Dawn Adopted

Ocellus knew Cozy was bad, but she couldn’t have predicted that she’d be this bad.

The cloudy sky was a dark purple. The Sun had lowered on schedule at 6. Ocellus could’ve met up with Sandbar and Yona today, and had implied a promise to Smolder and Silverstream to do so. But tonight it seemed she’d be copying Gallus in ‘being too busy’.

If I can just be sure that she’s not going to try anything today, Ocellus thought, then I’ll catch up with my friends. I just need to be sure, for Equestria’s sake.

But when she arrived and peeked into the test-room door’s window, her oblong changeling heart sank. She had never seen anything like this. It wasn’t anything she couldn’t have guessed, but rather aspects she forgot about Cozy. The headlines of a cold despot sitting on Sombra’s throne shadowed this side of Cozy.

The supervillain was playing pat-a-cake with Starlight.

How did she get this close this quickly?! It should’ve at least taken a teacher-bonding getaway or a joint chaperone! This is bad. Ocellus could sense their spirits. They were high, though Cozy had used a potion to mask her true scent. Who knew what she was really feeling?

“Gosh, look at these idiots! These dolts! eating right out of my hoof. Once I gain just enough of their trust, I’ll lead them right into my trap! And then, oh, I’ll finally get to—hurt—them! And de-horn their skulls and tear their stupid wings off, then drop each one down a hole deeper than the deepest changeling tunnel and keep them there in the dark—Forever!—and they’ll drink only mud and eat only mold and breathe stale underground air. And pain. Oh, by golly I’ll make them feel pain! Stinging, unrelenting, persistent pain through each inch of their skin, deep as bone, in their heads, tied to a big red button my throne! They’ll clutch their bellies and teeth and beg for me to stop, weak and confused, “Oh, please, Cozy, you’ve proven your point.” But I won’t. I won’t ever. I’ll send back my telepathic giggles and all I wanna hear back are their sobs. Then I can finally lean back on my cushiony throne because I’ve won! Why, I’ll look back at now and think: Gosh! That was too easy! Nocreature even tried to stop me!”

Ocellus wasn’t sure why her ‘Cozy monologue’ was so graphic. But it sounded real, as if Cozy was actually whispering it into her ears.

“Oh my. Seems things are going exactly as she’d hoped.”

“Yeah,” said Ocellus.

“Maybe you should do something?”

“Yeah, maybe I...”

Ocellus turned her head. Discord was floating right next to her. “Hey,” he said.

“Dis—” she started but caught that her voice was too loud. “Discord? What are you doing here?”

Discord grabbed Ocellus’ coffee which she had been awkwardly holding since Cozy, Butters, gifted it to her. And he took a sip. “I’m filling in for Twilight.”

“Twilight couldn’t come herself? So she decided to choose you to take over?”

“Nope to both of your questions. Although she might’ve not asked, we both know her. Always so busy. So I thought I’d take initiative,” Discord said, eyes on Cozy and Starlight and another potential teacher’s shared table; they were playing a board game. He flicked his index talon like a wand.

“Ow! Looks like you’ve rolled another one,” said Starlight.

“Are you sure these are the same dice you’ve been using?” asked Cozy, patience draining in her voice.

Starlight giggled and shook her head. Cozy must’ve found that real condescending.

Discord watched Cozy’s veins beating through her temples, and her feathers and neck ruffle, using a tiny pair of theater binoculars. Cozy darted her eyes to the door. But Discord blended into the background like a chameleon and reappeared out of her sight, in front of Ocellus.

“So,” he said. “when should we announce ourselves? I’ll go first.”

“In a minute,” Ocellus replied. She experienced another pang of guilt. Her conscience would be so much clearer if she could just tell one other creature about her suspicions, even if she wasn’t going to tell everyone. Just Discord knowing would be enough of a threat to keep Cozy, Butters, in line—if she knew herself. Or of course, Discord could solve this whole problem with a Snap! Ocellus felt that might’ve been the responsible thing to do. But a part of her also felt… bad. Or at least curious. Ideally, she’d learn a bit more about Cozy first. Maybe she shouldn’t tell Discord. No. Ocellus wasn’t completely sure why—Cozy is a monster—but she decided she shouldn’t tell Discord.

Moving on, her second internal question was if any other creatures shared her suspicions about Butters.

“The new pegasus teacher sure looks cozy doesn’t she? Very comfy,” said Discord, looking into the room behind a transparent one-way poster of the hall’s background which he had plastered on the door’s window.

“Yeah…” Ocellus replied, her attention focused on her worries.

“She has a certain glow to her, doesn’t she? A charm?”

“Mhm.”

“A comfy glow. A cozy charm. A comfy shine. A cozy gl—”

“Wait! You’ve felt that too?!” Ocellus blurted a bit loudly. She covered her mouth. “You feel Butters might be—wait, you whispered that monologue into my ear!”

“...gleam. Perhaps,” Discord said, fingers tips pressed together forming a vague triangle; and he had a Cozy-voice modulator to his throat using his tail, before he turned it off.

Ocellus felt annoyed, but only for a brief moment. “I’m actually really glad,” she said. “I thought I was the only one who thought this new teacher could be… her.”

“Her…” Discord repeated using an Ocellus-themed voice modulator. “Yes, I’ve known for quite a while. I’ve meant to keep my eyes on her twenty-five eight, but somehow she magic-proofed her house. And I feel whenever she senses my presence outside, she freezes up and acts as boring and miserable as possible. Or maybe being a filly was all she had going on for her. I always win a squirm whenever I hold my fingers up like this:” He pressed his thumb and middle digit up together, as if about to snap.

“So… is she harmless?”

“Idunno,” he slurred. “What? You think Discord has nothing better to do than to stalk a fallen supervillain for every second of five years?”

“You’ve known about this for five—! You know what, never mind.” Ocellus took a breather. “So what should we do about it? I don’t feel comfortable with her working here. Do you know her real reasons for becoming a teacher?”

“I only know she’s planning a few birthday parties.” Discord summoned records from a certain bakery signed under a Butter S, or BS if Luster was ordering on her behalf. “That’s all. Maybe I should ask her daughter. She owes me after I taught her that cat-transformation spell. Though I’m afraid if she doesn’t pick up the phone...”

The two looked again at Starlight, Cozy, and other pony. They were playing Jenga. It was Cozy’s turn. She flew up, leaned down and forwards, her hiney in the air, and, squinting, biting her lower lip, used her left hoof’s sole to meticulously tap out a tight right block, and—Discord flicked his talons.

Crash!

“Ooo! Unlucky!” Starlight said tauntingly before catching and repeating herself in a more polite tone. “Unlucky.”

In reality, and to Cozy, she sounded and looked punchably smug. Ocellus could tell by Cozy’s accusatory glare. At first, she cast her eyes towards Starlight as she spoke. Then Cozy turned to the door, as if she could sense by a tingle of her bow that somebeing was interfering with their private gaming sesh. But as Starlight went on—“Don’t feel bad, Butters. I’ve had a lot of practice playing these sorts of games. It’s okay if you’re not that good. You’ll win a round eventually.”—Cozy turned back at her employer and grinned.

“Well, I used to play board games every single day of my fillyhood,” Cozy said, “and usually I don’t tend to lose unless somecreature cheats, so—”

“You think I’m cheating?” Starlight asked, head propped up by both her forelegs, and she smirked even harder.

“Oh, no,” said Cozy sweetly. “I just wanted to point out how easy that would be with these kinds of games, especially for a pony with—ahem, an ability to cast spells. Sure was a shame your chess board just so happened to disappear today.”

“Yeah, you wouldn’t be able to blame an open window if you lost that,” joked Starlight.

The third pony, a pegasus—ten years plus Butters’ age in every way but chronological; who had six sections to her mane, purple, cerise, orange, yellow, and light and dark blue, Rainbow Harmony—looked very uncomfortable. Her head half hid under the table.

“Maybe you should cut that out, Discord,” suggested Ocellus.

Discord looked left and right. There was a chessboard taped behind his head. “What, me? Why, I’ve done nothing at all!” He leaned on the wall.

“Ow!” Sounded like somepony in the other room missed their seat as they were descending, as if their chair had moved backwards.

Ocellus sighed. “So, what should we do about… her?”

“I’m sorry,” Discord said, getting excited. “Are you asking what I want to do with her? Funny. Usually ponies hate my plans. But if I have your endorsement—” He held out his paw.

“Maybe we should…” Ocellus wondered if she should really say this. “...try to learn a bit more before we do anything drastic?”

“...Of course.” Discord snapped his fingers. A big pink button appeared, which Discord grabbed and held right up to Ocellus. “This will solve all of our problems.”

The hallway seemed to darken except for a phantom spotlight shining on Discord and Ocellus.

“What does it do?” asked Ocellus, not daring to even hold out her hoof.

“Think of it as a kill switch,” Discord answered, emphasizing each word ending.

Ocellus stared for a few seconds before her eyes lifted back up to Discord’s. “It’ll… destroy her?”

Discord held his silence for a moment. Then he lifted his head up and—“What?” He laughed. “Of course not. That would be cruel! It’ll simply make sure she’ll never cause us any trouble ever again! It won’t destroy her. Not physically at least. She’ll just be isolated, or unable to move, or something. Eh.” He shrugged.

“Or something?” Ocellus quoted. “So, what, it’s a random punishment you just came up with?”

“Not exactly,” said Discord. “You see, we’ve tried Tartarus. She escaped. We tried petrifying her. And she escaped. So I went to thinking, I really did—” He summoned his thinking chair. “—I thought, what punishment could one-up a fate meant to be, ‘not worthy of all she’s done’?” He dropped his Celestia sock puppet; and his body turned into jelly as he slid off his chair and restructured himself. “But then I realize I’ll get scolded no matter what I do, so why not let Royalty decide?”

“So... this button will enforce whatever punishment the Princesses had chosen?”

“What? No. The Princesses don’t have a hint of a clue she’s even kicking. What this button does is gather all of Equestria’s Alicorns and our favorite paunchy fugitive into a single room to have a... long overdue talk. She won’t be destroyed! Unless of course Flurry gets startled, or Luna’s in a bad mood. I’m sure Twilight will find some convoluted logic to blame such a peeve on me.”

He crossed his arms. Then he stuck out his pinkie.

Splat!

Sounded as if somepony in the other room lost Pie Face.

The two heard Butters groan before she jumped on the table and screamed, “Discord! I know you’re somewhere around here! Show yourself! You’ve been messing with me!”

“Heh, I’ve never heard that one before,” said Starlight. “Blaming Discord for losing?”

“It makes perfect sense!” Cozy said.

Discord flicked into existence a plastic bag, dropped the pink button inside, with its clear hinged case closed, and placed it on Ocellus’ back.

“Shall we make an entHRAnce?” he asked. Chaotic energy and particles flowed from his fingertips and a drum of anticipation played without any apparent source.

Ocellus took one final deep breath and nodded before they entered the room.