If you could peer into the future, and see the exact cause, and time of your demise, how would that change your life? What if you saw the future and learned that that day was today? That's the dilemma Cozy Glow is faced with in this alternative version of the Ending of the End. In a dark twist, she uses Discord's chaos magic to take a peek into the future, and catches an early glimpse of her devastating defeat. Is there a way to prevent this horrible future from coming to fruition? Or is Cozy destined to an eternity of suffering? What does it take to make the change?
My second entry for the Cozy Glow Short Story Contest
Prompt: Cozy’s got a secret! Whether or not it’s hers is for her to know and you to find out.
Chapters (2)
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!
Certainly an interesting concept. Quite sad that Tirek and Chrysalis were so dumb.
"I don't turn ponies to stone."
Damnit.
Also damnit.
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.
Yeah, very original
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