Songs of Innocence

Chapter 51: Exit to Paradise

Fluttershy's cottage, many moons later

"Sun's most brutal battle was finally over. With the storm had finally passed, clear skies returned. Although, there were still some things she had to deal with. Sun had to legally adopt Cozy so that she could keep living with her, and... not everyone was willing to accept that the filly had changed for the better. And who could blame them? Cozy rose to power by tricking people, after all. Anyways, after all of this madness, we decided that we - both her and the rest of us - deserved a little vacation."

Outside Ponyville's courthouse, many moons ago

The Mane Five, Sun, and Cozy walked out of the Horse Courthouse™ (a courthorse, if you will). Since this morning, Sun had started wearing a pleather eyepatch over her right eye to hide its scars. "Wait," Rainbow said to no one in particular, "so let me get this straight: Cozy Glow isn't going to get ANY punishment, and she's going to live at SUN'S HOUSE?" 

Sun scowled at the pegasus. "Dude. She's right here." she replied, pointing towards the filly. There was a subtle hint of resentment in her tone, no doubt because she was still sore over Rainbow's rant about her from yesterday.

The rainbow-maned mare crossed her arms with mild annoyance, and replied, "I know that! But what you don't seem to know is that you're taking in a MEGALOMANIAC." 

"Uhm, well, Rainbow..." Fluttershy suddenly interjected, and the two's attention shifted towards her. "...the judge did say that she shows no signs of her megalomania anymore, and that being imprisoned in stone for so long was why."

Rainbow turned to Fluttershy, gawking at how she would take Sun's side. She repeated, enunciating every syllable in an attempt to have her words fully sink in. "MEGA. LO. MANI. AC." 

Rarity argued, "Darling, it's obvious that you were sleeping through most of the trial, so you know well that you didn't see how Cozy acted." Rainbow wanted to argue back, but she realized that she had no ground to stand on... especially since she usually hovered above it (I'm sorry). 

"Well, I..." she then sighed, "...Yeah. You're right."

"Well, if ya ask me," Applejack butted in, "ah think Cozy's sentence was a bit too light, but she is just a filly at the end of the day. Ah don't think we're gonna be seein' her goin' around stealin' magic again. 'Specially since she knows what happened last time she tried that." She struck a side-glance at the filly, almost like a warning. "Welp, now that all that's done with, ah'm gonna take a nice long rest. The judge readin' all them charges made me hungry for some reason."

"Uhm, mister Sun," Cozy said, "I'm actually a little hungry too. Could we maybe get something to eat?"

"That sounds like a good idea. All that legal stuff made my brain hurt." Sun replied, before she turned to the others, and said, "I'll be right back." She levitated Cozy onto her back, and she galloped towards her house to get something to eat.

Applejack sighed, "Ah think Sun needs a break after all of this. She's been havin' t'deal with so much over just the past month... And sometimes, ah think, 'Maybe ah'd be able to handle all of that, but is she?' Twilight may've dealt with more o' that, but she's Twilight, and Sun's definitely no Twilight." 

Pinkie decided to throw her hat in the ring, proposing a question with her usual cheeriness. "Why doesn't she go on a vacation?" 

Rainbow raised an eyebrow as she noticed that her earth pony friend was suddenly wearing a sunhat. "Uh, Pinkie? why are you dressed like that?" 

"Because~ I'm gonna go with her to help her relax!" she declared with a smile brighter than the sun itself.. evoking the rest of the Mane Five to stare at her with the most "are you serious?" faces imaginable by the human and/or equine mind.