Mandatory Motherhood: Short Stories

Friendship Report

“Hey, Chris! Mia!” Colgate ran to her friends with a bundle of papers and pens held in her magic. “I have a great idea!”

The two mares looked at Colgate in confusion. Mia gasped as she thought of what the idea was. “Origami? Is you idea about origami?! I would love to fold little paper animals!”

Chris chuckled and Colgate looked at Mia in confusion. “No, not origami Mia. Friendship reports!” Her proclamation was met by baffled faces. “They are letters where you write about lessons on friendship you have learned.”

The mares continued to stare at Colgate in bafflement. Mia raised her hoof and Colgate pointed to her as if she were a teacher giving a student permission to speak. “Why would we write about things we learned on friendship and who would we be writing them to?”

Colgate opened her mouth to respond but paused. “Well, they are essentially diary entries of self-discovery when you realize things about friendship you didn’t know or realize previously… and you send them to the princess?”

Chris shared a look with Mia before patting Colgate on the shoulder. “We don’t need to do that sort of thing Colgate, honestly that sounds like punishment for someone who refused to make friends and finally found some. We also don’t have a princess to send them to.” Colgate looked at the ground sadly, catching sight of a sleeping Starla in the chest carrier Mia had modified for Chris.

Mia raised Colgate’s chin and smiled at her. “I’m glad you thought up something nifty and maybe we could record them in a journal if we realize something we never noticed before but it’s not a top priority you know? But hey, why don’t you tell us about these letters that your friends wrote?”

Colgate faintly smiled as she thought for a moment. “Well one of them lives on a big farm and during one harvest season her family wasn’t able to help because of age and injuries so she decided to do it herself. Her other friends offered to help out but she refused saying she would do everything by herself. By the time she realized she couldn’t do it alone, she nearly put herself into the hospital from lack of sleep and overworking.”

Mia cringed. “Sounds like she turned her job into the lifestyle of a black Japanese company.”

Colgate blinked and tilted her head. “A what?”

Chris held out her hoof and explained. “They are not exclusive to Japan but they are companies that draw people in with an inviting-looking environment but then dehumanize and demoralize them into working for dirt poor pay, long endless hours, no benefits with abusive bosses. Their employees usually only last a couple of years so they don’t earn anything from the company benefit-wise and that is if they don’t end things or pass away from the anxiety, stress, and exhaustion the company causes.”

Colgate cried from hearing about these businesses and hugged Chris’s neck. “That’s so sad Chris! That sounds just like how your employer was before you got changed!”

Chris’s eyes opened in shock and she had a mixed look of anger, cringing, and holding back tears. “I rather not think about that Colgate…”

Mia cleared her throat as she stared at Chris. “How about a happier lesson?”

Colgate wiped her eyes and thought for a moment. “Oh, how about my friends stopped a new town from getting into a pie-throwing war with a herd of bison?” She received stares of bewilderment from her two friends before they broke out into laughter. “I’m serious!”