The Social Rejects Squad: Little Adventures

Cozy lands in front of the hospital door and looks up with her auburn eyes as she knocks with her right forehoof.

She hears Little Snack’s excited voice from inside should, “HOORAY!”

Cozy starts as she retracts her neck and stares blankly forward with wide eyes.

She then hears hoofsteps approaching the door from behind before it opens to reveal a smiling orange earth filly with a long green mane around her shoulders, freckles on her face, and striking green eyes. Little Snack smiles at her as her body and hair shakes, “It’s my filly friend! Yay!”

“Golly, Little Snack! You sure seem happy?”

Little frowns, “Why wouldn’t I be happy to see you, Cozy?”

Cozy blinks, “Oh, right! You love me! Uh…”

Little stares at Cozy blankly while she falters.

Cozy finally says as she stares blankly, “Can I come in?”

Little frowns, “Well, isn’t that why you came here?”

Cozy stutters, “Uh, right! Golly yes! That’s why I’m here! To see my filly friend, Little Snack!” before trotting into the room past Little, as the orange filly backs away to the left. Cozy looks and sees a retractable buckball hoop in the center of the room. The stalk is dark gray plastic and looks like it’s designed to withdraw and expand with foot and a half long spacers to raise a basket roughly 8 feet from the floor. The basket is wooden, about a foot wide at the top, and roughly 14 inches deep with a red stripe below a white one, which Cozy thinks is just for decoration, but she doesn’t know sports and so she’s not sure as she frowns at the contraption. She looks at Little standing there just to the left of it, “You know, these rooms sure are high!”

Little smiles, “Lucky me, right? Now, I can practice my buckball baskets!”

“Well golly, that’s just swell, Little!” Cozy exclaims before fluttering her wings.

Little leans forward as she happily says, “Yeah, and we can play against each other too!”

Cozy frowns, “Say what now?”

Little smiles, “Yeah! I found some rope to tie up your wings in the closet! There was a note with glitter all over it and bright stars, hearts, and smiley faces. It said, ‘In case of rope emergency’”

Cozy lifts her left eyebrow as she starts, “WHAT?”

Little nods before trotting to her closet on the right, near the entryway as she says, “Oh yeah! Hang on! I’ll get you fixed up!”

<*****>

Cozy stares up at the high 8-foot tall buckball basket in front of her as the red rubber ball, roughly 5 inches in diameter sits on the floor in front of her. She stares back down at Little Snack on her left and tries to ruffle her wings, but can’t as the rope holds them securely in place as she says, “Okay so you have three points and I have none…” She frowns, “Golly, I’m not very good at this!”

Little smiles at Cozy, “Well, you’re not gonna be at first! I mean, I got this ball kicking cutie mark!” Little frowns, “I don’t think chess pieces play ball very well though?”

Cozy giggles, “Well, yeah! They don’t!” She looks back up at the buckball hoop, “Okay, the last time, I threw with too much force!”

“So, you wanna use less force this time! Come on Cozy! You got this!” Little cheers before nodding.

Cozy blinks, “Um, right! Yes!” She lowers her head to move her snout to pick up the 5-inch-wide red rubber ball there and balance it on her nose before she raises back up. She balances the ball as her eyes stare forward.

“Okay, eyes on the basket when shooting Cozy, just like I taught you!” Little shouts from the side.

Cozy gulps, “Here I go!” before hopping up and launching the ball by flicking her head up so the ball flies at the basket! It glances around the right side and circles the basket to fly off the left back towards Cozy!

She ducks as the ball hits the floor just behind her and bounces to slam into a wall and bounce back towards her.

Little holds out her left forehoof while staring diagonally at Cozy and the ball so that the ball smacks into her hoof and lands on the ground before bounding up and Little just moves her forehoof forward so that the ball bounces back down to the floor, where it rolls a few inches back towards the wall and stops. Little looks at Cozy and says, “Mulligan! Try again, Cozy!”

Cozy stares at Little wide-eyed and frantic, “You sure? I don’t think I can make it Little Snack?”

Little smiles, “You just need more practice! Besides, it’s fun to try, right?”

Cozy smiles, “Yeah…” before trotting to the ball on the floor just to her left, lifting it up with her snout, and then turning to face the basket.

Little cheers, “Come on Cozy! Show that basket who’s boss!”

Cozy giggles slightly as she looks up at the basket and then lowers her snout slightly before lifting it quickly, so the ball launches forward. It careens on the left side again and Cozy frowns before it circles back to the right, only it sinks into the basket this time!

“Hooray!” Little cheers while bounding up and down! “Okay, so that makes the final score three to one, Little Snack!”

Cozy looks over at Little and smiles, “Golly! I’m not very good at this, but I sure am better than I thought!”

Little smiles, “Well, you never know what you can do until you try!”

Cozy gives a wide-eyed start before nodding once, “Right!”

“So, what do you wanna do now, filly friend?”

Cozy frowns, “You know, we were supposed to be studying, but we haven’t done that yet? Uh, any areas you were having trouble in?”

Little frowns, “Oh gosh! Yeah, I failed my Loyalty quiz yesterday when the teacher came by!”

Cozy leans forward, “Well, what areas did you have trouble in?”

Little shakes her head and says, “Well, the teacher said my biggest area was caring for friends. You know, I’m supposed to make sure my friend is safe before heading out for help! I uh, forgot that part…” before looking dour at the ground.

Cozy widens her eyes, “We literally just had an adventure that covered this lesson a few days ago…”

Little looks up at Cozy and blurts out, “I’m not smart, okay?”

Cozy frowns more and leans forward, “Uh, what?”

Little flinches and opens her eyes to the pegasus before sighing, “You and Starshine are really smart! And… I’m not…” and then she blinks.

“Aww, Little! You’re just smart in different areas!” Cozy says soothingly.

Little starts and leans forward as she asks inquisitively, “Oh? Like what?”

“Well…” Cozy blinks, “You sure know a lot more about buckball than me or Starshine!”

Little smiles faintly, “Well, yeah…”

“And you can shoot a ball better than either of us!”

Little’s smile grows, “Yeah… So uh, I guess I’m just good in different areas?”

Cozy shakes her head and leans forward emphatically, “Well, right! You really shouldn’t call yourself dumb Little Snack! You have a lot going for you!”

Little leans back and frowns, “But I never called myself dumb? I just said I wasn’t smart!”

Cozy’s eyes widen, “Well, whatever! You’re smart enough Little! Stop doubting yourself! And don’t worry about the stuff you’re not good at either, okay?” Cozy smiles, “I got your flanks!”

Little smiles, “Thanks, filly friend!”

Suddenly, there’s a knock on the door.

Little looks up at it with bright green eyes, “Come in!”

The door then glows blue and opens to reveal a blue unicorn in magician’s attire. Trixie looks at Cozy to her left as the pink filly turns to face her, frowns and says, “You know Cozy, you were supposed to be home 45 minutes ago…”

Cozy starts and stares at Trixie wide-eyed, “Oh golly! Uh, what time is it?” She glances to the clock at her far left to see the little hand just past the 6 and the big hand pointing towards the 3. She looks back at Trixie, “Sorry mom! I was playing with er,” she flinches, “helping Little Snack here and I guess I lost track of time?” before smiling broadly with her eyes wide open expecting damage.

Little turns her orange body to face Cozy to the left, “So uh, you gotta go now? See you tomorrow?”

Cozy turns her body to Little and smiles, “You bet, filly friend!”

Little trots to Cozy and gives her a big hug with her forehooves!

Cozy give a loud, “EEP!”

Little whispers in Cozy’s left ear, “I love you filly friend!”

Cozy barely manages to gasp out, “I love you too! Please don’t suffocate me!”

“Oh gosh! Sorry!” Little exclaims as she releases the pegasus in front of a giggling blue unicorn.

Cozy huffs, “We really need to work on your hugging later!”

<*****>

Cozy sits at the dinner table and looks at Trixie on her left, “So uh, hiya mom!” before smiling nervously.

Trixie smiles down at Cozy, “So, what did you and Little do?”

“Oh golly gee mom, she has a buckball hoop and we practiced baskets today! You know, I was a lot better at that than I thought I’d be?”

Trixie smiles, “Well Cozy, you never know what you can do (Cozy chimes in) until you try!” Cozy stops talking while Trixie giggles and says, “Uh, right!”

“You know, she taught me about buckball shooting and I went over a friendship lesson we went over earlier! Now, I’m sure she’ll remember it!” Cozy says before smiling and looking pleased with herself as she tilts her head slightly to the right.

“Wow! You really are a good filly now, Cozy! And yes, that’s something they’ll go over with you in class later! We each help each other by talking and interacting and we’re all better people because of it!”

Cozy starts and leans forward, “Golly! So, we’re all better together then, huh?”

“Exactly Cozy! Now, another lesson you need to know is that hay cakes and syrup doesn’t eat it itself!”

Cozy smiles and giggles, “Oh uh, right mom!”

<*****>

Cozy leans back on her haunches on the far wall while sitting on the pillow at the head of her bed. Her long wavy bluish-white mane falls on her shoulders as she looks down and props book 9 of the Dragon-Corn series and thinks to herself, Golly, this series sure is long! Suddenly, she hears a loud CRASH come from the direction of Ponyville!

Cozy raises her head from her book, “Oh golly! What was that?” before getting off her bed and trotting to her window to open it, so she can hear better.

She leans forward and hears a loud crunching noise coming from town and frowns before thinking I should go see what that is!

She climbs out of her window and drops to the ground to land on her hooves before crouching and flapping her little wings. She soon levitates off the ground before turning her body left towards Ponyville in mid-air and leaning forward as she flaps forcefully to fly that direction.

She gains speed en route and narrows her eyes as she looks towards town. The sees darkness there with a faint blue glow on the west side of town, near the hospital! She thinks, Oh golly! I sure hope Little Snack isn’t involved in this!

As she flies over the empty shops and buildings, she sees the empty darkened streets passing by below, but she also can’t help but notice a large dark form near a building just to her right in the distance. She sees the hospital coming up on her left and swoops left to land in front of the doors, about 100 feet from the entryway, when she turns her body left on her hooves to face north and looks on as a large clear blue bear-like creature tears at a building on the left side of the street, when suddenly, she hears a familiar squeaky feminine voice coming from behind her.

The voice yells, “Hey! You’re a jerk! Stop tearing up the city, you jerk!”

Cozy’s brown eyes widen before she looks back on her left to see an orange filly there, with green hair on her shoulders staring at the scene defiantly! She screams at Little Snack, “That monster can rip your face off! Get back to the hospital, NOW!”

She hears the bear creature roar and looks back to the street to see it beating its chest as it howls at the sky!

Cozy widens her eyes, “Oh golly gee! I gotta keep that thing away from the hospital!” before squatting once more on all four of her hooves and flapping her little wings. She levitates to the air once more and leans forward to fly towards the ursa minor while gaining speed!

The ursa growls at her and takes a swipe with his left paw at Cozy, as the pegasus zings past her right and narrowly misses the undone fluffy bluish white tail.

Cozy moves her head to the right and says, “You’ll have to do better than that! Come and get me, ugly!”

The ursa screams angrily again and goes to all fours to begin running and bounding the direction Cozy flew as Cozy stops and turns her body in the air to look back at him.

“Ha ha ha ha ha! Come on, you overgrown teddy bear!”

The ursa manages to get closer to Cozy so Cozy turns her body to her right and leans forward while flapping her wings vigorously to glide down the street that way to the east. As she flies, she can hear the beast roaring and snarling as it does it’s best to keep up!

Cozy turns left to head north, further towards the forest when suddenly, there’s a bright flash of light in the air on her upper right!

She glances that way as she passes to see a purple alicorn there with her horn glowing with violet magic.

Twilight Sparkle shouts at Cozy, “You can stop flying now! I’ve contained the ursa minor!”

Cozy stops in mid-air near a large brown building as she glides forward with momentum, before turning her body back to face the ursa and she sees it contained in a large blue forcefield 50 feet before her on the ground, some 60 feet below as it yells and attempts to scratch at the field with it’s claws. She looks up at Princess Twilight, high to her left now, “Why is it here?”

Twilight looks down at Cozy, frowns, and says, “I was afraid this might happen! The ursa has your friend’s scent now and was trying to find her. That’s why I set an alarm spell to notify me if an ursa came to this town!”

Cozy starts and stares blankly at the street as she mutters to herself, “Oh golly! Well, that makes sense!”

Twilight smiles at Cozy, “Don’t worry Cozy! I’ll lull the ursa to sleep and Equestria will not see him again for centuries!”

Cozy starts wide-eyed, “Okay uh, you do that Princess! I gotta go check on Little Snack!”

<*****>

Cozy lands in front of the glass hospital doors and trots that direction. Soon, an orange earth filly emerges from the doors, and she witnesses the familiar form of Little Snack galloping towards her! She has enough time to brace herself this time and only moves back a few inches when Little grasps her in her forehooves for a big hug, although she still lets out an “EEP!”

“Oh gosh Cozy! Are you alright? It didn’t get you, did it?”

Cozy can only stammer out, “I’m fine!”

Little lets Cozy go and returns to her hooves as she stares at the pink filly from the front of the hospital, “Yeah, but you actually flew at it! I mean, it could’ve gotten you!”

Cozy stands there and smiles at the orange filly, “Naw! He was slow and I’m fast!”

“Wowie Cozy!” Little says as she jitters, “You sure are incredible, you know that?”

Cozy blushes and rubs the back of her neck with her right forehoof, “Yeah…” she looks back up to the orange filly, “Are you okay?”

Little frowns at the pink filly, “Why wouldn’t I be okay, Cozy? It never got anywhere near me!”

Cozy smiles, “Well, yeah! But you were there!”

Little smiles, “Yeah! Make sure your friend is okay, right?”

“Exactly!” Cozy answers.

“I love you Cozy Glow!”

Cozy suddenly hears flapping coming from behind her and she turns on her left at the back of her to see the large lilac form of Princess Twilight there, 20 feet away from her as she retracts her wings back to her body, looks at the pegasus filly and asks, “Are you alright, Cozy?”

Cozy starts as she vibrates lightly, “Golly gee, I’m fine! The bear never touched me!”

She hears Little chime in from behind her, “Right, but it’s always important to check on those you care about!”

Cozy’s eyes widen and she says, “Uh, right!” to the princess as her little body jitters slightly.

Twilight Sparkle smiles down at the filly as she trots closer, “Now, we have to decide how to reward you for your heroism!”

Cozy frowns, “Say what now?”

Twilight stops about 7 feet from Cozy while continuing to smile down at her, “You protected a hospital from an ursa minor! That was very brave of you Cozy!”

Cozy smiles dimly at the princess, “Well, I was just doing what I was supposed to! I mean, golly gee! I wouldn’t want sick and injured ponies to get hurt, right?”

Twilight smiles broader, “You were doing it mostly for Little Snack, weren’t you?”

Cozy’s eyes widen and mouth shrinks as she says, “Hey! I’m a good filly now, remember?” before she smiles broadly up at the princess.

(To be continued…)