Excerpt 3:
Beep. Beep.
The sound of a heart rate monitor woke Cozy up. Her eyes fluttered open before confusion set in.
“Mom? Dad?” she called out.
Cozy glanced around at her surroundings, unaware of her current location. She was lying in a bed hooked up to some form of machine beside her. Light shone in through a window to her left, and she squinted her eyes from the brightness, staring out at what seemed to be a city of sorts. Her bed was at the front of the room, only taking up a quarter of the space inside the room and to her right was a closed door.
Her eyes wandered down and she caught sight of the bandages over her right hoof. In a flash, the memories came back to her all at once, causing her to gasp for air. She immediately felt the panic again and she brought her hoof closer to her face to see where her rook should’ve been. Instead of seeing her saving grace, it was just replaced with bandages.
“No . . .,” Cozy denied, getting more panicked as she tore off her bandages.
From beside her, the heart rate monitor started beeping louder, becoming more and more frequent with each passing second.
“No, where is it!”
The heart rate monitor was beeping several times a second when the door finally opened. In trotted an earth pony stallion followed by a young, white pegasus.
The white pegasus rushed to Cozy’s side. “Okay, calm down. It’s okay. You’re safe.”
Cozy regressed back to the far end of her bed away from the white pegasus. She was able to steady her breathing, but she still stared skeptically at the two ponies.
The white pegasus smiled at Cozy and lifted her chin up, her red hair bouncing momentarily. “It’s okay. There’s nobody that’s going to hurt you. I’m here to help. Is there anything I can do for you?”
Cozy gulped before glancing back at her right hoof. It was perfectly healed without the bandages. “Do you know where my castle is?”
“Castle?” the young pegasus repeated before gasping. “Oh my Celestia, are you a princess where you come from?” She looked Cozy up and down. “Hmm, no. You’d have a horn if you were a princess so that’s out of the question.” The pegasus turned towards the stallion. “What’s another name for a ruler, Dr. Degree?”
The adult earth pony rolled his eyes. “Shouldn’t it be obvious?”
The filly stared in confusion for a moment before her eyes lit up. “Oh right, it should’ve been my first guess!” She returned her gaze back to Cozy inquisitively. “Are you an empress?”
Cozy lowered her eyebrows in deep thought, admiring the title.
“It’s a name given to the pony of a great deal of land,” the filly informed. “At least it should be, but the leader here uses that title loosely. Don’t tell him I said that though.”
Cozy shook her head to get back on track. “I’m looking for a chess piece.”
“A castle chess piece? You mean a rook? Does it look like that?” The young filly pointed down to Cozy’s flank.
Cozy hadn’t even realized the change in her appearance. When she looked down, she saw the sight of a rook that looked exactly like the piece she had taken from Pent’s domain on her thigh.
What happened to it? Cozy thought. Why does it look like that?
Cozy reached down to it, but her hooves hit against her skin. She tried again at the two-dimensional picture before she finally realized.
“I’ve got to say, that’s a cool cutiemark,” the pegasus admired. “Makes me wish I got mine already.”
“Are you two done?” Dr. Degree intervened. “Thank you. Okay, we were very concerned when we found you last week. You were suffering from dehydration and multiple injuries. You had a slight fracture on your leg, multiple cuts on your stomach and a sliced up hoof.”
Cozy blinked and widened her eyes at the information. “Did you just say ‘last week?’”
“I’m afraid so, but I’m happy to report that after your long, um, nap, that your vitals are perfectly normal. You have no infections and you just needed to be patched up. Assistant Nurse Troth will be looking after you until you’re fully back on your hooves.”
From beside Dr. Degree, the white pegasus beamed excitedly. “Hello! I’m Nurse Troth and I’m here to help!”
It took Cozy a second to fully grasp the situation. “Troth?” she repeated in confusion at the red-maned pegasus. “And you’re a nurse?”
“You’re darn tootin right I am! I’m the youngest nurse in this community at ten-years old. Others said I couldn’t do it but I proved them wrong.”
Cozy held her head, trying to process all the information. “Did you say ‘community?’ Where am I?”
“You’re in the best place in all of Equestria! Everybody’s saving grace. Founded by Emperor Contume, this community, built by the non ponies, has been a refuge for any creature that seeks residence. They’re welcome to stay as long as they want. You’re gonna love it here . . . um, what’s your name?”
Cozy took a deep breath and spoke with reluctance. “My name is . . . Cozy Glow.”
“Well, Cozy - can I call you Cozy?”
“Oh, um, yes, of course.”
“Well, Cozy, I welcome you here. I’ll be sticking by your side until you feel comfortable enough to be on your own. You should totally come hangout with me and my friend Lenia! She’s super awesome and it would be nice to hangout like three actual friends. We can all have lunch together.”
The thought of food reminded Cozy of her hungry days, and she instinctively agreed.
Troth raised her hooves in the air in excitement. “Awesome! Lunch is just after the town meeting that Emperor Contume has planned for today. Something about a villain threatening Equestria. You can go to that with me if you want.”
“Um, Troth?” Dr. Degree intervened. “Don’t forget that she still has to sign out of the hospital first before she goes. Maybe just let her rest for now.”
“Wait,” Cozy began. “I think I’m okay enough to go.”
“Sweet,” Troth cheered. “It’s great to have another pegasus to hang out with rather than being stuck with Lenia’s three friends.”
“Before you leave, Ms. Glow, you’ll have to sign something to show that you left,” Dr. Degree informed.
“Oh, golly, I don’t usually sign things. Usually it’s my par-.” Cozy stopped herself at the memory.
“So is that a yes?”
Cozy was silent until Troth cut in. “I can sign for her.”
“Oh, but it has to be Ms. Glow or a family extension.”
“Well, if I’m the one looking after her, doesn’t that stretch the extension to me?”
Dr. Degree stared skeptically at Troth. “I’ll have to hear audible surrender from Ms. Glow that she is voluntarily letting you do this.”
Troth turned to Cozy with a look of anticipation, and Cozy gave a deep breath before complying.
“I, uh, allow Nurse Troth to sign my . . . what is it? A release form?”
“That’s good enough,” Dr. Degree said, retrieving the paper slip with the ink container.
Troth cheered before dunking her hoof in the ink container and pressing it against the paper.
Dr. Degree disconnected Cozy from the machine, and Troth smiled at her excitedly. “Come on.”
“Don't forget your free take-home bag.” The doctor held out a saddle-bag towards Cozy. “Each patient gets one free their first visit.”
Cozy regarded the saddle-bag in apprehension before she glanced at Troth’s approving face, encouraging her to accept it. Cozy nodded in appreciation before exiting with her pegasus companion down a corridor.
When they were a safe distance away, Cozy turned to Troth. “Wait, that’s just it? I didn’t need to pay for anything?”
“Oh, not at all,” Troth replied. “Here, Emperor Contume has made it so all medical bills from ponies are all paid for. He really is something.”
“Wow, so nopony has to pay?”
“Well no pony does, but the other creatures here still do. The hospitals need to maintain cost expenses somehow.”
“What other creatures are there?”
“Yaks, griffons, dragons, diamond dogs. I hear Lenia has a pleasant story about a diamond dog that defended her. Haven’t heard the story yet though. Oh yes, and there’s even been a changeling here once too.”
Cozy’s eyes widened in surprise. “What? What did it do?”
“Oh, it just got a good meal, slept here a couple of nights, made acquaintances with some of the other creatures. We couldn’t tell Emperor Contume though because he would have never let him stay so his presence was kept a secret from the guards and everyone involved with them.”
“And you trusted him?”
“Well, we were skeptical at first but he made it known that he had no bad intentions and wasn’t involved in anything the Queen was doing. We couldn’t just cast him out on his own, but I’m glad we let him stay. He was very friendly. He’s off on his merry way now and I hope he’s doing well. Now come on. We’re already late for the town meeting.”
Seems to be an interesting place. I wonder if Celestia knows of this Emperor and his realm?
10044065
Regarding your comment about not making OC's, there are very important characters later on in the story that are completely original (in fact, you don't see any characters from the show for a while except Cozy Glow). But the reason I used these characters for a setting like this was because in Crusaders of the Lost Mark, Spoiled Rich describes Diamond Tiara as losing to a "Transplant from Trottingham" and it only seemed fitting to make Cozy the pony to actually be the one to defeat Diamond.
10044092
For your question regarding Cozy Glow's age, yes, she is 8 and a half like she stated in Excerpt 2. According to my belief on Cozy's age, she would be 12 and a half during the season 8 finale so it only seemed logical to make her this young this far in the past.
10044095
Thank you so much for your feedback. More answers will be revealed soon though so be patient. After all, patience is the key to success.
10044648
I'm pretty sure that was a reference to, you know, Pipsqueak - the pony she loses to in that episode?
10044654
So DIamond, Silver and the rest are several years older than her?
10044988
Cozy Glow is supposed to be the youngest out of the group, but she isn't too young to the point of her being 5 or so years younger than Diamond Tiara. No ages were confirmed in the show. I did try to reference the episode Crusaders of the Lost Mark, where Spoiled Rich said "it's bad enough you lost to that transplant from Trottingham, but imagine if you lost to one of those blank flanks." This is reflected where Diamond Tiara lies in the excerpt and tells her that she didn't lose to someone without a cutiemark. There are many other references in the first excerpt to specific lines said in Crusaders of the Lost Mark if you can catch them.
10045018
Ah - so it's some kind of symbolic reflection?
And if a season is a year, this is halfway through Season 5, and Diamond is a only a few years more than 8 and a half... how old d you think she was in Call of the Cutie?
10045112
In Call of the Cutie, I would say Diamond Tiara would be anywhere between 5 and 8 years old. In the later seasons of season 6 and 7, she looks to be around 14. I used to think she was 16, but ever since Growing Up Is Hard To Do, the cmc's age were shown to be younger than an older child's age. The older kids looked as if they were 14 years old and if the cmc were younger, they would still be 12 or 13 years old around this time. If Diamond Tiara is older than the cmc (since bullies are typically older than who they are bullying), I'd guess that Diamond would be around 14 years of age the last time we saw her. For the cmc, I'd think that in Call of the Cutie, they would either be 6 or 7 (just listen to Sweetie Belle). And wherever Cozy Glow was at during Call of the Cutie, I'd predict her to be 4 or 5 years old. I definitely think Cozy is younger than the cmc by about two years or so.
10045428
to be quite blunt, the portrayal in that episode (9x22) was bullshit considering the series so far. We see 5 year old Sweetie in a flashback in Season 4, and she seems much younger than when she appeared in the show. And Apple Bloom was already born when her sister got her mark, which was also when Spike was born - is he so young in Season 1 as well? Personally I start them off as middle schoolers, which fits the puberty allegory well, but even if I knock a couple of years off...
As for Cozy, I'm not sure why you think she's younger than them, necessarily. After all, she's in the Friendship School with the very adolescent-seeming Young Six.
10045458
Well you can't disregard something that the show writers have put into the canon. Before Season 9 Episode 22, specifically in School Raze part 2, my theory was that the cmc were between 15 and 17 and that Cozy Glow was 12 and a half years old. Something like this would make it so that in season 5, when the cmc got their cutiemarks, they would be around 12 and 13 since it was 3 seasons before season 8. Then, season 1 in Call of the Cutie would make them be 7 and 8 years old.
And about Cozy not appearing to be young, the School of Friendship has proven to be open to creatures of all ages time and time again. You see stallions and mares as well as fillies like the one Cozy helped at the beginning to School Raze Part 1, so I'm not so sure that comparing her to the other students is a good way to represent her age.
10045646
You can when it makes so little sense as well as spitting in the face of previous episodes like Forever Filly. (Or at the very least, you can teak some minor details and set the story much earlier.) Your prior theory is much more reasonable, even if I still think that's pretty young to start.
As for the School, I give characters we actually meet preeminence over backgrounders. Mixing creatures of all ages willy-nilly seems really unlike Twilight. But then, I suppose we passed the line of sense there when she hired her friends as teachers....