After managing to befriend Lord Tirek, the next three days went by slowly for Cozy Glow, and thanks to what had transpired, within those three days, Cozy would surprise everypony she came into contact with. By now, Rarity had to give Cozy Glow's mane a trim since it had grown out so long, but that wasn't the reason for everypony being surprised with Cozy when they saw her. Cozy wasn't very enthusiastic about covering up her neck where purplish marks had been left by Tirek, and when asked about them, she'd almost always reply with the same, usual, "It's nothing... really... C-can we not talk about it? Please?"
If pressured, all she'd say more was that, "It will heal soon enough."
It wasn't as if that completely stopped ponies from constantly asking her about it, but in fairly little time, she received the inquiries less and less. On the second day after the events involving Tirek, Sweetie Belle made a discovery. Tucked away underneath the far corner of Sweetie Belle's bed, and inside of a small, rectangular, and beautifully designed box was a pair of red roller-skates. It also contained matching protective gear, too.
Sweetie had never really used them except for maybe just once or twice, so she gifted them to Cozy Glow in order to try and cheer her up. It worked, too, because for the rest of that day, Cozy Glow skated around the whole town with Scootaloo by her side, learning how to maintain her speed by using her wings while Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom watched waywardly, and cheered them on.
Cozy was worn out by sundown, and after dinner, she'd head straight to bed. However, not before Sweetie Belle managed to give her a hug goodnight just outside of Cozy's bedroom door.
That same evening, inside the Canterlot Palace, Twilight would enter into her own bedroom only to find Princess Celestia and Princess Luna standing just outside her balcony window. They both wore fairly disgruntled faces. As it turned out, the messages that Twilight had been sending them apparently were delayed due to them constantly changing their location, and they had only just found out about Cozy Glow's mysterious release.
Twilight had no choice but to confirm what had happened, and also told them about Lord Tirek being released. Since Twilight hadn't received any word from either of the princesses as far as how she was supposed to react towards Cozy Glow's memory loss, Twilight had taken matters into her own hooves.
"So, in the end... I think this is actually working out," Twilight sheepishly confessed mostly to Celestia after finishing her explanation.
The two of them blinked, standing inside of Twilight's quarters. Twilight had somewhat expected Celestia to be alright with all of this, but she still didn't smile. She just stared at Twilight with unsure eyes, and then asked, "Tirek... is willing to give friendship a chance?" She then sighed, and admitted with a gesture, "I just... I'm not sure how I'm supposed to feel about that, Twilight. He's... well, he's Tirek after all."
She put her hoof down, and then Luna asked, "How... exactly... did Cozy Glow manage to pull this off?"
Twilight stopped smiling, and her lips quivered. For a moment, it seemed as if she wasn't going to answer. She just began looking down, remembering.
"Twilight?" She looked back up and saw Celestia staring nervously at her. "Please... answer..."
She hiccuped, "She... Celestia, she..." Twilight grimaced, remembering the images in her head. "It was like... I could see Tirek's claws even though they weren't there... They were invisible, and they wrapped themselves around her throat, and then he squeezed, but he was hesitant, too."
Celestia's mouth was agape, and she asked, "He... choked her?"
Twilight's tears finally broke through her eyelids, and she nodded, and then Luna asked her, "How did Cozy Glow make him stop?"
Twilight huffed simply, "She, uh... She j-just... told him to put her down... A-and then he did, because she told him to." Silence overcame the three mares for only a second.
After waiting patiently, Twilight would hear Celestia say, "Okay..." Looking at her fellow princess, Twilight nearly began crying even more tears, relieved that Celestia and Luna appeared to be accepting of the situation for the time being, and not too paranoid. Luna was even starting to smile with hope showing despite their tired expressions and their drooping ears, and then Celestia said, "Under one condition... We'll need to check on them for ourselves."
Day three for Cozy Glow was exhausting to say the least. She started her day leaping out of bed. A whimsical, single ray of light shimmered as she crossed through it, and she stopped before exiting her room.
Her hoof reached back, and grabbed hold of a chess piece. She moved it a single turn, and then ran off with the intent to make another move hours later. The gear she was equipping at the bottom of the stairs made an audible clamping sound, and once all four of her skates were fastened by her wings, Cozy Glow started trying to hover above the ground. While she laid there mostly on her side, she rose somewhat, and she was soon off of the stairs. She slowly floated downwards, and landed while balancing herself gracefully. Soon enough, once she felt ready, she'd start to move forwards, and towards the door. Out she went, but not before remembering to close the door behind herself by using one of her wings.
As Cozy Glow distanced herself from the Carousel Boutique, and riding along, she remarked, "Perhaps I should talk to Rainbow Dash, or maybe even Fluttershy about a few advanced flight lessons sometime."
Everything about her ride that morning was fairly peaceful save for just a few out of the ordinary occurrences. Just when she was at her happiest, feeling the wind breeze against her wings as she sped up, she caught a glimpse of something to the right of where she was going. It was a pair of shadowy figures directly next to a nearby tree. Cozy Glow hastily looked over in that direction, but suddenly, she couldn't see them anymore. She remained there, standing in her skates, balancing herself perfectly in the middle of the grass for quite a few seconds. Blinking, she rode off. She also looked back to double check her surroundings, but saw nothing once again. "Huh..."
In time, Cozy Glow arrived at her destination. She still felt as though she were being watched from afar. Shaking off the feeling, she skated up to one of the market stands, and said, "Hello! I'd like one... Uhh..."
Cozy Glow looked down at all of the different sized cookies, and took her time choosing the right one. The shop keeper just stood there, waiting patiently for the filly to make up her mind.
"One... medium peanut butter chunk cookie, please."
The shop keeper smiled, and wrapped Cozy Glow's cookie for her. The smell of warm, nutty butter wafted by Cozy Glow's muzzle just when the treat was gently hoofed to her. Wandering off, and saying thanks to the mare behind her, Cozy Glow pleasantly rolled her way on over to Peanut's house. Birds soared high above Cozy Glow as she rode along. A smile suddenly overcame her, and as she saw her friend's house drawing nearer, she found that she could only smile more and more.
A feeling of euphoria overcame her as she thought about the possibility of having a friend who also had no idea who she really was, but coming up to the door, she slowly realized with every gradual, and gentle flap of her wings that she'd have to tell him the truth about her past one way or another. She stopped directly before the knob, and gulped while she stared at it glumly. Her hoof rose to knock against the blue, wooden surface, but her body wouldn't allow it. Hanging out of her saddle was the cookie she had bought, and she could just faintly see it through the folds that mostly failed to hide it.
She was feeling a flurry of emotions, and even though her hoof was slightly shaking, she still had to make herself knock, and as she did, Cozy found that her hoof had slowly begun to cease its trembling. Her hoof lowered itself, and she just stood there, waiting. When the door opened, she did her best to smile, but greeting Peanut still felt awkward for her. She figured while they walked into the house together that it might've been because he could tell just by looking at her eyes that she was actually feeling uneasy about seeing him.
"Is there... something wrong?" he asked her quietly, bringing her to the living room. She sat down on a big, comfy sofa, and shook her head at him. Sounds of vegetables being chopped in the kitchen could be heard, and Cozy Glow suddenly smelled several other different kinds of fragrances within Peanut's home.
"I, uh..." She began speaking, but she soon sniffed sheepishly just once more, and then asked, "Why do I smell cookies as well as hay bacon and cooked bunches of flowers... and... is that also apple pie?"
Peanut simply laughed, and said, "Yep! My mom likes to cook... like, a lot. It's actually surprising I stay as skinny as I do."
Cozy giggled some more, and then said, "Oh, speaking of cookies..." She dug out the present for Peanut, and said, "Here you go..." As he unwrapped it with a growing smile, she said while blushing, "It's got chunks of peanut butter in it."
He just stared at it while smirking for a second, and then, he took a bite. Immediately after, and while he slowly chewed, savoring the sweet flavor, he made sure to wrap up what remained, and went off to presumably put it away for later. As soon as he came back, he'd sit down next to her, and ask, "So...?" Placing one of his hooves over the other, he asked her welcomingly, "What's on your mind?"
Cozy looked all around at Peanut's pleasantly decorated house, and said slowly, "Earlier... you seemed to... not know my name at all, but maybe you've heard of me anyways. You just haven't realized it."
She slowly gave him a brief description of her old life that she had completely forgotten. She even pulled out one of the newspapers that described her wrongdoings from one of the pockets of her saddlebag, and then asked it of him to try and think back, and tell her if he recalled any of it. However, the colt simply smiled as innocent as ever, saying, "That's interesting, but I've never heard of any of these occurrences. I tend to just stay in my room, and in my house most of the time, and although I go to school and I go out shopping for sweets, I actually don't have all that many friends aside from all of the market ponies that sell me cookies." Cozy's eyebrows raised as she heard this. "Besides... you did say that you've forgotten all of that bad stuff anyways, right?"
Cozy gulped, but said, "S-sure, of course."
Peanut smirked at her, and then yelled towards the kitchen, "Mom? Is it alright if I make a new friend with one of Ponyville's former villains? She says she's the one that all the princesses and Discord turned to stone, but she forgot all of that, and she says that she's really, really sorry." He winked at her.
A kind, motherly voice could be heard coming from the kitchen. "Yes, dear, that's fine. So long as she doesn't trap you in a closet."
Peanut glanced at Cozy Glow, but still smiling, he sarcastically asked her, "You're not gonna do that, right?"
Cozy Glow's eyes widened, and she shook her head at her newest friend. "I wouldn't dream of it, Cookie."
They both laughed together, and then Peanut's mother came around with plenty of food for the two of them to snack on. Eventually, Cozy Glow would be on her way, happy to have told Peanut the truth about her past after all.
Skating along, Cozy breathed as best she could, because her next stop was the Castle of Friendship. Walking up to the doors after having taken off her roller-skates, Cozy sighed, and realized something bizarre. Out of nowhere, her body suddenly felt lighter than air, and as she looked upwards at the door yet again, she realized that it was because she still felt as though she was being observed. She slowly, and timidly started to look behind herself, but saw nothing except the basic, ordinary, Equestrian wilderness that was located just passed Ponyville's walls.
Wind graced Cozy Glow's wings and cheek. She stood there even longer than before, looking all around, but nothing was there. After what must've been minutes, Cozy Glow eventually sighed with disappointment, and with worry. She turned back around, and opened the doors. However, even after closing the doors behind herself, Cozy still couldn't shake the eerie feeling of being watched.
Cozy trotted within the entryway of the castle, and looked up towards the banners that Tirek had hung. She rolled her eyes, and shook her head at his image that flexed back at her. Soon, she began hearing a faint cry for help coming from the next room, and the pegasus hurried along to go see what the distress might've been. Although, she wasn't exactly prepared for the upcoming experience.
It was difficult for her to be floating there in the room, staring with disbelief in her eyes as a lean, and fairly muscular Tirek came into her line of sight. He had unfortunately already started without her, and was in the middle of trying to take on more weights than he should've. The room was cluttered with his workout equipment, and on the benchpress, Tirek could be seen trying to lift back up an overwhelmingly heavy bar that drew dangerously close to his torso and neck.
For the last few days, Cozy had been visiting, and acting as Lord Tirek's spotter in order to help him out with his daily routine exercises, but up until that day, he had never been so bold as to begin without Cozy Glow regardless of how puny she really was. "Ach," the lord yelled furiously. "H-help! Please!"
Cozy didn't move right away. Instead, she said, "You... S-started without me?!" Her face slowly became red just before she yelled back at him, "Are you stupid or something?"
"J-just help me get up...! I'm being crushed!"
With yet another roll of her eyes, Cozy Glow proceeded to start lifting, but thanks to the many weights bestowed on the bar, she was almost hardly any help at all. Once the bar was placed downwards, and Tirek was freed from his benchpress of doom, he went to thank Cozy Glow. However, she denied him the satisfaction. "Y-you..." Cozy Glow had started to fuss at the centaur right before Tirek had time to even formulate his appreciation into words. "What... the... HECK?" She huffed, and then exploded. "Are you crazy or something? Are you trying to get yourself hurt? Why would you start without me? We've talked about this already! I thought we were a team, Tirek!"
"I was just-"
"No!" Cozy Glow cut him off. "Don't ever do that again! I don't think I've ever been more scared in my whole life! What were you thinking?"
With steam fuming from his head due to his unchecked anger, he groaned, "I... was thinking... Ugh!" Tirek scowled, and said, "I was thinking about gaining all of my strength back through regular, rough and hard determination, and work." He folded his arms, and confessed, "Nopony has been open to the thought of befriending me since you let me out. So... What else am I supposed to do?"
Cozy floated back down, and managed to settle her nerves as she sighed, and said, "Well, for starters, you need to be a little bit more patient. As for your workout, I'm not really sure... I do think that it would be better if you paced yourself a little bit more, though. I mean... what do you need all this strength, and power for anyways?"
Drawing a breath of annoyance, Tirek behaved as if Cozy should've known the answer to her question already. "I need to be a stronger fighter. I need to be mightier than my brother, Scorpan."
Cozy backed away, unsure of what she had just heard her friend say. "What was that?"
"You heard me..." Tirek turned, and faced his back towards the filly. "He must have... so much more power than me by now. Just imagine it, Cozy Glow... It would be a spectacular battle were we to ever cross each others paths once more! So, you see... that's why I need to be better than him. So that one day, when I go searching for him, I'll be ready."
Cozy Glow trembled where she stood, and asked, "R-ready for what?"
Sinisterly, Tirek said, "To destroy him of course."
For a long couple of seconds, the two of them just stood together within that room. In time, Cozy Glow sniffled, and said, "That's... very disheartening, Lord Tirek." Slowly, she raised her hoof. The moment she did, Tirek realized what she was doing, and turned back around only to watch as all of his built up magic exited his body. While the shimmers oozed right out from within his once formidable structure, his body reverted back to its elderly form.
Once it was finished, he'd sigh, and say, "You... witch... How dare you!"
Cozy's glowing hoof rested back down on the ground, and as it did, she said to the centaur, "I highly doubt your brother is going to want to fight you when and if you do ever find him. Tirek... just in case you haven't woken up from your delusional daydream of power and conquest... Just in case you still haven't gotten it through your thick skull yet... Scorpan isn't corrupted by the power of friendship the way you might've been. He left that message outside of town because he probably missed you, and he also probably just wants things to be peaceful between the two of you."
Tirek rubbed his head in thought, but for some reason, he somehow suddenly found himself without the proper words to speak. He simply mumbled, and voiced, "B-but... He..." Cozy Glow waited to hear the lord's plea of defense, but it never came. If anything, Tirek seemed at a loss as to why he had been thinking this way at all. "I... Y-you see, I..."
He never would finish that sentence. Cozy Glow merely turned around, and said back to the confused and ashamed centaur, "You may have your powers and strength... and more importantly... my friendship back when you've realized just how messed up all of this is."
While walking away from him, Cozy heard Lord Tirek chant for her to come back, and to give him a second chance, but she wouldn't listen. She just kept going, and soon, Cozy was outside of the castle once more. Although she wished she didn't have to do what she had just done, at the same time she also understood just how unacceptable Tirek's maniacal behavior really was, and something simply had to be done about it. Slowly wandering back towards home, she wished once again that it didn't have to be this way. Although, at the same time, she also came to the realization that things were only going to keep getting better thanks to her actions.
She had nearly arrived at the Carousel Boutique when Cozy Glow had noticed that the odd sensation of being followed and watched by somepony from a far was vanishing. She looked all around herself, but hardly anypony could be seen. Time felt as if it were being slowed down incredibly to Cozy Glow due to the sudden, sheer stillness of the air that was surrounding her. She thought deeply, but in only a matter of five seconds or so, Cozy figured out who had been following her. She innocently turned back around, and resumed on her regular path.
Under her breath, she whispered, "It appears that the princesses don't yet seem to trust me... That is... it's more likely that they're actually reluctant towards trusting Lord Tirek, I guess." Coming up to the door, she opened it, but just before closing it behind herself and while carefully taking off her protective gear and skates once again, she also whispered quietly, "If I'm being completely honest with myself here, I can't really blame them... If I were in their hoof shoes instead, I would more than likely never be able to trust myself let alone Lord Tirek, either, so I suppose I should be a bit more grateful that they seem to be giving me a chance, and not just simply turning me and Lord Tirek back into stone and easily being done with everything altogether."