(Cozy glow vs G5)
Hitch escorted Sunny out of The Canterlogic Factory. They said nothing until they reached Sunny's smoothie cart. He was angry at her, sure. But he didn't want to yell at her where everypony could hear. He wasn't going to embarrass his best friend like that.
Hitch looked around and made sure there were no other ponies in earshot before turning to Sunny and beginning his lecture.
"Do you have ANY idea how many bylaws you just broke?"
Sunny rolled her eyes. "I'm sure you're about to tell me!" This wasn't the first time something like this had happened. She was used to being lectured at this point.
Hitch rolled his eyes back at her. "Actually, for once, I can't! Because there's so many!" Hitch sighed and turned to his friend who was closing down her cart. "I tried to warn you! I can't keep associating with somepony who breaks every rule and causes chaos wherever she goes! I'm the sheriff!"
Sunny stomped a hoof on the ground. "Exactly! Other ponies look up to you! You can help!"
Hitch sighed and looked at his friend. "The law is the law Sunny and I'm here to uphold it and keep everypony safe."
Sunny stomped again and gave a small bounce. "Aha! You just said 'everypony!' That includes pegasi and unicorns!"
Hitch sighed. He could feel more anger rising up as he raised his voice. "Come on Sunny! What did you think was gonna happen? You give a little speech and what? Everypony just magically welcomes unicorns and pegasi into Maretime Bay? You keep saying there's nothing to be afraid of! Well then prove it!" Hitch sighed as he brought his voice back down. "All of that pony unity stuff was just a foal's bedtime story made up by your dad. Like it or not, this is the way it is and always will be. I'm the last real friend you got in this town. Do you really want to lose me too?"
Hitch watched as Sunny's eyes fell to the ground. His words had clearly left a mark. He knew he had hurt Sunny with his words, but he knew deep down that it was something that she needed to hear. Satisfied with the mark he made, Hitch began walking back towards the factory, leaving Sunny standing in complete silence.
* * *
"You keep saying there's nothing to be afraid of. Well then prove it!"
Those words echoed in Sunny's mind as Hitch walked away. She walked over and stood by a nearby bench. She looked to the sky and whispered, "I wish you were here dad."
Suddenly, a thought occurred to her. "Am I really going to sit here and feel sorry for myself? Hitch wants me to prove that there's nothing to be afraid of? Then I will." She got up and started running towards the lighthouse that she lived in.
When she got there, She walked over to her dad's old workplace. She had read all of the books here multiple times. Something had stuck in her head. It was all a matter of finding the right book.
For about a half hour, Sunny sat on her floor leafing through history book after history book.After about five minutes, she thought she heard a commotion down in town but she decided to ignore it and continue looking. She finally decided to pick up a spell book. One that her dad had said belonged to Twilight Sparkle herself. She quickly found a spell in the book that would work for what she wanted to accomplish. There was even a way to do it without unicorn magic!
"That's good." She thought. "There's no way I would be able to get a unicorn into Maretime Bay to help me out."
After another hour of searching, she found the book she was looking for. She flipped through the book until landing on page 666. The page contained two pictures. One depicting a small pegasus filly named "Cozy Glow." She had a pink coat and a curly blue mane.
The second picture depicted a horrified looking statue of the same filly. There was a map in the book showing where the statue was located. The map was showing ancient equestrian locations but after lining up a map of Equestria as it is now, Sunny was able to conclude that the statue was located on the outskirts of Bridlewood Forest.
Sunny looked out her window. The sun was beginning to set. Sunny grabbed her bag and the two books and exited the lighthouse. She discreetly made her way through town and, after checking that nopony was watching her, walked out the front gate.
(Meanwhile in the Maretime Bay police station...)
"Oh come on! I think we can talk about this!"
Izzy Moonbow pressed her face against the bars of her cell as she stared at Sprout hoping for sympathy.
"Quiet unicorn! We're waiting for Sheriff Hitch to go check with Sunny! If she can't confirm that she sent you that note, we have no reason to believe you!" Sprout scoffed. "It's a moot point anyway. Unicorns are all liars."
Izzy's eyes lowered to the floor. She walked over to the window of her cell and looked outside. Ponies walking by looked at her through the window. Ponies pointed and whispered. She felt like a caged animal at a zoo. She slammed her hoof against the bar and heard a small crack noise.
She looked down and saw that the bar had broken. This cell must not have been used in a while, she thought. She grabbed another bar and pulled on it. Sure enough, it broke in her hooves. She backed up and looked at the window. Her long term crafting experience had given her the ability to make accurate measurements by looking at a length she wished to measure.
She studied the window. I think I can fit through that, she thought. But how? Sprout was right there. If she tried to escape, he would be outside in seconds.
Izzy knew she had limited time before the Sheriff got back. She sat down on the bench and began to formulate a plan.
* * *
Sunny was going to some pretty great lengths to find the different ingredients for the magic spell she had to perform. She had collected the vast majority of the ingredients. She even found an ancient specimen of poison joke from the ancient Everfree Forest.
Her last ingredient took her very close to the pegasus city "Zephyr Heights." She was at the base of the cliff that held the city. She was looking for a kind of beetle. She wasn't quite sure what it was called but she had a picture and her book told her that its most common habitat was right around here.
Before long, she found a black and green beetle crawling its way along the cliffside. She quickly began trotting towards Bridlewood Forest to find the last piece of the puzzle. All she had to do was find the statue. If she could do that, she might have a chance.
She looked back upwards at the cloud covered city. She had to admit, despite everything she stood for, the city still gave her shivers. Who could stand living that high up? She knew she would never be able to be so isolated from the rest of the world.
As she began trotting away, she failed to know that something, or rather, somepony was watching her from the top of the cliff.
(In Zephyr Heights)
Zipp Storm burst into the palace throne room. Her mother was in a meeting but was quickly silenced. She shot Zipp a glare.
"Zephyrina! I told you and your sister that I was having a meeting today and that I am not to be disturbed!"
Zipp shook her head. "Mom! This is important! I saw an earth pony poking around the base of the cliff!"
Queen Haven's eyes widened. "Really? What were they doing?"
"I think I saw her put a bottle against the cliff. And then she just walked away."
Queen Haven's eyes widened again with a sudden worry. "The earth ponies must be planning to ruin your sister's special performance tomorrow night. What did this earth pony look like?"
"It was an orange Earthpony with a purple mane. I think it was a mare."
"I'm going to post guards right away. The earth ponies can't enter the city. But especially not tomorrow."
* * *
Izzy walked over to the window and made sure that her body was blocking sprout's view from the window. As quietly as she could, she broke the last bar. She hadn't removed any of them for fear of getting caught. From far away, they looked very secure.
She looked around the rest of the station. It was time to make her next move. She walked over and tapped a hoof against the bars of her cell. "Excuse me, Sprout was it?" She heard the sheriff say his name as he left.
Sprout, who was reading a magazine, slammed it down on the desk and glared at her. "What do you want!"
"I have to use the bathroom."
Sprout rolled his eyes. "And what do you want me to do about that?"
"Well, I could use some privacy maybe."
Sprout huffed. "Fine! I'll step outside for two minutes. But don't try anything funny. I'll be right there." Sprout shot ehr one more glare and walked out of the door.
Good, Izzy thought. Two minutes is more than enough time.
She walked back over to the window and pulled the bars the rest of the way off. She placed her forehooves into the window and used her strength to pull herself up. Just as she thought, she fit through the window pretty easily. She immediately ran to the town gate.
She heard a commotion growing behind her as she ran. Shouts and screams. A small tear ran down her face as she ran her way out of town. When she was safely outside, she sat down on a rock and reached into her mane. She pulled out a small card that read...
Dear Peagsi and unicorns.
You have friends in Maretime Bay.
Come visit us!
She looked out to the starry sky. When she was younger, she had found that singing had helped her to calm her nerves whenever she was sad or lonely. She looked out to the starry sky and began to sing:
"Up ahead is a sky growing dark. Where it leads is a big question mark..."
She wished nothing more than to have somepony else nearby. Maybe somepony to sing with her. Somepony to make her feel happy.
She sighed and began walking back towards Bridlewood forest. It wasn't a long walk. She would probably be there by morning.
* * *
Sunny was poking around outside Bridlewood forest. It was almost 3 in the morning. The reanimation spell had to be performed in the first sunlight so she only had a couple more hours to find it. Before long, she found what looked like an old courtyard.
Right in the middle, she found a statue surrounded by big piles of debris. The other statues. Sunny thought back to her book. Around this statue, there were supposed to be two others. A statue of a changeling and a statue of a Minotaur. But the strange thing was that those statues were broken where this one seemed almost preserved.
Sunny began setting things around the statue. She crushed the bug she had found near Zephyr Heights. It was supposed to have magic properties. She spread the aftermath across the statue's head and waited. While she waited, she heard some rustling behind her.
Suddenly, a blue-maned pony jumped out of the bushes. "Aha! I knew it! an earth pony! I thought I was just seeing things when I walked by here but I guess not!"
Sunny, startled, looked at the pony. The first thing she noticed was a beautiful horn on top of her head. "Y-You're a unicorn!"
Sunny began freaking out as she pulled out her notebook and began to ask many different questions. "What's your name by the way?"
"My name's Izzy!"
"Oh my gosh! That's such a beautiful name!!"
"Aww thanks!"
Questions went back and forth. Eventually, Izzy told Sunny about Maretime Bay."
"Oh my gosh!" Sunny yelled. "That must have been the commotion I heard while I was researching this thing. " She gestured to the statue.
"Yeah. Your sheriff is probably going nuts looking for me."
Sunny rolled her eyes. "And he won't stop. Trust me."
"So why are you out here?" Izzy asked tilting her head at her new friend.
"Well, I got into a little bit of a fight with the sheriff. He told me that if I really believed that there was no reason to be afraid of the Pegasi and unicorns then I should prove it. This statue is a pegasus from all the way back in ancient Equestria. I think she'll be able to tell everypony how wrong they are."
"Wow! This is a real pony? Why is she a statue?"
"I'm not sure." Sunny opened her book and showed Izzy that the bottom of the page had been ripped out. "These books used to belong to my dad. He would let me read them but he tore out all the scary parts. He didn't want me getting nightmares when I was a filly. I don't know where the pages went but I know he kept them somewhere."
"If you know it's something scary then why do you want to meet her?"
"Well, a thousand years is a long time. Maybe she's sorry for whatever she did and will want to help us." Sunny looked towards the horizon. The sun was going to begin rising at any moment now.
"What if she's still bad?"
Sunny looked at the statue. She'd be lying if she said the thought hadn't crossed her mind before but she was trying to stay optimistic that there was good in this little filly's heart.
Suddenly, a small ray of light broke over the horizon. The two ponies looked towards the sun and then towards the statue. The statue began to crack and break. The stone dissolved in a flash of light. When everything had stopped, Sunny and Izzy looked down at the pink pegasus filly standing before them.
* * *
It didn't take long for Sunny to begin to ask the pegasus many many questions. An amount that made Izzy tilt her head in confusion. The pegasus watched as Sunny rambled off questions giving her no time to answer each one. She stood silent and didn't say a word.
Sunny saw how she was overwhelming the pegasus and quickly stopped. She looked at her and said, "Okay. Let's start this simply. Are you Cozy Glow?"
The pegasus looked down and nodded.
Sunny smiled. "Great! That's what I was hoping for! My name's Sunny and my new friend here is Izzy!"
Cozy looks down and mumbles, "That's nice."
Izzy jumped up. "Look Sunny! She talks!"
Sunny put a hoof up. "Yes Izzy. I can hear that." Sunny turned towards Cozy. "Are you okay sweetheart?"
Cozy glow nodded and put a hoof to her head. "I'm just trying to remember everything that happened. I seem to remember a white alicorn, a blue alicorn, and some weird mixture of creatures. I remember crackling lightning and then everything went black."
Sunny put a hoof to her chin. "Hmm. Strange. You must have some strange history."
Cozy looked up. "Well, you already knew my name! Do you know anything else about what might've happened to me?"
"Unfortunately no. My books aren't complete so I don't know much about you. Do you remember any ponies or places from your past?"
Cozy put her hoof back to her head. "I don't know. Whenever I try to remember something, my mind goes fuzzy. I seem to remember a group of creatures. Their names elude me though."
"Can you remember what the creatures were?"
Cozy nodded. "I think so. There was a pony just like you! No wings. No horn. An earth pony! There was a small orange creature with wings. I remember it had scales. I think it was a dragon. There was another creature with wings. Feathery. Blue. I think he said he was a griffon. One was a changeling. I seem to remember that one specifically for some reason. One was big and hairy. A very large creature. I think it was a yak. And there was one more creature. I think-"
"A hippogriff!" Sunny shouted.
"Yeah? How did you know that?"
Sunny's eyes lit up. "I read this really old book about a group of students that studied under Twilight Sparkle! And it detailed--"
"Twilight Sparkle!" Cozy glow yelled and her eyes narrowed. "I remember that name! She was the one who defeated me! Where is she! I'm going to strangle her with my bare-hooves!"
Izzy stepped back , shaking a little. "Woah now! Are you okay? Do you need to lay down?"
Cozy shook a hoof. "No! Where is that stupid alicorn bitch!"
Sunny began to back up too. "Woah! There's no need for language like that. Besides, Twilight sparkle is dead. No one has seen her for a thousand moons. The only royalty that we know of is Queen Haven."
"Take me to her!"
Sunny lowered her head. "We can't really do that."
"Why!"
"She lives in Zephyr Heights up north! That's the pegasus city! We aren't allowed there."
"Fine! Then I'll just go myself!" Cozy glow kicked off the ground and spread her wings. She began to fly off towards the city.
"Wow!" Izzy yelled after her. "You have magic!"
Cozy Glow stopped and turned around. "Doesn't everypony?"
Sunny shook her head. "Not anymore. Apparently the unicorns lost their magic moons ago! I thought the same applies to the pegasi!"
"Well Pegasi have always been better than the stupid earth ponies or the ugly unicorns. So of course we would retain our magic."
Izzy stepped back, offended by the comment and Sunny glared at Cozy. She opened her mouth to speak but Cozy immediately cut her off. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a monarch to dispose of."
Cozy began flying off at a very fast pace towards Zpehyr Heights. Sunny looked towards Izzy. "We should probably go after her right?"
Izzy bounced a hoof off her head. "Well duh!"
* * *
Cozy glow landed at around five in the evening. She was now face to face with the pegasus guards in front of the city. She thought to herself, "Okay. Time to dial up the cuteness and dial down the murderous."
Cozy walked her way up to the guards who immediately put their spears in front of her path. One of them spoke, "Excuse me miss, may we see some ID?"
Cozy tilted her head at the guard. "Well golly, I'm just a filly. I don't have ID."
The pegasus guard flipped up his helmet visor and looked at her closer. "Ugh! These damn helmets won't let you see five fucking feet in front of you!" The other guard kicked him in the side and gestured to Cozy. The guard immediately caught himself. "Oh my goddess! Sorry about that! Go ahead."
"Gee! Thanks!" Cozy gave a chuckle quietly as she walked into the city. What she didn't know, was that two ponies were coming to ruin her plans. And they were coming fast.
* * *
Twenty minutes later, Sunny and Izzy ran into the guards at the gate. When the guards put their spears in front of their path, Sunny leaned over to Izzy and whispered, "We really didn't think this part over very well." Izzy nodded and they turned to the guards.
"Hey! You're the earth pony that the queen warned us about! Stay away from the city! We won't let you ruin the princess's performance tonight!"
Sunny tilted her head. "What performance? Listen! It's not important! Did a pink pegasus filly go into here recently?"
The guards straightened their posture even more and snorted at Sunny. "That is none of your concern. Now get out of here."
Izzy snorted back. "Listen! I know this sounds crazy but that filly plans to murder the queen!"
"We won't fall for any of your stupid unicorn mind games! Now begone!"
Izzy stood up straighter and lowered her horn as if she intended to use it as a weapon, but Sunny pulled her back. "It isn't worth it Izzy let's go." Once Sunny was sure the guards were out of earshot, she whispered, "I heard there's a secret entrance to the palace behind the city. If we can reach it, we might be able to stop Cozy."
* * *
As Cozy Glow walked through the city, she noticed signs with a light pink pegasus with a purple mane on them. The signs said, Come see Princess Pipp perform live at the palace tonight!
Cozy Glow smiled. Not only would she be allowed into the castle, but she wouldn't have to sneak her way in.
She walked towards the castle making sure to put on a very innocent smile. She was unsure exactly why she was doing this. But she remembered that it had something to do with that Twilight Sparkle. When she had heard that name, she had a sudden taste for power and authority.
She walked into the castle and into the main room where the performance was going to take place. She noticed that the rest of the castle doors were closed. Not a problem! She had opened doors like these before. She looked towards the guards and noticed that they walked the same path every time they changed positions. This was all the information she needed. She ran quickly out of the castle.
She went to a nearby craft store and collected two items she needed. Heavy duty sketch paper and a bucket of wax. She walked over to a corner store and bought a lighter.
"What is a little filly like yourself doing with a lighter?" The store clerk asked her.
"My dad sent me in to get it! He's a pretty heavy smoker!"
The clerk said nothing after that and allowed Cozy to pay for the lighter and leave.
She snuck into a nearby alleyway and used some garbage she had found to start a fire. She melted down the wax and pured it onto the paper. Not too thick but thick enough where things could stick in it.
She quickly ran back to the castle to make sure the wax wouldn't dry. She looked at the clock. She had made it just in time for a guard shift. She ran over to one of the walking guards and "tripped" in front of him. Just as she had planned, the paper landed right underneath his hoof. He wasn't so much worried about that however as he was worried about Cozy.
"Oh! Are you alright little filly?"
Cozy got up and looked at the guard happily. "Never better!" She looked down at the paper to see that the waxed paper had dried to his hoof.
The guard bent down and pulled the paper off his hoof and handed it back to her. "I'm sorry I stepped on this! I hope it wasn't anything important!"
Cozy smiled again. "Don't worry! It's nothing important! It'll be fine!"
The guard smiled and nodded and proceeded to his position. Cozy looked at her paper. Just as she had planned, she had a fully detailed hoof-print of the guard. She looked around the room. All of the important metal doors were being guarded heavily. She noticed a small door at the back of the room.
She walked over to the door which she noticed said, "Janitor's closet."
"This could work!" She mumbled to herself. The door was still locked but when she put the paper up to the pad, it flashed green and opened. She had a key to the entire castle now! She looked around to assure herself that nopony was watching and then she stepped into the closet.
It was a janitor's closet so she knew somewhere, there had to be a sprinkler head. Sure enough, she looked to the ceiling and there it was! The problem was gonna be getting up to it. Even the closets in this place were massive. She looked around. She grabbed a mop and a roll of electrical tape.
She flicked the lighter and watched it spark. "Goddess damn it! Don't do this now!" She always bought low quality lighters when she needed them because she was only a filly and needed to conserve her money as much as possible. She sparked the lighter seven more times until it flicked a flame.
She used a hoof to hold the button so the flame wouldn't stop and used her teeth to rip off a small piece of tape. She taped down the button so the flame held when she let go. She carefully taped it to the end of the mop and pushed it up to the sprinkler head.
Sure enough, the alarms sounded and water started spraying. She could hear the panic of ponies stampeding towards the door. She knew the guards were probably trying to make sure everypony got out safe. She peeked her head out and saw the chaos. The royals were being ushered through the crowd by special guards. she walked her way towarsd one of the side doors and used her wax key to enter.
She walked down the hallway to an elevator that she took to the twentieth floor.
She didn't know the layout of this place but she knew she had to lay low. She would have to find the queen's chambers. Suddenly though, she noticed an orange earth pony and a blue unicorn come around the hallway.
"Cozy Glow stop!"
"What do you two want?"
"We need you to stop this!" Sunny was desperately trying to get the filly to see the right thing. "If you do this, things won't end well for anypony!"
"How did you two get in anyways? I thought you said only pegasi were allowed in this city!"
Izzy smiled. "We crawled through the sewer drains! It was fun."
Sunny scowled. "It was fun for the pony splashing around. Not the pony getting splashed."
"Well, you both are forgetting one thing! I have magic and you don't!" Cozy Glow kicked off the ground and flew into the kitchen. She didn't want things to end like this. Especially given the fact that they were the ones who released her from her prison. But she couldn't have them interfering with her plans to rule the pegasus metropolis.
With all of the cooks gone because of the alarms, she was able to get to the back and grab a knife. She was small so she snuck into a cupboard and waited. Soon enough, she heard hooves right outside her cupboard. "I know she went this way. I'll go look in another room. You keep looking in here Izzy."
Izzy. She annoyed Cozy Glow. She reminded her of another pony she had known. She couldn't quite place the name though.
She listened as Izzy walked forwards. Cozy snuck out of her cupboard and flapped her wings quietly. Once she was above the unsuspecting unicorn, she brought the knife down right into her back. She relished in the kill as she eliminated her annoyance. She didn't know who it was she reminded her of but she wouldn't have to worry about it anymore.
She stabbed Izzy 16 times. She had to make sure she would die. Each time, a scream pierced the air. Soon enough of course, Sunny ran in.
"Izzy! What happened!" She looked down at Cozy Glow and at the dead unicorn beside her. "Cozy Glow! How could you! She was so sweet!"
Cozy Glow laughed. "Aww. Did I accidentally kill your new girlfriend?"
The comment took Sunny by surprise. She growled and ducked down ready to charge Cozy as she kept talking."
"Listen! I think I've made my point here. I've got a plan that I don't need ruined! But, you were the one who released me, and I'm a fair pony so I'm gonna give you an option. You can leave now, or you can die. The choice is yours Sunny. What'll it be?"
Sunny sighed. "You know Cozy, I was really hoping you could help me make a difference in this world."
Cozy laughed. "Oh believe me! I'm making a difference. Whether or not you want to live in the new world or not is your choice."
"I suppose so. But you forgot one thing."
"What might that be?"
"Always disarm your enemy!" Sunny reached into her bag and pulled out a knife of similar size to the one Cozy was holding. "I thought this might go south. So I made sure I was prepared."
Cozy's face lowered a little but she picked it back up so Sunny wouldn't tell. "Fine then. Have it your way. You forgot one thing too! I have magic!" Cozy kicked off the ground and began flying above Sunny's head. Sunny began turning to make sure the filly never got behind her. Cozy dived down to get a swing at Sunny's head.
Sunny ducked and cut Cozy Glow along her hoof. Cozy cried out in pain. "You bitch! Get the fuck back here!"
Cozy continued to charge Sunny, She was now flying straight towards her. "Didn't your mother ever wash your mouth out? Clearly you need it!" With that, Sunny slashed her knife across Cozy's mouth.
Cozy fell to the ground. Sunny looked down upon the filly. Cozy Glow's face turned from anger to panic. "W-Wait! You wouldn't kill a poor defenseless filly would you?"
Sunny snorted. "Why don't you ask Izzy? Oh wait! You can't! You wanna know why?"
Tears began to fall down Cozy's face. "W-Why."
Sunny put the knife against Cozy's stomach as she could see Cozy breathing heavier. "You see, nice fillies go up when they die. You're going down." With that, Sunny thrust the knife into Cozy Glow's stomach. She covered her mouth to hide the scream that came out.
Soon, pegasus guards were searching the castle looking for the pony who had caused all the commotion.
Sunny ducked down behind some counter tops in an ill-fated effort to hide herself from the guards.
It didn't matter what Sunny told the guards. They only believed what they saw. An Earth Pony, with a knife in her hoof next to a dead pegasus. One of their own. As the guards walked over to her, she looked at the knife in her hoof. She briefly considered using it. She reluctantly faced the oncoming guards.
And the knife clattered to the ground.
* * *
Sunny sniffled at the ground of her prison cell. Her holding cell had been really nice. More of a waiting room or a spa than a prison. But this...
She longed for nothing more than to see her friends again. She smacked her head with a hoof. Who was she kidding. Friends? She never had any friends. Everypony in her town had thought she was weird or crazy. Maybe nopony even noticed she was gone. Sunny cried herself to sleep that night. Realizing she would spend the rest of her days there.
* * *
Hitch sat at his desk. He looked over to the clock. 1:00 AM. Sprout had gone home early and of course hadn't done any of his work for the day. Hitch couldn't understand why he put up with him.
Hitch sighed and looked at the stack of paperwork on his desk. He couldn't understand why there was always so much paperwork to do. He got up and walked over to his locker. opening it, he looked at the missing poster of the orange mare in front of him.
It had been about two months since Sunny had gone missing. He Stared down at the poster.
MISSING!!!
Sunny Starscout.
Age, 20 moons.
Last seen: In Maretime Bay Square.
Tears began to fall. He remembered the last day he had seen her. The last thing he had done was yell at her. Whatever she's doing, I hope she's happy...
