Cozy Glow yawned loudly as she awoke. The sound of songbirds outside her window releasing her from her slumber and making her once more aware of the world around her. She slowly blinked as she rubbed the sleep out of her eye and looked around her room as she did every morning. In some ways it still felt surreal to her, to be in a regular bedroom like any other young foal, in a regular house in the small but ever steadily growing village of Ponyville. Cozy smiled as she yawned again and stretched her hooves out before fluttering out of bed softly landing on the wood floor below. She then looked at her calendar and remembered what day it was. "Oh Horse-apples!" She muttered under her breath as she looked at the circled date with bright red letters "First Day Back To School!" in the box.
Cozy Glow let out a disgruntled pout as she trotted down the stairs looking around to see Starlight and Trixie already up and in the kitchen area.
"Starlight, My Coffee is too strong!" Trixie whined looking over at her housemate.
"Then put some more sugar in it or something Trix, can't you see i'm busy!" Starlight huffed looking over at her friend as she levitated the skillet. "I want to finish these hay cakes for Cozy by the time she...." Starlight began only to be interrupted by the small Pegasus foal clearing her throat the two looking over at her.
"Good morning" She awkwardly greeted as she fluttered over to the island table, and sitting down at the stool next to Trixie.
"Cozy, would you be a dear and get some sugar and honey for my coffee?" Trixie asked giving the young filly a pout and large puppy dog eyes.
"Don't do it Cozy, Trixie needs to learn that just because she's bunking with other ponies now that doesn't mean she can use us as an excuse to be lazy" Starlight sternly stated as she continued to focus most of her attention on her cooking.
"Uggh, fine i'll get it myself!" Trixie moaned as she stood up and used her magic to open up the nearby jar of sugar using a spoon to measure just the right amount to put in her mug before going over to the fridge to look for the honey.
"Starlight, we're out of honey!" Trixie whined.
"Well then I guess you should have gotten some at the store the other day" Starlight teased. Trixie reacting with a huff as she went to sit back down on her stool.
"Sweet Celestia we've only been living together a week and these two already act like an old married couple!" Cozy Glow internally chuckled. "You know I think you two make a really cute couple" Cozy stated causing both mares to pause and blush Starlight almost dropping her skillet.
"OK I think someone has been reading a few to many romance novels" Starlight nervously chuckled as she flipped the stack of hay cakes from the skillet onto a plate quickly putting some syrup, whip cream and a cherry on top before levitating the plate over to Cozy. "OK now eat-up and let's get you ready for your first day of school!" Starlight exclaimed with her best faux enthusiasm.
"Do I really have to go back so soon?" Cozy nervously asked looking past the large gooey breakfast stack and straight at Starlight. "Couldn't I at least wait till after Nightmare Night!?" she pleaded now giving Starlight some puppy dog eyes of her own.
"And miss the Festival of Frights!? I don't think so little missy!" Starlight rebutted. "Besides I already had Twilight sign you up to help Sandbar and his friends decorate and plan the party!" Starlight happily exclaimed.
"You Did What!?" Cozy shirked in a nervous panic startling Trixie and causing her to almost choke on her coffee.
Starlight just looked at the two and laughed. "Don't worry, everything will be fine, I promise" Starlight attempted to reassure the young foal.
"But-but what if..." Cozy began to worry the gears grinding in her head. Starlight just calmly sighing as she put her hoof on the young filly's shoulder.
"Listen, I get it, you're nervous, probably really nervous. And that's understandable" Starlight began to explain. "When I had my first Friendship Lesson I was a nervous wreck as well. I didn't think there was any way in Equestria my old pal Sunburst would want to reconnect with me after such a long time, but we did. And now along with Twilight, Trixie, Maud and Spike he's one of my best friends in Equestria." Starlight softly smiled as she finished her story.
"Really?" Cozy asked a nervous glimmer of hope in her eyes.
"Really" Starlight chuckled. "I know you're worried the others might still be holding a grudge against you, and I can't deny that there's a chance that some of the students might, but I think you'll find most of the creatures here in Ponyville are pretty good at forgiving others when they mess-up, take it from us. Right Trix?" Starlight finished her pep-talk looking over at her friend.
"Yea, yea, sure. Now let's get to that silly school. Maybe the whomever is making Coffee for the faculty lounge today will be better at it then you" Trixie exclaimed as she levitated her Saddlebag onto her back as Starlight just gave a rather disgruntled face. Cozy doing her best not to giggle at the two's shenanigans.
"Wait, so you work at the school now too!?" Cozy asked Trixie looking-up at her with surprise and disbelief.
"Indeed!" Trixie proudly exclaimed. "Or at least part time. I'm the official treasurer of friendship!" Trixie boasted puffing out her chest fluff.
Starlight just rolled her eyes and giggled. "Trixie is surprisingly good with keeping track of bits, a lot better then I am admitingly." Starlight blushed thinking back to her falafel fiasco during their failed Road To Friendship tour sometime back. "She even helped Twilight review the schools budget and taxes and helped us get a loan from our new co-partnership with the EEA to expand the dorms and add new elective classes." Starlight explained.
"Wow, so you really are a lot smarter then you look!" Cozy blurted out much to the older mares surprise.
"What, why you little!" Trixie began to scold the young filly before she heard Starlight speak up.
"We're here!" Starlight announced as the two looked forward and looked at the still impressive school grounds. "So who's ready for school!?"
Cozy Glow nervously trotted through the school as she looked around. Thankfully due to her small stature very few ponies or other creatures even gave her a second glance, something she was completely fine with. Some of the ponies she recognized from before, some she didn't. She also noticed there were a lot more students in general then before her....previous expulsion. And not just pony students but more changelings, dragons, hippogryphs and yaks as well. She even saw a few kittens from Abyssinia and some of the parrot like Harpies from Klugetown as well. "Hehe, well at least there aren't any storm beasts!" She chuckled under her breath as she picked-up her pace doing her best to find her way to the room of her first class before she bumped into something. Cozy looked-up and she gulped as her eyes became larger as the horror set in. Out of all the students in the school why'd she have to run into him!
Gallus felt a small bump against his hind quarters and turned around to see what had rudely interrupted his day, as he turned around and looked down he felt a various number of emotions consume him as he saw the small pegasus foal for the first time in well over a year. By griffon rules he would have slashed her on the sight for daring to show her face around him again after what she had done to his friends, but thankfully for her this was Equestria not Griffonstone, so Gallus did the only thing he could do, he took a deep breath and let it out, using the method Twilight had taught him to help let go of anger and he began to speak. "Sup Cozy, you lost?" He asked in his usual teasing cool guy tone.
"Oh, um hey Gallus, I um, I guess Kinda" Cozy awkwardly admitted to the griffon hoping he wouldn't notice her shaking in fear.
"Well show me your schedule and i'll help you find you're class" Gallus grinned as he extended his claw "And the quicker I can get away from your disgusting little flank" He internally fumed. Cozy just nodded and complied as she got her schedule out of her saddlebag and handed it to Gallus. Gallus looked it over and his expression sank into one of disappointment. "Oh, great looks like you have art class first....which of course you do because of course Headmare Twilight would put you in all the same classes and electives as me and my friends and..." Gallus began to rant before he caught himself and looked down at Cozy who had her eyes closed and her head hung low. "Ugg, whatever just follow me and like, don't try to steal any magical artifacts or anything!" Gallus huffed as Cozy slowly and sorrowfully followed behind.
As the two approached the classroom a knot of nerves began to grow inside of Cozy's chest. If Gallus was this disappointed to see her she could only imagine how the others would feel. "This was a bad idea, I should have just had Starlight enroll me in Cherilee's school instead!" Cozy internally monologued "But The Crusaders go there and they hate me too...maybe I should just be home-schooled or..." Cozy continued to think to herself before being interrupted by the sound of Gallus opening a door.
"We're here." He huffed as he walked in. Cozy just gulped once more and nervously took her first step into the classroom. She could feel the eyes staring at her piercing her like arrows. Cozy nervously looked up to see the rest of the Young Six staring at her.
"Hey Guys" Cozy nervously greeted as she slowly waved her shaking hoof at them. And before anyone else could react a blur hit her and grabbed her tightly.
"Oh my gosh you're actually back that is soo cool!!" The familiar voice exclaimed. Cozy realizing it was Silverstream that had tackled her and was now embracing her tightly in her claws. "I mean, when we found out you'd been sent to Tartarus last year we were just like WHAT!?" The Hippogryph explained. "I mean sure you were like super crazy evil and tried to still all the magic from the world but you're still just a little filly and oh my gosh i'm just so glad you're OK!" Silverstream exclaimed as she hugged the young Pegasus even tighter causing cozy to almost suffocate against her feather like fur.
"Chill out Silver Stream, and stop hugging people to death all the time. Seriously you're getting worse then Professor Pinkie Pie!" Smolder chimed in as she slowly walked towards the two. Silver Stream just blushing as she dropped the young foal, Smolder catching her and putting her and slowly putting her back down on the ground.
"T-thanks" Cozy nervously rasped as she caught her breath.
"No prob. Just don't make me regret it" Smolder chuckled as she put out her fist for a hoof bump, Cozy slowly returning the gesture in reply.
"We're all glad you're OK Cozy" Occellus added as she trotted up to her friends "I even made grub cakes to celebrate when Head Mare Twilight told us you'd be coming back!" Occellus happily exclaimed as she offered one to the foal.
"uh...thanks" Cozy halfway smiled unsure of what to do with the unique confection.
"Don't worry they taste better then they look" Sandbar chuckled as he slowly trotted foward in his usual relaxed walk. "And it probably also helps we used gummy grubs instead of real ones" He added with a wink. Cozy just sighing in relief. Cozy was glad to see that Starlight was right and her fellow students were willing to forgive her, well most of them anyway. Cozy looked past the group and saw Gallus sitting at his desk and Yona sitting near the back of the room with her back turned. She handed Ocellus back the grub cake and fluttered over to the yak.
"Y-Yona. Are-are you still mad at me?" Cozy anxiously inquired as she looked up at the Yak's backside.
"Yes, Yona still mad at cute evil little pony!" Yona exclaimed with a huff. "Cute Pony say mean things about yaks in library that one time and then lie and betray Yona and all her friends and whole school just to steal magic! Little Pony BAD!" Yona stated with a huff as she stiffened her stance of rejection even further. The words piercing through Cozy like a knife.
"I understand" Cozy sighed as she bit her lip and did her best not to tear-up. "Is-is there anything I can do to make-up for it thought? Anything at all?" She desperately asked the teenage Yak calf. At first there was no reply, but slowly Yona turned around and looked down at Cozy Glow.
"You are sorry for what you did?" Yona asked in a serious and commanding tone.
"Yes" Cozy weakly rasped to afraid to look up at Yona.
"And you try be good now?" Yona asked again.
"I-I want to be, yes?"
"And you really want Yona and all yaks to forgive cute naughty pony?" Yona inquired.
"Yes, please. I-if I can" Cozy stuttered.
"OK then, Yak will consider forgiving little pony, but only on one condition!" Yona stated.
"Yes, please i'll do anything!" Cozy pleaded.
"Little Pony let Yona braid Pony Hair and make her even cuter!" Yona stated giving off a big smile.
"Wait...what!?" Cozy asked in surprise.
"You hear Yona. If pony really want to apologize and be friends, than pony let Yak braid pony hair, Yaks best at braiding hair!" Yona proudly stated as she extended her hoof out. "What pony say?"
"Uhh, sure." Cozy nervously chuckled as she shook Yona's hoof.
"Good, then Yona forgive Cozy!" The Yak smiled as she embraced the small Pegasus for yet another tight hug. Gallus just huffing and rolling his eyes. Thankfully Cozy was once again saved from death by hugging, this time by the school bell and the teacher walking in and greeting the class.
"Like, Good morning my wonderful students, I hope your chakras are well alligned cause today we're going to draw some sunflowers!" Treehugger smiled as she laid the plants on her desk.
"Uhh, Auntie Treehugger, er I mean Prof....those aren't Sunflowers.....those are ragweed." Sandbar announced.
"Oh, huh....yeah I guess they are" Treehugger chuckled as the students rolled their eyes at the fact their teacher was once again coming into class as high as a kite.
"Oh no...i'm allergic to ragweed!" Smolder exclaimed as she did her best to hold back a fiery sneeze. Cozy just rolled her eyes, it was quite easy to see this place was going to be just as crazy as ever.