Cozy Glow's Completely Normal Family

"That you, Starlight? I got your letter, is everything alright?" Twilight calls from her Element-Marked chair, watching as the door to the main map room gets pushed open, the other notable purple piling in.

She looks tired. Starlight's hair is frazzled, and the bags under her eyes indicate she probably hasn't slept since Discord's visit. She nearly bumps into the doorframe, apologizing to it as she stumbles in.

"It sounded... erratic, at best." Twilight laughs softly, watching her friend and ex-student approach.

Thesaurus SparklingWater, designated Main Purple and Founder of the School of Friendship. While she normally remained a background figure, working on Friendship problems, setting the curriculum, or assisting the faculty, she'd received a very... interesting parchment from her friend and fellow pony in purple, the Secondary Purple, Stained Glizzy.

That Discord had come to talk to her, revealing some upsetting news. Considering his probation, that was cause for worry enough -- but the letter specified that what was occurring was not directly born of his fault, but rather, a butterfly effect from an event years ago.

Vagueness aside, Starlight wasn't one to complain. Fret, sure -- but after the Cozy incident, she'd taken a heavy backhoof on partaking in preventative measures. This was the first time in a long time that she'd thrown up any warning signs.

A very tired-looking Starlight slowly meanders into the largest room in the Castle of Harmony. Bags under her eyes, while the soft blue glow of her magic fiercely grips a cup of coffee... and a potted plant.

Wordlessly, Starlight sits beside Twilight, setting both on the table, before slumping down and leaning against it.

"Hey Twilight." Starlight mumbles.

"Starlight, you're... are you okay? You look like you haven't slept a wink." Twilight asks, leaning closer, worry in her voice.

"Because I haven't. I've been trying to research something." Starlight groans, sitting up.
"Remember the Bewitching Bell? The Tri-Villain event some years ago?"

"Of course. How could I forget? Did something happen to it? Discord didn't take it, did he?" Twilight asks, concerned.

"No, nothing that pressing. Just... I need to speak with the Princesses. Can you schedule something for me?" Starlight relents, looking into Twilight's eyes.

"Oh. The Princesses? Starlight, if something is the matter, the girls and I can help you with it." Twilight offers, trying to reassure her friend.

Starlight just smiles weakly and takes another sip of her coffee.

No, nopony else can help her with this right now. She needs to be absolutely sure before she so much as mentions this.

The difference between her, and Cozy, was her greatest crime was known by only one other pony. Twilight, the only one to stop her from ruining an entire timeline.

She'd been granted a forgiveness, out of convenience, that Cozy never had. It's why Starlight tried to avoid Cozy as much as she could.

Starlight needed the absolute, certain facts before she did anything. If she alerted the others to exactly what was happening, they'd react.

And truth be told, Cozy's husband wasn't someone she wanted to upset either. He was an alien with a lot of baggage, nestled directly in the heart of her problem -- kept safe by direct contact through Twilight, the Princesses, their friends, and his numerous outreaches that have earned him a spot in the eyes of several species, one wrong accusation towards a fellow member of faculty could blow up right in her face.

So, she needed to handle things very carefully.

"It's alright, Twilight. It's nothing pressing and harsh now, but... you know how cautious I get about things. We've enjoyed a good few years of quiet, and I'd like to keep it that way." Starlight sighs. "But if you can, could you schedule a time for me to meet the Princesses? I have a few questions for them. Regarding the Bewitching Bell and their powers."

Twilight nods.
"Of course, Starlight. And remember I'm here for you, okay? If you need to talk, or anything." Twilight offers, placing her hoof atop Starlight's.

Starlight wouldn't. Not until she knew for sure. She wasn't making another mistake.
"Of course. Thank you, Twilight." She says, despite this, placing her own hoof atop Twilight's.

Between Cozy and myself, we make a good bit of money. Or a good bit of bits. This means that when we don't feel like cooking -- we can splurge a little bit.

The living room looks like a corporate pizza party, like I'm trying to stiff my kids out of a pay raise. We've got five pizzas laid out in the kitchen, each with different toppings. Every single one of us has a personal preference towards the 'za, so we all get our own little personalized pie. There's a wonderful little place that moved in a few years ago, and we've been going there since.

Everything-On-It Pizza for Alexander, obviously. He's sat politely at the kitchen island, using his magic to fold each slice on top of itself, before taking some pretty big bites. Despite his generally, almost regal attitude, he loves his food. Been a big eater since the day he was born.

Lumie likes the simple Cheese Pizza. Extra, extra cheese. It's always interesting watching Pegasi use their wings like pseudo-hands, helping as she hoofs the slices down, braced by her feathers. She's sat comfortably on the floor, using the coffee table.

Ruby...

I reach down with another napkin, wiping Ruby's mouth.

Earth pony. No wings, no horn. She just eats the slices right off the box, which does little in the pursuit of keeping her face clean. Or the table clean. Or me clean, really. Kid's got a splash zone when she eats.

Oh, and she gets a different pizza every time. This time, it's a half-cheese, half peppers.

Mine's a self-made meatlover's. Ordered a cheese with some greens, and spread some heated-up leftovers from my latest grill-session.

Cozy is late like she said she'd be, so we went and ordered her usual for her when she gets home.

Hawaiian. Truly, a Villain to her very core.

"So, Ruby -- how did your presentation go?" I ask between dabs of the napkin, trying to clear up some of the inevitable messy buildup of her eating style.

Ruby smacks her lips, shrugging. An odd gesture, considering it's on a quadrupedal horse, but I've long since stopped questioning their anatomy. "It went good. Very few other students brought anything more than posters, so I got a bonus grade for the horn."

"Attagirl. What'd you think of the Crystal Empire?" I ask, curious about her thoughts. Maybe she'd like to study there for a summer, like I had.

"It's okay. Too cold. Nothing I like grows there." She shakes her head, before getting into another slice of her pizza.

"True, there's a much smaller pool of growables that far north, without dipping into Crystal-Pony magic." I relent, reaching for my own slice.

"Father, Luminous informed us of a commotion that happened in your class today. Between Miss Dash, and the visiting Washouts member? What happened?" Alexander suddenly asks, turning in his seat.

Lumie starts laughing as it's brought up, giggling to herself.

"Ah, Lightning Dust and Rainbow Dash have some... history. I tried to book Lightning to speak to the class, but Dash found out. They had a bit of a... tussle, and some of the other staff had to step in." I explain, unable to stop myself from smiling when I see Lumie laugh. I'd been concerned at first, but their fight mostly restricted itself to a pillow fight thanks to the limited supplies in my class. That, and they agreed on a race later, wrapping up the worst of it.

"I see. Did you orchestrate such?" He presses, interested.

"Nope. No clue how she found out, but I can't really see that day playing out any other way." I shrug.

The students seemed to enjoy the show well enough, though, so I guess that counts for something. Twilight couldn't do much about it since I'd already taken necessary precautions and forwarded her letters as to my intentions.

The front door suddenly slams open, and then shut, as heavy hoof-steps announcing a loveable and familiar arrival, drawing all of our attention from our cheesy goodness. The last missing piece to our little pizza party, the kids visibly perk up at her return.

"Welcome home, hun!" I shout, cupping my mouth with my free hand, realizing I'm still holding a slice as a chorus of 'Hey Mom' joins in.
"How'd it go?" I add, lifting it to my mouth.

Right as I go to take a bite, Cozy rounds the corner from our entryway, into the living room.

And she is livid. Face a flushed beet red, her teeth clenched together so hard they might very well chip, or at the least, crack. Not to mention a sizable vein bulging out of her forehead, disappearing under her frazzled curls.

"Bucking wonderful, Arny." She mutters, throwing her bag and jacket to the side, against the empty side of the couch.

"Oh?" I ask. "Well, your pizza's in the kitchen. Want me to grab you a slice?" I try offering. Seems like she could use some pampering; a rough day isn't exactly out of the ordinary for her.

Instead, she steps up to me, furrowed glare flitting between me, and my meat-added pizza I'm yet to take a bite of.

Leaning against the couch, Cozy takes a bite of the pizza I'm holding, teeth digging into the dough as she maintains firm, glaring eye contact.

"That's, uh... a meat pizza, hun." I try to warn her.

It was a pretty big bite. Over half the slice -- and instead, she pulls away, chewing.

Then, she leans closer, tone falling low.

"With how often I eat you, you think I care at this point?" She whispers harshly into my ear, glaring into my eyes as she pulls away. Her wings give her a boosting flap, hopping up onto the couch beside me, nestled into my side. "But if you wanted to get me a plate, I don't think I'd mind." She adds, speaking normally again.

... Jesus Christ, woman. I swallow hard, quickly pushing off the couch and tossing my own slice aside. Horses were like... opportunistic carnivores to a degree or something, right? Probably fine.

I love that mare.

"How did it go, Mother?" Alexander asks, now that she's gotten comfortable.

"We're... still working on it. There are some stubborn ponies on the council, who view things only in the short term." Cozy offers, though I can see her physically restraining herself from rambling.

Tonight's gonna be a venting night, I figure, as I throw a few slices of her Hawaiian onto a plate. I also add another slice of mine.

"Everything go well at school today?" She asks broadly, looking over each of our yet unbothered, pizza-munching kids. Their mother's temperament was nothing new to them, but like I said -- she's an amazing mother. They've never been on the receiving end of it.

Me, on the other hand, not so much. And that was moreso my fault, because I find my wife extremely attractive when she's angry, and can't help but bug her on occasion.

They begin repeating how their day went to their Mother as they had me just a short few moments ago. Ruby's Sombra Horn replica earned her big points in her presentation, Lumie hung out with me and witnessed the RD/LD pillow-based scrap (something that got Cozy snort-laughing, since she enjoys anything that bothers the Elements), and Alexander did well on his test.

Even after I've slid her plate over to her and rejoined her on the couch, she still can't help but giggle as she imagines Rainbow scrambling through the halls in a huff.

"Ponies think she's the cockiest one, but that Sparkle has an unbound ego." She mutters to me between bites, nestled into my side.

"Does she now?" I prod. After the day like it sounds she's had, the best thing was to let her vent. That, or let her kill somebody, but since one of those isn't legal, venting it is. Not like I mind having her jammed up against me, cuddling me, and looking to me for attention most nights.

"Oh, psh. You know her, Arny. The special little Princess' pet? The most special little pony Equestria has ever seen?" She continues, turning to look up at me, slice still held in her wings.

"She does have a lot of cards stacked in her favor." I purse my lips, nodding. Almost like she was the lead of a TV show or something.

"Oh, don't even get me started. Specially-made Alicorn, supposedly the strongest Unicorn -- psshh, I'm a PEGASUS and I had her on the ropes! All of them!" She throws her hooves in the air. If she had hands, they'd probably be balled into fists, in a 'curse-you' fashion.

"You certainly did, Hun. Can't recall any of the others having such an impact it brought back the Windigos, of all things." I agree, planting a kiss squarely on her excitable head.

"Right? Tirek, Chrysalis, and I were unstoppable! We... hrm." She sighs.

And her mood swings downward, the anger fizzling out of her uncomfortably quick. Tirek and Chrysalis were a sore spot for her.

Arguably her first real friends, we'd often visit the statue. It'd been moved to a quiet spot just outside of Ponyville, and ever since the Cozy-Starlight situation, has hosted a detail of guards.

It was a bit odd for her, considering that she was still trapped inside. Time-travel fuckery did that, and even getting close to the statue was something we had to fight for. They originally wanted to ban Cozy from going anywhere near it, but I've got a surprising amount of influence where it matters.

Never got a chance to meet Tirek myself, but during the whole transitional phase of the Changelings, I got to meet Chrysalis once or twice. She seemed like a nice, if overprotective, Bug-Mom to a hive leaving the nest for the first time.

"Want to see them this weekend? We should be pretty free unless you've got a follow-up date." I offer, jostling her softly to help her snap out of it. Her pizza slice was drooping, about to fall out of her wings.

"...That would be nice. We're still setting a new court date to carry on where we stopped, so we should be good. You don't have anything this weekend, do you?" She asks, frowning at her food's weak will.

"Nope. Wrote the incident report while Dash and Dust had their little tiff, and I've got nothing to grade." I shake my head.

"Can we go?" Lumie perks up, ears flicking.

"You kids want to see Aunt Chryssi and Uncle 'Rek?" I ask, looking up.

They visibly perk up, interested. They might have never gotten to meet them without a sturdy layer of stone between them, but they always seemed to enjoy the stories Cozy told them of her youth, and their trials together leading up to said statue-ifying.

"Absolutely, Father." Alexander quickly chirps, while Lumie nods.

Ruby doesn't seem as excited -- probably because she'd rather spend the weekend in the garden -- but being outnumbered, she simply goes back to eating her pizza. She still looks like she went head-first into her food, as I push away from Cozy for the moment to wipe Ruby's face. Again.

"Oh, can we play outside when we're done?" Lumie continues, politely dabbing her face with a napkin, smiling.

"You can play in the yard for a few minutes, but it's bed soon. You've got... they were good today, right?" Cozy asks, looking to me.

Their hopeful eyes stare at me.

"Yes, they were," I affirm, slowly sinking back onto the couch. Cozy shuffles over to make room for me, pressing right up against me again once I'm settled.

"Alright. You've got thirty minutes, then you wash up. Go." Cozy barks -- all three of them scatter, bolting out the back door at various speeds, headed for our backyard.

The backdoor slams shut, and quiet returns. I can hear their muffled voices through the door, but that's not my focus. I slowly look down to my other, who I'm all alone with.

She's staring at her pizza slice, frowning and trying to spread her feathers. There's cheese stuck between them. "Eugh. I got cheese on my feathers... I need to stop offering the kids a pizza night. This happens every time."

"You ever think of just... not using your wings?" I unhelpfully offer, smiling.

"Buck off. You try and eat without your... hands, and tell me how that goes." She scoffs.

"Well, if you'd prefer... I could feed you." I tease, hanging a slice in front of her face. She frowns at it, batting it aside.

"I'd find that... passable at best, if I wasn't watching my feathers glue together." She states dryly, shifting to get up.

"Want me to preen you?" I offer quietly.

Cozy freezes, quickly looking at me. "Mare, would you? After the day I've had..."

Preening is one of those tasks that ponies deem seriously intimate... but was actually kind of just tedious. I'd gotten decent at it over the years, but it was no small favor. There was a big difference between a gentle, tender preen, and working gunk out of feathers.

Pegasi were an oddity. They valued their wings so heavily, but were just as willing to use them to hold or touch things, usually ending up in a miserable pegasus with dirty wings. I've watched every pegasi I know do the same thing. Cozy, Lumie, Dash, Fluttershy...

I toss our plates aside onto the table, before wrapping my arms around Cozy, hoisting her up against my chest. She makes a quiet "Golly" as I do, getting a snort-laugh out of me as she flusters.

"Sh-shut up." She grumbles, trying to hold her wings out so she doesn't stain me with melted cheese.

"I still can't believe it slips out of you now and then." I sigh wistfully, stepping around Ruby's mess to start upstairs, heading for our bathroom.

"I forget how easy it is for you to pick me up sometimes, that's all. Asshole." She mutters, sighing heavily. "I'm not exactly light."

"You'd remember more often if you let me pick you up more often. You're about as easy to pick up as Lumie, you know? I think you winged ponies have hollow bones or some weird bird thing, if I remember." I ruminate, trying to recall the last thing I read out of a pony biology book. I dug through them all when I first arrived, but it's been some years since I looked one over. Magic aided their wings, but they were undoubtedly the lightest species.

Even with all this flank. Can't help but peek.

"I'm a pegasus. It's demeaning, and I can fly. And I know you just want the chance to --" She pauses, glaring at me as my hand squeezes her rump, letting my fingers dig in a little. "-- grab me up." She finishes coldly.

"Can you blame me?" I say quietly.

"I can still remember when I thought you'd actually calm down about my body. You weird, interspecies-obsessed freakazoid." She says as she taps my chest with a hoof.

"Freakazoid?" I question playfully as we reach the top of the steps. "Sorry, but not sorry. Still infatuated with my favorite pony."

"...Good." I hear her quietly retort, just as we get through the bedroom and reach the upstairs bathroom door. She opens it for me, as we step inside.

Leaning, I slowly set her down in the tub. It's a wide model, to better fit us both; plenty of room for us to get in and enjoy a good soak together.

"Good thing you took your jacket off at the door," I note once she's on the floor.

"Wait, my bow." She leans her head forward, for me to handle it. Right. She adores that thing. I carefully untie it, taking a moment to run my finger through her curly mane as it's freed from its cloth binds, Cozy humming warmly.

"At this point, just want me to wash you?" I offer, tossing the unwound cloth on the bathroom counter.

"...Probably. I can feel it setting. Buck, I hate pizza." She huffs, looking her wings over. She's got cheese... and a chunk of pineapple stuck in her feathers, sticking them together.

"Just gotta let me feed you it." I leer, sitting on the edge of the tub.

"Yeah, yeah." She rolls her eyes.

"Kids love it, though." I idly comment, watching her out the side of my vision as I gather the wingcare products.

"...They do, don't they. Lumie didn't get any in her wings, did she?" Cozy asks, glancing up.

"Not that I saw. You know, for someone who dislikes it so much, you sure seem to offer it a whole bunch." I smile at her, starting the tub. The water splashes against the base of the tub, as I sit my finger inside of it, waiting for it to warm.

"Well, I -- I just want to make sure they're... you know, not upset I didn't have a chance to cook for them. Or something. I don't know. Buck off, Arny." Cozy snips at me, as she shuffles closer to put her back, and her wings, towards me and the water.

"They know, and they love you for it. I can cook too, you know." I remind her softly, digging my fingers through her pinkish back fur as I wait for the temperature to adjust.

She glances over her shoulders, eyes partially closing from the attention.
"Sure, but I don't want you worrying about that after you've been working all day. I can handle it."

"We both work you silly little thing. How about tomorrow night -- it's gonna be... Friday right? I'll make you some of that carbonara you like so much."

"Don't call me that." She grumbles, leaning her head back against my knee. I feel all that tense breath slowly escape her as she tries to relax, the water slowly pooling against her hooves. "That... would be really nice. It's been a while since I last had it." Cozy nods to herself.

My hands start to massage her back, digging into the fur and lithe musculature around her wings' shoulder blades. She's got strong wing muscles, considering she spends most of her time flying. Something that's accentuated by the rest of her being fairly... plush, despite her smaller form.

A throaty hum escapes her, and I can see her eyes close shut as she leans into my touch. Now, a massage wasn't exactly preening, but I find it best to warm her up before I go pulling feathers.

"When's the last time you took care of your wings?" I ask her, wetting my hands with a healthy lather of feather-friendly soap.

"Last... month?" She slowly figures, her words paced and slow.
"Too long." She finally decides.

"Agreed. You push yourself too hard." I scold her softly, leaning down to kiss her head, my words muffled by her hair. My hands slowly trace the base of her flighty appendages, digging in with my thumbs.

"...I have to." She responds simply.

She has so much to prove, even after years of being set on the 'right' course.

"I know. And I've got your back the whole way, so don't you hesitate to talk to me, you adorable thing, you." I whisper between quiet kisses.

Her head tilts back, face upside-down as she tries to look at me. Those big, usually scrunched eyes just stare up at me.

"...Yeah. I love you, Arny."

"Love you too, Cozy."

That, of course, was rescinded about fifteen minutes later as I was prying dried cheese from her wings, amidst cursing and vehement promises to murder any pizza-delivery pony she saw on sight.

Cost her a few feathers, but she was right as rain for the kids' bedtime.