The Social Rejects Squad: Loose Ends

by Betty_Starlight

Prelude: A Filly Named Little Snack

The orange earth filly trotted past the market square in Ponyville towards the outskirts of town to the east. The sun glistened on her cutie mark of a hoof kicking a ball as her long green pigtails swayed in the breeze along with the pink ribbons she wore. She looked to the distance with her sky-blue eyes and thought to herself, Well, what should I say? 'Uh, hi! Remember me from Canterlot? Little Snack? her brow scrunched as she dwelled on this and her puffy freckled cheeks rose in agitation. No! That’s too complicated! Uh, maybe just start with, "Hello!" Um, yeah, maybe that’s the way to go?

She ponders on this as she approaches the edge of the market district to the grove. She then thinks to herself, that she’s never had anypony to play with before! Wowie! This is sure to be fun! Uh, right? If only she can think of what to say!

She stops for a second and mutters to herself, “This is stupid! Introductions aren’t hard!” She sits on her haunches and faces the meadow before whispering more quietly to herself, “Hmm, well, maybe just not say anything? Maybe just hold out my hoof to shake? Yeah! That could work!” before looking up and scrunching her mouth.

She frowns for a moment before smiling to herself. “You know what? Why do I have these talks with myself? I mean, I know I’m just going to wing it! I always wing it!” she says to herself before giggling, returning to all fours, and trotting further into the meadow.

Little Snack starts to see a small cottage in the distance, and she begins to trot faster and whispering to herself, “Okay! Right! I just need to do this and get it over with! Once I’m in, everything will be fine again! Yeah!” and then begins gallop with her tongue out the right side of her mouth

She’s almost to the cottage when she hears the familiar voice of Cozy Glow scream, “AAAAAHHH!!!!”

She immediately slides to a stop and turns back to running the other way! She sees a tree just over to her left and circles back to position herself behind it. She looks out from behind the tree on her right and thinks to herself, Holy crap! Uh, what was that?

She continues to stare for a few more moments before softly whispering to herself, “Okay um, I don’t think she was screaming at me? I should probably uh, walk up there like I didn’t hear anything! Yes! Right!" She nods, "That’s a good plan!” before slowly trotting out from behind the tree on the left and walking cautiously to the cottage.

She’s almost to the door when she hears Cozy again screaming. She can only make out the final word, “BOWS!”

Little Snack stops with a wide-eyed expression as her mouth grows small. She looks down and thinks to herself, Wait! I wear bows! Uh, was she talking about me? Um, probably not? She also wears bows right? Oh, dang it! I’m so gonna ruin this! She looks back up to the cottage, takes a deep breath with her mouth, in and out before trotting forward and knocking on the door with her right forehoof.

Her ears perk to attention and she can faintly make out Trixie on the other side saying, “You go take care of it Cozy! I’ll get the door!” And then, Little hears hoofsteps from behind the door which soon glows and opens inward to the right to reveal a blue unicorn. Trixie smiles and says, “Oh Little Snack! What a pleasant surprise!”

Little Snack’s ears fall back to the sides as she smiles dimly and says, “Um yeah!” She looks down slightly and paws at the dirt a little with her forehooves, left and then right, before looking back up and saying, “You um, told me to come by, but you didn’t really tell me when you wanted me to do that? Uh, I kinda wanted to see Cozy again and so er…”

She trails off as Trixie smiles and says, “Yes of course Little Snack! Come on in!”

Little widens her eyes and perks her ears up with a mixture of fear and hope in her heart as she says, “Well um, I hope it’s not a bad time?”

“Not at all Little Snack! Come right on in! Cozy is busy getting ready in her room right now… She needs to do her mane bows...” Trixie says before she steps to the left for Little Snack to come in.

Little Snack gulps and says, “Uh, right! You want me to go in there!” before slowly trotting into Trixie’s living area.

The little earth filly’s head is alive as she thinks to herself, Oh crap! This is gonna suck!

Trixie says, “Go have a seat on the couch and I’ll let Cozy know you’re here!”

“Um, okay! Makes sense!” Little Snack says half to herself and half to Trixie as she nods and trots to the red couch on the left side of the room and sits down. She looks over at Trixie, now trotting to Cozy’s room behind her to the left and smiles dimly.

Trixie walks into Cozy’s room and shuts the door behind her.

Little Snack sits there thinking to herself, Okay uh, what about after the introductions? Oh! Right! Remember the plan! Yes! before curving her eyes upward as she tries to remember exactly what the plan was.

Then, she hears muffled voices coming from Cozy’s room and so she turns her head to the left and perks her ears to see what she can hear, but she can only make out two muffled voices from this distance. Then she brings her ears down and looks up with her green eyes as she thinks that maybe friends shouldn’t eavesdrop on each other? She squints her left eye when she realizes that that makes sense, and she normalizes her eyes lowers her ears all the way. Instead, she waits while facing forward as her mouth curves and gut wrenches in nervous apprehension.

Finally, the door to Cozy’s room opens to reveal a small pink pegasus filly with bows, now arranged neatly in the bluish white curls of her hair. She looks at the earth filly and says, “Oh golly! Hiya Little Snack! It’s been a few days!”

Little Snack gets to her hooves on the floor in front of the couch, turns her body left to Cozy and says, “Hi! I’m Little Snack and you’re Cozy Glow!” before widening her eyes, closing them, and whispering, “WHY?” to herself.

Cozy widens her eyes and says, “Um, right! You’re Little Snack and I’m Cozy Glow! You are correct!”

At this point, Little opens her eyes, now confident that she couldn’t possibly mess this up any further and says, “So uh, friend! What would you like to do?” and then smiles at Cozy, hoping and praying to Twilight that she says something or has a plan.

“Golly! Y’know Little Snack, I hadn’t really thought about it? I did just get out of bed!” Cozy says while tilting her head slightly to the right.

“Oh! Right! It’s still pretty early in the morning! Uh, 8:30 I think?” Little stammers out as her legs shake nervously in front of the pegasus.

Cozy, mind now awake and knowing what the problem is, smiles as she says, “Well golly gee Little Snack! Haven’t you had your breakfast yet?”

Little’s eyes wander up towards the top as she says, “Um, I don’t think so, no? I told myself that I was gonna come up here today and I really wanted to do that! Well, I didn’t! I mean!” she closes her eyes before opening them back up and sighing as she says, “I wanted to see you Cozy Glow! I uh, yeah!” and says almost robotically, “I wanted to see you because you’re my friend Cozy Glow… I love you…” and then smiles like an idiot while trying her best not to paw at the floor with her forehooves.

Cozy scrunches her mouth and says, “This is hard for you, huh?”

Little’s eyes widen as she says, “No! Well, I mean uh…” she smiles and relaxes her body as she says, “That obvious?”

Cozy softly giggles and says lower, “Yeah, kinda?”

Little Snack looks down and softly chuckles too as she says, “Yeah I really wanted to see you Cozy Glow, but I didn’t know when? So, I told myself, three days after I got back! Yeah! I told myself, I would come here, three days after I returned from Canterlot! And well uh, hi!” before looking up and continuing to smile dimly at the small pegasus.

Cozy tilts her head to the right and says, “Golly! You’d think you were the only pony to ever go somewhere new and meet somepony there?”

Little starts as she says, “Well, I guess that’s not true, no? It’s just that well, I really like you and keep thinking I’m gonna mess this up!”

Cozy straightens her head and says, “You know, one thing I learned with Starshine was, the best way to get through that is to just do it. I mean, golly Little Snack! You’re already up here and we’re past that lousy introduction! You think you’re pretty much already in?”

Little Snack furrows her brow and scrunches her mouth as she ponders on this, before saying, “Well, that’s true! Um, so uh, Cozy Glow!” she looks at Cozy wide eyed, “Friend! What would you like to do now?” before smiling and hoping like Tartarus that Cozy will say something good or interesting.

“Uh, I kinda just told you, I don’t know yet Little Snack?”

Little looks off to right the side and says, “Oh! Right! That did happen, didn't it?” She curves her mouth before leveling it when she suddenly remembers the plan and says, “Well hey! We could walk back to my house. It’s just ten minutes that way and there’s a big field with all kinds of fun balls to play with in the back! How about it Cozy?” before smiling and hoping Cozy will take the bait.

Cozy raises her right eyebrow and says, “Um, sure Little Snack! You know, I never really played much ball back then, but I guess I could try playing with you? I hope you don’t mind if I’m not very good?”

Little Snack’s eyes widen as her plan worked and she says, “That’s okay Cozy! I can uh, go easy on you? Yeah! That would be good, right?”

Cozy snickers and thinks she’s had enough of this before shaking her head and saying, “Sure! That’ll be fine!”

“Well um, wanna go now?”

“Golly Little Snack! At least let me get some toast and juice first!”

“Oh uh, right! You haven’t eaten!”

“You know, you should probably eat something too Little Snack? How about toast?”

“Um…” Little says as she starts and then says, “Okay Cozy! We’ll have toast together! Uh, you said juice too?”

Cozy turns around and squats before saying, “Yeah Little Snack! Go sit at the table and I’ll get everything ready!” before taking off with her wings and slowly flying towards the kitchen area of Trixie’s cottage.

“Right!” Little Snack says to nopony as she trots over to the dining region of the foyer.

Little Snack looks at the table before thinking to herself. After deciding that it probably doesn’t matter where she sits, she decides to sit at the head of the table.

Cozy soon floats in with two glasses of juice in her forehooves and sets them down neatly in front of the earth filly. She hovers over the table and says, “Okay Little Snack! I got the toast in the toaster and I got us some juice! Now you wait right here!” as she circles the table and then she gracefully flies back to the kitchen.

Little Snack scrunches her mouth and thinks, Well, she’s serving me breakfast now! She wouldn’t be doing that if she didn’t like me, right? Uh, right! before nodding to herself.

Cozy then floats in with a plate in her mouth and holding another in her forehooves. She glides over to one side of the table and sets the forehoof plate down there before drifting to the section of table in front of Little Snack's left and setting the mouth plate down there. She circles the table again before landing, looking at her friend on her right, smiling, and saying, “Here you go! I already put butter on it!” and taking a seat in the chair next to Little Snack.

Little Snack sees the two pieces of toast, medium brown, each with a small square of butter in the center, arranged one diagonal over the other and says, “Wow! This looks good Cozy!” before grabbing the top piece with her forehooves and taking a ravenous bite of it.

“Glad you like it!” Cozy says before grabbing her own piece with her forehooves and slowly munching on the end of it.

Little Snack finishes her toast in the space of a few moments and then she gets the glass with her forehooves and slurps it down her throat with her head back.

Cozy sees this, giggles, and starts to munch faster to catch up.

Soon, Cozy is about halfway through her second piece as Little Snack asks, “So, when does school start for you Cozy?”

“Uh, eighteen days, I think? So, you came here to see me? Um, why did you wait three days?”

Little Snack starts as she feels the jig is up and she says, “Well, I don’t know what you’re doing! I wasn’t sure when a good time would be and uh, well I just picked a random time in the future to do it! Yeah!” before smiling weakly at Cozy.

Cozy puts her right forehoof onto Little Snack’s left and says, “Look Little Snack… I’m your friend! I don’t want you to be afraid of me!”

Little Snack looks down and she closes her eyes and says, “That’s not it Cozy!”

“Well golly Little Snack! What’s wrong?” Cozy asks while leaning forward with wide-eyed interest.

Little looks back up at Cozy and stammers out, “I just wanted you to like me…”

Cozy smiles and says, “Didn’t I just tell you not to worry about that?”

Little Snack scrunches her mouth and says, “I think so?”

“Right! So, stop being afraid of me and just spend time with me! I am your friend, right?”

Little Snack’s eyes widen as she says, “Right! My friend! Yes!”

Cozy softly snickers and says, “Okay Little! Now, let me finish my toast and juice and we can go walk back to your house, okay?”

“Right Cozy Glow!” Little says before nodding.

Cozy then quietly eats what’s left of her toast and then grabs the rest of her juice in her forehooves, before gulping it down. “Ah!” she says, before looking down and saying, “Okay hang on!”

She gets off the chair, squats, flitters her wings, and takes off straight up into the air before hovering over to the table and using her forehooves to gather the two plates in a stack and then putting both glasses on top of it before she buzzes around the table with her wings with her tongue out the left side of her mouth. She then floats lowly so she can grab the plate assembly with all her hooves and flies it out to sink in the kitchen, and gently dropping it there after she descends.

Then, she flies back to the dining area, lands, looks up at Little, and says, “Okay Little Snack! You ready to go?”

“You bet Cozy!” Little Snack says as she gets off the chair.

<*****>

Both fillies trot outside and to the market square towards the west. Cozy looks to her friend on the right and says, “So Little Snack! You learned all sorts of things about me from your textbook, huh? Uh, I don’t know much about you?”

Little looks to her left as the market grows closer and says, “Well, originally I’m from Canterlot! Yeah, I know! Earth pony in Unicorn Central! Right! Well the truth was, I wasn’t very happy there and um, I guess my parents noticed? So, a couple of months ago we moved down southwest to Ponyville! And well uh, hi!”

“Um, why weren’t you happy in Canterlot?”

Little Snack frowns and says, “Uh, do I have to tell you?”

“Well uh, golly no Little Snack! Not if you don’t want to…”

Little Snack stops trotting as Cozy does the same. The two fillies face each other, and Little finally says, “I didn’t have any friends, alright? I like to run and play and do things outside and well, I just didn’t get that in the city… And so, they moved here! Just for me!”

“Oh, gee Little Snack! And I guess you found ponies to run and play with here instead, huh?”

Little Snack’s mouth scrunches as her nose and face tighten and ears lower. She stares at Cozy for a moment before whispering something that the pegasus can’t hear.

“Uh, I’m sorry! What was that?” Cozy says as she moves her head closer to hear her friend.

Little Snack says a bit higher this time and Cozy can make out. “Not exactly…”

Cozy starts and moves her head back, “Well golly Little Snack! You act like you don’t have any friends?”

“Um, er, well…”

Cozy smiles as she slowly trots towards the nervous earth pony. She then softly says, “Little Snack… It’s okay…” and then embraces the earth filly in a hug.

“ACK!” Little Snack says in protest at first, but she soon finds her body relaxing and she eventually embraces Cozy with her own forehooves.

The two fillies get off each other and Cozy says, “You know, I didn’t really have any friends before Starshine? And now, you got both of us!”

Little Snack curves her mouth and says, “Well, yeah! That’s right! Um, do you like to play ball?”

Cozy narrows her eyes and frowns, “Golly Little Snack, why don’t we try doing that for awhile and see if it’s something I enjoy? You know, it has been about twelve years for me, right?”

Little looks down and then back up at the pink filly, “Um, right! That makes sense!”

“So why don’t we walk to your backyard now and try it out huh?” Cozy says as she starts to trot towards the market once more.

“Um, right!” Little Snack says and starts to trot towards the market again.

As the two fillies trot through the busy market square, Cozy and Little Snack both see all sorts of stalls set up on either side of the massive concrete platform. They silently trot as Cozy stays close to her friend.

Little Snack looks to Cozy and says, “You okay?”

Cozy whispers back, “Yeah! Being around other ponies sometimes makes me nervous, but I think I’ll be okay. Let’s just get through here!”

Little smiles and whispers, “Right!”

At that point, Little starts to pick up her pace. Cozy notices this and starts to trot faster to keep up with her friend.

Cozy is huffing as they trot quickly and then turn left and begin to trot faster as Cozy can barely keep up.

Finally, Cozy yelps out, “Golly! Wait for me!”

Little Snack hears this and slows down for the pegasus filly.

Cozy catches up right as Little Snack is approaching the edge. Little Snack begins to slow down to a brisk trot as a now huffing Cozy Glow finally catches up to her.

Little Snack looks to her friend as she pants and catches up on the right, “You act like you don’t do much trotting?”

Cozy looks left and scrunches her mouth, “Well golly gee Little Snack! I do have wings you know?”

“Oh! Right! But I don’t have those!”

“Well, no? Uh, how much further is it?” Cozy asks before staring ahead at a small house in the distance.

Little Snack looks back over and says, “That’s my house right there on the right. Yeah, the backyard is behind the fence and it’s huge! Come on! Let’s go!” before quickening her pace once more as the pegasus tries to keep up.

Little Snack reaches the house a moment before Cozy and she trots over to the left side of the house, away from Ponyville and points at the tall privacy fence there with her right forehoof before saying, “The gate is hidden, but it’s right here!”

Cozy finally reaches the fence near Little Snack as she’s huffing and says, “Okay Little Snack! Um, can we take a break first?”

“Sure Cozy! But I’ve always wanted to play tetherball with another pony before!”

Cozy looks at Little, “Oh wow! You have a tetherball pole?”

“Yeah, but until today, there was only one pony to play on it!”

“Oh, okay Little Snack! Just a sec! Let me catch my breath!”

“Oh uh, right! You’re a pegasus and so you don’t trot much! You’re tired! Makes sense!”

“You talk to yourself a lot, huh?”

“Well, I’ve spent most of my time by myself. Uh, I guess I became my own best friend?”

Cozy looks up with her auburn eyes and says, “Um, yeah that makes sense! And so now, even when you’re around other fillies, you still do that huh?”

“I do? Um, probably!” Little Snack says before smiling dimly at Cozy.

Cozy looks at Little, giggles and says, “I like you Little Snack!”

“Really? Um, okay cool! I like you too Cozy!”

“Yeah…" Cozy takes a deep breath with her mouth, "Okay, I’m ready now!”

“Alright!” Little Snack says before trotting over to the fence and opening a gate towards her back left, that was hidden until she touched it. She says, “Yeah, the gates on this thing are not obvious. But I know where they are!” Before swinging her left forehoof all the way to open the gate all the way,

Cozy takes a few paces towards the gate and sees part of the expanse that is Little Snack’s backyard. She trots through the gate and looks around. She sees that the area around the house is kept mowed, but beyond that, the grass grows tall and wild and she also sees that there are sparse trees across the meadow, beyond the main backyard area. She looks to her right and sees the tetherball pole there with a white rubber ball hanging on a rope down it. She trots in that direction.

Little Snack closes the gate and walks to the pole near her friend. She looks at Cozy and asks, “Do you know how to play tetherball?”

“Well, I did it a little bit back before my parents died and I went to North Everfree Elementary! Uh, I don’t think I was very good?”

Little Snack says, “Okay, well obviously, you can’t use your wings!”

“Well golly gee, that’s pretty obvious don’t you think? That would give me an unfair advantage! Only an idiot wouldn’t think so!”

Little Snack smiles and says, “Yes! Right!” before trotting over to the other side of the pole from Cozy and saying, “Alright, first to five goals wins!” before squatting and jumping at the ball to deliver a powerful forehoof kick as her green pigtails and pink ribbons flow with her body.

The ball bounces back and Cozy runs and jumps to strike the ball using her right forehoof with all her might. Her bluish white curls flow with her as well, although It doesn’t go nearly as far back as when Little Snack hit it, but she doesn’t care! She’s having fun with her friend!

The two fillies bat the ball back and forth like this for about an hour. Cozy isn’t nearly as good as Little Snack and the final score is 5-1 Little Snack!

<*****>

A now sweating and panting Cozy smiles at Little Snack after the game and says, “Golly Little Snack! That sure was fun! Um, thanks for letting me score a point… I didn’t wanna think I was THAT bad!”

Little Snack looks at Cozy as she smiles and says, “Um, Cozy? I was giving it my all the whole time! You scored that point fair and square!”

Cozy starts and says, “Um, you really mean it Little Snack?”

“Well yeah Cozy! I never think it’s very sportspony like to not do your best! I mean, sure you’ll never be as good as me at ball, but you should see me in a flying competition! I suck!”

Cozy giggles with her friend as she says, “I guess everypony has their talents huh?”

“I guess so Cozy!”

(To be continued…)