6 - Reflection
Sunset looked at the little girl in her lap.
The poor thing had fallen asleep as soon as she ran out of tears. No surprise after the day she had. She must have been exhausted, both physically and mentally.
Shifting slowly to avoid stirring the girl, she scooped her up in her arms and rose up. She brought her to her new room and tucked her in.
She took one final look at the empty room before she left. It really wasn’t acceptable for it to look this way. As she walked back to the living room, she spotted tons of little things that beat on her conscious.
It was going to take a lot of effort to make this into passable home.
The home Cozy Glow desperately needed…
She slumped back down in the couch. The work would begin first thing tomorrow morning! Right now, she was completely spent! She really could use a relaxing shower, but she didn’t want to risk waking Cozy.
As she was contemplating hitting the sack early, her phone started ringing. Luckily, she had put it on vibrate for the day.
She had to beat back a grin when she saw the caller ID reading “♥ Sci-Twi! ♥”. Pinkie Pie must have changed it without her noticing.
“Hey,” Sunset said.
“Hey…” Replied the meek voice on the other end.
None of them said anything for a while, waiting for the other to get the conversation started. In the end, it was Twilight who caved first.
“How is it going…?” She asked.
Sunset took a while to contemplate her response. She had made some blunders when trying to make Cozy open up and she certainly hadn’t finished everything she would have wanted to before taking her in, but it all seemed to have worked out for now.
“It’s going fairly well,” She replied. “We had a good conversation, she just fell asleep and I put her to bed.”
“That’s great!” Twilight exclaimed. “You know, studies have shown that children who are--”
“Twi...”
“Sorry! I didn’t mean to start lecturing you... And I’m sorry for calling you too. I know you said that you needed time to focus on your new responsibilities. I just… really miss you...”
“I miss you too. And I know that things are weird right now. But it’s not like I’ll never see you guys again. I just need to put all my focus on Cozy Glow until she has properly settled here.”
“Yeah, I know.” Twilight sighed. “I’m just being selfish…”
Sunset stifled a laugh at Twilight’s defeatist attitude. “Twi, you’re human. It’s okay to be selfish. Everybody is selfish!”
“You’re not,” Twilight replied.
“Haha. Very funny, Twi.”
“I’m not joking, Sunset. You help everybody! Everyone at our school comes to you for advice – including the teachers! You’ve helped me more times than I can count... And now you’ve saved a child from that horrible, two-faced…!” Twilight paused and took some deep breaths to calm herself down. “Sorry… I just can’t believe it! My counterpart. The one everyone at our school looks up to like a saint… Actually tried to kill a child…!”
“To be fair, she didn’t choose the punishment,“ Sunset pointed out. “The other princesses and Discord did.”
“Well I would expect the Princess of Friendship to at least have some objections to it, and definitely not being in full agreement!” Twilight replied. “And didn’t you say Discord was the one who caused all this in the first place?”
Sunset didn’t know what to say to that. What could she even say?
“I just don’t know what happened, Twi… This whole situation is just fucked up!”
Everything had been normal up until a few weeks ago.
She and her friends had just finished a gruesome history assignment and were planning out their school break and then, out of nowhere, Princess Twilight let her now that the most recent, greatest threat to Equestria had been dealt with. A homicidal monster, a mad tyrant and a little filly.
And in mere passing, she told her that they were planning to turn all three of them into stone…
But the worst thing was the sheer ignorance. The complete lack of understanding the princess had showed her when she objected to this. All her pleas to get Cozy put in her care had been met with nothing but arguments against it.
She actually had to go through the portal and threaten to break Cozy out herself for Twilight to concede.
“They almost killed her, Twi… They were really going to kill a child…”
“What are you going to do?” Twilight asked after a full minute of silence.
“Well, right now I’m seriously considering burning my journal,” Sunset replied. “I don’t even want to think about what I may write if she tries to contact me again.”
The mere thought made her seethe in anger.
On an intellectual level, she recognised that it was pretty hypocritical of her to not offering the princess the same forgiveness that she had showed her in her darkest hour. Especially since that had more or less saved her life.
But on an emotional level, she just didn’t know if she could forgive her for this. It just hit too close to home.
Her view of the princess had forever changed from close friend and redeemer, to the person who argued against saving a little girl from being executed…
“I want you to know that I think it’s wonderful what you’re doing for her, Sunset.” Twilight said.
“Thank you, Twi. It really means a lot. Though, I’m guessing our friends aren’t so thrilled with me right now...”
“They’re actually very supportive of you,“ Twilight replied. ” Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash have tried to defend the princess during some of the more heated discussions, and we all miss you... But they understand you need time to sort this out.”
“Thanks. I’ll try and keep in contact with you guys as much as I can. Please say hi to the girls from me.”
“I will,“ she replied. “And if you ever need any assistance, promise you’ll call me.”
“I promise,” Sunset replied. “Bye.”
“Bye.”
Sunset hung up and let her arm fall onto the sofa.
Her thoughts went in circles trying to find the right words to express her disappointment with the princess. Some way to tell her off and simultaneously make her understand how misguided she was in this matter.
She could really go for a drink right about now, but all of her booze was in her old apartment.
Then again, if she was going to make this work, she couldn’t start cracking bottles when the goings got tough. Certainly not in the same manner she had used to.
She took a deep breath, held it for a few seconds and let it out again.
All that mattered right now was taking care of Cozy. She couldn’t keep thinking about the princess anymore.
She got up, brushed her teeth and took one last look into Cozy’s bedroom to see the girl sleeping peacefully and smiled. It didn’t matter what anybody thought.
She knew it was going to be worth it in the end.
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So now she hates the princess?? And all her human friends hate her too??? But that's not right.
How was what Twilight did attempting to kill Cozy? It was just imprisonment until they could find a way to convince them to adopt a more peaceful lifestyle.
Yeah.
The show's ending does show Twilight as pretty damn hypocritical.
10452825
The story A Simple Discussion has Principal Celestia at least talking to Starswirl the Bearded and Princess Twilight about the problem of Earth being a dumping ground for magical artifacts.
Wait are the girls adults now?
Also enjoyed this despite the wait.
10509478
In what way, exactly?
10510718
This fic literally points it out.
10510943
Hardly. Cozy turned all of Equestria against each other, tried to straight-up murder Twilight and her friends, and before any of that, tricked them into getting trapped in Tartarus. Being a child does not absolve her of punishment, because she was well aware of what she was doing, and enjoyed it.
And the claim in the penultimate chapter that Cozy was evil because it was "expected" of her made no sense. The whole point of Cozy was that no-one would expect such a cute-looking character to be a power-hungry mastermind. Cozy's original plan had nothing to do with what others "expected" of her.
10511011
Lol. You know; this all reminds me a little of Boa Hancock from the One Piece anime:
Hancock: "No matter what I do, the world will forgive me...because I am beautiful!"
Cozy Glow: "No matter what I do, the world will forgive me...because I'm a child!"
Well, not so much forgive but she's the one everybody tries to rationalize.
10510220
No, but Sunset is an adult in a teenage body. Also, she doesn't care about pesky things like drinking law. She'll have a drink whenever she damn pleases!
EDIT: Actually, I made some calculations and by the dates I've set as Sunset's birthday, she is over 18 at this point in time.
10509453
Ahem. It's only temporary if they decide to unpetrify them. Othervise, it's execution.
And concidering nobody ever tried to convince them before turning them to stone, I doubt this very much.
10511011
Nice headcanon there!
But seriously though. It's my fic and that's what happened.
Also, whether being a child excuse her or not has been debated to death already. Let's just say that I think it does and you don't.
10512261
Discord eventually got a chance, why wouldn't they?
10512255
Um I know I guess?
10512374
Well, if the CMC hadn't argued in front of his statue, he would still be there wouldn't he? You wouldn't turn someone to stone temporarly. Othervise you would put them in jail.
10512411
So I guess the answer is: Yes. They are adults at this point. But not Sci-Twi! She's only 17!
Glad you enjoyed the story anyhow!
10512272
It's hardly "headcanon" if it's what the writers intended.
10512466
Times have changed harmony is all around and villains have been redeemed left and right.
I don't see why they wouldn't give them a chance eventually. It'd go against their morals to just leave them like that.
10512470
ok then
10512486
It doesn't matter what the writers intended. They're morons.
It's also pretty moronic to argue against settings put out in a fanfic. Whether it "conflics" with "canon" or not is irrelevent.
And I put conflics and canon in citation because the writers are so garbage that they couldn't even make Cozy Glow's motivation clear, forcing us to grasp at straws to try and make sense of it, resulting in all these different interpretations.
10512495
Well hey! That's why I wrote this.
To give Cozy Glow the chance which she was so cruely robbed of by the mane characters (ie. the writers) when they turned her to stone.
10512778
Cozy made her motivations pretty clear in the season 8 finale: she wanted the "power" of friendship all for herself.
10512781
And I made it clear in this fic what her actual motivations beyond that were.
Got any other stellar critique?
10512780
Can you honestly say she wouldn't have done the same thing if the shoe were on the other foot?
The difference being she'd do it for fun and never ever let them out. Cozy has proven how sick-minded she can be and while I do agree being stoned is a bit harsh for a child I also think that until she gets her act together she needs to be contained.
Perhaps in a maximum-security juvenile hall or something. If anything she got off easy for nearly destroying Equestria [and/or] its economy twice and committing acts of terrorism and near murder.
At least this way she has a chance in the future for redemption, they could have just as easily ordered her executed [were this a less kid-friendly show that is]
10512789
And yet, you called me out for using "headcanon".
Honestly, I'm not completely against a Cozy Glow reformation, but in order for it to work, she has to accept that she did wrong of her own volition, and not try to put the blame on anyone else.
10512847
You're the one trying to argue that your headcanon supercedes mine in my own fanfiction.
images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/64879a73-241c-4259-aabc-61178610b481/de81hem-6a0e786d-3fa3-4df8-9bd7-07adc71ea3ec.gif?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOiIsImlzcyI6InVybjphcHA6Iiwib2JqIjpbW3sicGF0aCI6IlwvZlwvNjQ4NzlhNzMtMjQxYy00MjU5LWFhYmMtNjExNzg2MTBiNDgxXC9kZTgxaGVtLTZhMGU3ODZkLTNmYTMtNGRmOC05YmQ3LTA3YWRjNzFlYTNlYy5naWYifV1dLCJhdWQiOlsidXJuOnNlcnZpY2U6ZmlsZS5kb3dubG9hZCJdfQ.eAA-5rA-UPYFojPsjQP_fnYb0kQPH8aUivOXPhYAjTw
10512796
Ah, but Cozy is not an adult, princess of friendship who is upholded as a paragon of goodness. Twilight is! And thus, she should be held to a higher standard of not using reprehensible methods of dealing with criminals. Like, did you really just argue that it's okej to do something wrong because an "evil" filly would do the same?
And again, like I said before: It's only temporary if they decide to unpetrify them. Othervise, it's execution.
10513000
I wasn't using any headcanon. I was just pointing out that no-one had "expected" Cozy's first scheme. She didn't try to drain all the magic in Equestria because anyone expected her to.
10513034
I'm not I'm just saying she wouldn't hesitate to, showing how sick-minded Cozy is and what they'd have to work with when they try to rehabilitate her.
And after all the lessons they learned and all the good things they did, why would you think she'd never release her? Again, that would conflict with her morals to leave someone petrified forever.
10513000
Huh? Hmm. You'll need to enlighten me a bit here. Cozy did all those things in the actual show. What's headcanon about it?
On another note, this debate is getting pretty intense. Cliche as it sounds, can't we all just get along?
10513233
Maybe you can tell this idiot that any arguments he makes about "it happened in the show" doesn't matter because this is a selfcontained story that specifically ignores canon (because it makes no sense)
10513634
That's a fair position. Unfortunately, we're on completely different sides in this because in my eyes, you can't be a hero and also turn children into stone. And yes petrification is reversible, But like I told Aether Spark before, there's no reason to petrify someone rather than incarcerate them, unless you wanted to petrify them permanently.
BAM! PG child murder in a kid's show!
Have your read this fic? It spells it out really well!
10513899
So bottom line. You like chocolate and I like vanilla. There's also many people who didn't like Cozy being turned to stone.
And I don't think she is an irredeemable monster.
They can release her. But they didn't, and the won't. Othervise they wouldn't have pertrified them.
10515430
So as long as you declare people as evil, you can do whatever you want to them? Because turning defenseless fillies who poses no threat to you into stone is super heroic, isn't it? Just like they bravely and valiantly threw her into a cage and sent her straight to hell and didn't try to reason with her at all.
Not even an outstretched hoof was given to her. Something that was given to both Starlight and Chrysalis and pretty much every other villain. But Cozy Glow, oh no! She's far more evil than than all other villains combined! Better incapacitate her before she temper tantrum you to death!
Yeah Twilight is shitty princess of friendship. No surprise that Sunset hates her.
10516513
To be fair only the princesses and Discord turned them into stone. Not Twilight and her friends. Also you can think what you want. But people are calling out not on you not taking criticism. Somebody already messaged me on it. Also do you respect my opinion? You can think what you want. But can you respect other opinions?
10516678
Ofcourse you can have whatever opinion you want. We're discussing it now aren't we? May I please have one as well?
You have to help me out here, because you people seems to be completely unable to even imagine a senario in with Cozy Glow isn't irredeamably evil. Why does that concept ellude you so much?
10516734
I’m going to ask you this why would the mane 6 let Cozy stay as a statue forever. Yes they cheered when the villains got turned to stone. But It’s more like we’re saved. Also it’s just a small part in the finale.
Also here are some other Cozy reform fanfics.
https://www.fimfiction.net/story/451589/castling-cozy-glow
https://www.fimfiction.net/story/452621/the-reformation-of-cozy-glow
Also the show intended her to be a final villain. You can call it good or bad writing.
10516835
Because I see no reason to petrify someone rather than incarcerate them, unless you wanted to petrify them permanently. Also, they're completely absent in The Last Problem which tell me they haven't let them out at this point, several years later.
And, yes I do call it bad writing. That's just my opinion and you don't need to agree to it.
But if you don't agree and I end up debating you, don't give me some bullshit about "not taking criticism" just because I didn't cave to your opinion.
All I did was write a story in which the mane characters of MLP were cast as the bad guys. That was the story I wanted to write. Another direction for a Cozy redemption story. So what if the Twilight in my story is accused of murder? There's no need for you to take personal offense to that, is there?
Look the problem with all this is the characters are just victims of bad end of story writing where they are ibn a rush a rap up things, With actual story and theme of MLP characters are given chances at redemption, I mean Discord was was freed from stone already having bringing chaos to the world a second time so the idea of being trapped in stone forever and at the suggestion of discord of all characters just doesn't fit with theme of the show
10823517
True enough, but it was already apparent they had no interest in reforming her, even from the end of School Raze. After all they stuck her in Tartarus with Tirek (a person they had no interest in reforming and who had already encouraged her villainy once before) with no supervision whatsoever.
You really do good work. This is honestly a lot briefer then I remember it being, but that doesn't change the fact that seeing Sunset and Cozy interacting like this is enough to warm even my cold heart. And on a day like today, I really needed that. Thanks for the story.
Out of knowhere you say?
10874572
To Sunset, yes.
10874282
"Sometimes we all just need to be shown a little kindness." - Fluttershy, Episode 1 Season 1.
Sorry to hear that you're having a bad day. I hope thing'll turn better for you and that you have a happy midsummer!
10874692
You Too! 
Appreciate the sentiment.
Hmmm... It's really interesting to see another way of handling Cozy's Redemption. I'm liking this, can't wait to see how Sunset will handle it all!
Twilight was ooc when it came to cosy yes but this chapter just makes me so sad (and I’m guessing sunny doesn’t understand where both sides are coming from, that’s very convenient) also I so wish this was longer