Cozy Glow From Klugetown? · 3:47am Jan 24th, 2020
So what kind of place in Equestria would produce someone like Cozy? There are twisted and ruthless ponies but very few of them utilize schemes quite like Cozy Glow. Her imprisoning of others is quite unique, only seen with criminals and areas outside of Equestria, so where would she develop such a ruse?
Then I thought about places outside of Equestria and I remembered one particular place of note, Klugetown. For those unaware of what Klugetown is, it's a criminal metropolis positioned on the edge of a massive desert that separates it from Equestria. One which is fine with enslaving creatures (including ponies) and which appears in the My Little Pony Movie as a location the Main Six wind up traveling to.
Her behavior at the end of School Raze would seem to indicate she's used to being imprisoned, but not alone. She initially acts despondent upon being put in Tartarus but quickly recovers once she sees Tirek, implying captivity itself is not a problem for her. Maybe she's been in a position like this before? Then there's her demeanor around non-pony creatures.
Given pony reactions to other species before it seems unlikely she would develop such an open minded attitude in Equestria, in Kludgetown however she would be much more likely to interact with other species. If she was working for, indentured to, or otherwise enslaved by a older creature it would also explain why she has experience interacting with adults.
There's also the question of how the Klugetown's inhabitants relate to ponies; physically there appears to be at least some appreciation of their features. We see in a market a bidding war ignite for the main six and their possessions, among some of the offers are bids for ponies are based on their dominant color, a bid for Rarity's hair, and an another bid for a picture of Maud. We can draw from this that ponies aren't off putting in regards to their looks, at least for some residents of Klugetown.
This becomes relevant when we consider one powerful figure in Klugetown who very well might hold the best chance at explain a origin for where Cozy Glow comes from Vekor. Vekor a trader who tries to obtain and then loses the Main Six after a run in with Shadow Tempest. He is revealed to be whimsical with a interest in magic and a interest in patronizing; upon meeting Tempest Shadow refers to her as a "pony-wony" and pinches her cheek's in an degrading manner. If this is how Cozy Glow was treated during her early years than it makes sense how and why she developed such overly childish mannerisms.
Her outlook on life would make much more sense if she grew up working for someone like Vekor, when talking to the Crusasder's about them helping her she asks "what's in it for you" and an almost identical question is posited by Capper (a resident of Klugetown) when he asks Rarity why she decided to spruce up his house for him. Growing up a place as apathetic as Klugetown it would make a lot of sense as to why she become so self-absorbed and callused over time.
It would also explain how she became predisposed to being patient and waiting for opportunities as opposed to taking them like most of the villains in MLP if she in fact grew up in service to another creature. Likewise it could have established her interest in friendship; to someone forced into submission like her, the kind of constancy offered by friendship would be pretty powerful and more than enough incitement to head for the School Of Friendship upon her learning of it's whereabouts.
Those Marionettes we see in Cozy's box are of poor quality, yet clearly made by some who knew them well enough to be accurate about their colors. In contrast Cozy's other box prizes are of incredibly high quality, gifts rewarding her effective service perhaps? Certainly her other art projects by this point don't show the same precision or accuracy (her Empress of Friendship crown for example) so unless it was a matter of her being rushed, it was unlikely she made all the crafts we see in the box by herself.
If Vekor was her boss we have a reason for her fleeing Klugetown. The loss of the Main Six would have devastated Vekor and weakened his reputation as well possibly made him unstable, which could have forced her to flee if she no longer felt safe around him. Possibly back to her homeland which was in the process of experiencing a major revival?
Additionally, if she grew up in a environment where magic was consistently praised instead of her, in spite of her own successes without it, it would've informed her own jealousy and contempt towards those who use it on a regular basis. It would also explain where she got the pony remains we see her with if she stole them. Vekor seemed obsessed with ponies magical properties and it seems likely a true collector almost certainly would have acquired something like pony bones; especially a unicorn's horn, it focuses magic after all.
She makes friends with and studies Twilight so can learn her secrets. She manipulates the CMC (who are the sisters of the Elements of Harmony and thus should know more about friendship than anyone else not directly connected to the school) into helping in such a way so that they become her case studies, allowing her to study friendship in action so she can replicate it. Making friends with them by getting them into the school of friendship is the final exam she sets for herself, so she will know that she's succeeded in perfecting her understanding of it.
She reaches out to Tirek because he has the necessary knowledge she needs to drain Equestria of it's magic. He provides with the underlying mechanics of how his draining spell works (for reasons of his own). She researches ways to make it work by herself on a grand scale using the books in Twilight's library (which she has access to as Twilight's assistant). There she runs into the Young Six while researching. Needing them to leave her so she can get back to work (and possibly to avoid them finding anything incriminating) she manipulates them into doubting their friendship so they will leave her alone, (and latter does it again to ensure they won't tattle on her to Twilight).
In the process she discovers the catacombs; a perfect place to enact her plan. She creates a fake Key of Unfettered Entry for Twilight's group and sends them off to Tartarus. It is easy enough to imagine Cozy luring Starlight down to the catacombs with a promise of a quite place to work and then 'discovering' the energy storm. From there it would be easy to lure her into the pull of the storm by pretending to be in danger. The rest of the story we know.
As for her status; the fact remains that if Cozy was really a child runaway it would have been difficult (if not impossible) to find out. It's hard enough to confirm identity and track people in our world with all our technology. In Equestria an entirely paper based society with large distances between settlements, and poor communication and coordination across the board, all you would really need to escape detection would be a good forgery, and that's something Cozy would be able to supply for herself easily enough.
It's possible, but still raises the question of why/how she was there. She also seems quite refined for such a rough place, at least on the surface - you'd think that in such an environment playing up one's own cuteness wouldn't be a very useful skill. And i do think that maybe people are just in denial when they claim no real, Equestrian-raised pony could turn out like that.
5193848
From the slave trade probably. One of the things about Equestria is it is just to damned spread out to be easily defendible and we see no practical system in place for doing so. There are some truly dangerous things in Equestria (Some Pony to Watch Over Me) and the Princess can't protect from all of them.
As for Cozy Glow not being from Equestria there are a few things we see socially wherever we go that just don't make sense if she was raised inside Equestria. Yes, her being selfish and cruel makes sense (Daring Do's pony archenemy is pretty sick) but that doesn't explain her comfort level around creatures that would send any other pony running for the hills, or her odd name which feels to generic to be an actual pony name.
When you look at other pony names they almost always are accurate descriptors of a ponies traits in one way or another. Cozy Glow is too generic to be a pony name, it doesn't fit her at all. But if she was named that way by a magical obsessive whose only knowledge of exotic pony names is that they are 'saccharin cute and magical' then her name makes a lot more sense.
5193876
You think she was taken by slavers? Well that certainly interests me, but still raises a bunch of questions about her upbringing and how she wound up at the School.
Not all ponies freak out at strange creatures, and their names are all over the place.
5193883
Not all no, but I would like to know what kind of fillies would have that discipline unless they received discipline training similar to the military. And yes their names are all over the place but generally with the exception of a few outliers they usually reference some personality trait; Rarity finds the value even in hard to see places a rare find as it were, Sassy Saddles works in fashion management, Zephyr Breeze manages to always float along, Rumble always causes a stir, even Maud goes with the flow and settles in a dry fashion. The only thing Cozy Glow has in common with her name is her cuddly attitude, which is entirely fake anyway.
5193887
I tend to mainly ignore that, because I have no idea how it works. And I don't think she's trained - just off in the head. Her reactions won't be the same as a normal person's.
5193907
That's possible but from what I've experienced everyone has a reason for the things they do, and we've seen no obvious examples of why a pony would tolerate other-non ponies except curiosity and long term exposure. While it's certainly possible that Cozy Glow sought out Tirek out of curiosity it doesn't explain how she acclimated to him so quickly.
As for her not being afraid because she's incapable of it, the fact remains while she isn't bothered by by the alien creatures surrounding her, she is scared by their violence towards her throughout the series; just watch Beginning Of The End again and you'll see what I mean. It isn't until late in the season she gets over it, unlike when she's locked in a cage next to Tirek and almost immediately gains confidence after noticing him.
5193978
You make it sound like ponies are naturally intolerant. We don't even know Cozy's history with Tirek, anyway - it's not like they're strangers.
5193987
Societies and experiences inform who people are, and it's not like ponies with their limited manor of travel, self-sustaining and self-contained society, and overall bad experiences with foreign powers throughout the course of the series, don't have a excuse for being closed off. Their are always a few outliers but if there is any great amount of inter-species interaction in Equestria we see zero signs of it until Season 8.
Also given Tirek's nature and opinion on ponies it seems likely that any interaction they had would have been either as one of his victims or if was stuck hiding out in a city somewhere and needed to absorb magic from smaller creatures before moving on to full grown ponies. At any rate she almost certainly would have been exploited by him for her magic once he was capable of doing so, which would hardly have encouraged any affection from her in future encounters.
5193996
Recall the reactions Gilda got in her debut episode. She was able to wander town without causing any kind of panic, and ponies treated her as more of a curiosity than anything. And that's in Ponyville, which is hardly cosmopolitan.
And yes, any personal interaction between them would have been quite interesting (though they do deny it). He couldn't drink pegasi during his prowler phase, so a conversation may well have been possible if she was prowling dark alleys at night herself for some reason.
5194220
I probably should have been more clear I am referring to species that are likely to pose a threat to ponies in the future as Tirek did, not every species ever to cross over into Equestria.
In the case of Gilda she also attended flight school with Rainbow Dash, and Cloudsdale and Ponyville are implied to be neighbor cities so it's likely ponies would remember rumors of a griffon attending there and Rainbow Dash also likely vouched for her, and as the local hero who got rid of Nightmare Moon ponies probably took her at her word that Gilda wasn't going to be a problem.
But their are plenty of outliers like I said not every pony's behavior is going to match perfectly. I mostly pulled out a list of things Cozy does that are strange for ponies to do but quite frankly their are others I could of brought up.
I could of mentioned her codependency which is a lot more alien for Equestria. I mean Starlight Glimmer dosen't ask for mercy when she's being judged, even Zephyr Breeze when facing homelessness doesn't try to guilt trip his parents into staying longer by telling them he has no where else to go.
Ponies it would seem general have a lot of professional pride they take their talents seriously and don't like admitting when they need help. Even Canterlot ponies relay on sophistication to feel important, Diamond Tiara who's a manipulator of sorts strives to lead at the head of the class, Spoiled boasts about her riches and so on. Ponies want to be seen as independent and capable of survival on their own as a matter of course, so why break that tradition with all the begging that Cozy does? It certainly doesn't seem very Equestrian of her, even if it's only a ruse.
Their's also her attitude, 'Friendship may be power' but to her it's more a obsession, right down to the fact that first thing she attempts to do upon gaining Discord's power is to cower (not enslave), cower Chrysalis and Tirek so she'll have someone to follow around and dote upon her. We do not usually see that level of co-dependent behavior in another pony, quite the opposite in fact. Ponies may like being celebrities, but most will give it all up to feel like they can stand on their own four hooves and it's hard to find a pony who behaves differently. Not impossible but hard off all those we've seen I feel like only Suri might qualify and even she doesn't lower herself to beg on screen.
5194662
Griffons are carnivores and mythological mortal enemies of horses - if they didn't once hunt and eat ponies, I'd be rather surprised.
I honestly think you're generalising a lot about a race as variable as humans.
5194689
I think you're missing the point I am talking about mainstream Equestria Society as a whole not every member of the species. I also think you're not reading everything I wrote down, if you missed the part about Glida attending flight school and Rainbow vouching for her. Some of that may be my fault I am not the easiest writer to follow.
5194709
Yeah, what I'm saying is that Cozy could and probably did grow up in normal Equestrian society without turning out normal herself. She can at least pretend to fit in, though.
And it really didn't seem like ponies' first reactions would be panic - griffons are odd, but Equestria is at peace with them nowadays. Even Pinkie didn't have any problem with Gilda when she first met her.
5194717
Technically you brought up the Griffon thing not me.
I never said Cozy unequivocally grew up in Kludgetown merely put it forth as the most plausible alternative, given what I knew of both Cozy's behavior and Vekor's the two make sense together and it's easy to see how his proclivities could've influenced her. I actually put this up, because it was the only case I could think of where Cozy Glow could have a primary influential guardian who wasn't entirely an OC, not because I believe she couldn't have been raised in Equestria. It's the backstory that for me makes the most sense in cannon but you're not obligated to subscribe to it.
5194762
Well certainly if your looking for that, it's an idea - though I have seen fics giving her minor pony antagonists as parents. I always assumed that both her parentage and origins were pretty unremarkable, though - feeds into her true nature being an unexpected surprise.
5194794
Technically these origins generally aren't what you would necessarily expect from a super villain. She's at best a daughter and at worst the slave to a character that's pretty obscure, in a town that appears to be pretty poor, and whose only obvious claim to fame is that it's bigger than either Canterlot or Chrysalis's hive, hardly remarkable super villain origins. Even if Vekor was a legitimate big shot, she's hardly growing up in the lap of luxury or learning.
5194799
Indeed - it is an interesting possiblity which might make a good story. But for me, that's because it's so unlikely compared to her growing up in some normal Equestrian town with normal pony parents.
5194800
Perhaps this might be more to you're liking?
Cozy Glow From Equestria
It's a older theory (one I don't subscribe to anymore), but you might enjoy it. Maybe you could even give me feedback on how plausible you believe it is.
Hey, thanks for the faves on The Horrible Misunderstanding Of Cupcakes, and its sequel!
5224786
No problem! I read those a few years ago and loved them, but I only joined the fandom recently, so it took a while before I came across them again. Thank you for writing them.
5224845
No problem! I'm really glad you enjoyed them so much!
It's loose thoughts for the moment, but today I was considering to make a story for Short Story Contest featuring our favorite sociopath, Cozy Glow. While thinking about it today, I was considering to use this theory as a reference point for Cozy's history. I wouldn't mind extra feedback on it. I can't find a picture or bio description for Verge, for example. I did find Klugetown, but not much on it.
It also occurred to me that Cozy appeared midway through season 8, and that's after the MLP Movie. The Mane 6 came to Klugetown and was somewhat disruptive to their government, especially in the long run when they took down the Storm King. I think that sparked a catalyst for Cozy. Her previous master got poor because of this and it offered her a way out. I think she bought or stole dolls of the Mane 6 because she once celebrated them as heroes, but also may be obstacles to overcome.
I'm also thinking of weaving Scorpan into Cozy's history as a fellow slave who also got freed. They fleed together, at least for a while, and Scorpan was quite sympathetic to Cozy because A) she was a filly, and B) he had a soft spot for ponies since they reformed him at one time. I don't know if Scorpan can write, but even if he can, I can see him reluctant to write to his brother because he thinks Terik won't write back since he's so bitter about Scorpan's betrayal. As a result, he convinces Cozy to write letters for him and Scorpan checks on it later just to find out how his brother was doing these days.
In the process of all of this, it alerts Cozy to Tierek.
5331565
You mean Verko? Mlp Wiki should have one.
Here's what I dug up.
VerkoNaked mole ratM¤¤¤TMP03
10
06A Klugetown crime boss in My Little Pony The Movie, My Little Pony: The Movie Prequel Issue #3, and Gameloft's mobile game. Voiced by Brian Dobson.vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/mlp/images/e/ed/Verko_ID_MLPTM.png/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/150?cb=20171026213846
And here's the link if you want to look it up yourself:https://mlp.fandom.com/wiki/List_of_non-pony_characters#Verko
And here's the only video I know about:
Bear in mind that this is a really old theory, produced when I was struggling to put out a plausible explanation as to why Cozy was the way she was.
I was also struggling to align her with a already existent character in hopes of explaining her timeline and giving her a guardian that would allow her to interact with the wider world and have it make sense (particularly for Equestria Girls). So I can't say for sure how using it is going to go. Just thought I put that out there.
A lot of how she acts would've been influenced by Capper who has a similar philosophy of doing whatever he wants when we first meet him, would've crossed paths with her, and has enough outside knowledge and trinkets that he proberbly could've taught her things like Chess.
Thank you for the info. I didn't know what he looked like until you gave that clip. I have seen the film, but it had a lot of characters so I was wondering which one you meant, and I didn't memorize all of their names.
What do you mean by "old" theory? Did you come up with a new one since then? I thought this "old" one had a lot of merit because it matches the attitude, timing, and trinkets she had.
5332735
For the most part I gave up on trying to explain why Cozy was the way she was and focused on a analysis of her character.
Basically a lot of her personality could be explained in a multitude of ways (even if she came from inside Equestria), and I recently noticed a variety of anti-social tendencies in Cozy that I am not confident that this current theory validates.
The idea could potentially work, but I considered the original format very rushed, and if I felt up for rewriting it, proberbly would've highlighted the effect that Capper had on her, which contributed to a big part of her independence and self reliance.
Regardless I am not as sure that she was born a foreigner as I used to be, but I still don't really have any better theories to explain her, that I can support with background from the show.
Her bouncing around Equestria's foster care system is what I am currently going with, but I am not sure if even that will be my consensus, assuming we are all still here further down the line.
i still think I can worth with it. It needs some holes to patch up, but there is a lot about it that pans out. I really think it's interesting that Cozy first appears in the season following the movie. It's as if there is a correlation. As fanfic writers, it's our job to fill the gaps when and if we are.
5332753
You're certainly welcome to use it. I wouldn't mind being credited as the inspiration, but other than that I have no objections to you borrowing from it.
Sounds like you're proberbly going to take it in your own direction anyway.
I do still feel it has some merit and perhaps I might even revisited it some time if I get the chance. Assuming I ever decide to take up writing for real anyways.
I am proberbly going to have a lot to deal with before I reach that point though. When it comes to the logistics of writing I've got a lot of issues standing in my way.
That reminds me, are you going to be okay? This isn't the first hint I've received that caused me to be a little concerned for you. Whatever you are going through, my instincts tell me that it is temporary, and I even have a few ideas what it might be, but I wanted to check on you, hopefully without being too intrusive about it.
5332764
I am not really sure how to answer that, but this has been my normal state on and off for quite a few years now. Admittedly the stresses recently have been new and peculiar, but the emotions I am dealing with is for the most part stuff I've dealt with before. I am honestly more bothered by certain recent events than any particular issue.
Hopefully I'll manage to get through it intact in the only way that matters, but either way I appreciate your concern. I am not "on the edge of anything" and haven't been for a while, but just because you've made the decision to live, it doesn't necessarily guarantee a end to the melancholy, or the rest of the issues one has to battle on a daily basis.
5332785
Any way I can help?
5332787
I appreciate the offer. Honestly you've already helped. I have enjoyed just talking like this. It has let me put my thoughts in order and done more for my emotional health than anything has in a while.