I'd just gotten done setting up a rudimentary campsite when I heard a cry of distress from the woods.
As a super hero, I should go help, right? But wait, I don't have my costume ready; I can't compromise my secret identity. Guess I'll skip this one.
The cry escalated to a blood-curdling scream. I twitched my ear in irritation.
Jeez, pushy much? Well, I can't call myself a hero if I ignore THAT. Besides, what am I afraid of? I'm an all-powerful super hero, I'll just power through whatever challenges come my way!
I was honestly pretty worried about getting discovered and having to face off against that army of wizards again – I'd only gotten a glimpse of them, but that first image I could remember was like a living nightmare in my short memory now – but there was a stronger, more willful, angrier part of me that told me not to be weak and let anypony scare me or make me back down. That part was in control when I grabbed my cloak in my teeth, pulled it free from my wings, and blasted off from the ground at max speed for the source of the commotion.
I'm going to do this super hero thing RIGHT.
I caught a glimpse of what appeared to be some kind of struggle, and set down behind a large tree to don my cloak before springing out with a warcry (albeit a high-pitched, squeaky one).
"Fear not, pony civilian! I have come to resc—WHAT IN EQUESTRIA IS THAT?!"
Not my proudest moment.
There was what appeared to be a zebra struggling with a chimera – one head each of a goat, tiger, and snake.
Huh. Wonder how I know what a chimera is. Must have studied monsters for my super heroics! I remember they're intelligent...
That thought clicked while I took in the scene of the zebra desperately prying open the tiger head's jaws and pulling her injured leg out. I was coming up with a strategy, but it seemed my exclamation had caught the goat head's attention, and soon enough the snake was looking my way too.
Might as well go all-in!
I fired off a vicious bolt of energy at the snake head, causing it to roar in anguish.
"Hey, ugly!"
The chimera whirled on me and took a menacing step forward. The tiger head growled, forgetting the zebra entirely, and she made quick to scoot as far away as she could with an injured leg. I quirked an eyebrow at the tiger head.
"Oh, did you assume I meant you?"
The tiger head grunted. "Didn't you?"
"What, do you think you're ugly?"
The tiger head hesitated, suddenly looking unsure. The goat's head looked over.
"Hey, sis, you're not ugly."
"Aww. Thanks."
Blech, someone just blast me now.
"But wait," the tiger head said, returning her attention to me, "if not me, then who?"
"Isn't it obvious? Who do you think?"
The tiger head looked over at the snake head uncertainly. The snake head had just recovered from my blast, and looked deeply affronted at the tiger.
"Hey, I'm not ugly!"
The tiger head quirked an eyebrow. "Well, I mean, you're kinda slimy and scaly, you can't deny—"
"That doesn't make me ugly!"
"Well beauty is subjective, don't you think?"
The goat head roared in frustration and glared at me.
"Who did you mean, foal? Settle this for them."
I blinked a bit, still surprised that my plan had bought so much more time than expected. The zebra had managed to recover her hooves and start to run. I pointed my hoof at her retreating backside.
"I meant her, obviously!"
The chimera redirected all of its attention to the fleeing zebra. They had just started to say 'Oh', whether in response to me or to realizing the zebra was escaping I'm not sure, when I hit the entire creature in the backside with a charged magical blast strong enough to send them flying into a tree – and with a truly obscene screech at that. It only took a little telekinesis to curl the branches around them and lock the entire creature into place.
"Ugly or not, all three of you are idiots..."
I smiled at a job well done, and trotted off back towards my makeshift camp. I'd taken down a monster, gotten a better handle on my magic during stressful situations, and I'd managed to avoid blowing my disguise in the process! A good day, all told. And with that cheering mindset I resumed my work on my costume, until I heard the approach of hooves.
I stood at the ready to fight, but it turned out to just be the zebra from earlier. On seeing me, she inclined her head courteously.
"That monster gave me quite a fright; I thank you for ensuring I could make good my flight."
I cocked my head to the side at the unexpected rhyming, but then simply shrugged.
"For that no thanks are necessary; I was glad to relieve you of your adversary."
What? I wasn't going to be outdone by some random zebra!
For her part, the zebra seemed taken aback, but then smiled warmly.
"Your deeds and words are truly most gracious; tell me, would you rather sleep in my home most spacious?"
It took me a second to parse what she had just said and offered, and I took another moment to try to put together a rhyme of my own, before simply shrugging and giving up on that.
"Seems better than sleeping out here, at least; thanks."
The zebra nodded and smiled, sparing me one of her weird rhymes, and I grabbed my stuff to follow her. On the walk, she was silent, but chewed her lip persistently. Finally, as her home came into view, she caught my eye.
"Tell me, what is a filly doing out here – especially one who wields magic without peer?"
Hm, she noticed how strong my magic is. I need to be careful about that!
Only after admonishing myself for the slip-up did I give her question some thought. I mulled it over and shook my head.
"Let's just say some bad ponies are after me. I was looking for somewhere safe from them. I don't... really want to talk about it right now."
To my surprise, I really didn't. It was a lot easier to look ahead to goals than to focus on how tenuous my fate seemed right now. The zebra's face was lined with concern, but she simply nodded and let me into her home. Before long, with how much of a drain my spellcasting had put on me, I was drifting off to the best/worst sleep I could remember, my thoughts stuck on the haunting first image I could recall.
Those bad ponies who cursed me... I need to find out who they are, learn everything about them I can. Then I can figure out how to beat them!
Damn, this was hillarious. Once again I love how Cozy still has mannerism's simmilar to a villains even while being a superhero. Her trying to copy Zecora's (I assume it's her) rhyming was also great. Can't wait to see her attempts to evade the "villains".
I can literally hear her voice in my head. It's amazing.
It's what happens if you have the misfortune of taking an arrow to the knee. Remember children: practice proper bow safety.
An angelic chorus opens up as the heavens themselves stand in awe of the heat of that burn.
Okay, if I just quote and respond to every good line and bit I will just be copy and pasting the whole fic into the comment. Everything about this was great. Cozy's plan. Cozy's thoughts. Cozy's dialogue. Cozy's rhyme. Cozy. I am 100% glad that this is a thing that is now happening.
10006177
like i said im an ignorant buffon and you're probably right. But ill stick with my interpretation for now because writing a 12 year old kid who acts like that is entertaining in a dark sort of way
10006177 on all seriousness tho
the thing about fiction is that face value doesn' mean anything we can take away whatever we want for any reason. That's just what i see given her characterization. Just like how i see pinkie as virtuous but overly straightforward while others see a slightly narrow-minded scatterbrain.
I like how you still see semblances of Cozy Glow's villainy here, even if she doesn't realize it. I could see her becoming more of an antihero, than a typical hero character.
10006275
Just like real life!
Cozy Glow's probably a psychopath. She's got big dark triad energy. I don't know what would qualify as concrete evidence, but her actions are pretty much in-line with what you'd expect. And it's not because she went to friendship school and didn't make friends, or whatever; it's because she went to friendship school and engaged in Machiavellian emotional manipulation ploys in a bid for power with no regard to the well-being or feelings of other people.
Don't appeal to nihilism just to validate your opinion. It's hella weak. It's okay to be inspired by things in fiction (and real life!) and imagine them differently. You don't have to play blind to what's directly in front of you, or undermine the notion of its meaning, to be inspired.
Huh. didn't peg Zecora for the type to get in trouble in the Everfree.
D'aw
Superhero Cozy: driven 100% by the need to be better than everyone else!
And then she finds out they're the Brave Defenders of Equestria. Welp. Whoops
10045360
Superhero Cozy is still Cozy! Hah.
The trouble Zecora got into is elaborated on later.
You've written a Cozy Glow I don't wanna punt head-first into a wood-chipper.
Bravo!
10048474
^.^
The idea of this story was inspired by the simple question, 'how could a Cozy Glow redemption story without a bunch of dark/heavy themes work?'
Understatement of the century.
You know, it’s been a while since I read a fic that captures the feel of the show’s antics quite like this. This is definitely, totally something I can imagine colorful equines doing in cartoon land. The ugly fight.
Rhyming just… BECAUSE. Yep, sure, I’ll believe it.
I do believe Zecora was in the final fight, but she does have a sense for these things…
-GM, master of STRIPESALOT
10045360
My guess: she I'll then assume they have been replaced with evil doppelgangers. This has, in fact, happened before (at least twice if you count the comics). Secondary guess is that she will assume that she had just discovered they were villains all along and she discovered their secret(s) which is why they went for the memory wipe.
Of course it could be neither of these things!