The lights were dim in the Headmare’s office, and the only sound was the ticking clock on the wall. The five ponies seated around the room all waited patiently for the arrival of a sixth.
The doors swung open, and the ponies turned their heads to see Twilight walk in, an odd expression on her face
“Alright, well, the good news is,” Twilight started as she sat down on her chair and rested her forelegs on her desk. “I was able to talk Luna out of sending her to Tartarus.”
“Tartarus?!” said Rarity with a gasp. “That seems rather-“
“Like extreme overkill for a filly? Yeah, I agree. Luna apparently saw it differently.” Twilight’s face turned a bit sour. “And still does, actually.”
“So…What’s the bad news?” asked Applejack. Twilight sighed.
“The bad news is we still have absolutely no leads. No birth certificate, no identity records, nothing. Which means we still have no way of figuring out where she came from.”
“Well, she couldn’t have just like, memorialized out of thin air,” said Rainbow Dash, prompting everypony else in the room to stare at her incredulously. “What?”
“Ah think the word yer looking for is ‘materialized’, hun,” said Applejack, putting a hoof over her wife’s shoulder.
“Oh. Right, yeah, that… that makes more sense,” Rainbow blushed in embarrassment, then noticed Pinkie Pie snickering.
“You got something to say, Pinkie?” she said accusingly.
“ANYWAY,” Twilight spoke up, getting the conversation back on track, “since we don’t know where she’s from, we don’t have any place to send her.”
“Maybe we can send her to an Orphanage,” suggested Fluttershy. “She’d have a place to live, would always be under supervision, she might even get adopted!”
“I’m not certain putting her somewhere with so many other foals would be so smart,” said Rarity. “With how easily she was able to turn the adults and teenagers to her side, Celestia knows what she could do with a mansion full of ponies her own age.”
“Get ‘em to tie up the nuns and make a mess of the place?” Applejack smirked.
“Well, it’s a definite concern.”
Twilight shook her head. “Rarity’s right; an orphanage is too risky. We need to send her someplace we can keep an eye on her. Someplace where she can’t manipulate anypony into doing her bidding.”
Noticing the contemplative frowns all of her friends had, Twilight stood up and adjusted her tone. “But it also needs to be someplace where she can learn how to be better. A place with ponies who’ll teach her what friendship is really about, and who can keep her from continuing to go down this path in life.
Her voice grew a new level of conviction. “She needs ponies who’ll care for her, and make her see the value in caring for others.”
Applejack and Rainbow Dash looked at each other. They held uneasy expressions, and communicated silently. Applejack’s face softened as Rainbow’s did, and she turned to Twilight.
“What if, um… What if we took her in? Rainbow an’ I, ah mean.”
Everypony except her wife stared at her like she had grown three extra heads.
“Applejack…” Twilight began carefully. “I know you and Rainbow Dash have been thinking about adoption for a while, but-“
“Ah didn’t say “adopt”, jus’…ya know, taking her in, keeping an eye on her… givin’ her a good home. That sorta thing, ya know?”
“That sounds an awful lot like adoption,” said Pinkie.
“Well, there wouldn’t be any paperwork or whatever,” said Rainbow with a shrug, before turning to AJ. “Right?”
She nodded. “Nothin’ official. As far as the law goes, we’re just a couple a good Samaritans takin’ in a filly without a home.”
“That’s all fine and good, darling, but-and I hope you don’t think me rude for asking this- why?”
Applejack raised an eyebrow. “Whaddya mean ‘why’? Ain’t everythin’ we just talked about enough of a reason?”
“What I think Rarity means, Applejack-” began Twilight. “-is why do you want to take her in? Are you really sure you want to add ‘looking after a disturbingly clever and conniving foal and putting her on the right path’ to your lives?”
She turned her attention to the Pegasus. “And Rainbow Dash, are you certain you’re equipped for something like this?”
Rainbow glared. “And just what do you mean ‘something like this’?”
“I just mean that, well, taking care of a foal isn’t something everypony is meant to do, and-“
“You think I shouldn’t be a mom, don’t you?” Rainbow exclaimed, standing up in anger.
Twilight winced at her friend’s outburst, and tried to backpedal. “That’s… I didn’t say that!”
“It certainly seemed like you were,” said Rarity, furrowing her brow. The other ponies in the room seemed to agree, judging by their expressions. Applejack especially was glaring daggers at the Alicorn
“Rainbow, look, all I was trying to say is-“ she was interrupted when the Pegasus raised her hoof.
“Just be honest, Twilight. Do you think, that I’m fit to be a mom?”
“I-“ Twilight bit her lip and looked away, sighing.
“No, Rainbow Dash. I don’t think you’re ready to be a mother.”
There was a long stretch of silence. Applejack reached a hoof over to Rainbow and spoke softly. “Dash, i-“
Rainbow suddenly spun around to face her other friends. “And what do you all think? Huh? Do you agree?”
“Dash.” Applejack put a hoof on Rainbow’s shoulder “We’ve talked about this before, ya know ah think you’d be a great mother-“
“I know, I know. But I want to know what you all think,” she gestured to Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy. “Just tell me if you agree with Twilight or not.”
"Nopony dared to answer, or even look her in the eyes. But just as Rainbow was about to make some kind of scathing comment, Fluttershy spoke up.
“I don’t agree.”
Everypony turned to look at the yellow Pegasus, but she did not wince or shrink under their gazes. Instead, she carried on.
“I know Rainbow Dash might not be the most ‘motherly’ pony at first glance, but I also know how determined she is. If there’s something that she wants or needs to do, she’ll put everything she has into it. She never stops at ‘you tried your best’, she just goes and tries harder.”
Fluttershy got up from her seat and walked towards her blue friend, a confident look on her face. “I also know how loving she can be. When she really, truly loves something, or someone, she’ll talk like it’s the greatest thing in the world. I have no doubt that any colt of filly being raised by our Rainbow Dash would always know just how loved they are.”
She turned to her oldest friend, and smiled. “That’s what I think, at least.” Applejack gave a modest little chuckle.
“Ya took the words right outta my mouth, Shy.”
Rainbow breathed a heavy sigh, and her expression finally softened. “Thanks, Fluttershy.” She gave a small smile of her own and sat back down next to her wife, who draped a foreleg over her neck.
Fluttershy simply nodded, and went back to her seat.
“Now, to get back to your first question,” said Applejack, turning to face a very visibly conflicted Twilight. “If ya wanna know why I wanna take Cozy Glow in, the reason is quite simple…”
She licked her lips, and breathed in through her nose. “From what you’ve said, it sounds like this filly doesn’t have anything she can call a family. Now, y’all now there’s nothing more important to me than family, and if I have a chance to give one to somepony who clearly needs it… well, I’d be going against my own nature to not take it.”
Once again, there was silence. Twilight and Rarity were contemplating quietly, Pinkie glanced back and forth at everyone in the room, and Fluttershy seemed content to wait for someone else to speak. AJ and Rainbow simply sat in embrace, waiting for an answer.
Nearby, in Starlight’s counsellor room, a filly sat on the floor, eyeing the locked door with growing impatience.
She grumbled and pouted. This was technically her first time being sent to “detention”, so to speak. She could see why other foals talked so fearfully of it.
She kept looking at the door. Nothing.
With a loud groan, Cozy Glow let her head fall to the ground. She stared up at the ceiling, and found herself actually starting to count the tiles.
Maybe I should just go to sleep, she thought to herself.
Just then, the door was unlocked. Cozy got up to see it open, revealing Twilight Sparkle with an unreadable facial expression.
“Good news, Cozy Glow. We’re sending you to the farm.”
Oh my lord, they’re going to kill me.
Author's Note
This idea, like most ideas i have, is one that came to me randomly while was out walking.
I want to try to really take my time with this story, so updates to it will probably be less frequent than my other ones. That being said, expect Chapter one sometime fairly soon.
As a side note, i'm currently looking for a proof reader. If you're good at spotting minor spelling mistakes or grammatical errors, hit me up.
A little ways out in the meadow, just a few kilometers away from the Sweet Apple Acres family home, there stood a modest little cottage, made from apple tree wood. For the last 2 and a half years, this unassuming structure was what Applejack and Rainbow Dash called home.
The pair had officially moved in on the day of their wedding, after spending the prior six months building it. It was a testament to Earth Pony architectural ingenuity, nothing short of a super-tornado would tear it apart.Over time, most Ponyville residents, including the couple themselves, had come to know it by the name ‘The Zap Apple Cottage’, a title that Applebloom could be thanked for coming up with.
Even within the relatively short amount of time since its construction, The Zap Apple Cottage had already become a place that held many memories. Some bad, some good, some really good, and a few that were just kinda… weird.
Needless to say, it was everything that a cowgirl farmer and her flying daredevil wife could ask for.
“Wow, those two live in THAT crap hole?”
Of course, it may be an acquired taste.
Twilight and Cozy Glow stood a few hundred feet away from the cottage. Rope had been tied around the filly’s wings to prevent her from flying off, she was a quick little devil, and Twilight kept a stern eye on her at all times. For the entire walk from the school to where they were now, Cozy had made sure her displeasure hadn’t gone unnoticed.
“Well, that ‘crap hole’ is where you’re going to be living for the foreseeable future,” said Twilight with only a hint of snark. Cozy’s eyes widened, and her jaw hung agape.
“I think I would have preferred getting executed.”
Twilight groaned in exasperation. She really didn’t know how much more of this little twit she could stomach, and felt bad in advance for what Applejack and Rainbow Dash were getting themselves into.
Well, they volunteered, she thought to herself. She waited patiently for her two friends to arrive, her eyes never leaving Cozy, who was staring at her tied-up wings with narrowed eyes. The filly began to shift uncomfortably, and looked up at Twilight.
“My wings are getting itchy.”
“We’ll untie them when we’re inside,” Twilight said flatly.
“Then let’s go inside, already!”
“Not until Rainbow and AJ get here.”
Cozy whined angrily. “Where the hell even are those chumps?”
“Right here, drip.”
Both ponies looked up to see Rainbow Dash hovering above them, her forelegs crossed and a smirk on her face. Twilight smiled while Cozy rolled her eyes.
“Where’s Applejack?” asked Twilight, as Rainbow landed in front of them.
“AJ’s still got some work left at the farm, she’ll be here in a minute.”
Cozy scoffed. “Of course she works at a farm.” Rainbow narrowed her eyes, and Twilight cautiously took a step back. She knew very well that the filly was swimming into dangerous waters.
"What’s that supposed to mean?” Rainbow more snarled than asked.
“Oh, I didn’t mean anything by it,” replied Cozy with her trademark mock innocence. “Farmers do a lot of important work, they’re truly the backbone of Equestria. I’m just surprised somepony as ‘high-flying’ as you would settle for… one of them.”
Her eyes piercing right into the little pegasus’s soul, Rainbow grit her teeth. “…one of… them?”
“Oh, you know… a mudpony.”
Twilight made a mental note to remember to buy one foal sized coffin later, as Rainbow inched closer to Cozy. The filly held an annoyingly pleased smile on her face, but it started to dissipate as the larger pegasus grew closer, her posture hunched, her steps slow and precise, her face locked into a haunting scowl.
Cozy shrank back as Rainbow lowered her head, her muzzle an inch apart from Cozy’s forehead.
“Let me make something very clear, twerp,” she began in a voice so low it sent chills up even Twilight’s spine. “You can say whatever you want about me. But if you ever talk about my wife like that again, I’ll make you spend a night in the middle of the Everfree forest, tied up against a tree.
“And if, Celestia Forbid, you say that word in front of her, I will send you straight to Tartarus myself. Ya got that, punk?”
Sweat dripping off her like a faucet, Cozy gulped, and nodded slowly. This seemed to satisfy Rainbow, who gave a firm nod of her own and backed off.
That… could have gone worse, Twilight thought to herself. There was a brief stretch of awkward silence before a voice from nearby caught their attention.
“Howdy, Y’all!” Applejack came into view from the trees, trotting briskly towards them. Rainbow’s stern glare instantly changed to a big smile as her wife came up to them, and greeted her with a peck on the cheek. “Sorry ah took so long, Mac got himself stuck in a tree hollow. Had to saw the thing in half to get ‘em out.”
“Is he okay?”
“Eh, he’ll live.”
With everyone present and accounted for, the four ponies made their way towards the Zap Apple Cottage. During the short canter, Applejack took note of the rope around Cozy’s wings, and winced. It was hardly the first she’d seen a Pegasus tied up like, but seeing it in this context, and with a foal no less, felt a bit wrong.
Rainbow, sensing her wife’s sudden discomfort, leaned in for a nuzzle. “Somethin’ buggin’ ya?”
“I dunno, it’s just…” Applejack spared another glance at Cozy. “Don’cha think it’s a bit cruel havin’ her tied down like that?”
Raising an eyebrow, Rainbow looked at Cozy for herself, then back to Applejack. Her mouth scrunched up in contemplation, but she ultimately shrugged. “Eh, maybe, but… I think it’s sort of a… what’s that thing Twilight says? A necessary evil, or something?”
“I guess…” the farmer mare didn’t really look convinced. Rainbow sighed, and draped a wing over her wife.
“Look, the way I see it, compared to what could have been done with her, a little wing restraint is pretty tame. ‘Sides, she won’t have to stay like that for long. We’re here!”
They were in fact here. There. Rainbow flew over to get the door, and held it open for the rest of them. Once they were all inside, Twilight leaned over to Rainbow and whispered. “Everything else locked?” Rainbow nodded.
Stepping through the living room, Cozy scanned the interior of her new place of living, appearing to scrutinize every little detail. It was a model of un-remarkability; two red couches, one slightly longer than the other, a beanbag chair in the corner and a countertop in the center, all atop wooden floor panels covered by navy-blue carpeting.
She opened her mouth, but was interrupted by a purple glow enveloping her backside. Twilight used her magic to untie the rope, and just like that, her wings were free.
“Oh, thank the lord,” she muttered, fluttering the tiny appendages, and lifting into the air, whatever she was going to say completely forgotten as she buzzed around the room. Rainbow almost thought it was cute, until she remembered who the filly in question was.
“Welcome to yer new home, Cozy Glow,” exclaimed Applejack. The filly abruptly stopped flying, and turned to Applejack with disinterest as she landed.
“Yeah. Right. Cool.”
Another bout of awkward silence passed over, until Twilight cleared her throat. “Well, um… I should be going now. But first, may I have a word with you two in private?” She gestured to Applejack and Rainbow, who exchanged a glance, and then both nodded.
The three trotted over to the kitchen. Cozy didn’t follow, but she kept her eyes on the kitchen entrance. She heard them speaking in hushed tones, too quiet to make anything out. Still, it sounded like they were having an argument.
“…..I just think it’s best if you keep her under house arrest for the time being,” Twilight explained sternly. Applejack didn’t seem to agree.
“And ah think that goes against what we’re tryin’ to do here. She’s not gonna learn much if anything if’in she’s cooped up in here the whole time. Back me up here, Dashie.”
Rainbow bit her lip, and rubbed her neck. “I don’t know… Twilight does have a point. We can’t keep an eye on her 24/7, and we can’t really trust that she won’t do anything bad if she manages to get away.” Applejack didn’t reply, instead choosing to stare at the floor with a frown.
“That’s not the only thing,” said Twilight. “Doing this is just as much for her own safety.”
“Whaddya mean?” inquired Applejack.
“Everypony, more or less, knows about Cozy Glow and what she did, and I know that there are a few ponies in town who might try and do something to her if she happened to be out and about.”
The earth pony was silent for a moment, mulling Twilight’s words over. “…Ah hadn’t thought of it like that.”
Rainbow simply scoffed. “If anypony wanted to try something like that, we could take ‘em,” she said, proudly holding a hoof to her chest. Twilight didn’t look convinced.
“What happened to ‘we can’t keep an eye on her 24/7’?”
Rainbow had no retort, and instead sighed and rubbed the back of her neck.
“Like I said, this is only for the time being,” Twilight reassured. “If everything goes well, we should get to a point where she can go outside, with your supervision, and eventually, let her be entirely free to go whenever she likes.”
With a sigh, Applejack finally conceded. “Alright, Twi. You made your point. We’ll…lock her in.” Her face still looked quite uneasy as she said those last three words.
Twilight turned to Rainbow. “And you both agree on this?”
Sharing a glance with her wife, Rainbow nodded. “If AJ says yeah, then…I guess I say yeah, too.”
“Good,” said Twilight with a single nod. “Well, I’ll get out of your manes now, best of luck to you both.”
She trotted out of the kitchen, and on her way to the front door, briefly locked eyes with Cozy. They both held unreadable expressions. With a final good-bye to her friends, Twilight walked out.
Cozy turned around, and let out a small yelp as she saw her new guardians hovering over her mere inches away. Rainbow held a flat look on her while Applejack shot the filly an odd smile.
“Soooo…” the Earth Pony began. “We should probably, uh, give ya a tour of the place, hehe.” Cozy didn’t roll her eyes, but it looked like she wanted to.
“I think I can find my way around,” she said dismissively. Rainbow started to say something, but was cut off by her wife soldiering on, however awkward it still was.
“Well, at least let me show ya to yer room, it’s just a few feet away from ou-“
“Yeah cool,” The filly interrupted as she flew into the hallway. Applejack sighed, and turned around to follow her, but stopped as she saw Cozy opening the door to her and Rainbow’s bedroom.
“That’s uh, our bedroom-“
Cozy shut the door, and flew over to another one on the right, opening it as well.
“That’s the bathroom-“
Another door shut. At last, she flew over to the left, and opened the door to the guest bedroom. “This one mine?”
Applejack nodded, taking a few steps forwards. “Sure is, if ya want, I can-“
Without saying a word, Cozy flew into her room, slamming the door shut behind her. Applejack hung her head low and sighed, earning a comforting hoof from Rainbow.
“Don’t worry, babe. We’ll figure this out.”
Cozy laid down on her new bed, eyes staring up at the ceiling. It was an average sized room; one closet, a small desk facing a window, and a nightstand with a lamp to the left of the bed. Said lamp was currently the only light source in the room, and it only stretched out so far.
The filly couldn't really care less about how bright her room was. All she really cared about was leaving. She had tried to fly out though the window, only to find it had been sealed shut. Evidently, they had planned for her trying to escape.
Those idiots are smarter than I thought. If they had the forethought to seal the windows, it only tracked they would have kept the rest of the house locked down as well. If I want to get outta here, I’m gonna have to be clever. She sat up in bed, and rubbed her chin as she thought out her options.
Doing a quick little survey of the room, looking for something useful, Cozy’s eyes landed on a small stack of paper and some markers on the desk. She smirked.
Flying over to the desk, Cozy grabbed a piece of paper and a black marker, and started writing:
Escape Plans
Author's Note
This chapter has been re-edited to better suit the vision of this story that i have now, and i will begin proper work on Chapter 2 soon.
