Dear Twilight,

Here is the first of what I’m sure will be many progress reports. Also included is my detailed first-hand account of the incident that occurred in Yakyakistan (please see attached).

Cozy Glow’s first day of friendship studies has been challenging, to say the least. For Starlight, the Crusaders and myself, that is. It seems that at the moment Cozy is determined to disrupt, pervert, and distort everything we’re trying to teach her. There have also been examples of her attempting to sow discord (if you’ll pardon the expression) among the few regular students that she’s come into contact with.

Allow me to summarise the day’s events for you. The portions that I was not present for I’ve recorded verbatim as they were told to me.

Tangerine Dream stared hard at the sheet music in front of her and attempted to focus on the notes that were dotted across the lines. As Professor Sweetie Belle continued to lecture on music theory, the sharps and minors on the page blurred, and the questions that she’d pushed aside once again rose to the forefront of her mind.

Just who was this foal, exactly?

The orange coated pony risked a sideways glance at her classmate. The pink Pegasus infuriatingly chose that precise moment to look in her direction, and offered up a sickeningly sweet smile. Tangerine averted her eyes quickly. When she and her best friend had signed up for extra credits in their favourite subject, she rather thought that it would be just the two of them, something that would really tie the friendship lessons into the music that they were planning to write together.

She glanced to the chair to her other side, and discreetly got Lemon Jelly’s attention whilst the professor was jotting something on the board. Lemon looked up from her sheets and swept her white mane from her eyes, offering Tangerine a quizzical look. Tangerine nodded her head in the foal’s direction with a minute, barely noticeable movement and flashed a confused expression, silently communicating ‘what gives?’.

Lemon leaned back in her chair slightly, peering past her friend at the Pegasus. Tangerine dared not follow her gaze for fear of making it too obvious that they were staring, so she didn’t know if Lemon got caught observing just as she had. After a moment, Lemon leaned back and offered her friend a non-committal shrug. Tangerine frowned, vexed.

“...so as you can see,” Sweetie Belle finished dotting notes on the board with a flourish before turning around, “setting aside what the piece actually sounds like, the very structure of notes, the composition of dots on a page, can also contribute to the art you’re creating. Whatever the mood you’re trying to evoke, will still be reflected in the black and white. It’s why, for my bits, music is one of the greatest, if not the greatest artform.”

Lemon raised a yellow foreleg into the air. Sweetie Belle acknowledged her with a nod.

“But Professor,” she questioned, “surely this is an aspect of music that can only be appreciated by other musicians.”

“True,” Sweetie Belle replied, tapping her stick of chalk to her mouth thoughtfully before realising what she was doing and wiping her lips with the back of her hoof. “With that in mind, while music can and should be enjoyed by everycreature, you could certainly make the argument that it takes a musician to fully appreciate a piece.”

Just then there was a soft knock at the door. Sweetie Belle glanced in its direction, and saw Spike’s face through the window. The Dragon held up a purple palm in a casual wave to go with his concerned looking face.

“Girls, why don’t you see if you can come up with some ideas to create a piece where the structure of the notes matches the tone of the music. As ever, see if you can work as a team to come up with some ideas. Remember, music is a magnificent tool for bringing creatures together, that’s why we teach it here.”

The Unicorn acknowledged Spike with a wave of her hoof.

“I’m just going to speak to Spike for a few minutes.” She continued. “When I get back, we’ll take a look at what kind of ideas you’ve had.”

With that, the professor trotted to the door and stepped into the corridor, leaving it open a crack. A moment later, the ponies heard her begin to converse in hushed tones with the Dragon.

“Well,” Tangerine said slowly, looking between her friend and the young Pegasus, “Anypony have any ideas on what kind of music we’d like to make?”

“Something happy,” Lemon smiled. “Maybe something with a tremolo?”

Tangerine nodded, returning the smile.

“How about you?” She asked, turning to the pink Pegasus. “Sorry, I didn’t catch your name.”

“Cozy Glow,” The foal responded, extending a hoof.

“So, how’s it going?” Spike spoke softly, slouching against the wood panel of the corridor in his usual manner.

“So good so far?” Sweetie Belle replied with a shrug. “She hasn’t really said anything yet. Not to me, anyway.”

The dragon nodded, his expression tense.

“I’m putting together a report to Twilight on her first day,” he whispered. “If she’s all quiet for now, I’ll let you get back to it. I’ll catch up with you later and you can fill me in on anything significant.”

“Yeah...” Sweetie sighed distractedly, allowing her eyes to trace the door frame back in the direction of the classroom. “I guess.”

The Unicorn’s horn illuminated, and she magically and fretfully toyed with a curl of her pink and purple mane.

“You okay?” Spike questioned.

“I...um...yeah,” Sweetie stumbled, snapping back to reality. The Dragon raised an eyebrow. Sweetie Belle locked eyes with the Dragon and sighed, relenting.

“It’s just...I don’t know what I was expecting,” the Unicorn whispered. “Like, she hasn’t changed at all, but we all have.”

“Yeah?” Spike probed. “Well, she was made of stone for the last ten years. From what it looks like, no time has passed for her at all.”

“I know, I know.” Sweetie hung her head. “I dunno, I think I just thought that she’d have...moved on, somehow. Evolved. Changed, I don’t know.”

Spike stared at her blankly. Sweetie Belle looked at him, attempting to read his expression. When she found nothing, she continued.

“Ok, so like, when me and Scoots and AB were young, it felt like we could do anything, you know? We got into scrapes all the time, but we always knew that we had you and Twilight and our families behind us. Stuff didn’t seem like such a big deal back then. Now though...”

Spike remained silent for a few moments, unsure of what to say.

“What does this have to do with Cozy?” He finally settled on.

“It’s just... she scares me now more than she ever did when were the same age.” Sweetie Belle relented. “Is that weird?”

The Dragon glanced away, taking the scantest of seconds to consider his answer.

“No...no, I don’t think so.” He said. “I think it’s just you’re a little more...aware these days. When you’re young you don’t think about consequences so much. Now we’re both older and there’s less ponies we can go to for help. The bit stops with us.”

“Yeah, I guess that makes sense.” Sweetie sighed. “Kinda makes me feel silly though. My younger self would probably be appalled at how I’m acting.”

“I doubt it,” Spike smiled kindly. “She’d probably-”

The Dragon’s words were cut short just then by a loud shout from inside the classroom, rendering his thoughts unsaid. Neither he nor Sweetie were able to catch any of the actual words that were shouted, but whatever they were, it seemed as though the heated exchange was continuing.

For a second that seemed to span centuries, all Spike and Sweetie could do was stare at each other, their faces frozen in terror, the colour draining from their cheeks. Then, the Dragon practically barged past his friend to get into the class room, the Unicorn hot on his heels.

“WELL, I THINK IT SHOULD BE A HAPPY PIECE WITH A TREMOLO!” Lemon Jelly shrieked into the face of her friend.

“THAT’S A PATHETIC CLICHÉ!” Tangerine Dream screamed back. “IT SHOULD BE A SOMBER DIRGE WITH A SLOW PLODDING STRUCTURE THAT REFLECTS THE TONE!”

It was a bizarre scene that the pair walked in on. The two friends, apparently perfectly content before, were now practically nose to nose angrily shouting at each other. Sweetie Belle rushed to the two and attempted to interpose herself between them and make herself heard over the din. Spike however, simply froze in the door way as he locked eyes with Cozy Glow.

She was leaning back in her chair, hind legs lazily propped up on her desk, while she gently rubbed at one her fore hooves with an emery board. Her eyes followed Sweetie Belle to the scene beside her with vague interest before they flitted back to the Dragon in the doorway. When her gaze met his she grinned broadly, pausing in her hoof maintenance to brush a rogue strand of cyan curl out of her eyes.

Spike’s breath caught in his throat. She was silently sending him a clear message, one that was only punctuated by the slow, deliberate glance to the two fighting ponies beside her, before the grin drooled off her face and without breaking eye-contact, she idly snapped the emery board in half.

I wish I could say the day improved from there. I had the pleasure of escorting Cozy away from the other students and watching over her in the library for ten minutes or so while Sweetie Belle repaired the damage she’d done to Lemon and Tangerine’s friendship. Luckily, it seems that whatever she said wasn’t long lasting and the two have returned to being as close as once they were.

I’m sure you can guess my feelings on allowing her unrestricted access to the rest of the student body, but for the sake of the record, allow me to be blunt: I think it’s a bad idea. Bordering on terrible.

However, you’re the Princess of Friendship, not I, and I still have faith in you. Therefore, until we hear different from you, we’ll continue to do things the way you want them done.

For what it’s worth, Cozy Glow didn’t say much while we were in the library, but her smug little face spoke volumes. Sinisterly, she was reading ‘How to Win Friends and Influence People’ while we were there.

Her next scheduled class was Potion Crafting with Apple Bloom. Naturally I escorted her there, and after her antics with Sweetie Belle’s class, I thought it best if I sit in on the lesson throughout. Thank Celestia I did...

The students clustered around the circular wooden table, examining with varying degrees of excitement the plethora of ingredients that lay before them. There numerous varieties of dried leaves stored in glass jars, bowls heaped with red, orange and yellow spices, a mortar and pestle containing an unknown grey powder, and various pipette bottles containing liquids representing all the colours of the rainbow, to name but a few. At the centre of them all there towered a large black wrought-iron cauldron, ready to accept any mixtures.

“Now then, class,” Apple Bloom smiled from the front of the room. “Ah know that ‘fer some of you this is tha first introduction yev had t’ potions, so ah’m gonna take things nice and slow.”

Several anxious faces on the young creatures gathered around the table broke their staring at the overwhelming number of items on display to look at their teacher, and their expressions relaxed, even breaking into smiles for the most part. Unsurprisingly, Cozy Glow was not among them. Her expression was one of sheer boredom, and as Apple Bloom finished speaking, she made a show of stifling a yawn. Apple Bloom pointedly ignored the foal’s rude theatrics and plodded on.

“When I were just a filly, sometimes ah used to think that we Earth Ponies got short changed in th’ grand scheme o’ things. Aftah all, Pegasi get to fly, Unicorns get their magic, but whut do we get?”

The teacher paused, giving her students an imploring look. After some shuffling of hooves and glances back and forth, a strawberry-coloured Earth filly raised her hoof in the air.

“Yes, Berry Whip?” Apple Bloom grinned encouragingly.

“Um, Earth Ponies tend to be stronger than Pegasi or Unicorns,” the filly said timidly. “We’re also good at growing things, generally speaking.”

“That’s exactly right!” Apple Bloom cried, lightly clapping her hooves together. “An’ that right there, what you jus’ said about us bein’ good at growing things? Why, that’s where tha basis of the entire subject o’ potion work started. See, back in the early days...”

Spike tilted himself back on his chair at the back of the room and tuned the Crusader out as she got into the weeds of the historical significance of potions in early Earth Pony agricultural advancement. He wasn’t trying to be rude, far from it, it was just that this was information he’d heard before, numerous times, and besides, he had more important matters to focus on. Like the back of a certain blue curly-maned head, to pluck an example at random.

The Dragon bobbed back and forth on his chair, steepling his fingers as his eyes looked daggers at his target. He continued to sway, wondering what he was actually supposed to do if Cozy Glow got too chatty with her fellow classmates. It wasn’t as though he could actually prevent her from talking to anypony, as such an action would contravene Twilight’s wishes, and even if he could, policing such activity required far more effort and scrutiny than he was prepared to commit to. He supposed that if he heard raised voices, he would just have to intervene and quickly as possible, to de-escalate and defuse the situation. The only problem now was, Cozy knew she was being watched more closely, and he had a feeling that she was far too clever to try and pull the same trick twice in a row.

His suspicious thoughts were caught short as he almost overbalanced in his chair, and it took a panicked flailing of his arms to prevent from tipping over backwards. Once all four of the chair legs were firmly planted on the floorboards, he sat stiffly still, sweat beaded on his forehead. A short distance away, Apple Bloom’s lesson continued unimpeded. Nopony had noticed. It seemed like he had gotten away with it.

The realization caused him to slump in his chair once more, though this time he made the smart decision to utilize all of the chair legs at once, the way Celestia intended. Over by the students, a pencil dropped to the floor, which Cozy Glow flitted down to retrieve. On her way back up, Spike caught a glimpse of a smile that had become far too familiar over the past few days; one that looked warm and welcoming to the untrained eye, but one that the Dragon knew was as false as Pinkie Pie diet.

“So, since tha’ study of potions all began with Earth Ponies researchin’ better ways to tend their crops,” Apple Bloom continued, “Ah thought today we’d try russlin’ up a batch o’ rapid grow soil.”

The professor began to place a small plant pot containing some moist soil in front of each of her students.

“Now what we have here is some quality fertilizer,” Apple Bloom smiled. “Rich in ammonia and other such nutrients.”

Some of the students closely examined the pots in front of them, wrinkling their snouts at the pungent odour. Apple Bloom noticed their reactions, and grinned even more widely.

“That’s right it, stinks!” She announced proudly. “That’s how y’know you’ve got a good batch right there. Now, why don’t those of yew that’ve done this before get into groups with the newbies, show ‘em how it’s done, and we’ll see how much y’all remember.”

Several of the Ponies around the table nodded, and there was a shuffling and scraping of chairs as several students moved to different seats around the table. Apple Bloom took the opportunity to look to the back of the classroom, and to the Dragon that lurked there. It took Spike a few moments to notice her gaze, so engrossed was he in his own thoughts. When their eyes finally met, she offered him the tiniest of shrugs, silently communicating ‘So good so far’. Spike offered her a dark look in return. No doubt she’d heard that there’d been a minor disturbance in Sweetie Belle’s class, but he didn’t think she had the full picture yet.

Next to Cozy, the recently vacated chair was taken by a purple Unicorn with a flowing pink mane and a golden flower cutie mark.

“Um, hi, I’m Lotus Petal,” She said, turning between Cozy and the yellow Earth Pony on her other side. “I’ve only done this once before, but I think I can remember what to do...”

The filly’s voice sounded meek and uncertain. A diabolical grin flashed across Cozy Glow’s lips for the briefest of instants.

“Hi, I’m Cozy Glow!” the Pegasus smiled warmly, expertly feigning enthusiasm. “Don’t worry, I’ve brewed this mixture a whole bunch of times.”

“Oh, okay,” Lotus responded with relief. “I’ll let you take the lead then. What do we do first?”

Cozy Glow stroked her chin thoughtfully.

“If memory serves, the first thing we want to do is mix in some of this,” she replied, sliding a plastic bottle across the table to Lotus.

“Right!” Lotus grabbed the bottle, and began squirting it into the pot, clearly happy to not be the one in charge. “What’s next?”

“Get a lot of it in there,” Cozy smiled. “Get yourself a spoon, and make sure it’s all good and mixed in.”

“Okay!”

Spike sat up in his chair, craning his neck to see what was going on. He could hear indistinct talking coming from Cozy, but he couldn’t make out what was being said over the chatter of the other students. It looked like she had hoofed something to her classmate, but with their backs to him, he couldn’t tell what. His body tensed, an unpleasant feeling in the pit of his stomach.

“Professor!” Cozy raised her hoof in the air. “May I visit the little filly’s room, please?”

“Oh, um, yeah o’ course Cozy.” Apple Bloom replied.

Cozy nodded her thanks and hopped off her stool. When she did do, the table and the pot and the bottle that she’d passed to Lotus became visible to the Dragon. His heart froze when he saw the label on the white plastic.

Oh no.

The Dragon leapt to his feet and dashed to the table, making it there before Cozy got to the door. As he did so Lotus raised her hoof.

“Professor, is it supposed to be doing that?”

Apple Blooms eyes flitted to the plant pot, that was now merrily spewing pale-yellow fumes across the tabletop. Before she could respond, Spike raised his voice.

“Class, I’m going to need all of you to calmly step into the hall right now.” He growled.

Cozy paused in her trip to the door to shoot a look of amusement at the Dragon. There was a murmur of concern from the students, but they obeyed, sliding off their chairs and shuffling away from the table, past the now hovering Cozy and out of the room.

“Spike...?” Apple Bloom managed to splutter out.

“You too, professor,” Spike said quickly, gesturing towards the exit.

Apple Bloom nodded fearfully, and filed behind her students. Cozy Glow followed her, and Spike paused only to pluck the bottle off the table before he too left the room. He pulled the door shut tight behind him.

“Spike, what is-” Apple Bloom started. Spike made no reply, simply holding out the bottle for her to see, his expression furious. She scanned the label.

“Bleach.” She groaned. “That’s not one of my ingredients! How’d...?

“I’ve got a few ideas,” The Dragon spat, fixing his eyes on the foal nonchalantly making her way down the hallway. He angrily barged through the pupils and swooped down upon her, picking her up by the scruff of her neck.

“Hey! Brute-!” She squealed, but fell cautiously silent when he held her up to his face and she caught his expression.

“You’re not going anywhere.” He snarled.

He stomped back to Apple Bloom and unceremoniously dumped the filly at the professor’s hooves.

“Don’t let her out of your sight,” Spike barked. “I don’t care if she has to pee on the carpet.”

Apple Bloom nodded grimly, while Cozy Glow painfully rubbed the back of her neck with a murderous look in Spike’s direction. The Professor forced a jolly expression onto her face as Spike took a deep breath and re-entered the room, closing the door quickly behind him.

“Well class, ah guess now’s as good time as any to explain why we should never, ever, allow ammonia an’ bleach to mix-” was the last thing he heard before it slammed shut.

The Dragon glanced to the table, its surface still cluttered with note-pads, quills, the ingredients Apple Bloom had laid out, and of course, plant-pots. The offending pot in particular was still pumping out its thick yellow vapour, which seemed to be heavier than the air as it was crawling across the table and cascading over the edge.

Right. First thing was first.

Still holding his breath, Spike strode to the windows of the classroom and opened every one of them, hoping that if he could just get enough of an air-flow into the room then the toxic fumes would harmlessly dissipate into the air. Once he had hefted the last heavy window frame up and flicked the catch to hold it in place, he looked back to the table. There was no discernible difference in the amount of gas that was lapping across it. The pot bubbled mockingly at him.

The Dragon growled a frustrated growl, losing ounces of his precious air reserves in the process. His chest was beginning to feel tight, an uncomfortable burning sensation in his lungs as his body politely reminded him that we could actually do with a little more oxygen down here, if you please, if it’s not too much trouble.

He needed to get rid of the pot, and fast.

He darted to the table and grabbed the smoking terracotta. His first instinct was to simply lob it out of one of the newly opened windows, but as he dashed back and stuck his head out, he saw a pathway below, with one or two creatures ambling about, presumably on their way to class.

No good, no good. As the fumes wafted out of the pot and over his hands, his body sent him a slightly more urgent memo than the last, stating that y’know, we have just been rushing about a room and hoisting heavy windows up, all without air. I’m not one to complain, it chided, but the whole affair has been extremely tiring, been far from optimal for the O2 reserves, and not at all the kind of treatment I should be expected to put with, thank you very much. The burning in his lungs became an inferno, the desire to simply inhale becoming borderline irresistible.

Think, Dragon, think! Where to put it? It needs to leave the room. It can’t go out the window, and it certainly can’t go out of the door. So then...where?

Spike fitfully clawed at his neck, searching for a collar that he knew wasn’t there, but instead found a thin metal chain. What was that, his foggy brain asked distantly? Oh, the medallion thing. For going to see Rarity, and for any emergencies that might...

The medallion! Of course! If he’d had the air to spare, he might’ve slapped himself in the head for his stupidity. Clutching it tightly in his claws he forced his tired, oxygen deprived brain to visualise the one place where he knew it would do no harm.

Just as a darkness was beginning to slowly creep up his field of vision, just as his body was now announcing that if it didn’t get air RIGHT NOW then it was going on strike, effective immediately, the portal crackled into existence, offering the Dragon a window to his ancestral homeland. Jagged, red peaks stabbed at the brooding sky, sparks and sulphur drifted through the air, and, most importantly, a glowing orange lake of lava spread out before him. Not taking a moment to admire the view, he hurled the pot through, where it splashed into the molten rock with a minute hiss. Not taking a moment to admire his handiwork, he bolted to the window, stuck his head out once more, and filled his lungs with crisp, clean, Equestrian air. He gasped, panting and practically draped himself over the sill as the pain in his chest slowly subsided and his vision cleared.

After a minute or two, he knew he was probably fine once more, but he didn’t really want to get back up. He didn’t want to have to go back into the hallway and have to deal with her.

He admonished himself for manhandling her the way he did, but for Celestia’s sake, somepony could have died. Maybe. Truth be told, he didn’t know what amount of chlorine gas would prove fatal, but that wasn’t really the point. Somepony, for that matter, somedragon, could have been seriously hurt.

But did that justify flinging the foal around like she was a stuffed toy? He doubted it. He tried to imagine what his sister would say, then immediately regretted it.

‘We have to do better than this, Spike. We have to be better than her. If she’s ever going to be reformed, if she’s ever going to know the joy of true friendship, then we can’t be her captors, and we certainly can’t be her abusers. I think you know what you have to do next.’

The Dragon scowled at nopony. Easy for Twilight to hypothetically say, when she wasn’t even here. She creates a potentially deadly situation in the middle of class, and now he has to apologise to her? He hung his head, squeezed his eyes shut and grasped the window frame hard enough for the wood to creak under his grip. He emitted a long, low growl.

He was still angry; furious even, but at least he seemed to be able to keep a sense of perspective. He reared back up, withdrew from the window, and made for the door. On the way he carefully inspected the room. There didn’t seem to be any lingering fumes that he could tell. He took a few tentative sniffs of the air, and detected nothing untoward. His nose, throat lungs and eyes weren’t burning at the very least, so that was something. He was about to leave, when he remembered that the portal was still open. One quick mental command later, and it shrank in size and disappeared with a magical pop.

When he at last made it back into the corridor, Apple Bloom and her class were still there, as was Cozy Glow, and a tearful Lotus Petal was explaining herself to her teacher.

“I...I’m so sorry professor!” She wept. “I thought I remembered that bottle going in the mixture and...and...”

She trailed off, her voice devolving into sobs. Spike felt his rage renew at the scene. Somehow the filly seemed to have completely forgotten that it was Cozy who had hoofed her the bottle. Apple Bloom lightly touched the cheek of her student with her hoof.

“Shh, it’s okay, Lotus.” Apple Bloom reassured. “Ah know it was just a simple mistake, these things happen. That bleach never should a’ been on the table in tha’ first place.”

Keeping his emotions in check, the Dragon announced his presence by lightly clearing his throat.

“It’s, uh, all clear.” He said softly.

“Oh, thank ya, Spike,” Apple Bloom breathed a sigh of relief. “All right class, Mr. Spike has made it safe in there again, so why don’t y’all return to your seats, and ah’ll be with ya in just a minute.”

The students began filing back into the classroom, with a sniffling Lotus and her friends leading the way. Cozy Glow grumpily began to follow them, until Spike stepped in the way, blocking her path.

“Not you.” He said, fighting to keep his tone neutral.

The pink foal simply smiled sweetly up at him, her previous furious expression and body language gone.

“Well golly,” She squeaked. “What’re we going to do for the rest of this period?”

“You go to the library.” Spike muttered. “I’ll be there in a few minutes.”

Cozy Glow turned on her hooves and began lightly padding down the corridor.

“Cozy.” Spike called after her. The foal half turned in his direction, flashing the fake saccharine smile once more.

“Don’t make me come looking for you.” He warned softly.

If the Pegasus understood the severity of the Dragon’s words, she made no indication of it, just widening her grin and offering both he and Apple Bloom an eyes-closed cute face. As she continued unhurriedly down the corridor, Spike turned to Apple Bloom.

“Are you alright?” He asked, his voice barely above a whisper. He didn’t really want Cozy, nor anypony else for that matter to hear their discussion. “The other students too?”

“I, uh...yeah, we’re all fine.” Apple Bloom stammered. “Jus’ a little shaken up, ah guess.”

“Only thanks to you, though.” She added, bowing her head slightly, her ears flat against her mane.

“Don’t worry about it,” Spike shook his head. “I’ve been watching her pretty close since Sweetie Belle’s class. Any idea where that bleach came from?”

“Ah...” The mare faltered. “Ah keep a bucket o’ cleanin’ supplies under the table fer when it’s time t’ mop up after class. She must’a got it outta there.”

“Figures.” Spike nodded. “I’ll keep her busy for the rest of this period. You get back to your students.”

“This is mah fault, ain’t it?” She asked softly, her voice cracking and her eyes glazing over with tears. “Mah students could’a been badly hurt, and it’s all mah fault.”

“No, no, it isn’t.” Spike replied firmly. “It’s only one Pony’s fault, and I think we both know who that is.”

Apple Bloom nodded, her mind clearly elsewhere.

“Hey, hey, it’s ok.” Spike reassured. “We dealt with it, nopony got hurt, it’s all fine.”

The mare snapped to attention at his words, her eyes meeting his once more.

“Yeah,” She swallowed, grimly. “Ah, uh...ah better git back to...”

She trailed off, nodding her head in the direction of the classroom door.

“Yeah.” Spike agreed. “And I better go find Cozy, make sure she’s not setting fire to the school or something.”

Apple Bloom offered him a small smile, before placing her hoof on the door handle.

“Maybe keep your cleaning supplies locked up from now on though.” The Dragon lightly jabbed, just before she stepped through.

“Right.” Apple Bloom glowered.

Somewhat surprisingly, Cozy Glow was in the library when Spike found her. He’d almost decided to check everywhere else first, thinking that there was no way the little monster was going to obey a single word he said. He’d been joking when he said to AB that he wanted to check she wasn’t setting fire to the school, but it honestly wouldn’t have surprised him if he’d caught her in the basement with a can of lamp oil and a box of matches.

In the end though, he figured he’d check the library first, just to rule it out. He pushed his way through the polished wood double doors with etched patterns in the frosted windows and lightly tramped across the dark green carpet.

The library, having been designed by Twilight, was fairly gargantuan, even by school standards. It spanned across four floors, and was filled with countless mahogany bookshelves, each one crammed to near breaking point with dusty tomes on every subject imaginable. Staircases with polished bannisters crawled and twisted up to the higher levels where yet more bookshelves lurked, and the whole room was illuminated by a giant glass domed skylight overhead, with magically powered wall-mounted lanterns brightening the alcoves the natural light failed to reach.

Here on the ground floor, there were numerous erratically placed circular tables for students to study at, each one waxed to the point of one being able to see one’s face in it, as well as an island like reception desk in the middle of the room.

Spike’s eyes instinctively flitted to this desk as he entered, and to the staff pony who was slouched at it, idly scrutinising a hard-cover over the top of half-moon spectacles. His first thought was to wander over and ask her if any demons wearing foal’s skin had breezed in in the last few minutes. Before he could act upon it, however, he saw her.

She was sat at one of the round tables, right in front of the door, brazenly sitting with her hooves propped up while she leafed through a worn paperback. She wasn’t even trying to hide. For some reason, that irked the Dragon even more than if she had been hiding. She was making it very clear that she didn’t fear either him or any consequences, and she wanted him to know it.

“Cozy Glow,” Spike barked, storming to the table.

“Shh,” the Pegasus responded, raising a hoof to her lips, not looking up from her book. “This is a library, you know.”

Spike glanced around in irritation. He couldn’t see any other students in the room, at least not on this floor, but the receptionist had looked up from her reading, a grouchy expression on her face. The Dragon raised a hand in her direction apologetically, before he painfully swallowed his pride and pulled up a chair next to the foal.

“You could have really hurt somepony with that stunt.” He said softly, doing a masterful job of keeping the rage out of his voice.

“Hmm, I know.” Cozy chuckled. “Maybe next time, eh?”

“There won’t be a next time,” Spike growled dangerously. “Not if I have anything to say about it.”

At this the Pegasus actually looked up from her book, and snorted a laugh through her nose.

“Whatever you say.”

“I’ll be informing Starlight and Twilight what happened. They’ll decide what punishment you receive.”

“I see. Well, I’ll be waiting with baited breath.”

Spike glared daggers at the foal, before he sighed and looked at the floor. This next part was going to really suck.

“I’m sorry I grabbed you before.” He spoke clearly, and deliberately slowly, determined to not have to repeat himself.

“What?”

Spike sighed again, wincing internally.

“I was angry, but that’s no excuse. I shouldn’t have manhandled you like that. It won’t happen again.”

His apology was met with silence. He looked up and saw a surprising sight. He’d expected to see smugness, condescension, superiority, something like that plastering the foal’s face, but instead he only saw confusion. Pure, abject, confusion that was furrowing Cozy’s brow and pulling one side of her upper lip towards her muzzle.

The silence continued. It was like she didn’t know how to react, like she’d never been in this position before. Spike stared at her uncertainly. Then, she seemingly realised that too much time had passed and that her facade had slipped, and suddenly the Cozy he knew was back, and just as obnoxious as ever.

“See that it doesn’t.” She sniffed, looking down her nose at the Dragon.

I don’t know what to tell you. It’s as if there was a moment there when I saw the real Cozy Glow? It’s like for that one moment the front she keeps up fell away, and it wasn’t anger or hatred that I saw behind it.

I don’t know, maybe I’m reading too much into it. What do you think?

And yes, yes, I know, I shouldn’t have grabbed her like that. I’ve already gone through everything you’d say to me about that in my imagination, so do me a favour and let’s skip the real-life version? Under the circumstances I think we should both be thankful that I didn’t strangle her.

Anyway, that concluded the potion lesson. Next up it was sports with Scootaloo, and while she didn’t try and kill anypony in this class, I still wouldn’t say it went well...

It was bright and sunny outside, but there was blustery wind blowing about the buckball field, and the sky was pocked with clouds. The grass blades were swept about to and fro, the blades catching the light and appearing a paler shade of green when they did so.

Scootaloo bounced the red rubber ball a few times on the ground, the silver whistle that she wore jangling around her neck. The ground was firm, but the grass made it sub-optimal for bouncing, so she stopped, allowing it to settle on the ground and placing one of her forelegs on top of it to keep it in place. With her other hoof she adjusted her official Ponyville buckball cap and scanned the field. Her class were assembled a short distance away, in the middle of the field a stone’s throw from the school, where there were also various baskets and goals, as well as a large net bag filled with extra balls.

There was no sign of Spike and Cozy just yet, and just as she was about to start without them, she saw them, just picking their way over the grass towards her. She waved cheerfully at them from this distance, an action which belied the uneasy feeling she felt in the pit of her stomach. Neither Dragon nor Pegasus waved back.

After a few moments they were with her, Spike looking haggard and sulky, Cozy looking like she’d rather be literally anywhere else.

“Hi guys!” Scootaloo cried with false cheer. “Ready to play some buckball?”

The teacher gave the ball another bounce for emphasis as she said this. Both Spike and Cozy simply grunted in reply. Scootaloo’s smile froze on her face. Whatever had occurred prior to them joining her lesson, it had been nothing good.

“Ok, um, Cozy, why don’t you go and join the other students on the playing field there?” Scootaloo attempted to plough on. “I’ll be along in just a second.”

The foal gave no response to this, she just disinterestedly began sauntering her way over to the rest of the students. Only when she was far enough away to be out of earshot did the smile disappear from Scootaloo’s face.

“Spike?” She asked uncertainly. “What’s going on? You look like you’ve been through Tartarus.”

“I wish.” The Dragon grumbled. “Compared to that little bottom feeder, Tartarus would be a picnic.”

“What happened?”

“Too much to get into.” Spike sighed, sounding exhausted. “I’ll tell you all at the same time later, during the meeting.”

Scootaloo almost protested, her impatience at wanting to know how her friend’s lessons had gone nearly getting the better of her. However, one look at the Dragon’s face and the devastation that lay in his expression told her that the smart thing to do would be to drop it. Accordingly, she simply nodded, her expression severe and apprehensive.

“I’d better follow on after her.” Spike continued. “I don’t care how Twilight wants this done; I don’t want her talking to any of your students for this one.”

“Yeesh.” Scootaloo winced. “That bad, huh?”

“You have no idea.” The Dragon responded.

The orange Pegasus clutched the ball tightly as the Dragon slumped after Cozy Glow. She bit her lip apprehensively. What the heck had happened? They knew, both her, the other crusaders, Spike and Starlight, that this wasn’t going to be a walk in the park, but based on her friend’s appearance, this seemed to be getting out of hoof. On day one, no less! She wondered, not for the first time, if maybe they’d bitten off more than they could chew with this project. If they were having this much trouble with her, how in Equestria would they fare against Tirek? Or, Celestia herself protect them, Chrysalis?

Scootaloo shook her head, clearing her thoughts. One thing at a time. Rainbow Dash didn’t become a Wonder Bolt in a day, and neither would Cozy Glow. Not become a Wonder Bolt, that is, just you know, be redeemed or whatever. Not that she couldn’t become a Wonder Bolt, she was a Pegasus after all, and she was young enough (at least physically) that if she were to start her training now, then...

Scootaloo watched as Spike reached the edge of the buckball pitch and hovered on the edge, shoulders slumped, looking like he was waiting for his own execution. She glared inwardly. This tangent was serving no purpose, and was delaying her from her class. She stomped on the ball, expertly causing it to rebound into the air, where she deftly caught it. Let’s do this.

Spike miserably caught up to the accursed Pegasus on the buckball field. There were six Earth Ponies and Unicorns standing around staring blankly at each other on the clay patch that was the pitch proper. Two Pegasus’ flapped about in the air a short distance from one of the goals, looking equally nonplussed.

Cozy, upon reaching the clay, spread her wings and took to the air, hovering near her flying classmates. Spike watched her go, and briefly considered taking to the air himself, but decided against it, at least for the time being.

“Hi, I’m Cozy Glow!” Cozy waved at the other Pegasus’. “I’m sure we’ll be best friends in no time!”

The fake display severely grated at the Dragon.

“Cozy...” He growled up at her from the sidelines. He didn’t think he’d been all that loud, but apparently it was enough to get the little brat’s attention. She looked down at him, and smiled a smile that was nothing like the one she flashed to her classmates. This one was predatory and dripping with venom. Then she actually had the nerve to blow the Dragon a kiss. Spike clenched his fists hard enough for his claws to puncture the skin on his palms. A thin wisp of green smoke wafted out of his nostrils.

“Look alive class!” Scootaloo whooped as she appeared at the Dragon’s side. “Time to learn how to play some buckball!”

Spike found himself somewhere between relief and annoyance that she’d arrived when she did. Relief that he now wouldn’t be able to unleash his anger on the foal, and annoyance for...well, the same reason. He took a discreet deep breath and attempted, with limited success, to calm his raging emotions.

“Now, I know that quite a few of you are familiar with the rules already,” Scootaloo continued, “But for those that aren’t, please be patient while I explain to the newbies.”

She glanced around briefly, checking the faces of her students, just to make sure that there weren’t any pre-explanation questions that needed addressing. When she saw that there weren’t, she continued.

“Buckball is a game played in teams of three. There are some variations here and there, but generally, there’ll be a Unicorn, a Pegasus and an Earth Pony on each team.”

Scootaloo again paused. Some of her students, the ones who already knew the game, looked bored, idly and impatiently kicking at the clay pitch or else staring into space. Cozy Glow had a pensive look on her face, her forelegs folded in front of her as she bobbed lightly in the air. Spike’s eyes were fixed on the pink Pegasus, his expression grimly expectant.

“The object of the game is to get the ball into the opponent’s goal,” Scootaloo continued, undaunted, holding up her rubber sphere for emphasis. “Typically, that’s the job of the Earth Ponies, bucking the ball. Hence the name of the game.”

The teacher pointed a hoof at one of the poles with a half barrel on top of it. There were two of them, one at each end of the field, each one a good twenty feet in the air. The wooden buckets on the top were sloppily painted with red, blue and white stripes, as was the traditional buckball colours.

“Those are your goals,” she smiled, looking up at the Pegasus fliting in the air. “It’s the Pegasus’ job to defend those from balls bucked from the centre field. You can do that however you can, hooves, tails, whatever.”

“Miss Scootaloo, what about Unicorns?” A soft voiced Unicorn filly asked, her hoof raised.

“I was just getting to that,” Scootaloo smiled. “It’s the Unicorn’s job to stand on the edges of the outfield and catch any wayward balls that have missed the goal or been blocked by the Pegasus’,”

The teacher dropped her ball at this point and removed one of the wooden tubs from the nearby stack and held it aloft. It looked similar, if a little smaller, to the ones on top of the pole.

“They do that by catching them in one of these. Sounds easy, right? Well, here’s the catch: only magic is allowed to be used by the Unicorns. No physical contact with either the ball or the bucket, or that’s a foul. That counts even if you get hit by a stray ball, so in addition to being good magical catchers, you’ll find that they sometimes need to be good dodgers, too.”

Scootaloo lowered the barrel and placed it on the ground beside her.

“There’re some other things like tactics and scoring, but we can worry about that later. For now, I’d like you to form some teams, one Pegasus, Unicorn and Earth Pony each, and we’ll see how you do on some practice shots.”

Another pause, another scan of the faces in front of her. So good so far.

“Any questions?”

“I have a question, professor,” a sweet voice drifted down from above. Despite its saccharine sound, the word ‘professor’ was dripping with condescension.

Scootaloo felt a lurch of fear in the pit of her stomach. She looked up to see Cozy Glow, still hovering in the air, but now with her hoof raised and a malicious grin on her face. Oh no. Here it came.

“Yes, uh...”Scootaloo paused, while she pretended to have to remember the filly’s name. “Cozy Glow.”

As she spoke, out of the corner of her eye she saw a Dragon clap a palm to his face.

“I was just wondering,” Cozy Glow drawled, “what the point was?”

There was a murmur of shocked amusement from her classmates.

“The point?” Scootaloo repeated. “I’m not sure I follow.”

“Well, what’s the reason to play?” The filly elaborated. “What do you get for winning?”

“Well, nothing.” The teacher replied with bewilderment. “Just the satisfaction of having your practice and training pay off.”

“Oh.” Cozy replied in faux disappointment. “It all seems a little futile.”

At this, there were at least a couple of accenting voices among the assembled foals. Scootaloo gave her Dragon companion a quick glance, hoping for guidance. None was forthcoming.

“Well, it’s also a great source of exercise.” The teacher said indignantly, somehow now on the backhoof. “You’ll find it utilises all of your major-”

“There are more efficient ways of doing that, as I’m sure you know.” Cozy cut her off coldly.

“Well...well-” Scootaloo stumbled, unsure of just where all this was going. Distressingly, the dissent among some members of the other foals seemed to be growing.

“My point is,” Cozy Glow continued, now beginning to flap back and forth, one hoof pressed to her chin, as though she were a lawyer strutting in front of a jury, “is that you have this game, this game that seems to celebrate the differences between the three types of Pony-kind rather than what unites us, a game with no tangible benefits, and we’re supposed to be excited?”

“No...no.” Scootaloo stammered. “Because, because, there’s an Earth Pony, a Pegasus and a Unicorn on each team-”

“Yes, and each one is pigeon-holed into their assigned role. Tell me, what happens if a Pegasus wants to play offence? What if an Earth Pony wants to be a catcher? What then?”

“Well, that’s...that’s against the-”

At this point Spike lightly placed a hand on Scootaloo’s shoulder. The mare looked in his direction uncertainly, only to see a Dragon forlornly shaking his head.

“The rules, right.” Cozy continued. “The rules that constrain and divide. The rules that tell Ponies not to step outside their assigned roles. The rules that say if you aren’t willing to conform, then you can’t play.”

There was a chorus of ‘Yeah!’s from the foals, followed by a distinct ‘I wanna play defence!’ from the ground.

“Cozy...” Spike called up to the Pegasus, his voice strained.

“No, no...” Scootaloo attempted to smooth the situation, all too aware that the lesson had spiralled out of her control.

“What you call a ’game’ is in fact, nothing more than a tool of propaganda from a fascist regime!” Cozy Glow announced gleefully.

She paused, obviously expecting a riotous applause from the assembled foals. Instead, the small faces that looked up at her were etched with blank confusion. She allowed a flash of annoyance to briefly illuminate her face before she shifted tactics.

“You just want to control us!” She shouted.

“That’s ridiculous-”

“Yeah!” Roared the crowd.

“Cozy!” Spike called more forcefully.

“We’re not gonna take it, are we?” Cozy implored the crowd.

“No!” came the re-ignited response.

“They can’t push us around, can they?”

“No!”

“We won’t be told what to do, will we?”

“No, no, no!” Came the chant.

“Scootaloo, get your class to run laps or something.” Spike said quickly, but softly. “I’ll get her back to the library.”

The orange Pegasus wet her lips, and nodded with determination.

“Cozy!” The Dragon barked. “Don’t make me come up there!”

The hovering Pegasus smiled triumphantly down at him before shrugging her shoulders and fluttering down to stand in front of him.

“Well, since you’re all not in the mood to play ball, let’s get running some laps,” Scootaloo announced with all the cheer she could muster, before giving a short sharp blast on her whistle. The rabble of Ponies, their leader seemingly having abandoned them, soon quieted down and slinked off towards the field, Scootaloo close behind.

For a moment, Cozy and Spike simply stared at each other as the wind blew softly between them, rustling the grass about the Dragon’s feet. Cozy’s smug smile was, as ever, fixed in place, whilst the Dragon’s expression was haggard, but neutral.

“So then, library?” She said finally.

“You got it,” The Dragon snorted. “Get your flank moving, Trotsky.”

So, that about concludes the day’s lessons. We spent the rest of the teaching day in the library, in silence. Mercifully that didn’t last too long, as for the last period of the day Cozy was due to have her first counselling session with Starlight. Obviously, I wasn’t there for this, and to be honest, she’s been pretty vague about how it went. Not all that well from what I gather, as she said all she managed to get out of Cozy was vitriol and threats. If you want any more details than that, you’ll have to speak to Starlight herself.

Starlight stared warily at the blackboard. As blackboards went, it was a very nice one; a polished hardwood frame with hoof-carved ornate trimmings and a lovely unused clean night sky of a writing surface.

It wasn’t the quality of the board that was arousing the Unicorn’s suspicions, nor the minimalist note that accompanied it – one which simply read ‘To Starlight, please enjoy your new blackboard’ - it was simply the fact that it was there.

The headmare paced across the carpet, her carpet in her office, Trixie having been temporarily hoofed back into her own workspace so Starlight could conduct Cozy’s first session in familiar (for her at least) surroundings, and idly picked up a stick of chalk and placed it on the immaculate holder.

Somepony had bought her a new board. It was possible that it had been Spike or one of the Crusaders, though that seemed unlikely. This was a quality piece of bespoke teaching equipment; not the kind of thing one would be able to pick up at the general store. She lightly ran her hoof over the cedar frame. This thing was practically an antique.

It was also possible that ithadbeen Trixie, but again, unlikely. Not unless she had a small fortune stashed away somewhere that she’d dipped into to buy it. No, no, if she had to guess, she’d say that this had ‘From the Royal Palace of Twilight Sparkle’ written all over it.

Which meant that somepony had blabbed.

Starlight permitted herself a light groan. Somepony had told Twilight about her embarrassing loss of control. But who? That wouldn’t be the kind of thing Spike would report back to the Princess, would it? She sincerely hoped not, as the last thing she needed right now was Twilight worrying that she wasn’t up to the job, but she supposed that she couldn’t really blame the Dragon if he had, it was his job after all. Maybe-

A light rapping at her door interrupted her mental investigation and recriminations, and snapped her back to the here and now. She took a deep breath before she strode to the door, knowing exactly who would be there when she opened it.

“Cozy Glow!” She said cheerily to the filly in the doorway. “Please come in.”

Cozy Glow stepped inside with the slightest of eyerolls, and made her way to a small couch that the headmare had placed especially in her workspace. In the doorway, Spike lurked, looking as though he’d aged ten years since Starlight had last seen him. He looked as though he wanted to say something, but Starlight quietly raised her hoof just in front of herself, stopping him in his tracks. She nodded dourly, her wide eyes conveying ‘I know’.

In reply to their silent conversation, Spike shook his head with his eyes closed, as though he were trying to blot out unpleasant memories. When he opened them again, his expression read ‘You have no idea’.

Starlight nodded sympathetically and then rolled her eyes in the direction of the foal behind her, to which Spike returned the nod, and gratefully retreated from the door. A moment later, Starlight closed it with a soft click.

“Hello, Cozy Glow,” she said, turning around. She was about to say ‘Why don’t you take a seat?’ but she saw that the filly had already sprawled herself on the couch. The headmare kept the disapproval off her face, and fired up her soundproofing spell.

“Just one moment, and I’ll make sure that we get some privacy to talk.”

The bubble of magic expanded, and in matter of seconds engulfed the room. Cozy regarded it with limited interest. Starlight severed the magic from her horn, pulled her office chair close to the couch and produced a notepad and pencil from under the cushion.

“Now Cozy, I want you to know that these counselling sessions are a safe space for you, somewhere where I want you feel like you can speak your mind without fear of reproach.”

Cozy simply shrugged, said nothing and continued to tug at a loose thread on the paisley couch. Starlight continued, undaunted.

“Why don’t we start by talking about your first day at the school, hm?” The Unicorn prompted. “I take it that it hasn’t gone all that well.”

“I don’t know what you mean.” Cozy replied, staring at the ceiling and the numerous kites that hung from it. “I think it went swimmingly. If you ask me, that Dragon of yours is far too eager to pull me out of lessons.”

“Well, maybe we should talk about specifics.” Starlight said, ignoring the slight against Spike. “What happened in Sweetie Belle’s class?”

The Pegasus threw her an incredulous look.

“Which one’s she again?”

“The music teacher.” Starlight bristled.

“Oh, right.” Cozy returned her eyes skyward. “Nothing happened. I was just in the class with two Ponies who weren’t as close friends as they thought they were. They started a shouting match, and suddenly I’m back in the library.”

“I see.” Starlight said slowly, writing something down in her pad. “And would it be fair to say that it was you who came between them?”

Again, the headmare was shot a look, this time an indignant one.

“Hey, if their friendship is so weak that it can’t survive some simple questions being asked and a few injustices pointed out, then that’s on them.”

“Interesting. Is that something you care about? Justice?”

“I’d say so. That’s all the destruction of magic was about, really. Either everypony should have magic or nopony should. That’s fair.”

“Right. But how do you justify all the harm done on the way to that goal? All the Ponies that could have lost their lives because they’re reliant on magic? My class and I were in Cloudsdale when the first wave of magical failure hit, you know? It’s not an exaggeration to say that we almost died. How is that fair?”

“Eh, you can’t make an omelette without cracking a few eggs.”

Starlight somehow managed to hide her ire and jotted ‘no remorse’ down in her pad. Cozy Glow looked in her direction.

“You think that makes me evil, don’t you?”

She continued to look at Starlight, with a look that the untrained eye might describe as sincere.

“I think it makes you disturbed,” the headmare responded, dryly. “If you can’t see why that’s wrong, that is.”

Cozy made a click sound with her mouth as she looked away once more.

“You just don’t get it.” She sighed. “It wasn’t about the Ponies who might’ve been hurt. It wasn’t about Sparkle, the Princesses, you or even me. It was about what came next.”

“Next?”

“The new generation of Ponies. The ones that will grow up knowing just a little bit of equality. That’s who it was supposed to be for.”

“I see,” Starlight said slowly. “And what about all the things we rely on magic for? Medicine? Industry? Transport? Eradicating magic would set us back centuries, at least.”

“I’m sure we’d have figured something out.” Cozy shrugged.

Starlight returned to her pad and jotted down ‘shortsighted’ and ‘God complex’.

“Well, let's put a pin in that for now, shall we?” she said, deliberately keeping her tone soft. “Why don’t you tell me how the buckball went with Scootaloo?”

“Ugh,” the Pegasus grumbled. “I’ve never understood sports. I mean, really, why? What is the point exactly? To see who’s the best at throwing a ball into a bucket? Please.”

“I take it you didn’t play then?”

“I just asked some, I thought, valid questions about why in Equestria we should want to play, and as it turned out a good number of the other students had similar questions. Go figure.”

“Right,” Starlight murmured, whilst scribbling the word ‘manipulative’ down. “So, you...incited a coup?”

“If that’s what you want to call it.” The foal sneered. “I was just pointing out the futility of it all.”

“Uh-huh.” Starlight monotoned. “So then, no buckball. Did you at least manage to make some progress in your potions class?”

“Ah, now that one isn’t even my fault.” Cozy grinned. “If your students are too dumb to know that ammonia plus bleach equals mustard gas, then frankly, they deserve everything they get.”

“M-mustard gas?!” Starlight spluttered, dropping her pencil.

“If anything, you should be thanking me,” Cozy snickered. “I provided a valuable life lesson. That filly won’t make that mistake again.”

“Was anypony hurt?” The headmare demanded.

“How should I know? That meat-head of a Dragon emptied the room before anypony had a chance to think.”

Starlight quietly breathed a sigh of relief before retrieving her pencil, and using to write and underline the word ‘psychopathic’.

“Actually, he was pretty rough with me when we got into the corridor,” Cozy continued with a drawl. “I think you should strongly consider taking him off the payroll. That moron’s a lawsuit waiting to happen.”

“Well, considering that you could have killed somepony, I’d say that that was justified,” Starlight growled, finally unable to keep the rage out of her voice.

“Ahh!” Cozy mock gasped. “I thought I was supposed to be treated with compassion and understanding until I recant my evil ways!”

The filly’s voice was deliberately sugar-coated and foal-like. Starlight set her pad to one-side, discreetly note side down and leant forward in her chair.

“Why don’t we cut the garbage Cozy,” She muttered. “Twilight and I – everypony on this project, for that matter – want you to be reformed. To be allowed to have a normal life. You should be kissing our hooves for this opportunity. Why are you fighting it?”

“You want to cut the garbage? Fine.” Cozy spat, sitting up on the couch, a fury of her own burning in her eyes. “You think I’m an idiot, but I’m not. I know how many times Discord’s gotten away with betraying Twilight, and he never sees any punishment. Yet I simply try to make things a little more equal around here, and I get thrown in Tartarus, and then turned to stone.”

“Discord spent thousands of years in stone, as I recall,” Starlight countered.

“Phss, yeah, from the dinosaurs Celestia and Luna,” Cozy hissed. “Hardly surprising from those two. But there’s a new Princess in town now. What, it only takes Sparkle ten years to realise that I might just have been treated the slightest bit unfairly, and I’m supposed to be thankful? Bite me, Glimmer.”

Starlight reared up in her chair. Her face was a scowl, but she found herself unable to come up with an adequate retort.

“I have nothing to gain from this project, and very little to lose.” Cozy continued. “I’m here because it’s mildly preferable to being a piece of architecture. If you think I’m going to make this easy on any of you, you’re very much mistaken.”

Starlight took a deep breath, and suppressed her fury as best she could.

“Twilight is very sorry for what happened to you, as am I. We want to heal the damage that was done to you as best we can, but we can’t do that without your help. I can see you’re not ready for that yet, and that’s fine. Until you are, we’ll just keep doing this.”

“Whatever.” Cozy snorted. “Smells like Sparkle trying to alleviate her own guilt to me.”

Starlight sighed, and reached for her pad once more.

“Why don’t we talk about your life before you appeared here at the school for the first time, hmm?”

Cozy threw her head back in a loud laugh.

“Oh, I don’t think we’re there yet, Glimmer.” She guffawed. “Besides, I fail to see how my past could be of any intrigue to you. I have absolutely zero interest in yours.”

Now it was Starlight’s turn to chuckle, albeit mirthlessly.

“Well, you might, if you knew how I first met Twilight.”

Cozy raised an eyebrow.

“Would it surprise you to learn that years ago-”

Starlight was interrupted by the sound of the office door opening, or rather, more accurately, the soft ‘gloop’ noise that it made as it penetrated the magical barrier.

“Eww, ew.” Trixie commented as she pushed herself through the spell, the gelatinous turquoise magic clinging to her mane.

“Trixie!” Starlight whined unprofessionally. “I’m right in the middle of a session here! You couldn’t have knocked?!”

“I did!” The blue Unicorn protested. “There was no answer.”

Starlight clapped a hoof to her eyes. Of course. Soundproofing. Instinctively, without really thinking what she was doing, she flashed an apologetic look towards Cozy. The Pegasus in turn raised an amused eyebrow.

“Anyway, I just need to pick up my ledger that I forgot,” Trixie breezed, making a bee-line for the desk. “Just pretend I’m not here.”

“Trixie...” Starlight grumbled.

“Hey Cozy.” The blue Unicorn winked at the foal, before beginning to rummage in one of the desk drawers. “Don’t you worry. Starlight’ll have you making friends with the best of them before you know it.”

“Goody gumdrops.” Cozy replied flatly.

“Trixie!” Starlight repeated, more forcefully.

“That’s the spirit!” Trixie responded to the Pegasus, apparently completely missing the sarcasm. “Now, where did I leave it...?”

“TRIXIE!” Starlight shouted.

“What?” The counsellor replied obliviously. “Oh, here it is.”

She scooped up the ledger from where it lay in plain sight on Starlight’s desk and cradled it to her chest with one hoof.

“Don’t worry, I’ve got what I needed, I’m gone, I’m gone.” She smiled at the thoroughly amused Cozy and the seething Starlight as she headed back for the door. A second ‘gloop’ noise later, and her words became true.

“I’m so-”

Gloop.

“Oh, and good luck with the session!” Trixie’s head stated encouragingly from where it had poked back through the spell.

“GET OUT!” Starlight raged.

“Yeesh, alright, alright, I’m really gone now. Rude.” The Unicorn pouted, her sullen face retreating from view. Gloop.

Starlight glared at the door for several seconds before turning back to Cozy.

“I’m-” She paused to glare at the door again, just waiting for her maddening friend to reappear. When she didn’t, she continued. “I’m sorry about that, Cozy. I should have locked the door.”

It didn’t feel great, apologising to Cozy during their first session, but what was she to do? She’d just told the foal that this was a ‘safe space’, for crying out loud. Luckily, it didn’t seem to have bothered the Pegasus. On the contrary, it seemed, if her expression was anything to go by, that she was having a grand old time.

“She seems nice,” The filly grinned. “What did you say her name was? Dixie?”

“Trixie.” Starlight corrected, massaging the bridge of her nose with a hoof-tip.

“Trixie, right,” Cozy confirmed with a tap of her hooves. “I vaguely remember her from when I was here the first time. She’s your friend?”

“For my sins, yes.”

“Hm,” The Pegasus chuckled. “So, tell me, how long ya been in love with her?”

For a second, Starlight froze, hoof on nose. No way. No possible way. How could she know that? She hadn’t told anypony that. Tartarus, she’d only admitted it to herself a couple of days ago! The foal was bluffing, she had to be. Just throwing mud at the wall to see what stuck. She’d scored herself a lucky shot with that one, no doubt, but it could be mitigated if Starlight

Just

Kept

Cool.

“I’m sorry?” The headmare said, carefully blending a mix of incredulity and faint amusement into her expression. “I’m afraid I don’t follow. What makes you think I’m in love with Trixie, of all ponies?”

“Oh, bravo!” Cozy clapped. “You’re doing an excellent job of pretending not to know what I’m talking about. Really, well done. That’d fool pretty much anypony. But not me.”

Starlight shifted gears on her expression, now settling on faint exasperation, even as the first twinges of a blush began to invade her cheeks. How? How was this foal doing this?! Had Twilight blabbed? No, no, how would she have, as the Princess had only spoken to Cozy while she’d been there, and why, what could possibly be gained by such an action? Was there magic at play here? Again, how? Starlight hadn’t sensed any, and besides, the foal couldn’t even perform spells, let alone-

“Now you’re desperately wracking your peanut of a brain wondering how I knew, right?” Cozy’s chuckle became a laugh.

Starlight almost blurted out a defiant ‘NO!’ but bit the word back.

“Well, let me enlighten you, Glimmer,” The foal boasted smugly. “I may not have any magic, but one thing I’ve always been good at is reading ponies. It’s pretty easy when you know what to look for.”

She paused for dramatic effect.

“Your pupils dilate when you look at her, you moisten your lips more often when she’s around, you get the faintest of blushes when she looks at you...it’s subtle, but it’s definitely there. It’s hardly advanced magical theory.”

Starlight wanted to say something in protest, but her mouth appeared to have dried up. She cursed her mutinous body.

“So let me guess:” Cozy continued to showboat, “you haven’t told her, right?”

“I’m afraid I don’t know what you’re talking about,” The Unicorn managed to force out, but damningly, her words didn’t sound convincing, even to herself.

“Yeeeeah, except, here’s the thing: we both know that’s not true.” The foal elongated. “Tell you what, I could tell her for you!”

Starlight forced herself to shrug aloofly.

“Since I have no feelings for Trixie beyond platonic ones, I don’t think there’s much to be achieved by doing that.” She sniffed.

Cozy’s grin turned icy.

“I was going to give you a week’s grace, Glimmer.” She hissed. “Keep lying to my face and I’ll tell her the first chance I get.”

Starlight felt a chill of fear in her stomach as she realised, finally, that she wasn’t going to be able to talk her way out of this one.

“Why are you doing this?” She asked coolly. “What are you getting out of this?”

“Well, honesty is one of the cornerstones of friendship.” The Pegasus responded in her syrupy sweet foal voice. “Isn’t that one of the things that Sparkle’s always saying?”

Starlight found no witty retort within grasp of her mind. She could only grip her pencil tight enough to make it snap, whilst burning through the foal’s face with imaginary eye-lasers.

“Besides,” Cozy continued, bouncing excitedly on the sofa, “a girl’s gotta get her yuks around here somehow.”

There was a long, tense, silence.

“I think we’ll leave it there for today.” Starlight growled.

Hours later, Starlight was still in her office, pacing up and down over her long-suffering carpet, occasionally catching a glimpse of her worried reflection in her windows. It was dark outside, so the only thing that could be seen in the panes was the room and herself. She paused and regarded the reflection.

Was it just her, or did she suddenly look very small in the cavernous office?

She abruptly broke off her gaze. Whatever, this wasn’t helping. She strode to her desk and levitated her coffee mug to her lips. Black, no sugar. Just the kick she needed. The liquid could no longer be described as hot, but it was at least still warm enough to be drinkable.

Day one, and already Cozy Glow had her over a barrel. She once again went into scenarios and possibilities for how to escape the rancid foal’s bullying. Her first thought was to just prevent the pair from ever being able to speak, but that just wasn’t feasible. Cozy Glow had to have the run of the school according to Twilight, so it would be simplicity itself for her to find a quiet moment to corner the counsellor. She could try making up some sort of excuse to give to Trixie as to why she needed to avoid the Pegasus at all costs, but she didn’t want to lie to the gorgeous mare, and besides, in love with her though she may be, she wouldn’t trust Trixie to guard a snail.

No, no. That wasn’t fair. Trixie was her friend. Her best friend. The best friend she’d ever had. When it really came down to it, she was caring, kind, funny and brave. Starlight had never told her so, but she really admired her in many ways. Like how she didn’t let anypony stop her from speaking her mind, or how she absolutely refused to suffer fools.

It’s just that she wasn’t always reliable or predictable, that was all.

The headmare bit at her already well gnawed lower lip as she just imagined the dream she’d had about her. If only Twilight hadn’t interrupted...

No, no! This wasn’t helping either! There’d be plenty of time to get lost in fantasy land later, if that was what she really wanted to do. Right now she needed ideas, action plans, and she was going to get them, even if it meant drowning her brain in stale coffee.

Okay, there was no way to guarantee that Cozy and Trixie wouldn’t find time to talk. What was her next best option?

She could tell Trixie to not believe a word the foal says. ‘She’s been threatening to spread lies about me, Trixie, don’t fall for it’. That could work. It wouldn’t exactly be a tough sell; it was in keeping with Cozy’s character up to this point.

But...that would require lying to Trixie, wouldn’t it? Loathed as she was to admit it, there was a kernel of truth in the little goblin’s words earlier. Honesty was a cornerstone of friendship. And if she wanted to be ‘more than friends’ with the Unicorn, then she didn’t want the first step in that direction to be marred with a great big fib.

Starlight drained her mug, praying that the caffeine would make it through her knotted stomach. Well, realistically, that only left one avenue, didn’t it?

Gah, this was so confusing! She’d almost told Trixie about her dream the other night, for Tartarus sake! Why did it seem so much more unpalatable now that Cozy Glow was attempting to force her hoof? The Unicorn paced around her desk and flopped herself into her chair.

While she was on the subject of Cozy, was it true that she could just ‘see’ things like that? Or was the horrifying truth she was obvious about her feelings? Could everypony see what Cozy saw?

Starlight rested her elbows on the desk and dug her hoof-tips into her temples. She glanced to her new blackboard. Earlier, after Cozy Glow had left to go and be toxic somewhere else, Starlight had briefly re-arranged the office. She didn’t have the inclination to remove the couch, so she simply placed it parallel to the desk. She figured that Spike and the Crusaders would be grateful of it later. She’d also moved her new board to its permanent home, where the old one had been, and while she did so she’d added what she wrote on her pad during Cozy’s session on the board, as though the enlargement of the words would bring clarity, or else reveal something that she didn’t already know. As of yet, they hadn’t. She read through them again, slowly.

Feels Victim of Injustice

No Remorse

Shortsighted

God Complex

Manipulative

Psychopathic

Now that she’d read them again, trying really hard to absorb them, it seemed to the Unicorn that there was something about them that was bothering her, she just couldn’t quite put her hoof on what, exactly.

A light tap at her door roused her from her musings. With a sigh, and a final rub of her eyes, she turned her attention away from the board and towards the front of the office.

“Come in,” she called, tiredly.

Spike slumped into the room, closely followed by three equally dejected crusaders. Starlight directed them to the sofa, which the girls sunk into gratefully, whilst Spike took one of the spare chairs, perching on in in his usual reverse manner. All four looked like they’d been dragged through Tartarus. Starlight realised that that was most likely what she looked like too.

“Mondays, am I right?” The headmare cracked.

All four snorted joylessly, and Starlight began the task of hearing each of their verbal reports. Once she’d secured the room with the usual soundproofing spell, she heard all of the crusaders out, with Spike adding relevant details here and there. Once the three teachers were finished, Starlight asked the Dragon if he had anything to add, and he reproachfully admitted that he’d grabbed Cozy by the scruff. Starlight nodded, understanding.

“I apologised to her straight after.” He said, regretfully.

“If’n ya ask me, ya got nuthin’ ta apologise for,” Apple Bloom said darkly. “Ah was ready t’buck her inta next week.”

“Be that as it may, you did the right thing by apologising, Spike.” Starlight cut in gently. “We need her to trust us, and we don’t want to be hoofing her ammunition to use against us.”

The Dragon nodded, his face etched with frustration.

“I know it’s going to be tough, but I’d like all of you to do your best to reign in your tempers while she’s around. It looks like she’s going to be doing her best to get rises out of all of us, so don’t give her the satisfaction.”

Starlight glanced between the four faces. She knew that that sort of treatment of Cozy couldn’t be tolerated, monster or not, but even so, she just didn’t have the heart to scold Spike. He looked like he’d had the most miserable day of his life. Besides, if she knew the Dragon, he was internally beating himself up more than her words ever could.

“Yeesh,” Sweetie Belle piped up. “I thought I had it bad today, but hearing your guy’s stories makes me feel like I got off lightly.”

Spike, Scootaloo and Apple Bloom all either nodded or cocked their heads, weighing up her statement. None disagreed.

“How about you, Starlight?” Scootaloo asked. “Was she a nightmare for your one-on-one session too?”

“You could say that,” Starlight sighed.

“What happened?” Spike inquired.

“Oh, I just got a lot of tenuous justifications, bluster and threats,” Starlight half-truthed. While she was determined to be open and honest with her staff, there was no way she was revealing the Trixie thing. Not yet at least.

“Threats?” Spike repeated in a concerned tone. “Is that something we need to worry about?”

“Nah,” The headmare exclaimed with a wave of her hoof. “She’s all talk. This is about the extent of the notes I made during the session.”

Starlight gestured to the blackboard. Her staff took a moment to scrutinise the writing.

“Yep, I’d agree with all of that.” Spike grumbled.

“Unfortunately, it’s precious little that we didn’t already know.” Starlight lamented. “The real question is, where do we go from here? We can’t have another day like today.”

“We could...”

“Um...”

A silence descended upon the office for a moment or two, until it was broken by Spike.

“Could we...” he murmured, “now, this might sound a little crazy, but hear me out, give it a chance, but could we, just, y’know...fling her in the ocean?”

The Dragon’s words hung in the air for several glorious seconds, before the ponies present erupted into laughter. Spike himself cracked a smile, taking considerable pleasure in having shattered the tension in the room. Starlight was face down on her desk, pounding on it with one hoof, while the Crusaders were all three doubled up on the couch.

“Can’t...breathe!” Scootaloo cackled.

After the titters had died down, Starlight spoke.

“Seriously though,” she said, wiping a tear away with the back of her hoof, “I think we need some help. Maybe it’s time we brought in a consultant.”

“A consultant?” Apple Bloom echoed. “What d’you mean?”

“Well, I said at the start of this project that we could bring in other ponies onto the staff if we needed them.” Starlight replied. “Somepony with skills relevant to what we need.”

“Right!” Sweetie Belle grinned. “Somepony who can really get inside Cozy’s head!”

“That’s what I’m thinking,” Starlight said thoughtfully. “The only question is, who?”

She looked back to her team, and saw a quartet of blank faces. The headmare shook her head, her eyes dropping to her desk.

“Ok, ok, let’s think about this,” she trudged on with renewed vigour. “What we need is somepony who knows what makes other ponies tick, you know? Somepony who’s able to spot her manipulations.”

“Somepony who knows what it’s like to wield power over others?” Spike offered.

“Yes, yes!” Starlight prompted.

“Somepony who really understands social hierarchy?” Scootaloo ventured.

“Uh-huh!”

“Maybe somepony who used t’be a bully?” Apple Bloom asked.

“Right!” Starlight clapped her hooves. “Does anycreature know anypony like that?”

There was a brief silence, during which Spike, Scootaloo and Apple Bloom furrowed their brows in thought. Meanwhile, Sweetie Belle’s face was illuminated with inspiration.

“Well, there’s always...” She began. The others looked to her imploringly.

“What?” Starlight demanded. “Do you know a Pony?”

“Oh, I think I know who you’re talking about!” Scootaloo interjected.

“Me too!” Apple Bloom squeaked excitedly. “But...does anypony even know where she is now? Ah haven’t spoken to her in moons.”

“Who’re we talking about?” Starlight asked in bemusement. Her question elicited a shrug and an uncertain look from Spike, but went ignored by the Crusaders.

“Don’t you girls read the paper?” Sweetie Belle cried, her excitement growing.

“The sports section.” Scootaloo shrugged.

“Ah only really like the funnies,” AB smiled sheepishly.

“Girls...” Starlight said, once again feeling compelled to touch a hoof to her temple.

Sweetie Belle rolled her eyes and reached inside her saddlebag. After a second of rummaging, she produced a newspaper, which she unfolded and passed to the other Crusaders.

“Here. Look.”

Apple Bloom and Scootaloo crowded around the publication, their eyes scanning the front page.

“Oh, thank Celestia,” Scootaloo breathed. “She’s still local.”

“She’s running for office?!” Apple Bloom exclaimed.

“Umm hmm.” Sweetie Belle confirmed triumphantly. “Ever since Mayor Mare retired last year it’s been a bitterly fought race.”

“Huh. Good for her.”

“Girls!” Starlight snapped. All three of the Crusaders shut up and gave the headmare their full attention.

“Just WHO are we talking about here?!” Starlight slammed her hooves on the desk, unable to conceal her impatience.

None of the mares replied, but Sweetie Belle reached over to the desk and hoofed Starlight the newspaper. The headmare accepted it, and the room fell quiet once again as she spent several seconds scanning the article.

Eventually, she looked up, and hoofed the paper to Spike. As the Dragon read, she turned back to the Crusaders.

“Do you think she’ll do it?” She asked, a twinge of excitement entering her own voice.

“Ah reckon so,” Apple Bloom grinned. “She kinda owes us one.”

“And she’s a good as you say?”

“Oh yeah,” Scootaloo interjected, leaning back in the sofa. “She made our lives miserable for a while when we were in school.”

“Good, good,” Starlight smiled, before she realised what she was saying. “Well, I mean, not good that she made your lives miserable, just good that...you know what I mean.”

Scootaloo smiled, waving her hoof to dismiss the headmare’s awkwardness.

“Do you think you girls could pay her a little visit tomorrow?” Starlight asked, leaning over the desk.

“Absolutely,” Sweetie Belle replied with a smile.

“Okay, great.” Starlight chuckled. “You three do that, Spike, I’m sorry, but you’ll have to be on Cozy wrangling tomorrow.”

“What?” Spike started, looking up from the paper. Then the Unicorn’s words sank in.

“Ahhhh, okay.” He groaned. “Will do.”

“We’ll keep her out of regular lessons. Just keep her in the library, or her room, or take her on a nature walk, whatever, I really don’t care, just keep her busy.” Starlight rattled off. “I want to talk to Twilight in the morning, but I’ll take her off your hands at some point in the afternoon so you can get a break.”

“Thank you,” The dragon responded gratefully.

“Right then.” Starlight rose from her desk. “Today has been Tartarus, but at least we have a plan for tomorrow. Unless anycreature has anything else...?”

She paused just long enough for all four of her staff to shake their heads.

“Good.” She said finally. “Thank you all for today. Dismissed.”

And there you have it. A detailed chronicle of our first rotten day with Cozy Glow. I’ll get you the details on our potential consultant in tomorrow’s report, we should know by then if she’s willing to help us or not. Starlight was a little vague about how her counselling session went, I have no idea what ‘threats’ were made. I recommend talking to Starlight herself if you want more info on that.

Let me know if you have any questions or recommendations, though, if you do, please save them until the morning. I’m exhausted. Until tomorrow’s report, your ever faithful assistant and brother, signing off.

Spike

In the dimly candle-lit room, the Dragon tightly rolled up the absurdly long parchment, breathed out a plume of green fire, and within seconds it was reduced to ash.

Author's Note

I know I say this every time, but sorry this one took so long. It's been tough finding time to write this past couple of months. As always, comments and constructive criticism are welcome, and thanks so much for reading. I hope you enjoyed.