Only keep the usefull ones around
"Does this mean I'm accepted?" the small pegasus asked.
The little filly was standing on a stool, turning a wooden spoon in a pot, preparing a little meal under the light of the window facing her. A few meters behind her, lying in a poorly lit bed, was a light-green unicorn looking exhausted, holding a letter with her hooves.
"Yes, Cozy," she replied with a weak voice. "The princess herself has accepted you."
The little pegasus couldn't contain her smile as she said:
"I'm going to the School of Friendship!"
"Yes, you are..." the unicorn said with a small devious smile, folding the letter and putting it on her nightstand. "You'll be meeting Twilight Sparkle. Remember what I told you...?"
"Get as close to her as possible," Cozy repeated like a good student. "She is the princess of Friendship, she is the most important pony in all of Equestria."
"You'll be a princess too..."
The filly stopped her cooking, turning to the mare on the bed with an intrigued look. The unicorn invited her to get closer with a slow gesture, which she did.
"I can't be a princess," Cozy said. "I'm not an alicorn."
The unicorn coughed a bit, as Cozy was putting her front hooves on the bed to be high enough.
"Twilight wasn't an alicorn either..." the unicorn remembered with a distant and resentful gaze. "She showed how much strength she had and was made into one. Trampling everyone else standing in her way."
She turned her tired eyes to the filly by her side, reaching one hoof in her well maintained mane, as she followed:
"You'll be one too, Cozy. You'll be the only one, the empress of Equestria. That symbol of yours, that cutie mark, it is the tower from which you'll watch the rest of the world. You'll reign on top of it."
"And throw everypony down," the little filly completed with a radiant smile.
The unicorn smiled a bit, proud of her little Cozy. Smiles were a rarity with her, she usually had a harsh face. That's the world in which Cozy had been raised.
"Remember, Twilight is the princess of Friendship. Her friends are everything to her, they're how she got to be a princess. You'll need to make friends of your own as well."
"I know, mom. This was your mistake, it won't be mine."
"Don't bring Sweet Tooth, even if she was accepted... She'll hinder you."
Cozy turned away from the bed, still smiling, adding with a mischievous tone while she went back to her cooking pot:
"I took care of her, don't worry."
"How...?"
"As you taught me," the filly calmly said, climbing back on the stool, while her eyes had become filled with a twisted satisfaction. "Only keep the useful ones around."
Her mother let out a relieved sigh, adjusting the bed sheets.
"Good girl..."
Cozy grabbed a few herbs hanging from the cupboard, adding them to the pot. She briefly glanced at the yew leaves she had picked outside this morning.
"Cozy...?"
"Hmm?" the filly distractedly answered.
"Listen, this is going to be important..."
Cozy's ear twitched. When her mom said that, it was always to teach her life-defining lessons. So, while she kept on cooking, she paid close attention to what her mom was about to say.
"They will try to corrupt you... To convince you that you should live with honesty, stay loyal to those you call friends, be kind to others, all with sincerity... Don't let them fool you: Friendship and love are only means to an end. And they're using them all the same, they're just too prideful to see it, or too scared to admit it. Especially Twilight."
Her mom couldn't see it from where she was laying, but Cozy smile slowly faded. The little filly was disappointed, she had already deduced this lesson from the previous ones. That was the second time in a row, now. Her learning was done, it seems.
"Yes, mom," she replied.
Cozy grabbed the yew leaves and added them to the pot, mixing everything together. The meal wasn't looking great, an attempt at a soup that looked like porridge. She wasn't good at cooking, but at least it smelled alright.
"You remember how to get to Ponyville, right...?" the mare asked.
"Keep the hills on the left, and around the Everfree," the filly recited, reaching for a plate.
"The three rules?"
"Act naive and adorable, don't let anyone know your true self, think about your goal first."
"Good... You'll go tomorrow."
Cozy filled the plate and went back to the bed.
"You'll come back from time to time to visit me?" her mother asked. "Tell me how your plans are going."
The little pegasus looked at her, thinking. She glanced at the plate briefly, making up her mind, before she handed it to her while answering:
"Sure."
"Thank you, Cozy," the unicorn answered, taking the plate with her hooves instead of magic, and the spoon her daughter handed her. "I'll miss you."
As she began to eat, something slowly changed in the filly's eyes. They looked like they had darkened, yet the garnet-like color in them seemed to ignite.
Without her mother noticing, a smile crept its way onto the young pegasus' face. One of a contained delight, she couldn't let it all out. Not now. She was so good at it, and she enjoyed every moment of it. It was a second nature, she was born to deceive, raised to act, groomed to conquer.
"I'll miss you too, mom," she slowly answered with a fawning voice. "You taught me a lot, but I'll learn so much more at the School of Friendship."
"I'm sure you will," her mother said in between two mouthfuls.
Cozy couldn't look away. Her eyes were locked onto her mother. And, despite facing away from the only window in the room, her irises were still very much visible. In this obscurity, they were born. In this obscurity, they began to glow.
Author's Note
I still really much like this challenge.
And that little crazy filly.
