//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: The Next Morning // Story: Big Brother Sandbar // by HenBasket //------------------------------// Sandbar slowly opened his eyes as the first rays of sun hit his eyes through the window. As he came to his senses, he noticed his side was a bit warm. Slightly confused at first, he quickly remembered what happened the night before when he saw Cozy Glow leaning against him, sleeping. Sandbar smiled, something about helping the filly gave him satisfaction, but he didn’t quite know why. He stretched in place contemplating his current situation; he wanted to get up, but at the same time he didn’t want to wake Cozy up before the sun had even finished rising. He let out an audible sigh. “Hey sleepyhead,” he cooed, nuzzling the filly’s neck. “It’s morning.” “Just five more minutes, Fizzy,” the pegasus muttered, half asleep. “The sun’s not even fully up yet.” Who’s Fizzy? Sandbar wondered before replying to Cozy. “No, Cozy. It’s Sandbar. Remember?” Cozy’s face turned bright red and her eyes started to tear up. “S-so it wasn't a dream? Oh golly, I’m gonna be a laughingstock!” “Cozy, I’m sure it will be fine.” Sandbar said sympathetically. “Look, it’s still pretty dark outside, so not many ponies will be up. Why don’t you head to your room to get ready for the day? Like no pony will see you except maybe a janitor.” “Can I at least have breakfast with you afterwards?” “If you want to, then I don’t see why not. Now run along, I need to get ready for the day too, you know.” Sandbar opened the door for Cozy, who slowly walked out and turned down the hall to where her room was. Sandbar watched the filly walk down the hall and walked down the hall in the opposite direction to the bathroom after she turned the corner. Cozy walked into her room and shut the door. Taking off her pajamas, she grabbed a brush out of her dresser, she sat down in front of her mirror and started to brush her hair. Struggling a bit to brush through a knot, Cozy heard her door slam open followed by a malicious giggle. “Well look girls,” a filly sneered. “The little foal is back.” Cozy ignored her and continued to try to get the knot in her mane out. “Did you make it through the night without crying like a little bitch?” A second filly spoke up, trying to get a reaction out of Cozy, who only huffed in response. “Oh,” teased a third filly. “Are we making you upset? It’d be such a shame if word got out that you’re scared of thunderstorms.” Cozy stood up. “I’m taking a shower.” She walked past the trio, shut her door, and walked down the hall to the bathroom. “You know,” said the third filly. “She forgot to lock her door. What do you say we teach her a little lesson?” The other two fillies smiled and laughed in agreement, the first filly pushed open the door to Cozy’s room. The three were about to step in when they were enveloped in a magic aura and heard a mare clear her throat. “Bullying is not tolerated on school grounds. You three just earned yourselves a week of detention.” Starlight was visibly upset. “Listen, just because somepony is afraid of something that you aren’t isn’t a good enough reason to tease them about it.” She set them down. “Now, I want you three to write an apology to her, and this incident will also be going on your records. Got that?” “Why would we care what a little scaredy-foal feels?” One of the fillies retorted. “It’s not like she has any friends in the first place.” Starlight furrowed her eyebrows. “I think you should care that you just earned yourself another week of detention. This behavior is the reason your parents sent you girls here. There is no reason for you to be this mean. Now go before you give me anymore reasons to extend your punishments.” The three fillies rolled their eyes and walked back to their rooms. Starlight walked over to the bathroom where Cozy Glow was crying and knocked on the door. “Go away,” Cozy said nasally. “They’re gone, Cozy,” Starlight said. “You can come out now.” Starlight waited for a response. After a few seconds, she heard the sink run and Cozy splash water onto her face. After a couple minutes, Cozy came out with a weak smile. “Feel any better?” Starlight asked the filly. “Yes,” lied the filly, before adding on, “I’m gonna go have some breakfast now.” She started walking towards the school cafeteria. “Cozy, wait,” Starlight said, “remember if you ever need to talk, my doors are open.” Cozy, however did not respond. Poor girl. I wonder what would have happened if I hadn’t been walking by when those girls were teasing her? Starlight thought to herself. It’s bad enough she had to brave that storm alone with all her problems, but to be teased about must be awful. Starlight headed towards her office to fill out the discipline forms on the three fillies who were bullying Cozy. Sandbar was still waiting at the entrance to the cafeteria waiting for it to be opened when Cozy arrived, obviously trying to hold back tears. Sandbar noticed her distress and turned to comfort her. “Hey,” he said, lifting the filly’s head with his hoof. “Is everything okay?” “N-no…” Cozy admitted after a few seconds of contemplation. “Do you… wanna talk about it?” Sandbar asked the filly gently. “Maybe after breakfast,” the filly replied, “I’m hungry!” As if on queue, the gate blocking off the cafeteria lifted, and the lights for the serving line turned on. After giving Sandbar a hug, Cozy trotted towards the serving line to get her breakfast. After getting his breakfast, Sandbar walked into the cafeteria and looked for Cozy. After a few seconds of looking around, he noticed her standing in the doorway to the cafeteria’s side room. Confused, he made his way over. When he saw the foam puzzle piece mats on the floor and the beanbag chairs at the tables, he understood what the room was for. Admittedly, he was a little curious why Cozy Glow was in special ed, but he knew better than to ask. Seeing that her friend was at the doorway, she walked in. However, when Sandbar tried to enter, a magic field prevented him from doing so. “Sorry,” Cozy said, pushing a button inside the room, “I forget not everypony can access this room. You should be able to come in now.” Testing the doorway with his hoof, Sandbar noticed the field was gone, and stepped all the way in. Cozy released the button and made her way back to the table where her breakfast was. “So Cozy, Sandbar asked, trying to start some conversation, “what do you have for breakfast? I’m having mixed berries and granola.” “Oatmeal with apple slices,” Cozy replied. “It’s really good!” “I bet,” chuckled Sandbar, “sounds delicious.” After a few seconds, he asked her a question. “So, Cozy. This morning when you woke up, you mentioned someone named… Fizzy?” “Oh yeah,” Cozy said, mouth full of oatmeal. “Berry Fizz. She’s my roommate. She helps make sure I get up on time and stuff.” “Would you consider her your friend?” “Yeah, she’s like my only friend here,” she replied, stirring the oatmeal with her spoon. “That’s kinda why I came here in the first place, to be able to make friends. But I suck at it.” Sandbar dropped his spoon. “Cozy, I had no ide--” “And why would you?!” The filly interrupted him, seemingly getting a surge of emotions out of nowhere. “I’m a failure, everypony knows that. But nopony seems to care why I’m one! Nopony cares why I can’t make friends, because I’m a loser who can’t control her own fucking emotions!” Sandbar watched as the filly cried, both from anger and sadness. He didn’t know what to do, so he got up and walked around the table to where Cozy was sitting and began to stroke her back again. “It’s okay to cry, Cozy. Just let it out. I’ll be here if you nee--oof!” Sandbar was cut off by the filly punching him in the chest. It didn’t hurt him, but it definitely caught him off guard. Immediately realizing what she had done, Cozy began crying even harder and repeatedly apologized to Sandbar, despite him saying it was okay every time. Looking around the room, Sandbar noticed a rope hanging from a bell with a sign that said “ring for help” and went over to ring it. A few seconds after ringing the bell, Sandbar got startled by a pony teleporting behind him. “Oh, Starlight,” he said, catching his breath, “it’s Cozy. We were just having a conversation, and she completely broke down.” “I see,” said Starlight, walking over to Cozy. “And can I assume that you’re her guest here?” “Yeah, she wanted to have breakfast with me this morning,” Sandbar explained, “so I figured I’d make her happy.” Starlight took a deep breath. “Look, Sandbar. Cozy isn’t your typical twelve-year-old. As you can see, she has a hard time processing her emotions and--” “She came to my room last night during the thunderstorm.” Sandbar interrupted the counselor, telling her important information. “She seemed scared.” The teenager sat down. “She said the other fillies were teasing her about it, so I allowed her to sleep in my bed with me. I know how that may see--” “Sandbar, I know you’re not the kind of pony to take advantage of, you know…” Starlight gestured to Cozy. “She needs special attention, and you gave it to her.” “I can hear you guys,” Cozy said, through her hooves which were covering her face. “If you have something to say about me, say it to my face.” “Oh, Cozy, sweetie,” Starlight turned to console the filly. “Would you rather the three of us take this to my office?” The unicorn used her hoof to coerce the filly to look her in the eyes. “We care about you, Cozy. We wanna help you.” The filly’s face twitched, emotions all over the place. Eventually, she spoke up, “I don’t know how I should feel right now.” “It’s okay, Cozy,” Starlight said, trying to comfort the filly. “That’s why you’re here. We want to help you.” “I wanna talk about it with you and Sandbar,” The filly spoke up after a few minutes of silence. “I think I can handle it.” “Okay, Cozy. Why don’t you finish your breakfast and then we’ll go to my office?” Starlight gently stroked Cozy while asking, ”how does that sound?” The filly nodded, and began to finish her now room temperature oatmeal. Sandbar spoke up. “Listen, I need to go now. I made other plans for today.” Sandbar looked at the filly and sighed. “However, if you want me there with you, I can change them. Okay, Cozy?” “I don’t care,” the filly mumbled between bites of her oatmeal. “Do whatever you want.” “Okay then,” Sandbar said. Turning to Starlight he whispered, “What time?” “Give us about thirty minutes,” she whispered back. Nodding, Sandbar left the cafeteria, and went up to his room where his roommate was waiting. “Hey, doofus,” Gallus asked, “you ready for some extreme hoofball?” “Actually, something came up,” Sandbar said. “Counselor Starlight wants me to… help another student. I can’t get out of it.” “Ah, that’s a shame,” Gallus said. “How much time do you have left?” “About twenty minutes, why?” Sandbar looked slightly confused until the griffon raised his eyebrows. “Ohh…” Sandbar hopped onto Gallus’s bed and embraced him. “This is nice…”