//------------------------------// // Excerpt 15 // Story: Glow in the Dark // by Shadow Spector //------------------------------// Excerpt 15: Cozy stared at the hall. According to the calendar, she had been in the abandoned castle for another six months. She was now three moons away from her twelfth birthday, but she didn’t count on reaching it. She was ready to die right then. Her food storage that she took from Twilight’s castle was nearing the final portions. Cozy made sure to take the foods that would last the longest, but she couldn’t take too much for fear of being caught. She probably had only three meals left; four if she tried to make them last. The filly stared up through the roofless castle, gazing into the blue sky and recounting her days. After the first day of her arrival, she found herself having to spend the entire week cleaning up the quills from the pukwudgies. She had been thankful that the repellent hadn’t left any lasting colors on the ground or on the walls around her. The sanctuary had been kept safe for some time since she left quite a lasting impression the first time she had her invaders. The peace would’ve lasted a lot longer if it weren’t for the trespassers that came two weeks before. She didn’t have time to get a good look at them when they came, so she had hidden in the grand, intuitive castle, waiting for them to leave. After two days of remaining unnoticed, she emerged to find the place littered with apples, cupcakes, and pillows. The reintroduction of food to the castle had caused the pukwudgies to return once more, and now there was no longer a way to get rid of them again. Cozy sat up from her recline, flying to the top of the broken wall of the castle to get a good look at the forest around her. As part of her daily routine, she had always looked out at the nature to see the beauty surrounding her, and she always took it upon herself to notice something new every time. But there was nothing new this time, and neither was there anything new for the last couple of weeks she tried this. The only thing that changed were the varying number of pukwudgies that reentered the bushes around the castle. Ever since the recent unwanted company brought them back, she had been noticing an increasing number of the creatures everyday. First, six of them came back. Then ten. Then twenty. It appeared that, today, there were twenty-five. The pegasus knew that sooner or later, the number of pukwudgies that appeared back at the castle would be too much to handle again and when that happened, they’d overtake her. She knew she had to leave before that happened. Why wait? She asked herself. It’s not like my life is going anywhere anyway. With a jump, she landed back at her saddle-bag and looked around at the objects all around before placing them individually back in her bag. She stopped when she picked up the framed picture with her hooves over the white daisies. She sighed. “It’s been too long since I’ve made any progress. Is there really any point in continuing?” Even if she still wanted to, there would be no way to go further into her flawed plans. Without a way to continue, she just felt like giving up entirely on the idea. With droopy eyes, she placed the picture in her bag before moving on to the last item: the skull. A rare smile spread across her face. “Hello, Troth. I know I failed, but it means so much to me that you still stuck by my side.” She grabbed the skull and wrapped her arms around it, engulfing it in a big hug. It was when she squeezed her chin on the roof of the brittle cranium that she heard the crack. Panicked, she brought it away, examining it to find the newly placed crack that appeared at the top, stemming down shortly into two softer cracks like lightning. Cozy slouched. “Next time, I’ll be more careful.” She finished packing up all of her stuff before looking around the once again empty castle. She was so used to leaving locations that she didn’t even feel a hint of sadness. It was tempting to just stay there and die, but she couldn’t do that. She had to earn her death. Finally, she silently flew over the top of the castle walls, avoiding the attention of the pukwudgies as she left the premises. She flew over the forest in no rush. She simply stared down at the trees below her the entire way, noticing several dangerous-looking creatures that tempted her to lower her altitude close enough to end it all. Although the thought appeased her for the time being, she did not change her course as she flew back to the direction of civilization. The first sight she noticed was that of the populated town, but to her surprise, there were mostly fillies, smiling with their bright looks as if there were nothing wrong in Equestria. The picture shattered Cozy. She did not want to feel this loneliness anymore. She didn’t want to feel like the failure she was. All she wanted was to rejoin civilization and to stop following a dream that she knew to be impossible. She had no idea how to go about it, but she knew she had to start somewhere. Maybe with talking to a pony? Her previous experience with ponies didn’t go so well though so she treaded carefully, trying to choose the correct individual to help her back into reality. Who would be someone friendly enough to help out a little filly in need? She looked into the crowd, trying to find anyone who could help her out. The bright red stallion with the green apple cutiemark didn’t fall on her that well enough. She then noticed a palish pink mare with a magenta mane and a wedding ring for a cutiemark trotting alone through the streets. The mare seemed familiar to the filly, but she couldn’t think of who she was. Regardless, her expression was that of mild disappointment, causing the pegasus to continue looking. It was then that her eyes landed on the gray mare with the yellow mane for the first time in a year. Cozy was stunned at the view, barely able to breath. Her eyes widened in their sockets, filling the white space with her expanded pupils. It wasn’t long before the filly’s puffy cheeks became lined with her tears. At first, the curly-haired filly was apprehensive. She didn’t know how to greet her after so long. She made her way slowly to the mail mare who appeared to be dropping off a package at one of the local residents. She stopped at a healthy distance behind the mail pony with no one in between the two pegasi. Patiently, the filly waited for the gray mare to get done with her work. Finally, the yellow-maned equine turned around, instantly noticing and recognizing the filly as her woll-eyes expanded. No words were spoken. Instead, Cozy walked slowly towards the pony, embracing her emotionally as she wept softly. “Uh, hey there,” the older pegasus began. Cozy didn’t respond. She just needed to feel the company of a pony she knew, and for a moment, nothing else mattered in the world. She then promptly released her grip before looking up at the pegasus in a dignified manner. “Oh hey,” the older pegasus continued, “I just remembered. You have a message that never got delivered to you. I kept it for you in case I ever saw you again.” The pegasus reached inside her mail delivery bag before pulling out a tattered-scroll. Cozy lightly beamed at the sight before the pegasus kept pulling out more and more papers. “What’s this?” Cozy asked. “Well, there are no disposable containers in Tartarus, so I’ve had to keep all the letters sent. But it seems that since you are the one who wrote all of them in the first place, you should be the one to get to keep them.” The salmon-colored filly didn’t know if she heard correctly, but after reading the papers, she knew that there wasn’t any doubt. Set out in her hooves were all the letters that she wrote in the past. All the letters that she made to figure out more information on how to take over the job of the princess. Through a flash, she remembered everything as if experiencing it again. She remembered the beginning of her dark days, the plan to become the ruler, the information she was given through the letters and most importantly, the promise made to the one prematurely taken from her. For the first time in a long time, she became excited again. Her smile returned to her face as she looked through the endless pages of text from Tirek about how to full-proof her plan despite not having any current information on the modern aspects of the princess. The reminder of Princess Twilight poked at her curiosity, and she turned to the direction of the purple castle that stood tall over the town. But instead of it being alone, she noticed something new added to the scenery. Neighboring the oversized treehouse stood what looked to be a smaller castle with multiple waterfalls cascading from its walls, depositing in a moat that encircled the building. “Well, I’m off to deliver the rest of the packages,” the gray mare interrupted. Cozy returned her glance to the older pegasus. “Thank you.” The woll-eyed equine turned to dash off, but before she could, Cozy interrupted with one final request. “Wait, before you go, do you think that you can begin delivering messages to my friend again?” The mail pony returned her attention to the filly before giving her a smile and a reassuring nod. Cozy squeed at the pegasus before the yellow-maned pony left Cozy alone again, only this time, she was perfectly okay with it. The filly let out a sigh of relief before wiping the tears off her face, renewed with confidence. She looked through the pages in her hooves again, reading through the old texts and reliving the limited positive days of her past. It didn’t take her long at all to notice the issues with the plans. Throughout almost all of the messages, she saw the same recurring concern of Tirek, the worry of not knowing enough of Princess Twilight since he was banished to Tartarus. Cozy’s eyes fell back on the neighboring building beside Twilight’s castle. Well I guess it’s time we figured out, Cozy smirked. Within the second, Cozy was off, flying at full speed to the building, unable to contain her excitement. Cozy soared through the air, slicing her wings through the wind as she made her way to her destination. Though her saddle bag weighed her down, it was barely enough to put a dent in her mood. Finally, she made it, landing in front of the door before trotting through the water vapor that misted around the entrance. Before she even opened the doors, she could tell the place was storming with cheer from the sounds she heard. She was ready to be met with a sight that would match her apparent first impression, but through her first glance of seeing the crowded building, she was able to pinpoint the five creatures that weren’t like her. Cozy bit her tongue at the sight, trying her best to not let her inner emotions become outer ones. Through a deep breath, she put on a smile, knowing fully well that her plans would be ruined if she even remotely came off as aggressive. She traveled through the school, pretending to belong as she made her way through the crowd. The long and open hall reminded her of the abandoned castle she had lived in, except everything was already clean and the room branched off into smaller hallways with a staircase to her left. This was different compared to just the set of stairs at the end of her previous residence. She traveled up the staircase, her mind dead set on finding anything that could help with her overall plan. According to Tirek, finding the magical artifacts was integral to her success. With items of that power, she imagined that she would have to be alone if she were to attempt to get close to them. Cozy walked up to the second floor to find, to her surprise, yet another hallway. The multiple doors on each side of the corridor only slightly discouraged her, but she basked in the idea that checking all of them in a suspicious manner would not be good for her, alerting her that it would be unwise to do as much work as the situation appeared to call for. She traveled carefully, trying to be as quiet as possible but also trying not to look out of place. Every doorway looked the exact same: a brown piece of wood rounded at the top with no marking to separate it from the rest. It was by the time Cozy got to the center of the hallway that she heard the sound of the door opening. “Can I help you?” the familiar voice asked. Cozy turned to face the princess. “Yes. I just moved here from Trottingham and would like to know more about what’s happening here.” “Well, you’ve come to the right pony,” Twilight answered with a smile as she made her way into the hallway. “I’m Headmare Twilight Sparkle, and this is the School of Friendship. I’ve started this with my friends to help creatures all across Equestria learn true friendship just like I did. It used to be a school that was running in the EEA guidelines, but through the trust of my mentor, Princess Celestia, it is now a friendship school with its own rules.” Within an instant, Cozy knew exactly what she needed to do. If she was able to join the school, not only would she be able to locate the magical artifacts along with anything else she needed, but she would be naturally close to the strongest being of Equestria, ready to overthrow her whenever she wanted; not to mention the additional information regarding Equestria’s strongest power to help perfect her plan. “So if this school is for every creature, then that means I can join, right?” Cozy asked. “Or course,” Twilight giggled in an uplifting tone. “Just come back with your parents, and we can get you into the school in a matter of weeks.” Cozy gritted her teeth, knowing that she had to keep some information to herself. “Does it have to be so long until I can start here?” “Well, it’s the rules.” “But if you make the rules, then can’t you allow me to start now? I would really like to learn. I’ve often been told I’m bad at friendship.” Twilight beamed. “Well, I love the enthusiasm, and you’re right. We’ll get you started right now then.” That easy, huh? Cozy thought to herself. Twilight continued. “I’ll just go input you into the school and get you enrolled in all the classes, and you can become a better friend immediately.” Twilight trotted off in jollity as Cozy watched her leave. Immediately as the alicorn was down the stairs, Cozy faced the direction of the door that the princess had walked out of, opening it up carefully before sneaking inside. She couldn’t believe how well her plan was coming together. And to top it all off, she now had a way to replace Twilight. She had to become the principal of the Friendship school. She didn’t know how yet, but she had plenty of time to figure that out. Cozy looked through the room, turning on a light switch to reveal long rows of shelves, all littered with items. Cozy smiled, knowing that she was that much closer to her end goal. It wasn’t long before she saw the shine come off from a blue emerald-like object. She beamed at the sight. “The Key of Unfettered Entrance,” she said proudly. She reached out to touch it but stopped herself. She recalled her long classes with the rock pony. The gem had been enchanted to only last one more use before shattering. One slip up with that artifact and her entire plan would be ruined. Cozy kept looking around, trying to find more items that would help her. The only thing that stuck out to her was a golden cane that had a red ruby on the bottom and a face at the top that strangely looked like Twilight Sparkle. She disregarded it before she kept searching. After a couple minutes of careful searching, she finally found them. All six artifacts in one place, each matching the description Tirek gave her. All that was left was to find a location where she could put all of the items to create her mystical magnet to suck all the magic in Equestria into the aether. She would’ve continued looking through if it weren’t for the male voice that sounded from behind her. “Won’t Headmare Twilight be so upset to see one of her students snooping through her inventory.” Cozy froze, holding her breath. “I got lost,” Cozy said without looking behind herself. “Oh, if I haven’t heard that one before.” The voice came to her from varying levels, as if levitating at different heights in the room. Finally, Cozy turned around to face what she had assumed to be a pegasus at first. It wasn’t, but she could’ve sworn she recognized the look of such disharmony. “Spirit of Chaos?” Cozy asked, trying to breath normally. “I prefer Discord, but either way works.” Cozy subtly calmed her breathing. She had to treat her next words carefully. “Are you a teacher here?” “Well, not officially, but I’ll be invited as one soon. I’m just going to watch from the sidelines until Twilight feels she is ready for me.” The creature snapped his claws, causing a brief flash to illuminate around him. When the view of him clear, he was dressed in a cheer-leading outfit with pom-poms on his claws, outstretched in the air. For a moment, Cozy was startled, but she quickly had an idea. “Well, with how organized Twilight is, she’ll probably won’t consider you for the job.” Discord was caught off guard, throwing off the outfit before crossing his arms. “Oh, that’s simply absurd. Twilight is just waiting for the right moment.” “If she was planning on it, wouldn’t she introduce you to the scenery around here plenty of time in advance instead of having you be reduced to just watching?” “Well, I suppose. But Twilight is always planning her actions based off some multi-step plan she created. She is probably following some checklist that I haven’t heard about yet.” “Has she even invited you to this school personally yet?” “Well, no, not yet.” Cozy was barely able to hide her smirk. “So the entire time this school has been open, you’ve just been watching from the sidelines? Just going in by secret to check how things are going, but only waiting for somepony else to ask you to help? That must sound super lonely, waiting for something that’s never going to happen.” “It will happen.” “When? If you don’t do anything, then this school just might go on without you for a while. Maybe Twilight and her friends have forgotten about you by this time. You won’t know until you go out and seek some answers.” “I can’t go and ask Headmare Twilight why she hasn’t informed me about this school,” the creature grumbled. “Her friends would just come up with some lame excuse as to why they’re right.” “Well, what if you only confronted one pony about it instead of all six of them? Maybe talk to that other pony that Twilight lives with. Ask her why you haven’t been asked yet.” “Hmm, nah. That sounds too easy for them. I might need to cause a big show just to get my point across. Maybe stir up some chaos at an event here.” Discord stopped, a smile coming across his face. “And I know the perfect event to do it. Thank you, young filly. I’ll see you in class.” The creature snapped his claws, vanishing from the room in a flash. Cozy did not know what to make of that last part, but she was just glad he was away. At the realization that she nearly blew everything, she decided to go back on the safe side and leave while she was still unknown. When the filly got to the bottom of the staircase to the main floor again, Twilight stopped her. “There you are. You’re all set up to start school today. Your first class is Professor Fluttershy’s Kindness Class which should start after the lunch break in about 10 minutes.” Twilight gave the pegasus a map of the school to help her. “Now, I have to go,” the purple pony continued. “I have friendship tests that must be graded. Tell me if the classes are too hard. After all, you are starting in the middle of a class instead of at the beginning.” As the alicorn flew off, Cozy smiled to herself. Her way of life had just gotten so much easier. Cozy followed the school’s map, letting her mind wander as she traveled to the classroom. For the moment, her plans were about to be turned into another standstill, but this time, it was acceptable because she clearly had something she was working towards, and she just knew that everything would work out. Her eyes focused on the room number on her map before she looked back up to find an open room that matched the same number. The door to it was opened to reveal a yellow adult pegasus with a light-pink mane sitting at a desk. Just above the room number was a symbol: a pink butterfly facing upwards. Cozy smiled. The Element of Kindness. She recalled first hearing about that element, one of the only elements she remembered the name of. She was in a library with her new best friend. She remembered the joy she had at seeing those symbols, the turtle necks and the cheese grater as she had called them. She had said “remind me never to go to the library.” Now it was the only place she wanted to visit. Probably the only place she could feel truly at home anymore. The sound of weeping stirred her out of her memories. Cozy looked up to the yellow pegasus again, finally realizing that the mare was crying as she stared at the picture in front of her. Instantly, the filly was curious. “Excuse me,” she said from the doorway. The mare looked up from her picture and faced Cozy, not hiding any of her tears. “Oh, hello there,” she spoke in the most gentle of voices. “Are you my new student?” Cozy stared at the tear streaks on the cheeks of the pony who didn’t seem to care who saw them. “Yes, I’m Cozy Glow.” “My name is Fluttershy. I’m sorry you have to see me like this. I was thinking of my friend who was wrongfully locked up.” Cozy drooped her eyes in false sympathy, pretending it was genuine. “What happened?” Fluttershy sniffled. “Well, many years ago, my friends traveled through the Everfree Forest, and we encountered a manticore.” The name triggered a memory in Cozy, but she couldn’t quite pinpoint it. She felt as though she read about that creature before, but she didn’t know for sure. The pink-maned pegasus continued. “While he looked vicious, he was actually really gentle. He was only angry because he had a big thorn in his paw, but I was the only one who would give him a chance to show who he was. After I helped him, my friends and I left him on his merry way to continue his life in the Everfree Forest, but somepony thought he was too dangerous to keep free. Because of who he was, he was imprisoned in Tartarus from ponies not trusting someone like him to be free.” Cozy’s sympathy began to grow a bit more real. “That doesn’t sound right. Shouldn’t something have been done about that?” “Well, maybe if it just happened, but I only recently heard about this. He’s been like this for many years, and you can’t change something that has seemed to work just fine.” Cozy walked closer to the older pegasus, trying for a reassuring smile. “It’s okay, Professor Fluttershy. Nothing bad is happening to him. Tartarus is just a new home to him, a new place to spend his time.” Fluttershy gave a soft smile to Cozy. “Thank you.” The salmon-colored filly took a step back and smiled innocently before the sound of hoofsteps sounded from outside. Cozy looked back to see a group of seven ponies, all ranging in ages, entering the classroom one-by-one. “Ooh,” Fluttershy said, “lunch break is over. Class is going to begin.” Cozy found her seat, sitting next to an opening in the room that had an outside view of the rest of the school. Just outside the opening was a balcony that the teacher was soon to march out on, lifting out a hoof to call to a group of butterflies that flew around over the balcony rail. “Alright, students,” she said as a butterfly landed on her outstretched hoof. “It’s time to meet some new friends.” Cozy watched the butterflies in wide-eyed fascination, each of them entering the room to interact with her and her classmates. It wasn’t long before she caught sight of a white butterfly flying towards her, something looking oddly familiar with it. The butterfly got closer to the filly, landing on her snout and causing the filly to freeze. The clear wings of the insect were scarlet at the ends before appearing more pale as they got to the center of the bug. Finally, the butterfly left Cozy’s face, causing the filly to give a soft smile to the creature as it went away. “Oh no!” the soft voice of her teacher sounded. Cozy turned to the direction of the distress to see Fluttershy holding a butterfly in her hooves, it’s body appearing lifeless as a maroon stallion stared down at it in guilt. “It’s okay,” Fluttershy said to the nervous stallion. “There’s still hope. I need to go and get my supplies to help this poor little critter.” The yellow mare scanned the classroom full of ponies, her eyes stopping on the filly. “Cozy Glow is in charge until I get back.” The declaration rocked Cozy to her core, but she tried her best to keep her true expression a secret, resulting in just a blank expression as her eyes widened apprehensively. As the former teacher left the room, Cozy sheepishly traveled to the front desk, looking to the other ponies around her. The filly waited there in the seat, eyeing the group of ponies nervously. She didn’t know exactly how to be in a position like this without spoiling her true intentions, so she simply waited for someone to make a move. No one did until she looked away, and she heard someone speak the moment her eyes left her classmates. “I’m sure Professor Fluttershy would want the volume level to be kept the same as when she is here,” Cozy spoke up. “Please keep the peace until she returns.” “They’re just talking,” the maroon stallion responded. “There’s not much wrong with that.” “I would know that Professor Fluttershy would want all of you to be kind so please show your kindness by respecting the teacher’s absence.” “Well, if we talk at the same volume as Fluttershy, then it would be the same volume, right?” Cozy’s smile began to fade at the questioning, and she got to the top of the desk. “I have been put in charge until Fluttershy returns, so that means you should listen to me.” The stallion put on a pretentious look. “Why would she put you in charge?” The stallion reminded Cozy of someone she once knew, causing her breath to grow slightly shaky. She was beginning to lose her control. “Well, maybe because this is a Kindness class,” Cozy said. “And maybe the one with the most kindness would be somepony who is the youngest.” “Or maybe someone who has had the most experience with it. You probably don’t know anything you’re talking about.” Cozy steadied her breath, regaining control of her mind. “Such unkind words. This is why Fluttershy left me in charge.” Cozy tilted her head before smiling down in a condescending manner towards the older pony. The filly regarded the rest of the classroom. “Now Fluttershy won’t be gone for much longer so I’d like to ask all of you to just hang on until she gets back. Can you all do that for me?” Before she could get a response, the door began to open, startling Cozy back down into the chair. The original teacher walked back into the room, holding the butterfly in her hooves. “It’s okay, everypony. She’s alright.” Cozy quietly sighed as she returned to her seat that was seated in view of the outside. She was trying to listen as Fluttershy spoke, but a sight from outside on the ground distracted her. From outside, a tall, multi-colored figure emerged from the bushes. Cozy strained her eyes to try and understand what she was seeing until she finally could recognize it as three fillies stacked up on eachother, the bottom one being a yellow filly, the middle one being a white unicorn, and the top one being a tannish-brown pegasus. What are they doing? Cozy thought to herself. She watched as the three fillies struggled to stand as one until the top one was able to grab onto the window sill of a second-story room, using her wings to help her direct the column of fillies. They must want something, Cozy figured. Cozy looked at the classroom of adult ponies before she looked back at the three ponies outside that were more her age. If she was going to make friends with anyone, she would prefer it be with those three to begin with. That way, friendship would not be as foreign of a concept to her as it had been for the longest time now. The crash of a box landing in front of Cozy shocked her out of her miniature show. Cozy looked down in front of her to notice the multiple pictures of ponies inside. “Now, Cozy,” Fluttershy began, “pick three pictures.” Not knowing what was happening, Cozy obeyed, choosing three pictures at random. The first was a picture of a blue female pony with a pink mane that swirled like cupcake frosting. The second was a bright red earth pony that she recognized as the stallion she had seen earlier that day. The last picture was yet another earth pony with a yellow coat and a mix of pink and blue as her mane. Worried, Cozy looked back up at the pink-maned mare. “Professor Fluttershy, I’m very worried that I’ll get this assignment wrong.” “Oh don’t worry, Cozy. Worrying does no good. It’s the actions that follow that determine what will happen.” “Could you tell me what it is that I have to do?” Fluttershy gently smiled before speaking again in her soft voice. “Well, the best way to learn kindness is through actions. So your homework is to do something nice for each of those ponies that you’ve just chosen.” The filly nodded before giving the box back to her teacher. She then took the pictures of the ponies to place in her saddle-bag. “Goodluck, my little ponies,” Fluttershy said, smiling specifically at Cozy as the group of students in the classroom proceeded to leave. Cozy smiled up at her teacher before she turned to exit the class, becoming the final student in the room. As the blue-curled pony left through the doorway, she caught sight of another group of ponies, specifically 5, but as she examined closer, she saw what looked to be a mix between a griffon and a pegasus accompanying the five equines. She recalled seeing her earlier from a distance, but up close, it was unnerving. She remained motionless in the hallway as the group of students marched into Professor Fluttershy’s class. Through the walls, Cozy could hear the sound of the teacher again. “Alright, students,” the muffled voice called out. “It’s time to meet some new friends!” “Indeed,” Cozy said as she thought of the three fillies she saw earlier. She marched down the hallway to her next class, her mind scheming up a storm. Cozy exited the School of Friendship, flying out over the city. She had just finished up the rest of her classes for the day and had stayed around the place in hopes of finding anything that might be useful, but now she set her mind to trying to find those fillies she laid her eyes on during the first class she had. She flew higher into the air, trying to get a good view of the entire town. The immensity of the city was discouraging, but Cozy shook off the feeling, knowing that she had as much time as she needed. Cozy tried to think of where she could possibly find her future friends. “They were spying on the school when I saw them. The best place to look would be where each of the professors are.” Cozy stopped herself. The first place she thought to look would’ve been back at the school, but she was just there and saw most of the teachers individually leave. If she was going to find the fillies, she most likely had to find her professors again. The small pegasus scanned the city below her for the places to look. Her gaze caught on Twilight’s castle, a landmark she knew she wasn’t going back to. At the far end of the city, Cozy could barely see the silhouette of some form of barn. She blinked in recognition and started flying towards it, expecting the Honesty teacher to be there. Upon arriving, the first thing found was the alone professor hard at work in her fields. Cozy looked around as she hid at the white fence, observing closely to see if she could find whom she was looking for, but upon not seeing anypony for a couple of minutes, she decided to move on. She flew back into the city, looking around to have her eyes catch on a tall, sparkly building that glimmered in the sun, with two metal horses decorating it at top. The fanciness of the building struck Cozy as something the Generosity teacher would have, so she set her new mark. The filly arrived on the scene, flying up to the second floor to peek through the windows. All she found was the mildly-annoyed-looking professor whom she didn’t get a chance to meet due to arriving too late, but the look of the unicorn reminded her of the pale filly she was looking for. Cozy backed away from the property, thinking that the building wasn’t what she was looking for. She felt her bag to make sure she still had it before thinking of the Loyalty teacher. She could tell that she would find her up in the heavens of Ponyville, but two of the fillies that she was looking for weren’t pegasi, so Cozy quickly disregarded that thought. It was when Cozy was flying over the city that she heard the sound of young ponies yelling. When she looked down to the direction of the sound, she saw the fillies she was looking for, two of which were yelling at eachother and the other one with her face on the ground after tripping over a scooter. Cozy flew down from her position in the sky to land on a nearby building, hiding her presence as the three fillies continued their bickering. “I’m not talking to either one of you ever again!” the small unicorn yelled in what sounded like Equestria’s worst acting. Cozy once again tried to understand what the three were doing, but couldn’t figure out anything. The looks on the two adult creatures behind the fillies seemed take on the same confusion as the salmon-colored pegasus. In the alleyway between the two buildings stood the Kindness teacher, the pony she had become familiar with, along with the Laughter teacher. “You are so careless!” the white filly sounded again in a tone that barely sounded like actual fury. After a couple seconds of apparent silence, the yellow filly spoke with equally bad acting. “Careless? I will show you who is the one who is careless!” Cozy watched as the the yellow filly made inaudible comments to the unicorn before the tan-coated pegasus in front reached out her hooves to embrace the other two fillies. Within seconds, the three fillies were cheering with bright smiles, causing Cozy to roll her eyes from above. “Yay!” the pink adult pony yelled. “You’re friends again! I knew you would be. Candy-cane stripes forever!” From nowhere, the pony threw confetti before pulling out a flag and jumping around the three fillies in a ridiculous manner. The three fillies stared down at the ground in sadness but moments later, the pink pony stopped jumping around before smiling over at the Kindness teacher and giggling. Fluttershy giggled along with her before walking in front of the three fillies and smiling down at them. “Now remember, girls. Honesty is one of the pillars of Friendship. Maybe you should take more of Applejack’s classes.” “Yeah, we’ll go to her right now for them,” the yellow earth pony said in a sarcastic tone before rolling her eyes. The three fillies left the scene with the earth pony leading the charge, causing the two adult mares to shrug their shoulders before taking off in the opposite direction. Cozy waited until the three fillies were a good enough distance away before she began to follow them, trying her best not to be noticed. She watched as they made their way to the far end of the town, going back into the direction of the farm she had visited earlier. They live in a barn? Cozy thought. The lone filly kept following from a distance, watching as the fillies traveled passed the farm before going into the forest. Cozy was quick to follow, hiding behind trees to hide her presence. Finally, she saw the fillies go to some form of small house elevated in the air over a tree; a wooden staircase led to the door. She watched as the ponies traveled up the stairs into the house before Cozy sat down in front of an apple tree. She set her bag behind herself as she tried to think of what she was going to do. Cozy began brainstorming, reminding herself of her goal. She knew she had to succeed; she would not let all she had been through be in vain. But what would be the best way to introduce herself? She was reminded of Fluttershy earlier that day. She had come across her crying and was instantly interested in the cause. If Cozy could make tears happen, then she was bound to get her future friends to be concerned. What would her reason be though? Twilight’s words came to mind. Tell me if the classes are too hard. That would be the perfect excuse. What about the rest of her story? Her story could be the same as what had actually been the case so long ago. She had just moved from Trottingham to go to school, and everything was so much different than what she was used to. Cozy tried to force fake tears, but she couldn’t. She had cried so many times in the past, but now she felt unable to. She was too hopeful of the future. Cozy took a deep breath, knowing what the solution would be, and she cleared her head. She thought of her parents. She tried to imagine her mother’s smile again. The thought of herself sitting at the table as her mother cooked up her mustard sandwhiches for her. The feeling of her mother’s kiss on her cheek before she sent her off to her first day of school. “Knock em dead, Shirley,” her mother had said. Cozy then remembered the feeling of her being forcefully ripped away, never to see her again. She remembered the forest where the memory had been buried for so long along with the bodies of her parents. “This is for you, mommy,” Cozy said, finally able to muster up the most believable tears she could get.