What makes a villain, a villain. Cozy Glow. Manipulation.

by Ryoup

A cutie mark does matter!

The school bell rang and the sound invaded the classroom. I moaned in discomfort at that dizzying sound! I tried to cover my ears but it was in vain.

Sighing I lift my face from the desk and peek to my left. Unicorns and more unicorns.

I growl frustrated and using what I have left of willpower I decide to look to my right. More unicorns, although this half of the class, like me, lacks a cutie mark.

"Well well well, if isn't the bird's brain. I really thought you wouldn't come for the test and finally fly to the hole you came out of." I hear an annoying and indistinguishable voice coming from behind me.

"Yes Mint? How can I help you?" I say trying to disguise my contempt for him. I stretch my hooves and wings a little and the whispers have already started.

He didn't respond. He just snorted and stretched his hoof at me like it wasn't even worth talking to me.

After a weird moment he coughed and I made a point of levitating the other tests to me.

"Oh, you silly, why didn't you just say so?" Using my best giggle I gave him my test. He rolled his eyes and continued to gather the tests from the others.

I watched him trot to the other desks, now he wore a sincere pseudo-smile. He continued his crusade around the classroom, even though I was angry with him and his perfection I couldn't contain my sigh as I leaned over the table.

I envy him. His fur was ivory-white. If everything goes wrong in his life he can become a royal guard. He has a good cutie mark of bits being passed from one hoof to another. He will probably be a merchant or something. Or a politician. Besides that, he's the best student in our class, the smartest, the fastest, but most of all, he's a unicorn, everypony here is after all!

Another thing that bothered me was those sycophants who accompanied him, I can't say why, but that unnerved me in an abnormal way.

"Okay students, everypony can go for the break." Everypony started to celebrate, some even teleported out of the classroom amidst laughter and whispers.

Mint was one of those, but not before handing the exams to the teacher who responded with a simple nod.

"What's she doing here? Wasn't this unicorn school supposed to have only unicorns? I'll never understand."

"I heard her father threatened the good principal , that's why she's here."

"No! I heard he actually bribed the good principal with, like, lots of bits!”

"Nay, he must know about some gossip or he's helping the principal at the factory where he works. There's no way a nobody like him threatens the good principal ."

"My dad isn’t a nobody!" I yelled, slamming my hoof on the desk and quickly flew towards those three little brats. They gulped and runned away with their tail between their hoofs.

"Except Miss Cozy Glow." The teacher said, her voice high and authoritative.

Sighs and laughter echoed from the last ones to leave the classroom, I swear I heard some bad -words directed at me.

She stands up slowly, a test levitating at her side as she heads towards my desk which I promptly reoccupied.

“They-they started and-” She smashed her hoof on the desk at the same point I did. I shivered and closed my eyes in fear, but after some time of silence I peeked a bit.

On the desk there was my test, oh golly.

I gazed at my teacher. She was a tall-yellow mare with little eyes and considerable-oversized glasses which I never saw her using, just hanging there like a trinket or alike.

She snorted and now it was her time to gaze at me, then at my test.

"This." She said pointing to the test. I looked away, then I looked at the door and many of my colleagues were there spying on us! Even Mint! Before I could say anything the teacher followed my look and slammed the door with her magic. I hope she hitted any of them.

"This." She repeated more vigorously again. She took one of the many chairs and sat by my side.

"This." I repeated with her pointing at the test too.

She didn't seem to like it. She snorted and started scratching her head with one hoof. After some time she shrugged and started reading my test.

"Describe three characteristics of magic-developed unicorns, you wrote, snobbish, strong and rich."

"I-"

"And about this one? The thaumaturgic system in unicorns can be represented by." She said and raised a hoof as if she expected me to continue. I didn't.

"Leaving it in blanck would be better than saying they're better because of their horns."

"B-but they-"

"And what about the first question? I'm tired of being in dad's plans? Look Cozy, I'm not paid enough to deal with whatever you're dealing with right now, and your family problems are yours alone.”

She hates me too. All of them hate me. I'm nothing but a stain in their school. A pegasus in a unicorn-only school. What-a-hay I say!

"But, I'm paid enough to care about the grades from my second best student, you know the answer for all of those questions, you stayed during the break to ask questions and I remember answering them all.”

"Then I'll ask you, why did you wrongly answer them on purpose?"

"And why does it matter? No matter how hard I try, I'll never be better than you guys!"

"Do you mean unicorns?"

"YES! Half of these questions are related to them! Besides, Mint is better than me at everything!"

"Is that so? Just because you never beat him in the test, do you think he is better than you?"

“H-he is better than me…” I muttered, feeling my eyes moisten a bit.

“Fair enough I think. But from what I heard earlier from you, there is one pony you consider better than Mint, right?” I looked at her a little confused, trying to decipher who she was referring to.

“Your dad Cozy, I've had the pleasure of meeting Mr. String once, and all I can say is that he cares about you. I am aware, as well as everypony in this school that you have problems… financially if you prefer.”

S-she is gonna mock us! and make fun of us! S-s-s-s-she is the worst!

"And you're such a brat." What?

“The fee in this school is the highest in the entire country, but only behind Celestia School for Gifted Unicorns in prestige. To stay here you gotta have great grades or you can be expelled!”

This thought invaded my mind, the mere idea of ​​it giving me chills over my spine. No, I can't allow it!

“And since your father is just a factory worker, I highly disbelief he can pay another entry fee or convince the good principal again.”

I analyzed her, this gotta be a scam or something, she can't be giving a damn about me, just daddy does it, this is probably a prank, they are still spying on us? She sighed heavily and put on her glasses!

“Let's play a game Cozy?”

"I'm too old for games."

"Hmmm, okay, call it a share of stories, just tell me, what was the biggest surprise you've ever witnessed?"

I hesitated, is… is this part of the prank? I-I-I don't get it, why is she caring about me!? I-I'll answer her.

"One day I woke up at night due to some loud noises and I flew to the kitchen."

"And?"

"And now I don't fly to the kitchen anymore at night." She just… she smiled! Well, she smirked, but still a smile!

“Just it? Okay Cozy, let me tell you a story about a surprise.”

I get myself a bit more comfortable in my chair which is quite different from the ones we got at home. This chair is padded!

"It started in the first trimester, another normal year at this prestigious school and in the midst of so many unicorns I see a pegasus. A small, shy pegasus."

"At first I thought it was time to find another job, look what a tragedy, a pegasus in my classroom! I was just waiting for the first test to expel her. I did a particularly difficult test and focused on unicorn biology.”

I nod, remembering the nightmare that was the first test.

“Three students were expelled for not meeting our school expectations. When I corrected your test, I expected the most grotesque mistakes possible. ”

I smile a little remembering the nights I spent awake reading those gigantic books, I mean, one of them literally weighed more than me!

"My point Cozy is, you're smart and cunning like few. Personally, between you and me. I think you're smarter than Mint. Because he got everything, his books, money, toys I guess? But you got something money can't buy, determination."

The smile she'd been wearing throughout the entire conversation quickly faded as she stood up and placed her hoof over the test.

"You have until the end of break to finish this test." I blinked a couple of times then I looked at her, then at my new and blank test.

"B-but we had four hours to finish this test!"

“Well, you know the questions and the answers, just fill in the blanks. By the way, you have twenty minutes from now on.”

My left eye twitches from pure nervousness, but then a feeling filled me. I put my hoof in my bag, got one cookie and swallowed it in one bite and then got my pen. I stared at the test for some seconds, I glanced at my teacher and she was at her table gazing at me.

Gulping, I started my test.

---

The school bell rang once more. My colleagues started filling the classroom once more. But I didn't mind them. My eyes were focused on the test, my breathing heavy and slow, my heart pounding like a drum, and I struggled one last time to wipe sweat off my forehead and keep it from falling on the test. Again.

My teacher is standing beside me, I bite my lips seeing the last question in blank.

"I-I know the answer." I mumbled to myself in disbelief while she grabbed my test with her magic and troted towards her desk in silence.

Mint stopped beside me and coughed the fakiest cough ever coughed.

"Maybe next time, Gross Clown."

I just shrugged and sighed before laying on my desk. That's how it is. He is the best and I'm nothing but a dumb pegasus. And useless blank flanks.

---

The school bell rang for the last time of the day and everypony dropped their feathers immediately and soon the whispering and gossip began. It was nice to know that these whispers weren't about me, but about the test. There is a bet of who nailed the test and Mint is the favorite, obviously.

The teacher got up and coughed to clear her throat, the gossip ceased as everypony stared at the imposing big mare holding what might have been an expulsion letter for some.

“I'm happy to say that the grades were all acceptable.” Immediately sighs of relief and small celebrations started to break out among my classmates. Particularly between the blank flanks as we were called.

“But I must emphasize the best grade in the class, missing just two questions, a round of applause for---"

Mint raised and started to wave toward the others. I don't know why the drama, he’s the best after all.

I grab my backpack and shove a cookie in my mouth, I was about to leave, the clapping had already started even before the teacher had finished and-

"Cozy Glow!" The palms ceased, my cookie fell from my lips but I grabbed it in the middle of the air without gazing away from my teacher and my test she levied in the middle of the air.

"Holy cookies." I whispered, taking a bite off my cookie and sitting down.

The teacher frowned and looked at the others.

"Why did you stop clapping? I think those were sounding really good.” slowly clapping sounds filled the air again, is this some kind of lie? A prank? Only when I looked to the side and saw in disbelief Mint watching the test did I realize. I won. I. won.

"She, I mean, wasn't there a draw?" Mint said, his voice almost cracked, such was his stupor!

"You got three questions wrong, she just two. This is a lot of things, but I assure you a draw isn't."

I wanted to do many things, I wanted to mock him, I wanted to yell some bad words I learned a while ago, but somehow, I can't tell in words how, I just got up from my seat and troted towards my teacher.

When I got near her she blinked at me with a shy smile and handed me my test. I nodded and troted toward the exit yet a bit surprised. In my hoof I could see clearly.

38 - 40 written in red ink.

When I got out of the classroom I kneeled, I smiled unconsciously before pressing the test against my face and I started crying, I… I did it, I beat him! I--- I did it!

---

The last bus just left, normally I would sigh sadly, but not today! Today I did the impossible. I. Beat. Mint Pride! I giggled a bit, shaking my test before keeping it in my school bag.

"Cozy?" I froze, and my smile faded like water dripping from a sink.

"Yes, Mint?" I said reluctantly, I closed one of my eyes and with the other I spied expecting the worst. But instead of being assaulted with rotten eggs or similar he just stands there, gazing at the floor and poking some stones.

"I think I was a bit too… you see, you're, you and… what I want to tell you is… you're smart.” He said, looking away dramatically like his pride was just shattered in a million of pieces. Good, because it just did.

"Oh, you silly, one day that was supposed to happen right? We were the best, right?" His face changed into a million expressions, rage, surprise, flattery and- he just blushed?

“W-well, of course I-we are the best, I mean… congrats Cozy.” He smiled and handed me his hoof. I looked at it for a bit, not knowing exactly what to do. He retrieved his hoof after that.

"S-sorry, too fast? I-"

Before he could finish that sentence a horn from one big and fancy cart stole our attention. One big unicorn wearing a suit approached us and nodded to both of us.

"Master Mint, your cart awaits you." He said while pointing to that cart. A neat cart.

Mint sighed, looked at me and smiled. "See ya, Cozy."

He troted with que unicorn toward his cart and soon They left. I... I wanted to say something, but I did not find the words.

After some minutes my card arrived, different from Mint's cart, this one is the simplest possible, two wheels and a raw wooden frame guided for a trusted friend of daddy.

“Suup lil' Coz?”

"Hi Mister Wheels."

"Same place as always?"

I nodded and he started guiding the cart. After a couple of minutes we stopped in front of our stop. I quickly flew off the cart and nodded at him. He just took off his little hat and nodded back smiling.

"Same time?"

"Yeep mister Wheels."

I stood in front of the building, "Piano." I said to myself. That is one of the things I do after class, then ballet and classical poetry.

---

With a long press on one of the piano keys I finished my fourth practice today. I can’t tell how, but I'm always sweating in the end.

"Magnifique ms. Cozy Glow! Divine I must say!" My teacher said, wiping a tear from his eyes and gossiping to his colleagues.

I quickly looked at my flank, this is the day! I nailed it today! My cutie mark is…

Nothing. Again.

I felt my cheeks twitching uncontrollably. I wanted to… scream. I just don’t know what to do or say. I’m… this is what am I good at? I’m better than one foal whose cutie mark is a piano! I… I don’t know.

"Divine ms. Cozy, for one second, I thought you barely scratched Frank List mastery in piano. Maybe one day you could overcome him and become the greatest pianist ever!" I just shrugged. I didn't get a cutie mark.

Peeking to my side I saw many of the other students giving me a look of few friends. At least they aren't all unicorns.

I just left, mister Wheel was waiting for me outside and we quickly reached the ballet school.

---

I drank my whole water bottle in one gulp. This is a hecking day. After that I read the scoreboard.

Cozy Glow - 96

Little Feather - 95

Ballet Shoes - 92

Curly Horn - 92

Bubble Gulp - 90

I bit my lip again and looked at my blank flank I... I won...

One of my colleagues threw their ballet slippers on me, it didn't hurt, at least not physically.

"You piece of-of-crap! That was my day! I got the cutie mark for ballet! You didn't! You're here for years and you didn't get it! So how about you stop humiliating us in front of the jury? You make us look like a crap of a joke, your cutie-less.

I just hugged myself and protected my head just a moment before many other ballet slippers flew at me. They're all unicorns. This is a unicorn school.

---

"Hmmmm, not bad, not bad at all actually."

“What do you mean my dear colleague? That was… spectacular! For one second I could close my eyes and felt like I was in the classical era! I'm speechless!”

The last judge didn't say anything during my presentation, she just took off her glasses and put them on her desk, smiled and nodded.

"Good." That was everything she said and both her colleagues were awestruck by her speech. "Very good actually." She poked her… pet rock. “Boulder liked it too.”

"Well Miss Cozy Glow, considering that Maud Pie is the most rigorous judge I have ever had the honor of working with, I must say that your poem, Why the leaves fall, is the winner." The judge in the middle spoke.

I quickly looked to my side, I expected anything, a quill, a scroll just like daddy, anything, but there was nothing there. I leaned to them, wrapped my poem in my wing and I flew offstage.

"Wow Cozy, you nailed it!"

"That was, like, sick!"

"Have you heard of Miss Maud? She never said anything to our poems, just nodded or waved her hoof! You made her speak and smile!"

That and many other compliments come from my colleagues. This school is open to all races, and so this wasn't a toxic environment, but their compliments sounded empty and I can see some looking envily at me. They got a cutie mark in poems, I don’t.

---

"Thank you mister Wheel." He waved to me, shaking his little hat in the air. What did he call that? A feldora I think.

I sighed and gazed at my home. It was an old and rustic house and some planks filled some holes on the roof.

"There is no place like home, shaking and howling with wind-" I sang to myself.

I walked into the house, Mom was sitting at the table, her crystal goblet full of purple liquid that she watched moving.

As soon as I closed the door she noticed my presence, slowly she looked at me and I could see her... face.

She had a black eye, and-and had what appears to be a nosebleed?

"Mom, your snout."

She touched her snout, a bit of blood, in her hooves.

"Oh, this?" she gazed at her hoof, she wanted to say something, her silence saying thousands of words. I put my backpack on the floor and I flew to our freezer.

I opened it and there was nothing but bags of ice. I grabbed one and handed it to mommy.

She grunted something and took it with her magic and pressed it against her black eye, that's how Mom says thank you. I think. I hope.

I licked my hoof and started cleaning her snout, after a couple of moments I finished. Her eyes ajar a bit and sleepy she shakes her head, finishes her drink in one gulp and throws herself over the table.

"Go to your room Cozy."

"Mommy, I got something cool to tell you!" I smiled and flew toward my backpack. I grabbed the first place tape of the ballet competition. When I was about to show her she hit the table.

"I said. GO TO YOUR FUCKING ROOM!"

I shivered and my ears folded. My smile faded. I kept the tape in my backpack and started walking towards my room. Before going up the stairs I stopped when I heard my mother sobbing, I peeked at her and I could see her filling her glass again and a sunbeam that came through holes in the ceiling, illuminating her cutie mark. A pair of pink ballet slippers together.

I threw my school bag on the corner of my room and I sat on my desk. I looked at myself in the half -broken mirror and I tried to smile, but I couldn't.

I opened the only drawer of my desk and took out a small chessboard.

I placed all the pieces in place and started playing it, remembering when grandpa came to play with me. Even old and sick, he used all kinds of medicine, and even so, always found a way to play at least one round with me.

"Checkmate." I chuckled, moving the rook and basically killing the king. For one second I smiled smugly and looked at my flank.

Still blank.

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