The rest of the evening was surprisingly calm - Rarity spent most of it leaning over the sewing machine and repairing cast-off clothing.
Cozy, meanwhile, stood by the tables and handed out what was needed. Dangerously, it left her alone with her thoughts for much of the time.
Rarity's accusation had just enough traction to slip into her doubts - she had fought and struggled hard. But not only had she been beaten by the Forces of Friendship at every turn, but even at her best she hadn't been that much stronger than them.
Those thoughts and a variety of scruffy but thankful homeless filled the rest of her evening, and Cozy's dreams beyond that.
The next morning was a treat: Sunset introduced Cozy to some of the gadgets that were laying around her apartment. In particular, Cozy was given the chance to release a little tension with Tirek's Revenge.
In turn, this became a dual lecture. Half Sunset scolding Cozy Glow for using so many slurs and swear words, and half Sunset reminding Cozy that no human would understand being called a rutting mud-pony.
After lunch, Sunset hauled Cozy along to their next destination. While the trip over didn't ring any bells for the once-pegasus, their arrival made it much clearer.
"The farmer?" Cozy looked at the orchard that stretched ahead. "So I get a lecture on blah blah blah honesty blah blah family blah--"
Sunset put her hand over Cozy's mouth. "I get it. And no." She pointed with her other hand to a rough wooded treehouse not far from the main Apple home. "You're going to go in there and deal with your problems head-on. I'm going to go see Applejack and keep her away from you. She's pretty angry right now, so.. yeah."
"I don't--"
Again, Sunset pointed at the treehouse.
Gloomily, Cozy Glow obeyed and stomped away in as pouty a way she could manage.
At the top of the ramp she paused, glaring at the door. The treehouse was certainly Apple family work - solidly built, surprisingly large for something in a tree and painted with tiny apples at the accents. There were muffled voices inside, and Cozy had a sinking feeling she knew whose.
She didn't bother to knock and simply walked in to the sudden stop of conversation and three angry Crusader glares. Even though Cozy knew it was pointless, she pulled her best smile on. "Well hi there! I'm really sorry about what happened to you at school."
Sweetie Belle disdainfully looked at Cozy from her seat off to the right. "I wonder if she's apologizing because Sunset made her or if it's because she thinks we're dumb."
From behind the lectern at the front of the room, Apple Bloom scoffed. "It sure as sugar ain't because she means it."
A small growl escaped Cozy's lips. "Alright, yes, I know. You're still mad and you don't trust me and I'm only here because Sunset made me. But she's not going to let me leave, so deal with it!"
"She's not going to let you leave, but we can." Scootaloo's voice was low and dark. "We could just walk out of here and spend our time doing something we want instead of around you."
"I can't," Sweetie Belle noted gloomily. "Rarity said I should try and mend things with Cozy. Because if we really wanted to make up for past mistakes with Sunset, we would do this for her." She paused. "Also Rarity said to keep an eye on Cozy because she's a nasty little so-and-so."
Scootaloo snorted. "She's right."
This was going nowhere - for any of them. Cozy could see that much, at least. "Look, can't we just... put all of that aside? Pleeeeease?" She batted her eyes again. All three Crusaders glared right back, and Cozy took it as her cue to dial it down. "We can't get away from each other, you know that right? We're going to be in the same classes for the rest of the year, and Sunset's going to drag me everywhere she goes."
The trio looked at each other, considering that. "She's right," Apple Bloom reluctantly said. "Ah don't like it, but she is. We're gonna have t'deal with that." Her gaze went to Cozy. "But the real question is, can we trust ya."
Cozy Glow burst out laughing. In a moment of ironic honestly, she didn't hold back her words. "Of course you can't trust me! Why would you even ask that question? And if I told you that you could, why would you ever believe me?" Pouting, Cozy crossed her arms and slumped against the doorframe. "There's no way you're this stupid compared to your pony selves."
"We ain't stupid! We just wanna help Sunset is all." Apple Bloom's burst of rage at the insult flamed out as quickly as it came. "No matter how much trouble you may be--"
"And you totally are," Scootaloo interjected.
Apple Bloom sighed at the interruption. "She cares what happens to you. So we gotta care. And you ain't the worst person who's turned themselves around."
That raised one of Cozy's eyebrows. The Crusaders were downright eager to answer.
"Twilight nearly destroyed reality," Scootaloo offered up.
"And Wallflower Blush stole everyone's memories," Sweetie Belle added.
Apple Bloom made her own addition. "Oh! And there were the Sirens, an' how they mind-controlled everyone."
Swiftly, Sweetie Belle cut back in. "Yeah, but they just ran away afterwards. They didn't turn out to be good."
Cozy held up both hands. "Wait, wait! All that just happened at this school? Is this world that dangerous or is it just their little club that's doing it?"
"Well first of all the Rainbooms are a band, not a club." Scootaloo was quite firm on that point. "And second.. just here? I mean the crazy nature spirit was at camp and the phone that kidnapped people and replaced them with holograms was at the park but stuff like the rampaging toast-robot was."
Sweetie Belle sighed. "But that's all probably boring to you. I mean, Sunset said you went to school with dragons and griffons and shapechangers. For you, a greenhouse full of singing plants is, like, Tuesday."
A spark of an idea rattled through Cozy's mind, and she smiled. "I think maybe I've got somewhere we can start?" The Crusaders leaned forward, curious. "We can trade stories. You tell me about things that have happened here, and I can tell you things about Equestria."
Three hours later, Cozy Glow was internally thanking Professor Rockhoof for demonstrating the proper way to tell a story.
She had spent most of the time regurgitating bits and pieces out of Princess Twilight's Friendship Journal - old, trite tales that were somehow new and fascinating to the three humans. In turn, they had told her stories about different things that had happened around Canterlot High over the last year.
It was a treasure trove beyond her wildest dreams and somehow also the worst news.
On one hoof, they had happily told Cozy about dozens of incidents around the school. There was dirt on so many of them! But on the other, it showed how little leverage Cozy had to work with. All of the dirt was publicly known, and how do you blackmail Twilight Sparkle when her classmates casually refer to her as 'the girl who almost ended reality'? And then there was that whole Anon-A-Miss thing which... well, Cozy wasn't entirely sure how to take it, but it gave a glimpse into how her own schemes were likely to unfold.
In all, her normal tactics seemed problematic. The human world was more resilient than the pony one, with better communication and just enough less blind trust to shut down Cozy's usual paths. Her first attempt had relied on the fact that ponies shared an inherent trust and gave a little filly the benefit of the doubt. That wasn't quite so true anymore. On the plus side it sounded like she would have to wait a month at worst before something magic happened and sent everything into complete chaos for her. Then it was just a matter of harnessing that magic and--
Scootaloo whistled. "Hey! Earth to Cozy Glow!" She waved an orange hand in front of the Equestria's face. "You zoned out there! Everything okay?"
That broke her out of the reverie. "Oh, um, yuppers! Just thinking about all the stuff you told me. Wow!"
Apple Bloom's eyes narrowed. "So, Cozy Glow. How much of the stuff ya told us was true? An' remember, we can just ask Princess Twilight an' Sunset if it is."
Instinctively, the lie lept to Cozy's lips. Of course she'd lied! Why were they even asking her? Then she stopped. She... hadn't actually lied. Everything she had said was true. "Yeah," she admitted with confused hesitation. "All of it was true. You can ask them."
The three Crusaders glanced between one another, considering. Sweetie Belle was the one to speak first. "Well, it's a start." She caught Cozy's quizzical look and elaborated. "It shows that you can tell the truth. If we have to be around each other, knowing that sometimes you're maybe not lying is better than nothing."
"We still don't trust ya," Apple Bloom noted.
"But," continued Scootaloo, "We didn't trust Sunset, either, when she started to turn herself around. We got suspicious. And jealous. So we promised we'd never do that again."
Sweetie Belle picked up again. "We can't just forget what you did, Cozy. But if you're willing to try again, maybe we can move past it?"
The offer was stupid - it was stupid for them to make it, and it was stupid to think that Cozy would legitimately accept it.
"Deal," Cozy swiftly replied without entirely understanding why. "If you agree to tell everyp--everyone else that I apologized and you accepted it so they'll talk to me again."
Apple Bloom's eyes narrowed. "Ah don't think yer in a position to barg--"
"Deal," Scootaloo replied, cutting Apple Bloom off. The other two shot her a look, and the orange girl just shrugged. "We gotta start somewhere. She'll never be able to prove she's changed if we don't give her the chance to show it."
That they didn't immediately leap to arguing was a good enough sign for Cozy. It was a start - or at least a way to stop the damage from her first attempt.
The trip back from Sweet Apple Acres was quiet. It wasn't until they reached the apartment again that Sunset spoke up.
She did cheat by taking Cozy's arm and reviewing the day first, however.
"Not a bad deal," she admitted. "It's about as close to a clean start as you're going to get."
Internally, Cozy froze. Something was wrong - she had been plotting on how to take control and get out. But Sunset hadn't noticed somehow. Was there a limitation on what she could see, or was she just not saying anything? It was a possible chink in the armor, and one Cozy would have to try and test to see if it could be exploited.
In the meanwhile, Cozy scoffed defensively to cover her brief shock. "I have to reposition myself somehow. Friendship is power, and being an outcast is dumb and useless."
Sunset just shook her head as she thumbed a pizza order into her phone.
Silence for a few more moments - then Cozy swung her sledgehammer. "Soooo this Anon-A-Miss thing...."
She couldn't have missed how the name made Sunset flinch - nor the long sigh. "I knew this was coming sooner or later." She dropped down to the couch and beckoned Cozy to join her. Cozy declined, instead meandering to the kitchenette. "What the Crusaders told you was the truth. It's missing a few small things from my perspective, but it's close enough. In all honesty? The worst part was that I was two months off from total domination and I'd lost so many steps that a trio of kids destroyed me." She laughed a bitter little laugh to herself. "Peak evil Sunset Shimmer would have been so disappointed."
Cozy Glow snort-laughed with surprise. "You lost everything you reformed for, got driven to the edge and the worst part was that your past self would have been disappointed?"
"Yeah, because the rest was all my own fault." Sunset curved away from Cozy's expectations. "I spent years making their lives miserable and constantly lying. I earned Anon-A-Miss. If I hadn't been the Crusaders it would have been Trixie or someone else who took the shot at me." She paused for a thoughtful breath. "And if nobody had, it would have eventually been Wallflower with the stone. And I'm not sure I'd have handled that as well as I did if Anon-A-Miss hadn't prepared me."
The fridge rattled open as Cozy pulled out a bag of baby carrots. "I don't get it. They zapped you and you turned good. That's what the Elements do, right?"
A derisive snort came from the couch. "You got blasted and didn't."
"I was full of super magic and an alicorn." Cozy puffed her chest out proudly. "I was too tough for it to work."
Sunset's eyes rolled at the empty bravado. "That's not how the Elements work. Rainbow lasers aside, people don't just change instantly. Watching everything I built up get destroyed? That made me want to try changing. It opened the door, but I had to pull myself through it. Slowly." She sighed. "I still have that little voice in the back of my head that whispers sometimes that the easier way is just to manipulate them into doing what I want or that I should crush them down to show everyone I'm better than them."
Draping herself over the back of the couch with the carrots in hand, Cozy grinned. "So why don't you?"
"Because it's wrong." The words were on Sunset's lips without thinking. "Because you don't do that to friends. And if you're gonna be pragmatic about it, because they kicked my butt for doing it once and they'll kick it again." She reached over and gave Cozy a light, playful shove. "Are you really going to tell me that after the last few days you still think the best plan is to try and manipulate everyone? Even if you succeeded, would it really be a win?"
"Of course it would be!" That response was as quick for Cozy as Sunset's had been for her. But what followed lacked the same confidence. "Not that I will. Your friends know who I am. They're not that stupid - they're not going to fall for it so easily."
Sunset shook her head. "No, it's because they understand. Redemption is a journey, Cozy. And we make mistakes and mis-steps along the way. You'll always have a little bit of it in you, and my friends understand that better than anybody. The first steps are frustrating but... I believe in you. And they will too."