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Far away from Cozy Glow and Tartarus, in a place of limitless possibilities, a band of thirteen creatures had gathered. They stood in the middle of a vast expanse of space, stars floating around them in a purple void, and were grouped around a circular stone table, that appeared to be carved out of massive granite. They were all standing, however, there were no chairs for them to sit down on. Unhappiness was plastered on each of their faces, stress and chagrin. The atmosphere was charged, they all felt tense, but the absence of chairs was not the reason for it.
Princess Luna stood at one side of the table, her appearance epic and regal as usual, but her face was adorned with worry, concern and desperation. A proposal of hers had been rejected just now and it made the Princess of the Night anxious as a result. Luna stepped forward and put her forehooves down on the table. It vibrated slightly.
“I must insist!” her voice bellowed, full of strength and demand. “Cozy Glow has suffered nightmares for eight weeks, we cannot allow that her mind will remain unaided like this! Twilight Sparkle's command not to enter her dreams can no longer be honored!”
The crowd sighed and murmured. Twelve faces rested on Luna, faces of resistance and opposition.
“I understand your worries, Princess.” Starlight Glimmer took the floor and spoke up. “But I don't think it is a good idea to do this. Cozy trusts us..... starts to trust us, anyway. Entering her dreams would breach that trust. It would be an invasion of her privacy, I can see Twilight's point here. And I think it would also scare her. She already reacted with fear to Moondancer's friendship offer, just imagine how she would react if you would get even closer to her.” Starlight's eyes were pleading, urging the princess not to do what she thought would prove to be a very bad idea with terrible consequences.
“I agree,” it came from one corner of the table, in a dry, smoky voice. Tempest Shadow stirred and locked eyes with Princess Luna. “I made progress. I have managed to gain the trust of this filly. She listens to me and would do everything I tell her. She even wants to be my student. All the progress would be lost if Cozy Glow shuts us out and refuses to talk because you dug too deep, Princess.”
Luna's face shattered and fell apart. They still didn't understand. She turned at her old mentor Starswirl. “At least you will agree, right? You are my teacher and mentor, surely you will see it the way I do, Starswirl?” Luna gave him a cautious smile.
The old wizard remained stoic and calm, but he shook his head. “I am afraid I have to agree with the rest of us, albeit for different reasons. I have heard about the threats the young one spoke out to you and some ponies have more power in their dreams than others. It would be too dangerous to explore the dreams of young Cozy as long as she hates you that much.”
“We agree with ya!” A higher voice from the other end of the table, with a slight country drawl, rang out.
At Apple Bloom's side, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle nodded.
“Yeah, you always helped us, Princess Luna!” Scootaloo remarked.
“And without you, we still wouldn't understand many things,” Sweetie Belle added.
“And what's the most important, the sooner ya find out what is wrong with that Cozy Glow, the sooner we don't have ta help her anymore!” Apple Bloom's face became stern and dark.
Once more, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle showed their support with nods.
Luna's face lit up. But only for a moment, as Stygian spoke up to oppose the three fillies.
“And I disagree,” the low voice of the scrawny stallion in his cloak rang out. “Starswirl is right. I have studied dreams and dream magic and how the mind can control and alter a dream. A pony who possesses a lot of anger can do many devastating things in their dreams.”
“And we still can't forget Cozy's privacy.....” Moondancer chimed in. “I agree with Starlight and Twilight. I don't understand why Cozy rejects me, it is so confusing..... But if Princess Luna enters her dreams without Cozy's agreement, she could lose her trust completely and never talk to any of us ever again.” Moondancer's face was filled with grief.
“I think I understand why she rejects you, Moondancer.” Starlight Glimmer looked up and over to the other mare. “Cozy is afraid of establishing a real friendship. Her reaction on your letter has shown that clearly. I think she might have been betrayed or abandoned by a friend, like it happened with me and Sunburst.”
“Or with me.” Tempest Shadow's voice trembled slightly.
Moondancer nodded, her face clearing up a bit. “Or like with me and Twilight. I think this could be the reason..... But would that really be enough to make Cozy reject true friendship completely? I have spoken about her with Twilight, Cozy Glow is so different than me, she is confident and outgoing and never has fears talking to anypony.....”
“Heck if I know!” A frustrated, deep voice blurted out before Starlight could respond anything. Gilda threw her claws into the air, then propped her head up on one of them, looking morosely around the crowd. “Now that we know that Cozy Glow is scared of true friendship, this makes everything harder for me! How should I teach her that friendship is a great thing if she is afraid of it? I never had to deal with a griffon who didn't care about friendship because it scared them..... I could use a hint from her dreams.” Gilda gave Luna a hopeful glance, a small smile building on her beak.
“Pointless!” Trixie's voice suddenly rang out and the rest of the group looked at her. “It doesn't matter if Princess Luna snoops around in Cozy Glow's dreams or not, it would be a completely pointless thing to do!”
“Why?” Starlight asked, tilting her head and giving her friend a doubtful glance.
“Easy!” Trixie responded with confidence. “Because this filly has lost her mind! Trixie can see that she is completely insane.”
Around her, twelve pairs of eyes narrowed in disapproval.
“Don't give Trixie looks like this, Trixie knows what she is talking about!” she shouted, not phased by this reaction. “Trixie was obsessed with power because of the alicorn amulet and the longer Trixie was wearing it, the more insane she became. Cozy Glow is obsessed with power and power obsession turns a pony insane. That's why she had those nightmares, it means Cozy Glow's sanity is getting lost. That's why it's pointless to look into her dreams, you will only find more madness, Princess.” Trixie closed her eyes, crossed her forelegs and nodded, to underline her explanation.
“I really don't think that's the case with Cozy..... And it's really mean to say that,” Starlight scolded her friend.
Trixie opened her eyes again. “What? Any better ideas?” Trixie shot back and huffed.
“I have a better idea,” Thorax responded. His face showed a glare, anger over Trixie's suggestion apparent in it. “Cozy Glow is afraid of making friends because she struggles to decide if she should be good or evil.” Thorax' forehead became clad in wrinkles.
“After I left Chrysalis' hive, I was wandering around aimlessly. I stayed hidden and did not dare to approach anypony, not even in disguise. And even after Spike offered me his friendship, I hesitated to take it and he had to convince me first. I was not sure if leaving Chrysalis was really the right decision and everyday I was trying to decide if I should return to the hive. I didn't want to make any friends, I knew it's a pony thing to do and that I would decide for the good side if I did. I wasn't ready to make this decision yet, so I avoided making friends. I'm sure Cozy Glow feels the same way.”
“And what do you think about her nightmares?” Luna asked the changeling, bringing the topic back to what was on her heart. “Do you not think I should aid Cozy in her dreams so that she will never have such nightmares again?”
Thorax looked at the princess, his face becoming somewhat softer. “I think they are a good sign. Her nightmares mean that she is close to choosing the good side. She only needs a push into the right direction.”
“By entering her dreams,” Luna tried it again.
“No,” Thorax turned her down. He shook his head. “Cozy Glow sees you as a villain, Princess. If you enter her dreams now, against her agreement, it would give her the feeling that villains can do anything they want without being stopped. It could sway her to the dark side for good.”
The confidence in Luna's face faltered and she shrunk a little. “I suppose this makes sense..... I will stay outside of young Cozy's dreams then..... with hesitation.”
“Very good! I think that's a splendid idea!” Discord came floating past Luna, a disinterested, bored look on his face, but a mischievous sound in his voice. He had been circling the table the entire time, occasionally plucking some stars off the dream fabric and throwing them into his mouth, where he let his teeth crunch down on them with delight. The draconequus had not paid much attention to the meeting and it was the first time since they had all gathered that he said something.
“Because”, he continued, “where would be the fun in entering her dreams and finding out everything all at once? Our audience would be so disappointed if the mystery gets solved that quickly.”
“What audience?” Apple Bloom cocked her head and gave him a riddled, confused look.
Discord only flashed a cocky grin, owing her an answer, and kept circling around the table and the gathered creatures.
Starswirl cleared his throat. “Let's bring this conversation into a sane direction again..... I am not very experienced with the troubles that a pony might carry in their mind. But I think it's obvious that the problem of the young one is that she cannot see Moondancer's true intentions. She does not understand that Moondancer wants to help, because she fails to slip into Moondancer's shoes.”
Not far away from Starswirl, Stygian's face brightened, the outward signs of a transpiring epiphany. “This must be the solution.....” he breathed.
Instantly, all eyes were on him, weary eyes that craved an end of this meeting.
“Cozy Glow could not see it from Moondancer's point of view and that's why she misunderstood her actions. If a friend betrayed her and that's why she is afraid of real friendships, then maybe this friend of hers did not really betray her, maybe they intended to do something else and Cozy Glow just did not understand because she failed to see it from her friend's view!” Stygian put his forehooves on the table and rose up, excited because of his realization.
“Oh, really?” Apple Bloom asked, a snark in her voice. “Ya mean like Cozy failed ta see it from our point of view?” She gestured with her hoof at herself and each of her two friends.
“Um-hm.” Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle nodded together, their faces dark and serious.
“Yes,” Stygian confirmed. “Cozy Glow did not understand that you didn't betray her friendship, that you just wanted to protect your kingdom and home.”
“Great, so Cozy went and betrayed us instead.....” Scootaloo dropped her head and sighed, eyes closed.
“Not necessarily,” Stygian suggested.
“Huh?” Apple Bloom raised an eyebrow. “Ya ain't serious, are ya?”
“I am. It might not have been Cozy's intent to betray your friendship.” Stygian resisted the glare of the filly undeterred.
“That's..... Yeah, sorry, but that's completely ridiculous,” Sweetie Belle judged the suggestion, bluntly.
“Yeah, Cozy Glow is just a rotten, no-good filly, of course she betrayed us!” Apple Bloom huffed, her face turning slightly red.
Stygian did not falter. “When I took the artifacts of my friends and wanted to replicate them, I did not try to betray them. I just wanted to find a way to be as strong as them and to fight at their side. But they didn't understand what I was trying to do, they could not see it from my point of view, and so they thought that I am a villain who turns against them.” Stygian increased the intensity of his stare at the three fillies. “Maybe Cozy Glow was the same. Maybe she had very important reasons for what she did, reasons that you don't understand, and that is why she had to stop you. I never tried to betray my friends, maybe Cozy Glow did not betray you, either. She could not see your actions from your point of view, but neither do you try to see her actions from her own point of view.”
Apple Bloom raised a hoof and opened her mouth to say something, then her angry expression changed to one of surprise. She took her hoof down again, eyelids lowering, then looked down at the table. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle followed her example. All three of them stayed silent.
“So, are we going with this?” Starlight Glimmer took the floor as Stygian did not say more. “That Cozy Glow feels betrayed by a friend, but that this friend of hers did not really betray her and Cozy just believes they did because she didn't put herself into her friend's shoes? Are we taking this approach in our next letters? I think it is a good theory about Cozy's reason and that it's worth a try, but what do all of you think?” Starlight let her eyes glide over the gathered ponies and creatures.
Tempest Shadow huffed and her answer was a growl, coming out between her gritted teeth.
“I don't agree with it. I think Cozy Glow has a very different reason for acting like this,” Thorax responded.
Starswirl and Stygian nodded, the former with closed eyes, the latter with a stern look on his face, but both of them silently expressing their agreement.
“Trixie does not agree. Cozy Glow is just insane and needs a different kind of treatment.”
“I am on Starlight's side,” Moondancer announced. “I felt so betrayed by Twilight and I think Cozy goes just through the same thing.”
“Oh, do whatever you think is right to make that dark spot in Cozy Glow's heart go away, I don't care.” Discord continued munching away at the stars.
Apple Bloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle did not answer Starlight's question. They just eyed the table, sunken in thoughts.
“I'll take it!” Gilda spoke gruffly. “Anything that gives me a hint what I should do with that filly now.”
“I agree, as well,” Luna said as the last one. “I cannot enter young Cozy's dreams to find out what is wrong, but I am willing to try out any idea that offers itself.”
Starlight looked at each pony and creature as they cast their vote on the subject. Then she nodded. “Okay, so we have six creatures who agree with the new plan, three creatures who disagree with it and four abstentions. That settles it. We will try to make Cozy realize that her friend from the past did not intend to betray her, to fix her fear of true friendship.”
Six creatures nodded, while Tempest Shadow let out a longer and sharper growl than before, neither the sound nor the expression in her face doing any effort to mask how much she detested Stygian's theory.
“Now we only need to decide who will start this new approach and will send Cozy the next letter,” Starlight continued. “Princess Luna and Moondancer are unfortunately being ruled out, this leaves only myself, Starswirl, Stygian and Gilda. And if none of you mind, I think I should be the one who begins and send Cozy another letter. We can't just simply tell Cozy that her friend did not mean to betray her, if what we think is true, she will be a hurt a lot and reject us if we are too direct about it. We need somepony who will gently dig for information, without upsetting Cozy.”
“Go ahead,” Gilda prompted her, casually waving a claw at Starlight. “I never had to teach friendship to someone with a problem like this, I need more infos before I can figure out what to do.”
“I think the choice is excellent,” Starswirl spoke confidently. “I can teach the young one to see things from the perspective of her friend once you have succeeded to find out what happened in her past.” The old wizard stroke over his beard.
“I agree,” Stygian simply said.
“Okay. I'm glad you're seeing it my way.” Starlight gave the griffon and the two ancient ponies a nod each. “I guess that means we are done here. Princess Luna?” She turned at the princess.
“It seems you are correct, Starlight. This dream meeting is hereby over. I will set you all free of this shared dream now and let you back into your individual dreams. Rest well, ponies and creatures, for we have an important mission to accomplish.”
Most creatures of the crowd nodded, then they disappeared one after another, until only Luna and Discord were left. The draconequus continued his business, not paying heed to the princess.
Luna did not pay heed to him, either. She fixated the table, from under sunken eyelids. “I hope I am doing the right thing, young Cozy Glow.”
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