him still appearing to be so intimidating. All he could do after everything the two of them had been through was gently hold onto her as well with one of his broad claws, and feel his regrets begin to surface.

Later that same day, Twilight would have Tirek take up residency inside of the Castle of Friendship for the time being. This would work out well considering ever since her coronation, Twilight hadn't gotten a chance to use the Castle of Friendship for much of anything, and although her other friends had helped her out by checking in on the place from time to time, there was never anymore friendship quests showing up on the map of Equestria. So, just in case something ever did arise, Twilight asked Tirek if he minded informing her whenever and if ever something happened to pop up on the map.

Tirek would have no quarrels about this, claiming that he, too, would probably find it difficult to ultimately figure out his brothers whereabouts anytime soon. He still had an attitude about him, but that part of him wavered immensely, and every time it did, Twilight couldn't help but to start smiling at his efforts. As for Cozy Glow, she parted ways with Tirek for the day, leaving him to contemplate over his newfound disposition.

The following morning, Cozy would awaken to her pillow being thoroughly stained by all of the salty tears that she had fought back during her previous encounter with Tirek. Her throat was quite visibly blackened from the Lord's rough grip, but even so, she managed to voice as she woke up, "C-Chrysalis... I feel like she'll be a bit trickier than he was, I'm afraid." To make matters worse, Cozy's poor mane and tail was entangled by her tassels which she had forgotten to take out the night before.

Author's Note

Chapter Twelve: The Normal Days

After managing to befriend Lord Tirek, the next three days went by slowly for Cozy Glow, and thanks to what had transpired, within those three days, Cozy would surprise everypony she came into contact with. By now, Rarity had to give Cozy Glow's mane a trim since it had grown out so long, but that wasn't the reason for everypony being surprised with Cozy when they saw her. Cozy wasn't very enthusiastic about covering up her neck where purplish marks had been left by Tirek, and when asked about them, she'd almost always reply with the same, usual, "It's nothing... really... C-can we not talk about it? Please?"

If pressured, all she'd say more was that it would heal soon enough.

It wasn't as if that completely stopped ponies from constantly asking her about it, but in fairly little time, she received the inquiries less and less. On the second day after the events involving Tirek, Sweetie Belle made a discovery. Tucked away underneath the far corner of Sweetie Belle's bed, and inside of a small, rectangular, and beautifully designed box was a pair of red roller-skates. It also contained matching protective gear, too.

Sweetie had never really used them except for maybe just once or twice, so she gifted them to Cozy Glow in order to try and cheer her up. It worked, too, because for the rest of that day, Cozy Glow skated around the whole town with Scootaloo by her side, learning how to maintain her speed by using her wings while Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom watched waywardly, and cheered them on.

Cozy was worn out by sundown, and after dinner, she'd head straight to bed. However, not before Sweetie Belle managed to give her a hug goodnight just outside of Cozy's bedroom door.

That same evening, inside the Canterlot Palace, Twilight would enter into her own bedroom only to find Princess Celestia and Princess Luna standing just outside her balcony window. They both wore fairly disgruntled faces. As it turned out, the messages that Twilight had been sending them apparently were delayed due to them constantly changing their location, and they had only just found out about Cozy Glow's mysterious release.

Twilight had no choice but to confirm what had happened, and also told them about Lord Tirek being released. Since Twilight hadn't received any word from either of the princesses as far as how she was supposed to react towards Cozy Glow's memory loss, Twilight had taken matters into her own hooves.

"So, in the end... I think this is actually working out," Twilight sheepishly confessed mostly to Celestia after finishing her explanation.

The two of them blinked, standing inside of Twilight's quarters. Twilight had somewhat expected Celestia to be alright with all of this, but she still didn't smile. She just stared at Twilight with unsure eyes, and then asked, "Tirek... is willing to give friendship a chance?" She then sighed, and admitted with a gesture, "I just... I'm not sure how I'm supposed to feel about that, Twilight. He's... well, he's Tirek after all."

She put her hoof down, and then Luna asked, "How... exactly... did Cozy Glow manage to pull this off?"

Twilight stopped smiling, and her lips quivered. For a moment, it seemed as if she wasn't going to answer. She just began looking down, remembering.

"Twilight?" She looked back up and saw Celestia staring nervously at her. "Please... answer..."

She hiccupped, "She... Celestia, she..." Twilight grimaced, remembering the images in her head. "It was like... I could see Tirek's claws even though they weren't there... They were invisible, and they wrapped themselves around her throat, and then he squeezed, but he was hesitant, too."

Celestia's mouth was agape, and she asked, "He... choked her?"

Twilight's tears finally broke through her eyelids, and she nodded, and then Luna asked her, "How did Cozy Glow make him stop?"

Twilight huffed simply, "She, uh... She j-just... told him to put her down... A-and then he did, because she told him to." Silence overcame the three mares for only a second.

After waiting patiently, Twilight would hear Celestia say, "Okay..." Looking at her fellow princess, Twilight nearly began crying even more tears, relieved that Celestia and Luna appeared to be accepting of the situation for the time being, and not too paranoid. Luna was even starting to smile with hope showing despite their tired expressions and their drooping ears, and then Celestia said, "Under one condition... We'll need to check on them for ourselves."

Day three for Cozy Glow was exhausting to say the least. She started her day leaping out of bed. A whimsical, single ray of light shimmered as she crossed through it, and she stopped before exiting her room.

Her hoof reached back and grabbed hold of a chess piece. She moved it a single turn, and then ran off with the intent to make another move hours later. The gear she was equipping at the bottom of the stairs made an audible clamping sound, and once all four of her skates were fastened by her wings, Cozy Glow started trying to hover above the ground. While she laid there mostly on her side, she rose somewhat, and she was soon off of the stairs. She slowly floated downwards and landed while balancing herself gracefully. Soon enough, once she felt ready, she'd start to move forwards, and towards the door. Out she went, but not before remembering to close the door behind herself by using one of her wings.

As Cozy Glow distanced herself from the Carousel Boutique, and riding along, she remarked, "Perhaps I should talk to Rainbow Dash, or maybe even Fluttershy about a few advanced flight lessons sometime."

Everything about her ride that morning was fairly peaceful save for just a few out of the ordinary occurrences. Just when she was at her happiest, feeling the wind breeze against her wings as she sped up, she caught a glimpse of something to the right of where she was going. It was a pair of shadowy figures directly next to a nearby tree. Cozy Glow hastily looked over in that direction, but suddenly, she couldn't see them anymore. She remained there, standing in her skates, balancing herself perfectly in the middle of the grass for quite a few seconds. Blinking, she rode off. She also looked back to double check her surroundings but saw nothing once again. "Huh..."

In time, Cozy Glow arrived at her destination. She still felt as though she were being watched from afar. Shaking off the feeling, she skated up to one of the market stands, and said, "Hello! I'd like one... Uhh..."

Cozy Glow looked down at all of the different sized cookies and took her time choosing the right one. The shop keeper just stood there, waiting patiently for the filly to make up her mind.

"One... medium peanut butter chunk cookie, please."

The shop keeper smiled and wrapped Cozy Glow's cookie for her. The smell of warm, nutty butter wafted by Cozy Glow's muzzle just when the treat was gently hoofed to her. Wandering off, and saying thanks to the mare behind her, Cozy Glow pleasantly rolled her way on over to Peanut's house. Birds soared high above Cozy Glow as she rode along. A smile suddenly overcame her, and as she saw her friend's house drawing nearer, she found that she could only smile more and more.

A feeling of euphoria overcame her as she thought about the possibility of having a friend who also had no idea who she really was, but coming up to the door, she slowly realized with every gradual, and gentle flap of her wings that she'd have to tell him the truth about her past one way or another. She stopped directly before the knob and gulped while she stared at it glumly. Her hoof rose to knock against the blue, wooden surface, but her body wouldn't allow it. Hanging out of her saddle was the cookie she had bought, and she could just faintly see it through the folds that mostly failed to hide it.

She was feeling a flurry of emotions, and even though her hoof was slightly shaking, she still had to make herself knock, and as she did, Cozy found that her hoof had slowly begun to cease its trembling. Her hoof lowered itself, and she just stood there, waiting. When the door opened, she did her best to smile, but greeting Peanut still felt awkward for her. She figured while they walked into the house together that it might've been because he could tell just by looking at her eyes that she was actually feeling uneasy about seeing him.

"Is there... something wrong?" he asked her quietly, bringing her to the living room. She sat down on a big, comfy sofa, and shook her head at him. Sounds of vegetables being chopped in the kitchen could be heard, and Cozy Glow suddenly smelled several other different kinds of fragrances within Peanut's home.

"I, uh..." She began speaking, but she soon sniffed sheepishly just once more, and then asked, "Why do I smell cookies as well as hay bacon and cooked bunches of flowers... and... is that also apple pie?"

Peanut simply laughed, and said, "Yep! My mom likes to cook... like, a lot. It's actually surprising I stay as skinny as I do."

Cozy giggled some more, and then said, "Oh, speaking of cookies..." She dug out the present for Peanut, and said, "Here you go..." As he unwrapped it with a growing smile, she said while blushing, "It's got chunks of peanut butter in it."

He just stared at it while smirking for a second, and then, he took a bite. Immediately after, and while he slowly chewed, savoring the sweet flavor, he made sure to wrap up what remained, and went off to presumably put it away for later. As soon as he came back, he'd sit down next to her, and ask, "So...?" Placing one of his hooves over the other, he asked her welcomingly, "What's on your mind?"

Cozy looked all around at Peanut's pleasantly decorated house, and said slowly, "Earlier... you seemed to... not know my name at all, but maybe you've heard of me anyways. You just haven't realized it."

She slowly gave him a brief description of her old life that she had completely forgotten. She even pulled out one of the newspapers that described her wrongdoings from one of the pockets of her saddlebag, and then asked it of him to try and think back and tell her if he recalled any of it. However, the colt simply smiled as innocent as ever, saying, "That's interesting, but I've never heard of any of these occurrences. I tend to just stay in my room, and in my house most of the time, and although I go to school and I go out shopping for sweets, I actually don't have all that many friends aside from all of the market ponies that sell me cookies." Cozy's eyebrows raised as she heard this. "Besides... you did say that you've forgotten all of that bad stuff anyways, right?"

Cozy gulped, but said, "S-sure, of course."

Peanut smirked at her, and then yelled towards the kitchen, "Mom? Is it alright if I make a new friend with one of Ponyville's former villains? She says she's the one that all the princesses and Discord turned to stone, but she forgot all of that, and she says that she's really, really sorry." He winked at her.

A kind, motherly voice could be heard coming from the kitchen. "Yes, dear, that's fine. So long as she doesn't trap you in a closet."

Peanut glanced at Cozy Glow, but still smiling, he sarcastically asked her, "You're not gonna do that, right?"

Cozy Glow's eyes widened, and she shook her head at her newest friend. "I wouldn't dream of it, Cookie."

They both laughed together, and then Peanut's mother came around with plenty of food for the two of them to snack on. Eventually, Cozy Glow would be on her way, happy to have told Peanut the truth about her past after all.

Skating along, Cozy breathed as best she could, because her next stop was the Castle of Friendship. Walking up to the doors after having taken off her roller-skates, Cozy sighed, and realized something bizarre. Out of nowhere, her body suddenly felt lighter than air, and as she looked upwards at the door yet again, she realized that it was because she still felt as though she was being observed. She slowly, and timidly started to look behind herself, but saw nothing except the basic, ordinary, Equestrian wilderness that was located just passed Ponyville's walls.

Wind graced Cozy Glow's wings and cheek. She stood there even longer than before, looking all around, but nothing was there. After what must've been minutes, Cozy Glow eventually sighed with disappointment, and with worry. She turned back around and opened the doors. However, even after closing the doors behind herself, Cozy still couldn't shake the eerie feeling of being watched.

Cozy trotted within the entryway of the castle and looked up towards the banners that Tirek had hung. She rolled her eyes and shook her head at his image that flexed back at her. Soon, she began hearing a faint cry for help coming from the next room, and the pegasus hurried along to go see what the distress might've been. Although, she wasn't exactly prepared for the upcoming experience.

It was difficult for her to be floating there in the room, staring with disbelief in her eyes as a lean, and fairly muscular Tirek came into her line of sight. He had unfortunately already started without her and was in the middle of trying to take on more weights than he should've. The room was cluttered with his workout equipment, and on the bench-press, Tirek could be seen trying to lift back up an overwhelmingly heavy bar that drew dangerously close to his torso and neck.

For the last few days, Cozy had been visiting and acting as Lord Tirek's spotter in order to help him out with his daily routine exercises, but up until that day, he had never been so bold as to begin without Cozy Glow regardless of how puny she really was. "Ach," the lord yelled furiously. "H-help! Please!"

Cozy didn't move right away. Instead, she said, "You... S-started without me?!" Her face slowly became red just before she yelled back at him, "Are you stupid or something?"

"J-just help me get up...! I'm being crushed!"

With yet another roll of her eyes, Cozy Glow proceeded to start lifting, but thanks to the many weights bestowed on the bar, she was almost hardly any help at all. Once the bar was placed downwards, and Tirek was freed from his bench-press of doom, he went to thank Cozy Glow. However, she denied him the satisfaction. "Y-you..." Cozy Glow had started to fuss at the centaur right before Tirek had time to even formulate his appreciation into words. "What... the... HECK?" She huffed, and then exploded. "Are you crazy or something? Are you trying to get yourself hurt? Why would you start without me? We've talked about this already! I thought we were a team, Tirek!"

"I was just-"

"No!" Cozy Glow cut him off. "Don't ever do that again! I don't think I've ever been more scared in my whole life! What were you thinking?"

With steam fuming from his head due to his unchecked anger, he groaned, "I... was thinking... Ugh!" Tirek scowled, and said, "I was thinking about gaining all of my strength back through regular, rough and hard determination, and work." He folded his arms, and confessed, "Nopony has been open to the thought of befriending me since you let me out. So... What else am I supposed to do?"

Cozy floated back down, and managed to settle her nerves as she sighed, and said, "Well, for starters, you need to be a little bit more patient. As for your workout, I'm not really sure... I do think that it would be better if you paced yourself a little bit more, though. I mean... what do you need all this strength, and power for anyways?"

Drawing a breath of annoyance, Tirek behaved as if Cozy should've known the answer to her question already. "I need to be a stronger fighter. I need to be mightier than my brother, Scorpan."

Cozy backed away, unsure of what she had just heard her friend say. "What was that?"

"You heard me..." Tirek turned and faced his back towards the filly. "He must have... so much more power than me by now. Just imagine it, Cozy Glow... It would be a spectacular battle were we to ever cross each other's paths once more! So, you see... that's why I need to be better than him. So that one day, when I go searching for him, I'll be ready."

Cozy Glow trembled where she stood, and asked, "R-ready for what?"

Sinisterly, Tirek said, "To destroy him of course."

For a long couple of seconds, the two of them just stood together within that room. In time, Cozy Glow sniffled, and said, "That's... very disheartening, Lord Tirek." Slowly, she raised her hoof. The moment she did, Tirek realized what she was doing, and turned back around only to watch as all of his built-up magic exited his body. While the shimmers oozed right out from within his once formidable structure, his body reverted back to its elderly form.

Once it was finished, he'd sigh, and say, "You... witch... How dare you!"

Cozy's glowing hoof rested back down on the ground, and as it did, she said to the centaur, "I highly doubt your brother is going to want to fight you when and if you do ever find him. Tirek... just in case you haven't woken up from your delusional daydream of power and conquest... Just in case you still haven't gotten it through your thick skull yet... Scorpan isn't corrupted by the power of friendship the way you might've been. He left that message outside of town because he probably missed you, and he also probably just wants things to be peaceful between the two of you."

Tirek rubbed his head in thought, but for some reason, he somehow suddenly found himself without the proper words to speak. He simply mumbled, and voiced, "B-but... He..." Cozy Glow waited to hear the lord's plea of defense, but it never came. If anything, Tirek seemed at a loss as to why he had been thinking this way at all. "I... Y-you see, I..."

He never would finish that sentence. Cozy Glow merely turned around, and said back to the confused and ashamed centaur, "You may have your powers and strength... and more importantly... my friendship back when you've realized just how messed up all of this is."

While walking away from him, Cozy heard Lord Tirek chant for her to come back, and to give him a second chance, but she wouldn't listen. She just kept going, and soon, Cozy was outside of the castle once more. Although she wished she didn't have to do what she had just done, at the same time she also understood just how unacceptable Tirek's maniacal behavior really was, and something simply had to be done about it. Slowly wandering back towards home, she wished once again that it didn't have to be this way. Although, at the same time, she also came to the realization that things were only going to keep getting better thanks to her actions.

She had nearly arrived at the Carousel Boutique when Cozy Glow had noticed that the odd sensation of being followed and watched by somepony from a far was vanishing. She looked all around herself, but hardly anypony could be seen. Time felt as if it were being slowed down incredibly to Cozy Glow due to the sudden, sheer stillness of the air that was surrounding her. She thought deeply, but in only a matter of five seconds or so, Cozy figured out who had been following her. She innocently turned back around and resumed on her regular path.

Under her breath, she whispered, "It appears that the princesses don't yet seem to trust me... That is... it's more likely that they're actually reluctant towards trusting Lord Tirek, I guess." Coming up to the door, she opened it, but just before closing it behind herself and while carefully taking off her protective gear and skates once again, she also whispered quietly, "If I'm being completely honest with myself here, I can't really blame them... If I were in their hoof shoes instead, I would more than likely never be able to trust myself let alone Lord Tirek, either, so I suppose I should be a bit more grateful that they seem to be giving me a chance, and not just simply turning me and Lord Tirek back into stone and easily being done with everything altogether."

Chapter Thirteen: Ocellus's Struggle

Rain slapped the glass that was right in front of Cozy Glow. It had been storming outside nearly ever since Cozy had arrived outside of the Clubhouse of Friendship. After heading inside, she watched as Ponyville was washed away by all of the water and sighed. She had gone there in order to relax, and to be with a few of her new friends, but all she found within the clubhouse walls was solitude and a dim setting.

She eventually wandered away from one of the downstairs windows and waited all alone, and at the end of the stairs to see if anypony else would come walking in through the doors, but she knew that thanks to the rain, nopony was probably going to visit that day except for herself. She frowned, and waited, but for a long time, nothing happened.

She finally stood from where she rested, and breathed before saying aloud, "It was such a sunny day not too long ago..."

The smell and especially the sound of the harsh rain began to bother her, but just before she started towards the doors in order to leave, and head out into the sopping wet mud that surely awaited her, the doors opened. Ocellus walked in. She shivered and tracked in dirt as she went. Cozy went ahead and grabbed her a towel, and afterwards, Ocellus thanked the filly just before going upstairs to dry off in her quarters.

For a couple of seconds, Cozy Glow stood by herself downstairs lost in thought while trying to figure things out. "Should I even bother her right now?" Cozy Glow thought curiously. "I mean, in all the time that I've pretty much known Ocellus, she's hardly said much of anything to me... But, then again, come to think of it, Ocellus doesn't say much of anything at all."

Cozy huffed, and thought some more, "The thing is... now's actually a perfect chance for me to ask her about Queen Chrysalis. Should I, though? I'm really not sure what to do."

"Say, Cozy?" A shy voice came from up above Cozy's head. She looked up, and although she couldn't see Ocellus from where she was standing, she heard the young changeling say, "If... you need to t-talk to me about my mother... you can." As Cosy advanced upwards, she continued to listen. "I think that I... that I pretty much know what you're about to do."

As Cozy Glow reached Ocellus, she stood with the changeling's back facing her. "What do you think I'm going to do?" Cozy asked.

Ocellus turned around slowly, and asked, "You're going to... release my mother, aren't you?"

Silence overtook the two fillies after those words were heard. Cozy Glow blinked questionably but stood her ground. She felt as if she couldn't move. It wasn't until her throat had become dry, and she had to gulp that she finally replied with a question of her own. "You... d-don't... want me to release Queen Chrysalis?"

Ocellus shook her head, and confessed, "I absolutely don't want you to do that."

Again, there was a brief silence. Cozy Glow began to have an odd sensation that her every word was like her chess pieces. Each and every one of them needed to be used carefully, and strategically. Her lips parted after a brief thought, but no words came out. She just started to stare at Ocellus in disbelief.

"Do you even have a plan?" Ocellus suddenly asked.

Cozy didn't respond right away, but a thought soon came into her mind. "That's... why we're talking. Ocellus, I... I would never go around telling you huge, mean lies, or anypony else for that matter. Releasing Queen Chrysalis is exactly what I intend to do. I also plan on reforming her just the way I'm reforming Tirek right now, and... I kinda really need you for this."

Ocellus appeared worried. "I... just don't know... Most of the changelings feel that Queen Chrysalis should probably just stay the way she is now." Cozy gasped, and Ocellus continued, "There's a few that miss her enough that they want her out, and of course also want her to... change, but for the most part, most of the changelings still fear her."

Cozy nodded, and for a second more, she stood in thought. Slowly, she then said, "I know that you don't want... your dark queen back. Perhaps... if she comes to understand some kind of way to freely give love..."

Despite Cozy's gestures, Ocellus carefully interrupted her by saying, "We've technically already tried that. Most of the time, she's just out for love, and never willing to offer it at all. Don't you see Cozy Glow? This isn't you trying to talk me up into helping you out. It's me trying to discourage you from ever even attempting to let Queen Chrysalis out." Her eyes looked stressed, and even though Ocellus wished deeply for Cozy Glow to give up this pursuit, she was also beginning to see just how resolute this new Cozy Glow could really be.

Cozy Glow's eyebrows furrowed slightly, and she said quite clearly, "You're... wrong." She blinked at Ocellus, and said further, "It's neither... This is all about... simply doing the right thing." It fell even more silent because the rain had finally stopped. Ocellus and Cozy Glow could both hear each other's tense breathing. Cozy's breath sounded confident, and stern whereas Ocellus sounded all too nervous. Soon enough, Cozy Glow calmed down, and pointed out, "I'm not trying to bully you into this. It's up to you... If you really don't want to do this, I get it."

"N-no!" Ocellus sheepishly blurted out. Cozy Glow simply stared, and then, Ocellus said, "You... You're right. Letting her out... It really is the right thing to do, Cozy Glow, and if you're this determined, then... I'll be right behind you the whole time."

Ocellus began to smile, and Cozy came closer, smiling as well. They hugged one another, and Cozy Glow felt a warmth inside of her that she had never felt before. As the embrace ended, she looked into the silky eyes that belonged to Ocellus, and said with distinct appreciation in her tone, "Th-thank you, Ocellus... Do you think that you might be able to help me with getting through to Thorax? He's... one of the changelings that wants to keep her imprisoned, isn't he?"

Ocellus held her tongue for just a few seconds, but while tilting her head disappointingly, she admitted, "Yes, he is... unfortunately."

Ocellus stared at the floor, but in very little time at all, Cozy Glow redirected her attention back upwards by grabbing hold of her soft hoof. Cozy Glow then said to her, "The rain's cleared up in case you haven't noticed." Ocellus merely stared into those glistening eyes belonging to her friend, and then heard Cozy gleefully voice, "Let's go."

Chapter Fourteen: The Unchanged Queen

With a sharp gasp, Cozy Glow breathed in deeply, and then, she breathed outwards rather calmly. It felt as if she were sweating all over, and yet, she wasn't actually sweating a single drop. The shaking and the rumbling that was happening all around her had slowly ceased to be, and although she could still loosely recall what she was doing moments ago, all of those memories were withering away as well. Those fresh memories of everything that had happened in her life not minutes earlier began to vanish just as she attempted to think back on them. Cozy blinked hazily, but then strained her eyes tightly. She could just barely make out a brilliant, but blinding light shining violently downwards at her, and that was when she realized that she had been tilting her head way up towards the sky, and her vision was pointed right at the all too bright, and potentially blinding sun.

She lowered her head and brought her line of sight away from the somewhat painful glare only to begin to see clouds. There were so many clouds way up above Cozy Glow, and far, far below her, too. It was almost enough to make her head spin, but she somehow managed to keep from falling off of the platform that she found herself upon. Soon enough, after backing away from the paper-thin edge, Cozy came to find out that she somehow was on top of a gigantic playing card. By the looks of it, she was on what appeared to be a red ace, and the more she looked all around herself, the more and more Cozy Glow felt confused as to where she might've truly been at the time.

Playing cards trailed off with and after one another. They proceeded to gently pop a few pink and blue balloons as they gracefully floated and whooshed by, and Cozy watched as bubbles loftily went along a seemingly random path that bent and looped in circles a few times. Chess pieces could also be seen floating in midair all over. Some were huge, and some were regular sized. Some of them sat on playing boards that were suspended upside down amongst all of the clouds in the sky, and a few if not most of those boards were playing themselves somehow.

Cozy gulped, and the more oddities she saw, the more she began to cower where she stood. "Am I... Dreaming?" She asked herself slowly. "This... has to be a dream."

Using one of her hooves, she pinched herself, but at first, that didn't seem to be working, and then, she felt a sharp, but all too welcomed shake on her right shoulder. The bubble that had formed upon her muzzle popped audibly, and she woke back up with a slight gasp. Next to her sat Ocellus, and her left hoof still rested peacefully on Cozy's somewhat quivering shoulder. The two sat on their sides together within their booth, and Ocellus's right hoof had also been holding onto both of Cozy's practically the entire train ride.

"Cozy? Were you asleep?"

Rubbing her eyes, and then bringing her hoof back down to Ocellus's, she admitted with an embarrassed nod, "I was dreaming pretty hard."

Ocellus remarked, "You've been pretty active these last few days. Attempting to reform Tirek is a humongous challenge all on its own. I'm not surprised you're having deep dreams." Cozy nodded once again, and watched outside the window as towns, and houses appeared and then quickly disappeared behind them. Ocellus looked over towards Cozy Glow, and mentioned, "You're behaving very maturely about this, by the way."

Glancing over, Cozy smiled at her friend, and said, "Thanks... I guess I'm just nervous. That's all." She gave a brief thought towards how Rarity might react had she known what Cozy Glow was up to, but Cozy Glow planned to be back within the Carousel Boutique before the end of the day.

She hoofed some of her stresses away, and then continued to watch the windows for a few more minutes only to fall asleep once again soon after. The dreams came and went during their trip to and from the changeling colony, but within only an hour after their departure, the two would arrive at their destination, and Ocellus began leading the way. Cozy stayed close to her friend during the trot, but the whole way there, the two of them hardly said a word during their journey. It wasn't until they reached what at first appeared to be a hollow cave that Ocellus finally said, "It's this way."

Cozy gulped, and while pointing, asked, "That's where the changelings are? It's dark in there."

Giggles from Ocellus could be heard coming from within, and then the changeling said, "It's fine! You'll see, Cozy Glow. Come on inside."

Worry and hesitation nearly gripped, and held Cozy Glow back, but bravely, she began to trot with little regard for her silly instincts. Through the tunnel she went, and as she proceeded, she could loosely begin to see the rocks above her and below her glisten with light that shined hazily from the other side. The closer and closer Cozy Glow got to the ending of this mysterious tunnel, the more and more luminous the cave became. Coming out of the darkness was a whole new experience for the filly. She had never needed to wait so long in her life in order for her eyes to adjust, and once she was with Ocellus again, Cozy Glow still had immense trouble seeing anything else except for Ocellus. Slowly, and finally, Cozy squinted less and less until she could see everything around herself.

Most of the native changelings busily went about their day. Only a few of them stopped briefly to glance towards Ocellus as she entered a clearing followed by Cozy. The pegasus got more and more attention as the two of them trotted along throughout the hidden village, but she didn't say a word about it. She merely stayed right next to Ocellus during the uphill journey, and nervously, Cozy Glow only asked once, "Are you sure... it's okay that I'm here...?"

Ocellus replied, "Most of us... like I said, aren't going to be exactly willing to accepting your actions, but..." She stopped, and turned slowly to say, "We all love her regardless, because she's not just our queen to us. She's our mother... You see, Cozy Glow... It's what's keeping her alive.

Cozy's eyes widened, and she asked, "You mean...?"

Nodding quietly, Ocellus took a moment before saying her next line. Cozy could hear the sounds of the lively village as they stood together in a tiny walkway staring at one another. Two other changelings passed them, and then Ocellus spoke softly. "Every time a filly changeling, or even Thorax... Whenever any of us visits her statue, we always give her our love. Even though... even after everything she's done... We can't help it. It's how we are now." Smiling with innocently blushing cheeks, Ocellus said, "We're just too loving to stay mad at her for long."

She blinked, and as she did, Cozy could see that her friendly changeling was holding back tears. Cozy glanced away with a sigh and nodded. "Let's... go see Thorax, then, and... thanks, Ocellus."

While walking next to her side, Cozy Glow heard Ocellus question, "For what?"

Cozy Glow replied happily, "For telling me about how all of you have actually been keeping Chrysalis alive. You don't suppose she knows about it, do you?"

Thorax sat within a spacious hut located halfway up the massive hill. He meditated to himself from within while occasionally conversing with anypony that might visit. Incense dimly lit and scented the room. Cozy Glow trotted slowly through the entrance while she timidly followed Ocellus, and with his shadow against the wall, Thorax greeted the two with the gesture of a hoof. "Hey, Ocellus.... and... Cozy Glow..."

He gulped while they came up even though he knew Cozy Glow didn't mean him any harm. Cozy spoke up just before Ocellus did, and said, "I, uh... don't mean to cause you trouble. Not in the slightest... but, uh..."

Thorax blinked with some stress showing in his eyes, and said, "It's... alright, actually, Cozy. I know what you're here for."

The room became calm, and Cozy soon found herself sitting with Thorax rather than standing. "What... exactly do you think I'm here for?"

"You intend on releasing our Queen, of course. It's... well, a lot of us here in the villages don't think that doing this is necessary. Besides..." Thorax then said something Cozy Glow hadn't yet anticipated. "Where do we even begin with something like that?" The room became even more quieter all except Cozy Glow who periodically hummed to herself. For this next move, she desperately needed to take her time. When she stopped humming, however, is when the others finally glanced back in her direction.

"We, uh... Well... That depends." She looked first at Ocellus, and then upwards towards Thorax. Although, more specifically, she seemed to be inspecting their horns. She then asked, "You're... not like the other changelings, are you? Can you... perform magic, Thorax? As in... other than changing your form, I mean." Thorax just stared as he listened to Cozy while she asked him her question, but he couldn't really bring himself to answer her right away.

Thorax seemed torn towards answering her question. He stared at her with uncertainty. In time, he'd finally say, "I haven't... told anypony about it, but... I'm not like the others. My magic isn't great, and when I was first trying to teach myself how to use it, I fumbled most of the spells over and over again... But..."

Cozy asked, "But?"

Thorax felt his lips quiver, and he nodded. "I... pretty much know how to do all sorts of spells by now."

Ocellus could be heard gasping with surprise from behind Cozy Glow, and Cozy asked her, "You... didn't know?"

Ocellus ignored Cozy's question, and asked Thorax, "How long have you been doing this and behind our backs, too? None of the others ever found out! You can... use magic?"

Thorax raised his hoof to his lips, and made an audible, "Shhh..." He then gulped, and mostly looking at Ocellus, he told them, "The reason why nopony knows is because... Well, it's situational, actually."

Cozy Glow cynically asked thorax, "What's so situational about it?"

"The timing, actually," Thorax replied. "I planned to have my magic mastered before teaching the others, but that happened... can you guess?"

Cozy glow was quick to respond, "It was shortly after your queen was turned to stone... wasn't it?"

Thorax nodded, and said, "Very perceptive, Cozy. That's why only I know how to do it... If the others found out, and considering most changelings oppose Queen Chrysalis being freed, and you were released, and especially after Tirek was freed, too... That's why I chose to keep that a secret."

Cozy understood, and said, "I think what you did was the best course of action, but if it's alright, I need your magic now."

Thorax blinked at Cozy while expecting her to say something further, but when she didn't, he asked, "Huh?"

"I'll... need you along as well, I think. It's for my plan! That is... you can put us into contact with Queen Chrysalis, right?"

The request was a bit much to take in, and it showed as Thorax asked the anxious filly, "You mean... you don't intend on just releasing her? Is that what you did to Tirek?" Cozy Glow just nodded, and Thorax sighed as he processed this knowledge while scratching the back of his neck. "S-sure, I can do that... it's just..."

"What?" asked Cozy.

Thorax gave another lofty sigh, and said while looking down at Cozy, "My magic... I've noticed that It's not exactly the same as when ponies cast spells. Just a fair warning."

Cozy curled her brow at the suspicious statement, but she also figured she'd see what he meant soon enough. Cozy gestured with a hoof, and said, "Fine..." She kept her forearm extended, and said, "Let's go right now, Thorax... If it's alright with you."

A circular, bright green and orange portal formed before the statue of Queen Chrysalis. Through it came Thorax followed by Ocellus, and then Cozy Glow. The portal closed rather quietly behind the three, but Cozy Glow wasn't exactly counting on there being a thick downpour looming over Canterlot that day. Without hardly any winds to help break up the drench, it rained down constantly, painting the saddest picture of the three approaching the petrified changeling mother.

Chrysalis almost couldn't be seen because of how grey the water was. It sounded like pure static, so much that the three visitors could hardly hear anything else, so at first, they didn't say a word to one another, either. They just listened, and watched, and felt the rain coming down. Everything around the statue seemed otherworldly somehow thanks to the rain, as if that was going to take care of Queen Chrysalis's rage, and wash all of her anger and hatred away. Cozy Glow couldn't even hear or feel herself breathing anymore. She halfway panicked and cleared her throat.

"Oh," Thorax sighed sadly. "Right," he said, looking down at Cozy. "Sorry... I'll cast the spell now."

All Cozy felt like doing further while caught in the middle of this rain was watch as Thorax began using his magic. The glow of his horn combined with the liquid that fell all around him. It became this ominous, but brilliant color that Cozy Glow had never seen before, and then everything around her turned nearly pitch black save for the white outline of everything and everypony.

The statue of Chrysalis as she lunged herself forwards violently was gone, and in its place, the Queen could visibly be spotted underneath a tree just a few steps away. Thorax stood next to Cozy, and Ocellus was behind them. She felt nervous as she saw her mother from a distance, but the white outlining of everything helped Chrysalis stand out from Equestria's basic environment.

"Queen... Chrysalis?" Cozy glow asked. Her majesty's back was turned, but as she heard Cozy Glow call out to her, she slowly began to turn.

"That voice sounds familiar," she commented. "Cozy Glow? H-how?" She soon enough saw Thorax, and Ocellus as well, and then, things became quiet for a while. They all just stared at Queen Chrysalis while she simply stared back, but finally breaking the silence, Queen Chrysalis demandingly asked, "What's going on here?"

Cozy was quick to respond. "This... might... feel really, really weird, and awkward at first to hear..." Chrysalis didn't interrupt, so Cozy kept speaking. "But, uh... I forgot everything." She shrugged as she ended that sentence. Chrysalis merely took a step back, but she still didn't say anything. "So, a whole lot has happened since then, but the reason we're here..."

Chrysalis finally made a noise. "Tch! Go on... I'm listening..."

Cozy gulped before saying, "I've... already released Tirek... I've basically befriended him, actually... I think... so that left just you to worry." Cozy kept her gaze locked tightly on the mare before her. She even tried to crack a smile no matter how worried she really felt deep down inside.

Chrysalis surprisingly didn't say anything at first after hearing this news. She just kept on sneering mostly at Cozy Glow and her messy mane. Soon enough, however, she'd ask, "Forgotten everything? So now you're good?" She shook her head in disappointment, and then also rhetorically asked, "And you said that... Tirek is even giving you ponies a chance as well?" Cozy just stared at the queen, wondering what she should say next. "That's... absurd, and did you just say that you're worried about me?"

Cozy Glow by now felt just as intimidated as when she very first encountered Tirek, but just like last time, she ignored those sinister feelings of regret and doubt and trotted nearer towards Chrysalis. Stopping only a couple steps away, Cozy Glow looked up at her, and said, "I can't help it..." The air around the two of them became thin, and all Thorax and Ocellus could do now was watch from the background. "Do you... even realize what sort of situation you're in?"

Chrysalis looked away, but only for a moment. "What're you going on about, traitor?"

Cozy shook her head at that vain remark, and boldly stated, "You're... literally a statue right now..." Chrysalis's face became a bit more animated rather than full of anger after hearing this.

"I'm a... what?"

Cozy didn't repeat herself. Instead, she resumed what she was saying. "This... it's all gotten so out of control that I had to threaten Tirek's statue just in order to get that stupid, stubborn centaur to come around, and listen to reason..." After hearing these daunting, and almost threatening words, Chrysalis chose that it might be best to keep her big mouth shut for a change. Cozy quickly considered what else there was to say, and then pleaded, "It's either that, or we're leaving you here as a statue forever."

The rain was still pouring heavily, and as it did, Chrysalis thought about how to proceed if at all with this conversation. "So, I only have those two choices...? Remain a statue forever, or crumble?"

Cozy shook her head and corrected the mare. "You have three choices, actually."

What came next was not the move Cozy was hoping for. Chrysalis had glanced downwards so that some of her hair could hide her face. Looking back up, and into Cozy Glow's hopeful eyes, she said, "No... I don't."

Cozy blinked after hearing those words, and asked, "Y-yes... you do... You can try being our friend. Wh-why don't you..." She stopped only for a second as she thought that Chrysalis wasn't going to listen for much longer. "Why don't you... try loving somepony? It can be anypony!"

"That's enough," Chrysalis said while trying to dodge the question. "Changelings are superior to ponies in every way, and it was not us who needed to provide them the love, but the other way around!" Cozy Glow had heard just about all she could stand, and she wasn't going to allow her majesty to banter on like that for very much longer.

"No!" Cozy Glow raised her voice. "You don't know how wrong you are! The ponies behind me... They're proof that you're wrong!"

"Those two? Over there?" Chrysalis pointed with one of her hooves. "They've become weak as soldiers. If they had to, they'd never find any food in the wilderness." Chrysalis's eyes became dark as she spoke. "Back when we were a group... weak ones like these held the rest of us behind. We had to drag changelings like them the whole way."

Cozy could hear Ocellus softly speaking, and saying, "I... I hate it when she treats us so uncaringly."

Looking back, Cozy Glow sighed powerfully. It was then and there that Cozy Glow decided that her patience with the salty mare had reached its limit. She glared equally hauntingly at Queen Chrysalis, and said, "Y'know what? You're right about just one thing... Enough really is enough..."

Chrysalis leaned in, but only a little as she tried to ask, "What was th-"

However, Cozy Glow clarified, "Enough of this game of yours! Aren't you... their mother?! We're talking about your children! They just... they don't learn, or receive anything from scavenging just to get by, and... a-and neither do you!" This whole time, Chrysalis had been scowling, but after that, her eyebrows raised. She gave a slight chuckle and shook her head at the filly.

"I know how you must feel, Cozy Glow. You seem... so much gentler now that you've lost your memory, and you don't wish to hurt anypony." Cozy's lips parted as Chrysalis resumed, "Yet... you're still willing to fight for what you think is right..." Chrysalis sighed as she told Cozy, "But there are some ponies who your kind, and noble words... simply can't reach." Cozy couldn't hide the sorrow that was crossing her face, and then, Chrysalis said, "Let this go."

From the corner of her eye, Cozy saw Ocellus turn and walk away. Cozy's mouth hung ajar, and slowly, she gave Chrysalis her attention once more. Birds flew off, and in front of Cozy and Chrysalis, chirping as they went as they tried to fly against the rain and the current of the winds.

Cozy grimaced and gave into her overwhelming emotions. Chrysalis had never seen Cozy so saddened before let alone crying. Tears drizzled down her cheeks, mixing with all of the rainwater that dripped from her cheeks and chin. "Y-you're right," Cozy Glow confessed, and somehow smiling while also frowning. "Now... I love life, and do you wanna know something else? I'd give anything... anything just to save Equestria." She blinked a couple of times, and then sniffled before furiously shaking her head in disbelief at the irrational changeling queen's poisonous words. "I just... I don't want this to be your fate..."

The time had come for Cozy to end this distress. She would do it with only one forward question followed by one forward statement, too. "Do you know... that it's your own children that's feeding you love?"

A pause, and Queen Chrysalis failed to reply to the filly. By now, the rain had died down and was coming to an end.

"So, you knew... which means you must not love your children after all."

Chrysalis was stricken with nearly utter silence after hearing Cozy Glow's own harsh words. "I..."

Although, that's all that left the queen's lips. She wasn't about to admit that Cozy Glow was right, but at the same time, she couldn't tell her that she was wrong, either, so she just stood there like a fool, watching as Cozy began to turn, and leave. Before disappearing from Chrysalis's sight for good, though, Cozy said one last thing before she left the scene. "Fine... I don't think that I could've listen to this craziness for much longer anyways."

All that was left was Thorax, but he really didn't have anything to say to his mother. He was far too heartbroken by this event like Ocellus to say much of anything except, "G-goodbye... Chrysalis..."

He solemnly began following Cozy Glow down the hill, and without his magic to sustain the spell, it ended. Queen Chrysalis was once again left all alone as a stone statue to think about everything that had transpired. Bringing a hoof up to her chest, Chrysalis asked aloud from within her darkest place, "Did she really just... say that to me?"

Her mind replayed Cozy's voice over and over again, and slowly, Chrysalis started to shake, and quiver. "Do I... love them? My own children?" This time, with tears forming in her eyes, "I c-can't just admit it... b-because if I do... I-if I do, I'll become like them, won't I?"

She shook her head and denied gifting her love for as long as she could, but thoughts of her past came fluttering into her head. "Do I... even need to say the words?" She brought her hoof up to cover her muzzle and tried with all her might just to fight back the salty tears that were coming, but sooner than she wished, they escaped. As she made an audible groan of emotional pain, she collapsed to the grass bellow her podium. Chrysalis was freed, and she had transformed. Whether she wanted it or not, she was now just like all the other changelings in Equestria.

She arose, and looked around at first, but she then looked down at the mud to find her hooves to be silvery white, and the holes within her hooves were completely gone, and filled. Her wings were now full, colorful, and immensely more beautiful with shimmers dazzling as they reflected rays coming from the sun. She stared at them in amazement and held one in her unsteady hooves for quite a while before coming to her senses. She hastily looked all around, and soon, Chrysalis spotted a nearby pond.

Galloping down the hill, and for the first time in months, feeling the grass and the wind as she went, she felt as if her heart were skipping beats. Once she came up to the water, and straining to breathe, Chrysalis peered at her murky image, and gasped, but she didn't look away. While she also took her time washing the fresh dirt off, she just kept on inspecting herself because her breath had been taken away by how much lovelier she appeared to be.

Her eyes weren't green anymore, but instead, they were a mystic blue as well as her mane. No longer could she even intimidate herself let alone anyone else. Again, there were tears, and as the queen sat there, watching her reflection move with the waves, she began to wonder what was next for her. That was when she heard a noise coming directly from her left side, and as she jumped, and glanced that way, she was startled to see Ocellus, and Thorax coming up to her.

She didn't react kindly at first. Queen Chrysalis just kept sneering at them, wanting desperately to say something vile or uncalled for, but those words seemed so distant from her all of the sudden. Her eyelids, and her brow gradually relaxed, and she looked down at the ground with a regretful expression. She stopped baring her teeth at them so much, and as she continued to cry, she came loosely trotting towards them.

She embraced Thorax and Ocellus, and as the two of them hugged her back, they began shedding tears of their own. Cozy merely watched from the nearby road that led into Canterlot, and sighed, thankful that her task with Chrysalis was over. She began to turn in order to start heading for the palace, but she then saw Twilight walking towards her. She wore a fairly bewildered face, and coming up to the filly, she asked, "Is... that who I think it is?"

Cozy looked back at the three changelings, and then back at Twilight, and simply said, "Yep..."

Twilight slowly glanced at Cozy with impressed eyes. Smiling, she complimented the filly on a job well done. "You did something really good today... I'm proud of you." Twilight then offered generously, "Do you need to stay the night?"

Cozy's attention was redirected to the statue's empty podium. Her heart felt lighter than ever, and it was the most beautiful feeling to her at the time. "I... think so, actually... I was planning on going home this evening, but since you're offering... could you let Rarity know?"

Twilight nodded as she stroked a few strands of Cozy's unruly mane. "Of course," Twilight replied, leading the filly along the cobblestone path. "Leave everything else to me."

Author's Note

Chapter Fifteen: The Timely Pardon

Cozy Glow sat at her desk staring motionlessly into her mirror. Her eyes were focused, and her brows were furrowed. she slowly opened her mouth slightly, and then wider, but soon, she closed it again. One eye closed itself, and the other one looked very, very closely at its reflection. She backed away and stopped investigating her facial features so much. For a time, she even tried checking her ears, and then, she said, "Wooziness... It must be a side effect of Thorax's spell."

Cozy writhed and gagged for a few seconds as she remembered him using his magic on her. She had to take a drink of her water in order to calm herself down, and once she did, she'd return to herself. "Okay," she said with a pant. "Next time I see Thorax, I'm telling him to go see Twilight about perfecting his..." Another terrible shake overcame Cozy Glow. "Magic..."

Her hooves were brought up to shield her greenish face, and she said, "If you could even call it that! I feel like I'm inside of a washer machine!"

Cozy breathed for a couple of seconds after her tantrum, and then, she heard her door being knocked on from the other side. "Cozy?" Rarity asked. "Is everything alright in there?"

Cozy looked away from her mirror, and said, "Yep! I'm fine, Rarity!"

She waited until she heard Rarity wandering off, and then looking back at the mirror, Cozy said, "It's going... away now... and I was just about to go see how Tirek's doing, too. It's been a few days..." She rubbed her cheek lazily, but then said, "As much as I would rather be hanging out with Sweetie, or Ocellus today, I had better go check on him and make sure he hasn't tried anything already."

After grabbing her skates, and once she managed to find the rest of her gear laying around, she left her room without hardly looking back. The only thing that she double checked, however, was her mirror. She seemed fine in her reflection, and didn't feel nearly as dizzy anymore, so without another thought towards yesterday, Cozy headed out of the Boutique.

Riding down the street, and feeling her mane being swept by the winds as she sped up, Cozy soon approached the Castle of Friendship. Entering, she felt a sudden, and overwhelming feeling of unsteadiness. Tirek's banners were lying on the ground as if the centaur meant to move them elsewhere, but he never did. Coming into the throne room, Cozy recalled the last time she had come to visit, but this time, she half expected to come to find out that Tirek had skipped town or something, but there he sat amongst all of his dumbbells and weights.

Cozy took her chances, and as she came up next to him, she slowly began to see what it was that he held. Gently resting upon his palm was a story book. He flipped the page and huffed. He didn't sound upset to Cozy Glow, either. "Look," he said softly. "This one has pictures..."

Cozy glared at the drawing represented on the piece of literature, and just smiled. "Y-yes, it is.... Uhm..."

"How'd you do it?" Tirek asked her, catching Cozy off guard. "How did you... release Queen Chrysalis that is?"

Cozy blinked and sighed before deciding to allow her focus to be momentarily redirected. "Oh, that," she merely stated at first. "I had Thorax cast a spell on her statue before we left. He made sure that if she could somehow love somepony, and could change, then she'd be released."

Cozy looked up, and into Tirek's distracted eyes. Catching his attention, she asked him, "What about you?"

Tirek tried to avert her question. "I don't know what you're talking about," he lied.

"Are you sure?" Cozy asked this with her all too cynical tone. "Tirek...? Are you ready at last... to start taking friendship seriously? Because if you're not... I'll know."

He only made the swift moment to close his book peacefully, and then said to Cozy Glow, "I've been... reading a lot lately in between working out, and whenever I go out... to get something to eat, or to drink..."

Cozy asks, "What's wrong?"

"It's just..." Tirek's eyes squinted, and he said to Cozy Glow, "They all look at me... and avoid me, and..." Cozy remained unsurprised by this. "They're scared of me, obviously, but even when I try to..." This caught Cozy's attention. "Even as I tried to help somepony the other day, they reacted so sourly..."

His somewhat wrinkled arm raised, and he scratched away at the gray hairs on the back of his head while Cozy asked him, "You've... been trying to make new friends?"

Tirek stared at Cozy Glow for a few moments, and then he looked left, and then right. "I, umm..." He seemed at a loss for words, but soon, he said, "I don't... need new friends. I just..."

Cozy shook her head at him and said exactly what she had told Queen Chrysalis. "Stop it with this game." She said it so simply, too. "Talk to me... the way you really want to, Tirek..."

She was now holding onto his right claw with both of her forehooves, and even though Tirek still hadn't fully recovered from the darkness that had previously, and thoroughly snared his heart and mind, he was finally making an effort to put the past behind him. "Cozy," he started just before stopping for a moment longer. "I..." He began to grip one of Cozy's hooves back softly, and in doing so, found the true strength that he'd been needing all this time. "I'm just... sorry."

Cozy saw his lips trembling while speaking these words, but then, something else came over Tirek. The sudden, and chilling feeling on Cozy's hoof made her feel completely cold, but all tingly inside, too. It was one of Tirek's salty tears, and looking up from it, Cozy saw even more leaving his beastly yet despaired eyes. "T-Tirek?" Cozy asked him with concern.

He sobbed just a little bit longer while gritting his teeth, and roughly telling her, "It's no longer about... the power..." He then breathed in deeply before resuming, "I-if you ponies are capable of just... granting power through your vehemence... your friendship, then... doesn't that make me... such a fool? Scorpan figured it out... and it took me so long... I h-had to be turned to stone just to settle down enough, Cozy... and it was just so that I could consider something so simple. Now, I feel like it might be too late for me to come back from this."

Cozy asked him, "What makes you say that?"

Tirek blinked and allowed a few more tears to escape. "Because... I'll never really be forgiven for what I put this land through, will I? Twilight might say that she's willing to give me a second chance, but I've done... such terrible things." Cozy blinked, and looking away, she rested her chin on Tirek's knuckle while listening to him finish saying, "I should probably just... go somewhere else so that you ponies can move on with your peaceful lives... Who was I to disturb that?"

This was when Cozy Glow had forgiven Tirek for his earlier transgressions, and as she renewed her friendship with him, Cozy slowly spoke, "So long as you really are sorry, Tirek... in time... we'll forgive. I can't necessarily speak for every single pony and creature that's out there, but you're not a lost cause... at least, you're not to me." Looking back at Tirek's rejuvenated, and youthful face, Cozy told him, "To me... you're just a misguided centaur... You're a creature that needed just a little bit more assistance, and a lot more direction in his long life."

Chapter Sixteen: Star Gazers

She awoke one morning with the usual swirl of blue cotton covering her eyes, and getting out of bed, Cozy motioned her mane away so that she could see. She then used a hoof to move a piece sitting in front of her and sighed.

"Checkmate... I win again."

Her white room had a few new toys, and Rarity had also switched the curtains out for a shade of purple. She smirked at her mirror, and glanced morbidly towards all of the new photos that had been taken. Most of them were of her and Sweetie Belle.

She grabbed her gear before leaving, and went down the hall. Knocking on the door belonging to the next room over, she asked the filly residing inside, "Do you mind if I come in?"

"No," Sweetie said, her voice sounding muffled. "The door's unlocked, Cozy. What do you need?"

Even after all this time, Cozy's room still couldn't compare to Sweetie's. It was a bright pink, but it also hadn't changed a whole lot over time. Sweetie was sitting peacefully at her dresser getting herself ready for the day, so Cozy approached her. "I'm going out for a short roll around town... Did you want to tag along?"

Sweetie shook her head, and said, "I'm still waking up, actually. Maybe I'll catch up with you later on."

Cozy sighed at that response, but as she left, she heard Sweetie say, "Do you... wanna take the time this morning, and I'll help you fix your mane?" Cozy blinked, and just stared back at Sweetie curiously. "You still have those tassels, right?"

The pegasus gulped, but nodded, asking, "I do, but, uh... Sweetie, are you sure? Doesn't it look fine the way it is?"

The unicorn then gently came closer towards Cozy Glow in order to counter, "You're alright with that wild mane of yours getting in your way all the time?"

Cozy gulped, but at the same time, she started to smile. "I suppose... it m-might be time for a change." She looked downwards, and to the right, and that's when Sweetie serenely wrapped her hoof around the back of her friend's neck. They stayed like that for a few more moments.

The tassels were back where they belonged once more. As much as Cozy Glow wished to abandon them all together, something was keeping her from doing so. She looked at her new style and smirked with warmth building up inside of herself. They weren't like before, however, and there were still many, many loose strands escaping from all over, but with a lot of it curled and done correctly, she looked nearly perfect. She sniffled, and said to Sweetie, "Truth be told, I've tried to discard these tassels... so many times."

Sweetie asked, "Why don't you?"

With a chuckle, Cozy said, "I don't know... I really don't know, but I start to cry, and my head hurts. I sometimes... try to remember things from before I was turned to stone, but nothing ever comes. Lately, I've desperately started to give up the effort, but ever since narrowly saving Tirek..."

Sweetie commented, "Right, I remember you telling me about how you had to have Twilight take care of your mane that day."

Cozy sighed, "And now... I'm looking at myself in the mirror, and Sweetie? I'm still not quite so sure of who I am anymore, or where these tassels even came from."

Sweetie hoofed at Cozy's shoulder kindly, and offered, "I don't think it matters. The past is the past, and besides... just look at you now! I mean... really look at yourself in the mirror. I've made sure that you still look somewhat carefree, and yet dazzling, too. I really don't know what else to say when it comes to your past, so maybe just focus on the future from now on. I'm pretty sure that's the best thing for you to do at the moment. Alright?"

Cozy just huffed and looked at Sweetie with an unsure expression. "Do you... promise to... always be like a sister to me? Because I love you and Rarity... so much."

Sweetie nodded gleefully. "Of course! Rarity as well. You'll always be welcome in the Belle family." They both hugged, and as Cozy went to leave, she heard Sweetie also say to her, "I think I'll get in the shower before Rarity hogs all of the hot water."

Cozy had gotten herself something to eat, and as she went back into the kitchen for another glass of juice, she saw Rarity enter. "Good morning," Cozy said with a smile. Rarity responded with a smile of her own, and then, she took a second look. "My word," Rarity said startlingly. "Who did your mane?" She smiled as she stated, and gestured with a hoof, "Because it's fabulous!"

"Eheh," Cozy chuckled sheepishly. "Sweetie Belle did it, actually."

Rarity nodded, and said, "Perhaps I'll let her do my mane as well..." She then also asked the filly a strange question. "By the way, Cozy, do you remember the mare that released you from stone?"

Cozy failed to respond right away. "St-Starlight, right?" There was a pause, and Rarity seemed to not know what else to say next. "Y-yeah, I recall... What's up?"

Again, Rarity waited to speak. It was almost as if she was stalling, but in time, she replied, "She... is coming soon to visit the store today. Dearie Cozy, I just hope that you... don't still have any harsh feelings towards why she originally did it. I know that you haven't really seen her since, too, so I honestly wasn't really all that sure if you even... wanted to see her at all."

Cozy was emotionless, but all the same, she nodded while staring at Rarity. Afterwards, she said, "I'm... not mad or anything, y'know... She just frightened me at first. When will... she be here?"

Rarity told Cozy that Starlight Glimmer would be arriving later that day, so even though Cozy Glow had originally planned on visiting Ocellus in order to check up on Queen Chrysalis, she decided to put that off for another day. To Cozy, this was likely equally important. She wandered the halls for a bit and hung out with Sweetie Belle whenever she got the chance, but still, Cozy Glow couldn't cease her anticipation for some odd reason. The excitement she felt reminded her of when she at long last got to see Twilight again.

Sooner than she had anticipated, the door knocked, and Cozy stared at it from a distance. Rarity came around the corner in slow motion, and as she opened the door, Cozy heard her say, "Come on in! It's been a while, hasn't it?"

The all too familiar voice entered her ears. At the same time, Cozy could still faintly recall how Starlight sounded that night. Yet now she sounded so sweet, and kind, and welcoming.

"I know, I know. Hasn't it? I've missed this place so much!"

In that split second, she caught sight of Cozy Glow. All Starlight could do was offer her a simple and friendly smirk as a sign of her friendship. She also brought along yummy chocolates. Those always helped in situations like these.

Colorful stars lit up the night sky. Cozy was spending her time with Starlight atop a picnic blanket, and as she finished her apple, she looked up once again. "There's so many... Have you ever tried to count them?"

Starlight's answer wasn't exactly what Cozy Glow was expecting it to be. "My highest record is thirty-thousand, five-hundred and sixty-four..." Cozy just stared, frowning. "You're the one that asked."

Cozy merely looked away briefly, and with a huff, she said, "Actually, I was expecting it to be a lot higher."

Starlight and Cozy then just stared back at one another for a second or two, and then, they started to laugh together. Starlight then decided that it was time for her to ask Cozy Glow, "So... nopony's figured this out yet, huh?" Except for the rustling winds, there was silence. "Your memory loss...?" Cozy was quiet at first, and the dangling parts of her mane were swept periodically by the wind.

She then said to the unicorn, "I think that... it doesn't even really matter at this point." She just shrugged as Sweetie's words from earlier played repeatedly within her mind. "I think that... if anything, everypony should really, probably just look at it as a gift. After all, I... was able to do a little bit of good for a change." After those words left her lips, she smiled momentarily. "I still have a few things that I need to correct, but at least for now... I don't think that I should be all that preoccupied with getting my memory back."

Starlight just blinked at the filly that sat before her. After a long pause, she then offered Cozy, "Would you like another chocolate, then?"

Cozy visually relaxed a little bit more and smiled while a sense of sheer peacefulness washed over her. "I'd actually love to have some more, Ms. Starlight... and do you suppose that we could do this again sometime soon?"

Starlight Glimmer answered, "Of course we'll do this again. The next time I'm staying in town for a few days, I promise to stop by the Boutique before I leave."

"The stars just look so beautiful tonight. Don't they?" Cozy asked.

"They sure do," Starlight replied.

Chapter Seventeen: A Gift from Luna

She walked along the path all alone. Her wings slightly extended themselves, and every pitter patter of water that she trotted into the air echoed loudly across the walls of an unfamiliar, triangular corridor.

She took her sweet, and precious time, and went very softly, and slowly. Candles illuminated the arches brilliantly, and while she went under them, Cozy whispered to herself, "It's just a dream... Isn't it?"

There was an unexpected response, but it didn't make Cozy Glow feel discouraged. The tone coming from the Princess was anything but distasteful. Cozy trotted closer and closer towards a shadowed figure, and all the while, a warm and fuzzy feeling kept building up within her tiny chest.

"There you are..." Cozy took yet another step. "You've certainly been on your best behavior, haven't you?"

Her eyes were hidden behind the smoky waves of her mane, but Cozy could plainly see her smiling kindly.

"Yes, I've..." Cozy hiccupped, "D-done my best... P-Princess Luna? Is that you?"

She gave a toothy grin, and just remained where she was. Luna waited patiently for Cozy Glow to finish approaching her.

Cozy stood stock still for what felt like hours on end. She looked up, and when she started walking again, she slowly began to stare into the lustrous eyes of her ruler, and heard her say, "I'm just checking on you. I'm well aware that Twilight, as well as Starlight Glimmer has already fairly recently visited you, but I wanted to see you up close for myself, if only just this once. I've been meaning to see what your dreams were like, and it's nice to see..." She breathed in deeply before stating, "It's just very nice to see that you've been telling the truth. Of course, I honestly never doubted you for a second, but it's rare when a pony is able to hide their lies, and their dark plans inside of their dreams."

Cozy just kept staring, and asked, "You can visit the dreams of others?"

Luna nodded, and said, "I've been keeping my eye on you. Like I've already told you before... I'm thoroughly pleased with your progress, so I got you... a gift."

There was silence in the air, and Luna then turned to start walking forth. While she went, Cozy modestly followed along, and asked her Highness, "A g-g-gift? F-for me? Oh, Princess Luna, I... I just don't know what to say..."

Cozy just kept on smiling and blushed at the mere thought. The Princess then brought Cozy Glow out of the castle, and the two of them found themselves high up in the sky. They were nestled safely on top of the moon itself, and behind Cozy Glow stood Luna's very own, marvelous evening palace. It twinkled vibrantly thanks to the numerous stars, asteroids, and lovely blue comets that dashed and danced along in the background.

"My present for you," Luna said, and shortly thereafter Cozy Glow promptly turned back around to tentatively face Luna once again. "It's this..."

She showed Cozy Glow a small, and perfectly curved shell. Its white crust had lunar markings on it while the summit contained beautiful, purple crystals within. They gleamed in the great vastness of interstellar space.

"Luna... this is... amazing..."

It slowly drifted, and Cozy held onto it with her trembling hooves. Her chest hurt, and tears began to float off from her muzzle. Her expression became more and more animated, and then Cozy Glow heard Luna tell her, "It's a very special moon rock. When you awaken, it'll be right next to your bed. I've placed it on the nightstand, and its magical properties will bring you luck wherever you go."

The surface of the many crystals reflected against Cozy's glistening eyes, and she thanked the Princess, "This... means a lot... I'll treasure it always!"

Luna laughed contently, and then told Cozy Glow, "I've enjoyed this nice nap with you, but now... it's time for me to take my leave. The sun is coming up, so... please, Cozy Glow... have a wonderful day, and keep up the good work that you've been doing."

All that the filly could do at that point was stand and observe as Luna disappeared. The moon rock also went away, too, and soon, Cozy felt herself rising. She was peacefully falling back down to the planet. Tears just kept streaming serenely from her eyes, and Cozy Glow had never seen all of the bustling towns look the way they did. She went over countless buildings, and suburbs, until at last, she reached Ponyville.

She first flew clear across a wide, and lush plain of grass, and then, Cozy Glow raced in a circle and looped around the Castle of Friendship. She was going faster than what was actually possible for a filly her age, and before she knew it, she was nearing the school. Next was Sugarcube Corner, and as the pegasus passed right through the walls belonging to the Carousel Boutique, and landed on her bed, she gasped with shock.

She blinked her eyes and rubbed the sand away until she was able to somewhat see. Before her sat the gift Luna had spoken of, and Cozy lifted it upwards only to voice aloud, "This is... real. Th-thank you, P-Princess Luna..." She gently closed her eyes yet again, and tenderly held it close by to her heart. She sniffled and used a wing to wipe away a few lingering drips of her salty tears. For the entire morning, Cozy didn't stop smiling, and at breakfast, Sweetie would finally have to question her about it.

"What's making you so cheerful today?" Sweetie Belle asked innocently.

Cozy just chewed some more of her cereal, and then after swallowing, she answered with a question of her own. "Has Princess Luna ever visited you in your dreams?"

Sweetie Belle could feel shivers cascading down her back. "Y-yes, she has. Why?" She calmly lowered her spoon.

"Has she visited you while you were dreaming lately?" Rarity asked.

Cozy Glow nodded extremely slowly, and she then told them, "She also gave me a gift. It's a... moon rock, and she said that it'll grant us good luck."

Rarity looked from Cozy to Sweetie and smiled. Sweetie smirked as well, and then, Rarity told Cozy Glow with a relaxing tone, "Then... Luna's blessed you." She took a very delicate bite of her hot croissant, and further said to the two fillies, "Once breakfast is done, I say that we all go upstairs and see Cozy Glow's... What did you say it was? A moon rock?" She hoofed while chuckling, "It can't actually be from the moon, could it?"

Author's Note

Chapter Eighteen: Always Changeling

She was slowly waking up.

Cozy rested with Yona downstairs.

The clubhouse that day was fairly empty save for her, Yona, and Sandbar.

It was such a lazy afternoon that she and Yona had fallen asleep, but then, the front door opened.

Cozy blinked away the haze within her vision and saw somepony walking up to where she slept.

The young changeling turned back around nervously, and Cozy then heard Ocellus say, "I probably shouldn't disturb her about something like this right now... She looks so peaceful."

Cozy then sighed towards her upcoming troubles and invited her friend, Ocellus to sit with her. "I'm awake..."

"I'm... sorry," Ocellus said. Her eyes glistened more and more the closer she got, and she soon laid down beside Yona's fur with Cozy Glow. Their shoulders touched.

"For what?" Cozy asked curiously.

Ocellus gulped, but then said to the filly, "Chrysalis isn't... My mother isn't, uh... How exactly should I put this?"

Cozy kept on smiling. There was something about Ocellus lately that Cozy found to be highly enjoyable. She also already knew what the changeling's problem was.

"She's... not doing so well." There was silence, and Ocellus continued to say, "She's behaving kind of... awkwardly around my fellow family members, and I think... I think we need your help. Again."

Cozy yawned, and offered, "Why hasn't Thorax mentioned this to me? I saw him in town just yesterday. I asked him to keep me informed, and the last letter that I received from him stated that everything over there was... just fine..."

Cozy watched closely as Ocellus breathed heavily, and then she told Cozy, "Everything over there is not fine. It's not fine over there at all..." The air had become heavy, and looking into her eyes, Cozy listened closely. "You're Equestria's hero now, Cozy... Not only that, but in a strange quirk of fate... you have somehow overtime become my best friend... I'm sure the others would say the same."

Cozy at last stopped smiling, and she asked, "Ocellus? If you want, we can go to her. Right now." Ocellus sniffled, and heard her friend tell her, "I had a feeling something might've happened. Queen Chrysalis is a little bit more complicated than... let's say, Tirek. I've learned by now that he's just slightly homesick... Oh, and he's got daddy issues." As Cozy got up and strapped on her roller skates, she stated with an annoyed tone, "Lots... and lots of daddy issues."

Ocellus walked out the door with Cozy Glow, and kindly asked, "Please... if it's alright, please don't tell me about it."

"When the time comes, Ocellus, I'll write you letters while I'm away in Tanticoria... Until then, of course I'll help you out with the Queen. She's got a soft spot in my heart..." Cozy scoffed while hoofing jokingly. "Besides, we all have parental problems, right? Probably even me. Unfortunately, Tirek requires a much more careful approach. Anyways, Ocellus, let's go."

"Mmhmm," the changeling said.

"But first..."

Cozy Glow spun back around, and Ocellus asked, "First?"

"I think we should recruit just one more... There's somepony in town who as I understand it... already has a certain history with your mom. Right?"

Ocellus blinked and blushed, and then she shrugged without a clue.

Cozy sighed, and said, "Starlight Glimmer..."

Ocellus gasped, "Oh..." She then nodded happily. "Yes, of course! Starlight Glimmer actually could help in this matter greatly!"

Cozy slowly took off skating while saying, "We'd better get a move on! The noon train will be departing pretty soon..." Ocellus quickly took flight and followed closely behind her friend. While leading the way, Cozy called out, "I see you've been practicing!"

Ocellus immediately replied, and shouted below her, "Thanks! Those private lessons you've been giving me has really paid off."

The train ride there was somewhat uneventful save for one occurrence that the young pegasus would question for a long while. She sat directly next to Ocellus, and while the two of them leaned upon each other, and drifted in and out of consciousness, Cozy Glow saw something odd just outside of her window. Despite her drowsiness brought upon by the soft rumblings made by the train, she was for certain that she had not yet fallen asleep. This was not a dream. Whatever she saw, or whoever she saw was really there, and she could've sworn that he was glaring directly back at her as the train passed him by.

Ocellus's right hoof rested on Cozy Glow's, and the pegasus just tilted her head against the smooth, glass window. She blinked, and smiled as she was held very closely by her friend. Just as she started to nod off, she slowly began to close her eyes, but then, she widely reopened them. She even gasped, and the car became disturbingly quiet.

A pink maned, fully grown male pegasus stood outside close by to the rails and watched with a slightly brimmed brown hat. His coat was mostly white and slightly grey in certain areas. To Cozy Glow's great surprise, she managed to also get a good look at his cutie mark. It was a chess piece, but not just any chess piece. It was a king.

"I-is that... a k-king...!"

He also possessed an ordinary looking suitcase sitting next to him. He seemed to be smiling, and all Cozy Glow could do was stare and blink at the window long after he was gone.

"No way... Was I dreaming? Was that...?" She asked, "Could that have been... my...?"

She huffed, and for the rest of the ride, this was what was on Cozy Glow's mind.

Deep within the Catacomb Woods nestled the recently prosperous village that the changelings occupied and tended for. It steeply reached across a sloping and half burrowing hillside. At its edges were a series of caverns, and within the largest cave was Queen Chrysalis. She remained there all alone while refusing to see any visitors for days and days.

Cozy Glow walked alongside Ocellus, and commented, "déjà vu..."

"Hmm?" Ocellus asked.

Cozy replied, "It's nothing... We were just here not too long ago, actually, but like I said, I'm not really all that surprised."

They rounded a corner, and then Ocellus said, "This is it..."

There was a long line of annoyed looking changelings all sitting outside of the entrance leading to Chrysalis's cave, and seeing this, Cozy asked, "What the?"

Ocellus just sighed after a moment, and she then continued to walk on by the crowd. "So, when I went to talk to her last... just before coming to see you, she told me that she refuses to accept any nourishment... That is, any love from her children."

Cozy remained silent, but in her mind, she was contemplating the reality that she was facing. There was only two ways that this could go.

"Cozy Glow... She said that... it's because she feels guilty."

Cozy Glow's eyes dilated, and she looked up towards the mouth of the cave. "So, she feels guilty... Right, of course she does."

"Yes, so... Please..."

Cozy merely nodded, and looking back at Ocellus, she said, "Stay here... We'll take care of her."

As she started walking, Starlight Glimmer came up beside Ocellus to patiently wait as well.

The long and dark walk did no favors for Cozy Glow to put her mind at ease. It seemed like she was walking forever, but soon, there was a small light. The shimmer upon the rocks quickly helped her to identify a sudden left turn, and as she kept trotting along, the noises of pitter-pattering water beneath her hooves echoed off the bumpy, yellow and pitch-black walls. She smelled what seemed like a fresh spring nearby, and soon, she would see why.

She gasped, but then, she smiled with relief. "There you are," she said calmly.

Chrysalis sat a fair distance away from the cliffside, but close enough that she could still see all of the beautiful valley below. Mountains stretched high up towards the cloudscape way off in the distance, and down below was what must've been one of Equestria's widest ponds. The sun's reflection could be seen dancing directly within the center of the large body of crystal-clear liquid waters.

The Queen seemed ever distant, but she sighed nevertheless, and asked, "Where else would I be?"

Cozy Glow approached hastily, and told her, "I brought some lunch with me." She proceeded to remove her backpack, and as she set it down on the ground, her roller skates clanked together audibly.

The Queen's stomach also made a few sounds just from the thought of food. "Mmh," she voiced as she was given something to eat. "Is this... a tactic in order to lower my defenses?"

"No," Cozy Glow responded. "This is just a meal, but..." She looked at the royal white bug, and said, "Just a fair warning. By the end of this meal, you'll be even hungrier than you are right now."

Queen Chrysalis lowered her food in hesitation, but soon enough, she resumed eating. After a bite or two, she said, "I don't doubt you on that... I haven't been eating anything lately... not even the love freely given by my own children. Still, I cannot."

"Why not?"

Chrysalis scoffed at Cozy Glow's brash questionings. "You're cutting straight to the point today, aren't you?"

Cozy Glow merely nodded with a determined expression.

"Tch, fine," Chrysalis said. "If you must know, I'm besieged by despair... Love... I... never admitted to any of them; not once, and not to a single one of my children... that I love them." She shrugged and blinked with tears. "That's just pitiful... All that time, festering, and hunting, and stealing... for nothing... because I failed miserably just to evolve." She huffed, "Just in time, Cozy Glow... You helped me to see the light, and to figure our species out just in time..."

"So, then... what's keeping you from eating?"

Chrysalis's pupils became cloudy. "Guilt... It's overwhelming, Cozy... It shackles my heart, holds me down, and prevents me from being able to confront them properly... I've told them all how sorry I am. It's because of that very same sorrow that I can't bring myself to accept their love." She at last admitted, "Honest... Ocellus is the only one who I've accepted love from. Since then," she shook her head, "I can't, Cozy Glow... I just... can't."

At that time, another pony entered the cave, and emerged from the darkness. Starlight Glimmer was also accompanied by Ocellus who walked slowly beside but mostly behind her unicorn companion. "I tried to explain it back then," Starlight began. "You wouldn't have anything to do with it. In your lair... when Thorax transformed, it was natural, and you should've evolved with them."

Chrysalis glanced her way and listened closely. "Go on, Starlight."

"On the mountains, when we fought... I got so caught up in the fighting that I forgot to ask you one last time... if you'd reconsider joining our side... but..."

"By then, it was far too late. You need not be sympathetic towards me at all. We were rivals, nothing more."

"And now... we can be friends... but only if..." She inhaled deeply, and continued, "If you accept this little changeling's love, and all the rest of your kin as well." She and Ocellus walked up next to Cozy Glow, and stood there in the brilliant, bright sunshine. "You probably should feel guilty, but this isn't how you correct the situation."

"I know that I'm just making this worse, but it's not of my own choosing. I tried... I can't... I-"

Ocellus threw herself at the hooves of her mother, and pleaded, "Try harder, then!"

"Ocellus..."

For a long moment, Queen Chrysalis and her daughter stayed like that in picturesque perfection. "Please, mom... Try..."

She sniffled, "Yes... My wonderful, loyal child, I shall..."

They shined with a blinding intensity as their love for one another was transferred. Soon enough, and only after a long wait did the Queen of the Changelings finally reemerge to confront her kinship. To love them, and of course in return to be loved by each and every one of her darling and delicate youths. In time, she reached Thorax, who kneeled before her.

"Please, Thorax," she whispered. "I'm not your Queen. That's just a formality at this point. I'm going to be the one thing that I always should've been... to all of you." She looked all around at each and every single individual changeling of hers, and promised, "From now on, I'll simply be your mother. Nothing else."

The evening crept up on Cozy Glow and Ocellus, and before they knew it, dusk had descended upon the vast expanse. They could no longer see the silver railing along the railroad track. Shadows in the woods made frightful shapes, but luckily, they could faintly hear the roaring of a toned whistle.

Starlight Glimmer had decided to stay behind for the night, so it was just Cozy Glow and Ocellus. Starlight had offered before their departure to just teleport them home, but they both declined. "For one thing," Cozy Glow said, "the tickets will expire, so the ride back is free anyways. And also... since we've decided that she'll be spending the night with me, I'd just rather have a nice train ride back home with my Friend, Ocellus."

The young changeling agreed, "I'd love that as well, Cozy Glow."

The train soon showed, and as they got on, Cozy allowed Ocellus to choose where they'd like to sit. Once again, Cozy Glow found herself with the window to the right of her, and they waited for the train to take off. "Cozy Glow?"

The pegasus glanced, and asked, "Yeah? What's up?"

Ocellus held onto her friend's hooves, and said, "Thank you so much... Perhaps, in time, she would've come around, but then again... I'm not sure what could've happened, so... just, thank you for taking care of her so quickly."

"Mmhmm..." She nodded while loosely looking into Ocellus's eyes. "I'd do anything for a friend."

The train ride back felt longer than the last, and since the two of them had already slept earlier, they both stayed up looking out the window at the starlit night sky. It was well past midnight by the time they had returned, so they first rummaged the fridge for milk and cookies. Then, shortly after leaving an apology note to Sweetie Belle for eating the last of the cookies, they went to Cozy's room, and fell fast asleep.

Author's Note

Chapter Nineteen: Love

There shined a light upon the two young and restful fillies who slept in bed. They were both bundled up nicely underneath the heavy blankets and soft sheets.

"In the name of... Luna's moon..." Cozy was having an exhilarating dream. "I'll... punish you!"

She made a gesture with her hooves, and then awoke from her slumber. Cozy's eyes were sandy, and as she leaned over, she saw the glossy and hexagon shimmers of her friend's gaze directly next to her. Cozy blinked slowly and stared back at Ocellus hesitantly.

Everything within the room was peaceful, and quiet.

"Good morning," Ocellus said sweetly. "Sleep well?"

Cozy nodded, and said, "I did... and, would you say that you feel up to heading downstairs pretty soon here for some breakfast?" She grinned as she mentioned, "Rarity makes delicious pancakes."

"Mmh, okay, but not yet." Ocellus suggested, "Let's do that pretty soon, but for a little while longer at least... can we just... stay here like this for only a little bit longer?"

Cozy giggled, and said, "Alright... Whatever you want, Ocellus."

She grinned happily, and then confessed, "I don't really... want to go back home now..."

Cozy blushed, and asked, "Why's that?"

The changeling hiccupped, and said, "Well, for starters, you're... my hero."

There was silence. There was so much silence after those words.

"I don't ever want to leave those that saved me... not even for a moment." She cried. "I want to stay by you, always... Cozy?"

"Y-yes, Ocellus...? What is it?"

The changeling poured out her feelings while lying there. "I've decided that... I love you..." She smiled, and repeated, "I love you, Cozy Glow..."

The filly felt a warmth like nothing she had ever felt before, and she nodded. "Okay, then," Cozy said. "And... I love you, too, Ocellus."

Their foreheads touched, and then, there was nothing but radiance within the room. It could be seen shining directly through Cozy Glow's window for miles. All the while, Cozy just held onto the feeling, and tightly shut her eyes. Ocellus did the same, but asked, "Wh-what's happening?"

Cozy asked, "Where's that... angelic music coming from?"

She at last reopened her eyes and saw a spiral orb of light floating directly above, vibrating, and right in front of the two of them. She asked amidst the beautiful chaos, "What's... going to happen?"

Ocellus merely breathed and looked back into the eyes of the pony that was still right in front of her, resting on the bed. The curtains floated and ruffled along with the swirling winds. "Cozy?" Ocellus said, "I think... it's going to be okay."

Cozy made eye contact, and asked, "Huh?"

Ocellus didn't answer at first, and instead, embraced Cozy Glow with a tender, and welcoming hug. "I think that... it's my love for you. Keep it safe."

"Your... love? That's your love? For... me...?" She looked back towards the colorful orb, and watched as it got closer, and closer towards her forehead. "It's... There's... so much of it, though..." She squinted and strained to keep on looking onwards. Eventually, the orb became too difficult, and bright for her to see hardly anything at all. It graced her head serenely, and then, it forever morphed her.

Cozy grunted and was gently released by Ocellus who just stared back at her with slight shock. "C-Cozy..."

"What... was that? Are you alright, Ocellus?"

"I'm fine... but what about you?" She asked, "Do you... feel any different?"

Cozy admitted, "I have a headache, but other than that-"

"Cozy?" Ocellus cut her off and pointed at her. "You're going to want to take a look at yourself in the mirror."

Cozy blinked, but slowly, she got up, and out of bed. Her hooves felt heavy as she turned around, and started making her way, going by her chess board that was lying on the ground. She steadily observed each, and every single multi-colored crayon drawn piece that had scattered until finally, she reached her dresser. She looked, but first, she observed all of the pictures that she had hung in a perfect, heart shaped circle. Everypony that she loved, especially Ocellus was visibly there. They were all freshly taken, too, and then eventually, she looked at herself in the reflection. She stared for a long time at herself, and then backed away.

"What...?" She felt its smooth and swirly surface. "But, how?"

Ocellus came up next to her and gulped. She then asked, "Could it have been... our love that did this?"

They hazily looked back at Cozy Glow's horn that was now on top of her forehead, and Cozy said while still feeling it, "I guess... That must've been it... Wow, this is so weird! What else could've caused this?" Her eyes filled with tears, and she said, "Golly, Ocellus... Th-thank you..." They hugged one another once again, and Cozy said, "I will... I promise, I'll keep your love safe no matter what! I'll be responsible with this horn, too..."

Ocellus then asked, "I suppose... you still don't remember anything about your past, though... D-do you?"

Cozy thought for a moment but was quickly shaking her head with doubt. "No... Nothing, but that's fine... I'm fine with that, really." She smiled, but then, she grimaced. "I, uh... suppose that I'll also have to tell Twilight about this, and pretty soon."

Cozy trotted down the stairs slowly, and cautiously while Ocellus followed behind her. "The coast is clear... I really don't want to have to explain this to-"

Rarity walked right by them suddenly while rounding the corner, and unannounced. This made Cozy gasp, and Rarity noticed the two of them. "Oh, hello, Ocellus. Good morning to you as well, Princess Glow..." She stopped, and asked, "Princess Cozy Glow?" She then did a double take. "Guh, guh, guh..."

"Eheh..." Cozy shrugged, and said to Rarity, "Surprise! I'm... for some reason, an alicorn again... Better let Twilight know about this right away, huh?"

"You're... a... Y-your horn... is back, and... Oh," Rarity sighed before sheepishly fainting.

Next, Sweetie also rounded the corner only to notice Cozy's horn, too. "Hiya, girls! Would you like to- Ah!"

"Oh..." Cozy sighed as she face-hoofed, "This is going to be a long day."

Prelude: Cold Stone

"There isn't a punishment worthy of all you've done!"

Cozy looked straight at Celestia knowing that she had been bested, and this time, perhaps for good. Then, she watched as Discord hastily, and pleasantly whispered into each of the Princess's ears.

"Oh, that does seem fitting," Luna said sounding content with the proposal.

"May I help?" the draconequus to Cozy Glow's right asked.

"Please???" the other Discord to the left begged.

The Princesses didn't even answer him. They ignited their horns quickly, and Discord's paw and claw flared with his chaotic aura. Before Cozy Glow's very heart could make its next beat, she and her acquaintances had begun turning to solid stone, and the last thing that would flash through her head would be the realization of how cold it felt. Not the loss, or the fact that she'd never get her revenge on Twilight after all, but how truly, bone chillingly cold the air felt as the spell struck the three of them. Still, she persisted in her evil ways, and even managed to make herself look so innocent as she hardened.

Just like that, Cozy Glow, Tirek, and Chrysalis were no more. Harmony had returned once again to all of Equestria.