.
Cozy Glow was sitting upright in the middle of her cage. In her lap lay an envelope and she looked down at it in surprise, having just read the return address. Cozy averted her eyes from it and looked straight into the cage opposite of her.
“Golly, Tirek, look at this! We got a letter from a princess!” There was a certain cheer in her voice, but it was filled with snark.
Tirek turned his head around only begrudgingly. “You mean you got one. I have no interest in receiving letters from Equestria's princesses. Not as long as they aren't infused with their magic.” He growled and turned around to face the wall again.
“I don't think it is. But maybe they will let me out!” She answered, smiling, and took the letter into her hooves. With haste, she began ripping off the envelope. “Maybe they realized how awfully wrong it is to lock a little filly like me in a scary old cage!” There was no actual fear in her eyes as she spoke these words.
Having freed the letter inside, Cozy unfolded it and began to read.
Hello, Cozy Glow.
I am Princess Luna. But you may simply call me “Luna”. I hope you will forgive me and my sister for what we had to do. We do not like sending ponies to Tartarus but, sometimes, we need to for the safety of our kingdom.
Cozy began to laugh.”Wow, princess, only three sentences in and you already start to kiss my flank. Not that I would let you anywhere near it, but that's a really impressive talent for brown-nosing!” She lifted her right hoof and made a cheering gesture.
Though, I ensure you that I harbor no ill will towards you, young Cozy. I think we have never met before, but it's not uncommon for me to engage with foals. Since I was a filly myself, I have the ability to walk the dreams of ponies. I use it frequently to help foals like you through their nightmares.
The eyes of Cozy Glow narrowed. “You better don't dare to look there.” Her voice had become low and searing.
I have seen countless predicaments in those nightmares, horrible abominations that only the minds of the most troubled of my subjects can conceive and unspeakable things.
Cozy Glow's hooves began shaking while her eyes became slits. “I have a troubled mind?”
With this, I am able to see behind the veil of your actions. Hardly anyone is truly evil. But many ponies suffer from mental ailments that–
Cozy Glow's face got distorted in anger. Her pupils shrunk and she gritted her teeth. The letter got wrinkled as her shaking hooves tightened around the paper. She crushed her hooves together and crumpled up the letter into a small ball.
Pure hatred was emitting from her face. “So the Princess of Dreams thinks that I'm INSANE!” She craned her neck and her muscles bulged as she screamed the last word.
The enraged, mad filly raised her hoof and flung the paper ball out of her cage. It hit Tirek right on the back of his head. The centaur's eyes grew and he turned around fully. He looked at his little cellmate and squinted his eyes.
“Let's see if the Princess of Dreams will still spout INSULTS like this once she hears from ME!” She spun her head around and shot a hoof at Cerberus. “Bring me something to write,” she hissed.
Stoically, the three-headed beast took an ink bottle, some paper and a quill into its mouth and dropped the items into Cozy's cage.
The filly snatched at them and pulled them close to her. She dipped the quill into the ink bottle and put it down on the paper violently, poking a hole into it. It started moving over the paper in an aggressive tempo.
.
Before I read this, I must know: How is this a problem? Twilight and Celestia are tight, she can just ask her.
9576442
The way I imagined it for this story, Celestia says no. Twilight and her are tight, yes, which is the reason why Celestia let her into Tartarus to talk to Cozy. But she doesn't let anypony/creature else in. Such frequent visits of thirteen people is simply too high of a risk.
Tartarus is a high-security prison for Equestria's most dangerous enemies for a reason.
Maybe you should have just read the letter completely and slowly. SHort but good work, as always.
And you seemed to have a period too much at the end
Ooh! Someone is getting quite defensive. Cozy doesn't even realize how she is showing how out-of-control she is.
What I gather from her letter reactions is that there is some small part of herself that is trying to keep up an image that isn't truly hers. She's in that 'Negative Attention' phase. Perhaps her parents sent her to the school Of Friendship with hopes she would become more kind to others?
I do believe Luna is on to something as the letter certainly struck a nerve. Maybe Cozy will begin to gradually consider all that lead her to be where she is now? Maybe she really does need help? Maybe she isn't a lost cause nor destined to be eternally viewed as a villain?
This letter and reaction really makes you think about how little we know about what short life Cozy has had. Perhaps she even resents her name because she, like Diamond tiara, was forced into acting a certain way? Maybe she never felt truly 'loved' but more like a tool to be used?
Lots of possibilities to work with from here. Definitely looking forward to more. :)
9577593
It definitely would have been good for her to read it all the way to the end. But such is the power of anger.
No, that's intentional. It follows the same pattern as "everypony".
I rechecked each sentence, no, there is none with a redundant full stop.
9579927
Okay, but what is that then?
That second period after tempo.
9579829
Defensive, you could say that is Cozy's forte.
She does not realize this and I think there are a few things Cozy does not realize about herself.
I can see many good ideas and guesses in your comment. It will be a while until it all comes to light, but one thing is clear: Cozy really doesn't like Luna.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts! I enjoy reading such attempts at guessing what's going on with Cozy and hope more will join in over time. The short chapters might not look like much right now, but I will dive ever deeper into Cozy's mind here and things will get more complex in due time.
9579936
Wait, you can see this? This is actually an invisible dot that I put there to create some more distance between the text of the chapter and the Author's Notes, since one of knighty's recent updates brought it uncomfortably close to the text. I used the new color codes that were implemented a while ago for that. Since the dot is white, you shouldn't be able to see it.
Do you see this dot in the first chapter of "Dreamwalker Dash" too?
9580006
Yes, I do.
9580009
Are you using FIMFiction.net with Night Mode?
9580014
Yes, because its 2 am in Germany at the moment
9580017
That explains it then. There's nothing I can do about it, unfortunately, no matter which color I'd choose for the dot, there will always be readers who can see it, no matter if they use Night or Day Mode.
But it looks definitely better when the Author's Notes aren't creeping up on the text like that.
9580147
I see.
Wow, obnoxious little thing she is.
9581805
Indeed. She can certainly be if she wants to.
Inconceivable!
Great story so far! I love seeing Cozy be.. so much like the Cozy from the show. Very effective, with (possible) character growth.