Empress Cozy Glow part 2: The Reckoning

I teleport out of the clubhouse!

I teleport into some sort of green area…

I hear a high-pitched filly screaming to my right and I gaze around to see that I’m surrounded on all but one of my four sides by tall hedges!

My mind processes all of this as the screaming filly continues to wail on my right and I then hear Apple Bloom’s voice somewhere further rightsaying, “Calm down, Sweetie Belle! We’re not in tha clubhouse anymore, and Discord teleported us all somewhere’s else?”

The scream stops and I hear Scootaloo’s voice on my other side say, “Okay, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle are both here! Cozy Glow! Are you around?”

I finally speak up, “Yeah! Oh, golly, I’m here too!”

Suddenly, my horn disappears! Then, my wings grow tiny!

I give the obvious reaction by screaming! “AAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!”

I hear Scootaloo’s voice to my left say, “Oh, gosh! Cozy Glow! What’s the matter?”

“My horn is gone and my wings are tiny now!”

Suddenly, we all hear mischievous laughter coming from our front where the hedges open up, and soon, a familiar brown serpent appears in the sky just to my right!

I gaze up at him, “I’m supposed to be an alicorn, jerk!”

He points towards me with his eagle talon, “Oh, no Cozy Glow! You’re supposed to be a statue! But, I’ll give you a chance! You get one shot at redemption, but the thing is, you’re simply TOO POWERFUL as an alicorn, and so I feel the need to disable you!” before nodding further towards my left, “No offense, Scootaloo!”

I hear Scootaloo retort, “You really are a jerk!”

Discord smiles, “Yeah, whatever chicken pone! Anyway, the point is,” and he grows a beard and suddenly sports orange glasses, “this is not Nam! There are rules!” before making the beard disappear with the glasses, and continuing, “The first rule is, no wings and no magic!”

Sweetie Belle squeakily speaks up, “Hey! Why do I still have my horn, then?”

Discord smiles to my right, “Oh, Sweetie Belle! I meant REAL MAGIC that could actually be a threat to me! Your little levitation tricks won’t make a difference!”

“Jerk!”

Discord hums to himself before adjusting his gaze, “And the second rule is, all Crusaders must make it to the center of the maze as a unit, or the game is over, and I win!” before putting his paw and talon in front of his body to wiggle the appendages.

“Good luck, my little ponies!” Before throwing his upper appendages up into the air and vanishing again!

“He’s a jerk!”

I hear Apple Bloom say in her drawl, “Naow, hol’ on thar everypony! Lets head to tha center, and link up there!”

I hear Scootaloo reply, “On it!”

I hear Sweetie Belle, “We’re all gonna die!”

I say, “Hang on Sweetie Belle! We can do this!”

“Um, if you say so, Cozy!”

“Follow the sound of my voice!” I say as I begin trotting forward… “Try to find me in the maze, and we can all connect that way!” and I take a left to head further into the maze…

Sweetie says, “Alright Cozy! I trust you!” and I finally hear her start clopping down the trail…

“This ain’t nothin’!” I hear Apple Bloom say!

“Yeah, we’re the Cutie Mark Crusaders, and we ALWAYS stick together!”

I eventually trot towards a curve to the left, and I see a russet brown pegasus filly with a purple Mohawk mane smile at me from that direction, “Hiya Cozy!”

I smile back, “Hiya Scootaloo!”

We both hear a smarmy masculine voice say, “Tell me Scootaloo, doesn’t it just burn you up that Cozy there is so much more agile and airborne with those normally large wings of hers?”

We both see the serpent appear in-between us as Scootaloo replies, “Not really? I mean, I was just made this way and I have no choice but to accept it! I’m a flightless pegasus!”

I point to the other pegasus and add, “Hey! I had my wings, and after the amethyst, I gained a lot of magic, and now I’m all-powerful, or whatever, but that filly is WAY more awesome, than I could ever be!” and smile her direction, “Because she manages to be amazing without her wings or a horn!”

She smiles at me, ear to ear!

“I love you, Scootaloo!” And I take a few more paces towards her to hug her, before Discord disappears…

“I love you too, Cozy Glow!” And she returns the hug…

<*****>

I hear Scootaloo trotting behind me…

CLOP CLOP CLOP CLOP…

I also see a left coming up and I raise my snout to yell, “Apple Bloom! Sound off! You gotta be near here, I think?”

We both hear Apple Bloom reply, “Yeah, yer just a little ways to tha left of me, I think?”

And as we follow the curve, we behold a yellow earth filly with red mane and tail, and a big pink bow on the back of her head!

We then hear a snide male voice muse, “Oh, and Apple Bloom surely has the worst of it all, right? No wings, and no magic, and on top of that, Cozy is so much brighter than her!” and we both see the serpent in the air continue, “And ta top it all off, she ain’t got no fancy book learnin!”

I smile when I realize what angle he’s trying to play, “That may be so Discord, but I know next to nothing about apples, she can still buck with WAY more force than me,” and I look down towards Apple Bloom and smile, “and if you look at her, she’s just so gosh darn adorable!”

Apple Bloom smiles at me, “AWW! I love you too, Cozy Glow!”

As I begin taking paces towards her… I then embrace her in a hug, as the serpent disappears behind me, and Apple Bloom soon returns it…

<*****>

Us three fillies finally make it to the center, before Apple Bloom lifts her snout, “Sweetie Belle! We’re in tha center naow! Jus follow my voice!”

I scream, “Yeah, Sweetie Belle! You’re not that far off, now!”

We then all hear a familiar squeaky voice scream, “Help! I’m stuck!”

Scootaloo turns her muzzle towards the left, “It came from that direction!”

I look up that way, “Hang on, Sweetie Belle! The rest of us are all together, now! We’re coming!” before taking off that way…

Crusader or no, I’m still a leader…

<*****>

I scream at the air, “Sweetie Belle! Say something!” As I keep trotting that direction down into the maze…

“I’m over here!” I hear the squeaky voice shout.

“We need to turn right here!” I say as I lead the other two Crusaders down the trail…

“I’m over here!” We all hear the voice shout as we make out way towards the T-intersection, and turn right, to see a white filly there, with her hoof trapped in an overgrown branch!

We suddenly see Discord appear behind us, wearing what appears to be a black leather jacket and crossing his upper extremities in front of him, as he says, “And here we have Sweetie Belle, the weakest link! I mean, her magic just amounts to cheap parlor tricks while Cozy can destroy mountains, and she’s got wings! At least Apple Bloom has a strong body!”

I smile as I crane my head over my shoulder to say, “Not true! Sweetie Belle can probably sing better than Fluttershy, and her two-toned mane is just so precious!”

And Scootaloo adds, “It’s true! I mean, my mane is awesome, but I could never compete with how adorable she is!”

And Apple Bloom finally says, “And her eyes just complete the look! I think she’s gonna be a rich pop star one day?”

Sweetie Belle finally raises her snout to yell, “Cut it out, girls! You’re embarrassing me!” as we all note the sudden redness of her cheeks!

The serpent disappears as I run towards Sweetie while saying, “Apple Bloom! Scootaloo! You two are stronger than me! Let’s get her loose now!”

“Yeah, no problem Cozy!” Apple Bloom says as she runs.

“On it!” Scootaloo adds while following.

<*****>

And so, after releasing Sweetie Belle from the overgrown root, which we’re still not sure was there before, finally the Crusaders made our way to the center of the maze, where we see a smiling happy serpent!

I keep trotting towards him, with my friends behind we, “We’re here, Discord! We beat your stupid game, and now we’re ready to go back to our clubhouse!”

He lowers his view to me, “And so you did, you little filly paragon leader, you!”

“You know, I’m not perfect!” I say before stopping just inside the center area, where I see us all surrounded by tall hedges, as Scootaloo marches to my right, and Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle position themselves on my other side…

“Be that as it may, you’re brighter and so much more than these other fillies ever could be! As such, you have a logical obligation to be the best ” and he wretches, “Empress of Friendship that you could be! I want you to remember that in the future!” before snapping his talon in the air and teleporting all of us out of there!

<*****>

“Oh, golly! I’m sure we can all agree, Discord is a jerk!”

“Here here!” Scootaloo chimes in from the other side of me, while lifting her glass of cider.

Suddenly, we all here the familiar voice of my mother, amplified and radiating across the Apple family farm, “Cutie Mark Crusaders! I felt strong magic earlier! Are you okay?”

I release some air from my lungs in a long sigh out of my snout as my eyes narrow, and mutter, “Oh, golly… Yeah, don’t worry everypony! I’ll take care of it!” before lifting my cider to my mouth for one good pull before I go deal with my mother…

(The end?)