Prologue: The Greatest Mistake
Sleepless nights and hours of research were visible on both mares’ face, the room solemnly silent. There was a mutual understanding between the two as to why they both looked so terrible, but it was left unsaid. Starlight bit her lip nervously, looking around the library of the Canterlot Castle, seeing all of the unorganized piles of scrolls and books, many with added in notations. She grimaced as she saw the multiple depictions and introspective details of multiple less than pleasant rituals. Still, she knew she had to do it. She had come here for a specific reason, and she wouldn’t leave until she had fulfilled it.
Taking a deep breath, she stared at her friend and Princess. To think that once upon a time they had been enemies only rubbed salt in her mental and ideological wound. She hadn’t been deserving of a second chance, but she had received it anyways. She had done something wrong, something seemingly unforgivable, but she had been forgiven for it just because she was another pony, somepony who needed to be enlightened.
So why didn’t others get the same? More specifically, why did a nine year old filly who had misinterpreted the teachings of Twilight’s own friends and school deserve time in Tartarus? It was no wonder why she had become worse, having spent time in the worst place known to ponykind, and terribly enough, she hadn’t received her second chance. Was it because she’d willingly communicated with another villain, one who would never be reformed with any amount of friendship? Or was it because in the rush of the moment, and lateness of the action, the desperation of the hour, that the poor filly was cast down with the worst beings in history?
Even more awful, though, was that when she reactively returned to her villainous ways, cast out by everypony, including Starlight, she was turned to stone. Sure, she may have been deserving of it like Tirek and Chrysalis, but she was younger than them, her mind influenced by their evil ways. They had refused to reform, had turned away from ponykind, even if only out of spite. Especially so. But what if this was why the little filly had become so seemingly irredeemable. Had the greatest threats to harmony in a thousand years influenced the mind of a child to disregard everything she had learned, and twisted whatever remained against her own kind?
It was painful to think about, especially considering the fact that not so long ago, Starlight had done the same to full grown mares and stallions. Was it really so deserving that she, a grown mare herself, was able to get away with potentially dooming the entirety of Equestria, when a child had done only the same, encouraged and influenced by those around her?
It was clear that the three had never gotten along with one another, but it was also just as clear that Cozy Glow had tried to prove herself to them. Starlight could relate. The want to be noticed, to not be completely forgotten from all of the history books and ponies she knew. Looking back, she was glad that she wouldn’t be remembered as the villainess that had removed Element’s cutie marks, but as proof that anypony could be reformed. Or so it had seemed.
The whole incident with Cozy Glow had been weighing heavily on her mind for the past few months, and with the revelation of what was to come soon, she wanted to relieve the weight on her shoulders. Cozy Glow had been her student, her charge, and she had failed her. As much as she hated to admit it, half of the reason for this was the guilt that was causing her stomach to sink, and the other half for knowing that nopony her age deserved the sentence she had received. Still, it was the right thing to do no matter what they, the ponies, dragons, yaks, hippogriffs, changelings, griffons, and whoever else lived in Equestria, thought.
So, it was with this determination she meekly started, “Twilight, I think you know why I’m here.”
Twilight nodded her head tiredly, slumping into a chair since all formality was dropped, rubbing her face with a hoof. “Yeah, I know why,” she muttered. Her hoof wrapped through her already disheveled mane before she continued. “I don’t feel right about Cozy Glow either. It’s… it wasn’t… it’s not something that we should have done, was it? I mean, I know it’s something wrong to do to somepony so young, but, then again, she was threatening to destroy Equestria.”
“Twilight, I threatened to destroy Equestria, but I’m not eternally encased in stone.”
“Exactly,” she responded, sounding annoyed. “We did something wrong here, or well, back then. And now we need to fix it. I’ve been researching, well, with every bit of non-existent spare minute I’ve had to try to figure it all out.”
“I can see that,” Starlight noted mirthlessly. “So have I.”
Twilight nodded again, looking around the hectic library with discontentment, before refocusing on the subject. “The main thing, or problem with the whole situation, is that there was no specific way to free Cozy from the stone while keeping the other two imprisoned. As much as we love them, I don’t think they quite feel the sentiment.” Twilight pitifully chuckled at her own little halfhearted joke, before returning to her more scientific and analytical self.
“You see, the only other creatures to be trapped in stone are those who made eye contact with cockatrices, and Discord. Who, as you know, was the one who came up with the punishment for those three. The thing is, neither the Elements nor the usual cure for a cockatrice trance will work on this. The cockatrice cure is more or less a sort of -how do I put this- unimprisonment spell, reversing the original effects of the cockatrice. Since the cockatrice’s magic is a weaker orientation, it is easy to reverse, and the spell created only reverses the cockatrice’s magic.
“The Elements could, in technicality release her, but in doing so, they’d release the other two. As much as I hate to say it, they can’t be changed. They’ve proven that, even when all hope is lost for them, they won’t just accept the facts and turn to friendship. We were wrong about them, and they just… can’t accept when they’re wrong about themselves.”
Twilight paused, grabbing a glass of water from somewhere from behind the books and notes, taking a quick sip, before explaining, “Or at least, that's what I thought before. The thing is, the Elements can’t destroy, they just manipulate the truest desires of the heart. Discord was turned to stone because of his stone cold heart, Nightmare Moon defeated because a piece of Luna wanted redemption, and the same with Stygian. The only way to change Cozy back is if there is some part of her that does want redemption, or at least, another chance to be better. It’s sort of like the true test to see which of them can be redeemed. Whoever’s heart isn’t still stone cold.”
Starlight remained silent for a second, before asking plaintively, “There’s a but, isn’t there?”
Twilight nodded sadly. Rubbing her hoof over her face again, she muttered, “But I don’t know if this is the right thing for Equestria.” Starlight opened her mouth to argue, but realized that her friend may actually be correct. “I mean, I know that freeing Cozy Glow and giving her another shot is the right thing, but it may not be the best thing for Equestria,” Twilight explained uncomfortably. “I mean, we’re already introducing a whole new species to our planet, let alone introducing this continent to it’s first real war in fifteen hundred years. Reintroducing a villainess to society just doesn’t seem like it’d make a stable concoction with the rest of the mix.”
“I could take her in,” Starlight instantly offered, causing Twilight’s head to snap up from one of the scrolls of notes she was staring at dejectedly. Thinking quickly, she added, “I could adopt her, or maybe put her in my apprenticeship. Make her my responsibility and teach her. I mean, I’m the most qualified pony, seeing my history with the whole evil ordeal, right?”
“Starlight, I can’t put this on you,” Twilight insisted, standing up and walking over to her friend. Putting a hoof on her shoulder, she murmured softly, “You have so many things going on already, and every creature at the School needs you.”
“Twilight,” Starlight insisted. Taking a deep breath and setting a hoof on her friend’s shoulder, she continued. “For these past few months, I’ve been trying to see where I went wrong, why I couldn’t see what was going on with Cozy, and how I could’ve done better. I’m sure you can tell that I’ve been losing sleep over it nightly, and it’s not going away any time soon, unless we fix the problem. What happened to Cozy Glow is the greatest mistake in my life, worse than everything I did. Because of my ignorance, a little filly is now suffering a villain’s fate. I can’t live with that, and I know you can’t.” With a meek but earnest smile, she added, “Besides, I turned out fine, right?”
Chuckling lightly, Twilight closed the hug, muttering, “Yeah, you did.”
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That’s too many words for a single chapter.
10609378
Actually. I seen stories that have Chapters Over 15K to 25K and beyond!!!
images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/08f32166-d913-40cc-b7d2-0f5198e1485f/de0yu2o-53451eb0-fee8-4ee8-93e4-d8aba4b52fbc.jpg?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOiIsImlzcyI6InVybjphcHA6Iiwib2JqIjpbW3sicGF0aCI6IlwvZlwvMDhmMzIxNjYtZDkxMy00MGNjLWI3ZDItMGY1MTk4ZTE0ODVmXC9kZTB5dTJvLTUzNDUxZWIwLWZlZTgtNGVlOC05M2U0LWQ4YWJhNGI1MmZiYy5qcGcifV1dLCJhdWQiOlsidXJuOnNlcnZpY2U6ZmlsZS5kb3dubG9hZCJdfQ.cAge6vavChaKoPGfpaIXTINM5e_Emb96u6DM-1_VUJM
10609479
That does not disprove what I said.
10609771
Just stating the facts that there are bigger chapters in this website.
10609818
I am aware of how ridiculously long some chapters are but the fact is that the longer a chapter is the more of a chore it becomes to read.
10609825
Tell me about it. I know how that feels.
10609890
So you see my point.
10610045
I already accept it a long time ago.
Pretty nice start. It's always nice to see Twilight and Starlight realizing just how wrong imprisoning Cozy was. I'm curious to see what comes next.
I dunno, Discord is at least as old if not probably older then Tirek and Chrysalis and he never changed until he was practically forced into a reformation program. Those two never did quite get something as extensive.
10610147
But the thing is, Discord's character is never set, per se. All we can solidly say about him is he's chaotic, and tethered to at least Fluttershy on a personal level. He's the embodiment of chaos, and thus ever changing. He is susceptible to change, while Tirek and Chrysalis' selfish pride keeps their hearts cold. Also, in neither situation that Discord got turned to stone was he fully aware of defeat. The first time he was laughing at the shiny jewels, the second he was bamboozled by the power of Friendship. He never said "I'll never surrender". Discord is just an unpredictable factor in general, which is really frustrating to write.
Also, it's my personal belief that, even with the adrenaline rushing, they knew encasing the filly was wrong . Notice that the Princesses and Discord don't ever really directly acknowledge Cozy. That may have been unintentional (or I didn't see them take notice, I make mistakes), but it seems like they were more focused on vengeance and justice against those two, and Cozy kinda just got caught up with it.
10610154
Right, because they wouldn't consider the filly who launched an unprovoked attack on their castle and drained their magic to be guilty of anything.
10610154
But Tirek and Chrysalis can't change? If you recall, when the LOD came together the only one who wanted to work with the others was Cozy, but eventually Tirek and Chrysalis both learned that they needed each other and were willing to change to accomidate that meaning that they do have the capacity for change. For example, Chrysalis was willing to trust her magic to Tirek and Tirek actually gave it back. And consider that even after being released, Discord still mocked the ponies for wanting to reform him despite at that point seeing exactly what did him in.
As much as I want to agree with your personal belief, I just can't because Cozy was still sent to Tartarus before Discord broke her out. They had more then enough time to calm down both before and after sending her there to reconsider, but they didn't. They just tossed her into the cage and only mentioned her once in passing before the finale. Simply put, nothing points to them treating her any different from the other two.
10610218
10610265
And see, this is where personal interpretation and the fault of the screenwriters conflict. They show multiple times that Tirek and Chrissy won't surrender, while at the same time trying to contradict their own built characters by attempting to have them work together. I would say that, in my own belief, the other two worked together to try and gain power more than friendship. Cozy was the only one that wanted to work together, which is why this is her (and other's) redemption story. She showed that she was still susceptible to friendship, while the other two were only susceptible to fiendship.
10610901
She only wanted them to work together in order to accomplish their mutual goals, and as a means of manipulating her "teammates".
And the only things she proved susceptible to were power and revenge. Don't forget how she tried to take all of Discord's magic and use it to betray Chrysalis and Tirek (despite moments ago insisting on a team-building exercise, thereby proving her notions of "teamwork" and "togetherness" to be sheer hypocrisy).
10610901
Dunno, that scene near the end of Frenemies showed potential for all three of them to me. Then again, if you can only try and reform one of them, Cozy might be the best option.
10611075
She was no better or worse then Discord or Starlight and equally deserving of redemption as them.
10611075
To me though, the fat that she initiated it proves (impartially) that there is some portion of her willing to be good, although her more evil side was under the guise that it was all for her own benefit. Friendship, even the shadow of it, is beneficial to all attending parties. If not, then it isn't true friendship, just a hollow image.
Good chapter.
In my own personal headcanon Cozy Glow is much older than she appears, seeing as she's a master manipulator, a sociopath and has an extensive knowledge of magic outside of what the pegasus tribe can normally tap in to. I would put her age closer to Cadance(as we never get a confirmation on her age.), maybe a little older. She could be under the effects of a spell(maybe a curse?) where she physically ages much slower.
Actually, it was the elements that took their powers away. It was Celestia, Luna and Discord that turned them to stone.
11194169
Yes, but remember, the Elements now manifest through each member of Equestria, so it's my head canon that, all along, the magic the ponies wield, including the Princesses, is a manifestation of the Elements themselves, not magic stones.
10609378
I went back and liked this because, after writing a 27k word chapter, I couldn't agree more and less.