Cozy Glow blinked her eyes open, the light blinding her. She felt incredibly stiff, and like something was weighing her down.
A few more blinks and her vision had come into focus.
She was back at the School of Friendship.
The school she had tried to launch her first scheme from.
Standing in front of her was none other than Starlight Glimmer, her old guidance counselor.
“Hello Cozy Glow. How are you?”
Cozy didn’t wait a second.
“Golly counselor Starlight, I would be a lot better if you took these chains off.”
“Yea. Not gonna happen.” Starlight said with an unamused expression.
Cozy scowled.
“What do you want? Why am I here?” asked Cozy.
It wasn’t like she really cared.
She was sure it had something to do with her old teachers and classmates feeling sorry for her.
A young filly trapped in stone, they probably changed their minds about keeping her locked up and wanted to give her another chance.
“Probably think I’ve learned my lesson.” She thought angrily.
“Soon I’ll be teaching them what’s what again.” She thought deviously.
Whatever was going on she had no interest.
She just wanted to begin trying to gain power again as quick as possible.
She had a lot of payback to dish out.
“Well, it’s been a year since we put you, Tirek, and Chrysalis in stone and since then we can’t help but feel bothered by having you in there. After all you’re still a young mare.”
Said Starlight as she paced in front of Cozy.
“Heh. Suckers.” Cozy thought.
She knew they were gonna try and teach her friendship again.
They just couldn’t help themselves.
“We debated back and forth to try and figure out what to do with you for months. It was a real head scratcher. After all, nopony your age has ever gotten into so much trouble.” Said Starlight as she turned back and faced Cozy again.
“But after awhile we decided it would probably be best to try and redeem you. It seemed like the right thing to do.”
Cozy Glow laughed manically internally.
This was gonna be way to easy.
“Golly, you all still believe in me after all I’ve done? You all are real friends.” Said Cozy with her sweet smile.
“Oh no. We know there’s good buried in you somewhere. Just not who you are now. No, your redemption requires some, adjustments shall we say.” Starlight said.
“What do you mean adjustments?” Ask Cozy.
“Oh, just a little reworking inside here.” Starlight said as she tapped the side of Cozy’s head.
Cozy looked at her confused.
“What in Equestria are you talking about?” Said Cozy.
“Oh, it’s really not for me to say. Sure, I would’ve liked to do this myself. Twilight, Luna, Celestia, they all wanted to be the ones to bring out the good in you. But in the end, we really felt there was someone more deserving than the rest of us.” Starlight said with a grin.
Cozy looked at her puzzled. Who could she-?
“Hello my dear.” Cozy jumped a little as none other than Discord appeared right in front of her face.
He was smiling much like Starlight was.
“I’ll leave you to it Discord. Just let us know if you need anything.” Said Starlight as she headed for the door.
“Wait! What are you planning on doing with me!?!” yelled Cozy as Starlight left, closing the door behind her.
“Oh boy. This really will be fun. You know it’s been so long since I’ve gotten to do this.” Said Discord beaming.
“Do what? What are you gonna do?” Said Cozy with a hint of nervousness.
She wasn’t scared of Starlight and her friends, but Discord was a powerful being.
One she hadn’t left on the best of terms.
“Oh, I’m so glad you asked. We’re gonna take a trip inside your head and get ride of some stuff. Just enough to make you into a good little filly.” Said Discord, patting Cozy’s head.
“What?!?” Yelled Cozy in fear.
“Oh, calm down. I’ve done this many times. You really are lucky they asked me to do this. I consider it such a treat.” Said Discord with a smile.
“Discord, I know we’ve had our differences but please don’t do this. I don’t want my mind messed with.”
“Oh, it’s much too late for that dear. My friends expect some results out of this and quite frankly I feel this is much too fun to pass up. Let’s get started, shall we?” Discord said as he rushed forward and into Cozy’s ear, sliding in with a quick slurp.
Cozy screamed as she found herself no longer in the hall she was in prior, but inside a blank white room.
Discord was beside her, and beside him was a large filing cabinet.
“Now, let’s start with the most recent, shall we?” Discord opened the top drawer and took out a manilla folder, flipping it open.
In front of her, Cozy could see her memories of her last scheme, where she, Tirek and Chrysalis tried to take over Equestria.
“You won’t be needing this.” Said Discord as he took the file and put it into a shredder that had also appeared next to him.
In a moment, the file was in bits and the memory in front of her disappeared.
Cozy felt her mind tingle slightly.
“What just happened?” Asked Cozy.
“Oh. I deleted your memory of trying to take over Equestria the last time.” Said Discord as he turned back to the file cabinet.
“That’s ridiculous! I know I tried to take over Equestria a second time!”
“Oh? Tell me about it.” Said Discord with a devious grin.
Cozy took a breath and was about to tell him how she almost defeated him and his loser friends when she found she couldn’t recall a single detail.
She had no recollection of the event at all.
“Let’s continue shall we.” Said Discord, turning back and picking up another file.
Cozy was stunned.
She really couldn’t remember.
“Ah yes. Befriending Chrysalis and Tirek. Definitely not useful.” Said Discord throwing it in the shredder.
Cozy’s mind tingled more as that memory too was forgotten.
“Please stop! I’ll be good I promise!” Cozy begged as she struggled in her chains.
She had no idea where this would end, and she didn’t wanna find out.
“Oh, look at this. Your first time trying to take over Equestria. A good try from what I heard, but still a forgettable failure.” Said Discord, tossing it into the bin.
This continued for Cozy didn’t know how long.
File after file was tossed into the shredder, erasing every one of her memories.
The time she helped ruin the Summer Sun Celebration, stealing Grogar’s bell, her time manipulating her fellow students at the School of Friendship, tricking the Cutie Mark Crusaders into tutoring her to get close to them and closer to Twilight and her friends.
These were just the beginning as she continued to plead and scream.
She thought her punishment might actually stop once Discord got to her joining the School of Friendship, but the draconequus really did have access to every last one of her memories.
Every lie, every cruel act, every double cross was quickly forgotten as fast as the shredder could tear them up.
Memories were coming up Cozy barely remembered until she saw them play out on screen.
“My my, you’ve been a naughty pony for so long. We’re back to your memories in preschool.” Said Discord, tossing in a memory of Cozy tricking her classmates into thinking one was talking about the other behind their backs so she could play with a toy that belonged to one of them.
With each memory that was deleted, the tingling in Cozy’s mind seemed to be growing stronger, the feeling washing over her with each callous memory forgotten.
She tried her hardest to fight the changes, but there was nothing her powerless self could do.
She barely paid any attention to what Discord pulled out or what played on the screen in front of her.
She just pleaded and begged for it all to stop.
And soon, it did.
Discord turned around and faced her.
“Seems we’re finally done.” He said, taking the shredded contents and dumping them in a trash can he conjured up, dumping the contents and poofing the trash can away.
Cozy stopped panicking and took note of herself.
She felt no different.
She still felt like the same pony she always was.
A filly destined for power and domination.
“Oh, thank you Mr. Discord. I feel much better now. I can’t wait to start learning friendship for real now.” Said Cozy with her trademark cute grin.
Discord burst out laughing, falling on his back in a fit.
“What’s so funny!?!” Yelled Cozy, her brow furrowing in anger.
Discord picked himself up.
“My dear, we’ve just deleted all the memories that made you the evil child spawn of Tartarus that you are. You really think this had no effect on you at all?”
“But I’m still me. I’m still here.”
Discord laughed.
“Only because I allowed you to be child. Do you know how many memories I shredded from your mind? It was all critical information that made you the monster you are. Without these memories, you mind can’t form ideas or concepts, meaning it has to go back to basics.” Discord said as he walked over and patted the filing cabinet.
"Have a look."
The cabinet became transparent, and cozy could see only a few files scattered throughout the top most drawers, with most of the bulk being at the back of the first drawer on the bottom.
“All these other memories up top have nothing to draw back on. Meaning they can’t be properly processed. They’re like make believe to your mind now. A fantasy.”
“I still don’t understand. What does that mean?” Asked Cozy, looking at Discord worryingly.
Discord smiled manically.
“It means the only memory foundations that still can be processed are very primal and primitive. Your mind is like that of a foal’s my dear, and it will have to relearn everything all over again.”
“No…” said Cozy, the reality setting in.
“Please! I’ll do anything! I don’t wanna start all over! I wanna be me!” Said Cozy, realizing there was no way out other than her tormentor’s mercy.
“I’m sorry my dear but my hands are tied. Don’t you worry though, I’ll look forward to us getting to know each other again as you progress.” Said Discord, snapping his fingers.
Magic surrounded the filing cabinet as one by one, the drawers collapsed in on each other, falling and condensing until all that remained was a leather briefcase full of folders.
A moment later, Cozy heard a loud pop ring through her ears.
Thoughts rang through her mind and disappeared quickly.
Who the creature was before her, how she got here, where she came from, who she was.
These and other thoughts flew by and vanished in rapid succession.
As words quickly turned to garbled mess, her cutie mark vanished off her flanks, and soon her comprehension itself had vanished.
Eventually, her mind settled and the young mare opened her eyes.
She was back in the hall she’d been previously, with Discord, Starlight, and their friends all standing there.
Not that she recognized any of them anymore.
“Gaba gah!” Cozy exclaimed, shoving her hoof into her mouth and sucking on it.
The sole object of her attention.
A week later saw Headmaster Starlight walking the halls of the School of Friendship, heading to check on a returning student.
Opening a door to a classroom saw a room set up a bit differently than the others.
This room was fully carpeted, and contained lots of bright colors.
Fillys and colts, many of them blank flanks ran around the room, playing while a staff pony kept an eye on them.
It was School of Friendship Daycare Center, an idea started by Starlight not long after she had taken over as Headmaster.
It was designed for younger creatures who showed early signs of friendship trouble.
She was happy to say thanks to the helpful guidance of the staff of the daycare, many students showed quick progress, and so too had their newest charge.
In the corner, surrounded by a few other foals and toddlers was none other than Cozy Glow, padded in a diaper and drooling a little as she played with a teddy bear.
A smile was on the young mare’s face, and her eyes, once red with evil malice, now shone blue like a peaceful sky.
It had been determined after Discord’s treatment Cozy Glow was left at about 6 months old developmentally, and as such required round the clock care.
The School of Friendship was only happy to accept their prodigal daughter, seeing to it she was given nothing but love, care, and affection.
Much attention was paid to the full-grown foal of course, looking for any signs of the old her that might just be waiting to come back, but it seemed like the old Cozy was really gone for good.
Starlight smiled as Cozy gave her bear to another foal who didn’t have one, such sharing seeming so far beyond her not long ago.
As she watched Cozy lay down and begin playing with her hooves, she knew they had made the right decision.
She couldn’t wait to see what kind of pony the new Cozy would be.
She turned and returned to making her rounds, gently closing the door behind her.