Diary of Twilight Sparkle
I can’t believe I didn’t think of doing this earlier, there was just so much about Cozy Glow I didn’t know. Until recently I pretty much knew nothing at all, she seems to have shown up out of nowhere at my School of Friendship, I could not think of anyone who had known her before that point. Cozy did try to conduct a ritual to drain all magic from Equestria, but why was still a mystery, did she really only do it in order to trap me and my friends in Tartarus? Somehow that felt like complete overkill. I knew she wanted to rule Equestria, but where could that desire come from? Was it perhaps that Cozy subconsciously knew she was supposed to be a princess? I was hoping to find an answer to both questions and more when I knocked on the door to Cozy’s chambers. There was a short delay before she opened the door, Cozy looked rather tired, had she been sleeping? It was currently early evening, under normal circumstances she would stay up later in this, strategizing and managing the war efforts, but she had been recently wounded, her side was still visibly bandaged, perhaps this was the reason she decided to get some rest early this evening.
“What do you want Twilight?” She said in a slightly irritated tone.
I told her that I had a couple of questions about her past, as there was a lot about her, I didn’t yet understand, things I wanted to gain a deeper understanding of. She brushed me off at first telling me:
“You had no interest in my past when you confronted me at the School of Friendship after my original scheme had fallen to pieces, and you refused to hear me out before you let Celestia, Luna and Discord turn me to stone, why do you suddenly have an interest in me now?”
From a certain point of view, she was right, I had taken very little interest in why she did the things she did, simply accepting Cozy’s surface level answer of her belief of friendship being power. I told her I realized I neglected her in the past and that they realized now there was clearly something more to her than I first thought. Cozy accepted that answer and invited me into her quarters to talk things over. Her room was not as neatly organized as mine was, but in some ways, it was similar, as Cozy and also collected quite a few books from the library to adorn her shelves, primarily books about warfare, strategy and psychology. There were also a few books about magic, but they were more rudimentary in nature compared to the grimoires I was studying. A other than her bed, there was also a table in the middle of the room, currently occupied by multiple maps and miniatures to show both the troops of Taralos and that of our enemy. As me and Cozy both took a seat by the table, she asked me what I wanted to know. I told her to start from the beginning as I knew nothing about her upbringing, where she was from and where was she raised.
Cozy told me a story of how she was raised at Sunrise orphanage in Manehattan, where she had come from before that point, she didn’t know, she didn’t think anyone did. The employees at the orphanage had told her that she was found as a baby in a nearby river and brought to Sunrise, but she had herself no memory of this. At the orphanage she had befriended another young orphan named Aurora, the very same Aurora which she had recently been reunited with. But back then, Cozy had made a fatal mistake and abandoned her friend after she made it big in the chess world after winning the annual Manehattan tournament, and Aurora ended her own life soon afterwards. I told her that if this was true, how was it that Aurora was still by her side. Her answer was perplexing, and I had more questions after than before:
“I can’t fully explain that either, but I remember I had a dream after I got wounded by Cipher the first time, a dream where I rescued Aurora from the underworld. Despite these events most likely not being real, Aurora remembered having the exact same dream and she was insistent I rescued her. I don’t know how this makes any sense, but I am not going to look a gift horse in the mouth, so to speak, I am just happy that Aurora is alive.”
I let that go for now, it didn’t make any sense, but it was obvious I wasn’t going to get anything more out of her on that topic. As Cozy continued her story, she told me that Aurora’s death drove her to desperation, when an old bully of hers, Solar Justice was found missing, with clear signs of demonic activity in his room, Cozy had investigated the matter. Her research of demonology is how she first encountered Tirek, who Cozy at the time knew as a powerful warlock, conducting a ritual that allowed her to send letters to him in Tartarus. I asked Cozy to describe the signs that were found in Solar Justice’s room, and she told me an ancient grimoire was found in his possession, as well as a pile of sulfur. Cozy was right, that did indeed point towards demonic activity, and if demons had been involved in Cozy’s life so early, what was to say that they didn’t give her a push in the wrong direction? The mere thought was quite worrying. I had to ask Cozy a question:
“Why was it you decided you had to rule Equestria as the Empress of Friendship? Why was it you became convinced that friendship was power?”
Cozy sighed and paused for a few moments before answering:
“Truth be told, I always felt like I was smarter than my peers and that most of them were unworthy of being called my equals. When most of them were busy reading simple picture books, if they were capable of reading at all, I was engrossed in classical literature, magic theory and rituals as well as advanced psychology. Even Aurora, who was definitely smarter than the rest wasn’t quite my equal. Perhaps that is why I abandoned her, believing I should find better friends, who were more on my level. Yet, when I lost her, a void filled my soul, and I couldn’t quite connect with anyone ever again the way I did with her. While I was eventually adopted by a stallion named Bishop, who was also a professional chess player, I would soon lose him as well, as he died of a terminal illness only a couple of months after he made me heir to his empire. But all that wealth couldn’t fill the hole in my soul that both Bishop and Aurora left. I did everything I could to drown out my sorrows, nothing helped, except one thing. I loved basking in the attention and admiration of others, I still do, it makes me feel big, important, and most importantly, it makes me forget about what I have lost. That is why I sought to become the ruler of Equestria, for I believed that my intelligence made me the most suitable candidate, and with such a high position, it would finally satisfy my intense hunger for admiration. I have seen how the citizens of Equestria regard you Twilight, I wanted to be you, I guess you can say that jealousy got the better of me. As for what is the root of my belief that friendship is power, you had to live under a rock not to come to that conclusion. I have heard stories of how you and your friends channeled the power of friendship against your adversaries, it made you invincible, it was a power I wanted for myself. I realized something that no other villain did, there is no connection between friendship and goodness, villains benefit from cooperation just as much as heroes, after all, with an army of loyal followers, I could become far more powerful than I ever could alone. Yet, for all my efforts at your school, I couldn’t quite form a genuine bond, the other students only liked my sugary sweet façade, not my true self. For what creature could truly love the monster I had become?”
Finally, I was starting to understand, I had also once felt like my intelligence isolated me from others. Which was why I didn’t make many friends while I still lived in Canterlot. I guess some part of me didn’t feel like other ponies would understand, as my interests were quite a lot more advanced than most of them. Of course, Celestia eventually proved me wrong, as when I moved to Ponyville I made friends from all walks of life. Applejack was just a simple farmer, yet I admired her integrity and sometimes she had wisdom that couldn’t be gleaned from books. The same principle also applies to the rest of my friends, they weren’t truly inferior to me just because they were not academics, they each had their own talents, a field I was their inferior in. For example, I could never design a dress as well as Rarity, or understand animals as well as Fluttershy, throw a party as well as Pinkie Pie, or fly as well as Rainbow Dash. I had to tell Cozy my thoughts on the matter:
“Of course you never succeeded in making friends at my school Cozy, you were never yourself and therefore the other students never got to know the true you. No amount of fake friends can match a genuine connection. A simple pretense of friendship could never give you the power you sought, only when you truly care for somepony and they care for you in return is the true power of friendship unlocked. I once thought my intelligence isolated me from other people, but I was wrong, I found friends who were willing to accept me for who I am, even though we have different interests. Most of all I think that what truly isolated you from others was your own sense of superiority. You are a smart cookie Cozy, I will give you that, but you are not the only one. I have met many academically intelligent ponies in my day, from Sunset Shimmer to Starlight and Sunburst. But academic knowledge is not the only type of intelligence, neither is strategic cunning. In fact, I consider each and every one of my friends a genius in their own field. Try to get off your high horse sometimes Cozy, and I think you will find that other people have more to offer than you think. I think you will find true friendship more fulfilling than any amount of power or adoration. Power isn’t what it’s cracked up to be, it can never fill that sense of loneliness deep inside your heart, only bonds with other creatures can.”
Cozy giggled to herself for a second before she replied to my advice:
“So I am starting to understand, when I first came to these lands, truth be told I wanted to be the ruler of Taralos, which was what made me vulnerable to Cipher’s manipulations. Once upon a time I was genuinely tempted to help him overthrow the king and put myself in his place. But this changed after I got to know Night’s Blessing, and the King as a person. Around Night’s Blessing, I felt happier than I ever did, and after I got to know the person behind the crown, found myself unwilling to betray Shining Horn’s trust like that. Truth be told, I have everything I ever wanted right now and more, I have the adoration of the people, more than one genuine friend, a loving partner and most importantly, I got Aurora back. I no longer need the crown. Despite, Cipher was only trying to use me. I think I understand what you meant with Friendship is Magic Twilight. For since I gave up on the throne, I have never been happier.”
Now it was my turn to giggle to myself, I was truly happy that Cozy finally seemed to get it. Now there was only one more bothered me:
“If you don’t mind me asking Cozy, why was it exactly that you felt the need to use that ritual to drain magic from Equestria, couldn’t you see the obviously disastrous result?”
Cozy sighed and looked down, as if in shame:
“Truth be told Twilight, the ritual was originally Tirek’s idea, when I told him that I always felt jealous of unicorns because they could perform magic and I couldn’t, he told me he knew of a way to even the playing field. He told me that the ritual wouldn’t affect the magic of friendship, so if I had the most friends in the land, I would be the most powerful source of magic in the world. Plus, it also had the upside of trapping you and your friends in Tartarus with no way to escape. But there is no guarantee that is how it would turn out would it? This thought has been eating at my mind ever since, is it possible that the ritual would actually turn Equestria into a barren wasteland? If so, Tirek most likely knew this. Why would he want such an outcome? Was it all in the name of revenge?”
I nodded as I told Cozy:
“Most likely, both Tirek and Chrysalis were driven mad by their desires for vengeance, and so was also once true of you. I guess that is why I thought you were lost on your dark path. But now I have seen that the three of you are all on a better path, even Chrysalis, she obviously cares a lot about you, as well as her new adoptive daughter, Flurry Heart, feelings I once thought were beyond her. And Tirek seems to have fondness for Chrysalis. Perhaps there was a reason the Rainbow of Light left you three deprived of your powers, but otherwise unharmed, the rainbow is known to destroy those with no goodness inside completely, or trap a villain in stone own their own, it doesn’t need help with that. I should’ve taken it as a sign that you three are not beyond redemption. I should never have allowed Discord to turn you the stone. Can you ever forgive me?”
Cozy seemed deep in thought for a moment before she answered:
“We have both done things to the other we now regret; I think it is for the best that both of us forget about our past conflicts and focus on our future. Do you want to be my friend Twilight?”
At that moment, I decided to rise from my chair and go over to Cozy and hug her. To think that I had once come to these lands to turn her back into stone, but now Cozy had become a dear friend, and more than that, she was potentially family.
“I am happy to be your friend Cozy.”