Desperate Measures

When the kids came home, Guin had a lot of homework to do. Aside from the standard amount, she had everything she'd been missing the day prior. To her immense pride, Kurt came home with the news that he'd passed his test with excellent marks. Not perfect, but it was clear that her insistence on his studying had paid off.

After spending the night in her own bed, as Jack didn't want to have another interrupted night, she was well enough to attend school the next day, as well as the meeting after class. She was just supposed to clean up this time, not bring food and wine.

The food at this meeting was inedible. Vino had brought them pizza; several boxes worth. Frozen pizzas, that she had forgotten to cook.

What she had brought was wine. And whiskey. And schnapps.

Guin wasn't particularly fond of alcoholic beverages, and was convinced that coming home smelling of booze would not be good for Jack. Even worse if Red were to make an appearance.

The same could not be said for the other mothers, almost all of them having drinks. Even Short Stack had a few shots of schnapps, though she didn't over-indulge like some of the others.

"Okay," slurred Blanket Stitch, who had grabbed a bottle of whiskey when she came in and was more than halfway through it. "I can't keep track of who has and hasn't been counted, so if you're not here, let me know."

There was some scattered applause, but no one called out.

"Good. Now, who failed their tests this week?"

"I did!" shouted one of the moms Guin hadn't met. "One blue line!"

"I meant school tests, not pregnancy tests..." She sighed.

Guin stood up. "I am proud to announce that my stepson has moved up two letter grades since last week. On top of that, my stepdaughter's score went up six percent."

"That's still failing on both counts," noted the zebra, who'd had very little to drink. "Plus, it says here you took all of yesterday off. Would you care to explain?"

"L-later..." she answered. She was astounded that she would still be looked down on for that. Short Stack didn't jump to her aid, either, having been engrossed in a conversation at her table.

As the other mothers went over their advancements and failings, none of them had even come close to the burst of progress Guin had experienced. Most of them had dipped this week, likely due to the holiday in the middle of it. Vino had even suffered a substantial loss, with her son being suspended from school for breaking a bunch of windows because he'd failed a test, and she was just given a "thanks for trying." Nopony even said anything when Blanket's son had turned in a failure of a macaroni art. How anypony could fail a macaroni artwork was beyond Guin's imagination, but it had happened somehow, and nopony dared call her out for it.

Being called out for not improving Kurt's grades enough had diminished Guin's confidence to the point where she didn't volunteer her sex story, but not so much that she opted out of telling it when called on.

"So, after spending half the day looking at and discussing dirty magazines with my husband, he and I went into the bedroom, put on a big, orange condom, and--"

"Boring!" shouted Blanket Stitch.

"I'm sorry?"

"You should be! I mean, sex with your husband? Condoms? Your own shared bedroom? Where's the excitement in that?"

Guin shuffled her claws. "Well, it was exciting when we did it..."

Blanket scoffed. "Let me guess: After grinding on you for a bit, you stayed in one or two positions until he finished, and then you cuddled for the rest of the time?"

"It was three positions..."

"Still boring."

"Yeah," called Short Stack. "Tell them about the one where you came to my place, it's way saucier!"

"No, she'd just ruin it," snapped Blanket Stitch. "Why don't you tell it, instead?"

As Short Stack began to recount the tale, Guin sat back. Some of the other mares laughed when Short Stack revealed that Guin had been a virgin a few days ago, and even made fun of her for not knowing what porn was. There were even a few that spat out their wine at the mention of Guin not liking the taste of balls. To be fair, she liked Jack's balls, but not that strange stallion's.

As the story came to a close with Guin walking out of the bedroom, something occurred to her. Seascape was right. Her Gran was right. Jack was right. Even Kurt was right. She had nothing to gain from this. What she should do now was what she'd done two days ago: leave.

She did feel a bit guilty as she walked out the door. She was supposed to clean up, but they were all mothers in there. Cleaning was part of being a mother. And they'd all, by their own admission, married incompetent stallions that were incapable of picking up after themselves and their children. That meant they were used to cleaning, just like they were used to cooking. After all, their husbands didn't do any of that. If their whole job was to cook and clean, there were enough experts in that room to pick up the empty bottles and plastic cups.

Guin knew there would be some blowback for this, but she didn't care. It didn't matter anymore. What benefit there was in having access to the group was minimal, so long as she could still talk to the teachers as a parent and improve her children's grades, along with her own. And with more time at home, she could be a better mother than all of them, by spending her extra time with her family.

She rushed home, her mind not a reflection of the odour she carried with her. As much as she had tried to avoid drinking anything, she had been splashed three times, and was looking forward to an impromptu shower.

When she stepped out, she was quite pleased to find Seascape in her kitchen, making dinner with Jack. "What's all this about?"

"Thought I'd pop in and see how you were doing," answered Seascape. "How are you doing?"

"Good," Guin answered. "I've decided not to attend any more meetings."

Seascape nodded. "What did it?"

"Kurt passed his math test so masterfully that he went from a high D to a low B. If that's not enough of a reason to be glad, I don't want to be there anymore."

"Well said," agreed Seascape. "Very well said, indeed..."