Know That I Lived

"He just... makes me so mad sometimes! Argh! Why is he being so secretive?!"

"Well, males are usually like that. I've hardly met one who openly speaks their heart out."

"And get this, he's been holed up in our house this ENTIRE time. It's been a full week now! How much time does he need to gather his thoughts?!"

"It's certainly strange. I never took Víss to be the brooding type. One can't help but worry."

"Worry? Over him? I'm not worrying about him! He should be the one worried about me."

"Do you suppose it's really serious then, Cozy? Maybe we really should pay him a visit then?"

"I don't need to visit. That's my home too! I can go back there anytime I want..."

"What's stopping you from going then, Cozy?

"Nothing, I just..."

"It's hurting you to see him this way, isn't it...?"

"It isn't! It's not..."

"Come here, Cozy. It'll be okay. I'm sure Víss is okay. We just have to trust that he will be. I doubt he'd want us to worry over him like this. You know what he'd say. Something something about it being foolish to fret over what you can't change, or something like that. I can already hear it in his exact words."

Cozy had been embraced at that moment. Her conversational partner had noticed the she had begun to feel downtrodden over their talk. She was never particularly comfortable with these kinds of displays of affections as they had happened rarely in her life, and so she was as stiff as a board as she let herself be hugged. More than that, her worry had not gone away whatsoever. She could not find any comfort within that attempt made by her friend. Despite those best efforts, Cozy could not do away with that terrible itch that had rooted itself into her heart ever since that letter first arrived for Víss. She could not shake that image no matter how much she tried. Those tears streaming from his eyes...

It had been nearly a week since that event. It took Cozy three whole days to work up the courage to try and question him about everything, which was incredibly uncharacteristic of her. She had gone over to their house everyday since but had stopped herself from entering each time. To Cozy, the door felt incredibly heavy almost as if it had been barred from the inside. Maybe Víss had gone away and had locked up the house? For several hours she would linger outside, unable to put in the physical effort to bust her way in for some reason or another that she could not explain. She would wait, and wait, and wait, just to see if anything stirred or if Víss had returned. But she could see, feel, and hear nothing. The first day went by, and nothing. The second came, and nothing.

Finally on the third, her worry had become so much that it forced her to gather her bravery and strength. She quite nearly kicked the door to their shack down when trying to open it, since she psyched herself out into believing that it would be locked considering what she had wrongly assumed of the days prior. But to her surprise, it opened freely to her. Inside, she found that none of the candles had been lit for visibility. This was especially strange since their home had no windows and was built as practically as it could be by Víss himself, and so it was dark inside especially with how dim the light of day was thanks to the stormy dark clouds that had persisted for days on end now.

Well, none of the candles were lit save for one. A solitary candle for one solitary elk, overlooking a similarly lonely desk and one piece of paper. But on the floor short of where that candle could illuminate, there lay dozens upon dozens of balled up and scrapped sheets of parchment, all different than the rest. Some ripped straight out of books, some finely minted by paper presses, some even as unique and ancient as straw papyrus, scrolls, and did she spy a stone tablet? All of them with writing in that language that Cozy had seen from the letter that Víss had received.

Víss was entirely focused and so he did not budge at her arrival, only writing away into the paper before him. Perhaps because of the struggling candlelight, the expression on his face looked more intense than usual. It was obvious to Cozy that he was deeply troubled by something, judging by his muttering voice speaking to himself as he jotted each new symbol. From the sounds of it, it seemed like he was formulating ideas for a story. But it was quickly obvious to Cozy that every sentence was creating issues for the young elk since he'd quickly become frustrated after ending each one. By the end of the third, he'd gotten so fed up with what he was writing, he angrily stomped on the paper and violently tossed it to the side where it fell with the rest of the garbage that had piled up in a similar manner.

"Not good enough." He'd say to himself just shortly after taking out a new piece of paper to write with.

It had only been three days, but a large part of the floor had already amassed with rejected versions of what he wanted to create. The wear and tear on the visage of the elk said everything quite clearly, as the bags under his eyes showed he had not slept almost at all in the time since the letter's delivery. It was unlikely he had eaten anything in that entire time either, considering their kitchen had remained completely unchanged since all that time ago. The desperation in his eyes and the pronounced lines around his cheeks and ribs made him a sight for sorry eyes. It was hard for Cozy to stomach, and even harder to begin a conversation with him. All the hundreds of questions she had in the back of her mind had fallen silent immediately upon laying eyes on him, and her voice did not want to respond to her brain's call.

She couldn't have been more than a few feet from him, but yet that distance felt so incredibly far. To Cozy, Víss had gone to a place she could not reach. And she was made clearly and painfully aware of that once she finally did begin speaking with him.

"Víss... What are you doing?" Her voice came shy. It was hardly audible and forced from her throat, showing that Cozy had toiled a great deal just to formulate those few words.

And yet, despite her toils, there was no answer from the young elk.

"Víss... What was that letter?" This one came easier to her, and stronger. Now plainly audible for him to hear.

Again, no answer arrived to meet her questions.

"Víss... Are you okay?" This was delivered very very gently, at a distance she knew he would hear. Close enough to touch him if she could only muster the courage to bring a hoof to him again. But having it be rejected again like it had the first time had made Cozy deathly afraid that she would lose him again if she tried.

But there was no answer.

This time however, when she opened her mouth to voice another question, it was interrupted before it could ever take flight.

"Not good enough!" His shouting had startled Cozy. It was rare for him to raise his voice almost at all, and as he did, Víss had slammed his hooves onto the table and ripped the paper he had before him in two as he dragged it off his desk with such ferocity, it nearly took the candle sitting on the desk with it. The copper plate the candle had rested on had narrowly avoided being toppled over before rattling into a calm state again flat on the desk's surface. The wick of flame at the top however, had not had a similar luxury. It had been extinguished by that strong and sudden gust of wind generated by the foreleg that had kicked in its direction. Now the room had considerably dimmed. With very little light left, it was hard to think that anyone could write in that kind of darkness. There was only enough light to faintly see the outlines of the things within it.

Cozy heard as the other half of the sheet had been tossed to the ground as well, albeit more gently. She could barely make out Víss' body in that shade, but she could see him resting his head onto the desk, his forehead at the upper edge so that his antlers could freely float behind it. He stayed like this for a long while, up until Cozy had lit another candle to replace it with the one that had gone out. She said nothing as she took the other away, with not even the courage to look him in the eye once his attention had finally been placed on her.

"Cozy? How long have you been here?" She remained quiet as she looked to the floor, adverting her gaze.

"I only just got here." She voiced quietly. She looked up to see him to finally get a good look at how truly distraught and broken he seemed, and she recoiled at the pain of seeing this from him. Even the usual shine in his eyes were gone. They looked tired. So very tired. And so, so very sad. "Víss, what's happened to you?"

He was silent while he contemplated the question. "... Don't worry about me, I'll be okay." His gentle eyes looked to be almost pleading her to not dig further than that, but Cozy refused.

"It's not nothing. You've been weird ever since that letter. What's happened to you?"

"I don't think you should concern yourself with me." His voice had become more serious as his expression fell, now seemingly bothered by the fact that she was trying to forcibly pry at his concerns.

"Since when do I care what you think?" Cozy had not meant for that question to come out of her mouth as harshly as it did then, but her frustration had begun to spill over. She was annoyed that she had, had to go that far to voice her thoughts, when before Víss had always been so attentive to her emotional needs and had never had to so much as hint as to her actual feelings for him to get a clue.

See, Víss had allowed her to live her life without changing much of who she was. A not-very honest, often bratty and short-tempered girl whose words and actions were often crueler and more underhanded than she intended. Víss had done this simply by knowing everything. All the things she really meant to say and all of the things she really wanted, even if she could never be truly honest with herself about it. He had always known what to do to make her feel better, even if she herself didn't know her own emotional needs in those moments.

So she was annoyed that, perhaps for the first time since she'd met him, he seemed to be blind to what she wanted. To what she needed. Her words to him there should've been enough for even a normal pony to understand her true feelings. Knowing him like Cozy did, she never expected to have to take these kinds of measures to spell it out to him at all, but something was telling her that Víss wasn't listening. He wasn't looking. Not at her. His mind was elsewhere. Somewhere far away where she could not follow...

"I'm sorry, Cozy..." His voice was cold, almost emotionless once it finally did arrive. It was hollow. Lacking any sincerity. "But please, leave me alone for today. I need more time to gather my th-"

"How much time is enough for you?!" She found herself yelling again, annoyed to be hearing the exact same words that had pushed her away the first time. But despite her raised voice, she felt like she had just shouted those words into a large and empty valley, as the only sounds that could be heard after were her own breathing and the echoing of her question repeating over and over inside of her head, in different words and different patterns, all asking the same thing. How much time do you need? How much longer must I worry for? When will you tell me what's going on? Do I not matter to you? Do you not care about me? Do you not care about you?

"I don't know." Is all that the elk could muster to reply with. At this, he returned to his task by taking out yet another piece of paper to write on, signaling to Cozy that he was done talking to her. This tore at Cozy. It made her wholly angry from her depths. How was there something that Víss did not know...? He knew everything... right? But Víss does not lie. He has never lied before. Truth mattered so much to him. It was a paradoxical nightmare. Either he was lying, which Cozy did not think Víss was capable of, or he did not know everything, which she could not possibly imagine.

"FINE THEN!! Be that way! If all you want to do is dig your head in the sand and pretend like there's nothing wrong, then so be it! Have all the time you need. I'm not returning until you're ready to talk!" Cozy had stormed out of their house that day, fuming with indignant rage.

It certainly wasn't rare that she would run away from home. It had happened a handful of times already ever since becoming Víss' apprentice. But this was different from all those times. Very very different. To begin with, Cozy didn't want to leave. But her big mouth and quick temper had made her say something she didn't mean once again. She would come to regret that almost immediately, and excruciatingly so in the next four days after while she stayed at her friend's home.

Which just so happened to be Twilight's Ponyville home away from Canterlot, the Castle of Friendship itself. After many years and with Víss' help, she had managed to regain the good graces of the purple princess. And quite earnestly too, as she'd grown to understand those lessons she used to despise back in Twilight's school, useless as she once thought they were. Her honest efforts in redeeming herself had won her the friendship of not only the Princess, given enough time, but she had also obtained that of her conversational partner that she was in the middle of venting her frustrations to.

If it had been anyone else, even Twilight who now understood her a little better than most ponies, this talk they were having would've ended in poor tastes. Cozy had done nothing but complain and state how selfish Víss was being by acting this way. If you had been the one to sit in on that talk, you might have thought that she was an awful pony just from her words alone. It was almost as if she believed that Víss owed her everything. Like he hadn't the right to be sad or upset, since it would concern her in turn. And that her feelings were more important than his, so he should have knocked it off immediately for her sake. It was all just one-sided arrogance talk, and anyone not in the know of the pony who went by the name of Cozy Glow would've imagined her as a terrible individual all around.

And sure, while Cozy didn't like feeling concern over him, her words were pretty far from her true feelings. I mean... it wasn't as if Cozy had learned some degree of polite sensibility in all those many long years growing up by Víss' side. His stoic, solitary, and straight-laced personality had not really imparted any social wisdom onto Cozy's impressionable young mind. And ever since being humbled off her childhood pedestal, her theatrical cloak and dagger "good girl" performance had nearly all but vanished. When it came time to talk to any other pony outside of Víss, Cozy had become a fish out of water. She would immediately be struck with panic and anxiety that she could fall into her old ways, and coupled with her sharp mouth and quick temper, it turned out that Víss was not the only one that was hard to love.

In fact, this was a cause for a great many of her issues growing up and readjusting to pony society. Ever since that day, she had felt ostracized from the ponies and sentient races of Equus even outside her inability to socialize with them. She did not act like them, think like them, and could not feel the same way as they did. She felt like she simply could not connect with them. Like if her tether to reality had snapped for her, and she were only some spectator to the lives of all those innocent souls within this world. She had only realized this once she had a serious talk detailing her woes to Ponyville's newest premier therapist, Pipsqueak. The answer that he had returned to her had surprised her. Cozy's feelings likely stemmed from that fateful day. She had lost something that not many ponies in Equestria had.

Her innocence.

It's such a small and silly thing to consider, especially to a grown mare nearing her twenties, but this answer made such painful sense. Even the grown adults did not know half of the evils that she could recognize now, thanks to that terrible mistake she had made in her youth. To carry on like they did as though the world was always a bright and sunny place, was alien to her. It ultimately separated her from them, and connected her far more to someone like Víss. Even Víss' love for gloomy, cloudy days were something that she had adopted. Perhaps influenced by their close relationship, she had grown into his mentality more and more over time.

So then... What had Víss experienced to become that way himself? What had disillusioned him to point that he grew in love with his loneliness? Just what was eating away at him...?

This was not the first time Cozy had, had these ideas. She had thought on them endlessly ever since she was small. But Víss was not the type to talk about himself freely, and the opportunity to bring up those things never surfaced. Her crippled self-esteem would not allow her to ask those questions, even if her curiosity had screamed at her for ages to do so. And now, her decade-long cowardice was rearing its ugly head again at such a vital time. With not even the strength of character to demand those answers, she was afraid that she may cause more harm than good with the nasty tendency she had to let those harsh words of hers fly, especially now that Víss was not concerning himself with the truth of her words.

But something had to change.

Cozy could not continue like this. She could not allow Víss to keep despairing forever. She knew better than anyone that the stubborn elk would likely see himself to the grave if he were left alone. That was clearly evident by how little he had eaten and how tired he seemed when she saw him after those three days. The peach pegasus gritted her teeth and made up her mind in that moment. Even if she were to be hated by the person she cared for the most, even if she were to abandoned by him, and even if she had to make great sacrifice... She was determined to do right by him.

"Say, Chrys..." The bright yellow eyes of the girl before her returned to Cozy's direct line of sight after being addressed, pulling away from that lengthy hug. Her bright green mane seemed to shine with a luster from the coursing magic she'd been using by casting a soothing spell in order to ease Cozy's troubled mind, but the pegasus' worries were far too strong even for a seasoned and powerful healer like her to do anything about.

"Hmm?" Her head tilted only slightly to its side and her dark-grey face scrunched up with a questioning look in her curiosity , as she had never outgrown her youthful emoting.

"I... want to know more about Víss. I want to find out what's wrong with him. I... want to fix this." Cozy voiced quietly and slowly, forcing her mind to speak the words she wanted to say. "There's a lot of things Víss has never told me... And I'm sorry if it's not something you want to talk about, but I have to know... Please..."

The girl only smiled at her. She somehow seemed to understand the exact troubles that Cozy was having with her words and was being particularly patient with her. Cozy's awkward way of trying to piece her words together might've gotten anyone else to laugh, but not her.

"How can I help you Cozy?"

"Your eyes... I heard about them from Twilight once. I never asked about them before since I didn't want to assume for no reason but... They're similar to Víss', are they not? You both can see things that no one else can, is that right?" The girl nodded to confirm making Cozy furrow her brows as she thought on that response. She had always suspected as much, since her yellow eyes had always thrown Cozy off-guard. They were vastly different than the eyes of normal changelings, and somewhere deep inside, they reminded her so much of Víss. Almost instinctively so. And now she had finally gotten her answer. "I'm guessing that's why you've never had a problem with the way I speak..."

"That's right, Cozy. Though, even without them, you're not that hard to figure out. You love Víss a whole lot don't you? Like family. That was always evident, even without my gifts." The tinge of a blush formed along Cozy's cheeks as she was broken out of her seriousness for a moment. Had she truly been so easy to discern all this time? Her greatest skillset had been deception in the past, so to be told that her poker face had been pretty weak this entire time was terribly embarrassing for her. But the seriousness of the moment returned to her all too quickly as she thought on her next question.

"But your eyes are extremely rare, aren't they? Their power, I mean. How can it be that you share the same ability as Víss even if you're of vastly different race? With you being a changeling and him being an elk... What even is it that the two of you can see that we can't? I've always wondered..."

"It's not like they can read minds, you know. All they can do is see... well, something like a soul? I can mostly interpret how someone feels at any moment. If you're sad, if you're glad, that sort of thing. Its pretty handy, since I can discern and put together a person's intentions even without having the full picture of what they want or mean to say. They're the reason why your words have never really bothered me, Cozy." Pretty handy was an understatement. That was an inherently powerful ability. Cozy flushed with embarrassment since she was being told directly that she'd been an open book that entire time since they became friends years ago. "They were given to me after I lost mine when I was very young, passed down by someone in Víss' family actually. Víss really hasn't told you much, has he?" Cozy shook her head to respond. "Seems I'm finding stuff out about him I never realized before myself. I never expected this, not in a thousand years."

"What do you mean, Chrys?"

"Well, I never expected him to neglect you this much. Out of every creature out there, I was so sure you'd be the one to know all about him more than anyone."

"So he's kept secrets from me this entire time... I guess he never really wanted me in his life after all..." Strangely, Cozy was caught off-guard after feeling bad over this sad turn that their conversation had taken, since her conversational partner had begun to laugh, almost mockingly so with that distinctly hiccupy laugh of hers. "Hey! I'm confiding in you here Chrys! Please don't laugh!"

"I'm sorry! I'm terribly sorry. But you're misunderstanding something here. Víss absolutely loves you just as much as you do him, Cozy, so there's no way that's true. In fact, I'd say he has you beat."

"Not a chance, I-...!" No matter what she answered with, this was a one-way trip towards being embarrassed for the rest of her life. She'd gotten up from her seat in the tea room where they had been talking, momentarily upset with her curls beginning to unwind from her stress, but then sat back down and coughed in the most awkwardly polite way she could to make the changeling's knowing smile disappear to return to the real conversation. "That's not true, is it? He's never really shown it before..."

"Oh please, Cozy. How many times have you run to our home when you've gotten into fights with him? Do you even have any idea how many presents and thanks we've received from him for taking care of you on the sly? From the sounds of it, you're pretty clueless about a lot of things. I bet you don't even know how long and hard he's fought to keep your childhood crime from affecting your everyday life. It's less of an issue nowadays, but back then he used to personally threaten quite a few pony journalists who would drop into town just to get a scoop or some dirt on you. He would always go and apologize on your behalf to the townsfolk whenever you used to cause problems with your unintentional insults. And from what Twilight has told me, he put in a LOT of hard work in the courts just to keep you out of Tartarus."

Cozy had dropped her head, pawing at the ground uncharacteristically shy. "Well yeah, I knew about some of that stuff..."

"I know that you know it too. Who would come to tell me all happy about your reconciliation after your fights the day after you had one? Seems like Víss doesn't sleep until he knows you're feeling better, even if you returned to him at the late hours of the night."

"Okay..."

"Whose constantly fretting over wanting to grow independent just because she doesn't want Víss to keep working that job he hates for her sake?"

"Okay."

"You think all of those acts were not born out of love for you? I don't need my eyes to tell you as much."

"OKAY ALREADY, I GET IT!" Cozy had draped both her forelegs over her head, trying to hide her face. "But then why the secrets?! What's hurting him now that he doesn't want me to know?!" Tears had begun to flow down to her cheeks until they were finally visible past her forelegs. She felt a gentle hoof place itself on her back, tenderly caressing her to sooth her emotions.

"I'm not sure why he would keep this from you, to be honest. It doesn't make much sense to me, and it's only something that he could tell you himself. I'm sure he must've had a reason. But I can tell you what I do know. First, take a deep breath Cozy. Calm your mind. Víss is always stressing the importance of being calm in order to understand things better, no?" Cozy did as the changeling had suggested and brought peace to her mind by closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. When she opened them again, she saw Chrys holding onto an old weathered polaroid of when she was a child, standing beside two elderly looking figures.

(Illustration by DamayantiArts)

"Who are they...?" Cozy asked getting a strange sense like she could somehow recognize them.

"Those two are Equestria's original Sages of Fate. The pony is Tera Amare, the Blind Seeress. The only Equestrian to ever have become a sage after apprenticing under that elk there... Fimbulpur, the first of his kind as told in any history across all of Equus. He is known as The Great Sage."

"Tera Amare... and The Great Sage...? Why do I feel like I've heard those names before? And that moniker too..."

"I wouldn't doubt that you have. Because Víss is one of those sages, you know. Or at least, he was meant to be the next one. He still gets called that all the time when he makes one of his rare visit in on Ponyville despite not becoming one in the end."

"He was supposed to become one?" Cozy was taken aback by what she was hearing. In that moment, her memory had made the connection to the decade that had passed. Sage... Twilight had called him that on the day they met. She still didn't know the importance of that title, however. "What is a Sage of Fate anyway?"

"From what I've heard, they're scholars who record the history and stories of all Equus. They're said to be incredibly powerful mages too. Grandpa Fimbul, who I've met on many occasions, has been said to have helped out immensely with all things magical for Equestria since before it's founding. No one really knows how old he is, but Twilight said he's even older than auntie Celestia. And grandma Tera is supposed to be almost as old as him too."

"Grandpa Fimbul..." The gears seemed to be turning for Cozy as she brought up all sorts of old memories. "THAT'S RIGHT! That's Víss' grandfather! Over a decem millenium.... But wait wait, hold on Chrys. You're really confusing me here. They're all your family too?"

"Oh! Whoops. Sorry, old habits. No, I just call them that since Grandma Tera raised me for the most part when I was just newly hatched. Princess Celestia was my mom's friend a long time ago so I stuck to calling her auntie instead. And calling Fimbul just by his nickname didn't sound right to me. It only made sense to call him grandpa, you know? Perhaps you'll understand when you meet him someday."

"Okay, I was about to say... How would that family tree even look like?" They both chuckled as they thought about it. "Hmm... but what does this have to do with Víss?"

"A lot, I'd imagine. Víss hasn't seen his grandfather in over a decade. Their relationship has been estranged for a very long time, and no one knows why."

"In over a decade... would that mean...?"

"I don't have to use my eyes to recognize that face you're making, Cozy. Don't jump to conclusions. We can't know for sure."

"I remember now..." Cozy's eyes began to grow misty again. She recognized Fimbulpur's name, because Twilight had mentioned it on that day. And Víss had confirmed it for her too. The ritual spell she had almost destroyed Equestria with... it was a spell that The Great Sage had made... "So I really am the problem...?" She said as her heart wrenched with guilt.

"No. At least, I don't personally think so, Cozy. Grandpa Fimbul is not the kind of elk that would hold that against you or Víss." The pegasus mare was not entirely convinced. She wiped her eyes to no avail. "You see, there's a lot more you should know about Víss and his grandfather."

"Okay, I'm ready to hear it." Cozy's prepared herself, not knowing what to expect. It was already a lot to take in, and it made her painfully aware of how little she actually knew about Víss. Strangely, the changeling girl only stayed quiet as she thought about what she wanted to say. When her response did finally arrive after a good amount of silence, it was definitely not what Cozy expected.

"I've decided that I shouldn't be the one to tell you this, Cozy. It's something that you must hear from Víss himself, if he's willing to tell you. It's probably the reason why he hasn't told you anything already. It seems so obvious now that I take a step back and look at it this way..."

"Wait...! You can't do this to me, Chrys! We're friends, aren't we?" Cozy pleaded.

"I'm sorry, Cozy. I really, really am. But this decision is purely his, and I want to respect it."

In one swift and stormy fury, Cozy had gotten up again and flew to the door of the room as fast her wings could carry her. "I'M SO TIRED OF ALL OF YOU KEEPING THINGS FROM ME! I HATE YOU ALL!!" She proceeded to slam the door as hard as she could to make the most dramatic exit she could. All while the changeling smiled and sipped on her tea, unbothered and unfazed by it all. She stayed perfectly in place despite not needing to linger around the tea room anymore, waiting for a bit until the door finally creaked open again and a disembodied voice spoke. "Thanks for telling me all this stuff, Chrys. Sorry about my outburst. I didn't mean it."

"I appreciate the honesty. It suits you better. But you should definitely stop lingering here since you have more important matters to attend to, no? Don't let that newfound determination wane. You'll need it if you're to convince him."

And with no other words exchanged, the door closed and the troubled pegasus was gone, respectfully heeding that advice.

Cozy flew through the Castle of Friendship's corridors faster than she had ever before nearly knocking several decorative vases in her haste. She only needed the tiniest push from someone to pursue that desire within her, and now that she had been given it, she had unlocked that part of her relentless determination within her to see her plans through. She was going to force those answers out of him, one way or another. No more secrets. Not for him, and not for her. She promised herself there and then that she wouldn't let her dumb mouth speak for her anymore. If Víss was no longer bothering in finding the hidden truth in her words, then she simply had to not hide it. She would make it as plain as day for him. She would say the words she always wanted to say.

She picked up speed despite how recklessly she was already flying in psyching herself up for their confrontation. She'd been terribly concerned over him that entire time after she'd left him unattended for nearly a full week now. Truthfully, she would have flown straight through a window in her haste to get to him if it had not been the case that most if not all the normal windows in the castle had long been replaced by meaningful stained glass pieces that weren't known to open like normal ones, and so she had no choice but to maneuver through the castle's many halls.

Yet despite this burning new feeling that was spurring her forward, she hadn't even made it to the castle's opening hallway before she had slapped on all the breaks to stop herself from coming into view past the corner of the hallway leading up to the entrance. A voice had stopped her from making herself seen. It was Víss' voice, talking to Twilight. The suddenness of this encounter was too much for Cozy so she found herself inadvertently hiding again.

"I understand... This was our original agreement after all. I can't ask for you to stay any longer, but I do want to tell you how grateful I am to you for having devoted yourself to our kingdom in all these many long years. Thank you, Víss, for having kept Equestria safe all this time." Twilight's words were the first ones she had heard now that she had begun to eavesdrop by accident. Cozy heard shuffling after her words ended, imagining that Twilight was bowing to him. Rightly so, as it was just as she'd pictured it.

"Forgive me. This is something I have to do." Víss' voice was quiet and solemn in response.

"No need for forgiveness Víss, I know. I would go too if I could. A great library has burnt to the ground. It is a sad day for this world..." Twilight's words were equally filled with sorrow as they where sympathetic. "Are you really sure you're holding up well? You look awful, Víss. Even I can tell at a glance." Cozy had been desperately trying to hear every word as best she could until Twilight had uttered that statement.

Unable to contain her curiosity, she peered lightly over the edge to see what the Princess meant, and she couldn't have agreed more if she tried. Despite still being large and bulky due to his natural build as an elk, even his thick coat was now showing his features all too well. His eyes looked sullen and empty, whose shine could no longer be seen through their muddied screen. And his expression... even in the way that he moved and talked, all seemed to show how sad he had become like if a terrible depression had latched on to him almost as if it were a life-sucking parasite. Cozy's heart wretched at his image. Even the hooded blue cape he adorned was something he hadn't used in years, a tool meant to conceal who he was.

"Do not concern yourself with me, Princess. You will now have more on your plate than you've ever had before. More than you and your entourage alone will be able to handle. Equestria's fate has been growing ill as of late, as I'm sure you can tell. I've tried my best to stave it off, but the clouds have grown far too dark for even someone like myself to handle. And they grow darker still. That's why I must return to my original home while I still can..."

Stupid cryptic elk! Is all that ran through Cozy's mind upon hearing this. If Víss had one incredibly annoying habit that Cozy generally despised, it was his sometimes incredibly vague or nothing statements that she often had to decipher for days on end just to understand even a tiny bit of. Frustratingly, these statements were only something he'd use for very important and serious moments, often to teach her a lesson or something he'd use to mask the severity of an issue.

It was Víss' way to stay true to his words of telling nothing but the honest truth. Víss understood and had taught Cozy that the honest truth itself was not always the best solution to a problem. Sometimes, speaking it plainly could cause more problems than it could fix. His cryptiscm was born of the need to impart the truth in a "digestible" manner. A strangely candied manner, if said candy was a jawbreaker you had to wear down over a long period of time to fully appreciate. Needless to say, Cozy was not the type to appreciate the long effort it took to get to the truth of things.

"Take care of Cozy, Twilight. I trust she'll be safe with you. I've long since prepared her for this day, even without her knowledge. She won't understand at first, but given time, I hope she can see why this goodbye had to happen." What was Víss saying? A goodbye that had to happen? Was he actually planning to leave...? Where? Why? How come she wasn't told anything?!

"You really won't speak to her before you go? How long are you planning to be gone? Months, years? Can you even guarantee that you'll be back? The stories you've told me about your home... What Fimbul has said about them... What if you never return? That would crush her. Even if you do return safely, do you really think Cozy will just forgive you for leaving without saying a word?" Cozy had been gritting her teeth that entire time, fighting the overwhelming urge inside of her to pop up there and then to confront Víss once and for all. She was grateful to hear Twilight speak on her behalf, but some many troubling things were being said in that moment. Things that sounded like Víss would be met with danger incomprehensible to her. What ultimately stopped her was a familiar sorry sigh from the large elk.

"When I came to Equus to live with my grandparents, I sincerely thought I would spend the remainder of my long life alone. But my grandfather knew better. He always did. Do you know what he said to me before I left to live out on my own? He told me, 'Do not carelessly save someone if you are not ready to take full responsibility of what it means to do so. You don't just fix their problems in a single day and carry on like your meeting did not happen. Repelling the evil wolf once does not mean he won't strike again. Truly saving someone requires great sacrifice. Your life will change. You will change. If you really do desire it from the bottom of your heart, then you will spend the rest of your life making sure that someone is safe, happy, and loved. So be prepared to give your everything to this cause, as it will be the most important thing you will do in your life. Of that, I am sure'."

Great sacrifice..., repeated Cozy in her head.

Víss looked out a nearby window at the dark clouds looming overhead. Even the world itself seemed to be mourning, as the Pegasi had not been able to quell the natural rain clouds that had bled their way into Ponyville from the Everfree Forest. "I never understood why he had told me that. I had already given up my sense of duty at that time. It seemed pointless to lecture a kid who'd already given up on that aim. Who'd given up on people in general. 'I will never save another soul so long as I still breathe', I thought as I heard those words. And I believed it too. That was... up until I met Cozy."

Víss... Cozy took away her gaze and slumped against the wall of the hallway where she'd been hiding herself. She didn't understand everything Víss was saying, as she was missing critical information to understand it well, but she could feel the weight of it in his words. His voice was quiet, and it was struggling to keep from breaking down. Whatever it was that Víss wasn't telling her, it was breaking his heart to do so all the same, she now understood.

Víss opened the front doors of the castle, revealing the outside. He put up the hood of his blue cape as if preparing for an oncoming storm. Before leaving altogether, he looked back to the Princess to deliver his last lines before departing to who knows where. "So my answer to you, Twilight, remains the same after all these many years. I don't care if I come to be hated. I just want her to be happy and safe. Let her live the life of a normal girl. Let her be an Equestrian pony until the end." And like that, he walked away, the doors shutting behind him with resounding thuds.

"I fully understand, Víss... I just don't think Cozy would agree with your choice." Voiced Twilight to no one but herself as she lingered on those front doors contemplating his words.

"Princess Twilight...?" Cozy had called out to her meekly, unsure of where to start the conversation. She hadn't given the Princess enough time to think it through before she made her presence known. This ultimately caught Twilight off-guard and made her jump in her surprise.

"Cozy! You were here all along?! Look, I know you must have a lot of questions and-" She was cut short by a peach-colored wingtip that gently closed her mouth.

"Only one for you, Princess. The rest I want to hear from him." The Princess nodded, nervous as all get out not knowing what Cozy was thinking. Twilight half expected her to be in hysterics, yelling and spitting obscenities at these revelations she'd just overheard. To Twilight's surprise, Cozy was strangely composed. When she spoke next, her voice was calm, if a bit sad. "Growing up, I never understood what Víss' job was. The most I know about it is that he has some form of judiciary power in the royal court, and that he hates it. What is it really? And why has it allowed him to protect me for so long? Please, tell me just this much." Cozy lifted her wing from the Princess, hoping Twilight would take pity in her plight.

"I had a strong feeling that Víss' plan wasn't going to work." Was the first thing she said with a wise smile. "Very well, Cozy. You more than anyone deserves to know, and I never agreed or promised anything to Víss himself, so I have no obligation to remain silent forever."

"Thank you, Princess." This doubly surprised Twilight again. Cozy was not the type to be this honest. "Not just anyone can sweep what I did under the rug. My childhood crime was severe, that much was always obvious. But so long as it never affected me, I never bothered to question it."

"You're as bright as you always were, Cozy. It's exactly as you say. In fact, not even the Royal Sisters or I could've prevented your punishment back in those days. Even if you had, had the support of all the leaders at the time, like Queen Novo or Dragon Lord Ember, we still would've been hard pressed to keep you out of Tartarus. Perhaps shortened your sentence at the very most, but your life after that would've been severely hampered by constant surveillance, forced community service, and your rights as a sovereign citizen of Equestria diminished. It was a nightmarish situation. It would've put Equestria's core beliefs into question, and all of our moral tenets. Would we really sacrifice a child just to uphold a semblance of peace? To be honest, I was prepared to give it all up for your sake right there and then. Had Víss not stepped in, I would've stolen you away to the ends of Equus itself to find you a country where you could live in peace. I would not let Equestria turn you into a metaphorical monster, like it had with Chrys. Not again."

"It means a lot to hear you say that, Princess... I... honestly don't know if I would've changed my ways had it not been for Víss either. I don't know if I would've been worthy of such a sacrifice... I don't know if I'm worthy of it even now, if I had to be honest." Cozy said awkwardly and sheepishly, putting a terribly saddened frown upon the Princess' face.

"Oh Cozy, of course you are. At least I very much think that you are. You've grown into such a fine young lady. And I'm sure Víss thinks so to."

"Víss... so what is he then, Princess? How can he hold so much sway?"

"Víss is... Well, there is some things you will have to hear from him directly. But I'll tell you this much: Víss is an outsider."

"Outsider? Like from Equestria? I'm not sure I'm following along Princess."

"Fimbulpur the Great Sage, and subsequently Víss, his grandson, are both outsiders Cozy. Perhaps you've heard of the Sages of Fate?"

"A bit, only moments ago from Chrys. She said that the sages are world-trotting scholars collecting the history and stories of all Equus." Twilight nodded to confirm.

"Indeed. But that's putting it mildly. They are more than that. For as long as ponies can remember, the Sages of Fate have been seen as holy figures. They were believed to be descendants of the Gods, said to control Fate itself and the destinies of all living things. Fimbulpur himself is older than most recorded species on Equus, older than even the oldest dragons who are known to live for ages. In the past, there have been so few of them to have been known to roam this world, and due to their long life-span, rare appearances, and thanks to Fimbulpur's massive contribution to our understanding of magic, their race was inevitably seen as divine."

"Is that all... true?"

"What do you think, Cozy?" Cozy shook her head. She just couldn't picture Víss being anything but his normal self. But descendants of Gods... it would explain the eyes. "It's not true. They don't hold such immense world-changing power as mastery over destiny itself. Víss and Fimbul would be the first to dispel those rumors, since both of them hate to be seen as special. But it's important that you know these things despite not being true, because the rest of Equus surely believes it. If you want to know where his influence comes from, a big part of it would be that. And since they're 'outsiders', with no allegiance to any nation anywhere, their neutrality makes them the perfect candidates to be the overseers to international affairs. Do you remember what I told you about Chrys' eyes?"

"I do." Cozy nodded. "I heard about their power from her too. She also told me that her eyes come from someone in Víss' family, don't they?"

"Yes. From Tera Amare, the Blind Seeress. Fimbulpur's one and only pony apprentice. Tera herself had received her eyes from Sváss'ver millennia ago, a great Sage of Fate in her own right, and Fimbulpur's late wife."

"By receiving the eyes, do you mean...?"

"Oh no! Not like that. How to explain? Sorta like receiving the life in those eyes. The methods are unknown to me, but I imagine it was done through some form of magic ritual. Tera still has eyes, but she's perfectly blind in both of them."

"Thank goodness, I was starting to get a little squeamish." Cozy exhaled with a weak laugh. "But why bring up the eyes, Twilight?"

"They're very important to this whole mystery, Cozy. They're the only innately abnormal ability that Víss' race possess. By all metrics and standards that we can measure with our understanding, their eyes are not even magical in nature. Their race has no magic whatsoever. But it's thanks to their ability to learn about the true heart in others that makes them the best suited race to record the world's history. It's not like they're omnipresent. They're perfectly normal creatures otherwise, and like any historian, they document history by taking personal accounts from ponies or creatures who witnessed those events themselves. So do you have any idea how valuable being able to discern the truth in those accounts can be? Otherwise, you would have a world history written in embellishments, lies, and half-truths at best. This ability of theirs is also what makes Víss so particularly Great at his job, with a capital G. And it is why he was irreplaceable."

"At being an overseer in Equestria's royal court?"

"His job was more like a... International Arbiter. For the full decade that he worked with us, he has been solving international disputes amongst nations, not just for the sake of peace within Equestria. He has been putting out fires that would never have been possible to quell had he not been at the helm. His lineage granted him respect and peerage. His eyes granted him the power of knowledge and truth. And his personality left little room else to question him." Cozy chuckled to herself as she tried picturing the usually stoic Víss intimidating dignitaries into submission. "But..." Twilight got serious as she lingered on that word. "As you already know, Víss hated his position."

"Why? He had all the political power in the world, no? By the sounds of it."

"Does he strike you as the type to enjoy said power, Cozy?"

"..." She was silent at this. The answer was obvious.

"He has his own reasons. And those same reasons are why he has kept you in the dark for so long. He should be the one to tell you why. There would be no point in finding out from anyone other than him."

"Thank you for telling me all this, Princess."

"Don't think anything of it. This had to happen eventually. And now is the best time for it, since he plans to leave without saying goodbye."

"I'm done running away, Princess. I'll follow him to the ends of the world if I must. I'm not ready to say goodbye. I still need him."

"And he needs you, Cozy."

The Pegasus mare nodded, her determination renewed and evolved.

If you truly desire it from the bottom of your heart...

The trek had been relatively short. Víss didn't need to make his way to his home again to do what he needed to. He only had to be away from prying eyes, which was an easy thing to accomplish within the Everfree. The tricky part was finding suitable soil to etch into the ground the runic symbols necessary for the specific ritual he wanted to perform, and a clearing big enough to house it. He found it next to a shallow pond in the middle of a circular clearing of trees that seemed strangely peaceful and scenic, despite it being a part of the forest.

The ritual circle he was creating bore a striking resemblance to the one Cozy had used when they first met. The only difference lay in the runic configuration within it, which spelled "ᚢᚴᛏᚱᛅᛋᛁᛚ" along its borders. Once finished, he sighed and sat silently to look at the grey sky. In the middle of his contemplation, he felt a tiny raindrop land at the tip of his nose.

Perfect, he thought. The rain would wash the circle away after he was gone, so no one would be able to stumble upon it and misuse it.

From his cloak, he took out the stringed letter he had received a week before. He looked at it with a powerful longing, and proceeded to stow it back into his cape. He took one long breath after he was done, and finally mustered the courage to step onto the circle. At its center, he dug his hoof into the soil to write the final symbol required to make this ritual circle work. He closed his eyes, finished that symbol, and just like that, he was whisked away from the world of ponies, and into the Realms Between.