Cozy Glow sighed with plenty of hesitation while sitting in front of Sweetie's closet. It was the end of the day, and solitude was surrounding the troubled pegasus. She reached a hoof forwards, but then lowered it out of fear. Sweetie Belle then walked in, and looking at one another, Sweetie said to Cozy Glow, "If you're going to go ahead and read those papers... then do it, but I doubt anything good can come from it."
Cozy looked down at the floor with unsure eyes, and then, she said, "Did... you say anything bad to any of the reporters about me?" Sweetie didn't answer. Again, with the same tone as before, Cozy Glow asked, "Did... Rarity say anything..." She stopped, looking away. She already knew the answer.
"Everypony had something negative to say about you, Cozy Glow..."
They both just stood together in silence. Rarity was away that day, and hadn't gotten around to throwing out the old newspapers yet, so if Cozy Glow was going to read any of them, she needed to hurry up and do it before Rarity got back. With these thoughts running through Cozy Glow's head, she sighed, and said, "That's... exactly what I'll find. That's what you're saying?"
Sweetie Belle shook her head, and said, "I don't know if you'll find anything at all in there. What I'm saying is... it's everything that you've already heard of from Twilight only more details than you probably need to know about."
Cozy Glow looked away, and towards the closet, and asked, "Was I really that bad?" She glanced back at Sweetie Belle, and again couldn't help herself from asking, "Was I really that terrible, Sweetie Belle?" Sweetie blinked a few times, and then thought for a few seconds.
"You... tried to be good... sometimes, I guess? Err, let me give you an example. At one point, I heard that you sent a team of royal guards through a portal while you were an alicorn, and into a moat of water. You could've let them fall from way up high, but you didn't."
Cozy smiled slightly. "Okay?"
Sweetie then pointed out, "However, one of them could barely swim due to the armor, and the captain had to save them."
Cozy's smile faded, and she voiced solemnly, "Oh..."
Sweetie breathed in sharply while giving Cozy a glance. "Look, the point is... I think that no matter how much you look into your past, all you'll keep uncovering is nothing but bad things. Why do you want to do that to yourself?"
Cozy looked right by Sweetie, and saw the closet, and said, "I suppose I'm... just curious about my past." She looked at Sweetie Belle again, and then back down. "Was I always that bad? There's a new word I know... I think it's vile. I mean... before I arrived at the school."
Sweetie watched closely as Cozy Glow's eyes wavered at the ground. Slowly, Sweetie sighed, and waited a moment before stating, "I don't think... anypony knows anything about before then." An eerie silence fell upon the room as Sweetie continued to speak. Even though she was talking, it was as if the noise coming from her lips was being drowned out by an unfathomable force.
Cozy interrupted whatever else Sweetie Belle had to say. "But... there's got to be something, right?"
Sweetie stopped, and looked at Cozy oddly. "Uhh..."
Cozy then said, "I couldn't have just... appeared, right?"
Sweetie gulped, unsure as to how she was supposed to reply to that. She then offered, "Well... Cozy, of course you have a past, but... nopony has ever come forward about you. It's not like ponies didn't try, too. It was put up all over the news that you were put into Tartarus. We just... don't know who your caretakers might be, or even your birthday."
Sweetie grimaced suddenly, and looked away while doing her best to get herself together. "What is it?" Cozy asked. "Are you alright, Sweetie?"
She looked back at Cozy, and said, "We... don't know when your birthday is. I don't think anypony has realized it yet." She sniffled, and slowly began crying. Despite all that fighting, tears still managed to arrive, and then, Sweetie hiccuped, "You're in luck, though. Pinkie Pie has this special t-thing that she does... I-it's super rare, but if you really don't know when your birthday is... then every single day is your optional birthday in her book."
Cozy felt Sweetie put a hoof on one of her own as she asked, "Everyday?"
She then listened to Sweetie as she said, "I don't think you really need to read all that junk. It'll just mess you up. You already pretty much know what's in those newspapers anyways. Right?"
Cozy looked once more at the closet, and nodded at that. "Yeah," she said. "But... Still... I feel as if I should still be reading it anyways." She looked sternly at Sweetie Belle, and then said, "I have to do this, but I think... you've helped me just by talking to me. I'll try not to be hurt by what I read... I promise."
Sweetie Belle at first was going to hold her ground, and not allow Cozy glow to enter into the closet, but upon hearing her words, and seeing the serious expression on Cozy's face, Sweetie Belle had no other choice but to move aside. The door slid open very easily, and Cozy began yanking out a brightly painted, though tattered looking box. Needless to say, she began quickly reading its contents.
She could be heard quietly gasping from time to time at first, but even after the part involving Sweetie Belle in particular, Sweetie noticed that Cozy Glow just kept on reading. She wouldn't stop until she was done, and once that was through, she quickly headed out of the door. Without showing Sweetie Belle much emotion, she floated on up to the attic. Sweetie climbed up the latter that Cozy had pulled down, and for a few moments, she watched as Cozy read on and on.
She refused to stop, and anything that wasn't about her specifically was gently placed aside. There were interviews from Twilight, Starlight, Discord, Rarity, the Cutie Mark Crusaders, and so many other ponies, too. Cozy Glow knew a few of them, but there were just way too many pages for her to keep count. It was all put back into place quite miraculously, and Cozy proceeded to push the box inside of the attic back on over to where she had originally gotten it from.
She took a deep breath while still standing alone up there, but eventually, she climbed down sadly. It was thanks to the conversation she had with Sweetie Belle previously that possibly helped Cozy Glow overcome this challenge. Coming back into the room, she looked at Sweetie glumly. The closet was justly being closed up, and as Sweetie slid the door shut with her magic, she asked, "You alright?"
Cozy at first seemed as if she was going to start crying all over again. She didn't, though, and simply asked, "You and Scootaloo thought my mane looked funny?" She chuckled a few times before saying, "It's alright, so did I!"
Sweetie's entire frame relaxed upon hearing Cozy making jokes. "Oh, good," she voiced, chuckling along. "I was worried!"
Cozy hugged Sweetie tightly, and said, "It was... difficult at times to keep on reading, but I think it helped, actually." She looked out the window while letting go of Sweetie, and with the sun beginning to set, she said quite clearly, "I needed to know as much as possible about my former self. I still don't know what my true motives could've possibly been except that I might've been completely out of my mind at the time, but at least I know what not to do."
Sweetie asked bluntly, "And that is...?"
Cozy said with a slight giggle, "Don't be a brat! Right?"
They both laughed together, and it was possibly one of the most influential laughs that the two of them had ever shared together. Sweetie Belle couldn't help but notice just how much more relieved, and happy Cozy Glow appeared to be that evening. Although, from time to time for the rest of the night, Sweetie would also catch Cozy Glow appearing a bit sorrowful, and sometimes, she'd be seen looking back at the attic regretfully.