The scene of Cozy Glow flying through the forest morphed into that of a comic book panel at the end of the issue before it was closed.
A moment later, another comic book was haphazardly slammed on top of the previous Cozy Glow comic.
The Cozy Glow Saga Issue #4: Unknown Pasts & Infiltrations
On the cover, it showed Cozy Glow hiding in trees above while Royal Guards were patrolling the grounds below.
“Pinkie Pie, could you please stop bouncing about? Now isn’t really the time for that,” Rarity complained as Pinkie Pie continuously bounced up and down the room.
Everypony, except Rainbow Dash and Spike, was seated in the the comforting seats of the Friendship Express with the beautiful countryside flying by through the windows.
It was only three days ago when they had all been informed about Cozy Glow’s escape from Tartarus. Since then, many of Celestia’s royal guards had been sent out to search for the manipulative filly, but with no such luck.
It was clear that Cozy knew she was being pursued and so far done her best to evade them. How long was anypony’s guess.
“I still can’t that Equestria is in a frenzy over one filly,” Spike as he sat next to Twilight.
“This ain’t just one filly, Spike,” Applejack pointed out. “This is Cozy Glow.”
“The filly who manipulated every creature at the School Of Friendship.” Starlight began.
“The filly who trapped us in Tartarus,” Rainbow Dash added.
“The filly who took the magic away from those poor creatures and hurt Cerberus,” Fluttershy whimpered.
“The pony who tried taking all the magic of Equestria,” Rarity said, blowing a strand of her mane from her face.
“And the pony who never got to eat my cake!” Everypony deadpanned at Pinkie, who seemed unperturbed by their stares. “What?”
“Anyway,” Starlight began, turning her attention away from Pinkie. “I think it’s obvious that we don’t go to Tartarus since she’s clearly gone by now and instead search for clues of any of Cozy’s possible whereabouts.”
“Agreed,” Rarity nodded. “That dastardly child is smart and knows how to not be found.”
“But where exactly can we even begin?” Rainbow questioned. “Cozy’s clearly a step ahead of us since she most likely knows by now that we’re coming for her."
"And given her tactics, how exactly are we gon' catch that lil' varmit?" Applejack questioned further.
"U-um, how do you think we should go about this, Twilight?" Fluttershy asked, but received no response. "Twilight?"
Everypony turned to look at the Princess of Friendship, who looked rather...distracted. She was intensely looking through a folder of papers.
At least that was the case until Spike snapped his fingers in her face, which made her flinch. "Wha-oh, sorry girls, what were you saying?"
"Are you alright, darling?" Rarity asked worriedly. "You seem a bit...hassled."
"Yeah! Whatcha lookin at Twi?" Pinkie as she popped out from behind Rarity. "Why's it got you downcast?"
For a moment, Twilight was silent. Deep conflict was clearly evident in her eyes as she sighed. "Have any of you ever wondered about why Cozy did what she did?"
Confusion crossed the faces of everypony present.
"Well, yeah, she wanted to steal all the magic in Equestria to get power for herself," Starlight shrugged. "Why do you ask that, Twilight?"
With her magic grasping it, Twilight levitated the folder that she had been previously searching up to everypony present.
“This is Cozy’s school application. It looks pretty normal but it’s missing key details of…her.”
“What exactly are you getting at, Twi?” Rainbow asked.
“What I’m getting at is the fact that we don’t know who Cozy Glow is. What were her true motivations? What happened to have made her that way? And most importantly, did she have any family?”
“Those…are pretty good questions, Twilight. But weren’t her records checked already? Not much was found on Cozy,” Spike pointed out.
“Ooh, what if we just find Cozy and ask her, ourselves?” Pinkie raised her hoof eagerly.
“No offense, Pinkie, but I highly doubt that Cozy would tell us anything given the fact that she’s actively on the run from us as she speak.” Applejack replied logically.
“But Twilight still does make a good point though,” Fluttershy commented silently. “Who is Cozy Glow?”
TWEEEEEEEEEETTTT!!
Cozy Glow jolted upwards with a yelp as she frantically looked out the window to only see the train come to a halt at the platform.
Cozy peered through the window to make sure she was at the right place.
‘Houses, Town Square and that oh so familiar castle? I’m definitely here’ An expression of triumph crossed Cozy’s face for a moment. She had made it. After leaving that old forest, she had managed to find come across railway line and stow herself away on a passing train which rode for hours on end. But it had been worth it. She was back in Ponyville.
The place where her downfall had begun.
But now wasn’t the time to think about that. She had wanted to come here for a reason and she wasn’t going to waste time, dwelling on past failures.
Cozy trotted out of the caboose and quickly jumped into some bushes that was right outside the station platform. She cringed while doing so, still favoring the wound on her side. She couldn’t fly here. Not without the risks of being seen and recognized.
‘Alright, this should be a simple in and out task’ Cozy thought as she peered the leaves, looking on as the citizens of Ponyville went about their day. ‘I just gotta get to my stash close by the School Of Friendship without being seen by anypony. No pressure.’
It sounded simple enough. And last Cozy checked, it was summertime which signaled that school was closed. So Cozy didn’t have to worry about being seen and having to make it through a hundred students. Also, if what she heard from those guards were true, then Twilight and her friends aren't in Ponyville for the time being. Getting through Ponyville however…
‘Could be harder than I thought’ Cozy pondered as she galloped towards and hid behind a tree. 'But then again, its certainly not the first risk I've taken. And my rather...filthy appearance should throw ponies off my trail. But it would probably be best that I just run. So here goes.'
With firm determination, Cozy took off galloping from the tree and into the town of Ponyville. As she went, the ponies waved and said their hellos to her as she passed, but she didn't wave back. Why would she? Everypony in this town was just a simple waste of her time.
She had to keep moving anyway. Cozy couldn't just stop to let those ponies take a good look at her and then report her to somepony or Celestia for crying out loud!
So, she just kept going. She ignored the ongoing waves from ponies, the confused glances and glares that were sent her way, and even brushed aside ponies that were in her path.
She needed to get to her stash and get out of this town as soon as she could. Hopefully before the next train arri-
'Wait, I need a shovel!' Cozy abruptly stopped in realization. Her stash was buried underground, which she used a shovel to do so. Why hadn't she remembered to retrieve one!?
Maybe she could just sneak into Sweet Apple Acres and steal one without any of them noticing. Applejack wouldn't be there, but Granny Smith and Big Mac would be.
'And let's not get started on those Cutie Mark Crusading idiots!' Cozy thought angrily. 'The moment they see or recognize they'll try to report me to Twilight.'
"Here ya go, Big Mac." A grown male voice interrupted Cozy's process of thought as she heard two male voices converse. One of them had to have been Big Mac since he was literally just namedropped. "Come back when you're done digging up the tree planting holes, I need those extra shovels for later. Okay?"
'Shovels!?' Cozy trotted up nearby a house and looked behind it to see Big Mac conversing with another stallion, most likely another citizen of the town. 'Does he have what I need?'
Sure enough, the strong stallion did. A carriage that contained quite the pile of shovels. And one would suffice enough for her.
"Yep," Big Mac responded in his usual manner as he soon began to depart with the carriage rolling behind him. Cozy slowly, but carefully trotted as quietly as she could to the carriage as it did. Looking around paranoidly, Cozy quickly glanced at the pile and grabbed a lasso and a shovel. She didn't know why she had taken the lasso but something in her mind told her that it would come in handy.
At this point, she just cared about getting out of this town.
The Castle Of Friendship had reached her vision, which meant the school was drawing in. Cozy rounded a curve as she passed the castle. And she stopped.
Because there it was.
The School of Friendship looked glorious as ever. The way it stood, so tall and beautiful to glance at was simply a marvel.
But not to Cozy. This is where it happened. In her mind, this was the place of her downfall. Where her condemnation had begun. This place had always been nagging at the back of her mind.
She remembered the moment she had been surrounded by everypony and every creature. She practically had no choice but to give up.
She was sentenced to Tartarus with the intention of being forgotten. They probably intended to leave her there until the day she died.
Nopony would have even cared to even think about her. Of what she had been subjected to. Of what she endured!
Cozy frankly never had a good life to begin with. The last year especially, provided evidence for that. If anything, about a year of her life had been take from her.
‘And I’m going to take it back!’ Cozy mentally shouted in her head as she opened her eyes in anger and flew up to a tree by the school.
She raised the shovel and threw it into the ground as hard as she could and dug. And dig. She had keep digging to get what she needed.
Ignoring the dirt that was ending up on her coat and her mane, Cozy continued. But she soon began to grow a bit tired. A bit of a while must have passed because a hole was now present where Cozy was standing.
And Cozy saw it. In the dirt, something in between it that was red. It was…familiar.
‘Could it be? Is it really still here?’ Cozy thought as she nonchalantly dropped the shovel and dug her own hooves into the dirt and shoved it aside. And sure enough, her suspicions were confirmed. ‘Ha! Checkmate, it’s here!’
A dirty, dark red backpack lied in the dirt as Cozy looked at it with a hopeful smile. She zipped it open to take a look see if her stuff was in there and it was. A supply of food, a few small bags of bits and…
A chessboard game.
And an old worn out photo.
Cozy had always loved playing chess. From the very first time she played the game, she had just been very good at it. It had simply been natural born talent of hers. One of the benefactors that resulted in her earning her cutie mark.
But that picture...
A reminder of her past and what things were once like. It highlighted the good and the bad of the life that she used to live.
But that didn't matter.
With a sigh, Cozy placed the photo and chessboard back in her backpack and slung it over her shoulders. All the supplies she needed were in there. It was time to go.
Cozy had overstayed her welcome. She had gotten what she had came for and she had to leave. She would just gallop through the town as quickly as she did earlier and catch the next train without anypony noticing.
'This actually worked' Cozy thought with a relieved smile as she began to trot away from the school. 'Nopony has seen me, so getting back to train station should be no problem.'
"COZY GLOW!?" A unison of voices shouted which caused Cozy to stop right where she was. Voices that Cozy recognized in an instant. She hoped they weren't who she thought they were. Cozy turned around and to her dismay, were three fillies, the same age as her. One earth pony, one pegasus and one unicorn.
The Cutie Mark Crusaders. And they looked pretty shocked to see her as much as she was to see them.
'Well, so much for not being seen.'
To Be Continued...