I don't know what this is, but once I started writing it, it spewed out like a bunch of spew-like substance.

“Bluenote?” The white pegasus filly looked up at me with pleading eyes.

“Yeah, Cloudy?”

“If Nana… doesn’t make it…”

“She will, Cloudy. She’s a tough ol’ bird.”

“Yeah, I know…” Cloudy paused, unconvinced. “But, you know, if it’s worse than we think and she just can’t, would you… would you adopt me?”

I had no clue how to answer such a question. Academy student that I was, of course I blew it.

“Of course,” I didn’t respond, “but Nana’s going to be just fine, you’ll see.”

Naturally, what I really said was…

“I’m… ah… not sure that I can, Cloudy. I mean, legally, that is.”

“You don’t want to?” Cloudy’s face could have melted King Sombra’s crystal heart.

“No, that’s not what I said, I just… I mean, I’m still a student and--”

“You’re an adult. Celestia's burning nether ye, isn’t that all that matters?”

“It’s not that simple--”

“You don’t want to?”

“Of course I would want to, but--”

“Then what’s the bucking problem? I’d be good. I don’t take up a lot of space or nothing. You’d hardly know I was there.”

“But Cloudy, I don’t even know how to be a mom!” I spluttered.

“You wouldn’t be my mom, you’d be my legal guardian, like Nana, only you wouldn’t be my Nana, either. Just say ‘yes.’ I’ll even try to stop swearing so much if you say yes.”

“Cloudy, I’m just saying that I don’t know if I can, not that I don’t want to… there’s legal stuff involved in this, I don’t know if they’d let me even if I wanted to…”

“Even if you wanted to? So you’re saying that you don’t want to, then?” Tears streamed from the filly’s eyes. It was like everything I was saying was coming out one hundred percent wrong. “I wasn’t born yesterday, I know there’s a lot of legal horseapples that we’d hafta go through, and, like, duh, you’re like, an earth pony so I’d have to move groundside, but I’m okay with that. You’re, like, the obvious choice. Uncle Strudel’s older than Nana, Noteworthy’s a stallion, and I know that the DFYF is old fashioned like that… they’d never let a young filly be adopted by a single stallion. You and Vinyl are mares, and Vinyl is… DJ-P0N3. I trust you, Bluenote, and they would, too. Please. Do this for me.”

What I should have done is try to explain to her that she didn’t need to have such an elaborate contingency plan, because Foggy Fleece was going to recover and everything would be status quo ante. There are times that I really suck at doing the things that I'm supposed to do, and this was one of those times.

“I don’t know, Cloudy, I just don’t know…” I mumbled. Smooth one, Beauty.

“Can’t you even go and find out?” Cloudy screamed. “I can’t go to the orphanage. I’ve heard what they do to fillies like me in there. We go in, and when we come out, we’re different. Nopony is ever the same again when they come out of an orphanage.”

Now I knew her words were stemming from hysteria at that point, considering plenty of well-adjusted mares had to grow up spending a little time in an orphanage. Blossomforth was one who came to mind, and she was a successful weather pony, just like Cloudy wanted to be. Still, I was an idiot back then and didn’t say anything. What made it worse was Foal Services coming to bring her someplace safe for the night.

“Hi Cotton Cloudy, I’m Delesprit Desloix, and I’ve been assigned to your case. It’s way past time for a filly your age to be here at the hospital, so you need to come with me now so we can get you to a nice warm bed. Doesn’t that sound nice?”

It seemed a hollow victory that Cloudy’s newly assigned case worker was even worse at handling the filly than I was. For a brief moment, I almost found the cajones to butt in.

“That won’t be necessary, Ms. Desloix. I can take care of her tonight,” I blurted out. Smooth, Beauty.

“Oh, are you her older sister? My papers didn’t mention any other family,” Desloix started rifling through her DFYF assigned binder full of foals.

“No, we’re not related,” I confidently (and idiotically) replied, “but I’ve known this filly for…”

Yeah, it hit me at that moment. Less than three months. I was in the middle of a summer break from Celestia’s Academy and barely knew the filly that I was trying to help any better than some members of my own family whom I only saw once every hundred moons or so at Apple Family reunions.

“Mmm-hmm…” the case worker gave me the raised eyebrow treatment. It wasn’t the Royal Canterlot Eyebrow, but for all intents and purposes, it may as well have been for the withering effect it had on me. “You understand, miss…”

“Bluenote,” I mustered up the courage to give my professional pseudonym.

“...Miss Bluenote that maybe ten years ago this might not have been an issue, but due to a rise in inappropriate relations between adult mares and underage fillies, we, the DFYF know that in these dangerous times, one cannot be too careful anymore. Hay, even family members are subject to investigation by our agency first these days. You do understand, don’t you? The filly simply must come with me for now, and you may sort out the legal issues with my supervisor, Dr. Red Tape, in the morning.”

“No!”

A shriek from Cloudy reminded both of us which pony was truly being wronged in this situation.

“Please, Bluenote, don’t let her take me!” Cloudy begged. “We can make a break for, it, just you and me, run off to Canterlot, maybe? We could stay in your dorm room even. I’ll sleep on the floor. If we don’t share a bed, it’s okay., it proves we’re good ponies, doesn’t it? I’ll sleep on the floor, I don’t mind!”

“Young filly, you’re making a spectacle of yourself. Just come along now, and we’ll get you--”

“Please, Bluenote, please!” Cloudy grabbed my fetlock in pure desperation, her forelegs hugging me while the rest of her hugged the cold hospital floor. “Don’t you care about me at all, even a little bit?”

“Look, Ms. Desloix, Cloudy is clearly upset here, can we at least take a step back and--” I tried to gently extract Cloudy from my foreleg in such a way that it would not exacerbate her hysteria.

“I see that you are going to be difficult, Ms. Bluenote,” Desloix responded curtly. “Very well, then.” She clopped her hooves twice, and a burly stallion who looked like he doubled as one of Vinyl’s bouncers poked his neck in through the doorway. “Vigilance, please secure Ms. Cloudy and escort her to her chambers at the institution while I deal with Ms. Bluenote here.

Cotton Cloudy’s screams could have shattered glass if this were some kind of motion picture and not real life. Without a word, Vigilance removed two white forehooves from my own and proceeded to gently, albeit forcefully usher Cloudy from my presence.

“Bluenote, you’re stronger than this, be a hero!” Cloudy cried as the government officer dragged her away from both myself and her case worker. “Bluenote, you don’t have to be afraid. They can’t hurt you. Please! I believe in you, don’t let them take me! I promise I’ll be good. I’ll practice my accordian every day, just like Uncle Strudel says I should! I’ll try to get straight A’s on my report card! I’ll listen you you and won’t disobey you ever, just don’t let them take me…”

Her screams faded as Vigilance dragged her out of sight down the hall. I was batting .000 lately when it came to being a good friend and a responsible adult.

“Now that wasn’t so bad, was it?” Desloix, chirped cheerfully and clucked her tongue a few times for good measure. “ I mean, honestly, that little filly doesn’t know what’s best for her. She can’t honestly believe that a mare barely in… what, her junior year at the Academy? ...Would be able to provide the right type of support that a growing filly needs. Young mares like you should be out boozing it up and making the mistakes of young adulthood, not raising foals. Don’t worry about her, she’ll realize that it’s all for the best. Besides, the orderly was telling me that her grandmother is expected to make a full recovery anyway, so all of this fuss over spending a couple of nights in a safe, secure DFYF facility is… pardon my Prench, a bunch of horseapples.”

With a saccharine smile that looked like Auntie Goldie’s cat swallowed Great Auntie Applesauce’s favorite canary, Delesprit Desloix took her leave, abandoning me to my thoughts of failure and shame.