"A little to the left... No, my left, that's it. A little more... Perfect! Thank you, Silver," Cozy Glow says sweetly as the burly pegasus guard finishes setting up her large, queen-sized canopy bed. She turns to the unicorn who's applying a lacy, white wallpaper trim around the upper edge of the pink-painted walls and says, "You're doing great, Spellweave! Do you think when you're done with that, you could help me make the bed? It'd be so much easier with magic." The guard grunts, not removing his focus from his task, but nods, getting Cozy to beam smile #3 to show extreme appreciation and joy for the help.
"You know, maybe if you're not be able to make your own bed without help, you should have gotten something smaller. I don't think the guards will appreciate bed making being thrown on top of their duties."
Cozy's smile drops and she turns to see Green leaning against the door frame, eating an apple as she looks around the room. "You and Twilight are the ones who said to order anything I want, and now you're criticizing my choices?" Cozy says accusingly. "Golly, I just figured since, you know, this is going to be my prison forever, that I should at least be comfortable here."
Green shrugs. "Hey, if this is how you want your room setup, don't let me stop you. I'm just curious whether or not you actually wanted all this, or if you just chose all the most expensive stuff out of spite because Twilight was footing the bill," she says, gesturing with the half-eaten fruit. "After all, you didn't exactly leave yourself much space here."
Cozy turns to look over her new room, and has to admit that she might have gone a little bit overboard. The giant bed takes up most of the space, and what's left is occupied by a large mahogany desk, a seat more akin to a throne in front of it which, when pulled out enough to sit in will be pressing against the bed, and another wall covered by a large, mostly empty wardrobe, vanity mirror, and bookshelf. It's rather cramped, and as a pegasus, it clashes greatly with her innate love of open spaces. Still, while she can admit it to herself, she'll never admit to Green that she made a mistake, and so says, "It's perfect."
"If you say so, but I'm not pushing apart the twin beds in my room now that I've got you out of there, so don't come crying to me when you can't fall asleep in here."
"Like you'd ever catch me crying," Cozy grumbles.
"If you have the linen and comforter ready, I can help you now," Spellweaver says, finished with the wallpaper trim.
Cozy quickly pastes on another smile, saying as she points, "Thank you so much, Spelly! All the bed stuff is in the wardrobe over there!"
"Spellweaver, if you please," the unicorn responds blandly, though does use his magic to retrieve the bedding. Once they're done, the two guards leave and head to the cloud lookout above, the pegasus carrying his companion who primes a cloud walking spell during their ascent, leaving the two fillies alone once again.
They both wave goodbye, Cozy more enthusiastically so until they're completely out of sight. Once they are, she drops her cheery facade and hoof with a sigh. "Well, guess I'm stuck with only you for company again," she grumbles, plopping down onto the step leading up to the door. "If I'd known being unpetrified would be this boring, I might have just stayed a statue."
"It's not that bad," Green counters, finally finishing her apple and looking around for a place to toss the core. "We've got books and board games."
Cozy watches with a grimace as the other filly shrugs before sticking the core directly into her mouth and chewing loudly. "You're such a weirdo," she mumbles before speaking louder, "I've already read most of those books already. Seriously, I don't get why Twilight thought we'd be interested in books for little foals." Nearly taking over Equestria should be enough of a hint that she's far beyond her peers, and even Green is smarter than the average filly by a tiny bit. She adds absently, "And you're the worst pony to play games with, too."
"Yeah? Why's that?" Green asks around her mouthful of apple core, a seed flying from her lips to nearly hit Cozy's hoof before she jerks it away.
"Because you never care when I beat you. Seriously, what kind of pony gets decimated in Oligopoly and just shrugs it off? It's no fun if the loser doesn't flip the board and make a fool of themselves."
"Sorry for being a good sport, I guess," Green says once she's done swallowing. "You want me to start throwing tantrums when I lose?"
"It wouldn't be the same. What's the point of crushing your enemies if they don't actually care?"
"Suit yourself, though you should probably find something to occupy your time. Only a week in is too soon to be going stir crazy."
"Yeah, like what?"
"A hobby? Don't tell Twilight, but I slipped an order for a ship in a bottle kit into the list of purchases for your room."
Cozy can't help but look skeptical as she asks, "Why the flying feather would you want that?"
Green actually looks away, a rare sign of embarrassment from the passive filly. "I mean, it's no secret that I'm a bit uncoordinated, so I figured maybe building a ship in a bottle will help me work on that."
"Or get you so frustrated that you smash the whole thing on the floor after messing it up a million times," Cozy says gleefully, imagining Green finally getting angry. "Golly, I hope I'm there to see it."
"Gee, your faith in me is so inspiring," Green deadpans, causing Cozy to giggle. "I'm sure I can succeed with your cheering me on."
"What are friends for?" Cozy says cheerily. Green merely rolls her eyes and flops down next to her. Cozy's good mood only lasts a moment before boredom sets in again, the two left sitting at the door, staring out towards the forest.
Cozy hasn't even made an attempt at escape beyond taking a short walk pass the treeline to confirm that the necklace indeed started to grow heavier with each step. For all of her brilliance, the filly has yet to come up with a way to get the cursed thing off of her yet. Arcanum is harder than steel, so standard bolt cutters wouldn't put a scratch in them, and the mystical metal is famous for being able to hold enchantments for centuries without maintenance. In just about any other scenario, the necklace would have been something she coveted, its monetary value being nearly as great as the uses she could come up for such a precious material, if only it weren't stuck around her neck.
There's a certain irony in that, she supposes, and she vows that when she gets it off, she's going to stick it around Twilight Sparkle's neck and see how she likes it. The fact that it will be a couple of sizes too small for a grown mare just makes the thought more appealing. She lays her head down on her crossed forelegs and exhales through her nostrils, feeling both bored and angry now.
"Hey, I think I know something we can do for a bit of fun," Green suddenly says. "I'm pretty sure there's a ball in house somewhere, courtesy of Pinkie Pie."
"A ball?" Cozy repeats with a snort. "What? You want to play catch like a couple of dumb foals?"
"Yeah, it sounds like fun, doesn't it?" Cozy tilts her head to glare at the stupidly smiling green filly, who only smiles wider and adds, "Or do you have a better idea other than staring at trees all day?" Cozy opens her mouth to retort, but can't come up with anything, so just continues to glare instead. "I thought so," Green says smugly, standing to head inside. "I'll go find that ball."
"Go ahead," Cozy mumbles petulantly. "Waste your time, because I'm not going to play ball like some stupid foal. Not in a hundred years." Resolve set, Cozy trains her eyes forward and continues to stare at the trees. That is, until a kickball suddenly bounces off her head and rolls into the yard. "Hey!" yells the pink filly, sitting up and bringing her hooves to her mane to fix her ribbon. "What's the big idea?!"
"Sorry, ball slipped."
"You did that on purpose!"
"It was a complete accident."
"Liar!"
"Nope. You know how clumsy I can be."
"Oh yeah? Well let's see how you like it when I accidentally throw that ball into your face!"
"You can try, but be warned, I might just catch it and accidentally throw it at your head again."
"Golly, I don't think a klutz like you could pull that off."
"Only one way to find out. Come on, Dimples, show me what you've got, or are you helpless without a couple of real villains around to do all the work?"
"That's it! I'm going to destroy you!"
Silver Storm and Spellweave are sitting at the edge of the lookout, staring over the side when their replacements arrive for the afternoon watch. The second pair of guards, two pegasi this time, come to land behind them and one calls out, "What news do you have? Are the prisoner and her warden doing well?"
"Look for yourself," Silver says with a chuckle. "They're in the yard." The second pair share a confused look before being startled by a loud, violent, yet distinctly familiar sound.
PRANG!
Moving quickly to stand at the edge with the others, they see Green Hornet stumbling back, having just barely deflected a kickball upwards with her hooves before it could impact her face, and was now trying to catch it as it came down. She fails, the red ball slipping between her outstretched forelegs, but she grabs it as it bounces off of the ground and quickly reels back to toss it at her opponent.
Cozy merely hovers in the air, watching with her forehooves crossed over her chest, looking completely unworried. The reason why becomes clear as Green's throw goes wide, missing her by meters. Cozy smirks at her companion's abysmal aim before flying after the ball, having to push herself a little to reach it before it hit the ground.
Grabbing the kickball and spinning, she launches it back at Green in one smooth motion, who dives towards the ball this time, managing to catch it a second after it hits her chest with another loud PRANG! Wincing, Green rolls mane over tail, but manages to spread her wings to right herself and start to rise.
"She's trying to close the distance to compensate for her aim," Spell notes.
"Means she'll have less time to react to return fire though," Silver adds with a wince. "Not sure it's worth the risk. I remember those balls stinging quite a lot when they hit."
"To land a single blow on a more skilled opponent might be worth it, if only for pride's sake," says Spell with a nod. "Green Hornet truly has a warrior's heart."
"Shame she doesn't have a warrior's coordination. I'm starting to wonder just how she managed to give the Princess that black eye."
"The element of surprise is not to be underestimated."
"I suppose you're right."
"Excuse me, but how long have they been at it?" one of the new guards ask as they watch the fillies play.
Prang!
They all wince at the sound, but Spell answers, "Nearly an hour, now."
"You two will have a quiet shift, I imagine. They're going to be tuckered out after this," says Silver, looking over at them. "Did you bring their dinner?"
The other guard holds up a couple of bags of takeout in answer. While there's food in the house, no one expects a couple of foals to be able to cook themselves proper meals, and so when the changing of the guard happens, they've been ordered to bring breakfast and dinner from various restaurants, depending on what Cozy and Green asked for.
"They're certainly working up an appetite," says Spell as he shakes his head in amusement and turns his full attention to their replacements. Upon seeing the scroll clasped to one's armor, his expression sobers and he asks, "New orders?"
"Hmm?" The guard turns his attention away from the game below to the scroll, a look of realization coming to his face. "No, not this. It's a letter from the Princess for Green."
"Really? May I know what it says, if it's not confidential?"
"It's not," the guard assures as he unclasps the scroll. "Apparently the Princess has finally managed to find a foal psychologist willing to be Cozy's therapist."
"No joke?" Silver asks, turning a speculative eye towards the scroll. "What kind of pony would be willing to take that job?"
"Her information is in here for Green to look over. Apparently the Princess wants Green's input on the matter before the mare is brought in."
The other guard snorts. "Giving that filly a lot of say in the matter, isn't she? Feels strange knowing she's got so much rein over the situation. Makes you wonder what's going through Princess Twilight's head."
"Best watch your tongue there, it's not our job to question the Princess' decisions," reprimands Spellweaver. "And besides, the more I watch Green's interactions with the prisoner, the more I begin to agree with the Princess' rational." He looks back down at the fillies playing, even hearing Cozy laugh, and he smiles gently. "If any pony is going to help Cozy Glow get better, it will be her."
Silver nods in agreement, and the two leave the other guards to start their shift. They decide to wait a bit before dropping off dinner, the bags enchanted by Twilight herself to keep the food inside hot and fresh. No need to interfere with their playing until they're finished.
Besides, It's pretty entertaining to watch, and they don't get much of that on this job.
I really want to see Cozy warming up to Green
Heh, yeah, Green knows just how to get Cozy out of her funk. Annoy the hell out of her until she flies into a rage, then play to her ego by letting her see just how much "better" she is than Green at something. Who knows, maybe eventually she'll get through to the other filly. Stockholm syndrome may be debated in a lot of psychological circles, but it's just plain facts that being cooped up with someone for long periods of time either induces acceptance, if not affection always, or deep hatred. (Take it from someone who had to bunk with multiple people through years in the military.) And since Cozy ALREADY falls into that later category there isn't anything to lose, and the only direction to go is up.
Also, I'm liking the little interactions and povs of the guards. You've nailed bored soldiers fairly well.
Lastly, a typo for your editing pleasure:
- stick it around
Story has been a lot of fun to read so far man, keep it up.
This is proving to be a very interesting story.
Green is sneaky. She is showing Cozy all what she is missing out on so she will be more receptive when Green ask her to do other activities.
It does hinge on Cozy finding the activities fun tho.
Amazing story
11670564
She's not pretending or anything. Green is a klutz, after all.
Now whether that's due to never fully getting over human motor skills interfering with her new body, a life spent vary sedately without having friends to play games like tag and ball with, thus not training her motor skills as much as other foals her age, or perhaps just being born clumsy. We don't know
11670414
Discord was only aware of his status because he's the extremely powerful Spirit of Chaos. When Twilight was freed from being petrified by a Cockatrice, she had no memory of her time in stone. Same with Tempest Shadow and the other victims of the Obsidian Orbs.
This is so cool!
I hope you keep going with this story!
Wise words
Shes gonna hide in one of those bags to escape isnt she
I really find myself looking forward to more chapters! The story is good (in my opinion at least) and I have a soft spot for tsundere villains be they Chrysalis, the Sphynx, or in this case Cozy Glow. The redemption is nice of course but something about a villain being scared to show their more tender sides tickles a part of my brain
Gotta to say, I was skeptical of Anon/Green when I first started reading this. She did come off as kind of Mary suish I guess you could say with just easily she dominated Twilight verbally. And how boneheaded she made The Mane Six look. Along with me not normally being interested in anon stories generally. But on the other hand, it's not like Twilight and others have never been that bone headed before. And you can't exactly say Twilight has never gotten played by a little pegasus filly before. So admittedly with a little bit of bias, as I am on Green's side in that argument, I decided to give this story.
And so far, I'm glad I did. I kind of get why some people didn't take to Green, but I found her calling out Twilight cathartic enough to overlook it. And I'm actually enjoying Green Bean's and Cozy's chemistry. I can buy them as ponies that aren't really friends (yet), but one is genuinely trying to reach out while the other is begrudgingly having to play along. And the guards watching over them were an unexpected, but surprisingly entertaining addition.
Love the interaction between the two and the fact that anon is slowly worming thier way into cozy. Also agree that surprise is a great element.
Green's character feels out of place. She's portrayed as nice, but it's clear that her actions are manipulative with an unspoken underlying motivation. So far this motivation feels a bit inorganic.
Either that or she is a plot device.
I hope her motivations start to make more sense in the coming chapters!
11670917
Green is a plot device
Green's character IS an Anonymous.
Which can mean multiple things like:
A) Green is a Human who is now a pony who has knowledge of the show, but through unknown means has been brought into Pony land to correct a mistake they believe should not have been made
or
B) Green is a Filly borne in Equestria and through observation noticed a series of events that they can not stand back and watch.
This story might be a mix
Green Bean is a Filly borne of Equestria who knows Cozy personally, BUT also has some maturity and awareness to them that no other Pony has.
Its a fun story for me
11670714
uh if discord was aware the sun and moon should have been as well
11671032
The sun and moon are not all-powerful reality warpers.
11671104
True but to be honest they are relatively old All things considered and yes I'm making a pun here.
11670992
the mary sue is in their victory
and in the fact that their challenge even worked
in a sane world, Twilight woulda brushed Anon off as an edgy angsty little shit and not fallen for their obvious bait
11671234
The law was legal, which she researched before the match.
While she could have just decided to ignore the law and refuse the challenge, she didn't want to be viewed as the sort of ruler who chooses which laws apply to her and which don't whenever it's convenient for her. She's humble and often wants others to treat her normally, after all.
On a somewhat unrelated note, the reason Green gave the name Anon was specifically because she wanted to minimize the chances of Twilight having her guardian found and brought out to get her.
11671258
the law, which should have been abolished due to modern times being what they are
mary. sue.
face it, dude, you fucked it all up here
now, start over, and do it right
a few ideas: have Fluttershy be the one with Twilight in the first chapter, and have Green/Anon plead with Twilight to free Cozy
in fact, overhaul Green's character entirely, they're kind of completely fucking unlikable as they currently are
11670938
Anon can be a plot device, but there are other rolls she often fills.
One of my favorites is when Anon is more of a stubborn child who knows too much for her own good. Having awareness of the world around her and but lacking the maturity to handle her problems in a harmonious way.
What's left is a filly who comes up with insane plans, knows ways to be cynical which a child should not, has a unusually large vocabulary of curse words, but is ultimately still just a child; whom fails, makes mistakes, and regrets along the way.
Anyways this is all irellivant since it has been made clear that Green is more or less her own character!
11671258 great job so far i love cozy glow reforming stories and i hope you keep going and i hope you have a good day
11670104
You don't have to like the story obviously, but I honestly don't see why you hate Green so much. She's certainly not as bad as you seem to think.
This entire post seems like a bit of an overreaction.
11671267
Maybe you expect the world too be too rational? I mean, this is a world where Twilight mind controlled a town because she was afraid of missing a homework due date, and Dash blew up a factory so her tortoise wouldn't hibernate. Twilight accepting a duel with a kid doesn't seem that crazy.
Twilight being bamboozled by a stranger she knew nothing about, but who knew a lot about her isn't particularly outlandish, nor is a strange law slipping through the cracks for millennia. Celestia did seem to leave a lot of unresolved stuff for her student to fix throughout the series, so a couple of old and antiquated laws seem like a pretty small thing in comparison. You should see some of the crazy laws we have in the US.
11671451
Twilight and Dash were unequivocally seen as in the wrong for having done those things, ya nonce
the lessons they learned in those episodes were something to the tune of "don't fuckin do that you dumbass"
you're not swaying me, fix this shit
11671451
I have said all I want to say about my feelings towards this story. I stand by every word, and as the author you may think it’s an ‘overreaction’ but I can only go by my honest feelings, which I laid out pretty plainly. I wish you the best with your story like I said, but for all the reasons I laid out it isn’t for me. Good luck with it, though.
11671267
Until such laws are abolished formally or overridden by new ones, there's no reason to think they would be abolished just for being old. That makes no sense.
As for that other stuff, if you're so sure of how to do it, write it yourself. Prove your point.
You are being excessivly mean to the author. Consider your cookie privileges revoked.
11671527
I think the story is cute.
I can see where the author is coming from, but I disagree with Green being clumsy. Human turned pony notwithstanding, being good with their hooves is literally all that Earth Ponies have going for them.
I don't know much about Cozy Glow because I didn't watch the series past season 6, other than the season 9 finale and a few random YouTube clips of various episodes. The only thing that really bothers me is that the picture of 'Green Hornet' is more or less the exact same picture of the filly 'Green' from Trust Once Lost, without the unicorn horn of course.
Is a random green pony named 'Green' just as common a thing similar to Green skinned Humans named 'Anon'?
11671527
Oh ho, here comes mister big man, big writer boy, with demands of satisfaction because he paid good money for this... why don't you go and show us all how it's done then, huh? Write away, Hemingway the Sequel.
Because you clearly care enough about this, since you come here and can't seem to let people just enjoy things without being rude.
Is this fic the pinnacle of writing, hell nah. As an enjoyable light read when you look past its few mistakes, surely.
Criticism is fine, as long as it's constructive and kept civil.
Yet somehow that clearly eludes you.
I hate Cozy Glow. I've always found her grating, annoying, and just... kinda ugly. But with Green expertly picking away at her defences and softening her up, I'm finding it kind of adorable.
Never thought I'd find a Cozy Glow story adorable. The world is a strange place...
gotta love it when people only comment to point out your spelling and gramar mistakes.
I loved the story by the way, excited for more of it
Very cute chapter. It's nice to see Cozy actually having fun without evil plans or anything and how Green is bringing out her more childish side.
11671717
Thanks for the corrections.
11671676
Despite the cover image, this Green is a pegasus, not a unicorn or earth pony.
Obviously, not a spelling error but “if you’re not able” might flow better.
Missed an e in goodbye.
Don’t know if you missed a space or wanted to separate these into two paragraphs… It just looks like a random space in a bigger paragraph is all.
*foals
“Well, let’s” if you want to get really technical with the grammar.
“Are”, wrong verb.
Again more of a reading flow situation. Putting besides at the beginning of the sentence might flow better than in the middle.
This story is more of a casual read for me personally. Green Hornet doesn’t seem Mary Sue-ish, but I can see where other readers get the idea. The clumsiness issues help to debunk the idea even if she’s a regular filly with better common sense than most. I look forward to seeing how Cozy Glow and Green interact in the future. One who actively tries to push buttons vs the one who can see under the filly’s mask.
Funny antics all around.
11670714
It wasn’t a simple cockatrice-induced stoning was why I figured they were aware in canon… The combined magic of two alicorns and a draconequus is nothing to sneeze at. As oddly morbid as the thought was, it would be the perfect punishment for all three villains. Petrifying a foal is a worrying thing when you really think about it. Like Green said in Ch 1 + 3.
Eh, that's how I eat apples too. The only inedible parts are the papery bits and the seeds; throwing away the core is just a waste, honestly.
Yes, truly a mystery for the ages.
"foals"
WANTED: Child therapist specializing in problem cases. MUST HAVE:
Generous severance package!
Inquire with HRH PPP Twilight Sparkle at Nampending Castle
wonderful, caught up, waiting for more~
Do those guards know about Discord was the one who got the villains together to use for Twilight’s confidence?
11672623
Evidently not, it wouldn't surprise me if it as kept quiet.
I like it. Its very interesting. Please keep going.
I NEED more. Please. Oh goodness, please give me more.
re: ancient laws
Like other people mentioned, it's perfectly realistic that some weird old stuff could be found in the legal codes. Some outdated laws do get repealed, but not all; others stay unused and can be invoked again, like in this fic. What typically happens, though, is that those old laws simply get superceded within the legal framework and become 'dead letter' - they remain in the books defunct and unusable. (And sometimes the framework shifts and they become valid again - this is how many anti-abortion laws in the US sprang back to life after the fall of Row v. Wade.)
11671234
I don't think you actually know what a real Mary Sue is.. You're just tossing out a monicker you know is insulting and derogatory since you're unable to properly conceptualize specific or compelling reasons to dislike the character and have to resort to 'Character got one over on best bookpone = op which = bad' instead.
You seem to feel that Twilight should always be treated as flawless and infallible in every possible portrayal and she couldn't ever be wrong, which makes for really boring stories. You're also constantly arguing as though your personal belief of how the world works is the only possible way to portray it, which makes me believe you haven't really been exposed to a very broad variety of storytelling. Thankfully you're not the ultimate arbiter of how stories are written.
11671267
Antiquated laws come up in real life all the time. Your ignorance of that fact doesn't make it any less real.
You're acting like a sheltered, spoiled child throwing a tantrum because they didn't get a purple unicorn for their birthday at this point, so I think I'll refer to you as 'Old Tiara' from now on.
11671527
Go back to your playpen, Old Tiara, i don't think you're grown up enough for these toys.
Never thought about what onomatopoeia would suit a kickball to the head. If fits.
11671267
Such a cry baby.
11671267
holy shit there's more?
oh man i can't wait to read more salty comments.
11671267
That's not how laws work, you idiot.