Is Cozy Glow Hosting a Night Shadow? · 8:28am Nov 14th, 2019
What is Cozy Glow?
She seems to be just an ordinary albeit brilliant and charismatic early-adolescent Pegasus filly, but she's obviously something more. She is evil, cynical and manipulative to a degree which should not even normally be possible at her apparent age, because a filly her age would lack the relevant social experience to know what to do, even if she could do it. In short, Cozy Glow should be naive; she pretends to be naive, but she obviously isn't at all naive.
It's been argued that she's a neotonous dwarf like Batman's Baby Doll or Cats Don't Dance's Darla Dimple, who pretends to be a child in order to throw her opponents off balance. But of course, Darla Dimple is much more than a seemingly-young dwarf. The movie makes clear that she is either demonic, or a demon-summoner (Max obviously isn't human, and is also obviously bound to her). Which leads me to a tentative theory about Cozy Glow.
In my Shadow Wars Storyverse, where the main showverse is one of many alternate universes, there is the Order of the Shades, a cult devoted to summoning the Night Shadows to gain power, using the Codex of Shades written by King Sombra. The Night Shadows can aid their summoners in various ways, but especially if they accept a Shadow into themselves.
Now, a psychically cpowerful Pony, especially one who is tied to a Cosmic Concept like Princess Luna (Gravity) or Rarity Belle (Generosity), will become a Night Stallion or Night Mare when they summon a Shadow into themselves. The apparent price is personal corruption, but the ultimate price is permanent possession by the Night Shadow. This is how Luna became trapped as Nightmare Moon, and Rarity almost permanently became Nightmarity.
Even a Pony not quite so powerful can host a Night Shadow. Stygian, who did not have a link to a Concept, became the Pony of Shadows. Grey Hoof (accidentally conducting the equine sacrifice of his own youngest daugter, Ruby Gift) and his followers were cursed by Nightmare Moon to become powerful undead Wraiths; they were imbued as such by a spawn of Luna's own possessing Night Shadow. The Manehattan Coven summoned Lesser and Least Night Shadows into themselves to attempt its destruction, and so on.
The horrifying thing is that King Sombra's writings on how to summon a Night Shadow were (intentionally) very easy to understand, and left out the drawbacks of summoning one into oneself. This meant that smart chldren, if they somehow gained access to the relevant part of the Codex of Shades, can summon at least a weak Night Shadow into themselves (usually to enhance their own abilities).
In the Shadow Wars storyverse, the young Cloud Kicker summoned a Shadow Vice of Lust into herself to make other ponies like her, and became a horribly-dangerous living succubus for years, until the (younger) Pinkie Pie repelled her attack and managed to suppress the Shadow Vice.
It is entirely possible that Cozy Glow might be bearing a Night Shadow, probably one granting her the ability to tell convincing lies or otherwise manipulate others. If it were a stealthy Shadow (as was Cloud Kicker's except when psychically-attacking others), even the Princesses fighting her might not know just why Cozy Glow was so powerful. Even Luna (who for obvious reasons is alert to the mind-scent of the Night Shadows) might miss it.
This is not necessarily inconsistent with Cozy Glow actually being an adult mare suffering from some development disability producing dwarfism among other effects. It might even be a mark of Shadow possession.
It's relevant here that, at least in my storyverse, Pony sensoria include an acute sense of smell and Pony sexuality in mares includes a 3-day fertile period during every 3 weeks. Unsurprisingly, Ponies are very good at smelling a mare who is Cycling.
While fillies Cozy Glow's apparent age and a bit younger can be Cycling, because they are not yet actually ready to safely reproduce, the filly-Cycle scent is slightly different form that of the mare-Cycle scent. What this means is that, if she was Cycling, unless her developmental disability was rather widespread, she'd smell like a mare rather than a filly. (However, this is certainly possible, and especially if magically-induced).
So those are some of my thoughts on the possibility of Cozy Glow being demonically possessed, rather like the Pony of Shadows.
What do you think?
First, I did have Cozy Glow in Ponies and Dragon turn out to be literally the pony version of the anti-christ (her mother being the last of the Jackal Queens of the diamond dogs, and her father being a demon) and her coming prophecized.
And the theory that Cozy Glow is a reincarnation of the incomplete shade of the filly who murdered Cupid has been put forth by a LOT of readers for Pony POV Series.
That all being said, Cozy Glow really being an adult feels... like an excuse. Something that lets us side step the emotional discomfort.
The fact Cozy Glow and Diamond Tiara never interact feels like an epic WASTE!
I also felt that when Cozy Glow's friendship with Tirek was genuine, that it made the villain DEEPER, as it suggested that bad people CAN BE friends, but that doesn't them from being bad people. Also, Cozy Glow HAD NO CLUE how to make friends before the CMC taught her, so it's a continuity error.
Also, I've never liked the idea of the Nightmares being alien parasites, rather than a pony Going Witch, Madoka Magica style.
5155329
I also liked the friendship between Cozy Glow and Tirek. I don't think their subsequent attempts at betrayal negated this: I think this is the closest thing to genuine friendship either of them is capable of having. I could see one of them murdering the other, and later "regretting the necessity."
This is rather cold and harsh, but then so are both of them.
5155329
I would rate Cozy Glow as in some ways eviller than Tirek; Chrysalis eviller than either of them. And crazier.
IMO it's a classic case of psychopathy. She has little empathy, sometimes poor impulse control, manipulative, and enjoys hurting ponies. Cannot be really talked to or have her behavior controlled through punishment or through reward.
I'd say it's a very clear intent there.
Could the possession slow or even stop physical maturation? Cozy would likely appreciate having more time to abuse the "poor, sweet, innocent foal" angle, and the Night Shadow would certainly want to keep something as trifling as time from taking such a willing host. (And from its perspective, scant decades are trifling indeed.)
And I can only imagine how any Shadows would react everything Cozy went through in "The Ending of the End." Especially the chaos magic.
5155336
Meh. She exists in a void. Which for a child villain I can't take seriously at this stage in the game.
5155336
Porky of Earthbound was also a child villain and VERY evil, but you could take him seriously because he didn't exist in a void.
5155335
"It's easy to redeem them, just make up an absurd obvious retcon that presents a flimsy excuse for their crimes that shift the blame on someone else."
Cozy Glow reminds me a lot of Andrew Wiggin, Ender Wiggin's malevolent, yet genuis older brother. Perhaps its just a fictional tradition, but lots of stories like to show children as absurdly smart, smarter than adults. It's why I agree with 5155329 that the idea of Cozy being a child seems like an easy out for why its ok to throw her in Tartarus/petrify her.
I do agree though, that Cozy is just not possibly some normal kid. I like the theories I've seeen that she's from another dimension, either a human from EQG-land (and possiblty a bit older, given how the mirror seems like it messes with age) or a pony from the Dark Mirror universe from the comics. Someone from a far more cynical and aggressive society. (Personally I like the idea that she's some alternate universe's version of Flurry Heart who wasn't born an alicorn, because that explains some of her desire for power, and also how she was able to become an alicorn so easily by guzzling Grogar's magic, but that's only my theory).
Between the show and the comics, shadowy malevolent beings who possess you are pretty widespread and canonical. My only problem with Cozy having such a shadow is, it always seems like those shadows have a profound physical transformation on their host, even when it would be in the shadows' best interest to try and keep themselves secret. Yet Cozy has no kind of dark or shadowy component to her appearance.
5155329 The straightforward answer is a story set between S8 and S9 where DT visits Tartarus to try and redeem Cozy. But a more complex idea would be an AU story where Cozy shows up in Ponyville in Season 2, and "befriends" DT and SS. Before season 5 the Adorabullies were the "evil villain" set to the CMC, but the worst thing they ever did on their own was tease a kid about her disabilities. Which is a jerk thing to do, but not really supervillain territory. But with Cozy at their side (probably taking over the group), how far, and how low, would they go?
5155335
Agreed.
I remember a line from a Bleach fanfic I read some years back; in the scene, Gin Ichimaru, a Captain known for being both a gadfly and an incredibly cruel man in canon, was treating Yachiru Kusajishi, a very small child Shinigami, to lunch.
He is thinking to himself about how fond he is of her (he seems to have an affinity for children and she, like him, is a prankster)...and then, in an unexpected twist, he thinks about how much he would regret having to kill her.
He would do it, and do it without hesitation, Gin thinks, but he wouldn't like himself very much afterwards.
He immediately reaffirms that he would still do it.
It is definitely this dynamic I get from both Tirek and Cozy Glow. They appreciate, if not like, each other's company. If they were college students, one could easily imagine them being roomies with a low-key relationship consisting of co-op video games, splitting the pizza cost, and sharing the odd joint.
One would still kick the other out, if they had to, though.
5155329
Agreed.
One of the hardest things our society has to comes to terms with is that there are some people who, for absolutely no reason whatsoever, not mental illness, not religious beliefs, not past circumstances...
Some people are just BAD. Something inside of them just doesn't go into "good" territory at a fundamental level. They are simply put bad apples, irredeemable, no fixing them, no point in trying.
And more often than not, they have been that way since they were children.
We have a hard time with anyone being irredeemable in the first place, but rotten children are an even more difficult to wrap our heads around.
Why? Because we like to try to make people redeemable, and we like to think children are either sugary-sweet and innocent, or just in the need of correction and love.
Nope.
Some kids are just bad, and they grow up into bad adults.
5156165
Actually, I think we prefer the idea that good people are incorruptible, and bad people are irredeemable, takes away the discomfort we're capable of moral failings, or that people who have done wrong can be better.
5156207
While this is true (hence the old saying of how a person who goes to Heaven will be surprised at seeing people they didn't expect to be there, and at the absence of people they were sure were going to be there), I was specifically speaking about the child aspect.
We are, culturally, supremely uncomfortable with the thought that children can be evil. It is disturbing how much we are willing to handwave certain behaviors from a child as that child being too young to know any better, or as a child being a child, or as typical childish thoughtlessness, etc., and then have the nerve to act surprised when that child grows up to be a monster.
We like to think of children as innocent.
Most times, they are (for a given value if innocence).
But sometimes, on the rare occasion, there is that one person whose evil behavior can be traced back all the way to the time they were capable of independent motion, and there is literally no other explanation except that they were just born bad.
It's interesting the wilful blindness we are almost eager to engage in when it comes to this.
It is not common, not at all.
But it does happen.
Cozy Glow seems to be a prime example of this.
Diamond Tiara is a spoiled brat, which often does result in her narcissistic, bullying behavior. Luckily, she seems to be growing out of it.
Babs Seed acted out as a defense against being bullied, though she quickly turned around when she saw that she need not fear that result; again, common child behavior.
Tempest Shadow suffered a devastating injury in her youth that caused others to shun her; this can easily lead to bitterness, as we saw in the movie.
Even Starlight Glimmer has an excuse for her behavior in feeling abandoned by a close friend; a weak excuse, yes, particularly considering the scope of what she tried to do with her cult and meddling about with the time stream, but an excuse nonetheless.
However, Cozy Glow seems to simply spring out of badness; she is extraordinarily manipulative, a consummate liar, and seems to not just be able to betray anyone when it would serve her, but to revel in it.
Granted, we don't really know that much about Cozy Glow beyond what has been shown us, and likely never will, now that the show has ended. Until we receive that information (again, doubtful we will), we can only assume that she is one of those rare children who is just...bad.
And for many, this is an uncomfortable realization, because if even children can be utterly and completely irredeemable...what does that say about our state as beings in general?
We draw some measure of comfort in the illusion that the evil children can be capable of is due to mental illness of some kind, some form of abuse, or merely due to bad examples/parental negligence.
Cozy's existence in this vacuum formed from lack of detail means that we can only assume that she was abused, is ill in some way, had bad examples to base her worldview of...any number of possible excuses.
However, this black hole concerning her past also raises, by necessity, that question we don't like to think about.
What if she's just...bad?
We cannot rule that out; again, the dearth of information concerning how she got to be the way she is forces all possibilities on the table, including the one we just don't like to think about.
We must, MUST, also consider that she's just a bad seed that was allowed to grow.
5156225
The problem is child's programming inherently confuses "motivation" with "redemption." Bad People aren't "people", so once a Bad Person is a person (IE, doing something for a reason other than "I am evil!" ) they therefore can't be a bad person.
5155708
He was Peter Wiggin, actually; Andrew is Ender's real name. And the narrative redeemed even him, albeit at the end of his life. So he's not really analogous to Cozy Glow.
5156468 Right, Peter, thanks. But Peter really only got redeemed after he was much older than Cozy, I'd say Cozy at her age is similar to Peter at a similar age, though Cozy got more early opportunities for power than just writing opinion columns.
5156207
I will point out that, in my stories, Luna has definitely done bad things in the past, not all of them under the influence of a Night Shadow. She's not normally a bad person, but she's flawed. Even Celestia's done bad things, though most of them were more subtle sorts of sins.
First of all, it's great to see you here again.
Secondly, I'm sure that most ritual magicians of the power or vengeance-hungry variety from human history wish that whoever wrote their grimoires was as thoughtful as King Sombra in making the entire process as easy as he did.
With Cozy Glow: to be honest, I just saw her as a slightly smarter version of Rhoda Penmark from The Bad Seed. Though Rhoda was already pretty clever and dangerous even in the movie, and far more so in the book, where she gets away with everything. Though I do wonder just what became of her parents. A nasty part of me wonders if she bumped them off to get her inheritance or maybe just to plead for mercy if she was ever caught. On the grounds that she was an orphan, you know. Sorry, old sick joke.
But her posessed by one of your Night Shadows? That would explain a lot. Like where and how she got the skills to manipulate other beings so easily.
It's a theory which ties into your setting well - but even there, do you wish all roads of evil to lead to one place? I do think ponies are capable of it too, even from a young age.
Also, the more powerful examples you quoted all share a "shadow/darkness" aesthetic. Cloud Kicker doesn't, so a subtle form would not be impossible, but I think that Cozy was probably designed without one for a reason. What she does has nothing to do with dark magic, but springs form the depths of her own mind.
As for how naive she is or isn't - well, I think that's a matter of interpretation. Certainly, her original plan seems tot be built on rather flawed logic - erase magic - take over school - ???? - rule world. I can buy that coming from a kid a lot more than from an adult.
(Not to toot my own horn, but my main if brief foray into fic-writing so far was an attempt at Cozy, between seasons, that at least some have praised for capturing both her childish and sociopathic sides. I would love for you to give your opinion too.)
5155572
After Starlight and Diamond Tiara, I was very relieved they stayed clear of her backstory. Because any they gave would probably be just 5155574
5156165
Though one can both believe this about Cozy and still feel that nopony tried hard enough to actually be able to say this with a straight face.
5156468
Well Cozy Glow isn't at that end of her life (maybe). End of her narrative though, unless the comic tries something...
5156231
I think a lot of shows mange to surpass that, especially nowadays. Hopefully G5 will as well.