Marks for Effort
The morning sun hung over the horizon at the School of Friendship. Classes for the day were already underway, teaching students more lessons about friendship and having fun with it while making newer friends. There were classes for Ponyville's school going on as well, teaching young ponies more educational subjects from history, math, literature, and more to shape their young minds. As boring as it was for some colts and fillies, it was highly important for their daily lives as they grow up into adults and pursuing their own careers with their cutie marks' calling.
However, a certain trio of fillies decided to play a little bit of hooky for the day. In the central garden of the School of Friendship, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo snuck into one of the bushes, waiting for the coast to be clear before emerging from their hiding spot. As they sneaked out, they were stacked up in a three-filly tower, wobbling around as they all tried to keep their balance. Apple Bloom was the base, being physically stronger than the other two, Sweetie Belle in the middle, and Scootaloo on top. Apple Bloom stood on her hind legs while Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo sat on the others' heads respectively in their tower formation.
"Whoa! Careful!" Scootaloo instructed, flapping her wings against their lean to try to keep their balance.
She grasped the ledge of the awning above a doorway, giving the Crusaders a chance to recover their balance. "Ah can't wait to see what's goin' on!" Apple Bloom said. "Twilight's school is supposed to be amazin'!"
"And Rarity says there's never been a school like it!" Sweetie Belle said as excitedly as the earth pony beneath her.
"I heard the students get to do tons of awesome stuff!" Scootaloo added.
"Well don't sit there doin' nothin'!" Apple Bloom grunted. "What do ya see?"
Scootaloo glanced in the window, but instead of a classroom, she saw the inside of a janitor's closet. "Uhh, a broom, dustpan, some buckets."
"That sounds like a supply closet," Sweetie Belle noted.
"Oh. Right." The trio shifted themselves carefully over to the next window, which was opened unlike the other, this time looking inside of a classroom. "Ah. There we go."
Scootloo peered onto a lesson in Pinkie's classroom, watching the pink earth pony bouncing around with a huge tray of cupcakes in one hoof. "Who's ready for cupcakes!?" Pinkie asked her class, who immediately cheered for some delicious pastries from the best pony pony in town. Pinkie bounced around, tossing a cupcake to each student. In her class were Gallus, Ocellus, and Yona, along with several other ponies. Gallus licked his beak and was about to scarf down on his cupcake, but Pinkie hopped onto his head, seemingly weightless on his noggin and clamping his beak closed. "Oh, they're not for you, silly! They're for sharing!"
"How are you-?" Gallus watched Pinkie backflip off his head, barely exerting any force against his neck, baffling him as she landed on her hooves in front of him. "...Uhh...How?"
"You weren't supposed to ask, 'How?'; you're supposed to ask, 'What do we do with these cupcakes?'" Pinkie said. Gallus rubbed his head with his free hand, his brain already broken from his logic-breaking teacher's incredibly impossible feat. "First, we say something nice to somepony." Pinkie hopped over to Ocellus with her own cupcake to show her example. "Ocellus, you're a great listener!" she complimented the changeling teen, then tossed her cupcake to Ocellus, which she quickly caught in her free hoof. "Now she gets to keep one cupcake and share one with another creature!"
Taking Pinkie's example to heart, Ocellus turned to Yona. "Yona, you're really strong!"
Ocellus tossed her cupcake to Yona, who caught it in her mouth and chomped it down. The yak got a bit too eager and was going to compliment Pinkie for how delicious her cupcakes were, only to accidentally glomp the pink pony. The tray of remaining cupcakes she had flew out the opened window Scootaloo was spying from, nearly smacking the pegasus filly's face. She ducked, only to cause her and her friends' pony tower to topple over as they yelled and fell over into the bush they hid in.
While recovering, they saw a flock of butterflies floating around near a second floor balcony, where Fluttershy's classroom was as she taught her students their lesson today, with Sandbar and Silverstream among the group for this class period. The Crusaders watched Silverstream as she flew around the flock to greet the new friends Fluttershy brought, some of the butterflies breaking their formation to greet the other students. As the fillies watched in awe, they heard Applejack's voice coming from her own classroom. Inside, she and her students were playing a friendly game of something called buckball, where Smolder was the last of the Young Six that was there during this period. Buckball was a sport originally made up between Applejack and her cousin Braeburn as a little game to settle a little rivalry between the two, and it's slowly becoming a recognized sport thanks to Ponyville's team obliterating Appleoosa's, who happened to be Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and, of all ponies, Snips. It was an unlikely trio that displayed an impeccable amount of teamwork compared to any other team in the new sport.
The Crusaders watched Applejack's class playing with a ball inside her classroom, which wouldn't have been acceptable if it were any other normal school. "This looks so much fun!" Sweetie Belle said.
"Yeah! Miss Cheerilee never lets us play buckball in class," Scootaloo said. "I know. I tried."
"Hey, why don't we go here to this school instead?" Apple Bloom suggested. "It's still a school, right?"
"That's a brilliant idea!" Sweetie Belle squeaked.
"Sure, that sounds like a brilliant idea." The fillies yelped as someone snuck up on them. Turning around, they saw Sora with his trademark grin, his forehooves crossed over his chest as he looked down at his surrogate sisters. "Assuming it was also a good idea to skip your actual day of school just to spy on the classes taking place here."
"Uhh...We got written permission from Miss Cheerilee to take a visit here?" Scootaloo said, nervously assuring the stallion while Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle facehooved at her blatant lie.
"...Nice try, Scoots," Sora said, making the pegasus filly sulk. "I better escort you three back to your actual school before Cheerliee wonders where you three ran off to...again."
"Wait!" Scootaloo exclaimed. "C-Can we change schools and learn here?"
"Yeah, can we, Sora?" Sweetie Belle asked.
Sora quirked a brow as Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, and now Apple Bloom joined in, giving him that sad, big-eyed, begging frown that would tear down even the manliest of men. "Girls, that's not up to me to decide," he said, refusing to give in to "The Triple Guilt Stare". "That'd be up to Twilight and Cheerilee. Besides, this is a school for friendship. And...you three are very close friends, so it'd be kind of pointless for you to learn anything that you already know here." The Crusaders kept up their sad stares, slowly cracking though the wielder's tough shell. He gave up before he let guilt wash over his heart, turning around before he eventually lost his resolve. "Alright. Let's go find Twilight."
"YAY!" The Crusaders cheered.
They skipped happily behind Sora as he led them to Twilight's current whereabouts. They walked through the halls until they reached Twilight's classroom. She was already in the middle of a lecture, and Sora knew how much Twilight disliked anyone interrupting her in the middle of an important lesson, or interrupting her with anything in general. He gave a small knock on the door before opening it, pausing the alicorn's lesson as she and her current students looked at him.
"Hey, Twi. Sorry to interrupt, but we've got a few sneaky fillies on the premises." Peeking around the corner of the doorway, Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle peered in the classroom. Twilight's students were watching a slideshow on the board, where Spike sat next to it to change the slides for Twilight's lecture and an image of what the real Chancellor Puddinghead looked like from the Hearth's Warming story. The Crusaders wanted to see and hear the lecture, but Sora pressed his hoof down on all three of their tails and pulled them back into the hallway. "And yes, it's these three troublemakers."
"We ain't troublemakers," Apple Bloom whined.
"Must I list the different things you three tried to do to get your cutie marks, thus ending in disaster?" Sora questioned.
All three fillies wilted, letting out small grumbles from the crazy reminders of their past cutie mark hunts gone awry. "Alright. Spike, you're in charge until I get back," Twilight said to her number one assistant.
Spike silently cheered as he was given his chance to teach some students. Twilight led Sora, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo down to her office. Along they way, they bumped into Lea and Starlight, the two guidance counselors chatting amongst themselves.
"So, what's the deal with you constantly repeating the phrase, 'Got it memorized?'" Starlight asked the spiky red-headed stallion.
"I wanted people back at home to remember me and live on in everyone's memories," Lea said, then pointed to the side of his head. "Get that memorized, Glimmy."
"Sounds more annoying than endearing to remember who you were," Starlight uttered with a blank stare. She spotted Twilight, Sora, and the Crusaders, seeing a perfect opportunity for some guidance counseling to some young students, even if the Crusaders didn't go to the school. "Hey, guys! Looks like there's a situation that can only be solved by a guidance counselor."
"We've got it covered, Starlight," Sora assured the unicorn mare.
Starlight wilted and let out a sigh. "Great." She watched the five ponies continue on their way to Twilight's office dejectedly. "Guess I'll go dust my office for the seventieth time."
"Hey, we get a lot of free days," Lea said, trying to shed some light to their jobs.
"Have you had a problem involving any of the students and seeking some type of guidance with their issues?" Starlight questioned.
"Uhhh...Gallus came by one day." Starlight winced, staring at the stallion with wide-eyed disbelief.
"You actually had somepony ask for YOUR guidance!?" Starlight exclaimed. "When!?"
"A couple days ago," Lea said. "It wasn't much of a friendship issue. More like advice." He then gave Starlight a sly grin and wriggled his eyebrows, giving the mare a hint for the sort of advice he gave the teenage griffon. "For a certain lady friend, no doubt."
"Oh. Silverstream," Starlight mumbled with a roll of her eyes. "Not really hiding that crush of his that well if he's willing to go to you for romantic advice."
"Hey, I got a way with the ladies," Lea said. "They dig the cool, confident, and aloof kind."
"Any mare you ran into that swooned at the sight of you?" Starlight questioned.
Lea was about to retort, but his mouth hung open as he drew a blank. "...Uhhhhhhhh..." Starlight smirked, waiting ever so much for a response, calling his bluff. "...There was...a mare I rescued when Nobodies attacked the train on my first visit to this world. She even had a kid who admired me."
"Uh huh, sure there was," Starlight nodded, barely giving the stallion the benefit of the doubt as she walked back to her office.
"No, I swear! Her name was Sweet Delight!" Lea assured as he chased after her. "And her kid's name was Axle Beam! Got them memorized permanently in my head!"
"This ain't fair," Apple Bloom whined. Along with the farming filly, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle were just as upset as they were escorted by Sora to return back to their boring school to avoid getting late marks on their permanent record, as Twilight said. She told them exactly what Sora warned them about: the School of Friendship was to help teach others about making friends, and the trio were already close friends and had their own experiences in friendship while hunting for their cutie marks and helping other colts and fillies find theirs. "There were colts and fillies in some of them classes, too."
"Yes, but they're learning how to make friends for their grade," Sora stated. "You three don't need it because, well, you three are the best of friends. What studying do you even need when you're basically prodigies?" Hearing no whining coming from any of them, Sora could tell his three little sisters were planning something. "Don't even think about whatever it is any of you are thinking about. I'm going to tell everyone not to believe a word you say to try to get back into the school."
"Darn it. He knows us too well," Scootaloo grumbled.
"Yeah, yeah. Tell it to the judge," Sora said. He escorted the Crusaders back to the Ponyville schoolhouse, making sure they go into Cheerilee's classroom so they don't plan to sneak out again. "Put their tardy slips on me, Miss Cheerilee. These three were up to some shenanigans again."
"Why am I not surprised?" Cheerliee said. "I was wondering where they ran off to."
"Hi, Sora!" the other students greeted and excitedly waved to him, which he waved back.
"Hey, guys. Remember: don't be a fool, stay in school." He exited the classroom, then poked his head back in, eyeing Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo. "Especially you three," he said with a serious tone, then gave them a wide grin. "Have fun learning!"
As soon as he left, the Crusaders grumbled bitterly, sitting at their assigned desks with disappointed pouts. "Where did you three even go?" Diamond Tiara asked curiously.
"We wanted to get into the School of Friendship, but Twilight won't allow us to," Apple Bloom whined.
Diamond Tiara glanced at Silver Spoon, baffled by their crazy reason as she shrugged her shoulders. "...Uhh, you know that school teaches friendship, right?" Diamond Tiara stated.
"And you two are, like, closer than close friends," Silver Spoon added.
"Quiet down, children," Cheerilee announced. "Let's get back to our lesson now that our hooky-playing fillies are back."
The Crusaders groaned in dismay, Scootaloo smacking her face onto her desk while Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle leaned buried their faces in their hooves. While they endured another boring school lesson, no one noticed someone spying on them through the window from the bushes outside the schoolhouse.
Once the school bell rang and dismissed classes for the day, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo trudged their way back to the clubhouse. They were desperate to try to get into the School of Friendship one way or another, whether or not Sora knew what they were up to. The trio came up with a list of different ways to show they needed friendship lessons, from slacking on chores, bothering their siblings to take them, sneaking in with a disguise, even planning a mock fight between the three of them to where their friendship might be broken.
"Are we really going to try all this?" Sweetie Belle asked. "Sora's always going to be there to stop us. Or kick us out."
"He may kick us out, but he can't keep us down!" Scootaloo exclaimed.
"Right! Ah want to go to school that's fun! With no borin' math or readin'!" Apple Bloom protested.
The door to the clubhouse slammed open, startling the Crusaders as Sora stepped in with a goofy, heroic pose. "Did someone say school was boring!?" he pronounced mightily.
"It's like he knows exactly what we're planning," Scootaloo hissed to Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle, though she failed to lower her voice enough to keep Sora from hearing.
"Well, subtlety is not really your strong suits, girls," Sora said. "That, and I've been keeping an eye on you once school was out for you." Passing by the trio, ruffling their manes, much to their annoyance, he took their little list and read it over curiously. "Uh huh. Yeah. That's what I figured. You were going to do this stuff on purpose just to go to a school that doesn't give you a real education."
"You guys teach other ponies!" Apple Bloom complained.
"And there's places for them to sleep while they study!" Scootaloo added.
"That's because not all the creatures who come to learn about friendship aren't all ponies," Sora corrected. He rolled up the Crusader's list of friendship problems to create, then gave each of them a light bop on the head with it. "The Young Six are students there, and they're also learning how to wield the Keyblade. Those from other countries will need dorms to sleep at instead of constantly traveling back and forth from here to their homes to learn and spread the lessons of friendship to their countries."
"But learning at the schoolhouse is so boring!" Sweetie Belle whined. "There's so many lessons we're forced to learn, and some of it goes over our heads!"
"It definitely goes over my head," Scootaloo agreed. "Some of those math problems are complicated."
"That doesn't matter. You three are required to learn what's important for your future, which includes boring math and reading," Sora said.
"Didn't ya start your journey savin' worlds only a few years ago?" Apple Bloom asked. "That would have made ya...fourteen years old?"
"Yeah. Didn't you go to school before you became a Keyblade wielder?" Scootaloo questioned.
Sora blinked, stammering slightly as he scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "...Uhh, technically, yes, I did," he said. The fillies smirked at him, outsmarting him and caught him completely off guard. "H-Hey, don't give me those smart-alecy looks! I learned enough, and saving the worlds from darkness is far more important right now!"
"So that means we CAN go to the School of Friendship if we don't want to learn anything else at school!" Scootaloo said, with Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle voicing their agreements with her.
Sora gave them another whack on the head with their rolled up list, putting a little more oomph in his smacks to knock their know-it-all attitudes down several pegs. "Don't put words in my mouth! You three are going to school, and you're going to get a good education out of it!" he scolded with his forelegs crossed. He turned his head with a snooty scoff, but his ears perked up when he heard crying. "Oh, come on, Sweetie Belle. I didn't hit you that hard."
"Umm, that's not me," the unicorn filly said.
Confused, Sora looked at the Crusaders, but neither of them were the ones sobbing, or even shedding tears. "Is that coming from outside?" Scootaloo asked.
The four ponies looked out the window, where they found the source of the crying not too far away from the clubhouse. Sitting beneath one of the apple trees was a pink pegasus filly, seeming a bit smaller than Scootaloo, but she had a brown rook chess piece for her cutie mark. Her two-toned, streaked arctic blue mane and tail were done up in rolled curls, white ribbons tied partway down the lengths of both her mane and tail to add to how adorable she looked, but with how upset she seemed, it broke Sora's heart.
"Aww, what happened to her?" Sora asked in pity.
"Ah don't know," Apple Bloom said. "She doesn't go to school."
"Maybe she's new and got lost?" Sweetie Belle wondered.
"Wait, if Sora was spying on us, shouldn't he have seen her in the orchard?" Scootaloo questioned.
She was about to ask the stallion, but he was already out the door, making his way to check on her. The Crusaders rushed out of their clubhouse and caught up with Sora. They were just as curious as Sora to know why this new filly was crying.
"Hey, are you ok?" Sora asked sweetly as he approached the sobbing filly.
She looked up at him, wiping away her tears with a sniffle. "Oh. Thank you for asking me, mister, but no," she said.
"What's the matter?" Apple Bloom asked.
"Well...I want to get into the School of Friendship, but...I don't know if I can pass any of their classes," the filly said with a sniffle.
"Oh, so she's allowed to enroll, but we're not?" Scootaloo grumbled, earning a light nudge on the side by Sora's wing.
"Scootaloo, shush," he chided the orange pegasus filly. Giving the other two Crusaders a warning glance, he calmly approached the upset filly, sat beside her, and gently rubbed her back to console her. "Did you just move here recently and heard about the school?"
"Mhmm. Just the other day," the filly said with a sad nod. "But everything's so new and different here. I don't even know anypony."
"Well, you'll know four new ponies," Sora said. "I'm Sora. And that's Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo, otherwise known as the Cutie Mark Crusaders."
As the filly looked at the three fillies, who waved at her with friendly faces, she looked up at Sora with wide eyes. "Sora? You mean...the hero of Equestria, Sora?" she asked in awe.
Sora giggled, giving the new filly a toothy grin. "Yup. That's me. You a big fan?"
"Oh, I've heard so much about you!" The filly was excited to meet such a famous pony, but her grin faltered, feeling embarrassed as she forgot her manners. "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't introduce myself. My name's Cozy Glow."
"Nice to meet you, Cozy Glow." Sora surprised Cozy Glow by greeting her officially with a hug. She never thought she'd get a hug, let alone a hoofshake from such a heroic celebrity, but she hugged the stallion back gleefully. "If you want, I can help convince the headmare, Princess Twilight Sparkle, to enroll you as a new student."
"Really!? Oh, I would appreciate that ever so much!" Cozy excitedly said. Sadly, that excitement quickly faded as she pulled away from Sora's hooves, feeling incredibly worried. "But, what if I flunk out? I don't want to let somepony like you down if you went through all the trouble to help me."
Sora's heart was being squeezed in a vice of guilty cuteness, far more than what he's been through with Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, or Scootaloo combined. Cozy Glow was so innocent and sweet, and it hurt him to see her so upset over something she's afraid she won't succeed at if she never tried. Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo looked at each other, finding an opportunity to help a pony with a problem. And since they weren't able to take part in the classes at the School of Friendship, it felt right to help someone unsure of what they're trying to learn about friendship since they know a lot about the subject already.
"We can help with that!" Sweetie Belle said.
"We know all about friendship!" Scootaloo added.
"And studyin' with you would be almost as good as bein' in class!" Apple Bloom added as well.
Sora gave the trio of troublemakers blank stares, mostly with Apple Bloom's reason for assisting with tutoring Cozy Glow. "Like I said, girls: not subtle," Sora said.
"Wait, do you three not go to the School of Friendship?" Cozy Glow asked curiously. "And...why help me? What do you want?"
"Nothing. That's how friendship works," Sweetie Belle explained. "When you give from your heart, you don't expect anything back."
"Really?" Cozy asked. "Well, golly, if you really mean it...I could really use the help."
The Crusaders cheered and high hooved each other, getting the opportunity to tutor a new student at the School of Friendship, taking that as a small victory to being part of it if anything else. Sora rolled his eyes at their excitement, but they would at the very least be distracted enough from attempting any of their little schemes to try to get in by faking friendship problems.
"Come on, Cozy Glow. Let's get you set up for your friendship classes." Sora stood up, guiding the excited young filly to the School of Friendship, leaving the Crusaders to hopefully stay put and not sneak after them. As they left the orchard, Sora glanced over his shoulder just in case, thankfully finding no sign of the three fillies. He looked back at Cozy Glow, who was walking beside him with a nervous gait. "So, Cozy Glow, where did you live before you came to Ponyville?"
"Oh. Golly, I don't know," she said. "My family moves a lot. I never get used to a new place for long."
"Huh. Do your parents work for the royal guard?" Sora asked.
"Kind of," Cozy answered. "They're always super busy, though. We're just getting all our things moved into our new house."
"I see. Well, you'll fit in really well here," Sora assured Cozy Glow. "Ponyville's the friendliest town in all of Equestria. You'll be learning and acing friendship stuff in no time flat."
"Will you be teaching?" Cozy asked, looking up at him with a wide-eyed, hopeful gaze.
Again, Sora's heart melted at that face. She must be a couple years younger than the Crusaders, but no matter what age these young ponies were, it was always those big eyes and the innocent gazes that metaphorically killed him.
"Ah, well...I'm considered a substitute if the other teachers there aren't able to teach," Sora admitted, hating to disappoint the filly. "But I also have other students to teach along with my friends in a different sort of school."
"Then, if I need a tutor, can I come to you?" Cozy asked.
"Of course! But I won't give you all the answers right away."
Cozy Glow's mood seemed to chipper up a little, and she had a little skip in her step. She must have really idolized him with how much she wanted his help with her future studies. Then again, any foals who've heard of his accomplishments in Equestria would want an autograph or watch him perform all sorts of tricks or fight with his Keyblade. It didn't help that, out of all the young fillies he's met, Cozy Glow was adorable with those curls and white freckles dotting her cheeks with that sweet tone in her voice. It was hard to simply say no to a filly like this, almost like with Apple Bloom or Sweetie Belle, but those two and Scootaloo were getting older and more mature. Though, maturity is still a bit of a far reach for those three with their crazy ideas.
They reached the School of Friendship, Cozy marveling at the awe-inspiring building as they crossed the stone walkway across the lake. Sora let the filly look around the school as students lingered around talking with their classmates or heading back home or to their dorms since school was out for the day. Cozy's nerves came back as she stuck very close to Sora, seeing so many ponies around, even catching a glimpse of some of the Young Six through the halls. He draped a wing over her back, gently patting her to reassure her that she was fine, which helped her calm down a little.
After giving Cozy a little tour of some of the halls, they finally arrived at Twilight's office, giving the door a couple knocks. "Come in!" Twilight responded, allowing the pegasi entry. Sora opened the door and let Cozy Glow in first, the filly timidly stepped inside as she approached the desk. Twilight looked up from her papers to greet Sora with a nod. "Hi, Sora. The Crusaders cause anymore trouble?"
"Thankfully, no. And I made sure they didn't the rest of the day," Sora said.
"Good. Unfortunately, while Spike was temporarily taking over my class, he did something weird and had the students treat him like a commander while chanting, 'O dragon, my dragon.'" Sora snorted and burst out laughing as he imagined Twilight's class standing on their desks while saluting to the baby dragon. "That's the last time I trust him to teach anything in my classroom."
"Oh man, I can't believe I missed that!" Sora said. "I am definitely siccing Stitch on those three for making miss what Spike was planning."
"Who's Stitch?" Cozy Glow asked.
Startled, Twilight looked over her desk, barely even noticing the pink pegasus filly when she was practically hiding from her line of sight. "Oh. Hello there. Who are you?"
"Umm...I-I'm..." Cozy Glow stammered, looking down at her hooves nervously.
Sora stepped in to help introduce herself. "This is Cozy Glow. She's new around here, and she's also wanting to enroll here at the School of Friendship to learn about friendship and make new friends."
"Another new student? Well, the more the merrier!" Twilight cheered. "And introducing young ponies to the wonderful experiences friendship can give will help grow their friendship circles!"
"Like maybe you should have when you were a filly?" Sora asked. Twilight glowered at the stallion for his comment, resisting the urge to throw one of her books at him in retaliation while there was a young filly in their presence. Cozy Glow looked confused as she saw the irritated look on the alicorn's face. Noticing the odd look she was giving them, Sora patted Cozy's mane. "Don't worry. I was just teasing her. Friends pick on each other for fun sometimes."
"Just as long as they don't push their buttons too much," Twilight added with a forced grin toward Sora, where he stuck his tongue out at her.
"Golly gee, is that a real lesson?" Cozy asked. "I'm so confused. I thought friendship were all about being nice to each other."
"Well, friendship is a strong bond, but it's not always perfect," Twilight assured the baffled filly. Her magic filtered through the pages on her desk, pulling out an enrollment sheet and helped fill in Cozy Glow's information. "Sora and I are friends, but I really didn't get along with him all that well until I got to know him just a little bit more."
"In other words, she hated my personality and immaturity when she didn't want to make friends in the first place," Sora stated, making Cozy Glow giggle when he puffed his cheeks and squished them to blow out a raspberry, emphasizing his "immaturity" to an unamused Twilight Sparkle. "And, after saving her life, she had a crush on me, so THAT was a little awkward for our friendship for a while."
Twilight nearly lost control of her magic and ruining the enrollment form with her quill, blushing madly in embarrassment. "C-Can you please stop bringing that up!? I was so clueless about romance back then and felt like a dumb teenage filly falling for a stallion because he looks handsome in another light!"
"Aha! So you still have the hots for me after all!" Sora continued to tease, making Twilight's face turn completely red as she sputtered and stammered, growing more embarrassed and frustrated.
Counting down from ten in her head and focusing on her breathing exercises Cadence taught her, she finished signing the form, then turned it over to Cozy Glow and handed her the quill. "Here you go, Cozy Glow. Just sign your name, and we can get you to your assigned classes tomorrow morning."
Excited, Cozy Glow grabbed the pen and scribbled her name. "Oh, thank you so much for this opportunity, Princess Twilight Sparkle," she gratefully said. While Twilight stashed Cozy Glow's enrollment sheet away, the filly turned to Sora with a grateful smile and hugged the stallion's foreleg. "And thank you for helping me sign up, Mr. Sora."
"Aww, you're welcome," Sora said, hugging the filly back, to her delight. "But you can just call me Sora. Calling me mister makes me sound too old."
"Ok, Sora." Cozy Glow gave his leg one last squeeze, then fluttered out of Twilight's office, brimming with a lot more confidence.
Sora laughed in amusement as he turned back to Twilight. "She's so precious."
"Mhmm," Twilight hummed. Keeping a straight face, her magic flared as her aura wrapped around several of her books on her shelves. Sora's smile waned, letting out a yelp when the books all flung out at him at blinding speeds. He reacted too slowly, struck by the many hardcovers until he was buried under a sizable pile. Twilight watched Sora's outstretched hoof in the pile twitch, a small triumphant smile on her muzzle as she reorganized her books and revealing a dazed stallion on the floor. "So, what have we learned?"
"...Not...to bring up...crush...and tease," Sora groaned.
"Good." Lifting a hoof, Twilight tapped her communicator in her ear. "Kairi, please pick up your fiance in my office. He got beat up by fallen bookcase in my office. No idea how that happened."
The next day, Cozy Glow arrived at the School of Friendship for her first day of classes. As excited as she was, she was also incredibly nervous, meeting so many new ponies and her teachers being the Elements of Harmony. She got her textbooks for the different lessons she would be learning this semester, though a lot of the material she was to learn was pretty tough for her. She did find the classes fun with each lesson taught in different ways, but the homework would be a nightmare. Luckily, she met a couple fillies who were experts in friendship that can help her pass these classes.
After school, Cozy Glow met up with Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo at their clubhouse. They helped teach her the basics about friendship, like helping others and doing something nice for them without asking for anything in return. They gave her a hooves-on course with some ponies needing a little help with their daily lives, maybe even make a start in becoming their friends.
First was with Bon Bon at the market. While she was shopping, she bought a cactus, but as she carried it in a bag, the sharp barbs on the desert plant kept pricking her face as it swung from the bag with each step she took. Scootaloo gave her an important lesson to listen to whatever problems a friend has that they need help with, much like they're doing for her. Seeing Bon Bon continuously getting pricked, Cozy Glow had an idea with Scootaloo's helmet. Taking it, she set it on the cactus, making it much simpler for the earth pony to safely carry the self-defensive plant back home. As good of an idea as it was, Scootaloo also reminded her that she didn't ask to borrow her helmet, but they got it back once Bon Bon was done carrying her new plant.
Next was giving a thoughtful gift for somepony who worked very hard, and that pony was Mrs. Cake. With Sweetie Belle, she helped sort hundreds of different colored sprinkles and placed them in colored shakers. It would help her with picked specifically colored sprinkles she wanted to add to her cakes instead of always using the rainbow sprinkles on every single frosting-topped pastry for their desserts. It was painstakingly tedious, but it would be worth it for the baker. However, when she received her gift, she used all the shakers on a cooled and frosted cake, sprinkling it with all the colored sprinkles to make them rainbow regardless. Cozy Glow questioned why she went through all that when she would use all of them anyway, but the good news was she liked the gift.
The last pony to help make their day was Big Mac. Sora was helping the apples on the farm that day doing his own section, but when he spotted Cozy Glow and Apple Bloom in the section of trees Big Mac would be doing after finishing his other chores, he wondered what sort of shenanigans the Crusaders were going to drag the pink pegasus filly on.
"What are you making her do, Apple Bloom?" Sora uttered curiously. Leaving his section of trees, he snuck in the bushes and peeked through the foliage. He watched the two fillies, who were hard at work picking the apples from Big Mac's assigned trees. Cozy Glow flew up and picked them by hoof while Apple Bloom bucked them off their branches. "They're doing Big Mac's chores for him? What for?"
Sora continued spying on the duo as they continued picking apples and putting them in the several buckets they brought. Within several minutes, they finished Big Mac's section, and right on time as the red earth pony came around with his own bucket. Big Mac kicked a few trees, waiting for the apples to fall, but didn't hear the telltale thuds of several ripe, juicy apples hitting the ground. Confused, he looked up at the bare branches, scratching his head in confusion.
"What in tarnation?" he mumbled. Sora walked out from his hiding spot, surprised by the quick work Cozy Glow and Apple Bloom did. While examining the trees, Big Mac noticed the Keyblade wielder looking slightly bewildered. "Uhh...Sora? Did ya...?"
"It wasn't me," he said, then pointed to the real culprits. Cozy Glow and Apple Bloom waved to Big Mac, showing them all the apples from his trees that they picked for him. He seemed elated that his chore of the day was done, then ran off without even thanking his baby sister or her new friend. Cozy Glow seemed disappointed at first, but when Apple Bloom pointed to where he ran off to, she and Sora understood exactly what made him run off so giddily. On the other side of the white picket fence, waiting for Big Mac was his sweetheart, Sugar Belle. "Oh, right. I forgot Sugar Belle comes by a couple days a week apprenticing under Mrs. Cake. And today's one of those days. How thoughtful of them."
They watched Big Mac and Sugar Belle walk off to enjoy some quality time until they disappeared down the dirt road. Sora made his way back to his trees to continue his chores, but a small pink blur flew past him and ascended into the trees.
"Hi, Sora!" Cozy Glow greeted, plucking down some apples and dropping them down in the pegasus stallion's baskets.
"Hey, what are you doing?" he asked curiously.
"Apple Bloom told me you work with her family in the orchard, and I thought you could use a bit of help with your trees, too," she said.
Sora glanced at Apple Bloom, who gave him a smug grin, proud to have taught Cozy Glow really well. Ignoring the apple farming filly, unsure if she or the other Crusaders helping the new friendship student would earn them bonus points to allow them to take classes at Twilight's school, he flew up and gently nabbed Cozy Glow, floating them back down to the ground.
"I appreciate the help, but I can handle a few trees on my own. Watch this." After placing the pegasus filly down, Sora crouched down, and in a flash, zipped off to each tree, his blurred form bouncing off each trunk with a hard thunk. Cozy Glow watched in awe, unable to keep up with his speed until he eventually came to a stop right back in front of her in a confident pose. Seconds later, all the apples in the trees he kicked fell out of their branches simultaneously, most of them landing in the buckets he placed while the rest landed on the ground nearby. "How do you like them apples?"
"Wow! You were so fast!" Cozy Glow gushed. "I could barely see where you were going!"
"Impressive, huh? But you haven't seen everything I can do yet," Sora said.
He went to gather the rest of the apples, hearing Cozy Glow's wings flapping as she helped him place the fallen apples into the buckets. "I can help you get your chores done faster, too, Sora," she said.
"Why, thank you," Sora said. "Seems like Apple Bloom's teaching you some good lessons already."
"Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo did, too. Although, they didn't go as perfectly as I thought they would," Cozy said.
"I saw what you did for Big Macintosh. And, even though it was a bit rude of him to not thank you, I'm sure he appreciates the help," Sora assured the filly. "He works his tail off, and he could use some alone time with his girlfriend after working all day."
"Friends help each other out, and don't ask for anything in return, right?" Cozy asked.
"Right," Sora agreed. "But...if you help me with these apples, I'll treat you to some ice cream."
Stunned, Cozy Glow looked at Sora. "Oh? Ice cream?" she asked. She looked to Apple Bloom, hoping she can give her some advice if she should accept this gift or not. All Apple Bloom did was hastily nod her head, as if any foal would be crazy not to accept free ice cream for helping another pony with their chores. "Golly. Uhh, ok. I'd love some ice cream."
"Then let's get the rest of these apples and get a frozen treat as soon as possible!" Motivated to get a reward for being so helpful today, Cozy Glow flittered across the ground, grabbing as many apples as she can in her hooves to put in the nearby buckets.
In no time, they picked up the last few remaining apples, and to further show off to his admirer, Sora carried all the filled buckets and balanced them all on his back, including Big Mac's. Even though Sora balanced all the buckets with ease, Cozy Glow helped make sure none of them wobbled or he lost any stray apples that might have slipped out. Apple Bloom followed, but even though she was glad to see Cozy Glow was learning pretty fast, she couldn't help feeling a little bit jealous with all the attention Sora was giving to the new filly. She shook the thought aside, feeling silly for even thinking that. Sora cares about all the foals in Ponyville, even new residents who moved here, but she knows he's got a special place in his heart for her and her fellow Crusaders.
After putting the apples away in the cellar, Sora and Cozy Glow made their way to town while Apple Bloom reported her successful tutoring lesson to her friends back at the clubhouse. When they reached the malt shop, Cozy Glow took her time to choose what she wanted, not wanting to feel too greedy and ask for too much ice cream for her good deeds. When they got their treats, they sat outside and enjoyed their ice cream, both of them eating a soft serve ice cream cone. Sora had two separate scoops of vanilla and chocolate, and Cozy Glow had a scoop of strawberry swirl.
"Mmm. This is delicious!" Cozy Glow said, savoring her treat with small licks.
"Yup. Ice cream always taste the sweetest after a good hard day's work," Sora said. "How was your first day at the School of Friendship?"
"Oh, I was a little scared at first," Cozy admitted sheepishly. "There were so many new ponies in my classes, but the lessons the professors had were kind of fun. I hope what the Crusaders taught me will help me with my homework."
"I think you'll get an A on your assignments if you've got the Crusaders helping you out," Sora said. "Just don't get too dragged into whatever little schemes they come up with. They have good hearts, but they can be little troublemakers through their good intentions."
"They don't seem so bad. What sorts of things could they have done to get them in a lot of trouble?" the filly asked curiously. Sora gave Cozy a small list of the random shenanigans those three little imps have gotten involved in. Despite Cozy's surprise, she had no idea how bad the worst of those moments had mostly been involved with them finding their cutie marks. "...Good golly gosh."
"Exactly. And you're too nice to get yourself in as much trouble as them," Sora said as he ruffled Cozy's mane playfully. "So if they sprout an idea that's not good or safe, try not to get involved, ok?" Cozy nodded, promising him and heeding his advice. The two continued enjoying their ice cream until they were finished, cone and all. As it was getting late, Sora got up from their table. "Want me to escort you back home, Cozy?"
"No, I think I can make it home on my own," Cozy said. "I really need to finish my homework before it gets dark." She trotted up to Sora and hugged his foreleg tightly before flying away with a wave. "Thank you for the ice cream!"
"You're welcome, Cozy!" Sora called out. "And be careful getting home!" He watched Cozy Glow, making sure she truly was ok getting home by herself after only being in Ponyville for a couple days. When she was out of sight, he made his way back to the castle. Sora was glad to know the new filly was getting along well with the Crusaders and adjusting to her new school. He checked into the throne room, where he spotted Manami sitting in one of the Mane Six's thrones. She was looking at the map of Ponyville, seemingly bored as she blankly stared at the magical hologram. "Hey, mom. What're you...doing?"
"Staring at the town, watching the bright white lights moving around to see where they're going," Manami said. "Better than watching cable T.V. with hundreds of boring channels."
"You were watching us going around the town?" Sora questioned.
"Well, I haven't got much to do, or places to explore," she said. "I've already gone to Sugarcube Corner to play with the twins, went to Rarity's boutique to see some of her fashion line, and I got to look at the school and watch some of the classes from the windows." Sora grimaced as his mother basically told him she was bored while staying within Ponyville. Manami let out a heavy sigh, leaning back and comically sliding down in a slumped position. "What a fun vacation this turned out to be."
"Uhh...yeah," Sora mumbled.
"Then again, I did ruin it for myself anyways. At least I got to spend some time at Mt. Aris for a beach day and play with the little hippogriff and seapony kids." After a minute of silent loathing, Manami sat herself back up and looked at her son. "How was your day?"
Sora sighed with an awkward frown at his mother's random tone shift. "I did my chores. But I got a little help from a new filly who just moved into town."
"Oh? Another member of your fanclub?" the mare teased. "They absolutely adore you."
"Yeah, I know," Sora said with a laugh. "I even helped her get into the School of Friendship. Her name's Cozy Glow, and I bet you'd eat her up as much as I want to."
Manami chuckled as he vaguely described Cozy Glow's adorability compared to the other foals she's seen in this world. "Wow. Even more so than the Crusaders, who you see as your sisters?" she asked.
"W-Well, she's just so...innocent," he said sheepishly. "Cozy Glow's so polite and shy. She was really worried about getting into the school and learning about friendship, but with the Crusaders tutoring her and how fast she's learning already, she'll be a friendship prodigy in record time."
"Don't tell Twilight that. She'll lose her princess status in that same time, too," Manami joked.
Sora winced and chuckled nervously. "I already got on her nerves yesterday, so I'm definitely not going to press my luck with that." Manami sighed and shook her head. She knew he and Riku would have been a horrible influence on each other with their competitive natures and teasing each other. Picking on an alicorn princess is never a smart idea, and he should have known better, but Manami knew it couldn't be helped with his adult son still acting like a little kid. "So, uhh...if you're getting restless sitting around the castle...do you want to head back home?"
"...I might as well," Manami said after some thought. "My vacation days are almost over anyway. It's too bad I couldn't explore the rest of Equestria like I wanted to."
"I mean, maybe the heat will die down after a while," Sora reassured. "I'll bring you up for the holidays so you don't miss out on anything."
"Oh, I definitely do not want to miss Hearth's Warming or Christmas with the gang," Manami said, then got up from her seat and headed out of the throne room. "I'll pack up my things and meet you outside."
"Ok." Sora watched his mother leave, then glanced back at the Cutie Map. Something caught his eye, forcing him to do a double-take; there was a white light somewhere outside Ponyville, along with some black dots, which were Heartless. Before he could think about who was fighting them, the black dots disappeared, then the white not even a second later. "Huh? What was that?" Sora inspected the area, then looked around the rest of Ponyville, where the lights representing his fellow wielders and their apprentices were either at the school or somewhere in the castle. He scratched his head, wondering if the map is still a tiny bit glitchy from Starlight's tampering. "Hmm...That was...odd..."
He finally left the map alone to head outside and take Manami back home to Destiny Islands. Before leaving the throne room, Sora glanced back at the map again, not seeing anything show up in that one corner of the town. Thinking he might have imagined something or if there were still a few enchanted bugs needing sorted out, he made sure to keep what he saw in mind in case it happened again.
Throughout the next few days, Sora would occasionally check up on Cozy Glow to see how she was doing in her classes. When she turned in her first homework assignment, she was so excited when she got a perfect grade on her paper, showing it off like a reward to the Crusaders and Sora with joy. Even though Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo were still stuck at their boring school, helping Cozy Glow made the end of their school day fun. And with a test coming up at the end of the week, Cozy Glow asked for the Crusaders' help again, which they were more than happy to oblige. Sora knew Cozy was in the right hooves, encouraging the adorably sweet filly to study hard and pass that test.
Sora was a bit too busy this week to check in on Cozy Glow's tutoring, but he knew his surrogate siblings would do their absolute hardest to help her pass. When the day of the test arrived, he finally had some time to himself. Making his way down the halls of the School of Friendship, he spotted Cozy Glow slowly making her way to the entrance, but she seemed downtrodden.
"Hey, Cozy," Sora greeted. He looked worried when she looked up at him with sad eyes, then hung her head in shame and continued on her way. "Cozy? What's the matter?"
"Sora." As he watched Cozy Glow sadly trudge away, Sora turned his head to face Twilight, who was clearly not pleased. Her silent glare ordered him to follow her, feeling like HE was the one in trouble with the teacher, and he himself was a teacher. Gulping nervously, he followed Twilight to her classroom, devoid of other students as it was just the two of them. "I hope you realize that today, in my class, I had an important test today."
"Yes...? But...why are you mad at me?" Sora asked.
"Not directly at you, but you did help Cozy Glow sign up to take part in the school's curriculum," Twilight said. Confused, Sora wondered where the alicorn was going with Cozy Glow's attendance. Levitating a couple sheets of paper, Twilight held out what looked like the test for her class, Cozy Glow's name at the top, and a big red "F" on the front. "She did have a lot of promise for her classes, even getting good marks on her homework in the first week, but flunked a big test that badly???"
"Well, it's her first week, and she's just a filly," Sora reasoned. "The pressure could have gotten to her."
"Read some of the answers," Twilight demanded, placing the papers in his hooves.
He looked at the different questions and the answers Cozy Glow wrote, getting baffled with each one he read. "'What are the six Elements of Harmony?' Five turtlenecks and a cheese grater? 'Who is the Princess of Friendship?' Your mom??? T-This can't be Cozy Glow's test!"
"That's her hoof writing, and those are all of her answers," Twilight said. "Care to explain to smart aleck responses to these important test questions?"
"I didn't teach Cozy Glow any of this!" Sora exclaimed. "I didn't even teach her anything, or even tutor her when I bumped into her! I left Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo to help her out, and they did an amazing job if her first homework assignment got an 'A'!"
Twilight's eyes narrowed, swiping Cozy's test back. "I think I see what's going on. Where are those three fillies?"
Luckily, the princess didn't have to look far. She and Sora both heard Cozy Glow crying from the classroom and hurried off to the front doors of the school to investigate. They found Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo, highly confused while Cozy Glow ran down the stone path and sobbed miserably.
"W-What just happened?" Sweetie Belle asked.
"That's what we'd like to know," Twilight said. The Crusaders looked at the alicorn and pegasus stallion, wilting slightly from the disappointed looks on their faces. "In my office. Now."
The trio gulped nervously, following Sora and Twilight to the princess's office. As much as they wanted to be in the School of Friendship, the headmare's office was not what they expected. Once they were in Twilight's office, she showed them Cozy Glow's test after hearing from Sora that they tutored her with her friendship lessons, and they were just as shocked at the explanation.
"But we taught her the right things!" Scootaloo exclaimed.
"Are you sure about that?" Twilight questioned. "Sora praised you for assisting Cozy Glow, but you set her up to fail out of spite for not being allowed to take classes at this school."
"No! That ain't true!" Apple Bloom said. "Sora, ya saw what we did for Big Mac the other day! We worked with Cozy Glow for days to help her ace this test!"
"Maybe so, but Cozy Glow trusted you three to help teach her the last couple days," Sora said. "I was focused on other things the last few days, so I don't know what you were teaching her this week. If this was some sort of prank because you three were jealous that you couldn't take classes here, it's not funny when you're sabotaging another filly and make them fail."
Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo looked at each other in disbelief. "I-I don't understand," Sweetie Belle uttered. "We didn't make things up for her. We really did help her study."
"Why don't you believe us, Sora?" Scootaloo asked.
"We all wanted to help her," Apple Bloom added.
Deep down, Sora could see on the Crusaders' hurt faces that they were being honest with them, but Cozy Glow couldn't have written those answers on her test on purpose like that. "...I...I don't...know..."
"Neither do I," Twilight said. "I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you girls to stay away from my school. Along with the other students."
All three fillies' ears drooped faster than their hearts could sink. Sora even thought that was a bit of a harsh punishment, banishing them from the premises without truly knowing what they taught Cozy Glow. Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo slumped out of the office as Sora and Twilight followed them, the latter making sure they don't come back and cause anymore confusion with her other students.
Around the corner of a hallway near Twilight's office, Cozy Glow overheard everything. She didn't want to get her new friends permanently banned from the school after all they did to help her. She even got Sora disappointed in them, and he highly recommended them when he helped her enroll at the School of Friendship, letting him down just as much. She needed to fix this, but didn't know how.
Walking through the halls, she found the guidance counselors' offices, hoping they might help her. Peeking in one of the rooms, Cozy saw Lea at his desk, though the stallion seemed to be taking a nap as he slouched over the surface, snoring loudly and drooling. Not wanting to disturb him, she went to Starlight's office, who was wide awake, standing on a stool while organizing her bookshelf.
"Yay," she cheered, sounding bored after placing the last book away. "Now I'll alphabetize them in reverse order." She let out a sigh and a bored grunt. "Not much need for guidance counselors at a school for friendship. I bet Lea's probably giving Gallus more mare advice as I talk to myself." Cozy Glow cleared her throat, startling Starlight. She yelped as she lost her balance, flopping off her stool, rolling over to face her unannounced guest. "How much of that did you hear!?...Uh, never mind." Starlight teleported back to her seat at her desk, fixing up her fallen stool, then grinned nervously at the filly. "Welcome! Can I get you a comfort pillow? Security blanket? Empathy cocoa?"
The unicorn counselor levitated a soft pillow, a blanket, even a mug a hot cocoa with a big marshmallow in it for the confused pegasus filly. "Umm, I just need some advice," she said.
"Oh! I have plenty of those!" Starlight said. "Anecdotes, insight, midnight confessions-" She quickly stopped herself, too excited to finally have a student to give guidance to, making herself look too desperate to Cozy Glow. "I'm babbling. Shutting up and listening now."
"I think I got my friends in trouble," Cozy Glow said. "They helped me study for my friendship test, and I failed it...on purpose."
"You failed on purpose? Why would you do that?" Starlight questioned, shocked to hear someone as innocent as Cozy Glow failing an important test despite having studied and knew the real answers. Quickly realizing she dropped her professionalism, she grinned sheepishly, grabbing her own mug of cocoa on her desk. "Sorry. Listening."
"Well, the Cutie Mark Crusaders wanted to come to this school really badly," Cozy continued. "I thought if I showed Headmare Twilight they're bad at friendship, she'd let them come here with me."
"That is devious!...I-I mean, I see." Starlight's elated surprise from Cozy's idea for the Crusaders to enroll into the School of Friendship quickly turned into a serious, straight-faced expression, even as she took another sip of her beverage.
"But I think I also let Sora down." Hearing the filly mention Sora, Starlight looked at Cozy curiously, wondering why he was involved. "He helped me sign up to learn about friendship, but he's mad at the Crusaders along with Headmare Twilight for what I did. He said I would learn everything about friendship really well, and failing and getting the girls in trouble makes me feel awful. I don't think I deserve the praise he gave me the other day."
"Well, he does have a soft spot for those three, and he seems to be growing one on you," Starlight said.
"He won't after I tell him what I did." Cozy sighed and looked down at her hooves in shame. "I guess I still have a lot to learn about friendship."
"Actually, I think you're doing alright for the most part," Starlight reassured Cozy Glow. "Sure, that was a really, really bad way to help your friends, but what matters is you wanted to, and you felt guilty for letting them and Sora down. Sora's somepony who can forgive very easily if you had good intentions for what you've done. I thought he was a gullible oaf who wasn't all that bright with his way of forgiveness toward others, but he knows much more about friendship than even Twilight does. As for the Crusaders, the reason they don't go to this school is because they'd make better teachers than students."
Cozy Glow's wings fluttered, hovering excitedly as she heard Starlight's thoughts on Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo's potential positions at the School of Friendship. "So you DO have a place for them here after all?"
Starlight hummed curiously. "...Maybe. Let's right a few wrongs first, and we'll see what the headmare and the other professors think." Cozy Glow nodded and followed Starlight. She stopped at Lea's office, staring blankly at the napping stallion. Grabbing one of his books off his desk with her magic aura, Starlight hovered it over the red unicorn stallion's head, then sent it crashing down on his face, startling him awake. "Rise and shine, Mr. Lea! We're having a staff meeting in a few minutes!"
"Wait, wha-?" Lea mumbled tiredly. "Meeting who now?"
Starlight made her way to Ponyville's schoolhouse to gather the Cutie Mark Crusaders. They were understandably nervous coming back to the office, where everyone was waiting for them, including the Keyblade wielders. The three fillies panicked, wondering what else they did wrong after leaving not even an hour ago.
"We didn't do anythin' wrong!" Apple Bloom blurted out.
"Yeah! We promise!" Scootaloo agreed. "We were cleaning the classroom with everypony else for Miss Cheerilee!"
"Don't worry, girls," Twilight said. "You're not in any trouble."
"We're...not?" Sweetie Belle asked. "But...earlier-"
"It was my fault." Cozy Glow stepped into the room with an apologetic look, surprising the Crusaders. "I messed up my test on purpose so we could all go to school together. I didn't mean to get you into so much trouble."
"You failed on purpose? For us?" Apple Bloom asked.
"And Sora thought our ideas to try to get in were too silly to work," Scootaloo uttered to her friends. "Kind of a smart idea, even though we were blamed for doing the right thing."
"I'm really sorry," Cozy Glow apologized. "I understand if you don't want to be friends anymore."
Sora approached Cozy Glow, patting the filly's head with a smile. "At least you were honest and apologized," he assured the filly. "I had a feeling something was off, but I didn't notice until Starlight told us that you flunked on purpose for them."
"They may cause some problems here and there, but they wouldn't let a new friend fail an important test if it meant that much to them," Aqua added.
"So, we're not banned anymore?" Sweetie Belle asked. "Even though we still can't learn here?"
"Starlight gave us all a little idea she came up with when Cozy Glow went to talk to her." Twilight pointed to Spike as he walked over to the Crusaders, holding a red pillow with three scrolls.
With his new wings stretched out, Spike lost his stride and stumbled over, tripping and sending the scrolls bouncing toward the Crusaders' hooves. While the baby dragon got back up with an embarrassed grin, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo picked up the scrolls curiously.
"What's this?" Apple Bloom asked.
"Honorary diplomas," Kairi said. "You three are now official graduates of the School of Friendship."
"And you three don't even need to study for it, seeing as you've already earned it with all the lessons you've learned with each other in the past," Ventus added.
The Crusaders looked at each other with beaming smiles on their faces, even as Rarity placed graduation caps on the trio's heads. As excited as they were for being considered graduates to a school they didn't, nor did they ever need to attend, they did wonder what Starlight had in mind for them with Cozy's help.
"If you three are interested in taking part at the School of Friendship, we could use some expert friendship tutors on staff," Starlight suggested. "And I hear you three are the best out there."
"Really!? Official School of Friendship tutors!?" Sweetie Belle squealed in glee.
"We do have a few students who need a little bit of help in some of the classes," Terra mentioned. "Up to helping them out?"
"You bet we are!" the Crusaders cheered.
With a toss of their caps, the Cutie Mark Crusaders celebrated their swift graduation, eager to help even more ponies than they ever thought they could. Cozy Glow was glad to have made up with her new friends/tutors and they didn't get mad at her for trying to help them after all they did for her. She glanced at Sora, who also wasn't upset with her either for getting her test answers wrong on purpose. He was so nice, and Starlight was right with how forgiving the stallion can be, especially when she mentioned how much of a soft spot he had for the Crusaders and herself.
Later that afternoon, the Crusaders continued their celebrating and made plans for helping out the other students at the school. The rest of the staff went back to their daily routines, whether at the school, chores around their homes, or relaxing until the next day. Sora decided to head out to the area where he saw the strange source of light from a Keyblade wielder and Heartless that had appeared mysteriously on the map. He didn't have the chance to examine it with his training and mentoring the Young Six with new skills and spells to teach them, though he doubt he'd find anything remaining from the fight after several days.
The area in question was just far enough away from anyone from Ponyville to see, staring at the wide open fields that was a battleground against the Dark Hide and for Terra's Mark of Mastery Exam. Despite some of the most destructive power that was unleashed in those moments, the land looks as if it had never once been touched by any living creature. The Heartless attacked around the very spot Sora stood on, overlooking the peaceful valley while Ponyville was facing his back. Sora scratched his head curiously, finding no signs of ruined earth, or even hints of magic spells disturbing the grassy field.
"Sora!" His ears perked up, turning around to find Cozy Glow flying toward him. "I was looking all over for you!"
"Hey, Cozy Glow," Sora greeted. "Is there something wrong?"
"No, not really anything bad or friendship related," she said. "I didn't apologize to you yet."
"Apologize? What for?" Sora asked.
"For getting the Crusaders in trouble and purposefully failing the test," she said. "While they were tutoring me for my test, they told me a lot more about you than what I've heard from other ponies about your heroics. They look up to you like a big brother with everything you do for them. And when you were upset with them when they taught me so well, only to fail...I thought you didn't want to trust them anymore. I was going to ruin your relationship with them, all because I tried to be helpful." Cozy Glow began to tear up, her ears drooping as her head hung low, feeling ashamed. "You even helped me get into the school, and I feel like I never deserved your recommendation. You probably don't like me anymore."
Sora's heart broke, hearing Cozy sniffling as she poured out her guilt to him. "Oh, Cozy, that's not true." He picked Cozy Glow up and pulled her to his chest into a hug. "It's ok. I know you didn't really mean for that to happen," he assured the filly. "It was a nice thought, but nothing always goes as well as you plan. Everything's fine now, and all is forgiven."
Cozy nodded against his chest and hugged Sora back, her hooves stretching as far as they could go to hold him. Once she calmed down, Sora lowered Cozy Glow back on the ground, giving her head an affectionate rub with his hoof while she dried the rest of her tears away.
"Thank you, Sora. You're the greatest." Sora chuckled, accepting the praise from the adorable pegasus filly. While grinning ear to ear, he didn't notice Cozy's ears twitch, then glanced behind him. "Ahh! M-Monsters!"
"Huh?" Turning his head, Sora's eyes widened as he saw Heartless zipping toward him. They weren't any Heartless he's had countless run-ins with before; these were the pegasus Heartless he and Twilight faced in the Sombra timeline. Their wings flared out as they dove toward the two ponies, intending to slash at them with their sharp appendages. Quickly grabbing Cozy Glow, Sora leapt far from the crash-landing Heartless, summoning his Keyblade after lowering the filly back down. "Cozy, stay back. I'll handle them."
The twitching pegasi hovered back in the air, but they were joined by their friends. Shadow Ponies rose up from the ground, and through dark portals, a few unicorn Heartless appeared, and flanked a massive, nearly fully armored earth pony Heartless as it stomped into view. Sora saw the curved horns and the armored grieves of each unicorn Heartless had a different color, each one representing a different element of magic. At least there wasn't a huge horde of them like last time, but with Cozy Glow in the open and how fast the pegasi Heartless could go, she wouldn't be able to escape. Needing to give these equine Emblem Heartless names, he gave them the following: Thestrals for the pegasi, Umbrans for the unicorns with their respective element colors before their name, and Darkshires for the earth ponies.
The Thestrals flew toward them again, but Sora intercepted them with Aeroga. Casting the large field of swirling wind in their path, they blindly flew in and got flipped around, leaving them vulnerable as they tried to right themselves back up. Sora ran forward, stepping into the windy spot to leap high into the air, firing Blizzaga spells at the dazed Thestrals. The ice blew up on contact, destroying the Thestrals. Sora dove back down to the rest of the small army, dodging the Umbrans' flung magic spells as he aimed for the Darkshire.
Cozy watched from afar, startled, but in awe as she watched Sora destroy the Heartless without breaking a sweat. He moved so fast and struck with so much power. Sora maneuvered around the volley of random spells and stabbed his Keyblade right through the Darkshire's exposed back, causing it to rear back and try to fling the stallion off. While flailing about, Sora controlled the behemoth of an earth pony Heartless, making its massive hooves stomp on the Pony Shadows trying to clamor around it to reach the wielder and squish most of them. The Umbrans continued firing magic, hitting their Darkshire brother in the face and body by mistake while Sora continued reeling his temporary mount about to take the spells for him until it eventually died in a poof of black smoke, releasing the large heart trapped inside its body.
Sora hit the ground, smacking away the last of the Shadow Ponies, which left only the Umbrans remaining. He ducked, weaved, and rolled around as he approached each one, avoiding fireballs, ice shards, and lightning bolts. He knocked an Umbran with a red horn up in the air with an upward swing, then hacked off its horn. As the Heartless fell, the horn began glowing, radiating an intense heat that was burning hotter, threatening to explode with uncontrolled fire magic. Quickly smacking the horn into the hornless Umbran, sticking it to its abdomen, then grabbed it by the neck and hurled it to the other Umbrans. The horn flashed a bright red before it finally exploded, catching the Umbrans in an unstable fiery blast that eradicated all of them.
Sora relaxed after dealing with the Heartless, making sure to keep note of the Umbrans' horns being useful as elemental time bombs to deal with big groups. "Piece of cake," he uttered. He looked over toward where Cozy Glow was, thankfully unharmed, but she was definitely in awe after seeing him in action. Just as he was about to joke about the ordeal, a Shadow Pony rose up from the ground behind Cozy Glow. Panicking, Sora ran for her before the Heartless got her. "Cozy, look out!"
Cozy Glow flinched, looking behind her as the Heartless jumped into the air, ready to sink its claws in her. Sora expected Cozy Glow to scream, too scared to run away while he took to the air and flew as fast as his wings could carry him. Cozy didn't make a sound, but her body crouched down, and to his shock, she actually sped off, heading TOWARD the Shadow Pony. A flash of light appeared in her mouth as she inched closer to the Heartless, and with a spiraling spin, the Heartless got smacked and flipped rapidly, crashing on its head as it hit the ground before it faded into a puff of dark mist. Sora skid to a halt in shock, staring at where the Heartless crash-landed, baffled by what he just witnessed.
When he glanced back at Cozy Glow, the filly landed and turned around, holding something in her mouth that made him drop his Keyblade in bewilderment. In Cozy Glow's mouth, she held a sword that was about as long as she was, but it was no ordinary sword; it was a Keyblade. The weapon looked like a giant chess piece, the blade a light pink matching Cozy's fur in the shape of a queen piece, three-pronged teeth with the ends shaped like the tops of the rook pieces, and the guard was white and shaped like the crown of the king piece. The chain that hung from the pommel was a white queen piece with a pair of small pegasus wings.
Cozy Glow looked down at her Keyblade, lowering it down in her hooves as she looked back at Sora with a sheepish grin. "Umm...I got it?"
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Alright new chapter and wow, cozy glow wanted to be an apprentice of Sora, and then trick the cmc, and man there are some funny moments and wow, Cozy got a keyblade, now that’s a surprise and shocking discovery, I wonder how she gotten that blade from, because there’s no way it just appeared out of no where. But anyways awesome job, keep up the great work
Okay, just to clarify, Marks for Effort wasn't my favorite episode when I first watched it.
But the second one
OH COME OOOOOONNN!!! IT'S KINGDOM HEARTS 1 ALL OVER AGAIN!!!
What are the chances Cozy Glow was the diminutive cloaked figure from before, and what are the chances Cozy Glow won't be evil in this iteration? Not just in the way she was in FiM canon, but also that she won't be 'Norted. It'd be interesting if Equestria got its own Seven Guardians of Light, though considering the idea of the Seven Guardians of Light was to be the protectors of the fragments of the light of the shattered X-Blade, I'm not sure how likely that is. Or, wait...what if Cozy Glow here is going to be the author's own answer to what Luxu spoke of regarding Ava during the ending of Kingdom Hearts 3? I mean unless the ending to Union X already covered that. Not sure. Anyway, just a thought.
awesome chapter mate keep it up cozy glow have a keyblade aint that a kick in the head aqua and the others will have a field day about this cant wait for the next chapter mate
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Your not wrong though I feel like if Cosy Glow is Ava but reborn, well that would be interesting
I was really hoping this adaptation was going to be different. The show writers could've done a way better job than they actually did.
Why in the multiverse would Twilight even think the Crusaders would fail somepony on purpose is beyond me.
I would have found it more believable if the writers had Twilight gather the others, they discussed the test, and finally called in the Crusaders and Cozy Glow all together to see what was going on.
That aside I am curious what exactly you have planned for Cozy Glow and the role she'll play in your story. Especially after an ending like that.
I have this feeling that Cozy Glow will not be made a villain at first in this, but most likely will end up showing her evil side that we see in the season 8 final cause of Maleficent. Put of example being was she did so to Riku in the past, (spoilers for KH Birth by sleep) Whispered to Terras darkness to get Auroras heart, & did so again to Twilight.
Which now that I think about it, it would put conflict on Sora to try and save Cozy like he did for Riku.
New heartless and a new keyblade wilder, so far your adaptation kinda fixed some of the inconsistency of the show. Keep up the awesome job.
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If you read the ending of the previous chapter, it’s safe to say she’s still going to be a villain.
Is Cozy Glow or Chancellor Neighsay going to be the 13th Seed of Darkness since Terra isn't possessed or is it going to be someone else?
lol Yeah, it's a real mystery.
Pretty short and doesn't have many changes, but holy shit does it bring up many questions!
OH, MAN!
We finally have Cozy Glow in this story.
I'm super excited about what you are going to do with Cozy's character. I believe I mentioned enough about what I think would be amazing out of her already, so I'll keep my theories brief. Seeing Sora being so gitty and lovable around her fills me with so much suspense knowing full well the plot twist that's coming. Seeing the whole cast being friendlier and casual with Cozy Glow as the series goes on, will be amazing and be a great build-up to the reveal. Now, I mentioned in my previous posts how much I don't want Sora to even slightly suspect Cozy of being a threat, and I still stand by that, it would really ruin the character for me. I think it would make more sense if Terra suspected a bit, but not as a threat, more like leading to a dark path that he wants to her evade (He's definitely the least developed of the KH cast). Maybe Terra notice some Cozy's dark tendencies, and mistake them, this might cause Cozy to panic and thus commencing Season 8's finale, believing they've started to suspect
So, Cozy Glow managed to obtain a Keyblade. How the fuck? I have no idea.
Some people seem to think she's the 13th Seer, but I personally doubt it. I'm still on the train it will be a Sombra taking over a new body, but that theory is for another analysis once it's brought up again in the future. I'm not entirely sure if her connection with Tirek is still going to happen, but if it is, then I can maybe seeing him keeping some of the Keyblade magic he consumed. The beam that sucked all magic from him was probably mainly Equestrian magic, meaning theoretically he could have kept some of the keyblade magic, enough to give it Cozy. Now, that does sound a bit ridiculous, given that having keyblade magic doesn't guarantee you a keyblade. So what if Cozy truly did work with the Organization.
It would definitely seem weird for Organization 13 to want to work together with a little filly, so let's combine a bit of my previous theory with this one:
Tirek was already pen pals with Cozy around this time. Members of the Organization planned to seek an alliance with Tirek to work together in stopping Sora and co. He probably accepts at first, as a potential way to escape, only to be thrown back, by feeling the display of power they wield and how they are not easily fooled. And so, he refuses to work with them, given his ego, and hating to be following orders. However, a sudden letter shows up, revealing it to be from Tirek's pen pal. This catches the eye of the Organization and seeks to work alongside his "prodigy" Cozy. This probably will baffle some of the members, specifically Even and Demyx (alluding to the fact they will betray the organization later and assist the heroes) that they are allowing to work together with a filly of all things. Some members are content with it, especially Larxene who I can see admire and respect Cozy Glow for her attitude.
Cozy Glow's main objective is to erase all magic from the world, this will strongly please the organization, as recognizing the power of Equestria's magic and getting rid of it would be beneficial for their side of the upcoming war. Tirek would obviously be against the idea of getting rid of all magic, considering he personally wants it all because "daddy issues." (Some of the comics are pretty good). This gives a good reason on how Tirek knows all this, and why he would tell Sora and Co. all the info he has. While I can't exactly give a reason why Cozy would erase all the magic, with her being a child and wanting to rule over Equestria as its Empress of Friendship, I can see maybe these desires culminating into a desperate plan to takeover. She believes by faking this kind, innocent, and friendly persona, she is able to succeed and gain the friendship of everypony. With magic being gone, no one would be capable of stopping her, and soon she will take over everything. And by trapping Sora and co. in Tartarus, there will be no one else to stop her. Without magic, not even Celestia and Luna would be able to stop her, given her massive influence over the ponies. The Organization could care less about what happens in that world since the whole universe is going to be destroyed anyway after the war, so it wouldn't matter to them what Cozy does Equestria. As long as their magic is gone, that world is no problem for them anymore.
As to WHY she wants to do all of this, I have no idea, the show never gave her a proper backstory. Here you can probably go anywhere, or not at all:
You could anything with the character if you want a backstory for her. Or just have her mentioned "Eh, who cares about backstories?! What matters is what's going to happen once I takeover!"
As to how Cozy obtain a Keyblade in the first place, I can see the organization possibly giving her a fake keyblade. They have technically done this in the past, who says they can't do it again. OR Xigbar does the Bequeathing to Cozy. This is the ceremony of passing down the keyblade's ability to another. I can totally see Xigbar doing this, tricking the organization into finding a loophole through Equestrian magic and "borrowing" some notes by Ansem. He even tries to trick them into believing the keyblade is fake. By proving this, the heartless that surrounds Cozy are in fact all controlled by him behind the scenes or other members who agree to follow his plan in this fake keyblade wielder. This would explain how Cozy, despite her incredibly young age, was able to defeat heartless singlehandedly on her own. This might not explain her first appearance though, where she seemed to have been suddenly attacked by a swarm of heartless. Unless Xigbar shows up minutes later, revealing it was a test to see if she's ready. I can absolutely see Xigbar training Cozy a bit with her new keyblade. Some might argue that Cozy Glow's heart is shrouded by darkness, then again, she is still a child, so maybe some of that innocence managed to balance her heart out. And with how brilliant her scheming is, I can see her being smart enough and obtain that Keyblade early compared to Riku who also received the ceremony as a child but didn't obtain a keybalde until years later.
So that's my overall Cozy theory, I know I said to keep it brief, but I couldn't help myself.
And so, that's it.
We also have the farewell of Manami, who I'm going to miss dearly and probably won't see her till the next Christmas special. Not like she would serve much of a purpose in future stories, but it was still fun to have her around.
Really hyped up with the potential this season has, can't wait to see the rest.
Shine on!
This was a rollercoaster of emotions I was reading and I loved every moment there was
Ok, Cozyglow having a Keyblade is one big red flag.
Boy, this just gets more and more interesting! Awesome job! I'm just curious what side Cozy Glow is actually on.
[As Scar]: "Sora, what have you done?"
I guess we all know who the next vessel of darkness is gonna be.
You gave a keyblade... To that MONSTER of a filly?! I'm impressed. Looks like we have a potential keyblade of darkness weilder on our hands.
Or could you be trying to make her good in this story? Ooooooo, this has so much potential!
Man looking back at this I still knew Cozy Glow was a villian. Even getting a Keyblade in the end. I knew something else was going on with her and for her to just get a Keyblade out of nowhwere is really setting off so many red flags.