"You can do it, Yosh!" announced Starlight.
"I'm not so sure," the dino-duck whimpered. "I really don't feel like I can do it."
"Don't say that," Snowdrop said softly yet firmly. "Didn't I help you learn that you don't need your eyes to find your place in the world?"
Yosh snuggled the pale-blue Pegasus close against his feathery cheek.
"You did," he replied simply.
"And what about me?" the reformed Cozy Glow added. "Golly, Yosh. I never thought I'd ever be any good at friendship."
Yosh looked down towards where he heard Cozy Glow speak.
"Friendship is hard," he said while using a free hand to feel at her plush body. "Especially when people don't understand you."
"Right," Starlight said. "I think we all can say we know what it is like to feel like life isn't fair."
Yosh sniffled as Snowdrop and Cozy glow hummed in agreement.
"I never asked to be so alone and feel like I had to force friendship in order to have friends," stated Starlight.
"I got so used to ponies taking things from me, or demanding something in return to be my friends," added Cozy. "But that was no good reason for me to take away magic to force friendship."
Yosh continued to nuzzle Snowdrop as he rubbed Cozy glow's curly mane.
"You're right," he said. "What good is being mad at the world? All it does is make things worse when we could work towards making things better."
Starlight smiled.
"It's hard to control emotions," she stated. "However you're never too young, or too old, to discover better ways of coping with your feelings."
"Remember my snowflake?" beamed Snowdrop. "I made it because I wanted to make a star. I may never have seen a star but I knew what one was and what they represented. However I made the star because it made me happy."
"I really did like helping all the creatures at The School Of Friendship," stated Cozy. "It really felt peachy keen to know I could make other creatures smile by just lending an ear or hoof."
Starlight smiled as she said, "I liked to read and challenge myself to become a true master of magic. It was always thrilling to outdo myself and now I can use my wisdom to help all my friends along with the students at The School Of Friendship."
Yosh brought Cozy glow and Starlight up onto his lap and made it so he could cuddle all three in an embrace.
"You're all right," he said while enjoying the minky-softness of the plush ponies. "There are always ways to find happiness even if everything around you feels so sad."
"Right," said Snowdrop. "Just because you don't have eyes doesn't mean you can't see."
"Friends also come and go," added Starlight. "However you should never be afraid to open your heart to someone."
"You should also trust that others will like you for you," stated Cozy. "I had lots of friends but always feared they'd all betray me and hurt me like all those ponies I knew before coming to The School Of Friendship."
Yosh sighed as he felt a weight leave his heart.
"Thank you," he said. "I feel a lot better knowing how even a rainy day can be a happy one."
"And you can feel the sun!" cheered snowdrop. "You don't need to see it to know it is there."
"Heartbreak is part of life," continued Starlight. "However hearts can heal by never giving up on some pony out there genuinely wanting to be your friend."
"And you should not do anything just to get something in return," noted Cozy. "I ruined so gosh golly much just because I never stopped believing I had to get them before they got me."
"What do you say, Yosh?" Starlight pursued. "How about we have some empathy cocoa, grab a comfort pillow, and take a cuddly nap under our security blanket?"
Yosh smiled.
"Sounds good!" he chirped. "Thanks for being my friends!"
"Thanks for being ours," added Cozy.
With a smile on his beak, Yosh headed for the kitchen to get some cocoa before settling down with his 'friends' under a soft blanket while resting upon a bean bag chair.
Yosh rested in his bed. The plushies of Starlight Glimmer, Cozy Glow, and Snowdrop laid respectively so that he could snuggle one no matter which way he was laying.
“But I can’t sleep,” he moaned. “Why can’t I sleep?”
He sat up and clutched the Snowdrop plush close.
“It’s because you still are mourning the loss of your eyesight,” she replied. “You valued it a lot when you had it and there have been a lot of reminders as to how you are missing out now that you’re totally blind.”
“But you are okay,” replied the dino-duck while clenching the plush of his equine role model. “You don’t get all upset because you can’t see.”
“I still do,” Snowdrop replied. “And it’s okay as I’m allowed to feel unhappy over not being able to see the world as every pony else does.”
The Starlight plushie moved closer.
“There’s only so much we are in control of,” she said. “Letting yourself get worked up is only going to make you unable to sleep and not sleeping will make you not feel good when it’s time to wake up and be at your best.”
Yosh picked up the Starlight plush.
“But I want to sleep,” he pouted. “I just can’t.”
“You need to,” she insisted. “You need to fill that head of yours with happy thoughts.”
The dino-duck sighed.
“I’m trying,” he insisted. “I just keep waking up and can’t get back to sleep.”
“Maybe I can help?” the Cozy Glow plush inquired.
Yosh brought her up and sat her on his lap.
“I had trouble staying asleep, too,” Cozy said. “I woke up so many times because I was scared I’d fail.”
“I remember you saying something about that, Cozy,” added Starlight.
Yosh felt Cozy smile up at him.
“Starlight told me that, if I couldn’t sleep, I should just get up for a bit,” Cozy continued. “Go someplace and read a book, trot around, or get a drink of water.”
“I don’t understand?” asked Yosh. “I want to sleep. Not be awake and moving around.”
“That’s the funny part,” giggled Cozy. “I actually felt like sleeping after I moved around a bit outside of bed.”
“Trying to force sleep when it isn’t coming to you naturally can be quite stressful in itself,” Starlight stated. “So maybe you should take a little walk? Maybe plop down on the couch and think of some fun stories? Grab a glass of juice?”
The more the dino-duck thought on it the better he felt.
“Okay,” he said while clutching all three plushies close against his chest. “Then maybe we can cuddle with the pillow and blanket on the couch?”
All three plushies hummed in agreement.
***
Yosh felt himself grow more comfortable leaving the not-so-comfortable bed and waddling out to the couch. The living room felt very different when it was just him sitting in the dark with no other sounds than the fan.
“How are you feeling?” asked Snowdrop.
“Actually,” smiled the dino-duck as he leaned back into the couch. “Better.”
“But…,” Plushie Starlight continued.
Yosh lowered his head back down as he snuggled the trio of plush ponies.
“I still have so many things going around in my head,” he said
“Such as…?” pressed Cozy.
“You miss that feeling of someone close,” stated Snowdrop. “You miss having some pony by your side during Luna’s nights.”
Yosh slumped.
“Golly,” stated Cozy Glow. “I know I miss having friends. I did a terrible thing but I know it was terrible and would do all I gee-golly could to make things peachy with every creature again.”
Yosh held Cozy up to his beak.
“I think we both know that is easier said than done,” he replied back. “Especially when you know from the one you miss that it will never be again.”
Cozy sighed.
“Jeepers,” she said in a low tone. “More than a friend, huh?”
The dino-duck nodded somberly.
“I often wonder if Counselor Starlight could ever forgive me?” the curly-haired, pink Pegasus filly plush asked.
“I do,” Starlight replied genuinely. “Just as I know everyone in your life forgive you, Yosh, for not being able to keep her from leaving.”
“Loss is really hard,” stated Snowdrop. “For all I ever saw in my mind I always dreamed of seeing my mom, my friends, and so many other ponies outside of my dreams.”
“That’s how I see now, too,” lamented Yosh while snuggling all the plushies.
“But you can get through it,” assured Starlight. “And we’re here for as long as you need us.”
“Uh-huh,” agreed cozy. “Let’s stop worrying so much and spend more time being super pals and special helpers!”
“You’ve been through a lot,” added Starlight. “I know it has made you feel many awful things, too. However, as I have come to learn, there is a place for you and ponies who care. More importantly ponies who will see you for your present and future instead of those rough patches in your past.”
“However,” stated Snowdrop. “You also have to be able to let go of all those bad feelings and memories. I know I couldn’t have proven I can have my own special place in the world if I allowed myself to be stuck in the rain clouds all the time.”
Yosh said nothing as he reached for the blanket and fell sideways down onto the pillow.
“Thanks,” he said with a quacking yawn. “I think I can rest now.”