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Starlight was sitting in her guidance counselor office, right hoof raised and waving towards the door. Silverstream was standing there, with a grin on her beak, waving back and then leaving the office. The door closed behind her and then Starlight was alone.
The guidance counselor hung her head slightly and sighed, eyes closed. “Finally,” she breathed in relief. From all the students who came to her these days, Silverstream definitely was the unique one, with the most unusual, and difficult, problems. But now her counseling hours were over for the day and she had time for other things. Something had been on her mind for the entire morning already and now she could finally dedicate time to it.
Starlight looked down at her desk and reached for a drawer, which she eagerly opened. She pulled out a large envelope, rectangular in shape and thick and heavy in her hooves. “Cozy Glow” was written at the backside, in pink letters, and under it, “TARTARUS” with a new color for each letter. Starlight chuckled and placed the envelope on the table. She was about to look inside, as the door suddenly sprung open again and Silverstream poked her head into her office. The young hippogriff looked distraught and nervous.
“Counselor Starlight, are you really sure that the anatomy of acorns isn't important for friendship?”
Starlight frowned at the interruption, but she did her best to set up a smile for the anxious teenage hippogriff. “Yes, Silverstream, I'm really sure about this. There has never been a broken friendship because of acorns at any time in Equestria's history.”
Silverstream's expression eased again, if only slightly. “Okay, Counselor Starlight!” she chirped, then retreated her head and closed the door.
Starlight sighed again. She decided to wait, eyes drawn to the door. After the first minute, it rattled slightly, but then stopped again and she heard once more clawed steps walking down the corridor and away from her office. She waited some more and when she was finally being sure that Silverstream would not return, Starlight looked down again and returned her attention to the envelope.
No desire to waste any more time before she could satisfy her curiosity, her blue aura lifted up the envelope, opened the flap and hovered out a stack of paper. The topmost one was a letter, adorned with Cozy's hasty, yet somehow still tidy, writing. Starlight lifted up the letter and simultaneously leaned back, her full attention on it now. She began to read.
Dear lovely, most wonderful and precious, fantastic and awesome, Friendship School Counselor Starlight!
Here, Starlight already stopped reading and put the letter down a little. She laughed, but also raised an eyebrow. “An odd greeting.”
How are you doing? I am doing just peachy down here, your pencils help a lot to pass the time! I even drew a clock and hung it under the ceiling of my cage! It always shows the same time, but a filly has to do what she can to get comfort in Tartarus!
Starlight felt a small twinge in her heart at these words and frowned.
I drew another clock too, just for you, so you can see how it looks! It's attached!
Now I bet you want to know what else I send you, hmm? I was drawing a lot just for you, Starlight! You asked me to show you the kites I was flying and so I have drawn them all! There are grapes and strawberries, oranges and lemons, bananas, apples, melons, raspberries and even a tomato! The last one is not really a fruit, but you can make wine with it, so it fits in with the others!
“Wine? From tomatoes?” Starlight's face formed an amused expression. “Well, I definitely heard about crazier things, I might try it!” She smiled and continued reading.
And now you know all the kites I've built and was flying through the sky, Starlight!
“Great!” Starlight cheered and she looked down upon the letter with a satisfied, happy smile. “Now I would only like to know who she was flying kites with anymore.”
I bet you're really longing to do this together with me now, aren't you, Starlight? Well, your problem can be solved, you just need to convince those princesses on their fancy thrones to pardon me from my sentence and then I will make Equestria's sky full of kites!
Starlight frowned again. “Won't be so easy, unfortunately.”
And I hope you like my drawings, you can decorate your office with them, Starlight! I'm sure your corkboard could use some color!
Starlight turned her head at the corkboard. Various drawings were already on it. “A lot of students draw something for me to say thank you, but I'm sure I can fit Cozy's drawings in somewhere,” she thought.
And now I'll go and draw some more, because your present really is so beautiful, Starlight! Just make sure to send more paper soon, okay? Because I'm already running really low on it!
With lots of love!
Cozy Glow
Starlight put the letter down and placed it on her desk next to the rest of the stack of paper that had been in the envelope. A simplistic drawing of a clock greeted her eyes. It had a green background, black pointers and black numbers. The time they showed was three o'clock.
Starlight carefully lifted off the picture to reveal the other drawings and put it to the side. The fruit drawings came into her view and Starlight went through them with a careful eye.
“I'm not sure, does look like a fruit to me,” Starlight commented as she looked at the drawing of the tomato.
At the last picture, Starlight stopped before she put it away. She brought it closer to her face and narrowed her eyes, looking at it more concentrated.
“This looks familiar.....” she said. “Where have I seen this before?”
Starlight pondered the question and, as she could not find an answer after a few minutes, put the drawing of the grapes and the strawberry into the left drawer of her desk. The rest of the drawings, including the clock, she hovered over to her corkboard, where she diligently began to arrange Cozy's drawings between the drawings by the students, with a wide smile on her face.
“For me, you are still a student here, Cozy.”
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