The day had been somewhat uneventful for Twilight so far. Not many ponies came to check out books today. She had already gone out shopping and was just waiting to see if Scootaloo would show up. Luckily, She knew just how to pass the time.
Twilight really wanted to go through a reread of Daring Do with the new book coming out soon. She should also talk to Rainbow about doing the same. Maybe they can have some reading nights and talk about their favorite parts in the series. Either way, time to start up again on the Sapphire Statue!
Just as her magic gripped the cover to open there was a knock at her door. Spike at the ready to help had already started towards the door. Twilight, not wanting to be distracted if she was needed, watched on as Spike opened the door to greet Scootaloo. She was a little out of breath, probably from racing around town.
Spike welcomed her, as he motioned for her to come inside, “Hey Scootaloo, Twilight said you might be over. What’s up?”
Scootaloo happily replied, coming inside while setting her scooter and helmet by the door, “Nothing really, I was just cruising around town and thought I’d take Twilight’s offer up.”
“You’ll be happy to know Twilight put a lot of effort into getting a lesson ready for you,” Spike said with a smile, “she even has a little surprise with it!”
“Ooo! What is it‽” Scootaloo asked as they walked, leaning into Spike a little to pressure him.
Spike pushed back, giving a little shove while responding, “Like I’d ruin the surprise.”
Twilight answered, “You’ll find out in a little bit. I’m glad you came by though. It’s commendable that you want to improve yourself and your grades.”
Scootaloo looked sheepishly at the ground, “Thanks Twilight.”
Twilight led her over to the back table. She had already laid out some sentence practice for her to correct. She probably cannot correct it all, but it would give her a feel of her knowledge so far to compare with the material Cheerilee said they were going over now.
Twilight started explaining what would happen today, “Now Scootaloo, I just want you to try your best on these. I’ll walk you through the first one, and you can ask any question you would like over it. Seeing as you came a bit later than I was expecting, would you like to have dinner with us? Spike can fix us up some hayburgers while I stay here for assistance.”
Scootaloo listened carefully, giving a happy response with a small hop, “Yes! I love hayburgers!”
“Then it’s settled as long as Spike is okay with that.” Twilight turned to Spike, “Are you okay with that? I know you usually make the desserts, but hayburgers are pretty easy.”
“Of course, I’ve made them before,” Spike said, puffing out his chest, “you can count on me!”
This got a small giggle from Twilight and Scootaloo. As Spike made his way to the kitchen to get started Twilight started on her lesson.
The lesson went well. Twilight was a little worried about Scootaloo staying put to work on something that wasn’t as hooves on as her Scooter, but she was pleasantly surprised she stayed focused throughout the example and went right to work. She really wanted to improve her grade and Twilight was very proud of her to even accept her offer. Many ponies are either too prideful or think they’ll look stupid to go out for tutoring.
Twilight also thinks she knows what to work on with Scootaloo. She had a majority of the sentence arranged correctly. She just took a while to understand the sentences and had a couple of rules wrong. These were relatively easy fixes that will just take time.
Turning back to Scootaloo once she was finished looking over the paper Twilight gave her some praise. “You did great Scootaloo. Most of your sentences are correct with only a few rules missed that are within your skill level. The big thing is time. We can get your speed at reading up with just more practice. You’re welcome to check out more Daring Do to get you reading if you’d like for that. Learning the rules can be done in many ways. I learned through some jingles I recite in my head. Look at this one for example. When is “I” before “E”?”
Scootaloo answered a little unsure, “Uh, “I” before “E” always?”
“No, Scootaloo. It’s “I” before “E” except after “c” and when sounding like “A” as in neighbor and weigh, and on weekends and holidays and all throughout May, and you’ll always be wrong no matter what you say!” Twilight stated, raising her voice while her feathers got a little ruffled.
She quickly composed herself and apologized, “Sorry about that, I got a little carried away. I never liked that teacher.”
Quickly she cleared her throat and attempted to smooth over the rough patch she made, “You can replace the end saying there with ‘you can do it, at the end of the day' if you’d like.”
Scootaloo nodded, “It’s alright, thank you for the little jingle. I’ll try and come up with some on my own to help out. So, I only need to read more Daring Do to get better at this?”
Twilight giggled at this, “Well, I wouldn’t phrase it like that, but yes. You’ve got a lot of the material down. I’m guessing for tests you don’t end up with as much time as you need to work and spend a little too much time reading?”
Scootaloo nodded again a little saddened and looking down, “I’m sorry for being stupid. I know you’d probably rather spend your day doing something else.”
Twilight comforts her, “No, no, no. You are not stupid, Scootaloo. I’m sorry for the jingle earlier. You’re very smart and wanting to improve yourself is commendable. Even if your scores were low you wouldn’t be stupid either. There’s more to smarts than test scores.”
“Really? If I don’t do amazing then I’m not amazing, though,” Scootaloo asked skeptically.
“Scootaloo, what’s important isn’t that you do amazing at everything. It’s important to try your best and improve. You won’t be amazing at everything, but as long as you give it your all then you’ll never be stupid,” Twilight said resting a hoof on her for support.
Scootaloo gave Twilight a hug after that. She was surprised, but she didn’t reject her. She wondered if Scootaloo always put this much pressure on herself. Why does she only want perfection? Twilight knew that she did that as well, pleasing the princess, but she didn't for everything she did. Twilight was first to break the silence with a grumble from her stomach.
She broke away from the hug rubbing the back of her head before saying, “Sorry, it’s been a bit since I ate. I’m sure Spike is done with dinner by now, come on.”
She led her to the kitchen where they found the table all set and ready with hayburgers and fries. Spike was currently fixing some glasses of apple juice for himself and Twilight.
Turning around, he greeted the pair, “Hey you two, I was just about to go get you. What do you want to drink, Scootaloo? We have apple juice, milk, water, and cranberry juice.”
Scootaloo answered him, “Just some apple juice is fine with me. Thank you for fixing this Spike.”
“It’s no biggie, it was just warming stuff up,” Spike responded with a shrug, before laying out their drinks as they took their seats.
As they were digging in, Twilight stated, “Thanks for doing this for us Spike, it was still nice of you to fix dinner for us. How is it Scootaloo?”
“It’s great Twilight, thanks for letting me have dinner with you. Thank you for the lesson too!” Scootaloo said, chowing down.
“You’re welcome Scootaloo,” Twilight added sincerely.
They continued to have idle chatter while finishing up dinner. As they finished up Twilight used her magic to bring out the surprise.
“Scootaloo, I wanted to give you a reward for your hard work today. I’ve said it a lot today, but it shows a lot of bravery to admit your failings and work to improve them. I wanted to have this on hand as an extra incentive for you to continue working.”
Just as Scootaloo was about to ask what it was she felt something chilling on the back of her neck. Twisting around she saw a carton of ice cream!
“Oh my gosh! You got me ice cream?!” Scootaloo practically launched out of her chair grabbing the carton before landing back on it.
Twilight responded with a giggle, “Yes, I got some ice cream for us to share when you come over. Spike recommended I get cookies and cream. Not my favorite, but he absolutely loves it.”
“What, it’s not my fault you can’t appreciate the best flavor,” Spike said defiantly.
“Cookies and Cream is my favorite too!” Scootaloo said, rushing to open the container while Twilight levitated over some bowls and a scoop for them.
“Getting more reading done will be on you, but I hope this will make you put a little more thought into doing some more sentence practice,” Twilight said with a coy expression.
“For sure,” Scootaloo agreed wholeheartedly.
After finishing up their bowls, Scootaloo stuck around to help with the dishes. Twilight had said she could do it, but Scootaloo said helping was the least she could do. After, it was time for her to head out. At the door, she said her goodbyes to Twilight and Spike. Giving them both a quick hug before heading home.
Overall, Twilight would say it was a great day. Just one more thing for her list, and she could return to her books for the evening. Spike agreed to hold down the fort while Twilight set out to look for Rainbow Dash. She would probably be finishing up practicing her tricks in one of the open fields on the outskirts of town. She took off not wanting to miss her before she packed in for the night.
There were many words Twilight could use to describe Rainbow Dash. Loyal, brash, competitive, and foolhardy first come to mind when thinking of her. Right now, though, Twilight only had one word on her mind, mesmerizing.
She found Rainbow right as she was finishing a stunt. Rainbow was probably too focused to notice and continued with her tricks. She wasted no time setting down to enjoy the show. She was more graceful than a ballerina in the skies. She wished she had more time to just watch her fly, as Rainbow was inspiring in those skies. Sadly, the routine came to an end, and Rainbow saw the purple dot in the field. She started flying towards Twilight before doing a flip into a landing right in front of her.
“Heya Twilight, what’s up?” Rainbow said, greeting Twilight.
Twilight responded, “Nothing much, just wanted to ask you something, and I had an update with Scootaloo.”
Rainbow gave a sly grin moving to Twilight’s side as they started walking back, “Oh, you wanted to ask me something? Don’t worry, I saw you watching and I know how irresistible I am.”
Twilight rolled her eyes at her friend’s antics, “I wouldn’t go that far, but your flying was very “cool”. I wanted to ask if you were thinking of rereading through Daring Do to be ready for the next book that’s come out soon? I figured if you wanted to as well, we could start up a reading night to both be ready for the release.”
Rainbow gasped, “The next book is almost out?! I thought she was taking a break for a while.”
Twilight nodded, “Mhm, her hiatus was cut short when she had a quote, ‘big burst of inspiration.’”
“Totally, I can take a couple of days off training in the evening for some Daring Do. Mondays and Wednesdays should be good,” Rainbow gave a confident smile, “I’m already awesome enough a few days off won’t make a difference.”
“I’m sure it won’t. Scootaloo also had a good time. Her lesson went well, and we had a delicious dinner with dessert,” She informed Rainbow.
Rainbow teased her for this, “I bet it was with Spike making everything.”
“I’ll have you know, I am a great cook,” Twilight defended herself.
“Whatever you say, Sparkle. I’ve had his desserts. Spike is clearly the cook in the family.” Rainbow shrugged off her defense.
“I’ll prove it reading night then,” Twilight was getting defensive and frustrated at this.
She had no idea why everyone always thought Spike cooked for her. Sure, when they were little Spike learned from her mom first. He was even a great baker, but she still cooked for both of them most of the time. You cannot survive off desserts alone, and she made sure that their diets were balanced with days of leeway.
Rainbow kept up the pressure, “Sure, I’ll take you up on the offer. I’d never turn down a free home-cooked meal. Even if it might kill me.”
“Ugh, you’re insufferable, Rainbow,” Twilight said with a soft smile, calming down, and she noticed they were back in town ready to split up, “I’ll talk to you later.”
“Sufferably amazing. See ya!” Rainbow shouted, taking off towards her house.
With that, Twilight could pack in for the evening and enjoy herself. Though, with their reading days, she’ll need to postpone Daring Do. Oh well, she has other things to work on. Just in case Scootaloo comes by, she’ll need to get a lesson or two ready in advance. Maybe Rainbow will let her bring Scootaloo to watch some of her tricks as a reward. Oh well, those thoughts can be put off for now. There are lessons to be made!