A very bored Cozy Glow flew through the streets of the Crystal Empire, looking for something to do to kill time for the last few days.

So far, it was all so standard; just a bunch of crystal ponies going about their daily routine. Nothing was particularly eye-catching or interesting.

At least, not until she got to the center of the city, There she saw Thorax in the middle of the road, his neck craned back to look up at the crystal castle in front of him. It was almost as if he was in a hypnotized trance, standing still, almost unblinking as everypony passed around him.

Cozy flew up next to him, looking up and wondering if there was something weird that only he was seeing. But it all just seemed perfectly normal to her.

“Uhh, Thorax? Why are you just staring at the castle like that?”

Thorax didn’t even seem to register that Cozy was there, much less respond to her.

“...Helloooo? Thorax? You there?”

After several failed attempts of getting his attention the nice and sweet way, Cozy smacked the back of his head, her usual chipper voice gone for a harsher screech. “THORAX!”

Thorax reeled from the hit, finally breaking out of his trance. “Gah! Ow! O-Oh, hey Cozy…”

“Took ya long enough!” Cozy rolled her eyes. “Didja come all the way to the Crystal Empire just to stare at that all day?”

“No, I wanted to chat with Princess Cadence because…um…I wanted…” His attention went right back to the castle once more, his face twisting into a more confused expression.

Cozy mouth hung agape in shock as she was starting to lose Thorax again. She gave him a nudge this time to keep his attention. “...You wanted what?”

Thorax rapidly shook his head. “Actually, you might be able to help instead.” His eyes briefly darted from side to side. “Have you seen Chrysalis lately?”

“Not for a few days, why?”

“Well, she came to talk to me a bit ago, and she seemed…” Thorax’s tongue pressed against his teeth, trying to find the nicest word possible. “...off. I thought as her closest friend, you might know something about it.”

Cozy nearly sputtered with laughter at Thorax’s description of her relationship with Chrysalis. “I guess, what’s up with her?”

“Have you seen her acting weirdly?”

“All the time,” Cozy answered without skipping a beat.

Thorax held back an annoyed eye roll. “Well, just yesterday she came back to the kingdom, saying that she needed to talk to me.”

This time, Cozy couldn’t stop herself from letting out an amused snort. “Why would she go to you?”

“I don’t know,” Thorax shrugged. “I guess despite everything, she still cares about me a little bit.”

“Yeesh.”

“Anyway, she started talking about how Princess Cadence is secretly planning on using No Clop November for her own benefit or something like that.”

“Oh yeah, I remember hearing something about that last time I saw her!” Cozy nodded. “Something about Cadence using love to control ponies. Which, like, I thought that was like her whole plan as a changeling.”

“Right?” Thorax smiled, amused at the absurdity. “She was screaming about how Cadence was secretly evil and trying to take over Equestria with love.”

“Which is ridiculous! Have you seen Cadence?” Cozy giggled, looking up at the castle. “How could somepony so pink and cute and lovable possibly be filled with so much evil?”

“It’s a mystery…” Thorax mumbled as he stared at the pegasus.

Cozy turned back to Thorax. “I just thought she was going crazy when she told me. Probably just her being too horny and not thinking straight, ya know?”

“I thought that too, but she seemed really insistent…” Thorax glanced over to the castle. “I don’t believe it at all, but something must have happened to make her think that…”

“Eh, she’s probably just loopy.” Cozy waved a dismissive hoof. “Do you really think Cadence is capable of-”

“Well, isn’t this a surprise?”

As if being summoned, Princess Cadence started trotting towards the two. “It’s a rare sight to see you two talking. What brings you over to the Crystal Empire?”

Thorax and Cozy blinked, glancing between each other and Cadence before Thorax spoke up. “Heya, Princess Cadence! We were actually just looking for you!”

“We?” Cozy gave Thorax a bewildered look before getting a swift elbow to the side. “Oh yeah, yeah, totally.”

Cadence gave the two a genuine warm smile. “Well, I can definitely help you out, do you mind if we chat inside?”

The two followed Cadence as she walked into the room where all the crystal hearts were displayed. Thorax and Cozy were immediately drawn to how much had changed since they last saw it.

“Impressive, right? A lovely little moment of each elimination!” Cadence giggled.

“Golly, I’m sure glad I managed to stay in this year…” Cozy muttered, smirking as she looked over Tempest’s heart.

Thorax pursed his lips as he saw the hearts of Ember, Smolder, and Spike. “Actually, this is part of why we came here, Cadence.”

“Oh? You wanted to check in on the roster?”

“Er…not exactly.” Thorax thought for a moment how to voice his concerns without sounding as crazy as Chrysalis did. “I wanted to ask why you wanted to host No Clop November in the first place.”

Cadence blinked. “Well, someone has to be the host, right?”

“I…guess, but isn’t it a lot of work? Especially all these crystal hearts and whatever magic you did to make them do all this…”

“True, it did take a lot of effort to organize everything,” Cadence nodded. “But me and Shining had a lot of fun putting it all together! It was a labor of love, really.”

Cozy decided to speak up. “So both you and your husband are responsible for all of the planning and stuff?”

“Well, yeah! He had a lot of good ideas!”

“Was one of his ideas who got invited this year?” Thorax asked.

“Well, partly. We decided on the roster together,” Cadence explained. “It wasn’t easy narrowing the list down.”

“So who’s bright idea was it to invite Chrysalis?” Cozy impulsively snarked.

Cadence was quick to reply with a smirk. “Mine, actually. Even she deserves a bit of love.”

“With all the new faces, it’s certainly been an…interesting roster this year.” Thorax said.

“Perhaps, but I doubt it’s any stranger than what Twilight or Zecora have picked before me. There’s gonna be some new faces and some familiar ones, but I think that adds to the fun. Isn’t that what makes things exciting with Ember?”

“I…yeah, it does…” Thorax sheepishly grinned.

Cozy looked over the crystal hearts again. “Lotta matching sets here…Almost like they’re being paired up…”

“Well, that’s just what happens when you clop out together,” Cadence shrugged. “You might’ve joined Babs if the circumstances were just right.”

“...Yeah, I guess…”

“Will you be alright, Cozy?” Cadence put a hoof on the mare’s shoulder. “Not being together with her at the orgy, I mean.”

“Eh, I’ll be fine,” Cozy shrugged. “There’s always next year…or the rest of the year, now that I think about it. Now that she finally said it out loud, she might wanna make up for lost time.”

“That’s just what I like to hear,” Cadence grinned.

Author's Note

Get in loser we're going shipping