Another busy day at Twilight Sparkle's new school of friendship had wrapped up. The students were on their way to their dorms for some needed R&R, many curious about what the next lesson would be.



Starlight Glimmer was seeing the students off with a smile, delivering a pleasant reminder to come to her if there were any problems. However, one pony was still at her desk.



Cozy Glow, the crafty Pegasus, was seemingly deadlocked on a drawing she was working on. "Cozy Glow?" Starlight called out, receiving no response. "Cozy...? Cozy. Cozy!" She kept calling the filly's name. Cozy never answered. She just drew harder. "COZY!!" Starlight finally shouted.



"AH!!!" Cozy jerked upwards. "Y-Yes, Ms. Glimmer?"



Starlight calmly spoke to the troubled student. "Cozy... I noticed that you're still in your seat after the bell. You're usually in a hurry to follow the other students out of here. Are you okay?"



"Oh. Um," Cozy hastily answered, "yes I am. I'm awfully sorry. I was just... doodling."



"...Doodling," Starlight asked with a raised eyebrow. "Your pencils were wearing into your desk just now. 'Doodling' isn't something you do with such feverish focus. That's the kind of drawing style used by Night Guard sketch artists. ...Or a lonely figure drawer."



"It's nothing, Ms. Glimmer!" Cozy assured. "I'll grab my things and be on my wa-a-a-AY!" She quickly took off, but her wings stiffened in midair and she fell on her belly. One of her pencils broke in the fall, and the drawing drifted to the floor, right at Starlight's hooves.



"Cozy! Are you alright?!" Starlight bellowed with worry.



"Ungh… Yes... I just... took a bad flap," said Cozy. "Please... Don't tell Scootaloo. I'm too..." her voice halted.



To Cozy's horror, Starlight was levitating her drawing, looking it over. She saw her counselor staring at its content, with a noticeably heartbroken pose. Her eyes looked pained, and she was putting a hoof to her chest; she seemed heartbroken.



Cozy felt her own tail moving between her legs as she sat down and hung her head, fearfully anticipating whatever reprisal Starlight had for her.



"Cozy Glow?" Starlight said softly. "This drawing... It makes me feel like you have some sort of problem... Would you mind talking about it?"



"It's... It's nothing. I swear." Cozy said without looking up.



"Cozy..." Starlight replied sternly.



Cozy's quietness quickly gave way. "I'm sorry, Ms. Glimmer! I'm sorry! I swear to never make anything like it again! Please don't be mad!"



"Cozy... Please..." the calm voice of Starlight said. "If I did something to drive you to draw this, you need to tell me. Otherwise, we'll never get it sorted out. I promise, I won't punish you unnecessarily as long as you're truthful with me."



"P... Promise...?" Cozy timidly whimpered.



"Promise," Starlight winked.



The room was silent. After a few seconds, Cozy Glow nodded. She plucked up all her courage and agreed to share her feelings.



"O-Okay... Ms. Glimmer," Cozy started. "I... I drew that picture because... I..." after taking a breath, she quietly continued, "I-I'm mad at you."



"Mad at me?" Starlight recoiled, a hurt look on her face. "Why? What did I do to you to make you upset at me?"



Cozy, trying to maintain her composure, laid it out. "It's just that you keep on talking about how i-important it is to... t-to be just and fair to everypony you meet. Like, you expect that everypony will do the same. That life is meant to be fair and equal."



"Yes...?" Starlight replied with uncertainty.



"Well... it isn't," Cozy raised her voice. "Life ISN'T EVER fair. Something always seems to go wrong in life! If life really was so fair, why did Mommy and Daddy stop loving each other, huh?! Why did Tirek use me to break free, lie to me, then almost kill me?! Why did Princess Twilight have to watch Tempest Shadow turn her family into stone?! Why does Muffins have to live with a dead eye and by ridiculed her whole life?! I'll tell you why. Because this fairness you talk about just isn't real! LIFE'S NOT FAIR!!! LIFE'S NOT EVER FAIR!!! IT'S... IT'S NEVER FAIR TO ANYPONY!!!!!"



As Cozy began tearing up, on the edge of melting down totally, Starlight could only soak it in.



"...You're right, Cozy," Starlight eventually responded after a long silence. "Life ISN'T fair. I... know what you mean."



Cozy had to sniffle before complying. "T-Then... why is it always so important to you?"



Starlight, as cool as a lake in a forest, explained herself. "Because even though life isn't fair, that doesn't mean we can't be. To tell the truth, life was never fair to me either." Cozy looked up in surprise. "When I was just a filly, I was a student of Princess Celestia. Just like Twilight was. But my skill in magic was so great, I was often ostracized because I had an 'unfair advantage,' whatever that meant... Students wouldn't let me play with them, and everypony was afraid of me. I got so mad, I... showed off my power to intimidate others into compliance. I even had to helplessly watch as one of Celestia's best students, Sunset Shimmer, bullied Trixie Lulamoon for her weaker magic. The only friend I ever had there was a colt named Sunburst. He taught me to use magic with more self-control. But one day, I saved him from a collapsing pile of books, he earned his cutie mark, and then... his parents whisked him away with nary a goodbye. That incident made me think that the only things cutie marks did was make them more important than everypony in their life. And so... when I grew up, I started a cult where everypony's cutie marks were the same. We were... 'equal.' It wasn't until Twilight offered her friendship that I realized I was wrong. And now I'm surrounded by wonderful ponies who are always there for me, and even invited me to join their group. Life may not have been fair... but the ponies I befriended didn't care. Even when things go badly, my friends are always there for me. ANd your friends will always be there for you, no matter how sour the situation. Do you understand, Cozy Glow?"



Starlight started running her hooves through Cozy's mane, wrapping them around her.



Cozy's eyes were heavy with tears. "Starlight..." she mewled, pushing her face onto Starlight's chest. "W... Why does life have to hurt so much...?"



After thinking on an answer, Starlight replied, "...Because the pain makes your friends' compassion all the more soothing. Trust me on that..."



"But... B-But..." Cozy started sobbing. Then, with her face buried in Starlight's chest fluff, she broke. "...Uuuuaaa-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a!"



Cozy's tears ran like waterfalls, falling down her cheeks and trickling down Starlight's belly. The mare held her close, almost like a mother bear cradling her cub. "It's okay, Cozy. Let it all out." And she did. She cried for a solid five minutes.



Starlight knew that Cozy Glow needed some love and reassurance... And she decided that maybe her own friends could help the lonely filly.

