.
Dear Cozy Glow,
I'm really happy you wrote back! For a while, I was worried you wouldn't when your letter seemed to arrive late. I'm very glad you did, because you are hurt and need help to make these nasty nightmares stop.
Cozy Glow sniffed. “Thousand points, Starlight! That was the correct answer! Cerberus, give our happy winner her prize!” Cozy Glow sneered in a sarcastic fashion as she was finished reading the line.
Unfortunately, you weren't very specific in your letter. I can tell that Moondancer's friendship offer overwhelmed you, Cozy. And the fact that you have nightmares sounds like you are afraid of accepting somepony as your friend. But I don't know why. And without knowing that, I can't tell what would make your nightmares stop...
Cozy's ears folded tightly against her head and her eyes turned desperate and pleading.
I can only make guesses what happened... There probably was a friend who was hurting you a lot one day and you lost trust in friendships because of that... Something like that has happened to me, too.
Cozy's ears went back up and her eyes began radiating an intense curiosity.
A long time ago, when I was still a filly, my friend Sunburst just left me one day after he got his cutie mark... He discovered his talent in magic and went to attend a magic school far away. And he never talked to me again since, he didn't even answer any of the letters I sent him... He was my only friend, but his magic lessons were suddenly more important than me...
Here, the writing of the letter became a little crooked, which Cozy acknowledged by raising an eyebrow.
I guess you went through something similar. I didn't become afraid of friendships, I just made a lot of wrong friends and these friendships always broke, so I need to know what exactly happened to you before I can help with the nightmares.
Cozy Glow frowned.
That's something I can't demand from you. But I think it would help you to talk about it. If you can, please tell me why you are afraid of making real friends.
No matter what you tell me, I will support you, Cozy.
XOXO
Starlight
Cozy Glow let the letter sink. The expression in her face was stoic, with a look in her eyes that hinted at deep contemplation.
Nice letter, really enjoyed this chapter.
I agree with wild stallion, well Made, Great Work!
Very interesting...
This letter from Starlight, coupled with cozy's reaction, reminds me a lot as to why I relate to Starlight while hurt for Cozy.
Perhaps, as I felt growing up and to some degree this day, Cozy felt 'unwanted', 'unsupported' and desperate for any type of attention / validation.
However, in my case and why I took to Starlight, it was looking into my own back story that helped me to figure out where all the pain was from and what I needed to do in order to make it better.
Right here, we have Cozy being hit with a "Why are you the way you are?". This is a difficult question as it took a number of years with a therapist to help me smooth out all that had brought me to where I am. Cozy is being challenged to look back on something that she has either pressed deep into her mind, or refuses to acknowledge in fear the thought of it will bring her that same degree of pain that she wishes to not ever feel again.
Sometimes our actions are simply distractions from the troubles in our lives. Some are good and others are bad. Being a filly, Cozy went for the latter believing she needed a show of power in order to get the friends and/or respect even she doesn't realize how badly she wants it. Though, unfortunately, the show never gave us a back story nor any real follow-up with the CMC, Student 6, etc. taking time for cozy.
You know, now that I think of it, where did Cozy go during Hearth's Warming? She had to have gone somewhere, right? If not, maybe she faked going someplace and wound up alone in some part of The Castle of The two sisters freezing cold until break ended?
Though we will never know. So we are left to hypothesize. I will say I am enjoying your way of bringing out a story in cozy. It is a delight to read and helps me feel some closure for her character.
10119752
I just assumed it was supposed to mean "every creature" as when written normally. That ponies woulf use it like everypony would be new to me
10083781
It looks like I have a lot of comments to catch up with here, after dealing with keeping to my deadlines. Time to get to this.....
You're welcome! If I can, I go and clear up such confusion about an episode. Because there are, by all means, more than enough things the fandom mixes up about the show and individual episodes, which often leads to nasty things.
That's one of the reasons, though, the fandom saw it more as a confirmation. Many already believed that pegasi fly with magic years before this Finale aired, even during the early seasons already. The reason for that belief is simply that many can't imagine that pegasi are able to lift their weight with such small wings. And while that theory had some credibility very early on, it became quickly disproven by the show and some time later by the official comics. The earliest example being in "Hurricane Fluttershy", with pegasi training the muscles in their wings to increase their wingpower.
But, somehow, everyone I explain that the belief that pegasi fly with magic is false ignores all the evidence or comes up with more convoluted theories that don't make sense. That is why I called it "pure stubbornness". Many in the fandom desperately cling to their old theory and to an opinion that has become redundant, because the facts we were presented with negated it long ago.
Season 9 has taught us that Celestia and Luna are able to inject their magic into such an artifact, which can then be used to move the sun and the moon. According to Starswirl, the magic of magical artifacts would vanish as the last, at the very end, and Chancellor Neighsay was still able to use his own artifact to create a portal to Canterlot.
It stands to reason that Celestia and Luna put their magic into such an artifact when the problems started.
Actually, "What Lies Beneath" is the only episode between "Marks for Effort" and the Finale that has given a cue that Cozy plans something. Not necessarily a cue that she is evil or has evil plans, but a cue that she was scheming in some way.
A rather modern belief that, one that I am not very fond of. Why does the motif of a villain always have to be known? I always preferred villains whose reasoning for reaching to power or doing what they do is unknown. Not knowing the reason makes a villain more threatening and intimidating, as the unknown is always what scares one the most. Back in older days, this was not a problem and no one complained about villains without apparent motives. It is only today that most people care more about the tragic life story of a villain, then about the threat the villain poses.
Which is a sentiment that writers of course often follow by writing villains with an understandable motif, that sometimes even makes one feel for a villain, to satisfy fanbases. I don't hate villains with a known motif, but the default belief that a villain has to have their backstory and motif told to be a good villain and that a villain who doesn't get that is a bad villain, is a harmful one, I think.
And regardless of what I just said, I can see why Cozy Glow did what she did, what her motivation is. It is implied very subtly, the motif for her actions. Of course I cannot reveal this here, as it would spoiler the story, but if one pays attention to Cozy's mannerisms in Season 8 and Season 9 and thinks a bit about her plan, it should be possible to connect the dots.
Sadly, not many in the fandom have an eye for detail, which more often than not leads to unfair accusations of episodes and a severe underestimation of the show.
This is a good theory. That was before Celestia and Luna announced their retirement plans, but it would be far from impossible that Discord already knew about it. There are plenty of ways for him to spy on Celestia and Luna and listen in on private conversations without being noticed by them.
Although, "Marks for Effort" has a visual cue that Cozy already, potentially had sinister plans right at the beginning, when she sought the help of Applebloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle. They showed her a chart with the Elements of Harmony on it while tutoring her and Cozy looked at it with a sinister and greedy glare in her eyes, while Twilight's Element got reflected by them.
This led me to the theory that she plans to get ahold of the Elements of Harmony and that she came to learn about them. And later on, that she has a problem with Twilight in particular and hates her for some reason. Her reactions after her plan failed and when she entered the Canterlot Castle throne room as an alicorn and immediately attacked Twilight also confirm this, that she has something against Twilight for a reason we don't (yet?) know.
A very good observation. Thank you for reading!
10083817
I am honestly left wondering what could possibly give you this impression of the school..... Have you watched the episodes of Season 8 with care? Alone in the very first episode that shows the friendship school, during "Friendship Always Wins", we see plenty of moments that negate your words here and that show that teaching at Twilight's school is anything but conventional.
I could point you to specific examples, but seeing your comment here gives me the feeling that it would be better if you watched Season 8 with more attention again.
10084442
Imagination can play tricks on us. It is important to always keep all aspects in mind. We might not know much about Tartarus, but we do know a lot about those who own it and administer it. Which allows us to draw conclusions about the inner organization of Tartarus.
10102970
What Vladistad said. I had no idea what is causing this problem, so I'm glad someone else could answer this.
10119804
Thank you!
Great story! I’ve never liked what happened to Cozy Glow. We never got a back story on her; I think the writers just wanted a young villain.
Looking forward to update on all your active stories.
10125258
I watched "What Lies Beneath". What ever changes were made, it is made abundantly clear that Twilight still teaches her own class in a purely academic manner, and that nearly all her students hate it. With Cozy Glow being the only exception that I noticed.
10125235
That would be a abundantly fast reaction time, given just how long it was before anyone noticed the issues. Plus the Magic available for use would be incredibly small and hard to transfer, judging by how hard it is for characters to channel it, by the time they notice the problem.
10083781
I mean they do move in the final. Maybe it's because magic is disappearing from the world, rather than merely being transferred or hijacked from any one caster, but there it is, they move all the same.
10211611
I am sure they know what happened in Cozy's life that made her become like that. They just ran out of time to tell her life story, because Hasbro was pulling the plug after nine seasons. Something that happened far too early for this show, there is more potential to explore. I hope that the official comics will eventually let us know about Cozy's past.
I am back to writing and "Letters to Cozy Glow" will update again tomorrow!
https://www.fimfiction.net/blog/910049/a-letter-from-a-neglectful-author
10331552
Twilight definitely does so. But I cannot see how you can reflect this style of teaching of hers onto the entire school. Twilight grew up with learning like that; hard studying, entire days spent with reading books, school lectures, tests, because that is how students in Celestia's school get taught, in accordance with EEA guidelines. And since Twilight got educated like that and knows school lessons and education exactly in such a way, she naturally teaches her own students in her own school in the same way. It only stands to reason that Twilight teaches her own students like she got taught in school in the past and that she has this as her teaching style.
This is only Twilight's personal style of teaching, however. Already in "School Daze", we have seen that Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rarity and Rainbow Dash have their very own style of teaching their students about friendship. Which Twilight did not allow them to do, because it was not in accordance with the EEA guidelines. She expected them to teach the students in her way and style to meet the guidelines.
Only after she turned her school into a private school, when the EEA guidelines did not apply to her school anymore, she allowed them to teach their students in their very own, personal style. And since then, we have seen in plenty of moments how they teach the friendship school students in ways that are anything but conventional.
The conventional teaching is only Twilight's style of teaching, the way she got taught in school herself. But that doesn't reflect on all the teachers of her school. I see a lot of potential for paying more attention to the Friendship School episodes in your comments, still. Season 8 and Season 9 show plenty of examples for unconventional teaching at Twilight's school that you can discover if you keep your eyes open when watching them.
10331552
Celestia and Luna had time to prepare. They already knew about the fading of magic at least half a day (if we assume that days in Equestria are also 24 hours long) before Twilight and her friends arrived in Canterlot Castle to meet up with them and before they got Starswirl's letter. Luna has, when they were in the throne room for their emergency meeting, told them: "Even raising the moon has become difficult". The moon is raised by Luna in the evening, when the night is about to begin, which means that Cozy Glow started her contraption at the evening of the previous day. So Celestia and Luna knew about everything at least 12 hours in advance.
And with having noticed that something is wrong with their own magic and the increasing reports they received from unicorns of Canterlot that their magic stops working, they eventually realized that something is sucking off the magic of at least them and all the unicorns in Canterlot before Twilight and her friends confirmed them that the same happens in Ponyville.
So they decided to use the artifact to still be able to raise the sun and moon once their magic stops working completely. 12 hours are plenty of time to both realize that their magic will eventually be gone and to transfer their magic into the artifact.
10341988
My point was more based on Twilight's example as a administrator. The other five weren't that bad all told, and maybe they did a good job; but unlike with the friendship map, or even the journal, we never actually see that influence at work.
The only mainstay examples of friendship we see at the school are the young six and it's made abundantly clear that they are friends because they bumped into each other, not because of any circularim.
Because that's what people who still have their confidence do, they make friends. Nowhere does the show establish how the school is needed to facilitate the growth of those relationships.
As far as rewatching Season's 8 and 9 I have little motivation to do so. As interesting as I found some of the characters, it doesn't change the fact that their quality is substantially less then the other seasons in terms of characterzation and likability.
Twilight alone is far more obsessive and self centered than she ever was in any of the previous seasons, and the others are only marginally better in their interactions with each other.
I just can't stand the way the show's quality fell of the wagon. Even the movie wasn't as bad, at least then Twilight wasn't freaking out about her own personal pet projects.