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Cozy Glow and Her Deep Appreciation for Artistic Interpretation
1- Out of the Frying Pan, Into the Fire [Updated]
Bright. Loud. Unwelcome.
Cozy Glow's head was pounding inside her skull, only abetted by the chipper sound of birds somewhere off in the distance. Her body was tense and it hurt her to move her muscles, the strain like a terrible night sleep.
"Ugh, where am I?"
The harsh sun struck her eyes even before she opened them, the torrid rays forcing her to curl into a ball as her vision slowly adjusted.
Her muscles were weak and sore, but she could stand up well enough. Her hind legs stretched back as she pushed her fore legs out, resting on the frayed edges of her wooden bassinet, the texture of which didn't slip by her unnoticed. It was a... tree stump? The outer bark had frayed out, but the inside was completely smooth, like it was deliberately carved. Strange.
In Cozy's absent thought, the floodgates opened up and her begotten memories started returning in heaps... she was preparing for her confrontation with the Elements of Harmony. She started to shiver, a cold chill rolling through her whole body, despite nary a breeze all through the forest.
Okay, something definitely happened.
As more and more of her memories came back, Cozy noticed that she didn't actually remember the battle at all. The pink filly remembered letting Tirek know she had to go for a bit, and leaving for the Everfree forest, but the afterword evaded her mental grasp. She racked her brain for any clue as to what all happened when her roaming hooves rubbed up against her forehead.
"M-my horn! Where's my horn?"
Cozy entered a frenzy, scouring back and forth to find a horn that sadly wasn't coming back, her alicorn magic seemingly gone for good, a thought only goaded on by the frankly obvious decrease in size of the wings on her back. Cozy Glow dropped her head and sighed, before quickly snapping her leg back to crack the bark of the tree she rested in.
"Those traitors !" Her tone of voice would be startling, had anyone been around to hear it. "They used the bell on me!" A fit of guttural groans and heaves left her throat as she dropped out of the stump and kicked it some more, scaring away the birds and leaving the grass patch in a stunned silence. "What makes them think they're so good?! That they can just kill Twilight and her friends all by themselves?! It was MY idea to team up and they do this ! Uuuuugh!
Sometime after Cozy Glow attacked the tree but before the tree decided to press charges, she started off in one direction or another, aimlessly trotting, as the lack of landmarks held cadence to the idea that maybe she should get lost out here.
The solitude gave her time to ruminate on her situation, and what little she understood of it. She woke up in a tree stump in what she can only assume to be the Everfree forest, minus one horn, and now is just trying to find a way out. Yeah, makes sense. Of course, she had her ideas about what actually happened already, but who are we to tell her what it was. She stopped for a minute to breath, and now that she thought about it, her cutie mark seemed... different than before. It definitely used to be a rook, but now it seemed to be a knight. But- maybe it wasn't ? Everything was foggy now, who knows, maybe she just had amnesia. It wouldn't be the weirdest thing to happen to her. Whatever it was, the thought ran past her mind that her top priority was still to get out of this brambly hell-thicket and find a way back ho-
Home. Dang, it's been a long time since I thought about them. Whatever, it doesn't matter. I left that life behind a long time ago now. I wonder what they'd think of how their little girl turned out. Heh.
Our intrepid little adventurer had been walking in one direction for what she assumed to be half an hour, and thankfully for her, not much has happened.
At least it's not night time. She thought.
Her hooves were beyond exhausted at this point, and she was about four hundred steps away from falling forward on her face. "Uuuugh... where's the end of this fucking place..." Her waning breath only steadied by her desire to find a safe spot to take a nap, if nothing else.
"I know Chrysalis doesn't -heuh- give a damn about me, but you'd think at least Tirek would care that I -heuh- ended up lost in the forest..."
"..."
It's over. Your efforts are pointless. You're never gonna find a way out of here.
Just when she thought all hope was truly and undeniably lost, Cozy collapsed, planting her muzzle square against the patchy grass and dying leaves of the forest floor... until she heard a voice. Popping up in a burst of renewed vigor, although not ignoring her very real exhaustion, she crawled forward to listen, hiding in a bush at the very edge of the forest.
"Ah just think the work ya have us doing is kinda... easy? I mean we're big kids now, I wanna challenge myself!"
Apple Bloom.
She snuggled into the soft leaves of the bush, acknowledging now that it sat above a small drop before receding into the larger yard surrounding the schoolhouse. She sat and watched as the young filly and her teacher conversed outside the building.
"I mean, I can try to raise the difficulty of our work for you girls, but remember I teach a lot of kids- I have to try and balance it out for everypony." The mulberry mare said in reciprocation.
. . .
She couldn't go into town. No matter what happened with Chrssy and Tirek, she was still a criminal. As a precautionary measure, Cozy ruffled out her hair, pulling away her signature curls. She knew if push came to shove its not going to help any, but at least nopony would recognize her immediately ... from a distance.
Watching the two wrap up their conversation in the foreground, Cozy Glow began to formulate her plan. The sun was gonna start setting in a few hours, and after all, now was the perfect time for espionage.
Cozy Glow and Her Deep Appreciation for Artistic Interpretation
1b- Normal Political Opinions [Updated]
The mare on stage placed a hoof at the base of her throat and began to clear it, the tone of her voice becoming apparent. When she was ready, she looked out at the small crowd before her and flipped the switch that brought the microphone to life.
"I see it everyday," she said, "ponies everywhere on their last legs, just trying to survive in these unfortunate circumstances. For those of you like me, you flocked to the big cities seeking refuge from the chaos and the elements, yearning for some explanation or direction to go... Today I hope to provide that direction." She motioned her arm to the curtain behind her, which swiftly dropped, revealing a large and detailed notice board: thread and pins adorning it in great number and organization. Two mares and two stallions in cerulean vests flocked either side of it.
"As you can see, my committee and I have developed a plan of sorts that we hope can get at least this city back on track, and if it works, maybe we can help to rebuild the other settlements as well." She took a breath. "Now more than ever, ponies are divided, scared and angry. I am too, but we have the framework to move forward. In theory, we would put everyone to work, serving specific roles to keep the city running at a level of base functionality until higher efficiency can be achieved. That being said, it only works if we can get everyone to agree to it. She who doesn't work- doesn't eat."
She received some hesitant looks from the crowd, slowly gathering in number as ponies filtered in from the back to see what was going on; their curious eyes following her every move as she continued.
"Here in Fillydelphia, and no doubt in Whinnyapolis, Canterlot, and Ponyville as well, everyone is struggling to stay standing, we understand. We've done the math, and the city should have enough food and water to last a month, maybe, so we'd have to start soon if not now."
She could feel the catch in the onlookers throats from the looks in their eyes alone, but she wasn't gonna give up that easy.
"Please don't be concerned, through mine and my team's managerial skills and your dedicated labor, we can recreate a relative state of stability and peace amongst the havoc outside. The damage Cozy Glow did to our world is unforgivable and the toll losing magic took on our society eternally damning, but what are we if not ponies to persist in the face of adversity and loss of hope."
She was starting to win them over, or at least so it seemed.
"The princesses are doing all they can, but only so much is possible without their magic. I'm sure you've all noticed the days are much longer now. For the unicorns among us, without your magic you'll be working alongside my team and I to help keep things running smoothly in the background. The earth ponies and pegasi among us will help with construction and other necessary tasks that need completing to keep the city running and operational until, as mentioned, we can establish a more permanent solution. For the few non-ponies here today, you'd be assigned to specialized jobs that best befitted your talents, provided you were okay with it."
While the hesitant looks never stopped , significantly more ponies were visually assured than when this elusive mare started speaking, apparently taken by her efforts to unite them. One of her blue-clad lackeys stepped down and off the stage and into the crowd, putting together a clipboard to start accepting signatures so that her work may finally begin.
Caught up in the afterglow, she almost didn't hear the honeyed voice of some mare off to the left, her ears perking up just so that she might catch it.
"Excuse me miss, but what would that mean for me?" The low murmurs of the crowd fell mostly still as the alabaster kirin spoke up. The pony adjusted her eyes to meet the orator and speak, her falsetto almost catching on its way out.
"Yes," she acknowledged "were it okay with you, you'd likely help work in the kitchens, to cook and ensure everyone gets fed." she responded with a degree of sincere confidence.
"Oh um, I don't know how t-"
"It's okay," she interrupted. "I didn't know how to cook anything up until a few months ago myself," she said with a chuckle. "You'll do fine."
She shoot her a warm smile and, visibly, she seemed more comfortable, her lilac mane slowly pulling away from her face.
Confident with everything she'd achieved, she turned and, save a brief word of thank you and goodbye, left off for her living facilities, leaving her compatriots to round off the consent forms. It's wasn't far away, not more than a couple blocks, but after everything she was more than happy to finally take that short, black wig off and wipe the cosmetic off her flank.
Two Months Earlier
Cozy Glow couldn't believe her eyes. The crystal pillars lit up one after another across the chamber in a spectacle of shimmering colors as a rainbow shot through the air with the force of a cannon. It took her a second to even process what was happening, but those damn kids were flying ! No no no, they were being lifted out of the magic well. When they told the students to run she almost flew after them in pursuit, but the gravity of the situation hit her like brick and set her priorities back straight.
She rocketed towards Sandbar. The force of the collision sent them both tumbling over eachother and into the cold stone floor, the blunt pain sharing headspace with the strident ringing of the crystal pillars on every side. She'd seemingly stopped whatever they were doing, at least for now.
"You aren't- gonna stop anything." She grunted as she shoved back against his weight. Cozy fell backwards onto the floor, but before she got the chance to make another dive something clamped around her tail.
Cozy lost her footing as Gallus yanked the filly to the floor, cracking her chin against it. Still restricted, she used the anchor to swing herself around the colt and into the beak of Silverstream, who was standing in wait just next to him.
In surprise and shock, his claw unfurled from around her tail as he went to help her up. Cozy hung in low flight as she planned her next move in her head.
Smolder shouted out. "Don't get distracted guys, we've gotta get the artifacts outta there!" No words were shared but the sentiment was clear.
She dashed over again, this time to the dragon, and yanked her wings back and out, her scream of pain being enough to get them to at least look, if not stop. Her wings pattered as she kicked off her body, one hoof landing squarely against her jaw. Unbeknownst, or possibly unimportantly to Cozy Glow at the time, her makeshift crown of gold foil and tape fell off with the impact.
"Nobody hurts Yona's friends! " a roaring voice called from the side.
The shout made the filly's heart skip a beat. As the hulking yak charged at her, she just mustered the energy to toss herself out of the beast's reach.
Another bone-chilling roar rang through the air of the basement, the school's students now long evacuated.
For a moment she felt genuine horror as the weight of a small colt dragged her back into the reach of Yona once again. In this moment of desperation, she hit the ground, waiting under her until it passed overhead like a freight train before she threw herself up. Using what might've been the foal's last bit of energy, she made a circle in flight and careened into the side of the bovine, knocking her over and past the borders of the ritual circle.
Once again ensnared in the well, Yona began to panic, much the same as her peers. Slowly, the magical orb sank into the wanting portal below, and try as they might, with only five of them they couldn't stop anything. As they watched their friend and their counselor disappear into the ether for good, the little pink pegasus was nowhere to be found.
It was only a matter of time now, Cozy Glow's reckoning had just begun.
Cozy Glow and Her Deep Appreciation for Artistic Interpretation
2- A Heist and A Haircut [Updated]
Carousel Boutique; the structure was built like a cake in a way, stacked one layer atop another, ornate decorations adorning the rims. The smaller floor that housed the bedrooms sat comfortably atop the notably larger floor below, delegated more so as a workspace and a shop floor. Of note to Cozy Glow, the building had five windows, two into the boutique itself, and another three above as possible entry points. Having had a while to think by this point, she made the plan to infiltrate through Rarity's window once she could be sure she was asleep. From what very little she knew about this mare's personal life, Cozy knew she was a deep sleeper, and especially that she wore an eyemask at night, the perfect setup for what she had prepared.
Having waited until almost midnight, Cozy had gotten extremely bored. She took a small nap sometime earlier, attempting to stave off the inevitable tiredness that would come with a nighttime heist. After she woke up, still on the edge of the forest so as to stay out of sight, she found and plucked some red berries to eat. None that she recognized, but being this close to the schoolyard, they probably would've been dug out if they were any harm, right?
The ambient sounds of the night fully occupied Cozy Glow's mind, and she took a moment to review the plan before she jumped in head first. It was simple in concept; she needed a disguise, something she could use to move around without anyone recognizing her. Of course not everypony even knew who she was, but here especially it was a risk, being so close to the school, and so she persisted. After this was done- she needed to find out what really happened to her friends... if there was anything to know at all.
Stalking her way up to the side of the building, she fluttered up to the left-side window on the second floor and glared inside. Looking in, it was just as she suspected; the white mare was fast asleep. Having pulled a pin from her hair, Cozy Glow slid it in between the window panes, guiding the small brass latch left and up, until finally it snapped open. A quiet hesitation filled the night air, but to her relief nothing became of it, and Rarity was still fast asleep. Carefully, the filly slid the window upwards just enough to squeeze herself through with room to wiggle, and she gently guided herself down to the floor, taking care not to put too much weight onto any one hoof. Her steps made just the slightest clinking sound against the white tile, and while not enough to disturb the air, it certainly was enough to keep her on edge, for sure. Cozy trotted over to the ornamental purple chest that sat beside the vanity mirror, and the text reading "Accessories" etched into the golden fittings was more than satisfactory to her.
"Jackpot."
She flipped the thin gilded plate over where a lock would normally bind the chest closed. It took a bit of her strength to open something this large, relatively speaking, making her adolescent wings work overtime for what would've been a simple task to any other pony doing this. She rifled through the contents, soft, velvety and otherwise, for admittedly far too long and come up with nothing she could actually use .
"God, you'd think the fashion girl would at least have a wig or something? Maybe clothes my size is expecting too much, but come on!" The tiny whispers kept close to her head and stifled the illusion of quiet peace in the nighttime air, now slowly filling with the ambience of crickets and cold breeze rushing in from the outside. It was only then that the filly remembered something, and for completely unrelated reasons palmed her face in utter frustration.
Fucking Sweetie Belle.
Taking care to very carefully reclose the chest she just gutted, she took flight again and out the bedroom door to the hallway that sat comfortably open with a doorstop. She had good money that she was alone in her sleeplessness, but even so she couldn't help but picture somepony cackling at the poorly-masked frustration on her salmon-pink face.
Entering Sweetie Belle's room was the second main challenge of the night. It only just came to Cozy then that unicorns in particular have the liberty of installing round door knobs.
"Finally." she panted under her labored breath. The soft light from the hallway illuminated what was somewhat unsurprisingly a smaller replica of the violet trunk in the older sister's room. She flew over to the chest, at this point slightly more confident that maybe she'd find something more worth her time. Again, she rifled away for a second and came away with a nice black wig with straight hair; surprisingly well kept in this hodgepodge container.
Wait.
She stopped making noise a few seconds ago, so what was...
She span around and felt her worst anxieties come to fruition. The bevels of Sweetie's horn came to life, igniting a light, minty green into the room. Thinking on her hooves, Ms. Glow bound into the chest and threw the lid closed over her, stopping it from slamming with her hoof before letting it fall closed, just as Sweetie's bedsheets start to fall to the side.
Sweetie Belle didn't say anything (save a yawn if that counts), but her eyes were passing over the room, visibly noting if anything was different. The tired glare pointed off to the crooked door, but Cozy guessed she didn't think much about it, like Rarity came in her room at night often or something similarly believable. The tense situation distracted Cozy Glow for a time from the obnoxious fragrance of the wood used to make this chest, and as it found its way into her nostrils the quiet itching built until an ultimate climax...
"Ahh... ahh.."
Well she didn't sneeze , having finally noticed and stifled the motion behind her lips, the joy was sent down herr spine all the same, shooting her back in the limited space she shared with Sweetie's clothes and into the wooden walls.Damn.
Quickly, she jolted back into position in front of the lock hole, only to see the horrified look in Sweetie Belle's eyes, seemingly staring right into her own for just a second before she stumbled backwards off in the direction of Rarity's room as she heard her hoofsteps pick up.
"Fuck, shit, shit." Cozy threw open the lid of the chest and almost tipped it over fumbling out. A shrill voice calls out just down the hall.
"Rarity!?"
Her back hoof catches on something, and after a second pulls out that black wig with it.
Good idea.
With not a second to waste, Cozy Glow grabbed it and bolted again to Sweetie's window to get the hell out of there, fumbling with the brass lock for a second and as she tried to slide the wood frame straight up the window she realized this wouldn't be enough. The sweat on her brow now formed notable beads and began rolling down her muzzle. With a final shove pushing her forehooves to their limit, she threw it up, practically hopped out and threw it down again to hopefully cover her tracks. Her train of thought was cut off just as she resealed the window and stepped off onto the shingles. Two sets of hoofsteps gallop into the room behind her, one heavier than the other. The noises in such close proximity to her sent palpations coursing through her blood and she felt as though she'd fall from the roof. Her body took over as she swung around the outer wall to her original point of entry, outside Rarity's window.
Makeupmakeupmakeup
Luckily the mirror had more than enough cosmetics strewn about on its top, to her consolation. Thank God your heistee was as vain and space-ignorant as she was.
It was no Marebelline, but was also her first real experience with makeup. Maybe your first time shouldn't have been printing a fake cutie mark onto her flank, but Cozy could cholk that up to her ~~shitty~~ relationship with her mom. That wig she stole makes her look nice and cute, so she ended up going with a lily flower. Whatever, she'd come up with a backstory later.
