Babysitting sucks

Cozy Glow’s mother had returned from Manehattan the very next day after Thorn had his conversation with Pinkie Pie, and he figured it would be some weeks until Ms. Honey had to leave again.

He thought wrong.

Ms. Honey was needed at Baltimare the day after tomorrow, which meant he would be taking care of Cozy Glow once again.

Thorn was still preoccupied from Pinkie’s warning regarding Cozy Glow’s actions, so Thorn wasn’t letting Cozy out of his sight this time, which led him to where he currently was.

Professor Cranky Doodle placed a finger on his chin, pretending to consider Thorn’s request.

“Well, that is a good argument,” the teacher said.

Thorn nodded with hope.

“But the answer is still no.”

Shattered, Thorn slumped in place. “What!? Why not!?”

“I will not let you work ahead of your classmates, you will suffer just as much as everyone else. Now, if you’ll excuse me, if I don’t get to the teachers’ lounge before Luna, there’ll be no coffee left.”

Cranky Doodle stood up from his chair and left for the door, but as he was opening it, he felt a grip on his ankles.

“Just give me the homework and I’ll leave!”

“No! Let go of me this instant!”

“You don’t understand, I need this!”

“No! If you keep this up, I’ll have to report you, and I know you don’t want me to!”

“Why are you suppressing knowledge from the public!?”

Cranky groaned and after struggling for a moment, he was eventually able to free himself of Thorn’s grip, leaving the student face-palmed against the floor.

Exiting the classroom while mumbling in disgust, Cranky spotted Vice Principal Luna in the distance, heading towards the teachers’ lounge.

Seeing this, Cranky gasped and ran for the lounge.

“What just happened?” Someone else asked.

Thorn raised his head weakly, and found Microchips staring at him.

Thorn groaned and allowed his head to fall back on the floor.

“I’m going to be facing some… difficulties… this week and wanted to get Professor Cranky to give me this week’s homework.”

“Oh! I thought he was refusing to explain a topic to you, what with you saying he’s suppressing knowledge? I was going to offer my experience and explain whatever it was to you, but it seems you don’t need help after all. Good luck with your... intricacies”

Microchips then started walking away while taking out a calculator from his pocket and making an ambitious smile, like if he was about to discover the last digit of pi.

“Wait!”

Microchips turned around, and Thorn huffed. “Actually, I could use some guidance with math… er… if you’re free sometime today, I mean.”

“Of course I’m free! I never do anything after school!”

“That actually sounds a bit sad…”

The day after tomorrow had arrived, and along with it, Cozy Glow.

“I mean it, Thorn,” Hardwood stated, “I don’t have a problem with staying a bit longer.”

Thorn and his father were talking in the hallway as Cozy unpacked her crayons and coloring book back in the kitchen.

“Well,” Thorn shrugged, “I don’t have a problem with it either, I was just saying that if you have to go, I can handle myself just fine.”

“I’ll stay for a while longer then,” Hardwood stated as headed to the kitchen.

“I’m cooking tho,” Thorn said from behind, “it’s been a while since I did, instead of having to just heat precooked food.”

Hardwood chuckled, “I certainly don’t have a problem with you choosing what to eat, instead of me,”

“Hooray,” Thorn said without a hint of emotion, causing Hardwood to raise his eyebrow.

Thorn headed to the fridge in order to know what he could prepare, while his father sat along with Cozy Glow, who looked mildly confused.

“Wait, you’re not cooking today, Mr. Wildfire?” She asked.

“No, Cozy Glow, Thorn’s handling that today.”

Astonished, Cozy turned towards Thorn, “You can cook!?”

“Yes,” Thorn replied warily, still recalling Pinkie’s warning.

An awkward silence filled the room, making Hardwood uncomfortable.

Clearing his throat, he decided to change the subject.

“So, how did your day go?”

Cozy turned back at Thorn, more intrigued than Hardwood was.

“It was fine.”

Cozy slouched and decided to guide the conversation herself.

“Not to be rude or anything, but why are you here?”

Noticing that Hardwood cringed at the choice of words, Cozy reformulated.

“At this moment, I mean. You usually arrive a couple of hours later.”

“The instructor couldn’t come today,” Thorn answered.

“Did something happen?” Hardwood asked.

“An accident.”

“Oh no!” Cozy Glow exclaimed.

“Yeah, that’s awful, I hope she’s fine… aside from everything else, I mean,” Hardwood said.

“Mhmm,” Thorn replied, channeling his inner Marble Pie.

Noticing Thorn’s emotions, or lack thereof, Hardwood leaned in the table.

“Hey, Thorn, is something bothering you?” he asked. “If this is about that Sunset Shimmer, I can-“

Thorn sighed, “That’s not it,” he said, keeping his attention on his cooking while rising his voice a bit.

“You don’t have to keep this to yourself, Thorn,” Hardwood said as he got up and closer to his son. “Just tell me and I’ll talk to your principal to get that girl expelled. I’ll do it, you know I will.”

Cozy Glow decided to take out her phone and started chatting with one of her contacts, rather than listen to their conversation.

The conversation, however, didn’t move any further, and after a few moments of intense silence, filled only with the noise of Cozy Glow’s phone tapping, Hardwood’s own phone buzzed.

He sighed, “I have to take this.”

Thorn’s attention remained on the food, Hardwood spoke to the person on the other side of the call, and Cozy Glow smirked fondly at her phone.

“What!? Right now!?” Hardwood asked.

“Alright,” he then said, crestfallen, “I’ll be right there.”

Hanging the call, he turned back to the kitchen.

“An emergency rose up, there’s a fire ongoing right now… I-I have to get going.”

“Don’t worry, Mr. Wildfire,” Cozy said, “you go out there and answer the call of duty!”

Thorn just nodded without looking back at him.

Nodding to himself more than anything, Hardwood showed himself out.

…

Hours later, Cozy Glow was packing her stuff back into her backpack while Thorn was in the living room playing with Whistle.

Whistle was inside a translucent blue maze made out of several tunnels, with small holes in which Thorn would drop treats for Whistle to pursue.

After his father left, Thorn was left alone with his thoughts, while Cozy Glow busied herself with her homework, which was sort of relieving for Thorn.

As they waited for Cozy Glow’s uncle to arrive, Thorn pondered about the recent incidents, while Cozy Glow looked at a map on her phone.

Shortly after, she laid her phone aside and decided to break the silence.

“So, tense day, huh?”

“Mhm-mm”

Cozy Glow rolled her eyes.

“What happened back there anyway?”

Thorn turned around with a quizzical look.

“You know, in the kitchen. You and your father seemed... how do I put it... on edge.”

“Well, I can’t speak from his side, but I wasn’t feeling tense.”

“How so?”

“Didn’t feel that way.”

In mild annoyance to Thorn’s curtness, Cozy Glow squinted her eyes and puffed her cheeks slightly.

After a fleeting moment of consideration, she nodded to herself, and then returned her attention to her caretaker.

“You know, I think I know what your problem is, Thorn.”

“What?” Thorn asked in an annoyed voice.

“The other day, when you were all sleepy and paranoid, your father told me a story about your boo-boos with Sunset Shimmer.”

Thorn’s stoic, apathetic, cold gaze faltered after the mention of Sunset Shimmer. It was a fleeting moment, but one that Cozy managed to see.

“And I think I know what’s bothering you. It must have hurt when your relationship with your parents got strained after that incident. But even after all this time, it seems like your parents still don’t hang out with you.”

“Huh?”

“I mean, your mother leaves you alone for over a month and only visits for 5 days before disappearing again,” Cozy explained.

“And your father leaves immediately after you arrive, even leaving your problems as secondary compared to his.”

Thorn didn’t say anything and just stood still where he was.

“I might even go so far as to say that they’re only pressuring you to make new friends as an excuse so that you don’t bother them.

“If I were in your place, I would have exploded a long time ago, so… props to you!”

Before Thorn could even consider whether to reply or not, a car honked from outside.

“Oh! I gotta go! Thanks again, Thorn. And good luck with your issue!” Cozy exclaimed as she picked her stuff from the couch.

She gave Thorn a goodbye hug—which he didn’t react to, as she expected—and then exited the house.

Once she got in the car, it quickly drove away, while Thorn remained motionless on the couch.

It was true his relationship with his parents hadn’t been the same since the Sunset incident, but he always thought they had fixed it already.

But…what if that wasn’t the case.

Did he just assume things were fine after a simple apology? Had things not changed… had they remained the same after all this time?

Whistle escaped his translucent maze, and approached Thorn, softly chewing his fingers as soon as he was nearby.

The next morning had come and gone.

Thorn had arrived at school upset.

When his normal classes finished, he was upset again.

During his training… he actually felt quite comfortable. It was a feeling he didn’t pay much attention to but he was always glad that it happened.

Once his training finished, however, his prior emotions returned. Add that to the bonus adrenaline rush, and he was determined to end whatever Cozy’s plan was.

Yesterday she had struck a chord in Thorn’s heart, but after spending quite literally two hours looking at the ceiling during midnight, he accepted that Cozy Glow was just trying to mess with him.

And he did not appreciate that.

Any interruptions to take out his revenge would not be taken kindly.

Which was a shame for Flash, since he had just arrived to ask for Thorn’s opinion.

Thorn groaned loudly, “What do you want now!?”

Flash flinched and stumbled back a little, “Um… it’s about Sunset.”

“It always is,” Thorn spat.

“I’m in a bit of a predicament… Brawly said that maybe it’d be better if I broke up with Sunset, and everyone else agreed to it. So I came to you, surely you think that’s a bad idea, right?”

“What!? No! You should break up with her!”

“Wh-what!? You too!?”

“She’s a horrible person, Flash!”

“No, she’s not! She just needs a little help, that’s all.”

“You’re way too pure for your own good.”

“Huh?”

“Stop caring so much about her, and start thinking about yourself! You aren’t happy with this, it’s not healthy for you!”

“Sunset just needs to learn how to be a better person, she-“

“She doesn’t care about being a better person, Flash!” Thorn exclaimed, flailing his arms in the air.

“But-“

“But nothing! She’s hurt so many people, it’s about time she starts facing the music on her own.”

“She’s not that bad once y-”

“Yes, she is! All she does is make people miserable by hurting others and stalking them!” Thorn exclaimed, shoving the main entrance’s door hard enough for Snips and Snails to stumble on their feet.

Flash blinked. “Have they been-“

“Yes.”

“Well, mayb-“

“I’m sorry to be the one to tell you this, but she only sees you as a trophy, Flash! You can’t protect her from her own mistakes.”

“Well, what do I do instead, huh!? Leave her alone and let her hurt even more people!?”

“Yes! Uh… I mean… Uhm…”

Thorn wanted to stick to his reply so badly, but he knew from experience that this was a complicated question to respond to. Anything he said would sound bad, yet…

“If I just push her aside, she’ll just haunt someone else…” Flash pointed out, and Thorn stared at the ground.

“But… maybe you’re right… maybe I shouldn’t put someone else’s problems above my own…”

Both students stood in silence for a while, until Flash spoke up again.

“Thank you, Thorn; for the perspective, I mean. I’ll think about it.”

Thorn nodded.

‘Yeah… right back at you,’ he thought, as Flash walked away.

Arriving home, Thorn was shocked.

He had arrived at his house, pondering about his conversation with Flash, and the first thing he saw opening the door was Cozy Glow.

She was sitting in a chair right in the middle of the room…

Petting Whistle.

“Hello, Thorn.”

Thorn shook away his bewilderment and cast his eyes down at Cozy Glow with a stoic gaze.

“Cozy Glow.”

The two of them stared at each other for a few moments; Cozy with her characteristic innocent smile, and Thorn with a fixed, stern glance.

It was Thorn who decided to make the first move.

“You can drop the smile.”

“What do you mean?” Cozy asked, knowing exactly what he meant.

“Pinkie Pie told me all about you.”

“You’ve met Pinkie Pie?!” Cozy cried, faking surprise. “Golly! I had no idea!”

“So now that we’re both on the same page, you can drop the act.”

Cozy Glow accommodated in her seat.

“Gee, I sure don’t know what you’re talking about, Thorn. It all comes naturally to me at this point,” she said, her smile shifting into a smirk.

Thorn groaned.

“But you’re right. We are on the same page now, so let’s get straight to the point.”

Thorn shifted his stance.

“Look, it might not look that way, but I can take care of myself just fine. And you obviously didn’t want to do this thing in the first place.”

Thorn squinted his eyes.

“So I’ll put it simply,” she cleared her throat. “You don’t want to do this anymore, and I have better things to do than keep playing around with some loser like you.”

Thorn had heard those words before.

They had played in his mind countless times, and apparently, Cozy Glow knew it.

‘So let’s make a deal,’ he recalled in his mind while Cozy Glow said those exact words aloud.

“Quit…” she started.

“And you can go back to your life,” he finished.

“See? You get it. Do we have a deal then?”

Uncertainty dawned over Thorn as his eyes darted from one side to another. Thorn wasn’t sure of what he expected, but it hadn’t been this.

As logic and emotions clashed to find an answer, and his resolve wavered, he clenched his fists and squinted his eyes, holding onto the preliminary decision he had taken before entering the door.

“No!” He exclaimed as he released the tension in his arms, shooting them downwards.

“Huh?”

“Unlike you, I don’t know what your problem is! But if I had to guess, I’d say it’s everything that you accused me of yesterday.”

“Golly, isn’t that nice,” she said. “But anyway, if you’re not quitting then I guess I’ll just keep bothering you.”

Cozy Glow let go of Whistle and coyly reached into her backpack, withdrawing Thorn’s missing staff.

“If I’ve learned anything this days is that all I have to do is mess just a wittle bit with your stuff, and your entire day goes haywire, teehee.”

“Give me that!” He exclaimed as he swiftly grabbed his staff back from Cozy Glow, and taking it as an opportunity to get his thoughts in order, he also took Whistle back to his cage.

“So,” he said upon returning, “why are you doing this then? What do you get from this?”

“Uh, other than the satisfaction of outsmarting people at their own game?”

Thorn rolled his eyes, “Come on Cozy Glow, let me help you, and maybe we could both each go our own way as you said earlier... Only without having to resort to trauma?”

“You mean the boring way?”

“Yep.”

Cozy slouched. “Fine, what’s your brilliant plan? Have me tell you all of my problems and that I magically feel better?”

“Kind of. Let’s do that, but don’t tell me. Tell your mom!”

Cozy stared at him.

“That’s your plan? Do you really think no one has thought of rattling me to my mom already?”

“I don’t think you have tried.”

“Of course I have!”

“I don’t think you have tried.”

“Of course I- well… actually I gave up on that three years ago…”

Dirt and dust all over her face, Honey swiped away her sweat after a tiresome job.

“Yeah, that might do.”

Her attention then diverted, as the phone in her pocket buzzed.

Disturbed, Honey took the phone rapidly, and when she didn’t recognize the number, she gulped.

“H-hello?” She asked warily, answering the call.

“Hey…mom.”

“Cozy!” Honey cheerfully greeted as she laid down her shovel in the grass.

“What a nice surprise! But… could it wait? I’m kind of in the middle of something…”

“Yeah! Absolutely, I’ll call you when you’re not busy, ‘kay b-“

Honey heard a grumbling noise interrupt Cozy, who then groaned in protest and added a disgruntled “fine.”

“Actually,” Cozy continued, “there’s something I have to tell you… it’s about the babysitting thing…”

Honey facepalmed slightly, “did the kid quit too?”

“No, he’s still here, it’s about the other babysitters, all of them… I… I’m…

“It’s my fault that they quit.”

Honey blinked, not understanding what Cozy was trying to say. “Well, I mean, technically, yeah, they couldn’t handle you, but it’s not your fault-“

“No, it is.”

Honey didn’t reply, so Cozy continued.

“I was being troublesome in purpose so that they’d quit and you would come back.”

“Wh-what?”

“I was upset. I was angry that you never came home… you’re away all the time, and you only come back for a few days and never spend any of that time with me… it’s been five years since we celebrate Christmas together!

“So I thought that if I forced you to come home, then you’d stay here eventually…”

“…”

“You made me turn flights around thirteen times so that you could tell me that you missed me!?” Honey exclaimed, scowling.

“Well… yeah! And it’s your fault! You always arrive, hire someone and then leave again! You think that just because you’re the boss of a group of people makes your problems more important than mine! Is that it!? Am I, your daughter, less important than a bunch of adults that can take care of themselves for a few weeks!? Don’t I deserve to see you as much as they do!?”

Honey’s scowl never left her face, but it did falter once she heard Cozy Glow sobbing.

“We’ll talk later.”

Honey hung up, and after pocketing her phone, she sighed.

A very masculine scream distracted her, and she walked away.

“I told you to leave that anthill alone, Sturdy Dust!” She exclaimed, yelling at the top of her lungs, the silver watch on her arm swinging as she made her way towards her peer.