I hear beeping…

Steady rhythmic beeping…

One beep, right after the other, and then silence…

Another beep, before a slightly softer one, and then silence again…

And another…

I hear a female voice say, “Well doctor, I gave her the usual doses of nutrients and drugs, but she’s still unresponsive… “

I then hear a male voice say, “That’s okay too! We’ll just jack her epinephrine! Give her 50 Ccs of Ponytol!”

I feel a slight pain in my right forehoof…

This is followed by a jolt of energy as I open my eyes up and quickly say, “Oh, golly!”

The blue earth pony doctor stares at me while standing next to a pink pegasus, in a nurse’s uniform, “Empress Cozy Glow! Thank Celestia you’re awake! You were out for two and a half hours!”

“How long was I, uh, where am I?” I ask the doctor.

He stares at me with his green eyes and I see medical equipment and shelves around the patient room as he says, “You’re in the hospital, Cozy! You were knocked unconscious into a coma when Discord left, and we don’t know exactly what happened?”

I eye this doctor seriously, “Well, what do you know?”

He frowns, “I know you’re a self-centered, egotistical brat!”

I open my eyes more and lean forward slightly, “Oh, golly! You must be Discord, huh?”

Suddenly, there’s a blinding blue flash where the doctor once stood, and he’s replaced by a screaming white filly!

The red pegasus nurse can only stand there with enormous blue eyes as her brown mane wafts in the breeze from my open window…

I must be on an upper story?

Sweetie Belle stops screaming and stares at me with her cerulean gaze, and squeakily exclaims, “Cozy Glow? Where am I? What happened?”

I sigh, “Discord happened!”

Her eyes normalize, “Oh, wow! Uh, where are we? Why are you here? What is Rarity gonna do with my triple fudge sundae?” and she blinks and closes her eyes while exclaiming, “I have so many questions!” before opening them to me…

I turn my head towards the nurse, who must be speechless? “Take it easy, ma’am! Discord is many things, but he’s no killer! I’m sure your doctor is just fine!” and then back to Sweetie, “Calm down! I’m sure Rarity will save your frozen treat for you, and we need to just figure these things out!”

We all hear a masculine voice say, “Oh, but you two need to play my game first!”

“Oh, golly! Hey Discord! You ever wonder why nopony likes you?” I say to the air while both white filly and red nurse stare at me perplexed…

“I’m not trying to be liked, Cozy! Now, listen! I… “

I cut him off, “No, you listen Discord! I’m not playing your game and I can’t play if I don’t know the rules!” before sticking my hooves in my ears, closing my eyes, and going, “La la la la la la la!”

“What are you doing?”

“I can’t hear you! La la la la la la la!”

“Cozy Glow! What’s wrong? What are you doing?”

I open my eyes and look to the right again to see the doctor standing to the left of a nurse, who still has her enormous blue eyes peeled on me…

Sweetie Belle turns her neck right towards the doctor and asks, “Who are you?” and then back at me, “And why am I standing over here now?”

Suddenly, everypony in the room freezes in place…

Or at least they stopped moving?

The male voice says, “Cozy, you really don’t understand?”

By this point, I’m almost out of patience, “No Discord! I understand that my life is great! I understand that I don’t need you here! I understand that Twilight is my loving mother now, and after everything I went through, and all of my pain and suffering, I finally have a chance to have a good life again! A life that doesn’t involve you!”

“You were supposed to be turned to stone, Cozy Glow… “

I’m silent for a moment because for some reason, those words hit me somewhere, “W-what?”

“But you were given another chance though, weren’t you? And you say you’ve proved yourself good?”

By this point, I’m really interested in this stone thing for some reason, “What do you mean, turned to stone?”

He sighs, and the world fades to black…

Soon, I see the world materialize again me, only I’m now standing on my hooves on top of a cement platform…

I see a large centaur there, that I recognize as my old pen pal, except he’s made of stone… I also see a fearsome looking bug creature there with an angry look in her eyes… And then, I see a smaller statue… It’s a pegasus filly… I know who this filly is…

“Where am I?”

“This was the way the world was supposed to turn out, but it didn’t because of that amethyst… “

I frown, “What?”

“Do you know why it was created Cozy?”

I’m silent for a moment as I steadily breath in and out of my nose…

In breath…

Out breath…

“Why Discord? Why was the amethyst created?”

“The amethyst is made of pain and tragedy… “

“What?”

The voice sighs…

In breath…

“The pain of Harmonia, at the tragedy of how her kingdom fell… She wanted to ensure that Equestria would be protected in the future… Do you honestly believe you’re worthy, after all the evil you’ve done?” *

Out breath…

“You know, there’s only one way to get reformed right?”

In breath…

I blink and I’m suddenly in the hospital bed with the doctor there at the side asking me, “Cozy Glow! Are you alright? Who are you talking to?”

Out breath…

I crane my neck right to stare at him and smile, “Oh, hiya doc! Fancy meeting you here!”

The doctor is silent… “25 Ccs of Dozemax!” And peels his eyes on me, “Cozy, you need to rest now!”

I feel a sharp pain in my right forehoof again…

And then, the world fades to black again…

<*****>

I hear a familiar squeaky voice, “Cozy? Are you awake?”

I say, “Sorta?” while laying there with my eyes closed…

“Uh, I already knew you were in room four thirty-seven!”

“Because you were here earlier, right?”

The squeaky voice stutters, “Y-yeah Cozy! Uh, what did Discord do when he teleported me out? Uh, can you open your eyes?”

“Probably?” I say before opening my eyes and craning my head right to see a white unicorn filly there with a two-toned mane and green eyes, “Oh, hiya Sweetie Belle!”

“Cozy, we need to talk!”

“You know, I was supposed to be a statue!”

Sweetie frowns, “What?”

I sigh, “Y-yeah… “I adjust my eyes to her and I’m not sure why I need to tell her this? “Discord showed me my statue and the way things were supposed to be… “

Sweetie is silent for a moment… “That’s ridiculous Cozy Glow! You’re here, alive and well with me, you’re the Empress of Friendship, and everypony now loves you!”

“Do they, Sweetie Belle?”

She frowns, “Well, why wouldn’t they?”

I blink, and I’m not sure how to say this, “I feel out of place now?”

“What?”

I sigh, “I’m not sure how to explain it?”

Sweetie smiles, “Cozy, I’m here for you… “

I stare at this weird smiling green-eyed white filly,** “I know Sweetie! I know!” and blink, “Well, after Discord showed me that statue, I uh, feel kinda different… Like, I’m not me…”

She stares at me blankly, “Well, what did Discord show you?”

“He showed me a set of three statues… One was Tirek, the centaur I used to write to, and I didn’t recognize the other, but she was some kinda bug creature… I saw her earlier, only she was much bigger then! And uh, the third statue...the third one was me… I saw me there, frozen in stone with a horrified look on my face… “

“That’s silly, Cozy Glow! Discord could show you anything just to mess with your mind! You really shouldn’t worry about it!”

“It felt so real though! Like, I wasn’t supposed to exist, and like, that was the way things were supposed to be,if that makes any sense!”

“Don’t worry about it Cozy! It’s just Discord trying to get into your head!”

I’m silent as I stare at the other filly… “I guess you’re right? Why are you here again?”

She starts and stares up at me, “I already told you! Discord teleported me out, but I needed to check on you and make sure you were okay, since uh, well, Discord is usually bad news!”

I smile at her, “I guess you are my friend, huh?”

She nods, “Of course, Cozy! Now, we need to get the other Crusaders here so we can figure out what to do about Discord?”

“What do you mean?”

“Because Discord is gonna be back! He wants you to play his game and you need to know that you’re not alone in this!”

I frown, “I’m not?”

She smiles again! “Nope! Prodigal or no, you’re still a Crusader! And we Cutie Mark Crusaders stick together!”

I smile again, “Thanks Sweetie Belle! I’d better go with you, since it’s not a good idea for any of us to be alone while Discord is on the loose!”

She frowns, “But you’re supposed to be bedridden in the hospital room?”

I smile wider, “Oh, don’t worry about that! You just go get the doctor now… Just let Cozy take care of everything!”

(To be continued… )

Author's Note

*Yes, that’s me metaphorically talking about my life…

**Sweetie Belle is now a Yugioh card! “I now summon MY GREEN EYED WHITE FILLY!”