Flurry’s confidence had been shaken by her parents’ less-than-enthusiastic reception, and the suspicious looks from castle workers who quickly looked away when they realized they were being noticed really didn’t help. The additional guards already roaming around the castle didn’t help, either. Their eyes were narrowed and focused on the filly wherever they walked. Flurry, standing right next to Cozy, felt a little bit like a tiny ewe at a Crystal Faire petting zoo.
She hadn’t thought things could get much more awkward, but she’d been wrong. As she led the way into their dining room, she realized that her mom had not been exaggerating. Additional guards lined the walls. There was even that one pegasus guard standing up in the rafters.
Cozy either didn’t seem to notice their presence or didn’t mind. During dinner, she was the model of politeness. She used all her silverware correctly, took small bites, didn’t speak with her mouth full; she even used her napkin properly.
But her parents mostly just watched her, as if expecting her to suddenly scoop up a knife and take Flurry hostage or something like that. And they weren’t doing a good job of keeping their suspicions hidden.
Flurry tried to eat, but she wasn’t hungry. The fluffy bread and crystal berry jam in her magic felt heavy and tasteless in her mouth, like she was eating an actual crystal.
She’d tried that before, once. Crystals were pretty but weren’t very good to eat.
She was second-guessing everything, now. Her parents disapproved, but she… she could do this. She determinedly took a big bite of her roll. She was an alicorn. She was a princess. A princess with a purpose! There was nothing she couldn’t do.
Except eat a roll, apparently, as she realized far too late that she had taken too big of a bite. She choked.
Cozy noticed, and gently slid her own water glass over, and Flurry snatched it and gratefully gulped it down.
“Saved your life,” Cozy said with a wink.
For some reason, the others did not seem quite as amused as Cozy was.
Flurry slumbered in bed as the sun rose. The light streamed in, and she groaned. She wrapped her hooves around something warm and soft, buried her face in it, and let out a sigh. Winter may have meant Twilight was raising the sun later, but in her humble opinion, it was still way too ear-
She leaped up with a shriek as she realized that what she had felt and touched meant there was another pony in her bed!
Cozy sat up, blearily rubbing her eyes. “Mhm… whazzat?”
“What are you doing in my bed?” Flurry demanded.
Cozy’s ears pinned. “Y- you said I could,” she protested weakly. “I got cold last night, so I found your room and asked; it was late, and I-”
“No, no, it’s no problem,” Flurry said hurriedly as she dropped back down to the bed. She didn't remember this at all, but still. “Just… I was a little surprised, that’s all. I must have been asleep when you asked, and I didn’t realize you were here. I don’t mind, really.”
Cozy looked only slightly mollified. Her ears still drooping, she self-consciously scooted ever so slightly away.
Flurry winced. Not the greatest start to their first full morning together as reformation buddies. She hesitantly reached out, trying not to spook her, and gave her a side-hug.
Cozy flinched at the contact, but slowly, hesitantly sank into the touch.
Flurry smiled. She could do this. She was feeling better about this already.
Cadence sighed and massaged her temple with a hoof. She was feeling worse about this already. As grateful as she was that Flurry had only gotten a little scare from her uninvited guest, she couldn’t shake the feeling that Cozy was somehow toying with them, in a ‘I know where she sleeps and you can’t stop me from getting there’ sort of way. None of the night guards she’d interviewed reported noticing Cozy move in the night, and that just made the cold pit in her stomach grow.
So when breakfast time came, she gently pulled Flurry aside. “Flurry, about last night,” she started.
“It’s fine,” Flurry insisted again. “She was cold. It’s not that big of a deal.” This really was getting old! Why didn’t her parents believe in her?
Cadence sighed, knowing that if she pushed further, Flurry would just dig in deeper. “If you say so. But I still don’t like it. Just… be careful.”
Flurry huffed. She’d show her.
Cozy Glow sat in the middle of the front row of the classroom, with a smile on her face and her hooves pressed daintily together as she patiently waited for class to start.
There was a buffer zone of empty desks around her, with only Flurry Heart in the radius. Some of the other ponies had even voluntarily shared desks (and chairs) rather than sit closer. It would have been funny, if it weren’t so awkward.
Flurry’s ears twiched. That whole private tutoring thing sounds really good right about now. ‘No, mommy, I want to go to school like the regular ponies do’- what was I thinking?
Their teacher, Crystal Lily, entered. “Good morning, class…” Her voice trailed off, and the papers fell from her hooves.
Cozy didn’t react in the slightest, though it had clearly been her that caused this reaction. She just sat there primly.
Crystal Lily had a bit more of a reaction. She quickly tried to recover. “It’s great to see,” she said with some forcedness as she walked around her desk, pressing herself against it to put some distance between her and Cozy, “all of, er, you. Let’s begin with Ponish.” She quickly wrote a sentence on the board, one with multiple grammar errors, and the students began writing the needed corrections.
After a couple minutes, she stood back up, careful to not turn her back on Cozy. “Can anypony tell me what’s wrong with this first sentence?”
Cozy politely raised her hoof. She was the only one; most ponies seemed desperate to not call attention.
“Anypony?” she tried, clearly desperate to not call on Cozy.
Flurry hit her forehead on her desk. This was going to be a long day.
Flurry sighed as she pulled her lunch out of her backpack. It had been even longer and more awkward than she’d feared, and it was only lunchtime. She didn’t usually dread her afternoon classes, but she was now.
Cozy also had a lunch provided from the palace kitchen, and she delicately opened her own lunchbox. She excitedly clapped her hooves together.
Flurry’s eyes flicked over to her own lunch. She didn’t think it was anything too special today, but that was pretty cute.
Her mouth tightened as she heard the unmistakable clippy steps of Lilac Ribbon approaching. Lilac didn’t try to start anything with her, probably because she was a princess, but her appearance was a sure-fire way to put a damper on everypony else’s day.
Sure enough, she came close(ish) to Cozy. “Well, well, well,” she started pompously.
“Golly. Those are some deep thoughts for such a shallow mind,” Cozy said airily, not even taking her eyes off her lunch.
Flurry snorted into her sandwich. She’d been quick with that one.
Lilac’s eyes narrowed. “I know what you are,” she said coolly.
“Very hungry,” Cozy said with a little grin.
“I don’t know what you’re trying to do-”
“I’m trying to eat a sandwich,” Cozy said innocently. She held it out. “Did you want some?”
“I don’t want any of your stupid sandwich,” Lilac hissed.
Cozy gave her a sideways look and scooted herself away ever so slightly. “Sorry I asked,” she said. “You know, you’re not very nice.”
Lilac looked gobsmacked at being told this by a foal who had nearly destroyed Equestria multiple times. “I’m not very nice?” she stammered.
“There, you see?” Cozy said comfortingly. “Admitting you have a problem is the first step to recovery.” She beamed, as if proud of her.
“I- I’m not-!” Flustered, Lilac stomped her hoof. She thrust her nose up into the air and stalked away.
Flurry couldn’t help but smile, and she shared it with Cozy. Cozy gave her a little wink and returned to her sandwich.
The rest of the day was still awkward, with both teachers and students giving the both of them a wide berth, but the rumors of Cozy knocking Lilac down a peg spread, and by the last period, a few of the students weren’t flinching quite so much at Cozy’s presence.
Flurry thought this was a win.