Chapter 2
"TWILIGHT LOOK OUT BEHIND YOU!" Pinkie cried.
"Hmm?" Twilight turned around, and behind her was-
"AAAAAAHHHH!" Twilight screamed.
*WHACK*
The bewitching bell started glowing once again, and floated by itself. It had knocked itself against Twilight's face.
"OW!" she cried.
The bell rang, zipped around the scene, threatening every creature, as if it had a mind of its own!
"Runaway bell!" Pinkie exclaimed.
Every creature scattered in panic as the bell floated and pulsated with energy.
"The bell must still have Grogar's magic!" Twilight cried.
The creatures all chased the bell, but it was quick, and evaded their movements. The bell then hovered above yellow blanket, and glowed brightly. In fact, this whole time, a stream of magic permeated from underneath that yellow sun blanket.
"What's going on?" Twilight asked.
"Stand back." Celestia said.
"This could get dicey." Luna added.
The bell rang and glowed brightly, and brought heavy winds blew that through the valley. The wind blew away the yellow blanket, revealing underneath-
*gasp*
"Cozy Glow?!" Twilight exclaimed.
Wrapped in the blanket was the Cozy Glow statue, but with a fleshy horn protruding out, emanating magic that attached to the bell. The horn lit up and activated the bell.
*RING*
The bell rang above the Cozy Glow statue, and surrounded it with a bright magic aura. Cozy's horn was the only part of her not turned to stone. The horn glowed, and projected an orb of light.
The mane 6 looked at it, nervous, but battle ready. Spike stood right by Twilight's side.
"Stay strong. Be ready for anything." Twilight said, affirmative.
"Heh HA HA HA HA HA!" a voice echoed.
From the statue's horn, a stream of magic poured out, and created a form.
The protrusion of magic took the shape of an alicorn filly, with bright red eyes.
"Guess who." it said.
"Cozy Glow!" Spike exclaimed.
"Ha ha!! Yep! It's me! You didn't think your journey would end without one last battle against me, did'ja!?" Cozy said. "You know, it's true what Discord said. Being in stone really DOES mean you're consciously aware of your surroundings. You're just completely immobile and unable to save yourself from vandals. But because of that, it allows me to say hello to you all despite 99% of me being in stone."
"Cozy Glow, you're... you're..." Twilight could not even describe what she was seeing.
"She's using a projection spell! Her mind's in the stone, but she's somehow able to project her mind from that bit of her not frozen." Starlight explained.
"Thanks for the explanation, Counselor Starlight." Cozy Glow said. "It's amazing just how much the school taught me. Really prepared me for the real world!" Cozy said.
"That's Headmare Starlight to you!" Starlight exclaimed. "Once Twilight takes the throne, I shall takeover and Headmare of the School of Friendship.
"I see. What a fair deal! Twilight Sparkle gets supreme control of the entire land, leaving you with that lowly school, and leaving her friends with nothing." Cozy said.
Twilight listened to what Cozy said, and actually took note. Was it really fair to basically leave her friends in the dust once she moved to Canterlot? Twilight's thoughts were interrupted by the sudden outcry from every creature in Equestria.
"BOO!!!!!" every creature in Equestria yelled at Cozy.
Every creature in Equestria booed and hissed at the Cozy projection. Go away demon filly. The dragons blew fire, while the yaks and griffons threw rocks.
"Thank you! Thank you! I love the roaring crowd!" Cozy said, waving and smiling.
Every creature in Equestria stood their ground, and surrounded Cozy.
"Come on, Twilight!" Sandbar exclaimed.
"You're not gonna let this brat intimidate you, are you?" Smolder asked.
"Let's join forces again! Finish her for good this time!" Gallus exclaimed.
Cozy looked around her, and she was surrounded by hundreds of creatures.
"All of Equestria versus one little filly? That wouldn't really be fair now would it?!" Cozy asked rhetorically.
Cozy's horn lit up. "Let's even the playing field!" she said.
She used her magic and pounded the ground, pushing back every creature, except for Twilight.
"Hey!" Twilight exclaimed.
Cozy's horn glowed very bright, and cast a spell above them.
*MAGIC* *ZAP*
Cozy created a magic dome that encapsulated herself and Twilight Sparkle, and separated them from every creature outside. Inside, a pillar of magic beaming from the statue's horn blasted up, and was the source of the dome's power.
"Twilight!" her friends all exclaimed simultaneously.
"She's trapped inside this magic dome with Cozy Glow!" Smolder exclaimed.
"Come on every creature! We have to help Twilight!" Ember added.
"YEAH!" they all exclaimed.
All the creatures surrounded all 360 degrees of the magic dome.
"Ten-hut!!!" Gallus yelled.
"Charge!!!!" Yona exclaimed.
They all came charging in and-
*BAM*
-they pressed against the dome, attempting to break through.
Cozy showed minor signs of fatigue as she struggled to keep the dome intact. But she mostly kept it under wraps as she confronted Twilight.
"Leave them to struggle. This is between us two, Twilight Sparkle!" Cozy exclaimed.
"And me!" cried someone else who was also with them.
"What?!" Cozy exclaimed.
They both looked over and saw-
"Spike?!" Twilight cried out. "What are you doing in here?!"
"I'll always be by your side, Twilight." he replied.
"How cute. Her majesty's loyal dragon. I'll just have to crush both of you!" Cozy exclaimed. *RING*
The bell glowed, and it's magic flowed through to Cozy, and made her hologram glow brighter.
"You two are about to bear witness to the full undivided power of Grogar!" Cozy exclaimed.
*ZAP*
"AAAAAAHH!" Twilight screamed.
*BAM*
Cozy fired a huge continuous beam of magic at Twilight. The massive blast pressed her against the dome.
"AAHHH!" Twilight barely withstood the magic blast with her own magic to push against it.
"That's it, Twilight! I want you to SUFFER!" Cozy exclaimed.
"Stop it!" Spike exclaimed.
Spike flew up and breathed a large breath of fire. The fire was of little effect to the hologram, but it heated up the fleshy horn, and weakened Cozy enough for Twilight to escape from the beam.
"AH! Hot!!" Cozy exclaimed.
Spike rushed over to help Twilight. But as soon as she got up. They noticed Cozy was back at it and fired another beam. Twilight leaped up and retaliated with her own magic, and Cozy fired back.
*BOOM*
A powerful shock wave emanated from where their blasts collided. The intense battle between them raged on. Twilight fended off the Cozy projection, and Spike lunged forward and landed on top of the bell.
*oof* "I've got to get that bell!" Spike said.
"Oh, you want the bell, little Spike? YOU CAN HAVE IT!" Cozy exclaimed.
The bell started glowing bright. Too bright...
"Huh?" Spike wondered.
"Spike!" Twilight exclaimed.
"AAAHHHH!!" Spike screamed.
*SHATTER*
Cozy Glow destroyed the bewitching bell, and shattered it into a hundred pieces. The shock wave blew Spike backwards, but Twilight caught him in her loving arms. They both looked in astonishment that Cozy had actually shattered Grogar's bell.
"That's right! No more transfer of magic! I'm staying this way!" Cozy exclaimed, with a nasty grin.
Twilight and Spike looked at one another, affirmative. Cozy had to be stopped.
"Your mischief has gone on too long Cozy Glow!" Twilight exclaimed.
"If you think I'm just another obstacle that needs to be defeated, then just try to stop me!!" Cozy exclaimed back.
Both their horns glowed, and the fight continued on between the princess of friendship, her dragon. and the crazy filly.
Twilight and Cozy fired powerful beams that scraped the edges of the magic dome, and sent magic sparks flying.
Spike protected Twilight with his life, and used his fire breath to deflect any of Cozy's blasts.
But after some more back and forth action, Cozy proved too strong.
Their beams intersected, but after one slip up, Cozy's magic scraped the side of Twilight.
"AAAHH!
"Twilight, NO!" Spike cried. Spike flew in front of Twilight, to try to absorb the impact.
*BOOM*
Cozy brought Twilight and Spike crashing to the ground. Twilight laid on on the ground, and Spike laid on top of her, also worn down.
"She's *huff*, she's too powerful." Twilight said, exhausted.
"Come on, when has that ever stopped you, Twilight?" Spike asked.
"It hasn't so far... but..." Twilight replied.
Spike thought of something that he thought would motivate Twilight to get her through the fight.
"Everyone looks up to you. You're the Princess of Friendship. Everyone's counting on you. But, more important than all of that, I look up to you." Spike said.
"S-spike, I..." Twilight tried to say.
"You've never given up on me. You were there for me when I needed you. You saved me from being alone, you fed me, sheltered me, you taught me everything I know. I owe my life to you, Twilight *sniff* and I'm not quitting on you."
Spike stood up, and faced Cozy Glow himself.
"Daww, baby dwagon's gonna stand up for his mommy?" Cozy teased.
"Yes, yes I am." Spike said.
*magic* A red magic aura appeared around Spike, and restrained his movement.
"I'm gonna hate doing this, Spike. You were always the one I hated the least." Cozy said.
Cozy's horn glowed, and was about to fire a beam at Spike. Spike stood in place,
Twilight Sparkle appeared in front of Spike, and deflected the blast.
Twilight won't get up and save herself, but she'll get up to save me. Mission accomplished. Spike said in his mind.
"You can push me around, but when you threaten my family, that's when you've gone too far!" Twilight exclaimed.
"Then what are you waiting for? Give me what I deserve!" Cozy exclaimed.
*ZAP*
*BOOM*
The battle continued on between the powerful magic wielders.
"Don't you just loathe me Twilight?!" Cozy asked.
"I'm starting to!" Twilight replied.
"Don't you just hate me, Twilight?" Cozy asked.
"Hate's a strong word, but-" she replied.
"So you do!" Cozy exclaimed.
"I-" Twilight tried to talk, but Cozy talked over her.
"I just love how much you hate me! I think it's absolutely delightful you don't even stop to think about the fact that you're fighting your favorite student." Cozy teased.
Twilight listened and read deep into her words. What was she trying to imply?
"I mean, not like I care! I'm just surprised to see you don't care as well." Cozy said. "Princess of friendship? I think you're shaping up to be a very compassionate princess, judging by how you're handling your final test of friendship!"
"I don't know what you're talking about, but I won't let you destroy the magic of friendship again!" Twilight said.
"Then try to stop me!" Cozy exclaimed.
Twilight and Spike's battle against Cozy raged on. Although by this point, it became abundantly clear that they were on a time constraint.
They were starting to feel a little claustrophobic since the battle began.
"What's going on?" Twilight asked.
"Was the dome always this small?" Spike said.
The magic dome that contained them was getting smaller. Either from the creatures outside, or Cozy's own doing, it was hard to tell.
"Wait a sec..." Twilight realized something.
The smaller the dome got, the more Cozy showed signs of fatigue.
"Cozy Glow? Are you okay?" Twilight asked.
"I'm perfectly fine!!!!!!" Cozy exclaimed.
*MAGIC*
Cozy shot a blast of magic at Twilight, but Twilight swiped away her magic blast away with a flick of her horn.
"Why won't you hold still!?" Cozy exclaimed.
Twilight fighting strategy changed from full on offensive, to more evasive.
*BOOM* The forces outside pounded against the doom even harder.
"AAHH!!!!" Cozy cried.
*heavy breathing* the Cozy projection laid on the ground, gasping for air.
"Cozy Glow? What's?" Twilight asked.
*Grr* What are you waiting for, Twilight? I'm vulnerable! Finish me so you can go ahead and put me in stone for generations!!" Cozy exclaimed.
"I wouldn't put you in stone." Twilight said. "Err... at least if I did, I wouldn't leave you there for that long."
"You say that now, but it's a shame that future you doesn't abide by your false sense of sympathy." Cozy said.
"What are you talking about?" Spike asked.
"Why don't I just show you two?!" Cozy said.
Cozy's horn glowed and beamed out a display of "future" events. (It was the future, I guess now the timeline has sort of diverged. Or maybe that ending never happened?) (or the entire dome turned into an illusion)
Cozy projected a view of the alternate timeline for Twilight to see. It was the timeline where she, Tirek, and Chrysalis are turned to stone by Discord.
"Together forever. I can't think of anything they'd want less." Discord said, flicking the statue.
"Hahahaha." everypony and every creature laughed at Cozy in the statue. A completely humiliating defeat.
Twilight and Spike looked at the future, confused.
"This is how the princess of friendship plans to begin her reign of tyranny. The only good thing about being sealed away, is I don't have to see just how wonderfully you run the kingdom." Cozy said.
"Okay... if Discord were here, and you fought side by side with the other two, maybe I could see this happening." Spike said.
"But, I'm sure I wouldn't leave you there for long." Twilight said.
The projection went into fast forward. The sun and move raced in the sky, as months, years passed by. But despite all the time that passed, the statue stood in place. They didn't even bother moving it to Canterlot or anything. They just left it in the middle of the field for years.
It was then that Twilight's eyes wandered, and she realized the severity of the punishment she would go on to bestow upon Cozy.
"It's funny how being a dictator warps your mind and perception." Cozy said. "Before, you were so determined to make friends with every sour soul who crossed your mind. But as leader of Equestria, you bring permadeath to your enemies!"
Twilight and Spike were in shock. Twilight couldn't see herself ending the conflict in such a way. But she also couldn't see herself ruling Equestria.
"This has to be some kind of mistake. Surely there's a happy ending eventually." Twilight said.
"You can keep going forward. I checked. There's no happy ending ahead for me." Cozy said.
The dome continued to shrink. Spike urged Twilight to do something, but she was too lost in thoughts to do anything.
"It's funny how you'll listen to Discord who came right off of lying to you and assembling all your worst enemies together." Cozy said.
"There, there's got to be more to this story." Twilight said.
"Nah. That timeline I looked at was pretty shallow in terms of storytelling, suspense, and pay off." Cozy commented.
"What if I...." Twilight used her own magic to manipulate the projection in a way Cozy hadn't anticipated.
"Wait. What are you doing?!" Cozy asked.
Twilight used magic to make the Cozy's projection of the past go backwards.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Cozy shouted louder. "STOP THIS!"
Cozy attempted to halt Twilight, but Spike blocked her with a wall of fire.
Twilight rewound so far back, that she found something of most interest.
"How was school, Cozy?" a mare's voice echoed.
"Fine..." past Cozy replied, shy.
"Did you make any new friends?" a colt asked.
"No... I told you, I don't have any friends, and I don't want any." past Cozy replied.
"But how are we ever going to form trade deals if our daughter is such an introvert?" he asked.
"If you don't come back from school tomorrow with at least one friend, we will heavily consider sending you off to learn about friendship elsewhere." she said.
"And tying them up and dragging them here doesn't count by the way!" he added.
"You want me to make friends? *giggle* "I'll make friends. I'll have more friends than any other pony in Equest-*DOOR SLAM*
The projection spell ceased, and Cozy was fuming hot with anger. She managed to push Spike aside. Twilight, now had a new insight into her "favorite student".
"Why didn't you just say so, Cozy?" Twilight asked.
"Simple. You never asked." Cozy replied. "And neither did you, Spike."
"Cozy, I-" Twilight tried to say.
"Forget it! You didn't care back then, and you definitely shouldn't care now!" Cozy exclaimed.
"But I-" Twilight tried to say, but Cozy kept talking.
"When you sent me to Tartarus, that basically told me that I could never do friendship! Putting me in stone double reaffirms my suspicion! So I fail to see why I should try!!!" Cozy exclaimed.
*ZAP*
"AAAAAAAHHHH!!" Twilight cried.
Cozy continued to attack Twilight in a fit of rage.
"Since you're gonna die, I may as well tell you a secret." Cozy said. "The truth is, is that it REALLY hurt when you sent me away to Tartarus so quickly after my first ever takeover attempt."
"Cozy, I didn't know..." Twilight said.
"You didn't realize that sending the filly to Tartarus would hurt her feelings? Some princess of friendship YOU TURNED OUT TO BE!" Cozy exclaimed.
*EEGHH*
As the pressure on the dome increased, and its size decreased, Cozy Glow was getting weaker, and the statue started to crack...
"YOU THOUGHT TARTARUS WAS AN APPROPRIATE PUNISHMENT FOR A FILLY!?" Cozy asked.
"A filly who attempted to destroy all the magic!" Twilight added.
"So is that a yes? Just because I tried to delete your oh so precious magic you rely on and cherish so much, that makes me worse than Nightmare Moon? The lord of chaos? The pony of shadows? A former war general? If you think I truly can't be redeemed, then again, I don't see why I should bother trying!" Cozy exclaimed.
*zap*
*oof*
"That's why when you locked me in that cage, I was grinning gleefully plotting out my revenge!" Cozy said. "If I couldn't be your friend, then I was more than glad to be your enemy!"
"You think it was an easy decision to lock my favorite student away in Tartarus!?" Twilight asked.
Her question echoed through Cozy.
"Based on everything I've seen from you, I'd say it was very easy! You've failed to demonstrate otherwise!" Cozy replied.
"I assure you, I felt utterly betrayed when you, someone I trusted so closely, would go ahead and do something so terrible." Twilight wept.
"Hmm. Is that so? Roll the tapes!!!" Cozy exclaimed.
The projection spell reappeared, and showcased Twilight Sparkle after the events of School Raze.
Throughout Season 9, Twilight was either happy, or stressed about preparing to rule Equestria, or monstrously out of character. Cozy barely crossed her mind.
"Yeah, you look REAL devastated about locking Cozy away!" Cozy exclaimed, sarcastically. "And even more upset at her stone sentencing!"
As Cozy kept reminding Twilight about her mistreatment of her, the stress was starting to accumulate in her mind.
I've been so stressed about thinking about how I'll lead Equestria, I've forgotten the reason why Celestia trusted me and selected me to be her successor. I have to help Cozy. And prove I have what it takes to spread the message of friendship! Twilight thought.
"It was wrong for me to lock you in Tartarus so hastily, fine, I'll admit. I just discarded you, and assumed you were pure evil, so I locked you away with the intent to forget about you, which is very out of my element." Twilight said.
"Nah... You don't say." Cozy replied.
"It's just, I was so shocked that somepony I trusted so much could betray me in such spectacular fashion, but I shouldn't have let my own feelings get in the way of what's right. I'm going to fix my past mistakes, and prevent my future self from making bigger mistakes!" Twilight said.
So, was Cozy still destined to an eternity of suffering? Well, Twilight wasn't going to let it end this way.
"Cozy Glow, I refuse to fight you any longer." Twilight said.
Twilight kneeled down and surrendered to Cozy Glow.
Cozy Glow's hologram stood, and stared blankly.
"Good." Cozy said. "It'll make finishing you a heck of a lot easier!" she exclaimed.
Cozy charged her magic, and was about to fire directly at Twilight. Spike slowly leapt in front of Twilight, to try to resist the blast. But right before Cozy could unleash her devastating attack, but all of the sudden.
*BAM*
*CRACK*
"AAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!" Cozy cried.
"Cozy!!" Twilight and Spike exclaimed.
Major damage was dealt to the dome outside, and like a ripple effect, it echoed down and damaged the Cozy statue, and interfered with the hologram. The creatures outside all still clung to the outside of the magic dome, and tried to break it open. The more damage done to the dome, the more damage was done to the Cozy statue.
Twilight and Spike rushed to the outer rim, and pleaded for everypony to stop.
"Stop attacking!" Twilight exclaimed.
"She's hurting!" Spike added.
But outside, their voices could not be interpreted.
"What's she saying?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"Cozy Glow's torturing them!" Pinkie exclaimed.
"They're begging we save them!" Rarity exclaimed.
"We ain't turning down now! Come on every creature!" Applejack exclaimed.
"Is there any creature here who can read lips? I think we should-" Fluttershy said.
"YAK SMASH!" Yona exclaimed.
All the yaks came charging in from every angle, and slammed against the magic dome.
*BAM*
"AAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!" Cozy yelled.
The dome also acted as a great echo chamber. So Cozy's screams of agony rang in the ears of Twilight and Spike, and only made the situation more eerie.
"If I think back to my time at your school, and I had to guess the ending, I would've guess that this would've turned out like most of your other ends. With the apologetic reformation of your adversary. I-I just couldn't believe you would let Discord do something so cruel to me, and just leave me there, forever." Cozy said.
"Neither could I... *sniff* Twilight said.
"Frankly, I was expecting you to come forward and try to reform me at some point... and truth be told, I was kind of looking forward to it." Cozy said.
"Cozy..." Twilight said softly.
"I thought, what have I got to lose? If my plan failed, you were just gonna talk sense into me, but you showed me that being bad has consequences, heh, what a concept..." Cozy said. "It's after you locked me in Tartarus, that's when my evil gears really started turning. I was looking forward to the epic battle, me bringing you to your knees. But, before you came to Tartarus for our next encounter, Discord came along with his phony plan to assemble your biggest baddies. He showed me how to obtain power, and I just followed his lead, and unleashed my revenge upon you, the pony who hurt me so deeply. And for some reason you punished me forever, and let him get roam free, experience life. Must feel good."
Was this Twilight ready to leave her enemies in stone forever?
"If that's how future me plans to begin her rule, then I don't want to rule Equestria." Twilight said.
"We can worry about that later, Twilight. We have to save Cozy!" Spike exclaimed.
"Well... *cough* secret's out, Twilight. I wanted you to reform me. But you didn't, and that only What are you going to do, Twilight?" Cozy asked.
"But Cozy, don't you know better?" Twilight asked.
"I don't know better. Nopony showed me a better way. If I won, I would've been Empress of Friendship. If I lost, I just assumed you would have talked sense into me, and accepted me anyway. But I was wrong, and you labeled me as your biggest enemy! I thought I had nothing to lose, but instead I lost everything!"
"I..." Twilight was hesitant. "I'm the Princess of Friendship. What does it say about me if my solution involves tormenting my adversaries? I won't allow myself to make that mistake." Twilight said.
*sniff* "Why do you insist on helping now?!" Cozy exclaimed.
"Because I was wrong before. Everypony deserves second chance!" Twilight exclaimed.
"I don't believe you!" Cozy exclaimed.
"I think the only pony you don't believe, is yourself." Twilight replied.
Twilight walked closer to Cozy.
*boom*
*crack*
The ground shook and knocked Twilight and Spike lost their balance. They watched the cracks on the statue grew more intense. And Cozy, seemed to just let it happen...
"Cozy!" Twilight and Spike cried.
"Forget it..." Cozy said.
"What?" Spike asked.
"You know... knowing now that being in stone means you're completely conscious but immobile, maybe this is a better outcome after all." Cozy said. "Shattering may be a godsend from the unbearable never ending tedium of stone. *huff* In fact, mortality in and of itself could be viewed as a super power from the perspective of those with immortality... It is the relief from eternal boredom, and the burden of bearing the death of everyone you care about... I'd rather this outcome than eternity in stone..."
Both Twilight and Spike stared blankly, shocked at what Cozy just said.
*crack*
*gasp* Twilight and Spike gasped with each new crack that appeared.
"When I saw that horrible ending ahead of me, I wanted to change it for the better, and I did......" Cozy said.
*bzzt*
*bzzt*
The Cozy Glow projection disappeared.
"COZY GLOW!!!" Twilight and Spike exclaimed.
The statue still emanated the large beam of magic that kept the dome in place, but it wouldn't hold for much longer. As the dome shrank, and showed wear, the Cozy statue cracked more and more. At this rate, if the dome burst, the Cozy statue might shatter.
Twilight and Spike looked outside the transparent dome. They witnessed all the angry creatures banging on the outside.
"So, the magic of friendship, huh?" Spike asked.
"They're doing this because of me. What have I done? I turned all of Equestria against a poor filly..." Twilight wept. "I didn't unify Equestria in arms, I created a legion of followers to carry out my bidding..."
"I failed as princess of Equestria, before I took the throne." Twilight started quivering in her hooves.
"Snap out of it, Twilight!" Spike exclaimed.
"I brought great dishonor to Cozy Glow by not even trying to change her! I know she's bad, and didn't deserve to go unpunished, but she didn't deserve this..." Twilight wept.
"Then the only way to restore honor is to try! You can still save Cozy Glow!" Spike exclaimed.
Spike wrapped his arms around Twilight.
"You can do this. There's still time to make things right." he said.
She shook her head and cleared her mind. There was one thing she had to take care of.
"You're right, Spike! I won't allow it to end this way! Or that other way!" Twilight exclaimed.
Twilight and Spike sprinted to the Cozy Glow statue's side.
"So, Twilight. If you know how to unfreeze her from the stone, now would be a great time to do that!" Spike said.
"I don't know how! The only things that can force and undo a stone spell are the Elements of Harmony, cockatrice magic, or I guess Discord's magic." Twilight said.
"If a stupid snake and chicken hybrid can undo a stone spell, then so can you!" Spike exclaimed.
"The closest I can achieve is the elements of harmony, but they've been gone for some time now..." Twilight said.
"I know the elements are gone, but your magic and your friendship is real! You can save Cozy!" Spike exclaimed.
"I can't. Not without my friends! And right now they're so close, but so far! This magic dome stands between me and them, but if it breaks, Cozy shatters... There's no way to fix this..." Twilight wept. "Cozy! I'm sorry..."
...
"Well, you are Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship. But, does it have to be those friends specifically?" Spike asked.
"They are the other elements after all." Twilight replied.
"But they're not your only friends, right?" Spike said.
Twilight looked at Spike, and realized that the answer was right there the whole time.
*sniff* "You're right Spike." Twilight said. "You're just about my closest friend. We can do this, together."
Spike nodded. They were ready to help Cozy.
Twilight and Spike joined together. Twilight's horn lit up, and both their bodies started glowing.
They both embraced the Cozy statue, and Twilight put her horn to Cozy's horn.
"Hope this works!!!" Twilight exclaimed.
Inside some sort of cognitive realm.
"Where are we?" Spike asked.
"More importantly, where is she?" Twilight asked,
"There." Spike replied.
There she was. Cozy Glow. Her mind was suspended and frozen. And if they didn't do something quick, she was about to fade away.
Twilight and Spike floated over to Cozy's consciousness, and embraced Cozy as hard as they could.
"Say something, Twilight." Spike said.
Twilight thought about what to say, and thought of the perfect story.
"Cozy, when I was a filly and I hatched Spike, every pony told me that Spike was just some dragon. They said that Spike was a bad dragon, and didn't belong with me. But through all the hardships I was determined to prove them all wrong because I truly believed in my heart that Spike was my baby. And just like how every creature out there is angry, and wants you dead, I'm here to tell you that they're wrong, and that I can show you the magic of friendship after all!" Twilight said.
The warm words gave Spike energy as well, that he shared, as he tried to help Cozy.
From the outside looking in, Twilight Sparkle's eyes glowed a radiant white, and her horn fired a Rainbow beam at the Cozy statue. Spike clung to Twilight tightly to give her all his love and energy.
Cozy's body started to glow, and slowly, from the bottom to top, glowed so radiantly, it was hard to see.
Twilight used their magic to try to repair the damage done to the statue, and undo the spell altogether.
"Almost..." Spike said.
*BOOM* *CRACK*
The force outside kept banging, and the ground continued to shake.
Twilight's magic had reached the top of Cozy's body.
"There she is..." Twilight said.
"COZY!" Spike exclaimed.
*pop*
The dome popped, and suddenly, every creature that was piled on top and around the dome, fell inward and fell directly on top of Twilight, Spike, and Cozy. Every creature all piled upon each other. It was a giant pile of nearly every creature in Equestria.
...
"What happened?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"Did we win?" Pinkie asked.
"Any more threats?" Autumn Blaze asked.
"Is it over?" Ember asked.
"Where's Twilight!?" Starlight asked.
*sob*
In the middle of the pile of creatures, a faint crying could be heard. But whose tears were these? In the middle of everyone, laid Twilight Sparkle. Wrapped tightly around her hooves, she held a little crying filly.
*sob*
"It's okay, Cozy Glow. I got you. You're safe now. Nothing bad is going to happen to you." Twilight said.
There she was. Cozy Glow had been freed, and turned back to normal. She shivered, and clung closely to Twilight. She was about to be shattered, but Twilight and Spike saved her at the last minute.
*sob* "Please don't tell any pony about this. *sniff* Please keep it a secret." Cozy said.
"Well..." Twilight looked around, she was surrounded by literally every creature in Equestria.
"Sorry, Cozy, but every creature already knows." Spike said.
Twilight Sparkle and Spike miraculously managed to undo the stone spell, and revitalize Cozy Glow. Twilight Sparkle held Cozy Glow in her arms, as she pressed her head against the princess, and cried her heart out. Spike also clung to Cozy for comfort.
"I'm not going to to discard you this time." Twilight said, while stroking Cozy's mane. "I'm not going to put my problems away, I'm going to solve the problems at the source, and make things right."
So it turns out that this ending was going to be different after all. What kind of Princess of Friendship would put a pony in need in stone forever? Not this Princess. Not this time that is.
Even if afterwards, Cozy somehow still tried to resent friendship, Twilight wasn't going to cast Cozy aside without giving an honest attempt to change her mind.
...and she definitely had plans to unfreeze Tirek and Chrysalis soon and talk to them too.
The End
Also LikedSimilarAuthor
- 5u0myn0n4 · 32k words · 102 5 · 3.4k views
- 5u0myn0n4 · 124k words · 92 7 · 3.6k views
- Twilight Star · 5.9k words · 73 10 · 4.4k views
- Silvermyr · 82k words · 173 4 · 3.6k views
- Stardust456 · 2.4k words · 74 6 · 5.3k views
- Vanity · 103k words · 99 17 · 2.9k views
- Vixenthehuntress · 11k words · 63 4 · 4.8k views
- 5u0myn0n4 · 7k words · 44 0 · 1.7k views
Stats
Page generated in 0.176 seconds
Total duration
1,086 users online
1,605,632 hits today, 1,822,946 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
A lot of the problems the show always felt with was the limits placed on them by things like time constraints, the demands of Hasbro and ratings. The date of the bad gus was kind of open ended, heck in the comics even Sombra reformed the events of those issues could easily be set during the time Canterlot was being rebuilt. Remember Twilight put off the coronation untill the Castle got fixed and it got demolished! I expect Cozy eventually got out, but unless the comics cover it the specifics will always be fanfic fuel.
It's the same with "The Tree of Harmony is Dead" I'm pretty sure the Spirit of the tree survived the destruction of tree under Everfree Castle, it had its roots extending miles to Ponyville and connected to Twilight's castle. We already knew the destruction of gems doesn't destroy the elements, they got destroyed and restored in episode 2 and in the confrontation with the Legion they where used by 9 creatures who didn't have the gems at the same time. So destroyingg the tree at most forced it in to a kind of hybernation. I imagine the "Spirit of Harmony" is pretty salty that her original vessel was blow up still.
But alternate takes are always good story material so it doesn't really effect the quality of your tale, Cozy changing her fate is a good story. As a child she has a greater chance to really change her ways. Chryiss and Teirk less but not zero. In the universe with Fluffle Puff Chryiss has a better chance as well for Fluffle? Yes I think she would change eventually.
You know, I've read a lot of great reformation fics for Cozy Glow. Now I add this one to the list. This really should have been done in the show. Well done!
Sounds like something the Doctor would say...
I love this! Everything I wanted and more! Sequel needed, this deserves all the thumbs up!
Nice story. Cozy words wrang true and its nice that a happy ending was reached.
Pretty sure its second.
That's all I have to say about this. Bye.
Holy shit... That was SO FUCKING GOOD!!!
Cozy's punishments through the last 2 Seasons always left a bad taste in my mouth, so I (and a whole lotta other peeps it seems) have been surfing all through fimfic these last 2 years searching for quality fixfics that give Cozy her Redemption and Happy Ending, and THIS right here, has immediately topped that pile.
This is what should've happened, given it being the show's grand finale anyway, there was no reason it could've been, other than the fact the writers just wanted to subvert our expectations, but did so in the most contrived way possible, and completetly renders the show's entire message and themes ultimately meaningless.
What really fucks me up us that by the end of the show, they had proven Cozy's philosophy correct: Friendship really IS Power! After all, despite how Discord aligned the trio together, told them where the bell was, and enabled them to cause all the havoc they did, i find it pretty weird how, aside from a 2 second scolding and literally nothing else, Discord's "Friendship" with Fluttershy got him out of punishment...just like "Magic".
SAVAGE!!!!
10405446
The one thing I hate about this site is that I can’t look at other peoples fav and followed stories, that’s the one flaw this site has. I found a crap load of great stories that I wouldn’t have found if I didn’t dig hard for them and I’m pretty sure there are more I still haven’t found too.
Stories like The Queen of Hearts, I Chysalis, Finding Artemes, Odyssey of a thief, Night Skies and Butterflies, Render Unto Twilight, Trouble in Tiatara, MLDC: Shazam, Wondershy, Evening Stars also rise, The clock work of consequences, An infinite Number of Pinkies, Laughter is Faith, A nice game of chess, Prickle berry tries to be careful, Trixie vs. Equestria, Magic Tricks, The overworked Alicorn, Grasshopper Pie, A cog in the Machine, Quizzical, Six Two Six, Hero Antagonist, Equs Girls: Edge of Destruction, The Magic World, AND THE LIST KEEPS GOING.
Edit 1: Also could you link those Reform Cozy Stories I always hated how the final ended and enjoy every Reform Cozy with a realistically stubbornly angry filly.
Edit: Two I find these tracks work well for chapter 2 btw, Susie theme towards the beginning of the fight, Chaos King Mashup for when spike tricks twilight into getting her shit together, and fields of hopes and dreams right after Cozy disappears until the very end.
10405741
From you list, I enyojed I, Chysalis greatly. Shame it is unfinished.
One would think Discord would be the one to really agonize about leaving them in stone. He was there for a thousand years, after all.
Plus, like his fourth line in the entire series was "I don't turn ponies into stone!"
10405662
I think you meant this:
Really, how did she? She was not in Discord's first two appearances, and Discord didn't mention such a thing in front of her in this story, so this line:
...seems to be written from the perspective of the author.
10405741
You can find them here:
https://www.fimfiction.net/group/213908/cozy-glow
10405789
well imagine how much of a nuisance they must have been for discord to shove them into a rock prison
I love this story and the ending of FiM was terrible because it didn’t show any regrets or consequences of Twilight’s actions or the magic of friendship. I say you did a great job writing this story. Also a question for some fans, what will Twilight do about Cozy’s parents? I mean they may not be connected to Cozy’s actions but they didn’t even try to stop the princesses from sending her to Tartarus.
10405907
Twilight would give them an opportunity to change their perspective as she had in this story.
10405792
I'm saving that video. Good one.
First of all, Grogar's bell is indestructible. If a triple-strength friendship blast couldn't even scratch it, I doubt anything could.
Secondly, I'm not a fan of you making Twilight out to be the bad guy here. You conveniently neglected to mention how Twilight tried to get through to Cozy after finding out what she had done, trying to enlighten her on the true reason to make friends, and Cozy threw it all back in her face, pledging to keep doing what she'd been doing. So acting like Cozy is the victim doesn't fly. And don't get me started on the "dictator" comment...
10405792
MAGIC!
10406271
Shrug, No creature is better at breaking things then a child throwing a tantrum and honestly I always hated that bell anyways.
This story is a really good example of how the ending should be handled. Nothing more, nothing less, just canon Twilight doing what she should do.
Two things: Hasbro's decission to nuke FiM to prepare the audience for MLP PL and G5, which means hiring people with mental problems and very poor writing skills to create new episodes.
i.imgur.com/zKPj5Lg.png
i.imgur.com/KaYoXXv.png
The leaks prove the biggest decissions were made not to please the audience, not to teach kids how to be nice to each other, but to generate as much money as possible, with no effort. Hasbro was always the big, evil corporation and MLP was not a show, but an advert, but thanks to the talented writers from early seasons, we watched something we truly loved. Later, when all good writers left, leaving those with personal problems or no skill, we had to swallow the Haberverse: a sickening timeline, where slapstick and cruel, shitty humor was more important than the comfy, friendly feeling of previous seasons.
The best example is S8 and the idea for the School of Friendship. From the very beginning it was an IDIOTIC idea to "teach friendship" in an institution, since it's something that should be experienced by yourself, just like Celestia urged Twilight to abandon books and make friends in Ponyville. If she already knew that Twilight is going to be the princess of Equestria, she could easily make "friendship classes" in her own school. Celestia's school for gifted unicorns made sense, Twilight's school - not at all.
So, what is even this idea? The answer is - money behind a new toyset. One thing was a big factor for the S8 storyline to turn into an OOC disaster: the original idea was to make Mane 6 to travel around the globe, to find different species in different lands, teaching friendship and making friendship ambassadors. Adventures, new places, new creatures, new enemies and friends. Why did we get a stationary Ponyville school and a bunch of immigrants? The answer is, again, money - it's faster and easier to make just six assets for students, and a few backgrounds for the school, than putting any effort to make this season interesting. They chose easy cash instead of quality.
But even that School of Friendship could be saved, even Student 6 could be liked, but they wanted MLP:FiM to be more goofy and memetastick. Horrible puns, meme face expressions and ignorance for cruelty was introduced and silently accepted by the characters. Scootaloo's parents were openly neglecting her for years, living their life, ignoring her problems, only to come back one day and ruin her fragile relationships. It was a goddamn mental abuse and I believe it would be met with outrage of Scoot's friends in earlier seasons - if we even consider that episode would be even AIRED.
And what did we get? Ponies, who strangely shrugged at the kid's tragedy, "sometimes parents make decissions and that's ok, it just happens". Such a great lesson for kids: if your parents don't care about you, you should not really be bothered by that.
Another thing: redempions. Instead of something, that would go with the MLP FiM spirit (Legion of Doom redemption/open ending to be expanded), they decided to redeem those, who did not really need it, since they were living their lives: Ahuizotl and Garble. Not to mention how stupid it was for the former to explain his behavior: because he was "misunderstood" and he wanted to protect the jungle. Who watched previous episodes with him know how bullshit was this explanation, which proves another thing that was mentioned by M.A Larson:
i.imgur.com/ghcKXY4.png
i.imgur.com/zrmiPuR.jpg
The effect of Haber&BigJim&Dubuc&others' work is two seasons of horrible ideas, gruesome decissions and a very dark, sad ending. Two gems could be found: Legion of Doom episodes and Sound of Silence. It's strange how kirins' landed in this dark universum, bringing a speck of joy from earlier seasons. Every story rewriting this horrible ending, giving this trio a REAL chance, is a good story. They showed signs of understanding the friendship, and just a tiny bit of effort could fix everything. The real Twilight would did that. Twilight in S8 and S9 wanted her school and her crown, instead of making friends.
And a small reminder for these who still don't consider the last seasons to be canon - partially or fully:
i.imgur.com/Bnd9ORf.png
10405662
I'll give you that, she doesn't know what Discord said as far as we know. But seeing herself in stone makes her wonder what it feels like mentally, and then she founds out.
10405789
If that were the case he wouldn't have suggested such a thing to Celestia and Luna in the actual episode but hey what'do'ya know?
10406271
First of all, whoops.
Secondly. Ah yes, the ending of School Raze. You're right, this was the one time Twilight did reach out and try to enlighten Cozy, and she did in fact reject it outright.
Here's my take. As Cozy's master plan took shape, she came so close to achieving power, that she believed that that's the avenue she wanted to pursue. And upon her plans being stopped, she'd still rather be the one in control, and rejected Twilight's surface level enlightenment. She's a filly who found her purpose in wielding power and manipulating others, and Twilight never really attempted to find out why.
She's a reckless filly who has doesn't fear the consequences. Her evil grin in Tartarus could be attributed to the fact that they literally put her next to her pen pal who made her plan possible. Of course revenge is on the table.
Yes, Twilight did reach out that one time, but she still never checked on Cozy at all and would have quickly realized she escaped.
Maybe in canon she was too busy preparing to be princess, and was actually going to revisit Cozy after her coronation, but uh... Discord kind of threw a wrench in that plan.
She still let Discord (a creature she has no business trusting after what he did) decide their fate. She shows zero concern for their well being in Friendship is Forever, and there is still zero sign in The Last Problem to suggest they were eventually freed.
I didn't call Twilight a dictator, Cozy did, antagonizing Twilight, and painting and unflattering picture of how she'll rule Equestria.
I'm not here to paint Twilight as a villain, but in my opinion there is nothing heroic about her so called victory in the last episode. We're supposed to feel proud of this Princess of Friendship who bestows eternal suffering to those who oppose her ideology? It's my idea that her arrogance and power goes to her head, and that's why she uncharacteristically leaves them in stone.
I'm not saying the trio is innocent and deserve no consequences for their siege, but I personally feel they went too far in the other direction.
Cozy's behavior in this fic is certainly odd, but it's meant to be justified by the fact that now she knows a lifetime of immobile purgatory awaits her. The pictures she paints of School Raze is odd, but nothing makes you look back and reconsider the past,than a bleak future.
By the way, I recognize you, bluecatcinema. Thanks for commenting and following my Spike fanfiction: Oh Spike We Hardly Knew Thee. And thanks for expressing your concerns regarding this story.
I would like to see a sequel just to see the aftermath
At this moment, I just imagined the image playing out inside the dome, Twilight’s eyes fixed on the illusion as Cozy Glow only stares at her just letting the image play, not even looking at it as her eyes narrow the faster the lights of day and night shift around them. Enforcing the message of the vision.
I see people have problems with this fic, and understandably. Maybe I’m bias because I like the Mean 3 more than anyone else on this show, but I wish they could of had a better ending too. Not winning or losing, but maybe just letting them exist together, after all, they did almost gain a friendship between them.
Cozy’s line “I don’t want to lose you guys” hits so hard because I can see it as something she would actually say.
It’s a good fic, most of the reformations fic (Fixfics) seem good focus more on Cozy Glow than any of the other two, and I really wish it would focus on all three.
10406415
To be fair, it was Celestia and Luna who went with Discord's suggestion. They were still the official rulers of Equestria at that point, so it was really their call (as was placing Cozy in Tartarus).
And the writers said that the trio are in "suspended animation", so they're not really suffering per se.
10406551
with how bad the last season was story and character wise not really sure i care what the writers say, beside if the spell ever did break and they find themselves thousands of years later and everyone who ever knew them dead that a hell in of itself
10406621
Show writers were just spilling bullshit on twitter over things they didn't care, have control
They were buying time with what people wanted to hear, false hopes and when cats were out of the bag, it's was all over and they bailed
10406479
I have noticed this too. Most of the discussion usually revolves around Cozy, but I think the other two deserve just as much condolences as she does. But since this was written for the Cozy story competition, obviously special focus was put on her. If I could do a longer story than 10k words, I would have included them more. And maybe actually have a full aftermath.
But speaking of the legion, I know you've been following my other story, so you might want to stay tuned for the last chapter of that to see what's in store for the mean 3.
plus Cozy's sister
10406402
It's not that I do not think the Whole Grogar's Bell/ Cozy Glow Story line is not cannon. It's that at some point It stopped being written by Lauren Faust, and was being written by some one who didn't understand the Characters as they were originally written, so of course they were out of character, and possibly out of cannon.
Somewhere some one made a decision to end an other wise decent story line in a way that they wouldn't be asked to continue it to another season.
This ending is better that the one of the series
10406271
Actually, while laser didn't crack the bell, it did have cracks previously, showing that it can be damaged. The only reason the laser didn't destroy it is because that wasn't it's purpose, it's purpose was to purge Grogar's magic.
I think you meant Discord.
10405471
I think he did in one of the early specials.
10406415
In a way, you are painting Twilight as a villain. Twilight didn't send Cozy to Tartarus. That wasn't her decision, she wasn't in charge at that point in the show. It was Princess Celestia and possibly Princess Luna who made that decision.
Also it's Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, and Discord who turned the trio into stone. And then Discord who'd orchestrated everything gets to walk away, or teleport or whatever Discords do - with no repercussions for his actions. Discord who admitted to manipulating everything to provide twilight with tests. How many events he manipulated is kind of up to the individual.
And now, a curious thing about the cutie mark they gave Cozy Glow.
derpicdn.net/img/2018/8/21/1812374/large.jpeg
That's a Rook in Chess, or a tower, or a Castle Keep, and it represents protection. Even the Persian origin of a fortified wagon/chariot places the Rook as a protector or position of protection. According to her cutie mark Cozy Glow's special talent is protecting the individual who runs the country. Instead she behaves contrary to the symbology of her cutie mark. Sure, it's a chess piece, but chess is about strategy, not manipulation or a desire for power. If her cutie mark is supposed to be manipulation it should have been the queen, which incidentally, was originally a vizier. Which begs the question: did Cozy Glow sacrifice herself to protect Twilight from Discord's manipulations? And keep in mind that the community rainbow laser didn't actually do a whole lot.
10436454
Well, I know the 8th Doctor called eternal life 'utter boredom' in 'The Night of the Doctor'.
10436517
I'll admit, I do have a bit of a bad habit of putting all the weight of Cozy onto Twilight, when in fact you're right, technically all the punishment she got was decided by Celestia and Luna (the stone was suggested by Discord, approved by the princesses, and then executed by said chaos lord).
But here's the thing. Twilight's job as princess of friendship is to spread the magic of friendship to every creature. But when it comes to Cozy... she just doesn't.
This is the kind of thing you say when you've given up on someone. She failed to show Cozy friendship, and it's never treated as a big deal. Now did Cozy deserve reformation? Or at the very least should Twilight have put in more effort than she did to reach Cozy? (I mean if I knew the answer, the fandom wouldn't be split in half)
Maybe Cozy was intended to be pure evil when she was introduced in Season 8, but then Season 9 gave us Frenemies, where Cozy came so close to understanding friendship. So if the writers wanted us to believe that she was all evil, they sort of missed the mark.
You pretty much nailed my other grip with the finale in that Discord got off way to easy. That might have something to do with his treatment in this story.
Interesting idea about Cozy's cutie mark and "sacrificing herself to protect Twilight from Discord's manipulations."
10437905
You might find my rant on Ending of the End interesting.
There was one short scene in that which pretty much painted Discord as the number one villain. That and I blame bad writing. The final episodes were just so messed up it boggles the mind. Let's face it Discord put the three villains together and forced them to work together. He played them and then threw them under the bus/cupcake the first chance he got.
Discord's a reall work of art - Ending of the end.
10405789
Sounds to me that we need some way for him to learn that his actions have over-arching consequences to them and as a way to nullify his powers on a psychological level by making him fall for his own hubris.
Killing Joke would be perfect for this. It's basically a stronger form of Poison Joke where the "Jokes" it plays can be outright lethal and bloody and are entirely dependant on what was said that could be considered "funny" at the time. The real kicker is that it doesn't even matter how long ago it was said: it could have been something innocuous that was said entire YEARS ago, the magic of the Killing Joke would still work regardless as was shown with Fluttershy when she once said: I would like to be a Tree.
derpicdn.net/img/2013/6/26/357893/medium.jpeg
Instead of the potential villain being too OP that Discord or Celestia cannot take them down in a straight up fight and only Twilight could (due to some bullshit contrivance or deus ex machina), we would have a villain that was smart and calculating enough to worm their way at the heroes and undo everything. Not to say that there would be strong and OP characters, so long as there are already established limitations to why character "X" can do this but Twilight is incapable of doing it, with one of the only things not being put into detail enough in the show is exactly the very nature of Alicorns.
Based on what was said in Celestia and Lunas' canon journal there were other Alicorns somewhere else. Do they have a hierarchy of power? Is there a set difference between Alicorns who are born and Alicorns who Ascend? Do they have their own spoken language and customs and culture? If there is enough of them in public knowledge, why haven't we seen or heard about such an Alicorn Tribe? What is their general relation towards other Ponies, are they worshipped as Gods or are they treated as Devils? We don't know. The writing staff does not know. This is the reason why we have such a negative reaction when it comes to the show introducing us to a new Alicorn almost every other season since there isn't enough information about Alicorns in-general for us to understand why exactly they work.
I don't buy it. Cozy is trying to hard to be something she never was. Oh you never cared to notice the hurting little filly card doesn't really work.
I think I know how this chapter should have ended. Shield collapse caused Cozy Glow to die in agony. The other two villains had been shamelessly forgotten. The national memorial day for the filly has been created.
Agree with author notes. Actually whole season was doing U-turn compared to seasons 1-3, starting with Discord performing lesson zero, Twilight as a princess accepting same faults Celestia was wery cross about with Twilight, etc., etc.
10488656
I'll just direct you to this blerb from the writers notes:
So I should have written a story where Twilight is okay with hurting Cozy?
10490285
Twilight doesn't need to be okay with hurting Cozy. However she has an angry mob behind her back that wants to rip Cozy to shreds, stuff her into stone and leave her in the middle of nowhere for all eternity forgotten. Also you've misunderstood me on a couple things.
10490285
I think what they're saying that the situation they described would be more like how people actually react to these types of things. Look at mass shootings, reguardless of how you think we need to deal with them why has nothing been done? It's because we are reactionaries and are unwilling to put foresight into preventing things. And ponies react in similar ways, twilight and co needed to learn not to be racist two times i can think of: Zecora and Thorax. Which means they didn't learn any broad lessons.
10492257
Racist yes. But they forgave Starlight and Tempest without a second thought. And the Main Six let Discord off the hook numerous times. What ponies will forgive doesn't always line up with what we would. Plus the writing was always pretty lax when it came to reformation.
I do love finding all these alternate take stories. Something about them being frozen and stone forever always kind of bugged me. Sure you could argue it was the princesses decision but still. And yeah throwing a Philly into prison without any hint that she’d ever be reformed are given a chance to, well that just raises more questions
10533099
A part of me thinks that something even darker was afoot, that Celestia didn't want Cozy Glow around for any period of time because of something involving her that represents as not just a threat to the nation or a threat to the world, but as a threat to only Celestia's image. After all, you'd have to be hard-pressed to suppress the very existence of your daughter at all costs.
This is a great short story, but it definitely needs some work. Loads of grammatical errors and awkward sentencing. Still, I'm glad to see those deranged morals from the last 2 seasons being challenged.
better than the real end
not a fan of reforming much but permastone
seriously so much for the power of friendship
bad call DIpcord you didn't like it but they freed you and you said it yourself
" at least I DONT turn ponies into stone "
well you lied
10406402
You are a legend m8!
Got to admit it is spectacular version of "the ending of the end" episodes
Honestly - if it was the actual version on-screen, I could watch it over and over and never get bored from it
the newspaper in the last problem shows tirek, cozy, and chrysalis are being reformed by bulk biceps, sweetie belle, and thorax respectively. the stone petrification might've been just for a week or 2 for all we know, but it wasn't permanent. I normally have trouble finding flaws in fics, but this boring, cynical joke of a story is VERY FAR from your best work on this site
10827239
Glad you enjoyed the story. It's interesting you call the story "spectacular". Given the nature of this story being a contest entry, I went out of my way to add maybe a bit more flare and drama than I would in a short story. I can see that that sort of paid off.
10832885
This one?
derpicdn.net/img/view/2019/9/7/2138197.png
I hate to break it to you, but this image is fake. It's a fan made edit.
derpicdn.net/img/view/2019/8/25/2127331.png
The actual newspaper shows the statue, and that's it. We don't see the statue in person, or any of the three anywhere in The Last Problem. Whether or not it's permanent is up for interpretation. The strong possibility that these three would just be left in stone forever I think left a bad taste in many a fans' mouths. So reformation fics started becoming a thing people wrote, and people enjoyed consuming.
If you're calling the story cynical because you saw a fake image showing their nonexistent reformation, then this particular criticism doesn't hold water. The canon ending IS cynical. So when Cozy calls out Twilight for being turned to stone for a long time, it's based on the ambiguity of the real ending. All this fic does is call attention to it, and characters actually consider the ramifications of their actions, instead of just laughing at their defeat like they do in the actual ending.
If you think it's cynical how I portrayed the Equestria mob, again, every single one of them watched the trio get turned to stone and laughed. I didn't think this would've been that much of a stretch.
You found it boring, but lots of people found the same story exciting, so as I guess taste is subjective. One thing I won't deny is that this story could have used more time to refine things. Re-reading it myself, there's no doubt lots of things I would improve if I could.
I'm still overall pleased with the story, and I'm happy that so many people found much more gratification and solace in this story over the actual ending. So it has to be worth something in that regard.