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Whistle was chewing on her eraser in deep thought.

During the new swimming class at the community center, several foals floundered during their first attempts to float and paddle. The instructors, (all stallions that Whistle knew) brought out the paddle boards so the foals could learn to kick and propel themselves without worrying about floating. Unfortunately the boards were all adult sized. The foals couldn't hold to them long enough to start kicking and others just sat on them and floated around like a flat boat. "This wasn't going to help any phony learn to swim." she'd said.

One of the instructors told her that they couldn't afford to have paddle boards for the adults and the foals. Whistle understood, as the center wasn't made of money and had more important things to budget for, but it meant that swimming lessons would be a bit harder for some. He suggested that maybe the school could help since it was to the benefit the students.

So here she was, after class, attempting to write up her proposal that the school should buy a dozen foal sized paddle boards to take with them to swim classes. She was re-reading her paper for the umpenth time and the eraser at the end of her pencil was becoming non existent.

"I hope this works.." she said nervously, rolling the paper up and heading for the front of the room. She spied Wildflour on her way there and stopped, wondering what the colt was up to.

"Hi Wildflour." she said quietly. "Watcha doin?"

Whistle blinked several times. She had no idea whatever it was that he just said. Something..about the garden and the insects? The insects ate the veggies and that was a problem right? And illness? The stuff they'd harvested tasted fine, no one had gotten sick. She opened her mouth to ask these questions and though better. She'd once seen Wildflour debate an adult for a solid hour on..GMOs, GITMOs, LEGOs..something. Best not to get him started.

"Oh, I'm going to the teacher too! I have a petition for the school to buy foal sized paddle boards for the students since the community center can't afford them on their own. It'll help us learn to swim more confidently!" she said this with a smile. "Maybe..if we go to Miss Glory together we can bolster each other up?" She didn't want to admit she was nervous.

"Err..ahh uhm ok!" Whistle hurried after Wildflour. She was very impressed on how confident he was, it made him slightly more cute than usual! At the teacher's office, Whistle inhaled deeply, drawing in all her courage. "Good luck!" she said to the colt.

Morning Glory was sitting on her office grading papers. Normally she took this sort of work home with her, but she'd noticed a couple of foals had stayed behind willingly after class. This usually meant they wanted to see her or talk to her for one reason or another, so she'd excused herself to her office and waited, grading tests and papers as she did so. The tiny knock on her door made pause and put down her pen. Glory squared her shoulders, folded her hooves over themselves and called out; "Come in."

"Thank you Wildflour." Inspired by the colt, she too tried to sound prim and professional. She walked up and handed Miss Glory the paper she wrote and stood next to her desk.

"I purpose that school funds be allowed...alloted...allocated. Yes, allocated to the buying, no, acquisition, " she was really pulling out the 10 cent words. "of a dozen foal sized paddle boards. It is very important that we and the foals of the future have access to equipment that will uhm...let us...help us...enable! Enable us to learn to swim, as it is a very important skill to have. Swimming is excellent athletics and well..fun! Because the it would be for the students of our school, present and in the future, I think the school ought to buy them..for us." Whistle felt awkward. "Uh..thank you." she gave a little bow and shuffled back next to Wildflour.

Whistle was in awe of the other's slick speech and when he was done, she actually applauded him. "That was amazing!" she gushed at him.

Morning Glory listened to each speech earnestly. Both foals were very serious about their proposals and as each spoke, she looked over the papers they'd presented. Willdflour's was slick with a cost break down and everything annotated. Whistle's was written nicely on lined paper with her pencil.

"Well done, the both of you. You both put a lot of effort into your respective causes and you will both be receiving a couple of extra points in your civics grade. However, only one of these is feasible, and that is the paddle boards for the students." She looked at Wildflour. "I'm sorry but there is enough science on both sides of the debate and it is ongoing, heated debate at that. And frankly, these costs are not anything a school our size can afford. The amount of ground we'd have to dig up for these irrigation systems would greatly disturb the environment as it is. You'll just have to settle for the garden that we have or quit the gardening club." she said it kindly, but sternly.

Whistle was both elated and crushed at the same time. "But, but, but, that's not far! He was so passionate and his cause is really important too!"

"Ok then." Morning Glory picked up her pen and crossed a few things out, added some numbers and wrote up the grand total. "Well we could do that, but then that means that the students wouldn't get paddle boards for at least another year." She looked at both foals. "I'm afraid no matter how you slice it, it's going to come down to one of your proposals or the other. We just don't have the budget. Now, unless you two can decide whose presentation is more valuable to the school, I'll have to be the one to make the choice."

"T..that's not very fair!" Whistle pouted. "I can't just choose between myself and my friend. We both have very good ideas!" she stressed again. "And I won't go against Wildflour's suggestion even if it means I won't get picked!"

Ahhh. Glory loved when the students thought they had the upper hoof. She smiled. "That is a very mature decision from the both of you and I commend you for sticking together. I have come to a decision."

"I CAN'T BELIEVE SHE REJECTED BOTH OF US!" Whistle wailed as they walked down the hall, sulking. Her proposal was in hoof with a giant bright red A+ across the top of it. "I thought for sure we had it." Ughhh..she was so close! How were her classmates going to learn to swim properly now!? She sighed and glanced sideways at Wildflour. "Thank you by the way..for sticking up for me. I know you wanted to help the garden as much as I wanted to help the students."