She started with the ponies she knew well. The Young Six were right at the top of the list. She waved the paper at Sandbar. "We clean up, together, to keep the school sparkling."
Sandbar let out an unsure 'eh'. "That isn't really our job though?"
"It could be." Comforting started a circle around Sandbar. "Our janitor is a student too, so this means he'll help like he always did, but we'll help him, because that's what we students do!"
Sandbar chuckled as he sat in place. "You are really excited about this. Hm..." He reached back for a quill stuck to the end of his hoof. "Oh, there's one here." He read the signature already present. "Did Silverstream get what you were asking?"
Comforting puffed up at that. "Of course she did. She's not dumb, just a little excited." About everything. "Will you be number two?"
He brought in that quill he held at the end of his hoof. "Alright, but I hope you know what you're doing." With a quick scribble, he added his name to the paper with firm strikes. "Good luck."
"Thanks!" With her second signature, Comforting rushed off for her next victim. It was a shame that those who didn't know her as well were less inclined to immediately give in to her requests.
"I'm already busy." One stallion waved her away.
"Ew," was all one mare had to say to the idea.
"Sure." Clean Sweep added his signature. "Won't get paid as much, but they're givin' me a chance, only seems fair."
Comforting hugged the helpful janitor. "I have to get a lot more signatures."
"Good luck with that." He inclined his head at her. "Didn't think classes would have so much other learnin' in 'em."
Comforting resisted fleeing right away. "It's a school, a whole school." She spread her hooves. "It has a specialty, sure, but they're trying to make all educated students."
"So ah see.... It's just takin' some gettin' used to, is all." He rubbed behind his head softly. "I'm a bit old for this."
"You stop that right there." She pouted at him. "I bet you're already doing better than you thought you would. Relax... The first bit is the hardest, for any age. You're just getting used to it." She twirled in place. "You think I was all in it at first? I wasn't!"
He watched her antics with a faint chuckle. "It's hard to imagine you not bein' all in on anythin', if we're being honest about it."
"Thanks." She bounced towards him, taking a moment to appreciate how her young body not only could bounce like that but kinda enjoyed it. "But I'm serious. If you need help, let us know. It's not something to be embarassed about."
His cheeks lit up, as if saying not to be embarassed was exactly what made him exactly that. "Even when yer all figurin' it out on your own?
"Which we're not." She pointed off down the hallway. "I ask for help all the time. Look at how big I am!" She wasn't very large. "And I'm still learning how to unicorn." She tapped at her small horn. "But I asked and I'm getting help and I'm figuring it out, with their help."
He looked ready to pat her, but did not. "Bet yer already doin' good with it. Now, don't want to be late for class, neither of us." That was a dismissal, but he wasn't wrong. They both had class, and they departed to do just that.
"Darling." Rarity was looking at Comforting, having found her in the hallways. "We need to have a talk, you and I."
"Did I do something wrong?" It wasn't often Miss Rarity called her aside. "I'm sorry."
"Oh dear, no, not like that." She gently shooed Comforting into an empty classroom and closed the door behind them with a sparkling horn. "I wanted to talk to you because I care about you, dear. You've done nothing wrong, in fact, quite the opposite."
"The opposite?" The opposite of something wrong was... "I'm doing really well?"
"You are, maybe too well." Rarity leaned in at the little unicorn. "Precious thing, you remind me of Sweetie in a way, and, just like her, you want to grab the entire world between your hooves. And, just like her, you may be headed for a breakdown."
Comforting went stiff, eyes widening. "Sweetie had a breakdown?!"
"We don't talk about it much, but... yes." Rarity nodded slowly. "I only bring it up because I don't want it to happen to you. Little darling, you're racing around trying to get everything done at once. I admire the tenacity, truly, but you're still one pony." She set a hoof gently on Comforting's nose. "So you can't do everything, no matter how much you want to."
Comforting set both her forehooves on the ones on her and pushed away. She was not strong enough to force Rarity, but the hoof came away, not resisting her gesture. "I'm not doing that much!"
"Really now?" She smiled, perhaps wickedly. "Perhaps I've heard it all wrong then, dear. Let's see where I've messed up, hm? Now, of course, you're a student here, with the responsibilities that entails. That's hard to argue."
Comforting nodded slowly. "Of course... I'm getting good grades too."
"Very good, yes, no problems there." Rarity inclined her head slowly. "But you're also learning remedial unicorn magic, which sounds odd, really, considering you're learning magic quite well and more advanced than some unicorns ever bother with, so it's hardly 'remedial' at this point, is it? So let's rephrase that, you're also learning to be a wizard, a fine thing to be, but difficult by any measure I'm aware of."
"I'm managing it..." Comforting shrank away a little with dislike for where things were headed. "I do that mostly after school, anyway! I can't practice magic during class."
"I'm glad you drew a line there, at least." She brought down a hoof in a clean line in the air. "But then you're also doing cutie quests. Congratulations, by the way. You're the youngest creature to be given such a task that I'm aware of. I'd give that map a talking to if I thought it'd respond... Really... giving such a tiny filly a task..."
"I did that!" Her voice came out in more of a defensive squeak than she had originally intended. "I mean... It's handled and over, right?"
"Is it?" Rarity settled down, sinking to her belly, eyes on level with Comforting. "You've been helping Clean Sweep. It's adorable, and sweet... I don't want to discourage such fine behavior, but it's just another thing on that pile you've been growing by the day, dear."
Comforting took a slow breath, as much to relax herself as anything else. "Thank you for caring about me." Rarity was a big sister, who cared about the little fillies around her, triple so if they reminded her of Sweetie Belle. "So... What did Sweetie Belle do?"
"A lot of nothing for a while, if you mean right after she went over that line. She hated it." Rarity sat up with a smile. "So consider that, if nothing else. You don't want to be stuck doing nothing, and you know your mother would do that. She'd sit on you if she thought that was the only way to protect you."
Considering a lot of nothing made Comforting cringe with clenched teeth. "But I have a lot to do..."
"And there's the problem dear... You're running with a tray on your back overfilled with things and when it crashes to the ground, you don't be getting there any faster... Now... How about this?" She offered a hoof, flatside up. "Give me one of those things you're carrying. Just one. Trust in your friends and family to take one little thing and carry it themselves. Surely not all of them can only be done by you, dear."
Comforting went through her list with a frown. There was no way someone other than her could learn magic for her. That was a her alone thing! Only she could go to school for herself. "Can you... check in with Clean Sweep? Maybe he'd appreciate someone to talk to closer to his age. "I... Maybe me being so young is part of that problem, having someone... Can you?"
She moved the hoof to her back as if dropping something off there. "I accept this. I will speak to Mister Sweep today and every day and check on how he's doing. I'll do my best to make sure he's adapting to school life. Now, I'm hardly your only friend. In fact, dare I say, I barely count as one of those. We don't talk nearly often enough, so reach out to them, darling. They want to help you. They don't want to see you crash to the ground anymore than you want to be there."
"Great, thanks!" She moved to dash from the room, only to pause mid stride, her hooves moving without the rest of her and she hit the ground on her back. Something had stopped her. "What?" But what? She looked back to see the paper she was holding was gripped by another glowing magic. She had been stopped indirectly by that trip. "Is something wrong?" It was obvious, to her, that Rarity was the one holding it.
Rarity used her glowing horn to draw the paper out of Comforting's stunned grip towards her eyes. "Names?" She looked over them curiously. "Why do you have a page full of names, dear?"
Comforting rolled up to her hooves. "We, uh, don't have a janitor anymore, because he joined the school." She sat on her haunches, feeling so small before the questioning adult. "So I was... thinking... What if we all helped?"
Rarity wagged the paper in the air. "And you need assorted names?"
"It's a petition," she huffed out. "Professor Twilight said I have to get fifty of them by the moon's end to do this."
"Did she now?" Rarity casually tucked the paper away into her pocket. "I'll speak to her about that. You get on with your day, and no more signatures for the rest of it."
"But..." Rarity was going, and there was no room for arguments. "I..." No room at all. "Mmmf...." Her quest to get signatures had been foiled, or at least delayed... Comforting went off with a frown. She had other things to do, even if that was put on pause.
"Twilight, dear." Rarity closed the door behind herself. "Explain yourself." She set the paper on Twilight's desk, unfolded and facing her.
Twilight leaned in over the writing with a raised brow. "This appears to be signatures."
"That you asked for." Rarity rolled her eyes. "From Comforting, who is all too happy to work herself to the bone. What were you thinking, really? You want her to fall over?"
"No! Of course not!" Twilight pushed the paper away as if it were dangerous in itself. "She's my magic student. I'm quite proud of her. This isn't even... I imagined she would either get it done in a day or get tired of it."
Rarity squinted at Twilight. "Have you not been paying attention to your own student?! She'd sooner die than give up on something like that." Rarity reached up to tap the proof in the form of a paper. "She's been building things to do, ever higher, and it will come crashing down. She does not need her teachers casually slipping new things onto the top to help her on her way."
Twilight sat back in her chair. "Then this is something she has to learn for herself."
Rarity cocked a brow. "Darling, I'm saying this in the nicest way I can, but this is a lesson some unicorns live with for quite a while without learning it. I dare say it's a lesson you've tried to instill on our own friends, with limited success, hm?"