The Price of Salt
A god breezed down to the cracked transom of a lone ship, parting the fog on his descent.
The decrepit deck dusted with lacquer flakes bore the bite of brine and the trace of gone seagulls. Not a soul to bear; only a small pegasus who sat sullen by a tipped-over bucket, her eyes cast low behind a sodden, ice-blue mane.
A discarded sponge sat nearby, soaking up a pungent puddle—as much as it could handle—leaving the rest to pool and claw at the filly’s hinds and the tips of her wings.
Undisturbed, she observed her bleached hooves with poise, if not in a fugue. With the pink of her coat long gone and dark rings painting the contours of her eyes, she was but a shadow of a foal. And to Discord, a ghastly sight.
“Hello,” the tiny pegasus said without a glance, “lackey.”
“Hello, Cozy,” Discord replied. He swallowed the knot in his throat as he hopped off the stern and landed without a thud on the shoddy wooden floor. “How... have you been doing lately?”
“Golly, like a kid trapped in a stone, really,” she said, playing with the tip of her hoof against the sponge wobbling at her whims. “You know: fine. As you may see… Now, why are you here?”
“I–” A sigh. Discord looked up past the sailless, wind-starved mast. Noon’s silvery sun shone in the middle of the alabaster sky. It granted no warmth, yet its cruel rays gnawed at the boat, the jet-black ocean extending to the blurred horizon, and Cozy Glow in the middle of it all. “I’ve come to keep you company.”
“Ah!” She laughed and slumped in the puddle of bleach. She lifted her head, glanced at Discord, and fell back again to roll with manic glee. “What a goat you are. How's life...? Don’t you have a pony friend to smooch? Or am I more interesting? What’s her name anyways, Flutter-something? I’d come up with a pun but that’d be too gentle.”
Like a bedcover tucked too short, her thirsty, cracked lips couldn’t mouth a smile, pout, or scowl, instead only baring yellowed teeth.
Discord kept silent, and Cozy pulled herself back to her haunches. She hammered her forehooves between her legs and snarled. She earned that same silence again.
Discord stood still, sometimes breaking immobility with a lick of his lonely canine. He hated them, those stand-offs where words grazed and stabbed like bullets. He’d promised Fluttershy that he would not draw first, once upon a time.
"I appreciate your resolve, Cozy,” Discord said, walking away to sit on the starboard rail. “When I was hitting this milestone in my imprisonment, I pretty much gave up."
Cozy stopped growling. She stood rigid as he turned around and met her fiery gaze.
“Are they gloating at me?” she seethed, suckling erratic breaths. “Did you let me rot in the gardens, hidden far away where I wouldn’t be seen? I’m sure my only visitors are pigeons these days.”
“What are you doing all alone?” he asked, never breaking away from her reddened, glassy eyes.
“What do you mean, alone?” she said, her words ending in a raspy breath. She rolled over and stood on her shaky legs, head facing away and wings snapped shut. “You and those two stupid alicorns trapped me here...
“You made me alone,” she continued, her voice strained and her breath heavy. “I was so close to winning over Equestria and wielding the power of friendship. You even helped us, me, to do that... if for a moment.” Her face snapped towards him with pinprick pupils and wrinkles creasing the sides of her eyes. “Why even pull that Grogar stunt? Did you want to see us fail that much?
Her expression softened, her irises grew thin, and her voice mellowed after a short, restful sigh. “Cruel Discord. A shameless monster who robbed a kid’s life, a traitor who jailed a filly looking to make some friends. And he dares to call himself a ponies’ friend.”
Discord crooked over, wings and fur shuddering under an absent wind. Cozy’s childish tone tugged at his soul, but he’d learned to know better. It took time.
“I wanted for this story to have a happy ending, Cozy.” Discord lifted his arm to his chest, as if for protection, when she took a first step towards him. He knew the pegasus’ words hid daggers that left festering wounds that hardly scarred. “You made it… You’re making it so hard.”
“Well, seems that you got what you wanted,” Cozy spat, then winced as she stretched a rigid wing to retrieve the sponge. “If you’re not happy, tough luck, you big ugly. You got your ending. All your little pony gang did. Every stupid pony did. Except me.”
“Happier… ending. I mea–”
“I’m not locked in here just so I can listen to your ramblings, Discord.” She pulled the bucket upright and kneeled, and her voice cracked and wound down to a whisper. “Leave me alone.”
She dropped the sponge in the puddle below her and squashed it under her dirty hoof. As she lifted it, the sponge gorged itself on the bleach. She quickly lowered her head and bit.
She coughed, rasped and spat, battling against the burning taste. Transferring the acrid liquid was a long and messy process, but she kept going. Discord’s throat tightened at each of Cozy's back and forth. After a moment, she returned the sponge under her wing and sniffled, burnt cheeks puffed with tears.
“I’m sure you’ve become worse than the two sisters—mellow, weak, complacent,” she said in a near muffled snarl. “I hope they’re doing well, by the way.”
Discord chuckled, but it wasn’t laughter that rumbled in his chest, only pain—the daughter of past mistakes. “You know, it’s funny. Twilight once told me she ‘entertained’ the idea you were a dwarf who tried to pass as a foal, just to get into the Academy of Friendship.”
“Academy?”
“It’s much bigger now.”
Cozy stood rooted, eyes wide, and Discord snapped his shut for a moment. His expression only turned into a frown at Cozy’s lack of answers, or invectives rather.
She’d turned away and walked to the ship’s opposite side, and now focused on dumping the contents of the bucket into the sea. When she set the bucket back onto the deck, it was still filled.
Discord’s frown creased further and he stood up to get a view of the bucket. Soapy water had replaced the bleach.
Cozy kicked the bucket and splattered its bubbling water onto the deck. Reeking soap seeped through the many wooden cracks, carrying away with it much of the grim that encrusted the floor. She lowered to her knees and, with the sponge firmly held in her teeth, traced long scrubbing lines.
“How many times have you cleaned this boat, Cozy?” Discord asked, taking a tentative few steps forward.
“I don’t know,” Cozy said, scraping at a few resisting patches of salt rooted in the wooden layers.
“Why do you have to?” He stepped on a couple of large bubbles that hugged his cloven hoof, before popping like balloons.
“I don’t know.” Cozy flicked the sponge in his direction, splattering him with brackish droplets. “Stop messing with my work!”
Discord took a step back and drew ina quick breath that tasted like sea and lather. “Is it the smell?” He looked around at the shredded ropes still tied to the cord holders. “This boat is old and rotten.”
“It stinks, but it’s not that.”
“This boat needs to find its way to a drydock.”
She lobbed the sponge at him.
“You really think I’m that stupid!” Cozy called. She sniffled, the sponge already and magically back at her side. She wiped her cheek, shoving away the few prickling tears tracing paths down her salt-matted fur. “You can’t teach me lessons with stupid metaphors. I know this place is a punishment, and trying to sound like a princess… that doesn’t work for you.”
“I’m not making this dream up.” Discord motioned around at the boat, the mast, the sky, and her. “You are.”
She jerked upright and slammed her hoof against the sponge, squishing out its goopy, grey water.
“I just… have to do it, okay!?” She shook from head to hooves. Her eyes darted in all directions for a moment, then dwelled on the few disheveled locks of mane glued to her forehead. “Stop trying.”
She dropped to her haunches and pressed the longest clump of her mane between her hooves. She pulled and ripped it away.
Discord gasped and flew to put his claw on her shoulder. She was cold, smelled, and her fur, thin and sparse, revealed a mangy skin. “Cozy.”
“This place feels wrong,” she said. A garbled hiccup wracked her and she coughed heavily for a few long seconds. “if I don’t do something, do the work, something bad is going to happen. I don’t… I need to clean the deck upstairs before going to the lower levels.”
Discord looked around for an access to those underdecks. “I don’t see stairs.”
“I know, right.” She chuckled and wiped the sliver of saliva rolling down her split lips. “This place works off stereotypes. And I hate it. Magic punishments aren’t that original. I shouldn’t have expected any less, really. I’m just the tiny filly who hurts ponies real bad—” she tapped her hoof against the ship’s wood “—and has no soul or depth.”
“Do you feel like you’ve hurt ponies?”
Cozy huffed and sat down. “Of course, I did. Wha– who do you think I am? I’m not blind.”
“So why did yo–”
“Because you always have to hurt something to get ahead.” She heaved, and shouted the same words again. Closing her eyes, she hunched over and Discord could only see her back rise and fall with each of her difficult breaths. “You can’t please everypony.”
“Ponies are not… some things.” Discord scratched the scruff of his neck and kneeled to meet her at eye-level. “Did you try to satisfy anypony else than you?”
“I wanted to be... loved?” Cozy said, glancing away to hide the glimmering in her eyes. “If I’m big and strong and show I did it all by myself… not by some gifts given to me by other ponies. Ponies could only love me, right?”
Discord’s sigh broke into a smile. His old self would’ve been sarcastic to the point of jest.
“The stone isn’t designed for ponies,” Discord said, looking up at the silver sun slowly lowering in its afternoon stride. “They’re not strong enough.”
“Are you saying I’m weak,” Cozy spat, baring teeth.
“No, no,” Discord quickly corrected, waving a paw. “Ponies can’t handle the isolation. It doesn’t matter who you are Cozy. You’re still a pony.”
“That sounds like an insult.”
“Until I met a very special pony, I’d have agreed.” Discord chortled. “I know better now.”
Gods didn’t age. That’s why he could handle loneliness. Cozy didn’t have that privilege.
“Why aren’t you flying off?” Cozy asked, grabbing the sponge and resuming her work. “Or throwing confettis or making stupid things happen.”
“I... can’t,” Discord said, scratching his pointy chin. “Not in here, at least. This is your dream. I’m just a visitor and I’m no Luna.”
“Why isn’t she coming?” She swallowed. “Why you and not her?”
“She can’t come here.”
“If this is a dream, does it mean I can do whatever I want?” Her head turned to him. Shadows cast over her eyes behind the remaining icy curls that caught the cold sunlight. “Even... hurt you?”
Discord retreated to the starboard. His heart wrenched and his guts grew cold and hollow the whole way to the railing. His back hit the wood and he closed his eyes. Taking a deep breath, he smelled the sea spray and the stink of the old wood, listening to the short-lived silence broken only by slow, steady hoofsteps.
“I’ve got so many things on my mind,” she said, puffing out a shaky stream of air. “So many ways to make you pay.”
Discord opened an eye. She was staring, so small and yet scary. She took a step forward and Discord grimaced. He would have jumped overboard if it had been real water.
“But no,” Cozy said. She took in her empty hooves and glanced back at the sponge behind her. She let out a single chuckle and her lips curled further up her sick, white gums. “I’m tired.”
“Cozy, I–”
She slammed her hoof against the deck.
“Why aren’t you telling me about the outside!?” she screamed. “You mentioned Twilight, Luna, some… Academy? You got your carrot. Dangle it now. Come on, do it, mock me. Stop being so evasive!” She fell to her haunches and convulsed into a fetal position. “What is there for you to hide anyway? Am I forgotten? Thrown away. You came here to torment me, didn’t you?”
“No, I–”
“Get out!” she bellowed, tucking her head between her quivering legs. “I’m alone. Alone! Alone!!! Leave me be. I don’t need someone like you.”
“You need somepony,” Discord said. “And right now, it can only be me.”
“Go back to your little pegasus!” she wailed, shaking violently from her snout to the tip of her bristling wings. “Why would you waste your time with little ol’, poor me!”
Her eyes welled up and tears ran over her cheeks, dotting the deck with dark spots that soaked salt or mixed with the patches of bleach-mixed soap.
“You never learn, Cozy.”
“You’ve never been a teacher.”
Discord plopped down and laid back against the starboard’s railing. His claws rummaged behind his back, pulling out a long bone pipe that lit up with a choking smell. He threw a burnt match over his shoulder and took a few puffs.
“You’re a piece of work, Cozy,” Discord said. “I hope you know that. I’d have dropped out long ago but I…” He shook his head. “I guess even gods can change.”
“We’re not in my dream to listen to your soul-searching,” she said with eyes clenched shut.
Cozy suckled air in, wiped her brow, and opened her eyes. They glared fire, but not at Discord. They only stared at the empty space in front of her. Slowly, her shaking stopped, her breathing evened, and silence took hold of the ship.
“How long has it been?” Cozy asked, half a gargle, half a cough, as if a rope tightened around her neck. “Two weeks, six months? A couple of years…?”
Discord didn’t utter a word and she jumped, tumbling towards him, only turning back to snatch the sponge from the ground and tuck under her wing. She squinted her tears away and punched Discord’s cloven leg.
“How long have I been here?” she demanded. “Answer me! P–please.”
Discord held his breath for a time and made contact with Cozy’s jittery eyes, before finally caving.
“Three hundred years,” he said. “I’ve been by your side for that long as well. But you’re the same stupid, brash, angry, spiteful, venomous brat. You never remember any of my visits. You’ve never learned. You’re just the same filly, on that boat, alone, wasting away.”
“No, that’s not–”
“Hear me out,” Discord growled, cutting her off.
“No! You’re telling me it’s been hundreds of years! All the ponies I know are gone! My parents are gone! Everything I’ve worked for is gone! And I am still here!” Sobs left cracks in her voice and heavy tears tumbled down her cheeks. “And I’m still here… Why?”
“Because guilt doesn’t go away with time. You can’t outlive your misdeeds.”
“I want to go home, Discord.” She looked up and her teary eyes, red with salt and the sea spray, bore at him. She buried her face against his leg. “Bring me home, please. Bring me home.”
“I can’t.” Discord took a deep breath, readying himself for another explosion of hers. But it never came. Cozy simply looked down at her hooves as she scraped at the wood beneath her. “Not right now.” He crooked his claw, lifting her chin with it, and smiled. “But there’s hope.”
“There is?”
“Even gods can change, I told you.”
She chuckled and shook her head, smirking. “I’m not a goddess.”
“Maybe not,” he said. “But today’s different. And maybe even you can change.”
“How so?”
“This was the first time you didn’t attack me when you had the opportunity.”
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I suppose death by psychological erosion could be considered a change...
I love the subtlety of this story. It slowly builds on a mystery that we're fairly certain a significant time has passed, and manages to handle a timeskip with grace and a little pain.
9938887
Thanks!
The author of this story is a cute.
Nice :)
9939428
Thank you!
What can change a pony? Regret.
9939642
Yes. It definitely can!
Well fuck that hit me like a freight train
Nice short little fic you got here. I like how discord has to take up what his friends once did and even though he's no good at it he's still trying. I honestly feel bad for both Discord and Cozy.
I would love to see a sequel to this cozy glow being slightly insane after being freed would be an interesting story to read and with Discord finding and helping her after noticing that something's wrong
That was something else... didn't expect that. Older and wizened Discord feels pretty real, as does the dream-prison. Well done.
9939735
9939754
Thank you for the kind words!
We never actually learned Cozy Glow's origins, or what she really is. If she's truly a filly, how did she become that evil and that skilled?
I personally do incline to the theory that she's a Darla Dimple / Baby Doll analogue, which is to say some sort of demonologist or psychopathic dwarf. The reason for this is that she is able to deal with Tirek and Chrysalis, each of them epitomes of evil power in their own ways, on an even basis, and her understanding of the psychology of others goes well beyond that of a child, even a smart skilled child such as the Cutie Mark Crusaders or the filly version of Twilight Sparkle.
Heck, she more than once nearly kills or long-term imprisons Alicorn Princess Twilight Sparkle.
I don't see how any real child can do that.
9939829 It would have made complete sense if she was an evil pony from the distant past who'd managed to give herself quasi-immortality while trying to become an alicorn,
Or she could have been another unreformed changeling queen.
Or an otherworldly monster.
Or an evil pony from an evil alternate dimension of evil where everypony is evil.
Or a power-obsessed human in Equestria who got locked in the body of a poor filly.
Lots of ways to explain why she's like that... the show writers just never bothered to care.
9939829
There's an interesting web serial which has a character who, while somewhat inexperienced personally, can draw on the experiences, knowledge, and skill of demons. It means that while she's doing so, she can be extremely insightful, use words like scalpels, and have deep knowledge of many things. The downside is that all the insight and experience is filtered through a demon's perspective; she can't help but see mortals as weak, pathetic, predicable things.
I have no idea if Cosy may have had a similar background/ability, but her character kind of feels like that - shades of things far beyond her apparent age, but not altogether coherent. A scared, angry child wielding a gun because with it she feels almost like she has some kind of control - she can make things happen and make ponies react.
Interestingly, her cutie mark is a rook. Both indicative of game-playing, tactics, and strategy, and of a stronghold or fortification. What does Cozy have locked inside her, I wonder?
The Price of Salt, "The PoS" for short. Sorry for 12-year-old humor.
9939882
I don't think it's that they didn't care, I think they left it intentionally open to allow us fans to have our own theories. They do that with a lot of things, like Celestia and Luna's origins, or what the Elements of Harmony really are, to name a couple.
9940058 *facepalms* People make that awful excuse so many times for so many shows that go off the rails.
When you have a PRIMARY VILLAIN, you need to have some reason behind them, especially the more odd and implausible the villain.
It's easy to buy into a random already-powerful A-hole, because random powerful A-holes in general tend to want more power so they can become bigger A-holes. And even in that case, some brief backstory is almost always thrown in.
The rare case is when you have a villain whose motivations are more enigmatic and random. Discord and Joker work without origins because they're so unique, and they have motives which may not even reflect their origins, as we're talking about two beings who more or less are products of madness. In Joker's case, the enigma of him is expanded by possessing MULTIPLE backstories, which the character himself addresses in several iterations. In Discord's, he'd basically a god; an aspect entity virtually composed of chaos. He needs to be an oddball to exist. Origin doesn't add much to him.
Cozy is not Discord, and she sure as hell ain't no Joker! She's a very flat, generically-written villain. If she was 40 years older, she'd be considered utterly rote. The backstory would give her badly needed personality, because aside from being an evil filly there's nothing else to her.
If you have an evil carrot... ya kinda want to know how the hell a carrot became evil. It begs the questions, and the story is supposed to supply the answers if we're supposed to take the villain seriously.
Writing 101, people.
Discord threw up his paw and talon in disgust, "I don't know! I can't even fathom why I thought such a ridiculous idea would ever have a horseapple's chance in a dung beetle convention! I used to be cunning! I used to be able to sense a pony's weaknesses a mile away and twist them to my designs! I USED TO BE A CONTENDER!!!" He snarled and kicked a random puppy, because everyone likes to do that now and then, ya know? "Now, it's like all my wit and cleverness has been sucked out by leeches! Really angry, stupid leeches that like the new Terminator movie! It's as if my life was taken over by hack writers who had no idea how to handle a reformed demi-god!"
Cozy eye-shifter nervously, "Oh wow... what an... interesting metaphor."
Discord eye-narrowed in distrust, "How much do you know?"
And so it was revealed that Cozy was a bad fanfic writer in Equestria the whole time.
Wow, it's like some mean-spirited god gave her actual conscious self-awareness and let her read her own scripts. I imagine that would break anyone.
9940133
I can agree with that. She was quite flat and I would have liked a little bit of backstory for her. Sure, I found her entertaining, but 'entertaining' doesn't necessarily mean 'interesting'.
Still, it does open us up to be able to fill in those gaps, and to be honest, I've seen some pretty interesting backstories for her.
9940058
There's a really, really thin line between that and not caring.
Also it's difficult resolving this story's version of Discord with the one who gleefully suggested her punishment in the first place.
9940256
But it's a line none the less. Besides, they only have a very limited time in an episode to dedicate to things like that. So, they very well may have had a deep backstory for her but simply did't have the time to show it.
9940256
On the other hand, it's really, really in character for Chaos to be all like, "You pissed me off so much, I'm going to throw the worst possible thing I can think of at you! That's how angry I am!" A year later, "shit. I kinda broke the only moral rule I used to have because I was mad, didn't I? I... better do something about that or I'm gonna feel bad."
I feel like Discord doing things he considers heinous to someone because he's furious at them, and then regretting it and either undoing it or trying to ameliorate the damage, is probably par for the course with him, and explains some of why a guy who seems to be deep down not such a terrible creature managed to terrorize Equestria so horribly they had to turn him to stone. When Discord loses his temper, bad things happen. (He did nearly throw an innocent mare into another dimension just because his friend was friends with her.)
9940265 But they had plenty of time in Season 9 to devote to throw-away one-shot stories which added nothing, occasionally DETRACTED and severely conflicted previous canon (Daring Do, I'm looking at you), and gave new characters who'd clearly never show up again because the series was ending and were only there to satisfy a fraction of rabid fans in several instances.
So, yeah, who needs actual plot development in your big final season when you can waste time on crap?
I should point out Steven Universe and "Star Vs the Forces of Evil" are also guilty of this in their final seasons, shatting out final villains that are thin as paper and defeated in ridiculous ways that rip apart characterization and canon.
9940308
Yeah I’d say that sounds pretty in character for him. Chaos changes (it’s mind) on a dime after all.
ANOTHER somber Discord story that made the front page? Hell yeah. We bros now.
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9940343
It's a Discord take-over.
Awesome!
9940256
My goal was trying to give a bittersweet ending/way-out to Cozy. And to show that Discord has matured. As it stands, only Twilight and likely Spike remain from his first ever circle of friends.
Trying to make amend and repair the wounds of the past may be part of his work to move on.
I didn't write this piece with a fully laid-out lore, background, etc. So I am glad people read it and may take away from it their own interpretation and impressions.
9940347
It’s like that Tirek takeover immediately after the season 4 finale. That was a fun time.
9940133
dude...
None of the villains in MLP has a proper backstory unless they are planned to be redeemed.
Chrysalis had no real backstory. The idea of her wanting to feed her subjects was a plain falsehood, since she obviously care for no one but herself. She just wants power, the exact same thing as Cozy Glow.
Tirek had no real backstory. He just appeared and got defeated, appeared again and got defeated. The whole thing about his daddy is not a backstory.
Very nice, very nice
9940058
Now regularly I'd agree with you! but we never got a single God be damned hint.
So I'll just tick your theory off my ever-growing list of reasons for a lack of storytelling.
Not sayin' I agree with the other feller but 'least this time he' s got a point.
9939882
You really don’t stop with the controversial opinions, huh? No wonder so many dislike you.
Would have been a lot more merciful to just kill her. But.... that's not how ponies work. Sometimes you have to be cruel to be kind, and ponies don't do cruel.
9939882
You dont know the person sitting next to you
We've got minds like hand grenades
I think the point wasnt to have a elaborate back story it was to show anyone from anywhere can end up wanting to hurt others just so they can be a little bit ahead of everyone else the search for power is alwase a path littered with darkness and it can consume anyone one no matter the backround or age
9939882
9939894
9939829
Here’s an idea. Cozy Glow is the reincarnation of Grogar. They could’ve even sprinkled how Cozy is suspicious of Discord-Grogar because she never tells anyone who she really is, even when she gets her bell back. And in the final episode, She reveals that the bell was the source of Grogar’s magic, but only usable by either him or his reincarnation, which is Cozy Glow. She doesn’t transform back, but she still becomes very powerful and once again the villain of the ending.
9941405
That's an interesting concept.
In my Shadow Wars Storyverse, where the main showverse is one of many alternate universes, there is the Order of the Shades, a cult devoted to summoning the Night Shadows to gain power, using the Codex of Shades written by King Sombra. The Night Shadows can aid their summoners in various ways, but especially if they accept a Shadow into themselves.
Now, a psychically cpowerful Pony, especially one who is tied to a Cosmic Concept like Princess Luna (Gravity) or Rarity Belle (Generosity), will become a Night Stallion or Night Mare when they summon a Shadow into themselves. The apparent price is personal corruption, but the ultimate price is permanent possession by the Night Shadow. This is how Luna became trapped as Nightmare Moon, and Rarity almost permanently became Nightmarity.
Even a Pony not quite so powerful can host a Night Shadow. Stygian, who did not have a link to a Concept, became the Pony of Shadows. Grey Hoof (accidentally conducting the equine sacrifice of his own youngest daugter, Ruby Gift) and his followers were cursed by Nightmare Moon to become powerful undead Wraiths; they were imbued as such by a spawn of Luna's own possessing Night Shadow. The Manehattan Coven summoned Lesser and Least Night Shadows into themselves to attempt its destruction, and so on.
The horrifying thing is that King Sombra's writings on how to summon a Night Shadow were (intentionally) very easy to understand, and left out the drawbacks of summoning one into oneself. This meant that smart chldren, if they somehow gained access to the relevant part of the Codex of Shades, can summon at least a weak Night Shadow into themselves (usually to enhance their own abilities).
In the Shadow Wars storyverse, the young Cloud Kicker summoned a Shadow Vice of Lust into herself to make other ponies like her, and became a horribly-dangerous living succubus for years, until the (younger) Pinkie Pie repelled her attack and managed to suppress the Shadow Vice.
It is entirely possible that Cozy Glow might be bearing a Night Shadow, probably one granting her the ability to tell convincing lies or otherwise manipulate others. If it were a stealthy Shadow (as was Cloud Kicker's except when psychically-attacking others), even the Princesses fighting her might not know just why Cozy Glow was so powerful. Even Luna (who for obvious reasons is alert to the mind-scent of the Night Shadows) might miss it.
This is not necessarily inconsistent with Cozy Glow actually being an adult mare suffering from some development disability producing dwarfism among other effects. It might even be a mark of Shadow possession.
It's relevant here that, at least in my storyverse, Pony sensoria include an acute sense of smell and Pony sexuality in mares includes a 3-day fertile period during every 3 weeks. Unsurprisingly, Ponies are very good at smelling a mare who is Cycling.
While fillies Cozy Glow's apparent age and a bit younger can be Cycling, because they are not yet actually ready to safely reproduce, the filly-Cycle scent is slightly different form that of the mare-Cycle scent. What this means is that, if she was Cycling, unless her developmental disability was rather widespread, she'd smell like a mare rather than a filly. (However, this is certainly possible, and especially if magically-induced).
So those are some of my thoughts on the possibility of Cozy Glow being demonically possessed, rather like the Pony of Shadows.
What do you think?
A very beautiful, sorrowful little story that still leaves room for hope. Love the abstract, alien imagery of the scene. Well done!
9941739
Thank you a lot for your kind comment!
9939894
Which web serial would that be? It sounds really interesting.
9940427 So you're basically admitting the villains are terribly characterized.
Well glad to know you agree!
9941405 That... would've been very clever.
WHY DIDN'T YOU WRITE THE FINALE?!
9941350 Uhm, that's stupid. Because then you might as well suspect newborns.
9942283
yes, but it is nothing new. If it took you this long to realize, I feel sad for you.
9942315 You obviously have never read my blog.
I feel sad for you.
9941976
Worth the Candle, by Metropolitan Man's Alexander Wales.
Discord didn't change, he got powerful people to protect him when he screwed up.
He never felt remorse for anything he did up to being stoned and never has. He got more second chances then any other character, actively had Twilight lie through her teeth to protect him and then was allowed to go free after effectively betraying the entire nation a second time.
Frankly, not a redeemable individual and he should've been stoned like the other three, not to mention the sheer hypocrisy of Harmony in it's punishments-or in this case Celestia and Luna torturing a creature for decades and acting like they have a moral stepping stone, muCh less a high ground, to stand on.
Wait, 300 years has passed? I know this is supposed to be punishment , but I know people who would kill for the ability to preserve themselves for that long. I kinda envy her; if she ever escapes Equestria would probably become an advanced spacefaring society by then. Probably by smuggling technology from EQG.
9943668
You will die as a person long before that, if your mind is conscious while you are a stone. Going mad will take less than a month.
9943668
However, if you're in stone "coma", it would be an interesting thing to consider.