Fighting Fire with Fire ~ I
The Princess sat, not in her throne, but behind a desk in her private study, fingers steepled in front of her as she stared from lavender eyes at the pair of ponies seated opposite. One was Doctor Sound Mind, one of Equestria's top psychiatrists, her greying auburn mane standing in contrast with her magenta coat. Intelligent, sapphire eyes stared out from behind her spectacles, as she straightened her suit jacket with one hand.
Beside her sat her number one patient, a pony whom the Princess was all too familiar with. who was watching the proceedings with thinly veiled humour behind her scarlet eyes.
"Your Majesty? Are you listening to me?" the doctor said, and the Princess blinked, turning her gaze to the mare, whose mouth was a thin line.
"Sorry, Doctor Mind, I was just thinking." She said, softly, looking the mare over. Everything about the doctor's posture screamed that she was nervous, unhappy about being here, and unhappy about being kept in the dark as to why she was here.
"Princess, I do wish you would tell me why you have called us here-"
"To be fair, Doctor, I didn't."
"What?" The doctor asked, struck silent in shock. "Yes, you did! I received the letter myself!"
"Yes, just as you receive all of your patient's mail, isn't that correct?"
The doctor blinked. "What? What has that to do with anything?"
"The letter in question was not addressed to you, nor did it mention you. I did not call you here. I wanted to see your patient. Alone."
"What?!" The doctor exclaimed, immediately shaking her head. "Out of the question! My patient is still in a very sensitvie place in her recovery-"
"Your patient has recovered about as much as I expected her to, in that she has sworn, for what it is worth, to not hurt anypony, again. That aside, I would expect a psychiatrist of your reputation to know very well that there is no cure for psychopathy, and as such might be inclined to believe by your insistence on continuing to 'treat' her, that you are either an idealist who thinks she can change the nature of things . . . or a greedy fool, trying to play the system to increase her bank account." The Princess had leaned forward in her seat, maintaining eye contact throughout her diatribe. Now, as the Doctor sat, pale and shaking, the regal figure sat back, turning her gaze to the paperwork in front of her. "Either way, I have no need of your presence here. You may leave."
The Doctor's mouth worked, like a fish out of water, before she shook her head. "I . . . I have never been so insulted! You think I would-"
"Shut up, Doc." Came the sardonic, calm voice of her 'patient', leaning back in her seat, one hand coming up to brush her short, powder blue curls out of her eyes as she grinned. "Get the fuck out."
The mare gaped, looking between the two, before she stood with a huff and stormed out of the room. This left the Princess and the Psychopath sitting, silently watching one another. It was the latter who broke the silence, as she often did, still grinning.
"You know, you're really hot when you're being bossy."
The Princess didn't flinch, but a slight heat rose in her cheeks, which made the Psycho's grin get wider.
"I'm old enough to be your grandmother." The Princess said, narrowing her eyes.
"Mm-hm. You were only old enough to be my mom, when I went into Stone Sleep." The pegasus replied, leaning back in her seat and crossing one leg over the other. "And you know what? You were still hot, then, when you were bossy."
"I can do without your attempts to make me feel guilty. It was not my choice to cast that spell, and I am the one who freed you." The Princess said, gritting her teeth.
"I know. I just like twisting that knife a little, when I get the chance." The Psycho said, breathing out a short laugh. "Not that you give it to me, often. Thanks, by the way, though I could have done without the self-righteous bitch trying to make me see the light of friendship."
The Princess frowned. "I was not going to let you go on as a threat to society. But, likewise, I could not live with myself, leaving any of you imprisoned."
"That reminds me, how are my fellow former statuettes?" The mare asked, brushing a wrinkle out of her sleeve while her foot twitched.
"Fine. Chrysalis has adjusted nicely, to life with Thorax, and Tirek is proving to be quite the capable diplomat."
Cozy Glow snorted, smirking as she shook her head. "I'll bet he is." She said, licking a tooth, before tilting her head and sighing. "Much as I love the pleasantries, Twinkie, what the fuck do you want?" She asked, stretching slightly. Much as the last five years had been less than comfortable for her in many ways, she had to admit, it was quite nice, being free of that stone prison. Not that she really remembered it, much. The spell was called 'Stone Sleep' for a reason. She had memories, flickers of dreams, nothing much else. Perhaps the best part, though, was not being a kid anymore. She had never really been much of a kid, mentally, which had made it fun to mess with ponies, back in the day, but now . . . She ran a hand up her stomach to her breasts, feeling them through the fabric of her blouse and smiled. Now she had much more fun ways of messing with ponies.
Twilight Sparkle, High Princess of Equestria, flinched slightly at the pink pegasus' language, but simply let her mouth thin to a line. She knew what she'd been doing when she freed the filly from stone, years ago. She knew it was a risk, and that Cozy would likely never be able to embrace friendship in the same way as another pony. As a pyschopath, Cozy Glow lacked empathy, or a well defined sense of right and wrong. She might know something was wrong, on a conscious level, but would not really care, nor would she be bothered if she had to hurt somepony in order to get what she wanted. However, after having been brought out of Stone Sleep, the filly had been almost desperate to not be put back, and Twilight had, much to her own displeasure, made use of that fear to help build an understanding with Cozy: Be good and do as your told, and you won't go back to Stone Sleep.
She hated it, but she'd had to resort to the filly's own form of mind games to win any kind of real, meaningful victory with her. And now it was time to see if she could perhaps push that victory a little bit further.
"As I told the good doctor, Cozy, your 'treatment' has progressed about as well as I could have hoped." Meaning not much at all. She thought to herself.
The pegasus smirked. "Why'd you bother sending me to her if you knew it wouldn't work?"
Twilight took a breath, folding her hands on top of the desk. "Because I wanted to give you the chance. You deserved that much, Cozy, the same as anypony else." The pegasus' only response was a snort and a roll of her eyes. Twilight continued. "However, it is now time to face reality, Cozy. You've been living fairly comfortably, with the stipend that the REHC has given you."
At this, Cozy actually barked a laugh. "Ha! If you want to call that hovel of an apartment 'comfortable'! But, I forget, you used to live in a *tree*, didn't you?"
Twilight took a breath through her nose, and let it out slowly, eyes on her desk, before she looked up at the mare. "Yes, I did. That stipend will be running out in a month." She said, bluntly, and watched as the Pegasus froze up, the smirk slowly dying off of her face.
She blinked repeatedly, opening her mouth a couple of times, before snapping it shut and frowning, eyes narrowing as she looked up at the Princess. "So . . . What is it, then? What do you want?"
"What do you mean?" Twilight asked, quirking an eyebrow.
"What the fuck do you want to keep giving me my money?!" She demanded, pupils dilating, which caused her eyes to seemingly turn a much deeper, almost crimson color.
Twilight took a breath and let it out slowly again, and nodded. She had expected such a reaction from the mistrusting, calculating pony. "I want you to get a job." She said, simply, and watched the pony's eye twitch, before a cold, harsh laugh echoed from her throat.
"Ha! You're joking? Right? You must be! What, you think I'm just gonna . . . wander down to the post office and get a job? Oh, I know! Maybe if I dye my mane and tail blonde and cross my eyes, they'll accept me! Do I LOOK like the sort of pony that just . . . gets a JOB?!" She demanded, by now up out of her chair, wings flared as she glared daggers at Twilight.
The door burst open, and in stepped a deep blue griffin in armor painted a light fuchsia color, a star, similar to Twilight's cutie mark, emblazoned on his chest. Gallus of Griffinstone, Captain of the Stellar Guard and Twilight's personal bodyguard, took his duty quite seriously. The glare he had on his face showed that quite well, even as Cozy spun around, eyes burning, matching his eyes with her own.
"Enough!" Twilight snapped, voice echoing through the room, enough to bring Gallus to attention, and make Cozy spin around to face her. The Princess was still seated behind her desk, hands calmly folded in front of her, but her flowing mane was beginning to sparkle as static energy flowed through her, small lavender arcs of lightning flaring off of it and her horn to touch on the room around her, while her eyes glowed. "Gallus, you may return to your post. Cozy Glow . . . you will return to your seat." She said, voice still calm, soft, belying the power that was rolling off of her, enough that small objects on the desk were beginning to lift off, floating lazily up off the wooden surface as though gravity no longer mattered. . . .
"Yes, Princess." Gallus said, bowing, and stepped back, out of the room. He took his duty seriously, and rightfully so, but in the end his was a largely symbolic station. Anycreature that tried to lay a threatening hand on the ruling Alicorn of all Equestria would quickly find why that was a horrible idea.
Cozy Glow stood, glaring daggers at the Princess still, even as her own mane and tail began to frizz and flutter from the amount of raw magic rolling off of the Alicorn. Grinding her teeth, she stiffly sat back down in her seat, face clearly showing how much she loathed having to bow before the power before her. Twilight saw it, and her magic dissipated almost as quickly as it had appeared, leaving them once more, seated opposite each other.
A long silence ensued, interrupted only by the ticking of the clock, and the breathing of the two ponies, one sitting patiently, waiting, and the other glaring at the desk in front of her, fingers gripping the edge hard enough to turn her knuckles white, even through her fur.
Finally, the pegasus broke the silence, voice soft. "I do not like that."
Twilight took a breath and nodded, frowning. "I know. I'm sorry, I simply wanted to calm the situation before either of you did something you might regret." Her only reply was the pegasus rolling one crimson eye up to look at her, and the Alicorn's mouth thinned. "You've never told me why you hate magic so much, Cozy-"
"And I'm not likely to, now, am I?!" The pegasus snarled, albeit softly, turning her gaze away from the Alicorn again.
"No. No, I suppose not." The Princess said, taking a breath and letting it out in a sigh. The silence descended again as the two sat, waiting. Finally, the pegasus' wings settled a bit, although they still looked a bit ruffled, and she straightened up, mouth twisting as she swallowed and rolled her neck.
She glanced back to the Princess, eyes once more their usual scarlet hue, though they remained distant and cold as she locked eyes with the Alicorn. "So . . . What job am I supposed to get?" She asked, voice calm, removed. "Who . . . Who would even hire me?" She continued, a hint of despair slipping into her tone.
Twilight wondered how honest that tone was, and hated that she had to think that way, with Cozy Glow. The pegasus was a habitual liar, often to serve her own needs, but sometimes simply because she found it amusing. As such, trusting anything she said was difficult, even at the best of times.
Twilight nodded slowly, lifting her eyebrows and smiled slightly, gently. "I do have . . . one idea, Cozy Glow."
Cozy gave a suspicious glare, and leaned back, crossing her arms over her chest. Twilight wondered if the pegasus would do so if she knew it was a sign of defensiveness. Probably not. "What is it?" Cozy asked, staring at the Princess before her, who took a breath and looked down, frowning again.
"Ponies are a peaceful race, by nature . . . And for some time now, Harmony has ruled. This doesn't mean that there aren't outliers, however; criminals. Crimes of passion and greed still happen, in spite of our best attempts." She said, looking up at the pegasus who quirked an eyebrow.
"Really? Ponies giving in to their baser instincts? Who woulda thunk." The pegasus said, clearly unimpressed.
"I know, Cozy, to you this is nothing new and . . . you are right. Ponies have always done such things, to one degree or another, whether they are right or wrong."
"Right and wrong are a matter of opinion, Princess." Cozy said, leaning back in her chair. "What you say is wrong, I say is right. So long as someone disagrees with someone else on what constitutes right and wrong, it will continue to be a matter of opinion, not objective fact." She said, a small smirk coming over her face as she saw the frown that crossed the Princess' face.
Twilight took a breath, looking away, and slowly nodded. "I won't argue matters of philosophy with you, Cozy Glow. What I will say is, right or wrong MAY be opinion, but the law isn't. What is legal and illegal is objective fact, and I doubt even you can make a compelling argument against that."
Cozy's mouth twisted and she shrugged. "I could, but you're on a role, so I won't bother." She said, smirking. Clearly she was starting to relax again, now that she felt like she had a bit more control over the conversation.
Twilight took a breath and nodded. "Fine. There are ponies our there who, right or wrong, break the law, endanger themselves and others . . . and get away with it." She said, grinding her teeth slightly at having to admit to the last. "I have been trying to improve law enforcement around the kingdom but, to put it simply, most ponies are honest, hard working, decent folk. They have no idea how to find or deal with those who are not." She said, slowly lifting her eyes to look at the pegasus.
Cozy, for her part, sat very still in her chair, eyeing the Princess as though wary of some trick or trap. Spying none, she blinked, frowning and a small smile curled up her lip. "You . . . have to be joking, now." She said, and when Twilight shook her head, the pegasus' eyes went wide and a short, surprised laugh escaped her. "Really?! Me?! You want me to be a . . . a guard?!"
Twilight shook her head again, smiling slightly. "No, Cozy, I don't want you to be a guard, I want you to be a . . . consultant, working with a member of the Guard, on My commission, to look into those cases that the Guard themselves are coming up short on." Her mind turned to a book series she used to love, and her lip quirked. "A 'Consulting Detective', I suppose."
Cozy stared at her for a minute, before her eyes went lidded and she leaned forward. "Did you . . . DId you just make a Sherclop Pones reference?"
Twilight blushed, having forgotten that the Psychopath was nearly as well read as she was. "I . . . Maybe." She said, and Cozy burst out laughing. Twilight sat, blushing, letting her laugh for a moment, before she crossed her arms over her chest . . . and immediately dropped them back to her desk again and sighed. "Look! Okay, I get it, maybe calling it that was a bit silly, but the point remains the same, Cozy: You need a way to fit into society and actually be constructive and helpful. Given your . . . unique skillset and experience, I feel that this would be the best way."
Laughter still dancing in her scarlet eyes, the pegasus looked at her and chuckled. "You mean 'lying' and 'manipulating'?" She said, smirking at the Princess.
Twilight rolled her eyes. "You have an insight into the mindset of a criminal that most would not, you could be a real help!"
"You've forgotten a couple of things, Princess, the first one being . . . I don't particularly want to be 'helpful', do I? What's in it for me?"
Twilight nodded slowly, having expected this. A pyschopath rarely did something from the kindness of their heart, preferring to work solely for personal gain and cold logic. Twilight reached into a folder nearby, withdrawing a piece of paper, and sliding it across the desk to Cozy, who frowned suspiciously, before leaning forward and taking it from her.
Cozy's eyes moved down to the piece of paper and saw that it was a check, unsigned. Then, she saw the amount written on it, and her eyes widened, and she glanced up. "That . . . is a lot of zeroes."
Twilight nodded slowly. "Twice your monthly stipend, and the payments would continue, every month, so long as you were doing your job correctly."
Cozy frowned. "And who decides if I'm doing it 'correctly'?" She asked.
"I do." Twilight said, simply, pursing her lips as Cozy's face showed what she thought of this. "So long as you are giving results, doing your best and not using . . . let's say 'unnecessary means', you will receive your payment. You have my word, Cozy, and of the two of us seated here, we both know who can be trusted to keep her word."
Cozy slowly leaned back, pursing her lips and looking at the check in her hand with a careful expression, clearly thinking. She glanced up at the Princess and narrowed her eyes. "And if I say no?"
Twilight took a breath and sighed it out. "Then you go home, your stipend runs out in a month, and you are left trying to find some other way to make money. And you will be watched, carefully, Cozy Glow." She said, sadness in her heart that she couldn't trust this mare to follow the law unless made to.
Cozy clenched her jaw, looking back at the check in front of her, before looking up again, narrowing her eyes. "Who is it?" She asked, making Twilight frown.
"What?" She asked, cautiously.
"You said I'd be working 'with a member of the Guard'. Who is it? Your little birdy blue back there?" Cozy said, pointing to the door with her thumb, and Twilight took a breath.
"No. Though I've no doubt he'd do it if I ordered him to, Gallus would not be happy about being removed from his position as my guard, and furthermore . . . he's never really approved of my decision to free you." She said, taking another breath as a smirk crawled over the pegasus' face.
"Noooo, ya don't say?" Cozy said, sneering, before glancing over her shoulder. "See, if it HAD been him, I'd've said yes just to annoy him. As it is. . . . " She looked again at the check in her hand, and then back up to the Princess, an unreadable look on her face as she stood up, leaning forward and placing the check on the desk in front of Twilight. "I want to meet whoever it is. Until then, I won't do it." She said, breathing a little quickly, a thing which Twilight noticed, though she chose to ignore.
Instead, the Princess nodded, slowly. "Alright, Cozy. I can agree with that. I want them to meet you first, as well. To make sure there won't be a problem."
Cozy blinked, slowly stepping back from the desk, and nodded. "Okay. Okay? Just like that?"
Twilight took a breath and slowly stood up to her full height, stepping around the desk, noting how the pegasus mare stepped back to keep some distance between them. The Princess sighed, stopping and smiling down at the mare softly. "Yes, Cozy. Believe it or not, I do want to help you. No, I don't trust you, because you've shown me over and over that you can't be trusted without somecreature there to keep you in line. But, I also am not going to force you to do something you're not comfortable with. So, you can meet him, and decide for yourself." She said, nodding.
Cozy took a breath, glancing around and nodded slowly. "So . . . Is that all? Can I . . . Can I go, now?" She asked, looking a bit like a trapped animal, and Twilight frowned again, sadly.
"Yes, Cozy, that's all, for now. I want to see you again on Friday, alright? I'll have your potential partner here, for you to meet, then, alright?"
Cozy, already turning to head towards the door, glanced over her shoulder, pausing midstep. "Yeah, sure." She hesitated, a strange looking coming over her face and her mouth working for a moment, before she snorted, turning and walking to the door. "Ya know, Princess," she said, pausing with her hand on the knob. "We've been in here about twenty minutes, now . . . Somepony might think we were doing something dirty, especially with you treating me all nice and friendly." She said, before giggling and slipping out the door, leaving Twilight blushing, her mouth a thin line, shaking her head in a mix of consternation and frustration, even as (though she would never admit to it) the corner of her mouth tipped up slightly in a small smirk.
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Not bad. While I wouldn't agree with Cozy being a psychopath, this is an alternate universe. I do like that she still got a second chance and that her mental state is now put to good, legal use. I've seen many who believe that she's a psycho say that its a reason to keep her petrified forever.
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I don't agree that it's a reason to keep her petrified but, simply put . . . she literally displayed ALL the characteristics of a psychopath, or at least a sociopath, in the original series. As far as I'm concerned, that's canon. Does that mean she's automatically a horrible person and a monster? That's a bit more complicated, which is one of the things I want to get into in this story. The fact that . . . It's not so simple as "Good and Evil", or "Right and Wrong", that things are often a bit more grey than that.
10720811
Sure. she displayed some characteristics, but there were moments where she went against that. Namely the time she confessed to lying about her test for the CMC despite not having a reason to and that time she expressed joy at helping others near the end of Frenemies. I just don't think that a psychopath would do those things leaving no true evidence of her being one.
But thats just speculation born from a lack of information regarding her character. Either way, I do agree that its a grey area and if Discord deserves to be free after all he did then she deserves a second chance as well. I will be looking foreward to the next chapter.
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I will point out that confessing to that lie DID make her look good in front of Twilight and Starlight, which worked in her favor, thereby giving her a reason to do it. As for Frenemies, that is true. Of course, I also have headcanon about both the Magic of Friendship as a literal force, as well as Harmony itself being a sort of divine being with a will of its own, which is supported in canon, that can lend itself to aiding in that explanation.
Annnnd . . . Just the fact that villains who, rather than just being "evil", actually have a mental condition to support their behaviour, even if exaggerated, have always appealed to me, and to not only see one in MLP, but to see it be the most unassuming, non-threatening looking character imaginable ticked every single box I have for a fave villain probably makes me have a bit of an unfair bias in wanting to think of Cozy as a psycho/sociopath.
Maybe they meant for her to be in the series, maybe not. Doesn't matter for this story beyond inspiration. I'm glad to have you as a reader, and I will work on the next chapter for this off and on when I have time.
Perhaps, but one could argue that not confessing would have also made her look good as it would not only give her sympathy points, but also not give her a small history of lying and the face she makes as the CMC were sent away when no one was looking at her (I believe its this: https://derpibooru.org/images/2185054?q=cozy+glow%2C+marks+for+effort%2C+screencap ) did look like she felt guilt. As for your friendship theory, I think it supports Cozy not being a psychopath, or at least not being as evil as Discord once was due to an attack based on it only depowering her and not turning her to stone or anything of the sort.
But again, we simply don't have enough knowladge of her to make a concrete assessment weather or not she's a psychopath so either one is possible.
I can see the appeal in that. It's probably the reason why Batman villains are so popular. If nothing else it makes for a unique take on her "redemption".
Will be interested to see what's next!
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I don't know if it counts, but Sunny Westbrook, the voice of Cozy Glow, said in an interview that she saw Cozy as a psychopath and played her as such.
10721062
I guess but VA's don't write the episodes, as important as they are. Either way, my opinions on Cozy come from what I've seen from her in the show and based on that she just doesn't come off as a complete psycho to me.
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Psychopath and 'complete psycho' is not entirely the same thing. In truth, there are actually tons of medically diagnosed psychopaths who have never broken the law in any meaningful way, and some who even have their own strange set of morals. As for sociopaths, some of them can actually feel empathy for a very limited number of people, such as their family and friends, but lack empathy for everyone else.
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I know that there's a difference, I just tried using psycho as a shorter version of the term, which I admit was just lazy on my part, but yea, you are correct. While I don't think its true on Cozy's part that she's any of those things, she could still be tought the things you just mentioned.
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On my part, I can't really fault you for shortening the word, as I did the same thing in the story, for the same reason, even though 'psycho' is a much more generalized term.
10721895
It was more the 'complete' part I was criticising rather than the shortening of psychopath to 'psycho'.
Interesting. I look forward to seeing how this goes.