A very large minotaur sat in the snow beside a rather small filly sitting on a wooden bench. The minotaur’s forearm was larger in bulk than the filly’s body, and the minotaur’s fingers were as large as the filly’s legs.

And so, it was rather surprising to see how gentle the minotaur was when she reached out and patted the tiny filly on the back, trying to help her feel better.

“You love him, don’t you?” Heif asked.

“I guess… I don’t know sometimes… I worry a lot that I’m too young to understand what I feel,” Diamond Tiara replied. She looked over at Heifer Aestus, her eyes wide, her whole face quivering from emotion. “I’ve built up my whole future around his. He is my everything and it scares me how much I need him. I can’t imagine a future without him. I went for so long without any friends and then he came along.”

“I see.” Heif began to rub her knee, using her fingers to knead the aching flesh.

“Am I wrong for being this way? I worry about that a lot… I wonder sometimes if I’m obsessed and nopony is saying anything because they feel sorry for me and don’t want to hurt my feelings after everything that has happened.” After baring her heart, Diamond Tiara cringed, hunching over on the bench, looking somehow smaller in her misery.

“That’s a tough thing to realise at your age.” Heif’s face became one of contemplation. “I had a similar situation.”

“You did?” Diamond Tiara looked over at the minotaur beside her.

“I did.” Heifer Aestus nodded.

The filly, sitting on the bench, waited. She sat up a little straighter and tried to look hopeful, hoping that the minotaur would explain things, giving her a different perspective to examine.

“Once, a long time ago, I was a silly little cow. I wasn’t like how I am now. I wasn’t tall, I wasn’t powerful, I was nothing like how I am now. But I was obsessed. There was a minotaur I was madly in love with. He wasn’t like the others. He was kind, gentle, a master of the forge. Soft spoken. He didn’t like the other minotaurs, and he tried to teach other minotaurs to be like him. To follow a path of gentleness. To be inventive rather than warlike. He was extraordinary, and I loved everything about him.” Heifer Aestus’ broke into a soft, dreamy smile. “I had no interest in blacksmithing at all. But I knew that we just had to be together.”

“So… you became his student?” Diamond Tiara asked.

“Yes. Yes, that is exactly what I did. I went to him and I pleaded, and I begged, and I made a real fool out of myself,” Heif replied.

“So he took you as a student?” Diamond Tiara leaned over and looked at Heifer Aestus, her attention now focused upon the minotaur’s story.

“No. He refused.” Heifer looked angry for a moment. “He told me to bugger off and grow up. But I knew that we were meant to be together. So I pestered him.”

“And what happened?” Diamond Tiara blinked, still focused, her curiousity aroused and fueled by a powerful need to know.

“He sent me on missions… scavenger hunts. Difficult, dangerous missions. He did it to get rid of me. I went to horrible places… into swamps, into dangerous hydra breeding grounds. I had to learn how to fight. I took up a sword and shield, but had no idea how to use them. I took lessons. Suddenly, I wasn’t the gawky little cow. I did everything he asked of me.”

“So what happened?” Diamond Tiara, feeling the cold, wrapped her winter coat tighter around her.

“I grew up a bit. I matured. And he finally took me as his student. It was a proud moment for me.” Heifer Aestus smiled and shook her head. “Then came the difficult part. Getting him to love me. I knew that the usual way of getting a bull’s attention wasn’t going to work. So I pushed myself to become smarter. I kept my nose in books when I wasn’t working. I made myself available to him, always ready to do his bidding. I paid attention to him even during the most boring of lectures, when his other students would be falling asleep.”

“I see.” Diamond Tiara squirmed, now feeling a bit uncomfortable. “Did you ever get his love and affection?”

“Yes… in time, Scorch warmed up to me. He revealed who and what he really was. He gave me a choice.” Heif took a deep breath. “My obsessions turned out to be a good thing for me. I grew as a minotaur. I made myself a better minotaur. I don’t know how this will turn out for you, but I will give you a bit of advice.”

“And that is?” Diamond Tiara asked.

“Never stop asking yourself about what you are getting out of this situation… if all of this comes out to Sentinel’s benefit, leaving nothing for you, exploiting you, it may be time for you to break free and move on, as difficult as it seems. But if you are growing, gaining skills, becoming a better pony, if you have something to show for your struggle, if you are gaining just as much as he is from this relationship, then I’d say that nopony… nobody has any right to tell you how to live the life that you have chosen. Scorch demanded a level of self improvement from me… he demanded my full potential. He demanded strength that I didn’t even know that I had,” Heifer Aestus replied.

“Do you still love him?” Diamond Tiara’s blue eyes were moistened with tears.

“Yeah. Yeah I do. But I’ve grown up a lot. Scorch got frustrated with how the world was and felt that he couldn’t do much to change it. So he went off to sulk in Tartarus and I went and continued with my journey of self improvement.” Heifer turned her head and looked over at the forge. “It seems that somepony has rekindled Scorch’s better nature. For this, I am glad. Scorch had become quite depressed and I became quite disgusted with him.”

Heifer Aestus rose to her hooves, smiling, then, without warning, she bent down and picked up Diamond Tiara. “I love ponies. So tiny and snuggly. I really like the fuzzy wuzzy ones like Bucky. He’s shaggy. You look cold. Let’s get you home to those that love you.”

“I’m already home… there are those who love me right here… but I am sure that Cookie and Hondo will be very glad to see me…”

The shrieking sound produced by Erebus was most unpleasant to hear. It was one part scream and one part shrill echolocation squeak. Every ear in the room flapped around like little wings as Erebus worked his way up and down different octaves.

“Erebus, cease your wailing at once!” Luna snapped. “You had it coming… you were warned what would happen if you continued to play rough with Harper. She doesn’t like being pounced upon and tackled!”

Sulking in the corner, knowing that she was the cause of this, Harper glared daggers at the wailing colt. She hated sitting in the corner. When she saw Lyra, she turned her head around to stare into the corner as sparks arced from her horn.

“Erebus! Be silent! And you stay in the corner!” Luna stomped her hoof as Erebus started to turn around, no doubt to find somepony to comfort him. “I am sorry,” Luna said to the others. “He’s aggressive, I’ve been trying to correct that, but he is a lunar pegasus. I have long feared that this would be a problem.”

“Lunar pegasi can’t be reared around other foals?” Berry Punch asked.

“Sometimes… if they behave,” Luna replied.

“I say we let him keep trying to hunt Harper… a few more zaps like the last one should teach him some respect.” Berry Punch looked at the colt in the corner, eyeing his frizzed out mane. Little wisps of smoke rose from several places on his pelt.

“That’s horrible, Berry!” Lyra looked at Harper and then at Berry Punch.

“He is going to have to be conditioned somehow… Erebus has grown into a real pain. He bit Barley earlier. I don’t know what to do with him. I am losing my patience.” Luna sat down upon the floor, gritted her teeth, and shook her head.

“The only pony Erebus behaves for is Derpy,” Berry said.

“What is it that Derpy does that we aren’t doing?” Lyra asked.

“She’s Derpy… her ways are mysterious and weird,” Thistle replied.

“Thistle…” Berry Punch rolled her eyes at Thistle’s words. “Derpy does what none of us in this room wants to do. She slaps the spit out of him when he misbehaves and none of us like doing that. He needs to learn consequences for his actions before he gets big enough to seriously hurt one of his playmates, which is why I suggested we let him have a few more goes at Harper so she can let him have it. We have to let them establish dominance.”

“I don’t agree, not at all.” Lyra’s eyes narrowed and she shook her head.

“Look, Harper’s zaps hurt plenty.” Berry Punch rubbed her forehead with her hoof as she sat down on the floor. “We don’t have wings, most of us. Yew does. So wing slapping him is out as an option. He’s not bothered too much by being sat in the corner. And none of us want to smack the little troublemaker with a hard hoof, but I’m sure we’ve all thought about it.”

Sitting in the corner, Erebus continued to wail.

“Shut up!” Luna snapped as she reached the end of her patience. “Your incessant blubbering will not gain you any pity and get you rescued from the corner!” Luna punctuated her words with a stomp of her hoof.

“Come on Luna… you’re too angry about this. Come with me. Come on—”

“Leave me be!” Luna snapped at Berry. “I do not wish to be coddled!”

Berry’s nostrils flared but she held in her anger. “Come on Luna, everypony’s patience is wearing thin. Just… go upstairs and be with Barley or go and sit with Derpy for a while… please?”

Eyes narrowed, ears pinned back against her skull, Luna stomped out of the room, turned right, and then began to stomp up the stairs, her hooves making loud thumps on the wooden planks. Her departure caused Erebus to shriek even louder.

“QUIET! YOU QUIET NOW!” Harper screamed from her corner. Sitting down, she began to kick and bang her hind legs against the floor.

“That’s it! I can’t take it anymore!” Lyra’s horn flared and the room was flooded with glorious silence. A golden glowing bubble appeared around Erebus’ head. “Look, I know that we all said we’d try practical solutions and avoid using magic when we could, but I can’t do this anymore.” Lyra heaved a sigh of relief as Harper’s tantrum faded into blessed silence.

“At this point, I think this is the best thing we can do,” Berry said in a reassuring manner to Lyra. Berry got up on her hooves, crossed the room, and wrapped a foreleg around Lyra’s neck. After a bit of a squeeze, Berry sat down beside Lyra. “No hard feelings between us?”

“No, none at all.” Lyra offered a half-hearted smile to the earth pony beside her, but her pinned back ears expressed a very different emotion.

“Rude,” Sukari said as she slipped off the sofa. She pointed at Erebus. “Rude.” She shook her head in disapproval and then took off at a trot, leaving the room. “Rude!”

“Two foals in the corner, Erebus and Harper. Sukari is heading off, probably to be with Derpy or to go into the nursery to be with Bell Heather. Cadance is being a good girl… where is Peekaboo?” Thistle asked after doing a headcount.

Gritting her teeth, Lyra let out an angry groan, her tail twitching as she tried to deal with her ever growing frustration. Lyra’s eyes opened wide and then she said, “I think I need a timeout myself.”

“Let Peekaboo hide for a while. She probably got stressed out from the shrieking and the shouting. She’ll come out on her own. There is no good reason to get all worked up looking for her.” Berry Punch gave Lyra a reassuring nuzzle on the neck.

“I thought being a herd was supposed to make foal rearing easier.” Thistle heaved a sigh and then fell over onto the floor. She looked over into the corner were Erebus continued to shriek into his sound proofed bubble and then her eyes moved over to Harper, who was being rather good, all things considered. “There are four more on the way. And then there is Loch Skimmer’s foal… who we are going to have to raise.”

Berry Punch, still trying to calm Lyra, said to the kelpie, “Yeah, Thistle, things look a little grim right now. We’ll get through this. Somehow.”

Author's Notes:

Soon.