Halted Progress

Forest Meadow's life had always been complicated. Whether it was her parents, who's desire for wealth far surpassed their love for their children, or her siblings, who's fear of poverty barely surpassed their hatred for their parents.

Forest's mother, Pleasant Meadow, was the founder and CEO of a very successful company that owned a chain of hotels situated across Equestria. Grassy Meadow was her supposedly loving husband. Though he didn't work for Pleasant due to a pride issue, he made his own name in the world of business by acting as the middle man in other companies' awkward or undesirable business deals. Together, they had three children, and separately, they had two more. The oldest was Shallow Meadow, who's name was conceived before either parent actually knew what a meadow was. To avoid confusion, they usually called her Sam, formed from her initials, plus an A. Forest was next. Thirdly, there was Rocky Meadow. Rocky was the son of Grassy, but not the son of Pleasant. Rather, he was born to Pleasant's twin sister, Violet. Pleasant was not aware of this, because the fourth child, Cloudy Meadow, was conceived at roughly the same time. Grassy kept Rocky hidden until Cloudy was born, and passed them off as twins, somehow convincing Pleasant that she had given birth to two children without realizing it. Grassy's natural ability to lie made him an excellent businesspony. Lastly, there was Thunder Bolt, who had recently been unofficially adopted by Pleasant for financial and political gain.

Forest herself had a daughter, but she broke up with the father, and he took their child with him to live in Manehatten. She rarely saw her daughter, but she still felt she was a better parent than her own. No one else in the family knew much about her daughter or the stallion who fathered her, as Forest had always tried to keep her family away from anyone she was going out with.

Forest had always felt like she was in the middle of everyone else's problems, yet she was never properly credited for it. That was about to change. Today, she stood in front of a crowd of ponies at a ribbon cutting ceremony. Despite the fact that it wasn't the grand opening of anything, this ribbon cutting ceremony was going to be the best one she had ever attended. It was here that her mother was going to announce her resignation as CEO of their company in order to run for mayor of Ponyville. The reason Forest was so excited was because she was easily the most qualified pony to take her place. She would finally be able to make all of the decisions and get all of the credit for doing so. Once Pleasant announced the new boss, they would cut the ribbon and Forest would run up on-stage to officially accept the position. Since she was so confident she deserved the job, she found it odd that she was the one holding the scissors and had actually tried convincing random member of the crowd to come up and hold it for her. The ceremony hadn't quite started yet, but as she looked around, she realized that she was the only member of her family who had even shown up yet aside from Rocky, who seemed to be laying out some sort of pad behind the stage. She wondered what the others might be doing as she idly cut some grass with her over-sized pair of scissors.

Pleasant and Grassy Meadow were standing in front of the mayor's desk. They had come with the sole purpose of taunting the current mayor, Mayor Mare. The mayor sat with a hoof under her chin as Pleasant bragged about how much wealthier she was than her. "Anyway, I just stopped by to see what aesthetic changes I'll have to make around the office once I win," said Pleasant, opting for a direct statement this time instead of her usual passive-aggressive banter. "I should be going, though. I'm stepping down from my CEO position in about half an hour. After that, I'll be focusing much more energy on the election."

"You know that means you'll actually have to show up for the debates, right?" the mayor replied.

"Of course I do." She didn't. "We're going to be seeing a lot more of each other." With that, Pleasant and Grassy began walking toward the door. "I hope you're excited! I sure am!" She wasn't.

Sam was putting the finishing touches on a ramp she built for her upcoming performance. She had been trying to make it as a stunt-mare for years, leeching off her parents' money to pay for the equipment and hospital bills. The ribbon cutting ceremony was being held in front of a hotel they had situated in Ponyville, and while it was only three stories high, it was still the biggest building for miles. She was on the roof. The plan was to ramp a bicycle off the roof and over the crowd, landing on a large pad she told her brother Rocky to set up behind the event. These things were often boring, and she felt she was just what the crowd needed to be properly entertained.

After construction of the ramp was finished, she began wrapping a long ribbon around her body. Since she was a pegasus, many ponies complained that her stunts were illegitimate, as she could use her wings to keep from crashing. After she was certain she wouldn't be able to break free of her bonds no matter how hard she tried, she got on her bike and waited for the ceremony to start.

Cloudy was waiting at the train station for her recently gotten coltfriend. His name was Firm Grip, and they had met about twenty minutes ago. Firm had been evicted from his apartment in his hometown, and had come to Ponyville to drop off his daughter at her mother's house, a mare he had broken up with almost as soon as their foal was born. He was on his way back to the train station when he and Cloudy bumped into one another, and they immediately took a liking to each other. Firm, having nowhere else to go, and having found a single mare with a lot of money and a house easily big enough for the two of them, decided to stay in Ponyville with his new fillyfriend. They had come back to the train station so he could return his ticket, and after that, they would go back to Cloudy's place.

Thunder Bolt, much like his sort-of sister, had just met some one. Her name was Soft, and she had been wandering the streets of Ponyville looking for something to do. Thunder had been doing the same thing, having had no interest in whatever ceremony his adoptive mother told him to go to. She had come up to him and asked where she could get something to eat, and he led her to Sugarcube Corner, where the pink mare who worked there had promised to throw Soft a party for being new to Ponyville.

As they sat at a table and ate their muffins, Thunder thought that this might have been the first truly good thing to happen to him in a while. Thunder Bolt had always had a peculiar existence. He didn't seem to be any of the known pony races, but rather a combination of all three, he could walk on clouds and generate electricity with his mind, yet he didn't have a horn or wings. His parents were both pegasi, so he lived in Cloudsdale for most of his life. He attended and graduated from flight school without ever having the ability to fly, but his electricity often got him in trouble. He could usually control it save for when he was especially angry. After a particularly intense argument with his parents, he set off an electrical storm and ended up destroying half of their property. His parents disowned him, and he was put in the care of the local orphanage. He was transferred to Ponyville at the age of seventeen, where he was taken in by Pleasant Meadow in an effort to appeal to voters who thought she was insensitive to earth ponies, her family consisting almost entirely of unicorns and pegasi, save for Forest, who's ideals constantly conflicted with her own.

This girl wasn't like any one else he had to deal with throughout his life. She said she had some family issues of her own, but her family was probably a lot more normal than his.

Forest felt good. Her parents had finally arrived at the ceremony and were getting onto the stage. After they had sufficiently hushed the crowd, they began their announcement.

"We're all here today to acknowledge my stepping down as CEO of Meadow Motels," Pleasant began. "We're also here to announce the new pony who will be taking my place." Forest readied the scissors. "I've thought about it a lot and I think I've made the right decision. The pony who will take my place has supported this company since she was born." Forest's grin got noticeably wider. "She's knowledgeable in the field and is immensely responsible." Forest knew this was true. She had been cleaning up after her family's antics for years. "She's my very own daughter..." Forest lined up the scissors. She had waited for this moment for so long. She had worked so hard to support this company and had put up with her family through it all in the hopes that it would one day pay off. This anticipation made it sting that much worse when Pleasant ended her dramatic pause and said, "Shallow Meadow!"

Forest snapped the scissors shut by instinct, but by the time they were closed, she had processed what her mother had said. She stood with her mouth agape as she stared at the ribbon, which had not even been cut, but rather slipped between the blades of the scissors.

Sam thought she heard her name being called from somewhere down below, but that wasn't important. She took the sound of the crowd's cheering as a sign that the ribbon had been cut, and she took off. She had built up plenty of speed and hit the ramp perfectly, but she soon regretted her stunt as she looked down and saw that Rocky had set up the pad behind the stage her parents were standing on, instead of behind the crowd like she wanted. She began tugging at the ribbon holding her wings down. Eyes were on her as she began screaming. With the crowd directly below, she broke the ribbon that was supposed to keep itself together over a ceremony where a ribbon that was supposed to be cut remained intact. She flew upward, letting the bike continue on its path into the face of a stallion in a suit at the back of the audience.

Forest watched in disbelief as the mare chosen as CEO of the family company flung a bike into an innocent bystander and took off. She glanced back to see her parents sprinting away from the scene as well, and wondered why they were in such a hurry to get away. An ambulance came soon, and the rest of the crowd eventually dispersed, leaving Forest by herself in front of a hotel owned by a company that failed her, holding a pair of scissors that had failed her, too.