Cozy Glow learns a lesson

Cake awoke alone on the couch, she felt a bit dry and sluggish as her throat burned for water. Looking around she could see the moonlight barely illuminating the room as she got up and walked to the kitchen. After pouring a glass she tossed around thinking of what to do. She could try to force herself to go back to sleep snuggled up next to Twilight, which was very tempting, but as she passed through the hallway her eyes couldn't look away from the open door of Cozy Glow’s room. It was always closed, even when she would try to sneak out. She never left it open because, in her own words, an open door is an invitation for somepony to come inside.

Slowly walking into the doorframe, Cake looked inside to see the filly, staring at the ceiling as small tears ran down her face. This was not her usually fake crying where she would lay her head on the desk, cover her face and sob as loud as she could, this was different. It reminded Cake of herself, when she couldn't take the burdens of the world anymore and would just sit and stare at the ceiling, waiting for the walls to close in and hopefully put an end to all the pain and stress.

“Hay, do you wanna take that walk now?” asked Cake.

Cozy nodded and raised herself up from her chair, before standing in front of Cake waiting on her to take the initiative. After a brief trot through the castle and out the large doors, both ponies found themselves on the outskirts of town sitting on a bench, watching the midnight skies. Cake wanted to say something, but she also didn't want to ruin the mood with a lecture Cozy wasn't going to listen to. Instead she softly petted the filly’s mane, cleaning up the edges and patches as gently as she could until Cozy fell over onto her shoulder and nuzzled the unicorn's neck. Cake began to hum a simple melody as she nuzzled the filly’s ears in return.

A cold breeze flew by and the pegasus began to noticeably shiver, making Cake shift her position and hold the pegasus in her lap as she pressed her cold muzzle deeper into her chest.

“I don't care for the cold much either, I always prefered the summers of Appleloosa,” Cake said in a motherly tone.

“It's not as bad as some of the nights in Manehattan,” Cozy responded.

Cake let out a deep sigh, the silence had been broken and now it was time for talking. “I still don't understand why you went through all that trouble to try and take the throne from the princesses, winter in Canterlot is ten times worse than this.” She began to stroke the filly’s back as she talked. “And all those preppy ponies living on the mountain… you'd think there was a cash prize for whoever could stick their noses higher into the sky.”

Cozy let out a small chuckle as Cake said that, although the guard wasn't sure if either of them were really letting their guard down. Maybe it was time for one of them to stop being at the other’s neck every turn and finally see eye to eye.

“What would you have even done as a ruler, anyway?” Cake asked.

“I- I don't really know. It sounded good, and easy, at the time. I think I just wanted to see somepony stop me,” Cozy said in a melancholic tone.

“Really?” asked Cake in a confused tone. “Because I would have-“ She stopped herself before she said something stupid and ruined the moment. “If you needed somepony to be there for you, why didn't you go to Starlight?” she asked instead.

“She- it’s… it's just her job, she wouldn't understand. She’s had friends she can rely on her whole life.” Cozy sniffled.

“That's not true! She once enslaved… well… stole the cutie marks from an entire village to force them to be her friends and never leave her. All because one of her only friends growing up left when he got his cutie mark to become a wizard,” Cake explained.

“Really?” Cozy asked, now confused herself.

“I thought everypony knew that by now. She wasn't always Twilight’s pupil, she was at one point in time more of a villain than Chrysalis ever was. Almost destroyed time itself using some old Starswirl scroll,” Cake deadpanned as she rethought the events and how close Equestria was to falling into darkness.

“Wow. Maybe she isn't as boring as I thought she was,” Cozy said, scratching her chin.

“She only stopped when Twilight stretched out a hoof to her in friendship, making her go down the right path, and eventually saved us all from Chrysalis after she kidnapped us.” Cake shuddered as she remembered not being able to stop the changelings from putting her and every other pony who she thought could stop them into a pod. “But that's all in the past now, we don't have to worry about it anymore. I hope…” Cake picked the filly up and laid her down on the bench as she stood up. “Come on, let’s get back to the castle… it's getting pretty late.”

The pair returned home, Cozy went to her room and Cake hers, and she breathed a sigh of relief at their conversation. Either Cake had finally made progress or Cozy was always going to be evil and could never be saved, either way it would put an end to the problem in Cake’s mind.