Chapter Four: Chess
Light shined dimly into the room that Cozy Glow occupied, and as she shifted, she opened her eyes, and blinked a few times before stretching. The room was somewhat cluttered with a couple of boxes stacked on top of one another against the walls. The only window was right next to the bed, and underneath was a nightstand. On top of that was a crisply planted, purple flower. Cozy Glow got out of bed, and looked around some more. There was a closet with only a few dresses, a rather old looking makeup table for fillies, and something sitting on the ground in front of the door.
She walked passed the makeup table, and thought, "I wonder how I used to do my mane. These stupid tassels kept pulling on me, and woke me up a few times last night."
She yanked the last remaining pieces of cloth from out of her hair, and huffed while looking into the mirror. She blinked a few times at herself, and reached for the comb. A couple of knots got in her way at first, but those came loose after a few strokes forward in front, and then downwards in the back. She looked at her reflection, and felt butterflies in her stomach. "Oh, wow," she said, shaking a little. "That's, uh... m-much better."
She smiled in the mirror, and watched as a tear slid down her cheek. She hastily rubbed her eye, and fought back her sobs. Breathing, she looked back at the box sitting by itself on the floor, and came up to it slowly.
She real aloud, "Chess..."
The word rang in her ears as if she had heard it before, but that simply wasn't possible. She couldn't remember what the game was about, and as she sat, learning the basics on the back of the box, she began to find that she was bizarrely accustomed to it. She challenged herself in games, and soon, found herself in a delicate struggle for both sides.
Cozy just stood there, staring at the board with all of the little pieces on it. She blinked, pacing the floor, and then said while bringing a hoof up to her chin, "It's a complete stalemate..."
Her hoof lowered, and she sighed. She sat there for a moment longer, staring at the chess board with a curious expression. That's when the door knocked, scaring Cozy Glow, and nearly causing her to step on the board. She huffed, and said, "Yes, come in."
To her surprise, it wasn't Rarity. Instead, it was this nice looking filly with a rather interesting looking cutie mark. She didn't smile very much, and after the door closed behind her, she merely stared at Cozy Glow with unsure eyes. She looked Cozy Glow up and down, and then looked at the chess board next to her.
"Uhm," Cozy spoke up. "H-hi..." Sweetie Belle blinked after looking back at Cozy, but she still didn't say a word, so Cozy Glow decided to introduce herself. "I'm Cozy Glow." Again, there was nothing but silence. Cozy Glow then looked back at the chess pieces, and then back at the filly, and said, "You... must be Sweetie Belle."
The filly across the room almost seemed to grimace, but then, she said, "Uh, yeah, but..." Cozy gulped as Sweetie asked, "Have you really lost your memory? I mean, I heard what Twilight said, but... is that really true?" Sweetie's muzzle scrunched as she asked, "Did that really happen to you?"
Cozy's mouth opened ajar, and as she tried to find the right words, more silence fell upon the room once more. Slowly, she said, "I've, uh... been trying really hard to figure out a way to say sorry. But..."
Sweetie started approaching Cozy. "But...?"
Standing right in front of just one of the many ponies she had wronged, Cozy admitted with tears running down her face, "I..." She shook, but managed to say, "I don't... know how to say sorry for something like this! I just... don't! Something... this wrong, and it's something that I can't even remember!"
Cozy started to collapse, but Sweetie caught her while saying, "Whoa, there! It's... okay, Cozy Glow."
"No," She said, hugging back. "It's not alright." She sobbed, "N-nothing's okay with this! I'm just... so sorry, Sweetie... for trapping you in a... a closet!"
She latched onto the unicorn, and although Sweetie Belle at first had her doubts towards Cozy Glow despite what Rarity had told her, those doubts were now beginning to wither away. She patted Cozy Glow on the back, and said, "You're taking it... too harshly." Cozy Glow whispered something, but Sweetie Belle couldn't make out the words, so she asked, "Huh?"
"I just wanna be accepted, you know? Just... start over."
Sweetie Belle breathed in deeply, and pushed her dislike for the old Cozy Glow aside. "Sure," she said. Cozy Glow looked up, and into the unicorn's eyes. "Of course we can start over." She then gave the pegasus a strong hug, saying, "We can totally start over, Cozy."
This helped Cozy Glow settle down a little bit, and Sweetie even felt a few tears escape, too, so she brought the two of them napkins with her magic to wipe their eyes with. Sweetie asked Cozy, "Umm, is this chess?"
Cozy nodded, and after pulling herself together, she said, "Yep! Uh, it's, uh... just a game that I've been playing."
Sweetie looked at the whole set up, and asked, "You do know it's supposed to be a two player game, right?"
Cozy nodded with a shy expression. "Ye-yes, of course, but... I think I've gotten really good!"
Sweetie Belle said, "Well, that's cool, but... I hardly play chess, so I'd probably be a lousy challenge for you."
Cozy frowned while looking down, and said, "Oh..."
"But, uh, hey," Sweetie said in order to get Cozy's attention. "There are a lot more things to enjoy than just chess games. Have you seen the rest of my sister's shop?"
Cozy shook her head, and said, "No, just the front entrance."
Grabbing Cozy by the hoof, Sweetie Belle offered, "Why don't I give you the grand tour? I might even be able to fill you in on a few things along the way."
Cozy didn't really have time to agree, because they were already headed out of the room together.
The two fillies wandered into the backyard. Clouds overhead dimmed the setting, and as Cozy looked all around at the gates blocking her from the outside world, Sweetie Belle said, "Finally, we have my back yard! It's wide, not too much grass, and best of all... the highest fences! So, nopony except for Rarity will bother us here while we're playing. Isn't that neat?"
Cozy nodded while she walked around, and then asked, "Sweetie Belle?"
"Yes?"
Cozy hesitated, but then asked boldly, "How... long will I have to wait until other ponies forget what I've done?"
Sweetie Belle had been smiling, but after hearing that, she'd say, "Oh, well, uh..."
"Not that I think ponies just up and forget stuff all the time! What I mean is... Like, will I ever be accepted?"
Sweetie belle breathed, and looked around as it started to sprinkle. "I... think anything is possible... That is, I mean..." She gulped before continuing, "I think I'm over who you were. You... You're just not her anymore." She looking into Cozy's eyes, and said, "If I can forgive you for your misdeeds... especially considering the fact that you don't even remember any of it anymore... I don't see why anypony else would hold it against you."
Cozy nodded, and asked, "Really?"
Sweetie nodded as well, and said, "Yeah, but you've gotta continue to prove to other ponies that you've changed. That... might be hard, but I'm willing to help you. You know... we're not staying here in Canterlot, right?"
Cozy's head tilted, and she asked, "Huh?"
Sweetie nodded with closed eyes, and said, "Yeah... You see, unfortunately, my sister just told me yesterday that we'll be headed back to Ponyville in a week, but we'll be back in Canterlot sometime! You should just, uh, because we're moving, try not to get used to it here. You know?"
Cozy sighed, and said, "Okay, I suppose."
"But, hey," Sweetie Belle said reassuringly. "I've got some friends in Ponyville that'll help us clear your name! It'll, uh, just take some convincing... Probably..."
Sweetie began leading the way back into the house as it began raining, and while she was lost in thought, Cozy Glow wandered towards the stairs. She looked at Sweetie Belle to ask, "Do you wanna come up stairs with me and learn how to play chess?"
Sweetie looked up at Cozy Glow, and said, "Eh, sure, why not? I can write my letter to my friends while we play."
She came up the stairs, and after finding some paper and a pencil to write with, she'd head on back and around the corner. Sweetie also mentioned to Cozy while entering the room, "I can also tell you all about them! So, how does this work? Is it anything like checkers?"
The door started closing slowly behind the two, and Cozy Glow could be heard from down the hall asking Sweetie Belle, "What's checkers?"
Their time together pressed on quicker than Cozy would've liked, but in only a week, she, Sweetie Belle and Rarity would be leaving Canterlot behind. In that week, Cozy waited for Twilight to visit her nearly every day, but Twilight never did find the time. She even had one of her guards come and pick up the dress from Rarity's Boutique for her. Despite that depressing her, Sweetie Belle helped distract Cozy at times. On moving day, Cozy Glow felt sad to momentarily put Canterlot behind her, but at the same time, she felt curious towards what her life in Ponyville would be like.
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Did you just repost the chapter to get rid of the comments?
I just wanted to respond to some you made there about the glass window dedicated to the Trio's statue somehow being evidence that they can't possibly be released and reformed, since that argument is just bad.
Both of Discord's defeats were given windows, but his reformation wasn't, and neither was the changelings' reformation or Stygian's. Even Luna's reformation was only depicted as Nightmare Moon being beaten. So that window being there without any subsequent windows showing their release and reformation is in absolutely no way disproving the possibility that they might have gone through that.
Did you Reloaded the chapter? Saw it just a few hours before.
But this chapter reminds me of that Art where The Cmc comforts her, its From the same Author that Made the Cover of your Story. Did you know that authum blaze helps cozy in said Art too?
Did you repost the chapter only to get rid of the comments?
Im putting my old comment again i guess
While I think that the canon punishment for Cozy Glow is quite fair, because well, the attempted murder of the princess of Friendship is not a small thing, that does not prevent me from liking this story for now.
Although, one complaint I have is that Cozy Glow does not seem to be very aware of the extent of her past acts
I'm gonna quad(?) this questioning. Did you repost just to remove comments, or was something added?
9925695 9925691 9925687
Uh, yeah, I kinda did do that. Sorry for the awkward notification.
These argumentative comments, guys, are starting to stress me out.
I can't focus on the story like this, so please, can we drop the whole Cozy Glow argument, and who's right, and who's wrong? Whether the glass is this, or it's that? Like...
Seriously. Take it somewhere else.
9925702
Its okay.
9925702
Look, you have feelings, and that's fine, actually it's pretty good, but don't tease or punish your readers for your inability to ignore or moderate commentary or manage your stress on the controversial topic you chose.
9925916
I agree.
9925702
You can disable comments if it bothers you. I don't really care for argumentative comments too, but try not to let it get to you. You don't have to jump into the fray if you don't want to. Most of the time I just kinda quietly read and observe the "adventure in the comments."
I like this story a lot
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Thanks,
I'll try not to let it get to me in the future. No, I will not be disabling comments. I wasn't trying to tease or punish my readers, so sorry everyone if that's how it came across. I don't feel like I start these long conversations, by the way. I just wrote the story, but I don't think I'll be bickering about Cozy Glow in the comments anymore. I've stated my view of Cozy Glow plenty.
The last time I played chess I won. And it was all because my nephew didn’t pay attention to where my bishop was.
9926149
My last game of chess, was against my dad. He was great at it. We both had 3 pawns and one bishop (on different color's) each. I only won cause he made a mistake before I did
9927339
Nice.
You've sparked my interest. Keep going.
9925695
Have you noticed that child murderers are not given death sentence or imprisoned for life in modern, civilized world?
9925687
Discord was never reformed, he just found a new way to entertain himself.
9932950
Yes, but in my opinion equestria it is clearly not a modern society at all.
It's not like it's a bad thing tho
9916918
What do you mean "she doesn't know how to use it"? Not trying to be a dick but she seems pretty damn aware of what and how
Nice chapter for a cool story.
9935686 Well...
In that she believed that chess is literally how life worked. At least, that's what I perceived her to be doing. I don't think I ever saw her actually playing chess in the show, but correct me if I'm wrong. All it's really supposed to be is a board game, right? Treating other ponies as pawns, or pieces of a sick game that she was playing at is wrong, right? At least the way she went about it. That's what I meant.
Perhaps it wasn't that she didn't know how to use her special talent, but that she knew how to use it all too well, but ended up using it in the worst possible way. That can also be a fair perspective, I suppose.
9936163
Yup, she played chess in The Summer Sun Setback
derpicdn.net/img/view/2019/8/28/2129482.png
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Oh, shoot, look at that.
Okay, cool... Did she win?
lol
I’m glad that cozy is able to start over not remembering anything about anything
Redemption can be very hard specially what she's done even though she doesn't remember But just like sweetie Belle said just keep moving And find a way That's actually a pretty good lesson its going to be hard but she'll got there