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// Chapter 3 
// Story: Scootaloo's Secret 
// by FightingOreo 
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Cheerilee jumped onto her desk as soon as the bell rang. On her first day, she had almost been trampled as 18 over-enthusiastic fillies and colts raced out the doors in their excitement to get home, and it was this experience that had taught her to get onto high ground. “Now remember to fill in that maths sheet when you get home everyone!” She called out, knowing that none of them would. She couldn’t help but notice Silver Spoon’s depressed posture, and her pleading eyes. She made a mental note to mention it to Silver Spoon’s parents the next parent-teacher day.

“Scootaloo, can I speak to you for a second?” Miss Cheerilee called out, as the excitable orange filly raced out the door, wings buzzing. She winced at the smoke pouring out from under the filly’s hooves as she skidded to a halt. “Sure thing Miss! What about?” Scootaloo seemed unaffected by the apparent burning underneath her, and Miss Cheerilee ignored it. It couldn’t be weirder than that pink pony that appeared in the chalkboard the other day. “I just wanted to say, with your... condition, it’s okay if you can’t complete all the homework. And... if any of the other ponies are teasing you, don’t hesitate to talk to me okay?” Scootaloo was confused. What condition? She didn’t have any condition.
“Okay miss!” She chirped brightly. “I’m confused though... condition?”

Miss Cheerilee finally stepped down from her desk, and sat down. After several moments of thought, she dismissed Scootaloo with a simple “I must be thinking of somepony else... never mind then!” It was a rather unconvincing lie, although Scootaloo seemed satisfied with the answer.
“Bye miss!” She called out over her shoulder as she grabbed her scooter and raced to catch up with Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle. Miss Cheerilee didn’t hear her. She was busy debating whether or not she should tell Scootaloo, or leave it to her parents to tell her when the time comes. As she was mentally weighing the pros and cons of it all, the stack of test papers caught her eye. It was going to be another sleepless night for the schoolteacher.

Scootaloo was bored. She was lying in bed, with her mind racing faster than a sonic rainboom. Everything she had seen that day ran through her mind, not allowing her to go to sleep. She had already done lots of thinking that day with Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom, but her mind would not leave her alone. She groaned into her pillow, thinking about how tired she would be the next morning. As she finally gave up on sleeping for the moment, she allowed herself to concentrate on the thoughts running through her head. There was something different about Silver Spoon today. She seemed sort of, reserved and quiet. Maybe she was sad, and needed cheering up. ‘Yeah, but... she has been being mean to me for a long time...’ she spoke to herself. ‘Two wrongs don’t make a right, Scootaloo...’ a small voice in her head whispered. ‘What’s the right thing to do?’ Scootaloo got up from her chair, and trotted over to her computer. As the bright colours began to load on the screen, her eyelids began to droop. She scowled at the irony of it all, and forced herself to stay awake. What was that stuff Dad drank when he needed to stay awake? It looked sort of like petrol, but smelt different. He always called it... c...c...cough...no, that sounded wrong... COPY! But Cheerilee always said that copying was bad... Scootaloo decided to ask her dad about it the next morning. 
By the time this had all run through her head, her computer had loaded, and she double clicked the button for the internet. After the browser had opened up, she clicked on a small link at the side; that took her to her emails. Taking a deep breath, she began to type...

Silver Spoon collapsed on her bed, exhausted from another day of lying and torment. Over the years, the pain and exhaustion had increased each day, to the point that after school she would fall asleep, and would occasionally not get up until the next school day. Her dad passed this behaviour off as odd, but not strange enough to warrant serious action.
After almost 3 hours of sleep, Silver Spoon groggily rose from her bed, and made her way to the computer, on her desk. She readjusted the book stuck under one of the legs to keep it steady, and logged in. Her desktop background showed a picture of her and her best friend from Manehattan, Caramel Bangle. She smiled briefly, before double clicking and opening up the internet. She checked her emails, but found only the same spam and chain letters that she had neglected to delete yesterday, along with another 30 that were new. With a sigh, she closed the browser, and shut down the computer. As she was about to open her door and go outside the safety and privacy of her bedroom, something compelled her to go back and check her emails again.

To: silver.spoon@maremail.com
From: scootaloo@maremail.com
Subject: What’s up?
Hi Silver Spoon!
It’s Scootaloo. I noticed you seemed a bit depressed in class today, and I was wander  winder thinking whether you were okay or not. If there’s anything I can do to cheer you up, please don’t hesitate to tell me. I know you probably won’t respond seriously to this, because you usually deny it when somepony asks if something is wrong, but I won’t judge you.
If you don’t want to talk about it, that’s fine too. I’m just telling you that you can talk to me if you want to. If you do want to talk about it, do you want to meet at the bike lock after school?
Seriously  Sincerely,
Scootaloo.

Silver Spoon reread the email 5 times before allowing herself to believe it. Someone wanted to help her! All she had to do was go to the bike lock after school, and all her problems would be solved! Her fatigue instantly vanished, replaced by excitement, hope and anticipation. The bike lock after school...
Both Scootaloo and Silver Spoon fell asleep, satisfied and looking forward to a new day.