Three years ago, Cozy Glow fought to depose the ruler of Equestria, Celestia's chosen successor, Princess Twilight Sparkle. Through guile and determination she went from a powerless filly to the fifth alicorn, leading two of the most feared tyrants in Equestrian history to destroy Canterlot castle and overthrow the ancien regiéme. She came close to total victory, but was defeated by an insurgency of diverse creatures who had succumbed to Celestian propaganda: the 'friendship and harmony' praxis perfected and spread wide by the Element of Magic.

The pegasus filly was imprisoned in stone along with her comrades, but that was not enough to quell the paranoia of Twilight Sparkle. Eventually the princess became convinced that any risk of escape was too much. Cozy must be dealt with once and for all, and the masses must never know. There is one thing she doesn't consider: when a pony is in dire need, fate favours a very particular kind of rescue. A guardian angel with a beak and a fish tail...

I am not, usually, partial to the concept of 'fix fic'. Bad things happening to characters, deserved and undeserved, is a key component of narrative. When an author does veer from grimdark into grimderp, I tend to find that a reason to disengage rather than dispute the outcome. However the fate of Cozy Glow in canon never sat well with me, and when I read this story by Mockingbirb, I found it genuinely disturbing. Thus this piece where Cozy Glow finally has something nice happen to her. You could, if you were a vindictive sort, interpret this as a final hallucination as she is smashed into sand (as in the ending of Brazil). But I like to imagine this is what actually happened in 'The Hours of My Guilt'.

The first three chapters were originally an RP (edited by me for grammar, pacing and continuity) as per 'Expedition to the Cloudbreak Islands' - the rest of the story was written solo. Trigger warning for troubled fillies receiving gratuitous kindness and wish fulfilment. It is mostly canon compliant, except for the hippogriffs, who've received the '20% cooler' treatment. Cover art by me using Pixelformer (I have no pretensions to artistic ability, but I do like how this one turned out).