The public is dying to know: why did Cozy try to drain all magic from their world? Why did she try to trap the Elements of Harmony in Tartarus? How could she bear to let six classmates be sent to another dimension forever? Did she have a good reason for what she did, or was it naked self-interest?
Renowned investigative journalist Eff Stop decides to interview her and find out.
This story shares continuity with The Ending of the End - Love and Tolerance Edition, but absolutely no knowledge of that story is needed to enjoy this one.
Featured 2/24/2020
Chapters (1)
Oh Cozy, we may naver know your true motives. I love how, despite not knowing what she said was true or not she was right about most things.
I firmly aggree with this and would love to see Twilight or Celestia's reactions to it. Then again, they'ed probably find some stupid excuse for not paroling her due to their own personal grudges.
Considering this is the only time Eff has a hunch I kind of believe it too.
10101626
That was my intention going into this. Whether or not Cozy's being honest about her motives, her arguments about Equestria are meant to be rock-solid.
Twilight would probably be okay with it. She didn't seem to hate Cozy, she was just sad.
It's certainly possible.
Also, Eff is actually a canon pony. He's one of the paparazzi ponies in Green Isn't Your Color.
Ah, so this is what you were talking about over on /mlp/. Glad I could help!
10101646
Yeah! The idea for a Cozy interview just popped into my head out of nowhere.
10101677
Corrected:
Kinda reminds me of the Mysterio thing with Spiderman far fro home. Was his past and the multiverse true or a Like? We wouldn't get the full story.
Reading this, this would have been perfect to explain Cozy’s actions and possible show a background on her since the show lack a villain’s origin and gave us that lousy show finale.
I liked the A Bird in the Hoof reference you threw in about banishment. I made a short list of some errors I found in the story.
Number of present ponies confusion
Guard pony race confusion
Celestia is referred to twice; maybe you meant Twilight for the second reference
A hovering quill seems to imply that Eff is levitating it, but he is a pegasus. Maybe it's just a confusing choice of words
Typo
Typo
This gripe is just my personal preference, but I would have preferred the author's note at the beginning, so that I wouldn't need to imagine what Eff Stop looked like until after the story.
And soon Cozy will write the little revolutionist book for all Equestria above the poor life she had and the evil magic and horned tyrants
Is he just giving her a false name, or did you mean to say "Eff Stop" here?
That ending really saved it for me XD Because the whole time I was reading this, I was like, "Yeah, no. The biggest disappointment I had with that episode was that when Twilight asked her again, "WHY did you do this?!" she didn't have any more complex answer than the completely vague and stupid declaration that 'Friendship is power'." She might be intellectually smart, but where wisdom is concerned, Cozy Glow was brick stupid. No consideration over the fact that without ANY magic, they as a country would be completely vulnerable to more physically powerful races like the Storm King (airships and other non-magical technology), the dragons (freaking huge), even the Yaks - and EVERYBODY who had any kind of magic before would be coming for you out of anger. And, of course, there's the completely evil and amoral idea that anyone has the right to decide the phrase 'sacrifices must be made' should apply to anyone but themselves.
10101637
I don't know, she never even tried talking to her let alone give her the Starlight/Discord/Stygian/Tempest treatment even in the context of this, and your finale story. I kind of wish that it would at least be brought up in your other story.
Either way it was still a fun read.
10102423
It's almost like she's a kid who's way in over her head.
10101763
All very good points. Thank you, and fixed, except these two:
His quill was hovering in that he held it over the paper.
And what's a typo about clanged?
10101874
Typo. Fixed.
10102423
Cozy's spent weeks thinking about what she'll say to the press. She wanted her case to be very well written.
That's the difference between her and me. I wrote this from start to finish in a morning and afternoon.
10102566
It may well be at some point. It just hasn't come up yet.
10101831
People's General Secretary and Elected Empress of Friendship Cozy Glow!
10102689
The word "clanged" is fine, I just copied the formatting from the story but didn't remove it. Also, I just noticed a small error at the end:
"I'd" should be capitalized.
10102922
Fixed the other error. And thank you for this!
ERROR-CHECKERS GET MY RESPECT, UPVOTES FOR YOU!
10102566
Exactly my point XD She's a spoiled brat with a high IQ.
10102698
That's definitely the vibe I got XD (The part about her spending weeks wording this out, it's quite well-written for being done in a day!)
10102703
As long as she don't become High Inquisitor...
10102973
I wouldn't call her spoiled, but she's certainly a brat. I swear, that kid needs a good role model.
10102974
I've been studying Hobbes and Machiavelli lately. I guess that put my brain into a mindset to write a defense of absolute depotism
10102987
Hahaha
10102423
Forget external menaces. In Equestria everything is ruled by magic: weather, crops, nature, the Sun and the Moon...
Cozy's victory would have left a barren land, if not a barren planet.
10103875
And yet the sun was still rising and setting even after Celestia and Luna lost their power.
How? We just don't know.
10103923
Same reason the alternate timeline under Nightmare Moon wasn't frozen and dead: bad/lazy writting.
10103926
Or, the NMM timeline showed that ponies can function just fine without the sun. Eating fungus and the like.
10104530
assume that magic keep it alive, even without sunlight it stay alive as long as magic around, and the sun and moon be set in orbit that spin around the planet and take time before they sling shot away dooming the planet without them being controlled
THATS RACISTS
10104903
Hahahahaha!
10101680
No problem. Great story. Thoroughly enjoyed the read.
10106441
I'm glad! It means a lot to know people liked it.
Cozy's motive makes so much sense now. Even if she's wrong to drain magic from everything and to sacrifice fourteen innocent lives to do so, we now have an idea of how a child could become a villain. Sure, the whole thing is probably a lie given it's Cozy that is being interviewed, but the lead-up reasoning she lays down has some logic. Great job!
10102992
I don't know about that, but she does have a loving centaur dad and passionate changeling mom now.
10108131
It was absolutely critical to make her motive sound sensible and logical. I'm really glad I succeeded!
And she may well have regretted having to kill anypony. But winning always takes victories.
As for her loving dad and mom, she also has a loving umbrum uncle and stick unicorn sister.
This was such a concise and well-delivered way of handling dozens of critiques about Cozy and the finale. Your prose, character voice, and pacing are all strong points. I'm glad you have more for me to check out and I hope you'll be writing more in the future. Lots more!
One thing I noticed here didn't seem to add up:
The word Cozy used was dictator, not monarch. The implications of being a dictator are worse than being a monarch. Based on things from the show, valid points Cozy made, and the way things were described outside of her perspective in story, Eff would be wrong. Celestia (and Luna) fit the definition of absolute monarchs. They're just the nice kind.
10188189
I definitely will be. Lots more is coming!
I think Cozy was completely right. They are dictators. Absolute monarchs maybe, maybe not, but they aren't hereditary monarchs (that would be Blueblood's line) and they assumed power by their intrinsic virtue and skill (and their semi-divine nature as alicorns). They are dictators, they're just nice ones.
Eff thought she was trying to use rhetoric to make him think of them as dictators instead of benevolent monarchs, and he was right, but her description wasn't wrong.
10188305
I'd say it's mostly about the connotations you were going for.
10188361
Yes, absolutely. Eff went for a positive connotation, Cozy a negative.
10188375
Alright, that clears things up. Thank you again for the story.
The only flaw it has is belief that ponies care. NMM and the Elements? Alicorn princess? Nope, no respect for the mane six at all. Even with the friendship diary being published nopony believed that the story is real.