Fanfic / How I Lost My Mother

A child who is not embraced by the village; will burn it down to feel its warmth...

"A real Princess would never take even the smallest chance when it comes to one pony and her kingdom. Not even for her own daughter."

Princess Celestia:

"Cozy Glow and Princess Celestia have a history together. One that no pony could ever imagine."

From the fanfic summary

An Origins Episode for Cozy Glow that details her Start of Darkness as written by user Stardust 456 on Fimfiction.net that can be found here. Its sequel The Ending of The End, Part 3 is found here. Due to technical difficulties, the sequel has been put on hiatus.

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Tropes To Be Found In This Series:

How I Lost My Mother

• Adaptational Villainy: Princess Celestia is depicted as an Abusive Parent in this fanfic rather than her benevolent self in the actual series.
• Antagonistic Offspring: Cozy Glow is poised to fight against her mother Princess Celestia for what was done too her so many years ago.
• Blue-and-Orange Morality: Celestia's worldview when it comes to Cozy Glow is to simply hope that she can just forgive Celestia and try moving on with her life, despite the fact that she left her daughter with nothing at all to herself: no house, no money, not even friends or emotional support. Is it any wonder why Cozy Glow turned to villainy in the first place to try getting back at the world for cursing her as such?
• Broken Angel: Or rather a Broken Alicorn: with Celestias' curse not only destroying her daughters' horn which prevents her from using Magic, but also shrinking Cozys' wings down to the size of a normal Pegasus'.
• Broken Pedestal: Celestia herself became this towards her own daughter by her knee-jerk reaction to the prophecy, and is trying to actively prevent herself from becoming this to the rest of Equestria.
• Brought Down to Normal: One of the effects of Celestia using The Elements of Harmony on Cozy was to take away her Magic and turn her daughter into a Pegasus. Cozy Glow in The Ending of The End Part 3 pays her mother back in spades by subjecting Celestia to the same fate by transforming her into a Pegasus and sealing her magic away.
• Cerebus Retcon:
  • The day before Nightmare Moons' return and Twilight Sparkle ascending into Alicornhood, heralded by many as pivotal moments for Equestria are two of the emotionally-trying moments of Cozy Glows' entire life due to her own past and former connections with the Royal Sisters.
  • While skipped over entirely, the fact that Celestia sentenced her own daughter to Tartarus and had Luna - Cozys' own aunt - personally oversee her incarceration hits hard and has undoubtedly took its toll on Cozys' psyche more than ever before.
• Create Your Own Villain: Celestia ends up turning her own daughter into one of these when she banished her and erased all memory of her from everypony.
• Disappeared Dad: It is never once clarified who exactly is/was Cozy Glow's father.
• Divine Parentage: When your own mother is Princess Celestia, this trope was a given for Cozy Glow.
• Forgotten First Meeting: Twice-over.
  • Before she was forgotten about, Cozy Glow had an awareness of Twilight Sparkle as her mothers' personal student, and often desired to have Twilight teach her about Magic instead of waiting to go to Celestia's School.
  • During her exile following being Un-Person'd, Cozy Glow actually spent some time in Ponyville doing research in the Golden Oaks' Library shortly after Twilights' Ascendance to try finding out where the Rook containing her Magic was sent to.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: Ironically Cozy Glow starts off her story as Somebody until her mother cast Laser-Guided Amnesia to Un-person her own daughter. Then Cozy Glow becomes one of the most dangerous villains in Equestria by trying to rid Equestria of its Magic, causing her to be locked up in Tartarus; only to escape with Tirek and join forces with Queen Chrysalis' as a Big Bad Duumvirate hell-bent on destroying Equestria.
• Go Mad from the Isolation: Due to the circumstances behind Cozy Glow's banishment, she knows that she is unable to make any friends ever again because nopony would believe her if she tells them that her own mother was Princess Celestia.
  She would spend some time in Ponyville, because she could already feel that she's starting to lose her sanity without interacting with other ponies. But she knew she couldn't ever make any friends, cause then they will ask about her parents, and no one would believe the truth. She didn't have any parental love, she didn't have any support from friends, and she was still isolated in the mountains.
• Goo-Goo-Godlike: Cozy Glow once exhibited fine abilities in Magic even at a young age, even being able to raise and lower the Moon and Sun all by herself, among a variety of other magical feats.
  Princess Celestia: I for one, have never seen anypony do an age spell by accident when they're only one years old, and I never thought you would travel into the dream realm by accident when you were two.
• Hate Sink: Celestia, full-stop. Though only from the perspective of Cozy Glow for everything that her own mother did to her and to Equestria for erasing all knowledge of Cozy's relation to her.
• Hide the Evidence: Despite Celestia's usage of the Elements of Harmony in erasing almost everything that would reveal that Cozy Glow was her daughter, a few items were left in Canterlot such as various pictures of them in Celestia's bedroom, a Stained-Glass Window that Celestia simply hid with a tapestry, Cozy Glow's own bedroom tower which Celestia labeled as "Princesses Only" and enforced a rule preventing Luna from accessing it, And Celestia's personal diary which Cozy Glow managed to steal in Ponyville while everypony was distracted by Twilights' ascension.
• History Repeats: Celestia really should get it through her skull that Banishing and UnPerson'ing members of her own family is never a good idea. First it was with Princess Luna, and now it's with Cozy Glow.
• Hypocrite: Princess Celestia definitively falls into this trope when taking into account how she was able to readily and easily pass judgement on other various enemies to Equestria that have actually done more harm to the nation and to its ponies; while her own daughter was only guilty of being part of a prophecy that ended up being Self-Fulfilling and after years refused to divulge any hints of her own daughters existence with others out of fear of looking bad.
• I Just Want to Have Friends: Cozy Glow is completely distraught at what Celestia did to her in taking away her friends' memories of her, all traces of her existence, and saying that the others will never believe her if Cozy tells them that she was the daughter of Princess Celestia. On top of this is the fact that Princess Luna will never even know that she even has a niece was part of the reason why Cozy Glow went off the deep-end.
• It's All About Me: Reading Celestia's diary, Cozy learns that the reason behind her mothers' actions were all motivated entirely by how they affect her image instead of how they affect others around her.
  Diary: I know it sounds terrible, but if anypony found out what I did, they would hate me and turn against me.
• Laser-Guided Amnesia: Celestia uses the Elements of Harmony to erase any and all memories pertaining to Cozy Glow from everypony in Equestria, along with erasing any documentation and symbols relating to her.
• Mirror Character: Between Cozy Glow and various other characters from the show.
  • With her aunt Princess Luna: both were betrayed in some fashion by Princess Celestia enough that they lashed out at her and were punished by Celestia for it who refused to reach a compromise or understanding.
  • With Tempest Shadow: Both had their horns taken away and left unable to perform Magic, and both ended up making a sort of Deal with the Devil to try and find a way to reclaim their powers again.
• Missed Him by That Much: Cozy Glow after she was exiled from Canterlot and made forgotten by everypony, was present to witness both her Aunts' restoration by the Elements of Harmony, and years later to see the celebration unfold regarding Twilight Sparkles' Ascension to Alicornhood.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Celestia, did you REALLY think that Cozy Glow would just up and leave you alone after what you did to her? Then when she returns twice as part of her Roaring Rampage of Revenge, you never try to either reconcile with her or bother telling the truth to others.
• Only the Chosen May Wield: Due to the nature of her Rook, only Cozy Glow can access it's immense power, and that it cannot be destroyed; even with The Elements of Harmony.
• Out of Sight, Out of Mind: How exactly Celestia treated Cozy after banishing and erasing everyponies memories of her daughter, believing that Cozy would just leave well-enough alone and stay in exile forever.
• Parental Abandonment: Celestia banishes Cozy Glow, her only child from Canterlot and leaves her without a roof over her head or a guardian to look after her. Then in her loneliness and without a caring adult figure to look up to; descends on a self-destructive path.
• The Power of Hate: How Cozy Glow is able to gain access to her magic sealed away inside of the Rook, and it amplifies her already immense hatred for Celestia and everything that she stands for in her Equestria.
• Rage Against the Reflection: After reading through Celestia's diary and how all of the emotional pain and suffering she had to endure by living all alone in the Everfree Forest was All for Nothing, she finds the picture of her Three-Year Old self next to her mother and smashes the frame and tears apart the picture.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: Following her Rage Against the Reflection, Cozy Glow's eye-color changed from their original violet to the deep, scarlet red from the show.
• Remittance Man: Cozy Glow had everything taken away from her at a young age by her own Mother: her tower, her status, all public memory of her, her friends, her Magic; leaving her only with her saddlebags and her Voloverlangen just days before Luna was to return from the Moon. While Cozy uses a wish to give her a tree-castle inside of the Everfree Forest, it does not serve to replace the loneliness she feels.
• Replacement Goldfish: What Twilight's ascendency to Alicornhood ultimately proves to be: Celestia attempting to use Twilight Sparkle as a way to try filling the void in her heart left behind by her daughter Cozy, along with bestowing upon her the title and authority of Princess.
• Sadistic Choice: Celestia's latest prophecy regarding Cozy Glow amounted to either saving Equestria from Cozy Glow, or to keep Cozy Glow but doom Equestria from Cozys' magic. Celestia resolved to simply seal away Cozys' Magic and banish her after erasing her memory from everypony but this ultimately proved to be the catalyst that would result in Cozy Glow destroying Equestria.
• Sanity Slippage: Chapter 4 onwards shows the toll that was inflicted on Cozy Glow's psyche due to being left all alone since she was only four-years old, and that what Celestia did to her could have been undone at any time but Celestia was too prideful to admit that she was even wrong, it only got worse after Celestia sentenced Cozy to Tartarus, and reached its peak with finally reclaiming her Rook; which stripped the final vestiges of her mind to transform Cozy Glow into the very monster and threat that Celestia had originally prophesized she would become.
• Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: The Prophecy that Celestia experienced that told her that Cozy would turn to evil turned out to be a case of this. It was even lampshaded in her diary when Cozy read it.
  Diary: I was so paranoid into thinking this prophecy was going to come true, I didn't think about self-fulfilling.
• Sunk Cost Fallacy: Celestias' dedication to keep hers and Cozys' familial connection a secret from everypony, continuously digging deeper and doubling-down on citing that her daughter is a threat to Equestria: when in truth, Cozy is only a threat to Princess Celestia: whom the public, her sister, and Twilight will abandon should they ever find out the truth.
• Tragic Villain: Questionable to consider Cozy Glow to be a "villain"; when her vengeance against Princess Celestia is completely justified.
• Un-person: Ultimately what becomes of Cozy Glow in Equestria: Everything about her ranging from her relationship with Celestia, her authority, her position, all of it was erased by Princess Celestia with only a few items that were within Canterlot that Celestia kept under lock and key.
• Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Cozy Glow definitively was this as a then-4-year old Alicorn Princess of Equestria alongside her mother Celestia.
• Villain Protagonist: The story is told from Cozys' perspective, as she goes on her journey to get her revenge against her mother, Princess Celestia.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Cozy Glows' Voloverlangen flower. A flower much like the one that Twilight was researching in Growing Up Is Hard To Do. Cozy's flower isn't seen again after wishing for her Crystalline treehouse and for reading the Prophecy that resulted in Celestia banishing her.
• Winged Unicorn: Alicorns in-general, with Cozy Glow originally being a natural-born Alicorn.
• With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: Cozy Glow's Rook consumes her with blind hatred towards Princess Celestia... though at this point in the story, her sanity was already destroyed long ago because of Celestia.
• World-Wrecking Wave: A Magical-variation of this was launched by Princess Celestia using the Elements of Harmony that caused Laser-Guided Amnesia to Un-person Cozy Glow from everyponies memories, along with removing all documentation and landmarks pertaining to Cozys' very existence.
• You Can't Go Home Again: Celestia ultimately banished her only daughter from Canterlot and told to never come back again to try proving her existence to anypony; citing that they would believe Celestia more than they would believe a four-year old filly.

The Ending Of The End, Part III

• A House Divided: Princess Celestia had already caused this with Cozy Glow and wants to prevent this from happening with Luna; who would likely abandon Princess Celestia if she would ever learn that Cozy Glow was actually Lunas' Niece. with The Ending of The End Part III showing that the truth will inevitably come out at some point and result in this happening.
• Brought Down to Badass: After the Magic of Friendship had stripped away her power offered by the Bewitching Bell, Cozy pulls out her Rook... and unleashes its power.
• Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: Cozy having inflicted the stone transformation on Discord is treated with all the gravitas: something that none but The Royal Sisters and The Mane Six have ever been able to do: and that was only when they had The Elements of Harmony to do it in the first place.
• Discard and Draw: An involuntary form happens with Cozy Glow having been hit by Twilight Sparkles' Magic of Friendship before the story began; resulting in her losing her Alicorn Horn provided through Grogars' Bell. However, it doesn't do anything to destroy Cozys' Rook: which contains her original Magic inside and proves to be a Magic that far exceeds what The Bewitching Bell provided to her.
• Downer Beginning: From the perspective of the heroes, Celestia, Luna, and Discord fail to transform The Legion of Doom into stone as they managed to escape due to the intervention of Cozy Glow with her apparently new Magic.
• Heroic BSoD: Twilight Sparkle falls back into one of these again after seeing exactly how powerful Cozy Glow truly is compared to herself, to the Royal Sisters, and to Discord.
• Infinity -1 Sword: Grogar's Betwitching Bell is considered to be this in that while it has enough Magic stored inside to turn Cozy back into an Alicorn, it is easily destroyed when overloaded by the Magic of Friendship launched by Twilight Sparkle and her friends, the Pillars, and the Student Six.
• Infinity +1 Sword: Cozy Glow's Rook counts as this trope due to the fact that only Cozy Glow can access its power due to its magic originally being a part of her, it was ironically found in the very same cave as Grogar's Bewitching Bell, and in The Ending Of The End Part III, is able to overpower the magical abilities of Celestia, Luna, and Discord combined after the Elements had already destroyed the magic within Grogars' Bell.
• Kamehame Hadoken: Cozy unleashes one of these from her Rook-made Horn: a blast that was strong enough to negate the combined petrification attack of her mother, Princess Luna, Discord, and travel past them to blast apart the very hill that their reinforcements were just standing on moments prior. The resulting blast vaporized the mountain into ashes, and left behind a several mile long pink-flaming crater.
• Karma Houdini Warranty:
  • the first chapter of The Ending Of The End Part III ends with Cozy finally getting her revenge against Celestia by stripping away her mothers' magic much the same way as what Celestia did to Cozy nearly a decade ago.
  • Discord also gets his comeuppance for his Engineered Heroics by being turned back into stone by Cozys' spell.
• Laser-Guided Karma: Celestia strips away her own daughter's Magic to be sealed inside of a Rook, only for several years later to have Cozy Glow do the same to her. Only this time; Cozy Glow destroys the Chess piece containing Celestia's magic.
• Mass "Oh, Crap!": Everyone after seeing Cozy's Kamehame Hadoken.
• Spared by the Adaptation: Tirek and Chrysalis are all saved at the last minute from Celestia, Luna, and Discord's attack that would have turned them into stone forever and are teleported away by Cozy Glow. Which instead leads to..
• Taken for Granite: After being defeated by Twilight and the others and about to be sealed in stone by Celestia, Luna, and Discord; Cozy Glow casts her own spell using her Rook containing all of her Magic that managed to overpower the three others and affect them differently; with Discord being sealed within a stone statue instead.
• Where I Was Born and Razed: While not actually seen in the story, Cozy Glows' destruction of Canterlot; the very city that she was born in is symbolic of how far over the edge Celestia had pushed her daughter towards.

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Cozy Glow: "...But a mother would..."