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// Chapter 18- What Lies Beneath Her Mask Pt. 1 
// Story: The Thestral With The Golden Halo 
// by DougtheLoremaster 
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Cozy Glow lay in her bunk bed in the dormitories as she lamented her position.  Half a semester has gone by. Sitting up she opened her book bag and looked at her midterm report card.  This doesn’t look good. One bad grade away from flunking out.  Sliding the card back into her bag, she noticed her roommate staring at her, eyes narrowed. The strange yellow and orange dragon went by the name Smolder; level 35. Her bar was so far in the red if filling up the friendship bar required complete distrust, she would be Cozy’s friend. Cozy glanced from her to the display that appeared before her eyes.  Zero friends, 35 friends lost. My charisma is down to 25. Is there any possible way to win now? I thought I was doing everything right, what happened?  Tears flowed down her cheeks as she collapsed backwards into the bed, sobbing.
A loud knock was heard upon the door and the roommate ran to open it. There in the doorway stood two alicorns. One was lavender and her eyes shined with a hopeful amethyst. The other was an ashen gray, her eyes were also a rich purple. The dragon looked shocked and bowed. “Your majesty I…”
She was interrupted by the soft voice of Twilight Sparkle. “Smolder, that is quite alright. Would you mind coming with me so Ms. Hazel here can have a talk with her daughter?”
“Awwww but I-”
The ashen alicorn produced 6 bits and said softly, in an almost seductively singsong voice. “I hear Applejack has some cider in the lunchroom, why not go and grab yourself a cup?”
Nodding Smolder left, the bits jingling in her claws. Before the door was shut, Hazel had given Twilight a hug. Twilight whispered. “I’m proud of you. And I know she will be too, when she wakes up.”
The door shut and as she approached the bed Cozy lay on, Hazel’s ashen body returned once more to her thestral form. Hazel’s voice spoke softly. “Cozy, we need to talk young lady.”
Sitting up, and stifling a sob, Cozy Glow saw Hazel had sat down on her bed next to her. “H-Hazel? Here to laugh at me for being a miserable failure?”
Musing out loud, Hazel spoke softly. “Miserable failure? Hmmm, well perhaps. You lost 35 friends almost immediately upon making them. Your homework has been marked incomplete or unacceptable by even Fluttershy of all ponies…”
The sound of loud bawling next to her, made Hazel pause.  Ugh, already ruining this moment. What now? What would she do?  Hazel’s horn glowed bright red and a carton of apple juice appeared before her with a sipping straw. Passing it to Cozy Glow, Hazel said in a slightly awkward voice. “Here. For you.”
Cozy was hesitant, but reached out for the juice box.“Erm...thanks. Wait. Why are you being so nice to me?”
The young filly’s eyes narrowed in anger. “What do you want? What are you getting out of it?”
As Cozy watched mystified, Hazel’s horn glowed red once more and a stein filled with an amber liquid. Taking a deep swig, Hazel spoke in a sad tone. “I honestly don’t know anymore.”
Cozy was caught off-guard by the sudden shift in Hazel’s demeanor. Her eyes softened as she asked. “Are you alright?”
Her childish voice was gone, and Cozy sounded genuinely concerned. Hazel looked at her, in surprise.  So, there is something behind that mask after all.  Sighing in distress, Hazel answered her. “Yes. No, I don’t know.”
“What’s wrong? Anything you want to talk about?”
Hazel hid a smile.  We are so much alike. Curse my sister; she was right. Perhaps if I talk to her for real, Cozy will open up.  “I’m not sure how to help you. I came here to give a pep talk and encourage you, but honestly, I’ve never been good with children. Or encouraging others.”
The small filly pondered this for a moment before asking. “So why are you trying if you aren’t good at it?”
Taking another long gulp of her stein, Hazel responded in an anxious manner. “One day while I was laying in my bed chambers bored off my flank, a stupid and naive alicorn showed up accompanied by my sister. I set about to bewitch and ensnare her mind, heart and soul for my own. Though unlike countless others, she wanted to truly love me and it rekindled a flame that had been reduced to stone cold ashes within the depths of my soul.” 
“Wow, she sounds amazing.”
That fire in Hazel’s voice, that sparkle in those crimson eyes, told Cozy Glow this alicorn must be extremely important to her. “She is…”
The thestral’s voice trailed off and her next words sounded hesitant. “But-”
“But what?”
As Cozy took a sip of her apple juice, Hazel’s voice went emotionless. It was almost as if the Thestral couldn’t decide how to feel about it. “She has a foal. Slightly younger than you, actually. She wants me to help raise the filly.To say the least I’ve never been the nurturing type. I wasn’t there for my own daughter, though now I wonder what if I had been? Oh listen to me rambling on about silly things-”
The young filly interrupted in a rather angry voice. “It isn’t silly!”
Hazel looked at the young filly. “You don’t think so?”
Cozy’s voice dropped. “Not at all.”
Fiddling with her straw using her hoof, Cozy Glow continued in a rather mature train of thought. “It’s rather admirable what you would put yourself through for her. Ponies, Dragons...etc, all will gladly do the strangest things for love. You however, take it to a whole other level. Endowed with untold wisdom and the power over the Underworld; you’ve wreaked havoc and devastation wherever you so desired. You’ve seen it all and done it all, yet you would change your perspective just to understand one you care for better. Can you not see how insanely awesome that is?”
Hazel stared at the little filly as she began to fuss over the emptiness of her juice box once more. “Why is my juice always gone so fast?”
 Such a young age, yet such a grasp of understanding. Who would have thought I would ever find such encouragement from one such as this?  “You may have a point.”
Hazel began to laugh as she downed the last of the amber liquid. Cozy Glow looked at her, brow furrowing. “What’s so funny?”
As her horn glowed red and a small cylinder of paper appeared, Hazel grinned. “This. This whole situation. I came here to encourage you and urge you to continue. Yet, here I am the literal creator of nightmares, getting counseled by a filly on how to have a positive outlook. A filly who can’t even legally order hard cider yet. Of all the things I’ve witnessed and or caused, this takes the proverbial cake.”
Cozy Glow thought in silence about this for a moment as Hazel touched the cylinder’s tip causing it to ignite. As Hazel placed it against her muzzle and took a slow drag, Cozy began giggling. “You’re right! It is rather silly. Hey, what’s that?”
Hazel blew out a smoke ring and noticed Cozy was pointing at the cylinder in her hooves. She thought about what to say. “This is something I created, Cozy. This is something made to cause others to perish in a slow and agonizing way they cannot stop. You don’t want this. Though I do have something you would much rather enjoy.”
With that, a lollipop appeared before Cozy’s eyes and she reached for it, with a big grin. As Cozy happily popped it into her muzzle, Hazel asked her. “Tell me about you, though. What’s your story, what caused you to take this path?”
Taking a moment to fiddle with her lollipop, Cozy Glow stayed silent. Turning she looked into Hazel’s eyes with a heavy sigh. “Truthfully? I took idolizing my heroes too far with some rather poor judgement. Though I guess saying that just makes it less clear, doesn’t it?”
Hazel just drew another long drag and gave an uttered. “Mmmhm”
Cozy Glow closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Her next words carried the tone of a tired, exhausted soul. “I was in elementary school when it all began. 3 years old, nervous about meeting others, that was me. I was not very socially adept, no I was the type who would rather tinker with her idea in solitude. My family was loving so no, no sob story here. My mom and dad would tell me tales of seven amazing ponies; mares who had used the power of friendship to save the world time and again.”
Pausing for a brief moment, Cozy reached down into her book bag. After rummaging for a few minutes, she produced a sketch pad and a charcoal pencil. Hazel watched in amazement as she drew rather detailed sketches of the seven bearers of harmony in their heyday. Cozy explained her thoughts as the drawings began to take on the form of a classroom. “Let's start at the beginning. I was intelligent. This became rather clear when my grades caused a shall we say divide between my classmates and me. I was different. When they were scribbling with or rather eating crayons, as was often the case, I was drawing images such as these.”
She held up the sketches to show Hazel her drawing. One of them depicted a classroom in which the class had been sat before the teacher as she read a book. Hazel pointed to one colt who was more detailed than the others. Cozy Glow’s face flushed as she said softly. “More on that one later.”
Hazel nodded and gestured her to continue as she lit another strange cylinder. “Shortly I found myself in the local chess club. It was strange, it was almost like it called out to me. It felt so natural, the other members were amazed at how fast I learned the game. It felt amazing, my manipulation of the pieces earned me the nickname the ‘Queen.’”
“The ‘Queen? Do tell.”
Cozy grinned. “We attended tournaments all over Las Pegasus. My team took the ‘Rookie division’ by storm. Soon after we toppled the ‘Novices’, the ‘Apprentices’, and by invitation went up against actual ‘Experts.’
“Oh, I see. So what happened? It would seem you were doing rather well. What does this have to do with Twilight and her friends?”
Tears were in Cozy’s eyes as she mentioned something she seemed to want to forget. Slowly she turned the sketch pad page and began to sketch once more. The sketch was of her and that pony from before. “Remember that colt? This is where he comes into play.”