Cozy Glow's plans failed. She was arrested and sentenced to imprisonment in Tartarus, sharing a cell with the likes of Tirek and locked away from the world. Everypony is in agreement that justice has been served, right?
Well, her parents aren't. What parent could ever stand by and allow their child to suffer all alone? And if Celestia won't listen... then they'll just have to take matters into their own hooves.
Inspired by the dobermans' A Letter to Cozy Glow's Parents. Special thanks to Telaros for proof-reading. Vectors for coverart: Sad Cozy :( | Dark Cozy >:3
Chapters (1)
Really nice! I always suspected her actions had to do with her parents. If she recovers, it should be with her parents, or it should be shown how her parents would react and try to free her.
I don't think she even has parents.
Brilliant story!
I have to be honest I really found what happen in canon to Cozy Glow really messed up, and hypocritical on the "heroes" parts. I mean they sent a little filly to rot in Tarturus forever, and that's after giving so many other more dangerous villains like Discord, Startlight Glimmer, etc a second chance.
9228741
You do realize that Cozy pretty much signed up with Tirek, just for the power, and showed no remorse on her part for doing so? She took away every form of magic in the land, and sided with a known terrorist pretty much committing high treason. Even Discord showed remorse after his team up with Tirek. Hell, Cozy from that final shot of the episode wanted to be in Tartarus, so if anything the heroes actually played right into her hooves.
I swear, if Cozy was a full-grown mare, maybe people wouldn't be reacting this nuts.
This was a very good idea. How about this as the S9 opening?
9228876
Honestly my reaction to Cozy has nothing to do with her age - a threat is a threat and should be treated accordingly regardless of its form. My issues were that... well, pretty much what's written in here: she's not that big of a threat that she needs to be locked in Tartarus with the likes of Tirek. Surely Equestria has facilities to keep her safely locked away from society whilst they work on her reformation. Y'know, treat her humanely.
The other issues are also stated here - Discord, Starlight and Tempest are WAY bigger threats and comitted crimes of similar severity, if not worse, yet were allowed to walk free with all their powers and zero supervision, BECAUSE THEY SAID SORRY.
Hell, Discord didn't even say sorry when he was first allowed to walk free, they just took his word that he'd behave. Also, he did show remorse after he sided with Tirek, but only after Tirek betrayed him. Tempest also only showed remorse after Storm King betrayed her, and Starlight was hesitant to show remorse even at the sight of a desolate wasteland in one of Equestria's futures.
As I wrote in my previous fic before this one, it seems the key to beating Equestria's legal system is simply to have a tragic backstory and say you're sorry, and if you have magic that helps your case a bit.
9228916
Oh, that's a laugh. Again, she took all of Equestria's magic, the exact same thing Tirek did and showed no remorse for doing so. She is on the same level as Tirek in terms of insane. Consider this, if she was a full-grown mare, would you react this way?
9228925
As I said, her age is not an issue - she's not a threat now that they've seen her true colours. In fact, the only reason she was a threat to begin with was because apparantely Equestria doesn't believe in securing potent magical artefacts or screening letters sent to and from the most dangerous criminals locked in Tartarus.
Now that they know what Cozy Glow has done, and they have her in custody, it would not be hard at all to keep her locked up in a boarding school, or a juvenille facility. It would not be hard to monitor her behaviour, to screen any and all letters she sends and receives, to deny her access to any location with powerful magic that she could potentially abuse.
It wouldn't even be so bad if this was the norm for Equestria, at least then there'd be some consitency, but as I've said, it seems all you need is an "I'm sorry, lost a friend/friends when I was a kid" and bam, you can walk about freely with all your powers and no supervision. I'm sorry, but it's just too damn big a distinction between the two. Anybody can say sorry and feign remorse, and anybody can show genuine remorse but then relapse.
The bottom-line is that the punishment is way too harsh given the circumstances. Tirek is one thing, he can actively drain magic and unless there's any safe way to surpess his powers he IS too big a threat, but Cozy is not a threat as long as they don't just leave a tray of magical artifacts at her hooves and turn their heads away whilst she does whatever she wants.
9228964
Again. you're not listening. Keep in mind, half of the villains who have reformed actually had a hand in saving Equestria. Sunset, Starlight, Discord, Tempest and even they had more reasons than lost a friend as their backstory. Tempest, basically got mocked for being a cripple. Discord, spirit of chaos. Starlight... Okay, yes she did lose a friend so I'll let you have that one and Sunset, she was just jealous of her mentor Cozy clearly misunderstands the entire friendship thing, to begin with. She just wants power, and covets it as a means to an end, and again she willingly aided a known terrorist to get what she wanted. Aiding and getting advice from Tirek speaks volumes about her sanity. I quote directly from the episode.
9228916
Discord didn't even say sorry.
9229064
Sunset was forgiven WAY before she saved Equestria. She was forgiven at the end of the first movie, again, with just a simple "sorry mate, I feel bad". Starlight "saved" Equestria simply by not abusing time-travel anymore - if I point a gun at someone but then don't pull the trigger, am I let off the hook because I "saved" that person's life? Tempest DID rebel against the Storm King, but again, only because he betrayed her - she clearly had no intention to fight him if he had just kept his word. And Discord - not only did he NEVER save Equestria when he was first allowed to walk free, he was actively abusing his powers and tricked Fluttershy into agreeing never to use her Element against him. Again, he was let off with a simple "sorry, won't happen again". Only, it DID happen again! He freakin' relapsed, and was then forgiven a SECOND TIME simply by saying sorry. In fact, oddly enough, the cast showed more trust in him AFTER the betrayal than before
They didn't mock her, they feared her because her magic made things explode - it's sad, yes, but it hardly warrants ENSLAVING an entire country and draining the magic out of its rulers to give to a mad tyrant who would use it to commit further attrocities. "Yeeeeah sorry I locked you all up and tried to kill your leaders, but when I was a kid I was mauled by a bear, some things happened and my friends ditched me. Totes understandable right?"
Indeed, Discord is the embodiment of chaos - which makes it even more worrisome that Celestia would attempt to reform somebody whose very nature is to cause mischief and strife, but make no attempts on one of her own citizens, whose motives are a complete mystery and, for all we know, could be completely treatable with therapy and counelling.
Now in Sunset's case the closest thing we have to a backstory for her (that I'm aware of) is the comic issue, where Celestia expelled her because she was reading forbidden materials to find answers Celestia wouldn't give. In either case, Sunset set an army of brainwashed "soldiers" (all civilians, actually) to invade Equestria... Again, a simple apology should not be the difference between damnation and being allowed to walk around unsupervised.
HOWEVER, in her case, she was given a nice middle-ground - banishment to a world where she can't natrually use magic, and we can at least ASSUME the mirror was put under guard every blue moon, until it was moved to Twi's castle. Sunset was actually punished very appropriately and now that she HAS made up for her crimes and proven herself an ally, she's welcome back into Equestria.
Indeed, there are clearly issues that need to be worked out - that's why she needs help, not to be locked away out-of-sight and out-of-mind. Again, it's about treating her humanely - if there's the chance she can be saved, it should be taken.
In addition to all that, what you've just mentioned is all about motive and whether or not the culprit showed remorse - you've not said anything about threat level. Again, I maintain that Cozy is NOT a threat anymore. The threat she posed was in how freely she was able to move around and how EASY it was to obtain those powerful artifacts and speak with Tirek. Now that Equestria knows about her, they can monitor her and eliminate that threat. On her own, she's powerless, so there's no reason for such harsh treatment.
9229140
Maybe you have a point, maybe not, but it all comes back to Cozy wanting to and actually succeeding in stealing all of Equestria's magic, the very thing that makes the country function in the first place. Pegasi, sorry no more flight for you. Unicorns, sorry can no longer perform spells of any sort. Earth Ponies, no way to keep Equestria's plant life and crops from growing. And that's not to mention all the other creature's lives she took apart, like reducing Cerebus, the guardian of Tartarus to a normal dog. If that were the case permanently, like Cozy would have probably kept it, god knows what would have escaped. Cozy showed no remorse and didn't even care about the consequences of her actions. She just wanted power.
9229174
I don't think anyone objects to Cozy being punished-but Tartarus is a bit much. We put children in juvenile detention, not jails for adults. Everything in its proper place.
9229748
That assumes Cozy is actually a child.
I, personally, am sure she isn't (Twilight's school is pretty clearly a university in reality, and even fron that first episode, is was obvious that there were no school-age colts and fillies at the school), but rather she's just short and uses that to her advantage and play up being younger than she is... And it works. On, like, everyone.
And what makes Cozy dangerous is that, because she is not even distantly sorry (she's only sorry she was caught) - like Tirek himself - given half a chance, she'd just do it again. (After, no doubt, playing up the "I'm just a child" angle to get let off, because that, y'know, works. Painfully easily, apparently.) She's plenty good enough at what she does to fake it for long enough to allay suspicion. after all. I mean, she's literally got a chessmaster cutie mark (I thought that was so subtle, but really clever, actually.)
(And for the record I'm pretty sure Starlight is still Evil, actually; they just have her under control by giving her what ultimately she wanted. Her redemption didn't come, after all, after facing her defeat, but what basically amounted to Twilight going "come, we shall rule the unverse as friend and friend." The fact she IS still Evil (even if everyone and even she herself perhaps doesn't realise it) is what makes her the delightful character that won me over in season six, after I wanted her her on a pike after the season five finale.
No, I'm not a very nice person, either; takes evil to know evil sometimes - and I can very much see myself in Cozy Glow, come to that.)
9229920
If so, the writers should have let us know that.
9229748
How many of those children commit crimes including but not limited to kidnapping, reckless endangerment, high treason, and attempting a coup just to name a few and realistically speaking would get anyone locked up in a maximum security prison. She may not be old enough for such a punishment, but if not because of her age then the severity of her crimes would have her tried and punished as an adult. Her only out would be pleading insanity and would get a punishment similar if not worse than the slender man girls. Realistically speaking her options are a cage in a place no one goes to or if she's old enough a maximum security prison. I would choose the cage over being another guy's bitch.
9229942
To me, at least, I think they kinda did, albeit stopping short of outright of jumping up and down and having neon signs. I pegged something was deeply amiss with Cozy from the start, the only thing I was wrong about was how deep that rabbit hole went. (And I applaud to show for neatly blindsiding me with the intentional fake-outs with both Naysayer and Chrysalis.)
Being the only apparent filly in a univeristy of clearly older ponies and other species was a huge red flag to me, at any rate.
(It's odd to me how most people seem to approach this backward from "Cozy is child[1] and it's wrong they stuck her in Tartarus" and not "considering who they have done redemptions for, given everything we know about the characters and rulers for the past eight seasons - how much worse must Cozy be for her to have been consigned to Tartarus?")
But I won't belabour the discussion; it's way to late at night and children and percieved (rightly or wrongly) bad things been done to children is a very hot-button topic for many folk; I've said my piece, at any rate (and the same debate is currently being hashed out on my local ponythread and I'd rather not do it in two places at once...) So I'll go shut up now, and leave you in peace!
*tips helmet to all the ladies, gentlemen and small furry creatures from Alpha Centauri*
[1]Or rather, appears to look like a child, but that seems entirely part of her schick - Batman's Baby Doll has been mentioned a few times in discussions I've seen.
9228876
That is a really big if.
In the real world, a child and an adult don't get the same sentence for the same crime.
And they sure as hell don't get imprisoned in the same place, and neither gets sent to hell.
One thing all these arguments against locking cozy In Tartarus fail to realize is that for all we know, There is no other prison, there is no mental health institutions. We can think that their world functions similar to ours but we do t have anything to back it up. Now it’s fine if you’re interpretation views it like that, just don’t say it is fact. Heck, I think Cozy should’ve at least been given a bigger cage because that small one is inhumane (inponane?) but again that’s assuming. Also consider this, Was Starlight posing any immediate danger to Equestria? No, the only Ponies affected by her were the villagers and Twilight’s friends. Now we can say that she almost destroyed Equestria with her time traveling stunt, However, these other Universes already existed. It’s the magic of the multiverse theory, Starlights tampering Just showed Twilight how those futures could happen, her own time and present would still be there, she just had to beat Starlight to get back to it. Compare that to Cozy, who, think about it, posed such a big threat to Equestrian national security and way of life that the Army has to be called in, not the police, the ARMY. that’s when you know Cozy’s stunt was no small deal. (Plus from what we’ve seen of Tartarus, it’s just a cave. Just a big cave with spooky red rocks, nowhere near the exaggerations of hell we’ve been labeling it as)
9229140
Yeah. I pretty much agree with all of this.
Another brilliant tale, Yukito. I knew you were gonna do something like this after the season finale. :D
Taking into account how influential you are among guards --- yes
He can wait.
Well, it really did.
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But not enough to apologize for calling you tyrant earlier, obviously
9228964
You're definitely underestimating psychopaths. Although, not THAT much of a threat, indeed. I really shuddered on how jovial they were in the episode about throwing child in Tartarus.
I'm conflicted on this.
I'm not happy with Cozy Glow being thrown in Tartarus. For several reasons. One, it seems overkill. Two, Starlight Glimmer, full stop. Three, it's essentially an admission of failure from all the princesses; that, they're simply lazy, or Cozy isn't important because she doesn't have powerful magic.
On the other, you went too far pushing one side. One side threw around phrases like "Justice is justice" (which means very little, actually) and the other pretty much argued from tyranny. With how characters bent out of shape to turn this into a freedom fighters versus Evil (including Cozy herself?!) and them pulling more and more powers out of thin air, the story beat us over the head with what we're supposed to think, railroading the reader.
I didn't quite enjoy this. That's too bad, really. If it had just been less preachy, allowed the characters to have more character... Well. By the way, one big plot hole: If Cozy's parents don't have magic, how did they get into Tartarus? You need magic to do that. The story makes a point about Pegasi being treated unfairly, yet that problem would also keep Cozy Glow's parents from ever reaching her.
9241893
Well, you need magic to get in the INTENDED way, just as you'd need a key to get through a locked door. The banging was Theodore breaking in - can the gates of Tartarus BE broken down? Well the show gives us no frame of reference so it's up to the writer. I'd imagine it'd be no easy feat but then I'd also imagine Celestia would place more than one easily-distracted dog on gaurd-duty, so y'know...
Well that's a character saying it, not the narrator. Theodore is the naíve type who believes in the simple concept of good vs. evil, whereas Neighsay is a "realist" (best way I can describe it) who believes that what's right and wrong is decided by those at the top of the food chain - in this case the princesses. Obviously Theodore's beliefs are put through quite the test throughout this story...
Well I do hate the finale (both Cozy becoming the villain out of nowhere and then them just throwing her in Tartarus despite how many dangerous villains they've just let off the hook before), so yeah, there may be some bias here. What you think though is ultimately up to you - was the punishment too harsh or are Theo and Sugar Heart just letting their feelings as parents cloud their judgements? Is Cozy Glow beyond redemption or is there hope? Even if there was hope before, did her actions near the end destroy that and should she NOW be brought to justice? Or has she been punished enough, as her parents seem to think?
I guess. Again, a little bias since I felt the show just handled an already poor plotline poorly.
9229174
Yes, and she also very brilliant, even if Tirex guided her, she was able to pull it off single handedly.
Also she did as you said show no remorse.
she very dangerous, and sealing here there may be a bit overkill, but better safe than sorry.
Also Who Says it's permanent, could be temporary for the time being.
Oh, wow! This story certainly shows a parents' love for their child. The drama levels were high while your creativity in how everyone and everything went was downright astounding!
The ending is definitely a moment of bittersweet victory. Hopefully Cozy never learns of the death of the guard. However it is doubtful given how far away they moved to escape what surely will always await them back in Equestria.
Dream valley... Is this a fun homage to G1?
Nice action sequences. Learning a bit about dad's past also helps give insight on how Cozy may, like him, been fighting her own demons. Perhaps, in time, Starlight, her mom, and dad can help her rebuild a life after Equestria?
Well done, you did a bang up job on this story.
Also I recognize the names of her parents from My Little Pony Tales.
9275698
Yayyyyyy! Even if you're the only one, I'm glad at least one person got it XD
9276486
This is the best story ever, it satisfies me after watching that episode when she is being taken away; and ever since then, I always had a mind of wanting to see who would side with her and try to break her free. Good job
Welp, he was already in trouble, but he just ensured that he'd be charged with high treason.
So she still shows some kind of regret. There is hope yet, a slim one, but it's there.
Well we can definitely say there's going to be a serious execution if they go back!
Teddy and Sweet Heart from My Little Pony Tales, surprising, but I can totally see them as Cozy's parents. This was well done.
Good story, now it make me want to read a sequel of the future Starlight commented, and the reactions of Luna and Celestia... Maybe some rumors around in favor of Cozy
Why have you suddenly decided to start responding to comments?
9243152 it's was really great i love it when cozy gets reformed great job and great story