On Hearth's Warming Day, Tartarus is not a fun place to be. Holiday joy does not permeate Equestria's most notorious prison. The same drudgery and boredom that plagues its inmates every other day of the year doesn't let up for Hearth's Warming.
Cozy Glow, one of Tartarus's occupants, expected the day to be spent plotting her escape and ascension to Equestria's throne with her 'friend' Lord Tirek. It's how every other day since her arrival has played out, so why not today?
Instead, a mysterious unicorn with a broken horn appears from nowhere. She's here to take Cozy Glow on holiday parole, for a 'proper' Hearth's Warming celebration.
But neither Cozy nor her custodian are what they seem.
Written for Deco for Jinglemas 2023.
Takes place between Seasons 8 and 9.
Featured on 12/29/2023.
Does this mean that the events of Season 9 still happen as normal? Because if it does then this now has a very bittersweet ending when you think about it.
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I purposefully left it ambiguous whether the events of Season 9 happen or not.
Does Tempest have a soft side for kids? :D
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I didn't really think about it until I wrote this story, but I definitely think so! She knows that feeling of being angry and confused when you're young, and while she's too jaded and tough to admit it outright, I think she wants to make any unhappy child happy again so they don't go through their lives like she did.
A Cozy and Tempest story? It's a holiday miracle!
The two characters I always thought that would be the best influence for cozy were always Sunset and Tempest, The former because she already went through the phase of manipulating a school of kids to take over the world, doesn't have a history of cruel imprisonment (like sending a child to pony hell wtf), and knows how hollow it feels to have people say you've improved despite still dragging up the past. Problem is she's too dedicated to her side of the mirror to help Cozy.
Up until now I never had a good reason for Tempest though. Aside from being a biased Fizzlepop fan it was just something I didn't think about. But this fic definitely gave a good solid groundwork for them to build a solid connection.
Even if this story lead to the cannon season finale, I think Tempest would still offer to visit her again, treating the takeover as a relapse and not giving up, she had seen promise in cozy and would probably like to try again.
Great story! I love the interactions between Tempest and Cozy. Very wholesome yet strangely in-character. It did feel very bitter sweet though with Cozy presumably having to go back to Tartarus. I feel like even if Discord won't be there to ruin what progress Tempest made with her, being stuck in an empty metal cage for a year will. She really should negotiate with Luna to move the filly somewhere better.
But overall I quite liked it!
oh this is gonna be fun
i'm kinda expecting by the time her parole is over cozy won't want to go back to tartarus due to the things she'll miss being free, and reform
okay that was super cute
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Yes, the most difficult part of the story for me was figuring out a good reason for Cozy and Tempest to get together. But the more I thought about it, I realized that Tempest had experience being an angry little filly, and that she would understand Cozy's situation better than anypony else in Equestria (aside from maybe Starlight Glimmer). Once I figured that out, the rest of the story flowed out pretty easily.
And while I purposefully left it ambiguous whether the events of Season 9 happened as depicted in the show, I also like to think Tempest didn't give up on Cozy if she did get petrified. Just because the journey is longer for some ponies than others doesn't mean they should give up.
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The first draft actually did have an epilogue with Tempest talking to Luna about everything that happened and discussing rehabilitation efforts. I cut that out though because I thought it distracted from the relationship between Cozy and Tempest, and I thought the ending in the Ferris Wheel was the emotional high point of the story and should end there. What happened afterwards was not important to the story; what was important was Cozy finally had a real friend, and the story was written with that as the endgame.
And as I said above, while I left it ambiguous over whether Season 9 happens as dictated or not, I firmly believe that Tempest wouldn't give up on Cozy even if she did become stone.
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As I mention in the notes, I considered cutting the scene for being too schmaltzy, but I decided to keep it in because it felt like the first time Cozy Glow really acted like a regular child and enjoyed it. It was also the first moment we really see Tempest and Cozy on the same page, and that was needed if we were going to have that emotional finale.
Plus, seeing Tempest acting a little goofy for once was too funny (and cute) to leave out.
Sometimes it takes a former villain to reach the heart of another villain. Glad to see that at least in fanfiction somepony made that effort. :)
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Thank you!
The cover art was a perfect choice.
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Thanks! I initially wanted to combine two pictures (the one up there now and one with Cozy peering between the bars), but I decided that just having Tempest smiling through the bars heightened the uneasy feeling Cozy would undoubtedly be feeling with their first meeting.
That was as fun story. I'd like to read more of their interactions on future visits. And it was good you didn't drop that one chapter.
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Thank you! I probably won't do a sequel to this story though, as one of the key elements is the ambiguity over whether Season 9 happened the way it was shown and doing a follow-up would have to firmly answer that question in a way that wouldn't feel cheap.
And yeah, I'm glad I didn't drop that chapter. It had an important role in the story that I didn't initially appreciate.
Snowdrop: Ow! HEY! Watch for the blind mare!
Cozy: she seems to have fallen asleep smiling now that she has been seeing a good ending for her
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LOL I was wondering if anybody would notice that reference.