A child is not a sociopath. However, she clearly has a conduct disorder which can become sociopathy. Luckily, a conduct disorder can be treated. Interestingly, most children with conduct disorder do NOT seek relationships. Cozy seeks a relationship with Tirek and, to a lesser extent, Chrysalis. (Daddy and mommy substitute?) What is her deal?

(No spoilers!)

6969563

When it comes to Cozy, I honestly think she sees Tirek as a father figure. I am quite certain that her parents were never there for her and pretty much pawned her off on the Friendship School. She admires individuals with a lot of power and Tirek has a ton of it. Chrysalis? Well I don't know about that but I do think a good comedy could be written about Tirek and Chrysalis raising her as their own (whether they mere tolerated one another or more).

6969563
Is there any particular reason why children can't be sociopaths, save that doctors are reluctant to diagnose them as such?

(Then again, such terms tend to be used rather loosely anyway.)

Oh, and you should probably post an anti-spoiler notice.

6969603
Because personality in a child is not "fixed." We've all seen children who hated your guts one minute and then want to cuddle you the next...possibly at the same time!

6969606
Yes, but there are aspects of their brain that are fixed and do not diverge in adulthood. Autism, homo-and-transsexuality, various developmental disorders... if sociopathy does have a root in brain chemistry, it's surely possible to be born with it.

6969607
Possibly, but it's hard to tell with kids because their brains are fluid. Even homosexuality may have developmental factors in some cases. Narcissism, for example, is the result of childhood trauma. Eighty percent of children with conduct disorder grow out of it and even autistic kids may outgrow it.https://www.spectrumnews.org/features/deep-dive/children-who-leave-autism-behind/

6969618
Perhaps. But sociopath or not, she's a pretty wicked pony. Would take a lot to turn that around believably.

6969626
I can visualize it. Tirek betraying her-that would break her.

6969643
But for the better or the worse? I can't see her becoming more trusting after that.

6969654
Interesting point. Too bad, we don't know anything about Cozy. Is she an orphan?

6969698
Who knows? (Although if she has family, they don't seem to have intervened on her behalf when she was sent to Tartarus. At least not successfully.)

6969563
A child can't be a sociopath...but they can be psychopaths, since that's a mental condition that people are born with. However, not all psychopaths are serial killers or even criminals, but they do lack a sense of empathy.

6969703
Actually, psychopaths may be made rather than born.
(I do believe people are inherently good. Evil is a disruption, a twisting.)
https://capmh.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13034-016-0130-7

6969720
But it can happen as early as the womb, and you can't always fix it.

(It's worth a darn good try, though.)

6969720
The way I figure it sociopaths are made...while psychopaths are born. That's the distinction between the two. However, as I said, just because you're born with the psychological traits that psychopaths have, that does not mean you're inherently evil. Many people with those traits live completely ordinary legal lives with no one being the wiser that they even have those traits to begin with. However, for people with that specific brain defect, it is way easier to do something morally wrong and not feel any guilt for doing so. And if those people have to live through a rough childhood or any similar type of trauma, they can easily turn into dangerous anti-social psychopaths as a result.

6969735
Even psychopathy seems to be a result of trauma.

6969737
Though only if you have a very specific brain defect to begin with. If a person displays psychopathic behaviour without that defect, then that person is a sociopath, not a psychopath.

6969741
Where are you getting that from?

6969755
Another thread that might link well with this one has been started in the Writers Group.

The problem with Cozy is that we don't know anything, where it come, who is her family, etc. Maybe she had a bad home or maybe it's all a act because she was caught and Tirek and Chrissy are the Plan B... Even so, the punishment is too much when a pegasus filly instead of being send to be reformed is send to Tartarus, how dangerous could she be that they need to send her there?

6970123
Yeah - she deserves it, but they should still try and reform her, And even if they aren't going to, they should keep her where they can see if she's still there!

6970133
Is curious how Discord and Starlight almost did worse and nothing happened to them and they got the chance to 'reform' yet the filly that can't do magic and is a child is send to Tartarus to rot.

6970141
They apologised. Well, Starlight did - Discord didn't until they made him. Perhaps they were going to come back for Cozy in a year or so?

Perhaps... Or perhaps they were going to forget about Cozy... Discord at the beginning did not want to apologize but it was that or be turned into a statue... He even betrayed them to Tirek. Starlight even when she was 'reformed' mind controlled her friends and that was after a season running and hiding and spying and stealing a spell... Was Cozy given a chance to apologize or being reformed?

6970173
She blatantly rejected apologising when cornered, but they should have tried again later. She won't keep forever like a statue.

6970185

Even so, surely there could be a better place that Tartarus, and is not like Starlight apologized the first time, nor the second, nor the eleventh time. They could had taken Cozy somewhere else as it's not like she could do too much

6970186
Indeed. (Like jail, where she goes in my fic. Or an asylum, like in another one I read lately by ferret.)

6970207
And is curious how, if they had done that, she could not be in this moment with Grogar... You don't reform a kid by putting him in the same place as the criminal from the pen pal that give her ideas

6970318
Well yeah - that was dumb. I kind of think we're violently agreeing here...

(Grogar could have brought her from there, but he might not have if he knew it would be noticed.)

6970332
Or he could had left Cozy, maybe Cozy was a 2x1 offer, take Tirek and you have the junior cheerleader free

6970900
Maybe, but I don't think he'd have brought her if he hadn't thought she would be useful. (And she has been - just not to him.)

6971000
There is the possibility that Equestria is socially Libertarian-Ponies are allowed to live however they wish so long as they don't harm or coerce others. It's highly irregular to send a child to Tartarus, but she wanted to be with Tirek so the Princesses allowed it. We can kind of see this with the Washouts episode where no one thought about flat out forbidding Scoots to perform with the Washouts.

6971008
Putting her there at her own request? That's a whole new level of crazy. And no-one could forbid Scoots because of her unconventional guardianship situation - it was probably her aunt's vacation week.

6971011
Well, Libertarianism is a pretty crazy political system, but the Ponies do seem to have a large degree of freedom in how they live their lives. Apparently, you can even sell your friend! (Though Fluttershy could have just said "no Dash, that's insane, I'm not doing that." And we can't judge them based on our own standards.

6971021
Your friends services, if she's enough of a doormat to go along with it. And what makes you think the Washouts - Lightning Dust's team - operate strictly within the rules?

6971022
Eh, fair point. Dash did tell Scootaloo "you're your own filly" which seems to negate anyone being able to stop her-though Dash has no parental authority and may have just been expressing a personal philosophy. Seriously, why wasn't Foal Protective Services called long ago?

6971023
No idea - the setup given in The Last Crusade was a lot odder than most prior concepts. (Just about beats her sleeping in a box/the treehouse.)

To keep this vaguely on topic, do you think Cozy is an orphan?

6971026
Possibly. It's hard to say.

6971030
Both very hard and very easy to say anything about her family - depends how comfortable you are with just making stuff up. Because like Scootaloo's were a few seasons ago, they exist only by the implication of her existence. (Less so even, because Scootaloo wasn't at a boarding school.)

6971032
I have a super dark theory that she was unwanted and a result of rape. Her mother's abuse convinced her she was inherently "bad" she she just went with that.

6971034
Not impossible - not impossible at all. But after the disappointment that was Crusaders of the Lost Mark, I'm leery about blaming it on her parents.

6971080
I liked that episode.

6971081
A lot of people did. (Though I wonder if they would have still if they knew it was the bully duos last voiced appearance?) But for me, it was like Magical Mystery Cure to others - something I didn't want beautifully done. You see, I had quite liked how back in Season 2, they had showed that Diamond Tiara was a bully despite her parent. And likewise, I want Cozy to have a more-or-less loving family.

6971084
But back to Cozy, I really do have this idea she has more than a few screws loose and she's lost touch with reality. If you watch the episodes with her, it's like she's playing. I don't think it's real to her.

6971087
Well if she wasn't unhinged before Tartarus (and she probably was), she surely was after.

6971090
Nice job, Celestia.

6971092
Well, if she's never supposed to leave a tiny cage for the rest of her life, crazy isn't a negative (and might be a positive since it reduces chances of successful escape plans). Now if you were planning to actually re-integrate her into society at some point, then it's a dumb move.

6971008
Grooming or Stockholm syndrome? Either way the victim want to be with the criminal, and yet is not given
6971000
Maybe he took her just to have time, so that the Princesses could not know it was Grogar behind the scenes, maybe all of this is just to make time for his evil plan using the villains so that they look at them and not at Grogar

6971103
Could be. Kind of depends what his big plan is.