//------------------------------// // Stigma and Sigmatism // Story: That Particular Instance I Performed Metempsychosis As An Equine Named After A Piece Of Silverware // by Yuri Fanatic //------------------------------// "Why did you do that?" Sounds of stomping hoofsteps could be heard. Scootaloo was eating out of her lunch box before Sweetie Belle joined her at her table. "Do what?" Her voice was half-muffled from eating her dandelion sandwich. "Make fun of them! You almost got the whole class in trouble." The unicorn filly exclaimed in contempt, before pulling out her lunch bag. "Didn't I say it wasn't funny?" Scootaloo shrugged nonchalantly. "The whole class seems to think so." She took another bite into her sandwich. "Well, the whole class can just shove an apple in it." Sweetie Belle took a large bite into her apple, staring at the fillies and colts playing next to the schoolyard. Sounds of laughing and cheering could be heard from the students playing jump rope, ball, and other games. The orange pegasus paused before placing her unfinished meal on the table. "Okay what's wrong Sweetie Belle. You're acting all weird on me." "I'm acting weird?! You're the one picking fights with the teacher and bullying Dia and Sil!" The white filly stood up from her seat with her fore-hooves on the table. Scootaloo shrank in her seat, before narrowing her eyes. "Wait, Dia and Sil?" Sweetie Belle's eyes widened upon realizing what she said. She timidly sat back in her seat, struggling to not break eye contact. "Yeah, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon." "You gave them nicknames?" The pegasus raised an eyebrow. "Y-Yeah! I mean, their names are pretty long. I don't want to say the whole thing every time." She scratched her head nervously. Scootaloo took note of Sweetie Belle's change of demeanor, only slightly narrowing her eyes before resuming her sandwich. "Right. Well, school is lame anyways. Only egg-heads like actually going there." "Scootaloo, *everypony* goes to school." Sweetie Belle deadpanned, before finishing her apple. "Doesn't mean I have to like it. You know the only reason why I'm going is because-" "Because sis would just put you in frilly outfits. Yeah I know." Sweetie Belle took some leftover spinach between two slices of bread out of her lunch bag. Taking a large bite out of it, she only momentarily enjoys the taste before asking. "Why do you hate school anyways?" "Because it's for egg-heads-" "Yeah but where did you learn that from?" Sweetie Belle prodded more, before chewing more of her sandwich. Scootaloo stopped chewing, her cheeks tinted in a slight red. Swallowing, she averted her gaze and scratched the back of her head. "R-Rainbow Dash." Sweetie Belle rolled her eyes, expecting this answer. "Of course." "H-Hey, she's cool alright. And I wanna be just like her." The orange pegasus sipped from her apple juice carton. "Because she can fly?" The white unicorn leaned her head against her hoof, her expression unamused. "N-Not because of that!" Scootaloo protested, before shifting her wings at her back uncomfortably. "Well, maybe some of that, but not just that! She's just... I don't know, cool!" She exclaimed, completely enamored by the images of said blue pegasus in her imagination. "Like the way she acts, the way she talks, and her rainbow trails she leaves behind are super freaking cool! Not to mention-" Sweetie Belle rolled her eyes and ignored her friend, turning her gaze back at the other fillies and colts playing in the background. She knew where this conversation was headed. It would always lead to her gushing about Rainbow Dash or bragging about herself and her scooter tricks. Why do I hang out with her? Sweetie Belle thought as she continued seeing more students having much more fun than her. Her attention was quickly taken when out of the corner of her view, she could see her grey and pink friends coming out of the schoolhouse. Sil was lagging behind Dia a couple of hoofsteps away, but she quickly caught up to her. When she did, they quickly turned to each other and shared a laugh. Sweetie Belle smiled slightly at both of them, before scanning the schoolyard until her eyes landed on a yellow and red-maned filly with a pink bow. She was on the swings seemingly talking to an amberish gray and scarlet-maned filly wearing a violet pair of glasses. "And basically she's like, the best flyer in Ponyville. Basically nopony can catch up to her-" "Hey Scootaloo," Sweetie Belle interrupted her friend's ramblings, "you think we can be friends with her?" She pointed to the two fillies. "Huh?" Scootaloo glanced in their direction before pausing momentarily. "...The nerdy-looking one?" "No the one next to her. The farm filly." The unicorn clarified. "Her?" Scootaloo pressed a hoof to her chin in contemplation. "I don't know, the way she talks is a little weird." "I think it's called an accent Scootaloo." "A what?" The pegasus raised an eyebrow. "An accent. My sister does it all the time. You know, the Canterlot accent-" "Oh the rich pony accent!" Scootaloo's eyes widened in realization. "Yeah, that's because sis spent time living there trying to fit in with all the other ponies. That's why she has it, but you still can understand her right?" Sweetie Belle opened her leftover spinach. "Eh, I just ignore her half the time." The pegasus shrugged lazily as she bit into her sandwich. Sweetie Belle simply gave her a dull empty-eyed stare. "I'm kidding, shesh." Scootaloo said with her mouth full before swallowing. "It's just that she uses a lot of fancy words that I don't understand. It just... makes me feel a little..." "Stupid?" Sweetie Belle finished. "N-No, not stupid, just... not good enough. Like she assumes that I should understand everything she's saying but, I don't." Scootaloo finishes while eating her entire sandwich. "I see..." the light-grey unicorn took a mouthful of her spinach. "Is that why you don't want to be friends with that farm filly?" "What?" "Because of her accent." Sweetie Belle clarified. "Oh no, I can understand her fine. It's just, I don't understand why she has it." Scootaloo bit her lip. "Huh?" The unicorn echoed her confusion. "I mean, isn't their farm like next to Ponyville? Canterlot is like super duper far from here, so I understand why Rarity has it, but there's no reason that farm filly should have an accent right? Can't she just talk normally?" "I dunno," Sweetie Belle quickly ate the last bits of her spinach, "maybe she left Ponyville for some time, you don't know. Why don't you just ask her?" Scootaloo pursed her lips. "Alright fine, I'll give it a shot." "Cool!" Sweetie Belle chirped almost standing out of her seat, drawing a weird look from Scootaloo. "Er- I mean neat!" The pegasus narrowed her eyes for half a second before shaking her head. "No promises though." "That's good enough for me." "Thso do you wanna hang out at my house? My thsister makes candy, I'm thsure she'll share it with you if I ask her." Twist said while swinging on the swing set. Next to her laid a yellow and red-maned filly with a bow at the back of her head. "Nah, sorry. Ah got chores back at home. Mah sister says that Winonah got bit by ah snake, so she has to go get medicine for her while ah make sure the chickens don't leave their coop again." Applebloom swung on her swing set less enthusiastically. Both of them had become friends relatively quickly, mostly due to their accents being hard for the other fillies and colts to understand. Twist came out of the blue during lunch a day ago and offered the farm filly candy. For Applebloom, sweets that weren't apple-related were pretty hard to come by, so she accepted and decided to hang out with her for most of the day. "Well that thsucks. You have a lot of rethsponsibilities for a filly Applebloom." The amberish grey filly responded, still swinging enthusiastically. "Well the farm takes a lot of work. Ever since ah started school, Applejack has a lot more work to do since I'm not around ta' help. Ah think she's still getting used to not havin' me around in the mornin's. We usually take care of everythin' then." The yellow filly stopped swinging before sighing. This didn't go unnoticed, as Twist slowed down her swinging. "Is that why your thsad? She asked, genuinely concerned about her new friend. "No Twist, ah ain't sad." Applebloom said a little more defensively than she intended. "It's just Applejack said that school was a place to make a lot of friends and... well nopony even wants to talk to us." Twist stopped her swinging. "I talked to you." "Yeah, and I'm grateful. But that doesn't explain why the other ponies avoid us. We haven't even done anythin' yet." Applebloom said that last sentence with a shaky voice. Tears started to swell in her eyes. "Hey, hey Applebloom. Look at me." Twist gathered the attention of her friend. "We'll make friends. Don't worry." "Well how do you know?" The farm filly sniffed while wiping her eyes. "I know thso Applebloom. Thethse things take time. You'll be popular in no time. I promise." Twist smiled. With another sniff, Applebloom looked gratefully at Twist. "T-Thanks." "Hey!" Startled, Applebloom fell off of her swing set. "W-Woah!" Thud! "Ow..." The farm filly groaned. "You okay?" A high-pitched voice resounded in Applebloom's ears. Her dizzy eyes refocused on orange and white colors, before coming to the sight of an upside-down orange pegasus and white unicorn. "Uh... howdy?" "Sup." The orange filly flipped her magenta hair up, seemingly unbemused by her fall. "Applebloom, you alright?" Twist stared worryingly from the swing set. "Ah'm fine." Applebloom pulled herself up and dusted herself off. "And who are you?" "Name's Scootaloo, and this is Sweetie Belle." Scootaloo nonchalantly pointed to her friend. "Hi!" Sweetie Belle chirped before smiling excitedly. "Wanna be friends?" She leaned forward with a sparkle in her eyes. Applebloom instinctively took a step back from the invasion of personal space. "Uh, I-" "Sweetie Belle," Scootaloo sighed before hoofpalming, "you're not supposed to ask that." "Huh? Why?" The white unicorn turned her head to the pegasus in question before tilting her head. "You're supposed to act cool and let them ask you to be their friend." "Huh?" Sweetie Belle's expression turned from mild confusion to bewilderment. "Wait, what are you girls trying to do-" "Applebloom! Thiths iths the moment I was talking about!" Twist interrupted Applebloom's trail of speech. Her expression showed pure satisfaction and happiness for her friend. "Wait Twist, ah don't think-" "Hi there!" Another voice resounded across the playground. All muzzles turned to two fillies she recognized in class. A pink and silver filly wearing a tiara and glasses respectively. "Your name is Applebloom right? Wanna be friends with us? I'm Diamond Tiara" The pink one asked, lending a hoof out to Applebloom. "Ah, I-" Applebloom stuttered while Twist was watching these events unfold with sparkling wide-eyes. "Now hold on there dweebs. We were here first!" Scootaloo stepped forth with a heavy hoof on the dirt ground, scowling. The silver filly exchanged nervous glances towards her and Sweetie Belle. Diamond Tiara narrowed her eyes before stepping between Applebloom and Scootaloo. "Oh yeah? And what does a flightless pegasus like you intend to do with a farm filly?" "D-Dia?" The silver filly seemed shocked. "Uh, girls?" Applebloom tried to intervene. "Hey, who are you calling flightless?!" The pegasus unfurled her tiny wings in an attempt to intimidate her. "Last time I checked, eggheads like you should be staying inside school." "And what's wrong with going outside?" Dia held her head up high. "Even a pretty filly like me deserves a little fresh air." "Yeah, if only you ate makeup," Scootaloo smirked, "then you'd be pretty on the inside as well." "Scootaloo?" Sweetie Belle stared wide-eyed in shock. "Could you both stop fightin' for one minute!?" The farm filly voiced again. "Y-You!" The pink filly glared at the pegasus in fury. "At least I have more friends than you!" "Not for long, this farm filly is going to be our friend." "Nuh uh! She's going to be our friend!" "No she isn't." "Yes she is!" "Are you both even listenin'?!" Applebloom shouted in vain. "No she isn't." "Yes she is!" "No she isn't." "Yes she is!" "AHHHHHH!" Applebloom cried out the top of her lungs before running away. Everypony eyes lingered at the fleeing filly in utter dumbfoundedness. "Great job, you made her run away." Scootaloo sneered. "Me? You're the one insisting on her being your friend." Dia retorted. "So were you! And she was going to be our friend if you didn't butt-in!" "Now me! Now me! Argue about being my friend next!" Twist exclaimed happily, clasping both her hooves together. Everypony stared at the amberish grey filly in befuddlement. A couple of seconds passed before the sounds of the school bell echoed across the playground. "Come on in children! Playtime is over!" Cheerilee's voice was heard by all the fillies and foals, and soon everypony in the yard stopped whatever it was they were doing and returned to class. Scootaloo then snorted before turning around. "Whatever. Come on Sweetie Belle, let's go back to that dumb class. Hopefully next time these dweebs won't get in our way again." "Hah, like there will be a next time." Diamond Tiara turned as the other duo started to go separate ways. "Lets go Sil. We'll try to make another friend next time." The silver filly slowly nodded before taking one long apologetic glance at Sweetie Belle before leaving. Soon Twist was left by the swing set all alone. "Uh... what justh happened?