We’re Here For You, Cozy

by HenBasket

Apologies

The four fillies reluctantly started towards the train.

“Where are you four going?” Braeburn asked them. “What happened to saving your friend?”

“It’s over, cuz,” Apple Bloom replied. “They’ve found us and there’s no use running now.”

Braeburn couldn’t think of what to say next, but he felt like he had to do something. He pulled down his hat and ran off into the distance as the fillies continued their walk of shame towards the train. As they got closer, the adults ran towards the fillies and started scolding them, all talking over each other.

Overwhelmed by all the commotion, Sweetie Belle shrieked. “Shut up! Please, one at a time. We can’t listen to all of you at once.”

Twilight took a deep breath. “You’re right, Sweetie Belle. I’m sorry. However, what you four did was incredibly dangerous and immature. You shouldn’t have gone without an adult. Even then, it’s a dangerous endeavor. Cozy Glow is a very—”

“She’s hurting, Twilight,” Sweetie Belle interrupted. “Something- er, someone forced her to do that. She wants to be good, but she can’t.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow. “And how did you come to this conclusion, exactly?”

“Something changed about her, Twilight. We thought it was from her stressing about finals. She acted like she didn’t know us at times, and wanted to have sleepovers with us at others. When we tried distracting her when she was taking over the school, she- she-” At this point, Sweetie Belle broke down crying. There were just too many emotions going through her head for her to process.

“She acted like she didn’t know us,” Scootaloo picked up where Sweetie Belle left off. As she stroked her friend’s back she continued. “Also, I could have sworn there was a hint of fear in her eyes. L-like she didn’t wanna lock us in that closet.”

“Then there was the map. It called us to Tartarus,” Apple Bloom added. “And Cozy is the only one we know who’s in Tartarus. A-and then last night, we all had this dream. She was crying, Twilight.”

“Hold on a second,” Twilight inquired. “Did you all have this same dream?”

“Yes, Twilight. We did.” Diamond Tiara spoke up. “I don’t even know her and I could tell she was legitimately hurting inside. She said something about ‘him’ forcing her to do all those things.”

“You mean Tirek?” Twilight asked, confused. “She willingly talked to him.”

“I’m not so sure about that, Twilight.” Sweetie Belle said, igniting her horn and projecting the dream they had had.

Sweetie Belle struggled, the memory projection spell was a highly advanced one, and she didn’t have much practice with it. The projection was grainy, and the audio muffled. However, it was good enough for the alicorn to see Cozy’s troubles.

“I had no idea,” said Twilight. “I thought she was just bad. I never thought she might have needed help.”

“None of us did, Twi.” Applejack said, walking over and putting a hoof around the alicorn. “We were just so surprised that a little filly could do such a heinous thing, we didn’t even think to stop and figure out why.”

“I can’t help but feel like I failed her,” Twilight sighed. “She was my assistant and I didn’t even notice she was hurting.”

“No, Twilight,” Scootaloo said. “If anything, we failed her. We should have let you know when we noticed she started acting differently. But we didn’t. Also, I wanna apologize for what I said to you a few nights ago. I was upset and tired, I wasn’t thinking straight. Can you forgive me?”

“Oh, Scootaloo,” Twilight responded, nuzzling the filly, “of course I can. Now, let’s go save Cozy!”

Twilight illuminated her horn, creating a bubble around the ten ponies, and with a flash of light, they were at the gates of Tartarus.

Author's Note:

Sorry for the delay, I got caught up in my other story. As for the short chapter, I didn’t have many ideas of what to happen between the M6 and CMC making amends, and them reaching Tartarus.

Comments

[StubobNumbers]

I'm interested in the concept and I look forward to seeing where this story goes.

[TheOneWithoutAName]

Cozy being not evil but disturbed sounds interesting. Though the direction the story goes in is not really my thing to be honest. It feels like the easy way out to just have Cozy be completely innocent and be controlled by someone else. I would have preferred to see her act still like herself and that the way she acts had some deeply rooted cause. But that is just my opinion.

[HenBasket]

9912278
Yeah, I kind of lost interest in this story because I didn’t like where it was heading either. Maybe later I’ll pick it back up and see what I can do

[TheOneWithoutAName]

9912929

You could try and finish it, or try and frame the topic in a new story. It really depends how you want to do it.

A reformation like Discord's and making her abandon her ways might be the most interesting. To have her be the evil face-making filly she is, but then change for good while still keeping those traits. Starlight for example still could flip and make faces despite being reformed. Not to mention that she kept a mischievous streak.

You know, there were a few interesting lines she said at the working together villain episode. "Ponies, do what I ask them to do! It is my thing, okay!" and "I am cute and lovable!". Those frame her personality rather well. She knows that she has an adorable exterior and she thinks that alone makes her cute and lovable. And being cute and lovable means ponies have to do what she says. In her mind at least. So I imagine whatever the case was, at some point she had learned that lesson and abused her looks to get whatever she wanted. Maybe she even made it into the school like that with manipulation. Though then she struggled as friendship was a foreign thing to her. The CMC helped her then, but Cozy Glow twisted the definition of friendship as a way to gain power. Maybe she only got really ambitious after that conclusion, or at least even more ambitious than she was prior and developed the plan to come out on top as the Empress of Friendship. She is disturbed, because she doesn't realize that her entire world view is wrong. Because she doesn't understand friendship.

At least that is my analysis about Cozy Glow, in case it helps you.

[Pete100]

Why did this get cancelled?

[StubobNumbers]

This story has potential, and I hope one day you un-cancel it and continue the story.