Bad Habit; or How I Ended Up Carrying Gallus' Swear Jar

by Closer-To-The-Sun

Rating: everyone
Tags: Comedy, Sandbar, Slice of Life, Gallus, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Length: 5529

Gallus has to learn to clean up his language.

"I got a bad habit,/And it ain't goin' away." -The Offspring, 'Bad Habit'

Gallus is known for his habit of using....certain language that shouldn't be used in school. Headmare Starlight Glimmer has offered a solution to help with this problem: a swear jar. But for some reason, she insists that I help by being in charge of the jar. What in Celestia's name did I do to deserve this?

Cover art drawn by DeadParrot222.

Published 2020-03-23 23:40:02 UTC
Last updated 2020-03-23 23:40:02 UTC

Bad Habit; or How I Ended Up Carrying Gallus' Swear Jar

The story I am about to recall is true. However, because of the nature of this story, I have omitted and redacted some of the language of this story. Believe me when I say it was necessary.

It all started on what seemed like any other Monday morning. Now, I love my dormmate Gallus, he’s one of my closest friends. I trust him with my life (and on several occasions, I have), and we always got each other’s backs. However, there’s one thing that always bothers me about him.

“Come on, Sandbar, it’s time to wake the [OMITTED] up!” he shook my sleeping body awake.

I rolled over to see him flapping his wings to get to me on the top bunk. He had a smile on his face, as if he was happy to wake me up from my sleep.

“Already using that language this early?” I asked, rubbing my eyes.

Gallus landed back down on the ground and laughed at the comment, “Hurry up or the girls will beat us to the [EXPUNGED] mess hall.”

With a yawn, I climbed down from my bunk to start my morning rituals before heading out to breakfast.

I should note that Gallus has always had a mouth to him. Or is it more of a beak? Whatever you want to call it, he loved to pepper his language with profanities. It was something I noticed since the first day I met him. I will admit, I am not one to swear at all, it’s the way my parents raised me. However, Gallus has told me that back in Griffonstone, it’s not only common to have their language filled with profanity and swears, but it is considered odd for one to have a conversation without at least a single swear word. He’s told me numerous times that despite the language and how it’s used, unless it’s said in serious anger, it’s never meant to offend any creature. It still puzzles me, but he is my friend and I just deal with it.

After we left our dorm, we headed to the mess hall for breakfast and to meet up with the rest of our friends.

“Hey Sandbar, were we supposed to finish that worksheet for Professor Fluttershy’s class today or on Wednesday?” Gallus asked me as we pushed our trays of food along the line.

“I think it’s due today?” I thought aloud.

“Ah, [REDACTED], I might have to hurry and finish it before lunch then,” he stated calmly. While I understand him being upset, I still don’t think the language was necessary.

I took my tray off the counter and stepped out of the line to wait for him, “It’s not that hard to finish, you might be able to get it done no problem.”

“I hope so,” he also took his tray off the counter as we started to trot toward the tables, “I sure as [OMITTED] need to make sure I don’t fail any of my classes.”

“I doubt a single assignment will cause you to fail the class,” I said with a smirk.

We trotted up to our usual table where the girls were already seated. One side had Ocellus and and Silverstream on one side while Yona and Smolder were on the other.

“There you boys are,” Smolder called out to us.

Before I could say anything, Gallus spoke up, “Lay off our [EXPUNGED] backs! Some of us like to sleep in!” His voice was a bit louder than I would have liked him to be. I noticed a couple of other students in the mess hall looking at him.

“Whatever, just sit,” Smolder said. I took the seat next to Yona while Gallus took the one between Ocellus and Silverstream.

“As Yona was saying, Yona overheard professors saying that students might have field trip soon!” Yona said excitedly.

“That’s so cool! Where do you think we’ll be going?” Silverstream asked happily.

“Maybe Vanhoofer? It would be cool to see the northwest,” I said before taking a bite of my oatmeal.

“It better not be Professor Applejack’s farm again. I think I learned all I could ever [EDITED] learn about apples,” Gallus joked between bites.

Ocellus spoke up, “Gallus, do you really have to use that sort of language all the time?”

“What’s wrong with it?”

Before any of us could answer, there was an announcement over the school’s intercom: “Would the students Gallus and Sandbar please report to Headmare Starlight Glimmer’s office immediately? Thank you.”

“What the [OMITTED] did I do? I’m just trying to eat here!”

Yona turned to look at me, “What Sandbar do?”

“I don’t know!” I admitted nervously.

“Maybe you two are getting some sort of prize!” Silverstream said happily.

“Well, that’s just wishful thinking,” Ocellus said under her breath.

Smolder added a joke, “Or maybe your dorm is finally getting fumigated?”

I stood up, “Well, the announcement said immediately, so let’s go.”

“At least let me finish this [REDACTED] apple!” he got a little annoyed.

Several minutes later, and a profanity-laced mumbling from Gallus later, we arrived at the Headmare’s door. I lightly knocked on the door and was immediately greeted with a signal to enter. I opened the door for both Gallus and myself. Inside, Headmare Starlight Glimmer was seated at her desk.

The lilac unicorn welcomed us in, “Thank you for coming, boys. Please close the door and have a seat.”

In silence we did as we were told. While seated in the two chairs in front of her, I nervously asked, “Did we do something wrong?”

The Headmare didn’t say anything right away. Instead, she looked as if she was trying to find the right words to say. “I’m not exactly sure how to say this, but….” she paused for a moment, “Gallus, an anonymous party has come forward with a complaint about your language, especially in their classroom.”

“What? What the [EDITED] is wrong with my language?” Gallus stopped himself for a moment before adding, “Wait, who was it? Was it Vice-Headmare Sunburst?”

“I cannot divulge who it is, but he has taken issue with your language,” Headmare Starlight answered with a hint of guilt.

“It was him….[OMITTED] narc,” Gallus quietly said.

Headmare Starlight cleared her throat to get his attention again, “Anyway, your language around campus has gotten….worrisome for a good number of the campus faculty as well as the students, and something needs to be done about it.”

“I don’t see what the problem is,” Gallus admitted plainly, “It’s just how griffons talk.”

“Well, that might be true, but it’s not something we can have at this school. We are trying to foster a community of friendship and understanding. And, unfortunately, that means we cannot have you speaking in such a manner,” the Headmare stated.

Gallus seemed to talk a bit offense to this, “Hey, if I wanted to have my life choices criticized, I would go back to Griffonstone.”

“I….That’s not what I’m trying to do here, Gallus,” Headmare Starlight insisted. I could tell she was getting frustrated. I was in the exact same position as she is now back when Gallus and I first became dormmates. It seems, however, that the solution of ‘just dealing with it’ would not work. “Gallus, what I’m asking you to do is just watch what you say.”

“I don’t see an issue with my [EDITED] language,” Gallus proudly stated.

Both Headmare Starlight and I exchanged silent glances, unsure if he noticed the irony in his statement or not.

To break the silence, I raised my hoof, “Sorry to interrupt, Headmare Starlight, but if this is about Gallus’ language, may I ask why I’m here?”

“I was just getting to that,” the Headmare spoke, “for you see, I have a remedy for Gallus’ language….issue.” She reached down behind her desk and pulled out a glass jar that she placed on the desk. “Do you know what this is?”

“A jar?” I asked.

“That’s right, it’s a jar that we are going to use for an experiment,” Headmare Starlight started.

Gallus raised an eyebrow, “An experiment?”

“That’s correct,” she continued on to explain, “Gallus, because of your increasing use of….profanity, we are going to institute a swear jar for you.”

“A swear jar? Are you serious?” Gallus did not like the thought.

“Oh, so you know what it is, that helps with things!” the Headmare seemed excited, “And your dormmate, Sandbar, will be in charge of said swear jar.”

“Me?!”

“That’s correct! You will be with him, making sure that every time he might use any profanity, you are there to make sure he uses the swear jar correctly!”

“I’m telling you, it’s not that bad!” Gallus pleaded, “If anything, they’re just….sentence enhancers!”

I gave a puzzled look to Gallus, and parroted what he said with slight confusion, “Sentence enhancers?”

“I don’t care, we are going to have you clean up your language around the school!” Headmare Starlight seemed unmoving on her motion, “Sandbar will carry your swear jar around with you. Each time you say an inappropriate word, you will drop one bit into the jar.”

In true Gallus fashion, he cracked a joke, “Can we have a jar for each time Counselor Trixie calls herself ‘the great and powerful’?”

Headmare Starlight hung her head and sighed, “Believe me, I tried that and it didn’t work. The silver lining to all of it was that we were able to add a new wing to the dormitories….”

“Ooh, that’s why that building is called ‘The Great and Powerful East Wing’,” I was surprised I never made that realization until just then.

“I still don’t [REDACTED] see why I have to do any of this. It just seems like [EXPUNGED],” Gallus said.

“See, right there, add two bits for those words,” Headmare Starlight used her magic to levitate the jar close to him.

Gallus had his claws crossed and didn’t react to it for a few moments. Finally, he relented and took two coins out and dropped them in the jar. The coins echoed in the empty jar.

“That wasn’t so hard, was it?” Headmare Starlight asked, “Now you will be able to see just exactly how much you use such language. We will check up on you and your jar the end of the week to look at your progress.” She wrote on a piece of paper and using some tape, stuck it on the jar. It read ‘Gallus’ Swear Jar’ and had a little smile on it as well. “Here you are, Sandbar. I’m trusting you to keep Gallus in check every time he swears.”

“Yes, ma’am,” I replied.

Gallus sighed, “This is going to be a long [OMITTED] week.”

I raised the jar right up to him. He was visibly annoyed, but he still dropped a coin in the jar.

For our first class, Gallus kept his head down and tried not to speak. Personally, I believe that was the smartest move for him. However, he did pull me aside after the class.

“Sandbar. Our room. Now.” It was more like an order from him than anything else as he pulled me toward our dorm.

I followed him, especially since he gave me little choice.

Back in our room, he was pacing in a frustrated and panicked manner.

“Is this going to be long, Gallus? We have poetry with Professor Applejack soon,” I pointed out.

“I [REDACTED] know that!” he blurted out. He already was disappointed in himself as he pulled out a coin and motioned for me to bring the jar up. The coin clanked against the glass. “Sandbar, I spent the entire class thinking about just how often I [OMITTED] swear,” again, he sighed and pulled out another coin to put in the jar.

“It’s not that bad. You just have to watch what you say, that’s all,” I said encouragingly.

“It’s not that easy!” Gallus said. I could tell from the expression on his face that he wanted to add a few more words to that statement. “Do you know how hard it was to not say anything back in biology class?”

“You actually were paying attention?”

“Of course, I was paying attention, [WITHHELD],” Gallus growled as he pulled out another coin for the jar, “Okay, now I just think you’re trying to make me go broke.”

I shrugged, “Well, what do you want to do about it? Headmare Starlight insisted you try this out for a week, but you’re not going to get very far if you can’t handle a single class.”

“That’s why I want you to help me: allow me to get all the swears out all at once.”

“Beg pardon?” I asked.

He continued, “Think about it, I just let it all out at once, it will help me get over it. Please, just let me swear all at once, because if I don’t, I’m going to be broke until graduation.”

I had to admit, he had a point, and it might actually help him, “Alright. The moment we leave our dorm, no more profanities. Otherwise….” I held up the jar and jingled the coins inside.

Gallus was overjoyed as he breathed a sigh of relief. Then he started with a deep breath and he started to shout with rage at the top of his lungs, “What in the [EXPUNGED], [OMITTED]. Who the [EDITED] [REDACTED] this [OMITTED]....how in the [WITHHELD] am I supposed to [EDITED] [OMITTED], [REDACTED]!”

“Well,” I stood back in shock, “that certainly illustrates the diversity of your vocabulary, doesn’t it?”

“Oh, I’m just getting started. We have ten [REDACTED] minutes before class, and I [EDITED] well am going to make full [WITHHELD] use of it!” Gallus seemed excited I gave him this option.

“Okay, I get that, but do you really have to refer to parents in such a manner?” I asked.

“Don’t be such a [EDITED], I need this,” he said as he continued.

As I previously stated, he continued for the rest of the time allotted in our dorm. We both thought it might be best for him to do so. Because of his little profanity-fest, we barely made it back to class in time. However, we quickly learned that he still wasn’t even close to being rid of his habit.

Professor Applejack started class by passing back our papers about analyzing favorite poems. I did very well on my paper, after all it was a poem I thoroughly enjoyed and felt I did a good job working through. Gallus on the other hoof apparently didn’t do so well.

“Oh, you got to be [REDACTED] kidding me….” Gallus muttered quietly next to me.

Without saying a word, I raised the swear jar next to him. The sound of the coins in the glass container got the attention of most of the class. He might have swore quietly under his breath again, but I couldn’t make it out as he dropped a coin in the jar. The clank alerted the rest of the classroom.

Professor Applejack raised an eyebrow and pointed, “Gallus, Sandbar, what are you two doi-”

I quickly interrupted with an answer, “Headmare Starlight told us to do this!”

She simply shrugged, “Fair enough.”

This was just the beginning of his problems.

At lunch that day, we explained the situation to the girls.

“So to curb your swearing, Headmare Starlight has given you a swear jar?” Smolder asked, pointing at the jar next to me at the table.

“Yeah, that’s basically it,” Gallus said as he focused on trying to eat his lunch.

Ocellus spoke, “I have to say that I think this a good thing for you, Gallus. You seemed to always let out a fury of….questionable language.”

“Yona agree, friend Gallus keep saying words that Yona don’t know,” Yona nodded.

“There is nothing wrong with the way I talk,” Gallus insisted through his sour mood, “I just have to get though this week without giving up too much of my own money and I’ll be [REDACTED] done.” I tapped my hoof on the top of the jar, causing Gallus to sigh.

“There’s that optimism, Gallus!” Silverstream cheered as Gallus dropped another coin in the jar.

“And you have to help him with all of this, Sandbar?” Smolder turned to ask me.

I answered with a hint of confusion, “Yeah, I still don’t know why she wants me to do it. I mean, I guess as Gallus’ friend and dormmate, it makes sense, but I already have so much to focus on with my classes.”

“Don’t act all high and [EDITED] mighty, Sandbar,” Gallus growled at me before dropping another coin in the jar.

Smolder looked at the contents of the jar, which had already completely covered the bottom of the sizable jar, “Huh, guess he does swear a lot? I never really noticed.”

Ocellus examined the jar as well, “Yeah, what a mouth on him!”

“Isn’t it more of a beak?” Smolder asked.

“Actually yeah, what would the term be?” Silverstream thought aloud.

“Yona think it would still be mouth?”

“Could you all stop questioning my [WITHHELD] anatomy and just eat your lunch?” Gallus’ anger grew.

“Ooo! That’s another coin in the swear jar!” Silverstream giggled.

At this point, Gallus started a long, profanity-laced rant. While I was completely able to follow (and even recited it back if I so wished), I refuse to even try to edit it down, as I feel it wouldn’t work too well. In fact, I felt this rant in question was even more wild than the one I allowed earlier back in the dorms. As for the rest of us at the table, Smolder and I were in surprise that he would say so much, Ocellus was shocked and horrified, and as for Yona and Silverstream, they seemed excited that they had learned a number of new words.

Silverstream was the first to break the awkward silence that followed. She turned Ocellus, “Hey, Ocellus, what exactly is a-

“DO NOT SAY THAT WORD!” Ocellus ordered with her wings on end.

“But what Gallus mean when friend say-” Yona started to speak.

“STOP!” Ocellus shouted.

Smolder had a sly smile to her as she leaned toward Yona, “Heh, it means-”

Ocellus loudly interrupted, “Smolder, stop it!”

Smolder laughed as she sat normally again, “So, Sandbar, how much does our foul-mouth fowl owe?”

“I’m still doing the math,” I answered as I was on the receiving end of a death-glare from Gallus.

The rest of Monday passed with only a few incidents for Gallus. His anger repeatedly almost got the best of him. However, he quickly learned by holding his tongue, he wouldn’t have to pay the swear jar. On the topic of the jar itself, it was barely a quarter of the way full (especially after his expletive-filled rant during lunch), and it’s weight was starting to become far more notable and tricky to carry around.

As the week went on, there were a few particular points that were worth noting of Gallus’ swearing:

Tuesday morning, I had to wake him up. Gallus isn’t always a morning person, but he always hates missing out on breakfast. I shook his sleeping body shortly after I woke up

“[REDACTED] off, you [OMITTED]. [EDITED] just give me five [OMITTED] more minutes, [EXPUNGED],” he mumbled as he pulled the blankets over his head.

“Swear jar,” I calmly replied as I trotted away to the bathroom.

Gallus insisted a few of those words were not swears, but I was not taking chances then and I’m not taking them now.

Later that afternoon, we were trotting in the hallway between classes and I saw that he stubbed one of his limbs against the stairs.

“Ah, [WITHHELD]!” he blurted out. I have come to learn the word that he used was a griffon swear, so I have omitted it.

“Swear jar,”

Gallus wasn’t happy that I had the jar with me. He dropped two coins in, “Go eat a [EXPUNGED].”

That evening, all of us were in the library, working in our study groups and finishing up our assignments. The quiet library was distrupted, to say the least, by a loud expletive.

“[OMITTED]!” Gallus sharply shouted as he waved a talon around in the air.

A chorus of students and faculty seemed more bothered that he made noise than swore, “Sssh!”

“Swear jar,” I quietly whispered as I placed the jar on the table as quietly as possible.

“Oh come on,” Gallus quietly and annoyedly pleaded, “it’s a [EDITED] papercut! Even the [OMITTED] princesses would be swearing about this!” He showed me his talon, which did have the cut from the book.

The chorus of the library again tried to shush the noise, “Sssh!”

Without arguing further but still quietly raging, Gallus dropped a few coins in.

Seated across from us, Ocellus raised her hoof to her mouth to shush us yet again, “Sssh!”

The next morning, for our physical education course, we had to take part in running laps around the course. Being how Professor Rainbow Dash likes for us to ‘push our limits’ and to ‘go beyond’, she insisted that all flying creatures to not use their wings at all, even for stabilization. Unfortunately for Gallus, this meant he would have some problems.

I finished with most of the students, but Gallus was struggling and was one of the last ones to finish. After he finished he came up to me and, with what little breath he had, spoke to me, “I will admit….that I was swearing for….for the last third of that last [EXPUNGED] mile, and I will happily pay up….”

With a small chuckle, I had to ask, “How much do you owe?”

“I’ll figure that out when I get the feeling back in my [EDITED] limbs….”

Later during lunch, he dropped his tray of food in the mess hall. It was a loud clunk when it hit the floor, but it was more the sound of his swearing that got everyone’s attention. Smolder and I were nearby and were helping him clean up the mess.

“Dang, do you do anything but swear?” Smolder joked as she scooped the fallen food onto the tray, “A swear jar is just so perfect for you!”

“Hey, [EDITED] off!” Gallus growled.

I tried to mediate as I finished scooping the fallen food near me onto the tray, “Smolder, please don’t egg him on.”

“What? I’m just asking how he feels!” she laughed as she finished cleaning the area near her.

With a calm rage, Gallus answered as he stood back up with his tray of floor-food in his talons, “There are not enough swears in Poneish for how I feel right now.”

“I know you must be feeling frustrated right now, Gallus,” I said calmly, in hopes of it helping relax him, “You seem to be having a really bad luck streak lately as it is, but swearing isn’t going to-”

“[REDACTED]!” Gallus shouted at the top of his lungs in the mess hall. If there weren’t a set of eyes on us yet, they were now.

“-solve anything….” I finished my statement after he finished his swear.

Smolder was covering her mouth as she made her way back to our table, trying her hardest to not laugh, “Everything else after this moment is just a bonus.”

As Smolder left, Gallus’ grip tightened on his tray as his anger grew. Unfortunately for him, there was something I had to say:

“I know this isn’t the right time, but you currently owe ten more bits to the jar.”

The rest of Wednesday and most of Thursday was fairly uneventful. This was mostly due in part of Gallus not wanting to talk for almost any reason. While he still talked in class and held conversations, he was very careful in his responses and didn’t talk more often then he had to. On one hoof, I was grateful as it meant Gallus was paying attention to what was coming out of his mouth. However, I did miss having casual conversations with my best friend. I started thinking that perhaps the swear jar was working a bit too well, as it was keeping him from talking all together.

It came to a head Thursday during dinner. While we were all sitting in the mess hall, we were all eating and chatting about classes and just about anything. Gallus seemed to be focused on eating, not paying attention to the conversation the rest of us were having.

He did finally speak towards the end of the meal, “Hey Sandbar, where’s the swear jar?”

“Huh? Oh, it’s right here,” I answered, putting the jar on the table. The jar was half-filled with coins and it made its presence known as I set it on the table as the coins jingled.

“Wow, Gallus, you’ve been busy!” Silverstream commented.

Ocellus asked the same thing that was on my mind, “What are you doing?”

In silence, Gallus pulled out a number of coins and dropped them in the jar. The clanking echoed as the jar filled up more. “I’m paying in advance for tonight. I’m meeting up with Grampa Gruff later this evening.”

This statement caught everyone one of us off guard.

“Yeah, I’m not looking forward to it. Also, I’m sure it’s going to get….heated, to say the least,” Gallus’ demeanor was both exhausted and an eerie calm about him.

“Wow, I never thought Gallus would actually pre-pay for his swears,” Smolder commented, “Do you think he’s actually gonna keep track or is he buying swears at a discount in bulk?”

“So Yona won’t learn new griffon words?”

I spent the night in the dorm, just catching up on homework and reading. It was a bit surprising how late Gallus came back to the room. He looked annoyed, but just happy to be back. As he closed the door behind him, he sighed.

“So, how was it?” I asked.

“Don’t ask,” he responded. He trotted toward the swear jar that was on my desk. He dropped what sounded like three coins.

I couldn’t help but joke, “Went over your limit?”

Before Gallus could answer, there was a knock at our door. He went to the door and opened it. To my surprise and his horror, it was Grampa Gruff.

“What the-, Grampa Gruff?” his wings stood on end.

“I ain’t done beratin’ you, ya ungrateful [WITHHELD]!” Grampa Gruff snarled.

“Grampa Gruff, this is neither the time, nor the place for this sort of [REDACTED],” Gallus said tiredly.

“[OMITTED] it is! I’m here and you are going listen!”

For the next hour, the two continued to have an extremely heated argument. I swear I was doing my absolute best to not eavesdrop on their conversation, but they were having the argument right in the doorway to our dorm and the door was wide open. Even despite Gallus originally trying to have them go elsewhere, he gave up and continued with the arguing. And the language they were using was….colorful to say the least. A few of the words were certainly ones I have never heard within the walls of the academy, and were certainly ones I would never say to my mother.

Again, even if I were able to recall every word that was exchanged in this argument, I feel it wouldn’t be much help. However, I am able to recall the last part of Grampa Gruff’s last rant.

“You think you can just [EXPUNGED] run away to this [REDACTED] school and act like you’re [OMITTED] better than the rest of us griffons? Well, you’re [EDITED] not. You’ll come crawling back like the [OMITTED] [EXPUNGED] you really are. You were born [REDACTED] and you’ll be lucky to grow up to be [WITHHELD] [REDACTED]!” Grampa Gruff’s voice was growing more and more hoarse as he reached the end of the rant, but his voice then calmed as he added, “....and I’ll see you at Gabby’s surprise birthday next week. Please don’t forget to pick up the cake from Sugarcube Corner.”

“I won’t,” Gallus nodded, “goodbye, Grampa Gruff.” Gallus closed the door and then looked at my confused reaction. Without missing a beat, he spoke, “Now you can see where I get it from.”

“Goodness, I didn’t know he really didn’t like you coming to the school,” was all I really could say.

He simply shrugged, “Eh, I just got him on a bad day. He’s not always like that….just most of the time.”

Gallus made his way back to the swear jar. He started counting on his talons all of the expletives that were exchanged in the conversation he just had.

“Oh, Gallus, you don’t have to pay for all of that between you and Grampa Gruff, I’ll just say I didn’t hear any of it,” I insisted.

“No, I said all of it, I’m going to own up to what I said. Words have consequences,” Gallus said with a hint of pride as he added a fair amount of coins into the jar.

I was surprised about how honest and open Gallus was about what had transpired. Perhaps this is what Headmare Starlight Glimmer was trying to teach him this whole time: words carry far more meaning than we might originally thought.

“I’ll at least pay for the words that you know.”

“So, how was your week with the swear jar, Gallus?” Headmare Starlight asked as she was watering her plant.

I looked over to Gallus. He looked tired. Not just because it was Friday morning and we both had a test in the afternoon, but just tired because the week had been far more exhausting than he ever had expected. He slumped in his chair as he answered.

“It was….a challenge. And honestly, I feel that’s not even close to describing it all,” Gallus sighed.

“And why do you think it was such a challenge?” Headmare Starlight asked as she leaned in.

“Because,” he started before he took a quick pause, “because I had to think over every single word I said to every single creature, and if I didn’t I would literally be paying for it in that jar.” He pointed to the filled swear jar that I had right next to me.

“It was also challenging since Grampa Gruff visited last night….” I quickly added.

She nodded and looked at me, “And Sandbar, how was the week for you?”

“Well, I quickly became desensitized to Gallus’ language faster than I thought,” I lightly joked before continuing, “But as the week went on, I saw that while Gallus did try to watch his word choices, each time he used expletives, the weight of the jar became far heavier.”

A smirk appeared on the Headmare’s face, “And that’s the lesson I was hoping both of you would learn. Words not only have a weight to the speaker, but also to all the others who hear.”

While Gallus seemed surprised and awe-struck about the revelation, I raised my hoof, “Question: that’s all well and good, but why did I need to learn this lesson?”

Headmare Starlight gave a light chuckle as she leaned back in her chair, “Honestly, it seemed to be the smartest idea to have you be in charge of the Gallus’ swear jar since you were dormmates and friends.”

“So….I didn’t have to learn anything?” I raised an eyebrow, unsure how to respond to what I was hearing.

“Well, no, not really,” Headmare Starlight said, “But I had a feeling you would be the right student for the task because you would keep Gallus on task. But you did learn about how his langauge was affecting others!”

I was speechless, mostly because I had to go through the entire week carrying Gallus’ swear jar for almost no reason. Another reason I couldn’t say anything was because my limbs were screaming in pain and didn’t have the energy when I just glanced at the full jar.

“Wait, follow-up question,” Gallus raised his talon in the air, “Now that we learned this lesson, what are we going to do with the jar now that it’s filled with bits?”

“The original plan was for you to give the money to a good cause,” the Headmare explained, “What would you like to do with it?”

Gallus thought for a moment and then answered, “Well, since they put up with me all week, and even before that, I’m going to treat all my friends out for dinner on me. It’s the least I can do.”

“That’s a very nice thing to do, Gallus. Let’s see how much you put in there over the week,” Headmare Starlight said, “Sandbar, can you pass the jar to Gallus?”

“Oh, yeah, of course,” I picked up the jar and tried to pass the jar over to Gallus in the other seat.

Unfortunately, neither of our grips were good and the jar fell with a loud crash, causing the coins to spill across the entire office floor. All three of us stared at the mess in horror.

I could manage to calmly utter only two words, “Oh [REDACTED].”

END