Chapter 20- Looking Forward
And so, Cozy did something that all of Twilight's many adversaries had dreamt of. Queen Chrysalis had wished for it. King Sombra had vowed it. Tirek had demanded it. But only Cozy Glow did it.
She made Twilight Sparkle beg at her hooves.
"I know I have hurt you. I know everything I have done with you has somehow turned out wrong! So if this is the last time you see me, let me at least do something right!"
Cozy opened her mouth to speak.
Her words stunned them both.
"H-help me..."
Despite Cozy sounding so desperate, so helpless, Twilight could not help but to smile. She had finally gotten through her defenses. Her friendship with Sweetie Belle was stronger than her hatred. "I will, Cozy. I promise."
"I don't even want you to…" Cozy cried silently. "I just want my friend back. But I can't apologize… I have never apologized before."
"It's not easy," Twilight said. "For an apology to be sincere you must have made a mistake, and it takes a big pony to admit that. Especially to ponies who you respect. But if you remember that they are your true friends, it will be easier. A true friend will only respect you more if you make up for your mistakes."
"Why would anypony respect somepony who makes a mistake in the first place?" Cozy grumbled. It didn't make any sense. Twilight laughed a little, causing Cozy to both glare and look uncertain.
"But Cozy… all it took for you to trust Rarity was an apology."
Cozy silenced. How… had she not seen that? It was so obvious now.
"Sometimes, you must let other ponies see you at your lowest, your most vulnerable. Because you can always trust a pony who would let you see them like that. A pony who lets you see them vulnerable or small is a pony who trusts you."
Twilight wiped away a small tear from her eye. "That's why I could beg you just now."
Cozy felt like she had just been sucker-punched. "You… you trust me!? You… you…?" She gestured vaguely towards Twilight.
"Can I tell you something?" Twilight asked. Cozy nodded. "I thought I had to lock you away in my tower. That you were a threat to Equestria that I had to contain. But when I did that, and refused to let you out even a little, I… I just made you hate me even more. If I had just trusted that your friends could do better than me and given you the benefit of the doubt, this could have been so much easier for us both."
Cozy listened and looked at her bandaged hoof. "I… still hate you. You're never going to make up for what you took from me."
"I understand you hate me, and I don't expect that to change anytime soon," Twilight said. "But… after all I have done to you, I'd like it if you gave me a chance to make it up to you. I understand I'm asking a lot, given what I have done, but..."
Cozy narrowed her eyes, but she didn't protest. Just what was Twilight thinking?
"Celestia saw a great potential in me when I took my entrance exam for the School of Gifted Unicorns. And… when I look back at the time I've known you, I will admit I have seen you accomplish more than any other pony your age. Not all things good, mind you. In fact, very few things good, but they were great things… your work with artifacts."
"They're my special talent,” Cozy admitted before she could catch herself. "Their mechanisms… how they work and stuff… it just comes to me. It's… like I just know what the metal and magic wants to become."
Twilight nodded. "I think you understand artifacts the same way I understand magic. And that's why I see a potential in you. One that I want to help nurture, any way I can."
Twilight took a deep breath. "Cozy Glow. I want you to become my personal student. I will give you materials and books to practice your skill in artifice, and in return, you will sit with me for some time every day to discuss friendship. But outside those hours you will be free to go where you please."
"And why would I do that? Maybe I'd rather hide away and plot your agonizing downfall," Cozy answered.
"But then why do you care about apologizing to Sweetie Belle?" Twilight asked. "If you just plan to leave and never see her again?"
Cozy hated that she did not have an answer.
"Besides, Cozy… I think I see the same potential in you that Celestia saw in me, and…" Twilight extended her wings. "… and alI it took for me was hard work, and great friends who had my back, and who picked me up when I failed."
Cozy stared, stunned by the implication. "Would… would you ever…?" Cozy whispered in disbelief. "Would you?"
Twilight nodded. "It's not a promise. Not at all. But if I think you deserve it, and it would make Equestria a better place…"
Cozy looked from Twilight's face to her wings and back again. Could she earn it? Could she become an alicorn by preforming feats so inspiring and so mighty that history would never ever forget them? Because that was the bare minimum if she wanted to achieve her dream.
Of course she could.
She already had.
She just had to do it again.
"We're getting ahead of ourselves," Twilight said. "Take some time to heal your injury and think of my proposal. But for the moment you still have a friend to apologize to. Come. I'm sure she is waiting."
"But… I still don't know how to apologize!" Cozy said. "You said you'd help me!"
"I have," Twilight said. "Come with me, and you will see."
Twilight magicked the door open and made an inviting gesture with her wing. Cozy cast a hesitant glance at it, but decided to play along. She would not be afraid.
Twilight let her walk first, so she went down the stairs, looking down on the floor. What should she do? What did she say? She knew all the usual platitudes she used to fake apologies, but they did not feel right anymore… For the first time ever, she wanted to mean what she said when she apologized! Twilight spoke behind her. "Sweetie Belle, your friend would like to say something."
Cozy felt like her tongue was glued to her teeth. She just stood there, at the base of the stairs. Anxiety shot through her. Sweetie Belle would hate her if she could not do this properly! But she could not get her own mouth under control! And she still didn't even know what to say! She shifted nervously on her hooves, trying to keep herself from panicking. She manipulated ponies! She hated anypony seeing her like this!
"Just say what's in your heart," Twilight whispered. Her voice was almost… kind. "Don't think about how you say it, just let it out. A friend will understand."
"I… Don't think I did wrong…" Cozy began. No! That was not a good beginning! "But… I guess you do. So… I guess I should… should… apologize and… stuff."
Not elegantly said, but at least she had gotten that far… she just had a few small words left. She knew them, but… why was it so hard? Her pride fought back, told her this was enough. Sweetie Belle knew, right? She didn't have to continue!
"I believe there is a certain word you are looking for, little miss Glow," Rarity said.
"You know it already…" Cozy whispered to herself.
"What did you say?" Sweetie Belle asked.
"You know the word my little sister wants," Rarity said.
"Don't rush her," Twilight said with a certain sharpness. It felt so strange hearing Twilight stick up for her. The young princess must be a naive fool to stick up for Cozy. So why did it warm her heart to hear?
She took a breath… but her voice fell silent on her lips. She just couldn't do it! But she had to! For her friend's sake! For her own sake! She had to do this! Somehow! She marshaled just a little bit of confidence to fight down her own pride and tried again.
"I can't bend to Twilight! It goes against everything I've done so far!"
The thought came uninvited. It felt intrusive somehow, like somepony else had thought it for her.
She felt her face contract in a grimace. How could she let such thoughts guide her? They had only led her to suffering. She had been jailed in the darkest pit in Equestria thanks to those thoughts. She had been petrified! And now her very flight was in danger! She could not think like that anymore! Her past was not today! This was a new game. She had all her pieces back, and trying to play the same way again… was not rational.
She had a new strategy now. It was unorthodox, unfamiliar to her, but it could not end much worse than last time, right?
She could try, right?
Sweetie Belle… Her friends…
Twilight…
"I'm sorry."
Redheart found them in Rarity's showroom soon after and quickly sent Cozy back to her room for more rest. Sweetie Belle followed.
"Princess, if you would?" Redheart produced a bottle of white pills from her saddlebags and fished one out. She held it in her hoof. Twilight nodded and extended her wings. Her horn began to glow. It was the same spell Celestia, Luna and Cadance had used to hide their magic from Tirek when he returned the first time. Only Twilight just removed a tiny piece of her magic, and only pegasus magic. Motes of power slipped into the pill, coloring it purple. "Good. That's enough."
Twilight nodded.
"Also…" Redheart said and picked out something else from her saddlebag. It looked like some sort of greave that a knight would wear over his hooves. It ended in a horseshoe but had a metallic casing that ran up the length of the wearer's leg. "This was requisitioned from Canterlot. It's a magic sensor for earth ponies. With this I can get a reading of her magic loss. It should give me a better understanding of just how severe the injury is, and how long it will take to heal. Keep in mind, that I still don't know if there are any other cases of a ley-break happening in a hoof, so it will still not be the whole truth."
"It's better than nothing," Twilight said. "Will you take the reading now?" Redheart nodded.
Cozy and Sweetie Belle sat on the floor, playing chess. It looked like Sweetie Belle was losing. The both of them looked up when Twilight and Redheart stepped in.
"I am going to take a reading on your magic," Redheart said. "The dampener should have left your system about now, so take some with your medicine." Redheart placed the pill on top of the bottle on her bedside table, near the rook. Cozy nodded.
"Princess, if you would help me…" Redheart said and began to put on the greave. Twilight helped her with the straps that were hard for an earth pony to reach. "Cozy, your hoof."
Redheart took Cozy's bad hoof in her left and gently caressed her injured one with the scanner. Twilight could not really see anything. Cozy too did not seem to feel anything.
It only took a few minutes. Redheart's brow creased with worry and pity. "Just what did you do, little miss Glow?"
"Is it even worse?" Cozy asked. She seemed to shrink back.
Redheart sighed. "Among the few good things to be said about leg-breaks is that they are usually small. Pony magic flows in a network all through our body, and a ley-break is a hole in that system. Somehow, your hole is much larger than anything I have seen before. Basically, if this was a horn, it would be like you had suffered a ley-break but then continued to use even more magic until you damaged it even more. It's… not really one ley-break, but a lot of them, very close to each other."
"And how long until she is cured?" Twilight asked.
"As I said, this injury is strange for me. I cannot be certain of anything."
"How long?" Cozy snapped.
Redheart looked sadly at her. "Cozy. I am terribly sorry, but I don't think you will be cured."
In the silence that followed one could hear a needle hit the floor.
"What? WHAT DID YOU SAY?!" Cozy screamed, her face contorted in a violent sneer of rage. "OF COURSE I WILL BE CURED! NOW TELL ME WHEN!!!"
"With how large the injury is… I can't see how your body can keep up with the magical loss for as long as it will take to heal."
"But then can't we just give her more magic?" Twilight asked in a more controlled manner. "My magic is much stronger than any other pony's. I could supply her with medicine for years if need be."
"The problem is not the amount of magic, it's getting it into her body," Redheart said sadly. "Ponies are not meant to receive magic through food. We can't absorb much; our bodies rejects it. We are meant to generate our own magic."
"I'LL SHOW YOU JUST HOW WRONG YOU ARE! I WILL FLY AGAIN! AND NO BAD HOOF IS GONNA STOP ME!"
"I hope so," Redheart said. "I will be back with more medicine this afternoon. I see you have not given up, and neither have I. Remember, Cozy, that magic is tied to emotions. You determination alone might well help you."
"Just leave," Cozy grumbled. "I'll show you…"
Redheart nodded silently and packed up her things. She left the room discreetly.
"You too," Cozy glared at Twilight. "I…" she swallowed. "I think I wanna be with my friend for a little."
Twilight nodded. "I understand. Just remember, than no matter how this turns out, we will all be there for you. Always."
Cozy looked stoically at the roof, deep in thought. "Did… Rumble really tell you where I was? Did he sell me out?"
Twilight startled. She had not realized that's how Cozy would see it. "No, Cozy. I asked him to tell me where you was, and he refused. He said he didn't trust me to handle you after I had let you get hurt in your escape. I asked how you were hurt, and he described your hoof to me. I recognized it as a ley-break, because I actually got a similar condition after my entrance exam with Celestia. So I told him how dangerous it could be, and then he said where you was. He is looking out for you too. He really is!"
"He still shouldn't have told," Cozy said. "Not after he knew how much I hated you."
"Friends are like that sometimes," Twilight said. "They do stupid things because they look out for you… more than you do yourself." Twilight all too clearly remembered when her friends sent her away from their trek through the Everfree Forest after Celestia and Luna vanished. "Sometimes they are right, others they are not. But you shouldn't hate them because they look out for you."
Cozy quieted. Then she nodded a little. "He's gonna owe me big for this… but I know how he'll make it up!"
Twilight understood the conversation was over and left the room. Cozy still had a much too businesslike mindset when it came to friendship, but at least she had not declined Twilight's offer yet. And if she accepted, then that mindset was something for the two of them to work on.
Still, it was Twilight's failed reformation attempts that had led to Cozy's flight being in danger in the first place. If she lost it, then Twilight would have made herself a mortal enemy, and she would absolutely deserve Cozy's hatred.
So, as Twilight closed the door, she made a promise to Cozy and to herself. "I'll help you, Cozy. Any way I can. I owe you that much, at least…"
The room was left silent, with Cozy lost in her own thoughts and Sweetie Belle not all sure how to approach. She sensed Cozy wanted to talk, but what if she just wanted to not think about it? Sweetie Belle couldn't risk poking an open wound. She looked at her friend, trying to glean some direction from her body language, but she maintained a stoic, if somewhat tense appearance.
Oh, why was it so hard to read her? Sweetie Belle shifted on her hooves.
"Thanks for apologizing," she said, at last. "It looked like it was a bit hard for you."
Cozy 'hmmed'. "I have never meant an apology before, I think. But, don't you think I'm stupid now? Since I shouldn't have told you to leave in the first place. It was... I didn't mean it. I know friends makes me stronger, so I shouldn't have said I did not want you as my friend."
Sweetie Belle smiled lightly. "I don't think you're stupid. Everypony says silly stuff when they are angry and scared. As long as you apologize properly, then it's fine. It shows you still want to be friends."
"Golly, you make it sound so easy," Cozy said. "It's like you don't even care about ponies judging you all the time. Especially when you make mistakes."
"They do?" Sweetie Belle asked. "I haven't noticed them judging me."
"Of course they do," Cozy said. "Everypony wants to feel better than others. So when somepony else fails, then they get happy about it, because then they feel like they are better than that. And when you apologize, they feel like you confirm they are better."
Sweetie Belle frowned. "I don't want my friends to fail. I help them back up when they do! And I know my other friends, my sister, and mommy and papa are the same. We look out for each other."
Cozy felled her ears. "Oh…"
"Do you like to see other ponies fail at stuff?" Sweetie Belle asked carefully. She realized the question was sensitive, but she also needed an answer. Cozy seemed to shy away ever so slightly, back into the pillows. Then she nodded a little.
Sweetie Belle sighed with a forgiving look on her face. "I think you are a few friendship lessons behind. But don't worry. I'm sure Twilight can set you straight, if you'd let her. Or… I guess I can help too."
"Twilight wants me to become her student," Cozy admitted. "But she's… I still hate her." Something flared in Cozy's eyes. A lingering ember of anger. "She took everything from me! But what if this is my only way to get it back?"
"Well, if you can, I think you should try before you hate her even more," Sweetie Belle said. "Even if you don't like her, she'd never ask you to be her student if she didn't want it. She really believes in you, Cozy!"
Cozy grumbled. "I don't believe in her." Her wings flitted on her back. "It's thanks to her I might… might…" She took a deep breath.
"She'll help you though!" Sweetie Belle hurried to say. "Twilight always comes through for her friends! And if she wants you to be her student, then you are her friend for sure!"
"I hope so," Cozy said quietly. She cringed at her own words and sighed listlessly. "Golly, to think I hope for Twilight's help… she's only ever made things worse for me."
"Not this time. Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!"
"What?" Cozy deadpanned.
"It's a Pinkie promise. Breaking a Pinkie Promise is the fastest way to lose a friend. Don't worry about a thing; Twilight will help you."
Cozy mulled it over. "If I do become her student... you'll still help me, right? With friendship, and stuff. Not that I think I need it but... but you were a good teacher back when we met. So, if I ever need some help..."
"Then you have but to ask!" Sweetie Belle said. "Friends look out for each other."
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Shouldn't Cozy hate Celestia, Luna and Discord too for what they did to her?
What can I say - another awesome chapter. I adore how Twilight puts an actual effort to help Cozy - with her magic, her friends and the relationship between them. Cozy would be an awesome personal student, she's a very ambitious filly with a great potential. I feel like the guy who is going to visit Cozy 'in person', might be responsible for some stuff that happened in the past to this poor filly. Nevertheless, it's great to not know who he is, impssible to call your story predictable!
funny, never knew that antique pony had a name. hes by far one of the least used characters in the show.
Cozy sure has some interesting connections. I wonder who "he" is. I also can't wait to see the reactions of other characters to Cozy's freedom. Twilight should really announce her reformation.
10099843
"That's 'He' with a capital H, by the way."
*Murder laser through the chest.*
Now I know who forked over the amulet to Trixie. Casually mentioning in front of Royal employee that you are the black market dealer is a smart thing to do.
10099733
To be completely honest, I'm not sure Curio is his name. In the Gameloft game he is referred to as "Curio Shopkeep", and the first time I read that I somehow thought his name was Curio. It stuck, so I decided to use it here.
10099675
Probably... but I doubt I will explore that here. Celestia and Luna are bot out of the picture, and I have never liked reformed Discord (too much Deus Ex Machina for my tastes). Don't expect to see any of them pop up in this story as more than temporary support characters.
The word to makes more sense if it's too and while I could be wrong there probably should be a space between business and like.
10102716
Fixed. And thanks for pointing out the space in businesslike. In my native language (Swedish) we nearly always combine words willy-nilly without any spaces between them, so I find myself making that mistake when writing english from time to time.
10102781
No problem. I am a native English speaker and I still don't understand all it's nuances.
Excellent chapter. The characters are really coming along well, you feel yourself wanting all parties to win or succeed at their goals and not just Cozy.
Imo it really says a lot when you don't know who to cheer for in these stories.
You've also got me curious as to whom 'He' is. It feels now like the last arc of the story is finished and a whole new story is going to unfold. Can't wait to see what direction things head in.
10104205
True. I plan on wrapping this story up soon while using these chapters to set up a cast of supporting characters/ antagonists and familiarize readers with their relationship with Cozy. But have no fear- I plan on a direct sequel to this story, just to avoid this story stretching on forever. Which role "He" gets depend a bit on the direction I take the next story in.
foreverrrrrrrrr
"Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result." - Albert Einstein
11134693
...i swear how does pinkie TE-- dont ask