The head of camp, Platinum Star Cross had requested the appearance of Stud to her main office. She had a number of questions she wanted to ask the young colt.
"Stud, have you seen your friend, Magnolia lately?" Plat asked.
"I haven't. She's missed several days of training already. You know where she might be?" he asked.
"Have you checked the observatory? I've been hearing some rustling at the lake observatory all week. If Maggie is inside, then do us a favor and get her out of there." Plat said.
"But what if she doesn't want to?" Stud asked.
Plat leaned in with a sour face.
"If she doesn't want to come out, then she doesn't belong at the royal guard camp!" Platinum exclaimed.
Stud was concerned about his friend, Maggie. She'd skipped training multiple days in a row. He'd barely seen her since that newspaper arrived at camp about a week ago.
At the shoreline of the lake was the little wooden observatory building. It was a newer construction, but it didn't serve much purpose in regards to royal guard training. The remote location was just incidentally a good place to build an observatory.
Stud walked across the wooden bridge to the main door, and knocked, but he got no response. There was no lock attached to the entrance, so he entered anyway.
Inside it was dark, but definitely occupied.
"Maggie? You in here? You've missed like 7 days of training. You're gonna fall behind and possibly flunk out of camp." Stud said.
Stud lit a candle, and saw the full extent of what was inside.
"Sweet Celestia!" Stud exclaimed.
He saw his friend face against the wall facing opposite of him. When she heard him come in, she turned around, wearing an enormous grin, and eyes twitching. Clearly symptoms of sleep deprivation.
"Studzy!" Maggie exclaimed. "It's good to have company again!"
Stud inched forward and took a look at what Maggie had been doing all this time. The wall of the observatory was a giant chart with pictures, pages ripped from the newspaper, notes pinned to the walls, and red thread connecting everything together. The wall was divided in four quadrants, with arrows denoting it as a circular pattern, describing the life, uprising, and downfall of Cozy.
On the floor under the chart was a potato sack decorated to look like Cozy Glow.
"Impressed with my work? I've spent the past couple of days putting this all together." Maggie boasted.
"It's been a week." Stud said.
"A week? Huh? Must've missed a Sun cycle or two... Anyway! I thought about what PSC said to me, and I gotta be honest and kindly disagree. There is MORE to this story than she or this newspaper let on. And that's what I've been investigating!"
"But why do all this research? Her story seemed pretty clear from the newspaper." Stud said.
"Something just doesn't add up. I knew Cozy Glow personally. I said goodbye to her at the train station. How does one go from that, to THIS!" She exclaimed, pointing at the front of the newspaper showing the stone statue.
Stud was equal parts impressed, and terrified of the scope of Maggie's dedication to this.
"You made all this in 7 days? It can't be that thorough if it was made so quickly." Stud commented.
"You underestimate me! It's been a grueling week! Last night I had a terrible dream that this whole place caught on fire and burnt down! Luckily it was just a dream. That's besides the point though. I think I've just about done it! I think I've solved it!" she said, excited.
"Do I dare ask?" Stud wondered.
"I'm glad you asked. Where do I begin? Let's start at the current stuff, 'cause that's what's got me riled up, and then work backwards."
Ready to hear Maggie's complete theory on the history of Cozy Glow?
"First of all, Platinum told me Cozy's fate was decided after careful consideration by Equestria's leaders. But I failed to find sufficient evidence for that! In fact, I found quite the opposite! Nothing in here mentioning any sort of trial, or any documentation on any final words from Cozy. In fact, the picture of the statue happens to be at the EXACT same location as the battle shown on the next page! Which would suggest that she was cursed very quickly after her defeat. Cozy's curse couldn't have been anything but a rash decision!"
"Uh..." Stud wasn't sure how to respond. But Maggie was only just beginning.
"As a result, this entire fourth chapter of her life where she could've lived as a changed pony is left blank. It didn't have to be this way. And to be honest, I still don't know why... *sob* The only justification anyone's given me has been "she's evil" but nothing more. But I'm about to prove to you that she was assisted every step of the way."
"Everypony says that Cozy Glow "escaped" from Tartarus, but this is where my personal experience with Cozy comes in handy! The last time I saw her, she was heading for Twilight's School. So she must've done something REAL bad while there to warrant something like that! PSC says it was because Cozy Glow was responsible for the great magical disturbance. And while I haven't been able to rule out Cozy Glow as the one responsible, I've yet to identify a mechanism that could've enabled her to do such a thing."
Stud raised his hoof, but she didn't call on him.
"Regardless, Cozy Glow was in Tartarus. So how did she escape?! Well, I've come up with a couple of possibilities. Nightmare Moon was said to have escaped from the Moon when the right stars were in alignment. Could Cozy Glow and Lord Tirek have done something similar to escape? While I thought I was pretty clever for coming up with the hypothesis, by watching the stars and retracing their path, it turns out the same stars that would've been in the sky at the time of Nightmare Moon's escape, were NOT in the same positions this time around! Therefore she couldn't have escaped via the stars!!"
"Stars, huh?" Though it was day time, Stud looked through the telescope, but strangely, there were no mirrors inside. He wondered if the telescope was just a prop, and if Maggie's data was invalid.
"So I don't know how they escaped, but they did, and joined forces with Queen Chrysalis, armed with Grogar's bell. But this is where things start to get strange." she said.
"This is when it gets strange?" Stud asked.
Maggie leaped onto a table and used a stick to point at her chart.
"Why Grogar's bell specifically? Why not the Rainbow of Darkness? The Elements of Disharmony? The Alicorn Amulet? How did these three happen to unite? It all seems a little too convenient." Maggie wondered. "How did Cozy Glow and Lord Tirek and Queen Chrysalis even know what Grogar's Bell was? And where it was?! Only those highest at Canterlot and top historians would've known those details! Trust me! I looked around, I couldn't find any definitive record of the bell's whereabouts."
At this point in her explanation, Stud laid on his belly and twiddled some of Maggie's extra red thread.
"Seems like an odd number of circumstances to just come together like that. That's why I figure this can't be a coincidence, and could be a result of one of the greatest cover ups in Equestrian history!" Maggie exclaimed.
"Get ready, Stud this is where things get a tad more speculative, but I think I'm onto something!" she added.
Stud was growing worried for his friend. She became more and more ecstatic the longer she explained.
"Maggie, I think you ought'a just call it quits, I think..." he said.
But she kept on explaining to her friend anyway.
"I think this was all a set up! Someone who must hate Cozy Glow broke her and Tirek out of Tartarus, teamed them up with Queen Chrysalis, and armed them with Grogar's Bell, KNOWING they'd lose to Twilight, and knowing that the princesses would likely inflict a punishment worse than Tartarus! Case, and, point!" she said, pounding on the newspaper cover pinned against the wall.
"Maggie, please..." Stud said.
"So the next question is, WHO?! Who would have the power to free Cozy Glow from Tartarus, just so she would get inflicted with an even worse punishment? Now that I say it like that out loud, that sounds like a really mean thing to do! What kind of jerk would do that!? Like she was already imprisoned, was that not good enough!?" she exclaimed with a heated tone. "She was plenty contained in Tartarus, this whole stoning spell is totally unnecessary! Platinum said that Cozy escaped from Tartarus herself, but based on my research, she was fed a LIE! Everyone was! Some external force broke Cozy Glow out of Tartarus, told her about the bell, knowing in advance she'd lose to Twilight Sparkle, and that the princesses would turn her to stone!"
Stud clapped his hooves together. "Impressive work. But why do you care so much? They're evil." Stud asked.
"These two are evil. The Changeling Queen can be seen here not giving up until the bitter end. Lord Tirek... I don't know, something about him just looks kinda desperate. I almost pity him." she explained. "Now Cozy Glow, she's a tough one to read. I've seen her behave good, and I've seen her behave badly. But I've come to realize there's one surefire way to read her. Her face never lies. Even her fake cutesy faces are distinctly different from the cutesy faces made by the filly I knew in school."
Maggie harkened back to her memories of knowing Cozy. So called "Nice Cozy Glow" that came about after she was brought in under the watch of Maggie and her mom,, had a totally different demeanor than the nice Cozy Glow from school. No matter how nice the evil Cozy tried to seem, it was never an exact match, and Maggie could tell the difference.
"So I can say with the utmost confidence that this! This is the face of fear! I know that because I knew her!" Maggie exclaimed.
It was at this moment Stud realized what motivated Maggie to go to all this trouble.
"So that's why you care so much about this." Stud said under his breath.
"That's where I turn your attention to the beginning of this chart depicting the nice filly I met in school. She might've been a completely innocent filly before I messed with her! My bitter attitude may have led her to this, and then ultimately onto the path to become a crazy power hungry filly." Maggie explained.
"Maggie I... I understand why you may feel this way, but..." And then Stud remembered. Platinum had strict orders. Get Maggie out of this rut. So while he saw her perspective, he had to be reasonable.
"But, I still find this all to be very unlikely. If she wasn't evil, she wouldn't have done any of this, no matter how much she may have been set up into it. But she did anyway. How can you be so sure she's still innocent? I mean, look at what she did." Stud said.
"It's this! The face of fear! It's REAL fear! She wouldn't have that face if there wasn't at least some innocence still left in her!" Maggie exclaimed.
"How can you know for absolute certain?" Stud asked.
"I can't. Not without asking her." Mag replied. "I have to head over to Canterlot and inform Twilight Sparkle. Even if the curse can't be undone, perhaps I can make a case for her."
Finally it seemed as though Maggie had finished her presentation. Stud looked at the evidence once again. The only thing that was certain in his eyes, was that Maggie was really invested in this topic.
"I sort of get it now. You knew Cozy Glow, and seeing her end up like that, must've been hard for you to see her..." Stud said.
Maggie simply nodded with a stern face.
Stud was fine with Maggie having these feelings. It's her opinion after all. But it didn't change the fact that she had missed days of training. He had to reel her back in.
"I mean, all of this is pretty compelling, I guess. But now that your theory is complete, ready to start training again?" he asked.
"Not just yet, Stud MacGuffin. Even if I can't help Cozy, I think I've uncovered startling evidence that Equestria may still be in danger. Who's the mastermind behind the attack on Canterlot? For all we know it could be Grogar, and he could still be out there, and seeking to claim his bell back! And if not him, then this could all be the work of someone who's close to the Princess! She may be in danger! They might've assembled the Legion of Doom as a diversion, and the real disaster is yet to come.
Stud paused to process all of this information. "T-This is all very hard to believe."
"Please, won't you take a chance? Won't you help me?"
Maggie held out her hoof to her friend.
"You're really passionate about this, huh..." he said.
"I believe she's a filly in need. I have to help her. That's what a royal guard's job is." she said.
Stud slowly extended his hoof. But before their hooves touched, the floor gave out from under Maggie's hoof and it fell through the floor and touched the water underneath.
*OW* "What the?"
Stud grabbed Maggie and helped her climb out, but the building had become very unstable. The floor in the observatory started to break, and the walls started to shake.
A very large crack split through the floor of the observatory as one of the four support legs completely gave out. The fissure sent shockwaves through the structure, and it became unstable. Bits of the ceiling started to fall, and water came rushing in and was lining the floor.
Stud ran for the entrance, but Maggie was stubborn. She stood up and leaned against her board of evidence. She used her magic to pick up pieces that were falling down.
"Maggie, come on!" Stud cried.
"NO! My hard work!" she exclaimed, leaning against her board.
"Maggie are you-"
Stud was about to run forward to try to save Maggie, but ceiling debris fell in front of him and separated the two.
The filly stayed inside while the remaining support legs gave out, and the building fell into the water.
The water came pouring in, and Maggie was waist-high submerged. All she could do in this state of panic was pressed herself against the wall. The water came rushing in, but her emotions were rushing in even quicker.
The Cozy Glow doll drifted in front of Maggie, and stared at her. She was so angry at her, she lit up her horn and screamed. "I did all this for you, and this is how you repay me?! AAHH!!!!"
Members of the camp all gathered to see the damaged observatory. Fillies and older colts looked at the damage in awe. The support legs all gave out and the building was partly submerged in the shallow lake.
"What's going on here?" Platinum asked. "There's nopony in there, right?"
Platinum looked at Stud, who was not accompanied by his marefriend, meaning she was still inside. But before he could go back inside, the inside started to glow very brightly. And then all of the sudden-
*BOOM*
The wooden building exploded in a bright magical flash. Bits of wood flew from the epicenter. One of the guards put up a magical shield to protect everyone from the debris. With the shield down, they could see that all that was left was broken boards of wood, and a mess of stuff that was inside. What used to be the camp's lake observatory was now just a pile of broken pieces of wood floating in the shallow lake shore.
Everypony at the camp, the counselors, recruits, and foals, all stared and were in awe at the damage.
"Back it up, everypony. There's not much to see here. Just a faulty structure." a captain said.
"Maggie! Where are you!?" Stud cried.
Stud ran past everyone and leaped into the lake to look for his friend.
He moved some wood aside and found Maggie's body floating at the surface of the water under the debris.
He carried the unconscious filly to shore, and laid her down on the lake's edge as she gasped for air.
Overhead he could hear the adults arguing about what had just happened.
"What happened?" Platinum cried.
"One of the legs collapsed, and the rest followed." a male counselor said. "Which is strange. It's a brand new structure. How did the wood rot away so quick?"
"Forget that. That magical burst..." Plat said, amazed.
While the adults wondered what made the building collapse, Stud comforted his filly friend.
"Are you okay, sweet pea?" he asked.
Maggie coughed up water, and opened her eyes. Stud held her close.
"My hard work! It's all gone..." she wept.
"You almost drowned, and all you can think about is your research?!" he asked.
All the papers and all the threading was among the wood debris from the collapsed structure. But that wasn't the main reason for her sorrow.
"No. I just..."
The Cozy potato sack she made drifted next to her. She reached for it, but unfortunately, its head had ripped off, and Maggie broke into tears.
"Oh. Her..." Stud said.
Maggie pushed against Stud to try to get away from him.
"Maggie! What are you doing?!" he asked.
She was trying to jump back into the water to recover her soaked evidence.
In the moment of all hope being soaked, all she could think about was the legitimately nice version of Cozy Glow. The filly whose name wasn't even Cozy Glow yet. The filly she assumed must've been innocent at that point in her life.
"I have to rebuild! I have to help Cozy Glow! Cozy Glow isn't even her real name! It's my fault she bears the name Cozy Glow! And I'm the reason she's in stone!!" Maggie wept. "She was a normal filly, but it's my fault she was expelled from my school and enrolled in Twilight's School! I sent Cozy Glow down the path she took that led her into Tartarus and eventually a permanent stone sentencing! Her fate is my fault! I owe it to myself to help her!"
Stud held Maggie in his arms and she leaned against him, crying.
"Maggie. Listen to what I'm about to say." Stud said.
The crying filly looked up at her colt friend.
"You told me you wanted to join the royal guard to help ponies. But you're not helping anyone by doing this." Stud said.
"No, I... *sniff* I suppose I'm not..." Maggie said.
"You're not responsible for what she chose to do. If Cozy Glow wanted Friendship, she would've done that instead. I think it's pretty clear." he said.
"No, but... but..." Maggie looked up at Stud, and all the other recruits and counselors at the camp were looking at her.
What if he was right? Maggie wanted to argue with logic, but Stud out did her. There was no arguing against that. She figured there was no point continuing her research. Twilight was probably safe against any alleged traitors anyway. Maggie realized she wasted every moment she spent attempting to defend Cozy Glow. She had a moment of vulnerability and humility when she realized she was all wet.
*sob* "I'm sorry I got carried away..." Mag wept. "I just... I couldn't stand what I saw..."
"I know it's hard to accept, but it's over. It's not worth worrying about what somepony else did at this point."
"I just- I-" Maggie was so choked up with lake water, and tears, she could barely get another thought out.
"It's okay. What matters most is that you're safe." Stud said, rubbing his head against her face. "You're not responsible for what somepony else chose to do. You need to start looking out for yourself first."
Maggie had just about run out of breath. She closed her eyes again, and embraced her friend as hard as she could. She was lucky to have someone like him to look out for her.
Some of the older ponies finally rushed over to help Maggie. They lifted her onto a stretcher board, and carried her away. Stud followed to make sure she was okay.
But the older mare, Platinum Star Cross stayed behind to assess the damage.
"You coming, ma'am to inspect the filly?" one of the counselors asked.
"I ain't no medical expert. You guys have got it." Plat said.
Platinum stared at the debris field on the lake.
*sigh* "A costly loss..." Platinum said with sorrow.
She looked inside of her saddle bag to make sure her contents were accounted for.
"But at least we saved the most expensive bit inside." Inside Plat's saddle bag was the missing telescope lenses.
She looked at the lake. The shore was a mess of papers and thread floating in the lake. The building was totally destroyed. That flash of magic was the same color as Maggie's magic and eyes. She may have had a pure heart of gold, but she also had raw magical potential.
"Perhaps the filly does have a future here after all." Plat said. "Hmm?"
She saw a picture of Cozy Glow adrift, and decided to pick it up. She held it up, crumpled it with her magic, and tossed it back into the water. "She just needs less distractions..."
The mood was so eerily quiet, the old mare overheard some of the chatter from the crowd behind her.
"Do you think statues cry on the inside?"
"Maggie, who cares?"
*sob* "Not me. That's for sure..."