Cultivating Crossroads

To say the Sire’s Hollow community center was in chaos would be putting it lightly. The air buzzed with the rushed words of excited fillies, screams of joy, and happy giggling. No foal had totally fled the large round table yet, but a few had started to crawl away under it to play their own games. The light pouring in the windows began to fade as the sun set, causing their leader to tap a hoof impatiently.

Cotton Crater did not join in the fun. The pink unicorn sat very still in her folding chair. Good fillies respected authority, and she was supposed to be listening. She didn’t move, she didn’t talk, and she didn’t cause any problems. She only did exactly what she had been told.

“If you can hear me stomp once!” Mrs. Mossy Stone’s voice called out with the finesse of a mare that’d been doing this for years. Cotton responded immediately. Next to her, her best friend Astral Glow jumped at the noise.

“If you can hear me stomp twice!” She saw Summer Breeze quickly pop back up into her chair. The pegasus was grinning so wide you’d think she’d been riding a roller coaster, and not just trying to balance a chair on it’s back legs.

“If you can hear me stomp three times!” Finally, the room was silent.

The Filly Scout leader smiled down at them. “Thank you, ladies. Now we’re almost out of time for tonight’s meeting, and we still need to vote! Remember, we only have enough time left in the season to earn one more badge before our big end of year camping trip!” The green Earth Pony paused to pass out paper and pencils. “I want you all to rank the choices from your favorite to your least favorite on that piece of paper. We’ll…”

“But Mrs. Mossy Stone! What if none of the choices are good enough to vote for? These are all just a waste of my time,” an orange Earth Pony interrupted.

“Peach Blossom.” The leader said firmly. “Please don’t interrupt me. We’ll go around the table and give everypony a turn to say one last thing, but then we all have to vote,” She took out an oatmeal container that was practically encrusted in purple glitter and dolphin stickers. The word oatmeal had been crossed out and “Ballots” was now written in shaky letters. “Remember, a Filly Scout is considerate and caring. So we are all going to present our arguments with that in mind.”

“Stone Pillar!” The chubby gray filly squeaked and looked up at their scout leader in fear. “You have been very quiet today. You can go first!”

“Um… Well…” The filly squirmed nervously in her seat. Cotton shot her an encouraging smile. She didn’t really know Pillar, but she knew she was supposed to be kind. The Filly Scout law said to be a sister to every filly, so she smiled. Pillar took a deep breath. “Well I really like snacks…”

Peach Blossom’s giggles were quickly silenced by Mrs. Mossy’s disapproving glare.

“Well I like snacks… and if we pick the next level cooking badge… Well the Simple Meals badge will have the most snacks.” Stone Pillar finished shakily. Cotton gave Pillar the same polite nod of approval that Mrs. Mossy had given herself a thousand times.

“It’s time we earned the Local Citizen badge!” Astral Glow confidently declared beside her. “This is our fifth year in Filly Scouts, and we still haven’t earned one single badge about government! These badges are Filly Scout staples! We can’t continue to ignore the entire aspect of scouting!”

Cotton chose her words more carefully. She wanted to maintain a smooth composure. “Local Citizen is nice, but it has a lot of listening and not a lot of doing. Simple Meals has lots of doing, but we just earned the last cooking badge a few months ago. I think we should learn Painting because we haven’t done any art this year.”

“Astral’s badge has a happy swan on it! It’s the cutest,” Summer Breeze almost shouted.

Out of the corner of her eye, Cotton saw Astral light her horn to write on her ballot. She narrowed her eyes at her own pencil. Tuning out the other fillies in her troop, she looked inside her wellspring and reached for her magic. She imagined the end of a ball of nice yarn, warm and fuzzy to the touch, and pulled. Her horn glowed red, and slowly the pencil began to float.

“Well unlike some ponies here, I have my priorities straight.” Peach Blossom’s commanding voice was so sour you could almost taste it. Cotton’s magic flickered out and she dropped the pencil.

“Across Equestria school funding has been systematically cut for such frivolous distractions as art, in favor of more practical learning. We shouldn’t bother wasting our time on such pointless activities like painting, which isn’t even valued by the Princess,” Peach asserted. “Local Citizen would also be a complete waste of intellectual energy when there isn’t an ongoing election. Whose debates would we participate in?” She stomped a hoof for emphasis. “As for Simple Meals, studies show that obesity among Equestrian foals is at an all time high. Instead of contributing to a national crisis, we should work to actively combat its negative effects. An abundance of snacks isn’t exactly a positive quality. Your arguments are not based in logic, and are as vapid as you are.”

“Ladies. Let’s all remember, considerate and caring,” their leader chastised.

“Yes Mrs. Mossy Stone,” squeaky voices sing-songed back.

“Now we were supposed to end five minutes ago, so let’s all hurry up! Your parents are waiting!”

Cotton frowned. Picking up her pencil in her teeth she quickly scribbled down her choices, and shoved her paper in the cardboard tube. She followed Astral Glow over to their saddlebags in the corner, and began to buckle her own around her barrel.

“Oh! I just can’t believe summer is almost here! I’m so excited for school to end,” Summer Breeze squealed. She glided over to the two unicorns with about the same amount of grace as caffeinated goose. “No more boring homework! Just swimming! And hoofball in the park! And the ice cream cart! And summer camps! And…”

“Summer Breeze,” A masculine voice called. “It’s time to go.”

“I’ve got to go! I’ll see you both at school tomorrow!” She wrapped both fillies in a big hug. “Coming Dad!”

Astral Glow giggled. “I don’t think Summer would ever stop and land if she could get away with it. Are you ready?”

“Yep!” Cotton smiled. She turned around to wave to their leader. “Bye Mrs. Mossy Stone!”

“Bye girls! You two be extra careful walking home for me okay?”

“We will,” they answered together. Shutting the door behind them, they stepped out onto the dirt road alone.

“I agree with Summer. No pony can help but be excited for school to end! I can hardly wait,” Cotton said

“Well don’t get too excited,” Astral Glow warned. “We still have to take our Standardized Equestrian Progress Assessments.”

Cotton groaned. “S.E.P.A.s somehow always manage to be both boring and stressful. They’re just awful. I hope the pony who invented standardized tests is locked up in Tartarus.”

“Well seeing as she is raising the moon right now, I’d say she’s probably fine.”

Cotton rolled her eyes. “You know, Summer Breeze forgot the most exciting part of break though.”

“What’s that?”

“The Summer Sun Celebration! It’s the best holiday, obviously.”

“Obviously?” Astral Glow snorted. “Obviously the Summer Sun Celebration isn’t better than Hearths Warming. There are no presents!”

“Well yes, instead her royal highness just magically commands all adults to cancel bedtime for a party. She’s the princess so they have to listen, and we get to hang out all night long.” Cotton bumped her playfully on the shoulder. “This year is the one thousandth one too, so you know it will be special.”

“The Princess? Singular? So the great Cotton Crater doesn’t recognize the sovereignty of her majesty Princess Mi Amore Cadenza?”

“You mean the princess of cooties? Who needs her!”

“That’s not what you said last week,” Astral teased.

They both laughed. Astral Glow lit her horn and levitated two fig cookies out of her bags. Her field floated one over to Cotton as a peace offering. She graciously accepted the treat with her teeth.

“You’ve gotten so much better at magic,” Cotton said, chewing. “I saw you can even field write now! How did you get so good so quickly?”

“Well, there’s two parts.” Astral said thoughtfully. “On the one hoof, I think my Mom was really scared that I’d be super far behind everypony else, because she’s not a unicorn. So, she got me a bunch of books and workbooks to practice with. I’ve been practicing pretty much non-stop since she got them.” They stopped walking, now in front of Astral Glow’s mailbox, waiting to finish the story.

“But on the other hoof, all those helpful books say magic just happens at different speeds for all foals. You kind of grow into it, and nobody is growing at the exact same speed. So maybe the workbooks don’t really matter at all, and I’m just growing super early. I don’t know,” Astral finished.

“That is tricky. I guess I don’t really know how we could tell if they did or not. You should try and teach me!” Cotton looked up at the darkening sky. “I’ll see you at school tomorrow!”

She started trotting down the road home, and Astral called after her. “Bye Cotton!”

Quilted Comfort was finding it difficult to cope. She thought she’d figured out her destiny when she got her cutie mark, but everything was wrong. She’d never planned to live on only her income. She’d never planned on becoming a single mother. She’d never planned on doing everything alone. She’d thought she’d known her future, but this wasn’t how things were supposed to be. This wasn’t how her life was supposed to go, and she was oh so very alone.

The unicorn smiled a fake smile. “Mrs. Sell, let me get your hat,” she said. She levitated over the awful gaudy mess. She didn’t want to have her boss and his wife over to dinner, but she didn’t want to lose her house more. Ponies who pretended were the ponies who were promoted.

“Oh Darling, this was lovely,” the older mare said. She carefully settled the supposed garment over blue and white dreads. “You must start calling me Carole. Any lady who has witnessed me consume that much wine deserves as much. We should do this more often, shouldn’t we Tough?”

“Yes,” the mustached stallion answered. “This was very productive. I trust you’ll be able to pick up the Corduroy account?”

Sweet victory, it was almost worth all the stress “Of course, sir,” Quilted smiled. She started to walk them to the door. “I’ll start first thing in the morning.”

“And the rolls darling!” Carole said, gesturing wildly. “Those rolls were so flakey. You must give me the recipe. I don’t know how you do it!”

“Well the vegetable shortening I use…”

“A young mare like you chasing down a career while raising a foal all by herself, and you still have time for rolls. Lovely buttery rolls. Such things were unheard of when I was filly, it was always one parent at work and one parent at home. A breadwinner and a bread baker. That’s how we did it, and that’s how I had time for the tutoring, the cleaning, and all the little things like rolls that tend to get left behind by mares like you.”

“Carole. It’s late,” Tough Sell said simply. The mare’s words rubbed salt into an open wound. Quilted knew her savings were running out.

They were interrupted when the front door opened, and a familiar small pink form stepped though.

“Oh, and this must be little Ms. Cotton Crater herself!” Carole roughly mussed the filly’s mane. “Why, don’t you have such a pretty red mane! It’s just like your mummy’s isn’t cutiepie!”

“Thank you,” Cotton answered cautiously. She started to close the door behind her but Quilted reached out to hold it open. This was too much. It needed to end.

“What are you doing coming home so late now?” Carole teased.

“Uh, I had a..”

“Your mummy must think you're awfully responsible to let you walk home all by yourself in the dark. Especially after what happened to your father. I know I’d certainly never let my foals do anything of the sorts when they were your age,” She said, finally passing through the door. “Goodnight then!”

“Ms. Comfort.” Tough Sell said, giving her an apologetic look. “The Corduroy account?”

“Yes,” Quilted sighed. “The Corduroy account. I’ll see you tomorrow.” She shut the door behind him, then turned around to give her daughter a big hug.

“Mom!” the smaller unicorn whined.

“Yes Cotton?”

“You're squishing me.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes.”

“Do you think I could make up for it with, say, leftover pudding?”

“Pudding!”

The white mare let go, and both unicorns moved to wash their hooves. She reached out with her magenta magic, pulling two bowls out of the fridge and setting them on the table. Her daughter pulled two spoons from a kitchen drawer.

“How did your Filly Scout meeting go?” Quilted asked.

“Remember how last week we all voted on what badge to do next?” the little unicorn said.

“I do. Did you get the one you wanted?”

“Well, not my first choice, but my second. We’re starting Local Citizen, which is okay. It’s the one Astral and Summer wanted.”

“That sounds like it could be fun.” The mare smiled. As far she was aware, those two girls were both fine friends. She was grateful for some normalcy.

“Yes, but tonight we were supposed to make posters about what we thought it meant to be an active citizen, and we had to work in pairs. Summer and Astral got to work together, but Ms. Mossy made me go with Peach Blossom,” she said glumly.

“Was it difficult to work together?” She imagined she knew the answer.

Her daughter nodded. “Ms. Mossy said it’s good to practice talking out our differences, but Peach Blossom is too much. She isn’t a good listener. She just made everything about the princess, and the princess is cool I guess, but I think if you’re an active citizen you work to start changes. If you just only ever listen to the princess, and you don’t do stuff, then you’re not really active.”

“That’s very insightful.” Not a day went by that she wasn’t grateful to have such a thoughtful foal.

“It’s just that working with Peach is hard.”

“Think of it this way. Ms. Mossy wanted you to practice solving your problems by talking. You got to practice with Peach Blossom, who isn’t your favorite, but isn’t a supervillain. If your poster wasn't perfect it wasn’t the end of the world. So, if you can make your mistakes now by learning to solve Peach’s poster, you’ll have it down perfectly when you have to save Equestria.”

“I guess,” was Cotton’s tired response. Quilted considered this a victory in parenting. Take that snooty boss’s wife.

“Now it’s time to wash up and get ready for bed. I’m going to start cleaning up, and I’ll be there to braid your mane in a minute.” she said.

“Yes mom,” Cotton said. That Carole mare had no idea what she was talking about. No sober pony would ever dare to imply she was a bad mother.

Cotton sat in the shade of a large tree, and stared daggers into her peanut butter and jelly sandwich. She looked inside her wellspring for that fuzzy piece of yarn and pulled. This time the sandwich got nearly six inches in the air before spinning out of control and crashing to the ground.

“I think that was higher than last time,” Astral Glow reassured her. It was hard to take the blue unicorn seriously when her own field was so much stronger.

“You just make it look so easy,” Cotton sighed.

“Hey! They say Cloudsdale wasn’t built in a day, but one cloud at a time,” Summer Breeze said. She chewed on her own sandwich with the ferocity of a timberwolf. “Maybe if you rip it into teeny tiny little shreds, you can get the little bits one at a time.”

Cotton looked down at her lunch disheartened. Her stomach growled. That didn’t exactly sound appetizing.

“Or you could eat your sandwich the regular way before lunch ends. Then you can practice with your grapes. They’re much lighter,” Astral added.

“Yeah,” Summer said, spitting food everywhere.

“Gross,” Astral said. She floated over napkins to share. “How do you think you did on your math S.E.P.A?”

“Ugh! Don’t get me started!” The Pegasus groaned and held a hoof to her head. “It’s too long! You know they know it’s too long too. That’s why they make it in sections, but then they don’t make the section breaks long enough! And who thought those little paper seals would be a good idea? How are you supposed to open them with your hooves?”

“Those are almost impossible,” Cotton agreed. She couldn’t wait until she could write with her field. Tests had to be easier when you didn’t have to take them with your teeth.

“Right! Then all the questions actually have so many parts. So, you think you just have to do question two, but then question two actually has parts A-H! You have to be crazy to come up with a sick trick like that,” Summer Breeze said.

“What did you think of the math though? You know, the actual content,” Astral said.

“There was so much measurement conversion!” Summer practically wailed. “I think we only had maybe one lesson on that total. It’s not fair that they made so much of the test about something we talked about once!”

“Um, actually the measurement conversions unit was part of chapter seven, and we covered it for a week in November,” Peach Blossom said. She strutted over. “That test was too easy. My baby brother could have done it with his eyes closed, and he isn’t even potty trained.” She beamed at Summer Breeze, causing the teal pegasus to shrink..

Astral practically growled at the Earth Pony. “What do you want Peach Blossom?”

The orange filly sat down. “I read that before they invented elastics, ponies of the past used fiber chords to tie up their manes. Experts say they would actually sew their styles up on top of their heads, because they didn’t have bobby pins. Astral, we all see that yellow disaster zone you pretend is socially acceptable. You’d be the perfect subject for me to test it out on.”

“I like my mane,” Astral Glow bit back.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa! I’d be doing you favor honey! You just sit still, and I’ll do my best to make you presentable! No personal protective equipment required for either of us!” The Earth Pony pulled a blunt wooden needle out of her bags. Summer Breeze began to hover nervously.

“Peach Blossom. You aren’t being very kind, and we don’t appreciate it.” Cotton Crater said bravely. She put a hoof protectively over Astral Glow.

“Not being kind?” Peach Blossom gasped in surprise.. “I’m doing her favor. That’s practically the definition of kindness. You just don't know what you’re talking about. Do you want me to explain it to you?”.

“What you did is interrupt our lunch to insult both my friends. Please leave us alone,” Cotton said evenly.

“Fine bitch,” Peach spat. “I’ll go find somepony who recognizes and appreciates my wisdom. Let me know when you get your head out of your flank!”

“She actually said that to you?” Lemon Glow paused her ironing to roll her eyes. “How dare she!”

“That’s what I thought,” Quilted Comfort said.

Both mares were on the balcony of Lemon Glow’s apartment updating Filly Scout uniforms. The yellow Earth pony stood, cutting fabric fuse and ironing down insignia. The white unicorn lay on the floor, sewing the badges and patches down permanently with a needle held in her field. On the ground a story below them their daughters played in the grass.

“You know I’m glad Astral enjoys Filly Scouts, but if she took it less seriously it would be a lot less work for me,” Lemon said. She ripped another piece of fuse with her teeth and spat. “Nasty stuff.”

“It’s the darned patches that get you! The fifth-year badges are all circles. I can sew a circle. Circles are great! Then look at the back of this vest!” Quilted levitated the offending garment up for her friend to see. “Who thought it would be a good idea to make this year’s fundraising achievements flamingo shaped? What could possibly be more difficult to sew on than flamingo shaped? Just put the freaking flamingo in a circle!”

Both mares giggled. Lemon asked, “Mossy Stone has been talking about parent volunteers for the camping trip. Do you think you are going to go?”

Quilted paused, watching her daughter playing by a large mud puddle with her friend. They danced dolls around its edges. Cotton positioned her stuffed pelican by mouth, while Astral bombarded it with a field full of little plastic characters from Hayburger. “No,” she sighed. “I can’t take the time off work.”

“Me neither.” The yellow mare unplugged the iron and joined her on the cushion. “ I know that one of the twins’ parents is going, but I think that’s it.”

“One of the many benefits of owning your own business I suppose,” She said.

“I think that I might not let Astral Glow go this year.”

Quilted was surprised. “After we took turns lugging all those boxes of muffins around town? They worked so hard to raise the money to go. You’ve changed your mind?”

“She’s been having a lot of troubles with that filly Peach Blossom. Not just at school, but at Filly Scouts too. From what I’ve heard the girl has been giving both our kids a real hard time.” The yellow mare leaned her head on the railing tired.

“Did something new happen? All Cotton has told me is that they disagree a lot, and she comes across as condescending.”

“That’s all it was, but then this week Astral says she called her a bitch. I’m worried that if I send her on the trip it could get out of hoof. I can’t go with her, but think it’ll get worse before it gets better.”

Quilted wrapped a hoof around her in a side hug. They had been through everything together. “Have you mentioned any of this to Mossy?”

“Not yet,” Lemon said. “ I figured I’d see her at this month’s field trip, if I didn’t just run into her in town first. I don’t think I have time to make a special trip.”

They thought in silence. Below them their daughters ran around in circles, dolls in tow. She imagined they were playing some game of their own creation.

“Astral Glow’s field strength has really sprung out of nowhere,” Quilted said.

“She really is growing up. Cotton Crater is too.”

She smiled. “I bet one of the foals in their year will get their cutie mark any day now. Once they start, they usually all start obsessing until they all get theirs.”

Lemon frowned looking at the sponge on her own flank with contempt. “That’s certainly how I was. Remember when we dug up and stole a sapling from Mr. Gardener’s backyard. I was convinced my mark had to be for lemons, but it then is turned out we stole an orange tree!”

“We still managed to nab a whole tree! That has to count for something!” They both laughed.

“We make a good team,” Lemon sighed.

“You mean as partners in crime?”

“No, as friends. I can’t imagine having Astral Glow alone. You and Moony were there for me then, and you're still here now. Helping me sew a Celestia damned Filly Scout vest of all things!”

“It goes both ways Lemon.” How many nights had they sat here crying together? “ I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Fibers most unreal,

Power clarify,

Pick apart this mess,

Changing by the by,

The gin within the heart,

Glamour amplify,

Searching through the field,

Changing by the by.

“B! U-D-D-Y! Get in line it's buddy time,” Mossy Stone sang.

Quilted Comfort galloped up to town hall. Her red and black mane streamed wildly behind her. She nodded to the Filly Scout leader, and quickly joined Lemon Glow at the back of the line.

Lemon whispered, “Did you fall asleep again?” It was hard enough for Mossy to keep this many foals focussed without having them try to eavesdrop on their conversation..

“Just for a few moments, but I was in the shower,” she panted. “The drying off is what did me in.”

Mossy Stone shouted, “All right everypony let’s go!” The group climbed up the steps and into the lobby. It was a crowded fit. Sire’s Hollow was a small town after all.

“Good Morning Ladies! My name is Starlight Glimmer, and I’m an intern here at town hall,” the pink unicorn introduced herself. “Since you're all learning about government, Mayor Favor asked me to give you a tour today.”

“Here,” Lemon whispered. She passed over a metal water bottle. “Drink this.”

Quilted grabbed it with her field and took a big swig of what tasted like battery acid. “Blah! Have you finally been reduced to poisoning me?” She quipped.

“It’s iced coffee and Neon Eagle,” she said. She shook her own container as they walked. “I’ve been up since four in the morning,” she sing-songed somewhat madly.

Quilted nodded and took another sip. She understood. “I had to mend Cotton’s saddlebags before school. Put me off too. I don’t know how you’ve done it all these years.”

“Now bright young fillies like yourselves might just find the superintendent of schools to be the most important pony here. She manages all three of the schools in Sire’s Hollow, and makes important rules about things like how long everypony needs to eat lunch and what time school ends,” Starlight continued.

They moved through the building largely uninterested. “That mare is definitely familiar, but I can’t think of how I know her,” Lemon whispered.

She studied the neat purple and teal mane. “I think she’s Firelight’s daughter,” Quilted answered.

“Woah, you’re right! Higher education has made her so much less…”

“Emo?”

“Definitely,”

“In the parks department city planners make decisions about things like the new hoofball field that is being put in behind Barnyard Bargains,” Starlight continued

Quilted turned her attention back to her friend. “How did the interview go?”

“Another miss,” the yellow mare said sadly.

That was disappointing. Lemon Glow had been working so hard for so long. “Too bad, you’ll just have to get the next one,” she said.

“At least this time I got to talk to a pony. I swear I send in one hundred applications for every one response I get. It’s recruiting Tartarus!”

“Now I’m sure you all have a lot of questions. Who would like to go first?” Starlight asked.

“Um! Can I tell you something? One time Mom and I went shopping for a birthday present for my dad, even though it was like way early, and…”

“Excuse me Summer Breeze, but is this a question or a story?” Mossy Stone asked gently.

“Oh, I guess it is a story! Nevermind.”

“I have a question.” Astral Glow asked, “Why do we have a city council when Mayor Favor is the mayor?”

“Great question. In Sire’s hollow we use the solar strong mayor system. Ponies elect the mayor, and the mayor appoints a city council to work for them. Ponies don’t vote for the council members directly, and the mayor can replace the council whenever they want.”

Peach Blossom asked, “Is it true that if the mayor is an idiot I can kick him out whenever I want?”

“Sort of,” Starlight said. She looked a little concerned by the filly’s attitude. “ If the town is unhappy with the mayor, they can call a special election . But, at least forty percent of the town has to sign a petition that they want an election. No one pony can do it alone.”

Quilted looked at Lemon Glow with surprise as she raised her hoof.

“How did you get your cutie mark?”

“I’m glad you asked that. My cutie mark isn’t for politics, but I’m still working here. I‘m in charge of me, not my cutie mark. We get cutie marks for talents, not for destinies. Neither it nor anypony else can tell me what to do,” Starlight said with authority. Lemon glow stared at the sponge on her own flank.

“Alright Filly Scouts! It’s time to go, so let’s all give Ms. Glimmer a big thank you.” Mossy Stone said.

“Thank you!” The group chorused. They all moved outside.

“Cotton! You and Astral can say goodbye to your friends, but then we have to get going.” Quilted called after the pink filly.

“Actually, before you two leave, I wanted to give you these.” Starlight Glimmer said levitating two turquoise invitations.

“A book club?” Quilted looked at the paper’s elaborate glittering border.

“We have fun little get togethers, talk about the books, our lives, eat snacks. You should join us.”

“Thank you! That sounds great,” Lemon smiled.

“It could be nice to go with your friend.”

Quilted looked at Lemon skeptically.

“Thank you Starlight, but I’d have to get Cotton a sitter, and on a weeknight it’d be an ordeal.”

“You could try to get out of the house more.”

“So bring her! Other parents bring their foals. It would be fun!”

“We’ll see you there,” Lemon Glow said, hoof bumping Starlight.

“It could be fun.”

Cotton saw only the hula hoop in front of her. The smooth pink plastic was all that mattered. She reached inside her wellspring, and looked for the warm thread of her magic. She found it, and pulled. She visualized the strand winding itself around the hoop. Then she fizzled.

She sighed and lay back on the cool grass. Summer Breeze laughed as she flew through the hoops Astral spun in the air. She was disappointed, both her friends had grown into their magic before her. Was there something wrong with her? She wanted to cry, but she knew better. A good filly wouldn’t make a scene like that. Worrying everypony over something with her magic, well it wasn’t what a good filly would do.

“Everypony! I have a splendid announcement!” Peach Blossom commanded the attention of the schoolyard. Only a small portion stopped to listen, but that didn’t matter to the orange filly. She wore a pink and white cloak that matched her mane. The garment was amazingly pristine for surviving half a school day.

“I’ve gotten my cutie mark!” She said, dramatically removing her cloak. The first one in their grade to get their mark? Everypony gasped and gathered around to see. “And you’re all invited to my cuteceñera!”

Everypony cheered, and she started passing out invitations. Including moving over to Cotton and her friends. Summer Breeze skeptically took a paper.

The Pegasus asked, “What is it? Your mark I mean.” It wasn't shaped like anything Cotton had seen before.

“Why, it’s a rose curve of course! It’s a kind of graph in math where a sin wave is plotted in polar coordinates. I wouldn’t expect somepony like you to know that of course, we can’t all be the in math S.E.P.A.’s 90th percentile after all,” she smirked. Summer wilted under her gaze. “But you should still come to my party of course. It’ll be just as spectacular as me.”

Astral growled, “I scored in the 98th percentile. Am I invited, Peach?” She looked like a tiger ready to pounce.

Surprise flickered across her face briefly, but with a flick of her mane she regained composure. “Yes. More guests means more presents. It’s in my best interest to have as many guests as possible. That’s simple math I’m sure anypony who scored that high would know. Are you sure there wasn’t a mistake?”

“Are you sure there wasn’t a mistake? You’re all bark and no bite. The numbers say I’m smarter than you, but you’re the one who's gotten a magical destiny in math burned into her flank, “ Astral Glow spat. “You think you're so smart, and so special. How does it feel for your life to be a joke?” That was the meanest she had ever seen Astral be, but she didn’t say anything.

Cotton looked into Peach’s eyes and saw something snap. They burned with a gaze so hot with rage it could give Celestia a sunburn. On shaking hooves Peach shouted.

“What do you think you know about marks! Your mom’s destiny is literal garbage!”.

Astral physically stepped back in shock. Cotton didn’t know what to do.

“She’s the sun forsaken garbage mare! It says so right on her flank! She eats stuff too you know! She’s an earth pony! She tosses all that garbage with her bucking mouth! Tasting the literal rot of the town! And she bucking loves it!”

Tears started streaming down the blue unicorn’s face. She shrunk under Summer’s wing to hide. This was painful.

“She loves eating trash so bucking much it’s her destiny! Is that what you eat too you weak ass bitch! Mommy bring you home a nice big plate of shit covered diapers to snack on!” The Earth Pony spat in her face. “You know that's why she keeps you around! You’re her little garbage baby!”

Cotton couldn’t take it anymore. She was supposed to be a good filly, but didn’t that include being a good friend? Her best friend was being hurt right in front of her eyes. She had to do something! She had to protect her friend, so she calmly walked up to the Peach, and punched her in the face.

It wasn’t enough. Her horn sparked, her eyes glowed, and she surged. She floated up a few inches off the ground. Peach Blossom was engulfed in the red glow of her magic. She levitated her up and up, higher and higher into the air. Then slammed her into the ground hard.

Everypony screamed.

It had been a long time since Quilted had sat on the hard metal benches outside the headmare’s office. Her coat stuck uncomfortably to her skin. Whether the sweat was a result of the mad run over here, the hot summer day, or the stress only Celestia knew.

On one side her daughter said nothing. On her other side Astral Glow wept softly. She stared through the small rectangle of safety glass to the office where Peach Blossom’s father stood. The small orange filly was curled up on his back. She was badly bruised but not broken. He shrieked words she couldn’t make out at the school ponies who had let this happen to his little girl. They were supposed to protect her. They were supposed to protect her from her own daughter.

Her little Cotton had hurt that filly. She could hardly believe it, but she had admitted it herself. Normally her daughter was so well behaved. She considered it a gift from the sun, but she had beat that little girl into the ground.

She ran a hoof through the filly’s black and red mane. Cotton Crater didn’t react, continuing to stare at the wall. They hadn’t had a fight in a long time. How had things gotten so out of hoof?

Suddenly the front door burst open. A yellow mare ran in huffing and puffing like she’d just run a marathon.

“Lemon Glow,” Quilted said surprised. Her friend was still in uniform, and her yellow mane was stuck to her head with sweat.

“I’ve brought backup,” she said. Stepping aside she revealed a familiar pink unicorn mare.

“She could help you.”

“Starlight Glimmer? What…”

“She's smart, with connections, and she’s on my side,” Lemon interrupted. “She’s on our side Quilted”

The pink mare nodded, straightening up a file folder she levitated in front of her.

“Thank you, but we hardly know you?”

“Don’t worry, I’m always here to help a friend,” she said. Lemon and her entered the office, closing the door behind them.

“She could help you”

“She could be your friend”

“You could be more open to Starlight Glimmer”