"Come in!" Principal Celestia tucked away the student file she'd been working on and turned to one of her favorite students. "It's such a pleasure to have you come to my office without being summoned for something going wrong, Sunset." She laughed that laugh Sunset knew from two different Celestias. "But I assume it's not just to invite me to a concert."
Sunset held the door open for Cozy, admitting the girl into Celestia's office. Nearly every part of the room grabbed the younger girl's attention - so many elements from the computer to pictures on the wall screamed about how alien they were. Even the writing on the papers seemed off. Cozy could understand it, but even if it was Ponish it seemed all wrong for mouthwriting.
Sunset let her stew in the unfamiliar nature of things and focused on the immediate priority. "Sorry, not this time. Principal Celestia, I wanted to introduce you to Cozy Glow. My cousin." She paused meaningfully. "From back home."
The smile was instantly wiped from Celestia's face. "Just a moment, Sunset." She tapped the intercom button of her phone. "Raven?"
"Yes, miss Celestia?"
"Please ask Vice-Principal Luna to report to my office as soon as she's able. And hold my calls for the next half-hour or so. We have a Rainbooms incident."
"Should I alert the teachers to prepare for evacuation?"
"No, Raven, we should be alright. This seems to be a 'bring it up at the next staff meeting' problem rather than a 'head for the fallout shelter' problem."
"Of course m'am."
Then she turned back to Sunset. "So! We should wait until Luna gets here to go over the details. But it's wonderful to meet your--"
"We are not that bad." Sunset crossed her arms, trying not to feel hurt by her circle of friends being synonymous with catastrophe. (She only partially succeeded.)
Celestia merely shrugged. "You've had nine major incidents in the last year."
Sunset quickly ticked things off on her fingers. "I only remember eight?"
"Are you including the time you were on the school roof and burst into flames while singing about overcoming your past?"
Sunset blushed, shame-faced, as she added another finger to the count.
It took a lot for Celestia to not look smug. It was improper to look smug at one of your students. Particularly when you were right. Fortunately she had another person to look to. "As I was saying, it's wonderful to meet you, Cozy Glow. I'm sure you have a lot of questions."
Being directly addressed snapped Cozy out of her wide-eyed survey of the strange room. And she instantly donned her trademark smile of innocence once again. "Golly, you're right miss Celestia! I just don't know what's going on here at all and I could sure use somepony smart to help me figure everything out."
Sunset rolled her eyes. "By the way, she's a criminal and a con artist."
Cozy exploded. "Is that going to be the FIRST THING you tell everypony we meet?!"
"Probably," Sunset noted with a complete lack of sympathy as she inspected her nails.
Perhaps it was Harmony looking favorably down on Sunset to have Luna enter at that exact moment and pre-empt another Cozy Glow meltdown. The moment her darker sister entered, however, Celestia wrinkled her nose. "Luna, do we have to talk again about you smoking on school property?" She waved her hand in the air, trying to disperse the haze of pale blue smoke that clung around her sister. "Have you started with those awful cloves again?"
"I've done no such thing!" Luna was instantly on the defensive. "You know I quit, and even if I hadn't--"
Celestia held up her hand. "We'll discuss that later. Right now, Sunset has another Equestrian to introduce into our school. Another criminal they've exiled here." Her voice dripped a mixture of exasperation and anger - it made Sunset grimace. Meanwhile, Cozy's eyebrows shot up at the word 'another'.
"Cozy's a little different, I swear." Sunset struggled, trying to allay the two principal's concerns before it got out of hand. "Yes, she's guilty of a number of serious crimes. But that's why--"
Luna cut her off brutally. "And just what crimes would those be?"
Both administrators frowned when Sunset had to pull out a sheet of paper. And then unfold it. Twice. "Her record includes twenty-eight counts of kidnapping and false imprisonment, seven counts of grand theft, two counts of the use of forbidden dark magic, two counts of high treason, and three counts of attempted regicide. In addition to several hundred counts of assault with deadly magic, being an accessory to dozens of other crimes, possible charges of attempted omnicide that the laws don't even exist to account for and enough various libel and slander law violations that the number was just written as 'yes'."
Absolute silence. Stunned was too mild a word. Luna was the one who finally recovered. "Why--"
Sunset was prepared for the question. She'd been waiting for it. Her interruption was a swift and brutal as Luna's had been earlier. "Because she's a child. And for all its other faults, the Equestrian justice system believes in giving everyone a chance to redeem themselves. Particularly those who could still contribute to society." She frowned, looking over to Cozy. The girl was doing her best to not meet anyone else's gaze - she was cunning and mostly shameless, but even she couldn't face down the magnitude of her listed sins presented so bluntly. "I was asked - personally - by Princess Twilight to help Cozy. I want to try, but I need your help to do it. If Cozy proves she's a danger to the school, I promise that I won't hesitate to have them take her back." Sunset stepped forward, leaning over Celestia's desk. "But she deserves the chance that I got. And I'm willing to fight to give it to her."
Again - silence. At least until Luna separated away from her sister and pulled a form from the filing cabinet. "I presume young miss Glow will be sharing your place of residence?"
Sunset craned her neck to see the form. "Um. Yes?" Her fire wavered uncertainly. "Vice-Principal Luna, is that... ?"
"An enrollment form for Canterlot High." Luna turned the page to show it to the pair of Equestrians. "The Princess may have asked you personally, Sunset, but you are right that this is not a fight you can win alone. And you shall not have to."
As Luna filled the form in, Celestia picked up the lead. "We'll help you as best we can. Both of you. But Sunset, this is in your hands primarily and we still have to prioritize all of our students over just one of our students. If Cozy Glow does become as big of a problem again as you suggest she once was, I expect you to follow through and return her to Equestria."
"To be turned to stone again," Cozy added quickly, seeing an opening.
Both humans stared at Sunset in wild disbelief and no small amount of fury.
Sunset shrugged lamely. "They kind of had to? Cozy already escaped from prison once--" She paused as the sisters turned that shocked look back to Cozy. "-- Though to be fair, it was less her escaping and more her being broken out of it. They're already dealing with Discord back home for that."
"Discord?," questioned Luna. "The art teacher?"
Sunset held up her hands in surrender. "Too long to explain! Discord's weird. My point is yes, Principal Celestia, I understand. And thank you both for giving us this chance."
Cozy smiled widely - dangerously - in agreement. "Oh yes! I'm really looking forward to this... opportunity."
The subtext was not missed, and Sunset sighed heavily.
It was lunch by the time all the paperwork had been finished and Cozy's upcoming schedule set. But as Sunset guided her to the cafeteria, Cozy grabbed her arm to stop.
"Alright," she began with a look that mixed desperation and resignation, "I know you don't like me. Or at least that you don't trust me." There was a pause to allow Sunset's sarcastic glare to make very clear that was the case. "But you said you wanted to help me, riiiiight? And teach me friendship?" Angry venom burst to Cozy's surface. "Well I'm never gonna have friends if the first thing you tell them is that I'm a criminal! You ever think about that, huh? Huh?!"
And thus Sunset did think about it. She very obviously didn't like it, but she did. And while she frowned, she also nodded. "I'm still going to make sure my friends know, but you've got a point. I'll try to be more, uh. Gentle about it."
The two shared a look - and a nod of accord.
No amount of Sunset's warnings really prepared Cozy for what was waiting at the lunch table. In addition to food that vaguely resembled the inside of a donkey's toupee, the table also held most of Cozy's greatest enemies. Her former headmare, all the former teachers and even those damnable Crusaders, all gathered in one place and waiting for her. A snarl rose in Cozy's throat.
"Oh she's adorable!" Fluttershy beamed at the young girl as she approached.
Rarity was instead fishing in her bag for a comb. "Once we take care of that awful hair, darling, yes."
Sunset sighed, mostly to herself. "Hey girls. Before you start pouncing on her, at least let me make the introductions. This is my cousin, Cozy Glow." Eyes widened all around the table. Sunset nodded. "Yes." That confirmation was all they needed to understand.
Bravado was first, of course. "Hey kid. Good to meet one of Sunset's relatives. I'm Rainbow--"
"Dash," Cozy completed through lips tight with concern.
There were more frowns. Twilight picked it up next. "I guess you know the other us-es, then." Cozy's nod confirmed that, too. "Well, I just want to make clear that while we share a number of outward aspects of our appearance - accounting for the differences in physical structure between humans and ponies - we are different people from the versions you are probably used to and thus should be approached as unique individuals."
Rarity leaned over slightly, stage-whispering. "Dear Twilight is still a bit put off by the fact that her alternate self is a magical immortal princess." Twilight responded by shoving Rarity back into her seat by the face.
Sunset, meanwhile, was occupied. "No. No, Pinkie. No. No. No! No no NO! No. Pinkie, no!" She kept grabbing at her pink friend, trying to snatch away a spiral-bound notebook. Pinkie merely looked hurt and offended by the attempts. "Cozy hasn't even been walking on two legs for half a day! I'm not saying you can't give her a welcome party, but give her a little time! Let her figure out how hands work first! Then do the party!"
That seemed to grudgingly mollify Pinkie, though she still pouted. And refused to give up her notebook. The words New Friend Notes, Vol. 18 ominously loomed on the page in bright glitterpen.
A part of Cozy Glow's mind attempted to figure out how (versions of) these people managed to defeat her and save Equestria. Twice.
Someone tapped on Cozy's arm. She turned and found an orange face far too close. "Hey. I'm Scootaloo. You're gonna be a freshman here, right?"
It took a moment for Cozy to process the question - and a moment more to push down her deep-fried hatred for any and all Cutie Mark Crusaders. She succeeded enough to beam broadly back. "Yuppers! I'm supposed to start tomorrow!"
"Cool!" Scootaloo smiled right back. "You'll probably be in some classes with me and Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle. We can show you around and stuff! I mean, for what your cousin doesn't show you."
Leaning a little closer - uncomfortably so - Cozy half-whispered. "She isn't really my cousin."
That just made Scootaloo more cheerful. "It's okay. Rainbow Dash isn't really my sister either, but she is in all the ways that matter."
A second face popped in right beside Scootaloo's - Apple Bloom. "You betcha! An' since you're basically Sunset's family, an' she's so close to our sisters, that means you're basically our family, too!"
"But... I barely know you. We just met." Cozy sniffled loudly. Her eyes darted for a moment over to Sunset - who was currently having a very serious talk with Rarity that involved refusing to let the fashionistia straighten out Cozy's ringlets, no matter how many seasons out of style they were. "Why are you being so nice? It's not like I can do anything to help you."
Her hopes were vindicated as Sweetie Belle's face came into view, plastered with a saccharine smile. "That's how friendship works. When you give from your heart, you don't expect anything back."
Cozy's heart said 'jackpot'. "Wow. Thanks so much! You really are the best!"
The four young girls immediately hugged, which finally attracted Sunset's attention. The broke apart to her frowning. "I see you girls have met Cozy. That's good, because she's going to be sharing a lot of classes with you and I need you to keep an eye on her."
"We will!," came in three-part harmony.
"It won't be easy." Sunset frowned deeper, trying to figure out a way to say it without immediately saying it and destroying Cozy's best first chance at friends. "Cozy's had a really rough life before this, and she's made some mistakes. Some of them pretty bad. But Princess Twilight--" She refused to look over and give Twilight the satisfaction of watching the bookworm make a gagging motion. "-- Asked us to help teach her about friendship. And since the rest of us are in senior's classes, we can't be there as much as you can. This is a big responsibility, you three. Are you sure you can handle it?"
The Crusaders exchanged looks - and nodded to each other. "We will, Sunset." Scootaloo put on her most serious expression (which made Rainbow suppress a snicker). "We won't let you down. Promise."