Cozy Glow

"You know, you ponies got it all wrong. Friendship isn't "magic". Friendship is power! With Twilight and her lackeys out of my way, all of Equestria will bow to me: The future… Empress of Friendship!"

- Cozy Glow revealing her true nature.

"And now for your COMPLETE DESTRUCTION!! Won't that be fun?"

- Cozy Glow showing how evil she truly is.

Cozy Glow is one of the main antagonists of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, appearing as the main antagonist of Season 8 and one of the three main antagonists of Season 9 (alongside Lord Tirek and Queen Chrysalis). She is Twilight's former assistant and top student, former friend of the CMC and Young Six, and Tirek's protégé, as well as his cellmate. Despite her seemingly cute, happy, cheerful and friendly personality and being a good friend to everypony in the School of Friendship and Ponyville, she had a much darker agenda before the season finale. She would later join forces with Tirek and Queen Chrysalis in season 9.

She was voiced by Sunni Westbrook.

Appearance
Cozy is a Pegasus filly with a pink coat, auburn eyes, a cyan mane and tail that are both decorated with a white bow and white freckles on either cheek. She has a brown rook for a cutie mark.

After using the Bewitching Bell to become an alicorn, Cozy Glow gains larger wings and a long horn, along with a white chest-plate.

Personality
When she first appeared, Cozy appears to act rather sweet, cute, innocent, kindhearted and naive. She constantly displays a supposed fear of failing the class and shows immense respect for Princess Twilight and the other members of the Mane Six. After becoming Twilight's friendship assistant, she displayed an amount of confidence and compassion that allowed her to have full influence over most of the other students. However, due subtle hints in her character, it is implied that this entire behavior is actually a front for a mysterious agenda, which is confirmed in the finale of the eighth season.

As predicted, this was all a facade to hide her true nature: a selfish, manipulative, tyrannical and sociopathic brat who would do anything to get what she wants by any means necessary. Unlike the other villains in the series, who all believed friendship to be a weakness or meaningless, Cozy Glow knows full-well about the power of friendship from learning in Twilight's School of Friendship. Unfortunately, she was far too obsessed in the "power" aspect to understand or even care about how real friendship worked. Because of this, she viewed friendship as simply a tool to exploit for her own gain, and believed that the more friends she possessed, the more "powerful" she was. To this end, she was willing to betray anyone, even those who were her closest friends, ask advice from one of the most evil villains in history and even bring ruin to her own country; all just to become headmare of Twilight's school, as she believed it will allow her to gather even more friends, and thus become even more "powerful". Also, she had no real respect Twilight or her friends, never taking their lessons to heart and even scoffing at the values of honesty, loyalty, generosity, etc., believing that she can easily make more friends without having to use any of them. In addition, she showed signs of prejudice against non-ponies, having said hurtful things about the young six's races and even used them as scapegoats for her evil plan. Even after failing to take over Twilight's school, she held on to her ambitions and continued her insane quest to gain power through "friendship", starting with her cohort and new cell-mate: Lord Tirek.

In The Beginning of the End, she constantly attempts to befriend Tirek, but her attempts only annoy him as he knows her true intention of making him her minion. When Grogar summons her and the other villains to his lair to join forces and conquer Equestria, she becomes excited by the idea, though Chrysalis and Tirek are less than thrilled. She attempts to persuade them to work together, but to little avail. She also hides behind Tirek whenever she feels threatened or nervous, showing a deal of trust for the evil centaur.

In Frenemies, Cozy Glow continues her dishonest streak by constantly insisting that Grogar left her in charge when he left the lair, though the other villains easily see through her lies. She also seems to take more pride in her status as a villain as well as her hatred for Twilight and her allies, as she sings a song about how she and the other villains work together to make the heroes suffer, but still sees herself as superior to them. It is also revealed that she becomes easily frustrated when others don't do as she demands of them, such as when Rusty Bucket refused to help her up the mountain, even when they became "friends". After teaming up with Chrysalis and Tirek, Cozy Glow along with the two then decided to eventually betray Grogar.

In The Summer Sun Setback, it is shown that Cozy Glow has no respect for her kind's traditions or holidays, and would even take great delight in disrupting them for her own gain.

In  "The Ending of The End", Cozy participated in turning the pony tribes against each other (as doing so will weaken the magic of friendship, and thus Twilight and her friends), as well as betraying Grogar, who she was astonished to learn was actually Discord the whole time. She still acted as the mediator between Tirek and Chrysalis, but was willing to betray them too after absorbing Discord's magic, but quickly changed her mind when she couldn't control it. When the Legion of Doom began their attack on Equestria, Cozy immediatley went after her former mentor in Canterlot and flaunted her new alicorn powers by defeating the guards and blasting Twilight. When using the Bewitching Bell to absorb Celestia and Luna's magic, she boasted her supposedly superior intelligence. In spite of having a somewhat calm demeanor even when all of Equestria's forces rise against her, Tirek, and Chrysalis, she appeared terrified when being turned into stone as punishment for her actions.

Powers and Abilities
Being a small Pegasus filly, Cozy Glow has no physical attributes other than being able to fly, so she must rely on her wits to accomplish her goals. She has used her charm and cuteness to manipulate the Mane Six, Starlight Glimmer and the CMC and have them unwittingly play into her hooves. She is a skilled liar and faker, having successfully convinced the CMC that she needed help with her exam, when in fact she had failed it on purpose, and faking remorse when she confesses to having done so. With these skills, Cozy effectively turned the entire student body of Twilight's school into her personal army. She is also perceptive enough to know when somepony is trying to deceive her, as she tricked the CMC and locked them in a closet when they attempted to distract her. Cozy Glow also has limited knowledge of magical artifacts thanks to her pen-pal Tirek, having used six of them in conjunction with one another to take all of Equestria's magic and send it another realm.

In The Summer Sun Setback, Cozy Glow was able to pick a lock using a paper clip to break into the Canterlot Archives along with Tirek and Chrysalis, implying that she has experience as a thief.

In The Ending of the End, using the Bewitching Bell to transform herself into an alicorn, thus gaining all the same attributes of one, such as enhanced magic.

Reception
Cozy Glow received a mostly positive reception as fans praise her for her personality, manipulation, her cutesy attitude, and comedic moments. Her voice actress, Sunni Westbrook, was also praised for her performance as Cozy Glow. Her chemistry with Lord Tirek and Queen Chrysalis in Season 9 is also praised. However, some point out that the character lacks a backstory as it was not explained why and how Cozy Glow became evil, though it is entirely plausible she became evil out of her own volition, without any explanation.

Season 8

 * Marks for Effort
 * A Matter of Principles (cameo)
 * The Hearth's Warming Club (cameo)
 * Friendship University
 * Road to Friendship (cameo)
 * A Rockhoof and a Hard Place (cameo)
 * What Lies Beneath
 * School Raze - Part 1
 * School Raze - Part 2

Season 9

 * The Beginning of the End - Part 1
 * The Beginning of the End - Part 2
 * Uprooted (mentioned)
 * She's All Yak (mentioned)
 * Frenemies
 * The Summer Sun Setback
 * The Ending of the End - Part 1
 * The Ending of the End - Part 2
 * The Last Problem (cameo)

Trivia

 * Cozy Glow is the fourth filly in the series to be an antagonist after Diamond Tiara, Silver Spoon (who were originally bullies), and Babs Seed (who thought she wanted to be a bully). Out of those fillies, however, she is far more evil and badly influenced, not to mention being far less redeemable than the three.
 * Though not explained or shown, Cozy Glow gave the Flim Flam Brothers a copy of Twilight's book.
 * Cozy Glow is the first and only major antagonist to appear in the middle of a season rather than at the beginning or end.
 * Cozy Glow is one of the few major villains in the series to be a pony.
 * Cozy Glow is the third antagonist to be a Pegasus, the first being Lightning Dust and the second being Wind Rider. However, Cozy is much more evil, more dangerous and had bigger plans than them. Furthermore, of those three, only she served as the main villain of a two-part episode.
 * Cozy Glow is one of the four major antagonists to be a season's main antagonist, appearing in more than one episode. The others are Starlight Glimmer, Lord Tirek, and Queen Chrysalis. She is also the only antagonist in the series to be the main antagonist of another season.
 * Cozy Glow's character was inspired by the late child actress Shirley Temple, as well as the Batman villain Baby Doll.
 * It was believed by many that Chancellor Neighsay would be the main antagonist of the season due to him being prejudiced against non-pony creatures, disliking Princess Twilight for teaching them about friendship, supporting Flim and Flam's false university and nearly causing an interspecies war on two separate occasions. However, he truly cared about Equestria while Cozy Glow was willing to destroy it for her own selfish gain.
 * It is very unlikely that Cozy's plan to conquer Equestria through "friendship" would've actually worked since her true nature would have eventually betrayed her. She was only truly a threat because she nearly drained Equestria of magic forever.
 * It was never explained if Cozy Glow is an orphan or if she has parents. However, Jim Miller ("Big Jim"), a storyboard artist/supervisor and co-director of the show, answered a tweet regarding Cozy Glow's parents with "Who says she has parents?", indicating that Cozy is indeed orphaned.
 * This may also be a dark indicator that she may have had an intentional role in her parents' demise.
 * There were hints of Cozy Glow's true nature before the season finale:
 * When the Cutie Mark Crusaders offer to help her with her exam in "Marks for Effort", she asks them why they would do so if there is nothing in it for them, an early hint that she does not truly understand the concept of altruism.
 * In the same episode, when the CMC tell her what the Elements of Harmony are, she shows an evil smile for a brief moment. Also, she guesses that one of the Elements of Harmony is "control", which foreshadows her tyrannical nature.
 * Starlight Glimmer, who herself used to be a manipulative villain, admits that she finds Cozy's talent for manipulation and planning impressive.
 * In Friendship University, she ominously appears after Rarity questions how Flim and Flam got a copy of Twilight's book, suggesting she gave it to them.
 * In What Lies Beneath, she says derogatory things about the Young Six's species and claims that friendship is not in their nature, which further implies that she is not as nice as she seems.
 * At the end of the same episode, she looks ominously at the vent that leads to the Tree of Harmony.
 * Her "cute and sweet" personality is played up to an unrealistic extent, which may clue viewers in that it is a front.
 * Cozy Glow's cutie mark seems to represent chess, which presumably refers to her ability to manipulate those around her.
 * Cozy Glow has proven to be one of the most destructive villains in the series, as she not only nearly ruined Equestria; she also nearly ruined the very concept of friendship.
 * She is also one of the more unsettling ones, having demonstrated such evil at a very young age.
 * Out of all the villains in the show, Cozy Glow is youngest due to her age of being just a child, while all of the villains are full mature.
 * Cozy Glow is much like her cohort Lord Tirek as:
 * Both are hungry for power and will do whatever it takes to get it and rule over everyone else.
 * Tirek wanted to steal all magic from Equestria and rule as its god.
 * Cozy wanted to become the headmare of the School of Friendship so that she can have all the power of friendship to herself and rule as the "Empress of Friendship".
 * Both were patient and waited for some time before making their move.
 * Tirek escaped Tartarus in Season 2, but chose to lay low until the end of Season 4.
 * Cozy Glow played as an innocent filly in Twilight's school in Season 8 until the finale.
 * Both stole large amounts of magic from Equestria.
 * Tirek absorbed it from ponies one by one through his mouth to empower himself.
 * Cozy used artifacts to suck up all the magic in order to send it away into another realm.
 * Both wrongfully imprisoned others in Tartarus.
 * Tirek sent Princesses Celestia, Luna and Cadence through a portal.
 * Cozy tricked the Mane Six into going to Tartarus so that they would be trapped there forever.
 * Both earned the trust of a former villain, only to betray them afterward, which leads them to redemption.
 * Tirek convinced Discord to aid him in stealing magic but later took his magic as well.
 * Cozy acted helpful to Starlight until she pushed her into her magic-draining sphere.
 * Both were defeated by six individuals who were empowered by the Tree of Harmony.
 * The Mane Six were given super forms and overpowered Tirek.
 * The Young Six were freed from Cozy's magic sphere so that they can free all the magic she stole.
 * Both were imprisoned in Tartarus for their crimes.
 * Tirek was immediately transported there after being de-powered by the Mane Six.
 * Cozy tried to escape after her plot was foiled, but was seized by the guards and taken there.
 * Cozy Glow is also similar to her other co-conspirator Queen Chrysalis, both being evil creatures who pretend to be nice in order to achieve their goals. They both deceived their own allies for their own gain (the Changelings for Chrysalis and the School of Friendship's students for Cozy Glow), only for said allies to turn against them once their true colors are exposed right before they are defeated.
 * Cozy Glow is also similar to Starlight Glimmer, as they were both major antagonists who were just regular ponies and gained the trust of almost everypony around them, but were then defeated by six individuals. But their differences are Starlight reformed after being coerced by Twilight and Cozy didn't.
 * Cozy Glow is the second student in the series to become obsessed with power and betray her own teacher. The first was Sunset Shimmer, who betrayed Princess Celestia and became obsessed with the Element of Magic crown. However, while Sunset reformed and reconciled with Celestia when she was defeated, Cozy chose to refuse forgiveness and shows no empathy or remorse for her actions.
 * In Season 9, Cozy Glow, along with Tirek and Chrysalis, were thought to be secondary antagonists while Grogar was the main antagonist, although they would take over this position when Grogar was revealed to be Discord.
 * Cozy Glow, alongside Tirek and Chrysalis, are the final antagonists of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.
 * Cozy Glow is currently the only Major Pony villain implied to be irredeemable that is actually a pony.