Chapters Cozy Glow learns a lesson
Cake was staring at the wall, waiting for any sounds that might set her off as she leaned back in her chair, front legs behind her head and back legs propped up against the desk. It took all of the charisma and guilt tripping she could muster to convince her wife to spare the little filly from a life sentence in Tartarus, but now she was beginning to regret it. Suddenly a loud thud was heard from the adjacent room. Cake sighed and picked herself up to go investigate. As she was walking to the other room she was thinking of something new she could try on the “lost cause” as Celestia had put it. Cake had tried stern talking, heart to heart, even… good behavior rewards, a tactic Twilight had used for Spike when he was younger. The door opened and inside was the filly, laying on her bed, staring at the ceiling until she raised her head up and grinned at Cake, showing off her somehow spotless pearly white teeth.
“Is something wrong, Miss Cake? You look upset…” she teased
Cake did look upset, sleepless nights and days filled with stress trying to get the filly to at least not try to escape the castle had taken a toll on her already meager appearance. Her mane, which was usually haphazardly thrown to the side, now looked like a spider's nest. Her eyes which once had pride and bravado burning in them were now sunken back and dead, her gaze on the little filly was no longer one filled with forgiveness or love, but with hate.
Cake looked around the room for the source of the noise. On the floor lay a small wooden chair, identical to the one in the other room, and on the far wall was a large dent on the crystal. Not enough to warp it or leave cracks in it but enough to see that someone had struck it. Cake picked up the chair with her magic and put it on its legs before pushing it back under the table. Today it was time for a new strategy, one she had been dreading to use. Until now.
Cake marched over to the filly’s bed and looked down at her. Pushing any last thoughts of mercy aside. “WHY. CAN'T. YOU. JUST. BEHAVE?” she yelled.
“Golly, Resource Officer Cake, what do you mean? I've been sitting here in this room doing just that all morning,” replied the filly
“Cozy Glow, I don't think you understand. This is your second chance. You only get one. If you won’t listen to me then I will have to MAKE you listen to me…”
The filly rolled her eyes at that, she even let out a sigh of disappointment when Cake sat down on the bed, back turned to her, until she felt something pull her tail. Cake lifted Cozy into her lap and began to stroke her back as the filly lay there, confused.
“Well I could get used to this!” she said out loud as she relaxed in Cake’s arms.
Cake stopped as soon as she saw the filly’s body release tension, and slapped her hard on the flank. Before Cozy could open her mouth to yelp in pain, she pulled back and hit her again. This wasn't a spanking, it was a beatdown disguised as one. Cake didn't know her own strength when doing this, as far as she had known her mother was using all the power in her to give them out. Blows powerful enough to tear through skin came down on the filly like hail, hitting her so hard she had fallen off Cake’s lap and onto the bed, screaming into a mouthful of sheets. Just as quickly as it had started it had ended, Cake had hit her five times under her tail. The skin underneath began to glow red under Cozy’s pink fur. Then a darker shade of crimson from being bruised.
Cozy’s cries were muffled from the bed sheets but her sobs could still be heard by Cake as she stood up to leave. She thought about giving her a threat that she would do this again if she didn't learn, but Cake knew Cozy was smart enough to know that. She left the room and headed out into the hallway and into the kitchen. Twilight was behind the counter, making pancakes in a cute apron as Spike ran under her, grabbing the fresh pancakes onto a plate as Twilight flipped them up over her shoulder.
“Breakfast is ready! Go ahead and take a seat!” said Spike, cheerfully.
Cake calmed down at the sight, or at least she thought it was the sight that had calmed her down, when it was really the light exercise she had gotten. She took a seat at one of the barstools as Spike set down her plate, then another plate beside it.
“Oh, go ahead and take that one, Spike. I don't think Cozy will be too hungry this morning. We can just eat without her…”
Spike nodded knowingly, threw the pancake onto his own dish and stacked the plates as he sat beside Cake.
“I heard some noises coming from in there, was she hitting her desk again?” asked the concerned alicorn as she threw a few chocolate chips into the frying pan.
“No. I spanked her,” replied Cake in a moody tone.
Twilight's eyes went wide as she let go of the pan in her magic and turned around. “Cake you can't do that! Studies show it's terrible for kids! You know my parents never spanked me!”
Cake glared as her temper flared again. “My mother spanked me good every time I was a little shit. And it made me who I am today!”
Twilight bit her tongue. She had a lot of ammo she could have used right there. Like the fact Cake had left home at the ripe age of twelve to become a guard and only went back for Hearth’s Warming. Or the fact Cake scored the lowest on anger management in her class. Or simply that she screamed when Twilight had touched her flank on their honeymoon. But instead she bit her tongue and remembered that Cake had been trying everything she could prior to this.
“Please Cake, don't take out your frustrations on her. Like I almost did.”
The reminder served as a curved blade, making Cake remember what her intentions were and how she could end up making a similar mistake. She nodded and returned to her food as she thought about just what kind of pony she had become. One that was now defending hitting fillies. She decided that it could be effective to solve her problem for now, but in the long run not so much… as she finished her meal and returned to the bedroom to wait for Cozy to do something again she realized there was an easy alternative. Words may not hurt adults but they sure do hurt kids!
The day was silent for the first time that week, Cake could hear the occasional small sob through the wall after breakfast but by lunch that was over. The filly even came out of her room to find something to eat without “accidentally” dropping a box of cereal or spilling a glass of soda. The white unicorn took pride in that as she remembered what a pain in the ass it was to clean up after her every time prior. The worst was when she had flattened out an entire loaf of bread and laid it outside Cake’s door, making the mare slip and fall face first onto the floor and get a nice bloody nose for the morning.
After Cozy returned to her room with a daisy sandwich Cake decided she would make sure the pegasus was alright and check in on her. She walked into the room and saw her sitting at her desk, eating her sandwich with dried tears on her check and a pillow to both support her small frame and not make sitting down so painful.
“You want to go for a walk later? We could both use some time out of the castle, maybe go see your old crusader friends and try to-”
“No!” Cozy said, cutting her off. “I don't want to go anywhere with you!”
“Why not?” Cake said, using a trick from the pink devil’s textbook.
“I hate you! Just leave me alone!” Cozy sniffled.
“I didn't hate you, ya know, I thought you were another good little filly to come out of Twilight's Friendship School. Then you decided power was more important than your friends. I could have let you rot in the pits of Tartarus…”
Cozy did not respond as she tried to eat her food quietly.
“I could have told them to never let you out, and to keep trained guards by your cage at all times. To only feed you potatoes and protein supplements until you got sick and died. Alone. With no pony to care for you, no pony to remember you, not even making a footnote in your own classmates’ history books… and I still can. Once they hear it from me, the only pony putting her neck out for you, it's over. So you better put on a smile at dinner time and thank Spike for making it for you. Understood?”
Tears began to fall again as the filly nodded in understanding. But Cake wasn't done yet.
“I was a fool to even let you in this castle, to let you sleep inches away from the Princess… What sane pony lets a fiend like you sleep in their house? For all I know you’d probably try to kill her again in a heartbeat. The same mare who brought you out of that little foster home in Manehattan, the one with the bed bug mattresses outside on the curb and that fat, lazy bitch behind the counter reading her magazines? Yeah, that's the one…” Cake said as she saw more tears begin to drip down the filly’s face.
“Now get a cloth and wipe those crocodile tears off your fucking face. I don't want to see them when you crawl out of your filth to come eat with us in a few hours.”
Cake finished her speech and left the room, more sobbing echoed out of it than last time as she walked back into the living room where it could no longer be heard. Twilight was waiting for her by the door with a saddlebag filled with snacks and a couple water bottles.
“Come on Cake, the girls are waiting for us! Spike can watch Cozy while we're out,” said the glowing alicorn as she began to trot outside, Cake following behind her as she caught a glimpse of Spike sleeping on one of the couches. She knew Cozy wouldn't dare try anything now. Hopefully never again.
Author's Note
I will write more if there is a interest for it
Cozy Glow learns a lesson
“Glad to finally get some fresh air, it's been too long since we’ve done something like this!”
“Darling, you made it!” said Rarity as the pair made their way onto the picnic blanket.
“How's the redemption project going, Cake?” asked Dash before she sucked down a glass of water, emptying it in one quick motion to show off.
“Uh, she stopped breaking plates a couple days ago. But I think she just got bored of it,” the small unicorn said as she scratched the back of her neck and fantasized about falling asleep nuzzled under a blanket.
“Leaves me wonderin’ what could have happened to that filly to make her act like this. Apple Bloom used to get bullied by a filly kinda like her but, well, she wasn't half as manipulative or schemin’,” Applejack said as she shook her head and kept her eyes down, “She was Filthy Rich’s daughter so we couldn't do much about it, sadly.”
“Fucking nobles,” replied Cake as she scowled at the ground. Rarity kept her mouth shut and pretended not to hear them. Twilight rubbed Cake’s back with her wing as the group moved onto other topics as to not sour the mood and ruin the day.
Spike opened his eyes in a haze after his quick nap and got off the couch. He looked around the castle for a while, looking for where the mares he had just seen that morning had gone until he noticed Twilight's saddle bag was missing in her room. As he was leaving the bedroom he heard soft sobs coming from the adjacent door, barely audible if it wasn't for how quiet the castle was. After debating with himself for a few seconds he decided to go in and talk to Cozy and maybe find a way to help her.
Inside the room was both a mess and well made. The bedsheets had been ripped up and neatly put back onto the bed like puzzle pieces and the desk Cozy was sitting at was covered in scratches and chips like somepony had attacked it with a knife. But worse of all was the filly, her once painstakingly coiled mane was now free and covering her face. Short and long in all the wrong places with matted and neglected coils that remained through it all. Her face was pressed down into her desk as her hooves shielded her from the natural light bleeding in past the ripped up curtains she had previously used to clog every toilet she could get to before Cake had stopped her a day ago.
“Are… you okay?” asked Spike as he held his claws close to his chest and stumbled a few steps forward. Cozy rose up and scratched her eye.
“W- why do you care?” she said as another small sob escaped her as she turned to face him.
“Because… I just do, okay?” Was all he could come up with. “Why are you crying?”
Cozy looked away as she fiddled with the lower part of mane around her neck. “Cake, s-she hit me…”
“Yeah, I heard,” Spike said as his eyes shifted down the pillow she was sitting on, then went wide as he noticed a few small red drops were visible where she had moved around uncomfortably. “Just how hard did she hit you?” he asked in a low, disgusted tone.
“Hard enough where I can't feel my ass anymore,” she said as she stared at the wall in front of her. “It’s been numb for a while now.”
Spike tapped his claws together as he thought of what to do or say. Cake was never mean or rude to him, in fact he considered her one of the best guards he had ever met, second only to his brother. But this had gone against any form of rational punishment. “Do you want me to get you a ice pack, or a wet rag?” he mumbled.
“Yeah, I could use a rag and a brush,” Cozy said as she opened one of the dresser drawers and pulled out a small mirror to look at herself.
“O- on it,” the small dragon quickly said as he walked backwards and out of the room to go get the requested items. As he did he walked through the living room and bumped into the returning couple as they walked through the large castle doors. Twilight looked calm, relaxed, and a bit satisfied, while Cake on the other hoof looked like she was about to fall over dead of exhaustion.
“Hey Spike! How was your nap?” asked Twilight as she smiled at the drake.
“It was fine, um, can I talk to you about Cozy for a second…” replied Spike as his eyes narrowed on Cake, eyeing her over for any signs she would stop him from spilling the news.
Cake’s eyes were hardly open, only being able to see the castle floor under her as she stumbled to keep her balance. “Uh, in a minute Spike.” Twilight brushed him off as she focused onto Cake’s situation and pulled the mare into the library where she, and more importantly Cake could relax. Twilight lay down on one of the large couches and pulled a book out randomly, and got comfortable as she wrapped a wing around Cake, as the white unicorn’s eyes closed for good and she began to softly snore.
“Twilight,” Spike said tapping his foot on the floor as he crossed his arms and looked up at the two.
“Oh. Yeah, what did you want to talk about Spike?” Twilight said as she opened her book.
“It's Cake!” he half whispered. “She hit Cozy Glow so hard she was crying… and I could see the blood on the pillow she was sitting on and-”
Twilight set down her book as her expression went from relaxed to cold and poker. “What?” she asked in a deep tone.
“She was telling me about how she couldn't even feel her back end, and it’s been at least an hour or more since-”
Twilight interrupted Spike by kicking Cake awake. The mare shot up and looked around confused, then something grabbed her hair and pulled her along and into the kitchen. Inside the kitchen Cozy Glow was wetting a dish rag, and when she turned to the small group of ponies she cut the water. Twilight dropped Cake on the floor and looked over to the filly. Dried tears were covering her face as she dropped the rag.
“I- I’m sorry, I'll go back to my room!” the pegasus said as she stepped a few feet back and away from the towering alicorn.
Twilight was just about to reach and grab the filly in for a hug when her eyes caught the shade of an odd color on the counter, just below the large cabinets. It was almost impossible for an untrained eye to spot it on the crystal, but once she saw it she couldn't look away. The small traces of red dust were just barely visible as a ray of light shined down on them. Then Twilight’s cold demeanor returned before she reached out and pinched the filly’s butt with her magic.
Cozy Glow let out a small yelp before she had realized she had been caught. Twilight turned her around with her magic quickly and saw the fake blood with her own eyes. It was little more than water mixed with a lot of red food coloring. Her butt looked just fine without the small drips of the red water coming off it, no cuts or scratches. Twilight let the filly go and pinched her again.
“Yes, I think it would be for the best if you went back to your room!” she almost shouted as the filly galloped off down the hallway.
“Phew, almost thought she was gonna get away with it,” said Cake as she picked herself up and looked at Twilight.
“Yeah, she almost did…” replied Twilight as she picked Cake up onto her back and returned to the library. Spike looked around, embarrassed he had fallen for another one of her tricks before following them.
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.
Cozy Glow learns a lesson
The final straw (alt ending)
Cozy had waited until the loud, obnoxious snores on the other side of the hall doubled before making her play. Five pawns, five nails, out of the window they had been plucked by her hammer. As she took flight into the three am skies, not a single pony who wasn't in a dead state from waking up so early for work or going from a night shift saw her. It would be easy now, just a trot to the train station where she would hitch a ride as a stowaway and she could end up anywhere in Equestria and start again, like she had done so many times before, like what her parents had done to her. Just board the train, adopt a new name and mane style and she could start again.
She sat there in the grass, watching the smoke from a train now arriving at the station as she thought about it. This had been what she wanted, what she had waited so many nights for, waiting for Cake to fall asleep, for Twilight to leave, and for Spike to be occupied for her to steal the hammer and make her way out. But now she was truly lost, she could not move a hoof without feeling like she had made a mistake- that she had made a terrible mistake.
Until she saw the sun begin to rise on the horizon, a silent fear of how she once had it all and lost. It was now or never, and she had made her decision. Quickly running as fast as she could and dodging sight lines, flying on top of roofs and under unaware ponies until she made it to the platform. Right ahead was her ticket, an open door with nopony around to stop her from getting on and hiding somewhere aboard, just a few more hoofsteps and she’d-
A cold feeling swepped over her as she felt it again, regret. But this time her fear was the one fighting it, desperately trying to pull her limbs to no avail until a voice, like one she had heard screaming at her so many times before came into her ears.
“That's far enough, Cozy Glow,” Cake said in a low tone.
It wasn't her fears holding her back, it was a restraint spell. She couldn't so much as move her throat to cough, let alone barely breathe in. Her eyes would have released more tears had they been able to.
“She went to the train station again?” asked Twilight, sleepily.
“She always comes here, she's not very original.” Cake shrugged. “Tell Celestia I failed to redeem her, and to send some ponies to move her to a cell in Tartarus,” she added.
“This is awful… I was so sure anypony, even her, could be redeemed…” Twilight said as she pulled out a scroll and began to write.
“This is my fault, I should have noticed the signs sooner… stopped her from ever writing those letters to Tirek… maybe if we just got to her sooner…” Cake said, rubbing Twilight’s shoulders with a hoof.
Cozy wanted to apologize to them, to explain herself and how weak they were to not see friendship as the power it was and the luxury they had been taking it for. In time they would understand, when Cozy Glow had more friends than the Princess of friendship they would both understand its power. And maybe, just maybe, she would spare them so they would always remember who was right all along. Or maybe she was just taking the fact they hadn't turned her to stone for nearly sucking all the magic out of Equestria for granite. To her it didn't matter what they did to her, or how long they did it. She would never change her mind, they were weak and she would always be stronger than them.
Cozy Glow learns a lesson
Cake woke up early. Only after checking the castle for anything out of the ordinary and doing a jog around town to keep up with the basic fitness regiment, while cooking breakfast, did she finally notice the taped note she had stuck to the back of her mane.
I meant to tell you this last night but I couldn't find the right moment. I'm sorry for everything, I promise to never do any of it again. I never meant for things to get this bad.
Her scowl washed over her face as she read it before folding it and placing it onto the counter.
Cake didn't buy it, she began to move quickly to the dresser and check every drawer. No sharp objects or anything inside any of them, just a lone brush and old photograph of her with the Crusaders, all smiling after she had used them to gain the school’s trust and seal her innocence. Nothing else she could do now, unless she wanted to throw the sleeping girl off the bed and check under it, which she did consider for a moment, before finally electing to just leave and-
“Hmm… good morning, Cake,” Cozy said, rubbing her eyes.
“Um, good morning Cozy, breakfast is almost ready,” Cake said quickly before leaving the room.
Cake returned to the stove while Cozy Glow followed behind her and picked out a stool to sit on. A few moments later Twilight and Spike had come in and sat down as well. Twilight raised an eyebrow at Cozy as the filly dodged her gaze and pretended to stare at the toaster on the other side of the kitchen.
“I dont get why we have such a huge castle but such a tiny kitchen,” Cake said, trying to change the awkward mood.
“I like it, plenty of space to get everything you need!” Twilight replied.
“Just wish that the cabinets weren't so high up,” Spike chimed in.
Cake turned off the stove and began to pass out plates, over easy eggs for Twilight and Spike and scrambled for hers and Cozy’s. Then she dumped a bottle of ketchup over her plate and began to eat with her magic.
“Oh come on Cake, have some manners and use a fork…” Twilight said with a smile as she rolled her eyes.
“Fine, fine,” replied Cake, levitating one out from a drawer. “But only because I'm feeling nice today.”
The room was unusually calm, things were going too smoothly and Cake knew it. She watched Cozy out of the corner of her eye, waiting for her to try to hide her fork in her tail or plant something, but she just ate her food in peace. If any-creature was up to anything it would be Spike and Twilight who were constantly giggling to each other, distracting Cake as she-
Cake looked back and noticed she had the ketchup covered fork prodded into the side of her cheek, smearing it all over her face like a toddler. Quickly she grabbed a paper towel to wipe it off.
“Wow Cake, did you forget how to use silverware?” Twilight joked.
“Yeah, yeah… very funny.” Cake sighed, embarrassed, until she noticed Cozy hiding a small giggle behind her hoof. Even though she was being laughed at, some part of her felt good hearing the filly laugh. Soon Cake started being herself just to see the filly glow, by licking her plate clean, telling terrible jokes, and genuinely being an idiot. But the other half of her told her to keep her eyes on the devil, she had done this before.
“You seem in a good mood today Cake, guess a full night's sleep helped?” asked Spike.
“Yeah, I'd say it did! I certainly don't feel nearly as miserable as I did yesterday,” Cake replied. “I slept through most of yesterday, did I miss anything?”
“Nothing but Applejack and Rainbow Dash coming in for a friendship mission,” Spike replied.
“Off to the dragon lands! I hope they at least read a page of that safety book I gave them,” Twilight said a bit sad.
“Next time just make AJ give you her word.” Cake shrugged.
“O- or you could always just promise to Dash one of those wonderbolt figurines,” Cozy nervously chimed in.
The group turned and stared at her for a brief second until a smile formed over Twilight’s face. “That's not a bad idea! Come to think of it Dash would probably read all my safety guides for one of those!” In a flash a note book and quill appeared and Twilight had already written it down.
A smile formed over Cake’s face next as she gave Cozy a nod of approval. “Yeah, I think Dash would be down for something like that.” Cake cleared her throat and made eye contact with Spike as the duo stared at each other and realized now was the time. “Cozy… do you think it's time you apologized to the Crusaders?”
Cozy’s head dropped but after a moment she nodded and everything seemed on track. The road she would have to walk ahead of her would be the hardest, but the most rewarding. And for Cake, she had avoided becoming the very monster she had sworn to fight against. Things went how they usually go in Equestria, old habits died out and new ones took their place, friendships were rebuilt, and many saw Cozy just as they did in the weeks prior to her scheme.