Manipulation

The day had started so well...

The birds had been chirping, creatures were friendly, and the sky had been blue...

But all that changed when something Cozy Glow thought wouldn't be possible.

Someone had actually been using her. Just like she had used others.

And to think...she thought she had made a true friend...

About three weeks ago, the Cutie Mark Crusaders were put in charge of Cozy Glow, who had been mostly freed from stone. The key word is mostly. Princess Twilight had kept the stone spell on the filly's wings and this spell would only fade if Cozy Glow learnt what true friendship was.

At first, the filly wanted to return to her usual tactics, but then while on the outskirts of Ponyville, she had come across a mysterious blob.

"Oh, what you doing way out here?" Cozy Glow asked.

"I could ask you the same question." a male voice resonated from the blob.

"I'm here because I noticed you." Cozy Glow said.

"Hmph. Such a simple reason. I am here because I feel better here." The blob said.

"Don't you want to come into town? Even if your some mysterious blob, you don't seem that bad." Cozy Glow said.

"I don't want to." The blob said.

"Huh? Why not?" Cozy Glow asked.

"Because of my powers. They aren't normal." The blob said. Suddenly, it shape shifted into a changeling, then a griffon, then a hippogriff. "Do you see my problem now?" The shapeshifter asked.

"So? That's actually no big deal. There are shapeshifters in Ponyville. Their called changelings." Cozy Glow said.

"Other shapeshifters...but they are not me." The shapeshifter said. "The blob form you saw before...that is my real form."

"So? I think it's kind of neat." Cozy Glow said.

"You aren't scared of me?" The shapeshifter asked.

"Nope. Not one bit. And I can help you fit in a little." Cozy Glow said.

"That sounds nice. I never got your name." The shapeshifter said.

"I never got yours." Cozy Glow said.

"Oh right. How rude of me to ask a lady her name and not give my own?" The shapeshifter asked.

"I'm seven years old." Cozy Glow countered.

"Still, it is poor matters for a man to not give his name before a girl gives her own." The shapeshifter became some sort of bipedal creature Cozy Glow had never seen before, but heard Princess Twilight mention: A human. "Call me Gorzon." The blob said.

"The name's Cozy Glow." Cozy Glow said.

When she came into town with the shapeshifting blob creature, showing off his skills and true form to the residents, they were eagily impressed by the stranger. So it had been easy for the town to accept him.

Which had made Cozy Glow happy. She had helped some pony. It felt good. She liked that feeling.

And for following week, things seemed to go smoothly. Every day, Cozy Glow would be hanging with her new friend, hoping to find out more about him. She soon discovered that he was technically an undead creature, unable to pass on to the afterlife.

Though she assured him that one day, he'll find a way to pass on to the afterline. She swore she could see Gorzon smile from that.

But she should've seen the signs that second week.

"Another batch of creatures are fighting again." Cozy Glow said. "And we just ran into them yesterday."

"Are fights like this common?" Gorzon asked.

"Not this kind of fight. Normally the residents squabble here and there, but nothing like this." Cozy Glow said.

"I wonder what could be going wrong around here? Maybe you should check it out." Gorzon suggested.

"Sure thing." Cozy Glow said.

However, the creatures were blaming her for their squabble, which had caught the pegasus off guard.

And for the next few days, this pattern continued. Creatures were starting to blame Cozy Glow for their squabbles, saying that it's her fault that the fights were breaking out.

It was mounting how often the pegasus filly was being blamed.

"Ah can't believe this. It's like you've learnt nothin'." Apple Bloom said.

"I have half a mind to send for Twilight." Sweetie Belle said.

"Forget waiting. Maybe we should just do it now? Save ourselves the trouble." Scootaloo said.

"But I swear to you, I didn't do anything this time." Cozy Glow said.

"Yeah right, like we're going to believe anything you say." Scootaloo said.

"Unless you've got proof that your not responsible, then your going to get turned right back to stone." Sweetie Belle said.

"Not like you'll find any anyways." Apple Bloom said.

"Fine! If it's proof you want, I'll find proof. I just need time..." Cozy Glow said.

"Fine. We'll give you one week. But nothing more." Sweetie Belle said.

"But after that, if there's not any proof none of this was your fault, we're getting Twilight." Scootaloo said.

"And then ya can just go right back to stone. Forever." Apple Bloom said.

Cozy Glow trotted out with a determined look on her face; wishing to get to the truth.

Sadly, for the following week, Cozy Glow's leads came up empty. And the pegasus filly was running out of time. By sundown today, if not a single shred of proof she was innocent existed, then she was going to get turned to stone by Princess Twilight without any going back this time.

However, Starlight soon approched her. "Hey wait a second, Cozy Glow how are you all the way over here?" Starlight asked.

"What do you mean? I'm still searching for proof that I haven't been behind any of this." Cozy Glow said. "Still coming up short though..." She added.

"But you can't be here. I just saw you at the Friendship School. That's a whole thirty minute walk." Starlight said. "...come to think of it, when I last saw you, your wings weren't still stoned either..." She added.

"Wait what?" Cozy Glow said. "This...this could be just what I need..." Cozy Glow then rushed over to the friendship school, only to find herself causing problems.

But that was impossible. This her before her did not have stone wings. "What the hell..." Cozy Glow said.

"Since when were there two Cozy Glows wondering around Ponyville?" One of the students asked.

"There's not." Another student said.

No...she knows how this is possible.

She knows who she's really looking at.

After all, they had demonstrated this before...

Flashback

The party to intergrate Gorzon was under way, with him even showing off more of his abilities.

Everything was going well until...

"Hey wait a second..." Scootaloo said "WHY ARE YOU ME?!" She burst out exlcaiming.

"It's another trait I have..." Gorzon said, not only mimicing Scootaloo's body, but also her voice. "Hey every pony, my name's Scootaloo, and I really like Rumble!" Gorzon said.

"What the--" Scootaloo became embarrased. While it's true she had a thing for the pegasus colt, she would never admit that outload.

"Wow, he really knows you, Scootaloo." Apple Bloom said.

"But how could he possibly know about that?!" Scootaloo exclaimed.

"Your just that transparent I'm afraid." Gorzon said as Scootaloo.

"He ain't wrong." Apple Bloom admitted.

"Yeah. It's no big surprise." Sweeetie Belle said.

"Why you..." Scootaloo said. "Your going to have a real tuff time with me buster." She said.

"Relax..." Gorzon shifted into his human form. "I was only doing it as a joke." He said back in his normal voice.

Even Cozy Glow had played the whole incident off as some big joke.

A joke, that maybe perhaps, she should've not accepted as a joke.

And that's when she realized that the past two weeks, she already had the proof she needed.

And it had been played off as a joke.

"You...you decided to frame me huh? You really didn't think I'd end up figuring it all out? It all makes perfect sense now. You played your whole 'perfect duplication thing' at the party as a joke. But maybe no pony should've treated it as a joke." Cozy Glow said. "There's only one person you could be. Isn't that right, Gorzon?" She suddenly asked.

The 'Cozy Glow' before all the other creatures suddenly gave off a grin like none other. One that gave off a feeling of pure malice. "So...you really did figure it out. And this became all too easy. That first week I was here. I basically did recon. Found out everything about you. And I realized just how much of an easy score you really are." Gorzon said.

"What's that suppossed to mean? I thought we were friends." Cozy Glow said.

"Friends? Since when did I ever say you were my friend? No. I was simply just using you. And boy, did you make things easy. Or rather, your history made it easy." Gorzon said. "You were just so easy to frame, it was laughable really."

"What?" Cozy Glow couldn't believe what she was hearing. The one she thought was her friend was openingly admitting that he had framed her.

"Not that it matters that you've found me out. The damage has already been done. By sunset today, your going to get put to stone for the rest of time. And that will make it easier to waltz in and take over the world." Gorzon said.

"Take over the world?!" Cozy Glow exclaimed.

"So how does it feel? How does it feel to be used? To be manipulated? To be just something for me to throw away when your usefulness has ended?" Gorzon asked.

"But why? Why would you do this?" Cozy Glow asked.

"Why?" Gorzon suddenly gave off an evil laugh like never before. "Why not?" He asked.

At that moment, something in Cozy Glow just broke.

And that's when she knew, things have gone horribly wrong.

She couldn't believe this...

Some pony had actually used her own methods against her...

Only they did it better.

They did it worse.

And they felt no remose.

This was no friend.

This was a true villain.

And what's more? Gorzon had used her.

Manipulated her.

And was going to throw her aside like an unwanted toy.

Cozy Glow felt a bitterness like she had never felt before towards Gorzon.

And she hated it.

She hated it.

Gorzon's laugh returned the filly to reality.

"So as you can see, you've got a date with being turned back to stone. And I'm about to get off scott free. All because no pony will ever believe you. Not over me. Not over the other ponies I've caused the squabble. And most certainty not over Headmare Starlight Glimmer." Gorzon said. "There is no pony in the word who would ever believe you. And no pony is going to care."

"You won't get away with this." Cozy Glow suddenly said.

"I'm afraid that's where your wrong: I already have." Gorzon said.

"I won't let you get away with this." Cozy Glow raised a hoof to strike.

"Now come on, you wouldn't really hurt yourself, now would you?" Gorzon asked.

For a moment, Cozy Glow considered that.

But only for a moment before she connected. "Actually, yeah." Cozy Glow said. "And you know why? Because I was wrong. What I tried to do in the past was wrong. What I was aiming for was never going to be friendship. No. All I would have would be power. And no pony would really be my friend." She explained as she whalloped on Gorzon.

"It's too bad you'll never prove that your innocent. Exactly how do you plan on proving your innocence?" Gorzon asked. "I'm going to enjoy watching you turn to stone." He grinned evilly.

"She doesn't have to." Suddenly Starlight arrived with Princess Twilight. "You've done that for her, Gorzon." Starlight said.

"What?" Gorzon asked as Cozy Glow struck him again.

"Oh yeah, did I forget to mention? Starlight ran into me. It takes thirty minutes to get from where you were at the school, to where Starlight found me. Not only that, but you forgot one very important detail in your recreation of me." Cozy Glow said.

"Ha! There's no way I missed anything!" Gorzon said, flexing his wings in Cozy Glow's body. "My recreation is perfect!" He said.

"Not quite..." Cozy Glow decided to show him, when she rammed one of her stone wings right in his face.

"What the...oh...." Gorzon said.

"After double checking, it turns out every time some pony got into a fight because of Cozy Glow, she somehow did not have stone wings. And yet, for the past three weeks, she has had her wings still turned to stone this entire time. I checked." Princess Twilight said.

"So as you can see, you were able to replicate my body, you just forgot one tiny little detail." Cozy Glow said.

Gorzon suddenly let out an evil laugh as he suddenly shifted into his human form. "Well, so you were able to proove your innocent here after all. Well, then I guess it's time for plan B." Gorzon said.

"Plan B?" Cozy Glow asked.

"Plan B stands for 'BLOW UP THE PLANET'!" Gorzon said before he suddenly unleashed some kind of magic spell that turned the entire sky a sinister purple.

The day had started so well...

The birds had been chirping, creatures were friendly, and the sky had been blue...

But now, there was none of that.

The birds began to panic, and the sky had become a sinister purple.

"In just three hours, my spell will tear your planet apart." Gorzon said. "But...you aren't going to get to live that long." He stared at Cozy Glow. "For being so perstant in proving your innocence, I'm going to rip you limb from limb and kill you myself." Gorzon said.

"But when our planet goes, you'll go too." Cozy Glow said.

"Not quite. Remember, undead being here? While your planet will be collopsing, I will teleport myself to your planet's moon. And there, I will watch as you try in vain to stop my spell." Gorzon said. "The only way your stopping your planet's destruction, is if you somehow punt me so hard, I go richoching off into space, far enough away to where I can no longer control the spell." Gorzon said.

"Thanks for the tip." Cozy Glow said. "Because I'm hoping to do exactly that." She said.

"Oh really? And just how do you plane to do that?" Gorzon asked.

Cozy Glow turned to Princess Twilgiht. "Princess, grant me that rainbow power of yours." Cozy Glow said.

"What?" Princess Twilight was shocked.

"Trust me!" Cozy Glow said.

"And why should she even try to trust you? Even if you've proved your innocence, that doesn't change what you've already done around here." Gorzon said.

"Trust me!" Cozy Glow said.

"Oh just give it up. She's never going to trust you." Gorzon said.

"Trust me!" Cozy Glow said. "Please..."

"Will you just shut up?!" Gorzon exclaimed.

Cozy Glow could feel tears in her eyes as Princess Twilight was still not listening to her. "Trust me. Please. For the sake of every creature on this planet. I'm begging you to trust me." Cozy Glow said.

"Oh come off it!" Gorzon said and then grabbed Cozy Glow in a throat lock. "She'll never trust you. Not now. Not ever. All because of what you've already done. You really think she's going to trust you with that kind of power?" Gorzon asked.

"I don't want any pony else have to suffer. I should've never brought you into Ponyville. I should've left you alone. Heck, I should've done a lot of things." Cozy Glow said. "There's a lot I've still got to answer for. Things I still need to retify..." She said. "But this planet shouldn't have to suffer because of I've done in the past."

"Oh it will suffer. And it'll be all your fault." Gorzon said.

"I've done a lot of bad things. Things I shouldn't have done. When you admitted to me to my face on how much you used me. I felt a bitterness that I've never felt before." Cozy Glow said. "I...I hated that feeling."

"And yet you--" Gorzon said.

"I'm not done." Cozy Glow interupted. "Yeah. Yeah I made others feel the same way. But only now do I realize how wrong that was. What I was after with my plans...that wasn't going to get me what I wanted the most out of anything." Cozy Glow said.

"What?" Princess Twilight was now just as shocked as Gorzon.

"All I've ever wanted are friends. And I thought power would get me those friends." Cozy Glow said. "That's why when you were imitating me, I decided right then and there: That I was nothing like you. I'm not like you. I'm nothing like you. I don't want suffering. I don't want pain." She said, tears still welling up in her eyes. "I just want friends..." She added.

"You'll have plenty of company in the fiery pits of The Furnance." Gorzon said.

"How about you shut up?" Cozy Glow said, punching Gorzon. And she did it a lot. "I'm not like you! I'm nothing like you!" She yelled out.

"You little brat..." Gorzon said.

"...Cozy Glow, do it." Twilight said, soon gifting Cozy Glow Rainbow Power.

"What the...No! No this can't be possible!" Gorzon said.

"Let my true feelings really shine through here. I won't hold back." Cozy Glow said.

"This can't be happening! There's no way she should've given you that power!" Gorzon said.

"Maybe. But it's our one shot to save the world." Cozy Glow said. "This won't get rid of what I did...but it'll be something to start picking up the pieces." She said before she gave Gorzon one heavy punch.

The shapeshifting blob was sent flying. "YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE LAST OF ME!" Gorzon said as he went flying.

A couple of minutes later, the sky cleared up, Cozy Glow went back to normal, and then collapsed.

Cozy Glow slowly came to. She was surrunded by the CMC.

"Your finally awake." Scootaloo said.

"Thank goodness. We thought we lost you." Sweetie Belle said.

"Ah almost had a heart attack." Apple Bloom said.

"Uh...what?" Cozy Glow asked.

"Listen uh...I'm no good at this but...I do apologize." Scootaloo said.

"We all apologize. Not just the three of us. The entire town." Sweetie Belle said.

"Yeah. We really should've remembered Gorzon's little party stunt. But you did, clearly." Apple Bloom said.

"That's all in the past. I already forgive you." Cozy Glow said.

"But we do want to make up for it." Scootaloo said.

"Want to be friends for real this time?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"We understand if you don't want to. We were threatening to get ya turned to stone after all." Apple Bloom said.

"I want a clean slate." Cozy Glow said. "I want to go back in time, convince my younger self that the path I was taking wasn't going to give me what I wanted." She said. "But I can't do that..."

"So...not friends?" Scootaloo asked, sadness yet understanding in her voice.

"Wasn't going to say no." Cozy Glow said.

"But you were just saying that you can't have a clean slate." Sweetie Belle said.

"Maybe I can't. Maybe I don't deserve one. We don't always get what we want." Cozy Glow said.

"So then why you still want to be our friend? After the way we treated you you shouldn't--"

"Stop." Cozy Glow interrupted Apple Bloom. "Just stop. That line of thinking isn't healthy." Cozy Glow said.

"Did she just express concern over your health?" Scootaloo asked Apple Bloom.

"Not just her. All of you. Just stop this line of thinking." Cozy Glow said. "Let's just agree to bury the hatchet, and be friends." She said.

"I think...we can live with that." Sweetie Belle said.

No pony even noticed that Cozy Glow's wings were not stone anymore in that moment the CMC had a group hug with Cozy Glow.

But in that moment, that mattered very little to Cozy Glow.

She got what she really wanted.

True friends.

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Mystic Sunrise

Mystic Sunrise #1 · Aug 2nd, 2023 · 7 · ·

This story is a contest entry for the Cozy Glow Story Contest. So please do not judge the story based on its tags. That being said, I am trusting you guys to not basically spam downvote JUST because of the tags. Because if I see a massive downvote on this story when it's being made as part of a contest, then this is the last time I'm trusting you guys with anything.

You have a skewed view of how the internet works if you think people will care about this bit.

Mockingbirb