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Friendship was power, and power gave me control. I decided where I went, decided what I did, decided how to live. I told myself I'd never lose control, that I'd never be trapped. All of Equestria would bow to me.
I won't be trapped.
Not again.
Written based on a prompt from Bean's Writing Group.
Edited by Yutah123
Proofread by Javarod
Many thanks to these wonderful people for feedback!
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Maravilloso. To finally see it on the site makes my heart sing. Swell job.
Cozy Glow.... ;-;
It's utterly despicable, what they did to that poor filly.
I maintain this was one of the worst decisions ever made on the show. In this instance, the ponies themselves came across just as vindictive as the villains they were supposedly better than.
This is a sad little story. Cozy Glow needed serious counseling, but the ponies didn’t even try to help her. I’m still upset about that finale, and it was well over a year ago. I hope season 10 fixes things, but I’m not holding my breath.
Do you have a sequel planned?
Truly a work of art. Wonderful job!
I really do love the raw emotions portrayed in this beautiful piece. Great work!
Aw, that was a heartbreaking read...
Truthfully I think she got what she deserved she sided with the enemies of her nations on 2 occasions perverted what might as well be the state religion frankly I think people are just using the fact she is a kid to treat her like she is some tragic figure but if she existed in are realty her actions would have seen her tried as an adult and she would have faced a far worse punishment then an overglorified stasis spell
Your characterization of Cozy Glow is something that rings so true it's headcanon-worthy. Definitely worth a read.
10654647
Agree with you about that decision being the worst idea. I mean they did it to Discord and he thought of his own punishment to make others suffer. I hoping the Spirit of Friendship becomes the main villain for a good reason; even a creation of good can become evil.
yay
10654730
Even though "Others" were Villains themselves. And have caused the real innocence of Ponykind, and other Creatures as well?
But, the Spirit Of "Friendship", becoming corrupted, and was a major consequence for not reforming Chrysalis, Tirek, and especially Cozy Glow? Sure, their terrible Villains. But, Twilight and her Friends DIDN'T worked hard enough to try? So, this is "Punishment " or something?
Why didn't the Reformed ones like Luna, Discord, Sunset Shimmer, Starlight Glimmer, Trixie, Stygain, Tempest Shadow, and even mini villains like Gilda, Diamond Tiara/Silver Spoon, Flim and Flam, or even Neighsay try to help as well? Sense they did got a chance to be reformed?
10654698
The problem with comparing this to "Our world" is that Equestria clearly is not our world and doesn't operate under the same rules as us. Otherwise, I'm pretty sure characters like Starlight and Sunset would have been put on trial and locked up too, no matter how "Sorry" they are, and Discord would also have probably been imprisoned again after his betrayal in Season 4. The problem is that Cozy's fate doesn't match up all that well with the show itself. Over the show's run, our heroes had increasingly trended towards redemption and forgiveness, but that hit a brick wall when it came to Cozy, that's the problem.
An engaging read, even if its inherent inflammatory nature was (and is) rather unalluring.
I can't say I "liked" this story, per se, but nonetheless, my compliments must go to the author. Now, if you excuse me, I'm going to run as far away from here as possible.
EDIT: Why are y'all booing me? How am I the bad guy for not wanting to partake in your screaming matches?
10654730
I doubt the Elements would become “evil.” Rather, it would either choose not to work for them any longer, or simply make reforming them a friendship mission.
As I said, I hope the season 10 comics address this. I’ve also heard that Series 5 will occur in the same continuity but in the future, so there’s an avenue there.
10654740
I say personal vendettas and here's the reasons
Queen Chrysalis: Locked away Cadence, made Twilight the bad mare in the wedding, attacking Canterlot, kissed Shining Armor, Capture her friends, princesses and niece.
Lord Tirek: Absorb magic from all Pony tribes, locked Celestia, Luna, & Cadence in Tartarus, destroy Twilight's library, held her friend hostage, deceived and betray Discord.
Cozy Glow: Betray Neighsay in a coup de grâce against him, deceive the students of the friendship school, tricked Twilight and her friends to get trapped in Tartarus, drain Equestria of all its magic, captured Starlight to prevent her from ruining her plan, nearly got the Young 6 captured and insult Twilight's believe in friendship as its a power to rule all.
Have I left anything out? Please comment me.
10654784
All the villains can have vendettas against them, so I don't think this makes sense.
Look at Starlight. She literally stole Twilight and her friend's Cutie Marks and nearly annihilated Equestria itself.
10654784
Touche. But didn't Luna, Discord, Sunset, Trixie, and even Starlight and Tempest hurt the Main Six as well? Then again, it's hard to forgive someone like Chrysalis or Tirek. While Cozy Glow is the Wild Card here.
ayo Xrevias poppin' off
Mrm
There soo many question on Cozy Glow that Hasbro did'nt answer like what her backstory,how she meet and join Tirek,and most important of all her parent.Like why that everyone think of this.
A very cool interpretation, it’s always cool to see the directions writers take Cozy Glow’s past.
The finale never bothered me, as it was clear Cozy was happily going along with the villains and showed no remorse when trying to take over. With this origin it’s a really suitable way to show Cozy’s power obsession and having the chess bored be the way she discovered it was a really good touch.
I do hold onto the idea that turning them to stone is a way to reform them later, like discord,so I wouldn’t mind seeing a sequel where your version of the character handles that.
10654774
To be honest the Elements prefer frankly monstrous torture to remotely fixing things in most of their uses.
And to that-Harmony had no part in their petrification, it's purely Celestia, Luna and Discords undeserving existence as a sapient entity doing so.
Which points to them being arrogant, lazy, cruel and frankly unconcerned with the consequences of their actions.
Well, that was mildly painful....well done.
2 years later and the finale still brings a bad taste to my mouth.
I reviewed it here, nice writing btw :)
10654645
You mean the "poor filly" who freely engaged in lies, manipulation, betrayal and attempted conquest? Who gleefully tried to murder Twilight and her friends?
Cozy made her own bed here. Being a filly does not excuse her actions in the least. It just makes them worse, if anything.
10655297
Maybe someday they’ll be able to redeem her I mean look at starlight she removed her villagers cutie marks and replace them with equal signs and then try to rewrite history and kill everyone
10655297
As opposed to Discord, who did almost all those things and even succeeded in his conquest? Or Starlight, who actaully did try to murder three ponies who couldn't be a threat to her in a fight? Cozy was neither better or worse then those two yet no one tried to rehabilitate her or give her a second chance despite her showing potential for it when she decided to confess to lying about the CMC's lessons on her test and in Frenemies. And if she had to be imprisoned, why not a mental institute or a normal prison? Why a small empty cage in a giant cave followed by being turned to stone? It was overly cruel and unnecessary.
It was partially the fault of Discord, who further feuled her desire for villainy with threats and false promises, paired her up with Tirek and Chrysalis (both of whom also deserved better) and showed them where the bell was. Sure, she's not completely innocent, but she's no more guilty then any other previously reformed villain and still deserved a better fate.
I'm not sure how being young makes her actions worse. If anything, the added maturity of the adult villains makes their actions even worse. Her being a filly just makes her punishent seem all the more excessive.
10655310
Discord showed regret for his actions on several occasions, and made amends of his own free will. Several reformed villains did the same. Cozy has never shown any regrets about any of the things she did.
Cozy used and betrayed everyone around her, and was willing to let Starlight and the Young Six be lost with all of Equestria's magic, all so she could get to be the "Empress of Friendship".
Being a filly makes it worse because kids aren't supposed to have such twisted thoughts and actions.
10654740
I agree.They can reform discord why not a filly who might have a mental problem or stuff
They didn't think of her story or her parent about this.Like how her parent feel about this must be soo heartbroken to think about it.
10655317
Only after he and the rest were given the chance and help to do so. When Discord broke free from stone he went back to doing what he did before and even after his second release, he still mocked the ponies for trying to reform him and even after that, he still did horrible things. Starlight had a similar situation, where she lost, came back for revenge and required plenty of help and talking down to finally concede.
Cozy, by contrast never got any of these. She was immedietly given up on. How can she show regret if she doesn't have a reason to? Heck, it took Discord far after his reformation episode to actually start feeling regret for his actions.
Starlight lied, manipulated and practically threatened her villagers into joining her supposed utopia while acting as their dictator and lying about her own cutie mark and Discord manipulated, threatened and used false promises on the trio to get them to attack Equestria for him. Both of their end goals were selfish and just as evil as Cozy's.
As opposed to adults with thousends of years to mature or those who at least have loving fathers? If anything, trying to help Cozy early could make it easier to eventually reform her and make the attempt much safer.
10655343
Not sure if this was mentioned in the thread already, but something people seem to ignore is the fact that Discord performed an act of entrapment, which is an illegal and incredibly messed-up act. For those reading who do not know what entrapment is, it is the act of setting somebody up or coercing/ forcing them to commit crimes with the intent of having them arrested for the acts you forced them to commit.
Discord, under the guise of being the new "big bad" Grogar, exhibited terrifying power and dominion over the three villains, and commanded them to carry out various missions to further their badguy-ness. Then, they get punished, and screwed-over for it by Discord and everyone else. They were set up, and nobody seems to really care or regard this in the slightest. You could argue they would've done bad-guy things on their own, and of course they would. But in this scenario they do it out of fear of Grogar and serving as his underlings, and to my recollection (correct me if i'm wrong), but this isn't even so much as brought up and turned against Discord in any way.
Additionally, the fact all three villains were depowered and harmless, surrounded by many beings MUCH more powerful than they are, and then petrified with no way to defend themselves while everyone cheered is pretty messed up as well. I'm not going to go as far as saying petrification is the same as killing them, but it's a very eyebrow-raising moment.
10655317
Seriously? Some of the most heinous thoughts come from children because they don't understand the full extent of what they'ee doing to others so long as they themselves enjoy it. The worst are the ones that because of how they're treated never mentally grow up or are giving more mental issues.
"There is nothing more atrociously cruel than an adored child.", Vladimir Nabokov
The problem with Cozy Glow in the show is that they never revealed anything about her background to determine it and no one tried either. That's what weakens it and makes both of the last two finales weak and leaving a bitter taste in my mouth. And don't even try to talk about Discord being reformed, if anything we've been shown that he really isn't reformed over and over. So long as something seems likes it will be entertaining he'll do it regardless if who it hurts. For exanple did he do anything after Sombra seemingly killed the 'sapient' Tree of Harmony? No he sat back with his popcorn to enjoy the show.
10655343
Starlight believed she was acting in Equestria's best interests. Cozy wasn't thinking of anyone but herself. She knew her classmates would be at Cloudsdale during her magic-draining scheme, which would cause them to drop out of the sky and fatally crash into the ground. And she just didn't care. To say nothing of her manipulating her fellow Pegasi to turn against the other tribes, all in pursuit of destroying friendship in Equestria for her own gain.
Cozy was literally taught everything about friendship, but she took none of the positives from those lessons, only her own ideas of power. No-one made her reach that conclusion but herself, and no other student (several of whom were the same age as her) reached that same conclusion.
Honestly, I don't have the time or the mood for another prolonged back-and-forth where you insist I'm wrong, in spite of the facts. You have your opinion, I have mine, so let's just leave it at that.
10655365
You're conveniently overlooking the fact that Cozy and the others came up with their own scheme, one that was far worse than what Discord had planned for them. Discord's intent was for them to launch one attack, at Twilight's coronation, which he fully intended for them to lose.
10655365
To be fair, I'm not sure much of the "Ending of the End" can count as entrapment since they depower Discord pretty early. Discord has no real power over their actions at that point and it's all pretty much just their own choices from then on. That said, what Discord did is still pretty awful, and him being allowed to decide and even help carry out their punishment is a complete spit in the face of any kind of justice. The show and characters don't even at any point call him out on it. Sure, they get mad at him for being a moron and putting Equestria at risk, but nobody ever takes any issue with him manipulating and using a bunch of people as pawns. Just because they're unrepentant villains doesn't mean he should be able to treat them however he likes.
It'd be like if somebody busted a bank robber out of jail and started forcing them to commit other crimes, then the bank robber getting the upper hand and backstabbing them and going onto commit some more crimes on their own. Sure, the bank robber's crimes after the backstabbing are their own and they should be judged for that, but what the other guy did is still wrong and he should face some consequence for it. He certainly shouldn't be allowed to pick the robber's punishment.
Here's your reminder that what Discord did was literal entrapment, and that Elements only disarmed the three, not turn them to stone. Then Discord got to choose the apparent extra-judicial punishment for the people he entrapped.
10655452
When her villagers rebelled, she lemented the loss of HER life, not THEIR life and was later willing to attack said rebelling villagers. Even later, she saw the village and its system as something that was HER loss and not the others'. She also lied about her mark and personally punished those that strayed away from her ideology in the slightest while also forcing others to follow it. Everything points to her doing the village dictator thing for herself rather then others.
Discord knew that thousends of ponies suffered under his reign, but he just didn't care, he knew his scheme with Sombra at least would have innocent ponies be brainwashed, but he didn't care that time either. Starlight didn't care when she tried to kill three of her villagers nor when she froze Twilight and Spike in the sky and even when she saw all the destruction her scheme would cause still almost ripped the scroll.
Manipulating others for personal gain isn't new, especially with Starlight and Discord.
Since when does a friendship school count as a reformation program? Why should learning words suddenly make you good? Did we ever see Cozy outside of extracurricular activities outside of helping Twilight and Starlight? How was she supposed to be taught anything while none of her teachers knew about her true intentions and while she was writing to Tirek? Plus, if you recall Discord also betrayed Fluttershy once.
Because she came in with her plan even before she started learning at the school and already had her opinion about friendship.
Why did you reply to me then?
Or where you insist I'm wrong, in spite of the facts.
Alright, don't reply to me then and don't be surprised if such things may come up if you comment. That is always a risk.
10655365
Truth. The trio may have made their own plans, but Discord willingly gave them all the means to do so and encouradged them to do it. And frankly, he wanted it anyway.
10655577
What Discord did could be seen as entrapment, and in court that could potentially get them off scott-free. You have to ask, was it certain they would have done what they did had Discord not gotten involved? I say it wasn't, I truly believe that things could easily have turned out differently if Discord had never gotten involved...hell Discord even brought Sombra back to life with plans to use him, how is that ever a good idea?!
The facts obviously show in this situation that Equestria was negligent in their treatment of Cozy Glow...I mean sure Cozy did a lot of bad, but when is it considered a good idea to send a child to what is effectively Maximum Security Prison(Tartarus) on their first offense? They never even once tried to reform her, and quite frankly Diamond Tiara deserves prison time by the logic used in the show with their draconian punishments for those that treat others badly instead of reaching out in friendship. But when it came to Luna, she got off with time served, when she failed in her plot as Nightmare Moon to do something, that could have caused an extinction event.
10655667
While Diamond did nothing close to get her to be considered a supervillain, I do agree that no one ever tried to rehabilitate Cozy. She certainly deserved better and its terrible how Discord got away with everything.
10655667
Whether they "Would" have done what they did without Discord, they literally couldn't have. Discord is the reason Tirek and Cozy are even out of prison, he's the reason they met up with Chrysalis, he's the reason they even knew where to find the bell and learned how to work as a team. Sure, they betrayed him and everything they did after that was purely their own choices, but they never would have even been in a position to make said choices without his "Help" in the first place.
Just a quick correction on one point you made though, we do know that Nightmare Moon's "Eternal Night" wouldn't have been an extinction event because we see plenty of ponies still alive just fine even years after her taking over in her alternate timeline in the Season 5 finale.
Bleh bleh poor Cozy. Grind the statue into dust and send the dust to the Moon.
This version flows a lot better than the original prompt. Great job on revamping this, and congrats on the Feature!
10655682
Diamond was a bully, Cozy stole all magic, started a race war twice(to..take over a school, then to take over equestria), and joined a group to take over equestria as its princess.
10655838
As I said, Diamond did nothing to be considered a supervillain. Still, Cozy deserves a second chance when compared to other similarely major villains.
While I’ve never exactly seen the episodes with cozy in them I think it’s messed up that they threw her in near the end and stoned her
10655667
"Did a lot of bad"
Thats a light way of saying attempted mass murder, attempted murder of a princess, attempted murder of the rest of the m6, attempted murder of school staff, attempted murder of fellow students through starvation one of the worst ways to die as well as the total collapse of Equestria and most likely destruction of the entire planet since the day and night cycle would no longer happen.
Luna was "forgiven" because she was made good again by the Element of Harmony. You are intentionally ignoring that major fact in Luna's redemption and forgives.
What Cozy did was beyond evil by any metric as her actions would lead to mass famine and mass death and when she lost she attempted to flee stating she was going to try again but was captured immediately and sentenced for her crimes.
Her being a child in this case is irrelevant when compared to ehr crimes same as when we try minors as adults IRL for some crimes.
And before you bring up Starlight as everyone who think "poor little cozy didn't deserve what happened to her departed her monstrous actions" Starlight was doing what she thought was best for everyone, it was an ideology and then with her time traveling she was unaware oof the damage her actions were having and when confronted she reached with horror and only got angry when twilight started talking about friendship again and showed her and was willing to try to be good but doesn't change the fact she thought she was good at the start.
10655310
Oh, my friend, starlight didn't 'try' , she succeeded in Excess.
Six people and millions more dead, but it's alright, because your timeline went well, because she said she was sorry, their lost lives, their misery don't matter.
I'm not angry, oh no I am, I am both angry and disappointed.
Listen ho, all ye who scorn a child but defend evil given form,
Preach forgiveness when you like, but scorn it when your pariahs fail to abide by their own dogma, no matter how outlandish the action you defend, how thoroughly nauseating.
10656173
Starlight’s crimes weren’t even that bad, the timelines were erased after the episode ended. So no one got hurt, and don’t you dare give me that “Many Worlds Interpretation” theory, time travel is portrayed many different ways.
10656188
You are kidding right? Those timelines don’t exist anymore.
10656223
In what world have we received any hard evidence they ceased to exist?
It's time travel, for all we know they split into parallel timelines because every time they changed the Rainboom there were deviations in the pattern and timing of the failure.