//------------------------------//
// 8 - Working Together 
// Story: Turn of Luck 
// by David Silver 
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"I am so proud of you all." Maya nodded at each of the three. "Coming here took a lot of bravery."

Daisy rubbed nervously at her cheek. "It did? We're not... brave."

"Cowardly is a better description." Lily nervously chuckled. "But you can help? Maybe?"

Maya tapped her hooves in thought. "I want to help. First! I am new around here. Please please please don't take this in a bad way, but how do ponies pay for mental help around here? We didn't go over that, and we're already dipping our little hooves into it."

Roseluck turned a dark red. "Oh, that would be my fault. I came in on you so suddenly... and you were so nice..." She cleared her throat into a hoof. "I will handle their fees."

"Great, good." Maya nodded with a smile. "But I didn't work that out yet. We'll... have to handle that afterwards, but knowing you're the pony I should be talking to helps a lot. Let's put that right aside. Tell me what happens, right now, when something scary happens."

"Roseluck's the fearless one, really," Lily whispered. "Once a bee flew into my hoof and we all freaked out and hid under a park bench for an hour, too scared to move..."

Daisy suddenly yelped, cowering as the notepad Maya had sprouted began to droop from lack of sunlight. "S-something's falling!" she cried before fainting dead away. The other two swiftly followed suit, collapsing against one another in a melodramatic heap with wailing moans of despair at the sudden noise.

As the three mares collapsed in a fainting spell, Maya swiftly knelt beside them. She ignited her hooves with emerald light, pressing them to the drooping notepad. Slowly the plant revived, leaves perking back to full health under her gentle encouragement.

As the last tiny flower bud reopened, three sets of eyes also blinked groggily back awake. Still disoriented from their abrupt episode, the mares softly shuffled themselves up from the tangled pile they had collapsed into.

Calmed by the return of stability in Maya's flowering aura, their panic had dispersed. Yet uncertainty lingered in their posture as they settled nervously back together on the couch.

"I want to try something." She pointed upstairs. "Lily, Roseluck, head up there." And they left Daisy behind.

Maya smiled at Daisy gently. "Alright, now, I'm going to boo." She said the word firmly and scarily, and it made Daisy jump. But she didn't pass out. "How did that feel?"

"Frightening." Daisy put a hoof over her chest. "Why did you do that?"

"Because I think this isn't a one pony problem." She whistled for the others and they rejoined them. "I think this is a group problem. A flower mare problem."

Daisy nodded hesitantly as her sisters shuffled back downstairs. "I...I suppose you're right. We've just always been this way, the whole family. Any little shock and we wilt like daylilies in frost."

Maya smiled encouragingly. "And separating you made facing that surprise less overwhelming, yes?" The ponies exchanged thoughtful glances as realization dawned. 

"Hey yeah...alone it was scary but not as paralyzing with my sisters out of sight..." noted Daisy.  

"Fascinating..." murmured Maya. "Then it seems your shared traumatic response has become something of an echo chamber over the years. Each bout feeding off and amplifying the others' reactions until you collapse collectively."  

She began pacing, mind whirring professionally. "If we disrupt that cycle, each learns to sit with uncertainty alone. Those feelings become less frightening without the whole group's escalating panic lending them false power."  

Maya brought her hooves together. "A question. Are you a family?"

Roseluck blinked. "Technically... no."

"But not-technically?"

Roseluck shook her head. "We've been together since we were foals. We were always best friends, and it just kind of..."

"Stuck," finished Lily. "We love each other so very much."

Daisy giggled with a growing smile. "I don't regret that part even a little. They are such fine friends and lovely mares."

"Let's not change that." Maya looked over her notes critically from the start. "I think we need to change that pattern. The first of you gets scared, but not just scared for you. You think of how scary it is for your beloved sisters. You can't handle them getting hurt, or you getting hurt. It's all too much..."

The three flopped over, knocked out just from Maya's explanation. "And then that," laughed out Maya. "Good, means I'm on the right track..."

As the flower mares came to, Maya helped the disoriented trio back onto the couch. "Yes, precisely that," she affirmed gently. "It seems your trauma response ties intrinsically to those familial bonds."  

She gave them a reassuring smile. "Which is perfectly understandable! You three clearly share a profound connection most ponies envy." Her tone softened further. "My goal is absolutely not to undermine that closeness sustaining you."

Maya retrieved her notepad, adding some scribbles. "Quite the opposite, in fact. By reframing panic triggers as protecting that relationship, we can begin rewiring instinctive reactions."  

She tapped her chin thoughtfully with the pen. "So becoming overwhelmed is not weakness, but love overwhelming you. Once that love is seen as strength, you learn to channel it as the comfort it is meant to be."  

Setting down her notes, Maya took each mare's hoof in turn. "When anxiety grips, remember you face darkness as one. The light of your sisterhood will see you through." Resolve kindled in their wet eyes. They had found their guide out of the woods at last.

"But how," insisted Daisy. "How do we do that? Do you know a spell?" She waved at Maya's glowing hooves. "Can you just touch us and make us grow bravery?"

Roseluck raised a doubting brow. "That sounds amazing, but I doubt it's that easy."

"It never is." Maya clapped her book shut. "We need to practice. We need to practice you three being strong, not for yourself, but your sisters. You are the pony that can protect them, not somepony else. Instead of fearing for them, think of how you can get them to safety."

"Get them to safety?" echoed Lily uncertainly. "But we're just flower sellers, not rescuers."  

Maya smiled patiently. "The path is one of small steps. Simply guiding your thoughts is the seed first planted."

Daisy scrunched her snout. "Well how can thinking happy thoughts stop me passing plum out from a bee sting?"

"you can't instantly erase years of conditioned response," Maya explained. "This is about building emotional resilience through reconsidering your core motivations."

Lily tilted her head. "I think I understand...trying to be brave for each other, not scared." 

Maya nodded. "Yes, precisely! Make that care the anchor, not the hazard."

Daisy still looked skeptical. "But panic just takes over! How do we make the jump from faking confidence to actually staying conscious when something freaky happens?"

Roseluck grabbed Daisy, hugging her. "Daisy, I love you." Daisy colored sharply. "If it meant... a thousand bee-stings... if it meant I could... stop you from getting hurt..."

Maya applauded gently. "Bravo, Roseluck. What bravery! That is exactly what I'm talking about. Turn your thoughts that way. Talk about how you can help each other, even through uncomfortable things. Then, when the scary thing comes up, you'll be starting from a better place."

Daisy flushed under Roseluck's sudden embrace. "I...well that's mighty sweet, Roseluck. And real brave-sounding and all." She smiled bashfully, then worry clouded her eyes again as she faced Maya. "But even just picturing that many nasty bee stings made my knees go all wobbly..."

Lily gently squeezed Daisy's hoof. "That's why it takes practice! We aren't gonna retrain our noggins overnight." She playfully booped Daisy's nose. "I'll walk with you to the market tomorrow, how's that? Then we look after each other if any bees buzz by!"

Daisy giggled anxiously. "Promise you won't let them get near my precious petunias?" At Lily's affirming grin, her posture softened slightly with fragile trust.

Maya beamed proudly at the little breakthrough exchange. "There now, you see? Mindfully redirecting your thoughts to selfless protection of one another lays fresh neural pathways in time." She gathered the three in a tight hug. "Have faith in the power of your devotion as nurturing nourishment, not weakening poison."

The emboldened ponies all exchanged teary but resolute smiles in the counselor's warm embrace. The months ahead would challenge their metamorphosis like strong winds. But cocooned in compassion, their flowering sustains. For when love is the light kindling courage through the dark, no night stretching out endures forever.

Daisy and Lily wandered out, talking about errant bees. Roseluck remained behind. "I feel awful, throwing myself on you before you even had a chance to settle in." She curled back and grabbed a bag from some unseen pocket. "I insist." She got some bits out of it and set them on the couch. "Here. Is... Um... I'll talk to you if we want to talk again."

"And you should." Maya waved a hoof at Roseluck. "These things aren't fixed overnight. I'd like to see you all at least once a week. Two weeks if you can't do that... Weekly would be best."

"Weekly," breathed out Roseluck with obvious consideration. " I'll talk to them, but I think we can do that. Thank you." She rushed in and hugged Maya, then fled without further word.

Maya slipped to her hooves with a smile. "That went well." She collected her coins and looked them over. "Now what did she pay me?"

Looking them over closely, she could see they had numbers. They weren't all the same coin. She had been given 2 10s and a 5. 25. "Is that... good?" Well, on one hoof, of course it was. They were the first bits she had earned. Just holding them filled her heart with joy.

Maya allowed herself a few moments to simply enjoy those glittering coins resting in her hoof - the first fruits of her counseling talents taking root in this strange new world. 25 bits...it seemed a respectable sum. That alone spoke volumes of the comfort Roseluck and her sisters had found in just one session together. 

Tucking away the precious coins, she grabbed a light shawl and headed out to further explore her adopted hometown. The market stalls and eateries would offer ideal spots to subtly observe economic exchanges and gather context on bit currency. She might inquire directly if it wouldn't draw undue attention to her newcomer status.

And she could pick up some household staples while out rather than conjuring everything by hoof! Though a little creative gardening was probably inevitable regardless. Maya chuckled softly to herself, embracing the delightfully strange coexistence of produce shopping and magical plant summoning as ordinary errands here. This world's wonder would keep her present.

One thing was clear, the local economy was strange. A fine dinner, two bits. A cozy chair, four bits. How did that make sense? Still, it meant the 25 she got was a lovely amount. It gave her something to work from to figure out her own prices. Oh. She stopped by Rarity's boutique. It was open, so she went inside.

Rarity looked up from her sewing machine. "One moment," she sang out, finishing her work enough to pause it. "Now, how can I... Maya!" She hurried up with a smile. "How lovely. I had no idea you were coming, darling. What brings you about this fine evening?"

"I had a business question, if you have a moment?" Maya hugged the white unicorn gently. "Sorry to bother you."

"Bother me? Dear, please." Rarity fanned at herself. "I have so few ponies that stop by wanting to talk about such things. As a self-employed mare, I have so much experience. Are you also becoming self-employed? Opening a business? Tell me!"

"I did!" Maya pointed to where her office was. "I already had my first client. I helped..." She paused, frowning. "I shouldn't give away their details, but I helped them. I need to know how much I should be charging,  as a rule. I was hoping a fellow business-mare could set me straight."