New Dawn sat within the sky carriage, eyes closed while she focused on her breathing. In any other situation, she'd probably be excited to be in one of these and watching the forest below fly by, but that would be if she wasn't being flown to some secret location to meet what would no doubt be the most difficult patient of her career.
Cozy Glow.
A name practically synonymous with equine psychosis at this point. Among her peers, there have been many discussions of just how and why a young filly could be so deranged. Without a detailed history, they could only speculate, with many assuming that there must have been a significant amount of trauma involved. Some event or circumstance that would drive a pony to obsess over power and be willing to do anything for it.
New Dawn's talk with the Princess herself about the case lent some credence to the other side of the aisle. Those who proposed that Cozy could have simply been born deviant. It was the age old debate of nature versus nurture, but from what Twilight Sparkle explained of what she knew, and even meeting the matron of the Bright Side Orphanage, Cozy's foalhood hadn't been horrible. Not particularly great, but certainly not full of abuse and neglect. At worst, Cozy Glow had arrived at the orphanage barely at the age of three after the death of her parents, and though she doesn't know the details of their passing, foals rarely develop memories that early. Still, it was an avenue to explore, though certainly well after she has developed a solid rapport with the filly.
Another source of potential insight would be the house's other occupant. Green Hornet, formally both Anonymous and Green Bean. And wasn't that strange? Not many ponies even contemplate changing their names, let alone go through with it before they've reached puberty. While Cozy Glow was her primary focus, Dawn couldn't deny being a little bit curious of the young criminal's friend, or acquaintance as Green insisted her relationship with Cozy to be. A filly willing to travel halfway across Equestria, challenge a princess to a fight, all to save another filly who by her own confession had only caused her problems before then.
Dawn would admit that the reasons Green had given for her actions were thoughts she herself had had when learning of Cozy's fate. As a mare who had dedicated her life to helping troubled foals, the filly's original punishment didn't sit right with her. Yet unlike Green, she hadn't had the courage to challenge not only Princess Twilight's, but Celestia and Luna's decision on the matter.
Green hadn't simply accepted the decision, however, and raged against it instead. How did such a strong sense of morality become entwined with the resolve to do whatever it takes, whether that's lie, cheat, and even hurt others? It's abnormal to say the least, and is another mystery Dawn is tempted to explore, no matter how much she tells herself that Cozy's mental health is to come first.
The sensation of her stomach lurching indicates that they were now descending, and the earth pony mare finally opens her eyes. Looking over the edge, she sees a clearing in the woods and a mountain range in the distance. The small house within the middle of the clearing looks newly built, which she imagines it is, and rather quaint. With the peaceful nature of location and the open yard providing plenty of space for a pegasus foal to enjoy, New Dawn feels better about Cozy's stay here, even if it is still technically a prison. It will be much easier to help the filly reform in such a serene location as opposed to a dungeon or padded cell.
As the chariot comes down, she can already see a green filly coming out through the front door, and by the time they land, she's only a few meters away, waving. "Hey, fellas, how was the flight?" she asks, and the two guards nod at her in acknowledgement.
"Fine," one answers, reaching behind himself to rub at his wing muscles. "The extra airtime did make it a bit more exhausting, though."
"Yeah, I figured, sorry for asking you to do that," she answers, gesturing overhead. "That's why Cozy and I decided to make you boys some fresh lemonade. We sent a pitcher up to the lookout already, if you want to go get a glass."
They both perk up at that, and the other asks, "You... and Cozy Glow?"
The skepticism in his voice is clear, and the filly who's obviously Green Hornet chuckles. "Cozy is always looking to earn brownie points; makes it more likely you'll do her favors later when she asks."
One guard rolls his eyes and chuckles himself. "Of course, I should have guessed," he responds. "Thanks for the heads up."
"Hey now, don't think that means you shouldn't play along," Green chides good-naturedly. "As long as she thinks it's working, she'll keep on insisting we make treats for you all, and that means extra treats for me, too."
"That's devious," he responds, still with some laughter in his voice.
The other looks at Green with disapproval clear in his expression, though it lessens when she waves them off and explains, "It keeps her occupied and from going completely stir-crazy out here. She's even requested a book on baking, and I think that's a pretty therapeutic hobby to pick up, don't you agree Ms. Dawn?"
Surprised to have all attention on her so suddenly, the mare stutters, "Oh, um, well, I suppose it can be. There have been some studies on the matter." She adjusts the red-rimmed glasses on her lemon-yellow muzzle. "It's been found to help some relax, feel creative, and indulges the senses, which can help one remember happy memories."
Green smiles a little wider and nods. "See, so it's actually in Cozy's best interest if we let her keep making us all snacks. You fellas will be helping in her recovery."
Looking mollified, the guards fly up to the outpost, leaving Dawn with Green. The mare brushes her two-toned, light yellow and white mane from her blue eyes. "So... you must be Green Hornet," she says. "I've heard a lot about you."
"That right? Nothing good I bet," she says with a wry smile. "How's Twilight's eye coming along?"
Deciding to match the filly's casual manner, she smiles and answers, "Still noticeable, but the bruising looks faded and it doesn't seem to bother her."
"That's good to hear," Green says, making what sounds like a genuine sigh of relief. "I'll admit to being pretty satisfied with the shiner I gave her at the time, but with how accommodating she's been since then, I've started to feel kind of bad about it."
Hearing that immediately puts Dawn more at ease. She can't deny having been worried that the filly she had heard about, intelligent, calculating, and not one to shy away from violence, could be another Cozy Glow in the making, and all that she did to free the other filly was merely part of a larger plan to rule Equestria or some such. Seeing Green look away and scuff her hoof in the grass makes her believe that she is merely a filly who wants to help and means no undue harm with her actions.
"Really? From what I heard, you showed quite a bit of condemnation towards Twilight's decision involving Cozy Glow," Dawn says with a tilt of her head. "You're willing to forgive her so easily?"
Green shrugs. "Twilight's not a bad pony, and honestly, it's hardly her fault for how things went with Dimples. Everyone was cheering at the time, and on top of that, it wasn't even really her choice to begin with. She might have upheld the decision, but it was the former princesses and Discord who did the deed. From what I understand, Celestia is practically like a second mother to her, so of course Twilight isn't going to really question Celestia's actions. Not many ever do, I'm guessing."
Rubbing at her chin in thought, Green adds, "That's something Twilight should work on. She's supposed to be the new ruler of Equestria. She should rely more on her own judgement first rather than someone else's." Dawn watches curiously as Green's eyes narrow in thought before she waves her hoof and says, "Bah, not my problem. I'm busy enough trying to get Cozy turned around." She meets Dawn's gaze with a sudden intensity and asks, "How about you, Ms. Dawn? What are your thoughts on helping Cozy Glow?"
Staring into eyes that seem far older than the filly they belong to makes Dawn feel nervous as she stammers, "W-well, I want to help her, of course."
"That so?" is the dubious response. "I don't recall hearing about any ponies stepping forward on Cozy's behalf before me. Not even a petition going around, not that it would have gotten many signatures, I imagine. Why are you only volunteering now?"
Dawn looks at the ground. "I can see your point. I guess the reason is... Well, it's like you said earlier. Celestia's been this infallible ruler for as long as I can remember. I did have misgivings about the whole thing, but I convinced myself that Celestia must have known best." She sighs, head drooping as she continues, "I can understand how you might not trust a pony having a sudden change of heart, but I've always just wanted to help foals, and that's still what I want to do. I didn't help Cozy Glow when she needed it most, but I can still help her now." Shining a hopeful smile, she meets the filly's gaze and finishes, "That's why I came here, and why I'm begging you to give me a chance to prove just how sincere I am. I'll even let you put me in shackles during my sessions with Cozy if that will make you feel more comfortable."
Green looks surprised. "Yeesh, lady, no need to go that far. I trust you enough to not pull anything so direct, anyway. Twilight's background check came up clean, and you've got too soft of a look for me to imagine you actually trying to throttle Dimples yourself." She shakes her head and turns around, heading towards the house, prompting Dawn to follow. "Besides, as far as you being a threat is concerned, I was more worried about you telling more violent ponies where she was being kept so they could do the dirty work."
Dawn sputters. "I would never-!"
"Yeah, talking to you, that's probably true. Guess having the guards fly in circles for a couple extra hours to make it harder for you to pin down exactly where we're at was a waste of time."
"Is that why that flight took so long? I thought I was being flown out to the middle of nowhere!"
"It never hurts to be cautions. Cozy's taking a nap, by the way. Squeezing lemons all morning for the guards tired her out, but I'm sure she'd be more than happy to cut it short if it means she can make a new friend. You might be able to help her escape, after all."
Dawn huffs, still a little upset about the flying-thing, but decides to drop it and focus on what Green just said. "I wouldn't help her escape. I'm here to help her overcome her issues, and hopefully leave this place a new pony, but that wouldn't be until she's proven she's no longer a threat to others."
Green merely hums in response as she pushes open the front door and shouts out, "Hey, Dimples!"
"Augh! What do you want, you annoying booger?! I'm trying to sleep!"
"We've got company!"
"Who? If it's Twilight Sparkle or any of her stupid friends, tell them to get lost!"
"Nah, this is a new pony. She's not even a guard. She wants to be your friend!"
Dawn opens her mouth to correct the statement, but stops when she realizes it's really not that far off. Cozy Glow yells back in a far less harsh tone, "Well, why didn't you say so? I'll be right out to meet them!"
Green gestures towards a couch in the living room and says, "Might as well get comfortable. She's going to take awhile to fix up her curls before she comes out."
Dawn nods and moves to sit on the couch while Green hops up into an armchair and curls up with her legs under her like a cat. As they wait, Dawn fidgets while the filly starts to preen a wing. Dawn manages a full two minutes of silence before she can't stand it anymore and says, "So..." Having not exactly planned her words, she stalls after that, and racks her brain for something more to say.
Green pauses her preening, tongue hanging out as she waits for Dawn to continue. When the eyebrow goes up, Dawn starts to panic internally, blurting out the first thing that comes to mind. "Your wings look nice." The judging stare doesn't waver, and Dawn feels heat rising to her cheeks as she tries to explain herself, "It's just, I've gotten to know quite a few foals, comes with the line of work, you understand, and so I know better than most how common unkempt wings are for them."
Green merely retracts her tongue and sits up straight, a silent signal that she's listening. Dawn fidgets, but decides to see if she can dig herself out of this hole instead of digging herself deeper. "Foals aren't exactly known for their hygiene or grooming habits as they're more focused on having fun or finding their cutie marks. Usually, when it comes to pegasus foals, it's their parents who preen and care for their wings, but yours look quite well taken care of." What she doesn't say is how often she meets pegasus foals with terribly cared for wings, and how it's usually the first thing she notices in cases or neglect.
"Thanks, I guess," Green answers. "You can thank Cozy Glow mostly, though. She helped me pick the last of my downy feathers and showed me how to use the fancy wing products she had Twilight buy her."
"Cozy Glow helps you preen your wings?" Dawn asks. "That's surprising to hear. I mean, social grooming is often reserved for family or very close friends."
"She said that if she was going to be stuck living with me, she didn't want me to be molting dirty, ugly feathers all over the place," Green explains with a shrug. "I figure she's either trying to butter me up or she's really that bored, but I'm not going to turn down the help. The matron was an earth pony, and had a bunch of foals to look after on top of that, so I never did figure out how to preen them properly. Never really cared that much, either, but Cozy obviously did, and I've gotta say I was missing out. They itch less and flying feels easier."
Dawn absorbs this information and files it away. While Cozy could have ulterior motives, wanting to help Green simply because she's growing to see her as a friend is a real possibility, and makes Dawn more confident in her reform. Just then, the sound of a door clicking open makes Dawn's ear twitch and she looks towards the hall to see a pink pegasus filly flutter into the room, mane immaculately curled and with a bright smile on her face.
The smile remains as her eyes rove hungrily over Dawn's form, but the mare's ability to read faces and body language allowed her to notice the smile lessen for a fraction of a second as Cozy looked to her forehead. She must have been hoping I was a unicorn, Dawn guesses. No doubt someone with access to magic would be far more useful in helping her escape than a mere earth pony.
Pushing this aside, she smiles in return and stands. "Cozy Glow, it's so wonderful to meet you!" As she approaches the filly, Dawn holds out a hoof, causing Cozy to flinch back in the air and her expression to flash worry for a second. When nothing bad happens, however, she smiles again and reaches out to meet it with her own.
"Golly! It's so nice to see a friendly face! The guards are always so stern and Green over there looks like she'd rather be taking a nap than doing anything else most of the time."
"Accurate," Green chimes in from her spot, accentuating the statement with a yawn.
Cozy rolls her eyes before quickly refocusing them on Dawn. "But you! Why, I can tell by looking at you that you're just a ray of sunshine, Miss..."
"New Dawn," she introduces, giving the tiny hoof a shake.
"Golly, that's a pretty name, and so fitting, too!" gushes Cozy.
"Laying it on a little thick, don't you think, Dimples?" Green teases. "You don't want to come off as desperate, even if you are."
Shooting a glare towards the other filly, Cozy snaps, "Golly, maybe I am a little desperate for good company after being stuck with you."
"Don't worry, Cozy, I don't think you're desperate," Dawn says, interrupting the foals before a fight could break out. "It's perfectly reasonable to want to interact with others. Ponies are inherently social creatures, after all."
Cozy turns back and smiles bright. "Exactly! Gee, you must be a real smart pony, huh, Ms. Dawn?"
"Well, she is a therapist, so that means she would at least have a master's degree, if not a doctorate," Green points out. "Which is it, by the way?"
Cozy's expression slowly sobers as she looks at New Dawn, and the mare answers awkwardly, "Um, I have a PhD in Counseling Psychology."
"Oh..." Cozy responds, emotionless at first, but anger quickly filling her voice. "So you're just here to try and fix me because I'm crazy, then." She scoffs, flitting back towards the hall. "In that case, you might as well just leave, because I'm not crazy!"
While Green makes a silent so-so gesture with a wing, Dawn takes a step towards Cozy. "Wait, please. I don't think you're crazy, Cozy Glow."
That gives the filly pause as she turns to look skeptically at the adult. "You don't?"
"No, I don't. I don't think you need to be fixed, either."
"Golly, then I can't figure out why a therapist would be sent here to talk to me," Cozy snarks. "Honesty really is the most ignored virtue out of the elements, isn't it?"
Dawn flinches minutely at the accusation, but rounds her shoulders and meets Cozy's gaze. "You want me to be honest with you? I will be. Yes, I was hired to be your therapist, and the belief that you need to be fixed is why I was sent here, but that doesn't mean I share that belief."
"Then what do you believe?" Cozy asks, still sounding skeptical, but curious.
"I believe that you're a very intelligent and ambitious filly with amazing potential," Dawn admits. "Potential, I think, for good, if you just try."
Cozy's brow furrows. "You expect me to believe that?" she asks, her voice slowly rising. "You expect me to believe any creature in Equestria thinks I'm good? You all just believe whatever your precious princesses tell you, and I know what they think about me! Big, bad villain, Cozy Glow! I'm sure you all threw a big party when you heard I was stopped, so don't waltz in here and lie to my face like I'm an idiot! You're not on my side! No one is!"
Dawn holds her ground as the filly screams in her face. When she's sure she's done, Dawn responds, "Green did. She took your side. She was the only one brave enough to do it, but that doesn't mean she was alone in thinking that what was done to you was wrong." Eyes dropping to the floor in guilt, she continues, "You're right about believing whatever the princesses say, to an extent. It's more like we want to believe in them, because we're afraid that they can be wrong. That's why when they are, even if we see it, we try to convince ourselves that we must be mistaken, that they know something we don't. It was different with you, though. What they did to you never sat right with me no matter how much I tried to convince myself that I just couldn't understand their reasoning. It wasn't until Green stepped forward in your defense that I was brave enough to do the same."
She takes a deep breath and looks back with determination at the stunned filly. "Tell me, Cozy. Why did you want to rule Equestria?"
It's Cozy's turn to look taken aback, but she quickly re-affixes her angry expression. "Because I would be the best! I'm smarter than Twilight Sparkle, and I'm better at making friends!"
"So you think you would be the best ruler for Equestria?" Dawn asks.
"Of course I would be!" confirms Cozy.
"So that means you believe it would be better if you were ruling. That it would be a good thing. That the citizens of Equestria would be happier with you in charge."
"Yes!"
"So you wanted to do good," Dawn states matter-of-factly. "From your perspective, you were doing the right thing to help everyone. That doesn't sound like a villain to me."
Cozy opens her mouth, but pauses, wings slowing until her hooves touch the hardwood. "That's right. I... Golly, I never thought anyone would understand that. Most ponies are too stupid to know what's good for them, and they're scared of change. That's why I had to go behind everyone's backs, because they would never have listened no matter how much sense I made if I just told them that I should rule." A smile pulls at Cozy's lip as she looks at Dawn in a new light. "Maybe you really are a smart pony, after all."
Dawn smiles, gesturing towards the couch. "I'm glad you think so. Now, would you like to continue our conversation, or should I still leave? I don't want to force you to talk to me if you don't want to."
Cozy gives her a long look, then shakes her head. "No, you can stay," she says, then looks over to Green with a pout. "But she can't be around while we talk."
Green frowns. "Huh? Why not?"
"Because I don't want you butting in with your stupid jokes every five minutes," Cozy says heatedly.
Looking offended, the other filly defends, "Hey! My jokes aren't stupid!" Cozy doesn't respond, merely narrowing her eyes instead. Dawn looks at the other filly, expression pleading silently, and Green sighs. "Fine, whatever, I'm going to go up to the guard post and hang out with the fellas. That way you two can have the living room instead of trying to squeeze into the claustrophobic mess that's Cozy's bedroom."
Eyes narrowing further at that, Green merely sticks her tongue out at Cozy before leaping into the air and lazily drifting towards the front door. Once she's gone, Cozy sighs, sagging a little, and moves to lay on the couch. "Golly, is that filly tiresome," she moans, flopping onto her back, head on the armrest. She looks over as Dawn decides to take her seat in the recently vacated chair and asks, "Hey, do you think your therapy powers could make Green less annoying?"
Dawn chuckles. "Green Hornet seems to be a very driven and stubborn filly, if what she went through to help you is any indication, so I don't think I, or any other therapist could make her change." She tilts her head and asks, "Would you really want her to, though? It's those same traits that led to her freeing you, after all."
Lips forming a thin line, Cozy stares for a few seconds then releases a puff of air, "I guess not. She's annoying, but she has her moments. Things would be even more boring around here if she just became naive like every other foal out there."
"Having someone you view as an equal to match yourself against is important for a smart filly like you, I imagine," Dawn agrees. "Speaking of other foals, why don't you tell me about your relationship with those at the Bright Side Orphanage? Were you friends with any of them?"
"Of course! I was friends with all of them. Well, except for Green, but that's because she's so stubborn. Heh, I remember this time Ruby Leaf pegged Green right in the head with a snowball because she refused to make snow ponies with the rest of us." Cozy pauses in her story telling, a strange look crossing her expression as she adds, "There must have been a piece of ice in it, because Green ended up having to get her forehead bandaged after. Golly, that's not as funny as I remember..."
And so the two ponies sit and talk about Cozy's life, Dawn listening and only giving opinions when asked. Cozy, for her part, enjoyed getting to talk about herself, glad to just have someone to chat with that didn't always make snarky comments.
Dawn will of course fail in "reforming" her, Cozy knows, but that doesn't mean she can't enjoy the company while the older mare tries.
After all, Cozy doesn't need to change. She's perfect, and no one will ever convince her otherwise. Not in a million years.