Songs of Innocence

Chapter 49: My Dear Friend

Fluttershy's cottage, many moons later

"With Cozy in safe hooves for the time being, Sun let go of her worries. And what happened..." Fluttershy's pale yellow cheeks reddened as she lost herself in another bout of rose-tinted reminiscence. "...was one of the best days of our lives." She showed another photograph to the filly, but the little pony raised an eyebrow, wondering why she was showing her the same picture she'd been shown yesterday.

Fluttershy's eyes focused on the photograph, absorbing the perfectness of the moment it captured. Of course, it was of her and Sun, lying in a field at sunset. The sky was basked in a fiery orange light, and the disappearing sunshine was practically shining off of their bodies. But despite how beautiful it all was, the two weren't looking at the sunset. Instead, they were just talking to each other, with an uninterrupted serene, nostalgic air practically radiating from the photograph.

"This is the photo I showed you when I started this story, wasn't it? We're here already?" She took another look at the photograph, and then at the filly. The old mare clenched her eyes closed to stop a new flood of tears, but at least they were happy tears this time. She didn't want to tell the filly just yet, but after the perfect day she was going to describe, something unbelievably awful was going to happen. But... that was going to come later. It was the calm before the storm, and that calm was something that Fluttershy would cherish the memory of forever. 

Sun's house, many moons ago

Today was the school festival. It was a day meant specifically for students to have fun before the anxiety-inducing exams started. The next day would be a boring student assembly, but if Sun was being honest, she would probably attend it anyways if Maple or Yakta were going to be there... and maybe Gallus, too.

Right now, Sun was at the breakfast table with Cozy, and also Obassi, who came early to take care of the filly. They were like a weird family, created out of weird circumstances, that forced their weird personalities to work together. Weird, aren't they? Anyways, Sun, being the weird, barely adult mare she is, tried to make some eggs, but failed miserably after 5 minutes. So, she just decided that everyone would get apples for breakfast.

"Welp, I tried to salvage it..." Sun said, walking back into the living room where the two waited. "...but my studies in the black arts never told me how to cook." She placed two bowls with apples in them on the table for them, and they clearly weren't very impressed (not that Sun expected them to be). She grabbed her bags, and began to leave, despite the fact she hadn't even taken a bite of... well, anything at all.

"Aren't you going to join us?" Cozy asked, beckoning her back with her trademark sickening level of cuteness. Obassi looked at the filly with surprise, seeing that Cozy hadn't yet left her manipulating ways (although, she obviously had much less sinister intentions this time). Sun didn't know that she was trying to persuade her into spending more time with them, but Obassi did. It wasn't really something to be concerned about, though, so he chose to ignore it.

But Cozy's guilt trip worked on Sun. She wanted to be with them, but she had an actual reason to be on time today other than just because she wanted to be there. "I-I'm sorry. I really am, Cozy. But I have to be there, because of... demon stuff." Met with silence, she added, "You don't know what I mean, but Obassi does."

"Not really." Obassi rebutted. 

"Well, I guess I owe the both of you an explanation, then." Sun looked at Cozy with a sympathetic expression. "Would it be a little better if I could get you something on the way back?"

Cozy nodded. "Could you get me a cupcake?" she asked with a meek grin. Cozy was kind of like Obassi's version of Capper. Every move she made could have been part of some unseen plan. Fitting, as her cutie mark was a rook. However, her innocent persona could be genuine. Perhaps she knows this is her only second chance, and wants to turn over a new leaf, returning to the happy filly she was pretending to be up until her plan fell through. But that's the thing, isn't it? It was a persona. It could have been genuine at times, but who really knew for sure?