“Cozy...Glow?” They all spoke in unison.
The pink mare rubbed her left hoof against her right. “Um…”
The earth pony mare--Applebloom spoke up first. “So yer back after your trial, huh?”
Cozy nodded in silence.
“And you’re trying to just live life now?” the white unicorn mare asked.
Another nod.
“And you’re worried that it’s going to take forever for anypony to trust you?” the orange pegasus mare asked.
Cozy let out a sigh. “Listen...please. No amount of words will ever make what I did okay or disappear. I know that. And it’s fine if you don’t trust me. I know I wouldn’t.”
“Pfft,” Applebloom scoffed and waved her hoof, “That’s exactly what we used to say about Diamond Tiara. But she’s cool with us now, cuz she earned it. Don’tcha wanna earn it too?”
“Well…”
Sweetie Belle was next. “Besides. When you’re a kid, you make idiotic decisions. I still remember when I nearly went crazy thinking my sister was trying to be better than me at everything so I sabotaged one of her outfits for Sapphire Shores.”
“Hah!” Scootaloo laughed. “Oh man. I still remember the time I nearly let Lightning Dust trick me into doing a stunt that nearly killed me. If I could go back and time and throttle my stupid filly self…”
Cozy tilted her head. “What about you, AB?”
“Two words, sista: Chimera attack,” she said with a shudder, “brrr...I still be gettin’ goosebumps from that delivery and Applejack was mighty ticked.”
“The point is,” Sweetie explained, “when you’re a child, you make dumb decisions. Yeah, some of them aren’t excusable, sure. But as Rarity used to say, ‘hindsight is twenty-twenty, darling,’” she said with a mock of her sister’s accent.
“Exactly. Rainbow Dash usually scolded me when I did something stupid, but it helped me realize what I did wrong so I didn’t repeat the same mistake.” Scootaloo looked down. “I...don’t suppose you had anypony to guide you?”
Cozy shook her head. “No…”
“I can relate,” the orange pegasus mare walked up and put a hoof around her neck. “My parents are so darn busy all the time, and my aunts...ugh. I love them, but they barely watched out for me either. I was super lucky to get Dash watching out for me. So I know what it’s like to have nopony there. If anything...I could’ve easily turned out the same way.”
A scary, but true thought. One could only imagine what the children of this world were capable of doing if left unattended for too long. And Cozy Glow was one of them.
“So come on, then,” Applebloom offered, “If you wanna make up fer whatcha did, I say we letcha.”
“I…” Cozy pushed Scootaloo’s hoof away, and backed off. “Thank you, but no. If you started hanging around me, there could be rumors. I don’t want that for you.”
Sweetie Belle dismissed this immediately. “Pfft. Who gives a hoof? If anything, it’ll make you look better since three of the best young mares in Equestria are willing to hang out with you. Doesn’t that make sense, Mr. Detective sir?” she addressed me.
I wasn’t entirely sure how to answer that. Yes, the logic was sound, but I couldn’t help but wonder if that would solve things any faster. “I...suppose. But right now, Ms. Glow wants to get settled in and work on her efforts to regain public trust naturally. She appreciates the offer, but doesn’t want your reputations impacted.”
Scootaloo, however, wasn’t satisfied with my response. “You serious? We’re teachers at the School of Friendship. We’re more than qualified to teach her in the ways of treating others properly.”
“Oh? You’re offering her a teaching session now?” I looked at Cozy. “Does this make sense to you? Would you like to learn from the best? After all, they were taught by Ms. Cheerilee herself.”
“Hm…” Cozy tapped the ground with her hoof. A worried expression on her face. “I...I’ll consider it. Right now, I’m a bit busy thinking about the Running of the Leaves and--”
The yellow earth pony’s eyes brightened. “Oh yeah! I remember that! It’s been a while since we participated, wasn’t it?”
“But I heard a rumor that Canterlot just wants us to use magic to make it more efficient,” Scootaloo said, “I think that’d be pretty cool, right?”
“To watch, maybe,” Sweetie Belle refuted, “magic can’t solve all your problems, Scoots. Tradition is important too, ya know.”
Cozy wanted to say something, but didn’t want to be rude. “I...may have a few ideas…” she said in a barely audible tone.
“You do?!” All three shouted at once, which caused the pink pegasus to flinch.
“Whew, then that means I don’t have to try any silly stunts to catch attention for the event,” Scootaloo commented which made her friends laugh.
“HA! When’s that ever worked out fer ya, Scoots?”
“Twice, Bloom! Twice!”
Sweetie Belle giggled, and spoke up. “Alright. I think we should give Cozy some space. But think about what we said, okay?”
“Mm-hmm…”
“Granny Smith used to love that ol’ leaf race,” Applebloom said with a sigh as she referenced her deceased grandmother. “She’d be tickled pink if she heard yer idea--whatever it may be.”
“...You think so?”
“Yeah!” Scootaloo chirped, “Yeah! I’m sure you could come up with something that’ll show the folks in Ponyville that the old days still matter!”
Cozy blushed. I suppose that the sheer amount of support she had gotten overwhelmed her. “Well...thanks.”
I spoke up on her behalf. “As she said, she has some ideas. So it would be beneficial if you all gave her some room to breathe. And please, keep your eyes open for anypony that wants to cause her harm.”
All three nodded firmly.
“No problem, sir. C’mon guys. Let’s go get our lesson plans ready for tomorrow,” Sweetie said as they took off.
“Alrighty--we’ll see ya around, Cozy!” Applebloom yelled out.
“We’re here for you if you need us!” Scootaloo cried.
How nice of them. Though, given they were related to half of the current Elements of Harmony, I expected them to be more understanding than the average pony. Even so, it was nice to see somepony that was reasonable.
“What’s your plan, kid?”
Cozy looked up at me, and trotted to her house. “I...have an idea or two to help advertise the Running of the Leaves. But I need to be able to brainstorm it alone...if that’s okay.”
Fair enough. The last thing I wanted was to be overbearing on the kid. Plus, if she worked on it in solitude, there was very little chance she could be interrupted or sabotaged by...unsavory individuals. “Very well. Do your thing, Cozy. I’ll be on my way,” I said with a tip of my hat.
“Okay...and thank you for showing me around today. I have a better idea of what I need to do. Goodbye for now, sir,” she replied before she went into her house.
Well then, now I was on my own. Maybe I could put that out of my mind for a while, and focus more on the suspicious actions of those in charge.
I walked back towards my own house. All the sudden, my thoughts were interrupted by a gray earth pony mare who rounded the corner. “Um...hello. Are you Pale Vestige?”
“Yes,” I turned to face her. She wore glasses, and had a pearl necklace. That cutie mark was familiar...ah, Silver Spoon. “Can I help you?”
“Yeah I...sort of overheard you talking with the Crusaders and Cozy Glow. If possible, can I...meet with her? There’s some things I’d like to explain. Diamond Tiara’s a bit busy so she can’t really do much right now.”
I had to think about it for a moment. It would make sense given how she treated everypony else at that school when they were little. But beyond that, I actually didn’t know much about this one. “I see...well, if you want to speak with her, it’s going to have to wait. She’s somewhat busy with a plan she has to rebuild a proper reputation.”
Her eyes were downcast, and disappointed by my denial. “Oh...okay. Well, whenever she’s not busy, I’d like to talk to her. As for you, I’ve heard some...rumors. About missing parents.”
I took a look around to make sure no one else was listening. “Just what have you heard?”
Silver Spoon went on to explain. “Well...this is just based on rumor mills. But I’ve heard that some ponies have been lured into the idea that they could become stronger if they abandoned their families and underwent certain...procedures. They were fed up with the idea that all they could do was sit back and rely on the Elements Some of them survived, and some didn’t. But...they all thought it was for a just cause,” she looked down at the ground.
Curious indeed. This was a lot of heavy information that I was quite surprised that a young mare such as herself could simply stumble upon. “I see...and just how do you know about this, Ms. Spoon?”
“My dad was one of them.”