Fate Chooses You, Cozy Glow

Chapters

An Eternity Which Awaits
The Personal Wonderland
One More Minute, Mr. Sandman
The Madhouse
Final Fate

An Eternity Which Awaits

Now a shadow engraved into the Earth, what was Equestria is now gone. In its wake is a desert wasteland, where the most notable thing for miles is maybe an abnormally large tumbleweed or possibly a mountain of sand taller than the others.

Such a vast landscape of nothing but eroded materials and a foreign to-be-adapted environment (hence its short time existing) doesn't just happen over night, but for Cozy Glow, it sure feels that way.

Whilst there's little to no life remaining on the planet, Cozy Glow sure thrives. In fact, she can't exactly not thrive when she's got powers beyond what history has shown before that allow her to withstand brutal beatings or illness ranging from malnutrition to deadly diseases. In other words, her power makes her nearly immortal and unaffected by much physical harm.

How she came to be granted such an immense display of force is unknown. What is known, however, is that the super desert which she finds herself in was her doing.

Unlike her physical strength being at an all-time record, Cozy Glow can't bear the thoughts in her mind; her mind is overflowing with images too intense for numerous words to describe, to painful to even comprehend. It'd take days to fully wrap one's head over it all, but for Cozy Glow, she'd had about a week, and she's already lived each vivid thought currently coursing around her thinker.

The images that go through her consciousness are simply traumatizing. It's also unknown, yet known to be correlated to what led the world to become one massive blanket of dust over ancient sediment and what once was Equestria.

Cozy Glow is sitting atop of a sand dune, staring off into space, borderline oblivious to the sand storm. She continues to contemplate, slowly easing her mind out of the constant rabbit hole of deep regret and sorrow that is what she has done.

Eventually, she came too. Not that she had been asleep, duh, but she had been in a nested daydream, so deep in thought that if she hadn't dragged herself out with rich care for each scene in her brain, she could be lost in a tunnel of imaginary tears for all of eternity.

Cozy Glow scanned her surroundings, attempting to find anything to latch her eyes on. Nothing specific revealed itself; miles upon miles of pale, yellow ground, accompanied by the beaming sun.

Cozy Glow sighed. Yet another day of wandering aimlessly, knowing that the entire world she could explore was the same yellow ball all over.

Even if she decided to make something to latch on to, she didn't think it would do much good against the elements. At some point, whatever sand castle she could build, no matter how sturdy, would become one with the ground, and let alone it's not gonna change that fact that she's royally screwed from a social standpoint.

Yup, Cozy Glow's suffering from loneliness alongside symptoms of extreme guilt, dissatisfaction, anxiety about departure from her conscious mind, and a longing for something notable to come to being.

The fabulously frustrated filly sprung into the air, twirling around as she flew through the sand infested skies. It was the most she could do to pass the time, and honestly, who can blame her (if anyone were alive) when the only other option is to contemplate so hard you begin a cease the existence of a true consciousness?

Her enjoyment was pelted, literally and figuratively, as she quickly lost flight and glided down through thick wind into a deep ditch. Night was coming, and she was getting tired, particularly from the sand slapping her face.

In an instant, Cozy Glow summoned up a sand cave; where else to sleep here than a cave made entirely of sand? With her ultimate power reached, she could do anything she wanted abiding to the laws of physics and magic combined.

She snuggled in, though it wasn't remotely comfy. She then closed the opening, suspending the sand and making it more stable via magical force. She was buried in, ready to catch some rest. It's not like she was gonna miss anything by going to bed early.

Hibernation was a very real option at the moment. Sure, in her waking hours she could either decay or decay whilst moving and grooving to the rhythm of the wind. But in her sleep, maybe she could reach a more desired conclusion to her story. Maybe she could even sleep the rest of her miserable existence away, slowly killing herself whilst living out great lives in her mind, unable to choose when she awoke.

Oh, how she hoped...

She thought about this for about ten minutes before she finally fell into a nested, nested sleep... if you choose to believe so...

At the stroke of midnight...

It took a while for her to stir to a sitting position, but Cozy Glow eventually came to. She had been asleep for hours, but she had no recollective of her dreams, assuming she did have any. It would soon be hard to tell.

When Cozy Glow fully awoke, she shook off the grogginess and started to listen. What had awoke her was a noise, an unfamiliar sound that came from above her.

Again, the sound echoed. It was eerily silent excluding the sound, amplifying the horror of it. The sound was almost rhythmic... a steady rhythm of sound akin to...

Impossible, Cozy Glow assumed. She confidently told herself she was delusional, that she was a nut job. Isolation for a week had caused some insane kind of cabin fever, only her cabin was the size of the atmosphere and the isolation was indescribable.

The sound she heard completely shattered her current sense of, well, everything. She should be alone, shouldn't hear anything but her own voice and the sand, shouldn't smell anything but cold, crisp air, and definitely shouldn't feel anything but guilt and rough sand, not to mention taste nothing but literally nothing. However, the sound defied all of that.

It was a call. An unfamiliar but rhythmic and clear-as-day call that was still so alien as it was recognizable. It pulsed, but also didn't; the word pulse was an understatement but not in a sense that is pulsed rapidly, as it was some version of pushing that'd need a brand new words created to just describe it.

To put it simply, the sound gave off the impression of seeing new colors or inventing a twenty-seventh letter of the alphabet.

As for the source—whatever it may be—it was absolutely alive. And, there was no denying that of all points on the planet for it to visit, it being right above her couldn't be anything but the creature's own intent. Its intentions had her in mind. It sought out for her.

Cozy Glow didn't know if she could gander up the courage to burst thought the earth and face the potential threat. After about a minute, the pulsing stopped, and came with it a heavy thud, smacking the magically-suspended sand and causing it to collapse instantly.

Cozy's heart rate dropped. She, as powerful as she had been, was only a filly. In her situation, she couldn't help but be petrified at the event.

She listened a while longer, staring at the hole. With nothing else to do, she flung herself out the gap and into the night air.

Scarily quiet was the night. The winds had died down, so nothing could really cause and calamity. That was the least scary thing however.

Standing above her destroyed cave was... nothing. Zip. Nada. Whatever had been there was gone.

Cozy Glow looked around, expecting to see it meandering around. No such thing was spotted. It was just a quiet, dark and cold desert in Winter.

Cozy Glow sighed. It was a relief, though she hoped it were to be friendly. But it was scary nonetheless, since she calculated that about everything had died, exceptions being maybe around twenty ponies, molecular life, and some animals higher up on the food chain, Celestia-willing that they could find anything to eat in a desert so vast it puts the Sahara to shame.

She floated down to the ground—and screamed. Something grabbed her back leg, and it burned bad, yet also ached. It was another foreign experience, and the one dealing it could be assumed well by now.

Cozy Glow was yanked to the dune below her hooves, sprawling out her four legs on the sand, as a figure began to emerge above the crushed sand cave.

Still feeling the achy-burny sensation, Cozy Glow stared in utter disbelief at the creature before her. It, too, was foreign, only this being was truly and undeniably something completely dissociated with entirely natural evolution. It was almost mare-made, only the mare was the wisest mare ever, though that didn't make sense since it was a living thing.

Being most describable as a blur of greens and whites and dots or rainbow, the being stared down Cozy Glow with its own version of eyes.

Cozy Glow winced at both the sight before her and pain in her body. The tentacle-esc thing on her leg pulsed the same way the sound had earlier, of which has returned too.

The entity took note of Cozy Glow's discomfort and loosened their grip, but it still constantly burned (a vague understatement) even if not as bad. As well as doing so, the creature dissolved into a more understandable shape before Cozy's very own eyes. In a flash of fireworks and aurora lights, the entity changed shape into... a dazzling, white alicorn, with a giant horn, an impeccable wingspan, and no distinguishable features apart from the outline of its body, of which glowed as bright as a star in the next galaxy over.

Cozy Glow now stated in awe, not horror, though she could tell they weren't the most kind entity just from the pain she felt in her hooves specifically.

Then, a distant and surreal voice broke through Cozy's verbal expressions of emotion.

"...Hello, Cozy Glow..." it spoke mythically.

"Wh-wh-h-hi?" Cozy Glow responded, unsure of what words to use.

"...I mean you no harm..." it informed her. "I...we...want to help you."

Cozy Glow squirmed. "You can h-help me by letting me free," Cozy Glow groaned, attempting to sound rude but coming out cowardly.

A moment of nothing passed. Then the creature finally spoke again.

"...I cannot do that..." it told her.

"Golly, it sure hurts!" Cozy Glow said, a little aggressive. "Your weird tendrils are burning, or, something-ing to my legs."

"I know...however, I need you...where I can have to you...because you might run away..." it answered her pleas.

Cozy Glow sighed. "It hurts. I'm serious."

"...is this better?" It asked, making the stinging begin to extinguish in an instant.

"Y-yeah..." Cozy Glow told it.

The creature moved closer to her. "...Now, let's begin," it began. "I am going to help you...come to terms with your ordeal, as well...as allow you some leeway..."

"The fuck?" Cozy Glow asked. "What's leeway?"

"...I am going to give you an escape..." it answered dreamily.

Cozy Glow shivered, but unsure of why. She wanted to run before, but even though being held here against her will seemed bad, right now she was getting more curious towards what this thing truly wanted with her. Wether it wants to harvest her soul, punish her via launching her into a black hole, or shove her into a pocket dimension of psychological daydreams, she was gonna have to stick around and find out, and it was somewhat better than living in that one Beetlejuice scene for a millennium.

"Hit me," Cozy Glow said, wanting to know more.

"...we want you to find peace," it began. "If you find peace...there's a chance peaces will allow itself to you...depending on what you want."

"Okay... so how, exactly, as I going to find this peace?" She asked the entity.

"...you won't like how..." it said to her. It then stepped a bit closer to Cozy Glow. "I...have to adjust some things, and...put you in a foreign state," it informed her horrifically.

"Huh?" Cozy Glow questioned.

"Let me just..." it started.

Instantly, Cozy Glow felt an indescribable pain in her legs. The stinging was back—only now amplified to feeling like thick acid, electric bolts ramped to a trillion, and the burn of the sun all combined into a ball of horror.

The sensation stopped within nanoseconds of it beginning, the creature realizing the agony it inflicted was too server for her, but the devastation had settled in by then.

Cozy Glow was screaming like a banshee, crying and heaving at the same time, unable to bear the mere instance of the feeling she had just been witnessed to.

"...apologies, Cozy Glow...I'll numb the sensation, and then...I can begin to help you."

"FUCK. NO." Cozy Glow spat out. "My peace doesn't involve being subjected to unbearable torture! Fuck you and all your alien mumbo jumbo, I am NOT going to do this," she sternly yelled to the entity.

Without warning, the alien subjected Cozy Glow to more of the unfathomably harsh pain, as well as a hefty dose of... drowsiness!

"I'm not killing you..." it started to tell her, aware of how bad things seemed. "I'm rushing up...the process...due you your outburst."

Cozy Glow wailed, in constant perpetual agony not ended within nanoseconds like before, but began to grow too tired to scream and too weak to strain any longer.

In a last ditch effort to signal her disapproval of the predicament, Cozy Glow reached a hoof out. The entity now, finally, fully approached the all-mighty (now captive in an almost anesthesia-like state) filly and whispered, so enchantingly yet hauntingly, a few final prayers.

"You won't remember this...not until I bring you back, until we know if the fate of peace itself...has chosen you to be...allowed permanent and personal heaven away from the badlands you call...but not fondly...home. Until then... you will navigate to it...and you'll be happy when you come across it," the entity whispered.

Cozy Glow slowly closed her eyes, still touching their glowing, ghastly hoof.

"On behalf of all of us, I...well, what you know me as...the tree of harmony, apologize for...the pain you felt, yet we understand it may be...deserved. We shall see, Cozy Glow...we shall see."

That's when the entire universe vanished in a slow, hazy fade into the oblivion of unknown star territories, as Cozy Glow's consciousness ascended alike to a spirit, only this one on a guided path of some foreign kind, into the black sky in search of potential forgiveness for themself and from others.

The filly would eventually find herself, but in the dream like state it feels to be, it seems like she didn't exist until then. All she knows is that when she awoke, so to speak, she found a land all too familiar...

Author's Note

I am a newer author on the site but have been writing for two years I recall. I hope that this can grander some attention, as a lot of my stories never do. This is based off some books I like, and the story is already mapped out in my head. It won’t be unfathomably long, so I hope you stick around till the end.

Cozy Glow is my favorite character in the whole show, and I like to imagine the possibilities of her character when I go to bed at night. It helps me fall asleep, like a sort of escape or just a mental version of ASMR. So of course I threw her into the story, and I think I’ll stick to her as my main or possibly only interest when it comes to writing MLP FIM fanfics… but we’ll see.

Over and out.

The Personal Wonderland

When she came to, after the sudden loss of consciousness comparable to anesthesia, Cozy Glow found herself lying in a rusted cage. She was quite groggy feeling from her slumber, and it took a while for her to realize that she wasn’t in a desert wasteland anymore. She was in a grand hall, that alike to a castle.

A flurry of ideas went through her mind. Had she time traveled? Had she been sent back in time to before she destroyed the entire world? Or was this some alternate universe, or a different planet?

For some reason, Cozy Glow couldn’t quite remember what had happened before she found herself here. All she could conceive from the (day? Year? Life?) before was that she had been staring at some entity that glowed very brightly, and whatever it did got her here.

That was it. She was left in the dark, funny enough, by an entity of light.

Cozy Glow took in her surroundings once more. The cage was old and clearly not cleaned in decades, at least. The hall was tall and narrow, and there was a pair of tall, narrow doors in front of her. They screamed royalty.

As if unlocking a memory, she realized this was the castle at Canterlot—the Twin Sisters’ castle, and what was soon to be Twilight’s castle if Cozy Glow hadn’t swooped in and overthrew the princess not too long before her coronation.

What was she doing back here? If she hadn’t time traveled, how did this place still exist? And did anything else remain?

In answer to her questions, a pair of stallions in armor, one white coated and the other a lime coat, came down the hallway. Somewhere in the castle, a clock chimed. It struck once… twice… all the way up to twelve. Seeing how bright it was, she confirmed it was noon.

The guards reached her cage, and she immediately started asking questions.

“What’s going on?” She asked, all cutely, hoping for a response from the usually quiet guards.

None of them responded. The most she got was a glare of disapproval. If it weren’t obvious enough, she was guilty of something BAD.

They rolled the cage—promptly on wheels—to the double doors. The lime-colored guard used their magic to open the doors, allowing the cage to ease through.

The room beyond the doors was none other than a court room. It had the usual set-up, and it was jam packed with eerily solemn ponies of all kinds.

And, of all ponies to be the judge, as if out of Cozy Glow’s nightmares, it was Twilight Sparkle herself. You know—the leader of the free world. The boss. The Queen of Equestria.

Cozy Glow’s stomach felt as if it were twisted into knots upon knots. She was dreading knowing what was happening before her very eyes. Deep down, she had a glimmer of hope that Twilight would forgive her if she explains how much she regretted doing what she had done. However, judging the look on her judge’s face, she wasn’t going to get off any hooks—in fact, they might as well put her on meat hooks and leave her to die in a freezer.

The eternal walkway from door-to-podium felt as if it were never going to end, but at long last, she was put at the front of Twilight’s podium, ready to get what she had coming.

The audience all began whispering as the guards hurried out of the giant space. Cozy Glow turned to face them, eager to get her eyes off Twilight Sparkle and her disturbing glare.

The audience wasn’t much better, as she now recognized some faces: Starlight Glimmer, the other five some call a part of “the mane six,” Spike, the Two Sisters (Celestia and Luna), and none other than the Pillars of Equestria. And to add to the dreadfulness, the rest of the audience were giving her I-hope-your-end-is-long-and-painful looks, something many couldn’t relate to but could imagine isn’t a fun thing to see directed at you.

Twilight settled the audience down. “Quiet down, everypony,” she yelled in a stern voice that meant business.

The room fell eerily silent. It was time for the trial to begin.

“We come here today to trial thee, Cozy Glow, and give her a fitting fate,” Twilight began. “Of course, it is mandatory by Equestrian law that we hear out the one who had committed a felony to be seen here. So, Cozy Glow, do you have ANYTHING you want to say before we begin?”

Cozy Glow gulped. She felt tingly all over. This was horrible, and quite terrifying, but she spoke carefully.

“Y-yes,” she started. “I am truly sorry for w-what I did, and I wish to someday to be forgiven.”

“That’s very thoughtful and all, Cozy Glow, but it’s a little too late for that now,” Twilight informed her.

“I know, but please—“ she said, getting a little frantic. “…I am really, really sorry, and I j-just want to somehow turn my wrong into a right, y’know?”

Twilight glared at her, a hostile glare that meant stop trying your blatant crap. “That won’t work here. Now, let us begin the trial,” Twilight spoke sternly.

Cozy Glow was getting frantic now. “No, I’m not done. Can I—“ Cozy attended to say, but was cut off by Twilight stomping her hoof on the floor.

But she wasn’t done, either. Twilight got up, flew down, and approached Cozy Glow’s cage.

“Since you decided to act all cute and sorry today, we’re just gonna speed up the trial,” Twilight told her flatly.

Cozy Glow shivered. She wanted to reply, but knew it was no use.

Twilight got back to her place on the podium “Let’s go over what brought you here today, shall we?” She asked, as if Cozy Glow could deny her access to the knowledge of all she had done to end up in her current predicament.

Rarity used her magic to hover a file up to Twilight. The princess opened it, scrambled through some papers, and picked one out. She cleared her throat and began.

“Cozy Glow, you are found guilty of overthrowing my rule as the leader of Equestria, endangering and attempting to murder or harm residents of the country without hesitation, accounts of destruction, murder, arson, using illegal magic, and breaking and entering into many of the most secured places in Equestria, such as Tartarus and the vault below Canterlot where we keep magical weapons,” she cited.

“Fuck…” Cozy Glow whispered. “I can’t believe I did that…” she said.

“You’d better. And that’s not even all of them, but I’m making the case file public soon enough, excluding what’s going to happen to you after the trial,” Twilight explained.

Cozy Glow nodded. She wanted to get it over with, sooner rather than later.

“Let’s cut to the chase. Your sentence will be decided after a brief intermission,” Twilight informed Cozy Glow.

“Um, okay,” Cozy replied, not sure what that meant.

A guard approached. She took her cage and guided it down the walkway. Cozy realized it was intermission for just her. She hoped her sentence was to be light, even if she couldn’t communicate even now, but she knew it was very unlikely in the end that she’ll be satisfied with her punishment due.

The double doors opened, and Cozy Glow was wheeled out of the room to give the attendees and Twilight privacy to discuss the fate of Cozy Glow beyond the court room.

Cozy Glow was left right outside the room, and the guard quickly vanished back inside. The only ponies outside were the guards, the same ones who took her inside.

‘Twas no use talking to them. All the guards were basically silent mimes unless told not to be. Especially to villains and villainesses like herself.

Cozy Glow pondered in her cage for a long while, unsure of how things were going to end up for her. She imagined all sorts of punishments: a century in Tartarus… or even eternity there; death by beheading, though even that would be unlikely due to her age; a life in the Canterlot dungeons; the worst possible scenario, she decided, was stone imprisonment. It happened to Discord, so it could happen to her.

Interrupting her thoughts, her eye caught a look at a strange stallion approaching the cage. He had a dark, dark blue coat, ragged gray mane, and looked to be fairly old, just old enough to be her grandpa.

They were quite ragged looking, and they wore a torn cloak that barely covered their body; it was more of a small blanket.

As they passed, they shot Cozy Glow a glance. “Aye, yo, Cozy Glow,” he whispered in a musical tone. “You’d better get comfy in that cage. Ha!”

Cozy Glow just stared back in confusion. She was but a filly, but she could tell he knew she was going to be in it for a while. Why he knew was beyond her, let alone who he was supposed to be was a complete mystery.

She shot a glance at him as he entered the court room. She couldn’t see through the gap to see if anything was going on visually, but she heard a lot of talking. The doors were really sound proof.

As he closed the door behind him, he stared at her once more. A crooked grin crossed his face. That couldn’t be good.

Cozy Glow slumped back in her cage, awaiting the rest of the trial.

What is that random, old stallion’s deal with her? Why did he show up here? She didn’t even know her, but apparently he knew something about her fate. This was getting weird.

Just then, the doors opened. Twilight whistled at her podium. That cued the guards standing by the doors to navigate her cage into the court room.

The quickly started to roll the cage into the room, making it rattle as it moved along the carpeted flooring.

Cozy Glow scanned the room, seeing the same faces as before, but now, standing off to the side of the room (about ten hooves length from the cage in center square) was the old stallion who had just entered the room.

“What the…” Cozy Glow whispered.

The guards put her in place, and then turned to leave the space. It was time for Cozy Glow to hear her fate.

Twilight cleared her throat. “Alright, Cozy Glow… we have decided a rather strange conclusion to your story.”

Cozy didn’t like the use of the word conclusion. That sent a chill down her spine.

“As you briefly met, our dearest friend Cloud Shaper has always wanted to put himself to good use. He’s been a great citizen for many years, working long hours and going undercover to help protect Equestria,” Twilight stated.

Cozy Glow stared at the old stallion, who was apparently named Cloud Shaper. She concluded that Twilight meant he was some kind of agent, emphasis on was.

Twilight went on. “He came to me with a proposal. He said he could rid the world of anything, as long no one find out where they went.”

Cozy Glow was getting nervous now.

“Today, you’re that anything,” Twilight finished. She cleared her throat once more, and Cloud Shaper approached the cage.

“You’re sentenced to… well, we don’t quite know. Let’s just put it this way… you’re not gonna die,” Twilight finished.

“Woah, woah, woah! You must be crazy! You trust this guy to dispose of me without killing me? He could be a number of terrible things—a killer, a rapist, a psychopath, a slave trader, who knows!” Cozy screamed.

Twilight slammed her hooves down on the stand. She flew into the air, swooped down, and whispered to Cozy Glow in the cage.

“I know where you’re going. I’ve seen it,” she consulted her. “Are you happy now?”

“Fuck you,” Cozy Glow murmured.

Something died in Twilight that afternoon. Cozy Glow could see it in her eyes, that Twilight had some level of guilt in her eyes, whether that be for her fate… or for Cozy Glow ending up here.

The old stallion took her by the cage and wheeled her out. Wherever she as going, it wouldn’t be fun.

The audience all shot her looks, whispering to each other.

The double doors opened, and a group of guards appeared, ready to escort Cozy Glow out of the castle.

“Wait,” Cozy Glow said. “I want to talk to Twilight!”

Cloud Shaper laughed. “Well, dearest Cozy Glow, I’m afraid that ye can’t,” he told her. “In fact, you’re never going to see her again… not in this realm, anyways!”

Cozy Glow’s heart dropped. If this was her last encounter with Twilight, then that could only mean that, wherever she was going, it was to be somewhere closed away from the world. She hoped for the best of the situation.

The group of guards guided her through hallways, easing her to wherever her fate may lie, if it even was in Equestria, or at least the one she found herself in.

Hours later, she found herself…

It was no place she knew. She’d never been to this point in Equestria before, yet it seemed like a place one should know due to the large structure that loomed in the distance.

It was a castle, entirely in the colors of black and gray, that reached at least a mile into the sky thanks to its immense towers and it being on a cliff side.

Judging by the condition of it, it was bound to collapse or erode away sooner rather than later.

As Cozy Glow was edged closer to it, now remembering she’s in a cage, and all that had happened, she could see the crumbled base of it, and the destroyed bricks walls at the front; it was a disaster dome, and she couldn’t figure out why she was brought here.

“You awake now, girly?” A gruff whisper asked. It was Cloud Shaper.

“Uh huh…” she replied, still shaking off the sleep. It wasn’t a good sleep, either. Though, it felt as if she had merely skipped through time to this very moment, since the last thing she could remember felt as if it were only a minute or two ago.

“This is my place,” Cloud Shaper explained to her. He stopped pulling the cage, which was hitched to his saddle.

“Oh,” Cozy Glow said. Fitting enough that the decaying, old stallion lived in a wrecked, old castle.

The old man detached from the cage and made his way to the front doors. They were ruined, but they definitely had been grand back in their prime.

He carefully eased open the double doors, which creaked with age and fragility. Eventually, they were wide open—just barely making enough room for the cage to slip into the darkness of what lies inside.

The decayed stallion pushed the cage into the building. Instantly, a wave of cold air swept over Cozy Glow. She shivered, both because of the air and no quite knowing where this was going.

Cloud Shaper coughed out, “Did you ever read the story A Cold Winter’s Night?”

“Never heard of it,” Cozy Glow replied, uninterested. “What’s going on here? Am I gonna be let out of the cage or am I going to rot in here?”

“The story is about a filly who gets lost in the cold,” Cloud Shaper continued, ignoring Cozy’s questions. “The filly was nearing death, having been out in the cold for hours with nothing to eat, drink or keep her warm aside from body heat.”

“Get to your point,” Cozy Glow urged.

“I am gonna, lady,” Cloud Shaper continued. He had the strangest vocabulary.

He coughed, and then continued. “They were saved by a time traveler, because the time traveler knew saving her could reverse a spiral of events. It’s the butterfly effect. Ever heard of that?”

“Yes,” Cozy Glow answered. “Is story time over now?”

“Shush,” he told her. He moved to the front of her cage, and struggled with the lock. He continued as he searched his saddlebags for the key.

“Saving her was a good deed. She deserved to get out of the cold, because she was an innocent filly.”

“Oh, I understand,” Cozy Glow said. “You think you’re saving me? You’re the time traveler, and I’m the filly?”

“Yeah, sorta,” he replied. “You got one part right. You’re the filly, and I’m the time traveler. Would you believe me if I told you I come from the future?”

“Nope,” Cozy Glow answered.

“Ha. Smart kid,” he said, smiling. He had bad teeth, though he was definitely a consistent brusher, Cozy had noted.

“Well, unlike the filly in the story, you aren’t a good kid,” he went on. “You don’t deserve to be taken out of the cold.”

“I…I know,” Cozy Glow informed him.

“I’m putting you in the cold,” he told her.

Cozy Glow stared, stunned. “I’m sorry, what?”

“You heard me,” he said. At that instant, he found the right key for the cage.

Cozy Glow licked her lips. She might be able to run for it, however she didn’t know the strengths of this old dude. He was a unicorn, so he could easily be a powerful one since he’s had many, many moons worth of time to practice.

Slowly, ever so slowly, he reached the key to the cage door. He caught Cozy Glow’s stare, and pointed out the obvious.

“You’re just gon’ try to run for it,” Cloud Shaper acknowledged. “Don’t lie to me, foolish girl.”

Cozy Glow sighed. “Where would I go? Deeper into your dungeon of doom?”

“Fair enough,” Cloud Shaper replied. He slipped the key around his neck; it was one of those keys attached to a lanyard.

“I suppose I shouldn’t keep you in much suspense, even though I already told you what your fate was,” Cloud Shaper said. “You haven’t figured it out by my story, huh?”

“Not really,” Cozy Glow whispered. She hugged herself, not quite anticipating the soon-to-come revelation.

“I’m much more than a time traveler, Cozy Glow. I can make things happen. I can make places exist. I can rid things of being,” he confided.

“You’re going somewhere where you ain’t gonna exist, but your mind and the place itself are real enough to you, as if it isn’t already that way here…” his voice trailed off.

“You’re going into the cold. Consider it your personal wonderland, why don’t ya?”

“You’re scaring me, Cloud Shaper,” Cozy Glow told him. “I-I don’t like the cold, and I really don’t like what you’re telling me… no, I don’t understand what you’re telling me.”

“Don’t like the cold? That’s music to my ears,” he consulted. “Adapt quickly, my friend. Your sanity may depend on it. As a time traveler myself, I have to adapt to new times frequently.”

Cloud Shaper opened a stone door, which revealed a dark chasm. In an instant, Cozy Glow felt a tug—from the tail.

“What the—“ she attempted to yell. The cage door was yanked open quickly, and with that, she was yanked straight from her spot in the cage and into the blackness beyond the stone door.

“One quick adjustment…” Cloud Shaper said, dangling Cozy Glow via magical force above the narrow drop into infinity, or so it was perceived hence the blackness of it.

Cozy Glow, already screaming, felt a magical tug on her sides—or more specifically, her wings.

“Can’t have ya flying straight out of the chasm now, can we, Cozy Glow?” Cloud Shaper kept tugging at her wings.

“NO! PLEASE! DON’T DO THIS,” she screamed at him, her pleas echoing in the vast chamber of pure darkness.

“I already have,” he yelled. “I’m a time traveler!”

Cozy Glow winced in agony. “YOU’RE A PSYCHOPATH!”

With that, off came her wings. And with that, down went she, flailing and turning in a state of pure madness as she dropped into the unknown chasm below, said to be a place of cold.

“It’s your own, personal wonderland,” the voice of Cloud Shaper, the deranged lunatic, echoed into the black oblivion.

She lands with a fabulous thud…

Not to mention cold, agonizing, and stinging, but fabulous nonetheless.

The first thing Cozy Glow realized was how intense the cold ramped up. She quickly stood up, caught her balance, and glanced around. She couldn’t see very eel in the darkness; it’d take a minute to adjust.

However, without looking, she could tell she was up to her hooves in snow. Red snow, in fact, due to the intense bleeding at her sides. Lucky enough for her, it was somehow very dull; an abnormality but she assumed it was the work of her captor, Cloud Shaper.

The chasm, as she realized upon adjusting her eyesight to the immense darkness, had a stone sky, however it stretched on into infinity it seemed. Endless, unbearable and undefined snow in all directions, alike to her desert situation she couldn’t even remember before this nightmare. Blank walls after blank walls, a poet would say.

“Fuck, it’s cold,” Cozy Glow murmured to herself. She didn’t know what to do about that, though. She didn’t have magic or wings. She was a mere earth pony now, only she was born without the strength akin to one.

After a while, she came to the conclusion that there’d be a cave or the snow would end after a long time of walking, but she didn’t have much faith in that.

With nothing else to do, she went on. She moved through the snow, lurked ever so slowly through the giant cavern to hopefully find something to grasp once more, only now suffering something subjectively far worse than loneliness: unending cold.

Author's Note

What will Cozy Glow do now? Wouldn’t you know it, she might find herself in the place you’d least expect next…

One More Minute, Mr. Sandman

The cave of snow, so vast and dark, vanished into the blackness of point blank nothingness that was the universe without an active consciousness to experience it all. And so did Cozy Glow, although not physically, as only her conscience had slipped through the cracks of perspective reality once more. When she came to, she found herself in a dimly light classroom on a cold, rainy night.

A radio was on in the corner at the teacher’s desk. It played a soft, lullaby-esc tune. Cozy Glow was sure that she had heard it before at some point.

Alike to waking up, Cozy Glow had a flood of memories, only this time they were more vivid than the ones she had before; she recalled being sent away with a stallion named Cloud Chaser, then being told some crazy foal’s tale and having her wings ripped off right before plunging into a giant, snowy chasm, alike to an smaller, alternate realm or pocket dimension in size.

Cozy Glow came back to reality—or what she perceived as it—and realized that her teacher was Twilight Sparkle. This confirmed to her some level of reality, that what she was experiencing couldn’t be real, or what she had experienced before couldn’t. One of which was the dream, or possible both, now having multiple memories, let alone the memory of some glowing being doing something to her, possible putting her to sleep.

Cozy Glow almost outraged at the foggy memories, but remained relatively calm at the situation. Of all the things she’s seen so far, she found herself… almost at peace. This was the most serene and calm dream (or reality?) she’s had thus far.

A voice interrupted her thoughts. “Ten minutes, Cozy Glow. Think you can finish the test?”

It was Twilight.

“Um…” Cozy Glow’s voice trailed off as she glanced down at the papers. Lucky for her, she had one last question to answer.

“Almost, “ Cozy Glow told her.

Twilight nodded, and then went back to her book.

Cozy Glow couldn’t believe the sight before her. It was so… comforting. It was familiar, even though she knew this late-night event never occurred once before. It was all a figment of her imagination, or maybe it was just the present. She couldn’t tell if it were real, but she hoped for an answer soon.

Quickly, Cozy Glow wrapped up the assignment. The final question was one of those multiple choice questions, in this case being about friendship.

Twilight set her book down and turned to her gaze to Cozy Glow as she approached with the finished assignment.

“Thanks, Headmare Twilight,” Cozy Glow said, almost on command.

“You’re welcome, Cozy. Now go get some rest. Tomorrow is the weekend,” Twilight told her.

Cozy Glow then turned to leave the room, unsure of what to make of the whole ordeal. If this was real, she was very happy. Even still… if this was just another fabrication of reality, then so be it. She liked it. It was… normal. It wasn’t scary, violent, or even depressing. It was just… happy.

The rain pattered the building, adding to the calm mood of the whole scene. Cozy Glow made her way to where her room had always been in the student quarters.

It was almost like nostalgia walking back into her room, lying down on her bed, and taking in the awesome posters strewn on the walls. It had been months, if not, years since she saw these, assuming her concept of time was valid, even if all the stuff before had been a dream.

She took a deep, deep breath, and turned out the lights to go to bed. And in that instant… she saw it.

The Winter cave. The snowy, abandoned dimension shrouded in darkness greeted her. She felt the intense cold of the falling snow press against her, only now extra cold.

Cozy Glow looked down and saw that she was almost bare. Her coat looked as if it were shaved off. She felt as if she were decaying, subjected to the elements until she, almost immortal feeling, passed on in a trillion years.

She tried to fly, but pain struck her wing spots. She forgot that, in the dream (or reality), they were ripped right off her body by the old psycho who threw her into the hell hole.

“Don’t be real, don’t be real,” Cozy Glow whispered to herself, feeling herself slowly dying from the cold, slowly wanting to fall back asleep.

As if answering her prayers, she found herself back in the bed, but the image of the cold cave still remained in her mind. In fact, it wouldn’t go away—it was as if half of her consciousness were here and her other half of it were at the cave, freezing to death.

Cozy Glow sat up and realized that for the time she had been gone, it had turned day. It was officially the weekend. She didn’t have to do anything… however, she wanted to do a lot.

Ignoring the strange presence of the snow cave somewhere within her consciousness, she slipped in the bathroom, took a quick shower, and did her mane, ready for a day on the town.

Immediately leaving, she spotted a familiar group a classmates heading out of the student quarters: Smolder, Ocellus, Sandbar, Yona, Gallus and Silverstream.

An idea flashed into her mind. Since she wanted to make the most of her situation, changing her previously ill behavior and villainy into blossoming friendships and a life that didn’t involve perpetual torment and loneliness, she decided to cease any bad feelings about her peers and maybe become friends with them. Besides, she really did feel horrid after all she remembers doing… assuming that wasn’t a dream either.

“Hey—guys,” Cozy Glow called.

Ocellus and Sandbar turned around and use her for the others to stop.

Smolder stepped forward. “What’s up?” She asked, unsure of why Cozy Glow of all creatures wanted to hang out with them.

“I was just wondering,” Cozy Glow began. “May I stick around with you guys all day? I have nothing to do today.”

Silverstream smiled at Yona. Gallus shot Smolder a look. Sandbar and Ocellus nodded to the others. In other words, they all considered Cozy’s proposal.

“Sure thing,” Ocellus replied. And so the day began.

Returning home way later that night…

Cozy Glow slipped into her room as the others headed to their own. She closed the door, and then leaned back on it and slid down to the floor.

The day had been a blast. They had went to the theater, caught the newest flick, went to see Smolder’s family in the Dragonlands, and came back and hung out at the bowling alley. It was the most fun she’d had with any true friends… ever. It was the most real and exciting experience in a long time, and she cherished so dearly. Cozy Glow even went to bed with a smile on her face, glad to have made some new and legitimate friends. It was clear they enjoyed her presence, too, which was all to heart warming.

The filly pondered what she wanted to do with them soon. They could all hang out around the school tomorrow, and Cozy Glow could even get closer to Twilight Sparkle—only this time NOT to attempt any takeover shenanigans.

Things were looking bright. And so was whatever Cozy Glow was staring in her sleep.

“What the fuck?” Cozy Glow murmured.

“…Hello, Cozy Glow…” a voice said, a mythical tone of voice, one almost alien.

“Wait,” Cozy Glow started. “No… I recognize that voice.”

“…of course you do,” it replied. “Allow me to fill in the blanks.”

In that instant, Cozy Glow was flooded with memories of what had happened before. The desert where she encountered the being, who revealed themselves as the Tree of Harmony right before slipping her into some kind of coma. The palace, where she was sentenced at trial by Twilight. The abandoned castle on a mountain, where her wings were ripped off her body right before she got sent into a cavern of snow, supposedly a whole different dimension all together.

Cozy Glow gasped at all of the recollected information. “I remember now… but why?”

“All of this is part… of a giant dreamscape,” the Tree of Harmony went on. “I’ve allowed you to travel through your nightmares to find some level of peace… but I’m sorry your memory got fogged in the process.”

“Well, I think I found it,” Cozy Glow informed her.

“Yes… this is your most desired fate, the one… that best allows you to live a fulfilling existence,” the Tree confirmed. “But.”

“But what?” Cozy Glow asked.

“But… well, here,” the Tree went on.

Just then, Cozy Glow snapped out of the weird dream she was having, staring at the alien light that was the Tree of Harmony’s soul, and came to find herself in the Winter cave once more.

“I don’t want to see this,” Cozy Glow yelled. She felt horribly ill and frail once more, dying due to the cold temperature.

“…the fate you desire, Cozy Glow,” the Tree continued. “It didn’t choose you… it’s not your fate to have.”

“What do you mean?” Cozy Glow asked, struggling against the cold. She was basically a popsicle in that realm.

“You already saw that… you slipped out of the dream briefly, back to this place,” the Tree explained. “That fate didn’t choose you.”

“How do I get it to choose me?” Cozy Glow asked.

“I’m afraid… the fate that has chosen you is the one you deserve most,” the Tree explained. “You don’t deserve a happy ending.”

Those final words sent a chill down Cozy Glow’s spine, aside from the low temperatures she was subjected to at that moment.

“NO! I don’t want to…” Cozy tries to call, but fell down into the snow, almost as if accepting her fate as fact.

She couldn’t nest any deeper into this dream, because the path to her own personal heaven had reached its destination: she was damned to hell.

As one would expect, you’d think this would be the end of the story. Cozy Glow would be put to rest in reality, whilst her consciousness resides within its own realm of existence in perpetual suffering. However, Cozy Glow thought otherwise.

The filly sat up, still sitting in the cold, dark cavern, and stared across the nearly pitch black space to potentially spot the hole she fell from. However, she spotted nothing.

Cozy Glow remained strong. She NEEDED to find a way out of here, or else this was going to be the final stretch of her to be bleak existence.

After a while of thinking, Cozy Glow finally got to her hooves and started walking in the direction she thought she might have come from. Sure, it was dark and she was all turned around from her nested dream, but what did she have to lose? It wasn’t like she could die in the dream; the Tree of Harmony could only kill her in reality, which could happen at any moment, but Cozy Glow prayed that she could escape before the Tree even thought of concluding their appointment. Cozy Glow also had a hunch that they were watching.

This new-found hope dimmed after about ten minutes of aimless wandering around in the cold, dark dreamscape that was this mega-cavern. She found nothing but snow, more snow, and even more snow. It seemed nearly impossible to escape the snow, however Cozy Glow pushed onward.

“Golly, it’s c-c-c-cold,” Cozy Glow spoke to herself, her teeth chattering like crazy. “I… oh… I need to find s-something or, or, or… I’m doomed.”

Alas, Cozy Glow found something… a particularly warm spot in the snow. How cosy. A perfect place for the one named Cozy Glow to get some much needed rest…

Cozy Glow lied down, started to get comfy, and finally got into a comfortable position. And soon enough, she might be able to fall into a decent sleep…

NO! Cozy Glow suddenly shot up, stared around, and remembered her goal: to escape the cavern. However, now something was different… it seemed as though the space were now a shade of light gray, as if filled with smoke.

Did she fall asleep again? Cozy Glow couldn’t tell. But soon she would.

The Tree of Harmony’s soul emerged from the gray fog. “…hello, Cozy Glow,” it spoke, in its distinguishable mythical tone.

“Am I dreaming again?” Cozy Glow asked.

“You’ve been… dreaming, Cozy Glow,” it confided.

“Oh, yeah,” Cozy Glow remembered, realizing the stupidity of the question.

“I sense you’re trying to escape… so, I have summoned myself to consult you,” the Tree explained.

“I don’t need consulting! I’m getting out of here, damn it!” Cozy Glow outburst. She quickly covered her mouth, remembering what had happened before.

As if answering her fearful thoughts, a tendril made of the same plasma-like material the Tree appeared to be made of rose up from the snow and wrapped itself around Cozy Glow’s right back leg.

“We know it’s hard, Cozy Glow… but you… need to settle down,” the Tree continued. “…if you don’t choose to settle down, I’ll have to force you to… and that’s not nice.”

“Who’s ‘we’?” Cozy Glow finally asked.

“We… as in the ones who ascended, all thanks… to you,” it informed.

Cozy Glow stopped point blank. “You mean… them? As in all of Equestria?” Cozy Glow asked.

“Yes,” the Tree replied. “All… of Equestria.”

“Oh, golly…” Cozy Glow pondered. She had no idea that they knew about her situation, which was both comforting yet scary, depending on how they feel.

“May I join them?” Cozy Glow asked, out of nowhere. “I mean, like, can I talk with them?”

The Tree stared for a long while, as if processing her question. “No,” they responded. “Don’t even ask that question.”

Cozy Glow nodded. “Look, I’m not gonna settle down here… you can’t make me,” Cozy Glow assured it.

“Oh, but I can… but I really don’t want to,” it said.

Cozy Glow started to get angry. “I’ll kneel down and kiss your hooves if that’s what it takes, but let me leave this dreamscape, and we’ll figure out what to do after that,” Cozy Glow offered.

The Tree stared a while longer. Finally, it started to make Cozy Glow’s back legs burn like crazy, though as before, that was a massive understatement when it comes to description; it was a foreign pain, and one that ached BAD.

Cozy Glow winced as the Tree began talking her ear off.

“Cozy Glow, don’t you get it?” The Tree asked. “You… belong here. If I put your physical body to rest, then you’ll end up here… either way. This is your afterlife, and… you’re already here.” The tree then let off with the pain-inducing force in their tendril.

“I’m dead?” Cozy Glow asked hesitantly.

“No… not yet,” the Tree answered.

Cozy Glow gulped. “All you need to do is kill me now… because the fate I wanted wasn’t the one I deserved,” Cozy Glow figured out, putting all the pieces together.

“Yes, Cozy Glow… if only fate hadn't also decided to make you a monster,” the Tree whispered, somberly.

Cozy Glow stared at the ground for a long moment. “I don’t… I want a chance to undo this all,” Cozy Glow stated. “I don’t want this to be my end.”

“It’s too late. You’d… need to go back in time to undo your misdeeds,” the Tree told her.

“Isn’t that guy who shoved me in here a time traveler?” Cozy Glow recalled.

The Tree then made Cozy Glow’s leg sting again. “FUCK!” Cozy Glow yelled, out of pain and frustration.

“He’s… not even real,” the Tree confided. “They’re a figment of your nightmares.”

“And so are you,” Cozy Glow came back, recovering from the now over again sting.

“There’s no… undoing what you have done,” the Tree babbled. “It’s unchangeable.”

“Just let me leave this dream, and we’ll figure it out,” Cozy Glow asked.

The Tree stared once more. Finally, they started to pulsate once more, and the Tree spoke one last time.

“If you insist… but you’ll have to crawl back out,” it whispered, vanishing back into the fog.

Cozy Glow sighed in relief. She had barely saved—if not, delayed—the almost inevitable fate that was this cavern. Now she only had to crawl out of her dreams… but how?

Cozy Glow sighed and began to brainstorm ideas. She was in some kind of lucid and nested dream, like a dream inside of a dream. To undo something like that… crawl out, via going backwards?

It was worth a shot. Maybe she’d be able to (somehow) wake herself up by returning to the first place the dream had begun, at Twilight’s castle. She did recall not having memory of the trip to the abandoned castle she finds herself trapped under, and only the final moments of. That meant she had fallen deeper into the dream.

So, Twilight’s castle was definitely the way to escape. It’s either that, or sit here and not wake up. Ever.

With a plan of sorts in mind, Cozy Glow got up and began to run around, searching for the exit to the snowy cavern she was stuck inside of.

She ran through the snow, it slapping her in the chest as she marched on through the banks of deep, deep coldness. At some point she was bound to find it, even if that meant taking YEARS.

As if by miracle, she spotted a large, gaping hole in the ceiling about a mile off in the distance. Her eyes had adjusted well by then, so it was easy work to see far in a more dark-gray blur than in an almost pitch black sky.

Cozy Glow started to make her way to the hole, slowly but surely getting there as snow swirled around her. A cold sting started up in her wing-stumps (since they were torn off), which surely felt like hell, but the filly went on with her trudge through the field of almost endless frost.

The hole neared. She was almost there. Only another minute till she would reach the hole, and… do what, exactly?

Cozy Glow stopped dead in her tracks right before reaching the hole, at least a hundred feet upwards in the sky, and nearly started to cry. She hadn’t thought till now how she’d actually get out of the cavern. Without an actual pair of wings, Cozy Glow was physically incapable of actually getting through the hole. She was completely stuck.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Cozy Glow shuddered. “I’m screwed… I’m never getting out of here.”

Cozy Glow sat down in the snow, now half buried in it. Well, it was either miraculously get out of here, or sit there and become Frosty the Snowman. Of the two, Cozy Glow craved to escape, clearly, but fate just had different plans. Again.

Unless…

Cozy Glow had a thought. A desperate, foolish thought, but it was a thought nonetheless.

This whole universe she had dreamed up was, well, a dream. A dream of her own making that had shaped itself around her and her designed fate, fitting for her punishment. However, since she could access the fate she wanted, very briefly, and be able to interact with it… maybe if she desired to escape the cavern, she might be able to literally do so? Only that would involve falling asleep again, nesting deeper into the dream, which in turn would ruin the whole point of escaping in the reality she was currently in to hopefully get one step closer to getting out of this lucid nightmare.

Okay, so she couldn’t just fall asleep and escape that way. That wouldn’t do her any good. But she was onto something…

Cozy Glow had another thought, staring up at the gaping hole. This was an even more wild and ridiculous thought. She recalled that the reality only appeared after she had slammed into the ground down here, it shaping itself to be her fit fate at the moment. So, assuming that there’s a space where this reality hadn’t existed until she slammed into the newly-formed ground, if she touched that space where reality didn’t exist… maybe it would, in simple terms, regenerate.

Yes. That might just work. It was definitely worth a shot.

Cozy Glow got back to her hooves, backed up in the snow, and wasted no time running to the hole. Once she was right below it, she took a running leap… and entered the space she believed to redo the generation of the space.

She landed in the snow with a thud. This one wasn’t fabulous, but it was a thud nonetheless, not hurting as much as the previous one.

Immediately, Cozy Glow could tell something had changed. She felt physically more… whole. Like she had just regrown a body part or two.

She turned around, and found that’s exactly what had happened.

Her wings were back!

Cozy Glow was overjoyed to see that it had redone her body as well, as she was much warmer than before, as if she had only now just entered the chasm.

Now having wings, she could easily fly out. And so she did.

Cozy Glow backed up, and sprung into the air at top speed, desperate to escape the cave she found herself in. Once she’d get out, all she had to do was escape the ruined castle she found herself in and return to Twilight’s castle in Canterlot, however she may find it.

Cozy Glow reached the hole, flew through it, and made her way into the darkness above. Soon she’d be able to return to reality… soon she’d be able to wake up and hopefully change her fate… however, this wasn’t the end yet. She still had to conquer Cloud Shaper.

Author's Note

Cloud Shaper is bound to be an obstacle for Cozy Glow. Maybe even more. Either way, the next chapter will be the bloodiest.

The Madhouse

The way up the tunnel into the castle was a complete blur. Cozy Glow couldn’t remember it, which meant she must’ve traveled between dreams. She had left the cavern behind, it now only existing as a memory. A memory to her.

Cozy Glow found the stone door to the castle at the top of the cold, narrow shaft. Sunlight peeked through the cracks; she’d be stepping out into daylight.

The stone door slid open with a dull grinding sound, taking ages to open against her weakened body, but eventually getting wide enough for her to slip out.

“Shit,” Cozy Glow uttered when she emerged from her prison. The entire front room of the castle was boarded up, the crevices between the planks on the windows and front door too small for her to squeeze through but just barely allowing sunlight to enter the space.

Cozy Glow was trapped in the castle. It was a sad, sad revelation to her, but nonetheless, she’d continue on and explore the castle—and hopefully not run into Cloud Shaper whilst doing so.

Suddenly, a scuffle echoed through the castle halls. It sounded as if someone slid something on stone.

Cozy Glow, with nothing else to do in the dreamscape besides wander around, investigated.

There was a staircase not too far from her prison door. It was crumbled and ruined, but it was where the sound came from. Cozy Glow thought, just maybe, there could be ponies contrived of her own dreams and thoughts within the castle that were also trapped against their will, or perceived to be. However, upon going up the stairs, she found nothing pleasing.
Down a very, very long corridor, she eyed Cloud Shaper dragging something down the hall, his back turned to her.

Even with his back turned, he could still sense Cozy Glow’s sudden presence.

Eerily, he turned, and stared Cozy down like a hawk.

“Ah, good evening, lady,” he said, before vanishing into thin air. He had teleported via magical means.

“Let me go!” Cozy Glow yelled, looking around the castle now. Suddenly, a hoof yanked her upwards, pulling her into the ceiling, or where she thought would’ve been ceiling since she kept going up.

“Didn’t like your fate? Well, none of the previous folk did either,” Cloud Shaper informed her. They continued spiraling upwards in a narrow castle tower. Finally, they reached a new hallway, and Cloud Shaper set Cozy Glow down.

“What—“ Cozy Glow screeched. She gazed around in shock at the frightening sight: the remains of ponies chained, tied, shackled, and hooked to the walls and ceiling.

“This is where bad ones go to perish, or who the lord deems bad,” Cloud Shaper told Cozy Glow. He then opened a door, and showed a horrifying sight: complete darkness, the only thing in it being the rotted corpse of a mangled filly… still breathing. The filly? Cozy Glow.

“WHAT IS THIS?” Cozy Glow yelped.

Cloud Shaper grabbed her and steadied her. “A possible fate, one the lord had conceived for ye, young lady.”

“But that’s not me! I’m me!” Cozy Glow argued.

“You’re just you, and I’m just me, and that thing is also you, just living its own designed hellscape,” Cloud Shaper explained, though it didn’t help much.

“I’m so lost…” Cozy Glow said, her voice trailing off.

“Of course ya are! You’re not in your own personal wonderland—shaped for you by fate itself!” Cloud Shaper exclaimed.

“Shut up!” Cozy Glow fought.

Cloud Shaper snickered, then started to whistle of all things as he closed the door to the void room where the rotted Cozy clone resided. Right then, Cozy Glow realized all the skeletons were ones of HER.

“This is too crazy… what is this place? Some kind of hellscape?” Cozy Glow asked.

“Yes and no. This is only the gateway to the hellscapes,” Cloud Shaper explained carefully. “Each Cozy Glow in existence dies here. There’s only one you, but there’s also other ideas of you that could’ve been.”

“Is this like a program? Each place of this castle allows a very possible fate I could’ve had?” Cozy Glow spoke.

“You’re catching on, pal-oh-buddy. This is the, the prison, that your fates reside. Only you had one, so all of the other ones concluded themselves once it was concealed,” Cloud Shaper finished.

“This is mad! I’m leaving right now!” Cozy Glow screamed.

“If you want to,” Cloud Shaper said. He shrugged. “I don’t care. You’ll have to come back anyways when it finds you.”

Cozy Glow sprinted down the hallway. The walls, covered in skeletal remains and doors to closed ends, all became a blur in her mad dash to find something or someplace to potentially allow her to escape. She wasn’t just going to walk back into the fate that chose her. She was going to fight until she could get a chance, even a slim one, to change it before she perishes in the real world, thanks no less by the one who trapped her within her own dreamscape of nightmare fueled concepts.

The filly turned corner after corner, flew up staircase after staircase with her newly regrown wings, and eventually came to something that made her heart pump faster than before: an open window.

In a crazed dash, she flew out of the window and immediately glided down to the ground, right at the front of the castle complex. She gazed up at it, thankful to have escaped.

She didn’t hesitate to leave. Cozy Glow pounced in the opposite direction, taking flight, ready to leave this place in the dust. However, Cloud Shaper wouldn’t allow that.

Cozy Glow slammed head first into an invisible wall. It was a magically crafted barrier, and was conjured by none other than Cloud Shaper to conceal Cozy Glow to the space for eternity.

“FUCK!” Cozy Glow yelled. She started rubbing her forehead. It throbbed in pain, but she recovered soon enough. The impact left a bruise right above her right eye.

“Poor thing,” a voice broke out. It was Cloud Shaper.

Cozy Glow turned to face him. He has so suddenly appeared. He likely teleported.

“You’re trapped here. Forever,” he went on. “All you want to do is leave… but you know that, deep down, you don’t deserve it.”

“I know that,” Cozy Glow rasped. “But I want to fix everything.”

“Why? Just so you don’t have to deal with snow forever?” Cloud Shaper taunted.

“No,” Cozy Glow answered immediately. She approached him. “If it means I get to undo all this madness and change my destiny to be trapped in a dimension of cold, then so be it. I’ll change everything. But I’m also doing it because I’ve had a change of heart. I feel guilty… and I realized that, in my fantasy, it was similar to the life I had before I destroyed the world.”

“Bravo Cozy Glow,” Cloud Shaper said modestly. He turned away. “But there’s one problem… you can’t change fate.”

“I can try,” she reckoned.

“I can’t allow you. Fate’s order, Cozy Glow.”

“Then I’ll make you, uh, let me,” Cozy Glow argued, attempting to find the right words.

“How exactly, lady? Ye just can’t!” He bellowed.

Cozy Glow leaped at him immediately. She grabbed his neck and started to strangle him from behind.

Cloud Shaper struggled against her. She held on tight, knowing the stakes of her situation. Cloud Shaper started to faint, but in a last ditch attempt to not, he teleported.

In a flash, he was gone. Cozy Glow fell to the ground, then got up and gazed around, ready to continue the fight. Then, out of nowhere, Cozy Glow felt a sharp pain in her back—as Cloud Shaper slammed his entire body into her spine.

Cozy Glow collapsed into the eroded ground below. Her hooves sprawled out, and she was left vulnerable. And then came the screaming, and came with that the showers of red.

Out of her mouth oozed blood. It poured over the ground, seeping into the dirt. Her screaming only quickened the bleeding.

The shock to the impact in her back has sent her in a state of, well, utter shock. She couldn’t move, only lie down as she felt Cloud Shaper get off her back. Instantly, another sharp pain came, only this time on her front ribs, though not nearly as bad.

He was dragging her, back towards the castle front. Cozy Glow cried at the agony inflicted on her. She felt as if she were… dying. For real. Could she die in the dream and live on in the ‘personal wonderland’?

Cozy Glow was set down at the front door. Cloud Shaper stopped and studied the door, realizing he had nailed it shut.

“No bother,” he finally spoke. “I’ll undo it in a jiffy and shove you back into your wonderland. You belong there, my friend.”

Cozy Glow slowly started to drift to sleep, almost as if in a trance from how tired she felt from one blow from Cloud Shaper. He was powerful. She knew she couldn’t just kill him, especially without any magic. She was merely a Pegasus filly, but a smart one nonetheless.

In her final moments, or so she was beginning to think, she heard him get the door unlocked, all the boards undone.

If only she could get rid of him…

Cozy Glow had a sudden thought. A stupid, dumb, and uncreative thought, but a thought nonetheless. Maybe—just maybe—she could subdue him.

She got up, her back not broken but hurt BAD. She coughed up the last bit of blood she had to before she could speak semi-properly. Then she began.

“Mr. Shaper, sir, how do you know what’s down in the hole where my destiny lies?” She asked.

He looked stunned by her answer. “Um,” he uttered. “I just know. That’s what I exist for: the guard your fate. I knew what each fate was and I know what fate you got. Kinda like Santa Claus.”

“Oh,” Cozy Glow said, following him into the castle. “You’ve never been down there?”

“Of course not. I wouldn’t be able to get out, if so,” he said. “Not for a long time. My magic fails in other realms.”

Cozy Glow uttered a weak smile. “I know I can’t deny my fate. There’s nothing I can do about it now.”

“Indeed, lady. I’m glad you came around,” Cloud Shaper smiled.

He pulled open the stone door, the one to her fate. It was now or never for Cozy Glow.

“I thought you would’ve known as the keeper of my fate that I am a master-class manipulator,” she said.

“A what?” He said. His final words.

Cozy Glow lunged before he could turn around—and pushed him into the abyss. All the way down, he screamed, spiraling into an alternate reality. At last, his screams echoed into nothingness as he finally fell all the way into oblivion.

Cozy Glow pushed the stone door shut and sprinted out the front door, hoping that he hadn’t been lying about his magic failing. If he was truthful, this would mean she was free. Free from this area of the her nested nightmare and approaching the final frontier.

Cozy Glow slowly approached the spot where she almost got a concussion and, very carefully, moved forward. Her heart pounded. This was it. And…

Nothing stopped her. She was free. Free from her constraints. Now, she could continue her journey. Her final stop: Canterlot.

As if awakening from a long, long nightmare…

Only still very much asleep, of course, Cozy Glow found herself in the hallway of Canterlot—the one where she started this dream. It was as if nothing else existed, and when she traveled from plot-of-land to plot-of-land, she found herself just existing there, like having just woke up in the morning.

Her back didn’t hurt any longer. It reset during the weird loose-feeling phase of not existing, just like how her wings reset in the cave.

Anyways, this was it. The final barrier between her and regaining consciousness. If she could—-somehow—figure out how to escape from the dream, of course.

Cozy Glow approached the large door to the court room. She wondered if Twilight were in there, or anyone for that matter, and what they would do upon seeing her. She was sure for one thing, and that it wasn’t going to be pleasant… but she had gotten this far, so she must try to do something.

Finally, she found the courage to speedily yank open the door and go inside. What did she have to lose? Her life, for instance, but that was worth fighting for.

The room was nearly pitch black. The windows let in no light, and she could barely make out a thing in the overwhelming darkness. She closed the door and began to allow her eyes to adjust to the sudden change in lighting.

All the while, Cozy Glow kept her ears perked. She didn’t want to get attacked by anyone in the room, let alone get surprised by any unwanted guests. At last, her eyes adjusted, and she could make out the shapes of chairs and seating, as well as the silhouette of a mare at the podium. It was Twilight.

“Who’s there?” Twilight asked, unsure of who had entered. She sounded frantic, for whatever reason.

Cozy Glow remained silent. If she said it was her, she’d probably get vanquished (for lack of a better word) on the spot. She was supposed to be miles underground in an alternate realm of snow, but instead she escaped and came here. Not a good look, even if it was a dream—yet so far, everything in the dream was definitely going to give her intentional nightmares. Twilight no less.

Twilight remained at the podium, unmoving and not making a single sound. It was like she wasn’t even breathing.

“I know it’s you, Cozÿ Gľóŵ,” Twilight confirmed, her voice getting distorted. Something wasn’t right.

“Let me leave this nightmare,” Cozy Glow demanded. “I will fix everything I had broken.”

“Hōw çaň ÿøű fïx å ðêseřt wǎsťęľanď?” Twilight asked, her voice sounding like some kind of glitch. “Youř fäte ìş seț ǐň stòņe.”

“Stop trying to scare me, Twilight,” Cozy Glow said sternly. “That voice isn’t gonna make me piss myself.”

Twilight laughed. A crooked, yet weirdly… serene, of all things, chuckle. A natural, evolved laugh, yet definitely not one that would be alien. It was bizarre, hard to put into fitting words.

“Who said I was Twilight?” It said flatly now.

Cozy Glow’s heart dropped. She nearly choked, and she had stopped breathing. The being that confronted her—whilst taking the shape of Twilight—wasn’t the mare herself. Sure, it wasn’t Twilight at all to begin with; it was a figment of her nightmares. However, this was no figment of her nightmares… or so it seemed. Interpretation may vary on it.

“Who are you?” Cozy Glow yelled. She needed to know who—or what—it was.

“I go by many names,” they began. “Some ponies call me destiny. Some may refer to me as the grim reaper. But I’m only one, unchanging force… fate.”

The being was the embodiment of fate itself. It was the embodiment of personal hells and heavens, creating one for every being, each one fit for that specific soul. Cozy Glow’s fate had been—literally, if you choose to believe this ain’t just another creation of Cozy Glow’s brain—created by this entity. It was like a god, manipulating things against ponies’ will, deciding the outcome of every situation.

“Oh my…” Cozy Glow whispered. “You’re… oh, oh my.”

“I am fate itself,” it confided. “Every little outcome was an act of my own doing. I chose the desert wasteland to be your final physical resting place. I chose the consequences you suffered upon destroying the world. I chose when you were born, when you’ll die, and how you’ll die, all in an act of your own pre-recorded and chosen actions. However, this interaction isn’t scripted.”

Cozy Glow gulped as the being flew from the podium and down onto the center floor. They became much clearer now: they just looked and sounded like Twilight, only they weren’t even remotely similar in tone. Everything they said was flat and unenthusiastic. It was frightening.

“You will return to your fate now,” it said. “Allow me to take you.”

Then, it began to amalgamate. It shifted into a being almost unrecognizable to Twilight. It grew six limbs out of its back, and its head split apart to reveal a white, eerie glow. The skin of the being turned back, and then expanded as new flesh found its way into its new body.

A head grew out of the light, and the limbs finally finished themselves. They had claws at each end, and slammed down on the floor to allow a steady balance for the creature.

Long quills grew on the back of its head, all razor-sharp looking and unpleasant on the eyes. The whole entity was black, all except for some facial features.

The head—about five hooves-length tell and relatively wide—had gaping holes for eyes, though not empty as they had an accompanying white glow from somewhere within, making them appear as portals. As for its mouth, it actually was a portal; the giant, gaping hole for a mouth showed… none other than the snowy hellscape Cozy Glow had escaped from.

Cozy Glow shrank back against the door. She had nowhere to go, and the door had seemingly locked itself from the outside. Her fate was, well, up to Fate.

“Admiring the mouth?” It asked, its lips not moving. Ifs spider-like body moved around the room isn’t the darkness, slowly edging closer to Cozy Glow as it almost danced around.

Cozy Glow gulped. “Are you gonna… eat me?” Cozy Glow asked, frightened.

“Yes,” it replied. “Whatever gets you through the portal.”

“Please… don’t do this,” Cozy Glow pleaded. “I’ll change my fate! Just give me more time!”

“I can do anything I want. I can create realms out of thin air, destroy planets in a week, or even… eat you,” they replied hastily. Then, sharp, unpleasant teeth grew out of its gums.

“Get away!” Cozy Glow pleaded once more, backing up into the door. She was totally screwed if she couldn’t find a way out of the situation.

Out of nowhere, as if unforeseen by Fate itself, a figure emerged in the portal. They crawled right out, startling Fate.

“What the hell?” It yelled, as the figure—Cloud Shaper—landed on the floor, got up, and glared at Cozy Glow.

“You, ya lady. You trapped me in YOUR fate!” Cloud Shaper exclaimed.

Cozy Glow just stared, stunned by his sudden appearance.

“Pardon,” Fate broke in. “What the FUCK are you doing in her resting place? You guard it, not go in it!”

“She trapped me!” He argued.

“You… you’re done,” Fate said flatly. Then, in an instant, Fate’s mouth changed from showing a Winter scape to now… a throat. The literal mouth of Fate.

“Oh, no… don’t! I am sorry I failed you!” Cloud Shaper screamed. “It wasn’t my fault! I thought I weakened her! I didn’t know she was gonna push me in!”

Fate didn’t budge at his pleads. It moved closer, ready to swipe him up with one of their six legs and have him for a midnight snack. However, Cozy Glow felt urged to disallow this. He truly didn’t deserve to die… he was just serving his purpose: to conceal her fate further, even if that wasn’t in her best interests.

Cozy Glow whistled, having now moved to the corner of the room.

Fate drew their attention to her, now semi-disinterested in Cloud Shaper.

Cozy Glow had a chair, and she was ready to smash open a window and escape.

Just as she’d hoped, this pissed off Fate.

Fate stampeded across the room to her, ready to subdue her and throw her into their now changed back portal-mouth thing. This allowed Cloud Shaper a chance to run, which he did.

Cozy Glow flew to the podium, right before Fate slammed into the window. It shattered, but Fate used their magic to repair it in about ten seconds, all whilst they sprinted to Cozy Glow’s position at the podium.

Right before Fate slammed into her, she moved again, flying above it and towards the door. Fate followed, regaining their balance. They crawled out of the now destroyed podiums and made their way to Cozy Glow’s position.

Cloud Shaper stood off to the side, watching the whole mess.

Fate ran… and finally, they smacked into the door, right as Cozy Glow flew off to the side of the room. With that, the door splintered and fell apart completely. Just as Cozy Glow had hoped.

Fate moved again, but this time, before the door could rebuild due to Fate’s magical doing, Cloud Shaper slipped out. He was safe, saved from the wrath of Fate.

Now it was just Cozy Glow, and the very enraged Fate, now rapidly approaching her.

Cozy Glow flew to the broken podium once again, attempting to stall until she could figure out what to do.

Fate stomped closer, until finally reaching Cozy. However, something made Fate stop dead in their tracks, as if realizing something. Something big.

Fate stared at Cozy Glow for the longest time. They were unsure of what to make of what they had just realized. Finally, they broke the intense silence.

“You allowed your Keeper to escape me,” they began. “In turn, that slightly changed your fate.”

“What?” Cozy Glow asked, confused. She had somehow changed her fate? What did that mean?

“You’re no longer damned to the snow dimension… a new fate is forming, one fit a for a filly who has destroyed the world, but had a change of heart last minute,” Fate went on.

“Are you saying I’ve saved myself?” Cozy Glow asked.

“No,” they replied flatly. “Your fate will be slightly different. But you, somehow, shifted your fate. Allow me to open up a portal to your new found fate.”

Their mouth portal shifted from the snowy chasm to… a snowy chasm once more, only this one slightly different.

“The temperature has risen a bit in this one,” Fate explained. “You undid a sin.”

Cozy Glow stared, stunned at the minor change. However, this did prove something.

“So I can undo my fate?” Cozy Glow asked.

“I won’t allow it, but you could hypothetically do so,” Fate answered.

This was all Cozy Glow wanted to hear. She now knew that changing her fate was a hundred percent doable, assuming she could do it before she died.

“Let me leave! I have the proof I can change now!” Cozy Glow screamed.

“No,” Fate continued. “That’s not how things should end. You’re still damned to your designated fate.”

Fate swooped down, attempting to grab Cozy Glow, but failed as Cozy Glow leapt out of the way.

Cozy Glow flew to the door once more, thinking up a plan to somehow escape from the dream. For now, she needed to figure out how to subdue or even kill the flesh version of Fate attempting to slaughter her, or worse, shove her back into the snowy cavern.

“Let me see your wings!” They screamed. “They need to be torn off once more. And this time, when the one you know as the Tree of Harmony kills you, you won’t be able to get them back. You’ll be trapped forever!”

“No!” Cozy Glow bellowed. She wasn't going to let them hurt her. She was going to do anything to escape their wrath.

In a flash of anger, Cozy Glow yanked a chair from the ground, and slammed into the skull of Fate as they reached her.

Fate recoiled, stunned by Cozy Glow being able to actually hurt them in the body they presented. Cozy Glow then slammed the chair into their eye cavities, making them sputter out… black puss. A disgusting, dark goop poured out of their sockets. They reached their arms up to shield themselves, but those too were beaten ruthlessly by the chair Cozy Glow had equipped herself with.

Finally, Fate fought back. They yanked the chair from Cozy Glow and threw it across the room, it smashing against a wall. They grabbed Cozy Glow and aimed her towards her portal-mouth.

But Cozy Glow had other ideas.

Cozy Glow slammed her hooves into their face, punching Fate ruthlessly. Fate groaned in pain and began to start fumbling for Cozy Glow’s wings, ready to rip them off once more.

The grabbed one wing, and started to violently tug on it, hoping it would stun Cozy Glow long enough for her to be thrown into the portal.

Cozy Glow winced in pain, but kept fighting, even when she felt the final tug of her wing being completely ripped off. Again.

They grabbed the other one, but Cozy Glow decided to try one more thing to—hopefully—end the madness.

They gave them one, final punch, stunning them long enough the crawl up their face. Cozy Glow, her wing ripped off and severely injured, reached the sharp quills on their back—and plucked one off.

Fate’s scream erupted from wherever they had been talking from, revealing them to be stunned.

Cozy Glow got down, though not quite safely; she landed in a pile of chair, almost impaling her.

Quickly she picked up the quill and climbed over the sears and into the isle, trying to get away as fast a possible to allow herself to position.

She reached a corner of the room and, aiming the quill, watched as Fate stepped into the isle and made their way over to her in a mad dash.

Cozy Glow prayed her idea would work. If it didn’t, this was the end.

Quickly, Cozy Glow aimed the quill high in the air as Fate reached her space—and it stabbed fate right in the chest.

Fate uttered a loud, shuddering gasp as they took in what just happened.

“Beaten by a mere filly,” they choked out. Then, in a fabulous fashion, they fell back in a heap on the floor, right in the center of the isle.

Cozy Glow had narrowly done it: she defied Fate themself and even killed it, though Cozy Glow knew that their spirit was out there somewhere still, manipulating time… if this were legitimate.

She caught her breath and approached the being’s face. The light in their eyes had went out, signaling the lack of a soul remaining in the body. The teeth in its mouth shrunk back into their gums, allowing the portal to be seen much clearer: a portal to… a sandy desert. A giant, massive desert, and in it, a strange glow up front and center.

Cozy Glow nearly cried out in happiness when she realized that it was a portal back to reality. She had found a way to escape, and she found out that she really could defy Fate. Now the only question was… could she change her Fate for the better in a desert wasteland she created?

Cozy Glow entered the portal.

Author's Note

The final chapter comes soon. How will this whole nightmare end? And will she be able to change her fate for the better? Only time will tell.

Final Fate

Cozy Glow awoke face down in sand. She rolled over and wiper her face off, not wanting to get want in her eyes. It took her a minute, but she came to find herself back in the desert wasteland.

“Welcome back… Cozy Glow,” the Tree spoke to her.

Cozy Glow turned to face it. She got up and stared it down.

“No more,” Cozy Glow said sternly. “I’m not having any more nested dreams. I’m not going back to that place. I’m going to be left alone.”

The Tree stood there in silence for a moment. “I know, Cozy Glow… however… you need my help if you want to shape the world into something more… alive.”

The filly considered this for a moment. Did she really need help? Cozy Glow was an alicorn, and she had all the magic that had ever existed, excluding that of the Tree.

“I guess,” Cozy Glow said. She preferred company over the sad nothingness of the plain world she made.

The Tree turned around and began walking into the distance. Then… they evaporated. Cozy Glow concluded that they were gonna help her as a spirit, and on the astral plane.

“Well,” Cozy Glow murmured to herself. “I’ve got to do something.”

Cozy Glow flew into the air and began at once. She teleported to where she knew the now crumbled Canterlot was. It was a barren wasteland, the only remarkable thing in it being the giant hill of sand where there used to be a mountain.

With her unmatched powers, she lifted tons upon tons of heavy sand and rock and sorted out any left over chunks of building that might be in it. In the end, she found a fair amount of material, but of course not the whole city. That would take years to recover.

“Okay,” Cozy Glow lectures herself. “How about… a house.”

She used her magic to reconstruct a house. She made a floor, a semi-complex layout of walls, and a roof. She summoned moisture out of the atmosphere and combined it with crumbled rock to make a concrete-esc substance, which she used to secure the structure.

Cozy Glow flew into where the front door was to be. It was… a wreck, in all honesty. It felt as if it just conveyed the sheer hopelessness of her hopes and dreams.

She sat down in an empty room—if you wanted to call it that, hence many holes. She tried to envision a future here: ponies sleeping in bunk beds; a living room with a fireplace; a kitchen fit for two; not to mention actual ponies living here in general.

However, a sad realized had settled in. Cozy Glow had killed or caused every pony to be killed. She truly, and undeniably truly, completely destroyed the world.

“I can’t give up,” Cozy Glow said through tears. “I need to redeem myself, to be able to forgive myself.”

Once again, Cozy Glow teleported. She appeared outside the crappy house and brought more sand up and sorted through it. She found but a scrape of wall, and a dead and decayed oak tree.

“Fuck,” Cozy Glow cried. “Fuck! What am I gonna do? Everything is gone, gone, gone! I wish I could just go back.”

Cozy Glow sunk to the ground. She felt defeated. Sure, she had just defeated fate itself, but now she had to solve a dilemma bigger than any that had ever existed when it still existed.

She lied down and sobbed. Her tears, the few there were due to her lack of water, seeped into the ground. And she lied down there, for hours on end, accepting defeat, accepting her physical fate and the consequences of what she has done.

“Allow me,” the Tree broke into her thoughts. “Allow me to… help you.”

“Go away,” Cozy Glow whimpered. “You can’t just bring them back. You can’t bring anything back.”

The Tree remained silent for a moment. “My apologies… allow us to help you,” it said.

“Huh?” Cozy Glow questioned. She finally looked up and gazed at the Tree of Harmony—and six other glowing beings.

Twilight, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and the Tree. They all stared down at her, all of them somehow there in the desert wasteland with her.

Only glowing. That must’ve meant they were… ghosts.

“I-oh, I… I uh,” Cozy Glow struggled with her words. “I’m so… s-sorry.”

She began to cry. The ponies didn’t say anything, but they stared at her calmly.

“Please, forgive me… I’m so, so… so unbelievably lost. I don’t know what to do anymore. And it’s all my fault. If I wasn’t to power hungry and didn’t go on a r-rampage and did all of… this… then you, and the entire world, would still be alive,” Cozy Glow spoke her mind.

“I can’t believe I did all of that… I’m horrible,” Cozy Glow concluded.

Twilight stepped towards Cozy Glow. The Princess reached out her hoof and touched Cozy Glow’s cheek.

“There’s no words to describe how much you messed up,” Twilight spoke. “However, don’t let it haunt you. You do deserve a horrible, horrible fate… but you also deserve to understand. To understand where you went wrong. And Cozy Glow, my friend, after having watched what you went through to change your fate and redeem yourself… we all as a collective has decided to forgive you.”

Cozy Glow broke out in tears. Twilight has not only called her a friend, but she forgave her. And they all did, too. Cozy Glow finally found some level of peace with this.

The Tree stepped forward and Twilight stepped back. “We feel… that you are redeemable,” it announced.

Cozy Glow started to celebrate, but was quickly silenced when she felt something tug on her leg. A tendril belonging to the Tree.

“There’s a catch,” it said.

A few years later, Cozy Glow was having lunch with her new friends, the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Only this time around, they were true friends, and not just a means of getting trust for global domination—the lack there of of a globe, hence this weird plane of existence known as heaven.

Cozy Glow waved goodbye and headed for home. She enjoyed her life so much, and she constantly thought about how grateful she was to have been given a second chance. In her new life, she had been able to prove her own redemption and has been accepted as one of the most kind ponies in heaven.

She made her way up the stairs and into her own bedroom, ready to relax. She spent long afternoons up here with friends reading books and playing board games. With no school nor anything in this realm, it was always the weekend. A very, very pleasant weekend.

It was a literal wonderland, one personally made for her, its mood shaped by her own desires. However, there was a tiny something that always bothered Cozy Glow, like right now.

When she drifted off to sleepy, no matter when or where, she’d see the Tree of Harmony through a flash of memory… but she couldn’t figure out why. She had been killed—very tamely—and aloud into heaven, assuming Fate didn’t show up saying she didn’t deserve it. But she saw the Tree every time she went to bed, like they were watching her, making sure she remained there. As if she could escape there…

There was also another thing: did Fate lie about personal wonderlands? That couldn’t make sense; there had been no reason to lie when it came to everyone having a personalized realm for them when they perished… but how could all of Cozy Glow’s friend’s exist here if they were dead and in their own scape? She wished she could ask, but didn’t bother. Why ruin a good thing?

As Cozy Glow drifted to sleep this afternoon, ready for a well deserved nap, she thought she saw a glimpse of a snowy cave, but wasn’t quite sure. Maybe it was a trick of the light, or just some image in her head. She knew well that that had been her original fate… but was that the one she got anyways? Or was she also—or only—safe and sound in heaven? Only Fate could tell.