Issue #3: Hunted
The scene of Cozy Glow being free morphed into that of a comic book panel at the end of the issue before it was closed.
A moment later, another comic book was haphazardly slammed on top of the previous Cozy Glow comic.
The Cozy Glow Saga Issue #3: Hunted
On the cover, it showed Cozy Glow hiding in trees above while Royal Guards were patrolling the grounds below.
'Hurry! Hurry!' That was the repeating word going through the mind of Twilight Sparkle as she and Spike flew towards Canterlot Castle. She almost didn't bother to acknowledge her friends, who had been waiting for them at the Castle Gates. Though, they didn't just sit around and were soon galloping or flying right beside her.
“Oh, good. We're all here,” Fluttershy happily said as they ran towards the castle.
“So everypony got an urgent summons to the castle with no explanation?” Twilight asked her friends.
“Yup! I just love a good mysterious summons.” Pinkie happily took it in stride as she briefly placed her mane over her mouth like a vampire cape.
“What's it about?” She asked the annoyed cyan Pegasus flying by her side.
“Do you think it's a surprise party?” She asked a taken aback Fluttershy.
"Is somepony getting married?" She asked an equally confused Starlight Glimmer. “Hey! Why are we running?”
“Because something could be terribly wrong!” Twilight answered fearfully. “Somepony turned bad? Another evil creature back for revenge?!"
“Don't you think you're bein' a little paranoid?” Applejack asked her finding this a little off.
“Why else would the Princesses send scrolls in such a hurry? Something is wrong! I can feel it!” Twilight pointed out still being serious about all of this.
“Good point. They know better than to make us worry.” Rarity acknowledged as she turned to Applejack in agreement with Twilight.
“Plus, I like it when you run so fast, the walls get all blurry! Wheeee!” Pinkie said as her eyes looked hypnotized from the very fast speeds they were running in.
“Race ya!” Rainbow challenged Pinkie as she flew off ahead leaving Pinkie in the dust as they all make their way to the throne room where Princess Celestia and Princess Luna are waiting for them in their throne seats, with multiple Royal Guards in front of them.
“Ah, Girls. Thank you so much for coming.” Celestia warmly greeted the seven.
“What's wrong, Princess?!” Twilight asked in a bit of a panic. "Is another evil creature back for revenge on Equestria?!"
"Not exactly," Luna cryptically. "It is an evil threat that we're all familiar with."
"Indeed," Celestia added, giving the girls all a serious look. "An evil threat has escaped from Tartarus."
"ESCAPE!?" The girls cried in unison.
"W-who?" Twilight asked anxiously. Equestria had been safer than ever for the past year and it now looked like that was coming to an end.
Celestia sighed before answering, "The filly known as-"
(Play 0:33 to 0:38)
"Cozy Glow!?" Twilight exclaimed, trying to grasp on what she just heard. "She escaped Tartarus!?"
"We are afraid so," Luna assured. "We had sensed some sort of chaos that was occurring there but by the time we had arrived, we were too late. We found Cerberus, unconscious and Cozy's cage empty."
"We've sent some of the guards into the hills to search for her but they've all come back unsuccessful." Celestia further inputted.
"She somehow beat Cerberus?" Rainbow Dash asked in total disbelief.
"It seems she did," Luna nodded. "Cerberus has recovered and has resumed his post at Tartarus but we can't ignore the fact that Cozy Glow has escaped and is now on the loose in Equestria."
"Especially given her actions last year," Starlight agreed as everypony's memories flashed back to when Cozy had plotted to not only take over the School Of Friendship, but to steal all the magic in Equestria. And she had very, nearly succeeded.
"That is right, Starlight," Celestia responded. "Cozy proved just how much of a master manipulator she is. And given how she was almost successful in stealing all Equestrian magic, she is a threat that isn't to be taken lightly despite her age."
Twilight was silently processing every word that Celestia and Luna had been saying. Cozy Glow had somehow broken out of Tartarus and was now on the loose in Equestria. She had always had mixed feelings on the manipulative filly ever since she revealed her true colors last year.
Cozy had only wanted Friendship to gain power. She hadn't shown any remorse for her actions and therefore was justifiably locked up for her crimes. However, Twilight also had to acknowledge that Cozy was still just a filly, who probably didn't know any better.
And despite that, Cozy needed to face consequences for her actions.
So, Twilight had decided to firmly respect Celestia's decision. Over the year, she honestly didn't have the time to dwell on any of that since she had been pretty swamped with Princess duties and running the School Of Friendship alongside her friends. Now, school was out for the summer. It had pretty much been pushed all the way to the back of her mind.
Until now.
"And who knows what kind of revenge plan, that crazy filly is plotting?" Spike pondered, which left everyone in deep thought.
'My plan is to lay low' Cozy Glow thought firmly. Having decided that she had flown far enough from Tartarus, she hid in a forest that was a few miles away from the mountains. 'Maybe hiding there, I could've found a good place to maybe sleep around there.'
Cozy hadn't been tending on staying in the forest. She had stayed in the opening pathway for a little while to get her bearings after her daring escape, but began flying through the forest shortly after that. She honestly thought it was better that stayed off her hooves for now, due to the minor pain in her side.
The scratch, courtesy of Cerberus, hadn't been deep and had simply grazed her but it was still painful. Not wanting to take any chances with her wound, she had used her yellow ribbons that usually kept her mane and tail together to tie them around her midsection.
'I really hope that keeps my insides inside' Cozy thought with clear concern as she continued flying. 'If it doesn't, I'm gonna have to find a town full of ponies and hope they have a hospital.'
But that was another problem that presented itself to pink Pegasus filly. 'Everypony most likely knows what I did and they won't hesitate to notify those wackos in Canterlot and Ponyville. Can't trust anypony.'
The best case scenario would be to probably steal some medical supplies from a hospital without being seen.
'Not the first time I've had to steal from other ponies anyway' A smug smirk almost appeared on Cozy's face. 'All those times of pickpocketing really do teach you things.'
It was a habit she picked up in order to survive. She had learned the hard way that you can only rely on yourself and not friends. She had only pretended to desire friends to obtain the power she wanted. The power she desperately needed. But her plan had failed. Tirek had ratted her out to Twilight and her friends and Cozy had faced almost a year of incarceration because of it.
'Note to self: never working with anypony or any creature again' Cozy's thoughts dwindled for a moment as her mind went back to Tirek again. She could've possibly been able to free him when Cerberus was unconscious, but quickly decided against it. 'That big jerk can stay there for all I care.'
Cozy had sought Tirek's guidance in her quest to steal all magic from Equestria and he had given it to her. When they were writing letters, he had even assured her that he wouldn't tell anypony that all of it was her doing. But apparently, that had all been lies.
Tirek had ratted her out the first chance he got and Cozy paid the price for it. She had been an idiot for trusting him. In the end, like she had before, she had to look out for herself. And she wasn't planning on going back for seconds.
So for a good long while, Cozy continued in flying through the forest. She didn’t know how long she had been at it before she finally scrounged through some heavy bushes and collided face first into a pond.
SPLASH!
“Ugh!” Cozy groaned angrily as she picked herself up. “Stupid bushes!”
Each bush she had pushed through had seemingly gotten bigger and heavier. It wasn’t anything compared to the Everfree forest, but still.
‘I mean what kind of… oh wow’ Cozy's attention was longer centered at the forest, but at her reflection.
For the first time in almost year, Cozy hadn’t been able to look herself in the mirror at all. Her mane was messy and absolutely drenched. Her face was a bit battered. Not to mention, the ribbons that were currently holding her wound in place. And her the red in her eyes conveyed the little amount of sleep she had gained in Tartarus.
The adorable and cute image that Cozy had created for herself was gone.
‘Can’t worry about my appearance right now’ She decided. ‘Just keep going’.
There had to be some sort of nearby-
“You all heard that?”
Cozy’s body instantly froze with the exception of her ears perking up at the sudden voice. It was a bit distant. And it sounded like it was coming from a Stallion. It couldn't be coming from right behind her. No, it was
"Heard what?" Another voice asked, this time coming from a Mare.
"I heard a splash sound coming from around those bushes."
"Maybe it was a Cragadile."
"Can't be too sure. Let's take a look."
"Ah, Might as well. We've already swept through the mountains, looking for that Cozy Glow kid."
'CRAP!' Cozy's heart started beating fast. Those were royal guards! They'd been sent to find her and take her back. Back to Tartarus. 'Gotta hide!'
She looked around desperately for any possible hiding spot. She could hear the hoof steps growing nearer and nearer.
Where could she hide? Where could she hide? Whe-
'Wait, that could work!' Cozy's gaze landed on a tree across the pond. A medium tree with hollow roots. And it had a hole that looked just big enough for her size. The hoof steps, that were getting nearer and nearer, snapped her out of her thinking. 'Can’t wait around for that answer! Gotta hide and NOW!'
Without any further hesitation, Cozy flew across the pond and into the hole, It was a bit dark, but she could manage it. She could see all the roots on the ground too. She anxiously peeked through the roots as the bushes from across the pond shook as a couple of royal guards emerged. Their mouths seemed to be moving. Maybe Cozy could listen in on whatever conversation they were having.
The guards looked around with narrowed as they looked suspiciously.
“Hmmmm,” One guard pondered. “Coulda sworn I had heard something, coming from here.”
“Or maybe you’re just going crazy,” Another snorted which caused the others to snicker.
“Shut up!” The guard snapped. “We were sent out here to find that little runt and I’m just being cautious. We’ve searched the mountains and now the whole forest, but no luck. Come on lads, let’s head and report back to Princess Luna.”
They all started trotting back to where they came, but one guard murmured something that was quite an important piece of information to Cozy Glow.
“At least Princess Twilight and her friends are gonna join in on this search. They’ll most likely have better luck than us.”
By now, the guards had all left. But Cozy hadn’t moved from her spot. Because the situation was only being made clear now.
All of Equestria was searching for her. Twilight and her friends were looking for her. And they weren’t gonna stop until she was put back in that cage.
Cozy ran a hoof through her drenched mane. ‘It’s just me against all of Equestria. I’m all alone. Twilight and her friends are apparently already looking for me. And they won’t stop.’
Cozy finally stepped out of the tree with a determined glare before taking off flying. She had trust her instincts and she had to trust herself.
All of Equestria was gunning for her. Well, let them come. She had gotten herself this far and she couldn’t stop now. She wouldn’t.
She was alone against a million ponies. But Cozy Glow wasn’t going down. Not without a fight.
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11620717
New chapter out!
Didn't take long for a nationwide search to go out. I wonder what tricks Cozy will use to evade everyone. Very interested to see where she'll go from here.
For learning all about responsibility, Twilight certainly didn't take any for that filly. I guess she learned it from Celestia.
I wonder how our "heroes" will react once they see first hand how they essentially agreed to having a child tortured for almost a year.
Very good chapter, i like how you picture cozy, confident and tough
These two old hags fear cozy so much they need royal guards to protect them?
So far so good. Wish I had more to say, beyond so far, it's about what I expected going in. Not that that's a bad thing. I'm still invested and eager to see where this goes.
The only real issue I have is how none of the ponies seem to question the morality of how they choose to handle Cozy Glow. But that's admittedly more of a problem with the show itself and judging by what kind of story this is, and the fact that Twilight seems to be at least starting to think about it, it's probably something the ponies are going to have to confront down the line anyway.
But anyway, looking forward to reading more.
Zaza
11624525
Thanks for the feedback. I do agree that it was more of an issue with the show on how they handled Cozy, which is what motivated me to write this story. Trust me, how the Main 6 will question things, you’ll have to wait and see. As for Cozy Glow, she’s going to have some conflicts of her own. After all, I already put it in the description that this is a Cozy Glow redemption story.
I really like how you picture Cozy in this story, I imagine at some point her motivation is gonna run out and she'll reach a breaking point. It'd be interesting if Twilight and her friends found her during this moment, so they could see, like somepony else said here, how they essentially tortured a child for a year.
I can't wait for the next chapter, I'm so curious and excited
I hate to be that guy but I think you missed something in this sentence (The guards looked around with narrowed as they looked suspiciously.)
Did you mean, The guards looked around with narrowed eyes as they looked suspiciously?
If not sorry.
11628927
It’s no problem, I fixed it.👌