Big Brother Sandbar

by HenBasket

Chapter 3: Starlight’s Office

Starlight watched Cozy as she doodled on paper with some crayons. Starlight looked at the clock in her office. Ten minutes. Starlight stood up and walked around her desk to sit next to the filly.

“Are you ready to talk yet,” asked Starlight, “or do you need a few more minutes?”

“I want Sandbar,” the pegasus replied without looking up from her drawing. “Is he coming?”

“I’m not sure, Cozy.” Starlight stood up. “We do need to talk, so if he’s not here within five minutes, we’ll have to start without him.”

Usually, other students weren’t allowed to be a part of student‍-counselor conversations, but Starlight learned pretty quickly that unless she had a friend with her, Cozy rarely talked about what was bothering her. It was sad, really. The poor filly had hardly any friends, and her closest friend was sick. Just as Starlight was about to pour herself a mug of cocoa, there was a knock on the door.

“Counselor Starlight,” asked Sandbar, “can I come in?”

Starlight sighed. “Come in, Sandbar. Just make sure to close the door behind you.”

Sandbar did so and sat down in an empty chair in the office. Looking up from her drawing, Cozy noticed her new friend and said she was ready to talk.

“So Cozy,” Starlight asked sweetly, “can you tell me what happened starting with last night?”

“I was scared of the thunderstorm, so I went to see if I could sleep with Sandbar.”

“Is that it?” Starlight mouthed to Sandbar, who shook his head in return.

“Can you give her more details, Cozy?” Sandbar encouraged the pegasus.

“Oh yeah, those girls from this morning told me I was a ‘foal’ who needed to ‘grow the fuck up’ when I asked if I could spend the night with them.” Cozy started to get angry. “I should have punched them right then and the--”

“No, Cozy,” Starlight scolded. “We talked about this before, violence is not the answer to dealing with bullies. They want to get a reaction. If you hit them, you’re letting them win. Now, what did you do after they harassed you?” Starlight scribbled something in her notebook.

“I went to Sandbar,” Cozy said, taking deep breaths to calm herself down. “He’s the next pony I thought of.”

“I see,” said Starlight, leaning forward. “How come you didn’t ask any more ponies your age?”

Cozy’s eyes began to tear up. “I was scared. I was scared they were gonna say ‘no’ to me, just like everypony in the orphanage did. Nopony cared for me there!” The filly completely broke again and became a blubbering mess.

“The orphanage,” Starlight muttered, “what did this orphanage do to her? We don’t know anything about it.”

Hearing this, Sandbar got up from his chair and knelt down in front of Cozy. Reaching into his saddle bag, he pulled out Cozy’s teddy. “Hey, you forgot this in my room this morning.”

The filly looked up at Sandbar with teary eyes and mumbled, “Thank you,” before grabbing her teddy and hugging it tightly.

Sandbar smiled, and stroked Cozy’s mane to get her attention. When she looked up he spoke to her sweetly. “Cozy, I know this is difficult for you, is there anything else you can tell Counselor Starlight about the orphanage? Anything? Even if it’s just a small detail?”

“N-no,” Cozy said, voice shaking, “sorry.”

“Well, if you do, make sure to tell Counselor Starlight, okay?” Sandbar stroked her head as he spoke.

“I will,” the filly replied.

“Good,” Sandbar said, nuzzling the filly.

“Why are you being so kind to me?” Cozy Glow asked.

“Because you’re letting me, silly.” Sandbar bopped her.

“Sandbar, would you be my friend?”

This question caught him off guard. The filly barely knew him, but yet looked up to him like that one filly looked up to Professor Dash. What was her name again? It didn’t matter.

“Of course, Cozy. I’d love to be your friend,” Sandbar said, pulling her in for a hug, which she promptly returned.

“Hey Cozy,” Starlight said, “I’m proud that you made a new friend, but I need to talk to Sandbar for a bit. Why don’t you go to your classroom and do some crafts?”

“Okay,” Cozy said, getting up and opening the door. “See ya, Sandbar!”

“Bye, Cozy,” Sandbar said as the filly left the room and closed the door.

“Listen Sandbar,” Starlight said when the teen turned back to her, “Cozy is a very fragile filly, and she needs a lot of attention. I’m not sure if she told you this, but she doesn’t have many friends. In fact, other than you, the Cutie Mark Crusaders, and her roommate, I’m not aware of any other friends she might have.”

“That few, huh?” Sandbar pawed at the ground. “I feel sorry for her, coming here to make friends, but not being able to make many. She’s lucky the orphanage even let her come in the first place.

“She told you about the orphanage?” Starlight sat down at her desk and levitated a pen. “What’d she say?”

“She said that nopony told her that she was brave, and originally they weren’t gonna allow her to come here because they thought they’d have to pay tuition. It was only when they heard it was free and there were dorms that they let her come. She said they practically kicked her to the curb then.”

Starlight wrote down what Sandbar had said in Cozy’s file and took a breath. “Thanks, Sandbar. Will you tell us if she says anything more about her orphanage? We’re already aware of the abuse that occurred there, against all the kids. We just need Cozy’s story for the case, and also to help her recover.”

“Are you sure you should be telling me all this, Counselor?” Sandbar asked Starlight, slightly concerned.

“Normally we don’t discuss a student’s file with other students, but in Cozy’s case we decided it’d be in her best interest to tell her friends what we think they should know. I trust you know not to tell anypony else?”

“Yes Counselor,” Sandbar responded, “I do.”

“Excellent,” replied Starlight. “Now, is there anything else you need?”

“Not that I can think of,” Sandbar replied after thinking for a second.

“Good,” Starlight smiled. “But, if you do, my doors are always open!”

Sandbar acknowledged her as he stood up and left the office. Seeing that he was gone, Starlight looked at the clock, then at her schedule. Igniting her horn, the mare pulled out a mug and poured herself from cocoa.

Author's Note:

Poor Cozy. Whatever did that orphanage do?

Comments

[Bronycommander]

Short but good. And that Orphanage, shut down.

[HenBasket]

9890364
Actually, the orphanage is still running

[Bronycommander]

9890923
I meant, it should be shut down

[HenBasket]

9890924
Oh, you haven’t heard the beginning of the shit they did

[Bronycommander]

9890959
Oh, I have read a story with familiar plot once, so I can imagine