• Published 3rd Aug 2018
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Magic on Sweet Apple Acres - Blade Star



Sequel to 'My Family and Other Equestrians'. Bones continues his life on Sweet Apple Acres. Helping the Apples' on the farm, studying magic with Twilight, and occasionally dealing with the odd, minor world ending catastrophe.

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Chapter 26 - We Need to Talk About Cozy

I found myself sitting at the dining table in my parents’ house. The four of us had decided to have a little get together, to catch up and take stock of what had happened over the last few days. It had certainly been a strange week.

Since coming to Equestria, I’ve lived through Tirek’s escape from Tartarus, a time travel incident that created multiple parallel universes and paradoxes, a second changeling incursion, the return of the Pillars of Old Equestria, and even a hostile invasion by a mentally unhinged warlord. Each one of them was a major event. But to one extent or another, I saw it coming. Or at least, when it happened, it wasn’t quite as perplexing as what had happened this week. Without a shadow of a doubt, the latest villain to try and destroy Equestria as we know it was the most left field I’d ever encountered.

I suppose I ought to give some context, and for that, we need to go back a few weeks. Remember what my mum said about this student at Twilight’s school; Cozy Glow? She thought there was something seriously off with her. At the time, I’d been a bit skeptical, but had agreed to tell Applejack about her concerns. I figured this would be just a minor incident, certainly not the near catastrophe it blew up into. To be fair though, the little demon was harder to spot that a changeling infiltrator. Anyway, I’d gone back to the farm and chatted with Applejack about it.

“So Mom’s kinda worried that there may be something seriously wrong with this filly,” I was saying to AJ as the two of us lounged outside in the pleasant, warm evening. We were relaxing out by the barn, with Winona curled up between us. Applejack stretched and thought for a moment.

“Ah’ve had Cozy Glow for a few lessons,” she said with a nod. “The filly’s pretty smart for a pony her age. But she ain’t exactly the best when it comes to graspin’ the concept of friendship.”

“How so?” I asked. Applejack frowned and brought up a few examples.

“Well, one time, when Ah was teachin’ a lesson ‘bout tellin’ the truth in a bad situation, Cozy just didn’t seem to get where Ah was comin’ from. She asked me why she couldn’t just lie to keep everypony else happy. And when Ah tried to explain to her how the truth always comes out in the end, she said ya could just spin another lie. She just didn’t seem to see how it was wrong.”

“Anythin’ else?” I asked.

“Sure, AB had a run in with her a few weeks back,” Applejack went on. “She and the Crusaders did their best to help her study for one of Twilight’s pop quizzes. She certainly had some strange ideas ‘bout harmony. Like when they asked her what the symbol for the Element of Magic was, she thought it meant control.”

I’ll admit, that got the hairs on the back of my neck to stand up. The apparent lack of empathy and the desire to control others were not normal behaviours for a filly. Even Diamond Tiara on her worst days wasn’t that bad.

“So, are she and AB friends then?” I asked, probing further. AJ scratched the back of her neck with a hind hoof, in a very dog like fashion.

“Well, sort of,” she replied. “The filly ain’t bad, she just seems not to get a few things. But she ain’t stupid neither; just wired a little different Ah guess. Actually, ya should be able to meet her yourself, Bones. Ah think AB’s havin’ her come to visit the Crusader clubhouse this weekend.” I mused and nodded.

“Maybe Ah’ll go talk to her then, AJ. Just to put my mom’s mind at rest if nothin’ else.”


Checking with Apple Bloom, I found out that she and the other Crusaders had become sort of friends with Cozy. They’d done their best to help her with her friendship lessons and, according to Apple Bloom, she had a better handle on things now. Still, a few things that Apple Bloom said threw up red flags for me. While ordinarily, a lot of Cozy’s behaviour would be written off as kids just being a little off, from what Apple Bloom told me, Cozy could actually be quite manipulative. And based on what she told me, the filly clearly knew what she was doing.

Despite this though, the filly didn’t have much trouble making friends at the school. In fact, Twilight had recently taken her on as something of an assistant to help with the day to day running of her office. Nothing serious of course, at least not back then; Twilight’s big mistake came a little later on, but the sickly sweet filly had clearly done a good job ingratiating herself toward her teachers. Even Applejack, who can spot ponies to watch out for a mile off, only had the vaguest inkling that something was amiss with her.

To try and get a better understanding, and to see if there really was anything that I needed to bring to Twilight’s attention (I wasn’t about to declare a filly a sociopath until I was positive), I decided to spend some time with Apple Bloom and the other Crusaders, and stick around when Cozy came to visit them in their clubhouse. If nothing else, it would be a chance to spend some time with Apple Bloom and her friends. I get on pretty well with Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, the latter having taken all of my Rainbow Dash merch after it came through the rift and adding it to her totally not creepy Rainbow Dash fan club shrine. And of course, they’d helped me out with understanding my cutie mark not long after their own appeared and they first opened their little consulting agency.

Heading onto one of the quietest parts of the farm, I soon found my way to their clubhouse. Originally built when Applejack was a filly, presumably by Bright Mac, the Crusaders had renovated it into their headquarters. And after they all got their cutie marks, they turned it into an office for their new role in helping ponies find and understand their cutie mark.

I found the three of them sitting on the grass outside, chatting together, along with Cozy Glow. This was the first time our paths crossed.

My first thought, honestly, was that she looked like something from one of those creepy 1950’s musicals. Her mane was done up in curly locks, complete with bows, and her face had dimples on it. While it should have looked adorable, there was something, as Mum had said, that just put me off. One thing that leapt out at me right away was her cutie mark. It was a rook, a chess piece, sometimes called a castle. The meaning, considering all that happened afterwards, was obvious. The little bitch was quite the chess master; manipulative and sneaky.

“Hey there, Cutie Mark Crusaders,” I called out as I walked up. All three of the fillies bounded over to me to say hello, while Cozy herself hung back. I got the impression that she was sizing me up.

Our eyes locked for a few moments, each one studying the other. I wasn’t quite sure what to make of her at first. Based on what Mum had told me, I was expecting shark eyes, with no emotion. But Cozy actually seemed to have quite a friendly expression. After a moment or two, she joined the Crusaders and trotted over to me.

“Hey, Bones,” Apple Bloom said, briefly hugging me around the barrel. “What brings y’all here?”

“Yeah, do you need more help with your cutie mark?” Sweetie Belle added.

“Or help with one of your magic experiments?” Scootaloo chimed in. I smiled and shook my head.

“No, nothin’ like that, you three,” I replied. “Ah just heard from Applejack that y’all had made a new friend.” I turned to Cozy. “Ah take it y’all are Cozy Glow?” The little filly nodded.

“Yes, I’m Cozy Glow,” she replied. “I’m taking a few of Professor Applejack’s courses at the School of Friendship.”

“Well, pleasure to meet ya, Cozy Glow,” I replied, extending a hoof to her. “Ah’m Blade Star, but my friends call me Bones.” The little filly shook my hoof.

“Nice to meet you, Blade Star,” she replied. Well, she was polite enough, most ponies would call me Bones after that exchange.

“So how did you meet these three honourary graduates of the School of Friendship?” I asked, referring to the degrees the Crusaders had been given by Twilight when they tried to apply to the school themselves.

That’s a point. How had Cozy gotten into the school in the first place? Shouldn’t she still be in elementary school?

“They helped me with some of my studies,” Cozy explained. “I’ve come a long way thanks to their help. Headmare Twilight even has me help out with some of the school’s activities. It’s such an honour to be attending Equestria’s first ever friendship school.”

Sweet Celestia, even her voice was cutesy and off putting. But being overly sweet didn’t equal psychopathy. So far, I hadn’t seen anything to really indicate something was amiss. And Apple Bloom is very much an old head on young shoulders; she’s quite selective about her friends. I decided to spend a bit of time with the four of them, and gather a bit more data on this filly.

“So what have y’all been up to then?” I asked curiously. Sweetie Belle explained.

“We’ve just been helping Cozy prepare for her exam next week.”

“Oh, what’s that on, then?” I asked.

“Generosity,” Cozy replied. “But I’m having a bit of trouble getting it all right. It’s a really hard subject.”

Ah, here was a chance! Psychopaths can’t understand generosity; they can’t understand friendship full stop. As they operate purely on self-interest, it makes no sense to them to be generous, unless it’s in their interests, which of course, isn’t true generosity. I watched as the three Crusaders went through some notes with Cozy. The three fillies could probably apply to be teachers themselves if it didn’t conflict with Equestria’s labour laws. While the filly seemed to grasp the idea, she seemed to struggle in applying it.

The evidence was mounting a little now. I decided to do a little practical test. In addition to any of the elements of friendship, psychopaths can’t feel empathy. They can’t put themselves in someone else’s shoes. Actually, if I remember rightly, they don’t think others feel emotions the same way they do. So, I got up from my spot on the grass and went to go inside the clubhouse for a moment.

“Hang on, you four,” I said. “Ah think there’s somethin’ in your clubhouse that might help us.”

The clubhouse is accessed by a small ramp, sort of like a chicken coop. I’ll hold off on the obvious Scootaloo joke there. It had rained not long ago, so the steps were still a little wet. It was quite easy, even with hooves, to slip and loose your footing. So that’s what I did.

I made it look real enough, it certainly hurt enough. My left foreleg slipped on the damp wood and fell forward onto my chest with a crash. I let out a fairly real, although slightly exaggerated, cry of pain.

“Ah, dammit!” I exclaimed crossly as I got back to my hooves.

Instantly, all of the Crusaders had come running over, their studies forgotten to check that I wasn’t hurt. I reassured them that I was fine, and let AB take a quick look at my leg. Cozy Glow was there too, but I’d seen all I needed to see.

When someone cries out in pain, particularly a friend or family member, we are naturally concerned and try to help stop that pain. It’s virtually instinctive. Even if we don’t run over, we still check and look, if only for a moment. We don’t want to feel pain and don’t want others to feel it either, due to empathy; we know how much it can hurt and can imagine what it feels like for somepony else.

It was only a few seconds before Cozy reacted, but there had been a definite delay. She was reacting to the Crusaders reaction, not me being in pain. She only joined them to mimic the correct reaction. When I’d cried out, she hadn’t even looked up from her work. That was pretty damning evidence. It also told me that she knew that she needed to hide her true nature, so she was a smart little filly too. I think the correct term is closet psychopath.

I figured she’d probably grow up to run a successful banking firm.


As it turned out however, while my assessment of her mental state had been mostly correct, my prediction about her future career prospects, or lack thereof, was dead wrong. Most psychopaths you see, don’t grow up to be Hannibal Lector. They often do well in business, where their lack of empathy allows them to be cut throat and get ahead of any competition. It’s only a minority that end up resorting to criminal enterprises, and even then it’s mostly males. Actually, there isn’t that much research out there on the female psychopath.

Cozy Glow though, was going to buck the trend and would soon find herself behind bars indefinitely. And unbeknownst to me, her twisted little scheme was already in motion when our paths crossed.

It all started one seemingly normal afternoon. I’d woken up that day with a minor headache. It wasn’t anything major, but it was enough to be noticeable and affect me. After breakfast, I’d gone upstairs to the bathroom and grabbed some paracetamol from the medicine cabinet. Now I’m not prone to headaches or migraines, I was well hydrated and had had a good night’s sleep the night before. So, I was a little surprised when the meds had no effect. And I was even more perplexed when the headache actually began to get worse.

I pushed through lunch, with my head still pounding. It was getting to the point that my head felt like it was filled with razor blades and being constantly shaken about. I figured if it got any worse, or if my vision started to blur, I’d have to go to the hospital, because this was no ordinary headache.

Well, for one thing, it wasn’t a headache. What I was experiencing, was a very low level, invasive magic energy drain. In other words, my magic was being extracted from me, very slowly. This wasn’t like Tirek’s escape, when it all got sucked out in one fell swoop, this was more like a leaking tap, with no way to shut it off.

Of course, I didn’t realise what was happening until it was almost too late.

I was out in the orchards with Applejack. She hadn’t felt anything herself. Had she done so, I might have suspected something was wrong. As I later learned, it was only unicorn and alicorn magic that was being removed. We were busy working our way through the orchards, side by side. As I bucked away at a tree, with my head still pounding, a couple of apples missed the mark, bounced off of the bucket meant to catch them, and landed on the soft ground.

Sighing to myself and still pushing through my headache that was now certainly a migraine, I activated my magic to pick it up. And that was when the world decided to slip out from under me.

The apple levitated a few inches, and then, my magic fizzled for a moment, before just cutting out. The apple, along with my stomach, dropped to the floor with a thud.

Now slightly alarmed, I tried again. But no matter what, I couldn’t get a levitation spell to work. My horn briefly sparked, but nothing else, and after a few tries, even that stopped working. I broke out into a cold sweat from the fear.

“Oh, by the moon,” I whispered to myself. Applejack saw that something was amiss and came over.

“Bones?” she asked. “Y’all alright, sugarcube?” Doing my best not to scream and control my breathing, I turned to AJ. I could tell be her reaction that I didn’t look too good.

“My magic’s actin up, ‘Jack,” I said. “Ah can’t even cast levitation.” AJ went white as a sheet. “Get over to Twilight’s. There’s only one son of a bitch Ah know that can do that.”

“Tirek?” Applejack asked. I nodded.

“It’s not affecting you yet. It starts with unicorns and works its way up the food chain. Get to Twilight at the school, and alert the others. Check any other unicorns ya meet. Go!”

Applejack took off in a headlong gallop towards town, leaving me on my own. The only upside was that my headache had now finally begun to ease.

I too headed off; back to the farmhouse. I had me a trump card for this situation. Not a fix if magic was being drained remotely. But it would buy me some time. The only upside was that my cutie mark was still there. My active magic was gone, but there was still something left for the moment.

Now a little more steady on my feet, I made my way back to the house. Apple Bloom was at school and Mac was at the market. Only Granny Smith was about, and luckily stayed asleep in her rocking chair as I crashed through the kitchen door and headed upstairs.

Bursting into my room, still in a cold sweat, I began to rifle through my desk, searching for the thing I needed. I spotted a glint under a few papers and quickly cast them aside. It was hard to do with something so imprecise as hooves; I expect it looked like burglars had gone through my desk. But I managed to find what I was looking for; my grandfather’s Defence Medal, now imbued with some of my reserves. It still sparkled and shimmered with the magic stored within. Artifacts obviously had some latent resistance to any kind of draining spell. We’d seen that last time with the Elements.

Digging out my confederate jacket, I pinned on the old medal and felt a brief spark of magic return to me. I breathed a sigh of relief that there was still something there. Now, if my own magic was being drained. I needed to get as much of my own magic as I could into the medal. Effectively, I’d be draining myself. But the more magic in the medal artifact, the more time I’d have to use magic to fight.

“You want my magic, Tirek, you old bastard?” I asked the empty room. “Well, ya can have it, when ya pry it from my cold, dead hooves!”

With that, I set to work. It hurt like all hell. But it worked.


Applejack obviously had to leave not long after. Twilight, Rarity, Starlight, and every other unicorn in Equestria, along with the princesses, were seeing the effects of this remote magic drain. Normal unicorns were pretty much out of magic as it was. The six of them headed up to Canterlot to consult with the princesses, but from what AJ told me, they all already suspected that Tirek was making a play of some sort.

So, leaving Starlight to keep an eye on the school, they all headed for Tartarus, via Canterlot to confirm Tirek was still in his cage.

The next three days were strange to say the least. AJ wired me from Canterlot informing me of what Starswirl had told the princesses. According to him, we had three days before the magic we needed for survival was gone for good. The last thing to go would be magical artifacts. So, I rationed what I had been able to save carefully, effectively becoming an earth pony for a few days.

It wasn’t like when I’d had my magic taken before. I was barely conscious as a result of that. This was more like...an awareness that something was missing, like having an arm amputated. As a unicorn, I used my magic for all sorts, everything from making a cup of coffee to complex spells. And now I had barely any magic left.

I also heard mutterings about the school when I ran the market stall. Despite what was going on, everyday life, for the moment at least, kept on going. Big Mac compared it to the tense three days of the Storm King’s invasion. The sun didn’t move for three days, and nopony knew what was going on in Canterlot. But the storm creatures didn’t go beyond the borders of the occupied city. The rest of Equestria, while thrown into a state of panic, was fairly unaffected.

Unlike then, the sun and moon did continue to move, albeit I could tell that the princesses were having a hard time doing it. Their innate magic would hold out that much longer, but soon enough, it too would give out.

The other news was Starlight. She’d pretty much shut herself up in the school, and I heard talk that that asshole Neighsay was skulking about. I didn’t learn until later, that almost as soon as the girls left, Starlight went MIA, only to be replaced by Neighsay, who like the idiot he was, locked up the non-pony students, thinking them responsible for magic disappearing.

Now I, and everypony else, was sure Tirek was to blame. Twilight and the others would go to Tartarus, undo whatever he was doing and get the magic back. As it turned out though, the red centaur, was more of a red herring. You see, despite his previous issues working with others, he’d managed to find an apprentice during his incarceration; none other than Cozy Glow.

That little screwed up psycho decided that the magic of friendship could be used to control. Luckily, being nine years old, her plan was far from foolproof. She planned to send all of the magic of Equestria into the Void, where it would be lost forever. And then she would somehow crown herself empress.

Yeah, magic drain or no, that was never gonna fly. Tirek’s plan in contrast was to trap Twilight and the others in Tartarus. With no magic, they had no means to open the doors to get out. But his plan, though cunning also came unstuck, as he forgot to account for dear Pinkie Pie. She gave him the old line of ‘I’m not locked in here with you, you’re locked in here with me’. That was more than enough to get Tirek to give up on his revenge strategy. Unfortunately, they only got out at the end of the third day; the loss of all magic was imminent.

But, we had a backup plan, or rather, the Tree of Harmony did. Starlight had been caught by surprise by Cozy and trapped beneath the school, where Cozy had actually managed to open a rift with Tirek’s help. The other non-pony students however, had been able to break free of their own confinement, and were able to prove to Neighsay that Cozy was to blame.

To his credit, the fool then did come to his sense. Using the last reserves of magic stored in his EEA medallion, he alerted the princesses, who travelled to Ponyville the old fashioned way, along with half the Royal Guard. The Tree of Harmony intervened, and helped to disrupt the draining spell at the last moment. Magic was returned to everypony and Cozy was promptly arrested.

So, after three days of living as an earth pony, I and every other unicorn had their magic back, and things quickly returned to normal. There was just one small problem, and that was Cozy Glow.

The little filly had shown her true colours and quite clearly had more than a couple screws loose. She fitted the profile of a psychopath down to a T. All those little mistakes she’d supposedly learned from were just fake outs. There was no way she could be reformed. So what the hay do you do with a nine year old child, who has committed a serious crime against ponydom, and who can’t be reformed? That was the question on everypony’s mind as me, my parents and Lizzie sat around the table, eating Sunday lunch.


“Tartarus?!” I exclaimed in amazement. “Ya can’t be serious!”

The four of us were sitting around the dinner table at my parents house, with Lizzie and I each perched on a dining chair. Mum had done the usual roast dinner, pork in this case, for her and Dad, and then done a vegetarian version for the two of us. I was sitting across from Dad, who’d just told us all what would become of Cozy Glow.

“I’m serious, lad,” he replied earnestly. “The sentence got handed down this morning. Cozy Glow is to be taken from the court and remanded in custody at the diarchy’s pleasure in Tartarus, where she shall remain for the rest of her natural life.”

“She’s a child though!” I argued.

“We had young offenders back home didn’t we?” Dad argued.

“She’s not even ten; that’s below the age of criminal responsibility.” Dad shook his head.

“A headshrinker talked with her beforehand. She understood that what she was doing was wrong and illegal.”

“Wouldn’t the shrinks also have told you she’s psychotic? She might understand right and wrong, but she’s certifiably nuts. She should be in an institution, not Tartarus.”

“You must have heard from Applejack and Twilight how she ‘learned’ from her previous mistakes. We put her in the loony bin, she magically gets cured six months in and then gets let out to do Celestia knows what.”

“You could argue she’s a victim too though,” Mum joined in, pausing in her own meal. “Tirek manipulated her into helping him with the promise of power.”

“Please,” Dad replied, waving a fork in the air dismissively. “Tirek’s plan was scorched earth. I went down there to talk with him myself. He knew that even if Cozy succeeded, there was no way he was ever getting out.” Lizzie then jumped in.

“Hey, Dad,” she said. “What did you do to your hand? Your knuckles are all cut up.”

I glanced over and saw that she was right. The knuckles of his right hand were all bruised, with small cuts and redness on the skin. He took a look at the injury for a moment before answering.

“Oh, I accidentally closed a drawer in my office on it. Nothing for you to worry about, sweetie.”

You’d think as a lawyer, he’d know how to lie a little better. Still, no point kicking up a fuss, and I have no problem with Tirek having his face rearranged. Maybe he’d finally learn that stealing magic was wrong.

“So how bad is the fallout in court then?” I asked. "Ah figure there’s plenty of ponies who won’t be happy that a little filly’s goin’ to jail.”

Setting down his utensils, Dad took a breath and paused for a moment before looking across the table at me.

“Do you remember the Bulger case from back home, Bones?” he asked curiously. The name was familiar to me, as it was to most people. You don’t easily forget one of the most horrifying crimes of modern times. So I nodded.

“Two ten year old lads led little Jamie Bulger away from his mum when they were at a shopping centre in Bootle. The police found his body, horribly mutilated two and a half miles away a couple days later, down by a river.” Mum now interjected.

“Roger, we’re trying to have lunch here,” she said, but Dad ignored her.

“They’d thrown paint in his eyes, kicked and stamped on his head, thrown bricks and stones at him, and even put batteries into his mouth and rear end, before dropping a 22 pound railway fishplate on his head. You show me a single mother in the land that wasn’t begging the judge to give them both the rope. In the end, they both got sent down until they were eighteen, and they both now live with new identities on life licence. Both of those things were for their own safety. You sent those kids home, they’d be dead in a week. I’m sure there’s plenty of people today that would like to see them rot.”

“So we’re throwing Cozy in jail to stop her being murdered? C’mon Dad, ponies aren’t like that. We forgave a mare who turned the princesses to stone, another that nearly destroyed Equestria and all time and space, and even your mentally deranged best friend. Why is Cozy any different?”

“Simple,” Dad replied. “She won’t reform, not can’t, won’t. Tempest, Starlight, Discord, Luna; they all saw the error of their ways. Cozy doesn’t. The only thing we can do is lock her up.” The mention of my friend and mentor got my hackles up, but he had a point.

“Why Tartarus though?” Mum asked. “Why not some dungeon, or special school? She’s nuts, not a monster.”

“It’s the most secure prison in Equestria,” Dad replied. “She's still fully intent on her ridiculous plan to rule Equestria. It may be a delusion, but that doesn’t stop her from being dangerous.”

“It makes you think though,” Mum said, speaking as a teacher. “How she got like that in the first place. I mean, how does a nine year old filly come to such a warped world view. From what I understand, she thought that way even before she got in touch with Tirek. This whole thing was the result of a long build up somepony ought to have clocked a lot sooner.”

“Now that, we can agree on,” Dad said with a nod. “I do in a way feel sorry for the filly. Something made her that way. And I intend to find out what. I’m heading down to speak with her parents tomorrow. If nothing else I need to prepare them for the media shitshow that’s coming their way.”

“Roger, language!” Mum barked.

“Sorry, dear,” he said apologetically, going back to his lunch.

After that, our conversation turned to somewhat safer territory. I was still surprised by the idea of Cozy being sent down to Tartarus. But on the other hoof, I could see Dad’s point of view. Prison, even back on Earth, was meant to reform at the end of the day. If a prisoner would not or could not reform, what did you do with them. The only options were to lock them away or kill them. You saw the same problem with violent sexual offenders, paedophiles, and the like. They couldn’t change what they were, and would always remain a threat to society.

If memory serves, the two kids convicted of killing Jamie Bulger were let out when they were eighteen. On the one hoof, one of them, living under a new identity, had completely reformed and could very well be just another stranger on the street. The other was a classic product of the system, repeatedly in and out of prison for possession of indecent images, as well as blowing his various identities. He’d not reoffended as seriously as before, but he was still a threat.

In contrast to Great Britain though, Equestria did still permit life imprisonment in the literal sense of the word. And let’s be blunt, Cozy would continue to scheme and plot if she was released. Any ‘reformation’ could be another ploy. Perhaps in time she may become reformed truly, with the right treatment, but for the time being, Tartarus was the best place for her.

Still, at the end of the day, you were putting a nine year old filly in a box and throwing away the key. That never looks good in the headlines.

But, as is so often the case, it wasn’t my call. I am just an apple farmer after all. I guess having watched the show for all those years, I sometimes want to inject myself into the story more than I should. The only one who could have any effect on Cozy’s fate was Cozy herself.


After an enjoyable lunch, I spent a bit of time with my parents and little sister before heading back to the farm. It was early evening by now, and the sun was barely cresting the horizon. I figured I had another hour or so of daylight. I’d promised Applejack that I’d fix that broken water pump too.

As I was walking along, somewhat lost in my thoughts, I became aware of the sound of wingbeats close at hoof. For a brief second, I feared Derpy might be flying low again and prepared to hit the deck. But I soon realised from the slow, steady wingbeats, that their owner was a tad larger than your average pegasus. Pausing in my journey, I turned around and saw the dark blue figure of Luna just coming in to land a few yards away. The night alicorn touched down gracefully and folded her swan like wings to her side. I quickly trotted over to her.

“Luna!” I greeted brightly, allowing the alicorn to wrap a wing around me in a half hug. “What bring you down this way?”

“Why you, dear Blade Star,” she replied kindly. “I had just come to visit Twilight Sparkle and went to speak with your father about recent events. He told me of your opposition to imprisoning Cozy Glow.”

“She’s a child, Luna,” I said sadly. “A really messed up child, but a child nonetheless. Jail isn’t the place for her, much less Tartarus” Luna smiled as she walked alongside me.

“Not so long ago, I believe you would have thought it a perfectly reasonable course of action,” she replied.

“It makes sense,” I answered, looking up at her. “But it doesn’t feel right.” The alicorn smiled.

“Your viewpoint is an admirable one,” Luna said. “It makes me proud to see how far you have come since we spoke at the award ceremony not so long ago.”

That made my chest swell up with more than a bit of pride. Particularly as, unlike before, I hadn’t fallen back into old habits. Luna continued.

“Once upon a time, you sought simply vengeance for those who had wronged you, and those you care for. Now you seem to be guided more by a sense of justice. While Cozy has done wrong, and committed a horrible crime, you are still able to see the filly within, not just a monster. Despite all she has done, you still look to help. I find that most satisfying.”

Ah, if Luna had a Vulcan quality, it was how difficult it was to earn praise. Coming from her, satisfactory was a very high mark.

“It feels better too,” I replied. “Before, when something like this happened, my head would be swirling for days. Heck, you remember how Ah was after the Storm King’s attack.”

“Indeed I do. And yet despite the trauma of almost losing your magic, you have slept quite soundly these past few nights.”

We were now coming up on the border of Sweet Apple Acres. The stately alicorn beside me came to a stop, prompting me to stop as well.

“So is this the part where you take me the astral plane and give me a pair of wings?” I asked jokingly. Luna giggled.

“Not quite, Blade Star,” Luna replied. “Although it would be nice to have a male alicorn around for a change.” She flashed her own teasing smile at me, making me blush. “Now, I just wished to say how proud I am of you. You listened to my advice, and you truly heeded it, becoming a better pony as a result.” I smiled.

“Sometimes, these days, I feel more pony than human.”

“Is that such a bad thing?” Luna asked mysteriously.

Then, without warning, the alicorn opened her wings and took off into the evening sky, vanishing a few moments later in a teleport.

Heading up the lane, I soon found myself back at the farmhouse, pleasant and inviting as ever. From the smell of home cooking, I could tell that Granny Smith was just setting out an early supper. I put on a burst of speed lest Big Mac wolf down my share again. Once again, I returned to my new idyllic life here in Equestria.

Author's Note:

Proofread by Sweetolebob18.

So, the title of this chapter reference the book and film 'We Need to Talk About Kevin'. I got partly inspired by my dad (the real Roger) when we were talking about the Bulger case. He's currently doing his PhD in Law, and his dissertation is on youth offending and punishments. While Cozy is clearly evil, you have to wonder how she got that way. How did she come to such a warped view where friendship equalled power? What do you do when someone can't be reformed? I had a go at looking into this in this last proper chapter.

What do you guys think? Is Tartarus the best place for Cozy Glow, or might there be an alternative?

Anyway, join me next week for the epilogue. After that I'm going to start drafting my new story idea; a follow up and sequel to 'Tales From Day Court', which I consider by far my best work.