You, Me, and Cozy

by bahatumay


Pink Panther Mode

Having a girlfriend was actually really nice. They’d texted all night, and the next day, Sunset came up behind Wallflower and gave her a tight hug, with one hand drifting a bit lower than it would have if Luna were nearby. Wallflower couldn’t help but smile.

Their smiles faded as they came across Rainbow Dash, digging through her locker and surrounded by old papers. 

“Whoa, Rainbow,” Sunset said teasingly. “A tornado come through here, or-?”

“I can’t find my geode.”

“What?”

“I can’t. Find. My geode,” Rainbow repeated desperately. “I sometimes take it off for gym class. Don’t want to accidentally give myself an advantage. Probably just misplaced it,” she mumbled like she was trying to convince herself even as she kept digging through her locker. “Yeah. It’ll turn up.”

Sunset frowned. 

Wallflower didn’t know how to feel. Rainbow was clearly torn up about this, but after her last experience with magic... She shook her head.


 

After school the next day, Wallflower found Sunset. She was leaning against her locker, looking at her phone with a worried expression. She frowned. “Are you ok?”

“Yeah,” Sunset said. “The coordinator for our program wants to meet with Cozy and me.”

Wallflower hesitated. Her personal feelings for Cozy aside, Sunset seemed really worried, and she wanted to be supportive. “Would you like me to come?”

“Yeah, actually. That’d be great. I mean, I’m sure it’s nothing,” Sunset said, though she almost sounded like she was trying to convince herself. “Cozy and I have had a lot of fun together.”

Wallflower almost felt bad. Sunset had been spending more time with her, and that was just what she wanted; but Sunset had a responsibility to Cozy, too. She didn’t want her kicked out of the program. In a fit of boldness, she reached out and touched Sunset’s hand.

This was the right choice. Sunset took it and squeezed. 

Wallflower smiled, but her eyes flicked down Sunset’s body and-

“Hey, where’s your geode?”

“I think it fell behind the dresser. I was running late this morning,” she admitted.


 

Wallflower had never been one for homework. But apparently paperwork for this mentoring program was serious business.

“You’ve been fudging the documentation,” Sunset said, looking it over. “It says you’ve been for visits with me when you haven’t.” 

Cozy smiled shakily and dug the tip of her shoe into the ground. “I didn’t want to interrupt. I mean, you’re such a cute couple, who wouldn’t want to give you a little more time together?”

“I appreciate that,” Sunset said, “but you can’t just bypass rules like that.”

Wallflower looked over. She recognized some of the dates. That was when Rarity had had her little fashion circle. That was band rehearsal. That was when they were helping Applejack. 

All times that they’d been busy with her friends. 

That was a little weird.

But Sunset, Cozy, and the coordinator seemed to come to an agreement, so she didn’t say anything.


 

Fresh out of the shower and wearing a long towel, Wallflower dug through her underwear drawer. She frowned. She could have sworn she had more ‘shark week’ panties than this. Didn’t she have that striped pair?

Maybe she was losing her mind. 

She shook her head and pulled the top pair off the smaller stack. She’d need to get more soon, anyway.

Especially if she wanted to show Sunset.


Wallflower may have been cramping, but Fluttershy was clearly having a worse day. She looked downtrodden and had clearly been crying; her eyeshadow and mascara had smeared everywhere. 

“What happened?” Rainbow asked.

“My geode is gone,” she said softly. 

“Maybe a squirrel took it?”

“Why, because he thought it was a nut?” Applejack asked flatly. 

“I did ask the squirrels,” Fluttershy said.

“What did they say?”

“I don’t know!” Fluttershy wailed, bursting into tears.

Sunset trotted up, looking similarly disheveled.

“What happened to you?” Rainbow asked, not known for her subtlety. 

“My geode is gone. I can’t find it anywhere.”

“Mine, too!” Fluttershy said.

“Mine, three,” Rarity interjected, walking up.

“I think there’s a pattern here,” Fluttershy said, her concern growing.

“They’re not being returned, are they?” Rarity whimpered.

“Maybe someone’s swiping them?” Rainbow suggested.

“A sneaky thief,” Pinkie said, producing a bubble pipe. “Someone unnoticeable. Someone you’d never expect. Someone who could hide in plain view and remain invisible.”

And then Wallflower suddenly noticed a few more eyes on her. Her eyes widened at the implication. “You don’t think…?” she started. 

“No, of course not,” Fluttershy said quickly. 

“Not you.”

“We would have noticed you,” Rarity agreed. 

“Would you have?” Wallflower found herself asking. “Because there have been a lot of other times where I was there, and nobody here even gave me a second look.”

“In fairness, we did ignore each other for, like, a couple years straight,” Rainbow pointed out. “Best friends to strangers.”

Sunset scratched her neck uncomfortably. 

Wallflower hesitantly reached out, unsure if contact would help.

But then the bell rang, and they scattered to their classes.