Somepony Saved My Life Tonight

by AlwaysDressesInStyle

Cozy Exchange

Cozy Glow sat on her bed. Not a day passed by that she didn’t wake up thinking she’d died on the operating table. She had wings now. Angels had wings. She also had hooves, though, and she’d never heard of angels looking like horses before.

She had almost everything she'd ever wanted. She’d been adopted by a princess. She lived in a castle. She was learning to fly – being instructed by a star athlete who could make rainbows in the sky just by flying fast. Most amazingly of all, she was somehow even more adorable than she’d been as a human. She looked in the mirror at the strange body she was slowly getting used to. “Who’s a cute little pony? I am!” She turned and pranced in a little circle, watching her curly tail bounce around every time one of her hooves struck the ground.

Not that life was perfect. Hooves were really inconvenient when you were used to hands. She still couldn’t do more than hover for a few minutes even after weeks of instruction. But those were minor problems compared to the elephant in the room: there’d been a pony named Cozy Glow that they’d exchanged for her. A pony that had been very impatient and had launched her first take-over-the-world scheme at the ripe old age of ten.

She was now wearing the body of the filly that was considered ponykind’s greatest villain. She was escorted by guards everywhere. At first, their constant presence irritated her. She slowly warmed up to them once she realized most ponies were terrified of her. She was a manipulator by nature; she knew fear was a strong motivator. Scared people did things they wouldn’t normally do. Normally she used that to her advantage, but now it was her biggest liability.

There was a knock on the door. “You have practice in ten minutes, Miss Glow.”

Cozy looked out the window. If she galloped flat out, she’d just barely make it. But if she glided down from the castle’s tower, she could be there in a few minutes. She gulped – she hadn’t mastered gliding just yet and the tower was high.

No risk, no reward. Pony Cozy hadn’t gotten as far as she did without taking risks. She unfurled her tiny wings and gazed upon the ground below. How the miniscule wings could keep her airborne, she couldn’t fathom. But she’d seen other ponies flying, including fillies younger than her, so she knew it was possible. The other ponies said it was magic, so she believed them.

It was time for a leap of faith. She jumped and the wind caught her. For the briefest of moments she was soaring through the air.

Then she was falling. Her screams caught in her throat as the ground rushed to meet her. She squeezed her eyes shut – there was no need to watch her final moments. Instead her life flashed before her as memories came unbidden in rapid succession.

She felt the impact. She was still alive. The wind in her hair let her know she was still moving. She opened her eyes to find herself in Rainbow Dash’s outstretched forelegs.

“Gutsy move, squirt. But you need a bit more practice before you go jumping out of any more windows.”

“Thank you.” Unlike her pony counterpart, human Cozy was willing to express gratitude.

Rainbow Dash flew back to Cozy’s room and landed inside. Once she put the filly down, she jumped onto the windowsill. “Watch.” Rainbow slowly moved her wings into the right position. “A lot of this is instinct.”

“Easy for you to say. You’ve had wings your whole life.”

“Don’t overthink it. Your wings know what they want to do.” With that, Rainbow pushed off the windowsill and glided into the courtyard.

Cozy readied her wings as she watched her go. She leapt and glided a few dozen feet. Don’t think about it. Don’t think about it. Don’t think about it. Don’t think about it. Don’t think about it. Don’t think about it. She started thinking about it. Gravity did the rest.

Again she plummeted, and again Rainbow saved her from certain doom.

“Why do you keep saving me?”

“Why wouldn’t I?”

“Wouldn’t you enjoy seeing me splatter after all my counterpart put you through? Nopony would have to know. You were too far away. You weren’t fast enough. You were napping.”

“First of all, Rainbow Dash is always fast enough. Secondly, I wouldn’t enjoy watching you die. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

“What if it was my counterpart? The pony Cozy Glow. You wouldn’t do anything if she was falling, right?”

Dash shook her head. “Nope, I’d save her too. Even after all she’s done.”

“Why?”

Rainbow sighed. “One day I hope you can answer that question for yourself. Now drop and give me fifty wing-ups. We’ve got to build up your wing strength if you ever want to do more than glide.”

“I’d settle for gliding right now.”

“You’re getting better at it.”

Flight training with Rainbow Dash took up most of the morning. Dash was being generous when she complimented her on making progress. Cozy admitted to herself that she was, indeed, getting better. The problem was she was improving at a glacial pace. Cozy had always prided herself on being a quick study, so why was flying such a challenge?

Cozy had just enough time for a quick shower before her second appointment for the day. Fluttershy was waiting for her when she was done. Lunch was spread out on the table in front of her.

“Twilight told me that you skipped breakfast. Um, again.”

“Didn’t have time to eat.” It was a half-truth.

“You need to keep your energy up. Flying burns a lot of calories.” She pushed freshly baked muffins over to the filly.

Cozy ate in silence. Twilight Sparkle had insisted she meet her friends. Twilight’s friends had then …involved themselves… in her life. She barely had time to think, let alone scheme. There was always another pony vying for her time and attention.

Fluttershy was quiet. Time spent with Fluttershy was the only time she could really let her mind run at full capacity. If the other Cozy Glow had nearly conquered Equestria, she was positive she could succeed. She was obviously smarter than her pony counterpart.

“How goes your plotting?”

“I’m not plotting.” For once, it was the truth. “I’m scheming.”

“There’s a difference?”

“Schemes are rough drafts. Most fizzle out long before the plotting starts.”

“How goes your scheming?”

“Meh. Not good. Too many unknown quantities.”

“I don’t see the appeal of plotting or scheming. Perhaps you can show me?” Fluttershy put a box on the table.

Cozy opened the box to find a chess set inside. “Do you know how to play?”

Fluttershy shook her head.

“I’m going to wipe the floor with you. I was captain of Crystal Prep’s chess team.”

“Teach me.”

So Cozy did. She explained the rules. She explained how the pieces moved. She explained the objective. But mostly, she talked strategy. Fluttershy did what she did best: listened. She listened to an excited filly talk about something she loved.

Once they started playing, Fluttershy was outmatched. Trounced. Decimated. Utterly humiliated. Game after game, Cozy beat her time and again. But Fluttershy kept resetting her pieces with a smile. She was improving. Cozy might take delight in winning, but she was a good teacher. She wanted a challenge, and a novice wasn’t going to cut it.

After half a dozen defeats, Fluttershy sadly put the pieces back into the box. “Thank you, Cozy. I must be going, but I enjoyed seeing you happy.”

“Huh?”

Fluttershy nodded. “I can tell chess is something you’re very passionate about. I can say that scheming and plotting are things I’ll never be good at. I would never be able to beat you if we played a million games. Would you like to play again tomorrow?”

“Why would you want to play a game you can’t win?”

“Because you enjoy it.”

Cozy sighed. “Would you be so nice to my counterpart?”

“I would. She needs a friend. A real friend. So do you.”

“I guess we can play again tomorrow. You’ll get better with practice.” Cozy wouldn’t go so far as to patronize the older mare by saying she might win. They both knew Cozy was the superior player.

Rarity was waiting for her when Fluttershy left. The two friends exchanged pleasantries as they trotted out of the castle, Cozy in tow.

Rarity led her to a rundown section of Canterlot. That a city that prided itself on status could allow such a lowly slum to exist took her by surprise. Rarity walked into a dilapidated building, the kind Cozy never would’ve believed the fashionista would willingly go into, let alone bring along a witness to the occasion.

“You’ve had a hard life, Cozy. Twilight told us that you grew up in an orphanage. I can’t imagine not having had a family growing up. Now you have an adoptive family. You may always consider me to be extended family, even if you someday leave Equestria and return to Earth. But there are those who aren’t as fortunate. There are those who would wish they could have what you had in the orphanage. Shelter, a warm shower, enough food to eat, and somepony who cares. Today we’re going to be the ponies that care.”

Having seen her fair share of sitcom holiday episodes, the human-turned-filly expected to be dragged into the kitchen to serve soup, but Rarity had something else in mind entirely. She pulled open her saddlebags and brought out fabric and her sewing supplies. Cozy assisted the unicorn as she tailored clothing to fit the ponies living in the shelter. She almost felt sympathy for a pegasus colt even younger than herself. But that would be inconceivable. Only the weak felt bad for others. The strong crushed the weak. That was the way of the world. To show emotion was to be vulnerable.

Cozy Glow had made a lot of assumptions about Rarity. The unicorn was indeed prissy, but she wasn’t afraid to get her hooves dirty. On the surface, Cozy would’ve labeled Rarity as selfish and greedy. That’s why she liked her the best out of Twilight’s friends – if any of them could truly understand her, it would be Rarity. But that illusion had shattered. Instead, it was almost as if the mare was the living embodiment of generosity. She stopped – wasn’t that one of the virtues Twilight kept droning on about? She started making a mental list: generosity, kindness, honesty, and some others. Power maybe?

The sun was setting by the time they were done, and Cozy was grateful for the Royal Guards that flanked them on their way back to the castle. For the first time in ages, she felt an emotion other than the rage that drove her on to bigger and better things. She felt… sad. Sadness and pity were vulnerabilities. She pretended to be a hard luck case to garner sympathy in others in order to get what she wanted. Now she was feeling it. All she wanted to do was go back to the castle, crawl into bed, and pull the covers up over herself where nopony would be able to see her so weak. Hours at the shelter had made her feel empathetic to pawns she wouldn’t have hesitated to sacrifice merely a day earlier.

Wouldn’t have hesitated, and would’ve laughed about it afterwards. What kind of person was she? She was rotten to the core. She knew it, and prided herself on it. She was emotionally strong, if not physically. She was smart, resourceful. She knew what she wanted and how to get it.

Once they had returned to the castle, Cozy excused herself to her room immediately, ignoring the dinner that was waiting for them. She needed to be alone with her thoughts more than she needed nourishment. The alien emotions needed to be purged from her body. If empathy and caring were things that came with being a pony, she wanted no part of it.

She pictured the colt she’d seen in her head. She was back in her human form, and the terrified colt was the only thing standing between her and complete world domination. All she had to do…

Smite him.

She looked at the colt. She hadn’t even asked him his name. A nameless peon. Unworthy to even breathe the same air as she.

Smite him. Do it. Do it!

She faced down the imaginary colt. She lost the battle of wills and broke down crying, unable to go through with it. She’d run the same scenario in her head hundreds of times. Hundreds of different people had been the last pocket of resistance and she’d never had any qualms striking any of them down where they stood. Why was the colt different than the President or any of the five hundred and twelve friends she’d made on social media? She hadn’t even spared Heartlight, the closest thing she had to a mother.

Failure. I’m a failure. I’m weak and I’ll never be strong. No guts, no glory. N-n-n-n-no guts…

Twilight knocked on her door. “Cozy?”

“Leave me alone. I’m not feeling well.”

“That’s a lie, if ever I did hear one.”

Cozy groaned. Applejack was with Twilight.

“I hope it wasn’t something you ate.” Pinkie gasped. “I really hope it wasn’t the muffins I made you!”

“The muffins I brought with me? Oh… oh my. Cozy, I’m so sorry if the muffins I brought you made you sick!”

Cozy’s head hit the mattress in defeat. All of Twilight’s friends were with her. It was an intervention, and it was happening at the worst possible time. A time when it might actually work.

“We’re coming in, Cozy.” Twilight twisted the key in the lock and she and her friends entered.

Rarity sat on Cozy’s bed and patted the lump under the covers. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“No.” It didn’t matter what she said. She knew that they were going to say their piece regardless.

“You sure about that? You really look like you could use some company.”

Cozy leapt out of the bed, taking flight in the room. Somehow Pinkie Pie had appeared under the covers with her.

“Ha! I knew you had it in you, kid.” Rainbow Dash hovered next to her. “You’re flying!”

“Wha… what?” Cozy crashed to the floor with a thud.

“It’s instinct. You were doing really well until you started thinking about it.”

“It’s the colt, isn’t it?”

Cozy turned to look at Rarity and nodded.

“I saw how you were looking at him. That’s compassion. Empathy.”

“I don’t like it.”

“Do you like your freedom? Do you like being alive? Your talent is manipulation. But while the rook is a valuable piece in chess, it’s not the most powerful. You’re a rook trying to be a queen. You’ve seen the results of your pony counterpart’s failed coups. Are you sure this is the path you wish to travel on? I don’t know how things are done on Earth, I’ve never been there. But I can’t imagine things are all that different. If you try to conquer your country, and fail, the consequences will be severe. You already know what will happen to you if you try to pull that stunt here.” Twilight pointed out the window toward the statue garden. “Your counterpart is lucky that you needed her or she’d still be there. Believe it or not, Sunset said she’s making progress over in your world.”

“But I haven’t done anything wrong. You said so yourself. You’re holding stuff my counterpart did against me.”

“Golly, Cozy Glow sure would make a swell President,” Twilight quoted the plush pony that had been found amongst Cozy’s possessions.

“Oh, you found my toy. I would make a great President! There’s nothing wrong with being ambitious, is there?”

“Friendship is power!” Twilight once more quoted the toy.

“I have freedom of speech. I can say anything I want.”

“Sunset Shimmer can read your memories. We know about your plans for producing them into brainwashing an entire generation into voting for you.”

Cozy shrugged. “So what? I’m a kid. Where am I going to get a production facility to make them?”

“Your plan was to use your prototype to sell a major toy company on making them. Make excuses all you want; we know what you were planning on doing.”

“Good luck proving that in a court of law.”

Twilight grasped the belligerent filly in her magic and prevented her from moving. For a few horrifying seconds Cozy couldn’t even blink. “Being a statue isn’t fun. We’re just trying to show you a better way. We really do want the best for you, and don’t want to see you make the same mistakes your counterpart has already made. At one point, Cozy Glow manipulated an entire school into doing her bidding. That failed, and she was sent to the worst prison imaginable. She escaped, and in the end, she stood with two other villains she didn’t even like all that much, alone against everyone else in the world. I don’t think I need to tell you how that ended for her. Even when she had numbers on her side, she couldn’t win. Even with a powerful artifact. Unlike Sunset Shimmer, I can’t read your mind, but if I was to hazard a guess, I’d say you’re planning on doing something with human technology. Assuming, of course, that Equestria is your target, not your home world. Or maybe you’re greedy and want both. Those who crave power are never satisfied with what they have, they always desire more.”

“What would Strong Wind think if he could see you right now?”

“Who?” Cozy asked, knowing full well what Rarity’s reply was going to be. All she did was buy herself a few seconds more of denial.

Rarity just looked at Cozy Glow like she’d grown another head. “Who do you think? The colt you met today. Believe it or not, he has a name.”

“What makes you think I’d care what an icky colt thinks about me?”

“Call it a hunch. Cozy, darling, you’ve been adopted by a princess. You live in a castle and almost any whim you have is catered to. What more could you possibly want?”

“Golly, that’s super swell. For how long? Eventually Twilight will ship me back to Earth and I’ll be all alone again. Only I’ll be older and even less adoptable.”

“That’s really up to you, Cozy. I adopted you, not your pony counterpart. You’re my daughter, not her. Do you want to stay in Equestria permanently? That choice is yours to make. Do you want to throw everything away in a power play? Or would you like to stay in a loving home surrounded by all of us?”

“What about the other Cozy Glow? Won’t she eventually come back?”

Twilight shook her head. “Probably not. I banished her to Earth and she’s been adopted by Sunset Shimmer. If she convinces all of us that she’s reformed, I’d consider letting her return. Assuming she even wants to come back.”

“Equestria’s big enough for two Cozy Glows, you silly filly.” Pinkie booped the filly’s nose. “You’re teeny-tiny and don’t take up much space. We can make room for another you if it comes to that.”

“What about how everypony hates me because of what my counterpart did?”

“Equestria’s forgiven those who’ve done worse. The road to redemption is a long one. It isn’t fair that you have to pick up the pieces of her life, but that should be motivation to follow in her hoofprints. I have confidence you can reinvent yourself here.”

“Really, darling, I’ve seen pictures of your work. Do you think you could sew clothing? I could always use an apprentice at my boutique.”

“How am I supposed to sew anything with these?” Cozy held up her hooves.

“Other earth ponies and pegasi manage, and so can you. I’ll teach you, if you want.”

“I haven’t seen you soar through the air yet, so don’t think you’re getting out of our flying lessons.”

Cozy had nothing left to lose but some battle plans. She felt like an invisible weight that she hadn’t even realized was pinning her down had been lifted off her shoulders. She could give friendship a try. If that didn’t work out, she could always go back to the drawing board…

Comments

[Stahlseele]

1.)

being instructed by a star athlete who could maker rainbows in the sky just by flying fast

2.)

I can tell chess is something you’ve very passionate about

[asdtroi8895]

Nice to see "human" Cozy get some spotlight. It's also nice to see all of Twilight's friends working with her. Had they treated "pony" Cozy like this, she would have already reformed by now. At least she has Sunset.

“That failed, and she was sent to the worst prison imaginable. She escaped, and in the end, she stood with two other villains she didn’t even like all that much, alone against everyone else in the world.”

She didn't escape though. She was broken out.

[AlwaysDressesInStyle]

10986640

She didn't escape though. She was broken out.

This is true, but Twilight's glossing over that. She's not going to admit that Discord broke the other Cozy out of Tartarus and is technically responsible for pony Cozy being turned to stone. I don't think human Cozy would find that quite as forgivable as Twilight does. I'm sure if the two Cozys ever meet and compare notes, they'll have much to talk about.

[Thyrrnatf]

really like this Chapter :)

it was nice to see what was going on with the Earth Cozy :)

like the the story a Sequel for would be really awesome.