Ingredients were spread clear across one of the tables that could be found in the back kitchen of Sugarcube Corner, and with her mane somewhat powdered with flour, and her hooves splashed with the batter that she had been mixing in her bowl, Cozy Glow was busy making cookies with Pinkie Pie.
So much grief had befallen Cozy Glow recently that Sweetie was finally starting to take notice as well, and it was only getting worse ever since recent events, so she offered Cozy to go and visit Sugarcube Corner. Cozy failed to put up much of a fight, and soon found herself happily baking alongside with the party pony herself. For longer than she could remember, Cozy felt at peace with herself, and Pinkie's positive personality was helping her adjust to such a new and different activity.
The pegasus forgot about forgetting. She forgot who Cozy Glow was before being turned into stone, and forgot what she had done to so many innocent lives. She began forgetting all of those negative things that still surrounded her, and just baked cookies for a change. The smile she wore would've been very difficult to remove from her face, and that was because despite it only being her first time, Cozy Glow was sure that her cookies were going to be the very best that anypony had ever tasted.
She looked up towards where Pinkie was, and said, "This sure is... tough work!" She huffed while whisking the bowl some more.
Pinkie nodded carefully as she balanced a carton of eggs with her muzzle, and walked on over to the counter to place the eggs down. "It sure can be," Pinkie said, agreeing with Cozy. "It can also be rewarding. I just love it whenever I bake up some goodies, and they come out even better than perfect!"
Pinkie wasn't showing it, but she was trying hard not to think about the fact that the last time she had seen Cozy Glow, she was right in the middle of fondly using her devastating party cannon to blast the tassels off of the unsavory villain. "Uh, hehe," Pinkie laughed as she remembered doing that. "Just... to make sure," Pinkie said softly. "You really... really don't remember anything from before being turned to stone?"
Cozy smiled despite Pinkie asking that question, and said, "Nope..."
Pinkie laughed again, and waited before asking, "And, uh... you haven't, like... read any news papers, have you?"
Cozy looked away from what she was working on, and asked sheepishly while trying desperately to uphold her grin, "What do you mean?"
Pinkie stopped working as well, and said forwardly, "We all care about you, Cozy, and I think that I speak for pretty much everypony when I say... It's probably better that you don't remember those terrible things."
Cozy Glow glanced away. "Could she know?" Cozy Glow thought, still whisking along. "Could Pinkie know that I read all those papers? But how is that possible?"
Pinkie continued, "I just... find it hard to believe that you haven't heard about... well, your past." By now, Pinkie wasn't smiling, and so, neither was Cozy Glow.
"I heard... stuff from Twilight... S-Sweetie's also..." Cozy Glow breathed calmly the best she could, and said, "Sweetie's also told me some things when I pried, but..." She gulped, and lied, "I don't know much."
Pinkie nodded, and looked away. "Okay..."
While Pinkie continued her work, a smile eventually coming back, Cozy Glow somewhat slowed down her pace. That was because in reality, she knew about everything that she had done in the past. Right up to meeting the Cutie Mark Crusaders for the very first time. As the cookies went into the oven, she found herself wondering what times for her before then must've been like. She thought about who her parents might've been, and many other things.
"Did I run away? Did they not... want me anymore?" Most important of all, she thought, "Why doesn't anypony appear to even know where I'm from?"
She visited the bathroom for a few minutes, but coming back, Pinkie overheard Cozy saying to herself, "If only I could see Twilight. I'd be able to ask her..."
Pinkie asked the filly forwardly just before Cozy Glow got the chance to open the oven, "Ask Twilight what, Cozy?"
Cozy looked over her shoulder towards the slowly approaching Pinkie Pie, and said with a mumble, "About my past..." Knowing good and well that Cozy wasn't done speaking, Pinkie stayed quiet. "Not... when I tried to ruin Equestria... Before all of that." She blinked with tears forming in her eyes, and fogging her vision. "I want to know... how all of this..."
Pinkie finished for her, "Happened... I know." She embraced Cozy Glow in a hug, and said again, "I know."
Cozy managed not to cry, but even after Pinkie had let go of her, and had opened the over for her, Cozy still felt sorrowful. Pinkie inhaled deeply through her nose, and complimented, "Oh, wowie! Cozy! Your cookies smell really delicious. I can't wait to try some myself!"
Slipping a heat-resistant glove over one of the filly's hooves, Pinkie gave Cozy the tray, and then showed her to one of the nearby windows. Showing her where to put it so that Cozy's cookies could cool off, Pinkie said gently to Cozy Glow, "I, uh... don't think anypony knew that you needed Twilight's attention." Cozy placed the tray down, and looked from the wafting vapors coming off of her sweets to Pinkie's glistening, and trustworthy eyes. "Did you... at least let anypony know that you wanted to see Twilight?"
Cozy shook her head, and said, "No, but... I don't know. I suppose I just figured she would've wanted to see me periodically."
Pinkie smiled perfectly as she said, "I'll be sure to letter Twilight as soon as I can. She'll be showing up in Ponyville before you know it! Just for you, too, but Cozy Glow... you have to understand something about Twilight. She's the Princess of Equestria, so who knows what she's gotten herself into. She's also still pretty fairly new at her job, but don't worry, because there's no way she could ever forget about you!"
Pinkie smiled on as she was questioned by Cozy Glow, "You're sure she hasn't forgotten about me?"
Pinkie answered, "Not a chance!" In the back of her mind, however, Pinkie was thinking, "Twilight had better not've forgotten about this tiny filly..."
While she finished thinking about Twilight, Pinkie rubbed Cozy's shoulder comfortingly, saying, "Everything'll be fine. Trust me..."
She walked away shortly after that, and thanks to her choice of words, Pinkie managed to help Cozy Glow feel more open towards other Ponies in her life, and more at peace with herself. Time went by while Cozy sat all by herself. She smelled the cookies she had baked as she waited patiently. "I wonder if peanut butter was a good choice for my first batch... I suppose I'll find out when they're ready."
She stood up to look outside, and nearly jumped upon spotting somepony hanging from the fence not a few steps away. It was a colt about Cozy Glow's age and size. He had a sleek, light brown coat, and a slightly darker mane color. His cutie mark, however, was what helped Cozy understand her situation just a little bit better. It was a cookie, but also from the looks of the cutie mark, it was also possibly the exact same flavor as the batch that sat at the window sill just in front of him.
Cozy said to the colt, "You surprised me over there."
Just as she spoke, the colt with a cookie for a cutie mark was in the middle of sniffing the cookies once again. "Hmm?" He asked. "Oh, I did? Sorry about that, but your cookies... they..."
"Smell good?" Cozy asked, trying to complete his sentence for him.
"Good?!" He asked while one of his hind hooves swung over one of the wooden beams. As he made his way up towards the establishment, he continued to tell the filly, "I've never smelled peanut butter cookies quite like these!" He came up closer to Cozy Glow's face to where that the two of them could just barely start seeing one another's freckles.
"Oh," Cozy Glow said as she blushed, bringing a hoof up to her cheek. "You... Y-you r-really think so... huh?"
He looked down at them, smiling, and then up at her, and quickly said, "Yeah!" He then looked back down at the cookies, and mentioned, "I come by here nearly everyday. Just when I thought Pinkie Pie had perfected her recipe..."
Cozy Glow then mentioned to the colt, "Actually..." He looked up at her curiously. "I made them... just now." Cozy Glow carefully grabbed the tray with her glove, and offered, "Would you like one?"
She could tell that he definitely wanted to accept, but he was soon shaking his head, saying, "Nah, they're not done cooling yet, and I'm not about to ruin these by eating them too early. I'll come inside in just a little bit, and ask Pinkie for a cookie that was specifically made by you." He then began backing away, and said, "My name's Peanut, by the way, but most of my friends just call me Cookie."
For a second or two, Cozy stood there behind the open window in thought, and then finally asked, "Is your full name Peanut Butter Cookie?" The colt nodded to the filly as he once again hopped the fence, and Cozy Glow replied, "Nice to meet you... M-my name's Cozy Glow."
She had given him her name without even thinking of the possible consequences, but once it had left her lips, she'd realize what she had done.
"That's a lovely name," Cozy Glow heard him say. She had quickly looked away regretfully, but upon hearing his simple reply, she'd look back at Cookie. "See you around," he said to her while waving delightfully.
All Cozy could think of to do was to simply wave back at the grinning colt, so she did, and she then stood there feeling strange. "Could he not know who in Equestria I am or what I've done?"
Pinkie came around the corner soon after, and asked, "Are those cookies ready yet?"
Cozy looked from the cookies to Pinkie, and said, "Not yet, but when they are... there's gonna be this colt coming in soon." Pinkie just smiled happily, and intuitively as Cozy requested, "Please, Pinkie... Make sure he gets one of my cookies. Okay?"
Pinkie nodded understandingly, and joked with Cozy by asking her, "This colt friend of yours wouldn't happen to be the one and only Peanut Butter Cookie, would it?"
Cozy's reply came in the form of a small giggle followed by her trotting off towards the front of the store in order to gather her things. Just before she left Sugarcube Corner for the day, though, Cozy Glow made sure to grab one of those delicious looking peanut butter cookies that she had made herself for on the way back to Rarity's Boutique.
Walking along and all alone, and feeling the wind breeze against her mane, Cozy Glow excitedly anticipated her next upcoming encounter with that friendly colt from earlier. She also pulled out her cookie from her small saddlebag in order to take a few bites from it while wandering back home.