While Twilight was always happy to meet with one of her fellow princesses, the fact that it was cutting into her teaching time at the School of Friendship was a bit of a downer.

The fact that Princess Luna had come all the way to Ponyville for the meeting though, told her that something was on her mind. That it was just the two of them eased her worries, however.

"So um. What brings you to Ponyville Luna?" Twilight asked, passing Luna's coffee over to her as she took her seat in the Headmare's Office. She herself had a cup of Earl Grey tea waiting for her.

Luna took a moment to savor the sweet elixir. No matter what Tia said, coffee was the drink of the gods themselves. Tea was an inferior beverage. Why her sister thought so highly of it eluded her for the moment.

But that was a question for another day. This meeting was cutting into her sleep schedule, and after last night's Dream Walk, she needed all the sleep she could get. But this could not wait.

"Tell me Twilight. What do you know of Cozy Glow?" She asked, setting her cup down.

Twilight was taken aback by the question, but she quickly recovered as she tried to think of all she knew of the filly. "She is one of our best students. None of the girls have ever said anything bad about her, and the CMC can't stop talking about her."

She paused as she raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

Luna nodded. "And how much do you know of where she came from?"

Twilight wracked her brain again. "Cozy came to Ponyville by herself. She had a permission slip from her mom saying she could stay at the school by herself and if she wanted to stay in Ponyville for longer, she was welcome to."

Luna nodded gravely as her expression turned serious. "That is what I was afraid of. That is not the true story Twilight Sparkle. Yes, she has permission to be here alone, because she has no other place to go."

Twilight's brows creased. "What do you mean?"

Luna sighed. "Cozy Glow has no family to speak of to go back to. The mare who signed her slip is the matron of Tall Tale's orphanage. The orphanage recently closed because there was no other filly or colt left. Cozy was the only still there when she came to the school."

Twilight nearly choked on her tea. "What!?"

Luna nodded. "Tis true. I spoke to her last night after she had a nightmare. She told me everything. She did not tell you for fear that you would send her back to a place that no longer exists."

Twilight tried to digest this while not choking on her drink. "I wouldn't do that. Not if I knew the truth. Sure I am not really happy she didn't tell me this sooner. But we could have helped her before now if we had known about this."

Luna nodded. "You and I both know that. But Cozy Glow is at an age where not everything seems to be as rosy as we see it now. And look at it from her side. What does it look like when you've spent your whole life wanting and wishing for a family, but never have one? To see your friends get to leave with a family of their own, while you are left behind?"

Twilight's ears fell as she thought about it. "I hadn't thought about it that way."

Luna's voice softened as her smile came back. "It is the root cause in fact of the nightmare I helped her with. In this dream, she had turned to evil, and with Tirek, planned to steal all of the magic in Equestria."

Twilight's mouth dropped in shock, but Luna held up a hoof to forestall her questions. "And when that had failed, the two of them were banished to Tartarus, where in time they were freed by Grogar. Or at least Discord pretending to be him at least. Alongside Queen Chrysalis and King Sombra."

She paused as she recalled the events she had seen. "Sombra was defeated of course. In the course of their misadventures, the three of them did, in fact, steal all the magic in Equestria, after exposing Discord's lies as Grogar. In the end, they were sentenced to an eternity as statues."

Twilight tried to process this. It was a lot to take in for sure. "But why would Cozy ever join with them? Tirek's in Tartarus, and who knows where Chrysalis is. I didn't even think King Sombra was still alive."

Luna nodded. "In her heart, she wanted a family. It drove her to think that by stealing all of the magic, her friends would never leave her side and they could be her family. The same could be said with the Legion of Doom."

Twilight bit her lip. "That's not how friendship works. That's not how family works."

Luna nodded. "In the end, Cozy saw that as well. She will always want a family, but she has seen that the path she might have taken would never have given her one. Or the friends she wants."

Twilight nodded. She was glad that the disaster had seemingly been averted. Or so she hoped. "But what do we do now? I will have to talk to her about not telling us the truth. But I won't send her back."

Luna nodded, a knowing look coming to her face. One that reminded Twilight of Princess Celestia. "I believe you know what you can do Twilight. If not you, then one of your friends. All of you are more than qualified for the task. Can you do that though? Take on that responsibility?"

Twilight nodded, not bothering to hide her gulp of fear. Of course, she knew what she could do for Cozy Glow. But could she go through with it? Could any of her friends do it for that matter?

Author's Note

So now you know most of Cozy's story. Or at least the parts that are relevant to this story. I won't explain everything about her life before coming to Ponyville.

If it's not that important to the story going forward, I don't see the need to.